Coulda Woulda Shoulda

And then there was 2. That's right, the woman who decided to be a goalie in high school because she HATED RUNNING has now two lovely half marathon medals to her name. That's me, people. Yes, it really is. And you know what? I have to keep looking at this picture to remind myself that it WAS me, it IS me and I am a half marathon runner. It's an intensely humbling and emotionally indescribable feeling to train for, run in and complete a run of that distance. When I set out to do this originally, it was for myself. It was to give myself a challenge. It was because it was something I didn't think I could do. We had just gotten home after being away for over 6 years I was eager to try something that living a nomadic lifestyle does not really allow you to do. Training for a long distance run seems liked one of those things. It was with the encouragement of some good friends that I decided to train for my first 10km. After another couple of 10kms, it was time f...

This morning, I set my alarm for earlier than I would to get up for work. That's right. On the 'day of rest' I set my alarm to make me stop resting earlier. And last night, I sipped caffeine free tea and popped myself into bed at 10pm. Same time as if I was getting up for a hard days work. One of my biggest fears in life is that I would never stop loving smoking. That I would always like it and therefore always smoke because my mantra is to do what I love to do (within reason, people). And just as my hate-on for smoking surprised me, so has my desire to get up early. I don't get up early. And I say this in the Tom Hanks-League of their Own-"There's no crying in baseball" voice. And yet, guess what? I do. Not only do I get up early, but I throw on some fitness gear, fill up my running belt bottles and head out to conquer the road, 1km at a time. This morning met me with glorious sunshine, so much so that I didn't need all the layers I had ...

Training for a half marathon? Challenging. Training for your SECOND half marathon? Harder then you thought. I can't deny it - some strange section of my brain was taking for granted the fact that since I had already run a half marathon, the training for the SECOND half marathon was going to be a breeze. Needless to say, I've been humbled - er well that part of my brain that was being so cocky has been humbled. And even saying it or writing it down makes it so so obviously true that I'm wondering how that part of my brain actually got control of my thoughts anyway - how were all the other smarter brain cells not strong enough to overpower them? What? Too much red wine you say? Ok well when you put it like that... Regardless, I'm all caught up now - yes, it IS actually just as hard, if not harder to 'get back on the horse' so to speak and go out there and train for something. After a dismal 14km 2 weeks ago, I was a bit nervous about the 16km this past...

There have been many things that I have been awestruck about this end of the country. For one - and those of you who know me, big eye roll please - the weather!! The fact that I went for a run in January IN MY SHORTS was fansatically wonderful. The fact that I ran past the mountains was even better. For another - the food. So much deliciously exotic food surrounds my new home. Thai. Vietnamese. Portuguese. Chinese. Irish (HEYit's still foreign!! and delicious..) But what has struck me most about the food, what blew my mind, was the SIZE of the pieces of sushi and sashimi. Yes that IS my chopstick, NOT a toothpick. Clearly if you are from the Vancouver area YOU HAVE BEEN HOLDING OUT ON US because no one has EVER told me about the amazing size of the pieces you get out here. Either that, or Tokyo Joe's has just opened and is will be going out of business in a week's time for selling WAY TO MUCH FISH for WAY TOO LITTLE!! I have lived in Korea and while I have ne...

Yes. Gone quiet. VERY QUIET. But I've been doing some thinking, processing, analyzing, vacationing, drinking....well, you get the point. LIVING. But I finally found something that I wanted to post and is relevant to the theme of this blog, which is meant to be reaching outside of those cozy boundaries we allow ourselves to be in and really exploring something new, challenging and exciting. I sent this recent email to friends of mine and now, I'd like to share it with you. What I didn't say in the email is how I actually got teary eyed writing about it at the end. I have a feeling this experience will touch me in ways I wasn't expecting: Sunny days everyone, As some of you may know, I began running in races last summer after a great group of friends convinced me it would be a fun thing to do. Since then, I became a little addicted to the challenge and decided I would try to run a half marathon. My training began in May of this year after I ran the Sporting Life 10km, a t...

My sister C reminded me today of a time that seems almost light years away as I sit look out a window of the PILES of snow and the MINUS of degrees in weather. This is a shot of me finishing my 2nd 10km this October. I kinda like how I'm in mid air. And thats a look of joy and satisfaction and MAN DO I KICK ASS on my face. So, I'm physically AND mentally, flying. And that fuzzy person? Taking the picture in the left hand side of the screen? Well, that's my biggest cheerleader, D. I decided to take on a long distance running challenge thanks to friends of our L&J. L had done loads of long distance when we were younger, so she pretty much breezed through the 10km that got me addicted to running. She set up a running schedule for us, I think it was 10 weeks in advance, and by sticking to it, I surprised myself. I remember the first couple of days, struggling to complete 3.5 km, wondering how it was I thought I was ever going to go 3 times that amount without my lungs givin...

This past weekend, I became nostalgic and saw the future all at once. NKOTB were fantastically surreal (blog post coming soon) My first 10km was even more so (blog post also coming soon) All I can do right now is wait to listen to my MP3 player with songs of my teenage years while I'm running and training for the next 10km. Welcome to surreal Monday.