I am festively plump

It's been quite the holiday season and this is what it's been full of:

1) Food

2) Booze

3) one 8k run in the Saguenay (pretty region of Quebec) where I spent Christmas with friends, almost twisted my ankle twice in the snow!

4) Food

5) Guitar Hero

6) Friends & family

7) Booze

8) Films

9) one 5k run in my not as pretty but cool neighbourhood

10) Sleep

11) Birthday cake ... yes, I have entered a new decade ... surrounded by friends, food, booze, and love ... Here we have DG, Turtleboy, DC and Naynay.

Turtleboy coined the best phrase I've heard in a long while to describe my present non-training body ... "festively plump" ... but heck, he's seen me at the peak of my Ironman training.

Drat, my body has gone to sod and I've got nine months left to train for Ironman Louisville!

Wish I may, wish I might ...

Frankly, training has been HORRIBLE, what with my ever-failing adaptation to long corporate overtime work hours. My romantic artist soul feels imprisoned in a colourless, claustrophobic cacophony of can't do this', musn't do that's, and we-are-watching-you's.

I'm sinking ... sinking ... sinking ... oh too fast ... much too fast.

Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
Wish I may, wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.

I auditioned for two car commercials today, one a callback (yay). Quite the feat to do considering I also had to fit in a full day at work too. I was a chicken with my head cut off. Lots of driving, what with going back and forth from the airport to downtown twice in the same day.

Weekend update:
I'm so proud of my oldest son, T ... he cycled 47 km with JC and I on Saturday. Wish I had brought my camera. (Sorry, folks.) We stopped for a picnic by the scenic north shore of Rivière-des-Prairies ... very pretty and very relaxing. JC immensely enjoyed the rustling of the leaves as slumber carried him off. I walked out onto the rocks in the river but one can only travel so far with cleats. Had to stop T who would have crossed the river if he had found enough rocks, irregardless of safe footing.

Took both sons out for a shorter cycle of 14 km on Sunday. Wish it had been longer but alas, my youngest doesn't yet have the fortitude of the eldest and magically developed a headache and sore throat just a few kilometres into the ride. Sigh.

But we got to eat some tasty Chinese desserts! Wintermelon biscuits and sweet sticky noodles, two of my childhood favourites.

Good news ... I slipped in a 5k this morning after going over lines and before heading to work.

My friend, Turtleboy, chided me tonight for my most recent tactic of only training for the last 5k of the marathon. He said I must have it down pat by now. So funny since he's actually not that far off ... When I ran this morning (while running lines in my head), I visualized the start, middle and finish of the marathon. I told myself, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if the whole marathon could be run this easy-breezy (i.e. like before fatigue set in at kilometre six)?" The silly thing is this visualization tactic can work wonders ... gotta train the mind you know, 'cause that's what'll take you to that finish line. That or the sheer stupid belief that one can run a marathon without any training. Ugh.

Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight
Wish I may, wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.

----------------------------------------------
Dear Universe,

I wish that I will land both car commercials and then have that horrible task of deciding which one to choose! Hmm ... I choose BOTH!!

Thank you,

Silly Sally
----------------------------------------------

Of course, getting my wish would most likely nix my marathon plans for this weekend since it coincides with the possible shoot dates.

Dang. :-)

Me and my Coolrunning gang!

Met up with my running group at one of our favourite haunts, Hurley's!

I ate a wickedly good hamburger steak with fried onions in a peppery sauce, mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables. Absolutely scrumptious! Dragonrouges arrived after I did and ordered the same thing 'cause it was pretty evident how much I enjoyed it. Sorry folks, no pic of it as I was too busy wolfing it down to think about my camera.

Let me introduce everyone ...

Here's Turtleboy. Don't let the name fool you. He's anything but slow and is set on one thing and one thing only ... to get to the Boston Marathon.

Grommit. He's the craziest of us all ... Can be super fast on asphalt when he wants to be but he prefers using his unique "girly" duck-feet stride to romp around trails in the woods and forests, and on mountain slopes. He recently completed the newly sensational and incredibly difficult 54-mile "climb-six-mountains" challenge called Pittsfield Peaks.

Roly. He's Grommit's innocent running partner and together, they are lovingly referred to as "The Grolies". A brand spanking new ultrarunner, he competed as well in Pittsfield Peaks, his first ultra, and made it through a maddening distance of 42 miles. Wicked! Yes, Roly, I know you can now beat my marathon time ... but you just wait until I decide to pick up ultras!

Lifeany dreams of one day running a marathon. You go for it girl! She'd never thought she'd ever even run 5k and now she already has two races under her belt, and more to come! Don't listen to TB, go do that 10k this fall ... you'll be ready! Listen to your heart! You only live once, so never regret.

Here's the handsome Truxx with the beautiful Kneejerk. Truxx has the same training philosophy as I do "Why train, let's just race!" except he's got the speed. Kneejerk moved away from my neighbourhood and I "curse her" for living so far away now ... boo hoo ... I miss those 6:50 am wake-up calls to go run around the park.

Oh, and here I am ... Silly Sally! I showed Grommit my 5k *bling* and he laughed at me heartily as he pulled out his *tool*.

And here we are, the Montreal Coolrunners. I love you all! You're all so special (and so crazy!) Missing in action from the photo are the photo-shy Dragonsrouges and the already parted Mercury and friend.

Aren't we a happy bunch?

Going to Toronto tomorrow, folks, to take care of my mother - she will be starting chemo again. Please say a little prayer for her ...

My first real 5k race!

Shortly after the Ottawa marathon, TB asked me if I'd be interested in running a 5k race with him north of Montreal in Laval.

I've got wheels. He doesn't. He's got fast legs. I don't.

Obvious answer: "I'll go out and support you but I won't run it."

Wrong answer: "I'll go out and support you but I won't run it."

TB signed me up online right there and then and told me that I'd be running it with him and chuckled heartedly ... sigh. What had he gotten me into?!?

I've never run a race shorter than a half marathon (well, a 5k once with my kids, but that was to pace them) and to tell you the truth, fast races give me the heebie-jeebies! I can handle the long periods of pain a body experiences from the wear-and-tear of endurance races but there is something about knowing I am supposed to run as fast as I can that puts too much pressure on me. Besides, I hate feeling all huffy-puffy like I want to pass out or puke or both.

So race day came. I had been dreading this and felt nervous.

I had been psyching myself up for this for a while, not through training 'cause you and I know I ain't any good in that department but at least I was mentally prepared to hurt. The mental part of racing is my forté. I ain't got any real running talent. I fake it all the time and today, I knew I wouldn't be able to fake it anymore. The moment of truth had arrived.

We arrived at at the address on the race info pages TB had printed out from the internet at 9:00 am with enough time to spare. WHAT?!?!

Our hearts and stomachs dropped. Where were the other cars? The runners, race tent, timing mats, and all that other great race excitement stuff? The race was scheduled to start at 9:30 am!! Something was very very wrong and we didn't know what to do.

After a good 10 minutes of disbelief and disheartenment, we drove off to check out the 10k start, perhaps we would find everyone there. No one, nada. We went back to the 5k start. Yup, right address. Yup, right start time. No one except us.



Could it have been the wrong date on the internet pages? No ... there would be other runners in the same position as us, driving around aimlessly, hoping to find a race. Accepting our disappointment, we called it a day and headed back home. Several kilometres west, we had seen people setting up pylons and on our way back, we decided to stop and ask one of the volunteers for which event that was ... It was OUR RACE! We quickly drove further west in search for our precious 5k start line and after a few minutes, saw a bunch of souls in running gear huddled by a house, but there were no other signs of a race.

"Excuse me, is this the 5k start?"

Luckily, the race was starting late. Parking, parking, we had to find parking.

I quickly put on my running shoes and TB and I both made potty stops in the nearby field as there were no port-o-lets at this tiny race! Then we started jogging to the start line over a 100 m away. But the little pack of people weren't getting any closer - the race had already started! There had been no gun or audible start signal. We ran quicker and arrived at the start line. I was already out of breath, which was not a good sign. TB looked at me and said, "This will be our race time," then started the chronometer on his watch and we were off!

Not the ideal conditions to start a race ... a semi-sprint to the start line with no warm up nor stretching nor time to mentally prepare for a strong start. TB quickly caught up to the rest of the runners. I tried to pace myself but the tail end of the runners being so far away was daunting. I knew I was running too fast and wouldn't be able to keep that pace for the entire race, but I needed to feel a part of the race, and call it ego, but I especially needed to pass the children and the runners with strollers.

I tried to concentrate on keeping even breathing, but it already hurt and I could feel my asthma wanting to kick in. I also tried to keep a quicker turn-over than what I'm used to when I run long distance, but I knew that with the bad start and no warm-up, I wouldn't be able to open up my stride and find something comfortable. I felt tight and heavy and slow and forced my pace but I succeeded in passing some more runners.

Where were the mile markers? I needed to figure out my pacing to try to salvage the race but hadn't a clue where I was ... The last 2km dragged out and I could feel my legs getting even heavier. My turn-over got slower and I started feeling tingly in my arms and shoulder and a little dizzy. I could feel my blood pressure dropping and this was not a good sign. I am not used to exerting myself like this and had to slow down just a tad to avoid passing out.

TB, having finished the race, ran back and joined me for the last 500 m or so ... He bounding with energy and I felt so slow and weak. He called out words of encouragement ... "We're coming up the the final stretch ... blah, blah, blah ..." and I put up my hand to stop him from speaking. I didn't have enough energy to do anything but focus on pushing forward and breathing and keep from passing out and TB's well-intentioned call-outs were distracting me from the task I had at hand.

FINISHED!!! Finally!

A volunteer handed me my finisher's medal and another one removed my timing chip. I leaned over a barrier and the blood rushed back to my head as I caught my breath. This is why I don't like fast races.

It was only then did I notice that hey, here was where all the "race excitement" was ... look at that tent and the tables and banners and the all those colourful plates full of fruit waiting to be gobbled down.

We ran into one of TB's race buddies, Christine, who recognized me from having read my blog (COOL!). What a lovely person ... we shared race stories and jokes as we awaited the awards ceremony and prize draws. Nope, we didn't win the airplane tickets. Shucks.

Would I do this race again? You bet your bottom dollar. Would I be able to get used to the kind of torture a fast race elicits on my body? No, but the post-race excitement and socializing was so much fun! And the best part was I wasn't hurting or completely spent, like I am after a marathon, meaning I could still go out and have a full day.

TB and I walked the several kilometres back to my car while our shoulders fried in the sun. We stumbled upon the 5 k start line on the bicycle path ... yup, folks, that is gaffer tape.



Then we headed back to Montreal and celebrated our race with some DQ (Dairy Queen).



Policemen in police vehicles stop for doughnuts. Policemen on horses stop for ice cream.

Chip time: 28:41 (we started 1:10 behind everyone)

TB's watch time: 27:31 (about an 8:50/mile pace)

Admittedly not as fast as I would have liked. I would have run much faster if I could have paced myself properly and had had a proper warm-up and start. I think training for this race would have helped me get a better time ... but hey, I did good for a girl who's got no speed and has only run all of 18 or 19 k in the last three weeks :-)

I came in 21st out of 42 runners, meaning I passed 21 people. TB came in 8th. We both would have moved up in ranking by 2 spots had we started with everyone else ... but we didn't. The race was what it was and it was worth it!

What an incredible day! Thanks TB!!

Who has time to train?

Met up with Turtleboy for a race strategy discussion over Chinese food.

On the menu was:

- salt & pepper shrimps (one of my favourites)

- beef and peppers ho fun in black bean sauce

- snow pea leaf with garlic

- fried ice cream

Afterwards, we head out to meet JC at a loft party hosted by those cool folks from Flickr. Fantastically extravagant shin-dig ... great food, open bar, DJ, dancing ... and a cool little photo book to take home!

Post-race mayhem and exhaustion ... but oh the food!

Sunday evening with PB

The delectable celebratory menu:
- Warm goat cheese croutons on green salad
- Curry ratatouille
- Cashew and vegetable rice
- Heavenly Hash ice cream

- PB and I stayed up way too late talking and philosophying ... ugh ... so much for getting a good night's sleep.

Monday

- had to get up and get to work by 7:30, a new contract at a new company ...

- legs felt pretty wrecked in the morning. I walked very slowly all day. The woman training me at work likes to take the stairs. I had to confess to her that I had just run a marathon. I spun around and went down backwards ... she laughed.

- getting out of the chair after sitting for a while was a little difficult, but not as difficult as going to the ladies' room. OOF!

- stayed up late and wrote my race report, so STILL didn't get enough sleep

Tuesday

- legs felt better, still sore, but I was able to go down stairs frontways

- after work and before supper I had an awards ceremony to go to ... I was sooo proud!

- post-race Chinese food celebration with my Coolrunning Montreal gang. We all ate like pigs ... (clockwise, starting at 2:00) ... tofu stuffed with crab and shrimp, salt and pepper pork chops, sesame beef, General Tao's chicken, white rice, and snow pea leaf with garlic. YUM YUM!!Another chicken dish loaded up with all sorts of vegetables arrived a few minutes later, but we couldn't wait ... we were too hungry and had to dig in and eat!

- (left to right) Don, GB (who ran the half), TB, me, Mercury (who ran the half), LifeAny, and Runningag (who ran the full)

- RG walked painfully down the stairs out of the restaurant. I ran down them past him like a mischievious urchin. TB was jealous of my "hardy constitution and incredible ablility to recuperate". Another late night ... OOF!!

Wednesday
- Headache
- Legs feel even better and I can walk at fast speeds, even want to run ... so I did so, down the stairs at work

Thursday
- I cancelled supper with a friend and ate a sandwich. I had not even taken off my make-up nor brushed my teeth when I fall asleep at 8pm. I was exhausted, what with not having had enough sleep and starting a new job (the stress of a sharp learning curve and new environment!)

Friday
- Got up without the alarm this morning. If I had set it, I would have had the time to go run. Instead, I slept in and got 11 hours sleep. Let's say, I felt super-energetic having now gotten enough sleep. I'm going to have to find a way to expend some of this energy this weekend ... I feel fully recuperated! The real test will be running again ...

Ottawa Marathon 2007 Race Report

I thought I wouldn't do it. I thought I couldn't do it. I felt helpless to change my mother's situation - I could not make her better. I felt lost. In my sadness, I deferred my race.

But then my friends said:

"You can do anything you put your mind to."

"Where the mind is willing, the body will follow."

I had an epiphany.

I realised that if I don't feel hopeful and believe entirely in the power of the mind, then how can I expect her to do the same? I cannot help my mother be strong if I am not strong myself. How would I be able to support her if I have already tumbled to the ground? I pulled myself together, dried my tears, and drove out to Toronto.

It was great to see her smile. The kids and I gave her hugs. I asked where she'd like for us to travel together ... she's never seen the world. I told her we'd need to start planning since she was going to get better.

Upon returning from my mother's, I felt sad all day. I needed something to shake me up and WAKE ME UP from this horribly glum state. I needed to run, and so I did ... 25 km.

Then I *knew* that I could do it, that I would do it ... I wanted to ROOOAARR!! I needed to prove to myself once again the power of the mind ...

The Ottawa Marathon was back on again.

My friend, GB, who had originally planned to run this marathon with me but couldn't, had a change in his weekend plans and decided to come out to support me. I convinced him to sign up for his first race too, a half marathon :-) Thank you for making sure I got back home safely, GB ... I am so proud of your fast 1:37:00 time ... You totally rock!

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

Wake-up: 5:15 am

Breakfast: Oatmeal, banana and tea

Clothing: Long-sleeve shirt covering the nifty official race tank top and tights

Marathon start time: 7:00 am

I elected to use my triathlon bib belt as I did not know where to pin the race bib. I dropped the idea of wearing my water bottle belt as I needed to be as light as possible and did not want to feel encumbered. It was difficult enough knowing the kind of challenge that faced me. I would be running 42.2 km with only 186 km of training during the past two months ... or rather 4.4 km training per km racing. (Or as TB says, "The most for the least!") There are marathon training programs that average that kind of mileage over two weeks of running. I had stretched it out over eight weeks ...

I figured I'd arrive at the race site just before the race started. I had no choice ... it's incredible how humming and hawing about what to wear can quickly waste time. On my walk over, I felt overdressed and contemplated turning back to change into shorts. No ... no time left. I didn't want to miss the start.

I made my way to the assigned corral based on my prediction when I registered, though I knew that this race would be much slower than originally planned. I would finish BOP, back-of-pack, instead of MOP, middle-of-pack. I had no time to find a position farther back ... The horn sounded and off we went!

Uphill start but I tried to take it easy, purposely not stressing out at the realisation that I was even less prepared for this race than for the NYC Marathon, where I still had some residual Ironman fitness left in me. I was quickly passed by the faster runners but I didn't care.

From the race website:

"The 1/2 and full marathon courses are scenic and flat with very few elevation changes. Considered to be an excellent course for first timers and those looking for a personal best."

HA!! I beg to differ. There were way too many of those little Gatineau hills and I knew that my quads would pay the price later with lactic acid build-up. I had neither speed nor strength. My legs would neither lift any higher nor would they turn over any faster. I stopped four times during the first half of the course for pee breaks ... what was with my over-active bladder? Good thing Ottawa is renown for its greenery since I only found one port-o-let.

I wanted to run faster but somehow felt like I had shifted into "reflective cruising mode" and was actually enjoying the reverie. Other runners wanted to talk to me and I answered politely but I didn't feel like talking or running with anyone. I wanted to be alone.

My body had found the catharsis that I needed and inside my little bubble, I collected my mental strength, not just enough to finish, but more than enough to support my mother on the next leg of her difficult journey with cancer. I needed to create and feel HOPE and ACCEPTANCE within every particle of my being. Hope to help her heal and acceptance to be able to enjoy every moment we will have together.

Warm sun, shirt off, cold wind, shirt on ... More clouds set in and I was glad that I had chosen tights over shorts. Light mist, shirt off ... ahhh, how refreshing ... but my hands are so cold! Blow on them ... Slippery roads ... rain rain go away ... shirt on ... Medic, do you have any gels? Only chocolate? Ewww!

When the marathon joined the half marathon course, it was a little disconcerting being passed again by so many, but at the same time, strangely uplifting, as these runners with more energy than I also gave me energy, and I soon found myself running their speed though I had started 12 km ahead of them. When the two race paths separated, my sudden solitude was made sharper knowing that I had the hardest part of the marathon still ahead of me. I was tired, my bunions hurt, my shins were tight, and my quads were crying out in pain.

I tried to relax as much as possible and focused harder on the mileage countdown. Unlike most of my past marathons, I didn't curse angrily in my head nor did I question my decision to run or wonder if I would ever race again. I accepted the pain.

38 km ... 40 km ... 750 m left, I sped up ... 500 m left, I sped up some more ... 200 m left and I gunned it to the finish, lifting my legs as high as I could, pumping my arms with equal determination, and cutting through a throng of racers.



How does one describe the utterly incredible feeling of completely challenging the body, mind and spirit?

Another day. Another marathon, #12! Another shiny race medal. And my heart and soul are once more full of hope and strength and courage :-)

I love you so much, mom.

Chip Time: 5:04:50
Placement: 2765/3115
Split @ 10km: 1:14:19
Split @ 21.1km: 2:35:32
Split @ 30km: 3:39:38

For those who are curious, yes, I did do a negative split ...
21.1-42.2km: 2:29:18, faster by 6:24

The Master Plan

Looong 11-hour work day yesterday that finished super late. Crawled into bed exhausted and got a wickedly short 5 1/2 hours sleep last night. Agh, that's all I got Friday night too what with DM in town ready to party.

I wish it could have slept more but I had to meet up with Turtleboy for a personal send-off. He's running the Paris Marathon on April 15 and is all excited. Understandable, since he's been training hard for the past 6+ months gearing up for it.

We met up at Mon Shing in Chinatown, one of TB's favourite haunts. As usual, we pigged out - soup of the day, crab-stuffed fried tofu, snow pea leaves with garlic, beef and green peppers chow foon, and of course, rice.


Great fun to catch up. TB chided me for my lifestyle - "lots of socialising with a little hint of work". We laughed. The funny thing is, this is mostly true. That made us laugh even harder. Yes, I do work, but given all the things I do for my living, my schedule is all over the place, so it just "looks" like I play a lot ... Alright, confession ... I do play a lot. It feeds my soul albeit not always the overhead. Well, as some people have said to me, "That's the path you've chosen." I think of these folks sometimes while enjoying a mid-afternoon coffee with another freelance friend as we ponder how their 9-5 day is going.

As I've mentioned before, it's all about choice ...

After brunch, of course, we made a pit stop at Boutique Endurance, since pretty boy TB had to pick up some new running duds and look "styling"... Just poking at you TB! xoxo

Final Destination: Roberto's on Bélanger, famous for it's gelato. I took hazelnut gelato and a café au lait since I felt like I was falling asleep and TB took chocolate and mint chocolate chip gelato. Scrumptious!

Turtleboy and I got to talking seriously about our 2007 planned athletic endeavours.

TB: So what's your next race?

SS: Well, I was thinking of doing a Half Ironman later this summer, the same one I did last year. I know what to expect this time round but maybe I'll do something before that.

TB: (raising an eyebrow) Oh, like what?

SS: I was thinking about running the Ottawa Marathon at the end of May. Do you think that would be possible? Maybe we could go back to my place and sit down and figure out a training schedule.

TB: Hey, why don't we do it here? All we need is a napkin.

So, lo and behold, yes, I am SERIOUS sometimes about training and do draw up schedules ... Lookee here ... A picture tells a thousand words and four pictures tell even more!

Beware the inner workings of Silly Sally's mind!

Can you read the napkin? Yes, yes, I am breaking the 10% weekly mileage rule ... rule, schmules ... and yes, I do realise that it is only a three day running schedule, but how else will I be able to fit in the swimming and cycling? And dancing and socialising?

But as Turtleboy says:

"The most bang for the buck! 8.25 km training for each kilometre racing."

Not a bad deal, I say!

SS: Sorry, I won't be able to give you a lift all the way home, only to the metro. I have to squeeze in a 10k run before my dance rehearsal and if
we leave now, I will JUST fit it in.

TB: No probs!

And off we went.

Got home, checked my e-mail as I waited for my gluttonous tummy to settle down. It didn't. DANG! Alright, Plan B. Go to dance rehearsal, then run afterwards. I made a quick call.

SS: Hey there, I have to run a 10k before we eat supper. Think you would want to run part of it with me? I can run two loops and you can run the first one with me.

KC: I can run all of it if you don't go fast.

SS: You sure? Don't worry, I'm real slow right now. I've only run once in the last three weeks because of this cold.

KC: See you later.

I left for dance rehearsal and exhausted and hungry afterwards, headed to Killerchop's. Did we end up running? Nooooo! Dance rehearsal finished really late and KC ended up enticing me with this!

Alright, Day#1 of my new training schedule has been thwarted! Ugh, I have no discipline. Well, at least this marathon schedule is longer than some of the other ones I've had ... I still have time to catch up!

Happy Year of the Pig!

We went to Beijing (the restaurant) tonight for a little Chinese New Year feast. My oldest son was born Year of the Pig, how quick the cycle comes round again! No food pics though ... we were too engrossed in woofing it all down, it was too delicious!

What we ate:

Shrimp stuffed tofu

Garlic snow pea leaves

General Tao chicken

Salt and pepper shrimp

Cantonese chow mein

Dry beef chow foon

White rice

Here are the remains ...

Who was present:

Silly Sally with two sons

Killerchops with his son

Turtleboy

I have never met a non-Chinese person who has refused to celebrate Chinese New Year with me. I even hosted a Chinese New Year's party once for 30+ guests and there were only two Chinese people attending, one of whom was me, the other an old school friend from Toronto. How cool is that?