Morning Run Along Toronto’s Waterfront

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Yes I am back.  Yes I have been neglecting my blog.  Yes I am going to make it up to you all with some awesome pictures from our fabulous trip.  But it will need to wait a bit.  I promise next week to catch you up on all our vacation adventures, as well as my race recap of the Disney Expedition Everest Challenge and the Castaway Cay 5K.

So back to at this moment business.  Sunday I will be running the Toronto Women’s Half Marathon.

Since coming back from vacation I have been super busy and my training runs have been minimal.  I was hoping to get in a long run at the beginning of the week but it didn’t happen until yesterday.  I headed into Toronto to do an easy 12 miler along Toronto’s Waterfront, which is truly beautiful.

My 12 miler only ended up being 11 miles since I took a wrong turn.  I had pre-planned my run to have my car parked in the middle, run 3 miles east past Ontario Place, 3 miles back to my car to re-fill my hand bottle, 3 miles towards Humber and then 3 miles back.  I took a wrong turn at Humber and was a bit short.  But I truly enjoyed the run and stopped a few times to enjoy the scenery.  Got this great picture of downtown Toronto from a far.

Here I am at about mile 10.  It was a very hot and sweaty run.

Unfortunately I feel my race will be a hard one.  I had too much fun on vacation and ate too much….LOL….and I’ve been so busy since being back to really concentrate on training.  But I am looking forward to the shirtless firemen, they better not disappoint!  But seriously, I believe even if I have a bad race, I still got out there and did it, which is alot more than alot of people do!

Where Am I Right Now – Indian Shores Beach

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So after all that Disney….sometimes yes you can have too much…..first WDW then the Disney Cruise we will be chilling at the beach.  Hubby will be off scuba diving the caves in northern central Florida

My daughter and my parents and I will be at Indian Shores beach enjoying the sun, sand and surf.

I rented a condo right on the beach so it will be a very relaxing lay low end to our vacation.

So that is it…..I will make sure to post lots of pictures when I get back!

 

Where Am I Right Now – Disney Cruise “Dream”

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Our next stop is sailing on “The Dream” a Disney Cruise ship.

My post regarding our Christmas Cruise this past Christmas we were so excited to see The Dream at the Nassau port since we knew we would be on it this year.  Its a beautiful ship!

So we will be on her for 5 days and what is the most exciting part of this cruise for my daughter:

AQUADUCK

The waterslide that goes off the ship, how cool is that!

We have alot of exciting things happening at the ports, we are swimming with sealions and parasailing and when we are at Castaway Cay I will be running the 5K run there.  There is also a huge pirate night on the ship, just wait for some great pictures.

Okay stay tuned for our next stop on this vacation!

Where I Am Right Now – Expedition Everest Challenge

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I have scheduled a few posts since we have left for a much needed vacation.  This way you all know where I am and what I am doing.

So right now we are in sunny Florida at the most magical place on earth.

Yes we are at Walt Disney World again.  You would think we had stocks in this company by now, hey that wold be a good idea!

This is just our first stop on this eventful vacation.  While we are here hubby and I will be running as a team, the Expedition Everest Challenge at Animal Kingdom.

And here is the awesome medal we will be getting, it opens an is a compass inside!

This is not your ordinary race.  It is a 5K race with obstacles then when you finish the 5K you are given a clue and you need to solve it and you will inturn receive another clue, similar to the Amazing Race.  I am very excited to run this with hubby.  Marina will also be running, but she will be running the Kids Race which I believe its a 1 Mile race with obstacles.  This will be her last Kids Race at Disney since she will then be at the age cut off point.

Okay this is our first stop and our first adventure, stay tuned for the next one!

 

Run4Hope 5K Race Recap

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There is something special about small local races.  Firstly your communte to the race is much shorter which means being able to sleep in, I definately like that perk.  Secondly less runners , not so congested and perhaps you can get a pretty good ranking.  Sounds like a win, win to me!

The Run4Hope race in Brampton was no more than 20 minutes away from home which is the least I have ever driven to get to a race.  Being a smaller race the set up was also very down scaled.  The starting shoot was small, so small it overflowed out.  Check out this picture of the starting line.  You can see how short it was so people were off to the left there which is where I was since I didn’t get situated right away into the shoot.

There was a 5K and a 10K with a mass start but again this was a small race so it wasn’t too bad but personally I think all races need corrals.  I love corrals.  I have seen how well they work, they are definately needed.  I was at the back of the pack here and I had to pass alot of people.

The run was in a residental area and then went around Professors Lake which was actually very nice.  We caught a bit of a headwind which I didn’t like but I actually enjoyed running and looking at the lake and watching ducks do their thing, nature really is beautiful when you take a few minutes to enjoy it.

We first did an out and back on the main road so hubby got a great pic of me running by, I was waving but looks like I am flapping my wings, oh well, atleast I’m smiling!

Hubby as well as the professional camera man got some great pictures of me:

I didn’t think I gave it my all, I was basically just enjoying this race and after finishing I saw that I had got 2nd place in my category, see you got to love small races.  This was my second time getting 2nd and I did get 3rd once.  Its a great feeling and I am so so glad I did get a placing in this race because there were NO medals.  Okay my pet peeve, races need medals!  So instead of leaving right away we stayed to go to the awards ceremony since I needed a medal.  Here I am on the podium, first time ever, I never stayed for my other placings, it was a pretty good feeling

Okay so here are my stats:

Official Time – 26:27

Chip Time – 26:03

2nd in my category (out of 26)

6th female (out of 100)

One thing that kills me is that the girl that came in 1st in my category has the exact chip time as me, but its gun time that counts for placings, she must have been ahead of me at the start, that is why every race needs corrals or why I need to get up there in the front more!

Yonge Street 10K Recap

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As I was picking up my race kit today for my race this weekend, Run4Hope 5K, I realized I had not yet done my race recap of my last weeks race, Yonge Street 10K.

A week out from this race I was very excited that I would be wearing shorts since the weather was suppose to be sunny and warm.  But just like all the weather forecasts this year, it was WRONG!  I woke up Sunday morning and was instantly cold which meant it was freezing outside and I was fighting a recent cold that appeared a few days before so I was definately feeling the cold.  I got dressed and drove into Toronto and to the start line.  Hubby dropped me off and then drove to the finish line to wait for me to finish.  When I saw that the weather forecast had changed for the weekend I decided to make a trip to my local thrift store for some throw away clothes and I was definately wearing them that morning.

I got to the start with just over 30 minutes to spare and knew I needed to find somewhere to hang out.  I found a store front door that I could hide from the wind, I was shocked I found one on that stretch of Yonge Street since they were all taken by runners hiding from the wind and cold.  I squatted in my hole and prepared myself for the run…..put on my arm sleeves, fuel belt, Garmin, bib and drank my honey water.  I stayed there for about 10 minutes but without a watch to know what time it was I decided I better get into my corral before its too late and I also like to get a spot to the far right so then I could toss my throw away clothes over the fence.  I got into the blue corral and I stood, jumped, danced, jogged in the spot, anything I could think of to keep warm.  It was extremely cold and the wind seemed to just be blowing down Yonge Street and right through me.  It felt that it was taking forever for this race to start but when the first corral finally went off at 9:00am, I knew I was next and very happy to be in the second corral and that I could start running in just a few minutes.  We all moved up and off we went.

WOW……this race was mostly downhill and it was pretty amazing to see Yonge Street completely filled with runners ahead of me as I ran, it truly was “beautiful”.

At mile 1 I felt a slight pull in my right hamstring and I knew I better not push it and risk an injury, so I just kept it steady and kept going at it conservatively.  My nose was also constantly running due to my cold, so I was having my fair amount of issues on this race.

Even with my issues, I was really enjoying this race.  We passed two Running Room locations on this course and the employees were all out, holding up signs and cheering everyone on, it was amazing.

One thing that felt really good during this race is that I knew exactly where I was in the race.  So when I turned onto Bathurst St. I knew the finish line was so close.

If you didn’t believe me that it was a cold day, check out all the spectators wearing their toques.

Hubby caught me right before the finish line coming in and I was so happy to see that finish line!

Whats better than finishing a race?  Finding a friend at the finish line and having a quick chat!

It was quite a walk through the finish chute.  I unfortuantely didn’t find my husband right away and I was frozen.  Luckily I found him and he took this terrible picture of my frozen self.

Okay stats, here they are:

51:42

106th (out of 459) category

530th female (outof 2906) 

Not my best race, not my worst race, definately a race I will run next year and hopefully without all my issues.

Menu Monday – Grilled Salmon with a Mango Cucumber Salsa

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Nothing says summer in our home like grilled salmon.  Yes it is not officially summer yet but a few weeks ago we did have beautiful summer type weather, unfortunately today it is freezing cold and we are suppose to get snow, I will forget that while I post this summery recipe I made a few weeks ago.

I really enjoy just having grilled salmon with a nice green salad but to change things up a bit, making this Mango Cucumber Salsa to top the grilled salmon with is delicious and perfect for a hot summer day!

Grilled Salmon With A Mango Cucumber Salsa Recipe:

4 portion pieces of salmon

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp of ground black pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped

1 ripe mango, diced

3/4 cup cucumber, diced

3 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Rub the sea salt and ground black pepper on both sides of the salmon pieces. Place on a hot grill.  After a few minutes brush oilve oil on top side of the salmon pieces, grill for a total of about 5-8 minutes on that side and turn and repeat with the olive oil and grill for another 5-8 minutes.  Grilling time depends on the thickness of the portions.

While the salmon is grilling you can prepare the salsa.

Combine all the remaining ingredients and place in a bowl.

Place the bowl of salsa in the fridge until the grilled salmon is ready.

When the salmon is ready serve the salsa on top of the salmon.

To continue on with the summery meal, I paired this salmon and salsa with a hearty tomato/cucumber/red onion/feta salad and boiled corn on the cob.  Everything blends well taste wise and was all fresh and cool for the summer weather.  This is one of our favourite summer dinners.

What is your favourite summer meals? 

 

Mercedes 10K Race Recap

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The Mercedes Oakville 10K was my FIRST EVER race 2 years ago, so this is my third year running this race and I am hoping to run it every year if possible.  The Mercedes Oakville 10K just holds a special place in my heart!  When I ran that first race I was so scared and even though it was a freezing and rainy day, I was so excited to accomplish my first ever race and surprisingly after that race I was hooked.  Check my post here of that race recap.  Last year they moved up the date into May and it was a beautiful day and I almost PR’d it was a great race, check it out here.

This year I registered and never noticed that they had changed the course until about a week prior to race day, again it didn’t matter too much to me because this race is so dear to me I would run it regardless but I learned while running on the course I was not a fan of this change.

Okay rewind to the start.  The forecast was not looking pretty, cold, rain and wind so I made sure to have my arm sleeves and a hat ready to go that morning and that is exactly what I had to wear to deal with the weather conditions.  When we got to the race location I noticed that the start line was no longer on Lakeshore Rd, it was now right inside Appleby College which I found out later would be a very congested start and I started too far back.  Here is how tight the start corrals were:

Here are the runners that started this race:

And here I come:

As you can tell it hadn’t started raining yet but at about the half way mark along the course it did start to rain which was very uncomfortable.  So as I mentioned the course was changed this year and right away I saw the difference, there were alot of turns this time around as well we were running more in the downtown part of Oakville which made for running with traffic beside us as well as very small lanes and alot of weaving in and out.  I also spent the first mile passing people because I started too far back.  Unlike last weeks race, Harry’s Spring Run Off were I felt I started right where I should have, we all flowed pretty well, I did have to pass a few people but not like this race.  So I really was not feeling this race and I was not expecting much.  It was a decent run but not what I had hoped for.

Here are my stats:

Chip Time:  53:56

21st in my category (out of 97)

69th female (out of 361)

So not the greatest but not my worst so I will take it.  But this day turned much better.  Marina ran the 1K Junior Jog and she did amazingly!  Here she is preparing herself:

She is wearing my shirt from the 2010 race, my first race ever, its been used well!

Here is a great action shot of the take off, Marina isn’t a fan of the picture but I think its cute!

Here she is coming in:

She did AMAZING!  She was 8th overall and the 2nd girl to finish.  I am so proud of my little runner!

I feel the organizers of this race do a fabulous job at this race every year, I did not stick around in the rain and cold for the award ceremony to see if I won the Mercedes…..I drive a BMW why would I want a Mercedes, that’s just my little joke all the time but really I am not a big Mercedes fan, I prefer my BMW so if my name was drawn it will go to the next person in line and they may need a new car for a year more than I do!  But I really hope they change the course route back to the original because honestly I didn’t like the course route so much this year!

See you next year Mercedes Oakville 10K!

 

Menu Monday – Fruit Salsa With Cinnamon Tortilla Chips

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Here is a recipe that not only tastes delicious, is easy to make but is perfect to make for any party or gathering, it will be the talk of the food table!  The sugar/cinnamon combination on the tortilla chips with the fresh crisp taste of the fruit will be sending your tongue into heaven.  My recipe for Fruit Salsa With Cinnamon Tortilla Chips are a must do for any party!

Fruit Salsa With Cinnamon Tortilla Chips Recipe:

Any fruit that you may have in the fridge….my favourites for this recipe are strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, and kiwi.  But for this recipe today I used:

6 strawberries, 1 kiwi, 1 plum, and a handful of black grapes

8 whole wheat flour tortillas

2 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tbsp cinnamon

4 tbsp white sugar

Like I mentioned above, you can use any fruit that you like in this recipe.

I started off my chopping my strawberries and then setting them aside.

Chop up the kiwi and set aside.

Chop up the black grapes and set aside.

Chop up the plum and set aside.

What you want to achieve is a kaleidoscope of colour.

Place in a bowl and place in the fridge.

Place the tortillas on a cutting board and cut into quarters.

Then cut them again to make 8 slices.

Place the triangles on baking sheets.

Brush the olive oil on each traingle.  Combine the cinnamon and the sugar in a bowl.

Sprinkle each triangle with as little or as much as you like.  My household loves cinnamon so I am very generous with my sprinkles.

Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Let cool.  I like to arrange the tortilla chips around the bowl of fruit, to look like a flower.

Now doesn’t that look pretty!

So the next time you are throwing a party, present this to your guests, they will thank you later!

 

Harry’s Spring Run Off 8K Race Recap

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When I read the race details for Harry’s Spring Run Off 8K I was happily surprised that the race did not start until 10am.  I have never done a race that started so late into the morning but I have to say I love it!  I will always take a few extra hours of sleep over anything and its actually nice to not have to wake up so early to get ready to head out to a race.  Regardless we left home with plenty of time to find parking.  The race took place in High Park in Toronto and I would need to find street parking.  We parked a few blocks away but it was a beautiful sunny morning that was helping to warm up the day so we took a bit of a walk to High Park from the car.

I liked that this race had corrals and my husband made a great comment after the race.  He commented that the finishers were finishing in their corrals which just proves how important corrals is to races to help keep the race flowing properly.  I got to my corral with enough time to settle in.

The race started and I found it was very, very crowded.  I found it difficult to deal with the congestion and had to wave a bit when it was actually possible.  This course had alot of downhills and uphills.

Does anyone really watch what other people are running at races?  I saw two girls wearing the same tights and I’m sorry but I thought it was just they were very unflattering.  I understand everyone has different taste but wow these were definately not my style.  Luckily hubby also thought they were strange and took a picture to show me incase I missed them.

Okay back to the race.  So that last picture was taken at the last hill.  There was a terrible hill for the last km of the race and it was right before the finish line which I thought was terrible.  I literally felt I was running in the same spot for the whole hill, it was brutal.  I know for a fact I lost a good minute on this hill, a minute on the first hill and then another minute because of the congestion issue.  So my time was definately not what I had hoped for.

I finished 43:28, 3 minutes slower than what I was expecting.  But this was my first 8K race so it is a PR!

My other stats were:  196th female out of 1056 and 36th in my category out of 163.  I am always happy when I am in the top one quarter so overall it was a good day.  The weather was perfect, the course was scenic, my time and stats are pretty good, and my family was there to watch me, “life is good”!

Overall I also thought this race was well organized and I would love to run it again next year, but I will definately do more hill training!