Of Getting One's Ass Out the Door, Period.

Given that I don't have the excuse of homework or anything else for that matter right now, I had to face the challenge and get my ass out the door.

Which I did, for a very nice evening run. It was warm(ish) and my spikes kept me going strong, so all in all it was a good run.

• 4.44 miles in 37:11 - 8:22 pace

I mean, while I was running, I wasn't at all happy; more like, I was thinking why the hell I had signed up for a marathon and how much I hated the act of running fast and how awful it would be not only to run but to train for months and months for the fricking event. Yea, I lost some endurance, could you tell? But I figure, if I can just convince myself to get out the door, it's not like I'm going to quit, so I will get the run in, and who cares if I hate it? It's like child birth - you get it done and then the endorphins take care of the rest (or so I've heard).

Crossing my fingers that this happens.

And to end on a high note:

Picture of a park I ran through during my run. I'm lucky to live in such a beautiful place!

Of Forecast Lies and Traction Aids

This morning, I went for my first run back in Montreal.

• 2.5 miles, 23:57 - 9:34 pace

I definitely felt slower, but let's face it - it's supposedly -6C and slightly windy.

I say supposedly because it's all. Lies. Because I dressed for -6C (tech shirt, tech long sleeve on top and my windbreaker) and I was red in the face (as per usual) and sweating buckets like the middle of summer (not usual in January).

Then of course I noticed that they measure the temperature at the airport.

The airport? Really? Because that's over an hour away, and what do I care what the weather is like at the airport? If I'm going to the airport, I'm literally going from the taxi to the terminal. The weather there has no effect on me. Seriously, I should've done a RE:WTF?! style rant about this. I was that miffed.

The new things that I tried today, and that probably saved my run from being a 12:00 min/mile shuffle are my new Due North Traction Aids.

They are these tough plastic webs that stretch over your shoes. When off of your shoes, they are conveniently flat, so you can store them very easily. The traction comes from the carbide reinforced spikes (in blue) that are on the forefoot and the heel. Let me tell you, these babies saved me today. I felt like I was running on plain pavement when wading through layers of slush and ice and snow that were caked on the sidewalk. The grip was amazing. At first I was a little scared, because on the sections where the sidewalk was cleared, they made these scratching noises and I was afraid that I would break the spikes, but the manufacturer assures that these spikes are super strong and won't just break. In any case, there are 2 replacement spikes included with the traction aids.

The only (minor) concern I had was that at the end of my 2.5 mile run, the slush had gotten congealed on the bottom of my runners, which covered up the spikes a bit and made my going a bit slippery. I would say these are perfect for harder snow and ice, but with slush, you have to watch out and knock the excess slush off when it accumulates.

At least now I have something to do at those traffic lights besides look mean. And fabulous.

Of Wild Wind and Manic Photography

I have 2 more days left in mild-weather-land, so I figure, I've got to get in as many runs as possible before I go back to freezing my behind in Montreal. So I got all dressed and out the door without even checking the weather. Because how bad could it be?

Well, technically, it wasn't that bad. If you like running into gale-force winds that is. (Okay fine, they're not technically gale-force, but it sure FELT like it.) Now Richmond is as flat as a pancake (so no hills to hide behind) and I also took the *scenic* route (our version of scenic includes rundown shacks by the dyke, cabbage fields and almost being run off the road by giant trucks) - in any case, this all meant that I was almost running at a standstill for about half the run due to the wind. But then the last half, the wind was at my back and I jolly-ly sprinted home.

 

Okay, there were some pretty parts too.

 

I admit, I totally run faster and look more intense when there's people around. I see a car driving by and I'm all 'Nike-commercial-ready'. And then when it passes, I go back to plodding along. Whatever, haters gonna hate.

I am also crazy jealous of people with awesome running photos. And by that, I mean the quasi-professional photos of them running and looking all happy and fabulous. My race photos are horrendous because the race photographers somehow manage to catch me at the exact time I hit the wall/cough/collapse in a heap (not attractive poses, if you were wondering). And since I have yet to rope someone into being my personal running photographer (job's open if you are willing to be paid in bad jokes and sarcasm!), I have to make do on my own ... badly.

I'm obviously not going to take a clunky camera with me, but with my iPod, I'm never sure if I hit the button or not, so I end up manically punching the device with my fingers and making weird faces. Also, I can never capture more than my head anyway; now it's of course the best looking head ever, but I have WAY too many 'this-is-my-head-running' or 'this-is-my-head-after-a-run' photos. What I need are some epic, moving, 'this-is-me-hauling-my-ass-up-a-giant-hill' photos or 'this-is-me-looking-like-a-supermodel-running-photos' (although we might have to use Photoshop for the last one ...

... A lot.)

This is Actually a Fitness Blog

Back to your regular fitness coverage.

Inspired by the slew of pink workout tops I bought yesterday, I finally dragged my sorry ass to the gym. It was still pouring outside, and I'm a pansy, so to the treadmill I went.

It was ... fine. I wouldn't say that I've lost very much running fitness, but we all know the treadmill isn't the jolliest of places. The only one available (at 9pm, no less) was not facing a TV, so I could only stare at my reflection in the window for the time I was chugging along. And as gorgeous and fascinating as my reflection is, it's not quite as entertaining after the first 10 minutes. So I zoned out for a bit (hmm, I need new sports bra ... and my shirt is riding up ... and that guy behind me looks like Ben Stiller in the Zoolander, complete with the headband ... that was a very funny movie ... he wore a  red leather suits ... men in suits ... I should go clubbing with men in suits ... but I like to sleep ... I want to go to bed right now ... but no, I have to run ... hmm, I need a new sports bra ...). Imagine about 30 minutes worth of that.

• 4.5 miles, 37:58, 8:26 pace

Miles in the bank my friends, miles in the bank. Official training (with a fancy Excel schedule and clean meals in tupperware containers and piles of workout-related laundry) starts next week.

Of Mall-Trains and Potato Fields

Vancouver must be the rain capital of the world, I'm convinced. (Actually, Wikipedia says it's Cherrapunji). In any case, it's great to be here if all you want to do is watch TV (like me); but if you actually want to enjoy some of those famous outdoors-y activities, well, a lot of the times, it's a no-go.

Um, no, because it's pouring cat, dogs, and all sorts of other farmyard animals out there.

Like the cool kids that we are, Nat and I headed to our largest mall, Metrotown. It has a Winners AND a Zellers AND a Superstore AND a movie theater AND a Bay AND a Sears, and basically everything. Ah, shopping heaven.

You may have noticed that despite my proclaimed obsession with fitness, there has been precious little of anything in the way of running and/or exercising for the past few days. One of the reasons is the disgusting flood-like weather going outside. The other ... my general inner laziness. No worries, workouts will resume when I head back to Montreal. But today, I was fully prepared to do some cardio-shopping. Apparently, other people had a different idea.

Yes, there was indeed a train to take people around inside the mall. An amusement park and shopping center, all in one! And you don't even have to get up! I was prepared to wax eloquently on the decline of exercise in North America to Nat, but she was saved from that fate as my scorn/slight interest/amusement was all but forgotten as soon as I found a shoe store.

Source

As soon as I see/smell/sense shoes, I'm like a kid in a candy store. Or ... a girl in a shoe store? (that must be a metaphor all on its own now ...). But alas, my quest for the elusive perfect black boots shall continue another day. I did however cap off my day of cardio-shopping by buying some more workout clothing. Because you can never have too much neon spandex in your closet.

Of course no day would be complete without a mild disaster. Despite living in this city for oh, 11 years, we somehow managed to get lost. Apparently, one wrong turn on the freeway and you're driving through a post-apocalyptic landscape of potato fields and trash-compactor sites.

But thanks to Nat's trusty iPhone, we were iSaved and I wasn't even kicked out of the car.

Yet.