Cynthia's Adventures

The Random post!

2012-02-05T21:41:00.000-05:00

Aneta tagged me last week for the "11 Randoms" so here it goes!

Here are the rules (I’m copying these!):

1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!

Here are my 11 Randoms:

1. My first language is French, my hubby and I talk only talk french at home :)

2. My favorite number is 13. (It brought us a lot of luck!!)

3. I love country music; although I never play it in my car!?

4. Since I started running in 2008, I have only lost 1 toenail. Just this week!

5. I get my nails and feet done every 2 weeks. (No I am not a diva but this is ME time!)

6. I hate shopping; I wish I had a personal shopper to do it for me!

7. I hate watching sports in TV although I love going to live games!

8. My favorite color is Pink

9. I do not like The Office

10. I don't understand the big fuss about Pinterest; I have an account but I don't get it. Google images does the same thing no?!

11. I met my husband the day I was moving out of my apartment; We had lived in front of one another for over 2 years and we only met that day :) (Best day of my life!!)

Here are the questions Aneta asked:

What is your favourite song on the radio right now? Kelly Clarkson - Mr Know It All

2. Brad Pitt or George Clooney? Neither

3. What is the last movie that you saw in the theaters? honestly can't remember. We watch a lot of them at home where we can enjoy wine at the same time :)

4. If you were on death row, what would your last meal be? my mom's mashed potatoes and her lemon square!

5. When was the last time you sent a real letter? wow, I can't remember!

6. Blue or Black pen? blue

7. What is the last book that you have read? I am currently reading "We bought a zoo" and its good!

8. running, biking or swimming? All three!!

9. coffee or tea? coffee although I do love Tim Hortons Blueberry tea!

10. cats or dogs? both but Penny is my girl now!

11. What is your favourite colour? Pink, of course!

Now, here are my questions to the people I will tag:

1. What's your favorite sport to watch on TV?

2. If you could become a professional athlete in any sport of your choice, what sport would it be?

3. Lasagna or Spaghetti?

4. Tomato sauce or Alfredo sauce?

5. House or Condo?

6. Amazing race or Survivor?

7. Courtney: IN or OUT? (If you watch The Bachelor, you know who I am talking about!)

8. Channing Tatum or Bradley Cooper?

9. Describe your most memorable run? (If you don't run, pick an activity!)

10. When was the last time you watched a sunset or sunrise?

11. Do you like camping? Tent or Trailer?

Here's who I am tagging in this!

- Anyone who would love to share a little bit about them! I know a lot of you have done it so I am throwing the invite out there :)

Where is my running mojo?

2012-01-31T22:21:00.000-05:00

As you probably noticed, I have not talked about running in a LONG time. If you haven't noticed, well maybe you haven't been reading other 100 posts where I talked about running every day and how I used to live for running! (Go now, read them!!)

Yes, this was me around this time last year training for Around the Bay!

For the past week or so, I have had a strong urge to run and I haven't. Why am I holding back?! I am not sure.... No races booked; maybe! No time; I have time but don't make it a priority! Feeling bad running instead of taking Penny for a run/walk... very guilty!

So, I decided that tomorrow morning, I will attempt a run. I am aiming for a 5K but I will see how I feel and go with the flow :) I am not expecting a miracle but I am hoping for a kick in the booty for moving forward with falling in love with running again!

To me running is like a love affair, I love how it makes me feel better, it relieves the stresses of a busy city life and I get to spend some time reflecting on life in general. I think A LOT when I run and I usually am a better person when I leave it all out there. (My husband could attest to that!)

So, for the month of February, I am setting a goal for myself to get back into running. With the trails that are waiting for me at the new house, I have 3 months to get back into it and then tackle those trails with all the passion I used to have :) I cannot wait to take out my Vibrams for a tour of our new neighborhood trails :)

These trails are calling my name!

And the river, I can see this as my ice bath in the future :)

Let's start February the right way with a great run and some run-love throughout the month :)

Who's with me?

What activity have you moved to the side and used to love?

House hunting adventures!

2012-01-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

Where have I been you may ask? Oh, if only I could sit here and tell you EVERYTHING I have done in the past week!

Let's do a short version of it shall we.

The Engineer and I decided a little while back to sell our condo and buy a house. We have only been living here for about a year and a half but since I work from home now, there is not enough space. Plus, thinking of Penny, she would love a backyard.

So, after the holidays we decided to enlist the help of a real estate agent we had met a while back and used to live in our building. She was younger and we felt as ease having her sell our place and finding us the house that we were dreaming about.

We went to our first open houses last week to get a feel of what we were looking for in terms of area and neighborhood. And yesterday, we had a full day with our agent to visit some houses she had sent us throughout the week.

Well lo and behold, the last house of the day really hit home and we literally fell in love with it. We loved everything from the neighbors to the hot tub in the back yard! So we talked it over with our agent and we decided to put in an offer the next day as she was coming over to do an open house with our place. At about 5h30pm, she called us and asked if we were still in the area. We were still there having just had dinner. She told us there was another offer that was being presented that night and if we wanted the house we needed to make an offer then and there. We met in a little coffee shop and ironed out all the details and she left to present our offer. Since the deadline was midnight for the seller to respond, we left to go home and start stressing.

Around 9pm, we got a call from our agent saying that both offers were so close that we needed to review it and make another one. So we did and she went back to present it. Around 10pm we got another call from our agent and WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!! (Insert The Engineer and I jumping around and Penny wondering if we went cookoo!!) The seller was so adamant to close everything that night that our agent drove over and we signed everything off at 11:10pm!

If all goes well with the inspection this week, we will officially be in our new home on May 1st! Penny will have a wonderful backyard and her mom & dad will have a hot tube with TV and a pool table in the finished basement!

Here's a sneak peek of the house, I cannot wait to share the whole house with you as we put our own style to it. I have a good feeling we will be relying on Young House Love for some ideas!

Workout

So as you can tell, I have been kinda of busy but I still worked out at Spynga and tried a new type of spinning class as well. I was invited by Ride for Heart to try out a class at CYKL studio. They use the Real Ryder bikes and it was unbelievable the workout I got!

I also got to meet Christina finally!! Both sporting our ChickBands :) (Thank you for the pictures!!)

Now I am off to bed for a long week of work and hopefully we get some news on selling our condo! If you are looking for a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo in Toronto, let me know!! :)

Have a great week everyone!!

I have been Spyngafied!

2012-01-10T23:02:00.000-05:00

Hello!!

If you have been following me for a while, you probably know that I love spinning and most of all I love the Spynga studio.

Like the name says, Spynga is a yoga and cycling studio but its so much more than that! They have amazing classes for weight training, some mix of spinning & weights or spinning & Yoga or just yoga & spinning by themselves. Depending on what you want to do, there is something for you! Spynga has 2 studios, North (Thornhill) and South (Bathurst & St Clair).

I have never tried the North studio due to the location so I go to the South one and its been great.

Here is a picture of the Spinning studio

Source

Before the holidays I had purchased a Groupon for one month unlimited of classes at Spynga for $39. Knowing the price per class ($20) this was a great deal and I knew I was going to get my moneys worth :)

I went to a few classes when I came back from my holidays and then started my Groupon and have been going 3-5 times per week including doubles on the weekend! (The deal allows you up to 3 classes per day!) To put things in perspective, I have done 11 classes since Dec 30th! I would say that's pretty good!

Going to Spynga allowed me to jump start my cycling training for Ride for Heart, the big ride I committed to do on June 3rd. (You can donate for this great cause using the button on the left!!) I learned a lot with these classes and I will be able to translate this into my own training when my Groupon runs out. Unless I can convince my husband to buy me a monthly pass for February :)

So, I have not been officially running but I have been burning a lot of calories, getting in some strength training and maintaining a great cardio endurance! If/When I decide to pick up the run/walk with Penny, it will definitely make things easier!

What have you been doing to kick start your new year?

Run Penny Run!

2012-01-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

If you follow me on Twitter, Daily Mile or Facebook, you probably know that I started running with Penny for the past month or so. (If you didn't know cause you don't follow me on any of those social media outlets, you need to follow me NOW!!)

For those that do not know Penny, she is our 7 1/2 yrs old Black Labrador Retriever!

She loves her new bed!

Loving the snow in NB!

For a number of years now, my cousin, a veterinarian, kept telling us that Penny needed to lose some weight as she was a bit on the chubby side. (Who isn't!?)

After I did my last race of 2011 (RnR Las Vegas), I had no desire to run and my body was in pain from all the training I put it through so I needed to find something different to get me moving.

I decided it was time to get Penny moving as well and possibly get her to a point of running with me! I mapped us a route of 2K to get us started.

Please don't think I am a weirdo but I tell Penny the night before that we are going for a run in the morning and she knows what it means. Since The Engineer wakes up before me, she knows she still has some sleeping time until I wake up and we go. When I get out of the bedroom, I ask her: "Are you ready for your run?" and she gets soooo excited! (I promise to make a video one morning!!) Funny thing is she actually stretches before we leave!! She does the Downward Dog :) ha ha ha

So for the past month, we have gone out about 3-5 times a week on this little 2K stroll and we do running pick ups! Sometimes we do 2.5K as well depending on how she is. If I see she is stopping often to do her business, I know its not a good day so we take it easy! (TMI?!)

Penny is a good running partner and makes me go out in the morning when I normally wouldn't. The only time we don't go is when its pouring rain. You see, a human is easy to dry off but a dog is a whole other story. I wish I had a raincoat for her!!

Source

So, I now have a healthier dog and a "Me" not being totally sedentary!

If you have a dog, do you bring him/her running?

If you don't have one, do you sometimes wish you had one to run with?

Looking back at 2011!

2011-12-31T12:49:00.001-05:00

I have been through so much this year, I decided to put everything together to show you! Here it goes:

January
- In the middle of training for Around the Bay - 30K, I was running on a regular schedule, through the winter weather and everything.

February
- Travelled to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for my Bachelorette Party! (Thanks girls!)

- 2 weeks after, I ran the Chilly Half-Marathon in Hamilton

March
- Ran my biggest race yet, Around the Bay, a 30K road race (What an amazing race!!)

April
- We got married in Cuba with 46 friends and family

- Spent another glorious week in Cuba for our honeymoon

May
- Ran another 1/2 marathon where The Marathoner BQ'ed!!

- Travelled to Montreal & Quebec city for work; great running as well!

- We went on the train to Montreal for a getaway weekend! Travelling in Via1 was perfect :)

June
- Did my first duathlon! I was so proud of this accomplishment :)

- Ran in my first 24 hour Relay

- I started training for my first marathon! (During a really hot Summer!!)

July
- Continued training, training and training

- I bought my first road bike

- Did my 2nd Duathlon!

- The Engineer's Mom & Dad came to visit

August
- Continued training my booty off for my first marathon!

- Played golf a few times with my hubby!

- Raced the Acura 10 Miler (see race recaps!)

- Raced the MidSummer Night 30K! (see race recaps!)

- Did my first ice bath!

- Discovered a new love for trail running!

September
- The Engineer's brother and his girlfriend came to visit

- Continued training while trying to stay alive and decided to give up drinking until the marathon!

October
- Ran my first marathon on October 23rd!!!

With a really good friend :)

- Found out I got a new job, start date October 31 :)

- Travelled to Vancouver, BC for my new job!

November
- Travelled to Whistler, BC for my new job

- Came back to Vancouver for 1 week of training

(No I don't work with bears but got to see them at Grouse Mountain!)

- Travelled to Mexico for a well deserved vacation!

- Officially started my new job in my own territory; out in the field visiting clients

December
- Travelled to Las Vegas, NV for my first official out-of-country race! (see race recap!)

- Spent Christmas with our families in New Brunswick! This included snowshoeing for the first time :)

Wow, what a year this has been!! I travelled a lot, did tons of races and got married to the love of my life :)

Let's hope for a 2012 as incredible as the past year has been!

Happy New Year to everyone!!!!

Holidays in pictures!

2011-12-30T19:42:00.000-05:00

No words can describe our trip to New Brunswick so here it goes :)

Lots of snow, lots of fun, lots of family time!!

Hope you enjoyed seeing my holidays! I loved being able to be so active in the snow but driving in it drove us insane. Maybe it'll be Mexico next year :)

Happy Holidays and enjoy New Year's Eve tomorrow :)

I am alive and well!

2011-12-19T19:40:00.000-05:00

Hellooooo!!!

Yes, I am still alive :) I know I have been MIA and I need to figure out some better time management for blogging with my new role!

I will admit that I may have slipped on the blogging front as I am not seriously training for any races yet. I need that kind of motivation to get me going especially now that I do most of my workouts in the dark. I don't like Winter because of that.

So, this week, I realized that I need to get my ass in gear or else, I will lose all the cardio and strength endurance I gained while training for the many races I did this year and replace this with some unneeded pounds!

Gaining weight does not make me happy!

I have one thing to look forward to for 2012 and its the Heart & Stroke, Ride for Heart 75K bike ride that I will do. Since I am doing this for such a special person, its important that I put in the training and ride proud during this one. PS - If you want to sponsor me and help me reach my goal of $1,000, please use the button on the left of my page :) Thank you!!

Besides the ride, I am looking at a few different options that I am hoping will work:

1) Spartan Race - June 24 - A timed 5K obstacle course about an hour away from Toronto (this race is fairly new to Canada but is available in many States). I met the Canadian race director in RnR Las Vegas and this event looks really cool!!

2) Warrior Dash - July 21 - A timed 3.24 mile obstacle course with mud, water and fun!

3) Though Mudder - August 18 & 19 - An amazing obstacle race about an hour away from Toronto and its one of the toughest obstacle course out there. Check out the video if you don't believe me!

As you can see, these are not road races and don't require me to spend countless hours on the pavement in the early hours of the morning! Only more hours in the gym lifting weights and building up my upper body strenght :) I haven't quite figured out the training plan for this but I am going to build something over the holidays to make me move my booty in the right direction!

I will travel a lot in the new year so I have a feeling I will become very friendly with the treadmill and Jillian Michaels!

Now, if any of you want to volunteer being my workout buddy or virtual workout buddy, let me know!! I will definitely need some motivation to keep me going :)

Now, what's on your 2012 race list?

Rock & Roll Las Vegas race recap

2011-12-11T12:49:00.000-05:00

Well, we are now a week past the RnR Las Vegas and what better time to do the recap!? :)

I read so many comments this week about the race that I didn't want to have anyone sway my thoughts and experience from this race. If you search on Facebook or on the web, you can find tons of reviews and I have not seen a positive one yet.

So here I go with mine!

Genevieve and I started the day by sleeping in and in Vegas that relates to 8:30am! We just kinda woke up and got ready. Our plan was to go see the lions at MGM and then make our way to the outlets at the other end of the strip. Thanks to the monorail from MGM we made it to the Stratosphere and took a 5 minute cab from there.

Since I hate shopping (yes, that is true!!) I didn't buy much! I was looking for one thing only and it was a Coach bag for work. It was the only gift I got myself all weekend and I am so happy with it :) FYI: This is a baby bag! It came with a diaper change pad thingy and I just took it out. The pockets inside are perfect for dividing work stuff without it being all over the place!! Isn't it gorgeous :)

Once we were done shopping, we grabbed some subs from Subway and made our way back to the hotel to get ready for the race.

Here's where the fun began!! :)

Once I was ready to go, we started making our way to the start line and find my corral. The walk took a total of 15 minutes and we were there and checking out the scene.

Only in Vegas is there a tiger to greet you at the start of the race!

Once we found my corral, I stretched a little. My legs were so tight from all the walking we did during the weekend, I didn't know how they would respond to running 21.1K! It's kinda cool that I had a photographer taking pictures while I did all this.

By this point I was starting to stress as it was really cold and I knew it was going to be hard as I didn't train as much and I didn't eat well let alone the drinks from the weekend! The one thing I had on my side was that it wasn't my first night race and I ate pretty well that day to know that my stomach should be good. I also brought my own little bottle of water, which may have ended up saving me. More on this later.

After stretching and seeing more people fill out the corrals, I said Bye to Genevieve and made my way to my Corral. She took my comfy, warm jacket with her and we were going to meet in the friends & family area at the finish line.

I was in Corral 9, very good thing!! In there I met a nice lady and we talked for a while. It was so cold that we were jumping in place and talking to take our minds off the fact that our toes were a little numb. Everyone started moving forward and filling the corrals a little more and that's when I met Cely and her friends!! It was so nice to meet her :) They totally took my mind off the cold and the race we were about to do!

At 5:30pm, the race started with the first corral and they probably let out corrals with 1 minute apart. Since I was in Corral 9, we were on our way about 7 or so minutes after the start.

I started the race at about a 5:30/km pace and it felt good. Really good actually! My breathing was under control and it felt effortless. My body warmed up and it turned out to be really good running weather expect for the head wind on the way back.

I didn't do my 10 & 1's for the first 40 minutes as I felt really good. I really only started when I needed a drink of water and wanted to eat some Honeystinger Chews I brought. I drank from my little bottle and ran through the water stations as they were packed and dangerous at times. Aren't they all!?

I kept a pretty decent pace around the 6/km and I was happy with that although I was not planning a PR at this race. I was racing it for fun knowing it would probably be my last race of the year. I also ran out of water around 16K and took some water from the water stations. This is where the fun began :)

With 5K left, I still felt good but my stomach was trying to talk to me. It felt weird but I thought it was from all the wine, beer and champagne from the weekend. I pushed through it as I was really close to the finish line and knew I could deal with this after. The feeling actually went away and let me finish in peace!

Throughout the race you did have to maneuver through some people but they were mostly the walkers from 10 & 1's or whatever not moving to the side. I don't get it, isn't that part of race etiquette that if you walk, you move to the far right?! I always managed to do it, so they should too! The only time I slowed down was when there was a turn and everyone was jammed together. Besides that I didn't have issues with maintaining a good pace.

Genevieve took really great pics from the race!

You can see how many runners there was in this one :)

I finished the race with a final time of 2:12:29 and I was pretty happy with that. No PR but not that far from my last half-marathon time either :)

This is when the fun began! I got my medal and mylar blanket and then made my way to get some food. My stomach felt a little off but I was cold more than anything as the wind had picked up. I was able to get some water and Snickers Marathon bars but could not think of eating anything and risking the mylar blanket to fall off!

Genevieve got stuck on the people still racing so we decided to just meet in our hotel lobby and then grab some dinner as she had to leave for the airport that night.

I made my way to Mandalay Bay and knew there was a tramway that connect this hotel to the Excalibur, right next to our hotel so I got in the huge lineup for that. At least we were warm and I started to feel better. I met a whole family from Calgary and we talked until we got on the tramway. It was nice to see other Canadians :)

I finally made it back to my hotel by 9pm or so and met Genevieve. At this point, all I wanted was a hot shower and some food! We decided to go down to our lobby after my shower to grab something quick as we didn't have much time. I was so glad I didn't have a plane to catch that night!!

After dinner, I said bye to Genevieve and she was on her way to the airport. I made myself comfortable under the covers and read some blogs for a while before going to bed. Some people had already posted their recap and I couldn't believe the negative!

Around that time, that's when I got hit with some major GI issues and I had to run to the bathroom. I did this all night and even the next morning. For the little bits that I slept, I was drenched in sweat and it was not pretty. I finally got to sleep a little from 4am to 8am and then woke up to get ready for the airport. I had some breakfast and coffee and my stomach was not happy. I was scared to eat anything on the plane so I stuck to water and made it through :)

I am not sure if it was caused by the water I drank on the course at the end of the race or just runners tummy troubles. From what I read, A LOT of people had the same thing and some were not as lucky and went in their pants on the course and puked during and after the race. Happy I didn't see that!!

I had a blast during this race and loved every second of it. It was magical running on the strip and I would definitely do this race again. Our hotel was perfectly located for the start and end of the race as well. For a race that had 44,000 people, I did not once feel like it was too much but then again, I was in an earlier corral. I would bring my own water again for this race and would never attempt the marathon due to the confusion on the course.

RnR Las Vegas 2012, you never know :)

Viva Las Vegas - Day 2

2011-12-08T22:25:00.001-05:00

If you missed Day one, you can see it here!

So, on Day 2 of our Vegas trip, we had to wake up bright and early as we had book a trip to the Grand Canyon! Not just any trip, we booked a helicopter ride with a stop in the canyon for some horseback riding :)

We both really wanted to see the Grand Canyon by helicopter and I had never been on a horse so we decided to do both on our little adventure!

A shuttle picked us up at the hotel at 8:30am and we were on our way to the helipad.

After checking in, we watch a little security video and we were on our way with our pilot :)

We were really lucky to get the 2 seats in front while the other people sat in the back. With the huge windows we got some great shots of the Canyon and the surroundings. Thanks to Genevieve great photography skills, here's what it looks like!

Hoover Dam

An old volcano

Picturesque! Snow near the Canyon!

I could post more of these all day but you will just have to do the trip for yourself :) Once we did our little tour, the helicopter dropped us off in El Dorado for some horseback riding! I was in heaven and sooo excited! I was like a kid at Christmas. I got paired with "Freckles" and he was amazing! We were so alike in so many ways :) He was excited to go for a trot and waited a little and started to gallop! I was laughing so hard as I was going up and down and having a blast.

Once we got back from horseback riding, we visited the main house and the barn. There was so much to see on the property and its actually been used to film movies (one with Kevin Costner), do photoshoots (Thunder Down Under = Hot men!!) and visiting the old gold mines. On the day we were there, there was a cute couple who took some engagement pictures and a married couple who took wedding pictures.

We had some lunch at the ranch and we were on our way back to Las Vegas. It was about a 40 minutes ride back in a van. We didn't know that we would come back in a van and not the helicopter but by that point we didn't mind.

The only thing I will comment on was that it was soooooo cold. We were not prepared for that type of weather and thankfully I had some warm clothes with me for the rest of the weekend!

We got back to our hotel around 3pm so we took a really hot shower and got ready to tackle shopping on the strip and gamble a little. We had dinner at Scarpetta in the Cosmopolitan hotel and it was wonderful. We had some champagne, wine and probably the best meal of the weekend! Champagne counts as carb loading, right?!

We finally went to bed around 1am and got a really good night sleep because after all, the main event of the weekend was coming up.

Stay tuned for my RnR Las Vegas race recap!!

Viva Las Vegas - Day 1!

2011-12-06T21:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I came, I saw and I conquered!

More on the race in the next post but it was the most amazing race I have ever done!!!!

Friday
I arrived on Friday at 9h35am, Vegas time and Genevieve was waiting for me having arrived a little earlier. We soon made our way to the shuttle bus and hoped on for a quick trip to our hotel. We stayed at the beautiful Tropicana.

The view from the plane was insane!!

Once checked in (Thank god the room was ready that early!) we started walking towards the expo to pick up my race stuff :)

On our way to the expo (which was a the other end of the strip) we stopped for lunch on a patio. All the patios are still open although it was very cold outside. We did luck out on the rain but not with the cold. It was only a few degrees with winds while the weekend before it was in the 20's! (celsius!!) We had some amazing little corn dogs and a spinach and artichoke dip with a twist (bbq chips to dip!) and some drinks. Yes, I was running a half-marathon on Sunday but I couldn't not drink the whole weekend I was in Vegas!

We finally made our way to the expo in the Sands Convention Center behind the Venetian. The Venetian looks like a dream! Next time I come to Vegas :)

The expo is huge!!! Having only done races in Canada, there is no expo that compares to this one! Wine & Beer samples, free gifts, Yurbuds (finally!!!) Snickers Marathon bars, etc :) I was in heaven!!

I think the best part of this expo was meeting fellow blogger, Ali & her boyfriend Brian! It was so nice to finally meet her :)

After the expo, we walked to the Bellagio to pick up our tickets for that nights "O" show! We were set to go, all we had to do was walk back to the hotel, take a shower, have some diner and make our way to the 10pm show start time.

In case you didn't know, you don't just walk down the strip in a straight line. There are little overpass bridges and most times they go in a hotel so you have to make your way through the lobby or casino or attractions. I wish I would have kept my Garmin on every day as I am pretty sure we walked a marathon., blisters and all!

We finally made it to the show after waiting in line at the Bellagio buffet for over half an hour. We couldn't get in anywhere else so we got some food in our stomachs and rolled with it! By the way, the buffets in Vegas are amazing! So many choices and so many desserts :) All you can eat ice cream, yes please!

My choice of clothing makes me look pregnant!

I am definitely not :)

We each got a glass of wine and sat down to enjoy the evening and it was like being in a dream. There are no words to describe this show as it was just magical!

I only got to take a few pictures as there were rules about the whole camera thing and besides I was way too busy trying to take everything in! They were in the water, out of it, in the air, on floating things, it was crazy. To anyone planning to go to Las Vegas, GO SEE THIS!!

We finally got to bed around 1:30am Vegas time which meant 4:30am our time! We were beat but had such a great time.

We had an early wake up call for the next day so stay tuned for our adventures in the Grand Canyon & a little fellow named Freckles :)

Vegas, here I come!

2011-12-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

Hello friends!!

It's been a week since my last post and I hope you will understand (or at least try!) that this week was CRAZY!!

It was crazy in a good way as I am loving my new job and have been on the road 3 out of 4 days so leaving me little to no time for anything else. I am finding it hard to develop a routine as it takes me twice as long to do something as I am not 100% sure what I am doing :) Ahh the life of starting a new job :)

So, I have been busy with work and did some great workouts as well. Not as many as I wanted but, I'm happy with them! Here is an overview since last week:

Saturday: Ran 18 (woohoo!)
Sunday: Zone 8 @ Spynga (Mix of spinning and strength training)
Monday: 2K walk/run with Penny
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 2K walk/run with Penny
Thursday: off

I wonder if I can count all the running around I did throughout the week as "working out"?! ha ha

I have also been very bad at taking pictures! I have one I want and need to share with you as this is probably the most exciting thing I got this week!!

A few weeks ago, Marlene had a great giveaway for a Chickband. I have been hearing about these for the longest time and I thought, I need to enter this one! Good thing I did as the original winner never claimed her prize and I won :) Youppie!!!

This is THE most comfortable headband I have ever worn! Its true test will be this weekend when I run the Las Vegas Half-Marathon (more on this later!). I have worn it every day as its that time where my roots are starting to show and this helps hide them :) Stay tuned for a full review in the next week!!

Las Vegas
Now, for the main part of my post,Vegas!!!! Why am I going to Vegas?? To run of course :) Who isn't going to Las Vegas to run in the Rock n Roll Las Vegas race on the strip, at night!?!

I registered for this race a long time ago, even before my marathon as there was suppose to be a blogger conference in Vegas the same weekend. The conference was cancelled, the husband has an event in Toronto so I going there with a friend!! Girls weekend, oh yes :)

I am now at the airport on a nasty Friday morning, waiting to haul my booty to Vegas to enjoy the weekend. Our schedule is jam packed and I cannot wait to tell you all about it. Let's just say there is a mix of O, Grand Canyon and sweat involved :)

I promise to post about our weekend as soon as I can, but in the mean time, enjoy your weekend and if you are in Vegas, come and say HI! I will be wearing my famous "Cynthia" shirt that I wore at my marathon!! Hopefully, it gets me through this race :)

See you after Vegas!!

My big challenge for 2012!

2011-11-24T22:03:00.000-05:00

Now that things have kind of settled down around here (at least I have slept in my bed for 6 consecutive day!) I wanted to let you in on my new challenge for 2012!

As you know by now, I have started biking this year to be able to complete a few Duathlons and have falling in love with it. I even setup a trainer to be able to bike all through the coming Winter months!

So now that I am setup and able to train through Winter, I have made a decision to have a new type of challenge in 2012 and tackle:

Becel Hearth & Stroke Ride for Heart

There are many distances you can ride such as 25K, 50K and 75K and I decided to do the longest one: 75K!!!!

Now, the reasoning behind me doing this race and choosing this distance is simple. Yes, I was contact my a member of the ride to join the VIP team but it got me thinking about my family.

My aunt has now been struggling for years of heart disease. I always told my parents that if I were to die unexpectedly, I wanted my heart to go to her if possible. My aunt is in the hospital many times a year and you feel really helpless when you cannot do anything to help. This is now my chance to contribute and fundraise to help people that are in the same situation as her.

So I will ride and dedicate these 75K to her in hopes that it will at least bring a little sunshine to her day and a little smile to her face!

Over the next few days, you should see my Donation Page go up so please, feel free to donate to this great cause by going on my page or clicking on the box below!

For those that would like to be part of the VIP (Very Important Philanthropist) program, you have until November 30 and commit to fundraising $1,000 or more to support life-giving research into heart disease and stroke to receive a free VIP-in-training Louis Garneau technical shirt, waived registration fee ($40) and the unique experience of cycling traffic-free down the Gardiner & DVP.

Now, for my readers reading this and would like to participate, please go ahead and register! For my other readers that cannot make the trek to Toronto or simply do not bike, go ahead and donate :)

Thank you so much and stay tuned for my bike training throughout the next 7 months!!

Mexico Adventures!

2011-11-20T23:25:00.001-05:00

Oh yes, my friends, I am back from Mexico and today I wanted to go back to the warmth that surrounded us while we were there as it was freaking cold here!!

Before I tell you all about our Mexican adventures, I have to tell you that I ran today! I had not run since I was in Vancouver and that was only 5K. Today I went out without any idea what distance to run. As per my little schedule I posted before leaving for Mexico, I should have ran 16K but there was no way I was going to do that without any consistent build up. I settled for 10K and got them done in 1:03. I was really happy with this and felt good. My lungs did burn from the cold but everything else felt really good :)

Las Vegas, here I come :)

Back to Mexico
Now, let's get back to the good part! The Husband & I left on November 12 for a week of fun in the sun. We stayed at the El Dorado Seaside Suites by Karisma. I didn't know where we were going until a few days before as I left all the booking for my Husband to take care of because I was away. It turned out he made an incredible choice.

The resort, the food, the pools, the beach, everything was amazing but there are 2 things that made this trip memorable: the excursion we did and the room we had :) Now don't get me wrong, I did say the rest was good!!

The Room
We had originally booked and Ocean Front room but the next day we went to change it for a Swim up room. Oh yes, our very own little tanning area with lazy river joining it to a bar :)

It rained only one morning while we were getting ready and this is the only picture I have of our swim up! Photography = Fail!

We also had a jacuzzi tub in our room!

Needless to say, we spent a lot of time lounging in our own little lazy river going from one bar to the other and then hopping out to go to the beach from time to time! It was perfect :)

Now, since my blog is mostly about adventures wait until you see what we did on our excursion:)

The Husband & I had agreed to do one excursion and it had to include some of the Mayan Ruins. We had a lot of choices such as Tulum, Chichen-Iza, Coba and Ek'Balam. We decided to go with Tulum as the other were all 3hrs away. Tulum was only 20 minutes!

We picked a package called Tulum- Jungle Maya. This was a full day starting with visiting the Tulum ruins and then the rest going from one adventure to another including: rappelling, zip lining, snorkeling and more.

The day started at 8am with a pick up at our hotel. We went around a few more hotels and picked up others and then we were on our way. We had a small group of 10 people with 2 tour guides. These guides were the best!!

Our first stop was the Tulum. This excerpt taken from their website says it all
" Tulum, which was occupied around 1200 AD. It is set on a cliff giving you stunning views of the Caribbean. National Geographic declared Tulum the 4th best beach in the world. Your guided tour will give you time to get to know the Mayan ruins and enjoy the fantastic views. "
This place was amazing! I had never seen ruins before and it was incredible. The guides were really good at explaining the most important facts and then we were left on our own to explore for an hour.

One of our guides, Miguel, leading the way in the entrance of Tulum. The village is all within these walls. The rich were staying inside, the poor outside.

The ruins

Beautiful beach in Tulum!

The Husband and an Iguana. They were EVERYWHERE!

With our guides, Miguel & JayJay

Once we were done at the ruins, we met back at the entrance of the village and got some Corona's and chip, salsa & guacamole! BEST MEAL EVER!!

Once everyone was back, we left for the next part of our adventure! It started with:

Mayan Ceremony

We started with a mayan ceremony performed by a maya who still lives and talks the language and whose land this beautiful excursion was held on. It was also in one of the multiple caves on the property.

Rappelling

We rappelled down to a cenote and there are no words to describe this experience. I am not afraid of heights and this was so fun :)

We swam for a bit before coming to the exit of the cenote

Zip-Lining

Once we were done rappelling we changed into a new harness and tackled 4 ziplines. These were great and some of them were long :) The weirdest part was that I just ziplined 2 weeks ago in a winter jackets and gloves and here I was ziplining in a bikini!

The Husband, ready to go!

Here I come!! (Vibrams were my shoes of choice all day!!)

During our last zipline run, we ended in the water in one of the caves!! What a wonderful landing :)

This is me, screaming :)

Snorkeling

After all the zip-lining excitement, we removed all our gear and jumped in the water for some fun! We snorkeled through the longest underground river. We had our guides showing us the way with some under water lights and it was amazing being under the ground in these caves. So much to see :) Although at one point, I looked up and there were bats! I tried not to scream but they were squirming around, argh!!

We finished our day with an authentic mayan meal and a 4x4 trip back to base camp! Now this is no ordinary 4x4, it was a Mercedes! ha ha, but man, did it ever bring us through some ruff roads :)

Now this my friends, was an adventure!!!! It was probably the best excursion we ever booked when going down South. We came back to the resort around dinner time. We spent the next few hours in our little lounging area with a beer. What a good day!

We didn't do much for the rest of the week except I did go to the spa for a seaweed wrap and facial. It was a beautiful spa and I regret not having my camera with me to be able to show you! (Blogger photography fail again!)

We spent this weekend running errands in Toronto and getting my new office ready for my first official work day tomorrow. I am excited but nervous as did is all new to me.

Wish me luck :)

Now tell me, what was the best excursion you have ever done? Either in your own town or while on vacation?

Belated Anniversary Celebration!!

2011-11-19T20:39:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I missed my first year blog-anniversary!!

On November 1st, 2010, I started my little blog journey and since then I have accomplished soooo much. Mostly, because of your encouragement and support :)

Thank you to everyone who reads my random posts and for continuing to follow me as I enter a new world that will probably lead me to some fun adventures!!

Source

PS- Stay tuned tomorrow for some Mexican Adventures as well as a new challenge for 2012!

When to workout when you work from home?

2011-11-12T10:35:00.003-05:00

Now that I went on my first business trip for my new job, I come back home to a whole new world. I will officially be working from home and although I did a few times with my old job, I still had an office to go to every day.

When will I workout, where will I workout, will I have time??

These questions have been bugging me for the past 10 days to a point where I am even more anxious to figure out something now so that when we come back from Mexico, I will have a plan!

Here are my options and how I plan on utilizing them to keep me in shape and maintain a certain level of running as well. I have one more race planned for this year and I am not sure if there will be any others for now.

I ran only once since my marathon on October 23^rd and I am missing it. I have exactly 3 weeks before I leave for Las Vegas and run a half-marathon (let me know if you will be there too!!) so I need to pick up my running. Not sure how this will happen with Mexico in the middle of all this but I will have to make it work J

Running

Date	Km’s

November 13	5K
November 16	7K
November 19	10K
November 20	16K
November 22	8K
November 24	10K
November 26	14K
December 1	10K

During the past 2 weeks, I have become a fan of the Jillian Michaels dvd’s with its easy access and great workouts that make me sweat! I didn’t have any weights with my so doing these with weights will be even better! With the workouts an average of 30 minutes, it’s the perfect workout before starting my day.

Jillian’s Sweaty Workouts

November 12	Ripped in 30 – Week 1
Nov 12 – 18 (Mexico)	I am not sure if I will bring my laptop
November 21
November 23
November 25

There are a few other options that I will look into and I will have to figure these out soon.

- I have an unlimited pass at Spynga for 1 month. I will evaluate which month will be best and book as many classes as I can with Sam to have someone to motivate me

- There is a yoga studio across the street from me where I have taken a few classes and I would definitely like to do a few classes a week to relax!

- Cycling: As you might know, I purchased a CycleOps trainer for my bike and I plan on setting it up in my office. I would like to cycle a few times a week and increase closer to Spring. Maybe, just maybe, I will try to do a triathlon in the New Year!

- Swimming: Now, this one is tricky. I would need to find a pool near my place or drive up near my old workplace on my lunch hour (I am not sure I will actually have one!) I still have to figure out this one.

Wow, now that I look at this, there is really no reason for me to not stay strong, healthy and happy J

Continue following me to see how I manage working from home and being on the road a lot while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I might even have to start cooking, so my blog could become very interesting

As you finish reading this, my husband and I will be on a place to Mexico!! Fun in the sun for a week is exactly what we need :) I will write about our adventure when I get back!

Vancouver Adventures!

2011-11-10T01:13:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I finally go home tomorrow! I have been away from home for 10 days and I miss my husband and Penny :) Although I will admit I have had plenty of furry love from the Fairmont dogs!!

This is Beau, one of the 2 Fairmont Canine Ambassadors residing at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. There is also Mavis and they usually rotate days! I was lucky this week as they were both here at the same time :) It made me miss Penny even more but I was able to see these faces every morning and it made my day!

Fun Fact: Most Fairmont hotels have a Canine Ambassador. These dogs usually belong the a concierge and most likely came from a Guide Dog association. Most of them were "too" friendly to be guide dogs but became amazing hotel greeters :) You can take them out for a walk, pet them and even buy little versions of them in the Fairmont stores!

Besides playing with the dogs, I got a do a lot in Vancouver! On Saturday, I did some shopping and walked on the seawall for a while. It was a beautiful day and I took advantage of it!

I had some dinner and went to the gym for my first run since running my marathon. I have had blisters all week from my new Brooks Pure Connect so I didn't know how I was going to run but it turns out, running hurt less than walking in them!

There was amazing gym equipment at this hotel and was happy I was able to watch a movie while running! They even had a Kinesis Wall. A small one, but still cool.

I ran 5K and was pretty happy with that. I was hard to run again and I will have to get back to it on a more consistent basis as I want to maintain a good pace for the Las Vegas Half. I guess I should start training for that! Hum, maybe in Mexico as I leave for Mayan Riviera on Saturday!?!

On Sunday, I had a fun day planned with one of my new co-workers! She was meeting me in the lobby of my hotel for a day of fun at Grouse Mountain! We took the SeaBus to get to North Vancouver and then hopped on a bus to go up the mountain. She surprised me by making a stop halfway up the mountain to Capilano Suspension Bridge!!

This was amazing and scary at the same time! I am not afraid of heights but the stories she told me about someone dropping a baby and a kid falling of the cliff were starting to get to me!

For those who have never been there, there is not only a suspended bridge but also a tree top path on the other side. It was fun to walk around and get some fresh mountain air :)

I was so excited to go to up Grouse Mountain that we only stayed about an hour at Capilano but I had a reason to be excited! Not only was I going up in a Gondola (first time!) and having a great view of Vancouver from up there but I had a few friends waiting at the top!

On the Gondola going up the mountain!

The chalet at the top of the mountain; look at the snow!

A little photo op!

At this point, we were getting closer to one of the main attractions on the mountain and what I was most excited about!

The snow up there was amazing! I felt like a kid who had never seen snow :)

And then, we saw my new friends, Grinder and Coola!

It was amazing to be next to 850lbs grizzly bears! The keepers told us some fun facts about them and how they hibernate in the winter. We were afraid they might already be but we got luck that they were not settled for winter yet :) They 2 bears actually wake up, walk around their home and go back to bed all through the winter months. I always thoughts bears hibernated but not getting up at all so it was cool to know that not all of them are the same!

Once we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful day up in the mountain, we made our way back to the lodge for some drinks and food.

I got back at my hotel around 7:30pm that night and I was done! All I wanted was go to bed :) After all, I had to work the next day.

I spent the rest of the week going to work by Skytrain (loved it! TTC has nothing on this commuting train!) and going through orientation. I have to say that in the last 2 weeks, I have learned more than ever and I still have a ton to understand. For those that were wondering, I wasn't here on vacation! Although I will admit that I had unbelievable time in Whistler and Vancouver.

Now I am off to bed for my flight in the morning back to TO!

Whistler Paradise

2011-11-05T20:06:00.000-04:00

Hello!
I don't even know where to start with explaining the last week in Whistler! That place was magical :) I am very fortunate that on this business trip I got to stay at the amazingly beautiful Nita Lake Lodge.

For those of you who are not familiar with this lodge, its located about 5km from Whistler village. As you will be able to tell from the pictures below, it was a place to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery!

The rooms were unbelievably comfortable with a fireplace in the living room and a bathroom I could have gotten used to :)

It was a pleasure staying here for 5 days and I enjoyed every free seconds I had (which was not a lot!) to see Whistler Village and enjoy some great food. I have a lot more pictures from my little adventures on my camera but I cannot download them as I didn't bring my cable! I promise to do another post about it as there are some pictures from Ziptrecking in the mountains :)

Now I am in beautiful Vancouver and got to go out for some sightseeing and shopping :) It was a cold day but great for walking around. I have yet to run but hoping to go for a quick one soon. Tomorrow, I am off to Grouse Mountain and cannot wait!!

Stay tuned for more adventures in Whistler and Vancouver!!

Spyngafyied Marathon!

2011-11-02T01:17:00.000-04:00

Wow, I am now in Whistler, BC and what a trip it has been so far! I will get into this a little later but I have to tell you all about my day Sunday.

Sam told me about this “marathon” at Spynga, a spinning/yoga studio I go to once in a while. The only thing is that this “marathon” was exactly one week after my first real running marathon J

This Spyngafyied marathon was 3 hours long and consisted of 1hr of spinning, 1hr of circuit training bootcamp style and 1hr of yoga.

It was the most intense workout I have ever done and even today my body is telling me so as well J I love feeling that I worked out muscles that I don’t use often.

The spinning part made me sweat and trying to catch my breath for most of it while the circuit training had me sweating on the floor and made every muscle ache and feel like jello. The good part was we got to do yoga for an hour at the end and although yoga can be difficult, I got to stretch out and relax a little. The Chatarangas were the most painful due to having done over 70 pushups in circuit training!

Sweaty Mess!

Now as I write this post, I have been in Whistler for 2 days and I cannot wait to let you know all about it :) I am amazed at the scenery I have seen and that I will see even more tomorrow!!

For now, I leave you with a few pictures! The views are breathtaking and tomorrow, I believe we will see a lot more of Whistler & Blackcomb!!

Have you ever been to Vancouver or Whistler? If so, let me know some things I could see!!

A new journey begins!

2011-10-29T18:36:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my last day of work with my current employer. It was a very emotional day and it went into part of the night as well.

After 7 years of working for a company in the Financial industry, I decided to change directions and start a new career in the Travel and Tourism industry. Although I will not mention the name, let's just say its a whole new world and one that I cannot wait to tackle!

My team and colleagues organized a little going away party and although I knew about it from someone that let it slipped I was still surprised by the amount of people that came out! I guess 7 years of building relationships will do that!

Here are a few pictures of the party starting with Sam and The Marathoner doing a little speech about me and my work/running journey!

I had a very hard time reading my little speech I had written just that morning "in case" I had to! I didn't think I would have such a hard time but I had to stop a few times.

Probably one of the best gifts I ever received was this handmade card of a Lululemon jacket with a real zipper down the front! It was amazing!! (Thanks Duc!) I also got a very well received Gift Card from Lululemon that I will put to good use soon :)

I feel blessed that I was able to work with such amazing people for 7 years! Thank you, if you are reading this :)

Now, my new journey starts on Monday with a trip to Whistler, BC for a week and then to Vancouver, BC for another week. This will certainly give me some new blog post ideas as I have never been in Western Canada before and from what I am told, there is a whole new world waiting for me :) Once I come back, my new job will entailed working from home! No more commuting and maybe more time for blogging!

I will spend the next day or so packing for this trip with a little "break" for another marathon this weekend!! No, not the same kind as last weekend but a Spyngafied marathon!!

This marathon includes:

- 50 min of hard core spinning

- 50 min of yoga flow

- 50 min of circuit training

This will surely bring me to a whole new level of fitness after "slacking" off this week blaming it all on the marathon I just ran last weekend!

Stay tuned for some exciting new blog posts starting tomorrow from Toronto and from beautiful British Columbia next week!!

Tell me, anything new in your life? With the Winter coming, what are your fitness plans?

My first marathon dedications!

2011-10-26T21:27:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in a post before my marathon, I planned on dedicating each mile to someone. I realized I ran this marathon with my own body but along the way, I had the help of many people either physically or mentally so I wanted to find a way to thank them!

Here it goes:

Mile 1- Coach K for bringing me to the start line prepared and uninjured!
2- My husband for still being with me after all this! xox
3- My family for listening to me talk about this marathon in ALL our conversations and encouraging me throughout even when I complained!
4- Dodo (my BFF!) for coming to Toronto and being part of my cheer team!

5- My friends for all their encouragement!

6- Sam for being my "1st marathon buddy" and coworker!

7- Linzi for saying I could do this and sharing a wedding year with me!

8- Aneta to give her strength to attempt another sub-2 half marathon!

9- Anabela to make her feel better for missing her own Niagara Falls race!

10- Sarah M. for telling me I inspire her!

11- Laura for her encouraging words!

12- Bloggers in general for your support!

13- My clients for believing in me!

14- My coworkers for encouraging me and even running with me at lunch!

15- My facebook & twitter followers for all the warm wishes before, during and after the race!

16- My grand parents and aunt for have passed away and granting my prayer of a beautiful day and finishing this marathon!

17- The city of Buffalo for hosting such a wonderful marathon!

18- The city of Niagara Falls hosting the amazing finish line! The background for his race was amazing!

19- Evelyn for giving her hope she will run again after her injury!

20- The Marathoner for meeting me at this mile and bringing me to the finish line!

21- Charlyn for running with me and bringing the best cheering toys ever!

22- My massage therapist(s) for keeping me in amazing running shape throughout my training!

23- My chiropractor for adjusting me when I thought I would run in pain forever!

24- My Saucony Kinvara for giving me hope I could run without blisters!

25- Michelle for pushing me during my tempo runs, making me stronger to get to this point and !

26 + .2- Myself for finishing this marathon!!! :)

Thank you everyone for everything you did and of course, I could probably have named you all but this was a marathon, not an Ironman with triple the miles :)

I am off to enjoy another bath as my tired muscles are still screaming 3 days after :)

Niagara Falls International Marathon race recap

2011-10-24T15:50:00.000-04:00

What an amazing weekend! I still can't believe the emotional roller coaster I have just been on for the past 72 hours :)

My bff arrived on Friday night around 10pm and I picked her up at the airport. As soon as we got here we went to bed as I wanted a good night sleep. I didn't know how good I would sleep on Saturday before the race!

The Day Before

Saturday was spent sleeping in and getting everything ready to leave for Niagara Falls. We got there around 2pm and went to check-in to our hotel and walked to the expo. Whoever decided on the location of the expo did not think of people running marathons the next day as it was at the top of a hill :)

The expo was nice but small. Enough things to keep you interested. I bought myself an official pink Niagara Falls International Marathon shirt! We got one in the swag bag but I wanted this one as a souvenir and it was pink :)

At the expo, I also tried on the new Brooks Pure Connect and fell in love. The only thing, they only had a limited stock and ran out of my size. I was so excited and then I couldn't get them. I will have to go check in Toronto and see if I can get them. These shoes are amazing!

Once we were done at the expo we went back to our hotel and settled down but a few hours before we dinner. The Engineer and my BFF couldn't believe how much stuff we brought!

I even brought my own coffee maker and toaster as I know what works for me and I didn't want to have to go poop in the bushes at Mile 2 right !?

We went out for dinner with Sam and her boyfriend for some much needed carbs!

Once we were done, we walked around a little and went to see the Falls and it was nice.

Me & my BFF

Sam & I

The Engineer & I being silly :)

I am running a marathon tomorrow!

The Engineer, my bff and Sam's boyfriend then left to get some drinks and enjoy the night. This gave me time to get myself together as I was losing it a little by this point! Once I got all my stuff ready, I started reading all the comments on my blog, twitter and facebook and could not believe the encouragement I was getting! This gave me the confidence booster I needed :) Thank you everyone!

The Day of the Marathon!

I woke up around 5:30am after a night of tossing and turning. I started like I do before every long run, with a coffee and english muffin with peanut butter and read some blogs! Yeah, you guys were with me from the start :)

We had to be board the buses at around 7am so this gave me enough time to do my thing and get ready. I was ready for this! I quick hug and kiss to everyone and last minute directions for the race and I was off.

I met Sam in the lobby and we boarded the bus on schedule and off we went. We got to the boarder where the customs officers came in the check our passports and 5 people from our bus had to go in to immigration to get their visas. We had to pull over and I have to admit I was scared of arriving late. The lady driving the bus was so amazing, telling us stories about her life! She was 58 and living life as a happy person, nothing was going to make her unhappy :)

In the bus! Wow I look so tanned and I don't even have makeup!!

We stayed there for about 15 minutes and we got to talk to some people on the bus. There was a group of 9 from Pittsburgh and some of them were running their first marathon as well!

Once we got to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY, we had enough time to tour the gallery and enjoy the scenery!

It was a beautiful place to start a race and the weather was amazing!! We could not have asked for a better day!

Close to 10am we lined up with the 4:30 pace bunny who said was doing 10 & 1's. There were not a lot of pacers for this race.

At 10am we were off to run the longest distance ever! The marathon finish line was waiting for us 42.2K from where we were.

The first 10K went by really fast and I was keeping a pretty consistent pace. At about 11K I saw my little cheer team: The Engineer, my BFF and Sam's boyfriend! They were so far away, I couldn't even hear them!

Here I go!!

~ Still looking strong between 10-12K ~

After this point, I focused on fueling at the right time and kept drinking water along the way. It got really hot as the sun was so strong and the wind was on and off at this point. I debated between taking off my under layer and decided against it to save all that energy for my run. I made sure I was still sweating and not overheating.

I kept running along and doing 10 & 1's made it better for me. I knew I was going to see my cheer team at 20K so I looked forward to that as I wanted to give them my camera!

From this point on, I was looking for anything that would take my mind off the running! The spectators and volunteers were phenomenal and they had all these cheer teams from schools that were super motivated! They would read my name out and cheer for me by name and it felt good.

At the 29K or so, I saw Sam's boyfriend walking towards me and he was going to meet Sam to give her some Goldfish crackers. He said The Marathoner and his girlfriend were up ahead! This gave me an extra boost as I would have someone to run with!

At 30K or so, I saw them and they both start cheering and jumped in to run with me! This was the best feeling in the world as they were thinking for me! Charlyn took my race belt as I was feeling so bloated and was afraid I would not be able to get anything else in me. Once that was off, the RELIEF!!!

My new running partners!

A lot happier without my belt!

At about 31K, this was the last time I saw my cheer team until the finish line!

Charlyne ran with us for about 2.5K and turned back to get the car and meet us at the finish line. The Marathoner stayed with me and ran me to the end. He was basically my head for the last 10K. All I had to think off was moving my feet forward and he would do the rest. He got me water if my bottle was running low and even brought Goldfish crackers and Gatorade!

Around 36K, I started feeling a little off. Something was missing. I asked Geoff for the crackers and I tried to eat some at my next walking break but it didn't work. They were dry and I was thirsty so that wasn't helping! At the next walking break, I took some Gatorade and OMG the thickness and sweetness almost made me gag! I asked him to empty half of it and put in water, this was so much better! I ended up taking sips of this every time I walked.

I was running pretty consistently and Geoff would say things like how many more km's (cause I couldn't calculate by this point!) and if there was a slight downhill and things like that. I needed that :) He would let me draft off him at some point when we picked up some head wind. It was pretty intense at some point as I saw my pace go down a little.

At about 40K, there was a bunch of volunteers from the bar nearby, all Harley Davidson/Bikers types! They were amazing cheering us on and giving out orange slices! This made me so happy :)

With about 500m left, I could hear the crowd and the people cheering and I picked it up, Geoff left me around 300m or so and I finished this race sprinting!!!! I felt so good, I was sooooo happy! I was going to finish this marathon after 4 months of sacrifices and hard training!!!

I did it!!! I finished my first marathon in a time of 4:44! I am so happy with this and so grateful to have been able to accomplish this!!

Once I was done, I couldn't believe it yet and started looking to see where Sam was at. She was a little behind me so we waited until she came in and celebrated :)

We are officially marathoners!!!!

Drinking our little champagne bottles :)

I will end this long recap by thanking everyone who believed in me day in and day out, the support I got from my husband, my family, my friends, Coach K, my coworkers, twitters, facebook and blog followers. Because of you, I was able to do this :) Because of you I stuck it out through thick and thin and I accomplished something I never thought I would do even a few years ago!

THANK YOU!!!

It was the night before....

2011-10-22T20:34:00.000-04:00

Well, tomorrow is the day I run my first marathon!!!

I did the training and four months later I am 13 and a half hours away from toeing my first ever marathon :)

Today was uneventful. We slept in, left Toronto at around 11:30am and did the expo thing when we got here.

We ate some carbs for dinner

and I am now sitting in bed trying to relax and focus on tomorrow's finish line! I sent off the boy and my bff for a drink so I could get some time.

Although I put up a strong front, I am nervous inside. I have to keep reminding myself I am ready and I CAN DO THIS!!

For those of you who are curious, feel free to look for me in Bib #219 on http://www.sportstats.ca/ or on Facebook :)

Off to bed and dream of all the beer and champagne that I will drink when all this is over!!!

My Marathon Plan - Step 3: Mental Strategy

2011-10-19T20:57:00.000-04:00

If you have missed Part 1 and Part 2, check them out!

Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions on the clothes and fueling!

I am super excited tonight as I got my race shirt done :) My BFF is also going to have a shirt and I cannot wait to give it to her!! We are going to be so cute!! (The hubs is not as game to wear one!) You are going to wait to see it :)

Now, tonight, I wanted to tackle the mental part of running this race on Sunday.

I started my mental preparation by spectating at the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon this weekend. It was so inspiring to see a lot of friends running in the race and each of them going after their own goals.

I was able to catch The Marathoner in action (in the blue singlet!)

For most of this week, Sam and I have been talking about everything and anything that is going through our heads and stressing us out.

I am trying to think very positively throughout and I am going to work very hard on Sunday to keep this mindset.

I understand it will be hard.

I understand some parts of my body will hurt.

I understand that I will most likely have negative thoughts going through my head and I will be battling these.

I also understand that I will accomplish something I have never done before. And THIS will be my main motivator.

This achievement will bring me to that finish line. It will push me during hard times and it will guide me towards an amazing race.

I will dedicate a mile to different people throughout my race and this will also mentally help me get through it. These people (or group of people) have supported me throughout my training and life in general. I owe them this much :)

I am ready, as ready as I will ever be! I did my training to the letter. I am uninjured and healthy and this to me is GREAT!!

My clothes are ready, my fuel is purchased and ready and my game head is on!

I ran one of my 2 final 5K's today and it went well. One more on Friday and then, it's game time!!!

Let's get ready to Rumble!!!!!

My Marathon Plan - Step 2: Fueling

2011-10-17T22:09:00.000-04:00

Here we are 6 days before Marathon Day!

For those who may have missed Part 1: What am I going to wear? I talk a lot about Lululemon in that one :)

Now, here is my plan for fueling and how I plan on getting to the finish line alive and well!

I have a few go-to items that make my fueling rotation so I will start with a these and hopefully my little cheer team will provide me whatever I am craving when I see them!

For those wondering why I have a fuel belt and a hand bottle when I run, I will enlightened you :)

When Coach K was still my coworker, he introduced me eLoad. I was looking for an electrolyte drink that would settle in my stomach and give me some energy. Since then I have converted from any other race day fuel to this as it doesn't make my stomach ache when I race. So in my race belt, I have switch my 2 7oz bottles with 2 10oz bottles and have been filling these with a mix of eLoad and eLoad Fly. The Fly product is carbs galore in powder form so I can mix it in water and get some carbs while having my drink of choice.

I recently added the tablet form of eLoad as well when I run out of mix in my bottles. This form allows me to bring a few of them in a little ziplock and eat one with a drink of water.

I also use gels but a lot less than I would if I wouldn't have my eLoad mix. My favorite gels after a few trials and errors are the Hammer Gel in Raspberry Flavor.

I also recently discovered these little beauties and they will be part of my final roundup for race day! These are made my HoneyStinger and they are the best thing since sliced bread! They are not sticky and dissolve very easily so I can eat about 3 in the minute I walk with a few sips of water.

These fueling things will all be on my on race day. In my hand bottle will be water. Plain old water so I don't have to wait around the water station and just do my thang :)

My little cheer team will also have a few other items I may want when I see them such as:

- HoneyStinger Waffles in Vanilla in case I get tired of the fruity taste of all the other fuel

- Chocolate Milk: Because the last race I did, I was craving it sooo bad that was all I could think about :)

I cannot think of anything else I would really like to eat or slurp on race day as these are tried and tested on long runs and I know they will not make me run for the next porta potty :)

My usage plan for all these will probably be like this:

1-10K: eLoad + eLoad Fly every 10 minutes when I walk during 10 & 1's

12K: Gel

13-20K: eLoad + eLoad Fly (same as above)

22K: HoneyStingers Chews

23K-30K: eLoad + eLoad Fly

32K or around that point: HoneyStinger Waffles

33- 40K: whatever still goes down :)

My stomach will be the main indicator of what fuel I will eat or drink. From what I practiced, these things all worked well and I have felt great using them.

Now, do you have any other ideas of fuel I could pack so my little cheer team can give them to me? Things you never thought you would like but on that day it just worked?