Choosing where to run my first marathon

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been terrible at making decisions. It’s a widely known fact among my family and friends that I WILL be the last person to put down the menu when we’re out for dinner.

I can change my mind three times before getting to the counter at Tim Horton’s; debate for weeks over whether to buy the black running watch or the purple; and spend 10 minutes considering what to wear to work in the morning.

For me, the decision-making process can be agonizing and since my indecisiveness does not discriminate between big decisions and small ones, critically analyzing the pros and cons of every decision I make is just what I do.

So when it came to deciding where to run my first marathon I was truly paralyzed.

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Picking the perfect pair of running shoes

I’ve always been a shoe girl. While I buy most of my clothes from thrift shops and never turn down a quality hand-me-down, if there is any part of my wardrobe I am willing to spend money on (when I have it), it’s shoes.

There is no outfit a pair of red patent leather heels or nude wedges can’t fix, but as most women who love shoes know, using them as an accessory means we don’t always make the best decisions when it comes to wearing ones that are good for our feet.

Despite occasionally making poor life choices involving high-heels, I do understand the importance of proper footwear when it comes to running.

What I didn’t understand when I started this program was how to pick that proper footwear for the training I would be doing.

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Half-marathons and heartbreak

It’s funny how at any point during the year, you can look back on your New Year’s celebration and know despite any plans or expectations you held about what the next 365 days might bring, you never really knew what the next year had in store for you. Sometimes the trials life throws at you are amazing and other times they’re heartbreaking.

As I quietly rang in 2015 at home with my boyfriend Chad, and my leopard gecko named Scales, I had no idea that I would soon be training for a marathon. What I also didn’t know was that this year I would lose one of the most important people in my life. On May 19, at the age of 95, my Nonna Marjorie (Madge) Contenti passed away.

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Running the Banff Jasper Highway

Two weeks ago I participated in the Banff Jasper Relay (BJR) with a group of my coworkers from the University of Calgary. The 258 kilometre race is a fundraiser for the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada and is dubbed “The Most Beautiful Relay in the World” which is a claim I wouldn’t dispute. If you’ve never driven the incredible winding stretch of road between Banff and Jasper then it should be on the top of your bucket list. While I’ve made the drive before, experiencing it in the context of the relay was a new and incredible journey that I won’t ever forget.

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Marathon training race weekend #1

We did it! We finished our first race since starting our marathon training in March and it feels amazing! I say “we” because although I have been talking a lot about my personal training experience on this blog, the reality is that my journey is just a small part of something much larger. The team of runners and coaches who are part of the University of Calgary Marathon Training Program are an amazing group of people, without whom I wouldn’t be where I am now. I certainly felt all of their support on Saturday, when many of us participated in the Calgary Marathon, running either the 10k race or the half marathon. I was just as excited to cheer them on and to see them finish as I was to cross the finish line myself.

Although we still have a long way to go to reach our final goals this year, whether it be a full or a half marathon, checking this first milestone off the list is definitely something to celebrate.

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