Half-way!

We took our run to the beach today -- parked at Adventure Village and made our way east. We had never taken the path that way before. The scenery was so lush and green, we almost forgot we were in Stinktown. Almost.

Believe it or not, we reached today's goal and actually ran 5km. 5km! It was definitely no easy task, though. I had just about enough by 3.5kms but Adam once again was my great motivator and gently pushed me to finish. I just kept thinking to myself "I've pushed out two babies, I can do this!" Although, pushing out babies is something my body was going to do whether I was ready or not -- this is altogether different, but you know what I mean.

The point is, we did it. We ran 5km and, although parts of it sucked really bad, it was all worth it for the big, sweaty hug at the end.

In other news, we are now at $305 raised for United Way of Burlington and Greater Hamilton! We have to thank the following people for their love and support:

Wendy & Steven Lowden
Joan Chrysler
Erin Jackson
Jeremy Gowling
Jacqueline Cantar
Anthony Cascella
Meg Eliz
Ashley Babics

Also, a special thanks to my mom, as we wouldn't be able to get out to run every other day without her watching our kids. THANKS MOM! xoxo

FOUR!

It was just too bloody hot today for a mid-day run and, since we didn't have the luxury of anyone to watch our kids after bedtime, we had to go it alone. I mapped a 1km route earlier today when I was out in the car -- four blocks over from our house, one block up and back. Adam and I each took turns running that route four times. That's right. I said it. FOUR TIMES! I can't believe that we're actually reaching the goals we've been setting with every run.

We both agree that running without our partner really sucks. I do have to say though, that I'm pretty impressed that we were able to complete 4kms alone. Its not something that we want to do very often but at least we know we can do it when we need to.

Peace.

What a lovely night for a run.

WE DID IT! We set out today to run 3kms straight and then walk the 4th one and we actually did it. I'm not really sure whats going on here. I mean, its really tough and the last half kilometre just sucks every time but we seem to be able to go longer with each run. It could be that we've been out three different times of day, or that we've had different things to eat, different amounts of water. Who knows? It could also just mean that our endurance is increasing as we go. Yeah!

We've been running in Gage Park. Its just up the street from where we live, which is convenient, but its also a really great place to run. The shade is just right, there is a lot of space and watching the seniors playing bocce ball is fun, too. We were given some advice on the weekend*, which was to keep it fresh and change our route. We decided to take that advice today and we went clockwise around the park instead of our usual counter-clockwise. What a difference! I think we'll stick with that direction when we go out on Thursday with a goal of 4kms.


*Becky, please thank Mark for his advice at the cottage! Let him know that we're open to any more he wants to give. :)

Day Two!

We were out for 3kms again today but this time, we ran 2kms straight and then walked the last km. This was better than what we could do just two days ago so we considered it a pretty great success. There were high-fives a-plenty as we rewarded ourselves with coffee (Adam) and a big glass of orange juice (me).

Although we've only been out twice, running as a couple has been amazing. Truth be told, I wanted to quit at 1.5kms but Adam pushed me to go just that little bit further to the 2km mark. Not only are we proving to be good motivators for each other, but its been a fun way to spend our time together. So far, anyway.

We're thinking tomorrow will be another day of rest and then back at it Tuesday, when our goal is to be out for 4kms -- 3kms of that running.

For those of you that might not already know, we have added a fundraising component to our run. We are raising money for United Way of Burlington and Greater Hamilton, and have set a family fundraising goal of $1000. You can help us to reach this goal by going here:

https://www.giving.runningroom.com/hm/?sub=3&charityId=181&id=UDAHMwJmVTA%3D&item=8&guest=1&lan=1

Our grand total so far is $245 and we have to thank the following awesome people for that:
Wendy & Steven Lowden
Jeremy Gowling
Joan Chrysler
Erin Jackson

xoxo

First run done!

We went out this morning for the first of our training runs. This is going to be harder than we thought! I think we still did well - we ran 1km, then walked 1km, then ran 1km. Not bad for our first time out. One thing is for sure, Rudie and Edie LOVED being in a fast-moving stroller!

We followed the run up with a lot of stretching -- we're expecting some sore thighs tomorrow so its going to be a day for rest and then we'll be going back out sunday for another run. Look at us go!

here we go!

There we were -- Adam wanted to get into better shape in preparation for police college and I needed a way to get my body back after having had two babies in 15 months. We were also really in need of something that we could do together - no kids, no household chores, just the two of us and one common goal.

We have registered for the Eaton Downtown Dash 10k race on July 15th, 2010. We walk as a family everyday and usually for a couple of hours at a time but neither one of us has had much experience running on a more than casual level. This will be quite the challenge for us and we'll be using you as our motivation to get 'er done. We'll be posting updates and photos along our way so stay tuned!

Training starts now.