All Downhill From Here

I’ve issued a challenge to the RBF, to inspire us in our January training. Go to the Complete Running main page to see my challenge and plan your response!

*Jeanne* tagged me with this one: “Write 5 random facts about yourself, and then list the names of 5 people whom you in turn infect. Also, leave a post to these people letting them know they have been infected”

1. I got a haircut last Saturday. I wasn’t going to get it cut (after 18 months of not cutting it) until I ran a sub-60 minute 10k. You know what? I don’t care anymore. I set the goal free, and the hair too. Feels good.
It used to be the deal was with Hubby that I couldn’t train for a Marathon until I’d reached sub-60. He’s not holding me to it now; I got close enough to it last spring.

2. I worked at the Camrose McDonald’s for 2.5 years in high school – I was one of their first employees when they opened 24 years ago. It was my first real job and fit very well with my schedule and my financial goals at the time.

3. A couple of weekends ago I discovered that peanut butter, Nutella, and banana slices on the same piece of toast are AMAZING together.

4. My job at McDonald’s paid for my school trip to Europe in 1983. My parents would never have been able to afford to send me, so I paid for it myself. Sending myself halfway across the world, even though it was just for a couple of weeks over spring break, was a life-changing experience.

5. I hate shopping under pressure, but it happens every Christmas. For six weeks I say to my husband “What shall we get so-and-so?” And he has no idea, so I wait for the Christmas bonus to arrive and then hope inspiration strikes me at the mall. I find the malls completely overwhelming when I’ve got a list of folks who expect meaningful gifts. This year? Since I’m STILL doing most of the shopping? He’s been been doing housework I don’t have time to do. Hah, serves him right. Oh, and if you’re a relative who’s reading this and you get something totally wierd from me for Christmas? I plead shopper’s insanity.

Like a bad cold, this has to infect 5 more people. I’m tagging Dawn, Pam, Jaime, John, and Jon.

I still have one more tag to write, from Dawn. Hopefully I’ll write it sometime this weekend.

Linae tagged me with a challenge to use one word to describe my upcoming 2006 training season. Picking ONE word is hard for me. I like LOTSA words.

Fun? Social? Marathon? Focused? Next-Level? Can it be one word if I hyphenate?

A word for last year was going to be SPEED, and I did run the fastest 10k I’ve ever done last March. Then I settled in to Half Marathon training and never really got back to the speed work. I did stay fairly CONSISTENT with my training, which would have been the word for 2003 & 2004.

I could say MARATHON, but that would only encompass half of my year, because I’m only planning on running one, and that’s in July. I’m tempted to answer the tag with FUN, because the Penguin flock is coming here on marathon weekend this summer, but hey, you know me – it’s not like I really need to work on that aspect of my running 🙂

How about DISTANCE?

That will do. If I manage to train well for and survive my marathon in July I want to use the distance training I’ve built up to tackle the Moose Mountain trail race in September (shhhh, don’t tell Hubby yet). It’s “only” 29 km, but it’s grueling enough to take just as long as a flat marathon. The more I race XC, the more I want to enter longer trail races. I really enjoy running up and down in the woods much more than paved road running. Plus it will make next winter’s 8k XCs feel like a piece of cake.

Tagging Aaron, Linda, Donald, John, and Skatemom.

Mark recently asked “Are you relating to this battle and, in doing so, rooting for yourself?”

I think I like to cheer on hurt/struggling runners because seeing them muster determination and creatively, doggedly work their way back gives me hope. Hope that if I ever have to face the same kind of situation, that I would do the same thing. Hope that I too will be able to dredge up what guts and energy I’ll need to accomplish feats I have not yet attained, under conditions I wouldn’t have chosen.

It also reminds me to get off my couch and stay reasonable in my training, to prevent injury and stay strong.

I get disappointed when I hear of folks that have tried running and then quit at the first twinge. I try not to think about them, because I fear if I did the same, I would lose all the wonderful benefits of my running.

Go Mark Go! Live Strong, Holly! Hang in there, Sue!

Heroes struggle. Whether they succeed in their dreams the way they planned or not, they’re still heroes.

Go read more about our encounter with John and his family at the Catch the Elves race. Read John’s report about his FIRST RACE, and leave him a comment to cheer him on!

I ran the usual at Gord’s last night. It might seem kind of boring to you, to see my usual Wednesday morning post with the routine Tuesday run, but I post it anyway, because I DID run.

When I started running it was a struggle to integrate running into my life’s routines, but I carved out little sanctuaries of time for my runs. When holidays come, my routines get disrupted and the runs get buried under all the spontaneous debris of shopping and social obligations. This year I’m glad to have my little Tuesday night routine sheltering at least one run a week.

Routine is my friend, it keeps my training consistent. Routine is not a rut; a routine is a shelter for things that NEED to happen, like hanging up my car keys, brushing my teeth, and running on Tuesday nights. A running routine is something that others see me do and they know after awhile that it’s time they don’t mess with, or I’ll go insane. Like Monday Night Football or Hockey Night in Canada (for some guys) or Survivor (for me), like church or Sunday morning comics or whatever, after awhile, I’ve built my little sanctuary for/in my run.

So last night Dawn ran with Chris and I ran with Kelly out to Tom Campbell hill and back. No hills, but we kept it brisk and Kelly and I chatted the whole way. The temperature was beautiful and crisp, at about freezing. Last week’s snow had almost all melted, leaving dry streets with only some small patches of ice.

Now, on with getting ready for Christmas…

Yesterday I received a box in the mail, with penguin and snowman stickers on it. Hooray! The return address was from Toronto, so I wondered about Toronto Penguins such as Joanne, Julie, Glenn, etc. There was a very good hint as to who this was on the back of a postcard of Ontario Place – it said *Hint* “This is the turnaround point for many of my training walks” Hmmmm, I think I know…

I was tickled pink to discover the goodies inside; polar-bear-&-penguin-sledding hand towel, cute little penguin ornament and pin, some maple syrup, chai tea and chocolates, yum. As soon as I saw the pink mothers daughters sisters bracelet from http://www.thebreastcancersite.com and the ribbon-shaped cookie with pink icing, I thought of Julie,whom I met last February at the Gasparilla races in Tampa.

Here’s her website where she raised a considerable amount of money to fight breast cancer while walking 60km in one weekend.

And in addition to all that, she sent me THREE t-shirts! One ever-so-soft one from the Dupont Spring Run-Off 8k in 2002, a long sleeved one from the Tim Hortons Chilly Half and Frosty 5k, and one more. The third shirt I consider a collectors item: it’s from the Toronto Marathon, Half, 5k & Relay, 10th Anniversary shirt, 2004. It even has a map of the route on the back – cool!

She enclosed a lovely card, labelled “to be opened at the reveal”. She must watch Trading Spaces like I do 🙂

Merry Christmas, Julie, and a big hugging thank you!

Whoa! I actually managed to put up the Christmas lights Dawn gave me for my Penguin header! By myself! at 4:21 a.m.!

Yes, I know, nobody should be up and conscious enough to do that at this time of morning. Maybe I’m dreaming. Well, just in case I’m not, maybe I’ll just write down some more Christmas shopping strategy so I can get back to sleep.

I just hope that after Christmas I’ll be able to take them down again (yes, Dawn, I saved the original code). Time to celebrate with some warm milk, eh?

I met John V. from Devon, Alberta on the Penguin Runners yahoogroup. He and his wife came to Calgary to visit their daughter and race his first 10k.

The helmet cam was filming a woman running the 10k, and her hubby was a great coach. I made it a goal to a) catch up with the helmet cam, and then b) stay ahead of it. I have NO IDEA who Neil is, but he was fun and friendly, and I passed him before the halfway point 🙂

It’s a rule in our races – if I pass Dawn she takes a shot of my butt. This one of her and those around her laughing is fuzzy, but worth posting!

John’s knee didn’t like him much here, but he only had about 400m to go. His daughter’s quite the sweetie!

Dawn wanted a picture of her finishing. And I got in a butt shot, too!

This is the Greg I mistakenly called “Arkansas” in the Okotoks race. I wonder what his time was. Didn’t see him the whole race.

I look forward to seeing Mr. and Mrs. John again. They are neat people.