What I miss

I have really missed running. I have missed the obvious: fresh air, rain, the sound of gravel crunching under my shoes, and of course how I feel afterwards. Today I realized what else I missed. I missed my routine. I missed my pre-run oatmeal, filling my hydration pack, packing my truck with all before and after run essentials. I missed the feeling of fear as I wondered " Whats that noise", and "Hey, why are there two guys randomly walking out of the forest in the middle of nowhere?". I missed my recovery drink, my watch, I even missed power gels. I missed being with my thoughts for hours.
But what I especially miss is walking into Starbucks, dripping wet and covered in mud. Squelch, squelching into line behind a "I'm headed to Whistler princess". Then bumping into Mr. Dirt Bag that broke my heart, and saying "Afternoon-you just rolling out of bed are you?" Knowing what I have already accomplished by noon is priceless!

x-training

As I've been waiting for this hammy injury to heal I've been doing everything else known to man besides running on land.

One lovely x-training method:

Water running:
My definition: running my ass off in water getting absolutely nowhere fast.

"The goal is to keep your body afloat while allowing you to perform a running motion without stress to the body.
Submerged in the water you will have resistance on all sides. This forces opposing muscles to work equally. As you move your arms and legs against the resistance of the water you will get a great cardiovascular, as well as, strength training workout."

Yes all of the above is true. Website failed to mention how boring and demoralizing it is. I was rather embarrassed showing up at the pool at 6am on my first day. I was worried I'd look like a tool, flailing away in the pool. The pool was busy with the elderly doing various forms of Aquacise, while sharing stories of recent cataract surgery's, and complaining about their grand-kids and their "antics." Well here I am, jumping(no-I climbed down the ladder) into the pool, floaty belt on-ready to run. Awkward at first, and varoom off I.....go. The speed of my leg/arm rotations definitely aren't matching the speed at which I am NOT moving. I yell to lifeguard (who I know) " I'm running my ass of here! Am I doing this wrong?" Nope, doing it right all right. So I "run" circles in the deep end for an hour, forced into listening all about hip replacements. Good gawd, the time goes so slow, then suddenly I have 10 minutes left! I tell the lifeguard that I may drown, and to please keep an eye on me, as I take the floaty belt off. This is more of a trying to keep my head above water exercise. Oh the fun.
Water running is a great cross training activity, and I quite look forward to the sessions.

(sometimes)

Another form of x-training has been my bike. Sometimes you'll find me at the gym, or riding in my living room, rocking out to my A.F.I concert DVD, waking up my landlords at 5am, and sweating my face off as I usually forget to turn my free heat off. (usually set at 28 Celsius). Good heat training for Costa Rica!!!

P.S. I ran on land today pain-free!!!

Wise little sister.

Injury's are discouraging. My sister Dawn sent me this letter the other day:

You decided to do this. You thought this would be an awesome thing to try to accomplish and a great way to get in fit and meet people and go back to Costa Rica. You thought, yes, let's train for this. I can make this happen. No one forced you to do this. You are not doing this for anyone else but yourself and that is how it should be. You have been doing the best that you can do while you train and you have been training HARD!! It doesn't matter what people do or say. The people that matter will never say anything negative about you and they certainly won't think less of you. And if they do, challenge them up the chief for chrissakes, you've earned this. You've earned it in spades. In all those mornings of early runs, and late evenings at the gym or on the bike or running again, you've earned where you are right now. All those times you thought "No, I can't go out and have a drink cause I have a run tomorrow" or "nope, can't buy that, I'm going to CostaRica" you've earned it then too.When you look in the mirror and think your butt looks fat?? Take a look back at some pictures and look at how far you've come. Look at the difference in your eyes, your skin, your happiness! Think of how many people you have inspired to get outside just because you do. They think, I want to be like her!!!So, yes, you are injured right now and starting to doubt everything and you are starting to get really nervous about whether or not you can do this. Don't. Think about how hard you have worked, how far you have come, what you have accomplished, what you can do now that you couldn't a year ago, how far you can run that you couldn't run that far two years ago!!! Think about how awesome it will be when you are in Costa Rica. And when you are there just think about one day at a time. Not all six days. Think about how there isn't any pressure about your performance-yes there is the time limits each day and the amount of kms...but you aren't defending a title. Yes, you have friends and family thinking about you while you do this but you aren't a defending champion or anything. Yet! All you have to do is look after yourself and do the best that you can. You are not out to prove anything to anyone or outdo someone. And if all else goes to shit and you don't make it to Costa or you make it there and have to pull out days in...you are not the first athlete to get hurt. You are not the first one to be injured or pull out of a race. These things happen and it will suck and it will hurt and you'll be disappointed but there are always other races. The loss in money will be the hardest part to swallow, I know. For that I have no solution. But don't injure your self more because you don't want to stop because of the money.All this is said in nothing but love and support for you so if it comes off as snotty, rude or mean, it's not supposed to be. I just read a little bit of the 4 agreements before I went to bed last night, mostly the "Always do your best" and it kind of struck a chord with me. Know that I love you and am so proud of everything you've accomplished and how far you've come.

Dawno

Hurdles

Well It's been a rough couple of weeks. I have a new hamstring injury that flared up shortly after the Victoria marathon. Its been hurting to run past 45 minutes. So Jen's had me on the elliptical machine, biking, and yoga. Shes also told me to take the next two weeks off of running to get this injury healed completely. So I'll be attempting water running instead! Should be interesting. Hard not to feel totally down when an injury prevents you from doing something you love. Also hard not to feel stressed about a 6 day running race, when one can't run currently. Going from running for 4 hours to barely making it through 45 minutes is a mental obstacle to hurdle! Jen got me re-energized and pumped the other day when talking about her experiences, and how amazing this challenge I'm about to take on will be. I'm still working towards the 6 day race, but also know the 3 day race may be an option. So lets see how the running goes in 2 weeks time!