Category Archives: running

Race Report: SaskMarathon Half Marathon, plus 1km

  By Crystal Clarke | May 28, 2017 - 2:33 pm | , , , , , , , , , ,
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Crys half marathon

Race stats: 22.2km, 2:45, 7:27min/km I can’t believe I haven’t written in my blog since February! A former training buddy, who follows this blog, sent me an email a couple of weeks ago and was hoping that I hadn’t written because I was busy training. Indeed, that is what has happened! Today I was rewarded for my hard work. Pre-Race: I had no idea what to expect going into this event. I know the pace that I had been running this year (usually with a run-walk around 8:00 min/km) and thought that I could maybe do better if I walked … Keep reading →

40-day challenge update – day 13

  By Crystal Clarke | June 25, 2013 - 9:36 pm | ,
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Firefly

Over the last two weeks there have definitely been some super lame “workouts” that I’ve claimed as exercise. However, I feel like I’m actually progressing! It’s those days of weak exercise days that I can convince my mind as being successful and keeping this thing going. Yes, I’m playing Jedi mind-tricks on myself. I’m so gullible! Anyway, consistency of ACTUAL exercise is happening these days. Last week I got out on my bike three times and went on numerous walks. The last two days I have went walking with my hunny. Last night we even convinced the teen and pre-teen … Keep reading →

Team 50km Ultra Marathon Race Review

  By Crystal Clarke | October 23, 2011 - 2:59 pm | , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Yesterday my training buddies, MellowJohnny and SpeedyK, and I ran together in a team effort for Saskatoon’s 50km Ultra Marathon event. It’s a great fall season event and it was really lots of fun! The three of us had had many discussions about who would take which “leg” of the race. We didn’t know the distances when the discussion began, so we tentatively set it at me doing the first, SpeedyK doing the second, and MellowJohnny doing the third. It ended up going exactly like that! This meant that I would take the longest leg at 17.4km, SpeedyK would take … Keep reading →

It’s been a long time

  By Crystal Clarke | May 16, 2010 - 9:40 pm | , , ,
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It’s been so long and so much has happened. In fact, I don’t even know where I left off. It was last summer or last fall or something, right? Well, I’m not going to dwell on the past – I’m here to write about right now. Right now, or approximately, I am just starting to train again. How long has it been? Well, it has been since last July that I have consistently and on purpose exercised regularly. For a few weeks now I have committed to running 3 times a week, biking as much as possible, and just get … Keep reading →

Fear is holding me back

  By Crystal Clarke | February 17, 2009 - 7:41 pm | , , , , ,
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This morning I was in the pool with my training buddies and we were talking about the half marathon race coming up this weekend. It dawned on me when I did the 10K that I was going to do a half marathon and I was not ready! No, I was not. To be honest, I was not in my right mind when I signed up for the race. My mental health has made life a bit of a struggle for me over the past few month. However, I had an up-swing and signed up for both the 10K and the … Keep reading →

Another First

  By Crystal Clarke | February 8, 2009 - 11:18 am | , ,
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Today I get to add another first to my list of “things I have done.” Today I am running my first 10km race. It’s true, I have never run a 10k race before. I have run a half marathon before, which was my only running-only race. However, I have run a marathon during Ironman. But this is my first 10k. I’m pretty excited to see how it goes. It is actually kind of a warm-up race for the half marathon that I’m doing in a couple of weeks. So my Garmin is all charged up and ready to go; my … Keep reading →

RunRunRun

  By Crystal Clarke | January 19, 2009 - 9:06 am | , ,
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Well, now that I have new shoes and it’s warm out, I’m all about the running. It probably helps that I’ve also signed up for two races in February: The Brain Freeze (a 10-km) and The Hypothermic Half (half marathon, 21-km). Both of them are in February and it is likely that they will be COLD, hence the names. While the idea of getting hypothermia doesn’t particularly excite me, it’s a good way to keep motivated through the winter! This morning I went out with my dog and had a really nice run. It was a balmy -8C and some … Keep reading →

Who knew?

  By Crystal Clarke | October 21, 2008 - 2:29 pm | , ,
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Yesterday’s epiphany about what is causing my lower-back imbalance blew me away. It really did. It was so obvious! As someone who considers herself pretty self-aware, I feel a little silly about not recognizing what was causing the imbalance. The massage therapist, chiropractor, and physiotherapist were all wondering what I was doing to cause such lower back problems. They surmised that perhaps I was sitting consistently incorrectly while at work or that I was turning one way more than another. That sort of thing. However, not one of them asked, “Do you have a puppy that pulls you one way … Keep reading →

Running: It felt better, then it felt bad again

  By Crystal Clarke | October 20, 2008 - 9:54 am | , ,
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Over the past week and a bit, I have been training fairly consistently. Last week I did both of my bike workouts and I felt good about accomplishing that. In fact, I did all of my workouts last week. Yay! Last Sunday I went for my long run and ran 6-miles pretty much pain-free. It was awesome. There were two changes that were made: I did my IT band stretches and I didn’t have my dog with me. I love running with my dog, but for the last few months, I have been having my arm pulled off everyday by … Keep reading →

Running Injuries Really Do Suck

  By Crystal Clarke | October 9, 2008 - 3:12 pm | , ,
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They do. They just plain suck. I have been battling running injuries for YEARS. My training buddy made a passing comment the other day about how I hate running. I said, “Woah, hold on, wait a second! I love running!” She was very surprised because she had not heard me say anything good about running since I’ve known her. I said that it was because of the injuries that I’m miserable about running. So I decided to take matters into my own hands (and with the advice of my coach) and saw the physiotherapist today. She told me what my … Keep reading →