Sunday, March 30, 2008

Lesson's Learned- A 30k Around The Bay Race Report

I JUST finished running. (And driving home, and bathing) I need to analyze and report now, because if I don't I won't be able to stop thinking about it and fail my last psych test. Which, I will have you know, if I don't pass, then I won't pass my psych course, and if I don't pass my psych course, I won't have a high enough GPA to stay in my Kine major. Then I have to figure something else out, which sucks, cause I don't wanna have to do that.

Anyways...
Let's start at the beginning.

I woke up this morning, at about 5:10am. I pretty much had everything set out, knew what I was needing to do in the morning, so I was pretty comfortable with that. I got up, got dressed, fixed my bib. I had a banana, and glass of orange juice. We had Tim Hortons on the way because the house is pretty dry right now. So I got another half a bagel and container of Orange Juice into my body. I was treating it pretty good, you know.

We get to Hamilton just after 8am. I go the washroom twice, and find my parents seats really close to the Running Room meeting spot. I then make my way over to where I was to meet *D*, my race buddy, and we then went to meet up with the rest of our group. Said our "Good Lucks", tried to calm myself down, took my inhalers, and started to walk to the start line.
It was there that I was told several times to not go out too fast, and pace myself...
Found the 2:55 pace bunny (MY FIRST MISTAKE), and lined up with him.

The gun goes off at exactly 9:30, and we start. Cross the finish line about 4 or 5 minutes after that. I start my Garmin and start chasing this damn pace bunny. He was a psycho bunny, I'm telling you. He was weaving in and out of people, and damn was he hard to catch. I seriously felt like Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

Kept up with him for 3 walk breaks, and then I decided I had to slow down. I knew that if I kept this up I would not finish. I urged my buddy *D* to go ahead, because I didn't want her to go ahead. But she continued to Ooze positivity and tell me about her trip to New York. At about 11k, we said our goodbyes and she went on to the finish. I settled into my own pace.

I still think the pace was pretty strong, it was just mine. I ended up taking my puffers twice, once just after *D* and I split up (very heavy dust) and once near the steel mill where it was thick polluted air.

For the 10 in between, I was so out of it. I don't really remember much. I remember that I was fueling, and I remember that I kept my pace strong and consistant, but I don't remember looking around much. I was, however, pretty tempted to stop and get on one of the busses or just pick a plot at the funeral home and lie there for awhile
On the health front, I was only about 70%, and I did have a bit of trouble breathing, which may have been why I tired out so fast.

The last 10, I struggled-ish. I knew then that there was no way I was going not going to finish. I just had to get done. There was no way I was going to get any sort of a time that I had hoped for, but I was going to finish, I was going to get a medal, and I was going to be able to wear my shirt.

It was an on-off, run-walk thing. My whole mentality changed to 'just get this damn thing done'.
At every kilometer marker, there was a saying on it. There were a few that stuck out:

"It's the long run that puts the Tiger in the cat"
"Once I knew I was going to finish, the pain disappeared" (It doesn't, btw)
"Those who say I will lose will have to run me over with their car to beat me"

At about 25, when you high-five the midget, I could feel myself falling apart, mentally. I just wanted to cry! I don't know what came over me, because it was only 5k to go, and I had run 5k so many times before! There's no problem there. I held it together though, and walked up the hill. There was no way I was going to run up it, cause then I would have walked the rest of the way to the finish.

In the end, I wanted to finish strong. I didn't care if I had to walk the last 3k, and sprint the last kilometer, I would do it. Luckily I didn't have to. My run-walk was not a 10 and 1 thing though. About 600 meters from the finish, I saw *T* who said something (which I can't really remember) but I know that it really pushed me to the end! I was almost done!
Around the corner, down the ramp and sprint to the finish line.

I crossed the finish line, and I guess horomones were all out of whack, because I couldn't stop crying! (This is coming from the girl that doesn't ever cry).I hobbled and sobbed(for lack of a better word) to the place where they take your chips and got my medal. Got a bag filled up with food, and kept going. I was trying to compose myself, but it wasn't happening. Went to see my friends, and gave them hugs, and sat for a bit. Everyone looked happy to be done. Like I said, at this point, I wasn't even thinking, I think I was just so happy to be done. And I think what I accomplished was pretty great. So they were probably happy tears.

I'll have you know, however, that I have the best running friends, best blogger friends and best school friends anyone could ever ask for. I didn't want to come report that I didn't finish to you folks.

OH, and *D* went on to finish in 2:52! She did awesome. We walked back to get my stuff, and she was being all nice, telling my siblings that I was the youngest one in our group to have done it, and I did great! It was soo nice :o) She was oozing the positivity I didn't have in me. If it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't have trained like I did. Or run like I did.

So heres what you care about:

Chip Time: 3:17.

I guess I'm not (t00) disappointed. I think it's a pretty respectable time. And I was not 100%. Know what's cool? This race is older than Boston!! This year was the 114th anniversary! I was part of history. Haha (whatever works, right?)

LESSONS LEARNED

1) NUTRITION WORKS: Last year before Mississauga, I had Burger King the night before, and had a Gel for breakfast. And I didn't hydrate properly, and I didn't take a gel until 8km. Today I did them at 5k, ate breakfast and had a fabulous (home-made) pasta the night before. Mind you, the three days prior to that, my diet consisted of water, orange juice and chicken noodle soup.

2)GOALS: I shouldn't have had a goal other than to finish. I mean, I thought that I could go in not having a time goal, but I'm very goal oriented, and I like my goals to be pretty narrow. It's hard not to be super disappointed not meeting a goal, but like I said, I recognize that I wasn't 100%

3) Fueling/hydrating: I think I had the fueling down pretty much. Gels every half hour. I did not want to bonk, so I just kept the calories going in. Ended up taking 5 gels. Hydration I think I still need to work on. I was pretty dehydrated on Thursday/Friday, and drank a lot Saturday. I ended up with some kind of a salt imbalance that caused my calves to cramp. I'll figure it out with time, though.

LESSON'S TO BE LEARNED:

1) PACING: That's pretty much what Im thinking right now. There's gotta be a trick to it. I mean, like is it adrenaline? I don't really know what it is but its something that I definately need to work on.

So, I think I've kept this report pretty positive. Because I'm pretty happy. I mean, its a PB no matter which way you look at it, right? I'm young, and I have got lots of time to learn all this, and I will, almost undoubtedly make the same mistakes again.

Thanks for reading guys! I've got some serious studying to do this week, but I'll be back soon to read all the race reports I've missed.

Leave me some love,
TiGrr

P.S. I got a sunburn:)

Saturday, March 29, 2008

The Final Verdict

So,
Ive been diligently resting.
Diligently hydrating.
Diligently 'doping'.
Diligently taking my inhalers three times a day.
I've done everything by the boook.

And I'm feeling significantly better.
I can walk stairs, and I can walk down the block.
The ccoughing attacks have significantly subsided.

This, my friends, was supposed to be my A race of the spring season.
I know that it's going to be Sub-par.
But I really like the shirt.
And I figure I won't push myself too too hard.
I figure I should be fine.
I'll carry my inhalers and take them if I need them.
I'll fuel properly (if not more than I normally do)

So really, Im running it.
Im bringing warm clothes to change into, and a blanket for after.

And I'm gonna try really hard not to be dissappointed in my time.

So thats that.
Look for a (race) run report soon.
Wish me Luck

Tiger

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Rest, a word I despise!

So, this post may not make sense. I am under the influence of cough medicine.
I still haven't been feeling better.
I mean, I think I've gotten worse.

I have tried Cold FX, and I've been pretty close to overdosing on Vitamin C and cough syrup (Exaggerating, a little.) and it hasn't been working.

It's gotten worse to the point that walking and breathing at the same time is very very very difficult.
I've started back on my ventolin, and even thats not helping.
So today, after my job interview, I headed across the street to get to the Urgent Care clinic run by the hospital. Its basically like an emergency room, but less of a wait time.
Ha.

SO I go in and they make me put on a mask (they probably think I had SARS), and wait around for an hour.
The doctor then tells me that my nasty cough is probably due to a cold and has exasperated my asthma, so he gives me more ventolin and then something called 'prednisone' or something. He tells me its a steriod and that I should probably be okay for the race on Sunday.

Who knows, maybe I'll break a course record and make it to the Canadian Olympic team.
Hahaha. ok you can laugh at that. But it won't happen cause he only gave me enough until Tuesday. And I'd rather run with my own talent, not the talent that steriods have given me.

Anyways, tonight I'll go listen to the speedwork talk, and then go get some tea and honey at starbucks, and go to my bed and sleep.
I am under orders to rest until Sunday. So, when I run the race on Sunday, it could be verrryyy interesting the end result. It's not gonna be what I was hoping for, I know that for sure.

I am stubborn. But I am also a Tiger.
I'm running the race, even though everyone has told me not to decide until Saturday.
Infact, I'm going to the expo tomorrow. :)

Wish me health.
Tiger

Monday, March 24, 2008

300! **CORRECTED**

We now take a break from our regularly scheduled programming:

This is Tiger's 300th post! She knows that you don't want to read 300 things about her, 300 things about why she runs, or 300 of her favorite things or pet peeves, so she decided that she would educate you on the number 300!

1)300: The number of soldiers that Leonidis had to win the war at the Battle of Thermopolye. (See also: 300, the movie) Apparently I also failed History. Wes informed me that Leonidis lost. I have to admit though, I didn't do any research on this. I just remembered that the Battle of Thermopolye had 300 soldiers, and there was a guy named Leonidis. I had a 1 out of 2 chance of getting it right, but I guess that the odds were against me.

2)Number of Neurons in an Octopus brain: 300 thousand

3)300 is the number directly following 299 and preceeding 301.

4) 300 is a triangular number and the sum of a pair of twin primes as well as the sum of 10 consecutive primes. (Thank wikapedia for this. I failed math)

5) 300 is a perfect score in bowling obtained by getting 12 consecutive strikes.

6) 300 is the year when Elephants became extinct in North Africa

7) 300 is the year that the magnetic compass was invented for navigation in the middle east

8) 300 is the number of bones that humans are born with, but as an adult, we only have 206 because our bones naturally fuse together

9) 300 is the number that you get when you add the ages of three generations in my family up.

10)300: is the number of postholes measuring two meters wide had been discovered on the Hill of Tara in Ireland , and 300 towering oak posts once surrounded the hills.

11) 300: is the number of times I have thought about my upcoming race in the last day.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.


So, since nobody sent me any suggestions, you get to deal with being educated on the number 300.

SO, heres whats happened since I last posted...

Hills on Wednesday night rocked. It was tough.
Try this, running up a hill backwards...
OH man does that ever hurt. Seriously I think I was feeling it for 2 days.

Thursday was the busiest day of my whole entire life. Seriously. Test at 8:30, got home at 11:30, had to buy printer paper, had a panic attack about printer cords and USB cables, printed off my resume, headed to starbucks to meet with my nutritionist.

Break in story:

Met with nutritionist. Although I have sworn off all alcohol until May 11th, because of the impact that it has on my Running. However, after May 11th is Victoria Day weekend, which has me planning a big get together, and I sorta kinda wanted to know what to drink. Shots, are apparently the best.

Oh, and I can have Kraft Dinner every once in a while. As long as i have it with salad. See, I don't have to be perfect all the time.

I then went directly from there to an interview. Im not going to talk anymore about that because I've heard stories about people blogging about interviews and then not getting the job because of what they said when the blogged.

Friday was a laid back rest day. Don't remember if I left the house.

Saturday, I ran 15k. It was supposed to be 30k, but there was nobody to run with and I wasn't feeling 100%. Treated it alomost as a long tempo.

Now, I am full out sick. A week before ATB and I am sick. I have a chest infection and can't breathe!!! Im going to overload on Vitamin C and Vitamin D and eat lots of fruits and drink lots of water and stuff. SO yeahh. This SUCKS!
I don't even know how my training this week will be.

So Run Strong!

Tiger

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Mile PB

We did the retest of the mile.
If you recall, my first mile time was 7.23. I pushed myself super super hard, and got to 7.23
Today we did the mile again.
I did it in 6.45
She said I could've easily done 6.30 but I kept looking at my watch and slowing down and I didn't pace myself properly.
Oh well. I got sub 7 and Im happy with it.
Now, tonight=hills.
Yahoo.

Next post = post 300!!!!!
Expect something special
(any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated)

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Oozing

I debated on the title for this post. It could've been called..HTFU part 2, or Mental Toughness or WTF AM I GETTING MYSELF INTO? but they just don't cut it. This title, I feel is more abstract (although I am definately partial to the last one).


Yesterday we ran the Around the Bay Course. During the run, I was most definately oozing mental toughness. Let me remind you that Around the Bay is in like, 13 days. Yeah. So, I have mentioned before that I am not ready. In any sense of the word. But, still I went. Mind you, formal was on Friday. I drank a lot. (It was open bar you know) I also worked the next day til 12:30am, didn't sleep til like 2:30 and got up at 6:00 to cab it to the Running Room for 7am, so we can leave for Hamilton at 7:15. Carpooling of course.


Now, we didnt do the whole 30k course, I'll have you know. We did the 15k out and 15k back. And we started at the finish line. And the hills, the hills are at the end. So basically we did the hills twice.

The first 20k were fine. I started to fade very quickly after that. I was dehydrated (due to the excessive drinking on Friday night) and very very exhausted. And my IT Band was killing me! The guy who was driving offered to let me wait somewhere and when they were done they would pick me up...But I didn't want to. It was cold and stuff anyways. They said, however, if they got back and I wasnt there, they would hop in the van and come find me! I really appreciated it.


We run through a place called the Valley of Death. The whole scenery is cemetaries. Seriously! Cemetaries and creamatoriums...

Yeah. So, At this point we're about, oh, 8km from the finish line and I was hurting SO BAD! The course was Crazy busy with runners. Seriously. Like you saw tons of runners. We saw our group that had left later as we were entering the Burlington area. It was great. I saw them again on the way back, and that was good, cause I was pretty much by myself. After entering the valley of death, there were many many more runners.

I pretty much walked the whole valley of death...Well...Yeah. I was going to try justifying it but seriously the whole thing sucked.

I had a kind of limp going on cause of my IT Band. Never have I been so close to accepting a ride from a stranger (they were runners). I didn't though, because my mother probably would have murdered me.


Speaking of death, as I passed cemetaries on the way back, I would look at them and say "oh, that's a nice spot. I'll just go and lay there for awhile"..But death is easy. And I don't give up.


Anyways, the big humungous hill that everyone was talking about was just on the way out of the valley of death. Yeah. At 26k. Everyone was talking about this hill, and I swore they were exaggurating. We were coming to the hill. I was going to run up the hill if it was the last thing I did. I started running up it and I thought that it would end. But..it didn't. You go around the bend and under the bridge, and you see the full extent of it. I looked at it in awe, and almost cried. And then I started walking. (listening to my body maybe? Hmm)


So, I get to the top of the hill, and just kept moving. Seriously. All I could think about was not making my lovely friends wait. I put my hair in a ponytail, stretcched out, forgot about what i was doing, put my ipod on, and finished. Some random runner asked me if I was okay and offered me advil. I was almost at the finish and i think my mother would have killed me if I took it so I just pushed through.


I made it to just around the corner, and someone called out the window to me and told me to get in the van (it was my runner carpool friends). I got in and everyone said I did good for finishing. Haha. Then we went to breakfast. I was coughing a little and this guy we were running with was a doctor and he told me that I needed to carry my puffer with me cause he could hear me weezing across the table. Hahaha. So....


I got home and I had to go to work and my boss told me to call when I was in Port Credit. So I called him and he said to not come in cause it was not busy. I was happy, and I went home and slept for 5hrs, got up for food and went back to bed. I was SPENT!


My race plan is now simple. Me and my running buddy (if she still wants to run with me) will simple Oooze positivity. We will talk about all the good things that happened in the year and the neat things that we want to do.


On Friday I was oozing the scent of alchol. I mean, I have been drunker but I was pretty gone. Apparently i thought my friend and her boyfriend were related. And I fell of the chair and spent a little bit of time on the floor. Yeahh...

Here is a picture from formal of me!


Finally, Today in track I was oozing my special magic!

We were running 20 minutes non-stop. Originally I was in my little world with music, super sore just wanting to get it over with. And then I was passing someone and she said "oh is this our marathon runner" and we started talking about running, and she used to run until she had a baby! Then at the end she told me if I hadnt been there she would've stopped running! So I am pretty happy about that. Im bringing her in some Learn to run material and giving her all the tools she needs to start running agian.


One thing I am not oozing is healthy eating. I have not been in my house for like a week. Now we are back in our house and there is no food. AND GUESS WHAT????? I feel like crap! Ill get back into the swing of things. I meet with my nutritionist tomorrow:)


Well this turned out to be pretty long.

I am now swearing off alcohol until May 11th. After the Mississauga Half.


Run Strong:)

Tigrr

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Do ONE Thing A Day That Scares You

SO Hi.

I just thought that you all should know that I, Tiger, went to go and donate blood today. Yep. I drank lots, and ate lots and all was fine.
Then when they did the finger prick test where you determine if your capable of donating, and it was determined that I have low iron.
ARGH
I was so brave and so ready too.
Just thought I should tell you.

Oh, and heres my new thing:

"Do One Thing A Day That Scares You"
So TODAY, Day 1: I went completely ready to donate blood. And I couldn't. So I think that counts.

I think you should try it to. Cause we regret more in life that we don't do than what we do right?
Right.

And I was listening to a song today. It's called 'Speeding Cars' by Imogen Heap.
I like the words.
Here's a chorus:

There, there baby,
It's just textbook stuff,
It's just the ABC's of Growing up.
Now, Now darlin', Oh don't loose your head
'Cause none of us were angels,
And you know I love you, yeah.

k. So I like it. And I don't really feel like explaining why. You can find the whole set of lyrics here.
I think if you read them you'll understand why.

I had a good hill run yesterday. Well maybe not necessarily good, but I got out there. I was doing it in leiu of tomorrows hills cause I didn't know how I would be feeling, but it turns out I could have just rested yesterday. It's ok though.
Was supposed to run 26k in Hamilton on Sunday but apparently it's been moved to Saturday--which is the day after formal.
Formal is open bar.
So. The options are: I do my 29k run in Port Credit and make it as HILLY as possible, maybe do some hill repeats.

OR

Go to Hamilton by myself on the Sunday. But if I do that, I will have nowhere to put my bag and stuff. So I'll figure that out whenever. Im leaning more toward the 29 in PC, as HILLY as possible. Yeahh.

So Dr. Steph tonight. I get my orthodics:) Gotta run tonight just because.
OH! P.s. you wouldn't believe it. I ran 18k in like 30cm of snow. Mind you that 18k took a long time, but it was SO much fun. Me and my running buddy had good conversation and explored a lot of new neighborhoods. And I think we trespassed too. Hahaha. Yeah.

We gotta move out of our house for the next 3 days so they can fix our floors. Don't know if I told you this either but the floors were flooded after we came home from Niagara falls. So we have to get them redone. Boo.

But "Be Everything That Scares You," my friends and have a good day

TiGrr*

Saturday, March 08, 2008

HTFU

So, I've been reading blogs lately and have come across the terms "HTFU" and "Hurt Box."
I borrowed these terms from 'Caught on the Run', but I have No Idea where he got them from.
I have decided that I, Tiger, Need to HTFU in more ways then one.

First Let Me Define these terms and then I will explain more.
HTFU--Harden The F*** Up
Hurtbox--going beyond the level of comfort. It sucks but it will make you a better person.

February has seen a certain 'slump.'
I feel like I was much stronger this time last February.
I've been sick, I've been injured, I've been completely stressed.
Even so, I have been out to the Running Room's clinic nights. I wish I was running 5 days a week. I know that Im in school. And I know that I am injured. (Something wrong with my MCL too. May as welll just mess up the PCL to get it over with. And my IT band is being stupid too).
But I still think that I need to HTFU.
I need to stop taking pain killers before I run, and just run through pain, instead of masking it. That iwll make me a better runner. I could also do Intervals and other stuff.
I wanted to run a 2:40 at ATB but there is no way that I am in 2:40 shape.
So Im going to run ATB just for fun. Hopefully sub 3 but goodness only knows.
I'm gonna kick it up a notch and HTFU and get into sub 2hr shape for the Mississauga Half. Then I'm going to start training right away for the full marathon that I want to run in September. I'll run a 10mile race to see what a logical time for the Scotia is and then....yeah.

On the life side, I need to HTFU more than I do on the running side. Seriously. My hurt box in life is so small. Anything that is uncomforatble I run away from. I need to go outside of my Hurt Box, and heal my heart. Make my heart stop hurting...The small size of my hurt box has caused me to avoid going places and walk out of psychology lectures because I didn't want to hear anything that they were talking about. It's controlling my life, and has been for what seems like a long time. I've been hurt alot. I've been tossed around and thrown out like I don't mean anything to anyone. I make everyone think that I am so strong, but honestly, I'm not strong. I'm just VERY good at Running. I'm not really sure where I am going with this. I just know that I can't keep living my life running away from things that hurt. Maybe Im asking you guys to make sure I'm accountable.Maybe I'm just recognizing it myself.

Um yeah. Thanks for reading I guess.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Arrived

My garmin,
The one that broke,
He came. He's back. He's in one piece.
Fred was burried among the land of Garmins.
And I got a new one.
His birthday is today.
...
And now there is a snow storm.
sigh.

PC Road Warriors

It is far too early to be blogging.
Seriously. I dont have to be up for another 2hrs and here I lie in my bed with my laptop, blogging about running. Yahoo.

So, my Running Clinic--we now have a name. It came down to ' Triple Crown 2' and 'Road Warriors' and after the second round of voting (because everyone didn't vote the first time) it was 'Road Warriors'. So that's what I am now. lol. I am Tiger, a member of the PC Road Warriors. We're gonna get cool shirts for the race weekend. I still sorta wanna wear my own shirt--I think it's become like a tradition! I will, however, take my team shirt to put it on after my half marathon, while Im waiting for everyone to finish the full.

Speaking of full marathons--I'm looking into Ottawa the next weekend. Yeah. Sounds like it could be interesting. Nothing for sure yet. But I mean, exams will be done! I have from April 16th to the middle of May to refine/intensify my training.
Still though, I want to run a 3:40 on my first marathon and there is no way that I will be in that kind of shape in a month and a half. Specially cause I'm injured right now. Actually. I lied. I want to run like a 3:20 debut marathon, and finish upright and smiling not crawling across the finish line, and have the last 10k take me 90 minutes and have bzillions of people pass me.
It might be awhile before I run a marathon. Haha.

So Wednesday was a sucky day.
Lots of snow. Left my house at the time that I normally leave my house. Got to school, instead of being about a half hour early, I got there right on time!! The normally 30 minute bus ride turned into an hour and 10 minute long bus ride. Sucky.
So there were 30 ppl in my first lecture. Yeah. Usually there were 500 ppl. We did nothing...
My second lecture was a little busier, but we still did nothing.
I was supposed to have track and feild, but that was cancelled.. Seriously.

Then I went to my psych class. We were talking about stuff that I have been running away from for quite sometime. So I zoned out and surfed bumper stickers on facebook,until the break at which point I left. That was just not sometihng that I could deal with at that point.

So Seriously, why did I wake up? I could have just slept the day away.
After my retarded day, I went to the Running Room to run hills.
Ok--so the crappy day might be getting a little better.
I ran 4 hills. Even though everyone else is at 6. I don't really care, cause I don't want to hurt myself even more. But, that's double what I was doing before, so I guess that I should do 8 next week. Haha. Just kidding.
There was ice, and my hip flexor muscle sorta seized up. That wasn't very comfortable.
But yeah. Hills are getting better.

Yesterday I basically went to the library and did some work. I have another Running Room Curriculum to plan, so I sent out a bunch of e-mails. Hoping for responses soon.
Then I went to the Running Room. Auntie Helen was supposed to be there to see my dress, but she didn't show up :(!

Oh yeah, i don't think I mentioned this to you folks.
I have a formal coming up next Friday. Within the University there are a bunch of different college affiliations, and each college has their own formal.
Ours is called 'In the Still of the Night'...And it's open bar!Thank god the thing is on the Friday so I have Saturday to recover and be able to run our run on the race course on Sunday.
Everyone is gonna hear about formal then.
Hopefully I will be able to meet up with my friend for a little while after the run.

Um yeah. I'm going back to bed.
Goodnight (morning)

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Eureka!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZEMRAWaVr8

So, watch the above video. It's hilarious. Then I would appreciate it if everyone checked thier calenders and confirmed to me that it is, infact, March 5th. Because, friends, I do believe that it is like...JANUARY! I am so sick of snow. And we are calling for snow for the next like 12 days.

Have you ever heard the saying that "March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion?" Well, I'll have you know that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of March consisted of sunshine, and above zero weather. Im hoping that the horrible weather we are going to have for the next 2 weeks make up for that, and we have a gorgeous, 13 degree day on March 30th (which is ATB).

Oh yeah, ATB, that's in like 3 weeks. 3 weeks? I feel so undertrained and not ready. So it might end up being that I don't have an "A" race this year. OR maybe the Mississauga Half will be my A-race. Yeah. I'll get in sub 2 hr shape (hopefully), and run it with Mr. Science Teacher:) Umm...yeah. I have a great strategy...

I'll be running with my running buddy. Not sure what our time goal is. Not sure which pace bunny we're going to start running with, but hopefully we'll do it sub 3. Maybe start running with the 2:50 or 2:55 pace bunny and see how we do from there. The first 20 are panacake flat, and the last 10 suck. Apparently death is at the top of one of the hills...Im giving him a high five. Every kilometer I'll 'cheer' and say "yay, 1k, Yay, 2k" etc, and cheer at the top of the hills. My theory for this is that if I have all this energy and stuff, the crowd will get excited, thus motivating people to run up the hill.

Haha. yeah. There's more to this race strategy, but i'll let you know after class.

Oh, and if you're wondering what the title is about, it's about the nutrition!!!
I haven't eaten bad for a really long time. Well like a week lol. And I feel so much better. I can read a book on the bus now, not just completely crash and fall asleep.

I got my meal plan, but haven't been able to open it. I'm going to the school library to see if I can't get that to open. Then i'll just print it:) And my mother doesn't know how to shop--im going to have to go with her.

But I don't need redbull anymore. I was going through redbull withdrawl and I just don't need it!

EUREKA!

Thanks for reading,

Tiger