Monday, October 13, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers!!! I hope everyone is filling their faces with good delicious food. Being a vegetarian family (with me being vegan) I am preparing a stuffed seitan roast. I decided to take a small break from that and do a post. I'll have to let you know how it turns out.

Big weekend in my sports world. Ironman Championships were Saturday and I could not tear myself away from the computer. What an awesome race. We had to go into Victoria to meet the family for dinner and I had to be super rude and keep checking my phone for results. Only the die hard triathletes would understand ; )
I have to tell you Mirinda Carfrae is an absolute idol for me. I have to be honest, I was cheering her on right from the start. Check out that photo of her on the left. She deserves the championship. Anyone that has that good of form during the run in an Ironman is pure champion in my mind. She is absolutely everything I strive to be. To be honest, everyone in that race inspires me. Hats off to all of those racers!!!
My big race this weekend was a half marathon.

 I was not training for this race. My coach decided after the year I had (it was so bad) that I just needed this to be a good training run.
My sister flew out for this race to come and join me. We ended up going to the expo right when she go into town Friday. Look what we found...

I love how the races are putting the competitors names on the banners and shirts. It's fun to show you really were there.
Saturday night I spent the night with my sister at her hotel. We had a nice evening catching up. Sunday I got to sleep in an extra hour since my sisters hotel was steps from the start line. Could not have been more convenient. Best of all, I didn't have to deal with kids!!!
I was supposed to meet up with one of my friends to run the race with. We really wanted to get a sub 2 hour for this race. It's been a long time coming for me. After my terrible race season and my coach not letting me race hard this fall I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it but I did right some splits on my arm to check in just in case I was feeling up to the challenge.
When the gun went off I was cool as a cucumber. Got jogging and weaving through all of the racers. I got stuck right at the back so I had to make my way through a lot of people. 
About 4km in I finally found my good buddy. I had lost my sister in the mass at the start so I was feeling a little lonely. It was fantastic running with my friend. 
Around the 17km mark my husband along with my girls and my parents gave me a great cheer squad that kept me going till the end. 
To top it off 1km from the finish line was my brother in law snapping the photos of me.
My form is looking not too bad with 1 km to go. A little collapsed but I'm obviously not very tired.
I ended up finishing the race in 1:56:39 (unofficial). For not pushing myself I was absolutely thrilled. I have not been able to get under 2 hours in a very long time. Which leads me to the next statement...
REST MEANS EVERYTHING!
I have been taking it very easy. I've been doing everything it takes to get healthy. I'm getting plenty of sleep. I'm eating exceptionally well. All of this adds up and it is so important to maintain it. 
Anyways, hats off to everyone that raced yesterday. I had a lot of friends out on the course yesterday and they all did absolutely fantastic! 

Right after my race, we had the kids race to do. So my two lovely athletes wandered over to the kids start to run 1.25km. This was an awesome event for kids. My oldest wanted to run on her own (in hindsight that was a big mistake when we couldn't find her for 30 min after the race). She did great!

Then my little one took off. She's a little nervous in crowds so I got the honours of running with her.
She was doing great until she tripped and fell. Poor thing skinned her knee. So, I had to piggy back her part of the way. She finally ran the last bit.

A big high 5 at the end!

My little trouper.

A big finish at the end! The kids got t-shirts and medals. Oh in case you were wondering how we finally found my big girl... she was getting her face painted instead of waiting for us at the finish line.

So big day in our house yesterday. We all felt like champions. To celebrate hubby took me out for lunch and a new amazing coffee spot:
FYI- Hey Happy is absolutely AMAZING!!!

Okay, last week I promised you a big surprise. Well, here it is. Once I tell you it means I am fully committed. Next year August 30th, 2015 I am going to attempt my very first full distance triathlon. 
3.8km swim
180km bike
42.2km run
Call me crazy but I am so excited!!! Also a big shout out and thank you to my awesome family, friends and 2 superb coaches for supporting me on this big adventure. I will be documenting this crazy challenge and I hope you will follow along for the ride.

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