Sunday, Run Day, Sun Day!

Today started with a 6 mile run with my friend/hubby’s cousin, Lianne.  It was a pretty good run, and in the end it was a new 10k record for me.  My previous best 10k was 1:09 something and today’s run can in just slightly under that time at 1:08:48.  So, I didn’t beat it by much, but I beat it.  We we were coming to the last stretch I took a look at my watch and saw I would be close to being under 1:09.  When we got to the top of a little hill just before our cottage I could see our garbage box and that was my target.  I booted it into my highest gear and gave it all I had until I reached the garbage can.  It helped that it was a slight downhill, so I could lengthen out my stride and get it over with quickly.  I am pretty pleased with the run, and glad I don’t have to run that far again until race day!  This weeks runs are all short, with 3 miles being the farthest I have to go.  It’s a pretty light week leading up to the big run next Sunday.  Good thing…my legs could use the rest.

Whatever is going on with my hip/hamstring/groin is still bothering me.  But today after my run I did take some time and stretch things out a bit and it feels a bit better. That is going to be one of my goals for the week and stretch every day.  I really need to get myself one of those foam rollers. I’ve heard lots of people say how good they are.  I’m sure it would be good for all the tight muscles I seem to have in my legs.  I’m not sure I will be able to get one before race day, so I will have to do some good old-fashioned stretching.

Once my run was done, the rest of the day was pretty much spent sitting outside enjoying the fantastic weather we are having.  The kids played in the water all day and the adults all followed the sun or shade around the yard.  I am a sun-lover, so I followed the sun!  We got the slide put in the water today, so here’s what today’s view looked like:

This shot was taken at probably the only minute when there weren’t 7 little boys playing on slide – our 2, 4 cousins and a neighbour. They spent hours having water fights, jumping off the dock, going down the slide, and playing in the kayaks.  It was a great day!  I even enjoyed a glass of wine as we watched the kids play.  I was going to have a beer as my run reward, but my sister-in-law brought a bottle of wine out for us to drink, so I just went with that.

Hubs and I were on dinner duty tonight.  We had chicken souvlaki, roasted baby potatoes, and the best cucumber & tomato salad ever.  Dinner was delicious and fairly clean.  That was until the ice cream came out for dessert.  I indulged and had a very small scoop of Kawartha Dairy Heavenly Hash…chocolate ice cream with chocolate coated peanuts.  Yummo!

After dinner we had a bon fire and the cousins, aunts and uncles from down the road came over for out traditional Victoria Day fireworks display. Hubs takes great pride in his fireworks show.  He’s got a great place that he goes to buy his fireworks – Victory Fireworks in Richmond Hill.  He loves to go there and pick out his fireworks for the big show. He says the guys in the warehouse know everything about all the various fireworks and can always recommend some great ones.  This year, he once again lived up to the expectations. There were lots of great explosions, bangs, whistles, flashes and colours.  The grand finale was amazing…35 fireworks in one continuous display.  It was quite impressive.  As always, everyone enjoyed the show!

Now, it’s after 11pm and I am trying to finish up this post, so I can read a few pages of my book before I pack it in and go to sleep.  I am so looking forward to tomorrow.  It’s Monday, so it’s a rest day in my training schedule, and it’s a holiday, so I get to sleep in!!!  I’m hoping to get a killer sleep in.  Hopefully everything goes as planned and I get lots of sleep…I sure could use it!

So, above I mentioned that we had the best cucumber & tomato salad ever.  It is a recipe that one of my colleagues at work gave me.  He always make it when we have a jerk pork lunch at the office.  It goes well with the heat of the jerk and provides a nice cool, refreshing salad. I absolutely love this salad and make it all the time in the summer since it is so light and refreshing.  Here’s the recipe so you can try it out for yourself:

Cucumber & Tomato Salad:

In a large bowl, put:
2 cucumbers, coarsely chopped
1 tomato, coarsely chopped

In a salad dressing container, put:
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
salt and pepper to taste
shake well to imulsify.

Add dressing to cucumber and tomato and mix well.
Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
NOTE:  don’t leave out the garlic!  it makes the dish

I hope you all had a great Sunday.  Here’s looking forward to a short week!

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