Boundary Bay 5K

The Boundary Bay 5K was on Sunday.  I was so relieved when the alarm went off at 545am, to silence.  Yes silence.  No rain beating on the roof as it had been when I went to bed on Saturday night.  I had already packed my post run bag with pants, shirt, socks and shoes.  Just in case it was raining I thought I should have dry clothes for the drive home.  Thankfully, I didn't need them.  It was still dark when my awesome husband and I got in the car at 620 to head out to Boundary Bay.

My wonderful husband picked up my run kit for me on Friday when he was on his way home from work, it took an hour to get the run kit but it was worth not having to drive in any earlier!

Run kit ready to go Sunday Morning.

We were aiming to be at the run site for 730, an hour before start time as I needed to exchange the shirt that I received.  Somehow they had me down for a much smaller size than I wear.  I love dealing with Try Events, they are awesome and so easy to deal with.   We were really surprised when we arrived to see how full the parking lot already was with more than 45 minutes to go before the start of the race.  I had to wait about 20 minutes on site to change my shirt as there were a lot of event day registrants and people picking up their kits.  I was so lucky to get the last shirt in the size that I needed.  When looking at it I thought it may actually fit, so I went into the washrooms and put it on.  Low and behold, a tech shirt actually fit me!  Yeah!

A quick trip back to the car to grab my stuff and I was ready to head to the start line.  There were a lot of people there and I have to admit I was a little nervous as I know that I'm slow and having so many true athlete's around me, really intimidated me for a few minutes.  I had a lot of those "what do you think you're doing here" thoughts going through my head but I quickly overcame my self doubt.   It helped to have my husband there for support,  before it was time to get ready to go.

Wearing my Boundary Bay shirt, ready for warm up.

At the start line, a lot of runners at this race!

After warm up it was time to get in line to start the race, the race was full marathon, half marathon, relay marathon, 10K and 5K.  They asked us 5ker's to stay towards the back of the line to let the others get away.   After the start gun it probably took about 2 minutes to get to the actual start line but before long we were off.  It was a gorgeous day and the trail is along the bay, the tide was out but there were still some beautiful views to be seen.

Yep, just me on the trail, with a few people walking behind me.

As I started out at the back of the pack, and I always walk the first five minutes or so it wasn't long before there were just a handful of us on any section of trail at a given time.  There were a couple of ladies in front of me that I managed to pass but I was still at the back of the pack, which is fine with me.  I'm not running the full races yet, although I figure I ran about 1/4 of the way.

Heading back, still the only one on the trail with a couple of people behind me.

It was great to see quite a few people in the community out cheering people on, especially when we reached the end of the trail and were on the road for a little bit.   The energy of the crowd as you got closer to the finish line was great and as some of the 10k runners were passing me towards the finish line there was a lot of energy to carry you through.  I crossed the finish line and saw my wonderful husband standing along the finishers chute cheering me on, it always gives me such a sense of accomplishment to hear my name as I cross the finish line.  My Garmin Finish time was 54:29,  my chip time was 54:16  a new Personal best for me  I'm going to work on getting that time down some more as I really do want to do the BMO 8K in May.

Love my finishers medal for this race!

Next up is the Santa Shuffle on December 7th.  I'm working on getting some friends to join me, so it should be fun for everyone!

Double Milestone

It's been a great week! 
I've gotten in a lot of activity every day, including a few hundred squats!  I'm loving the new workout DVD I bought last week, and kicked it up from the beginner workout to the intermediate work out.  I'm loving that workout!  I wore my Garmin while I was doing it the other day just to see what my heart rate was like and it was perfect, in zone 4 for the whole workout after the warm up.  I'm also proud of the major milestone I was able to hit this week despite it being an emotional week.    

It has also been a week of Milestones.
Milestone 1.
After almost six weeks of playing with 6 ounces and landing just below that milestone of 65 pounds lost, this week I nailed it! I passed it by two pounds.  I'm now down a total of 67.4 pounds!!!  I am so excited to have finally made it over that milestone of 65 pounds!  Every week my husband does a comparison photo for me so that we can see the process and I try to wear the same clothes every week but the shirt I used to wear has gotten so big that I can't wear it.  It just hangs on me.

This is today's photo, down 67 pounds, taken just after I returned home from my solo 6km walk/run.

Down 67 Pounds and finished a 6km walk/run

Milestone 2
I went for a solo walk/run today.  I wanted to do intervals and I knew that it wouldn't work with the dog, so I left him behind and hit the road.  I walked quickly for the first 7 minutes or so and when I turned the corner onto Whatcom road, I started running.  I haven't been doing well with timing my intervals as I find I focus too much on my watch so today I decided to use landmarks.  The first one was the 2nd lamp post on the street, walked to the next one and then ran to the gas station, then I walked over the freeway overpass to the other side where I got serious.  I ran for 2 power poles, walked for one, and I did that consistently until I hit my turn around point, and then did the same thing on the way back.  I struggled a little bit and I had to keep telling myself I could do this but I did it!  In total I ran for about 17 minutes.  That may not seem that big to some people, but trust me, for me that was HUGE!  It felt so good.  I felt so good that when I turned back onto our street at the end of my walk/run I sent a text to my husband and asked him to meet me at the gate with Angus so I could take Angus around the block for a walk.  Angus was a happy puppy to be able to go for a walk without my trying to make him run with me :)

I also had some really good times in my intervals.  I forgot to hit my lap button when I started running so I will try to remember that in the future so that I can actually see my running split times with my walking times, but when I look at the player on garmin connect it shows me the pace that I was going and I'm pretty happy with that! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/368987045

Walking/Running along the Corn fields

The power poles are a fair distance apart

On my return going over the freeway overpass

I've done two 5km races this summer and I'm signed up for another two in the fall.  The Rubber Duck 5k in October and the Boundary Bay 5k in November.  I'm also going to sign up for the Santa Shuffle in December when it opens for registration.    I'm hoping that I'll be ready to run the full 5km on October 20th for the Rubber Duck 5k.   I have a friend who has signed up to do it with me.  I know that she loves running and she's good at it, so I really want to be able to actually run with her.

Step totals this week:
Sunday       13,553
Monday      15,223
Tuesday      17,829
Wednesday 13,618
Thursday    13,671
Friday         14,437
Saturday     21,066
Sunday       15,880

Big difference in the little things.

I've noticed lately a big difference in the little things that I do.  I walk every day now, a year ago that wasn't the case, yes I walked the dog, but it was a short little fifteen minute walk around the block.  Now we go for almost an hour at a time.  Better for me, better for the dog.

The week I started at my job,  there was a welcome lunch down at a restaurant on the waterfront.  I wasn't able to keep up with everyone else although I felt like I was walking as fast as I could.  On the way back to the office, it was uphill and I was out of breathe and trying not to let the others see that I was huffing and puffing.  Now that hill is part of my daily walk, I walk it purposely so that I remember how out of breath I was walking it that first day and how easy it is for me to walk today.

I used to have a hard time keeping up with my friend and co-worker on the way to work from the train station, again up hill and I didn't want her to see me huffing and puffing.  I started taking the skytrain so that I wouldn't have to try to keep up with her.  The skytrain pops us out behind our building.  No hills and no huffing and puffing.  If you didn't count the stairs we had to climb, which would leave me out of breath.  I walk to work from the train with the exception of really wet days, if I do take the skytrain, I do those stairs with ease.  The best part, I'm able to keep up with her now!

Take the dog and my husband and go for a 6km hike the same week I did a 5km race.  Never would have crossed my mind as I simply wouldn't have done either.

Around the 3km mark, and still going strong.

Except I do that now!  I did the Canada Day Rock on the Rock on Monday and on Thursday, took the day off to spend with my husband.  We didn't want to sit around the house, so we took the dog and off we went looking for some trails to walk.  We eventually ended up at Hicks Lake, just east of Harrison Hot Springs.  There is a mountain trail that is 6km's around.  The guide book suggested it would take 2 hours to do.  We did it in just under that.    I felt really good doing it, there were sections that were quite steep and I wasn't huffing and puffing my way up the hills.  My husband didn't have to slow down for me or wait for me.  We kept a good pace on route and the dog had a great time.  

At the 4km mark.

The big difference I noticed, how happy I am in the pictures, I'm feeling better, and clothes that were too tight to wear last summer, are actually too big on me now.  That's a big difference in the little things.

Back at the Car 6km later.

Support is so important.

I have always known that having people who support you in whatever you're doing is important.  It doesn't matter whether it's for a class, a hobby, work or dealing with weight loss.  I am very fortunate to have a very supportive husband.  Anything I need or want on my quest to get fit is fine,  expense is not really a consideration.  If I need it to be successful, it's done.  I know how lucky I am to have a supportive husband.

I'm even luckier to have a supportive family.  Since I restarted my weight loss and getting fit project in January, we have celebrated several birthdays, had Easter and several get togethers that have included food.  My family has been great in asking what I want to have so that we can keep temptation away from me.  My family has even gone so far as to substitute a veggie platter instead of the bags of potato chips and cheezies.   Every time I see them they encourage me and tell me how proud they are of me for sticking to it.

I've even lucked out in the supportive co-workers area.  Several of my co-workers have commented now on my weight loss, they tell me how good I'm looking and it makes me feel pretty good.  It's no secret that I go for a walk (almost) every day during my lunch break.  A few of them have asked to come along and it's great that a couple of days a week there will be a few of us out walking.

Today was a rough afternoon for me.  After my mid day walk, out of nowhere I had the most intense craving for cookies.  I wanted a great, big, huge, chocolate chip cookie.  The kind that you have to hold with two hands.  I drank some water instead, I drank some more water and when the craving was still there and I found myself reaching for my wallet to walk down the street to the bakery.  I stopped.  I sent out an S.O.S to one of my friends who is also a coworker.  I sent her a YouTube clip of the Cookie Monster and told her in no uncertain terms that I wanted cookies and I was fighting not to go buy some.  Bless her heart, within a minute she was at my office door with  a  2 Point WW snack bar to help get me though.  We sat and talked for a few minutes.  I drank some more water and about a half hour later, I ate the 2 Point snack.  Much better than the 20 point cookies, I was craving so badly.

It's great to have support and today and I was so truly thankful for it.