T-minus four weeks till race day: The excitement is building!

I can't help this feeling, deep inside of me: it's four weeks till race day!

Not to mention, it's the Blue Nose 10th anniversary race weekend.

It will be my eighth half marathon since 2009.

I've been feeling strong lately. Today I had a good 18kms, preceded by a strong week (with a good 12kms/tempo/9 hills).

And the events at Boston last week have made me appreciate: I am alive - I have blood coursing through my veins. I am breathing. My muscles are straining. My feet are pumping.

In the past week, we have struggled to gain some sense of perspective of the week's events. I have been humbled by those of you who told me that my post on Monday where I struggled to put my feelings into words helped you.

In the last week, all of my runs have personally been in tribute of those at Boston. I have pushed myself harder for them. I have run my nine hills, with the last four in honour of the victims of this week's tragedy. My muscles were screaming, but I couldn't stop, for them.

I have realized that if it hurts, it's because I am still alive.

Tomorrow, I plan to head to Point Pleasant Park with many, many other Halifax runners for a run in honour/memoriam of Boston.

So on race day, there will be no excuse: it may prove difficult at times, but I hope to make it a day of celebration and tribute. I'm sure standing at the starting line in four weeks' time will feel bittersweet. Still, I feel excited about a race for the first time in a long time.

In fact, I can't wait!

See you at the start line,

~ HRG

T-minus 21 days till race day, and counting: Slip slidin' away

Today's run was an 18k LSD. When I woke up after a late night, my first reaction was to hit snooze on my alarm. Our bed seemed so cozy and warm, whereas getting up to go run outside wasn't all that appealing.

But then I remembered my post from the yesterday, and how inspired I'd been after my yoga lesson. I can't on the one hand write about inspiration and on the other decide to hit the snooze button and lie in bed because I was up too late the night before.

So I tried to turn off my brain and the negative self-talk that was telling me to stay in bed and go for a run later in the day, and instead tried to focus on how lucky I was to be able to head outside for a long run, and on how much I would enjoy running and chatting with friends and fellow runners. I knew that once I got started, I would be glad I had gotten up and headed out for that run.

Arriving at the Running Room, I did indeed see many friendly and welcoming faces who seemed happy to see me there. So instead of plugging in both earbuds and focusing on my music, I turned to them and started chatting away.

The roads were very icy, though - the theme of the week. It had snowed, then melted, and snowed, then rained, and a thin layer of ice coated the sidewalks.

Because I was chatting, I wasn't entirely paying attention, which meant that all of a sudden at about kilometre 4, I lost my footing in the middle of a sentence and fell to the ground with a loud "whoop!" that sounded much louder and dramatic than I actually felt hurt.

Our pace leader, Wendy, asked how I was doing and kindly told me to take some time to let it all sink in - because I might be in shock. The rest of the group seemed to be more in shock than I felt, partly because my "whoop" had been so dramatic. I was a little stunned, but more embarrassed than anything. But everyone was super kind and made sure to ask how I was doing, checking to see that there was no obvious bleeding or rips anywhere.

Beyond a couple of bruised knees and a scraped palm, I was fine, though. Although it was tempting to turn around and head inside - the roads really were treacherous - and grumble about how bad the run was, instead, I turned back to chatting with my friends, and the kilometres ticked off gradually.

Until we were at kilometre 17, and Eye of the Tiger came onto my iPod (I still had one earbud in).

I was tired, and my legs were heavy, but I knew it was partly because of the fall and another part because of our staggering gait on the icy patches.

I remembered Stephanie's words from yesterday: I could be achy, tired and miserable. Or I could just be achy and tired. So I focused on the energy in the song and enjoyed the little boost the music was giving me, almost singing out loud to the lyrics. I knew too, from previous experience, that it's the tough runs that are super training for race day, when I'll likely be just as tired and exhausted but will need the mental stamina to continue.

And I finished that run.

My legs are tired and achy now, and my knees are sore and a little bruised, but I'm happy I persevered. I know I would have beat myself up if I'd let myself quit too soon.

One more long run down before race day!

Hope you're all staying safe out there, folks.

- HRG

Week 14 of 18: Things I saw on my 18k run

I'll be honest: a week ago I just about gave up on training for the Valley Harvest Half Marathon. But after chatting with friends and fellow runners, after a pretty respectable tempo 5k and steady 6k, I thought I'd give it another shot. Which led me to dream up a future blog post that I'll publish shortly, tentatively called "Why blabbing on and on about running is important." More to come on that one.

To be honest, my husband probably would have told you he didn't think I'd follow through with it last night. I arrived at his work tired and grumpy after a busy day, and finding every excuse not to run - my t-shirt would be too hot, I didn't have my water belt or a pouch to hold my gels in...But he told me I shouldn't back out of it. So we agreed that we'd drive home, I'd go right upstairs and change out of my t-shirt and into a sleevless tank, grab my water bottle and drive back downtown again.

"You're doing this," he said. "You're going to go straight back out."

So I did.

Here is what I saw on my 18k (yes, 18 - I did it) run last night:

a white cat with a black patch leaving a church
a girl with a flute case
a runner (lots of runners)
a student (lots of students)
a dog walking its owner
a beautiful orange fuzzy cat sitting on a fence
an old friend with a new friend
a thug Kermit the frog in blue jeans on a t-shirt
a man shaking a Tim Hortons cup and asking for change outside the NSLC
a family out for a walk
a man pushing a shopping cart in the North End alleyways, looking for recyclables
a torn up sidewalk
a patched up sidewalk
a man checking the time an open grocery store would be open
a teeny dog getting tangled in a leash
a tortoiseshell cat cleaning itself on a driveway in the dark
a man watching tv next to his wife while playing the guitar
a big man on a small phone
a zig-zagging walker who couldn't decide what side of the pavement to be on
a sign on Quinpool Road that read "Everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile"
a young woman holding up a sign outside the Superstore, asking for help in the growing gloom
a baseball game under bright lights
an older man running for a tennis ball on a busy tennis court
a drive home - my car, and the finish of this run

~ HRG