Happy 27!

For some reason, I don't have any photos from my birthday! As I posted on my Facebook Timeline, 

"Officially 27! No bongga celebration, just a quiet day with the people who matter most. Slept in (hooray for Christmas break), gave Liam a bath (it's been so long since I got to do this), had a nice Japanese lunch/double date with my parents, afternoon nap with Liam, ran with the husband and had a movie date to end the day. 

The less you demand out of life, the easier it is to find happiness and contentment. If the world ends tomorrow, I'll be happy to say I spent the last day of my life well :p" 

If I were the less mature me, I'd be complaining cos I didn't get flowers and a nice surprise gift (hubby advanced his gift by giving me those New Balance running shoes and Garmin heart rate monitor/watch).  But since I feel having a baby has made me grow up in more ways than one (because seriously, who needs anything else when you have both parents still alive, a cute - I may be biased - little dumpling boy, and loving husband), I'm really just happy to have spent the day with good food, family and a nice run.  Yes, although it was a quick 5km, I just HAD to run on my birthday! :) 

New Shoes, Same Issue

So I broke in my new shoes today (NB 880v2 - see previous post), yay, right? NOT.  Well, in terms of how it feels when I run, I don't really see any significant difference..? I do appreciate how much more room my toes have.  The pair I have now is much bigger - thanks to pregnancy, my feet got bigger and I don't think it's going to get any smaller.

Anyway, reason why it's not a yay is because... I still got blisters (considered posting a photo but maybe that's too nasty).  I was hoping it was my Mizuno pair that was giving me the blisters, I guess not? CA suggested not wearing socks next time - I'll try next week.  Definitely not trying something new for this weekend's half-marathon.

Speaking of something new, I tried an energy gel today! Had one before my run with CA and well, I did feel a surge of energy at around 3kms! Although CA does not approve of energy gels, I think I might have to have one or two this Sunday, still thinking about it.  Not sure if it's entirely psychological - I remember last year when I did my first half-marathon, I didn't need any gel or even a hydration belt! But, yes, I will not compare my now-self to my last year-self.  I'm less prepared now and carrying on more weight.  According to CA, I always screw up my long runs - by screw up he means: (1) I don't run the entire distance and (2) I only finished 17 last Sunday (instead of the 20 I was supposed to do).

As for my blisters, will definitely load up on petroleum jelly for the half-marathon! We'll see how that goes.