Four months out: A Wedding Update

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Molly @ A Fresh Start For Molly

So there are officially four months left until we do this marriage thing!

I thought I would pop in and share a few stories and an update on planning.

If you don’t want to read this, the abbreviated version is that we have the planning under control and I’m so excited about everything I could puke.

Speaking of which, I recently realized that I might need some professional help, or a medical intervention, to deal with the excitement of the wedding day. It didn’t occur to me until my family held a medical school graduation party for my sister. I made a speech and got weepy and very nervous and my leg shook. A lot. I was pretty much a wreck because of all my emotions about her achieving this amazing goal.

The next day we went to mass at the church where we will be married. Dan and I just sort of squeezed each other’s hands and secretly had a “Holy crapola, this is going to happen soon” moment. And then I was like – how the heck am I going to make it through this wedding in one piece?

I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me before that weekend. In fact, I’ve been a very emotional person my whole life. I usually end up doubled over in pain when I’m nervous. I get really cold, and my tremor (inherited from my dad) takes over my whole body. Oh, and I cry easily when beautiful things are happening around me. (See: strangers reuniting at airports, sunrises, Friday Night Lights season finales.) So why would my wedding day be any different? I’m trying to come up with a coping plan so I can enjoy the day and not faint/die from the excitement.

I ordered my dress eight months ago … it feels like a lifetime has passed since then! I was just a little newly engaged baby. Now I am a fully grown engaged teenager. The dress won’t be here until next month, and sometimes I forget I even bought one. Seriously, I have to Google photos to remind myself what it looks like. When I do, I wonder if I was crazy to order a dress when I had no sense of what it would look like on me (the sample was way too small). On the other hand, I hated dress shopping and I’m happy I got it over with in about an hour. If I had to pick a concern, it would be that the dress will look like it’s from a bargain bin — just because of certain details on the fabric — and that it will be unflattering on my “problem areas” (that’s a lame saying I learned from Cosmo magazine). But truthfully … I rarely think about that stuff. I have a feeling the dress is going to turn out great and go really well with our fall wedding.

… Still, I should probably stop eating bulk candy on a daily basis.

Photos from a recent hike in the nature park

One of my favourite things to do while in the thick of planning was check out blogs and forums to see what tasks should be done during which month. We organized our wedding planning checklist by month and it’s been a lifesaver and helps us never feel overwhelmed.

Here is the list of things left to do four months from the big day:

Sign videographer contract.
Craft. All of the DIY decor has been started. We’ll have to buy our “perishable decor” (white pumpkins) closer to the date.
Buy parent gifts and groomsmen gifts. Bridesmaids are all set. I am so excited to give them their gifts! This was one of my favourite things to plan.
Find bridesmaid cardigans when the fall styles come in. I have a Chief Bridesmaid in Charge of Cardigans. It’s an extremely prestigious title.
Decide if I’m wearing a veil or not.
Address and mail invitations. They are all assembled and waiting for that special 6-8 week window before the wedding.
Get the marriage licence. This will probably be when I start dying of excitement.
Ask readers/MC.
Meet with ceremony musician.
Get dress fitted. Make sure there is no saggy-ness going on.
Hair/makeup trial.
Confirm flower choices.
Buy guest book and favours (we know which ones we want, just have to pull the trigger).
Design and print programs (we have the materials).
Get Dan’s wedding band sized.
Meet with coordinator to make a wedding day timeline.
Confirm everything and pay everyone.
Organize decor and try to decide if it’s going to look like a hot mess.
Write a speech.
Get hitched, take two days off and then go back to life as normal, but with a husband and an extra sparkly ring.

Race Recap: Ottawa Race Weekend 10K

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Molly @ A Fresh Start For Molly

A few months ago, when it was still frigid outside and I was in the depths of half-marathon training, I saw a seat sale for flights to Ottawa. I called my fiancé and family to see if anyone wanted to go to Ottawa Race Weekend in May with me, and when they all said no, I booked a ticket anyway.

I don’t get out of my own little East Coast bubble very much, but I have lots of family in Canada’s capital and try to visit often. When I got involved with the running community a couple of years ago I heard a lot of good things about the city’s race weekend – and this past weekend I got to participate in it for the first time.

I didn’t blog about my prep because A: I don’t blog much anymore, and B: there wasn’t a whole lot of formal prep goin’ on.

By the time I booked my flight, the half-marathon was sold out and the 10K was getting close to full. That was OK for a few reasons: I knew I’d be burnt out after my February half-marathon (I was correct!) and I wanted to enjoy my weekend without nerves and sore legs since I don’t get to go on vacation very often. So I registered for the 10K, scheduled for a Saturday evening in May.

“Training”:

After the half-marathon I took almost an entire month off of running. In April I started working out again but focused on building my strength. Eventually I figured I should put together some sort of training plan, and found one online that involved running only three days a week.

Even though it was pretty easy, I didn’t even follow it strictly. I tried to run three times a week, did some gym classes (until my membership expired), a lot of Tone It Up Bikini Series workouts at home, and tried to fit in a “long run” (about 10K) on the weekends.

I was happy with my strength gains, and lost the weight I put on while half-marathon training, but I wasn’t making progress in running. I found it boring, uninspiring and difficult. The few weeks leading up to the race I did a 10K each weekend. It took me 1 hour and four minutes every time. My PR was 1:01:47 – so I had a feeling I wouldn’t be breaking that in Ottawa.

It was time for me to let go of all hopes and goals so I wouldn’t ruin my vacation by being disappointed in my race. I decided I would just relax, go out there and have fun with it.

Race day:

I woke up at 3 a.m. Ontario time on race day and boarded a plane at 5:30 a.m. In the airport a woman asked me if I was going to Ottawa to run (she spotted my sneakers) and we had a great chat about the races she’s done over the years, including a 3-hour marathon in Ottawa. I love that the running community is so friendly regardless of speed and ability.

I didn’t sleep much the night before so I was hoping to rest on the plane, but it didn’t happen.

After landing, I spent the morning with family and eventually went to the expo. I started getting really nervous when I saw so many people swarming around downtown with race kits. The energy was crazy. I’d never been to a race of this size.

Once I got my bib, I realized I had picked the corral for a projected finishing time of 50-60 minutes. I was a little distressed by this because I thought that was overly optimistic – I wouldn’t be beating my PR, let alone going sub-one hour. (Notice my clever foreshadowing?)

My uncle, cousin and I decided to walk through the expo on our way out. I was shocked to walk by John Stanton, founder of Running Room.

I’ve wanted to meet John Stanton since I completed Running Room’s Learn to Run program that he designed. I love his philosophy that anyone can be a runner as long as they train properly and gradually. People of all ages, shapes and sizes have excelled with his programs. He made a runner out of me when I was overweight and far from a natural athlete. I regularly go on Running Room free group runs, as do my parents, and have done three of the clinics. I don’t think I would have stuck with running if I had done another program when I was starting out. In short, John Stanton’s programs changed my life.

That last sentence is exactly what I told him. And yes, I was the crazy person who got a little emotional while speaking. I think he’s used to that sort of thing, so he did a lot of the talking and told me about how he felt running was about more than just, well, running. In my head I was like “YES, DUDE, EXACTLY,” but I just kept smiling. I told him a tiny bit of my story and thanked him. He signed my bib. I usually think autographs are silly but I hoped his would be my lucky charm. (More foreshadowing!)

I bussed downtown to the race that evening with my cousin Emily (also my bridesmaid!). We found my corral and people quickly started filling in. This photo doesn’t show it well, but there was a sea of people between me and the start line.

I was lucky to have Emily there as my “sherpa.” She kept my mind off the thousands of people packed in the corral, and I was able to toss her my sweater just before we started.

I had a vague plan to find the one-hour pace bunny and queue up with him or her. One of the one-hour bunnies was a tall guy with a giant pair of scissors, and I could tell he’d be fun to run with. I found him, but once the race started and we started shuffling to the start, I realized it was going to be easy to get separated. My main goal quickly became staying close to the pace bunny. If I got tired, I’d step off.

Once we shuffled over the start line, we turned down Elgin Street. I was full of adrenalin. It was awesome to see so many people had come out to support a bunch of strangers who were just putting one foot in front of the other. I loved reading the signs and grabbed some high fives from people who had “Free High Fives” signs.

I had set my Garmin to miles for the past few weeks (instead of kilometres). The first mile went by really quickly.

I thought I would be able to enjoy the scenery while doing this race, but truthfully I could barely tell you where we ran. It was so crowded in my pack. I had to stay mentally dialed in the entire time so I didn’t trip over anyone. I was also keeping an eye on the pace bunnies.

At one point I did hear a commotion and realized people were pointing to the other side of the canal. The 10K leaders were on their way back down the other side. I had hoped to catch a glimpse of the elites while in Ottawa, but it ended up being difficult logistically, so I was so happy I got to see that fleeting view. They were flying a lot faster than they seem to on television. I immediately thought of deer when I saw their long strides across the water.

The race zoomed by. I spent most of my time listening to other people’s conversations, and reading people’s signs. I even commented on a few, like the Ryan Gosling one that said “Hey girl, keep running.” And of course I thanked the guy who had a sign saying if we finished we’d get to drink beer – right at that moment I had been dreaming of the beer cooling in Emily’s fridge that I was going to drink that night in celebration.

I didn’t look at my clock once.

I tilt my head to the side when I’m tired. Just one of the many awkward things I did during this race.

Before I knew it, the bunny was encouraging people around him to go by him if they had anything left in the tank. We were about 750 metres from the finish when I spotted a gaggle of my family members on the other side of the road. “They’re not going to see me!” I thought … even though things had spread out a tiny bit, we were still packed in at that point. Before I knew it, I was darting across the road and waving my arms as hard as I could. My uncle ran the 5K earlier in the evening and my cousin was already done the 10K. They and some other family members started cheering when they spotted me.

I wasn’t expecting to see them, so I was pretty pumped.

My young cousins even made signs, complete with chafing jokes. My favourite!

The problem was, once I started waving my gangly arms, they didn’t really stop. I have a video from my uncle of this experience – but I’ll spare you. I finally got my arms under control after I went past my family, and I couldn’t believe how much energy I had exerted with all that flailing.

Soon I saw a big arch with Ottawa 10K written on it, stretching across the road, and I knew I was almost there. I started sprinting and ran across knowing I had nothing left in the tank.

One problem: I didn’t run across a mat that would turn my chip off. I realized then that I had run across a FAKE finish line. The real one was up ahead.

(I later heard all around town that I wasn’t the only one tricked by this.)

I wasn’t too exhausted, but I have an ongoing issue that pops up when I try to run fast. That issue is vomit. Because I had sprinted but didn’t actually reach the finish, I ended up gagging and trying not to vomit with only a few hundred metres left. During my last 10K I puked right at the end – but there was nowhere to go this time. So I slowed down significantly even though I didn’t want to.

I crossed the REAL finish line with my gangly arms in the air once again, having successfully avoided upchucking on any of the thousands of runners or spectators around me.

There were port-o-potties everywhere … it was hard to get a photo without one in it.

Garmin time: 58:43 for 10.1 km

Chip time: 58:41

Not only did I beat my PR, but I went under one hour. I was ecstatic!

Emily snapped this pic from a bridge of me getting my medal in the finishing chute

Maybe it was a fluke, but I think something can be said about the fact that I relaxed, put no pressure on myself and just tried to enjoy the race. The flat terrain, cool weather and crowd support might have been factors in the PR, too. I also think doing strength training instead of just running five days a week has helped my speed.

What’s next:

The next morning I woke up and dragged Emily down to watch some of the marathon. I loved every second of it. I was so proud of every person I saw. I saw a father stopping to kiss his children and a grandfather grabbing a sign that “We love you, Papa!” before running across the finish.

The look of exertion and determination on the runners’ faces and the pride among the spectators was more than inspiring. Say what you want about how terrible humankind can be, but check out a big race some day and I guarantee your bitterness will disappear.

I had another reason for going to watch the marathon: I was on a reconnaissance mission. I will confess that I want to run 26.2 miles in Ottawa next May. I know it sounds insane, but it’s been in my head for a few months now and I can’t shake it. Sunday just solidified it for me. To me, Ottawa Race Weekend felt magical. I want to run the full in 2014.

It will all depend on injuries and any other life changes that may come my way, so it’s a tentative plan for now. I’ll have to start building a base in the fall, schedule at least one more half-marathon, and begin the Running Room training plan in January. It will take a lot of work and determination.

We’ll see what happens.

Warm weather updates

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Molly @ A Fresh Start For Molly

I hope you will join me in laughing at the ridiculousness of the above Instagram “selfie.” I decided I wanted a photo for this post that demonstrated that I did my first run today in shorts AND a T-shirt since last fall … so I promptly stood up and snapped this headless masterpiece in front of my unmade bed. Don’t hate me because I’m so creative. Focus on the shorts and the T-shirt – it’s finally spring!

Anyway – long time no talk! I’m going to be honest, I’m very much enjoying my life as a non-blogger. After four years of writing fairly regularly at various blogs, it was definitely time to let it go. However, the weather lately has inspired me to check in and update on how life has been for me lately.

It happens every year, but I am still always so surprised at what the arrival of warm weather does for my soul. We had an extra long winter this year and this past week was the first full week of acceptable weather since last October. And now I don’t have to worry about the cold or snow for another six months, at least.

We are actually less than six months out from the wedding now. As soon as we hit that milestone time seemed to start flying. I was in a bit of a slump with wedding planning and pretty much wanted nothing to do with it for a while there, but last weekend we got a lot done and actually started DIYing a bit.

(P.S. Burlap really stinks. I did not know that before we made this jar for our centrepieces.)

I really feel like I have so much to look forward to in the next few months. Now that it has warmed up I’m pledging to explore Saint John more, since we just moved here last fall. This week I did a five-miler that took me into Rockwood Park. We finished our half-marathon there at the entrance but I had never run inside. It was lovely and I didn’t get attacked while running alone. Win-win!

Next weekend is my sister’s graduation party for medical school and then she’s moving to start her new life as a resident in Kingston, Ont. And then in three weeks I’ll be heading up Ontario way for Ottawa Race Weekend!

As preparation for the 10K, I’ve only been running three times a week. I am so over running exclusively while doing no other type of exercise. When I was training for the HM I ran five times a week and got burnt out after the February race. I did hardly anything throughout March and then joined the gym and started switching up my workouts. So far I’ve done a few group swimming practices, spin class, treadmill and weight workouts.

Now that the Bikini Series at to neitup.com has launched, I’ve been following along and doing some of those workouts. Today after my run I did Under The Sea and Sunkissed Abs.

I went out for a 10K this morning (in my shorts and a T-shirt) and really enjoyed it. I always try to talk myself out of going for a run, thinking I’ll be bored, but I was happy at the end of this one. Today’s run was two minutes slower than my PR. I’ve accepted that I’m not going to PR in Ottawa, and I’m OK with it. I just want to enjoy my weekend and take in the sights and sounds of my first “big” race.

That being said, wouldn’t it be great if I came from behind and beat the elites?

Also on the docket for this summer are my first sprint-distance triathlon at the end of June, a full week of vacation at the lake in early August along with my bridal shower, then my bachelorette on Labour Day weekend (just got the word that it will be in Montreal!). Then before we know it, it will be wedding time!

I have no other way to describe my excitement about this stuff other than “I want to vomit all over everything!” Sorry if that’s graphic, but my stomach gets upset when I’m excited. And I am SUPER excited!

Happy run-versary to me!

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Molly @ A Fresh Start For Molly

Today is my second run-versary. My running journey started when I joined the Learn to Run Program at the Running Room in Fredericton. Our first night of the clinic was March 17, 2011.

(It’s easy to remember because it was St. Patrick’s Day.)

(It’s also easy to remember because it was a pretty friggin’ important day in my life.)

I took this picture the night of my first run. I think I knew it was the beginning of something great!

You may know this story already, and I told it on my old blog, but I’m in a reminiscing type of mood. Before I learned to run I was living a complete exercise-free life. I had gone to the gym and played sports all through high school, went to the gym on and off throughout university, and then eventually it all came to a halt when I graduated. I had put on a lot of weight for various reasons, and had pretty much given up trying to do anything about it.

The winter after I graduated, I was at my highest weight ever. I was feeling pretty depressed. I was working my first full-time grownup job as a reporter, but it was hard to function otherwise.

In the depths of winter, I remember my dad coming to the door of my apartment and asking me to go for a walk with him. Our walks were maybe two kilometres long. Maybe. And I found them exhausting, mostly mentally, but also physically. Back then I was pretty anxious, so I hated the uncomfortable feeling of being out of breath.

To this day, I still don’t remember what exactly made me decide to sign up for the Learn to Run clinic. But I do remember sitting in my parents’ car in my driveway – I think we had taken a trip to see my sister that weekend – and I was about to get out and go in my house, when I told them I wanted to sign up for a Running Room program.

My parents had done a few of Running Room’s clinics and often went to the free run club nights. I was the only one in my family who wasn’t active, and, frankly, I didn’t even like listening to them talk about running. I thought it was dumb at Christmas when they got excited about getting special new socks.

I thought I was the last person in the world who could ever like running.

My mom came with me to Running Room so I could ask about the program. If she hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have followed through. I went up to the manager and said: “Are you sure I could do this? Keep in mind I’m the most beginning-est of the beginners.”

He said: “Oh yes. Anyone could do it. And many people go on to do all our clinics and are running half and full marathons within a couple of years.”

Riiiight, I thought. That won’t be me. And before we start talking about marathons, let’s just get through this first clinic, shall we?

So I gave him my money, got my T-shirt, and then we headed to Zellers to try to find me something passable as winter workout clothing (I didn’t want to spend any real amount of money because I thought I wouldn’t get through the program). I wore an old pair of gym sneakers.

Our first night was St. Patrick’s Day, and after introducing ourselves and getting a very warm welcome from our instructor, Peter, we huffed and puffed our way through the streets of downtown Fredericton as party-goers adorned in green hung off the sides of patios and cheered.

Some people are blessed to be natural runners. They can train minimally for a race, or pick up new distances very easily. And they are fast! I think these people are awesome. But that has never been the case for me.

We were running for one minute, and walking for two minutes, up until about twenty minutes total. And it was torturous.

Every week we upped the amount of running by one minute. The goal was to reach ten minutes running, one minute walking, for two sets. I could not imagine ever getting to that point. Each week I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it the one minute longer.

As the weeks passed, a few people dropped out, and I became the slowest in the group. I had brutal shin splint pain. I cried while I “ran.” I was super ticked off because I had a suspicion the pain was because I was carrying around extra weight, and that annoyed me, because I was trying to learn to run so I could get healthier. I didn’t want my weight to derail my plans. But I stuck with it and did all my runs.

My instructor said: “Remember, you are doing better than all the other people who are sitting home on the couch and didn’t even bother trying today.”

Although in recent years I had thought of myself as someone who was lazy and had no will power, my stubbornness was beginning to show through.

Our program lasted until the end of May when we entered a small, community 5K. I had never ran more than our two sets of ten minutes running, one minute walking (22 mins total) but still managed to finish in 37:44.

After that race, I rewarded myself with a new pair of sneakers. And guess what – my shin splints magically went away!

My first real pair of running sneakers. I didn’t want to buy them until I finished my first 5K.

That summer I ran another 5K race and was disappointed that I didn’t improve my time by very much. I knew that I wouldn’t lose weight just by doing a bit of running a few times a week, but I was still a little sad that the pounds hadn’t magically melted off. I didn’t weigh myself back then, so I was going on what I looked like – and I still looked the same.

So a week after that race I actually weighed myself, signed up for Weight Watchers, and that led to me losing 55 pounds. That’s right, my stubborn need to improve my running time was a big reason for me losing that weight! If I had never started running, the weight loss may never have happened.

Since that first 5K in 2011, I have completed the 10K and half-marathon Running Room clinics, a try-a-tri, and a few more races.

My first 10K. (I puked right after.)

I will tell you this with 100 per cent certainty: the Learn to Run program was the hardest thing I have ever done in terms of running, including training for 16 weeks for a winter half marathon that included several runs at – 25 degrees Celsius, and then running it on an injury.

It can be hard in the beginning, but the rewards outweigh the pain.

I still have training runs where I run as slow as I did during my first 5K. I was second last on that day and was almost dead last during my half marathon last month. I have tons of issues with injuries and a lot of problems with my guts while running. Basically, I am slow, and usually sore. Some days it is easy, but most days it is not.

I stick with it because of a roster of reasons, and most of them are mental. Running has taught me a lot about myself. It has given me confidence, and taken away my anxiety. It helps me not get depressed during the winter. It’s an excuse to get fresh air and does great things for my skin. It is a way to spend time and bond with my family. I have met a lot of new people at group runs and races around the province, and have heard their running stories – everyone has one!

This shirt pretty much sums up my feelings on running.

Most of all I just don’t want to lose my progress and go back to how difficult it was in the beginning. So even if I’m not training for something, I still try to make it out for a few short runs a week.

The finish line of my first half marathon.

Truthfully, running makes me feel like I can do anything. If I am faced with a difficult situation in life, I think about when I thought I was the last person in the world who would ever be a runner. Who knows what other difficult things I can get through?

Do you have a running story?

Semi-retirement.

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Molly @ A Fresh Start For Molly

Aloha! It occurred to me that I made a very important decision in my head a couple of weeks ago, but forgot to blog about it.

The “training for my first half marathon” phase of my life lasted four months, one third of a year, and now it is over. But there’s another phase of my life that is also about to come to a close.

When it comes to this blog, I am officially going into semi-retirement. I used to blog five times a week, and then took it down to about three times a week if I was lucky. Now I plan to just blog when I feel like it. It will most likely be only for the more important things, like race recaps, every few months. I still want to document things like that, and this is as good a place as any.

When I started this blog I was at the tail-end of my weight loss journey and was full of ideas, thoughts and excitement about my new healthy lifestyle. I used to have another blog for about three years where I just generally talked about my life, but I felt I was getting a little too old for it and wanted to have a more narrow focus. Once I got more accustomed to my lifestyle and it just became a regular, not-newsworthy, boring ol’ life, I struggled with ideas.

While writing A Fresh Start For Molly I’ve branched out and talked about more than just healthy living; I’ve written about moving, getting engaged, spending time with my family, my mental health, and planning my wedding.

After a while, I guess I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to write about. I got tired of posting about running all the time (even though that’s really all I do that’s remotely newsworthy), felt awkward taking pictures of my food (it just ain’t my thing), and really didn’t want to share anything too personal. And I definitely was never into promoting myself to gain more readers (even though I appreciate all the ones I have!).

Writing about my life on a public platform has always been super awkward for me, but the feedback I’ve received from readers has always made it worth it. I have rarely posted about my blog on Facebook or Twitter, and I hate when people that know me in real life find out I blog. Isn’t that strange, since I put it all out there for strangers to read?

Also, I don’t have a lot of time in the day to devote to blog entries, so a lot of them are rushed and I don’t take the time to proofread. That may sound fine, but I’m a copy editor by day and finding errors when I did take the time to go through old entries was driving me insane. Case in point: I almost spelled entries wrong in both of the previous sentences.

It wasn’t until recently that I decided I could just write for me, when I feel like it, and I’d be completely fine with that.

I am looking forward to stopping by the blog when I have something I really want to say. By spending less time posting for the sake of posting, I’ll be able to crafty meaty blog posts that make me happy, and hopefully have less spelling and grammar errors

If you want to still read when I do decide to pop in, I’d recommend subscribing by email (you can do so in the sidebar to the right) or adding me to your Google Reader.

Thanks for reading!

Hypothermic Half Marathon 2013: Race Recap

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Molly @ A Fresh Start For Molly

It’s been several months since I wrote a race recap, and I am so thankful to be able to write this one and say: yes, I did start and finish my first half marathon yesterday.

After 16 weeks of training, I made it to the start line of the Hypothermic Half Marathon which started at Cape Spencer and finished in the north end of Saint John.

Before:

As I mentioned before, my IT band was in pretty rough shape from my last long training run and peak week turned out to be me desperately trying to run a pain-free mile here and there on the treadmill. I completely gave up as of last Sunday and did absolutely no exercise for the entire week leading up to the race in hope that the rest would help. The pain was not letting up, however.

Resting was very hard and unnerving for me, and I was worried about losing all the progress I had made. But I tried to stay positive and take my mind off the pain, which was there even if I was sitting at my desk doing nothing.

One of the great things about getting more and more running experience under my belt is I start to notice patterns in my behaviour. I was extremely nervous on Friday – like, almost puking nervous. The uncertainty is what really did me in. I wasn’t sure I would be able to walk, let alone run 21.1 kilometres.

Then I remembered that I always get nervous two days before a race, so I laid out all my clothing and got everything ready, right down to my anti-chafing cream and energy chews. It was really the only thing I had control over. Saturday I ended up being pretty calm, my sister and brother-in-law arrived at our apartment, – which I called “base camp” – and I got a good night of sleep.

Sunday morning I woke up at 6 a.m. and ate my banana in bed. The race started at 8:30 and all of my long training runs were done at that exact time, so my body was pretty used to the routine already.

My leg had been in a lot of pain when we were doing errands the day before, and I felt pretty stiff but I put it out of my mind.

We drove over to Rockwood Park, where we met up with my parents, and got ready to board a chartered city bus to the start line. This was a point A to point B race, instead of an out-and-back.

*Thank you to Daniel for all of these pictures. He was my trusty coach, water boy and personal motivator through training. I owe him a lot.

On the bus ride I sat with a few running buddies and they were all talking about the hills we were driving over and would soon be running up. The course is notoriously hard and the hills are too numerous to count. FYI, hills are not fun any day, but are especially hard when you have an IT band problem – especially the downhill.

I was happy with the weather; it was the first silver lining of the day. After months of training in a winter of windy, snow and plenty of -25 C temperatures, I was feeling blessed to have a clear day with bare pavement and -10 on the thermometer.

We arrived at the start line and it turned out we didn’t have to run up the first hill from the lighthouse. I was so happy about this and saw it as the second silver lining of the day. I said good luck to everyone and my sister said “Molly, don’t kill yourself.” It sounds silly, but it was actually good advice.

During:

It was a small but mighty group – on the East Coast of Canada, winter runners are a lot more sparse than spring and fall runners. One of the things I messed up was starting at the back of the pack. I always do that because I am slow, but I didn’t realize we didn’t have a chip on our bib. So the time started when the organizer said go, but I didn’t cross the start line right away.

I’m starting my watch in the back there – my sister is in the green with the ninja hood. She is demonstrating proper technique by forefoot striking instead of heel striking – well done, Christen!

I started out very gingerly because I had no idea how this thing was going to go.

I look like I’m praying intensely that my leg won’t give out. It’s possible I was doing just that.

I knew from the beginning that my mental attitude was going to pull me through the race. I will never be the fastest runner out there, but I can be the most positive. So I yelled to my mom “Hey, we’re running a half marathon!” and then I settled into my stride.

I was pain free for the first 30 seconds (literally) and then it kicked in. Oh well. I was just happy to be running – I had missed my sneakers over the past week.

After the first ten minutes I said goodbye to a couple of my running group buddies and ran a bit ahead of them. My dad had called a few nights before the race to tell me he would be running with me, but he was ahead for the first 5K. I liked having those kilometres alone to try and find my pace. I tried to keep it really slow because I was petrified of screwing my leg up and not being able to finish. I was surprised to look down at 4K and see my split time was what I usually run in training when I’m injury-free. I think it was the adrenaline pulling me through.

Once I caught up to my dad, I had someone to talk to to keep my mind off the pain. We cracked some jokes, told some stories and sang some Alicia Keys songs (well, that was me). I had my interval timer set for 10 minutes running and one minute walking, which I am used to from the Running Room training program, and it was great for my pain and mental state. It didn’t affect my pace any and it was nice to be able to look forward to the walk break.

We saw Dan just after 8K. He gave me some Nuun and ran beside me for a couple of seconds.

As for the hills – Dad kept pointing them out, but truthfully they didn’t affect me very much. My pace stayed pretty consistent and the hills didn’t tire me out too badly. I thank my training in the hilly city of Saint John for that. If I still lived in Fredericton and was running flat along the river, those hills might have killed me.

We started to see civilization, and at 14K Dad announced we were two-thirds done. At around 16K (I think) I stopped taking walk breaks. I had already skipped one and was so eager to be finished.

With about four kilometres left, the pain really started to worsen. I had abandoned all hope of having a goal time when I got injured, but thought it would take me around three hours. When I looked at my watch, I realized I could possibly break 2:30, so I asked Dad if he thought we could do it. He said it would be close. At that point I thought I should just focus on taking it easy, and be happy with finishing, but I am a tad crazy, and of course once the goal was in my head there was no turning back.

That was the last time I looked at my watch. I’ve run with my Dad before and knew I could count on him to pace me. With about three kilometres left we turned onto the causeway and I just had to follow Dad’s footsteps. I was zoning out and feeling faint. Everything hurt at that point, not just my IT bands (which all along had felt like a little man was stabbing tiny knives into them).

The last kilometre of this course is on Crown Street – and is a long hill up to Rockwood Park. There were similar hills earlier in the race, but they didn’t feel like this. My dad said every hill I had done in training was preparing me for this. There is a hill from the harbour up to my apartment, and I told myself back in November when I started preparing for the race that I would never walk up that hill at the end of my runs. No matter how tired I was, I always ran up it. So I told myself I was ready to tackle one final hill at the end of another tiring run.

To say it was hard would be the understatement of the century. All hope of having good form was lost. My legs were seized up and felt like lead. I feel for the people driving by and witnessing it, I really do.

I was hunched over, pumping my arms as hard as I could. If I had stopped to walk, I would have seized up completely so I had to keep moving. I stopped for a millisecond to dry heave. I thought I was going to pass out. I KNEW I was going to pass out. And then I was at the top and Dad said I was free to run my own race – which is his code for “we’re going to make it under 2:30.”

The final 100 metres is downhill to the finish line (ironic considering the course) and my legs opened up and I pounded down to the finish. I could see my sister wrapped in a space blanket and all I could think of was how excited I was to get one (in my head REAL runners at REAL races get space blankets). And I saw the clock and was so happy.

I made sure to smile through the finish, despite feeling so much pain, because it was positivity (and my dad) that got me through.

My official time from the clock was 2:27:00. Then I did my Usain Bolt pose for Dan, which obviously was purely ironic because I was one of the last people to finish and it is a symbol for speed.

I think my sister is laughing at me in the background. Or grimacing from embarrassment.

After:

We humans are very adaptable. That means that it’s hard for me to find the perspective in my running journey. I know there was a time in my life, not very long ago, when I couldn’t run for more than a minute straight. I know there was a time in my life when running five kilometres felt insane and it took me several months of literal blood, sweat and tears to get there.

But over the past two years of learning to run, I have adapted to each new step and along the way I’ve slowly lost that perspective. When you surround yourself with runners, are in a running family, read running blogs … it can be hard to remember that a half marathon is a huge accomplishment. You keep looking to the next step and thinking – well, it wasn’ very fast! Or, well it’s not like it’s a marathon!

So I am taking some time today to reflect on my journey and remember how far I’ve really come.

I got my first running medal! I was almost as pumped for that as I was for the space blanket.

This training cycle was difficult for me, not because of the distances, but because of all the other variables. I was also in a new city, and went out of my comfort zone trying to get used to new routes. I eventually found a great group to run with on Sunday mornings from Running Room, and I am super thankful to them for welcoming me. There were a lot of freezing mornings where I had to actually thaw myself out before running back outside to get to work on time. In the end, all the Saturday nights spent going to bed early, the frozen eyelashes, and the sore muscles, led to me being a tougher person. Now I know I am capable of much more than I ever thought I was.

I am insanely grateful to have run this race with my family. It was my sister’s idea, and we teased her a lot when we started to realized we actually had to DO the race, but it was an awesome memory to have together.

Every single person in my family had challenges to get through before running this race. Those aren’t my stories to tell, but I hope you will look at our crew and take it as a sign that anyone can achieve difficult goals, regardless of age or ability, be it in running or anything else.

Cheers!

You can read all my weekly recaps of half marathon training here.

Wedding: To theme or not to theme …

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Molly @ A Fresh Start For Molly

Let’s forget about the fact that the race is in (gulp) four days and talk about about the wedding, shall we?

Although I was a big fan of some wedding blogs, one thing I had never done before getting engaged was go on wedding forums to see what other brides were saying. Let me tell, those forums can get crazayyy. I quickly learned that my 100-person wedding with a reception at a lodge beside a lake was not of the “formal” variety. It is very much classified as an intimate, casual wedding compared to some of the ones I’ve read about.

I also learned that people have themed weddings!

“Enchanted peacock” is a theme I saw. “Fairy tale” weddings are popular. And I’ve seen weddings themed around objects like playing cards and keys.

Did we need a theme? Dan would probably suggest “gangster golf,” which I’m not sure I’m comfortable with…

I had already abandoned the idea of doing anything remotely original. A. I don’t really care, and B. the Internet has kind of ruined the possibility of ever being able to have an original wedding. Google your idea: I bet it’s been done.

I saw the words “vintage harvest,” which I kind of liked, because we’re having a Thanksgiving wedding in the middle of New Brunswick (which is very rural). But we aren’t using any of the traditional fall colours like brown, orange, yellow and red, so that didn’t really feel like a harvest.

To be honest, the two words that really came to mind when describing the wedding are the two most cliché words you could say when it comes to weddings in 2013.

I bet you can guess them:

Rustic and vintage.

They may be cliché, but rustic/vintage works perfectly with what we’re going for.

In terms of the rustic part, we won’t be getting married in a barn or wearing cowboy boots (although those sounds great, and one certain bridesmaid did advocate for the boots…), but you can bet your bottom dollar there will be burlap and mason jars. I mean, I love the shit out of mason jars. I use them for everything. And I don’t want satin or crystals or anything swanky like that, so burlap works great.

source

(As an aside, I get a kick out of the brides on the forums who are doing the rustic thing but live in, like, the middle of Manhattan or something. They are all searching to buy mason jars but don’t know their real use is for canning things, like mustard pickles and beets. We have Dan’s father making some of our rustic wooden pieces, and he’ll probably just use scrap wood he has in his shed. These brides are hoping to score some “wood slices” for hundreds of dollars from Etsy. My father-in-law should go into business.)

And as for the vintage elements, that will come through in a lot of the attire, and in some of the decor.

shopruche.com

I love old stuff. Always have. We lived in a 100-year-old building for two years and I have a rusty antique typewriter sitting on our bedroom windowsill. Why? Because I think it looks cool. I know vintage is a really vague term, but let’s just say it means anything older than 1980, k?

So in the end, the wedding will be 50 per cent vintage, 50 per cent rustic, and 100 per cent us.

P.S. Speaking of “us”? Have you seen this article from the Onion called Horrible Couple Really Wants Wedding To Reflect Their Personalities? It’s hilarious. My favourite line: “From the drinks served in mason jars, to the sparklers we’re handing out to everyone when it gets dark, this is going to be a wedding only we could have.”