gwennefarrell

It was another gorgeous morning for a run today and I really enjoyed it. Wait, what, it was a 10k? Yes, I suddenly realized that even a 10k is no longer incredibly challenging and instead I can just run without thinking about tired leg muscles or that my feet hurt. Now anything up to a 12k just feels like a good workout. Hmm, while I know I have been working hard for months I just didn’t see a point where I would think nothing of doing a long run. It does really motivate me to keep going at least at this level.

When I got back from my 8k walk this morning (which was done after the very early morning 10k run) I hit the shower. Normally I like a long, hot shower (we have an instant hot water heater so we never run out of hot water) but because the weather warm even at 9:30am today I got in the shower and set the temperature to around ‘tepid’ so that I could cool down. That made me think that especially with even warmer weather coming to the Metro Vancouver area next week that I should do some safety reminders of being out in the heat. Here are some safety tips that may help.

1. Wear a hat – I never walk or run without a hat, even in cold weather. Ok, I admit there are 2 reasons for this, a) I hate little flyaway hairs touching my face and b) as the temperature rises I sweat even more profusely and the hat helps capture the sweat from my forehead. But it also serves other purposes including protecting the top of the head (you can get sunburn on your scalp) and shading your face thus preventing skin damage.
2. Hydrate – One of the ladies in my walking group who is an avid cyclist told me that she had been for a bike ride on Tuesday and hadn’t drank much water. By time she got home she felt horrible and she was like that for the rest of the day. Needles to say on our walk yesterday she had a bottle of water (as did I). Hydration is essential for being out in warm weather even if you are just sitting on the deck in the sun or working in your garden. Dehydration during the heat can lead to things such as heat exhaustion or even worse heat stroke. And, if you exercise in the heat, hydration helps keep those muscles going at the best of their ability.
3. Pick the right time of day – when I say I did an early run this morning I wasn’t kidding, I was on the road at 4:50am. I do that so that I can avoid the worst heat of the day. Right now I am even trying to get most of my walking done before noon to miss the heat. So, think early morning or later in the evening especially for strenuous exercise. Remember, overexertion in the heat is often a cause of heat stroke (I am using that as an excuse for not running while on my next trip to Mexico).
4. SUNSCREEN – Ok, I put that in capitals because it is so important and research has shown that while people tend to wear sunscreen they don’t necessarily do it correctly (note, sunscreen is also important on cloudy days as UV rays can penetrate clouds). There has been lots of discussion on what Sun Protection Factor (SPF) is enough and I have read articles that applying anything over SPF 30 is wasting money as it will usually cost more. But here is the reality, applied correctly , the protection from UVB radiation by SPF 15, 30, 50 and 100 is 93%, 97%, 98% and 99% respectively so note, doubling the SPF value does not double the protection. But a few pieces of advice for sunscreen, a) use a broad spectrum sunscreen so that it protects from both UVA and UVB, b) reapply every 2-3 hours especially after toweling off for example after sweating or swimming and c) slather it on! This is one of the areas people apparently fail as they only put on a light coat of sunscreen but in this case more is absolutely better. Personally I spray a ton of sunscreen on every time though a personal tip learned from experience, don’t forget to do the tops of your ears.

In all honestly I am more of a mild weather kinda gal so I do my best to find good work arounds that will help keep me safe.

Today was probably the best run that I have done this year. I was really energized when I woke up and thought, what the hell, lets do a 10k. While the weather was a little on the brisk side once the sun was fully up it was lovely. The water was kind of in between high and low tide but it was as smooth as glass. I just so enjoyed this run though I am not sure if it was the fact that I have new running clothes, the weather and scenery were beautiful or if it was because I was listening to a really good book. Not sure which it was but ultimately I dropped several minutes off my last 10k and still felt awesome when I finished.

Last Friday I did my 2nd trek along the Seawall in Vancouver having done my first one in June. There is just something not the same about running in a big city compared to a small community where I live. Running in Vancouver I do the same as I do here, I smile at absolutely everyone I pass and wish them a good morning. I also smile and chat with any dogs I see. However, in the ‘bit city’ only about 10% of those I greet respond to me. Most actually look at me with suspicion because someone being cheery and friendly might be some sort of threat. The only decent encounter I had on Friday was with the fellow with the 7 week old golden retriever though I admit that lovely, friendly dog made up for many of the people I greeted.

But today, during what I felt was a perfect run, I realized the difference that I see in my community. I need to start by saying there is at least a dozen of us who hit the beach early in the morning though most of them are walkers. We all greet each other warmly and many of them have given me cherished words of encouragement. Some of us know each other by name. I even had one older woman all worried about me after the 1/2 marathon because I hadn’t been down at the beach but I explained I had taken a week off to recover and that made her happy.

Having said that, there are dozens of other people I see each day when I am on the promenade whether it be during my run first thing in the morning or a walk later in the day. I treat each one of them the same, a big smile and a ‘good morning’. The exact opposite of last week’s experience happens, 90% smile and answer back. Some with a little shock, others with appreciation that it is just good to smile and greet someone. I do this because even on the toughest run, giving someone a smile and a greeting just makes me happy. Nothing can be too challenging to deal with when you have a smile on your face and it is appreciated by someone else. There’s a few new people who have started showing up in the mornings and now it seems to be a competition as to who can get out a smile and a greeting first. Yes, spreading happiness is just that contageous.

And as for the dogs, this morning I met a 3 month old sheprador (german shepherd crossed with a labrador). It was just such a friendly thing and I chatted with his owner on the challenges of teething and socializing. Even better he also owned a chihuahua mix that is the same as ours, it wants to take on any other dog that comes near it.

Yeah, being happy today on that run was jus what I needed to make it perfect.

Yesterday I had my brother at a downtown hospital by 6:00am. We knew he would be there for 6-8 hours so I decided to go for a 10k walk along the Seawall through Stanley Park. I walked down to English Bay to the Seawall and turned westward only to immediately slam on my brakes and stop. There along the Seawall was a gaggle of geese. Not a group of 10-12 that I normally deal with on the White Rock promenade but literally dozens of geese. I decided there was no way I was walking through that gaggle so I turned eastward and actually enjoyed my walk along the bay. While I did encounter a few geese, the best part was meeting a 7 week old golden retriever who was more than will to make friends. Ultimately those 10k certainly helped kill some time.

A few days before I did the 1/2 marathon a card was dropped in my mailbox. It was from a friend who is also a runner and the title was You Know You Are A Runner When. There were all sorts of items on the list such as you rotate your running shoes more often than your tires, running less than an hour seems pointless, you’ve run more of you local roads than you’ve driven, etc. I had to laugh because so many of these statements are now true for me and quite frankly it really was awesome that the friend had written words of support for me.

One of the interesting statements was you have at least one black toenail. I actually have two black toenails though one of which was caused by dropping a heavy jar on my big toe, that one is almost healed. However, my other big toe is completely black. I have done some research on this and it really isn’t that much of a cause for alarm, it is simply known as runner’s toenail.

So what causes this? It is not that difficult to understand that when you run you toes (especially the big toes) get tossed and bashed around in you shoes. This can be amplified by the fact that sometimes your toes will actually swell when you are running or doing long walks (mine do). When this happens the vessels under the nail break and bleed causing what is basically a big bruise under the nail turning it black. This can also lead to infection and loss of the toenail but it seems to overall be relatively harmless (I am using an anti-fungal to stave off an infection).

Can you do anything to prevent this? Here are some of the recommendations especially for novice runners,

1. Buy proper fitting shoes
2. Keep your toenails short
3. Work on your technique
4. Tie your shoes
5. Slowly increase your mileage
6. Wear cushioning socks

Now these are all very good recommendations but to be honest I already do all of these things. However, it is noted that runner’s toenail is more prevalent in people who run more than 3k at a time and run more than 3 times per week. Yep, that would be me. I’ve decided to do just wear my black toenail as a badge of honor noting that it shows just how hard I have worked at all of this.

Ok, I have seriously overbooked myself. Today I was supposed to take the dog to the vet in the morning and then take my brother out for some fun as he has surgery tomorrow. However, to pull that off meant getting up obscenely early to do a 10k run and then a 6k walk so that I could be on the road with the dog by 9:30am. Then tomorrow I have to have my brother at a hospital downtown by 6:45am and then wait for him there for 5-6 hours. To pull that off while still getting work outs done I’ll have to do a couple really long walks through Stanley Park. To make matters worse, when I was out walking today the veterinary clinic called to cancel the appointment as the vet called in sick. Sigh, getting up for a pre-dawn run was for nothing.

My husband was watching me as I typed my blog on Tuesday and said it is time for a new name for this blog. As he pointed out, it hasn’t exactly been about weight loss for a long time now. He suggested that I consider what it is I am really posting about and what it will be going forward. That got me reflecting a bit on what it is I want to convey.

I realize when I started this blog it was about how I had gone from being obese to having a normal BMI. I have been pretty open about this journey and all the bumps in the road that I have discovered along the way. I started the blog because of the number of people who kept telling me how I had inspired them to start working on their weight and I know many of them follow my blog. However, I think that part of my story is fairly complete.

I thought about what my ultimate goal in all of this has been and that took some time as it has morphed, quite frankly, a lot. Once I had reached my goal weight back in January 2021 was when I decided I wanted to take up running and be able to run 10k (how small a goal that seems to be now). I met that goal last summer and doing that training had seen me drop even more pounds. Then the beginning of this year my coach told me I should train to run a 1/2 marathon and it was less than a month ago that I met that goal. Now I am working on improving my speed for my next 1/2 marathon.

But along the way there has been added benefits that I may not have consciously anticipated. Ok, the fitness part is kind of a no brainer. When you work out as much as I do you can’t help but get fit. And by that I mean the most fit I have ever been in my life. If I look at my Fitbit it tells my my cardio fitness is very good (though they then say ‘for a woman your age’ which I kind of resent). Moreover, my resting heart rate is now at the top part of ‘great’ teetering on the ‘excellent’ range. As well, to say my arms and legs are buff is an understatement so yeah, this journey has been a lot about fitness.

The thing that is probably most surprising is my health. Before I started on this journey I had been diagnosed with diabetes and had for probably 1.5 decades been taking medication for high blood pressure. As I lost weight my glucose levels slowly started coming down and my medication was reduced. Then I started running and my glucose got into normal range ultimately leading to being taken off all diabetes medication. My blood pressure dropped significantly to the point where that medication was removed as well. In February my doctor declared me to be very healthy and pleaded with me to keep doing what I am doing to stay this way. I assured her I am committed to doing just that.

So, I’ve rebranded this journey to be about health and fitness because I think that truly reflects where I am today.

This is the time of year when I really enjoy a morning run at the beach. Today was just the perfect day to get to admire the beauty of where I live. The weather was reasonably mild, the sun was out, the tide was high and the water was peaceful. Even the long train didn’t disturb me today as I did a nice 8k run. As the weather has warmed up I bought some new running shorts yesterday. While I did have several pair they did not have pockets meaning I have to wear a running belt to carry my phone and quite frankly later in the day when I am out walking and the temperature is rising that belt is not very comfortable.

Last week was my first week getting back to hard work to try an lose a few pounds. So how did I do? Well, I walked/ran a total of 197k steps. Moreover, I walked/ran 132 km. My Fitbit also calculates what the changes in elevation equates to in flights of stairs climbed and apparently I did 380. And, I burned an average of 2,511 calories a day. This all looks impressive but I have done better before though I am pretty happy with these stats.

Now I want to make it clear, I am not pushing myself to risk of injury. I keep a very strict running schedule, there is no extra running just to try and burn more calories. Longer runs are always followed by an easy 6k run the next day to allow my body time to recover. I have carefully monitored my recovery status all week to ensure I am not over doing things. What I have added is a lot of walking which isn’t such a bad things as it once again gives me the opportunity to find new things in my city.

The one problem that has come up again is the amount of time all of this takes. It is a good thing that I am retired because there is no way if I was working that I would have time for this. Even now, with the volunteer work I do, it can be challenging. I just have to be diligent in keeping to a schedule and finding flexibility in workout times when I need to.

All in all it was a pretty good week.

Today was my long run so I decided I should do an easy 12k (isn’t that an oxymoron?). I opted to run a different route than I normally would just for a change of pace. I was about 5 blocks into the run and I thought I so don’t want to do this. My legs were tired and heavy and just didn’t seem to be warming up. I convinced myself that I had worked hard this week so maybe just an 8k today. Then I got going and realized I was already 1/4 of the way into 12k and I said to myself, hey, you have a goal and you have never backed down from one before you can’t start now. The next thing I knew I was at the 1/2 way point and it was time to turn around. I finished my run strong and feeling proud of myself as I have pushed pretty hard this week but I plan to keep going.

Now if you remember 18 months ago my goal was to be able to run 10k. I met that goal nearly a year ago. And then after my coach kept making me do longer runs she convinced me at the beginning of this year that I should train to run a 1/2 marathon. Ok, I’ve done that so now what? Time to figure out some new goals.

I’ve been thinking this past week as I traveled a very large number of kilometers and I realized there are still things I want to do. I have already mentally committed myself to running another 1/2 marathon next year. However, I want to significantly reduce my time. That means I am going to focus some training on improving my speed so that it is sustainable. I have already proven I have the endurance, now I just want to do it faster. Coach has already given me the skills to do high intensity interval training and that is going to be part of probably both my short runs each week. My overall goal is to cut an hour off my time next year and I really think with some hard work I can do it.

The second goal I have decided on is the dreaded hill. Now you need to understand, if I run along the promenade at the beach then to come back home I have to run up a 4 block hill and the first 2 blocks of that hill are really steep. Even after just running 5k, running up that hill is brutal to me so never mind when I hit the last of a 16k run. So, hill training intervals are about to get longer so that when I hit the bottom of that hill I can keep my pace relatively consistent with the rest of my run.

I think these are not only 2 good goals but I absolutely believe they are achievable. Why? Because 18 months ago I set a goal, stuck to it, elevated it and look where I am today. I know with determination and the amazing support that I have been shown, I can do this.

This morning I was off to the beach fairly early (unfortunately while it was raining). It was my day to do an 8k and the run felt pretty good. However, there are two types of wildlife down there that I cannot stand. One of course is the dreaded geese and the second is rats (ok, not sure if you can really call them wildlife) and I saw both today. It is not really often that I see rats along the promenade, just occasionally and it always freaks me out. Today I was running in front of the museum and heard scurrying. As usual I hoped it would be a wild bunny but no, it was a rat. Yet this time it did not freak me out, rather it fascinated me as it appeared to be an albino. It was completely white and though I didn’t get a chance to see if its beady little eyes were pink I decided to stick with the notion of it being an albino rat so that it was somehow less creepy.

I mentioned before that since my husband retired in March and is home full time now that I have gained some weight. Yes, this is despite training hard for a 1/2 marathon. While I joke about it being his fault I do know the responsibility absolutely falls on me. I made the choice to not eat the way I know I should and fell into the trap of things like snacking. I made the decision a few weeks ago that as of July I was going to go back to the basics to get myself on track. I have given myself a realistic goal of being back to my goal weight by the middle of September when we do our next trip to the condo in Mexico.

So, here is what I am changing,

1. No more snacking (ok, except nuts after I have done a run as they help you recover)
2. No calories after dinner which means not even so much as a cup of tea because I take tea with milk. This is as close to intermittent fasting as I get.
3. Watching the carbs and focusing on healthy carbs. I want to go back to more whole grains rather than refined grains.
4. Adding walking back into my routine. When I hit my goal weight I had significantly cut back on my walking and instead focused on running. Now I need to burn some extra calories but I need to do it safely so that means adding a few walks each day. I’ll keep what has become my usual running routine of 2/5k, 1/8k and 1 long run each week (sometimes the 5k may be switched out for hill or interval training)
5. Significantly reduce wine consumption. Ok, this one is the hardest as I do like my wine but I have now restricted alcohol in any form to only being consumed on weekends (Saturday/Sunday) and even then it will be a small amount.

I diligently started this routine on Monday and trust me I have already clocked a lot of steps and kilometers this week. The funny thing is it hasn’t been hard to go back to doing all these things (ok, except maybe the wine). It is easier in that the weather is fairly nice meaning doing the additional walking is enjoyable. I haven’t gotten on the scale yet and don’t intend to until the clothes start loosening up and then I can see where I am at.

Back to those basics I started with when I began this journey.

Last week I opted to take a full recovery week. That meant heading up to our trailer with my husband and just giving myself some time to physically and mentally recover. I get that the physical recovery is pretty obvious but there was also some mental recovery needed as I had gotten myself all worked up as the 1/2 marathon approached convincing myself that I couldn’t do it. I also didn’t think I could do a recovery week and neither did my husband. Much to the surprise of both of us I managed to pull it off and by time I got home I felt absolutely great and ready to get back to work.

Yesterday was my first run in a week and I was a bit concerned about how it was going to feel. I decided on a nice easy 5k (ok really, when I say 5k the route along the promenade actually works out to 6k) and the rain held off for me so it was quite comfortable. Strangely I was about a 1/4 of the way into the run and I thought, hey, this feels pretty good. As a matter of fact except for that last kilometer that involves running up a hill the whole run felt good. I noticed that my legs weren’t tired and I didn’t have to make any effort talking myself into continuing. On top of that I managed to get out for a few walks later in the day.

Today I decided to spend the day walking. It was great weather for it for the first 2 walks with the temperature relatively mild. The 2nd walk was really enjoyable as it was along the promenade which was really busy with families and I do love seeing that. I got in a 3rd walk this afternoon and it was a bit warmer making that hill at the end more challenging but still I got ‘er done, 30k steps and 20km walked today. My legs feel strong and other than being quite sweaty at the end of the last walk I am feeling great. I figure I can get in an 8 and 10k by the end of the week and then I will be completely back to normal.

I now realize that taking a recovery week was really good for me. Now, I am again enthusiastic and ready to run!

The first thing everyone seemed to ask me yesterday was how did I feel. I can honestly say not as bad as I had feared I would. Yes, I acknowledge my quads were a bit sore but nothing debilitating rather what they should be from being pushed farther than they had ever been before. In general I felt good but also knew it was not the time to push things.

As I had been gearing up to do the race on Sunday I had already made the decision that this week I would give myself a break. I have been training hard lately and of course just ran 21.1k. I recognized that I would need to give myself some time to recoup and think about what I want to do next. Come on, in 18 months I have gone from being a non-runner wanting to run 10k to running a 1/2 marathon, I figure that is a pretty big accomplishment. So, tomorrow my husband and I are heading up to the trailer for several days of just relaxing with the dogs.

Having said that it doesn’t mean I will do nothing. Ok, yesterday I did nothing which included sleeping in until 7am which for me is unheard of. Today I did a bit of a walk to get the blood circulating in my legs and I felt better for it. Tomorrow I have my hour long walk with my seniors which I know will be done at a good pace. Then I think for the rest of the week I’ll try a couple 5k’s just to keep me going but in general a lazy week for me.

I don’t feel bad about doing this, I know next week I will be back at it with a whole new perspective on what I can accomplish. No, I don’t know where all of this is going to take me now but I do know I want to keep doing this and I look forward to finding my next goal.

Just a heads up everyone, I likely will not be posting for the rest of the week as I enjoy my bit of a break so you will hear from me again in a week. Whether you are in Canada or the USA, please enjoy your long weekend.

The alarm went off at 4:20 this morning. I wanted to be up early so that I could have a good breakfast as it was race day. We left the house at 5:45am to drive to UBC giving ourselves a lot of time to get to the race and for me to get settled in before it started at 7:30am. It was a good thing we did that since many of the roads were closed to allow for the race.

The first thing I noticed as runners started arriving was the diversity of the crowd. There were people of all ages and sizes, there were people representing pretty much every cultural group however, the one thing we had in common was that we were going to run. I spent my warm up time walking around and looking at all the different people including things like how they were dressed or what they were doing to warm up. Many people I saw recognized others in the crowd of about 3,000 as this is a community of runners. For me, just figuring out where I need to be to start the race and my ability to finish it made me nervous.

I learned that you are placed in coloured ‘corrals’ based on your estimated finish time. The first corral was of course for the elite athletes, I, naturally, was in the last corral because I had registered with no hopes of finishing in under 3 hours. For my group we ended up starting the race at the 5 minute mark meaning all the other corrals had left before us.

As I started I quickly fell to the very back of the pack. I was ok with this as I was determined to run at a pace that was comfortable for me. I had long since settle on the fact that I may finish last but that finishing was the most important part of the race. By time we hit the 5k mark which is where you looped back along the route there were tons of people who had already dropped back to a walk as they did fall into the trap of trying to run at a pace they weren’t used to. That is when I started passing a few people.

I have to say one of the things I enjoyed most was throughout the route were the words of encouragement from volunteers or even just bystanders watching the race. My husband started off encouraging me by being just past the start of the race holding a sign saying ‘you got this’ while ringing a cow bell. Some of my favourite comments include a volunteer shouting out ‘if this was easy everyone would be doing it’ or as I was running up an incline in kilometer 15 a volunteer at the peak shouting ‘this is the hardest part, it gets better from here.’ Other favourites include the pipe band and the nice lady at kilometer 14 shouting out ‘you’re 2/3 of the way there and you look beautiful’. All of those words of encouragement kept me going.

When I hit kilometer 18 I realized that I was about to run farther than I ever had. I had told people along the route that what I lack in speed I make up for with endurance and determination and I really did mean that. But, hitting the 18 mark I was getting tired. Interestingly those last 3 kilometers provided the most amount of encouragement not just from the volunteers but also from other runners who had finished the race shouting you ‘you’re almost there, you’ve got this. Still, I was labouring at this point but I just so wanted to be able to say I had run the entire course without stopping.

Finally I saw it, the kilometer 20 sign and I realized I was so close to the finish. Eventually I got to the point where you turned for the last little bit before crossing the finish line and a volunteer ran beside me saying turn at that top pylon and then sprint to the finish. What? are you flippin’ nuts? He told me I just had to do it, show them how strong you are. So I made that last turn and pushed it for all I had in me. Very quickly I knew I could do it because there he was, my husband so excited to see me cross that finish line. Even now as I am typing this I am crying a little because it meant so much to me to see the pride on his face. Then I heard the announcer, Gwenne Farrell has crossed the finish line while the next thing I knew they were putting a medal on me.

I did it! 21.1k in a time of 3 hours 18 minutes. Best of all for me is I was not the last person to finish this race (though I acknowledge there were not a lot of people coming in behind me). Who would have thought 18 months ago when I just wanted to be able to run 10k that today I would more than double that.

I do want to note that yes, I am moving a bit slowly right now but that is ok. I have hydrated quite a bit and had a big lunch. Now I plan on sitting on my deck for the rest of the afternoon perhaps enjoying some wine and just reflecting on how this formerly short, fat chick just ran a 1/2 marathon.