1654th overall out of 2099

I felt really nervous on the day of. Although I knew I’d finish it, I still felt nervous!

There was a great vibe at the event. It was a gorgeous day for the run. Probably couldn’t have asked for a better day for a race like that at High Park. The route was quite nice. I kept trying to tell myself, this is just a fun run I’d do on any nice day.

There were signs at each 1k and each 1k felt longer than 1k! It wasn’t so bad.

I always find that the first 2-3ks are harder but it was fun to run with loads of people.

I didnt stop ‘per se’ but I walked very briefly at the beginning of the hill which was at the end of the race. Then, I sprinted the rest of the hill and then sprinted to the finish line. My heart felt like it was going to burst but it was definitely worth the sprint!

I feel like I should have trained a little more diligently to get my speed up. I will definitely have to work on my speed for the next race. I believe it was 6:30 per K.  Perhaps, down to 6minutes/k.

Raised a total of $551 for prostate cancer research and it was definitely worth all the training days in winter. It was a fun one!

Picked up a few different seed bags – heard success rate is 50% so I bought two bags each haha

I got – Sweet basil, Cosmos, Aster (Power Puffs they are called), Matthiola(night scented stocks), Beets!, Green onion, Chives, Thunbergia Vine (Black-eyed Susan vine)

They were 79 cents each and i think I’ll plant them  tomorrow when it’s nice and warm out.

Found a little surprise too! I found a small sprout last year, and thought it looked like it would grow to be a tree, so I planted it in a small terra cotta, and surprise, surprise, it survived the winter and looked like it grew since the last time I saw it! So satisfying to see that i survived!

I think we are all torn between our ideals and reality. As a society, we have a pretty standard set of ideals. What I mean by this is, is that, we all have a similar view of an ideal life – we must be married by a certain age, we must own certain cars, owning property by a certain age, we need to look a certain way, etc. Our ideals are very similar and almost agreed upon. Even if it is not our personal ideal, it is the societal ideal, and we often feel we must conform to it.

Unfortunately, we all have different realities and when our ideals and realities don’t match, we feel inadequate, incompetent and frustrated.

To be happy might even be one of those ideals. How do we even define ‘happiness’? It probably means different things to different people.

So, what are we waiting for? We should just do what makes us feel right, what makes us feel great, what makes us feel alive. After all, there’s no way we can please everyone at the same time anyway, so why bother try?

In any case, it was a bit icy and slippery but I didn’t fall. I went with the faster group because my goal is sub 40 minutes but it is a pretty lofty goal for me at this point. I think it’s possible but I’ll have to work on my speed more. I also have to do more hill work. It looks like a fun one as opposed to a straight flat road, so I won’t be bored, but I will also have to train hard to prepare for the hills. So… overall, not too confident yet, but it was well worth driving all the way to High Park. I think getting used to the hills, and also running downhill will be critical… Inspiring to see others also training too. Lots of runners at high park.

Salad bowl: $8.50

Choose from: Spinach & Arugula, Baby spinach, Mixed greens

& Choose 6 toppings: Here I chose, beets, roasted red peppers, raw broccoli, chick peas, Tempeh(tofu/bean patty-like bits) & peas (other options available too. Too many to remember!)

Dressing: they seemed to have many delicious options. I chose lemon tahini. It was a good choice!

Also you can add sunflower seeds or almonds!

My review: AWESOME. nothing I love more than a really delicious salad. Maybe my whole blog can be about salads! I should post up some of my own concoctions as well some time, but this salad was filling, fresh and finger-lickin’ good!

not photographed, but I also ordered their soup of the day ($4) which was Sweet Potato soup, It was delicious!!

This is their bar. So many toppings to choose from!

Urban Herbivore
64 Oxford St.
Toronto, Ontario
M5T 1P1
416.927.1231 

A quick stop at a dried goods store. My friend Ji In is showing off her spanish skills!

We also stopped by Wanda’s pie bar across the street from urban herbivore and the coffee there was delicious! What a fun day for my taste buds at Kensington today!

School Bakery & Café

70 Fraser St., Toronto  (Liberty Village)

 416-588-0005         

http://www.sbcto.com/home.php

I ordered the greens with crumbled goat cheese, candied almonds and lemon pepper vinegrette $8 (for large size of $4 for small size) and coffee $2.30 (large)

This salad was great. It was fresh and tossed just right.
I enjoyed every bite, I would highly recommend this salad if you are looking for a light lunch!

There was a bit of a line up at around 1pm. It was quite busy at that time but it died down pretty quickly. They didn’t go all out on the ‘school’ theme so don’t expect any cheesy play on school.

Other items on the menu also looked good. I would go again if I’m in the area.

I ran a different route today so I didn’t know what the distance was but turns out it wasn’t that much more than yesterday (It felt like it was longer). It was 5.9K and I ran it for 41 minutes or so, which is similar to yesterday. Not surprising since this is only the third day but not bad for having been off running for awhile!

I’ll have to make tomorrow a rest day from running but do some strength work outs. I haven’t done any crossfit workouts in awhile… time for some Tabata perhaps? *groan*

“Pain is weakness leaving the body!”

Mutual Deli for lunch

P-Mall for screen protector for the new Milestone!

Then went for a run again in the Vibram Five Fingers! I felt surprisingly felt good about jogging for 40 minutes. Total distance came up to 5.8K!  so almost 6K.

Not bad for not having run outdoors for awhile, but the weather was so beautiful I actually enjoyed running today.I gotta keep this feeling going.

(Yesterday I did 3K for 20 minutes so pace is pretty constant/steady but closer to the race, i’ll have to work on speed)