Category Archives: Personal Best

My First Half Marathon!

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Completing my first half marathon was such an accomplishment. After months of training and hardwork I can finally call myself a half marathon runner. Race day was like nothing I have ever experienced– especially with a 10pm kick off!


The morning of the race I went to pick up my race packet and swagga from ESPN’s Wide World of Sports with my sister- who was also running her first half marathon with me. It was fun to get the ID Tag and make sure it worked by walking over the example time marker and walking through the running expo. They had some pretty great gear that they were selling there for some amazing prices! I tried not to splurge but I did find a new running clothing line that I love: One More Mile.  They have some very witty slogans on their gear- check ’em out!


After getting pumped for the run it was time to head back and chill out by the pool and try to take a nap. Yeah, that was hard to do. After 2 weeks of a vacation in Orlando and going to Disney World, Universal Studios, and playing my first ever nine holes of golf– sitting down and doing nothing became hard to do when you are use to the go, go, go! lifestyle for the past 14 days. But– I tried. Doing a race on the last day of vaca is not ideal but that is just how the schedule happened- so be it!


I put on my running gear, my mickey mouse pirate ears and headed for the start line at 7pm. 3 hours of breath, stretch, shake and taking pictures with Mickey and Minnie! Perfect, right? Waiting for the race was a lot of fun but I did seem to get yawn quite a bit and I just had that “I want to start already!! Feeling happen”. But I just kept waiting. And doing handstands…

ESPN’s Wide World of Sports (The Starting Line Location)

After visiting the 100’s of porta potties a few times from all of my power juice and water- it was go time! I had been placed in the last corral. Corral D because this was my first race EVER so I didn’t have a previous time to submit. I was fine with that. My goal was to finish a half marathon afterall- I wasn’t out to win it. That had to be my train of thought seeming as I just exhausted myself walking for 14 days! We gotta stay real!


As I took my place with the pack, we were both dead last. Not kidding. Standing at the back of everyone. As Corral A went to run fireworks went off at the start line and the DJ’s started spinning. 15 minutes to go until I reach the start line! I was so happy and I suddenly didn’t feel tired anymore. Off we went.

This is where I attached my ears to my amphipod. My head was getting tooo hot!

It was a lot of running past people saying a polite, “excuse me” but I got sick of that and by passed everyone by running on the grass. Then one of the mc’s yelled in his mic, “watch out for the brunette!” I laughed. I was running past stilt walkers, disney characters, amazing live bands, and DJ’s along with Disney staff yelling “almost there! Doing great!” I did feel great. I had my ipod playing but it was so different to be running a race with a whole bunch of people and working around their pace until you could reach a nice spot where you were running at your own pace. I didn’t hit this until about 7 miles. That made my time a lot higher but as I said, I just wanted to finish!


Running through Hollywood Studios

The amount of hills in Disney were incredible. I couldn’t believe how many there were! But running through a theme park made it so much fun! Until you got to a path that was very narrow and you had a whole pack iof runners trying to squeeze their way past people. It was like 4 lanes on a road going down to 1. Those were not so fun parts because people tended to take these as walking breaks and I just wanted to keep my pace. But I went with the flow. I cam across Buzz Lightyear and decided I might as well take a photo op break!  i mean how many times can you run past Buzz Lightyear and not have to wait in line?! It was perfect. At 8 miles I started to feel the, “omg 5.1 miles to go?! Seriously? Can I do this?” So, I popped some sport beans and I was feeling like dynamite. My energy just went from zero to hero. Amazing! I grabbed a powerade from the staff on the side lines and just kept swimming.

Entering Hollywood
I noticed that my ipod kept telling me that I had been running a lot farther than all of the markers. I also overheard other runners checking their garmin and saying that their devices have said they have ran farther too. So, I am really interested to know if I ran farther than 21K on that run because my time was no where near where I wanted it to be. But- I’m still happy with the outcome. Afterall, your first race sets your Personal Best (PB) so it’s only up from here! Sprinting through the finish line was great! I felt really proud of myself for completing such a huge goal!

The Finish Line!!

As I received my medal and food package, I was out of breath and ready to eat the food from my after race snack that was handed to me. I took one bite of my banana and did not feel so good. I was nauseous and just wanted to sit down. So I did. Then I went to the bathroom and there were a good amount of people throwing up and hugging the toilet seat and then I became one of those girls. Not so good. I tried to drink water and replenish myself and get that powerade  into me but my body just could not handle it. so into the line I went to the baggage claim. After getting all of my items I threw on my start up jacket and started walking to find my fame in Epcot. We were suppose to meet somewhere in England or between France and Morocco. Too bad I couldn’t see them and walked around the world twice trying to find them while making a stop in Mexico to do a little vomit. I couldn’t believe it. never have I felt this way after running a half marathon length. I got up and kept moving and luckily my family happened to walk my way. At 3:30am we left the park. Only to wake up at 7am to leave for the airport. I woke up, still in rough shape and tried to stomach some food and lift my luggage to the car. My luggage never felt heavier. With my compression socks on I headed for our plane. At that moment, I had no desire to run a half marathon any time soon. But now- I could definitely do it again! Not after a 2 week vacation mind you but definitely on a more rested level!


Overall, I had an amazing experience and I am SO glad I experienced my first half at Disney!


The Disney Half Marathon! Playlist:


Forget You- Cee Lo Green
Hollywood- Michael Buble
I Like It- Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
That’s How You Know- Amy Adams
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic- The Police
We No Speak Americano- Yolanda Be Cool feat. DCup
U Can Have It All- JRDN
Take It Off- Ke$ha
Check It Out- will.i.am feat Nicki Minaj
Stereo Love- Edward Maya & Vicka Jigulina
Nothin’ On You- B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars
Say Hey (I Love You)- Michael Franti & Spearhead
Halo/Walking On Sunshine- Glee Cast
Beggin’- Madcon
Somebody To Love (Remix)- Justin Bieber feat. Usher
Letting Go (Dutty Love)- Sean Kingston feat. Nicki Minaj
Could You Be Loved- Bob Marley & The Wailers
Real Girl- Mutya Buena
All Dressed in Love- Jennifer Hudson
Ridin’ Solo- Jason Derulo
Pump It- Black Eyed Peas
Bulletproof (Dave Aude Cherry Radio Remix)- La Roux
Teenage Dream- Katy Perry
Dynamite- Taio Cruz
Fire- Glee Cast feat. Kristin Chenoweth
Kiss the Girl- Ashley Tisdale
Little Secrets- Passion Pit
Laces Out- USS
Black or White- Michael Jackson
Sex On Fire- Kings of Leon
Bang a Gong (Get It On)- T-Rex
Part of Your World- Miley Cyrus
Break Your Heart- Taio Cruz & Ludacris
Love Sex Magic- Ciara feat. Justin Timberlake
Club Can’t Handle Me- Flo Rida feat. David Guetta
Fire In Your New Shoes- Kaskade feat. Dragonette
Ever Ever After- Carrie Underwood
Just A Dream- Nelly
Just The Way You Are- Bruno Mars
Got Your Back- T.I. feat. Keri Hilson
2012 (It Ain’t The End)- Jay Sean feat. Nicki Minaj

Stats of the Run:

Distance: 21 km
Time: 2:35:04

Placed in my: Division: 127th out of 331
                     Gender:  1836th out of 4602

                     Overall:  3530th out of 7286
5K Split: n/a
10K Split: 1:08:32
15K Spilt: 1:46:20           

When life throws you a curve ball, catch it with full force!

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You may have noticed my lack of blogging. And it’s not that I don’t have anything to blog about because I ran my fastest 5K yet the other day! It’s all thanks to Men’s Beach Volleyball being on the TV in front of my treadmill. Now, if that’s not a motivator- I don’t know what is! I ran the first 5K in 19 minutes and 51 seconds! It was awesome. And believe it or not- I used the same playlist that I ran my Personal Best 10K with! Crazy, right?!

And then life threw a curve ball in my direction. When you get news that you don’t really want to hear your mind starts to play games on you. All of a sudden it’s hard to keep your goals in view and you just feel that you are weaker than the day before. Mind games. They are just mind games. My run the next day was not up to par for me. It’s not that I didn’t want to give the run my all because I was pushing myself. But a point came where my body said, “Please, dear god, stop.” So, I listened and I did. And all I wanted to do was eat carbs and relax.

And then I think of Joannie Rochette. I don’t even know how she managed to not only compete at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics but win a Bronze Medal right after her mum died. The only thing you really can do in this awful situation is use it to your advantage. Make it the reason why you are fighting so hard for what you want. And that is exactly what Joannie did. I cannot wait until the day I see her biography on the shelves of Chapters. What an inspiration.

I have always been a positive person. When life gets hard, I make a joke about the situation. This is my outlook on life: it could always be worse. When you are a fighter you know you won’t lose. But– you will emotionally breakdown and think about life realistically and that reality can happen at any place and at any time. And let’s face it- it’s usually the worst time because is there a right time? You just have to catch the curve ball with full force and use that power to pull you through until that time comes when you can sit in your beach chair and think. And that’s the biggest struggle for me lately- how to switch your internal emotions on and off in real life.

And sometimes you just need a hug…

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10359577&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Personal Best 10K!

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I don’t know if it was the banana, the caffeine, or my playlist but- I managed to run my fastest 10K yet. A whopping 42 minutes and 13 seconds! I would like to think it was my playlist along with my ambition. There is nothing like loving what you are listening to while getting lost in your thoughts. Which brings me to my embarrassing moment of my run: singing out loud while running. It was just as embarrassing, if not more than the moment in About A Boy when Marcus sings ‘Killing Me Softly’ with his eyes closed. That is the beauty of music. One person may love a song and feel that they need to sing it out while another person has to turn it off after hearing 0.2 seconds of it.

Here’s the playlist that got me to my personal best 10K run time. Who knows, maybe some of the songs will turn out to be your favourites! Then you will be just as ridiculous as I am and find yourself singing like no one is watching you.

Playlist: Start… and GO!

Rocket by Goldfrapp
Nothing kicks off the starting pace of your run like a little 80’s style techno!
Bulletproof (Dave Aude Cherry Radio Remix) by La Roux
I’d like to thank Roxy Music for introducing me to this remixed gem.
You, Me and the Bourgeoisie by The Submarines
Dear iphone commercial, I really love this song choice.

Banquet by Bloc Party
Pretty sure I was bobbing my head with a smile on my face while running to this one.
Starlight by Muse
This one was a goodie. I was still running at a fast pace but the slower tempo made my heart rate come down. Win-Win!
Submarine Symphonika (Wallpaper Remix) by The Submarines
This one was another iphone commercial. Apparently they love The Submarines… and apparently I do too!
Song With A Mission by The Sounds
I first heard this one on the hilarious show Gavin and Stacey. It’s worth the watch- you just might get hooked!
Paper Planes by MIA
This song just never gets old for me. And yes, I do think of Slumdog Millionaire everytime I hear it!
Shut Up And Let Me Go by The Ting Tings
Some call it ridiculously bad and I call it a guilty pleasure.
Valerie by Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse
Mark Ronson’s album ‘Version’ is amazing. Check it out!
Rock the Beat by LMFAO
This song makes me sprint like I’ve never sprinted before.
Nightmarer by Queens Club
This was my first Queens Club song. I’m interested in hearing the rest of their tunes when their new cd comes out on March 23rd…
C’mon by The Soft Pack
My new favourite beachy tune band!
Little Secrets by Passion Pit
This song just makes me happy and forget my muscles are yelling at me to stop.
Say Hey (I Love You) by Michael Franti & Spearhead
If you ever get to see them live- do it. They are amazing! They were the opening act for John Mayer and their energy was so high you thought they were the headliners.
Could You Be Loved by Bob Marley & The Wailers
This song just made me run it home. I saw visions of running on the beach again. Much like the opening scene of Cool Runnings.

My cool down/stretching song was Run by Stephen Fretwell
This is another Gavin and Stacey tune. It really is a brilliant show with an amazing soundtrack! I strongly advise you to get hooked.

Stats of the Run:
Distance: 12.51 KM
Pace: 4:12 min/km
Calories: 540