Dawn on the Run

Last night was the EMS Ambulance Chaser 5/10K race. It’s my 4th year doing the event and while it meant doing two races in one weekend I just had to do it. After all it’s one of my fav events. I headed downtown early in the afternoon. I figured I would spend an hour or so at the office catching up on some stuff while it was quiet and then head over to the race. Oh yeah, it was my day off. I love having Friday’s off.

About 5ish I ate the snack I had brought with me, a peanut butter sandwhich on “Cape Seed” bread and a banana. By the way, Cape Seed bread is from a bakery nearby called Cobs. They make the most awesome breads and Cape Seed is to die for. It’s full of all kinds of healthy flours and seeds, very yummy. Then about 6ish I pinned on my number and headed over to Eau Claire. The race start was about .9k away. Just a nice warm up walk.

It was a beautiful evening. I wore shorts and a short sleeve tech shirt but had a jacket around my waist for later. I met up with Karin and other friends once I got there. Funny there were a number of us crazy enough to be running that race as well as the Trail Race on Saturday. We headed in for our first potty break and I took the time to add my “Glow hoop earings” and also put a “Glow Stick” through the back of my hair. I also had a light on my arm. It wasn’t dark yet but by the time the race started it would be dusk.

There was already a good crowd of runners/racers milling around. I chatted and took photos. Of course I took photos, would it be a race if I didn’t…lol.

Just after 7pm we followed the little mini ambulance off to the start area of the race. Being the slow poke I should be starting at the back but instead I stood off to the side and snapped some photos of my favorite runners heading out. Once most of the speedy ones were out of the way, I stepped onto the path and headed off myself. No chipping timing but heh, this wasn’t for a PR anyhow. This race was just to see if my legs would actually work and run a real race WITHOUT PAIN.

They did, I had a great race. It didn’t take long, somewhere around the 2k mark when the speedy 5k group was heading back towards me. Yes, the 5k was a simple out and back. Only the 10k was a larger loop. Somewhere in there I passed one lady that was walking. Heh, at least I passed someone…lol. Later she said she liked walking behind me and listening to all the words of encouragement I gave to the runners who had turned and were heading back. Finally I got to turn and despite the fact I was running, the lady I had passed was just behind me.

Somewhere along the way one of the volunteers yelled and said there were still 18 runners/walkers behind me. Cool I wasn’t last and I felt great. The legs were doing what they should be. I wasn’t in pain and I wasn’t running with a limp. My gate felt normal. Okay so I was still slower then usual but doing just fine. I ran mostly sets of 10/1 until near the end. The last set was probably closer to 17 or 18 minutes. I just didn’t feel like taking a break. I felt great and kept going. The EMS guy on a bike kept “high 5ing” me every time he went by and he went by a lot. Hmmm was he worried about me or did he think I was cute…lol.

Just ahead I could see the last turn before the finish so I tried to pick it up for my usual sprint to the finish. I still had some energy left and was able to pick it up. Again not my usual sprint speed but still a good finish. My time by Mr V (my Garmin) was 49:10 with an ave pace of 9:43/k but I finished doing a pace of 5:37/k. I had hoped for around 45 minutes but all things consider I was still pretty happy with the results.

The after race food was Spolomobo’s Sausages, juice, oranges and bananas. I chatted with friends and watched the prize/awards stuff. I didn’t win any prizes. I had planned on taking the bus home but was happy that Karin gave me a ride home instead. I went straight to bed as well I had another race on Saturday.

I haven’t had a chance to upload/review the photos yet but will add them and the link to Flickr later.

So Wednesday instead of running with my group I headed off to pick up my race package for tonight’s EMS Ambulance Chaser 5k. Okay so I work downtown and Strides Running Store according to GMaps it was less then 5km. Cool, that would be a perfect workout. NOT!

While I did bring shorts and a tech shirt, but I didn’t plan for 26C. I mean it is October and that white stuff will likely be in the air any day now. Not so on Wednesday, it was a scorcher, so I opted to walk instead of run. Heh, at least it was still a workout. I headed out just after 4:30 and meandered southwest. I made it to 14th St and looked south. OMG, I forgot about the hills. How could I forget about the hills. Hmmm, what to do. I opted to continued west. Ack another hill. I looked South, okay so it was still a hill but it was an easier hill. I meandered South then West and alternating until I was feeling nearly dead. Was there ever to be an end to the hills…sheesh! Finally with three blocks to go it was downhill.

I wandered into the store sweaty, tired and sore. My legs did not like me. Heck I did not like me at that point…lol. Anyhow, I found a cool pink tech shirt on sale. Too sweaty to try it on I gambled and bought it anyway. I picked up my race package as well and then waited for Darren. I had called him to come pick me up as I walked the last three blocks. While waiting I chatted with some running buddies.

Oh yeah, by the way our truck died on Wednesday. Thankfully we got it repaired for a reasonable price, well sort of. Now hubby is searching for a possible new vehicle. The truck is getting old and everytime we turn around it’s in need of repair.

Thursday was the last day at the office this week. At lunch I went for another torture physio session. But I suppose suffering for a few minutes with Ian is worth it if I can finally run without pain. I left the office a tad sore from the manipulating but my legs were working much better. There was almost a skip in my step…cool.

Last night, it was off to my final night at the 5k running clinic. Last night we chatted about race tips and such. Sunday is the goal race for the gang - Run for the Cure 5k. Oh by the way on Sunday, I’m not racing. I’ll be there as the “coach”. I’ve really enjoyed the last three clinics I instructed but am taking a break. I’ll still head over there most Wednesdays to run with my friends but Sundays I may choose to sleep in as the weather gets colder and instead run later in the day when it’s warmer. I’m a bit sad to be taking a break but excited about moving on to working on ME. After our chat the speedy ones headed out and did a full 5k, I opted to test my legs with a slower run/walk around the pond. They felt great but I wanted to save them for today’s race.

On to today. I slept in only a little bit. Then I was up and have already done three loads of laundry. I emptied and refilled the dishwasher. As well I made a large pot of homemade chicken soup for tomorrow’s race. Oh did I forget to mention tomorrow is our first XC race of the season. Yikes, yes, two races in a row. Such a silly girl. During all that I worked on building a new set for my Ipod Shuffle. Time for some new tunes. After my chores I showered and dressed for tonight’s race. I also discovered a couple of bruises from yesterday’s torture session. Oops I forgot how easily I bruised. But heh what’s a few bruises if the pain is gone and yes I feel good about tonight. Nervous, but good.

Anyhow that’s it for now. I gotta head out soon. Have a great weekend everyone and I’ll try to be quicker about posting my race reports for this weekend then I have about posting other stuff lately…lol.

One final event to wear a toga to - Award Night. However, I opted this time to change it up a bit. Remember, I’ve been wearing blue for two weeks and just not feeling myself…lol. Time for pink to return. After curling and before dropping Nikayla off we headed to a couple of Dollar Stores to pick up some supplies for the fancier toga outfit I was going to wear that evening. Thank goodness for Dollar Stores.

I dropped Nikayla off and headed home. I had about two hours before Shelly was picking me up to make myself into a beautiful toga goddess. I started first by taking a white twin size sheet I had bought a few weeks ago and experimenting on how I would tie it around me into a toga. I finally settled on this twisted wrap idea but rather then tie it I opted for straps covered in Pink Duct tape. Yes there really is such a thing. I also folded up the bottom of the sheet to make it shorter. I used the pink duct tape to hold up the hem and create a trim/border along the bottom. Love it! Then I twisted the sheet around me and taped the straps to my tank top. Perfection! Next I added a pink belt which had a been run through a shield and added my sword which had a pink jewel (of course). I wove a long vine up and around one side. I added my little animals to my shoulder. Gotta have my buddies. One was a little moose dressed in a toga and the other was our little cubbie lion.

Next I pile my hair up and pinned a large pink butterfly on the back. I wove a pink band with golden strand through my hair as well. On my arm I added a pinkish snake for a final touch. Last but not least pink nail polish on finger & toe nails and oh yeah pink sandals. PINK TOGA CHICK was ready to party!

My ride showed up and we were off. It was a small crowd that showed up for awards night. Too bad cause it was a lot of fun. The evening started with lots of athletes, many in togas, mingling over drinks and some delicious appys.

Next it was time for the awards to be presented. But first a group shot of all the attendees in their various togas.

Our team took third - Bronze and I went on stage with Shelly to get our trophy. Now that was cool. Full results are available on the Corporate Challenge website. The MC also gave out some strange prizes to various people for making the most noise, mascots and togas…lol.

Lots of photos and as usual for some reason I ended up in a number of photos. It seems every where I went and as well Nikayla we were followed by photographers. I almost felt famous.

The award presentation was followed by more mingling, drinking and more great appys. As the crowd was small and many left early, so did we. I think I was even home before 11pm. I’ve packed up my togas for awhile but may reserect it for Halloween. Rumor has it that is what Nikayla will be wearing as well.

As promised here’s week 2 of my Toga experience. A friend of mine, Karen, commented on my Facebook “I think you must have not had enough toga parties in your deprived early adulthood.” She’s right as a teenager or early twenties I never made it to a toga party. Actually, come to think of it the first time I ever wore a toga was earlier this year for our XC Banquet.

Softball
Softball was on Sept 13th the day before the 10k which I just wrote about. Yet another day in the toga. It had rained earlier in the week so the areas around the field were a tad wet. Not the best time to be wearing sandals…lol. Unfortunately we won one game and lost the second so we didn’t make the finals. As it says on our standings “had fun” and that we did.

Curling
Curling was on Friday Sept 19th. Nikayla had really enjoyed wearing her toga so I picked her up as well. The three of us again went to cheer on our team this time at Curling. Yes three of us - Me, Nikayla and Inca (our mascot cow). I won the cow a few years back at a relay in Tampa Florida. The cow has joined me at a few events previously and it only seemed fitting to once again dress up the cow this time in a toga. A blue pillow case was the perfect fabric for Inca’s toga.

Our curling team did awesome on Friday winning all three of their games. That of course meant they got to play again on Saturday morning. But heh, Nikayla enjoyed wearing her toga so much she even had worn it for “dressup” around the house earlier in the week so another day in the toga was a great day for her. Unfortunately we didn’t do as well on Saturday and lost our first game. No medals *sigh*.

More photos over at Flickr Site

Okay so I signed up to do this 10K race as part of our company’s Corporate Challenge Team - Sunday Sept 14th. Now I agreed to this back when I thought my leg(s) would be ready but since then there’s been a couple of set backs. The right leg was doing great, I even got a few good runs in and was picking up speed, then the left leg recently decided it also wanted some TLC so it started yelling at me. My calves were also giving me grief ah but such is life, eh.

Anyhow I went for Physio about a week & a half before the race. That night on the bus another setback occurred. The bus slammed the brakes and this 300+ woman lost her balance. Guess where she landed? Yup on top of both of my knees! OUCH! That night at run clinic I opted to walk and only did about 1mile. Now as if that wasn’t enough on Tuesday before the race I was cheering on our companies basketball team. I was standing on the sidelines taking a photo of some of our other “Spirit Team” members when this huge player tackled/crashed into me. I limped over to the bench, fighting back tears and kept smiling as I mumbled “I’m ok, I’m ok.” …lol. Yes, it hurt. And yes it was my right leg again. Thankfully I was walking okay the next day but stuck to 1 mile runs for both Wed & Thurs.

So I debated what to do. Each team must have 3 women and 3 men that complete the race. Time is not as important although if you want medals for top spots it kind of is. We were worried not all our members would show up so I had to be there just in case. Anyhow if my time was not to be counted towards our medals/points my goal was to run only half and of course at the finish area I would head off the course just before hand. It was a planned DNF - do nothing foolish!

I lined up at the back, always a good plan if you are slow like me. You meet the most interesting runners at the back, like this guy demonstration how NOT to line up for a distance race…lol.

Then we were off! I remained way way way at the back. The few runners that started behind me had all passed me by the time we hit 1k. I wasn’t just the last runner, heck I was even behind the last of the walkers. I really didn’t care. My pace was good, slow but good and my legs felt fine. I snapped lots of photos. I had planned on doing sets of 10/1 but at the 10 minute mark we were headed downhill. No since wasting an easy running spot on a walk break so I took my walk break at around 15 minutes. After that I averaged 10/1 but really didn’t do it exactly and frankly it didn’t matter. At about 20 minutes I thought to myself the fast should be along any time now. Sure enough about 30 seconds later I was lapped by 3 speedy guys. As punishment, I took butt photos of them…lol. After that I was passed one by one, sometimes 2 by 2 and sometimes by a whole group. At least the scenery had improved.

Lots of runners I knew passed and yelled “Doing great Dawn!” that’s always nice, but man, they were the ones doing great. Mind you I was just happy to be out there and running. Some of our team went by and I snapped butt shots of them too. I did turn at a few spots on my walk breaks and walk backwards so not all my photos are butt shots. At the water station I grabbed a cup, drank half and continued on. Only a 1 1/2 km left, still feeling fine!

Passed a few more volunteers. One guy yelled “5 minute penalty for looking too good!” I looked around, no one else there but me, gee that was nice! At the split I yelled to the volunteer I was only doing one lap so they knew the last runner had already gone by. Almost done. Just down one more hill and through the parking lot. I picked it up and headed down into the parking lot. As I saw the crowd in the finish area I checked my Garmin. I had already done over 5k so I opted duck off the course the first opening I saw.

Distance 5.56km Time 59:45 ave pace 10:45

Legs felt good, I felt good and I had suceeded in my personal goal - run half and DNF (do nothing foolish). I rewarded myself with a banana and some water. I chatted with other runners and friends then headed home. Well I took a detour first and picked up some groceries. After all that it was time for a well deserved nap.

Later and thanks for listening stopping by.
More running/10k photos over at my Flickr site.

As I mentioned in my last post I was the company’s Spirit Team Coordinator. There were various events scheduled throughout the last two weeks. I didn’t need to attend all of them myself. INstead I had a team of spirit volunteers that attended various events as well. I just helped coordinate who would attend each event. I worked with another who was a great help. She attended a lot of the events and helped us order all the swag we got to give away at each event. Oh yeah, our CCC coordinator was awesome. I don’t know how she did it, she was always there. She organized boxes of swag for each event. We had awesome stuff to give away - little lion cubbies, foam sword wavers, foam leaf head pieces, candy, beads with medals, lip balm on a string and so much more. The fun part is trading for other swag from other teams.

I didn’t make it to as many events as I would like to have as I had my running clinic on Wed/Thur and Sun. There were events almost every day and sometimes more then one.

Family Day
Family day was held the Saturday after kickoff, Sept 6th. It’s held out at COP. It was an all day event open to family, teams, etc. The “Tug-o-War” and “Bike” event were also held out there. I spent the day dancing around in my toga and had an absolute blast.

Oh yeah, somehow I talked Nikayla into wearing a toga as well and she absolutely loved it. She was a joy to watch all day. Her Mom also volunteered to help park cars. Not the most exciting job but heh, at least it was a beautiful day.

Basketball
The next event I made it to was basketball. That was on Monday, Sept 8th. After work I changed into my toga and caught a ride with a friend. It was a lot of fun except when this rather large player accidently charged right into my bum leg. OUCH! I limped over to the bench and sat out the rest of the evening. I think I’m jinxed…lol.

Wednesday and Thursday I sort of ran with my running clinic group. I say sort of as I likely did more walking then running. My group has gotten very fast but thankfully I have faster pacers so the group did well and ran off without me.

CCC Idol
The next event I made it to was the CCC Idol. Various teams or solos entered to sing/dance a song with the backup band “Matt & The Hot Tamales“. A great band by the way. Everything from rock to country was performed to. Lots of togas, dancing and fun. It was a very entertaining night!

Two Weeks in a Toga - Part 2 and A 10K Race that Wasn’t to follow soon (I hope)…

Thanks for sticking around and if you’ve just returned, thanks for coming back.
For photos of all the events check out my 2008 Calgary Corporate Challenge collection over at Flickr.

September 5th marked the official beginning of the Calgary Corporate Challenge. To start the event companys have team members carry the “torch” a few blocks in the city handing it off to the next team until it reaches Eau Claire for the lighting and the Kick off Pep Rally.

I went into the office briefly that morning dressed in casual clothes. That Friday was our day off but I opted to catchup for an hour or so while all was quiet. Besides it gave me a place to change into my toga. Yes, I said toga. This year’s event them was “Athleticus Maximus”. So our spirit team opted with blue togas as our outfits. Oh yeah, did I mention I was the “Spirit Team Coordinator”. I bet you’re surprised I didn’t go with pink togas…lol. Trust me the thought did occur to me but heh, the company colors are blue so I played it safe.

Anyhow after cleaning up emails and such I switched into my toga and headed down the elevator. Now while my company doesn’t work on Friday, lots of others do so yes I got some strange looks as I walked from my office building to the C-Train. Togas are not a common outfit seen on the streets of Calgary. And yes a few did ask “What’s with the toga?” So I explained what I was up to and smiled.

It was a short ride on the C-Train to the meeting point for where I would collect the torch from the team handing it off. Another team was to join me there but there was no sign of any other togas anywhere. Now there are often some interesting people hanging out in that area of the city but for some reason I was the most interesting…lol. I got some odd looks, some smiles and a few comments. My favorite was “Love the outfit” followed by “you look like a goddess”. That made my day. Funny no one but me that is even noticed the young girl that went by in purple hair and yelow tights.

Finally the other team arrived. Thankfully they too were wearing togas. There was 4 of them and only one of me, oh well. Funny thing as the cop car pulled up that was leading us torch bearers I faintly hear the passenger say “heh that’s …yup it’s Pink Chick”…lol. She knew for sure when she saw the little pink bag. That’s my camera bag by the way. Hmmm should I be worried when even the cops know who I am???

We were handed our torches then off and running. Oops no one said anything about running. My leg was still giving me grief so it was definitely a challenge. As with any running, it wasn’t long before the others were miles, okay blocks ahead of me.

The distance was only half a dozen blocks or so but seemed like forever. I switched hands with the torch a few times. That thing was a tad heavy. Thank goodness it didn’t rain like it had threatened. It was actually a pretty nice day. There was a guy on the bike beside me. He offered to hold the torch a few times but heh, that was my role so I hung on. I also could have sat in the van behind but you know me, I don’t give up. I’m just a stubborn woman…lol. Besides I was used to being at the back of the pack. Running through downtown traffic was definitely a different experience! And yes, I’ll do it again next year.

After handing of my torch to the next team I headed towards Eau Claire where I found lots more teams and lots more togas. I found my team members and helped gather stickers. Oh yeah, each team gets a sticker board to fill. The goal is to get a sticker from every team participating in the games. It’s a great opportunity for flirting mingling with others. There was also a free BBQ lunch. The big torch got lit and the games were kicked off.

Our team went to the local pub for a few after and then it was time to head home. Spending the day in a toga had been a lot of fun!

More photos over at my Flickr site.

Almost forgot to blog this one. But heh, a picture is worth a thousand words so I will keep the post short and just add some photos. The initial event of the Calgary Corporate Challenge occurred in mid August the Big Bike Ride. Myself and several coworkers pedalled our way around the park for lunch and raised a whole bunch of money for the Heart & Stroke fund.

More photos on my Flickr page.

My office occasionally gives tickets away to various events. All you do to enter is send an email with the subject line being whatever the event is they are offering tickets to. So on Aug 28th, I sent of an email with BSB as the subject line. An hour later I got a call - I won the tickets! Woohooo!

Now I likely would not buy tickets to see BackStreet Boys. I mean I like some of their stuff and all but well I just didn’t think they were worth spending over $80 for decent seats. I also knew hubby would not go so I asked a coworker. They only sold about 7000 tickets so we “upgraded” our seats and moved over a few sections so we ended up with a pretty awesome view of the show.

The opening act was Girlicious. They are a new girl group formed as part of a reality show staged by the Pussycat Dolls. I’d heard of them before - there was an article in the local paper recently. Anyhow, they were okay. I wish I could move like them. Heck I think I lost 10 pounds just watching them dance for their short set.

The break between them and BSB seemed to take forever. Naomi and I had a good laugh “crowd watching”. Finally Backstreet Boys hit the stage. The appeared for the first song in “Boxing outfits” in a Boxing ring. They did several outfit changes throughout the evening and played a variety of music from soft dance pop stuff to even one song you could almost call hard rock. Surprisingly we both found ourselves really enjoying the show. And while I said earlier I would not of paid the ticket price, had I paid it I would have felt I got my money’s worth.

Well September is here and I know there’s stuff I haven’t written about but such is life lately. They only thing I’ve managed to keep uptodate with is my 5k Running Clinic. We’re in week 6 and all is going well. Well sort of.

It’s a small group this time. I started out with about 10 runners but only about half of them have continued to come and not all at once. We often only have 3 runners and sometimes less. The funny thing is that because of my leg I made sure I had 3 great pacers - one fast, one a tad slower and one still faster then me but good for the back of the pack. That part has worked out just awesome. I have two runners that usually end up running with my speedy pacer, one that falls just behind them, two that are with the middle pacer and one that falls in with the slowest pacer then there’s me.

When the leg cooperates I’ve been able to keep up with my slowest runner. When it doesn’t I run the opposite direction and meet up with the runners at various points along the route. For the most part the route has been about 3 laps of the pond. Some of the group is now up to doing the full 5k for the workout. Which is good as we only have a few weeks left before race day.

We’ve had some great speakers so far chatting about shoes, stretching, running form, nutrition and this week heart rate. I’ve decided to take a break from teaching after this clinic. I’ll still go running at the Running Room as I really like some of the new running partners I’ve met. However, it’s time for me to start working on me. Perhaps this will also give me a little time to catch up on things.

I had caught up my spreadsheet that tracks all my workouts only to find somehow the changes never got save so now I have to do it all over again. Thankfully my Garmin has all the info stored safely away. Once I figure out what I’ve been up to maybe I can catch up on my blogging.