Umm, I signed up for another race.

August 4, 2014August 3, 2014 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 18 Comments

About a month ago I was talking to a friend of mine and she asked if there were any races when she was home on vacation early August. So, I looked up what was going on and found one that would work for her. Then she asked me to run it with her and I said yes, of course!

Though I hadn’t planned on running any races in July or August, I couldn’t say no to her. I rarely get to see her so it was a golden opportunity.

“A Shore Thing” #4354

Right now, I am focused on my half marathon training and this race fell at a good time in my schedule. I made a few changes to my runs this past weekend to allow for a 10k long run on today. {Monday’s a holiday here and my last day of vacation}.

Flat Piper:

Flat Piper – Good To Go!

I still have to decide on what shoes I am going to wear! My {new} New Balance or my trusty Asics ….decisions, decisions.

New Balance or Asics ???

Goals for my 10k:

A: Best Case or Ultimate Goal: New Personal Best under 57:17

B: Race Day Goal: Under 60 minutes

C: Almost Guaranteed Goal: Finish the race and have fun with my friends.

It’s a flat course on a gravel trail which is going to be a nice change to running on the road. I’m unsure if there are any hills or inclines … basically I’m doing this course without knowing it. I know a number of people running it which is also kinda fun 🙂 I’m looking forward the run because this race hasn’t been my focus the last two weeks so I’m hoping the pressure is off and I just have fun.

Don’t get me wrong, if I can push it and get a PB…I will …wouldn’t you?

Happy Monday!

Anyone race this weekend?

Check me out on Instagram for updates 🙂

EPIC Canadian 10k Race Recap

July 7, 2014 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 13 Comments

It’s taken me way to long to put this post together…not because I didn’t want to but our vacation got in the way. So … here you go!

Friday June 27th I left work early (booked the afternoon off…I didn’t play hookey) and picked up the girls. We drove to Halifax (really – Dartmouth) and picked up my race kit. Red t-shirt, bib and sunscreen! That’s it. I was actually really pleased that they didn’t give me another bag to try to figure out what do to with it after the race. The sunscreen was AWESOME – though I forgot it on race day and had to ask a volunteer for some 🙂

We had a family dinner {pasta} and birthday cake for my sister-in-law {yes, I totally had some}. We got the girls bathed and in bed later then normal but we were on vacation so it was ALL good.

Saturday June 28th

I woke up at 5:30 am before my alarm went off at 5:40 am. You see, my Dad was going to look after Hilary while Lilly and my mother were coming to the run with me. When Dad woke me up, Hilary had been asleep beside me…HAD being the important word. So, he climbed in bed with her and they slept until 7am apparently. After that she snuggled with my sister until 9 am – totally taking advantage of being on vacation and taking advantage of snuggle time with everyone! Good job Hilary.

I got Lilly up at 6 am and she was ready to go with in minutes! She was excited to eat breakfast in the car – ha ha – I made it something big and special the night before so she’d be excited about it in the morning. Worked like a charm.

6:40 am – We left the house and drove over to Dartmouth (25 minutes in no traffic), parked the car and walked towards where I thought the start line was. Nope, I was walking towards the finish and desperately needed a port-a-potty. So we turned around and made it to the start before the port-a-potty’s were even open!

7:30 am We met up with Krystol and took a few pre-race photos 🙂

Krystol (left) and I pre race.

Pre-Race with my big girl:

Pre Race with Lilly

Just before the start of the race they played “Oh Canada”. This was the first race I’ve been at that they did this – it was because the run was a Canada celebration. It was still pretty cool. I had my necklace on backwards and quickly turned it around so that my girls names where facing outwards. Finally, I was ready.

There wasn’t any organization to the start line so we just jumped in a random spot. Mistake number 1. It was like running through a very narrow sea of people in red…we could hardly move. Dang, I thought. After dodging a few people here and there, Krystol and I were off and running at a good pace.

First Km: 5:25 (fast past for me)

1-6 km The first 6 kilometers of the race were actually pretty good. It was super hilly but I was ready for it, mentally and physically – or so I thought! We were in and out of the shade which was refreshing and awesome. Main roads, through a subdivision and then into Shubie Park.

Hills, Hills and more hills. I was doing okay until 6.5km and took some water/walked a few steps. Mistake number 2. Don’t STOP for water…water is fine but don’t STOP running. Krystol was running strong.

We started up one steep hill and this is where things went wrong for me. Mistake number 3. I walked AGAIN instead of pushing through the hill. The distance between Krystol and I grew a little more here and for some stupid reason, I took more walking breaks then I really needed to. It was all a head game from here to the finish line. Dang! I even thought that I should have been listening to music to push me through the mental game that was now taking place in my head.

Around the 8km mark, I started to feel better on the flat part of the course but wanted to give up as the direct sun was pounding down on us. The last two kilometers were on a trail/main road and was fairly flat until the end. I walked more and more (bad Piper) and then pushed it up the last hill…..

All I wanted to do was puke but still had to turn the corner and make it to the finish line which looked like it was miles away! It was slightly downhill so I pushed it and sprinted to the finished line. I managed to finish behind Krystol by 2 seconds.

Smiling post race

She got a PERSONAL BEST and was aiming for a sub 60! She rocked it 🙂 Oh, and then a 1/2 hour later she ran the 5k race too!

My stats:

22/87 Division Total (F30/39 Division)

59:04 Gun Time

58:28 Chip Time

? Garmin Time – I totally forgot to stop my Garmin!!!!!! Bad Piper.

I have to admit I was completely happy with my time but not with my running. I felt strong and steady for a long time and then it all just got to me. In the end, I had a lot of fun and would totally do this run again next year. I loved having Lilly at my run. She got to see so many people running/walking and some swimmers too! I want to expose her to as much as I can so she wants to lead a healthy and active lifestyle too.

Check out that medal!!!

Next steps: My plan was to run and have fun this summer as I start mt training for the 1/2 Marathon in October (Valley Harvest) and two races in September (Tartan Twosome 5k and 10k – Maritime Race weekend)…then things changed……

Yes I’m going to leave you hanging…. 🙂

Any one race this past weekend?

Anyone do a Canada Day or 4th of July Run last week?

Can you guess as to why I’m leaving you hanging on my next steps?

And more

A Morning Run with the TTPer’s!

March 30, 2014 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 11 Comments

This weekend the girls and I packed up and went to visit my parents. We celebrated my father’s birthday with a little cake which ended up all over the girls face’s and in their hair – awesome! Ahh well, they sure enjoyed it 🙂 I also managed a quick trip to Costco and a run with the TTPer’s!

TTPer;s???? Timberlea Tundra Pounders running group. I grew up in Timberlea and my parents still live there so I joined the group mainly online but with the intentions of running with them when I visit my family. Friday night I checked the Facebook group and saw there was a run for 9:30am. I checked off the “maybe box” as I had to make sure someone could be with the girls…Grammy, Grandad and even Auntie Laura said yes. (Lucky me).

I double checked the time and it was moved to 8:00 am. Oh me, oh my…did I really want to run that early? I dunno! I hummed and haa’d about it for a few hours and then decided that I would go. A little motivation from my family and a comment from Piratebobcat helped.

Saturday morning:

Hilary didn’t sleep well and came in bed with me and bounced, rolled over, kicked and kept me awake for a while. She finally woke up for the day at 6:47am, before my alarm was scheduled to go off. I took this as a sign from her to go run.

Looking tired before the run!

Everyone got up, we ate some breakfast, I got dressed and was out the door at 7:50 to meet the running group. When I arrived Tom was there so we chatted for a bit. Then Dave and Bryan arrived…..that was it. No one else was coming…..I wasn’t too sure about this. Running with three guys is a little intimidating.

We started off as a group of four then slowly moved into groups of two with Bryan and I leading the way. Up this l-o-n-g and gradual hill, down another, up another l-o-n-g gradual hill, another short hill.

Bryan looked really familiar to me so we played the who do you know game. I started with the soccer world as I played and coached girls soccer for a few years. No connections. He had an accent….it was British, so we talked about England and I told him that my husband was from England. Then I asked where he lived and we actually were just about to run by his house….that’s when we made a few connections. He was neighbours to people I grew up with and we found out we knew even more people in common.

We ran the whole time…slowed down a little but than picked up the pace again. Down, then up and down another hill, flat for a bit until the last little bit then UP another hill, down a short hill and done!

I was pooped! 5.18km in 31:58….I was pretty happy with that time considering the amount of hills we had. We all high-fived each other …that was awesome! I then said to Bryan…“hope I didn’t slow you down”…he responded with “I was just trying to keep up”. After we stretched I asked if he knew my father….and he did, he knew both of my parents. Small world 😉

My legs felt great, my lungs were full of life and it wasn’t even 9am yet! I arrived home to happy girls playing with my sister. My father cooked me a late breakfast (spoiled, yes I know) and then I hit up Costco for my favourite cheese and a few other things.

We had an afternoon visit with a great friend of mine, Kelly…..the one who’s wedding I was in last year (Operation Get Fit for you newbies). Since Lilly attended her wedding last year, she calls Kelly a Princess….since she was all dressed up in her wedding dress. Lilly just loves Princess Kelly.

We had planned on staying all weekend but I decided to pack up and hit the road after dinner. We are getting another storm today…. 😦 The good news is that it’s not snow but just freezing rain, rain and more rain AND that the snow from last Wednesday’s storm has almost melted away!

Do you run with a running group?

Ever run with someone and play the “who do you know game”?

Best weekend moment?

Resolution Run Recap – 5k

January 5, 2014 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 16 Comments

On New Year’s Eve Day, at -10 celsius (14 F) I met a few friends for the Wolfville Resolution Run/Walk/Stroll. There were around 140 people who came out on such a cold afternoon! Instead of paying a registration fee you could donate money or food – all of which was being donated to the local food bank. They raised just under $700 and 300 pounds of food for our local food bank – pretty awesome!

Warm inside before the run

We met and got registered inside the Farmer’s Market and got to hang out for a bit before the run started at 2pm. Everyone went outside and it started just like that….pretty relaxed and cautious as there was snow and ice under foot. For some reason I thought being one of the last to leave the building would be a great idea – really, I just wanted to stay warm longer. In the end we had to make our way through the crowd of people on ice.

Once we got through my running buddy and I kept a good pace as we slowly passed people and were ~~passed~~ cut off by kids too. The run was open to everyone which was great but it was really hard running on the sidewalk (ice and snow) with a few kids literally cutting you off. It made me think about my own girls and teaching them manners and being aware of others in their surroundings.

I digress….

We decided to pick up the pace a bit and did so as we started on a little incline, again snow and ice under foot. We ran to the man who was marking the turn around point, gave him a high-five and turned around. There was two option for the run –> 3.5 k or 5k. I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to do the 5k but as we got going I was ready for it.

We made it back into the Town and then carried on with the remainder of our distance. Usually between 4-5k I start to hit a wall. Krystol and I talked the majority of the run which isn’t something I usually do since I mainly run on my own. Just around the 4k I started to get a little tired and slowed down on the conversation. I’m not sure if Krystol noticed but I was trying to just maintain the running and keep focused on the conversation with just enough in me to say a few words here and there.

We hit the next turn around point and I was really pushing it at this point but we were SO close to finishing. At one point I said that I needed to walk. We literally took 5 seconds, walked and then I was good to go. We ran to the end.

Personally, it was a great run for me. I managed to get through the last 5k and not suffer too much. I’m really enjoying running with Krystol and feel motivated to keep going with her. It was a great little event, a little snowy and icy but really, what can you expect in Nova Scotia on Dec 31st ?

We met up with our friends and had some warm apple cider – oh man, did that ever taste good. When I got in my car to go home, I ate my favourite Cliff bar (Chocolate Mint) and drank some water. I won the water bottle from Suzi a while back after she did her Nike 1/2 Marathon…I guessed her time right! The bottle is awesome.

Resolution Run 2013 done and ready for what 2014 will bring. I just need to sit down now and figure out what my running year will look like. Which races to run? Which races to think about running? And of course, how to pay for all those race entry fees 😉

Did you do a Resolution Run or New Year’s Day Run/Race?

Do you have your race/running list for 2014 started?

What’s the cheapest / most expensive race you’ve ever done?