Get Ready, Get Sweaty!

Some of the worst things about getting back from a week long vacation include:

-the insane credit card bill that even when I go over it closely proves was all me.
-buying/drinking whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. More eyeliner and beer for breakfast? Sure thing!
-trying to reduce calories down from the high school linebacker-style consumption I managed last week. Seriously, one day I hit daily calorific intake before I finished breakfast.
-getting back into a running schedule after a week off...feels like starting over.

But you know what helps offset the post-vacation blues? Coming home to this!!!

Sooooo much better than a bill!

HURRAY! My snappy Lululemon shorts had arrived while I was away!  And how cool is the shipping paper??

When I eagerly tore that off, there was ANOTHER cool pattern underneath on a zippered thing resembling a giant pencil crayon case.

Not sure what to use it for yet, but trust me, it'll be something cool.

OMG so much better than white.

When I opened that, the shorts were revealed in all their stripy glory. Hurray! They look just as good in real life as they did online.  Plus, they fit great!!!

No point of reference, but trust me here, they are TINY.

Wait...let me clarify. They are not too tight or too baggy, and they are comfy as heck. But, let me be clear, they have a TWO INCH INSEAM. You know what that means? Like, what it means with regard to PANTS? Well, the tag for the pants hangs 3 inches below the hem of the shorts. They are so short they require built in underpants. They are so short the underwear I was wearing when I tried them on was actually clearly visible above and below the shorts. I'm no seamstress, but I bet less than half a meter of fabric was used in their construction. And I can assure you they will NEVER see the light of day outside in Calgary. But I AM pretty excited to wear them on runs in other countries...I will be in Jamaica next month, so they won't have to wait too long to see the light of day.

Just in time too...Happy June 3......the Seawheeze Training Program kicks off today! And while I don't have a snappy iphone that I can download their awesome app onto, I am still able to follow along oldskool on the web!  

Day 1 started out with Vancouver-style rain at 5am which seemed fitting since the race will be there too. Undeterred, Princess Chris and I met at 530am and did the 50 minute run on the schedule and cheered as we checked it off on the app. Kind of rough after a few weeks off, plus the rain didn't make it easy to get up and out of the house, but it still beats the treadmill!

Yoga tomorrow...hurray!

Caution- Extreme Grossness Below!

So, did you guess?

Well, here it is in pictures. After the Princess Half Marathon, my left big toe started hurting. Nothing crazy, and I could still run, but I was aware that it was there and not feeling great. A few weeks after that when I was changing polish, I noticed my toe now looked like this:



Thaaaaaat's....not a good thing?

Feeling the first inklings of concern, I did the only thing sensible and painted my toes with OPI's lovely shade of Black Cherry Chutney. Yep, just like turning up the radio to block out the funny noise my car makes, I opted to cover up the problem and pretend it didn't exist. Plus, my toes looked great and were right in line with the end-of-winter colors.




Problem SOLVED! And it looks way awesome too.

I kept this up for a few weeks, working through all my darkest shades, and feeling all happy about my pretty toes as the discomfort in my toe slowly increased. Still not to the point of horrible pain, but I was now having trouble running long distances without it really REALLY hurting.

A few weeks ago, I went deep water running. During some of the flutter kicks, my toe started feeling WEIRD. As in, it hurt a LOT and was starting to feel...well....FLAPPY, is the best I can think of to describe it. Relaxing in the hot tub after DWR, I examined it a bit further, relieved to see foot was still intact (and horrified at thought of nail coming off in public pool?), but something definitely wasn't right.

When I got home, I armed self with some antiseptic and bright lights, and braced myself for the worst. Gave it a little wiggle to see how it looked.



Sure doesn't look like the other toe.

Wouldn't you know it, the whole thing just swung away from the toe bed. Trying not to vomit, I tugged a bit, terrified it was going to hurt, but the whole thing wouldn't quite come off. No pain though. I was able to cut the whole nail off.



No No No No No NO NO NOOOOO!!!!!



It looks like a giant beetle. It was
prettier on my foot than in my hand :(



It actually looks even worse now too.

I spent the next few minutes staring at the nail and fighting off waves of horror. And nausea. And rage that this had happened just as open toe shoe season was starting. And just the teeniest sense of pride...only Very Real And Serious Runners lose toenails. But mostly horror. But hey, toe felt fantastic after that, no pain at all!

You can't fake the horror in my eyes.

I've had a few weeks to try to get used to it as the new nail slowly grows in (seriously, this means closed toed shoes ALL SUMMER) , but I am still totally grossed out by self. And I just can't muster up the courage to book my first pedicure of the summer....maybe I can get a 10% discount??

Tomorrow is my long run day and I'm going to run around the reservoir. That means a fresh self pedi afterwards, which feels great after a long run. Am sticking to pale pinks only these days so as not to draw attention to feet!

Happy Easter, Happy Birthday to me, oh and...

Well, it's been longer than I had intended, but honestly, not much to report. Am just trucking along, doing my weekly runs and increasing distance on the weekend. Nothing rigid, nothing fancy as far as training, I am just trying to keep up with my yoga and my maintenance runs so when the actual training takes off, I can literally hit the ground running.

Well...except for one thing that happened that was so horrible I am still having trouble coming to terms with it. I'll post some disgusting pictures soon, but in the meantime try to guess based on these clues...

1. It was like something out of a horror film

2. It officially makes me a Real Serious Runner

3. It eliminates most of my summer shoes from wardrobe contention this summer

4. I hope I get to enjoy a discount the next time I get a pedicure

Any guesses?

Badass Mudders!

It's that time of year again...the clocks have spring forward, the days are getting longer, bunnies are trying to jump over each other but not quite making it and the urge to run outside gets overwhelming.  Today's forecast called for 12C, sunny and windy like the bejesus so I was just itching to get outside. Princess Chris and I made plans to run at lunchtime and I asked Lindsay, who I had coaxed into registering for the Seawheeze to join us.

The weather did not disappoint. While windier than I like (and it changed directions on the way back so it felt it like whole run was into the wind) the sun was shining and it was WARM out...not just a Chinook, it definitely felt like spring, and man, it felt great. I was wearing my new Mickey running shoes for the first time, and kept squealing when i looked down at my feet. But I quickly remembered the one thing I don't love quite so much about spring running...

MUD.

Ohh maaaaah laaaawd, the mud.  

Within 5 minutes of leaving the building, my gorgeous new Mickey shoes were covered in so much mud I bet they were 5lbs heavier. And even running through patches of (rapidly melting) snow couldn't rinse 'em off. A quick rinse when we got back to the office did little to restore their glory and to be honest, a quick whiff made me worry it wasn't all mud. I opted to wrap then in paper towels and stick them in my bag to let them dry out and hopefully clean them off later....

This was after the FIRST cleaning attempt. sorry Mickey!

Well, might as well break them in sooner or later, and a 5K didn't give me any trouble, hurray! It was windier than we would have liked, but overall a gorgeous day, great company and a pretty darn good run. We even spent the rest of the afternoon on a bit of a runner's high!
Plus, it was our first trio run. Next thing you know, we'll be running the Seawheeze in August!

Shoes + Disney = AWESOME

Now, I know I've written of my love of shoes before, but I think this bears repeating. I LOVE SHOES. It's usually the first part of someone's outfit I notice. I have shoes in my garage, storage room, front hall closet, spare room closet, linen closet, bedroom closet and in my filing cabinet at work. Obviously, if I could stand it I would always wear 3 inch heels (hey, is only way I don't have stumpy elephant legs, plus it lowers my BMI into the normal range, hahaha!) but I can't last all day even in the comfiest of heels. Oh, plus I run kind of a lot, and with a "heavy footfall", which I think is the running store saleperson's nice way of saying "like a fat kid", but I'll stick with the scientific term, heh. So when I find a good pair of running shoes, it's time to shout it from the rooftops...errr....Internet.

This year, Disney teamed up with New Balance to create a pair of Mickey and Minnie inspired running shoes for their RunDisney program. The men's shoe is based on Mickey in his classic tuxedo and the ladies Minnie shoe draws from Minnie's polka dot dress and yellow heels look of yesteryear. As soon as I discovered they existed, I was smitten! Behold how cute they are!!!

Mickey on the left, Minnie on the right...LOVE THEM!

So it was very scary to further read these babies were limited edition and only available at Run Disney expos. How handy that I was heading to one of those in a few weeks! And even handier that I have giant man feet and might be able to scoop up a pair of men's shoes at a women's run! Never had I been so excited to have big feet...with any luck, there wouldn't be many ogres registered in the run who might also be interested in the size 11 women's shoe because we weren't going to be able to be at the expo when it opened.

Long story short, we waited in line for probably 20 minutes to get a pair to try on as people around us lamented the sizes they were already sold out of. Like the clever princesses we are, we researched the model # of this shoe and tried them on here at home ahead of time so we knew just what size to ask for. I had decided I liked the Mickey ones better for running, but quickly got caught up in the hype at the expo and asked for both gender shoes. We waited with baited breath as they searched....and returned with boxes of shoes!!!! I was able to snag both a Mickey and a Minnie thanks to my big ol' feet, but Christi being the daintier princess was sadly only able to get a pair of Minnie shoes. Nonetheless, we fought off the women desperate to grab our shoes if we didn't want them (seriously, this shoe buying experience was cutthroat! I could NOT let those Minnies go) and gleefully bought our shoes before heading over to....pick up our race packs. That's right, we went for shoes before checking in for the race, we were already hours late! 

Now, the first rule of running a half marathon is don't talk about Fight Club  don't wear new ANYTHING on race day. Not headband, shoes, pants, socks, anything you haven't tested for chafing first. But Christi decided her shoes matched her Snow White dress perfectly and decided to throw caution to the wind and wore her brand new shoes on the race....

In 21K and over 22000 runners, we didn't see a single other person wearing these shoes.

But GUESS WHAT?!

She loved 'em! No problems at all and she looked every bit the princess at the finish line in her gorgeous new shoes!  A few blisters, but she always gets them after a half and these were way less problems than she's had in the past with tried and tested shoes. Don't try this at home folks, it was a Disney Miracle!

The second miracle is that I've now worn my Minnie shoes for a 6K and a 5K this week...both on the treadmill thanks to the dump of snow we got on the weekend, but I also love them! I figured I would use them for crosstraining instead of running, but they matched my outfit better those days. They are comfortable, well fitted and have just the right amount of support I need, which I wasn't sure of the first time I tried them on. Plus anytime I started getting annoyed with the treadmill, I just looked down at my feet and felt all happy again! Thanks Minnie!