Fitness Friday – Ottawa Race Weekend 5K

June 6, 2014Fitness, RunningRacingChelle

I travelled to my hometown of Ottawa to do a 5K race with my dad who decided he also wanted to jump on the racing bandwagon I was already on. Unfortunately, I had a pretty terrible race, but he did really well!

I took the train to Ottawa the night before the race and stayed overnight at my parents. Unfortunately, the race wasn’t until 4 pm on Saturday so I had a lotttt of time to kill on Saturday. Most of which I spent it stressing out over the race. I wish the race had been early in the morning!

This disembodied bib shot seems to have become a tradition amongst my racing posts

The 5K route would take us through part of Ottawa’s downtown core, down the canal, and then back up the other side of the canal with the finish line somewhere near city hall. The start of the race had a pretty sharp incline at the beginning, but it levelled off and was going to be pretty flat after that. I was hoping for a race time between 25-26 minutes. I knew this would mean that I would really have to push myself since my previous personal best was 27:25 and even taking a minute off that time was going to be strenuous. I was in the 25-30 minute corral, while my dad was one behind me with an expected timeslot of 30-35 for completion.

Unfortunately, things turned sour right off the bat. As the gun went off for the first corral to take off (the <25 minute group), they ushered the second group (mine) right after them with zero break between the two groups. This resulted in a crushing wave of people that FORCED us to walk for the first two and a half minutes of the race right after we crossed the start line (which is when all our chip timers started). A 5K is not particularly long, and 2.5 minutes is a HUGE loss of time on such a short race. We were so jammed together that it was absolutely impossible to run past anyone. I felt completely helpless and I knew that my chances at getting a good time were quickly dwindling.

Completely frustrated, when we finally got moving, I tried to move fast enough to make up for lost time but as soon as I got up to a decent pace, I noticed two things:

One, it was kind of hot out.
Two, I was completely dehydrated.

I had completely forgotten to drink anything in the two hours prior to the race and my throat was PARCHED. And it was hotter than anything I had run in throughout the current season.

Just great. This wasn’t going to end well.

When I try to smile for the camera during a race… I make what I call the “frog face”.

Just to give you an idea as to how horrible I was feeling; I almost stopped three times throughout the race. My throat was dry to the point where I couldn’t even spit any of the gunk that was forming itself in my Sahara-like throat. And I really and truly… I just wanted to keel over. There was no water station in sight kilometer after kilometer. And there were also no kilometer markers anywhere, which my dad also complained about at the end. Thankfully, I had my Garmin so I had an idea of how far I had gone, but he decided not to wear any kind of tracker and had to guess as to how far along he was.

The shots above were taken in the last kilometer of the race, before reaching any kind of water station. You can’t really tell, but my eyes were closed. I was actually try to stave off the nausea by closing my eyes while running. In a race. /cringe

Unfortunately for me, there wasn’t a single water stand until 800 meters before the finish line. Why this was set up this way, I’ll never know. I’ve never been one to grab for water on a 5K since it’s a pretty short distance, but since I had set myself up so poorly for this race, I really would’ve appreciated one much, much earlier in the race.

By the time I got to the last 500 meters, I honestly thought I was going to throw up. 200 meters before the finish line I was holding up my hand to my mouth because I really thought I was going to retch at the finish line. I was feeling woozy and completely out of my head. I don’t know if it was lack of water, heat exhaustion (it was hot, but not THAT hot out there!) or what the heck it was, but I knew I didn’t feel good and I was terrified I was going to throw up in front of the throngs of people at the finish line. (My aunt and uncle apparently saw me cross the finish line and said I looked just fine to them, so hell if I know what was going on!)

As I crossed the finish line, I came to a dead stop. I was convinced I was going to pass out, but I knew that if I sat down, I’d just make it worse. So I kept moving along, knowing that after the Gatorade stands, there would finally be some water. As soon as I got some proper water in my system, I started to feel better.

After it was all said and done, I didn’t have one of those moments where I was angry at myself for not doing better. I mean, fundamentally I was pissed off with my finish time (which was somewhere around the 28 minute mark) but I knew how awful I had felt throughout the entire run and I realized there was zero chance I could’ve pushed myself harder throughout the run without either throwing up, or passing out.

When I look back on my Garmin’s information regarding the race, I can see that my average heart rate was 189 beats per minute, which, for my age (31), is 100% of max. I even peaked around 196 beats per minute, which is practically through the roof. (Most races I’m in the high 170s.) I have no idea what caused me to feel this horrible throughout my run, but it happened and I guess I just have to move on from it.

I finished in the top 10% out of all the women and out of my age group, and top 20% overall. So it’s not like I totally bombed out of the race, but I’m really displeased with just how crappy I felt. Oh well, I guess you can’t just keep getting personal bests every time you run!

My dad, on the other hand, completed his first 5K with a time of 32:36 which he was dead pleased with! He’d like to run the 10K next year during Ottawa Race Weekend. And while I’m definitely amped about racing, I have to say I am not impressed with the organization of the start zone of Ottawa’s Race Weekend. I had two friends who ran in the half-marathon the following day and they said that the first four kilometers were so jammed with people that they were essentially walking it. There really needs to be much larger time gaps between corrals. For example, the Sporting Life 10K that I did two weekends prior to this race had more than double the number of people running (twenty-two thousand in that race versus the ten thousand in this one) and yet there was zero clusterfucks at the start zone.

As a side note, I saw both my friend and his girlfriend around the 10K marker during their half-marathon the day after my race (I had planted myself on a street corner and warned them well in advance as to where I would be) and I was soooo happy to have seen them out there racing! Since I’m eventually working my way up to a half-marathon, I find them both very inspirational!

5K Race Summary

Finish Time: 28:07 (personal worst!)
Pace: 5:37 per kilometer
Overall placement: 1829/9995
Age group placement (Female, 30-34): 52/582
Gender placement (F): 589/5931

What’s On My Face – Volume 17

June 4, 2014Makeup, TutorialsArdell, Boots No7, Hourglass, INGLOT, Joe Fresh, Makeup Geek, NYC, NYX, Physicians Formula, Revlon, Rimmel, Sleek, Tarte, Too Faced, Urban Decay, Wet n WildChelle

When I first created this blog, I was really, really worried that I wouldn’t be able to generate enough makeup looks to sustain any kind of regular “makeup looks” posting schedule. Little did I realize just how many eye looks I attempt and even months later I’ve still got a huge backlog of eye looks for upcoming posts!

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Glitter and lashes. You really can’t go wrong. I think this came out really beautifully.

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Eyes

I first applied Makeup Geek‘s White Lies all over the lid as a base, then:

Inglot Matte 334 in the outer corner and throughout the crease.
Inglot Matte 325 in the outer corner to darken it up. Also used on the lower lash line in the outer corner.
MAC‘s Transparent Teal glitter all over the lid. To make the glitter stick, I used Too Faced Glitter Glue as a base layer. I also applied the glitter on the lower lash line as well.

MAC Shroom to highlight the brow. Tarte‘s black gel liner to create the wing and Urban Decay‘s Black Velvet liner on the inner lower lash line rim. Benefit They’re Real mascara on my lashes and Ardell single lashes to add some volume to my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Revlon Colorstay (Combination/Oily) in 200 Nude
Concealer: MAC Select Cover-up in NW20
Bronzer: Joe Fresh Sand Bronzer
Blush: Physicians Formula Happy Booster Blush in Natural
Highlighter: MAC Silver Dusk
Lips: NYX Butter Gloss in Vanilla Cream Pie

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This one came to me out of nowhere. I often use Sleek‘s Sunrise palette as my mirror of choice, so I often find myself staring at those colours. The blue in that palette is beautiful, but I never really knew how to incorporate it into a look with that palette. This came to me as a spur of the moment type thing and I think it turned out really well. It’s funny because people say not to wear blue eyeshadow if you have blue eyes because it’ll drown out the colour of your eyes… but I have to say I received so many compliments at work that this brought out my eye colour that I really have to disagree with the “norm” to not wear blue on blue eyes!

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Eyes

Using the Sleek Sunset palette:

From the bottom row, the second shade on the right, apply that all over the lid.
Again from the bottom row, sweep the first colour from the left into the crease and blend out.
MAC Blanc Type to highlight the brow.

On the lower lash line, use the bright blue from the Sleek Sunset palette, then smudge it out slightly with Makeup Geek‘s Creme Brulee. Benefit They’re Real mascara on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Cheeks: MAC Petal Power
Bronzer: NYC Fire Island Tan
Lips: Too Faced Coral Fire

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This look’s genius comes from Sharon Farrell. Her Tequila Sunrise tutorial was not only unique, but utterly eye-catching. I definitely do not possess her skill, but I thought I’d give this look a shot because I loved her end result so much.

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Eyes

Makeup Geek Creme Brulee very heavily through the crease.
MAC Steamy on the inner two thirds of the lid.
MAC Club on the outer third of the lid. Also applied all over the lower lash line.
MAC Gorgeous Gold on the inner tearduct.

MAC Blanc Type to highlight the brow. Tarte‘s black gel liner to create the wing and Urban Decay‘s Black Velvet liner on the inner lower rim. Benefit They’re Real mascara on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Bronzer: Joe Fresh Sand Bronzer
Blush: Tarte Charisma
Lips: NYX Butter Lipstick in Fizzies

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I was rooting through my collection determined to use something I had touched in long time. So this look ended up utilizing a few of my older, limited edition products.

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Eyes

Using the MAC mineralize eyeshadow trio in Blue My Mind:

The lightest shade on the inner third of the lid.
The blue shimmery shade on the middle of the lid.
The black on the outer corner.

MAC Shroom to highlight my brow, MAC fluidline in Midnight Blues to create the wing and Benefit They’re Real mascara.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Boots No7 Instant Radiance foundation in Cool Vanilla
Blush: Tarte Charisma
Lips: Wet n Wild 903C with NYX‘s Butter Gloss in Tiramisu on top

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Ehhhhhhhhhhh. This one’s okayyyyyy…..

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Eyes

Makeup Geek Simply Marlena and Mango Tango mixed together and blended into the crease. I’d say it’s a lot heavier on the pinker shade.
Makeup Geek Vanilla Bean all over the lid.
Makeup Geek Frappe and Goddess mixed together and applied to the outer third.

Vanilla Bean to highlight the brow and Benefit They’re Real mascara on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Bronzer: Joe Fresh Sand Bronzer
Blush: Hourglass Diffused Heat
Lips: Rimmel Apocalips in Stellar

May 2014 Favourites

June 2, 2014Favourites, MiscellaneousBite Beauty, NYC, NYX, Tarte, Wet n WildChelle

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The month of May was pretty forgettable in terms of makeup for me. I had a few repeat offenders (which you’ll see in this post), but for the most part I tried a lot of new looks and didn’t stick to a lot of the same products. The only consistent pieces were the ones in this post, and they really kind of took me by surprise!

I knew at the start of the month that I wanted to use a different bronzer, and I wanted one with shimmer in it. So I busted out NYC‘s Fire Island Tan and was reminded of how much I like this product. It does have an orange tinge to it, so make sure you blend this sucker in very, very well. There is also some gold shimmer throughout it, so if you’re not keen on shimmery bronzers, leave this one at the drugstore!

This blush by Tarte is just stunning. Charisma is a peach/coral with golden shimmer. It’s perfect for the warmer months when you want to just feel like you’ve got a sun-kissed glow. I really like this in coordination with the bronzer I mentioned above since the gold shimmer running throughout them really ties them together. It might be a lot on the gold shimmer, but hell if I care! As with all Tarte blushes, use a stiffer brush to apply this since it does have a harder consistency. (And btw, does anyone else seriously dislike the new packaging? I wish they had remained in the old packaging like the one above!)

I picked up this Bite Beauty lipstick to figure out what the hype was with this brand. At $28 CAD, this is by far my most expensive lipstick in my collection – so I was really scared I wouldn’t like this product and would have wasted the money on it. However… Fig is a lovely, easy pink shade and it’s a colour I can pair with a lot of eye looks without worrying if it’ll clash or not. It’s also worth mentioning that I really didn’t like the scent of this lipstick when I tried it on the first time. But I’ve found that over time the scent really grew on me. I don’t even know how to describe it – it’s not specifically anything, but it’s something I’ve grown to really like over time. Also, random note, the Bite Beauty lipsticks contain the same amount of product as a MAC lipstick, but because the bullet is fatter, it makes them look a lot shorter. I actually really like the look of the wider bullet, although at first I thought I’d been shortchanged on product!

NYX Butter Gloss in Tiramisu & Wet n Wild lipstick in 903C/Just Peachy

I randomly stumbled on this combination in the last month or two and I came to really like it when I noticed just how well it photographed on me. With Wet n Wild‘s 903C as a base layer, and NYX‘s Tiramisu gloss on top, this has really become my failsafe lip look. It’s currently replaced my “dead nude” look when I’m wearing a really dark eye look. I still like the really nude, paled out lips look, but I feel like that look is slightly easier to wear in the winter. With this combination, it adds just the right amount of colour punch without overdoing it. Regarding the swatches above, from left to right it’s the lipstick, the gloss and then the two of them layered.

And there you have my monthly roundup! I wonder what the month of June will bring?

What I Bought This Month – May 2014 Haul

May 30, 2014HaulsBioderma, Dermal Therapy, Embryolisse, Hard Candy, Julep, MAC, NYC, OlayChelle

I actually hadn’t picked up any beauty products this month until the very last week and then suddenly I had a whole stockpile!

While MAC‘s summer collection didn’t have a whole heck of a lot of bright colours, I knew I still wanted to pick up a few products because holy hell is that packaging ever beautiful! The first item I picked up was the cremesheen finish lipstick in Mystical. The colour is slightly more brown than I had expected, but it’s a very easy, every day colour for me. Slightly more fall-oriented than spring or summer, but still really beautiful.

I wanted to give MAC‘s extra dimension products another shot because everyone seems to love them and I’ve always been kind of “meh” about them. I have the skinfinish in Whisper of Gilt, but I’ve always found the product to be very hard and stiff in the pan, which requires using a rather stiff brush to actually get any product out of the pan. Turns out the blush is really no different! Like the lipstick, Sea Me, Hear Me is far more of a deep fall colour (I really didn’t understand this collection, despite the packaging being spectacular) and it looks nice on my cheeks, but I really need to use a stiff brush to get it out of the pan!

Hard Candy Ombre Lipstick – Cheerful (~$6 CAD)

Hard Candy Cheeks and Balances – Cheeky Pink (~$8 CAD)

This works slightly better than the lip product, but not a whole heck of a lot. Hard Candy‘sCheeky Pink “Cheeks and Balances” is supposed to be a cheek colour and highlighter in one. It goes on stripey (obviously) and you really need to blend it out with a finger or two. It can be a bit greasy, but I’ve only tested it out so far without wearing it for any extended amount of time. It’s a bit too finicky to keep the actual colours separated once you blend them, so it’s easier to just smush the product together as you swipe it on your cheeks. It’s quite frosty overall (even the darker pink colour), so apply lightly and build up if you need to.

Julep polishes in (l-r): Michelle, Angela, Missy, Paris, Hilary (free)

Embryolisse – Hydra-Masque (~€15 CAD) — Bioderma – Crealine H2O (~€12)

Fortune Cookie Soap – Summer Soap Box 2014

May 28, 2014Hauls, ReviewsFortune Cookie SoapChelle

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Fortune Cookie Soap‘s 2014 Summer Soap Box is candy EVERYTHING. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you’ll basically want to eat everything that’s inside your box. (Luckily, they’ve even thrown in a piece of gum and a sucker – likely to avoid you munching down on your bath products.)

The smell of this box was glorious. As soon as I opened the flap I was in candy heaven.

Here’s a closer look at some of the products.

Solid Sugar Scrub in Rock Your Socks Off

The first item I tried out was the Rock Your Socks Off solid sugar scrub. The cube is on the small size, but I still cracked it in half and saved the second half for another shower. The scent is full on grape candy – that artificial grape scent combined with cups and cups of sugar. The sugar broke apart easily with a little bit of water (I wouldn’t try to scrub this on dry skin) and broke down quickly. Loved the smell, but I’d kind of prefer the sugar scrub to be a bit more liquid – that’s a personal preference though.

Microdermabrasion Facial Scrub in Lemon Drop It Like It’s Hot

Next up was the microdermabrasion scrub. I made the mistake of actually using two microdermabrasion scrubs that day (one in the morning and one at night), but suffered no side effects. The scent in the box, and the only one they appear to have on their web site, is Lemon Drop It Like It’s Hot. As the name suggests, it’s lemon-y with a hint of orange. The particles in this scrub are a little bit more coarse than some of the higher end ones I’ve used, but I actually thing it’s kind of helpful since it’ll scrub more intensely if you mush it around your face. Mixed amongst the small particles were a few larger ones – I’m not sure if this is intended, or if a few of the crystals just happened to stick together, but either way it definitely added an interesting texture to the wash. With a price tag that is significantly less than most microdermabrasions, I’d definitely suggest trying this out if you’re interested in the concept but not the high cost associated with other brands.

The Blow Me! Talkin’ Smack Lip Scrub is a bazooka gum with a hint of Fun Dip flavoured lip scrub that isn’t too tightly packed together in the container. It’s about standard for a lip scrub really, so if the scent appeals to you and you like the price, this is worth picking up. It left my lips feeling tingly and fresh (and doesn’t taste bad either!).

I love glitter. Like seriously love it. Glitter in a convenient spray bottle is just pure unadulterated pleasure for me. I have a few other scented glitter sprays from Bath & Body Works, but I am ALWAYS happy to have more of them. Their Sparkle Me in The Sweet Spotis quite literally a sweet scented glitter spray bottle of glory. It has more of a sweet fruit scent and it’s fairly light. I wore it to work yesterday (yep, sprayed myself head to toe in it) and the glitter particles (tiny and not chunky) stayed put all day and no one complained that I smelled like TOO much of anything. Winnar!

OCD Hand Sanitizer in Lollipop Your Cherry

I’ve personally never really latched on to the “I need to sanitize my hands after I touch everything under the sun” regime that most people seem to follow these days, so receiving another hand sanitizer (they had one in last quarter’s box) after I haven’t even used up the one from last time is a little on the boring side. HOWEVER, I know there are a lot of people out there that feel like they practically bathe in hand sanitizer every day, so I’m sure these are for you germaphobes. FCS’ OCD Hand Sanitizer in Lollipop Your Cherry thankfully smells more like real cherries than the horrific artificial smells-and-tastes-like-cough-medicine flavour that usually passes as “cherry-scented”. At the end of the day, it’ll sanitize your hands and it’ll smell good while doing so.

Ooo a wax tart! I wasn’t even aware FCS had these. As the name suggests, Sweet Dreamsicle smells like creamsicles. I’ve popped it into my bathroom warmer, but it hasn’t had a chance to actually melt out yet so I can’t comment as to the throw of the scent. It did smell lovely when I sniffed it though!

Whipped Cream in Captain’s Berried Booty

I love their Whipped Creams, but this scent just isn’t for me. Captain’s Berried Booty(loooove the name) smells like cardboard fruit loops. I was going to smear in on my legs to test the scent for wear time, but the one little dab I got on my hands was enough to steer me away from using it. The bloody thing lasted for hours and I barely got anything on me! If you like fruity-scented cereals, you’ll love this. Me however? I’m avoiding this one!

And the piece de resistance – their namesake soap. Lick Your Lips fortune cookie soap smells like it looks: like peppermint ice cream with chocolate in it. This is really lovely and the soap itself is, as always, beyond adorable.

My favourite products for this box were the microdermabrasion scrub and the sparkle me spray. Those are two products that I know for sure I’ll use all the way through and enjoy them thoroughly. Scent-wise though, my picks would be Lick Your Lips and Lemon Drop It Like It’s Hot, purely based on personal sniffer preferences.

As I’ve said before, their shipping to Canada is way too high for me to even consider ordering anything from them to my Canadian address. (Oddly, the shipping to Canada for their soap box is less than half the price of even a regular order from them…) So with that being said, I do have a $10 off coupon code for the first person that leaves a message for me on this blog post (and actually wants it!). There are zero strings attached to this – I just don’t want the coupon code to go to waste since I won’t be placing at order this time around. So if you want to place an order with Fortune Cookie Soap, snag $10 off while you can! There’s also no minimum purchase required with this code either. Enjoy!