I have no memory of writing this;-)

This was in my "Post List" and marked as a "draft" but really I have no memory or writing this. I must have been drunk, although I don't drink so I have no explanation.;-p

Everyone is chasing me again;-)

Snowshoes give you grip where you might otherwise slip. The attaction is traction, reaction is action, the

The early runner gets the...

The early runner gets the pristine snow. The sleepy head gets this...

I'll have to get up earlier if I don't want to run through and around this kind of mess left behind by the snowmobilers and cross country skiers. By the the time I took these pictures the trail was actually much more runable as more snowmobilers had broken up the icy clumps I found myself in a few hours earlier. I can't complain though because the early risers get the pristine snow so I was the sleepy head today;-)



I'm looking forward to my first snowshoe run of the year tomorrow during part of my long run. It was hard not to throw them on this morning but I put it off one more day per coach's instructions. Then hopefully one or two more times on them and I should be ready for next weekends Frontenac Park Snowshoe Race.

For the record...

I know nothing!

The Case of the Missing Sock

Ok I went for a quick recovery run today. I headed out the door wearing my Kinveras, a pair of warm socks(ski socks actually), a pair of tights, a shirt, and a light coat. After 35 minutes and 30 minutes of running I arrived home with everything I left with except for one thing. I was missing one sock. Why did I leave with two socks and arrive home with one? Here are a few more clues. I saw 5 people and one dog on the trail. First off I saw two girls walking and one carried a bag with a heavy object in it. I then saw a women walking furiously down the trail who kinda looked at me sideways as I passed her and lastly I saw an older couple and their off leash dog who greeted me then ran off to greet the lady walking so furiously behind me. I reached my turn around point at 20 minutes and then ran home. It had been 35 minutes since I had left home and I arrived there missing one sock. Why, where, how and by who did my sock get removed from my foot? Have a guess and then I will tell you tomorrow;-)

OK I can see that my mystery as maxed out the deductions skills of the small part of your brains that isn't consumed by running and other things like dressing yourself and feeding you and your family. So here is the solution to, "The Case of the Missing Sock". 

I had just started down the trail which is all of 200m from my house and I could see two girls about another 200m ahead of me. From where I was I realized something was amiss, but what? Was that a dog they were dragging behind them, was one of them limping? As I got closer I noted that one of the girls was wearing a Frontenac Fury Hockey jacket, the same my daughter wears so it must be one of her teammates I thought.  But what was that draging behind her and why was she limping. "Oh no, is she wearing a cast with a bag on it because the trail is wet and muddy?" "Hey, I recognize that cat hat", I said to myself. "Actually I gave it to her for her birthday last year".  The girl with the bag on her foot was none other then Brandy T. You will all remember her from the, "Liquid Snowshoing video". So there stands Brandy with her foot in a bag(no cast thank goodness) and carrying another bag with something heavy in it. Of course I stopped to ask her what was up. "I stepped in the mud really deep and it went in my boot so I went in the store and they gave me 2 bags", she explained. "So you put your boot in one bag and your wet foot in the other," I asked. "Yep, but I am still cold, my foot is really cold and we have to walk all the way to Paige's house." My mind began to swirl as I pictured poor Brandy asking for help at the store, being given two plastic bags from someone, then emerging from the store and trying to figure out what to do with them. Her solution was to put her muddy boot in one bag and to tie the other bag over her wet socked foot and then continue on her way. Poor thing she had it so wrong so I had to set her straight. I told her, "take both your boot and your foot out of the bags. Now take your wet sock off and put it in one of the bags to take home. Now put the other bag on your foot and put it in the boot". "But my foot is so cold", she said. "Ok I will give you my sock, I just took them out of the laundry and have only had them on a few minutes so take mine because I am not going very far". So she put my sock on and put her foot in the bag then in the boot and continued on her way. I know her Mom will return the sock to me so I had no problem leaving my expensive skiing sock on the trail on Brandy's foot. I continued on my run passing the lady walking furiously who noticed that I was only wearing one sock, and then I passed the couple with the dog off leash who gave me a good sniff(could he have noticed my missing sock also?) and I then arrived 5mins. late to my turnaround point and later arrived home without my sock 35 minutes after I had left. Mystery solved;-) I hope you enjoyed "The Case of the Missing Sock".

Victory!!

I was working on a poem in Tim Horton's today...isn't that what people do in Tim's?? No, you are correct I should have been in a Starbucks but really I don't "GET" Starbucks. I don't know how to order and I really don't want to learn. It is coffee people not rocket science. They get out all of the blenders and shakers and foamers and flavors and syrups for everyone else's order and then I ask them to put a a drop of cream and teaspoon of sugar in mine and they look at me like I have a contagious disease and point me towards the little table across the room. It is like being sent to the child's table at Thanksgiving or Christmas and I refuse to stand for it so that is why I was writing my poem in Tim's.

Anyhoo(as some of you like to say) back to my story..err..my poem. So I was writing this poem in Tim's, it all started with a comic I had just doodled of URGal running down the streets of China through a maze of mooing cows and as wild monkeys try to snatch the hat off of her head she mutters to the wild dog running next to her, "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore", which then morphed into a sketch of a victorious URG coming to the finish of the JFK 50 which morphed into "the poem" which is still incomplete-ish and will probably remain so because it morphed into a quote I thought of about "Victory" which then morphed into my writing a 12 page Morality Tale about people putting off their dreams until it is too late which I will try to finish one day even though I already feel that it is probably not nearly as good as I thought it was when I began it. But the morning had passed quickly today and it was now time to go to the appointment which had brought me into town in the first place for which I was killing time before in Tim's.

So I packed up my notebook of doodles and poems and sketches and quotes and morality tales and as I walked out the door I immediately became aware of a homeless lady. She was muttering to herself as she pushed a shopping cart stuffed full of  her worldly possessions down the sidewalk and I wondered about her state of mind. I thought that perhaps like Dorothy and URGal she was confused by a changing world that had become foreign to her and then found herself unable to cope. Perhaps like me she was asking the world for some cream and sugar and all the world had to give was foam and syrup and so sent her across the room to the little table. I wondered if she ever drew pictures and wrote poems and morality tales. I wondered if she and I were more alike then different? I wondered if I could find myself pushing my cart down the street one day? I am pretty sure that the world doesn't make much sense to her and if the truth be told it doesn't make much sense to me either.

And why the title, "Victory!!"? I must admit that I forget. I am sure it had something to do with the quote about victory I wrote which was, "Victory is sweetest when aged in Defeat" or "The Sweetest Victories are the ones Aged in (bitter) Defeat". I later googled "Victory quotes" and found something similar, "Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat".- Malcolm Forbes

I guess I then decided I wanted to share the quotes with you all  so hence the title and here are two more.

 "There are some defeats more triumphant than victories."- Michael Eyquen de Montaigne

"A loser doesn’t know what he’ll do if he loses, but talks about what he’ll do if he wins, and a winner doesn’t talk about what he’ll do if he wins, but knows what he’ll do if he loses."- Mario Puzo.

More Victory quotes here.
"The Poem"
Sometimes we RISE
Sometimes we FALL
Sometimes we RUN
Sometimes we STALL

Sometimes we FLY
Sometimes we DROP
Sometimes we GO
Sometimes we STOP

Sometimes we're UP
Sometimes we're DOWN
Sometimes we SMILE
Sometimes we FROWN

Sometimes we WIN
Sometimes we LOSE
Sometimes we SHINE
Sometimes we BRUISE

Sometimes it's GOOD
Sometimes it's BAD
"SOMETIMES" is BETTER
then never HAD.
(please feel free to fix this ending or add a verse or 2)

Morality Tale to be published soon on Amazon.ca

7 hour, 60km week:-)

Hey I just realized I had my biggest week ever with 7 hours of running, 6:45 on the trail and 20 on the mill. The week included two workouts with Monday's tempo and Thursday's interval session, 3 recovery runs and a 2 hour long run. I also managed two hour sessions of strength and core workouts and the best thing about it is that I felt great emotionally and physically doing it all. I did not have one bad or down day all week. What is up with that?!

Seeing how I feel now as compared to my situation this summer before Emilie's Run I would say that I was on the verge of "burnout" before that race. My body was breaking down with injuries(my hip, my right calf and then my left calf) and emotionally I was exhausted. So what has changed and why am I in a better place now?

Well I think the number one reason I feel better is because I am running slower. From my recoverys and long runs to my tempos and intervals I have slowed it all down. Although slowing things down was not the immediate goal, running my workouts at an appropriate intensity was and I have been able to do that by wearing a heartrate monitor. Running at the proper intensity has allowed me to be able to increase my time on my feet by 2 hours and increase my distance by 10 km for a week.

The number 2 reason I feel better these days is that my strength workouts have been less intense and I feel they compliment my running efforts now as opposed to fighting them.

The number 3 reason I feel better is because I am happy with numbers 1 and 2 so emotionally I am in a much better place.

October 16th I will be running

Finding an Alternate Fuel Source

Note: There has been a week delay in posting this. I think I decided not to post it originally because I am becoming tired with myself for saying what I am going to do when I should be doing what I say I am going to do. If that makes sense. Whether I will carry through with my plans as stated below is yet to be seen but I think I was able to take some baby steps towards my goal during my race and the first step is always the hardest so here goes.

Have you ever stopped to consider what powers you through a race? What fuel source do you call on to keep you motivated and moving? I asked myself that question yesterday at 1km of a 5.3km cross country race. I had hit that point where energy and exhilaration had been replaced with tiredness and hurt and was wondering why I do this to myself again and again. That thought usually triggers a response of thinking about quitting which then leads to my becoming desperate to NOT FAIL. I call on my desperation to keep me moving even when I want to stop and though desperation is a powerful fuel I have discovered lately that it is not the best fuel source for me. While in that state I am trying TO NOT DO certain things such as fail, lose etc. rather then trying TO DO certain things such as SUCCEED, WIN etc. I am not an expert but I do think it makes sense that negative motivation is not as good or powerful as positive motivation as a fuel source.

So there I was at 1km beginning to feel desperate and not wanting to go down the, "I want to quit road" again I began to analyze(so much for running dumb like a horse) what I was truly feeling and what I realized was that I really didn't want to quit, what I wanted was to stop being desperate about not beating certain people, not running X time and all I really wanted to do was run hard and feel good doing it(run dumb like horse?). So I did it, I let go of the desperation that usually fuels my races and switched to FEEL GOOD ENERGY mode. The old feeling of desperation did try to poke itself into my head every now and again and made me question whether I was using my new found philosophy as a reason to not try my best, however I kept coming back to the fact that I really don't want to run "desperate" anymore. I just plain need more motivation then being worried about NOT reaching my goals to fuel my races these days.

As I sit here now I am not sure what is going to fuel me in my future races but I do know that running strong and proud is better for me then running scared and desperate and if that costs me 100 metres at the end of a 5km race then so be it. I do think that I will run better and for longer if  I enjoy my races more and although switching fuel sources may hurt me in the short run I am confident that in the long run it is the best thing I can do for myself. Switching from desperation to an alternate fuel source is going to be hard for me. Yesterday I tried running on "FEEL GOOD ENERGY" and it did well for me but I do think there are more powerful fuels sources I have yet to tap into and finding the right blend for me will take some time. What I do know now is that not all fuel sources are created equal and though they all have positive and negative aspects to them it is the ones that power me through a race but then eat away at my insides afterwards that I need to avoid at all cost.

Running Shoes and Toilets

Warning: This is a ramble, unedited and uncensored. I won't even spell check and be warned I can not spell well so this should be fun.(BLOGGER NEEDS SPELL CHECK)

Q: What do modern running shoes and modern toilets have in common?
A: Both inventions tried to fix a problem that really never needed fixing.

OK running shoes in general were not a problem until someone had the idea that we needed to pad our heels more so we could heel strike more comfortably and then someone decided we need pronation support(god forbid we try to strengthening our feet when a bit of ridgid plastic can support our bones and tendons and muscles for us) all of which has weakened our feet enslaving us further to the clutches of our running shoes laces. Yes I am being a bit dramatic here but it does seem to me that the more advanced we are getting the less natural we are becoming and so less human. Which brings me to the "toilet" part of my ramble. For goodness sake we humans of the Western World don't even know how to have a proper bowel movement. Sitting on a toilet the way we do is an unnatural position for getting the job done. It is not only unnatural but it is also unhealthy and whoever had the idea to build the first "sitting" toilet pretty much set us all up for a long string of physical problems which permeate our society today. I am not going to go into the list of the internal reasons why we should not be sitting while using the "potty" but can read for yourself here and here and here. The one reason this sitting vs squatting issue has irked me is my personal inability to squat without tipping over backwards due to my tight short Achilles tendon . Squatting to stretch my Achilles and soleus has been an ongoing battle for me and although I am making progress it is very evident that what should be a natural position is virtually impossible for me to hold while barefoot. Yet if I were to have lived a few centuries ago that same position would be a natural one, one I would have held every morning(after my coffee of course), perhaps noon and night. I am sure heeled shoes also play into my current disability. Yes that's right, we are all disabled. If you can't squat without a heeled shoe and hold it for a few minutes than you are less abled then every person aged 2 -100 who lived at time when squatting was the way of the world. People squatted to eat, squatted to work, squatted to rest, squatted to relieve themselves. But you know what, I can't do it and neither can you. We are a weaker less mobile kind of a human that once inhabited this earth and knowing that doesn't make me happy for our progress it makes me mad at how we tend to screw things up when we think we are making things better.

Rant over.
Running has been going well. Lots of long slow kms at 120 bpm. My tight calf that pulled on my foot when I ran Emilie's Run has loosened up a bit from my rehab exercises and stretching and the foot has held up well to the increased time on my feet. I have a 5km race this weekend and although I am not optimally trained for the speed I think running with a happy foot and calf will make up for the lack of intensity of my current training. There are so many layers to training and getting back to basics and adding in the longer runs really feels like it was the right thing to do. I am happy and lucky to have a great coach who knows when it is time to pull back, regroup and make changes.
A favorite quote I have been using lately from Tony Robbins, "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten."

Note: For the past 3 years I have run "The Sandbanks 5km" at this time of year however I entered a contest to design a logo for an upcoming local race called "Run With The Wild" and I decided that if I won the contest then I would run that race instead. Well I won the contest which asked you to draw something you would see in the wild near the race course. Here is my entry and winning design. I call it, "The Wild Man of Lemoine Point".

Heart Rate Training

What have I been doing since Emilie's Runs' big belly flop. Well the the sting from my big flop took a while to wear off. At first I was a bit stunned and numb then as it all began to sink in I would find myself becoming emotional just thinking about how disappointing it all had been. I set out to do a beautiful swan dive however things didn't come off quite as gracefully as I had envisioned them. I actually began to wonder if I was built for this running stuff. Perhaps I was just born with a bum foot and I seriously questioned how much longer I was going to put it through all of this torture. I don't remeber a run where the foot was ever 100% happy before, during or after. It has been 3 years of icing, stretching, rehab, massage, x-rays, cushioning shoes, support shoes, minimal shoes, orthotic inserts, form training, strength exercises and taping all of which were required for this bum foot/ankle of mine. I really had lost all hope that it would ever be able to stand up to the rigors of training. Before I threw in the towel though I headed off to my Physiotherapist Stacee in hopes that she could help me figure out how to fix what I feared could not be.

"I have to get up early to run".

A few weeks ago as I was tucking my 11 year old daughter into bed(a ritual I will surely miss as she gets older...boo hoo hoo) she turned over to face me pulling the covers up snugly around her neck and enthusiastically said, "Mom, I have to get up early to run." After picking my jaw up off of the ground I casually asked her why she was running in the morning without letting on just how proud her statement had made me. She explained that she and her fellow kayakers at "Sprint Camp" all ran as a warm-up before their morning paddle. This was the first time I ever saw my daughter looking forward to "running". Having joined the "Running Club" at school the past 2 years it seemed that her experience with running had been dampened by the "unfunness" of the workouts. I was very grateful that her morning warm-up runs had shown her that running is a great way to wake up her mind and body to prepare her for the new day. 

She competed in her first regatta in Ottawa this past Saturday and took home 3 first place ribbons in the Pee Wee K2 , Pee Wee K4 and Bantam K4. I was such a wreck before each race you'd have thought I was racing myself. We really had no idea how their little club would stack up against the larger clubs at the regatta but the proof was in the ribbons and I guess that the warm-up runs really paid off not to mention the many hours the girls spent kayaking of course.  

Rhiannon and Harmonie celebrating their win in the K2



Paddling for victory in the K4



Race Pictures






Sitting down in front of a blank page is a fearful thing for me. I know if I dare to make a mark that I must be prepared to see the truth as it is revealed to me in graphite. No matter the outcome though I am always amazed when I am able to make something from nothing.

That blank page in my sketchbook is very much like the starting line of a race. The race course is the white void of the paper waiting for me to put my mark upon it. Every step is a stroke of my pencil and as the outline of the race takes shape the final picture is revealed when I cross the finish line.

In the end all I can do is look at what I have created, see the truth that was revealed and take some pride in the fact that my sketchbook now has one more picture and one less blank page.

***************

It has been a few days since Emilie's Run and it is hard to believe that the race that was so much of my focus for the last year has come and gone. There was no fanfare, no rockets in the sky, no jubilant celebrations. Instead the day played out more like this;  it rained a bit, I ran for 22 plus minutes, I stuck my foot in an bucket of ice. The good thing about how all this played out is that it has helped me put things into better perspective concerning the mental energy I have been directing towards my running. I am really looking forward to spending the summer exploring my many other interests and hope to have many adventures to report about over at The Meandering Trail.

Emilie's Run

Emilie Mondor

"Emilie's Run" had a strange vibe for me. I was there to run a race but could not help but think about how Emilie Mondor was running and winning this very race only 5 years ago a few months before the car accident which took her life. I felt at odds with my reasons for being there and the celebration of that life. The two events did not gel for me because running a race in honour of someone should be joyous where as I was more wrapped up in the anxiety of racing well. With my ankle and calf being sore I was struggling to hold on to my optimism as I was becoming quickly aware that my running gait had been reduced to a lopsided mess. I tried not to think about the discomfort which was causing me to favor the sore leg and hoped I would be able to run through it. I was well warmed up and managed a few more short strides before the start then lined up as close to the front as I thought reasonable. I did not hear the start but everyone began running so I did also. It was raining but I barely noticed and it was not a downfall by any means. I noticed I was out fast after 200m so began to hold back a bit and found myself running with the same people for most of the race. I made it to the halfway at 10:38ish(this is where we turned around but I am not sure if it was actually halfway?) if I remember correctly and thought I was on pace for a good race. I held off a few challengers then began to pick off runners. I looked at my watch and saw 4:16/km at around 3km. I really had no idea that I had slowed down and was actually running 4:30ish/km. There were so many people around and I was not being passed so I assumed I was still on pace. I checked my watch at 4km when I was really tired and realized I had lost a lot of time as it was around 18:38ish. I tried to do the math and realized I on was on pace for 22:40ish again or slower. WTF. A few girls challenged me again and again I held them off as I made my way towards the tents and the finish I heard my Mom call out my name and I saw the timer was 22:30ish and crossed at 22:41. My Garmin says I ran 5km in 22:20. Thinking back I realize having so many people around me mid race kinda kept me running at their pace. Also between 2.5 km and 4km I thought I was running at approx. 4:16/4:20/km and could not make up the time at 4km although I tried to my legs just did not pick up the speed with the growing limp and fatigue. I tried to run a cool down after the race but was limping quite bad and after the knee pain kicked in(probably due to compensating) I thought it best to stretch and walk it out. After making my way back to the tents I checked the results and was shocked at being 4th in age. I didn't have anywhere to go so stayed for the awards which began with a speech by a man who I believe was Ken Parker(race founder) and Emilie's Mom. It has been 5 years since Emilie's passing and Ken was still brought to tears speaking about her and there was not a dry eye in the house afterwards.

As much as this race celebrates Emilie's life I realized in seeing the depth of the sorrow in Ken and Mrs. Mondor that we are remembered by those who knew us or of us but we are missed by those who loved us.

one km splits: 4:06, 4:35, 4:35, 4:37, 4:31(22:24) I forgot to stop my watch so don't have the final data of the last 17secs. with my official time of 22:41

Today I really feel a tightness in my calf/soleus and it seems to be the root of the cause for the sore ankle/achilles.

One thing about this race is they really go all out picture wise which is a good and a bad thing. My daughter had fun going through my pictures and telling me which ones looked good and which ones DID NOT. Here are a few of her pics for "GOOD".



START

 

MID RACE
note wonky foot on landing

 

FINISH







Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow, You're only a Da-a-a-a-ay... A-a-a-a-a...Wa-a-a-a-ay!!
I really love to day dream about Tomorrow. Tomorrow is full of conquering my fears and fulfilling my dreams. Tomorrow keeps me hopeful. Tomorrow never let's me down. Tomorrow is always there waiting for me to hurry up and arrive so I can turn all of my fantastic visions into reality. This Tomorrow I race another 5km. This Tomorrow holds my destiny in its hands. This Tomorrow is beckoning me and I am counting the hours and minutes until I can embrace it and live in it. This Tomorrow promises to be a wondrous, beautiful, glorious day. This Tomorrow is my 47th Birthday. Happy This Tomorrow to everybody. I hope yours is as magical as your dreams envision it to be.
PS
No I did not smoke anything funny before writing this blog. I am just feeling excited about Tomorrow is all;-)

Beethoven's 8th..er 8km!



The Town Crier reads the Proclamation to begin the 16th Annual running of
The Beat Beethoven 8km race in downtown Kingston.





 The Kingston Symphony waits to begin playing the 50 min. selection of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" in the free outdoor concert!



512 racers stand ready for the music to begin playing and the race to commence.

My Arch-nemesis Stacey with me behind at 2km

Why is everyone chasing me?!?;-)

Chip time- 36:56 which was a PR by 11 seconds
Thank goodness Stacey was running strong today because she kept me running hard the entire distance and helped me run a PR and win 2nd in my age(which was a 10 year age group) so I was happy with both of those accomplishments today. I ran a very even race pace wise and at approx. the same pace as I ran my 5km a few weeks ago so it is nice to see that my training is taking hold and my fitness is building. Hitting the 5km mark was tough for me as mentally I was done however the old legs still had some gas in them and carried me to the finish line despite what the rest of me wanted to do.
Note: I believe my first official race ever was The 2005 Beat Beethoven 8km where I placed 480th out of  543 runners in a time of 51:52(I didn't beat Beethoven). Today I was 69th out of 512 and almost exactly 15 minutes faster;-)

PS- lest I forget to mention I wore a HR monitor for the first time in a race today. I wore it on my long run with Tammie last weekend and for the 16km my hr jumped between 140bpm and 160 due in part to the many hills on the course with an average of 150bpm for the run. In my one interval workout of the week I was running in the mid 170's bpm for my repeats and topped out at 181 which was pretty much the same for my race with an average of 175ish and a max of 182 although I think my true max might be a bit higher but I will have to wait and see about that. Here is a link to the data my Garmin collected from the race including HR, pace etc. Kinda cool to see.

TGIT

Thank Goodness It's Thursday;-) Thursday afternoon means that all of my "workouts" are done for the week. My intervals, tempo and strength/core workouts are but a memory and I can now sit back and reflect on the past week and look forward to my long run on the weekend. This Sunday I will be joining Tammie and many of her other clients for a  fun 15km run on a part of the Cataraqui trail that I have never run on before so I am very excited about that.

I am very grateful that I am heading into the weekend content with all of my workouts. I was able to control the tempo this week and got it done steady and strong unlike last weeks fiasco which had me heading into the weekend dissatisfied and anxious. Luckily it did not reflect on my long run which was one of my best runs ever and reminded me why I savour the little extra time I take each week to run a little longer and a little slower taking time to enjoy the little moments on my little trail. The littlest things really do make the biggest difference.