How I did

I never did finish telling you about my TNT experience.

In short, it was a blast.

I raised more than was required for my goal, and I have so many people to thank for that. Chances are, you're one of them, so THANK YOU!

It was a little bit of challenge getting to my goal, especially given that I sometimes feel as though I've exhausted my usual list of donors. I did get some corporate sponsorships, gifts-in-kind for the fundraiser my husband and I threw, and some very large donations from people I knew and didn't know. I never doubted that I'd reach my goal, but admit it did worry me when I didn't reach it by the date of the marathon. One of the best things TNT has is, it gives you one month after the event to finish raising the money. It was definitely a very successful month!

I hope to one day run an event with the team again, and I know I'll come out some Saturdays and get back in touch with everyone and train from the new location.

Thanks for a great experience, TNT!!

2009

Sorry, it's been a while since I've posted. Happy New Year! I hope you're all doing well with your 2009 resolutions so far and that you've got at least one fitness one in your list. This year I hope to fit in at least 2 halfs and 1 full.

I was so inspired in 2008 with my marathon training that I'm admittedly addicted. I'm currently searching for races in my city and surrounding areas, also hoping to take advantage of the Canadian Running Series discounts before January 27. Here are the events I'm taking a look at so far...

April 4: Harry's Spring run off - 8K, Toronto
May 3: Sporting Life Run - 10K, Toronto
May 10: Mississauga Marathon - Half-marathon 21.1K, Mississauga
May 31: Toronto Women's Half Marathon - 21.1K, Toronto
July 19: Acura Toronto Ten-Miler - 16.1K, Toronto
July 26: Whitby Half Marathon - 21.1K, Whitby
August 22: A Midsummer Night's Run - 30K, Toronto
September 27: Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon - Half marathon 21.1K or Full marathon 42.2 K, Toronto (I am determined to beat my 5h time)
October 18: GoodLife Fitness Toronto Marathon - Half marathon 21.1K or Full marathon 42.2 K (but the route isn't very scenic), Toronto
October 25: Niagara Falls International Marathon - Half marathon 21.1K or Full marathon 42.2 K, Niagara Falls

Of course, I'm not going to run all these races, but these are the ones I'm interested in training for. I just need to choose which ones I'd like to participate in. I don't have a triathlon for this year...I've decided to keep that on my Things-I'll-Do-One-Day,-maybe list.

I'll keep you posted on which races I'm training for.

Happy Running!
Treeh

The Santa Shuffle

We did the Santa Shuffle this year, a 5K run (or 1K Elf walk), the proceeds of which go to the Salvation Army. I did it with my husband and it was his first race ever. We started, stayed and finished together with a time of 29:19, which, in my opinion, was a very good time for winter running, and also quite reasonable since we weren't able to train as well as we should have the week prior to the run.

It was really fun, despite the cold and I enjoyed having someone to run with. It's been a while. I'm really proud of how well he did and I look forward to doing more runs together.

Keeping warm in the car

Post-run

Restart

I’m running a 5K with my husband in the beginning of December. I’m excited for several reasons:

• We’re running in something as close as possible to Santa suits
• It’s another race – I’m planning to do more timed races from now on
• It’s our first race together
• It’s his first race
• It’s in one of my favourite parks
  

The run, “The Santa Shuffle”, is held in support of Salvation Army. Click here to sponsor me and send a little Christmas cheer!

A different kind of run

In my current opinion, short runs suck.

I went for my first post-marathon run a few days ago and I found it quite challenging, only because I felt I had to learn to condense my energy in the short 2.5K run. While tapering before the marathon, for some reason, it was easier to run shorter distances, I guess because I was still trying to conserve energy.

Another thing that was challenging was forcing myself to stop after 2.5K. It was quite different to look at my time at the end of the run and see such a short time, and a short distance.

The good thing though about short runs is that since it's getting cold and days are darker, I like that I don't have to be out for too long.