Category Archives: Playlist

12K Tempo Run and a First!

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Yesterday was tempo run 12K day. I had to prepare my body for this run so I tried my hardest to hydrate ALL day long. So, my large bottle of water took it’s place on my desk in the morning:

I finished it all by lunch. That was a first number one for the day. I was so proud. I rewarded myself by drinking a Vitamin Water an hour before my workout:

I followed that by a coffee ten minutes before my workout. I would have had a picture but I downed that coffee as I walked into the gym.

I stepped on the t-mill and decided to be adventurous. I selected the “Top 25 Most Played” playlist. I was nervous to see what was going to happen. The first song was, I Do Not Hook Up by Kelly Clarkson. The first thing that came to my mind was my wardrobe ladies. When I worked in professional theatre in the costuming department, I was the DJ of the wardrobe. Kelly Clarkson’s album had just come out and we loved to belt out her tunes while working. We also took dance breaks. And everytime I had to go pull a costume from storage I would always come down with a costume on.

Yes, that is a wig. I liked to pull those out as well. I was also nicknamed Gidget. Small and a surfer? Yes, please!

During this run I realised that my life really is defined by music. I just have so many great memories that songs accompany. When John Mayer’s Half of My Heart came on- I immediatley thought of my 2010 Valentine’s Day date with John Mayer and some of my best friends. You can enjoy a highlight from the show and our hilarious commentary. Sorry if it’s jumpy. I just cannot stand still at a John Mayer show for the life of me. One might say that I was in love.

My cool down and stretching song reminded me of my Grand Bend Family (aka GBF). My friend Craig introduced me to the song You Don’t Know Me by Ben Folds and Regina Spektor. The image I have when I think of my GBF is this one:

I miss those beautiful sunsets. And my beautiful friends.

I could go on and on with more memories from more songs in this playlist. It was such a good one. I actually had a dopey smile on my face from the beginning to the end of this run. I had that “zen” feeling of living in every moment and I kept reminding myself that every step I take is different from the last one and will be different from the next one. I didn’t think of any pains that might have cause me–wait– speaking of. After the first km my shoe came untied because I didn’t get a chance to put my race runners into my shoes yet:

I had to jump onto the hard plastic on each side of the running band on the t-mill to tie my shoe. When I went to lift my hand I accidentally scraped it on the moving band. I know, I’m ridiculous. I ended up scraping a few layers of skin off my hand. But luckily, it didn’t bleed. So, I hopped back on the t-mill and just kept going. I forgot about it after about 0.1 km. I think I have my ZEN and the ART of RUNNING book to thank for that one. I was in the mode and living in the moment and not worrying about the past.

And my biggest first– I didn’t drink any water at all during my 12K tempo run! Can you believe it?! I actually hydrated myself all day inorder to keep myself from depending on that waterbottle infront of me. Actually, I didn’t even have my waterbottle– I forgot it. But I didn’t even have that feeling where I needed water. Amazing! Now I know I can continue to do it. And I will.

The Top 25 Most Played Playlist
I Do Not Hook Up- Kelly Clarkson
Party in the U.S.A- Miley Cyrus
Shake It- Metric Station
Steer- Missy Higgins
Untouched- The Veronicas
Don’t Let Me Stop You- Kelly Clarkson
Half of My Heart- John Mayer & Taylor Swift
I Don’t Need A Man- The Pussycat Dolls
Circus- Britney Spears
Give Me The Music- Eva Avila
Knock You Down- Keri Hilson, Kanye West, & Ne-Yo
All Dressed In Love- Jennifer Hudson
Love Song- Sara Bareilles

Cool Down/Stretching
You Don’t Know Me- Ben Folds and Regina Spektor

Stats of the Run
Distance: 12.03 km
Pace: 4:26 min/km
Incline: 1%

Don’t forget– there are only 9 days left to vote at BEST HEALTH MAGAZINE’S BLOG AWARDS! You can vote for me HERE!

Extra Bold Coffee With A Side of Inspiration, Please!

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Yesterday I had quite the eventful day. I got to work to find a sheet of ice outside of my office door. I was honestly afraid I was going to drop my extra bold coffee to the ground which would lead to a sad decaffeinated morning.

So, I took every step carefully with my durable UGG rain boots that people like to make fun of and say I look 12 in but- I love them. And they keep me warm with their fur lining. Perfect!
As I sat at my office desk I looked up to see a man in his 50’s falling in mid air and come down on that hard walkway. I immediately left the office to see if he was OK and all he said was, “I just need an ambulance.” Easy enough. I got on the phone and the man managed to make it into my office and onto my couch. While we waited for the paramedics, I learnt that he was just leaving from the massage therapists office. How brutal is that?! To get all your kinks out and then hit the hard ice with full force. He ended up breaking a rib and had to be taken away to the hospital. I took his car keys upstairs to the masseuse’s office so that his son could come and get his car. I felt so bad and I got scared everytime someone passed my office window and I would say, “please don’t fall, please don’t fall!”
Throughout the day I couldn’t help but think, “Is Steve OK?” And then I thought, I could NEVER run on ice sheets even with shoe grips. With my luck, what happened to Steve walking would happen to me running. I don’t know how those runners do it! I can’t even eat soup without spilling it on myself! This was my lunch yesterday:
mmmm, spinach soup!
As I prepped my for my speedy 7K run, I decided it would be fun to throw some way back playback songs onto my playlist. Who doesn’t love running to Dance Mix ’95, Hanson, and S Club 7? I ask you that! And they were perfect powersongs. I put my playlist on a jukebox shuffle so that I wouldn’t know the order of my new top 40 meets old top 40 playlist. I loved it. I’m sure the girl walking on on the t-mill while talking on the phone next to me loved hearing my oldies blaring out of my ear buds. And I think drinking a bottle of Vitamin Water before my runs is helping. I went with the XXX before this run. You gotta love everything Costco sized! I love not having to hydrate all the time on my run and my mission to drink water all day long just doesn’t seem to be working lately. But I’m still persistent at making it work!
And have you seen Jennifer Aniston’s gone viral?! I love her. She’s hilarious. She may have inspired me to make a vlog. And drink Vitamin Water again. And get internet boys. And do my make-up like hers. So much inspiration in one video!
 

The Kickin’ It Playlist

*On jukebox shuffle
Bass Down Low- Dev and The Cataracs
1,2,3 Train With Me- Play Ahitty

Hummingbird Heartbeat- Katy Perry

Born This Way- Lady GaGa
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes- Ke$ha

Where’s The Love?- Hanson
S Club Party- S Club 7
Who’s That Chick?- David Guetta feat. Rihanna

Cool Down/Stretching
Wish You Were Here- Avril Lavigne
Freckles- Natasha Bedingfield

Stats of the Run
Distance: 7.03 km
Pace: 4:22 min/km
Incline: 1%

Break the Ice.

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You aren’t gonna believe this but I went out for a run for the first time with snow on the ground. It’s true. The wimp who doesn’t like running in the winter did it! Here’s the reason why: it was 10 degrees and the snow was melting. Yep, I’m still a wimp.

But it feels so good to know that the warm weather and spring runs are on their way! And I was REALLY excited to take my new Lululemon Stride Jacket out for a test run! I’ve been prepping my spring running gear for my upcoming races and as you know, my favourite pieces are from lulu! I’m pretty sure all the sales associates know that too because when I got to the lulu fitting room I was greeted with, “Hi! It’s good to see you! What’s your name again?.. Oh! Siobhan, right!” It was just like cheers. And I love it. Everyone is just so nice, helpful, and make you feel like you are visiting friends when you go to their stores!

I really loved running in my Stride Jacket. The thumbholes are key. The pockets are perfect. And the neckwarmer- genius! No complaints from this girl! 
I really wish I brought a camera on my run so that I could show you all the fun things I saw during my run. I was going to run home and get my camera but I was having a nice pace and feeling pretty fantastic so, I just kept going.
I wanted to do a park run and I knew there was going to be puddles and bridge floods because of all the
melted snow but I decided I would tackle those when I got to them. And- I did. I ran through mud, jumped over puddles, sunk my feet into mushy grass, and switched up to a street run because of the flooded bridges. It was quite the adventure and my shoes got very dirty! The hardest part of this run? Running against the strong winds. I felt like I was doing resistance training and using every muscle in my body to try not to blow away. But the coolest part of my run was going under a bridge where there were huge ice chunks that made me feel like a penguin trying to jump from sea ice to sea ice.
I’m hoping for more beauty runs outside like this one soon! The only downside was stopping at lights when I had to take the streets.
I decided to run to some Britney today after watching the debut of her new music video, “Hold It Against Me.” She’s fierce and I love it!
The Britney: The Singles Collection Playlist
*On jukebox shuffle
Hold It Against Me
Stronger
I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman
Womanizer
Piece of Me
Overprotected
I’m A Slave For You
Radar
Break the Ice
(You Drive Me) Crazy
Stats of the Run
Distance: 8.34 km
Pace: 4:33 min/km
Need a Saturday activity?!  I suggest throwing on your leopard Snuggie and voting for me at BEST HEALTH MAGAZINE’S BLOG AWARDS HERE!

 

My Surgery: The Pre-Game, During, and Post-Game Play by Play!

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‘Twas the night before my surgery.


Play by play for the newbies: I was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on my nose at the end of March. I got it removed at the beginning of April. After a second follow up with my fantastic surgeon she asked me if I wanted her to remove the little bump that my 13 stitches left . I said, “HELLS, YES!”  That surgery happened today.


So, I did what any runner would do the night before: I went for a run. Hello, T-Mill! I decided on a 5K so that I wouldn’t exhaust my body before it has to heal my face the next day. That turned into an 8K. I did some inclines at 1% and 2% with some flat running in between. I wish the T-Mill would go into negatives so I could do some downhill running as well buuuut it doesn’t. And yes, I did school the T-Mill again. Here’s how my run went down:


The On The Go Playlist
**On jukebox shuffle**
Ready to Start- Arcade Fire
Shut Up and Drive- Rihanna
Whip My Hair- Willow Smith
Raise Your Glass- P!nk
Hips Don’t Lie (Bamboo)- Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean
We R Who We R- Ke$ha
Pon de Replay- Rihanna
Since U Been Gone- Kelly Clarkson
When I Grow Up- The Pussycat Dolls


Cool down/Stretching
Stereo Love- Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina


Stats of the Run
Distance: 8.11 km
Pace: 4:15 min/km


Sleeping last night was not easy. I don’t know why I was so antsy. It was unusual for my body to be so freaked out. So, it took me a while to fall asleep but once I did- it was a beauty. I got up and had a shower to wake myself up. I put on my game face and my leisure and decided to take some memento photos of the bump to say, “See you neeeeeeva!”



Do you see it?! It’s kind of hard to notice in a picture. Well believe me… it’s there! Well, it was.


So, I went in and my surgeon had some Drake on. Amaaaaaaaaaaazing! She froze my face with ONE needle this time. I was SO happy! I was so relieved it was nowhere near the ten like before. And once she made the incision two seconds later my fav song of the moment came on :


http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/U0CGsw6h60k?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6




Umm… can we say best procedure ever? It was like a dance party in the room and I was the main event! As I had my talented surgeon Catherine cutting my face, my lovely nurse Jane was there so I could squeeze her hand as the needle went in. (I apologized beforehand because I killed nurse Tina’s hand last time.) I like to call the extra surgeon and the extra nurse that arrived later on my party go-ers. I had great convo the entire time I was there. And by the time Catherine was done stitching my face, “What’s My Name?” wasn’t even over! Crazy, right? It was only two stitches but I thought it would at least take an entire 5 minutes before she said, “we’re done! How are you doing Siobhan?” My response you ask? “That was the best procedure yet!” The room broke into more laughter. I left with my baggie of ice, some extra band aids,  a goodbye from my new friends, and another date to see my Catherine in a month.


I got home and made myself some broccoli soup (sadly from a can) but I steamed some extra broccoli to put in my soup. Deeeelicious. And then I put on one of my fav movies that I bought on DVD last night:


http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/MsV6r1nbSGk?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6


It obviously has a better picture these days than from the original theatrical trailer. And the one liners in this movie had me laughing out loud from beginning until end. As me and my kitty Gus snuggled throughout the movie enjoying the glory of T3’s. Then it was nap time. I woke up and decided to capture the state of my face. I’m a little swollen and a little bruised around the eyes but nothing compared to the last surgery. And my hair is somewhat dishevelled. HA!



Yep, I’m sporting the Nelly band aid. Maybe I can bring it back, no? Well, maybe just for the week. The best part is I have dis solvable stitches this time. So sweet! I don’t have to go to my doctor and have him take 45 minutes to take them out again. No exaggeration. They were that tight but again, 13 of them.


I feel like I could go for a run today. But that’s probably not the smartest idea. So, I will just have to prep my ugly Christmas sweater for my “Ugly Christmas Sweater Pub crawl” tomorrow night. Yep, I’m sporting this face out in public. Sorry, world! haha I kid, I kid.


Expect a Lady GaGa inspired band aid for the event. Stay tuned!