Victoria Goddess Run training run!

This year we were proud to become an official training clinic for the Victoria Goddess Run, an amazing event that not only offers three race distances - 5K 10K and half marathon - but also donates a huge amount of money to local charities. Part of being a training partner is hosting a training run, something we were more than happy to do. The Red Barn Market is a Victoria Goddess Run race sponsor, so we began and ended our training runs - a choice of 6K and 9K run distances - at their Mattick's Farm location. I'm so pleased we were able to choose this venue, since it allowed us to run on the scenic Lochside Trail and along peaceful rural roads.

We'd had some pretty terrible weather leading up to Sunday's training run, but we totally lucked out and had nothing but sun for the event. I know I speak for many when I say I breathed a huge sigh of relief. A bunch of us arrived early to mark the route and when I got back to the starting point minutes before we were due to begin, I was pleasantly surprised to see upwards of 40 - 50 people waiting to run! We honestly couldn't have asked for a better turnout; everyone was smiling and excited and raring to go.

I'm not going to lie: it was a brisk morning. But that sunshine energized everyone, I am sure. And to top everything off, Christy, my brilliant business partner (with the help of some very special people), made twenty-four (twenty-four!) motivational signs and placed them all along the run routes. I was running along and heard several people reading them out loud and I could tell that everyone was enjoying the added inspiration. I was so happy about it that I took pictures of several of them and couldn't resist posing with the one that read "I run like a girl. Keep up." ...I think she must have made that one for me. ;)

As I was coming back into the finishing area, a car load of smiling women were leaving and stopped, rolled down their windows, and thanked me for hosting such a fabulous event. I replied with something like, "Thank you so much for coming; I'm so glad you enjoyed yourselves!" I have to say that pretty much summed up the sentiment out there yesterday; people had a great time and so did we.

I truly hope to build and grow our relationship with the Victoria Goddess Run. It's an event that so closely matches what Running Moms aims to do: empower women to take the time for themselves to do something that makes them feel powerful within themselves. Running seems like a simple and even frivolous thing until you realize that it's actually more than just putting one foot in front of the other ...when you least expect it, you may actually find out what you're made of.

So here's to everyone who came out yesterday and made our first Victoria Goddess Run training run such a huge success. Thank you so much and we hope to see you next year!

This isn't even everybody; it was a stellar group.

 

Back off, Mother Nature.

Running Moms member Angela Stewart Stauch was inspired to write a play-by-play of this week's Wednesday workout (and our toughest hill workout), the famous Seven Sisters. Read on to see why this wasn't an ordinary run. 

Thank you so much, Angela!

On Wednesday night Mother Nature tried her best to convince us to stay home, put our feet up, and indulge in a glass of wine or two by sending a storm our way. Running Moms are tenacious though, and if the morning group managed to conquer the Seven Sisters with toddlers and strollers (sounds like a good show for TLC), the evening group could not justify letting a little rain, wind and hail keep us from our run. 

So our merry group set out, and by merry I mean grumbling, whining and aching, eager to get to that first hill so we could start counting our accomplishments one hill at a time. The rain was light and wind just background noise as we pushed ourselves up the first two hills and for a moment I thought “Hey, maybe I’m not going to die and have my remains chewed on by vultures during this run.” But then we found ourselves at the bottom of Gonzales, which is daunting in itself but even more so when the running group that you passed on your way to the bottom of the hill is now standing at the top watching and cheering you on. We certainly felt the pressure to run all the way to the top of the hill with our supporters watching, however, I think there was equal pressure to not throw up in front of our new running friends. 

Having to push ourselves up to the top of that hill seemed to set the tone for the next two hills, and I have to say the only thing that seemed to get me to the top of those hills was the belief that if I stopped Christy was going to start barking at me like Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own, “Walking?! There’s no walking up hills!” 

Lotbiniere almost did me in and I swear I heard a very vocal squirrel warning me to not even attempt this hill, however, upon further reflection I was probably just experiencing exercise-induced psychosis (I just made that up but from now on it’s going to be my excuse for everything because it just sounds cool). By the time I arrived at the top of Lotbiniere, I was again reminded of my early premonition that I might just have to be left for dead during the course of this run, but lucky for me the motto of Running Moms seems to be that no one will be left behind (even if you cry and beg to just be left in a ditch they won’t leave you and I know because I’ve tried this ploy to get out of a run early). All I can say is that Lotbiniere is a BITCH and thankfully I was running with some amazing, strong women who showed me that it can be finished.

As we ran onwards, I realized my memories of Robleda were pretty fuzzy, most likely because by this point in the Seven Sisters runs I am focusing on getting one foot in front of the other and just not collapsing, and so I dreaded what knew was coming next, more pain. It turns out that this was my favorite hill of the run! We were greeted by a fire truck and a huge Garry Oak tree that had been taken down by the wind (makes you really respect what we were accomplishing out there if huge trees were being knocked over!). I know in my heart that we would have just run under that huge tree and past the sparking wires in order to run that hill if the firemen hadn’t physically held us back and forced us to move on with the threat of calling the police if we didn’t retreat. That’s just how dedicated we are to our Seven Sisters run.

On the last leg of the run, the downhill-we’re-almost-there-the-end-is-in-sight part of the run that always brings a little pep back into my step, Mother Nature decided to throw one more thing at us…hail. Thankfully we were almost back at the store by this point so we just relished in the thought that we had one more running bragging right. Now that we have proven that a little spring storm in Victoria can’t keep us from running, I think it’s time to challenge ourselves a little more. Anyone up for trip to the Maritimes? I hear they are expecting a blizzard this weekend…

Building blocks.

Here's to fantastic people. Here's to fantastic people with enough dedication to meet up at 8am on a Sunday to run.

And here's to those same fantastic and dedicated people who do all of that while pushing a stroller.

Seriously. Need some inspiration? Look no further than this amazing group.

We have now finished our first block of build weeks for this clinic; we increased our long-run time by fifteen minutes every week for three weeks and now we will have a rest week before starting to build once again. 

The Sunday long runs coupled with the mid-week workouts build strength and endurance. In the coming weeks we will also start adding speed work to our mid-week workouts and race-pace pickups into our long runs. The whole combination will slowly train the body - and the mind! - to push through and persevere on race day. We're off to a fantastic start!

Here's a bunch of photos from our last three long runs. :)



February 17th, Oak Bay:

February 24th West Bay walkway into Esquimalt:

March 3rd, to Oak Bay, then to James Bay:

It is certainly Spring in Victoria! Life is good!

The clinic is ON!

New clinic, new clinic, NEW CLINIC! Don't get me wrong; I always thoroughly enjoy the maintenance phase, especially over the holidays. We work so hard leading up to our races that it's always nice to have some down time. But by the time January rolls around, I'm more than ready to get back at it.

There are several awesome things about this clinic. Here is a list:

1. It's our first clinic as an Official Training Clinic for the Victoria Goddess Run.
2. It's our fist time with an amazing team of volunteer run leaders. We even have a GUY!
3. Our registration just keeps growing. We've had more and more people join for each and every clinic we've offered.
4. I've realized that the percentage of people who re-register for our clinics is close to 100%. (Usually when people leave the group it's because they are pregnant, have just had a baby, or have moved. And YAY to our returning Moms who have recently had babies!)
5. Seriously, the people who join us are terrific. We're so lucky.
6. We'll be running workouts again!

Yes, that's right... I'm celebrating the fact that we are once again running hills and doing speed work. When you run a lot of workouts, it's definitely nice to take a break, but it's funny how getting out there and working hard can feel so good. And there's nothing like a tough workout to give you a huge feeling of accomplishment every week. I don't know about you, but the simple act of completing a workout (even if I'm not feeling great that day) gives me a big boost of self-esteem. 

So to say that I'm looking forward to this clinic is a bit of an understatement. I am over the moon to once again have the honour of running with such an inspired and inspiring group of people. We have one workout and one long run already in the books and if the enthusiasm and effort displayed thus far are any indication, this is going to be even more fun than I could have ever hoped. 

If Running Moms sounds like a good fit for you, you can join us anytime. You can become a member, or you can join us for our 10K or Half Marathon clinic; we still have space and would love to have you!