2017 Recap (Late)

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2017 was a bit of a lack-luster year in running for me. It's hard to focus so hard on one race, when it turns out to be such a bust. I did come back and run a pretty respectable half in the fall, but to be honest, I expect more from myself. 

I completed the Ottawa marathon in May, I wouldn't say that I am proud of my performance. I ran 3:12. I have been training to run sub 3:00, but hit a few speed bumps with this race. First of all, my trials with my iron levels in the spring forced me to take a month off of training. A month is quite a lot in the grand scheme of things. I only hit 20 miles for my longest run, opposed to my normal 24. More importantly than that, I missed a lot of quality miles and workout days.

Race day in Ottawa turned out to be a scorcher, about 20 degrees at the start line and reaching 26 by the finish. I think I was in shape to run a 3:08ish, but it was a combination of not slowing my pace enough in the first half and the heat, that in the end, caused me to struggle. As you can see in my splits, I started at 4:12/km pace and ended at 5:02/km pace. Pretty nasty.

The city of Ottawa was of course, beautiful and it was really cool watching the 10k the night before. I shared a AirBnb house (that seemed a bit haunted) with 4 other girls. My best friend Megan being one of them. She ran like a champ in the marathon, finishing in 3:45.

Missing Jackie

Post-Ottawa, I decided to be done with marathons for while. I took a week off training and then jumped back into a bit of speed to train up for the Manitoba Marathon Relay.

Of course, race day was cool and rainy for Manitoba and would have been way better for running a marathon than in Ottawa. Anyway, I got to run the 5th leg and run into the stadium, which was 10km. I ran on a "Bison Alumni" team with Mel, Gina, Lacey and Jackie (kudos to her for winning the half). We won the female division and it was a lot of fun.


In BC with Mel

Adventuring via canoe

After school ended for the summer, I took some time off running, just going for 30-45 mins when I felt like it. We took a road trip out west to Nelson, BC for my friend Alyssa's wedding. We did lots of hikes and had many adventures, and ran a few mile in between. I spent the whole month of July relaxing at the lake, at folk fest and enjoying the hot hot heat. :)

CSG Squad

By the beginning of August I was ready to start training again. I decided that I would train for the WFPS Half Marathon in October. I had a goal of beating my my PB, which is 1:23:36, run when I was 19 (10 years ago)! I started focusing on more speed training and strengthening.

I volunteered for the Canada Games Canoe and Kayak Team as the team manager. It was really fun to support a great group of hard working athletes. While I was at the University (U of M campus) residences, Megan and I went to the gym and did some workouts at the new gym there. I think I overdid it with core one day because I felt a consistent pain in my lower abdomen. I figured that I could just leave it alone it would go away. So I didn't do any core for about a month after that.

When we started school again, I was full in half marathon training. My workouts were going consistently well, I was averaging 60-70 miles a week, I was even running with my brother once a week. I did a 10 km tune up race on September 24th. I didn't run fast ~40mins flat, but it felt good to push hard for a shorter distance. my pain in my abdomen was still there, but it only really hurt when I tries to do core exercises, so I just stayed away from them.

1:24:19

I was happy with my result at the WFPS Half on October 15th. I won with a time of 1:24:19. This is my 3rd fastest half marathon time ever (2007 Manitoba, 2014 Police being my faster ones). The race went perfectly, I ran at my target pace 6:25/6:26 per mile. Everything went perfectly.

After the WFPS, I told myself that I would go to the doctor about the pain in my abdomen. He suspected that it is hernia or some kind, and so do I. I started going to physio for it and I have an ultrasound booked in March for it. It's pretty manageable though, as, it only hurts when I sneeze or do core exercises.

The next few weeks after WFPS, I took it easy and then slowly got back into training. I was lacking a goal though. I knew I wanted to do a Full in the spring, but it was too far away! I decided to sign up for a Half Marathon in the states, to keep me motivated. I chose the Miami Marathon, because I thought the timing would be good to race the Fargo Full Marathon in May. So we'll see how it goes! So far, my training has been going really well. I've been killing all of my workouts and running about 70 miles a week.

The weather in Winnipeg over the Winter Break was horrid, forcing me to do quite a few treadmill runs. I also started to do some track workouts with some of my speedy friends. It's fun to get out and run with people once a week!

I'm looking forward to 2018. Hoping to break some barriers - sub 3:00, sub 1:23. I'm turning 30 in February, which in my mind is the prime marathon age. It's go time!