“Vacation” Does Not Mean “Slack Off”

The cake for my 25th birthday

August is a popular month for my family. Just in my immediate family there are four birthdays and one wedding anniversary. There’s even a wedding anniversary at the very end of July. That’s a lot to remember for one month.

This year, instead of having separate events for everyone, we are all going away for a few days and combining a family vacation with all the birthdays.

As you know, I’ve been pretty stressed out lately so this is much needed time off. It’s been just over a year since my last vacation. I haven’t even had more than two days off in a row since last December.

While it’s great to be going on vacation, it is by no means an excuse to pig out or be lazy. With the exception of maybe a small piece of birthday cake (if there is any) and a beer or two, the same healthy rules apply.

The same goes for working out. I’ll be packing my runners, so even if there is no gym around I’ll be doing something active.

Birthday Weekend Recap Part 2: My First 10k

Here is the blog post you have been waiting for, My First 10k. And, if you haven’t already, check out Part 1: Ricky Turns 26.

Saturday was filled with nerves and cake. While I was excited that it was my birthday, I was really nervous about the race later that day.

There were two reasons that I wanted to run The Underwear Affair. The first is that this race raises money for a good cause. A big Thank You to all the amazing people who sponsored me. The total donation was $414. That’s $114 more than my goal.

The second reason is that I got to dress up. While I didn’t run in my underwear, I still had a theme to my costume.

As you can see, my theme was Team Canada. The main focus of the costume was a Roberto Luongo uniform T-shirt from the 2010 Olympics. I’m a hockey fanatic, what can I say?

There were so many great costumes there that day. There were a lot of people wearing underwear and lingerie.There was a group of guys dressed as Na’avi from Avatar (they painted their entire bodies blue), Superman, Batman and Robin, and even a guy wearing the swimsuit from the Borat movie. I will have to step up my game for next years costume.

About five minutes before the race, I made my way to the start line. Just as the race started I began to feel more excited and less nervous. With one short walking break, I ran the entire first kilometre almost non-stop. It was a good start.

It was definitely much harder than I expected, but I just kept going. It was very hot and very sunny that day. I’m glad that I was wearing a hat. And here I am running past Science World.

Just as I was passing Science World, I saw my brother and his family. While cheering me on, they had this sign for me.

I didn’t care how many people passed me, and there were a lot that did. All I could think about was crossing the finish line.

There were a lot of people that stopped and watched the runners as they passed and a lot of people showed their support with high fives and cheers. As I passed by this one restaurant with a patio, there was a guy that yelled to me “C’mon big guy, you’re doing great”. That felt really good to hear a stranger cheer me on.

Coming to the last stretch, I remember seeing a ton of people at the finish line, two of which were my Mom and Step-Dad. I wanted to finish strong and I kicked it into high gear. About a minute before I got to the finish line my leg started to cramp. Great timing leg. I didn’t have much further to go, so I kept on going.

My official time for the race was 1:24:20 and I placed 549 out of 557.

“I finished the race!” was all that was going through my head. Even though I didn’t run the whole thing and had to take many walking breaks, all that mattered was that I finished. A year ago I never would have thought that this was even possible.

This was such a great experience that I signed up for next years 10k. However, next year, I will run the whole 10k and I will do it in less than 1 hour.

Birthday Weekend Recap Part 1: Ricky Turns 26

As most of you know, I had a very busy weekend. So I’m going to split the recap into two parts, “Ricky Turns 26″ and “My First 10K”.

Saturday started off like any other day, except that I was really nervous for my race later that day. Before I could think about the race, my family came over for a birthday lunch. I’m going to get this out of the way right now, yes, I did indulge this weekend. And, I finally had cake (last year I said I wouldn’t have cake until my birthday this year).

The cake was a Turtle ice cream cake from Marble Slab. This was the first time in 20 years that I didn’t have a cake from Dairy Queen. Considering my cake last year had Spider-Man, this is like the end of an era… I guess that means I have to grow up.

Normally I wouldn’t be showing off presents but I have to give props to my brother Dave for this. Have you ever seen photographers at sporting events with those big white lenses? (Example here). Well, what he got me was a travel mug that’s in the shape of a Canon 70-200mm lens. How cool is that?

As some of you might know I’m kind of into photography, so I was very excited when I opened the bag to see this inside.

After lunch I just wanted to focus on the race. I didn’t do much else that day and part two will cover my thoughts on the race.

The birthday celebration continued on Sunday with a trip to Seattle to watch the Mariners take on the Yankees. This is the second time I’ve made the trek to Seattle to see these two team battle.

There was a total of seven of us that drove down. We stopped for breakfast at this 50′s style diner called Ruby’s. Apparently, they are known for their milkshakes and have been featured on the Food Network a bunch of times. So, I had to try one of their famous milkshakes. I had an Oreo milkshake, it was really good.

I know what you’re thinking, but hey, I was still celebrating my birthday.

After breakfast we headed for Safeco Field.

We were almost right behind home plate, but very high up. It was a great view of the whole field though.

The Yankees dominated the game and it was actually over pretty fast for a baseball game. The final score was 8-2 for New York. Out of all of us that went, only two of us were cheering for the Yankees. Myself being one of the two.

After the game, we went to Red Lobster for dinner. It was my first time there and it was just ok. I had a steak. That’s about as exciting as dinner was.

We made two more stops before heading home, KFC and Walmart.

Since we don’t have the KFC double down in Canada, my friend Will really wanted to try one. So we stopped and he ordered one. The double down is that burger that uses fried chicken as the bun. That just looks disgusting. He said it didn’t taste that good and only got about halfway through the “burger”.

The last stop was to a super sized Walmart. This place was the size of two football fields. We spent almost two hours there. I only bought a few shirts and a couple knick knacks. Then we headed home.

That was how I spent my birthday. I know this weeks weigh-in will reflect how I ate this weekend, so don’t expect a loss tomorrow. The birthday is over, it’s back to business for me now.

Birthday Weekend Recap Part 2: My First 10k will come before tomorrows weigh-in.