1:10:37

There you have it, my time in the 10K run tonight! I was hoping to finish a little closer to the 1 hour mark, but I still think my time was pretty darn good considering it was my first race. Besides, the furthest I had run in any of my practices before this race was 4K, but still, I didn't walk once through the 10K tonight! That's right, I ran the whole thing just like I had planned!

Being in that whole atmosphere was just a rush. I could really feel the adrenaline pumping as we were lined up at the start line. And then, hearing the crowd cheer you on is something else. I had to be careful not to start too fast because I was so pumped! It was a fairly warm evening with a slight breeze which felt like perfect running weather to me. At a few points along the way, I could see people literally passed out on the side of the road with paramedics attending to them. Yikes, that was scary! I'm sure it happens in every race though.

There were a couple of times I was tempted to walk but I didn't give in. In fact, within the last kilometre, it felt really tough, and I thought to myself that if the next song to come on my Ipod was "Breathless" by the Corrs, I KNEW I would make it. And it WAS Breathless! I love the beat of that song, but it also brings back memories of when I was pregnant with my son since it was popular at that time. I'm sure I still would have made it if some other song had come on, but it was a cool coincidence. Then, I saw the finish line and found a little extra speed to add on at the end. I'm just feeling really proud of myself for trying something that for many years I thought I couldn't do. Like I said to Scot in the car, who would have thought that chubby kid from years ago would one day be able to run a whole 10K? Can you tell I'm still on a runner's high ;)

OK, now that you have the scoop, here are the pictures to prove I am not making it all up :)

Here is me and my friend Jen before the race:

Me and my daughter before the race:

I just passed the start line!

Jen and I at the end, red-faced but still smiling!


I hope you are all having a great weekend!

Oh, the creatures that you meet!

Yesterday, I set out for my run and about 5 minutes into it, I noticed a fox about 50 metres ahead of me! I've seen foxes around my place before, but usually from the safety of my window. Scot has always told me that foxes are quite timid and won't harm you, but I have this image of foxes biting and not being too friendly and I think I've thought that ever since I was a kid. So, I contemplated turning back and I slowed down for a few seconds. Then, I decided to clear my throat really loudly to see what would happen. I was close enough to another house if I ended up needing to run for cover. When I cleared my throat, the fox turned around (I don't think it had noticed me before) and it immediately ran into the forest. So, I proceeded cautiously ahead but I'll tell ya, my body was moving forward, but my head was turned backwards until I was well clear of the fox area! I still managed to finish that run in 24 minutes, but if it hadn't been for Mr. Fox, maybe I would have finished in 23 min. Grrr!!

I was hoping to post pictures from our long weekend, but I somehow messed up our photo program while uploading the pics from the camera. Scot almost has it fixed I think. Anyways, every May, we help out at a local kids' Summer camp getting it cleaned up and ready to go. Well, it rained all weekend, so I got to spend my days outside getting soaked while fixing up the flower beds. The good thing is that the rain kept the mosquitoes away. So there I was, in my raincoat, plastic rain cover, sopping wet gardening gloves, and dirty running shoes when my son came over to me (he had spent the day doing activities with the counselors) and he says, "Maman, t'es belle!" which means, "Mom, you're pretty!" It was so precious that it brought tears to my eyes! Kids definitely see beauty in places we adults don't.

So, once Picasa is up and running again, I'll try to remember to post some pics.

Happy Birthday!

To my sister Christina who is 22 today. I hope you had a great day. You're probably out to dinner with M. as I write this, so have fun!

Here is a picture of Christina and I together from when we did the family birthday celebration this past weekend.



So you remember on my list of 25 things how I hate mosquitos buzzing in my ears at night? Well at about 2:30 this morning, I woke up hearing the buzz and I jumped out of bed right away and turned on the light on my nightstand. I found the mosquito on the wall and tried to smash it, but it flew away on me. Poor Scot woke up and decided to move to the couch since he knows this routine all too well. Well, I just couldn't find the darned thing so I actually put some bug spray on near my ears and went back to bed. The same thing happened again at around 5:30. Aaaaargh! I know it's ridicules to let such a tiny creature control me like that, but it just bugs the heck out of me. We have a lots of trees around our place and so we get tons of mosquitos every year around this time. It should taper off a little in about a month (I hope).

I had a great workout today. I tried a 45-minute total body resistance class with a coworker and it was pretty good. After that, I did two sets of pull-ups, 8 at 30lbs assistance and 5 at 35lbs assistance. My arms were already tired from the class, so I couldn't get quite as many pull-ups in as when I am fresh. Then, I finished off with a 12-minute treadmill run. Eating was also pretty good overall, so yay me!

To end off, all I can say is YAY HIPPEES from last night's AR!! And YAY for Taylor for making it to the AI finals!! A great night of reality tv let me tell ya.

Two Weeks to go

Until the big 10K run, that is. Yep, 2 weeks from now I will officially be done my race. I'm getting pumped just thinking about it. This week, I managed to cut another minute off of my 4K run, so I finished it in 24 minutes. If I can keep that pace during the 10K, I should finish it in about one hour. I was talking to a friend who ran the race last year and she told me there are pace bunnies who run as well, so I will just have to keep up with whoever the 60 minute bunny is. Believe it or not, I have not actually practiced a full 10K nor do I plan on doing so before the race. Maybe that's foolish of me, but I think my 4K runs around the block coupled with my HIIT training will be enough. I think the adrenaline and competitive spirit will keep me going even if it gets tough.

Last night, me, my sister in law and one of our friends got together for a little girls' night. We went to my friend's house (who is 8 months pregnant) and just sat around and talked and ate munchies. It sounds so simple and maybe boring to some, but it was so much fun. It made me remember how important it is to take a little "girl" time to relax and have a few laughs. I've been so caught up in day to day busy-ness lately that I've barely had time to return phone calls let alone get together with my friends. I think it was just what I needed.

I'm sooooo glad we had Kyle vaccinated against the chicken pox in March. Just this week, he came home with a letter saying that the pox are going around in both kindergarten classes. Given that he just had the flu over Easter, it would have sucked if he got chicken pox too. It's only within the past couple of years that the chicken pox vaccine became part of the routine vaccinations for all children in Ontario which is why Kyle did not get it when he was younger. At that time it would have cost us something like $100 for him to have it. So we waited and he got it in time. No harm, no foul, no chicken pox!

I received an early Mother's Day gift today. A box of one dozen red roses from the kids was delivered to our house this afternoon and they are beautiful. I love getting flowers and it has been awhile, so I was so happy! I know Kyle did a Mother's Day craft at school on Friday, so I'll have to post tomorrow and let you all know what it is. This is a busy weekend for us even without taking Mother's Day into account. Tonight, we celebrated my nephew's b-day and tomorrow night, we are celebrating my sister's b-day. So, yep, you guessed it. This is pretty much a cheat weekend. I'll get back on track on Monday :)

My 25

I figured that it's my turn to share my list of 25:

1. My mother tongue is actually French, but when I was about 4, my family moved to a mainly English city and I "lost" some of my French. We moved again a couple of years later and luckily I got most of my French back.

2. I am the oldest of 4 kids in my family. I have two brothers and one sister

3. I only learned to swim when I was 18 years old. I still get nervous before jumping into deep water.

4. As a kid, I was chubby and used to get teased about it. The Summer between grades 9 and 10, I discovered aerobics and learned how to eat better and I slimmed down. When I started grade 10 in September, people noticed and that felt great.

5. In high school, I played on the volleyball, basketball, soccer, and badminton teams.

6. Something about the song "Imagine" by John Lennon touches me everytime I hear it.

7. My parents separated when I was 24 and pregnant with my son. I cried when I found out and I cried the first time I went to the house and saw that all of my dad's stuff was gone.

8. I failed my first driving test because I almost hit a pedestrian. Passed the second test with flying colours, though!

9. My dad lives about 20 minutes away from us, but we only see him 4 or 5 times a year.

10. When I graduated from high school, I won the Governor General's medal for having the highest average in my graduating class. I also won awards for having the highest averages in History, Finite Math, Biology, Law, and French Immersion.

11. I have to wear a night guard when I sleep because I grind my teeth.

12. I got my first car when I was 19. It was a white Pontiac Sunbird

13. I met my husband at a friend's housewarming party when I was 20 years old. We hit it off right away and the rest is history. I was 22 when we got married.

14. My favourite sports idol is Andre Agassi. I admire the fact that he is 36 years old and can keep up with most of the 20-something players.

15. I have a stamp collection (I know what you're thinking: GEEK!)

16. When I talk, I use my hands and arms alot. Maybe it's the French in me!

17. I can't stand it when I'm trying to sleep and there is a mosquito buzzing in my ear. When it happens, I have to get up, turn on the light and find and kill the damned sucker before I can sleep again.

18. When I used to work at Wendy's, I was on shift one night when we were held-up at gunpoint. It was scary as hell.

19. I was the matron of honour in my friend's wedding 12 days before my son was born. The wedding guests were betting on whether or not I would make it through the day.

20. Sometimes when my kids are sleeping, I just stare in awe and thank God for the blessing of having them in my life.

21. No matter how many times I've tried it, I just cannot grow to like coffee. However, I LOVE tea.

22. The best concerts I've been to are Aerosmith (twice), Van Halen, Smashing Pumpkins, and The Tragically Hip. I would love to see AC/DC or Pearl Jam in concert one day.

23. I have a beautiful little goddaughter named Katie.

24. I once ran out of gas on the highway at 2:30am when I was 20 years old. I had just finished driving my friends back from a night at the bars and one of my friends convinced me not to worry because a light would go on when the gas was REALLY low. Well, he was wrong. My choices were to walk several kilometres to the gas station when it was pitch black or to hitch hike to get there. I hitchhiked and called my roommate so that I could bring the gas back to my car.

25. When I went biking a couple of Summers ago, a wasp flew down my shirt and bit me twice. DAMN that hurt!

So that's me in a nutshell. Thanks for reading!

Temptation RESISTED!

After church this morning, we decided to pick up some Wendy's on the way home for lunch. If I'm doing takeout, I like Wendy's because there are lots of healthy options. Well wouldn't you know it, but they brought the bacon mushroom melt back again. For those of you who haven't tried it, it's to die for. Right up there with Cadbury Creme eggs, I swear! When I was a teenager, I worked at a Wendy's and that's where I developed the Bacon Mushroom Melt (or "BMM" as we junkies call it) addiction. There was a moment there, where I thought I was going to cave, but somehow I managed to utter the words "grilled chicken sandwich, please", instead. Don't ask me how I did it, but I did. I decided to check out the nutritional info online when I got home, and now I'm extra glad I made the right choice:

Bacon Mushroom Melt:

560 calories
29 g. fat
12 g. saturated fat
2 g. trans fat

vs. Grilled Chicken Sandwich:

360 calories
7 g. fat
1.5 g. saturated fat
0 g. trans fat

Ay carumba! I knew the BMM would be high, but I didn't realize it was THAT high! And to think I used to eat it with fries and a soda and probably dessert. Sheesh!

This afternoon, Kyle had his first t-ball practice of the season. He's a lot less shy about it this year compared to last year when we put him in ball school. A lot of his friends from school are on his team, so that probably helps. His first real game is on Tuesday night. One of the other moms there happened to be a friend I went to elementary and high school with who I haven't seen in years. Small world that she lives in our neck of the woods. It was fun catching up with her.

The rest of the weekend was fun. We celebrated Scot's mom's birthday as well as our brother in law's b-day yesterday. We played some poker (surprise, surprise! We almost always do when we get together with Scot's family) and I won again! I was almost down and out, but one hand went my way and then everything turned around from there. For someone who had no idea how to play poker at this time last year, I've been doing pretty darned well. Maybe I should try my luck in Vegas! :)

Building me some arms!

Wahoo! At the gym today I was able to take 5lbs off of the assisted pull-up machine! Let me start by saying that the pull-up machines at the two gyms I go to are slightly different. At the gym near work, I've been pulling up with 35lbs of assistance while at the gym closer to home, I've done 30lbs. At the gym near work, you have to add your weight plates while at the one near home, you select a weight stack using the key. For some reason, the one near work (where you add plates) feels much harder and I've had a hell of a time getting lower than 35lbs. ANYWAYS, all that to say that I was thrilled today when I was able to do them with only 30lbs! I originally tried with 25lbs and although it was close, I could not quite make it up. After UBWO, I did 20 minutes of HIIT on the treadmill. It was one of those days where the run felt so awesome and I had energy to spare at the end. I could have kept on going if I didn't have to get back to work.

On the school front, I met with my advisor yesterday and she was pretty pleased with the draft I handed in to her last week. I still have some changes to make, but she's saying I just have to hand in one more draft and I should be ready to defend! So even though I won't make the May 31 deadline, she told me I'm definitely good to go by the end of June. So, I only have to ask for a one-month extension. I've submitted the paperwork and I'm just waiting to hear back to make sure it is approved. The graduate studies assistant did not seem to think it would a problem when I talked to her about it yesterday. Yay! A light at the end of the tunnel.

Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to a group of high school students about what I do at work. My friend is teaching mini courses and asked me to come in and speak to her students. She's basically trying to show students some of the things that people can do with Psychology degrees. Should be fun since my friend says they are an eager group.

Having just watched the Amazing Race, I have to add a "way to go" for the hippies yielding Mojo. The "Mo" of Mojo drives me nuts because she is such a frickin' whiner! Sucks that the hippies got to the mat just after Mojo, though. Loved the look on everyone's faces when they realized it was another non-elimination and that the hippies live on!