For the past few years, I have celebrated my birthday by running a 5K with my daughter. This year the tradition continues. Though our Saturday is filled with a ton of activities, we are scheduled to run the Novo Nordisk® Hazel 5KM (Part of the Mississauga Marathon race weekend). Every year I watch as violet gets faster and I get slower. In years past I had hoped to use this race as a springboard to get back into serious running, unfortunately, it hasn’t worked. This year I hope to change that. I’ve started by doing a few warm-up runs., something I never did enough in past years (if I’m being honest I still haven’t done enough). Going forward, this year will be different. I will start regular runs with the goal of running a 10K by the end of summer, or at least another couple of 5ks with one or both of my kids.
Yesterday morning was unlike any I’ve had in more than 2 years, and even then what happened this morning was rare. It started normally, me up with Ruby, I puttered around the kitchen, doing the few remaining dishes and making the kids lunches while Ruby ate. Then with Ruby settled I headed upstairs to get ready for my day. I found in eerily quit with everyone still asleep. As I was getting ready for my shower an idea popped into my head and wouldn’t go away.
What if I start my day with a run?
I don’t know where it came from, I haven’t been out for a run in months, or more. But there it was and it wasn’t going g away. I stopped getting ready for the shower and started hunting for my long discarded running cloths. Before I knew it I was out on the streets trying to run.
Today Melissa had her first run. It’s the same run I did for my first run, the Harry Rosen Spring Run-Off. She did amazing. I’m so proud of the journey she’s been on over the last few years. She is such an inspiration for me. I have to admit it was strange standing at the finish line and not crossing it. It makes me think I really have to get back out there and run.
Today we have a picture of me after my evening run. I chose this for my picture of the day, because in 7 short weeks (48 Days) I plan on running a half marathon. I’ve planed to run it all summer, but I haven’t been training like I intend to do better than the 2 hours, 12 minutes and 55 seconds I did last year. So tonight I stop procrastinating and start my serious training. No more missed runs. I’m still working out how I want to break up my runs, but for this week my goal is to run 35+ kms (3 nights of 8km and a 12+km run Sunday morning). Next week I hope to push that up to 40km.
Last week I talked about import dates for my running, today I thought I’d talk about the other activities I plan to do this summer to help me get fit. My running is a solo thing, though I hope that Melissa will join me more often In the months to come. I would also be thrilled if Jacob, who ran the kids run at the Harry Rosen Spring Run-Off would be able to join me in the future. But for now running is me time and I don’t think I can find much more of it to do finesse activities so the rest of what I hope to do involves the family.
Cycling
This has already become a regular family activity, starting with two family rides over the may 24, the second included a picnic. I am really looking forward to seeing how far we can ride as a family. Of course this is only possible be cause we bought the bike trailer when Jacob was a baby. This will probably be the last summer that both kids fit in it so I’m hoping to get Jacob’s cycling to the point where he can cycle along instead of riding.
One of the best parts of it is even on weekends where Melissa has to work we’re able to have a family outing, with a picnic before she heads to her afternoon shift. My goal by the end of the summer is to have a family day on the islands, we can ride our bikes there and back. What I’m not sure is how long before Jacob will be able to ride along on his own bike. That’s something I think we should start working on it after his birthday.
Today I am bringing back my Fitness Friday posts. Its part of an increased focus on running and eating healthier. I’ve wanted to start these up for a while, but I was waiting until I was confident in my new running plan. Each week I’ll include a running total of this current months running totals. I’m going to start this series up again by looking at some dates in the past that have been important to my running, and then look to the future and see what dates are coming up.
May 2 2010:First Run (3.17k – 33:54)
This is the day that started it all, Melissa and I headed out to do day one of the couch to 5 k program. Melissa ran with me a few times in the beginning before deciding running wasn’t for her (I’m happy to say she’s giving it a second shot now). I followed the program for 5 weeks before starting to find my own way. I continued to have minute long walks, but I increased the time I was running until I was consistently Running for 10 and walking for 1.
Tonight we have a picture of Melissa as she sets out on her third run this month. She’s giving the running thing a try and I want to do everything I can to support her. It’s exciting that sometime in the future we could be lining up at the start of a race together.
Today I headed out for my long run. It ended up being just under 16km, what was great is that I changed up my route. Instead of just running around on the local streets I headed down through Colonel Samuel Smith Park, along the lake-shore to Marie Curtis Park and up Etobicoke Valley, before finishing along my normal road route. As I was running I captured a few picture, but settled on this one in the Etobicoke Valley park to show one of the reasons I love to run.
