So, it’s done.  My dare is finally finished.  I just completed my last run with M – he did really well considering that he already did 40 km on his bike this afternoon.  The weather was lovely, and I got a good respite from my paper writing (yes, it’s STILL not done, but at least I have something on paper).

Reflecting back on the last few days, I can’t believe what I’ve done.  I knew I had something in me, but I didn’t know I could push myself to do all those runs (especially because I don’t always enjoy running).  But I think I’ve found myself a good groove now.  I’ll just have to find another awesome cause to run for next!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading my daily updates.  I can’t thank you enough for supporting me!  Lots of love!

I can’t believe I survived!  This day has gone to pot and I’m stressing because not one page of my essay is written (I spent a few hours on the care plan part, but still no essay).  The last thing I wanted to do tonight was run again – especially because M couldn’t come and I couldn’t find another run partner.  I know my running route well, but it’s different when it’s dark out!  I was even more worried because I wanted to bring my music and I didn’t want that to add to me being unsafe.

But it all worked out – I called my mum before and after the run, and I kept to the night well-lit areas.  Plus I felt motivated to run off my pounding headache.  It worked!  AND I ran the fast I’ve run yet.  YESS!  So I dedicate this run to my friend who donated another $20 today to bring me up to 102% of my goal!

Tomorrow is my last run, and I can’t believe it!  Come back to read the last update, friends!  And thanks so much for the love and support!

I felt so sluggish this morning.  I had to will myself to run forward – I was almost regretting agreeing to run twice today and thought I should have run last night.  But then I started running over the wet leaves on the sidewalk, which were super slippery without the rain and I was thankful that I didn’t go last night after all.

Even though I felt like I was hardly moving by the end of my run, I did it quicker than the 40 minutes I was expecting.  My legs hurt a little less, and my music was pretty decent.  Overall a good run – tonight’s will be much chillier and I’ll keep you posted.

It’s Friday night, it started pouring rain after clinical and it hasn’t stopped.  I am willing myself to go out and run, but it’s soooo wet it’s probably not the best idea.  So, through much thoughtful consideration  I’ve decided to postpone my run from tonight to first thing tomorrow AM.  I will run tomorrow night as well to keep up my promise – 9 runs in 9 days!

Please forgive me for “whimping” out.  But I promise you I will be in bed in about 30 minutes so I can rest up for tomorrow.

Ok – I did it!  I really did it!  After 12 hours of clinical, I did not want to go run at all!  But I knew that I couldn’t let my friends down!  Even with an empty tummy and sore legs I managed to finish my 5 km before I knew it!  I was sooo glad that M came with me – there were a few unique Torontonians around when we ran past Riverdale that I wouldn’t have wanted to confront alone. The nice weather and clear night made it even more bearable!  You could see the CN tower perfectly!

Now I’m home, icing my tired legs and I’m about to enjoy an awesome not-so healthy meal of Wendy’s!  At least I’ve “earned” it.

Ow!  Today’s run really hurt – literally.  I had to go after work today, but I guess that was just as well – it allowed my legs to recover somewhat from my floor hockey game last night.  Or so I thought!  My legs were really hurting, right on the side of my calves for about 50% of my run today and I hardly wanted to finish.  I’m so glad that M was there to keep pushing me, and I took some walking breaks.  (They were so necessary).

It’s totally worrying me now, though.  My friend C and I were talking at floor hockey last night about the possibility that I was getting shin splints, and that it could put me out of commission for months!  Ugh!  That’s not cool – and it’s not helping my anxiety that I’ve iced my legs but still feel pain.  I so want to do this run, but do I want to seriously hurt myself?  I’ll keep wrestling with this problem!

Keep checking in – tomorrow I’ve got clinical – 12 hours at the hospital.  I won’t get to running until around 8pm or so.

This is a quick post because I need to make sure I get to school on time (class and midterm today).  The run went really well.  I pushed myself to go faster because I didn’t want to be late, and because I had some awesome motivational music playing (MIA, MJ, etc).  The weather was awesome, and it was great to see tons of people out walking their dogs.  I kept a good pace and didn’t take one walking break, and I got all green lights!  I guess this was God’s way of pushing me forward seeing as I didn’t even want to get out of bed this morning!

Tomorrow will be an afternoon run, I’ve got to work during the day.  Keep checking in friend – the dare is on!

This morning I got up at 7:20 and was determined to run right away. Yeah…that didn’t happen.  I did a little bit of studying to wake myself up and decided to run just after 9:00.  As soon as I started, I noticed I had a headache and I realized that I had forgotten to eat breakfast – OOPS.  Oh well, I just plugged on instead and tried to motivate myself by thinking about the OJ and cinnamon raisin toast waiting for me (which I just ate).

The run was pretty good overall – I can tell my muscles are getting more tired and it felt like my calves were on fire when I was running up the first part of our regular route (it’s all uphill for about 10 minutes).  The weather was awesome!  It was super clear out and I could see the CN tower across Riverdale Park and I tried to use that to distract me from my tired legs.  Once I was up the hill it was a lot better.  I had some awesome tunes come up on my shuffle and I just ran it out.  I made in home before I knew it.

Now it’s time for more school work and a shower!

Today I got up early and decided to run to church – it’s about 5.1 km from my house, so it’s perfect.  I was cold, but I was ready for the challenge.   Overall, I felt good – it’s a little harder to run in cold air, so I totally felt from nice phlegm building up, but I pushed though. My mittens and toque were a welcome addition today.  I kept a good pace for the run and I took one very short walking break, that’s it, so that already made me feel better than yesterday.

It was nice to do a different route but I found it harder to push on mentally.  Even though I’ve biked the route I took to church, I’ve never run it, and it was hard to think “just 10 more minutes” or anything like that to encourage myself because I really didn’t know how long it would take me.  There are also tons more stop lights en-route, but it worked out because I go a lot of green in a row.  That’s helped me push on too!

But I’ve gotta say, one of the strangest part of the run this morning was running through the not-so-great neighbourhood of Dundas/Sherbourne.  There were many of the unique residents out, mostly men who I felt kept glancing at me.  It was kind of creepy.  I guess the good new is I could have probably outrun them if they tried anything.   Another strange part was to be out running past the people doing a half-marathon/marathon today.  I crossed their paths quite a few times, and I think a few people were wondering why this girl was running the wrong direction!

The best part of the run today though was getting to church and feeling the love of my church family supporting me!  I got donations – including an awesome triple dog dare – and I’ve reached my fundraising goal!  Hopefully I can raise even more than that!  Thank you again for supporting me!

I had a later run today because I waited for the hubby, M, to come and run with me.  He spent the morning helping friends move and I went to the dentist/studied for my exam next week.  I was just settling into a mid-study power nap when he came home so it made it really hard to want to get up and run, but I knew that I had to.

M and I suited up and heading out on our regular run path.  The weather was much warmer than I expect on the first part of the run so I felt super over dressed in my toque and mittens.  It also made it harder to run at first because I was both tired and super warm, so I had to take a couple of walking breaks, which was kind of discouraging, but I’ve got 8 more days to do better. Right?

I just reminding myself that I’m only going a little bit out of my comfort zone – there are people doing more more extraordinary things (like walking for miles to get drug treatments) on a daily basis.  It’s just baby steps for me.