Operation Healthy Balance

Holy Mud Batman! Go here to see  Mud Hero Ottawa details  if you so desire. It was interesting to attend one of these "different" races.  I have to admit that the attitude of the participants was a lot more laid back and social as compared to the road races I have attended.  I like both....they are just different. Here is our group prior to the event.  Mixture of lots of different athletes:)  A marathon runner right down to first race ever.  Fun group of girls.....they are all friends at work and in life....I'm the add in of course! Our shirts say DIRTY MUDDAS because we are all mothers in "real life".  This got lots of attention; especially at the starting line when our marathon runner insisted we be at the very start of our wave.  The MC for the day got a big kick our of our shirts and had many jokes to say as he was stalling and trying to keep the crowd interested leading up to our start time. The obstacles were pretty ea...

Doing the Mud Hero run in Ottawa today.  I signed up for this run a while a go with 6 other friends.  My knee is not 100% and I haven't been running; mud probably isn't the best for it but I'm being stubborn and doing the run anyways.  I'll just take it slow when I need to and try not to rely too much on left leg stability:) I have an appointment at Carleton University Sports Clinic next week to assess it.  My unprofessional opinion says my ligaments are all fine, probably new and old tears in meniscus is giving me the grinding and popping and locking.....I'm hoping for an MRI and a scope to actually see what's going on in there:)  After I did some "manipulation" (McMurray's test) the pain on the inside of my knee disappeared.  Lots of grinding when I do that test though but no pain now.  Still quite tender if I bend my knee all the way.  I think that there was some old dried up cartilage or something else hard that was stuck inbetween my carti...

Exactly 15 minutes before the start of this race I realized my Garmin was dead.  I haven't run without some sort of timekeeping device....EVER.  I let this bother me for all of 10 seconds since there was really not much I could do.  Larrin had dropped me off and I left all of my other belongings with him so it was quite obvious I had to manage without knowing my time, distance, speed etc.  No biggie, this was kind of a fun run anyways. There were a few other people from work there; one girl running the 10K and 2 others walking the 5K.  My partner in crime at work showed up with her daughter to take pictures and watch the goings on.  I'm trying to convince her to start running so it was nice for her to see what really goes on at these "race days".  Before the race I also ran into a girl I went to nursing school and it was nice to catch up with her. I felt good about the first 2.5K (or at least I think it was 2.5K), got water at the water sta...

This past Sunday I ran my first event of 2013, the Manotick Road Race 10K.  Signing up for this race was an attempt to get my butt out the door and start running again.  It "kinda" worked; I did get out for a few "training" days but not nearly enough.  Despite that, I'm glad that my running has started back up again. Larrin and the boys were planning on making the trip with me for the race (even though I wanted to go alone).  Funny how he feels the need to support this venture when I don't really need the support on race day.  Anyways, it was a late night on Saturday night for the boy so Larrin agreed to stay home and let them sleep in while I went alone.  To be honest, I was looking forward to an independent venture; maybe a little selfish but whatever. My overall goal for the 10K distance is under 1 hour.  I knew that this was a pretty lofty expectation for this race due to my lack of running so my race goal was under 1h:10m.  After oatme...

I've been falling into my old habit of binging on fast food after work. Last week, 3 days in a row. For the last 2 months I've probably ate a "combo" at least 3 times per week.  It's a problem and more complicated then it sounds. Most of the time, I'm not even hungry but something compels me and I convince myself I need to eat something before going home. I've broken this ridiculous behavior down and there are many components to it. First, habit. Second, self-medicating anxiety. Third, self-sabotage. Bad habits need to be broken. Some are easier to break than others. I know I need to replace this drive thru behaviour with another healthier one. I've chosen to decrease my anxiety medication simply because I felt like a zombie. Since that decrease my urges for poor eating have increased. I realize that my fast food problem is linked to anxiety. Once I'm done work, my second job begins; making supper, boys homework, boys activities, etc. When I...

The weather is changing for the better so that means I'm back on a fitness kick.  Funny how the season dictates my interests and how my mind always plays tricks on me.  That statement needs some explanation.... I mean, when I am not "active" my mind diverts to thinking negative and I tend to forget all of the positive things I have done; my mind reminds me of all of the days I haven't ran and forgets that my body is capable of running a half-marathon; I think of the extra weight I carry around my middle instead of the fact that I can do over 30 pushups (REAL pushups) and that I can hold a plank for over 2 minutes!!! There is a very difficult and highly technical process (yes, I am being sarcastic) that I have formulated to "change my mind". Step 1: Sign up for a race....this creates a deadline and prompts me to take action.  I signed up for a 10K at the end of April.  I haven't competed in a 10K before and the medal at the end gives me motivation.  T...