RUNNING SKIRTS

I don't get this running skirt thing. A lady in a running store tried soo hard to sell me this $65 skirt. I know some runners swear by them. I'm sure the compression short underneath is great- so why don't you wear just the compression short?

I have to dress up every day for work and 'look nice'. What I love about running is I can just wear what the guys wear. We are on an even playing field.

Plus its the mindset. When I'm on the trails, I feel tough, solid, ... I don't want to feel like a little girl in a skirt running through the fields. If I put on the skirt, I feel like I need to do my makup and nails too! Thats my rant for the day.

Heather

Running friends rock!

Jim and I have ran together for years. Did more serious runs the last 3 years. I love him, he loves me but... it gets kinda boring. Especially on those 3 hr runs. The odd arguement actually adds interest to the run. Something to work on before we finish. Or sometimes a good disagreement makes me go faster- cuz I'm gonna 'show him'. My friends are now scared to run with me... and now I'm seriously behind on the gossip!

Well, lo and behold we found some great people in our area that like to run the distances we do ! I was afraid I wasn't good enough to keep up, but so far the long runs have been very enjoyable.

What crazy people would run with us? let us outsiders in ? tolerate our tacky sense of humour?...the same kind of crazy people that are doing the "Marathon de Sables" in the fall. This is one of the top 10 endurance races on the planet! ( Time magazine).It is so nice to be surrounded with people with positive attitudes- even if they did do more mileage than me this week, or maybe are carrying a heavier pack. What I am most impressed with is that they are a great TEAM. They look after one another, and each team member brings their own strengths. They are raising funds for Variety club for children. For more information visit:

http://www.trailwinders.com/

We did a great 4 hour run on Sunday around Diez vista/Lakeview/Academy trail and finished with a soak in Sasamat lake. I look forward to many more runs with them!

Now, if I can only decide if/when I want to do a 50 K. I was thinking about the North Face in Bellingham June 6th, but am not sure if I am ready. It could be a good practice run/wake up call for others in the future. I have always liked to dive into the hardest thing first, then everything else seemed easy... but I may bite of more than I can chew by the looks of the 3000ft + elevation gain on this one. Still thinking.....

Mothers day 'ouch' 5 K

"Its tradition" my 12 yr old daughter says. "We must run the mothers day 5 K every year, even if I have to push you in a wheelchair". Well, after the marathon only a week prior, the wheelchair was looking pretty good! But if I could run 42 Kms, I'm sure I could do 5 Kms right?

The race report:
It starts, I run fast, ow! my hip, ow! my leg , ow, ow, ow, I decide to slow down...... the race ends.

I don't think it was such a good idea, and I certainly paid for it the next few days, but it was worth it to see my amazing daughter come barreling in only 3 mins behind me to do it in 25 mins! And she only runs 1 mile every second week at school. She ended up getting 2nd in the under 16 group! And, we were 3rd fastest mother/child! (other two were mom/son). I'm thinking all her figure skating has something to do with it. Ha! I don't want her to start running to early to " let her musculoskeletal system develop" , but she certainly takes a pounding with all the falls working on all her doubles. I am proud of whatever she does. Hmmm.... running is a lot cheaper than skating though! ha ha !

We spent the rest of the beautiful sunny day relaxing on our blanket on the field watching awards and prizes. She told me multiple times she loved me, and gave me a beautiful shirt that she bought with money she got for her birthday. Awww, that just made the pain all worth it. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful daughter!!!!!!

I will post pictures once I get them.

Now what?

So I did the Marathon. Yaay, woot woot, done! I finished a bunch of physiotherapy courses and resigned from some heavy duty volunteer work. Now what??? It has only been a week of recovery and I have my house cleaned, my garden planted and my holidays planned. Even Jim is a bit blah on running. We did decide to do less frequent races and focus on more "quality" races as he is working 7 days/week. There is a 50 K in Manning that looks beautiful- but it is way in September!

At least this weekend I can look foreward to a 5K Mothers day race in port moody. My 12 yo daughter decided it should be a 'tradition' every year- even if she has to push me in a wheelchair! Trust me, after the marathon, I thought the wheelchair may be needed.

what to do, what to do.......

VANCOUVER MARATHON

MY FIRST MARATHON

I had so much to say-cuz I was so excited about the marathon, it took several edits to cut this down! But then I kept having great flashbacks as to what happened so... its kinda long.

What an interesting race the marathon is. Instead of trail races where I go hard wherever I can, the whole point of the marathon seemed to be to hold myself back the entire race just so I can finish it. So this made it a lovely cruise around Vancouver, breathing comfortably, visiting people along the way.

IN THE BEGINNING:

I had a plan. Follow the 3:30 'bunny' for the first 30 kms.That went out the window as soon as the 'bunny' started WALKING! I couldn't believe that anyone could do the walk/run thing and finish in 3:30. So, I passed him at the 3 km mark- so much for the plan. My husband Jim was totally hyper, chatting away like a girl the entire first 10K. "this is so easy, I could do this pace forever" etc etc.

CRUISING THRU VANCOUVER

What a blast running down the middle of the streets through False creek, downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, and Kitsilano on a beautiful cool sunny morning. I am usually a camel on long runs and finish a bit fuzzy, but this time I followed strict advise from running friends and drank, ate Gels every hour and took my thermolytes. I was remarkably lucid and full of energy the entire run!

The kilometers flew by 10, 15, 20,25K, people watching along the way. Some weird running styles out there. Some of my favorites were:
- the limp wrist runner ,- the foot slapper( that dude must have had very sore feet at the end)
- the grunter -the butt protruder that looked like he had to go to the bathroom
And what people wore!
- One girl wore a garbage bag- for at least 21 kms (and It was not raining)-a full on gangsta style track suit, (I'm thinking he's gonna have some chaffing.)

Jim's chattyness reduced to just breathing by 25 kms. I asked him how he was. He replied
"I'm having a moment"... whatever that meant. It still makes me laugh.

AND NOW I UNDERSTAND

I have heard that a marathon is a 20 mile run then a 6 mile run. Now I get it! By 30 kms I was no longer cruising, I had to push a bit, and started to slow on the hills. By 35 kms, I was running about 40 seconds/km slower. By 37 kms I swear they put the kilometer markers farther apart.

The last two kms were the best.

This is us trying to hold our heads high and push thru to the finish.

At 40 kms I decided to tell Jim that "I don't think I'm going to sprint to the finish line."
It was hilarious at the time because it took all we had to just keep running, let alone sprint!
By now the tables were turned.I was picking up the crowds energy, chatting away, totally hyper that I was going to finish!

By 41 kms I felt like I was pushing hard, running as fast as I can...but then I looked at my legs and they were going in slooooowww moootiooon. Kinda like those old Steve Austin "Bionic Man" shows. It was a bit trippy.

THE FINISH LINE

Yaaay!! we finished together!! in a respectable 3:34:04. I was cool with that, being our first marathon and all. I did wonder why the 3:30 bunny never passed me though- maybe it meant finishing 3:30 ish?? I'm happy I finished 9th in my old lady 40-44 age group.

So we stopped, bent over to get our medals then... tried to walk. WTF ! why won't my legs move? I had to Frankenstein walk over to the sidelines to have a rest, then laughed my head off at all the other finishers who were walking the same way! It was like March of the penguins! . For the rest of the day I was flying high with adrenaline.

Highlights:

Harvey Nelson-I was pleased to chat with the 75 yr old Icon as he ran/walked the marathon. He will probably be at the 5 peaks Golden Ears run next weekend too.

Paul Slaymaker- a local Port Moody runner from Runners Den who did it in 2:40.

Aaron Heidt- who I only know from his impressive trail running did it in 2:34 ! an HOUR faster than me! holy macaroni!

Regrets: Jim asked me if we should 'hold hands across the finish line'. I answered "pfft, NO!" ...Now, its not that I'm a cold hearted B$#&h, but it just seemed too difficult to keep running AND get close to each other AND hold hands, WHILE still running, after 42 kms.

JIM RECOVERING

TWO HAPPY FINISHERS

Would I do it again? probably, but I missed the technicality with all the speed variations and ups and downs that trail running offers. So thats my next goal: to finish a 50 K trail race...maybe??but now I know at least there is hope.

Heather

Taper week

I am not sure if I like this taper thing. First, the beautiful sunny days beckon me out for a long run every day but I'm supposed to do short ones or rest. Thankfully,I squeezed in a longish run on Sunday. 2 hrs on the trails with a great group of runners I found in my area who are training for Marathon de Sables. I can't wait to run with them again!

Second, I'm bored, which means its easy to enjoy a bottle of wine with my husband for 'entertainment'. Apparently this hinders perfomance which makes the whole damn tapering thing counterproductive!!

And finally, after increasing my training for 3 years, I finally mellow out, and I get sick!! Just a cold/flu- not of the swine type thank god. I actually had a client Monday who just flew in from Mexico city- but he got tested and it was negative. Whew! At least being ill makes me slow down a bit. With this weather I would normally be building fences, landscaping, or renovating my house.

One more day to get better and then... the BMO MARATHON! At this point, I may have to settle for just being happy to finish. It should be interesting to see how things unfold...It will be annoying if my husband finishes faster than me again.