Running is more fun barefoot.

I did this post before but never got around to actually posting it. So this is from March 16th.

Today was crazy beautiful out. It was 10ºC and the sun was shining when I left for my run. This is my first long run in training for my first full marathon. Kyle and I have our sights set on the Edmonton Derby Marathon in August. It should be fun. We are hoping to make a weekend of it and leave the kids with my parents. Looking forward to the Expo and watching my cousin run the 5K.

This will be a short post because I left it way to long and now I forget a lot of the details, having 7 kids does bad things to your memory.

Anyways first off I dressed like Rainbow Bright.  Super colourful and happy to run. I love that it was so warm that I could wear my shorts and that I could wear my Lemings (Stems) without socks. I ran my favourite bike path run, that goes along two man made lakes and through some natural areas. It is super sweet to have such nice paths right out my back door. Kyle and I have looked at moving a number of times and now that we run, running paths have a big sway in where we go. We are super blessed to have lots of options to run around our neighbourhood, even if every run is a hill run.

Sunny face and weird smile. Pictures of the sweet path. The path here was bare and dry and super smooth so I couldn't resist taking my shoes off and running bare. Sweet! The only downside to my Lemings is that they don't fit well in my fuel belt, so I had to carry them in my hands. Super weird look I am sure. There were lots of people around the lakes and a  number of elderly ladies shook their heads at me as I ran past. There was water to run in and mud to muck it. So much fun. At one point I had to hop off of the path on to the grass beside because there was a huge puddle of toxic looking water full of who knows what, that I didn't want to run through. The result ...

Super muddy legs. Actually the mud from the wet grass splashed up and even got my shirt muddy. This picture was after I had tried to clean the mud off with some snow. I decided to put my shoes back on because this side of the path was in the shade and covered with slush and snow. Finished my run, 8 miles total and 2 barefoot. It was great. I got home and hopped into the bath with some warm tea. The tub was covered in mud after my bath. I am so happy to run. I felt like a kid running through puddles and mud. It was great. I am hoping for lots more warm weather and many more mile run barefoot.


 Oh yeah I forgot that this was the anniversary of when I first started running. I started the Couch 2 5K program on March 16th 2011. My first run. I am amazed at how far I've come in a year. Comparing stats: last year I weighed 210lbs, I was 5 months into losing weight and had lost 50lbs already. I was dead scared to run outside incase anyone saw me. I stuck to my treadmill. I thought that the 30 second intervals of running were torture and couldn't imagine ever running for a full 30 mins. Now in 2012 I am down to 140lbs, I have run 2 half marathons and I run 5K easily without even really thinking about it. I run outside without shoes, in bright colours, covered in mud basically demanding that people look at me. I am no longer scared to be seen running. Even though I am still not the fastest lady around I am getting faster and I am loving every second of my runs. (maybe not every second but most) I am so grateful and blessed to have found this new life. It has given me the energy and drive that I have need to get through the other hard things in my life. I am thankful to God that He has given me a body that can bounce back after 6 pregnancies and a decade of unhealthy living, not without some reminders of where I've been but with a sense that I have been to the other side and this life is so much sweeter.

Robbie-Lynn

Enjoying the warm weather while it lasts

Today was another nice warm day here in Calgary. I believe at lunch time it was 10ºC out and so I decided to make the best of it. I put on a t-shirt (wicking of course as I'm a sweaty beast), shorts, compression sleeves. I grabbed my Stems and out the door I went. Very quickly after I started I decided that the shoes should come off, and so they did. It was beautiful weather for going barefoot. A couple of cool puddles of water here and there, but almost no snow on the pathway. There was one small section by the zoo that was snowy (and had lots of gravel on the pathway) and so my shoes went back on for that. It's so nice to have the freedom to slip shoes on and off whenever I felt like it and I'm certainly not complaining about the weather.

This was the path by the zoo on Monday. Today there was almost no snow. Woot!

I managed to get just under 5 miles in. My feet were doing pretty good. The old areas that were blistered basically had that old dead skin scraped off from the wet pathways. That was totally cool by me except the new skin underneath was still a little sensitive. I managed to get another small blood blister on the pad of my foot where the new skin was but otherwise my feet came out fantastic.

Small blister (underneath old big blister). Small price to pay.

I can tell you about one really interesting thing that I saw on my run. I was heading back to work and while I was running I saw two guys running towards me holding hands. This seemed very strange to me. I have never seen anyone running while holding hands with someone else. At first I thought it was two 'very proud' guys if you know what I mean. However as I got closer I realized that I had seen one of the guys before. I have taken the bus with him and he usually needs help from people to know what stop it is and he walks tapping a cane in front of him. This was a blind gentlemen who either had a friend or an aide who was helping him to run. How cool is that!!! I have never really thought about that before and so I thought that it was really awesome to see that blindness doesn't have to mean that this guy couldn't run.

Yes, I'm still alive

Wow. It has been far too long since I last posted. We have been busy with so many thing and unfortunately I just never made time to write. So while I'm currently waiting for a bus to arrive I thought I would start a blog post.

Since I last posted my knee has gotten much better. It no longer hurts when I run!!! Woot!! Loving that. Getting into a good groove running has been hard though. With our DNS of the Hypothermic Half there was really no huge momentum in training. Combine that with cold snowy weather and I just wasn't feeling it. However we now have a couple races in mind for the year including the Edmonton marathon in 23 weeks. Which means marathon training starts now. Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things for that.

Other things of note since I last wrote.... Let's see. Oh yeah. There was the one time that I was running in my water shoes around the neighborhood. It was a little icy out and I was running in the dark. Going along at a good clip when all of a sudden I kicked something with my foot and almost went down. Turns out there was a huge chunk of ice on the ground that was frozen to the sidewalk. When I kicked it, it didn't move. Ouch. Pretty sure that I broke my toe with that one. Thankfully it wasn't hurt bad enough to stop running. Laff

Nice big hard ice chunk. My water shoes offered me no protection.

Another warm day I went for a barefoot run and overdid it a little. Managed to get in 8 miles barefoot. Felt fantastic. However it was still a little cold out and so my feet were a little more numb than they should have been. This led to a little sloppy form and a huge blood blister across my right foot. Silly me, however I had so much fun going barefoot.

Mmmmm, blisters.

Had them for a little bit. Ah well

Other than that in terms of new shoes there hasn't been too much change. I got my pair of Neo Trails that I was lusting after but then returned them after realizing that I wouldn't really use them enough to justify having them. Instead I got a pair of Stem Footwear (now Leming Footwear). My Lemings are now my absolutely favorite pair of shoes ever. Great casual shoe, fun running shoe. I will post a review of them shortly.

My new favorite shoes. Sooo nice.

So there is a mini update on what is going on. Getting back on a running training plan and hopefully with it getting back into blogging more.