Cabot Trail Relay 2012 - Leg 7

This was my 6th year running a leg of the Cabot Trail Relay. In the past, I've run legs 1, 3, 8, 15, & 16. Now I can add leg 7.

The elevation profile from my garmin 

I knew that the first 5-8k was uphill, gaining 100m elevation, so thought I'd start slow, ideally about 6:30/km as I knew I could make it up on the downs. I had no idea what I was in for. By 3k, I gave up on the idea of hitting the mats as my hamstrings were already dying. I took a walk break at 2k, then thought "I'll just take one every 2k up the hill" and then that didn't work - took a few more.

I'd pass runners, saying "I think we deserve a downhill soon," and then it came!!! I LOVED the downhill. I just flew. I looked at my garmin many times and saw it flashing a 4:40 pace down those hills on the fun parts. (For me, that was super fast - my usual "race pace" is just around/under 6:00/km.) I knew it would come back to get me, but I couldn't slow down. I knew I still had a chance to hit the mats. I had no idea that it would basically be 5k up hill, then 5k down hill.

After 10k, it got HARD. The little ups started again, then more down. The quads were beat. Luckily, at 10k, my support crew were there to give me some water and give me an excuse to walk. I took a few walks when I needed them, knowing I still had to finish on an uphill.

At around 13k, I got to the washed out bridge and knew I just had to turn the corner and run up the hill. Another runner and I kept passing each other and were pretty much together from 10k on. I took a little walk, and she passed and tapped my back and yelled "Come on!" I said "I am. But I need to catch my breath for that last up hill!" I then started running and she walked. I said "Now YOU come on!" and she did. She was on my heels and just as we got to the old finish (400m to go) the next leg of the race started. "Damn," I heard her say. I was thankful to have her there for the last of the race. It often happens, meeting a runner on the road and using them to help you along. I wanted to thank her and say hi after, but I didn't see her again. I only knew her from the back as the girl in the lululemon shorts with the brown ponytail.

I ran. I saw Trish, who was road crew, and heard her yell SO loudly "COME ON, ANG! RUN!" I yelled back "I am!" and tried to run faster! The mats were already folded up. Boo. But, I at least SAW them. I got an official time. I got my hug from Trish before she had to leave for the next leg. I did all I could do that race.

I came in 48th out of 70. That's a good placement for me! The official results say I ran 1:20:03 for 13.5k for a pace of 5:56.

It's done. I'm content, but still have to go back to get across the mats another year, before they are pulled up. This is the closest I've come to crossing the mats in the six years I've run this race. Next year....



Garmin Splits in min/km:

1-6:00
2-6:26
3-6:10
4-6:51
5-6:31 (31:58 5k)
6-5:32
7-5:03
8-5:40
9-5:02
10-5:23 (58:38 10k - 7 seconds off my 10k PB, making the second 5k a new unofficial PB of 26:40!)
11-6:43
12-6:28
13-5:59
0.37k in 2:12

Total = 13.37 in 1:20 = 5:59 pace

2012 and a Third

That's right, we're one third of the way through 2012. I decided May 1 was as good a day as any to update my progress on my resolution.

Last time I checked in, two months ago, I was behind schedule by about $20. Now, I'm ahead of schedule! That's right! I should be at 33% of it paid off now, and I'm at 47%! My tax refund helped, as did adjustments to my spending habits.

I'm determined to stay on this financial plan for more than just the duration of paying off some debt. I.e. once I get it paid, I won't just go crazy spending and booking trips. I'll stick to a budget! There is no reason that I can't start planning financially for future events (i.e. that trip to Paris I'd like to take in 2014)!

With the news lately of lay offs and positions being done away with, it also hits close to home that it is very important to have a good cushion to land on if needed. I have friends who now have to compete for their jobs with their colleagues, and one never knows when they may be in the same situation. So, I may also shift more focus into that emergency fund.

It has been quite easy to shift my spending to a saving mode instead of spending. Things I've started to do that have made a difference are:

• Put $$ on a Starbucks card - when it runs out, I wait until I can refill the card
• Pre-plan expenses - now I've been putting aside money left over each pay for expenses I know are coming up, like new running shoes and a new jacket - that way, I don't have to put it on Visa or adjust my budget
• Take cash out each pay - I have a general idea of how much "entertainment" money I have, and I like to have it in cash. Then when I am getting low, I can see that I am getting low and choose what I want to do more... Sometimes that means choosing between a bottle or wine or going to the movies.
• If there is any money left in my account between pays, I transfer it to savings or to my debt. That $5-10 adds up!
• Library visits - when I run out of $$ before pay day, a trip to the library is a free way to get some movies or magazines to look at
• Pay attention to what I'm spending and on what...

Hopefully when I check in again in July, I'll still be ahead of schedule!

Twenty Books Down....

I've been updating my original book tracking post, but thought I'd check in with a new post now that I've hit 20 books! I'm quite surprised with myself having read/listened to that many this year. The transit strike helped as that's when I listened to most of my audiobooks, and Lent helped with the paper books/ebooks. 


So, here's the list so far:

1. A Secret Kept, Tatiana de Rosnay
2. Bossypants, Tina Fey
3. The News Where You Are, Catherine O'Flynn (audiobook)
4. Hurt Go Happy, Ginny Rorby (audiobook)
5. Bittersweet Rain, Sandra Brown (audiobook)
6. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
7. The Edge of Winter, Luanne Rice (audiobook)
8. The Gospel According to Peanuts, Robert L. Short
9. Broken for You, Stephanie Kallos (audiobook)
10. Bet Me, Jennifer Crusie (audiobook)
11. Anyone But You, Jennifer Crusie (audiobook)
12. A Town Like Paris, Bryce Corbett
13. Not My Daughter, Barbara Delinsky (audiobook)
14. Then Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes
15. Complete Without Kids, Ellen L. Walker
16. The Peach Keeper, Sarah Addison Allen (audiobook)
17. Seriously... I'm Kidding, Ellen Degeneres
18. Another Woman's Son, Anna Adams
19. Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer (audiobook)
20. The Birth House, Ami McKay
21. How to Save a Life, Sara Zarr (audiobook)
22. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
23. Room, Emma Donoghue
24. Manhunting, Jennifer Crusie (audiobook)
25. The Cinderella Deal, Jennifer Crusie (audiobook)
26. Diary of a Mad Fat Girl, Stephanie McAfee
27. Fifty Shades of Grey, E L James
28. Summer at Tiffany, Marjorie Hart
29. Ape House, Sara Gruen 
30. It's Now or Never, Nicole Matthews
31. Smitten, Janet Evanovich (audiobook)
32. MWF Seeking BFF, Rachel Bertsche
33. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
34. Not Becoming My Mother, Ruth Reichl (audiobook)
35. The Girl Who Chased the Moon, Sarah Addison Allen (audiobook)
36. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
37. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
38. The Girl Who Chased the Moon, Sarah Addison Allen
39. Yes, Chef, Marcus Samuelsson (audiobook)

Any recommendations for me? What should I read next? 

Federal Budget

I'll admit that I don't pay a lot of attention to politics, but as I get older, I am trying to pay closer attention as I am starting to really see how politicians really affect my life. So, for the first time ever, I actually paid attention yesterday when the federal budget was released. The main points that jumped out at me were the change in OAS and the cut in jobs.

While I'm not directly affected by these changes, it made me think about my own retirement and the real potential in this market to find myself affected by job cuts in the future. In this market, we can never be 100% sure we'll have a job forever. It is quite possible (maybe even probable) that we will, at some point, find ourselves in a position of unemployment for some period of time. Right now, I am very pleased that my resolution this year is to get myself in a better financial position, with a real plan in place for my future.

As for OAS, I wasn't really going to be relying on it for retirement. Who knows what could happen in the next  few decades before I'm near the age of really thinking about OAS. I'll keep socking money away every pay into my retirement fund, and not count on having that extra cash from the government. Besides, just paid up my office lotto pool for the next few weeks. Maybe I'll still get that Freedom 35 plan. I'm feeling lucky.

The Other Shoe Drops

After writing about the training not going so well lately, I went for an awesome run last night. 8k outside in the cold, with only the goal of not taking walk breaks. I had recently made a new playlist of songs with approximately 158 beats per minute, and I played that (2 times) when I was running. It's a great new playlist for running, I just need to add to it so I don't have to stop to restart it!

But then last night, I noticed that my foot was sore. This morning, it is really sore. I think I just pulled a muscle in the side of my foot, nothing serious. However, I don't think I should run hill repeats tonight, or run at all. Just walking around my house was hurting. It's a little annoying that after a great run, when I'm excited to run more, I have to take a break. However, I'll remind myself that a little break now to heal is much better than running through it and being out of commission for a lot longer.

Tonight, maybe I'll use the time I would have been running to find some more songs to add to that playlist. I really like jog.fm for finding new songs to buy! I'd have never bought Cage the Elephant's Ain't No Rest for the Wicked, or Ben Folds' Fired if I hadn't heard them on jog.fm!

59 Days...

... until go time at my "A" race for the spring. How's my training going? <<crickets>>

I really thought the motivation would have kicked in by now, but it just hasn't. In January, I started running regularly again with the idea that I'd start "training" in February. (Training for me means running with intention - i.e. tempo runs, hills, speed work, easy runs, etc. Most times, if not training, I just run whatever I want and for however long I want.) In February, transit went on strike, so I was just in survival mode. I commuted by foot with a backpack, so that threw out the idea of any focused runs. Transit has been back and free for the last two weeks. I reworked my training schedule to a 10 week plan that started last Monday.

So far, I've skipped two runs and shortened another. Last week, I attempted a 3k run home with a backpack during the heat wave, the day after running hill repeats in 27 degree heat. I was too hot, so I just walked. I don't mind taking a bit of an extra break. Yesterday, I skipped the planned 5k. I also don't mind that - I'm used to Mondays being rest days, and I think I  might just plan on skipping Mondays and turning them into rest days. I prefer two rest days a week over just one.

This week, it's cold. But, I'm not skipping tonight's run due to cold (windchill of -12, and gusts of 40ish km/hr). I may just move it inside to the treadmill, but I will run it. Tomorrow, I will enjoy the cooler temps for the hill repeats compared to last week.

While I'm feeling like I'm not going to be ready for my "A" race, I'm reminding myself that I still have 59 days. That's a lot of time to get ready. I will be ready. I will try to remember that tonight as I struggle with my decision of treadmill or cold, and think of just skipping another run....

Day 25

Today is the 25th day of the 40 days of Lent. (For those of you wondering on the math, Sundays aren't included in the count - they are a day of reprieve from Lent.) So, how am I doing? I won't lie, this is when it gets tough. The first half sails by easily, and I wonder if it was a difficult enough task to give up my three favorite social media sites. For the last five or so days, I've been itching to cheat.

This year has been a little easier and a little tougher because of one thing. A colleague left and I've taken over the social media aspect of her job, which requires me to log on to facebook and twitter for work. Since this is not for personal use, I feel it is ok. When I have to log on to facebook to post something on the work page, I do take a quick peak at what's going on without searching around too much. Twitter, I don't log on as myself, but as the work account. Funny how I've now decided that it is important for me to look at Twitter numerous times a day, you know, in case there is something I NEED to re-tweet. This stops now. There. I just logged out.

Sundays are a free for all. I'm allowed to surf my sites. I haven't been posting on facebook or twitter, just looking to see what has been happening. Funny, when I'm allowing myself on there, I'm bored of it. At work, I'm feeling a lot more engaged. I am no longer the person in the office who knows what is going on as it happens, and that's great. I turn on the news when I get home instead. You know, it's ok to not know what is going on immediately when it is going on... Evenings at home, I'm getting more cooking, cleaning, planning done. And I am getting more sleep. Again, I will hope to make this a more permanent change once Lent is over in another 15 days (plus two Sundays).