Canadian Runner in Exile

Gait analyse

2012-02-24T14:33:00.001-08:00

Before I talked about my gait analyse I wand to thank you ALL for your comments on my last post. Your support and kindness amaze me. I am lucky to have you as my friends. I don't know who this anonymous person is...do they know me personally...I don't know..I hope not :). I know that if I was this person I would stay clear of my buddy Jim-the-running-machine. This is what he said:

Dear Anonymous:
Please leave my friend Caroline alone - she is one of the most amazing bloggers and runners out there. And on a personal note, if you want to compare times or running stats or mileage or anything with someone ... why don't you square off with me??? You couldn't hold my dic-!!! And also, sign your name next time pus--!!! Stop wasting everyone's time - you are insignificant. Picking on poor ol' Caroline ... really???
I got your back C!

Thank you Jim. Please visit him here if you don't already know him and also his really awesome (her favorite word) wife Michael who is a brand new marathoner.

So OK now on to gait and shoes.

I have been wearing Mizunos Wave Inspire 7 shoes for a while. Those are Stability shoes. They were OK but I would not say that I felt "perfect" in them. I don't have a lot of knowledge as far as running shoes go and it can be overwhelming to look for shoes as you know. I have a problem with spending money on shoes that end up being wrong for me. It makes me feel really guilty.

Not so long ago I started having problems with plantar fasciitis. I would say it is mild. It comes and goes and I only had one day that it was really bad.

Jill, who blogs HERE, was great to me and she took the time to send me emails with great advices on how to deal with PF. I followed her advices and I am happy to report that my problem is under control as of now.

I also changed my shoes and bought a pair of Brooks Ravenna 2. Those shoes are Guidance shoes in the Brooks line, a bridge between neutral and stability for runners with mild pronation.

I have been wearing them for 3 weeks now and I like those better than my Mizunos. I have no pain so far and I feel lighter when I run. They have more cushion than my other shoes and they are less bulky also. They are the same size as my other pair of shoes but they feel smaller...that is the only thing I don't like for now but that could be fixed with getting 1/2 size bigger next time.

I wanted to go to the running store and have my gait checked to make sure I am wearing the shoes I need.

The gal at the store was great, super patient, very well informed and she is a runner of course. She said that I overpronate very mildly and just on the left side and that I have a midfoot strike. She said that Ravenna are good for me and also that I could even wear neutral shoes but that I don't need the full stability shoes. I asked about the new line Brooks has called Pure Project and she said I could try the Pure Cadence or the Pure Flow but that I should make sure my PF problem taken care of first.

She also said that it is a good idea to have 2 pairs of shoes in rotation and that they don't have to be different kind. She said this is good for people like me who run 5-6 days a week because it allows the shoes to "rest" between runs. She said it takes 24 to 48 hours for the shoe to go back to their original form.
This makes sense to me, I just have to decide if I get another pair of Ravenna, they have the Ravenna 3 out now, or one of these:

pure cadence

pure flow

E book winners, worst race picture ever and Justin Bieber

2012-02-22T16:38:00.000-08:00

The winners of the 2 e-books The Ultimate Beginner's Running Guide: The Key to Running Inspired are Annet and Boston Bound Brunette! Congrats! Please email me to get your books.

Now, I must warn you that I posted a terrible picture below so I forgive you for skipping the rest.

Thank you for your comments on my race recap on my last post. I appreciate you taking the time to write them, always mean a lot to me. I did get one email that was not so nice and of course it came from anonymous...I know I should not let it bug me but well I am human..so this person emails me a comment : "on your pictures you don't look like someone who was experiencing any distress..maybe you should stop using this as an excuse to explain your slow time." Why take the time to send this, I don't know. Why would I lie about making a fool of myself at the finish line? I wish I had a picture of me jumping for joy over the finish line! Not long after getting that email I got to see the official pictures from the race. Some are OK like this one:

And there is one that is really bad..very sorry...

So there you go stupid anonymous person....there I am "faking" dry heaving. Happy?
Hands down worst racing picture EVER.

So about nutrition.

This time I ate nothing during the race. I had Honey Stinger with me but I decided to not eat it because I did not want my stomach to rebel. That worked out really well... I drank only water. None from the aid stations. I saw a few stations where they were using water from the fire hydrant and people who were not wearing gloves...so no thanks.

Colleen asked if I have these problems during training. I never do. I think part of it is because during training, I do stop because of traffic lights. I also go slower and the anticipation of the finish line getting closer sends me in panic mode usually.

Even though I had a terrible ending, I feel like I made progress. Not just because I got a PR. I did not get a perfect race obviously...but it was better. I will get there.

My best 2 half marathons were on the 2 hilliest courses I have ran. Now I am thinking I should run San Francisco! Working on convincing Bill that this is a good idea.....

I am thinking of trying adding salt to my water now. I need to prepare for the heat. Today it got to 85 degrees. Seriously in FEBRUARY?! I need to move to Alaska.

And I leave you with something I think is funny from Jonathan who is 6.

I picked him up from school today, he gets in the car and I asked how was his day.

"Terrible!"
What? Why?
"Well because I cannot marry Mia anymore!"
Why not?
"She showed up at school with a JUSTIN BIEBER shirt!!!!"

Rock n Roll Pasadena Half Marathon Race Recap

2012-02-20T12:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ran the inaugural Rock n Roll Pasadena Half Marathon.
I wanted to redeem myself after Surf City. I was very disappointed with how I did there. I signed up for Pasadena just a week ago, a last minute decision.

This was my first Rock n Roll event. I was not too sure about how I would like it after reading so many posts on the disaster that was the Las Vegas race.

But I needed to get Surf City out of my head and Pasadena is near where I live and I love that town so I took a chance.

Saturday we went to the Expo. I thought it was great. Super easy packet pick up. People were very nice. It was not crowded..place was big and it was easy to go around and see all the booths. Brooks was a sponsor and they had a nice boutique will lots of great stuff.
I got 2 t-shirts: one Brooks tech shirt, the race shirt and another t-shirt for the inaugural race that we could get if we signed up for another RnR race.

I signed up for this:

Halloween race on October 28. They offered a $15 discount so I had to go for it! Those are the shirts:

After the Expo I was feeling pretty good about this race. Usually we drive the course but we did not have time so I just saw part of it.

Saturday, I drank a lot of water and I tried to eat more than I usually do..not an easy thing to do for me. I slept better than I did before Surf City also, being at home helps a lot.

Race Day

The weather was PERFECT. I have zero complain. It was cool...was not even 50 when we got to the race. Bill was able to drop me at the start, at the ROSE BOWL, even though we had been told this would not be possible so that was great for me. They had plenty of porta potty. I have done several races at the Rose Bowl and it is a great place for pre and post race activities. The start went perfect. They had the corrals set up so that the first number on our bib was the corral number where we should line up. Of course some people went in the wrong corrals...I don't really get that. They had 10 corrals I was in the 6th. They started on time and everything went really smootly.

I will not bore you with a mile by mile description of my race.

I was really surprised by how HILLY the course was. I was not expecting this at all and after reading the comments on the Facebook page, I see that the majority of the runners were surprised as well. This from my GARMIN:

I was feeling really good for the first 8 miles, I knew the 2:15 pacer was behind me and I was a little worried about that because that is too fast for me, my PR was 2:24:05. I kept telling myself "don't panic..take it easy, ignore him, maybe he is confused and he is going to SLOW"

Crowd on the course was great, bands and cheerleaders and of course the supporters. Before mile 5, I saw the winner flying by, on the opposite side of the road...I cheered for him, I am always so impressed to see the leaders and how fast they are. Right after mile 5 I saw my family! Elvis had passed right before me.

After that we went up hill....I felt it but I did not stop..I just looked down instead of up so the hill would not mess with my head!! :)

I did not think I would see my family again but they surprised me at mile 7 on a hard hilly part and I was so happy to see them, gave me a major boost.

Not long after that was a brutal section at the Colorado Bridge that locals calls The Suicide Bridge. My pace dropped there and the 2:15 pacer passed me. I told myself "It is OK he is not your goal."

I had a rough couple miles there but I was able to pick up the pace at mile 10 and I started feeling hopeful about getting a PR. I knew I still had a difficult section ahead of me and I did not want to fall apart like I always do. Mile 11-12.5 was no joke...wow...that killed me. After that my stomach who had been behaving pretty good decided it was DONE. I was cussing and crying as I kept going... "Not that CRAP again, not today, you have got to be kidding me" But the dry heaves came...it was pretty bad. I had to stop and walk many times. My family was there at the finish but I never saw them. Bill saw me walk, I HATE that. Here on these pictures I can see the finish line..one more turn and it is there and you can see on the other picture that I am in pain..look at the fist on my right hand..and well my face says it all.

Here, getting to the finish I was in full dry heaves mode...it is embarrassing to do that in front of all the people lined up. I was worried about throwing up...but I kept going the finish line was right there...

And then it happened.
I arrived on the mat.
In front of the pro photographer that is sitting on the chair.
And I puked.
Twice. ON THE MAT.
It was not pretty.
I almost passed out.

It took everything I had to make it to the mat.

It was a shaky finish, not raising the arm up in the air.

I am sure I looked like a drunk person.

2 medics came to get me right away "Are you all right?"

hmmm really?? "NO!"

Thank God, Bill and the kids did not see me get sick...after Bill snapped those last pictures they headed to the end of the chute to meet me.

I went to the medic tent to get water and I was OK to walk on my own so I did not stay long, I did not want Bill to get worried and I was OK.

I felt better because I got sick I think. All the other times that I got dry heaves I never got sick...I just had the painful cramping.

But I am forgetting the most important, it is that this time that pain was all WORTH it:

2:21:17

Brand new PR for me and I am so happy. 2 min and 48 sec better than my old one.

I walked back to go meet my family.

(Wearing my Italian T-shirt )

Those are my splits

There were celebrities at the race:

Justin Chamber, Chandra Wilson and Kim Raver from Grey's Anatomy and New Kid on the Block Joey McIntyre. First 2 went over 3:30. Kim Raver was just over 2 hours and Joey M. ran under 2 hours.

The band Sugar Ray was doing the entertainement after the race

I loved that race. The course was much harder than I expected but it was a beautiful course, I really liked it. My best 2 half marathons were on hilly courses and both on days that were cooler. Yesterday I did not eat anything during the race. I had honey stinger in my belt but decided to skip it to keep my stomach quiet, that worked for 11 miles. I drank water only..not a lot, maybe that was a mistake..I am not sure. I took one salt tablet. I ran with my Brooks Ravenna, first race with those shoes.

I am happy with how I did and now I get put SC behind me and move on.

I am very embarrassed by how it ended..the poor people who were around me, I appologize to all of you.

I will be back next year to do this race. I have zero complain about it. They organized a GREAT event!!!

Review and Giveaway

2012-02-17T14:04:00.000-08:00

I was asked by the author to review this brand new running book. I LOVE books, all kinds of books. I have read several running books...in each I found helpful tips and learned new things about running. Some books are better for me than others and I think it all comes down to personal tastes. What speaks to you. See for example..I am a fan of Kara Goucher the runner but her book not so much. Some people like Hal Higdon, others prefer Jeff Galloway..for me it is a mix of both I guess.

I read The Ultimate Beginner's Running Guide: The Key to Running Inspired. I received the kindle edition copy (which can be viewed on your PC, iPhone, or Kindle). This was an easy quick read. This book is targeting beginners runners but I think any runner can get something out of it. After 32 races and 7 half marathons I think that I am leaving the beginner status and moving more towards the intermediate phase of my running life. I wish I had that book when I signed up for my very first race and I had no clue what I was doing and most running books I read then were just too much with the exception of Run like a Mother the book that did save my running life or I should say gave me one.

The Ultimate Beginner's Running Guide: The Key to Running Inspired is written by Ryan Roberts. From Amazon website: "Ryan Robert, MA, writes, runs, and edits in Alaska where his main claim to fame is being able to do all three at once. As a teacher and coach for a decade, and then a firefighter and trainer for firefighters for the Forest Service, he has learned what works with athletes, and what doesn't."

The book talks about just about everything related to running without necessarily going in great details. It talks about form, motivation, injury, nutrition, training, what to wear. One of my favorite part talks about getting past embarrassment and being self-conscious about running. For a new runner it can be a deal breaker. The book discusses not only how to get started but also how to keep going.

In the book there are a few training plans all for different kind of new runners. Those would not be for me because they are made using time instead of distance. I prefer training in miles not in minutes that is why I like Uncle Hal's plans!!

It is more like a discussion book than a technical book and I did like that about the book. It offers good tips like having a running journal and also using visualizations. That part is good for any runner at any level I think.

I love the section that talks about running in different weather conditions, lots of good tips for all runners.

One thing that is missing in the book are pictures and or illustrations. In the injury and stretching sections that would be best to have some for the exercises that are suggested and also to show where are the IT band, shins, etc...for some people a visual is needed. There are no mention of foam roller, I would have liked to see that in the book also.

Overall I think this is a great first book for runners. It is a quick read, you can learn a lot without investing too much of your time, it is not overwhelming.

So would you like to read it?

All you need is a computer and you are good to go.

2 readers will win a copy!

All you have to do is be a follower and tell me you would like to read the book.

Winners will be announced on 02-22.

Lost of a Childhood Idol.

2012-02-16T17:29:00.000-08:00

I was in the middle of writing another post when I saw the news that Gary Carter passed away today. When I was a kid I had a few idols; Wayne Gretzky, Terry Fox, Alex Baumann (Greatest Canadian Swimmer, superstar of 1984 LA Games), Larry Bird and Gary Carter.

He was only 57 years old.

He did not win his war against brain CANCER.

Breaks my heart that he is gone, so sad.
He was a baseball LEGEND.
As you know I am from Quebec, Canada. Baseball was never the number 1 sport there, nothing can take the place of Hockey, but we did have a team called The Montreal Expos until 2004.
From 1974 to 1984 Gary Carter WAS The Expos.
Number 8.
The Kid.

With Andre Dawson and Tim Raines

He played 19 years in the MLB, 10 of them were in Montreal and 5 great ones were with the METS...with them, he won the World Series in 1986.

I was not a huge baseball fan..not like I am a fan a Duke basketball or a hockey fan but...I was a huge fan of Gary Carter. He had this bigger than life personality and he was fun to watch. You could tell he LOVED to play..not just for the $$. I remember when I was a kid, he made me want to go see games at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal and made me want to watch baseball on TV.

Goodbye THE KID

Foam Roller and Valentine's Day Winner!

2012-02-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

Taper week.., again....I feel like I am always back to Taper lately. The only thing I am changing from last week is adding a day of rest. I am hoping for COOL weather for Sunday. I am now 100% convinced that it is required for me to do well.
Went for 4 miles TEMPO this morning. I am still in my Brooks. I will only use those shoes until the RnR Pasadena Half Marathon Sunday.

I bought one of these:

Of course I have no clue what to do with it. I mean not REALLY. I need to do some research. If you know good website for this let me know please. I will start with Runner's World. Do you have one of these? How many times a week do you use it?

If you are a regular reader you know that my family LOVES this guy:

It's because of my kids that I know who Keith Urban is really. He is great and in concerts he is fantastic, the best I have seen I think, but on April 27 I will have to cheat on Keith because before Keith, there was this guy:

The Boss himself! I have been dying to see him in concert since I am in High School..I mean it, I wanted to be Courtney Cox in the video Dancing in the Dark. I have all his albums, I have some in Vynil records, cassette tapes and Cds of course. I cannot wait to see him in concert. Bill is not sharing my love of Springsteen but he has agreed to come with me.

OK now the winner of my Milestone Jewelry Valentine Giveaway

and that is

Erica!
Congratulations!!!
Email me your info please!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Running for a cause.

2012-02-12T15:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday thousands of runners went out and hit the pavement for Sherry Arnold. This was a massive success of people coming together for a good cause. There is HOPE for all us I think...you know the good guys.

Running for a cause.
Do ever you do that?
I do.
That is how I started running actually.
The cause was breast cancer. My friend Shana had breast cancer. This picture was in 2010. She still had no hair. She kicked the cancer's butt and sent it packing. After 2 mastectomies, Chemo and Radiation treatments, she had reconstruction surgery and she won the war. She is now cancer free.

I am a giant

I have ran the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure in 2010 and 2011 both for Shana. I am running it again this year. Now I know they have been in the news lately but this is not a blog about politics and I don't want to discuss it here. All I care about is that one day they find a cure. That is what I care about. That, because of research, Shana WILL see her 2 beautiful kids grow up.

This last Wednesday I got a call nobody wants to get.

It was Jane. She is the wife of one of my husband's best friends. There's 4 of them. They have known each other since they were 9 years old. They never lived more than 1 mile away from each other. Jane is from Brazil and like me, she left everything behind and moved here. We got married the same year, them just 3 months after us. She is the sweetest person you could ever meet. Almost too sweet. She is tiny and there not a mean bone in her body. Wednesday night, she called to tell me that she has breast cancer. This sweet gal has that crap inside her body:

I am so MAD. Life is a bitch sometimes...yes a bad word on my blog..sorry. I don't have a nice one for this. She is scared. She has 2 girls, they are the same age as my sons. She is about to go to war with cancer. She is 41 year old. This SUCKS big time. So this year my Race for the Cure is for Jane. I hope that next year it will only be for survivors.

If you live in Southern California and you want to join me March 24 at Dodger Stadium, you can join my team HERE.

In May I will run for another important cause: Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.
Just the cause is enough to make you want to do something.
But also look at this face:

Come on now!
Who is this? Well many of you know her already. That is Gabby. She has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Her super brave mom is Heather and you can find her here and read more about Gabby's story. Gabby is on her way to kick cancer in the butt just like Shana did. She will win her war, I know it.
On May 6, I am going to run a 10k for Gabby at the 2012 Cinco de Mayo Half Marathon event. You can run a 5K, 10K or a Half Marathon. If you live in Southern California and that day is free on your calendar come join us! Join Team Gab HERE.

Run for a cause! It can save lives!
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I signed up for this

That is next Sunday. If you read my blog, you know I just did Surf City last week. I feel good and I want to do better. NOW. So I am doing this. It will be my first RnR race. Pasadena is close to where I live and I like that town. It will be fun I think. So today I went for 10 miles and it went great. I ran with my Brooks all week, including today, and I think I am taking them for their first race next week!
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I am in my 40s and Whitney Houston's music was a big part of my youth. Such a tragedy that she is gone at 48 years old. Such a shame that the pretty girl in the white outfit with the big voice who sang that perfect national anthem in 1991 has been gone for a long long time.
Let's hope she is in peace now and that she is singing with the angels.

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Don't forget to enter my great giveaway go HERE.
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5K in the Rain for you Sherry Arnold

2012-02-11T15:13:00.000-08:00

Like many of you reading this, this morning I went running in honor of Sherry Arnold. We did not have to brave snow or cold as you can see on the picture. We ran 5K in the rain. My 2 running buddies; Rebekah who is 5 mos pregnant and her dad Benjamin who ran a sub 2hrs half marathon at the 13.1 Los Angeles Race came to join me and Denise, one of my followers who I met today. Thank you for coming with me! Denise it was really nice to meet you.

It is fantastic to see all the pictures on Facebook from the many virtual races that took place today.

I like what Beth wrote on Facebook today after her run:

We did it. Bad, mean people can suck it.

I am proud to be part of that We.

Rest in Peace Sherry, I will never forget you.
I hope you felt all the steps that were taken in your memory today.

This was in Sidney, Montana today.

Best school Day and To RNR or to not RNR

2012-02-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

Did you enter my giveaway yet? No? Go HERE!

This week was post race week.
Monday I went to the Dr and it took forever...don't you hate waiting for the Dr? I do. I show up on time. I expect them to do the same! I had the FIRST appt of the day. No excuses! Anyway, I got my lab results, once again not good. So my thyroid meds were increased.

Tuesday I went for 4 miles and I felt good.  I ran in my Brooks and I am liking them more each time I use them. I like that they have a bit of cushion.

Wednesday: Dentist. Yikes. It was HELL. I had a Deep Cleaning and laser treatment and it is not fun. Aouchy. I had planned to go to the gym after my appt and let me tell you that I did not make it. I was feeling a bit drowsy after that, so much that I forgot we were Wednesday and that this is a modified day at our school and that means early dismissal. I was supposed to pick Will up at 1:30 pm.   At 2:00 pm I realized that I forgot my kid. MOM OF THE YEAR.

Thursday: I went for 5 miles tempo with my Brooks again. It went great. I was happy and mad at the same time. I wished I had ran like that for Surf City! I came home and was looking at the upcoming races and saw that next weekend is the Pasadena Rock N Roll Half Marathon and it is not sold out.
So now I want to do it. Registration is open until Sunday.
Is that crazy?
2 half marathons, 2 weeks apart.
It is the inaugural race for Pasadena. It looks like it will be a good one. I am close to Pasadena so I would sleep at home and no "long" commute.
Do you like the RNR races? I have never done one. I read all the horror stories about Las Vegas so I know about that...but what about the other cities?
I am disappointed with my time in Surf City and I want to erase that from my head and get another chance at 13.1 right now.
Bill says do it.

Today I did just 3 miles because we had the annual Jog-A-Thon at our school and I wanted to help out. Tomorrow I am doing another 3-4 miles for Sherry Arnold and Sunday I think I will go for 10 miles if I go ahead with Pasadena RNR. That will put me at 26 miles.

Jog A Thon was great! I love that this is one of the fundraisers we have for the school. It raises money for our PTA and makes the kids move instead of just selling a bunch of crap. It was really hot for a winter day....

Kindergarten- Jonathan:

2nd Grade: Will

This one cracks me up...Jonathan splashing Will as he passes by...and the look on his face after he got him!!!

Milestone Jewelry GIVEAWAY for Valentine's Day!

2012-02-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

Will you be my Valentine?

Melody at Milestone Jewelry has offered me to host a giveaway for you my dear followers!

Milestone Jewelry is the new official Jeweler for Iron Girl.

They have this brand new item at their online store here

RUN Heart Pandora Style Bead

Another MILESTONES EXCLUSIVE, This Solid Sterling Silver RUN Heart Bead is available only from Milestones Jewelry.

It is beautiful and someone needs to tell Bill that I want one! It can be worn on a chain, leather or a cord bracelet or a necklace and the lucky winner will also be able to choose a leather or silver European Style bracelet or a chain, cord, or leather. How about that! I want to enter my own Giveaway!!!!

Thank you Melody!!!!

What do you have to do to win this?
Well this is a really really nice price, I think you should have to come clean my house or be my coach or something. Too much? OK....

I will keep this simple.

What you must do. 1-2- to be entered.

1. Send me a Valentine...no no I kid: BE A FOLLOWER of this blog and leave a comment to say you are. Now do you see I added 2 new ways to follow me? Via email or with RSS feed because Google is giving us all a headache and is taking Friend Connect away. (Does that mean we will loose all our followers? Do we have to re follow everyone a different way? If you can explain, bonus entry for first one who does that clearly).

2. You have to LIKE Milestone Jewelry on Facebook HERE. Leave a comment on their wall and say I sent you and what item you like from their store. Leave a comment here that you did this. I will go back to the FB wall to look for it.

BONUS entry:

1. Follow Milestone Jewelry on Twitter HERE. Leave a comment here that you did this.
2. Get me tickets for a Duke game.
3. If you left a comment on this post and you wished Jonathan a Happy Birthday you get a bonus entry as a Thank you!
4. Follow Milestone Jewelry's blog HERE and leave me a comment to let me know you did.
5. Share on your blog OR on Twitter and link to my blog. For twitter make sure to add @carotabi to your tweet. leave a comment to let me know.
6. Guess who I will go see in concert in April. No, it is not Keith.

All right so you have a max of 8 chances.

Good luck to everyone!

I will announce the winner on Valentine's Day of course!

Giveaway winner!

2012-02-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post. This one from Jenn made me see a bigger picture I guess that is a good way to describe it.

"Really though, just a little while back the thought of even completing a HM was but a pipedream. Now, each one you complete is another practice test and learning lesson. It will all come together for you with body, nutrition, mind and your legs will cooperate and you will have a race that makes it ALL worth while soon!!"

She is right; completing a HM was a dream just about a year ago.

Today I went for 4 miles with my Brooks Ravenna 2. My second run with those and I did like it. I plan on using these shoes all week and even Sunday for my longer run unless I get pain somewhere of course. Those shoes feel better for hills so far, going up and down, I think maybe because they have more cushion than my Mizunos.

So yesterday I skipped 2 big events from last weekend. If you are bored with my kids jump to the next topic below!

1. THE birthday party
28 kids showed up. That is a lot of little people running around. Some were close friends of our family and some were classmates. I was the only person there who knew everyone. It was a little crazy but Jonathan was happy and that is all that matters on his birthday. This was the first time we had a big group like this for a birthday, not sure I want to repeat this!
People brought siblings that were not invited, some asked ahead of time and some decided to just surprise me! I did not say anything but this is not cool. One kid missed the whole week of school because he had hand-foot-mouth disease and he came to the party?!!! How is that OK? He was not in school during the day! I guess that is part of the deal of inviting people you don't know very well. This was the last big party for any of my sons. After 6 I tell them they can choose an activity for our family and depending on what it is they might be able to invite a friend or 2. For his 7th bday, Will wanted to go to Sea World so that is what we did.
This was the LEGO year. Lucky Jonathan, I want to steal his presents!!! I LOVE LEGOS!

That gift was a huge hit!

2. Will's basketball Game
Game 3 for the Cougars. Will scored 2 baskets and he played better defense. I was really proud of him! That is him with the ball.

And later....

Giveaway winner!

The winner of the book: The story of Johnny Kelley, Boston's Marathon Man is

Erin! Congrats Erin! Please email me your address so I can mail the book to you! I will have another book to give in April !

Speaking of Giveaway, do you remember back in December I hosted a great one from Milestone Jewelry? They were chosen by Iron Girl as their official Jeweler! Congrats to Melody at Milestone Jewelry! You can read more about this here. They are having a sale right now for Valentine's Day, 15% off your order if you use code LOVE to get the discount.

Surf City Half Marathon race recap. Beach Cities Challenge done!

2012-02-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ran my 7th Half Marathon in beautiful Huntington Beach: Surf City Half Marathon. What a beautiful town! I loved it. I cannot believe I had never been there before.

Friday we had THE birthday...more on that tomorrow.
Saturday morning we had Will's basketball game first and then we headed to the Expo for the race.

The Expo was right on the beach. We were lucky and found a parking on PCH. I was supposed to meet Patrick there...but someone needed his beauty rest and fell asleep :(

Doing the race Expo with the boys is not the greatest so I didn't stop to check all the vendors and I skipped all the free samplers of stuff that I don't care about anyway. I got my bib and shirt and a really nice bag. I love the shirt, on the back at the bottom it says Run Surf City. I think I would actually wear this one..much nicer than the horrible one I got at the Disney Half Marathon!

Took a few pictures at the Expo hoping that Patrick would show up (I had no clue he was dreaming of his next triathlon at the time).

This me texting Patrick one last time...

After that we drove to where Bill would try to meet me on the course so that he could figure out where to park, we were lucky to have had great advices from Patrick for that. Once we had a good plan for that and also a meeting spot for after the race, we headed to the hotel and I tried to take it easy until race time. It is not ideal to sleep in a hotel the night before a race. Once again I got very little sleep because I slept with my 6 yrs old son and he kept hitting me ALL night. My sinus were still completely plugged when I went to bed, things were not looking up in that area :(

I got up at 5:30 am. As soon as my right foot hit the floor I felt the pain from plantar fasciitis...I may have said all the curse words I know in French right then. I stretch it right away hoping it would calm down a bit. I got ready and took to shuttle to the race. The hotel where we were staying was super organized for shuttle and they offered a complete breakfast for all the guests from the Race. I got to the race around 7 am. The line for the porta potty was so long I thought I would miss my wave. I made it to the start right on time. I thought the start would be crazy like in Long Beach but no. It went really smooth even with some walkers lining up next to the 2:00 pacer!

Right from the start I had 3 things against me:

1. Sinus plugged and massive headache because of it.

2. Plantar Fasciitis flare up

3. The freaking sun was out at the very beginning of the race.

Really all I wanted is to be able to run that race and complete the Beach Cities Challenge and I remember thinking just that as I crossed the starting line. It was hard to breath and I could feel mild pain on my foot at each step. First 6 miles went OK, I had good pace, if I had kept it I would have had an easy PR. Bill was supposed to be at mile 4 but when I got there they were not there...I thought he had a hard time finding a parking and he missed me. The course turns around between mile 4 and 5 and in the turn there they were! I was so happy to see them and that I was still doing good enough to run so no walking in front of my sons!!!

See me waving at them to get their attention?!!

Here I am telling the boys to be good for dad!!

After that, the course headed back to PCH..it is hard to beat that view of the ocean. Around mile 6 I saw Patrick who was at mile 10 coming down the other side of the course. I yelled his name but he is too speedy, he did not hear me!!! Mile 7 my foot was starting to hurt more and I had more difficulties breathing. I was also pretty hot. I could not believe people were in long pants and long sleeves. My plan was to drink small sips of water often. It worked for a while but when it got to a point where I needed to drink more my stomach went in rebellion. Every time I tried to speed up a little I could feel the water coming back up. This really sucks and it is so frustrating. My legs were OK and I wanted to try to go faster but I was not able to. The volunteers were great at all the stations, they had plenty of them also. This race is very well organized.

The last few miles were not great for me. I knew I had lost any chance of having a PR long before the end. I wanted to finish the best that I could and that is what I did. I kept thinking "No giving up, the BIG medal is at the end of this!" I saw the kids and Bill right before the finish line, that was nice! The crowd was fantastic there; a lot of people were lined up at the end.

I loved that race. The course is beautiful, it is mostly flat. Nice weather for hanging out but for running I prefer the clouds over the sun.

I am dissapointed in my time. I wanted to do well at that race and I did not.

After the race I had to make a stop to the Expo to pick up my Beach Cities Challenge Medal. Now THAT is a Medal! By far the nicest one I have now. It is huge and super heavy. Even though I am dissapointed with my race, I am very proud that I have completed the Challenge.

Back of the medal

Tomorrow I will announce the winner of my book giveaway!

Mizunos versus Brooks: Round 1 and someone is turning 6!

2012-02-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

3 more days until Surf City!
I feel the same as I did the days leading up to my first half marathon...kind if anxious and nervous. I don't know why. Maybe it is because this one is the 3rd and final leg of the Beach Cities Challenge for me and I cannot wait to complete this. The 3 races were spread from May 2011 to February 2012. A lot of things can go wrong in 9 months!!! The rules are the 3 races have to be completed in order so if a runner has to drop out of one they have to start the Challenge at race 1.

Update on the body parts:
Well I still have all of them so that is a plus.
Sinus: Still plugged and they still keep my ears plugged, that is the worst part because it gives me vertigo plus it is pretty annoying. I keep drinking a lot of hot chamomile tea and water and I take Claritin D.
Kid sick: 1 with runny nose.
Guests for the party tomorrow who are sick: 1 with hand-foot-mouth disease. Let's hope he stays home tomorrow.
Foot: Not bad at all. If it stays like this and does not get worst I will be OK.

Mizunos versus Brooks round 1.
I have been wearing Mizunos Wave Insprire 7 for a few months now, I am on my second pair now. I have been OK with those shoes until recently and now I do have plantar fasciitis problems. I think it is mild for now and I don't want this to get to a point where I could not run. So I decided to try a different brand of shoes and see if it helps to rotate or change 100%. I bought the Brooks Ravenna 2.

Today I had 3 miles and I wanted to try them!

I know it is just 3 miles and that is not enough to do a review on anything but so far this is the differences I noticed:

Brooks is much lighter than Mizunos, I did like that a lot.
Brooks has a higher arch, not sure I like that. I can "feel" it.
Brooks feels tighter at the front foot, I think this could lead to blisters for long runs.
Brooks laces are really short, that I don't like, I know I can put others on, just an observation.
For the support part I think Mizunos offer more stability at the back of the shoe. The Brooks are lower and I could feel my left heel sliding up and down a bit...even if I laced the shoes with a "loop-lacing lock".

So after a short test my bet is that Brooks will be OK for shorter runs and on the Treadmill also but probably not for longer runs especially on hot days also because my feet tend to get swollen in the heat.

To be continued...

Now to the most important topic of this day:
This guy is turning 6 today!
He was born 02-02-06 at 6:14 pm and his weight was 6 lbs 14 oz.

Happy Birthday to my sweet, funny, smart, loud, fast running and loving Jonathan!!!!!

I love him so so much!!!!

Don't forget my Giveaway HERE

I just saw that I reached 200 followers today!

Thank you for reading my blog and for following me!!!

***Reader Denise from my hometown, thank you so much for your last comment about the practitioner in town. I will see about going to see her!***

The Good, The Bad and the Scary and the kind of funny

2012-02-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

The Good:

January has been a pretty good month for me 103 miles, that includes 2 TAPER weeks.
4 days until Surf City! I wish it was tomorrow.

The Bad:

Sinus are completely blocked. That sucks. I get chills in my head. My ears are plugged so I feel unbalanced plus well it is hard to breath. I hope it gets better by Sunday but so far it only gotten worst. Maybe running by the ocean will help me.
Got 3 parents from Jonathan's class who asked today if it is OK to bring the little sisters of their sons who are in our class and were not invited to Jonathan's birthday party. Party is Friday. I gave the invitations 3 weeks ago. I already have 27 kids coming. Somebody please send me a magic pill for headaches. Seriously though...these are people I barely know..it makes me really uncomfortable to say no and I am a little annoyed with this to be honest. One said her husband cannot babysit because he has a dentist appt. OK first of all it is not babysitting when the husband is the father of the child, it is parenting and second..dentist on Friday night? Right.

The Scary

Yesterday our school went in lock down. An armed and dangerous person was in the school vicinity and the police placed our school in lock down mode. The principal announced in the speakers: "EAGLE CODE, I repeat EAGLE CODE". This lasted 40 minutes. Kids had to go under their desks at first, than stay in the dark with the doors of each classrooms locked. Helicopters were flying over the area and police cars were on site. They did catch the man they were chasing. It makes me sick to my stomach to think something bad could have happened at the school. This is not something I thought I would have to discuss with my 6 and 7 yrs old boys. I am grateful that nobody got hurt and that the staff knew what to do. I was told that everyone stayed very calm through all this. Will's teacher has been at the school for over 15 yrs and this is the first time something like this happens there. It took me a while to shake the sick feeling out of my system...the thing that would not leave my mind was I was not there.
This man was running from the law and he was on the street I now take when I run.
Yesterday, was rest day because this is TAPER week.

The kind of funny:

Kind of funny if you have no taste in Basketball and cannot recognize GREATNESS you might think this is funny. I am a good sport. I can appreciate a good joke. Obviously poor Simba will never witness basketball greatness, I feel really bad for him. If you guess who sent me this today you get an extra entry to my GIVEAWAY HERE.

A GIVEAWAY..just because + Virtual race for Sherry Arnold.

2012-01-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

Taper week is here again...and it is fine, I need some rest but taper messes with my brain and that, I hate. So I am in full panic paranoid mode...about getting sick. Oh yes. And this week I have the birthday party factor. Yep Mini Urban is turning 6 on Thursday and I am having a party for him Friday ....with 27 kids, never thought they would ALL come..this kid is Mr Popularity, his teacher was not lying when she told me that. Bring on the pool of germs. I am seriously considering sporting this look:

Yesterday I did my last long run before Surf City; 10 miles and it went pretty well. I have made some changes to my long runs since Sherry Arnold was kidnapped. I no longer take the trail I used to run on pretty much every day. I now run on a busy street. I have to use the sidewalk, that is not a + but it is safer. I have a Road ID that I never used to wear, now it is on my shoe. I carry pepper spray in my hands not in my belt. I also tried something different with fueling yesterday. This time no NUUN, just water and smaller sips and 1 Stinger Waffle in small pieces. That part went pretty good, not perfect but good. I also took salt sticks. The not perfect is because I wish my stomach could handle more water at once, I worry about dehydration all the time. It has been my #1 enemy in most of the 30 races I have done so far. 30; did you catch that? in less than 2 years. But if I cannot keep the water down than it is not helping either. If I take more water it tends to want to come back up...especially if I try to speed the slow pace up, I always feel pretty good before I start drinking, I wish I could pull off a 13 miler without needing water but I cannot do that. Now the one thing that was on the negative-lets-get-Caro-worried-before-she-gets-the Beach-Cities-challenge-DONE: Heel Pain. CRAP. I don't need this right now..well not ever really. So this is related to my problem with plantar fasciitis. I had it AFTER running not during. I am taking care of this as best as possible. I did buy new shoes and I will rotate those with my Mizunos Wave Inspire 7. The new ones are Brooks Ravenna 2. Maybe they will be better for me. We will see.

Beth (SUAR) has created a Facebook page for a virtual race in honor of Sherry Arnold. You can go here to read about it and to like the page. I will be doing that race on February 11 in my town. I am trying to get a group together to have others run this with me for Sherry.

Ok now Giveaway time. I was not sent anything fancy, this is something I saw at the store and it was a BARGAIN so I got 3 copies. 1 copy for me and 2 for you guys. I am giving 1 this time and another in April when it will be Boston Marathon time. So this is the prize:

It is a book called The story of Johnny Kelley, Boston's Marathon Man. I just bought the books today so I have not read it yet. I cannot tell you how great it is, I don't know yet but it looks interesting! I did find this review:

Johnny Kelley is Mr. Boston Marathon. Mr. Lewis has painted a loving portrait of this running icon. Mr. Kelley ran 61 Boston Marathons, winning twice and finishing 2nd an astonishing 7 times. The book was originally published while Mr. Kelley was still alive. Mr. Lewis interviewed Mr. Kelley extensively and this adds immeasurably to the story. The book is not only a biography of a great runner but a personal journey through the history of America's Greatest Race. GREAT READ!!

There are lots of pictures in the book:

Want a copy?

Here's how:

1. You need to be a follower of this blog and leave a comment.

1 Bonus Entry:

Share on Twitter (include @carotabi in your tweet) or on your blog and leave a comment.

You can enter until Surf City Day or what most people call Super Bowl Day: Sunday February 5th.

This is open to everyone, Stefano, I mean it, EVERYONE..USA, Canada, Italy, New Zealand (Mrs. Cotter).

Freeze Your Thorns Off 5K Race Report

2012-01-28T14:50:00.000-08:00

Adam over at The Boring Runner (nothing boring about that blog) is hosting this Virtual race. This is my second year doing it, do we get a special medal if we do 2 in a row?..Adam? Hello?

All right so the summer is here in Southern California and I am not happy about that. I HATE it. It has been really windy and so guess what is back with the heat and the wind? ALLERGIES! I cannot breath and my face feels like I got beaten up. Nothing was freezing over here I can promise you that, it was more a melting situation.

I went for my 5k and this was supposed to be an easy run because tomorrow I got 10 probably windy miles on the menu and then it is taper for Surf City and I don't want to get injured between now and next Sunday. At mile 1 something looking like Scooby Doo comes out of a back yard and scares the crap out of me....

He comes running in the street and cross to where I was. I froze. I did not want him to jump on me. This was a huge dog...like a mini horse.

I stood there waiting for his owner to come rescue me, or Batman or Superman..I mean anyone braver than me. After a minute or so I remembered to stop my Garmin. I know where my priorities are. Finally he went back home...and I ran backwards to make sure he would not follow me...no no that is not true, I ran forward but I did turn to look back at least 24 times. So I need to complain to the race director about animals on the course that are not on a leash...

Time: 30:51

1st in AG who were almost assaulted by a Great Dane.

thank you Adam!

11 things and 33 answers

2012-01-26T17:45:00.000-08:00

Jen, Jolene and Kovas tagged me to participate in the 11 Random Things going around the community. I like to read these posts so I will play plus Kovas said he is giving a new car to his 11 nominees if they participate...or maybe that was Oprah..I am not sure.Here are the rules:

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!

All right I will not post 33 things about me because well I don't want to put you to sleep so early in the day. I will answers all the questions my 3 friends asked though. Some of you already know some of these already.

1. I don't have a middle name. My maiden name is Tabi and it is Hungarian. As a kid, I was teased A LOT because of this unusual last name. I got all kinds of nickname because of my name, they were not all nice. "Tablette" is the one that lasted to this day. My friends in Quebec still call me that at 43! That or Caro.

2. Meet my Grandparents, Mathilda and Louis-Philippe. On the far right that is my mom, Cécile. She is their 15th child. The one on the left is my aunt, she is their youngest child, lucky #16. I am their grandchild #49. I am not the youngest one.

3. I am left handed and so are both my sons. Bill is what I call confused. I think he is a lefty who was forced to change to writing with his right hand in school.

4. I was always the tallest kid in my class in Elementary school. It sucked, so for this class picture I bent my knees so hoping the guy on the far right would be the tallest on the picture (that guy is still my friend after all these years by the way). How do you like my Dorothy Hamill haircut?

5. I hate the heat and it hates me back. Southern California summer are HELL for me. 82 today; in January, that is not normal.

6. I cannot stand liars.

7. My favorite color is blue and my least favorite is brown.

8. I hope George Clooney will win the Oscar for The Descendants.

9. I have not read the Twilight's books or seen the movies. It will stay that way. I saw the Star Wars movies for the first time in my life just last year when my sons started watching them. (I know, I know Patrick.....this is a sin) Han Solo is my favorite. My son Will thinks Yoda is the real hero, I think he is pretty smart.

10. My favorite junk food is poutine. That is 100% Quebec food. French fries with fresh cheese curds covered with brown gravy. It is loaded with fat and calories but so good. It is a good thing that I can no longer eat poutine!

11. I would love to be a book critic for a magazine like Entertainment Weekly. I love books. It is the only "luxury" thing that I will buy for myself.

OK now the questions.

Jen's Questions:

1. What was your first job? Basketball coach.
2. If you could only hear one song for the rest of your life, what would it be? That is hard. OK I go with this one. Je l'aime a mourir by Francis Cabrel. It means "I love her to death"

3. Favorite quote or saying? "If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes." John Wooden.
4. Disney World, Vegas or a cruise? Disney World. I have never been but I want to go!
5. Your favorite "kid" movie? Toys Story 3
6. Celebrity crush? Hmm if you read my blog you know it is this guy

We are BFF as you can see!

7. Dream race? Big Sur
8. Favorite blog? (Bonus points if it's mine… just kidding. not really.) :) Come on now...
9. Italian food, Greek Food or Asian? Italian
10. Favorite sports team? Emz: do you wan to take this for me?

11. What was your first concert? Chris de Burgh.

Jolene's Questions:

1. Did you have a childhood nickname? What was it? Caro or Tablette.

2. What is the weirdest thing you have ever done while driving? The only thing I do is singing and I am terrible.

3. Do you have any strange phobias? What are they? No strange phobias.

4. If you could travel to anyplace right now without worrying about finances or how long you are gone, where would you go? Why? Home to Quebec because I miss it every single day.

5. What was the last movie you saw in the theater? Mission Impossible 4. Loved it.

6. What song always makes you happy when you hear it? Better Life.

7. If you had to move to another state right now, where would you move and why? Colorado, looks beautiful and they don't have 10 mos of heat there.

8. Salty or sweet? What is your favorite? Salty, pretzels.

9. Do you have any pets? What are they are? One Golden Retriever named Maggie.

10. Snow or rain? Pick your poison. Snow

11. Name someone you would love to meet right now, who is currently living? Why would you like to meet them? Louis Zamperini. His story is truly amazing.

Kovas Questions that he borrowed from Lindsay.

1. You have the skills to go pro in any sport (except running/triathlons). what sport would you choose? Basketball

2. What is your favorite vegetable? Carrots

3. They're making a movie about your life. what actor/actress would play you? Wow..I don't know a blond who is in their 40s....and tall...I Googled that and I got Uma Thurman and Gwyneth Paltrow...both way too pretty to play me!!

4. Last book you read? Unbroken. A must read.

5. Last text message you sent? To my friend to invite her for dinner.

6. What is your favorite meal/recipe to cook? Homemade Spaghetti.

7. Do you prefer dusting or vacuuming? (and when are you coming to do my house?) Vacuuming.

8. If you could go on vacation to anywhere in the us or Canada, where would you go? Banff, Alberta, Canada.

9. What something you love about where you live? My husband and my kids are there.

10. Something you don't love about where you live? The heat.

11. What do you do when you have trouble falling asleep? I read.

Did you read all that?

Thank you.

OK my 11 friends to whom I will pass this to (I did not go and check if you got this today so if you did, just answer my questions I guess!)

Elle Eat run snail

Sandy Boston Bound Brunette

Christy My dirt road Anthem

J.L. Attempting the Absurd

macnic I have always been a joiner

Christine Dream Big runner

Jenn Running Sane (you're welcome!)

Jim 50 after 40 (did you see the video he made for his wife's 1st marathon?)

Frenchie Runing with Frenchie

Robin Westford mommy

Tricia Running Life etc

My Questions

1. What is your favorite brand of running shoes?

2. Favorite book you have read recently?

3. Letterman or Leno?

4. How are you today?

5. Who is someone you admire?

6. Reality TV: yes? no? if yes...confess the worst...I won't tell anyone

7. What makes you laugh?

8. Why are the Kardashians famous again?

9. Favorite Olympic moment?

10. What is something you cannot stand?

11. When is your next race?

"You are NOT doing this!"

2012-01-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine recently completed his first Ironman. His wife put a picture on her Facebook wall and I showed it to my husband since he also knows them.

First thing he said " You are NOT doing this!"
WHAT???
First: I never said I wanted to do an Ironman.
Second: Don't tell me I cannot do one, I will go sign up for the next one in Southern California!

OK seriously, I was mad when he said that. Last time I checked I was 43 and my one and only dad is in Quebec. It is not like Bill to tell me what I can or cannot do. He knows me better than that. So I asked where this was coming from after I gave him the "I cannot believe you just said that" look .

He said that since Long Beach he gets worried when I do the longer distances. Remember Long Beach when I ended up in the hospital after the race? That story is here. So I was not really expecting that, but I get it.

I asked how he felt about me doing a Marathon. He said not comfortable.
Ayayaye.
Here's the problem....
I have my eye on this:

The picture of that race is on our refrigerator. It has been there for a year.
If I ever get the courage to run a marathon it would be this one: BIG SUR.

I don't want to give up on a goal like that, on a dream of becoming a marathoner some day but I have to respect and listen to my husband's feelings. Right?
I don't want him to always be worried that I will collapse on the course.
He said he hates to see me dry heaving at the end of most half marathons and there's Long Beach and my visit to the cardiac unit. But I am FINE.

So I said that Ironman is not something I think about doing so there is no need to worry about that one but marathon...I want to re-visit this topic later.

All right on to other stuff...

Shoes: I realized that I ran over 600 miles with my shoes...maybe that has something to do with me having foot pain recently. I don't know. Good thing I had a new pair of the same shoes here already so I changed right away. I am in Mizunos Wave Inspire 7 now. Do you wear stability shoes? What kind do you like? Do you use more than one pair for training? Are they different brand?

I have had very little pain since my last half marathon, I hope it stays that way!

Game 1 for the new basketball season was Sunday. I am not coaching this year and I am terrible at being a spectator. I coached basketball for 18 years, from pee wee to College level, I cannot watch a game and keep my mouth shut. This is hard. I keep telling myself they are little, they are having fun, Will is doing great. I sit away from the players bench. That is my strategy for now! I do love to see my sons play that sport that has been such an important part of my life for so long.

Go Cougars!!!

Ovo was GREAT! Magical! Spectacular! What a treat to go see this. When we arrived on the site, first thing I saw was the Quebec Flag! Everything was in French (and in English of course) that was very special for me. My boys LOVED it.

Check SkinnyRunner Mizunos Giveaway here!

Product Review and My son Mini Urban jaming

2012-01-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

We have some stuff falling from the sky here in Southern California. It is wet. It makes headline news every time it comes for a visit and makes people loose their brain especially when they drive. Yep, it is RAINING. Not a storm, just rain. People go nuts here when it rains. I would love to see them in a real Quebec Snow Storm! Well no I take it back, I don't want to witness that, it would be a disaster.
All right so rain...It kind of is messing up my plans for the weekend. I wanted to do my long run this morning but 10 miles in the rain...yikes...I am a wuss, yes I am. I prefer the long run to be DRY. So I decided to wait and see if the rain would stop, well it is 10 am and it is still raining. Today it is the opening game for Will basketball season at 11 am. Of course I am going to that, training run don't come before my kids games. Tomorrow we are going to Santa Monica to see OVO, Le Cirque du Soleil! I cannot wait for that. Did you know that Le Cirque du Soleil is from Quebec? We have to leave the house at 11:00 am for that. Of course tomorrow the forecast is showing nothing falling from the sky here.

So I don't know what to do about my long run. Go in the rain this afternoon and maybe get sick....not the greatest plan...go tomorrow am before leaving for Santa Monica and be tired for the show...Go Monday?

I am between 2 Half Marathons so not really following Hal Higdon's plan like I usually do. I have ran 10+ miles for my long runs every week for the last 9 weeks. I feel good about that. I have 2 long runs between last week's Half and Surf City. I don't want to get injured or sick. Surf City is important to me, it is the last of 3 races for the Beach Challenge for me. I will not go over 10 miles between now and Surf City. My foot has not been hurting this week and I want it to stay that way. How do you deal with half marathons that are 3 weeks apart, do you give yourself a week to recover and lower the mileage for the long runs or do you keep it up?

A couple weeks ago I was asked if I would be interested in trying the PureFit nutrition bars. I looked them up first to make sure I could actually eat them. (For the newer readers, I am on a very strict diet because of GI issues I have, more on that and my weight loss here and here). So it looked like I could give those bars a try. They sent me one bar of each flavor they have: Almond Crunch, Berry Almond Crunch, Granola Crunch, Peanut Butter Crunch and Chocolate Brownie.

What is special about these bars?

NO Hydrogenated Oils
NO Animal Products - Vegan
NO Cholesterol or Trans Fatty Acids
NO Wheat or Gluten
NO Artificial Sweeteners
NO Hidden Carbohydrates
NO Sugar Alcohol

They are all 220 calories except the Chocolate Brownie that has 210 calories.
They all have 6-7 grams of fat and 24-26 g of Carbs and 18g of protein.

This is what they look like

I tasted all the flavors except the Peanut Butter one because well I don't like peanut butter but I had my husband/assistant taste that one and compare it with Choc Brownie.

So for me the most important is that I can eat the food without having GI problems like stomach ache or acid reflux. I did not have any problems with those bars BUT I can only eat maybe 1/4 of it per seating because of the texture of it. They are thicker then the bars I usually eat. I needed to drink a lot of water with them also to make them "go down easy". My favorites are the Berry Almond Crunch and the Almond Crunch, both very tasty, the Almond Crunch tastes just like Marzipan. I did not care for the Granola Crunch, thought it was too bland. The Chocolate Brownie tastes like dessert, too sweet for me and also that one is a no for me because chocolate is not good for me but if you like chocolate that one is for you! Bill tasted the Peanut Butter Crunch and the Chocolate Brownie and he preferred the Peanut Butter Crunch. He said it tasted good but that he needed to drink a lot of water with it. So my conclusion is that those are best for after a run for me. I could not use these as fuel during a long run or a half marathon. I kept the left overs in a ziploc bag and they were perfect the next day.

Now an update on the "Star of the week" situation! See previous post here if you have not clue what I am talking about!!

I am happy to report that Mini Urban was good to go on Friday and this time I was even allowed to come for his "Paper Jam" presentation and I got video of it!!! Here he is: jam and giggles!!

This is so fun for the kids, they get to share their favorite things and have the spotlight for a week.

Ben 10 Book

Will got to come and say something nice about his brother

Jonathan with his buddies

*** I ended up braving the rain and the wind and went for 4 miles!
I think 8 tomorrow before heading to Santa Monica.

The secret to running faster

2012-01-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

So I found the secret to how to run faster during my morning runs.
I am telling you it works. 100% guaranteed.
Are you ready?

First, you need to be a parent. This will not work if you don't have a kid. sorry.
Second, kid (s) need to be in school.

So once all that is in place, you leave for your run after dropping the kids at school.
This morning, I had a 5 miles run on the program.

At mile 2.5 : BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
My cell phone was buzzing....not good. I answered: "Hi! this is Mrs xx the NURSE from Deer Canyon, crap, Jonathan just threw up so he will need to be picked up" Crap!

So I ran back home as fast as I could. That lead to negative splits and maybe my fastest 5 miler in training.

So getting a phone from the school nurse...THAT will make you run faster.
I am thinking of having her call me at mile 9 at Surf City half marathon.

I showed up at school to get my son. He was looking normal, all smiles. Turns out he threw up a little bit like he said. He is the star of the week this week and they get to share items they like everyday. First day he brought the Country Weekly magazine that has our family picture with Keith Urban. 2nd day he brought the guitar pick that Keith gave him in October. Today he brought his "Paper Jam Guitar" -those are great by the way-. See a pattern here?!! He had been waiting to be the star of the week since August, poor guy. So this morning, he announced he would play and sing and I said "I want to come see you" and he said "NO!" WHAT? I got a NO! He is 5! So I said OK I will not come. I guess he got anxious about all that and that did it. So he had to post pone his big performance to tomorrow, I told him I am sure even Keith gets nervous before he gets on stage. His teacher wanted to keep him but the rules are the rules, if a kid throws up, they gotta to go home. I get it. For that week we have to make a poster with lots of pictures. This is really fun for the kids. On Friday the family comes and say nice things about the STAR! He is doing just fine now so it is looking good for tomorrow! Keeping my fingers crossed!
This is what I made for his poster, I printed each of these in 5x7 at home and I glued them on the poster and added stickers and he was happy! You can see the Paper Jam on the first one, he is holding it.

(I used the software that I reviewed before Christmas here to make these. You can still get it using the coupon that is on the right side of this blog.)

***I am having troubles commenting on some of your blogs, I dont know why. Stefano, Super Kate are some I cannot comment on. I tried on the other computer and still no luck. :(

Not too many words Wednesday

2012-01-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

I love getting real mail...well not bills or credit cards application forms.
Today I got mail from New Zealand! Who is in New Zealand? Lindsay! I am sure most of you know her but if you don't you can find her great blog here.

I won a giveaway that she hosted for a Wild Kiwi T-Shirt!
I LOVE it!

Thank you Lindsay!!!!!!! You can check the Wild Kiwi Clothing website here.

What is that EMZ? You want to see the BLUE shirt that is under my new Kiwi shirt? Well of course I will show it to you! Here you go:

Birthday present from my sweet husband!
Do you like it?
Is it March yet?

13.1 Los Angeles Race Recap

2012-01-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my new followers and thank you for following my journey.

Would you be so kind and go here and vote for my picture: http://131losangeles.smugmug.com/Other/Photo-Contest/19031822_R56CqH#!i=1674484691&k=Mt7MRD2&lb=1&s=A

Yesterday I ran the 13.1 Los Angeles Half Marathon in Venice Beach.
This race was not planned for me, I was lucky and I won a free entry for this one.
It was just 3 weeks before Surf City so at first I had decided not to do 2 half marathons so close to each other but I will not turn down a free entry so of course I did it!

Saturday we went to Venice Beach to pick up the race packet. It was at a gym, no Expo, very simple. I got my bib and a nice tech shirt.

If you read my previous post you already know that I dedicated my race to Sherry Arnold. I pinned the bib I mad with her picture on my back. Thank you to everyone who joined me, I know Terzah did in Houston. She got a 6 min Marathon PR! Congrats Terzah!

The start was at 7 am so that meant getting up pretty early. I got up with major sinus congestion so that sucked. Allergies are back and meds are not working great. When we got there we decided to have Bill drop me not too far from the beach and that he and the kids would not come to the start, it was too crazy around the starting area. So I went looking for the porta potty and found huge lines that were not moving and also cars trying to park in the middle of all those lines. That was the PREMIUM parking. CRAZY.

I made it to the start right on time but at the back but that is OK. The race started 15 minutes late, I don't know why. We started on the beach and had lots of homeless people lined up to watch the runners pass. The weather was perfect for me. Overcast and in the low 40s.

First 5 miles went fine, I was going faster than I should have and convinced myself that I could hold this pace for 13 miles. Since this one was a "practice race" for Surf City, I thought I would see if I can, how else can I know if I don't TRY? Around mile 5.5 I saw my family and I tossed my gloves and armsleves to the kids.

Not long after that I started feeling a sharp pain on my pinky toe, like I had a cut or something. I ignored it for a while but it was not going away and got worst. I had to stop to take a look. My nail was broken but was still attached to the toe. The broken part was pocking the side of my toe and that was causing me that pain. I "cut" the nail off and got back on the course. Waste of precious time :(. I had checked my nails the night before like I always do and all looked fine to me after the toe inspection.

After mile 6 we got off the beach and back on the road. That part was not flat but not terrible. I was still feeling OK. At around mile 9 or 10 we pass the sewer plant. You read that right. I don't get it. Why do they have the course go there? The smell was AWFUL. My stomach is the worst as you know, it can barely tolerate food. Now sewer smell....yeah not so much. I tried to hold my breath, that did not work of course and only gave me stupid side ache. The turn around point was not far from there so I knew we would pass the plant TWICE. Crap. Second time I went in full dry heaves mode. I had to stop for a second to get things to calm down. After that I could not take anything to drink and I had to walk a few times because of dry heaving. I know lots of people have complained about the sewer and I hope they will change the course for next year. This was the first year that they had the course go in the area.
Finally the end came.

I thought about Sherry a lot during this race. This woman I have never met, this woman I will never forget.

So no PR, one nail intervention and 2 sewer interactions does not lead to a Caro PR (or PW!). It is OK. I am happy I did this one. I would do it again if the course changes. This was a smaller race, about 3000 runners, and I like those better than the huge ones, the people were nice, the weather perfect and check the medal, the 13.1 spins:

Good thing I had packed a warm jacket and hat for after because I was FREEZING!

6 Half Marathons done for me in less than a year! I need a Medal Hanger for these!

This one was for you, Sherry Arnold, I hope that you are peace and that you did not suffer.

Rest in Peace Sherry Arnold

2012-01-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

Like many of you, I am heartbroken today.
I came home to read the sad news that Sherry Arnold will not be coming home.
I wish we were living in a world where a woman (or a man) can put their shoes on and go running and NOT BE SCARED that they might loose their lives doing something that is good for them, that does not hurt anyone and that they LOVE.

I did not know Sherry but I know I will never forget her.
I hope that she did not go through agony.
I hope that she is in a better place now, running happy miles and that she will continue to live in the hearts of the ones who loved her.

It is with great sadness that I have to change the bib that I will pin on my back Sunday

If you run alone like I do, please be safe.

For Sherry Arnold

2012-01-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

I don't know her but she has been on my mind since Saturday. I am not the only one like this, I know several of us blogger-runners are thinking about her. I look for updates on the Internet first thing in the morning hoping for THE good news and fearing reading the worst. I have been thinking of her during all my runs this week. I want to believe she is going to return home safe and this nightmare will end for her and her family and friends, for you Beth.

This Sunday I am running a Half Marathon.
I will pin this bib in the back of my shirt.

I hope that she will be found before Sunday and that she will be well and that I will not put this on the back of my shirt.

Are you racing this weekend?
Join me and pin this bib on your back and take Sherry with you for a few miles.

+1

2012-01-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

Today I add a candle to the cake.I feel lucky that I get to do that.
I used to hate having a January birthday when I was younger. It is right after the Holidays and people are so done with celebrations. My birthday always felt like a burden almost..."Now what do you want for your birthday" like it was my fault I was born that day! Now I am very mature and I am OK with it :). Social media are great for birthdays! My Facebook wall is already full of messages!

I feel better at 43 than I did at 30.
I know people say that all the time but I do for real.
I enjoy my life more in my 40s than I ever did. A lot has to do with my family of course, but also because I made huge changes in my lifestyle in the last 2 years.
Running has changed me for the better. Many of you read the essay I wrote for the Another Mother Runner's blog already so I won't go in details and repeat myself here but I can say that I got myself back through running.
Do I wish I had made all these changes sooner? Heck yeah!
But I made them at 41 and now I am not looking back!
So bring on 43!
Some pictures of the last 43 years....

I used to be cute...!

See before there was a Mini Urban there was a Mini I don't know..
Stevie Nicks?

Before getting married..that is my niece with the spoon in her mouth.
She is almost 14 now!!

The 30s

The now!

Danger of running alone...and TAPER time again.

2012-01-09T16:52:00.000-08:00

Like many of you, I have been heartbroken and sick over the news of the Montana runner who is missing: Sherry Arnold. I cannot stop thinking about her. Every time I turn on my laptop I hope to see good news and I fear reading the worst. I hope that she will be found and that she will be alive and well. I run alone 95% of the time. There is a trail near my house, it is in the city, not in the mountain or a park. For the most part, it is safe and houses are on at least one side of it so if someone screamed they would be heard. There are some sections of the trail where I don't feel safe when I am alone, it goes under a major freeway going to the East and to the West, it goes through a few miles without houses around or in a not so great part of town. Since my young and fast running partner is on maternity leave (happy news!), I have changed my route. I get out of the trail at mile 2 and take a long busy street instead and just stay on the sidewalk. I don't like the sidewalk and the many stop lights BUT I feel better this way and so does Bill. That street is one of the busiest in town, lot's of gas station and restaurants and traffic. It is sad to think that solo runners are not safe out there.Keep Sherry in your thoughts.

Thank you to everyone who offered advices on my last post regarding fuel and plantar fasciitis. I appreciate all your comments. I want to especially thank JILL.
Do you follow the blog Run with Jill? You should! She has had to deal with foot injury last year and she learned a lot about how to fix the problem. She took the time to send me 2 long emails over the weekend with advices and exercises that I can do to fix my PF problem. That was NICE and GENEROUS. Thank you Jill!

Taper time is here again.
I don't like taper week. I become completely paranoid about getting sick. I drive my family nuts asking every 10 minutes "are you sick?" "do you have a booboo in your belly?" (that one just to the kids obviously ) "did you wash your hands?". Yes I am a real pain in the butt.

I also wonder if I prepared enough. I tell myself I will go to bed early every night during taper week and I usually don't because I am an idiot. Like last night...bedtime should have been 10 and instead I turned the light off at midnight.

I was worried about my last long run because of the pain I had in my foot last week. I decided to do my 10 miles on Saturday instead of Sunday because we were supposed to get nasty winds on Sunday. Friday I iced and stretched and rolled on the tennis ball (aouchy). I was ready mentally in case I needed to cut short if I had pain. I did not have to do that. I did the 10 miles. I wore compression socks to help with Achilles pain and it did. I don't usually wear them to run but now I am considering wearing them on Sunday. I took one salt stick before leaving and 1 every 3 miles. I still had salty sweat but not as bad as last week so I am doing that on Sunday.

Yesterday I went back for 3 easy miles. No pain. I iced and did exercises for PF and I will continue to do that all week. Today, rest day, went to the dentist. They wanted to do some deep cleaning treatment instead of regular treatment and I said no because I don't want to have something done that would cause me pain before my half marathon. Dentist said "Oh OK, we want to make sure you win!" I said: "Win? No chance of that happening!" So she said "Then why do you do it then?!" I said "Because I can!" She thinks I am crazy. Nothing can keep me from getting this on Sunday:

and this on Super Bowl day:

and also my Beach Cities Challenge Medal!!! I cannot wait to get that one! I saw it and it is huge and really nice!

Back to school today!!! I may have done the Happy Dance!!!!

See I added another race to my list? PCRF Cinco de Mayo race/ 10k. I am on TEAM GAB! If you are local and are looking for an early May race do this one! They have 5K, 10K and Half Marathon. The cause: Pediatric cancer research. Visit Gabby's mom's blog to know more about her!

Went to see Mission Impossible 4 yesterday. Rebekah, my fantastic babysitter gave me an early birthday gift (it is possible that I am turning 43..yikes...on Wednesday) and watched the kids for us so we could go see a grown up movie! It is awesome. The best of the 4!
This Tom Cruise guy is CRAZY

Forced rest day and the Running Fuelling Quest continues for picky GI track

2012-01-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

Plantar fasciitis sucks.Thought I would feel better if I scream....but no.
I am blaming the treadmill. It is all it's fault!
Few days in a row on the machine will get me to have weird aches and pain.
This week I ran mostly at the gym..every day except the one day when I went on my trail and came face to face with a freak (see previous post for that). Yesterday I got out of bed and I could tell something was not right. I went to the gym anyway because I am an idiot. I have a half marathon to run in 9 days! I have to train! So It turns out I should have rested. I iced all day and rolled on the iced bottle and tennis ball and did this:

Today I am resting. Boooooooo
I need to do my last Long Run this weekend. I had planned for 10 or 11. We will see how it goes. I don't want to make things worst of course. So maybe it will be just 8.
Any tips or advices about how to deal with this are WELCOMED and APPRECIATED.

I am once again looking for fueling solution for my long runs and half marathons races.
For the newer readers, welcome, I have GI issues. Lots of them. I also get dehydrated easily and I loose a lot of salt. All this sent me to the medic tent 4 out of 5 Half Marathons.
Every thing I have tried so far did not work.
This is what I tried

The sports beans are the ones who gave me the least issues but I can only take 1 at the time and that is not enough. After 5-6 in my system, I get reflux and that is no fun at mile 9. I also tried other gels like Cliff and the honey stinger chews.

For the salt problem I have been taking these

They did help but again not enough. I get a nice crust on my face and white lines on my hat for 6 miles and up. Heat or no heat. Obviously it is worst in the heat and I live in Southern California so the heat is here a lot.

I found these and I bought a bottle

This is the difference between the 2: for Sodium it is 40 mg vs 215 mg.

On my last LR I tried this

They are delicious.

I did not get any reflux.

It is a bit of a pain to carry and also to eat on the run, I did not eat the whole waffle all at once. I only ate one for a 10 miler.

I know that to get those down I need to stay hydrated.

Speaking of liquid, on the last LR I had one bottle with NUUN and the other with just water instead of 2 NUUN bottles. NUUN used to be OK on the runs but during the Holiday Half Marathon it gave me heartburn and reflux and I could not drink it pass mile 9 and ended up dehdrated of course.

This is all very frustrating for me. I hope that this new combo: salt sticks-waffle-water-NUUN will work better for me. I am testing it again this weekend and on January 15 for my next half marathon. Last week I took a salt stick tablets every 30 min.

Do you use these waffles? How many do you eat?

For new readers: anyone with GI issues uses something I have not tried ? Anyone with salt lost issue that have success with the salt sticks?

Masterpieces, movies, running.

2012-01-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

This week is the last week of the winter break....I am so ~~sad~~ happy. I love my boys but I am not loving the fighting. They are ridiculous. The main issue: The %$##^ Wii remote. Who will be #1 and control the game. I swear I am close to throwing that thing out the window!

Running:
I ran everyday this week so far. This week is all at the gym except yesterday.
Today I did my first speedwork of the year. 10x400 at 30 sec faster than 5K pace. It went better than I thought it would. Yesterday I went for my run later than usual. It was 4:30 pm. I usually run in the morning. We went to Pasadena and I could not run in the morning. I don't want to run in the dark like some crazy people do.... yes, you: XLMIC. Different crowd on my trail at that time. Like for example...guy with his pants hanging down to his knees..love that look by the way...no I am kidding, if I ever catch my sons with their pants down I will drag them home by the ears..does not matter how old they are. So this fine dude was walking on the trail and he had one hand in his pants..not in the pocket, the pants. He was going opposite direction as me and as I got closer I kept wondering what was going on...A) He has a GUN or B) He is having a good time with his hand..... Either way it was not great. I crossed him, turned around and had to pass him and have him walk behind me. That, my friends, will make me run pretty fast!! I almost set a 5K PR. For real.
I tested my new running skirt. Yep, I got one of those fancy thing. It is OK. I wish it had a drawstring. It moves at the waist. I did not know what size to go with S or M. On the chart they had small as size 2-4 and Med 6-8. I need a between those 2. I am size 4 or 6, not 2 for sure, I have zero size 2 anything. I am also 5'11" and almost 43 (tic tac tic tac..it is coming up way too soon) so I don't like super short shorts or skirt. All this to say I got a medium and it is perfect for the lenght but a little big at the waist. It would be OK for a 5 or 10K but not for a Half Marathon.

I have seen a few movies during the Holiday break.
Went to see New Year's Eve for my friend's birthday: I liked it. It is a light movie with a huge cast. It will not get any Oscar nomination but it made me laugh and I did not guess all the story lines so that is good. Zac Efron was my favorite in it.
We went to see Tintin and Arthur's Christmas with the kids. I LOVED both.

I grew up reading Tintin's books. I read them all (in French of course).

The movie is great. My boys loved it also.
We also rented some movies:
Midnight in Paris: I liked it. It is different and I liked Owen Wilson in it.
One Day: Ah...I read the book and the book is better than the movie. Movie is OK.
The Beginners: LOVED it.
Something Borrowed: ...it is better than the book I think.

Next up Crazy Stupid Love on DVD and Sunday I hope to go see MI 4 for early bday date (real bday is during the week and on basketball practice day so cannot go out).

Yesterday we went to see the Rose Bowl Parade Floats in Pasadena. It is fantastic to see them up close. Those are masterpieces! All the work that goes into building the floats is impressive. Seeing them close and in person is a must, if you ever have the chance to go I highly recommend it. I took an insane amount of pictures and here are a few of them:

Honda float, the biggest one.

This is Roy Rogers real horse and dog.

One of my favorite

See the bike?

Dancing in the street!

This one for Kim!

Grease Car

My Favorite

One of the kids favorite

2012 plans yes, goals kind of, resoltions no thanks...

2012-01-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all of you!My wish for you is to be healthy and happy.

I read a lot of your posts in the last few days, several 2011 recaps and 2012 goals//resolutions posts. It's fun to read the recap and see all that we all have done this year in our running lives. Lots of miles there!!!

So 2012...here we are. I used to hate changing year..I don't know why, used to make me sad as in one year closer to the end...I know pretty dark and depressing..this was before I got married and had kids. Now I just see it as a new number. I don't "start over" comes January 1st. I continue what I did good and hopefully the stuff I sucked at I already changed or let go of long before 2011 became 2012.

I don't do resolutions.
Goals...yes but my most important ones are not just for the year.
My #1 goal is to raise kind honest good guys. When December 31, 2012 comes it will still be #1 on my list.

While reading your blogs yesterday, this was my favorite line of all the posts I read"

"Wishing you all the best in your running quests and may we all PR as human beings in 2012"

PR as human beings. I love that. Don't you?
I want to PR as a human being and as a mom.

So who wrote that? Shawn! Check his blog here. He is Canadian like me and he is a hero..I am not kidding he is. Go read here.

For running I do have goals.
Last year my goal was to run a half marathon and not die.
I did both. 5 times.
I wanted to run 1000 miles but I thought I could never reach that. I did and went 228 over.

So for 2012:

I want to figure out a good way to fuel on LR and half marathons. That is not an easy thing to do for me. I have yet to find something that works and prevents me from collapsing at the end of a half marathon.
I want to run more than 1228 miles.
I want to run a 10k under 1 hour. (my PR is 1 hour flat)
I want to run a half marathon under 2:20. (my PR is 2:24:05)
I want to stay healthy.
I want to do better at Long Beach.

Races 2012:
In red are the ones I signed up for, in blue the not sure yet

January 15: 13.1 Los Angeles Half Marathon
February 5: Surf City Half Marathon. Final race of the Beach Cities Challenge for me!
March 24: Susan G Komen Race for the cure 5K
April 7: Hollywood Half Marathon
May: Dont know yet....looking for something maybe: Cinco de Mayo 10k /May 6
June 2: Fontana Half Marathon
July 4th: Claremont 4th of July Freedom 5K
July 28th: City of Cypress 10k or San Francisco Half Marathon
August 4th: Pride of the Valley 5K
September: 9-11 Tunnel to Towers 5K
October 7: Long Beach Half Marathon
October ?: Race for Rescues 10K
November 11: Mission Inn 10k
December 12: Holiday Half Marathon
For now that's all I got.

We took the kids to see The festival of lights at the Mission Inn in Riverside. 3.5 millions lights! It is fantastic! Here are some pictures:

They also have an outdoor ice rink!

And Reindeer!!!

2011: July-December

2011-12-30T15:18:00.000-08:00

First part of my looking back at 2011 is here.
I had 7 races in the first 6 months and 10 in the second half of the year for a total of 17 races this year!

Here is the second part of the year: (for race recaps click on the race name)

July:
Races: 4th of July 5K
Cypress 10k

2 races in July that were not great and not that bad. July = HEAT here in Southern California...well anywhere really right? Here it is 100 +. So heat does not = PR for me. I have to accept it and do the best I can during those months. I did not do terrible at either one of those races, no PW so that is good!! I will do those races again this year. The 4th of July 5K is local and I try to do the few local races we do have near where I live. Cypress I will go back even though 2 things bugged me there: 1) It is a double loop course...not always easy mentally...but the course is flat so I cannot complain too much and I can see the kids at mile 3! 2) One cop STOPPED me to let traffic go! During the race! That was not cool.

In July, ex-blogger and swell guy (his own words I would never use the word swell !) Chris K..remember him? CK? Are you reading? We miss you....(EMZ is lost without you..no really)..ok where was I? Ah yes so Chris had this idea to make us play Q&A in July. It turned out to be a great idea. So I played here, here, here (this one even has a video of me talking and here.

August:
Races: 5k Pride of the Valley
Another one that I will do again in 2012. It was a small race, close to home with a fun kids race. I got a PR (went from 29:52 to 29:29) that day and I ran negative splits...something that does not happen often enough for me. I had a strong finish, also does not happen often and I even chicked a couple guys at the finish!

This was the race where little brother (first red shirt) beat big brother (2nd red shirt)....

September:
2 Races: Disneyland Half Marathon
9-11 Tunnel to Towers 5K race.

Disney was Half Marathon #3. I got a PR there taking another 9 min off my time. I am happy I did it. I don't think I will do this one again. They are raising the cost this year by $25 I heard. That will be way too much for a race even at the Happiest place on Earth! This was a fun race, got to run inside Angle Stadium and in the parks. The kids race was fun but not the best one of the year for sure. Run Racing has the best kids races. At the Expo I got to meet Jeff Galloway, really nice and friendly guy. We also met Drew Carey and Megan Price, that was fun.

On 9-11, I ran a very emotional race; The Los Angeles Stephen SillerTunnel to Towers 9-11 5K run. Tunnel to Towers honors the courage and dedication of 9/11 first responders, our military men and women and their families. You can read more about it here and find out who Stephen Siller was. It was an honor for me to be a part of this one. I will do it every year for as long as they have this year here in LA.

October
Races: Long Beach Half Marathon
Race for Rescues 10K

Ah Long Beach....that was a tough one. Half Marathon #4 and it did not go well. I got very dehydrated and had calf pain and chest pain. It was not good. I should have stopped around mile 7 and I did not. That cost me big time and I ended up in the ER and admitted to the cardiac unit for 36 long hours. This was probably the lowest point of my 2011 running year. I am already signed up for Long Beach 2012. REDEMPTION.

I loved the town and the course. The kids race was fantastic. Next year will be better.

The night BEFORE this, we went to see our famous BFF, Keith Urban, play some tunes in Los Angeles. I got to meet him with Jonathan before the show. Such a nice guy and not bad looking also :) What a great night! But I have to say, I do not recommend going to a concert the night before a half marathon.

November

Races: Mission Inn 10k

Turkey Trot 5K

It was my 2nd year running Mission Inn 10K. This is not an easy course, it is pretty hilly. My goal was to do better then last year and I did just that: 9 minutes better. I was happy with that.

At the Turkey Trot I got my PR for 5K, I went under 29 minutes for the first time: 28:59 and ran negative splits! I was really happy!

December

Races: LA Holiday Half Marathon

Race #17 for 2011 and Half Marathon #5. This was the hardest course I have ever ran. I had ZERO expectation...well I did not want to do my worst time but other than that I just wanted to finish. This ended up being my best race not only of 2011 but ever (I have done 31 races since March 2010). I PR on a very hard hilly course. I still cannot believe it but it is true. 2:24:05. Took 2 min 34 sec off my Disney time. It was not easy, I collapsed at the end. I still need to figure out a better way to fuel and HYDRATE.

They had a fantastic kids race at this one also, pretty medals..Again Run Racing team.

To finish the year, I had the honor to be featured on the Another Mother runner's blog for a guest post, you can read that here if you missed it.

So that is it for 2011!

I am happy with what I accomplished!

17 races.

I will end the year with 1228 miles. I did not even think I could reach 1000!!!

I took 3 min off my 10K time.
I took 1 min and 2 sec off my 5K time
I ran my first 5 half marathons this year and took 18 minutes off the first time.

I want to thank all of you for reading my posts and for supporting me and giving me so many great advices. This year I met Julie (Hotlegsrunner), Carrie (family fitness food), Heather (365 days of awesome) and on Christmas Eve I saw Sandy (Boston Bound Brunette) on my local trail! I hope to meet many more of you in 2012! Come race in Southern California! We have great races and pretty good weather!

I want to wish you and your families all the best for 2012, HEALTH and lots of joy!

Here's to many happy injury free miles for all of us!

CHEERS!

2011: First 6 months

2011-12-29T12:22:00.000-08:00

The year end post...

2011

That was a good running year for me, I learned so much.
It was my 2nd year of running and racing and I feel like I have made progress. That is a good feeling.

17 Races this year:

5K: 6

10K: 6

Half Marathon: 5
I improved my times in all 3 distances.

I met some famous people

Dean Karnazes

Jeff Galloway
Drew Carey

Keith Urban

Some highlights of 2011 (click on race for race recaps)

January:
Race: I ran my first Half Marathon! I made a lot of mistakes, wrong clothes, wrong shoes, wrong fuel, wrong pace, you name it I did it... but I finished.

February:
Races: 10K in Pasadena and
I ran with Dean Karnazes 5k that ended up being 8k because we got lost in the trail!
This was a great experience! What an inspiration this guy is!

March:
Race: Susan G Komen 5k Race for the Cure.

Saddest month of 2011.

This guy ruined my month

and I cried.............

but I am over it now. Be afraid of the Blue Machine....

WE still have THE Sportsman of the year and Arizona still has...hmmm whiskers? Meow!

April:

Race: 10k Race Seal Beach

and I went to the Royal Wedding...

just kidding...I had to decline: no babysitter...they were crushed of course.

May:

Race: Half Marathon #2: OC Half Marathon.

Took 7 minutes off my first one. I did a lot better in every aspects of the race compare to what I had done in Carlsbad except for the finish....I ended up in the Medic tent...

I celebrated 10 yrs of being married to Bill and I tried my wedding dress on...turns out it was a bit big!!

I went back home to Quebec!

I wrote a few posts on that on course! Here and here and also here

June:

Race: La Descente Royale 10k (pics here.) That was my 10K PR. 1:00:00. I am still chasing a sub 1h...2012 goal....This was my first time racing in my hometown, my family was there and I ran with one of my best friend..it was really nice!

I had my 25th High School Reunion in Quebec. That was a awesome night! I am so happy I went!

Next Post July-December!

Oh! Remember the family I mentioned in my previous post? I found them yesterday!
I got to give them all the groceries that we bought for them!
I was so happy to be able to do that. It is a good feeling to help people even if it is just a little.

Post Christmas....

2011-12-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this year!
Tell me what Santa brought you!
The best and the worst!!!!

I love to read about the worst ones!!!

We made Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve for the guy in the red suit!

Boys opened one present: new PJs and slippers for Christmas from my parents (safe to say they were happy):

I had a lovely day on Christmas. For the morning it was just us 4. The kids were so happy and amazed by everything. Coming down the stairs...they saw the cookies were gone from the plate we left for ~~Bill~~ Santa. Jonathan: "Will, Will, W I L L!!!!!!!!! Santa CAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

We opened the many presents that were under the tree and had breakfast..croissants and pain au chocolat for everyone but me..boo hoo.

This is when they opened THE gift the each asked Santa in person!

I was half awake....! Beautiful John Wooden book.

Of course Mini Urban had to get one guitar!!! A Paper Jam..those are very cool.
(for the new readers who dont know our Keith Urban story it is here)

He will not let ANYONE touch it.

After a few hours of mommy sitting on the floor we got this and a major back pain:

Bill's dad came over for a late lunch and more gift opening. Our boys are lucky little guys. I hope they know it. I try to tell them over and over that they need to appreciate what they have.

On the 23rd we went to the movies and saw Arthur's Christmas. Loved it. On the way out we were stopped at a light and we saw a family of 4. The mom and dad had signs "Please help, no job have kids to feed". That made me so sad. It is not like I don't know there are people in trouble, of course I know it but when you see it, it is different. So we went to the closest grocery store and bought food for them. We drove back to the spot and they were gone. I was so disappointed and sad. We returned the next day and they were not there. I will go today again. I want my kids to know that there are kids who are not as fortunate as they are and I want my kids to know it is important to share with others.
Christmas has turned into this huge material holiday a long time ago and that part of it, I don't like. It gets to be too much and or never enough....

We had some special food for Christmas in the house, croissants, cookies, pies. I wanted to taste something just one little bite...of banana cream pie.....it was good but not worth the pain it caused me. I spent the whole night sick and yesterday all day in bed also sick. I don't know if it was just that or I had a stomach bug also...but it was no fun. So no running for 2 days in a row. Cannot remember the last time I did that. I stepped on the scale...down 3 lbs. Who does that on Christmas?? Boo Hoo.
Going for 3 shaky miles at the gym.
My legs feel like Jello.

Joyeux Noel!!!

2011-12-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

Ho Ho Ho!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I want to welcome the new followers who came over from the Run Like a Mother's blog following my guest post yesterday. (You can read it here.) I do want to thank everyone who left a comment on that post or on my blog yesterday. I was very overwhelmed by the response I got. A lot of the comments made me cry. I don't discuss my post partum depressions (had it with both kids) on this blog often...I don't even know if I ever mentioned it before. For this specific post the question was "Why I run" and I wanted to give the most honest answer.

I also want to thank Nelly over at Nelly on the Run for including me on his "Runners of the Year" list. If you don't follow Nelly you should. He is the most thoughtful blogger, every week he goes out of his way to give the "Nelly Shououts" to people who had something great happening in their running life.

Like many of you, I am writing a 2011 review of my running year. I will have that up in a few days. It is fun to look back on all that has happened this year.

I love this time of year because we get REAL mail! Every year I send a lot of Christmas cards to my family and friends. I participated in 3 cards exchanges, 2 from running blogs and 1 with the Keith Urban fan club. I taped the cards on a white paper and I put that on the walls!

Tomorrow going for 9 miles and Sunday will take the day off. Back on the treadmill on Monday!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

JOYEUX NOEL A TOUS!

GRATEFUL

2011-12-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

This was supposed to be my Merry Christmas post...but it will have to wait until tomorrow!

Today I need to thank a few people....

First Cassandra from Running for Three.
She was my Secret Santa this year!
Yesterday, I received this awesome t-shirt:

Yes I know what you are all thinking: She did spoil me!

I love love it!!!!

THANK YOU CASSANDRA!

Thank you Jill for leading the Secret Santa Exchange!

Next, we have Kim the running skirt expert!

Yesterday, I posted on her Facebook wall to ask what skirt she likes best. She is a tall gal like me and I am looking for a running skirt but not any running skirt. Her response was a whole POST on running skirts! Running Skirt Analysis !!! Now that is an answer! If you are looking to get a running skirt go visit her blog she knows a thing or 13 on the subject....(yep she has 13 skirts!)

Last but most definitely not least...I have the huge honor of being featured on the Another mother runner blog today. The Run like a Mother gals! You know the ones who wrote the yellow running bible for moms...

Last summer they started a series called WHY I RUN.

They invited mothers who are runners to write a personal essay on why they run.

Today my essay is up on their blog.

You can find it here.

Writing it was not difficult, I know why I run.

Sending it to Dimity made me a little nervous..I realized that if they actually post it, lots of people will READ it. Yesterday, I got a tweet from Dimity that said :"You are up next sister!" Now I was really nervous. They had really great runners featured during the summer..like Beth and Terzah..now me? I got up this morning, made coffee and turn on the lap top. In my inbox I had several messages from comments people had left on the post where my essay is. People are so kind. I am so thankful that they picked me for this and I am thankful to everyone who read my essay and left a comment. So if you are one of them I thank you. It is scary to put everything out there like that but I am glad I did it.

Ok now I got to to run 5 miles and I am way behind schedule and the Santa Ana winds are back so I got to head to the gym and have a date with the treadmil!

She tagged me...

2011-12-20T14:26:00.000-08:00

EMZ tagged me for this post.
The mission, should you accept it, is to list seven ~~nice things you can say about U of A~~ places you will go in 2012.

U of A? Never heard of them... Oh wait... yes now I kind of remember....the kittens who made me cry last year.....................

I am over it.

Ok so 7 places I will go in 2012 :

1. I will go to Huntington Beach in February and run 13.1 miles to get this

2. I will go Hollywood in April for another 13.1 miles this time with Ryan Reynolds...well he does not know it yet..details details...

3. I will go to this place I hope: Quebec city, my hometown that I miss every day still.

4. I will go to Santa Monica in January to see Ovo Le Cirque du Soleil.

5. I will go to Long Beach in October for redemption and erase the bad memories I have from this year's LB race. I am already registered for this one.

6. I will go to Pasadena to see the floats from the Rose Parade on January 2nd.

7. I will go Venice Beach on January 15 for my 30th race and my 6th half marathon.

and now I will go get those 2 guys at school!!!!

That is the beautiful tree we have at our outdoor shopping center.

And the Winner is....

2011-12-18T16:39:00.000-08:00

MOI!!!!!
I won a free entry to the 13.1 Los Angeles Race!
Thank you to Becca over at See Becca try to tri!
I am so happy!
I did not have a race on the calendar for January.
This Half Marathon is January 15, 2012...4 days after I will turn 26 again.
Check out the pretty cool spinning medal they have for the finisher:

I need to figure out how to adjust my training plan. This race will come 5 weeks after the Holiday Half that I ran last week and 3 weeks before Surf City. I am not used to have that many races close to each other and those are also all Half Marathons.

This week coming off my super Holiday Half Marathon PR Race...-yes I had to plug the PR again: I am milking this one- I did this not knowing I would do the January Half Marathon.

Mon: Rest, My quads were hurting pretty bad thanks to the hills.

Tue: Painful 3 miles on the TM.

Wed: 3 miles outside much better.

Thu: 3 miles in the wind...legs almost back to 100%.

Fri: REST

Sat: 3 miles on TM.

Sun: 8 miles. It went pretty good, 10:15 pace, for me that is good for that distance.

Total: 20 miles.

My plan is to stick to 5-6 days of training and do this for the 4 Long Runs I will have: 8-9-10-11 miles. I usually run 6 days a week but between now and the next race we have Christmas and the New Year and the boys home. So I may have a couple of weeks of 5 days of running and just cut one of the shorter runs out. Next week, I will have to do the 9 miles on Christmas Eve because Christmas is at my house. So for the Los Angeles race I think I am OK with what to do but what do I do for the 3 weeks between that one and Surf City? One of those week will be post race and one will be taper....

I am thinking this for the long runs:

01-15-12: Los Angeles Half Marathon: 13.1 miles

01-22-12: LR 8 or 10 miles ???

01-29-12: LR 10 or 11 miles ??

02-05-12: Surf City

If you have experience in back to back Half Marathons and you have advices for me I am open to it! :)

Do I pick one race to "Race" and the other to have fun?

They both have course along the ocean..I know it sucks for me and both look similar as far as elevation goes.

After all that I think I will qualify for the first level of Half Fanatic...not sure.

This will be 3 Half Marathons on 57 days.

We had some family pics taken a couple weeks ago because well all the ones we had I looked like this:

Now we have these new ones! The first one is my favorite!

Race Pictures and WINNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-12-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

Want to know 2 things that make me HAPPY today?
1. I am DONE Christmas shopping.
2. I am DONE wrapping all the gifts.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

The pictures from the Holiday Half Marathon are online. First we have this set. I would not buy any but the one I like best is the one where I am kind of waving to the photographer dude. The first one was taken right after the start, I still have my throw away shirt is my hand, looking for a good place to leave it.

Then we have a second set of Caro collapsing at the end. They managed to snap 9 pictures of my very shaky finish. I think this is what I would look like if I would finish a race drunk!

And now drum rolll.......
The winners of my Milestone Jewelry GIVEAWAY are

AND

Congratulations Kim and Marcia!!

These were the 2 beautiful items that Melody sent me for this Giveaway

1. Running Milestones Melody Necklace
2.Christmas Ornament-Runner Girl Red

The truth is that I would like to keep them both for myself!! Ha! Ha!
But I won't of course. So how to decide who gets what?
First one of you who comments here and tell me their first choice gets it.
Fair enough?
Also please email me with all your info so I can mail your gifts asap!

Thank you to everyone who entered!
Thank you to Melody for providing the items for this giveaway!

Make sure to visit Milestone Jewelry for special gifts for the athletes in your lives.
Use this 10% off coupon code for my followers: CanadaRunner

Last Chance!!!!

2011-12-15T14:08:00.000-08:00

Oh this is a busy week...10 days until Christmas!
I don't like to do anything last minute. In school, I was the kind of student who started the assignments the day I received them as opposed to the majority of my friends who would start the night before it was due.... I am a planner. I used to get paid to plan production for pretty big food manufacturing plans. So all this to say that the shopping is done. The gifts for my family were shipped last week. The cards are mailed, I am part of 2 bloggers card exchanges this year and also Jill's Secret Santa exchange. My gift left last week. I keep checking the blog of the person I got to see if he or she got it and so far nothing. Those exchanges are fun, it made me read new blogs and find some interesting people. I have wrapped 90% of the gifts. The Christmas tree is up and so are the decorations! I even made cookies...well made is a strong word here..I put dough in the oven.

I want to thank you for the nice comments following my last race.
This is the new equation for a Caro PR:

Cool weather + Hard course + Thinking there is no way to PR + Sleeping at home the night before the race - Going to a Keith Urban concert the night before = Half Marathon PR!

Out of the 5 Half Marathons I ran this year, this one was the only one where I slept in my own bed the night before and was not hit 3234 times by Jonathan.

I need to figure out a way to not be so sick towards the end of half marathons. Dehydration is no fun. I sure wish my stomach would tolerate more than just plain water. I will increase the quantity of salt tablets I take in my next long runs and see if that helps.

I took Monday off, my quads were hurting pretty bad after all those hills. Tuesday, I went for 3 miles, it was painful..but I am glad I did it because Wednesday I was at 80% for another 3 miles and today was back to normal for 3 miles. Tomorrow is rest day. This weekend I will go for one short run and one long run. Next half is Surf City in less than 2 mos!

Today is the LAST DAY to enter my Milestone Jewelry Giveaway~
If you did not enter go here!

10% off coupon code for my followers: use code: CanadaRunner