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I was doing my rounds and came upon this entry... ... now that is a giveaway! You wanna get in on the fun? Just head over to the run to the finish and enter in the draw!

At war in my head...

OK, so I am on to week 6.. SIX people, I can hardly believe it!! I am nearly done the program and I know now that I will finish this program and I will be a runner and then I will be able to keep up with my Mr. Wonderful and my friend Terri Lynn. I am actually looking forward to running alongside of my friends and to just run.

So, as I said last week I ran week 5, day 1 and 2 together... back to back. I was hesitant to do day three of week five just because I was worried and wondered if I could really run for 20 minutes without a walk break. I was also waiting for a break in the freezing cold weather to go for an outdoor run... but since it did not look good weather-wise for the next couple of days I decided, on Friday night, to bite the bullet and do the run on the treadmill. I pressed start on the Iphone, got my music going and set out to walk for the warm up. I couldn't understand why I was feeling winded and overwhelmed and this was the walking part of the program!!! I slowed it down a bit and still wasn't feeling great but it was time to run and so I pumped up the speed and I went too fast... so I slowed it down, then I felt guilty and speed it back up and then I I realized that it was not going to be a good run. I battled with myself for a bit slowing it down and then speeding it back up ... I did this and continued this war in my head for 12 minutes of the run and then I CHOSE to run and I ran. I ran the remaining 8 minutes and then I continued to run through the cool down and continued to run until I ran those 20 minutes. Then I cooled down for 5 minutes... so I got through the run.

Here are the stats:

Calories 464
Time: 47:10
Average HR: 149
Max HR: 166

Now on to week six... wish me luck.

Make it a great day!

Run Forrest, RUN!

I can always remember being sore and having sore legs... ALWAYS! One of my first real memories of something being seriously wrong with me was at the age of 8. I was playing with my brother and my cousins (all boys) and we were walking down to a brook to play. It was on a gravel road and I was tagging along in the back and just trying to keep up with all the boys, who really did not want me there. My knees began to pain and I knew that I was going to have trouble but I wouldn't say anything because I did not want the boys to say, "That is why we wanted you to stay home" so I carried on. The pain got worse and worse and then my knee let go and I fell... hard! Blood was running down both of my legs, stones were in my cuts and I was ever so grateful to have the boys there. They were all so sweet, especially my brother who tried to make me laugh and forget about the pain. They told me to limp, like Terry Fox... and that is exactly what I did, all the way back to Aunt Judy's house.

Fast forward a number of years and many Doctor's appointment later... I finally found a Doctor who seemed to believe what I was saying... and prescribed braces - just what every teen-aged girl wants... leg braces for BOTH legs. Regardless of the look, I wore them when I was doing gym because it would have looked even worse if I would have fell flat on my face in the middle of a soccer game... right?! WRONG! The kids were horrible... they made fun of me and said, Run Forrest, RUN! I will never forget the feeling of embarrassment that I felt at that moment... but I shrugged it off and said that it didn't bother me. I had lots of friends that understood so I did not need to have everyone think that it was ok to wear these ulgy braces. Fortunately, or unfortunately - haven't decided which it is - I was allergic to the material that the braces were made from and couldn't wear them long... so I just went about my business without the additional support and really just didn't get very good grades in Phys Ed.

Fast forward to last night... here I am, 35 years old and I finally know what is wrong with me. I take my meds and do my best to force myself to keep moving so that I can try and manage my weight with all the meds. I have recently taken on the challenge of doing the Couch to 5K program because I want to learn to run... something that has always been out of reach for me and my joints. I arrived home last night from travelling a 10 hour trip and my legs were S-T-I-F-F!! I came home and made supper, ate supper with my family and sat down later to a cup of green tea... legs up and I was resting but my legs were almost jittery. So, I told Mr. Wonderful that I was going out for a run and I convinced my teenager to go with her old Momma. I pushed start on the C25K app on Mr. Wonderful's Iphone and began the week 5, day 1 program. We warmed up and then we began running... 5 minute runs followed by 3 minute walks... NO PROBLEM for this old lady but the teenager had trouble keeping up. I felt so good after the cool-down that I pressed start for week 5, day 2... eight minute runs with a three minute walk in between...that is right, I did both back-to-back and I did GREAT! As I was running home I heard those same kids yelling, Run Forrest, RUN... and I ran! Oh how I wish they could see me now!!

So, on that note, I have ordered my own Iphone... no more Blackberry for me. I am downloading C210K as soon as I get it because July 3rd is coming soon and I am registering for my first 10K... I decided that I would go right into the 10K because it would be worth my trip to do an hour run but a half-hour is just not enough... call me crazy :P

So, it is official ... July 3rd I will be running my first 10K - yeah me!!

So... here are the stats from yesterday's run:

Calories: 763
Average HR: 165
Max HR: 183

Albeit, these stats do NOT include the warm up because I forgot to turn on the HRM :P So, please no freaking out for the average heart rate being so high... I was able to talk with my daughter the whole way.

Make it a great day!

Oh yeah, and I ran 8.65KM last night... :D

Here is the run:

C25K Week Four Recap

Week four is in the bag! I can run for 5 minutes in a row now... who would have thought I could do that. Now this week I don't get the three minute run because they are all five minute intervals but I am looking forward to pushing myself to get 'er done.

Week 4, Day 1:

Calories: 379
Avg HR: 153
Max HR: 178

Week 4, Day 2:
Calories: 432
Avg HR: 128
Max HR: 174

Week 4, Day 3:
Calories: 412
Avg HR: 156
Max HR: 176


So I ran outside for the last run that is why my average heart rate is up again... there are a lot of hills where I am running. I do love running outdoors though because it is real terrain and if I am going to actually do a 5K run then I have to be able to run on the ground. SO, I am gonna keep pushing through and my heart rate should regulate the better I get.

I also did a 14 km bike ride with Mr. Wonderful on Sunday with the same hills and managed to burn 438 calories with my average heart rate 152 and max at 166. We also did a shoulders and arms workout for 277 calories and I did Cardio Abs for 123 calories. So, this week I stayed under my calorie goal all week and burned over 2000 calories... not at my 3500 calorie goal but I will get there...

Hope that you had a great week of fitness too... make it a great day!

Map my Run

About two years ago a friend of mine introduced me to running and to Map my Run. I tried to run back then but with my disease and lack of good drugs I was not able to keep it going. So, now that I am back at it and running on the roads a little I logged in again. Here are the facts from the last run...

Distance: 4.65 km Pace: 6:52 min/km Duration: 32:00 Speed: 8.7 km/h

I can't wait until I can run an hour... that is my goal now - to run non-stop for one hour. You know what the funny thing is that when I used to wear knee braces in high school the kids used to say, "Run Forrest, RUN!" and now I will have them saying it again, but for a different reason.

Make it a great day!

Cancer takes some of the best so I am going to help KICK it's ASS!

Have you ever had a person make such an impact in your life that you know that you would not be the same person today had it not been for them? Have you ever watched two people who truly loved each other, and then have one of them longing to be with the other after death has taken one of them? Have you ever witnessed the peace that comes over someone who is passing as they know that they are finally going to live their eternal existance with their one true love? I have!! And I miss them so much that I can not even explain it!

My Poppie passed away from cancer in 2006 and I miss him everyday. I loved him so much and for so many reasons. When my Dad was suffering with alcoholism I would seek counsel from Poppie. When my Mom and Dad were arguing and not getting along (because of Dad's drinking) I would go to my grandparents house and see what true love looked like. I can still see my Granddad polishing the furniture on Saturday when Mum was doing the Saturday cleaning. I can still hear my Grandma (Mum) singing hymns in the kitchen as she baked and the look in my Poppies eyes as he listened and hummed along. And I can still hear my Mum telling Poppie to cut it out when he sang along because of all the things he did well singing was not one of them!

My Poppie was a gift, not only to me and the whole family but to this country that we live in. He fought in WWII and was wounded and lost a lung as a result. He was a man who believed in God, his wife and his family and he is a man that is missed greatly.

I love you Mum and Poppie, may you both rest in peace... together! Know that on June 11 I will be fighting too ... fighting against cancer! If you have lost a loved one and would like to help me fight, please pledge me as I walk the Relay for Life. You can go here and pledge as much as you are able and every dollar helps us fight together! Thank you to those who have given already... we are in this together!

OK, you are going to think that I am CRazY

OR just deaf... but last night, when I was doing Week 4, Day 1 I did NOT hear the prompt to tell me to walk after the first 5 minute run. For the record, I had my lil girl and my lil boy in there making noise and my hubby working out at the same time, but I really did not hear it! I asked my hubby to check it because I was sure that I was running longer than 5 minutes and it was on the Ihome charging ... he picked it up and brought me the phone and I saw that I had two minutes left on run 3/4 but it should have been on run 2/4!! I ran the 5 minute interval followed by the 2.5 minute walk interval and one minute of the 3 minute run interval!! No wonder I was feeling the strain!!! I quickly took the speed down to 3.6 to allow my HR to come back down and ran the last minute of that run interval and then I was back on track. When I stepped off the treadmill I was WET! The sweat was dripping from the brow, my clothes were drenched and the sweat was just a steady flow. It felt GREAT! I couldn't believe that I was able to run 8.5 minutes and could still talk to my Mr. WOnderful to ask him to check it out. I was only running on 5.4 MPH but I was running!!

My HR average is gonna be high again but the 8.5 minute run had something to do with that...

Calories: 379
Avg HR: 153
Max HR: 178

After the run I worked out my chest for a while and burned a little more calories but stopped at 8pm when TBL came on.

Make it a great day!