Running.Food.Baby.

One last Dome Thursday

Yesterday was the last indoor track meet of the pre-track season. Next week we move outside for our meets and for practice. Good news is that instead of 8 hours in the dome on Thursdays, it will be outside for 8 hours. The only real bad news is that the track is a little bit farther from my house, but it isn’t too bad. Most weeks I will already be at the track for meets anyways. If I head to the track before rush hour, I can be there in about 15-20 minutes. The track is really nice and surrounding the facility are lots of great trails, so I am hoping to get a few runs in before/after practice.

Yesterday’s meet went well – some good results including a couple of 1st place finishes and quite a few PB’s (Personal Bests for you non-running people). We have a few more invitational meets before we head into OFSAA qualifying season. Hopefully the team keeps improving and we excel at our big meets!

What do I do at track meets? Quite a bit of watching and running around. I have athletes competing in the field as well as the track, so I rotate between all the events. I circle races that I want to make sure I’m watching, as well as write down names and times of events. For the long distance races (1500m and 3000m), I also call out lap times to whoever is running. I also give many ‘high fives’ and say many yay’s in a day. Once we get to our OFSAA qualifying meets, I have to officiate events – this year it is the triple jump. During those times, it gets very hectic as I am measuring jumps and yelling at people at the track at the same time. I remember a race two years ago when it looked like one of my girls and another runner were having a chit chat during a 3000m. I believe my exact words (being screamed) were “what is this, a tea party? Move your butts!”. Good times!

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For those who are interested in Run Disney events – there is some news about Disney Princess Half! – There will be a 10K race on the Saturday now, AND a new special medal (Glass Slipper) for those who run both the 10K race and the half marathon. I’m hoping to possibly run at Disney next year – but I also put my name in the draw for the NYC Marathon, so it could be one or the other. I cannot afford two destination races, so we will see in May if I get a spot for NYC! Registration for Princess is on June 11th.

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Random Moment

What do you all have in your desk drawers? This is my desk:

I have my Sharpie Pen collection hidden away, as well as a bag of Peanut Butter M&M’s. Yum!

By Rebecca|Coaching, running|10 Comments

Coaching

While pursuing through Instagram pictures (I am rebeccaruns if you wish to follow), and saw Meghann’s (mealsandmiles) picture of her lunchtime swim with her co-workers. I thought to myself “I wish I had a job like that”.

Then at 3:30pm, I realized that I do actually have a job like that! Since I coach high school track and field, I do from time to time get to spend time at the track rather than at a desk. Without getting into politics – coaching is a volunteer opportunity that comes along with being a teacher (note: I also volunteer my time with the local track club as well). Most of the time I spend with the team is after hours, but from this point on I spend one day a week at the track for the afternoon or full-day. If the weather is nice, it means sitting out in the sun, watching some track and cheering on/coaching some great kids. I also get to wear athletic clothes on those days

This is my fourth season with my current team. The year prior I coached at another school in another city, which included going to my first OFSAA championship (OFSAA is the provincial championship in Ontario). I started coaching after two weeks on the job. Hearing an announcement about track practice and decided to lend a hand. Somehow, lending a hand turned into being the main coach in only a matter of weeks. We went to OFSAA with two athletes that year in London, Ontario. The next year, we sent three athletes to Sudbury, and last year we had four go to OFSAA in Brockville. This year I am hoping to send at least five students to OFSAA in Oshawa.

Although the student-athletes work really hard throughout the season, we have some fun too. We eat lots of food (walking tacos and poutines are after race faves), have fun travelling (although not 2.5 hr drives in a school bus, never again!), and many LOL moments (A losing her shoes multiple times, the weird guy with the guitar in London singing an inappropriate song, ordering $75 worth of Boston Pizza for three people and eating it all, being mistaken for a student numerous times). Coaching the team rarely feels like work and every year I enjoy spending my time with them.

Tomorrow I am at the track for a meet and then the evening practice. It will be a kind of longish day, but it will be a great day.

By Rebecca|Coaching, running|5 Comments

First Track Meet of the Year

Happy Wednesday!

Last night at 4:30pm I got word that I could take a few student-athletes to an indoor tournament, so I quickly entered them and made plans to get out to the dome for the afternoon. Under normal circumstances, I would have already planned to go to this meet. It is one of a series of five that is put on by the local track and field club (the one I have started to volunteer with) – I’ve signed the team up every year for four years, and other than my first year when I had only been hired by the school a couple of weeks prior – I have signed us up the day that declarations to enter are due (usually March 1st). Since the whole coaching thing was on the backburner for quite some time, I am very much disorganized. So, I could only take a few athletes (namely my more senior athletes). Next week we are back at the dome, but I shall be bringing the entire team!

It was a smaller meet – very reasonable numbers that allowed for the meet to progress at a good club. Those in the track world know that track meets can go on for hours – and that most big meets go on for days (OFSAA is three days long). These meets are short and sweet – about 4 hours tops.

We did pretty good! We had mostly 1st place finishes, a few 2nd places, and only a couple 4th and lower places. Not bad for the first team meet of the year. I am not really surprised though – I am more curious to see how my non-club athletes do, especially since I am about a month behind in my normal training plan for this bunch. But – we will deal!

In other news – I totally forgot that yesterday was the start of registration for grad school and I did not get into the online courses. I haven’t signed up for any courses for spring/summer as I am too busy with track to do in-class in the spring and I am not giving up my summer school income to take a class. I have been lucky enough to enrol in an online course late, so I am hoping to do the same this year.

What did you do today?

Do you coach?

Are you travelling this weekend?

By Rebecca|Coaching, running|6 Comments

Manic Monday: Track Practice

Hi all,

As usual I am a tad bit busy with things today – still trying to get my 52 Things post done, will get that done eventually :-S.

Today was busy with work things as usual and I even have a list of things to do for tomorrow started already. But – the big news of the day is that we had our first track practice of the year today! You may or may not have noticed that I did not really discuss Cross Country season – because it did not happen. Today was my return to coaching and it was nice. Since the track is buried in snow, we are currently inside for practice.

Today’s workout included:

- 5 minute running warm-up

- Some free-weights

- Suicides

- 3 minutes of stair climbing

- Tabata squat jumps

- Planks to push-up position

Good workout and the kids did well! Tomorrow is our first morning practice. Normally I stay away from AM practices (because I like to sleep) but I cannot stay after school on Tuesday/Thursdays so I’ve had to suck it up buttercup and hold some morning practices. It works because most of the students have evening track practice on Tuesdays/Thursdays and have trouble going from practice to practice. I am trying to get a few students into a meet for Wednesday – but still waiting word on that.

Speaking of running – I bought some new running shoes yesterday at Sports 4 as they were having a sale at their closing Kanata location. Yes – they are the exact same pair as last year’s shoes, but they worked really well for me last season!

Tonights dinner = chili! I love chili. Major comfort food and is very protein-heavy. On top of my chili I added avocado and shredded St. Alberts cheese to my dish. Delicious!

For dessert – I had a Drumstick McFlurry – Oh yeah!

By Rebecca|Coaching, running|7 Comments

CW Basketball Alumni Game

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday – I was fairly busy as we were short-staffed in our room (everyone has been getting sick again) and after work there was a basketball game, dinner and a haircut to attend to!

Speaking of the basketball game – it was the current CW team vs. the alumni. It was nice to see all the alumni back, even though they stop by quite often! This was the first year that the alumni game happened, but it will hopefully be a regular thing. I did have to leave the game a bit early (dinner was calling), I believe the alumni beat the current team. Well done!

Max came with me to the game and he spent most of the time looking at the players wondering why they had his ball and chasing the school mascot (no joke). He walked around and said hi to people and went up and down the hallway numerous times. Max also said hi to all of his friends (many of my students know him).

Before the game, a few of the alumni brought a tea for my co-worker/their Volleyball coach. But, he was sick at home so they gave his tea to me. Yay! I do have to say that I definitely prefer no sugar in my coffee I did let my friend know that I drank his tea, and he was ok with that

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I recently signed up with Netflix since many of you use the service and have said nice things about it. I browsed through the selection and there are many movies and shows that I would want to watch. I saw that “How I Met your Mother” was on and put that on the “must watch list” as I haven’t seen a single episode.

Question for all you Netflix people: How much does it affect your download usage Especially if you are with Rogers? I have high speed lite and get about 25G each month. I have no plans on upping that. Thoughts? I am going to monitor my use though!

By Rebecca|Coaching, Random, school|2 Comments

Wacky Wednesday!

Bringing back Wacky Wednesday as I was going to discuss running today, but because of the weather/OFSAA/busy schedule, I have failed to run this week. I do plan on going out today, as the temperature is perfect and it is not pouring rain today. My 5K is coming up, and I’m unsure whether PBing is a realistic goal now. Still going to try – I just don’t have the time during track season to really get out there and run, even if it is only for 30 minutes or so.

Today’s Wednesday isn’t all that wacky. In fact it is kind of boring. I may (for the first time in months) go to the Babies and Me movies at the local theatre. It is that Snow White movie playing which isn’t really my cup of tea – but they have tons of toys there that Max will actually be interested in. Or perhaps I will just stay at home and relax, and go for an afternoon walk/run instead?

My parents are coming up on Friday, and my SIL is coming up tonight from California – which means my next couple of days will be busy. Max has his doctor’s appointment on Friday as well. Tomorrow night is Coaches Banquet, fun! After this weekend my schedule kind of dies off….for two weeks, then:

Summer School!

I received my assignment for summer school yesterday. Teaching the same course I have taught a few times (as well as during last year’s summer session), but at the closet school to me (a ten minute drive). Looking forward to it!

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We had our CW athletic banquet last night – It was lots of fun as usual. Kevin earned the ‘Coaches Award’ for Track and Field, Nathan was award ‘Jr. Male Athlete’, and Hailey from XC earned the ‘Coaches Award’ for XC. Well done! Another great coaching season comes to an end. Hopefully I will be back next year

By Rebecca|Coaching, running, school|0 Comments

OFSAA Re-Cap

After three long days – track is finally over! We had a fantastic season, ending with a great time at OFSAA Brockville. All that is left of my coaching season is Athletic Banquet tomorrow, and Coaches Banquet (which is board-wide) on Thursday. This season went by incredibly fast – and it went by without too many hiccups from Max, yay!

OFSAA Day 1

We left at lunch to go see Nick at the long jump. We were pleasantly surprised with an almost empty parking lot. I heard lots of other people were parking at the mall or on the street. Rather than fight for parking and parallel parking a large car that wasn’t mine – I just drove to the official parking lot. It had about a 5-10 minute walk with it, but that was fine with us!

When we got there we registered and headed to the apparel line-up as we literally got there early enough to try and get our choice of clothes. Oh my, was that line large! It took us about 2 hrs to get through the line, the worst I have ever seen it! In the line we were checking out what was coming out. The were girls and guys hoodies (Alexia and I both got a large girls – and we are not big people!) and really nice t-shirts in great colours. Of course we got all excited about the t-shirts. I didn’t go in the store because I had Max in the Chariot, so Alexia took all the money and went to pick up things for the team. She came back and said that the girls t-shirts were sold out in mediums and larges (they are girls fit and the XS is literally for children). BOO!

Nick didn’t do so hot in the long jump and was a bit disappointed. However, this event is not the one he trains for, so he wasn’t too terribly disappointed.

Day 2

We left stupidly early (6:45am) on Friday to get Alexia there on time. We made excellent time as traffic doesn’t start in Ottawa until 7:30. Nathan and I took all of our stuff and set up just beside the stands as the Chariot could not go in the stands (duh). We met up with Alexia’s Mom, and our ‘cheering squad’ of Jaimee and Leah (btw, they should have been parent approved away from school CW staff….). Alexia and Kevin had their sprint hurdles, and we knew that the races would be fast – especially since Alexia was running against last year’s Gold medalist). They both PB’d in their races, but did not make the finals. Kevin was a bit more disappointed as he came in 9th – one spot away from finals. But as I pointed out – last year he didn’t make OFSAA by one spot, which is 100x worse

Afterwards was Nathan in the 100m. He as well PB’d, but did not make the finals. He came in 15th overall. The 100m is really really competitive! He was totally happy just to have had a good race and to PB. I should also note that our ‘cheering squad’ (which now included Nathan’s family) was the loudest one

We watched some more races – and then at the ‘track break’ decided to head to the McD’s for lunch. Holy zoo batman! It was absolutely crazy in there. I saw some locals who were trying to have a ‘kids outing’ in the play area, but oh my….I would have just packed it up and headed 10KM away from there. It calmed down eventually and I asked the counter lady (they are all older ladies) if she was having fun and she laughed and said “I haven’t had this much fun since my last root canal!” LOOOL.

We went back to watch the opening ceremonies (which included a cannon – YEAHHH) and the sprint hurdle finals. Alexia’s mom drove the kids home and Max and I headed to the Starbucks for some frappacino.

Day 3

We didn’t have to head out as early. Only Nathan was racing, but I convinced Alexia and Jaimee to join us for the day (which now I am really glad I did…as explained below). We made even better time and got there in only about an hour. We did miss the girl’s 300m hurdles, but did get to catch the boys. I did not bring Max, so it was nice to actually get to watch the races that day! We saw the 800m races go by before Nathan’s 200m.

So Nathan’s race was on – and he came in 3rd with a PB. How OFSAA works is there is 3 heats – top 2 go on, followed by the next 2 fastest times. As soon as he finished – Kevin (who was watching from home), texts me saying “I think finals!!!”. We then went on our phones to hit refresh 500x to get the live results from Ottawa Lions. That didn’t work. We finally heard the announcements that he was in!! Of course we seemed to be the only people cheering . So Nathan and his parents went in search of food and AC/shade while we stayed to watch the hurdle finals and 3000m races.

We went back to McD’s after for some lunch and A/C and then back to the track. It was really hot in the stands, and a big thank you to McD’s for putting up with us! The OFSAA Clothing people also had more t-shirts (but only in red – not the nice aqua blue, darn!), so I picked some up for myself and Kevin.

Nathan ran a great race – and came in 8th. Unfortunately that was his last race as a CW Wildcat, as his family is moving to my old neck of the woods in the summer. We do look forward to seeing Nathan at OFSAA next year!

We had a good time at OFSAA. It was different this year since we did not have to stay overnight – but we still had a great time.

Results

Nathan – 100m, 15th overall – 200m, 8th overall

Kevin – 110m Hurdles – 9th overall

Alexia – 80m Hurdles – 11th overall

Nick – Long Jump – 24th overall

By Rebecca|Coaching, running, school|0 Comments