Oddly enough I recall writing a blog post with a similar title around this time last year…

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted, so I’ll start with a New York City update first! When the 2012 marathon was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy I was disappointed and it was a horrible experience for the people who were (and still are) affected by the disaster. After the cancellation, I was burned out from training and although we kept fit by going to the gym, cycling and swimming, I barely ran at all for several months. As a result, getting back in to the swing of it in 2013 was more difficult than it should have been.

Fortunately, earlier this spring I kickstarted my run training with a friend from my undergraduate studies/varsity soccer days. We were able to rekindle our friendship when Chris and I moved to Edmonton and she’s been a great running partner. We started out in the spring training for the Edmonton Derby Half-Marathon, which she went on to set a new PB at! (I had also been registered for this half marathon, however after registering they changed the weekend and it overlapped with Challenge Penticton. Sadly I wasn’t able to be in two places at once!)

Over the past few weeks my training has been stellar. I’ve been focusing on run training and doing the Insanity DVD’s (we’re just finishing up week #3!). The DVDs are TOUGH, but I do think they’re helping with my running, especially with my cadence and core strength. Next weekend we’ll be in Banff forMelissa’s Road Race, and I’m contemplating registering for the BMO half marathon in Kelowna on the Thanksgiving weekend. Both great pre-NYC tune-up races!

There’s only six weeks, or 40 some-odd days until the NYC marathon. I’m feeling motivated to keep up this amazing momentum and have the best race (and race experience) ever!

Also since my last post we completed the Great White North Half Ironman and Challenge Penticton, as a relay team! I did the swim for both races (GWN we did as a 2-person team, Challenge Penticton we were a team of 3!). I was happy with my swim for GWN, but wasn’t as pleased for Challenge. However, in all honesty I probably hadn’t put in the effort I should have for swim training, so I can’t be too disappointed by the result. The boys did phenomenal on their legs (Chris-bike, Eric-run), so they more than made up for my swim. You can check out Chris’ most recent blog post for more info!

Here’s Chris zipping me up on Challenge race morning. Looks like he was taking his job a bit more seriously than I was! In the background is a friend of ours from Ottawa. It was great to catch up with him on the day of the race!

I hope everyone enjoys the beauty of fall and has a great shoulder season! Once the NYC marathon is over, we’ll be just over one month out from our next big adventure – OUR WEDDING!!!