It's a dog's life

Well, I've cheated on the taper. Beginner's mistake numero uno.

Lordie and moi - 5K. I absolutely love this photo.

And I know my body and especially my legs will make me pay for it in Paris (Paris marathon, if everything goes according to plan...). And I'm fine with that. Because, A. I had an amazing time cheating on the taper, B. I wouldn't run anywhere near an 'okay' time in Paris anyway (overcrowded course and too much photos to be taken), and C. I had a kick #ss time cheating on the taper!

My dear mom cheering us on at the finish line.

How did I cheat on the taper? I raced (well, I didn't want to puke, so it wasn't really racing, was it?) a 5K canicross with Lordie. And a 2.3K canicross with Diddy. In my defence: I did plan on just running those distances at marathon pace. No lie.

Well...that didn't work.

Lordie and moi about to finish the 5K in 22:03. He had stopped dragging me along after 500 meters, so I had to do this thing all by myself. Oh, and he decided to greet the trees with what I'd like to call "the longest pee session of 2011"...Yeah...during a race. What the bleep!

Still ready to finish... This race reminded me of the fact that I do NOT like 5Ks. At all...

I was just trying to focus on staying in front of the other runner (Monique). Lordie was just focussing on taking it as easy as possible (Okay...in his defence...he was hot...it was a hot day).

Diddy kicking it into gear. My abs are still in pain because of this.

Andrew described it as 'a dog flying a Silly Girl kite'. He was quite right.

Diddy and moi about to finish the 2.3K in 9:10.

Those are not my quads. I borrowed them from one of the guys. My real quads are nice and feminine.

Lordie and I placed first in our AG in the 5K. Can you tell Lordie feels like he's above the other dog? ;) Prize: dog food. And lots of it. Not fair...considering the fact that I had to work this one on my own, while Lordie was too busy finding a tree. ;) By the way...being in the same AG as a 16-year old (that does track by the way...ouch) is...different. It made me feel 'old'...

Diddy and I placed 3rd in our AG in the 2.3K.

Canicross in fresh powder - The "Can you say instant happiness?" post

Saturday: ran 4.5 miles / 7.2K with the dogs
Sunday: ran 2.5 miles / 4K with the dogs

I guess I don't need to explain to you all how much fun this was, huh?

The 10 miler that made me love running even more

Ran: 10 miles / 16.1 km - 1:23:20 h - marathon pace work out in a race

Today I ran the Dam tot Damloop. It's a 10 mile race from Amsterdam (the Netherlands) to Zaandam (the Netherlands...obviously). 35.000 runners! It's not a flat course, but also not too hilly. Great race to run in the whole training cycle for the New York Marathon!

My splits; as you probably already noticed, I usually start off slower than I finish. I'm a weirdo...

Since the New York Marathon is only 7 weeks (7!!! Yikes!) away, I decided the wise thing to do was to run this race at marathon pace, and use it as a marathon pace work out. And I followed my own advice. Well, that's a first. ;) I have my hopes set (hope, hope, hope!) on running the NYC marathon in 3:50 (being my first road marathon), so I had to pass the 10K mark at 54:30 and the finish at 1:28 h. So far so good. Remember those splits for a second.

I ran this race to raise money for the Lornah Kiplagat Foundation (http://www.lornahkiplagatfoundation.nl). A great cause that supports the build of the Lornah Kiplagat Sportsacademy in Kenya! The start for the runners running for good causes was at 11:40 AM.

The start was very well organized, and I had no problem finding my corral. As soon as the race started I tried to stick to my marathon pace, but I was feeling so relaxed that I stopped looking at my watch. It felt like I was running the marathon pace that I'd ran in training runs before. And then the 10K mark came by. After 52 minutes. Woops! My 10K PR is 51:28. Something was definitely wrong here. The thing was that it didn't feel like I was pushing myself. Well, what the heck. I figured, as long as it feels like marathon pace, I might as well call it marathon pace. I felt like I was walking on air. I chatted with fellow runners. Sang along with the drumbands. Gave high fives to the kids that were cheering. It didn't feel like long run pace, but it definitely didn't feel like I was racing. I had a blast! I actually felt sorry that it was over when I spotted the finishline. Finished in 1:23:20. 5 minutes faster than marathon pace. I'm very well aware that this doesn't mean that I can actually stick to this pace for a full marathon, but still...I had so much fun and felt great!

Congrats to all the runners that finished the Dam tot Damloop!

And that, my friends, is why this 10 miler made me love running even more!

How did your weekend long runs/races go?

Why there are sprinkles all over my keyboard...

That's why! :)

One of my colleagues baked this for me and gave it to me this morning. So Sweet! What a way to start the day! :)

And in case you were wondering: it was Yummy!

What is the sweetest thing your colleagues ever did for you?

1.000 miles under the belt!!! Celebration time! Woohoo!

Yesterday: Ran 7.8 miles / 12.5 km - 1 h 7 minutes - weekend long / easy run

Today: Ran 6.3 miles / 10 km - total time 60 minutes - with Canicross group - interval with water stops for the dogs

It has been a weekend of trail running. No asphalt what so ever, just hitting the trails! I lalalalove the trails!

This is where I got my run in yesterday with runningbuddy A (she blogs at: http://annetsrunningsite.blogspot.com/):

Not bad, huh?

I was a bit scared of what my hip would do on yesterday's run. I skipped Thursday's run (45 min temporun) because of The Hip, and felt really bad about it. But I knew it was the more sensible thing to do. I stretched a lot and used ice packs on The Hip. And ofcourse used The Stick. And some sort of strange ointment. Don't know what was in it, don't want to know, but it did what it had to do.

Good news: The Hip actually didn't feel that bad on yesterday's run. It felt still a bit stiff and sore, don't get me wrong, but it was much better than on Wednesday's run. I'm still careful, but so glad that it feels better!

And today I went to our Canicross runninggroup practice! Fun! I had a lot of catching up to do with all the runners that returned from their holidays. Great fun and had a great run! Lordie and Diddy behaved like well-mannered little choir boys and I wore my lucky green runningskirt. What could go wrong? Exactly, nothing! :)

I'm the one in the pink shirt and green skirt and with the two gorgeous dogs ;)

Don't you just love weekend runs? :)

Last but not least (*tatatata!*): this Weekend's running brings me to a total of 1.003 miles for this year! In August! Over 1.000 miles under my belt! Really, in January this year I honestly never would have believed (not for a $1.000) that I could run this many miles in a year, let alone in 7 1/2 months! I've come such a long way, but loved every step of it. :) And I'm going to celebrate this tonight (yep, tacos and cocktails that is!)!

Question: What made you smile this weekend?

90 days 'till New York Marathon...Wait...What?

Ran: 50 min - 6.3 miles / 10K - pace work-out

Checked out the New York Marathon website today and their marathoncountdown clock was happily ticking away saying it's just another 90 days 'till the marathon.

Wait a minute? 90 days? That's like 12 weeks! Even the whole race week schedule is on the website yet. It seems like yesterday that I registered for this thing (in November 2009), and I really had no idea that I have only 12 weeks left for training. Wow! Time flies when you're having... Well, time flies when you're going from one marathon to another! :)

That was just the kick in the butt I needed to do my pace-workout today. I was really feeling blah this morning (headache, sore throat, etc.) and figured it would be OK if I would just skip this one (normally I'm not really a workout skipper). Especially since it's the week after the marathon. But knowing I have only 90 days left, I hit the trails this evening with runningbuddy A and that actually helped the headache. :)

And I'm really getting excited now. Even went through my NY travel guide a bit. :) Just 90 days left! :)

Question: Who else is running the New York Marathon? (I know, about 40,000 people, but you know what I mean :) )

In my dreams I AM a Kenyan... High Altitude Training - day 1

Ran: 9.7 miles / 15.5K - 1:23 min - in Davos, Switzerland!

First day in the Swiss Alps! Love the clean mountain air! Great to be able to take a deep breath without all the city pollution.

I am here already to get used to the altitude for the Swiss Alpine Marathon on July 31th. This race is in Davos, Switzerland and it's the 25th year that it's held. The race is very well organized and the runners are always all so positive! For info, check out their website http://www.swissalpine.ch.

It's cold up here (Davos is a Swiss village at an altitude of 1560 m / 5200 ft), but it's a good cold. Not that bad actually after all this heat and humidity that we had in Holland lately. :)

Had a run scheduled today, and although it was the first day at high altitude, I told myself I had to go - it should be the last long run before the marathon next weekend. This high altitude means that your heartrate is higher than it is at home...at least in the first couple of days. I was prepared for that, and figured the run was probably going to be hard. I couldn't have been more wrong!

Had a great run! Ran through Davos City and around Davos Lake (Davoser See) and did some hillwork. Loved it, truly had this feeling of having wings and finished the run with a huge smile on my face! It totally made my day. :)

Was a bit scared of what the altitude would do to my running, but I really shouldn't have been! Now I know why all those Kenyans train at high altitude; that's their secret! :)

So tonight - in my dreams - I AM a Kenyan. :) Just for once. :)

Nice and sunny

Did some speedwork as scheduled: Ran 5.5 miles / 9 km 45 min and 15 min cooling down




It was nice and sunny out there this morning. Not too hot, not too many runners outside. Went running with my canicross running group at 8.30 AM. Had Lord and Diddy (a.k.a. THE Dogs) all buckled up, and off we went!




Canicross practice


For those of you that don't really know what Canicross is; it's basically just running with your dog. But here comes the fun part. The dog wears a harness that is connected to a leash. And that leash is connected to a belt you're wearing. What happens is that the dog actually pulls you forward. There are canicross races and everything. Sooo much fun to do! Great group and I love being outside and working out with THE Dogs.


Lord and Diddy were in the mood this morning and went like a rocket. Great! Really not much to say about the run; it was just a nice run. The sun was out, Lord and Diddy were behaving perfectly and my legs were feeling great. Had a nice chat with M and R (they are also in the canicross running group) and went home at 10 AM.


And now I'm off to the garden to enjoy the sun a bit more!