June Foodie Penpals !!!

June 30, 2012 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 3 Comments

Wow, hard to believe that June is almost over and tomorrow is Canada Day! Woohoo!

This month, Jennie from Running Jennie had me as her Foodie Penpal. This little box arrived with tones of goodies for me to try out!

This little box had so much stuff in it, I thought the it was never going to end.

Honey Stinger Waffle *yet to be consumed*

COW TALES (3), one is missing and the brown one is half gone in this photo.

Apricot Jam – delicious!

Nunn – Strawberry Lemonade – I’ve never tired this flavour, so this was a great treat to have.

Drop it in, and watch it

Last but not least – chocolate cake. I am going to use this cake…

and turn it into this (tonight) for Canada Day (tomorrow July 1st)

Canada Day Blog Post to come (hopefully with this cake). Found on Pinterest.

Thanks Jenn for the awesome treats! Much appreciated 🙂

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I had Rocsan and this is what I sent her:

Old school note, Just Us Coffee, Kind Bar, Taste of Nature Bars and a Halo Bar.

Want to be a FOODIE PENPALS? See the details below – you don’t have to be a blogger to join in.

And now it’s time for some details about Foodie Penpals. In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions. -You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! -The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination! -You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!) -Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. -Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re interested in participating for July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by July 4th as pairings will be emailed on July 5th!

*If you’re from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I’ll see if we get enough interest this month!

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Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Cheers, Anna

Sole Sisters 5k Recap & Canada Day Weekend!

June 29, 2012 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 6 Comments

{I just realised I never posted my Sole Sisters Recap post – whoops!)

On June 9th I ran in the Sole Sisters 5k Race in Dartmouth, NS with my good friend Kelly.

It was a lot of fun, no timer/clock to race against; though we roughly kept track of our time via my watch. We came in between 33 and 34 minutes – so better than my Bluenose 5k a few weeks ago. I was about 13-14 weeks pregnant when I ran in this event.

We had to walk from the Hampton Suites hotel to the race site – a 20 minute walk! Now, just as we are arriving – all 1,500 women – it starts to rain. Let’s be honest, it POORED rain…we were all soaked. There was a little thunder (uh-oh) but as the gun went off, the rain stopped and looked like it was going to clear up – it even felt warm outside again.

The Route:

The route was a run out and back run with water stations at the end of each street (turn around point). They also had a High Five station….a HUG station – yes you could get a hug from someone AND, a chocolate station!!!!! I’ve never run with chocolate in my mouth so it was rather different trying to chew this piece of chocolate, breathing and running all at the same time. But, of course, I managed just fine.

The last water station caught me off guard…in a good way. As we came down the slight incline, there where men dressed up as Hawaiian Dancers….let’s just say I was quite shocked and burst out laughing when I saw them up close and personal. It made for a fun experience.

We had a great run…walk…run system going and I realised once we crossed the finish line that it was the first time I had ever done so with a friend. I’ve always run alone or other’s have run ahead of me. First time for everything.

There were local fire fighters handing out our shiny, spinning medals:

Me after running (33/34 minutes), then a 20 minute walk back to the hotel)

{little baby bump}

I wish I had a water proof camera so I could have taken pictures during the run…but that didn’t happen.

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OH CANADA!

So, Sunday July 1st is Canada Day 🙂

The occasion marks the joining of the British North American colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867.

Canada’s 145th Birthday Party!

One of my favourite days/events of the year. Yes, I get a day off work, yes I get to spend the day with my family and friends. But we also get to celebrate being Canadian, eh! Eating good food (bbq), drinks (non-alcoholic for me this year), swimming in the ocean or lakes, wearing red/white, and don’t forget about the fireworks! basically it’s time to spend together with your friends and family in your community – eating good food, going to parades, festivals, bbq’s, and concerts.

Canada Day 2010 (Lilly 3 weeks old) at Sai’s (former) job.

Canada Day 2011 Lilly and Grandad hanging out – Lilly 1 year.

2012 Canada Day picture and post to come next week 🙂

So Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians and Happy 4th of July to my US friends/family.

What are your Canada Day or 4th of July plans ?

Motivation Monday #24 & 100 of You!

June 25, 2012 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 3 Comments

It’s Monday again! Just like that, it’s back…outta know where!

Here’s a little Motivation Monday #24 to get you moving again:

Source – Via fitsugar on Pinterest.

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And, Piper’s Run now has 100 followers!!!

Woah! Having only started this blog 6 months ago, I had no idea what the outcome would be. You know…I remember when I only had 13 followers on this blog…thinking, frig – am I ever going to increase these numbers. I guess you like what I write 🙂

Thanks for following my blog, leaving comments and suggestions of things to try. You can also follow me on good old Facebook, Twitter and of course, Pinterest.

What are your workout plans this week ?

Me:

to walk 3 times per week at break time/lunch for 20-30 minutes.
run once or twice this weekend – pending the heat of the day and if my hubby is home
do a DVD workout once or twice this week!

Go Get Active!

Bluenose 5k Recap – First Trimester Running

June 22, 2012 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 8 Comments

When I wrote my Bluenose Marathon 5k Recap post, there was one rather important piece of the missing from the puzzle!

I was almost 11 weeks pregnant when I ran my 5k in 35:29 seconds. To say it was my worst 5k running time was no joke.

To say I was happy with my time, that was an understatement. I was thrilled with my time and still am.

I took about 3 weeks off from running during my first trimester because I have a nasty head cold and I was either passed out on the couch (even before Lilly’s bedtime at 7pm when Saï was home) or I was in bed by 7pm (after Lilly goes to bed) when Saï wasn’t home.

I couldn’t function, read about that here.

I couldn’t do dishes, laundry, workout/run, talk on the phone, watch TV or blog.

All I could do was sleep. I slept for 10-12 hours a night – I’m not kidding!

Okay – so back to the main point of this post – Running the Bluenose 5k in my First Trimester of Pregnancy.

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I ran all winter knowing we wanted to have another child soon. I ran because I wanted to be healthy for my daughter, husband and family. AND, more importantly, I ran because I wanted to be as healthy as I could for the next child that comes into our life and be healthy during my pregnancy.

So, I ran. I had good runs, bad runs; in the snow, rain and heat of the spring.

I continued to run when I found out I was pregnant.

I also found a new hobby – it’s called “let’s try to eat and keep food in your body”. I have been quite ill during the first trimester – completely different to when I was pregnant with Lilly.

Race Day:

I had to tell Jennifer that I was pregnant because it was only fair that she knew I couldn’t run the race that I really had wanted to; sub 29:16 minutes. She was pretty excited for us and even hesitated when I told her and Robin to go ahead without me when I knew I couldn’t keep their pace.

It was a great run. I walked more than I normally would have. I took in the view on top of Citadel Hill – and seeing the 10k and 1/2 Marathoner’s at the start area and the sea of purple “I Run This Town” shirts was pretty cool.

I saw a pregnant women (probably 6-7 months along) running with a shirt she made; it said “Born to Run” on her belly. Pretty cute.

I later found out an old soccer buddy ran the 10k at 13 weeks pregnant – that made me rather excited.

I finished the race in 35:29, again my worst time….but now my BEST time knowing I was pregnant.

I had no pain during the run. No pain after the run. I drank water or Gatorade at each station and made sure I had lots of food after the run – along with an amazing smoothie from Pete’s. I had lunch with my daughter, husband and sister and then took a long 3 hour nap.

I was exhausted.

I did it! I successfully ran a 5k race, pain-free, no problems while I was almost 11 weeks pregnant.

Future Running Plans:

Well, I set my goals back in January of this year, they were to run 5k’s in the spring and 10ks in the Fall. When setting these goals I wasn’t sure if running 10k’s in the fall would actually happen and I have decided not to run them as I physically don’t want to push myself at that point in the pregnancy. Lilly was born 4 weeks early with no known medical reason – so I don’t want to push it too late in pregnancy, just in case.

My new goals:

5k Bluenose Marathon May and 5k Sole Sisters Run in June 2012 – done and done.
Run 1-2 days per week and workout at home – as long as I feel good
Fall – run as long as I can, add in more walking, swimming, prenatal yoga
Late Fall/Winter – Have baby #2
2013 – Run the Bluenose Marathon 5k under 29:16 or 10k under 60 minutes.
Run another 1/2 Marathon in 2014

Running a race in my first trimester was I choice I made. No one forced me to do this, however all the important people supported me and I’m sure thankful for that.

I’ll keep you posted to see how my running develops/changes over the next few months. Sole Sisters (start of second trimester) update to come.

Happy Running!