This Is Me

I stole this picture from Heather at Run Faster, Mommy! I'm pretty sure that when I have some extra money laying around I'll get it made into a t-shirt. My family and friends love me, but this is usually how our conversations go!

How Far Will I Have To Drive?

It's only playing for 1 day in the States (1 January 2011). If any one is in Washington and lives north of Seattle - the closer to the border the better - please request that they bring it to your city! I want to come! This relay is definitely going on my "someday when I don't have kids at home" list!

Hood To Coast Movie Trailer from HoodToCoastMovie on Vimeo.

Three Things Thursday

#1. I have run 3 times this week! Yay me! It doesn't sound like a big deal, but two of these runs have been just me and Spud. This is the first time (ever) that I've gone out with him in the stroller and not had Colin with us. I kind of thought that it would be really hard to push the stroller just by myself, but it's not that bad. Colin can't do it anymore anyways since it hurts his knee so I might as well get used to doing it!

#2. I went for an 11km run yesterday. I asked Spud if he was okay to not go out on a run. And in his honest 3 year old way he said, "No." So out we went. I'm glad that we did - it was sunny (today is not) and he had a bit of a nap.

#3. The downside to #2 is that when we got home from our run Spud was really tired and complaining of a headache. He also said that he wasn't hungry/full even though he'd barely eaten. I kind of shrugged it off (stupid!) and paid for it later. I thought maybe he just needed to sleep a little longer, but he was actually sick. He got sick all over our couch/floor/Colin right before we were supposed to sit down for dinner. So dinner got pushed back (chicken was still on turned off barbecue - worst dinner ever 1/2 hour later) while we cleaned up. We had to rinse our cushions in the tub so I had to bathe Spud in the kitchen sink. It made for a very interesting evening and a long night (he wanted to sleep on the couch at 1am - fine, whatever's easiest - and eat at 2am). There will be no run today!

Randomness...

A. Sometimes the whole concept of social media kind of freaks me out. I commented on a question Nathan Hydration posted on facebook today (since I already won a handheld I doubt that I'll win a belt, but I digress). All well and good except that out of about a dozen comments I saw that two were by other runner bloggers. And they were under their real names so what I recognized was their pictures/first names. It makes the world seem like a very small place.*

B. You know you're a runner when:

• Joining Marathon Maniacs seems like a good idea.
• You think that running 2 marathons in 2 days seems like an okay way to get the membership. Not the easiest, but maybe feasible?
• You'd be willing to run 2 in 2 days if you had the money.
• You are trying to figure out how to get said money...
• You ask if anyone wants to fund your quest (hehe) - any one crazy enough for 1 May in Vancouver and 2 May in Eugene? The first run would be a PR, but the second almost a certain PW! That's a long drive...

I'm not that serious about the above list (unless someone really does want to pay!)... it'll go on my bucket list. I'll just aim for a new PR.

* It's definitely one of the reasons all my privacy settings are up to date!

So I Went For A Run...

Thanks to Andrew's very blunt "get off your butt" comment on my earlier post Spud and I went out for a run this afternoon. It was great! Now, obviously, it's in the eye of the beholder. I'm pretty sure all the people in their cars and under their umbrellas were looking at us like we were crazy. There was probably some pity thrown my way as well. That's because it was raining (alternating between downpour and drizzle) and windy. At some points it looked like the stroller was trying to take off.

Things I learned (or remembered) on this run:

• Running in the rain is fine. It's not my favourite, but I trained for my first half marathon at this time last year and it wasn't a problem.
• Running during the day is so nice. I don't have to have lights and reflectors. I can run by myself. I'm 95% sure that drivers see me when I'm crossing the street - though there were a few that looked surprised that I was in the crosswalk.
• Spud likes the stroller. He did his warm-up stretches and run before we left the house.
• Spud likes the rain! As in there was no way the rain cover was going on. We have a water resistant blanket that he'll deign to put on, but that was it. For the first while he didn't even want to have the pull down cover over his head. He's 3 so I pick my battles. If I get to run he can get soaked if he wants to...
• Stroller time = nap time! Yay! I think he only slept for about 20 minutes, but since he was up at 6am that's fine with me.
• One 37lb 3 year old + one 25lb BOB Revolution stroller = 62lbs to push up hills. I felt quite justified in walking up the second half of the hill to the overpass. And then I got a bit of a break so we could watch the trains in the yard underneath.

Rockin' the drowned rat look!

Totals for the run: 6.25km in 44:52. Not a record by any means, but I definitely had a better run than expected. Now I just have to do this 3 more times this week!

Winning Stuff Makes Up For A Running Slump, Right?

So this last week has been a good week for me in the world of blog contests! As posted last Tuesday I won a Road ID certificate. I promptly "spent" it on new wristbands for me and Colin as well as a pair of reflective laces for each of us.

When I posted about that win Zaneta commented to let me know that I had won her contest. Here's what I'm going to be getting in the mail soon! I'm very excited! I have never tried the Tri-berry GU and the chocolate ones look like they'll be fantastic. I actually already have a water bottle like this one, but it's over a year old and is due for replacement. Besides, the blue is far prettier than my black one!

Today's good news was that I checked back on a Facebook contest that I entered and found out that I had won that too! I get a Nathan Hydration Quickdraw Plus water bottle. At 22 oz. it's bigger than the one above (10 oz.). It should be perfect for my runs that are about 10km long. Another reason I like it is that it should fit in the cup holder on Spud's stroller. Right now we just chuck a Nalgene underneath, but it's really inconvenient to stop and take a drink. I've seen lots of other bloggers with this bottle and they all seem to love it so I'm pretty happy. I chose the green because I figured Colin might want to use it too (the teal was getting a little girly).

I'm really hoping that all this new gear is going to get me off my butt and out the door! Since the marathon I've run a whopping two times. Yup, that's twice in two weeks. Bah! I don't know if it's because I don't have the accountability of a clinic right now or if I'm burned out or what. Probably a little bit of both as well as the typical crappy Vancouver rain has shown up again for fall so my motivation is pretty low. I have a lofty goal list of working my way up to 4 days/week and 2-3 days of core work/week before the end of December. So far it's looking like that might start in November instead. Thankfully I have a couple of awesome running friends from my marathon clinic that are interested in fairly regular runs so that should help me out some. We're going for our first run tomorrow night and it'll be nice to have to honour that commitment.

Race Recap - Running Diva Mom's 10/10/10 10K Virtual Race

Running Diva Mom put out a challenge to do a virtual 10K run on 10 October. Now, as you know, I was running my marathon that day. So I said that I would do four 10km runs. Here are the results from my Polar HRM:

10km #1 - 1:01:55

10km #2 - 1:03:54 (20km - 2:05:49)

10km #3 - 1:12:58 (30km - 3:18:47)

10km #4 - 1:23:55 (40km - 4:42:42)

My first 10km was my best! Keep in mind that I wasn't actually going out to do a 10km race... I guess what this challenge shows me is that I have to work really hard next marathon to achieve negative splits! I really need to do a 10km race so that I know how fast I can actually go!

I Won!

Turns out someone in Neil's first round of winners from the 10-10 Virtual Race didn't claim their prize so I got chosen the second time around. Hm, I'll take it!

So what did I win? A $21.50 e-giftcard to Road ID!

If you don't know about them they are awesome! They make up a little plaque that goes on a wrist/ankle band or shoe tag that has your information on it so that you don't have to take all of your ID cards with you on a run. I purchased an Ankle ID for Colin for Father's Day and, because it made sense to do it all at once, got one for myself too. Turns out, though, that when we run longer distances we both get calf cramps from the pressure of the strap on our Achilles. So I'm super excited to be able to get wrist straps for the both of us - and definitely the Firefly laces for me!

Oh, and since I didn't do an official 10-10 Virtual Race report (I was kinda focused on my marathon race report) here it is: Between 13 September and 10 October I ran 162.88km or 100.59 miles! Just made it into the 100 mile club!

Race Report: GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon - 10 October 2010

Before you read my report do you: have a drink? have a snack? need to go to the bathroom?

Make sure you're prepared before you settle in to read a really long race report! It's my first marathon; what do you expect?

Our race preparations began on Saturday 9 October early in the morning. My parents were coming to stay with Spudsy at our house. Since we needed to be at the ferry terminal no later than 8:30am for our 9am sailing - always reserve your trip! Being stuck in the line on a holiday weekend is no fun - they were coming over at about 7am. That meant we had to be up by 6am to eat, finish packing the car, and get Spudsy up to say goodbye. Thankfully our departure didn't mean too many tears, but that could have been because we left
bribes
presents for him to open each day we were gone. Once we were on the road it was a quick 45 minute drive to Tsawwassen to catch the boat.

Ferry Terminal - we're on our way!

It's amazing how busy travel is on a long weekend. The line up at Starbucks in the terminal was at least 20 people long. Of course we waited, but we were only getting coffee and tea so the wait was okay. I saw a friend from elementary school while in line and had a bit of a chat and then in was time to board. Being that it was (Canadian) Thanksgiving there were too many people with too little seats. We ended up spending 80% of our trip in the car reading those free tourist magazines as we really weren't willing to sit as singles and it was too cold and windy to be on deck.

View from the parking deck - the trip goes through the Gulf Islands

After about an hour and a half we made it to Vancouver Island and drove the 40 minutes into Victoria. We headed straight to the convention centre to pick up our bibs/race packages and shirts. Honestly, it was nothing to write home about like most of the expos here. You guys in the States really know how to put on a fair (hello, Rock 'N' Roll). However, we got the best New Balance race shirts (see picture near the end)! I don't think I'll ever run in mine since it's so nice. We didn't try them on before the race since we figured it would be some sort of bad luck...

The rest of our Saturday was fairly normal. Colin's got extended family in Victoria so we visited with his grandmas and then headed to his aunt and uncle's place where we were staying. We just hung out in the evening and had a great spaghetti/garlic bread/salad dinner (with home-made lemon meringue pie!). Colin watched a movie while I watched the Canucks home opener (NHL hockey) and then we started to get our stuff ready for Sunday.

Race day outfit

Colin's race stuff

My race stuff

Our shoes!

Now, if you go back up and look at my race day outfit you will see how close to perfect the bib is pinned on. That took me half an hour and most of my sanity. I really hadn't worried about the marathon all week (by way of ignoring it) and for some reason that bib was my trigger. I just could not get that stupid thing straight! And it killed me. I totally had a mental breakdown and lost it at Colin.

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: "I can't get my bib straight."

Colin: "Well, try again."

Me: "I DID. IT"S NOT WORKING!!!"

Colin: (frustrated) "What am I supposed to do about it?!?"

Me: "Nothing! I don't know! I haven't worried about this f-ing race this whole d**m week and I think that I'm f-ing entitled to FREAK OUT ABOUT IT NOW!!!"

It really wasn't funny when it happened, but, man, is it hysterical now!

We went to bed at 11:30pm since we're so smart. It's not that we were too excited to sleep, but rather too lazy to crawl in to bed any earlier.

Race Day!!!

Race day dawned dark and early. Thankfully it was only because we had to get up to have breakfast, get dressed and drive to find parking. As marathoners we got to start at 9am - a luxury - the early marathoners started at 6:30am and the half marathoners at 7:30am. Once we got out the door we stopped to get change for parking, but ended up finding a free street parking spot. We only drove into downtown once and then turned around to go back to the open space we'd seen. It was a good thing that we didn't show up any later as they were starting to blockade the route for the half. After we parked we decided that we'd jog down to the start line to get warmed up (even though it was an hour and a half until start time). Nothing like an almost 2km run before a 42.2km race! It was chilly, but we had on our old toss-away jackets so it wasn't too bad. We had to wait to cross over to the parliament buildings where we were meeting friends since the half had started and there were 6800ish runners in the way.

We killed a little time stretching and chatting with friends and then moved over to the start area. There weren't corrals, just signs with 15 minute increments, so Colin and I hugged, said good luck and then went to our respective times (4 hours and 4:15). I chatted with a couple of other runners - both of whom seemed more nervous than me even though they'd run marathons in the past. Before I knew it they were singing the national anthem, counting down the time and starting the race. I tossed my jacket (which I was only holding onto for sentimental reasons since the zipper was broken) and plodded along with the rest of the runners. Coming out of the first turn it kind of hit me that I was running in my first marathon!

There were lots of people cheering out along the start of the race since we doubled back around the parliament buildings. It was nice that there were so many even if there wasn't anyone specifically looking for me. I ran through my first planned 10 + 1 since we weren't really going all that fast. Once we came off of the main street we hit a long, slow uphill. It wasn't that bad, but it was definitely noticeable. I have to say that the group of people from lululemon cheering made it a lot easier! They were loud and very enthusiastic. Near the top of the hill I saw maybe one of the best spectators - he was handing out kleenex! For a rainy, windy morning it was genius!

At this point I was around the 3km mark. I started taking my 10 + 1s just to make sure that I was on plan. Pacing was going well, if a little fast, but I was feeling fine. It was downhill and there was a water stop up ahead (I had my pack though so didn't need to rely on them). Somewhere around here I was running along the centre line trying to keep to the outside in case I was going to stop and walk - a little unnerving since traffic was still oncoming - and I saw a guy on a bike go by. Turned out it was Darren, my half marathon clinic instructor, who was over to cheer on the half runners. I yelled at him and waved and then continued running. It was totally random, but nice to see someone I knew since all the other marathoners from our clinic were well ahead of me.

The next part of the race went through Beacon Hill Park. It's a lovely area, but also hilly. Usually when we're in town we only go to the petting zoo so it was nice to see the rest of it. This is when I first saw the Elite runners. They were on their way out as I was entering (about 3km ahead of me) and it was nice to be able to clap for them. I can't believe the pace they keep up! I obviously run marathons while they race them!

We exited the park and headed out onto Dallas Road. At this point there were quite a few half marathoners on their way back. I've got to say that some of them looked miserable! I think that they would have been the 2-1/2+ hour finishers and they'd been out in the rain and wind for a while already. I'm pretty sure that I was wearing the same expressions on my face when I came back that way too (and I had sun by then). The road is right on the water so it was all headwind for them. This was the only time that I had the wind to my back. I was feeling good as I hit the 10km mark at 1:03:17. Since I haven't actually raced a 10km in 10 years so I think it was pretty decent. I had my only wildlife sighting just after 10km. There was a river otter that popped out of someone's driveway and ran across the road. I'm not sure who was more confused to see whom!

At about 11-1/2km the race route turned into residential Oak Bay. This is to avoid a really steep hill, but having done the area around the hill I think that I'd almost prefer straight up! I previously called this area residential hilly hell and I'm not kidding. They aren't huge hills by any means, but they are long and slow and gradual and they just totally take a toll on your legs. Nothing too much to note about this area - it was residential. However, the people who lived there were awesome. So many people were out on their yards cheering. It was nice that most of that part of the city really got into it even though the race turned their traffic into a gong show. There was one house that was supporting the Harriers Run Club runners. They had the usual water, etc., but also were offering beer! Not sure how many non-club members took them up on that offer... The only other exciting (and depressing) thing that happened in this part of the race was that the Elites came by again. I was at about 16km and the leader came running the other way with the pace vehicle. The clock on top said 1:43:00. Pretty good for me at 16km, but he was at the 31km mark! Holy fast!!!

After leaving the "fun" of the neighbourhoods we came back down to the water. There was a nice stretch through the Royal Victoria Golf Club's course. It was really pretty, but it was also probably the steepest hill. I ran up most of it, but wasn't prepared for the extra little bump at the top! I didn't feel too badly about walking that little bit as I had to take a gel anyways. We made our way along Beach Avenue, past the Oak Bay Marina with it's killer whale sign (used to be Sea World). I saw a guy with an early marathon bib walking on his way back - he was military and wearing his boots, fatigues and full pack. That's guts and determination! There was another group of people cheering around here - they all had Halloween costumes on and they guy carrying his daughter on his shoulders was running after the Elites and telling them to go faster! It was hilarious! We went up another hill to the halfway mark. My split was 2:15:20 - not an unofficial PR - but, as with the 10km split, pretty happy with it. It seemed like I was on track to do my marathon in about 4-1/2 hours.

I saw Colin just after we hit halfway. He was running with a friend and almost didn't see me. I was waving frantically and had to yell, "hey, hey, nice of you to say hi!" to get his attention. He was about 4km ahead of me which I expected since he was hoping to go sub-4 hours.

The route had a turn-around between kilometres 23 and 24. It was a little odd since they ran us up a residential side street for about 1/2km and then turned us around. It kind of turned too so you couldn't quite tell when you got to go back. I made sure to have a pit stop here just in case. I looked at the girl behind me in line and she looked like hell. When I asked if she was okay she said she just needed to throw up so I let her go ahead of me. I wasn't so bad off that I couldn't wait the extra couple of minutes.

Once out of the turn-around it was time to go back the way I came. This is where my race fell apart. My mind was willing, but my body was weak. It's not that I hadn't run that far before. I was only at 24km and my longest long run was 34km. I wanted to run. But it hurt. I'm no physician so I don't know what was actually hurt, just where it hurt. It was the upper middle of my quad, like if you drew a straight line up from the middle of my kneecap, sort of where the thigh and pelvis meet. I'd run for a couple of minutes and then walk for a few. I knew I was going fairly slow (for this race - it was a ridiculously fast field) when I ran past the runner with the police escort and he was only a few kilometres behind me. He also had to be over 80 years old, but he had a Marathon Maniacs shirt which I thought was awesome. I started walking the uphills going back into the golf course. I always felt so bad for the spectators because you could tell that they wanted to cheer, but didn't really know what to say. Thankfully no one ever told me just to start running again - there were a lot of "good job"s and "you can do it"s.

Prior to the turnaround the sun decided to come out for the day. It was so nice. Unfortunately it also played havoc with me. I had on shorts, but also a long-sleeved shirt. I got hot. Not ridiculously overheated, but enough that my stomach wanted to revolt. I spent much of the last 10km trying to decide where in people's yards I could discretely throw up if I had to (and I really wanted to!). Residential Victoria doesn't have a lot of street sewer grates. At least it helped pass the time. Once my legs and stomach started giving me hell I was in survival mode. I knew I would finish the race, but I had given up on any kind time goal a long time past.

When I got back to Dallas Road I was on the home stretch. There were only a couple of challenging hills left and I tried my hardest to run up them just so they wouldn't defeat me. The bonus to being slower was that there were no crowds around to run in. I have quite a few nice pictures because I wasn't running in a group. The last 10km was hard. Not just for the regular reasons, but because I had a headwind for 9 of them. It felt like running in soup. It was a little demoralizing when some of the water stations were closed (again, I wasn't using them, but still).

When I got to about the 40km mark I got to have a good laugh. For those of you who don't know Victoria it's full of retirees and seniors. I was running along (if you could call it that at that point) and all of a sudden I heard music. I figured it was a band or something. However, when I looked up it was a whole bunch of seniors from the care home. They were out in 50s costumes (think poodle skirts) and were dancing up a storm on the sidewalk and road. I had been so focused on finishing for the last 5km that it was nice to have something to smile about!

I was ecstatic when I saw the marker for 41km. It meant that I was almost done! Unfortunately it also meant that there was one more hill and it had a turn in it. Whoever designed this course was pretty mean! I was walking up the second half of the hill as my knee had started to hurt around 41km when I heard a guy ask if I was okay. I looked over and it was a paramedic on a bike. I told him that it was just my knee. He asked if I'd had trouble before, but I told him that my only problem was that I'd been running for 5 hours. He laughed and we chatted a bit about first marathons. Now, that would have been fine, but his 3 buddies that had been taking a break decided to join him. So with about 600 metres to go I had 4 (!) paramedics riding with me. Colin's sure that they were taking bets as to when I'd drop. It's nice to know they were there making sure everyone was okay, but I'm pretty sure I looked like a total charity case! After a bit they went on ahead and I knew I was close. A woman cheering at about 400 metres left told me to take my sunglasses off so my pictures would look good - and she was right!

As I rounded the last corner I could see the top of the finish line arch. I knew I was so close and there was no way that I was walking through the finish! I didn't speed up or anything (like that was possible), but just kept going straight down the road. I couldn't believe how many people were still at the finish line. It was so nice to come into the finish chute and not have it be totally abandoned which had been my fear. I asked a girl who was walking if she wanted to run in with me. She looked at me like I was insane and that it took all of her energy to say no. I felt kind of bad, but left her to finish my race.

I crossed the line of my first marathon with 5:09:05 on the clock (5:07:18 chip time). It was amazing! I had my hands up and then totally clapped for myself. After that long on the road I had no idea I could smile so much. I'm pretty sure I heard people laughing (nicely) as I crossed - I don't think they were seeing many happy runners at that point. It didn't matter that any time expectations I had (which I'd been told again and again not to make) weren't fulfilled. I got my medal and totally earned it! Once I was on my way through to the food - because that's what's important - I heard someone calling and saying, "I can't walk that fast!". I turned around and it was Colin. He'd been waiting near the guy with blankets for almost an hour so he wouldn't miss me. He finished his first marathon in 4:13:38 (4:12:13 chip time). I'm so proud of him!!!

We grabbed some food and drink for me: 1/2 cup of Gatorade, 1/2 banana (of which I only had 2 bites), and yogurt. It's amazing how not hungry I was after running for that far and that long. We sat on the curb in the sun to warm up and tell our marathon stories to each other. It was amazing. We did the same activity, but had such different experiences. Once we were done we decided to hobble back to the car. What seemed like a manageable couple of kilometres in the morning was so long. It was uphill and the only reason I didn't feel pathetic was because I was wrapped in my plastic blanket and people understood. The best part of the walk back was that we each got a free calf massage at Lush. They were promoting some sort of massage bar with beans in it, but since the woman getting up said it was well worth it we took the time. It was great. I'm not usually one for massages - this one was painful at times - but I figured that if I'd run that far I could at least try to do something to help. It sure beat an ice bath!

Colin at the car.

Me at the car.

We went home to get showered, changed and relaxed and then went out to dinner. We had certificates (yay, free dinner) to The Keg Steakhouse. We'd planned to have a later dinner, but it was a holiday Sunday and, not only were the stores closed early, it was freezing so we showed up and had our meal at a normal time. My excuse for the huge plate of food was that I just ran a marathon and needed to have lots of protein!

Sirloin Oscar: mmm, steak with seafood on top!

Colin's dinner: who doesn't love half a plate of beef?

I kid you not, the waitress asked what place we finished!

I had to explain that everyone got a medal...

Here are a few closing touristy shots of Victoria:

Horse-drawn carriage rides

The Empress Hotel: hoity-toity fanciest hotel in the city.

Parliament Buildings (Victoria is the provincial capital)

Three Things Thursday

1. I AM A MARATHONER!!!

2. I think that I've 95% convinced Colin to let me sign up for the next marathon clinic. It starts in December and means I would be running the Vancouver Marathon on 1 May 2011. I just have to a) get my act together about running with Spudsy (yes, that is what M's new online nickname is) in the stroller and/or b) find a running partner for runs that will occur in the dark.

3. I will have my race report up tomorrow if it kills me.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Since I can't post my race pics yet this shot is for Barefoot Neil Z - I saw it going through the lost and found photos from Sunday's marathon in Victoria, BC.

Race report soon - wrap-up dinner is tonight so I'll probably work on it tomorrow for Friday's post.

Time To Get A New Goal!

First Marathon Complete!!!

Chip Time: 5:07:18

It was a long, long run...

Anticipation; surreal calm; go with the flow; unplanned sighting of a friend; amazed by the Elites; hills, hills and more hills; headwind; river otter crossing; residential hilly hell; oh, the Elites are on their way back already? It's only 1:43:00; great spectators; turnaround (finally); sore hips; queasy, why can't I just throw up and get it over with?; residential hilly hell redux; let's start walking; headwind again?; there's no longer a crowd so take my picture!; run a couple, walk a few, repeat; 5km left; 4km left; 3km left; dancing seniors; 2km left; sore knee; 1 mile left; 1km left; just RUN!; really, RUN!; finish arch; run through; arms up and clapping; huge smile; medal; I'm done!; find Colin; CELEBRATE!!!

Report to come over the next few days.

When can I do it again? I need a better PR.

Race Day!!!

Know how we do before we do...

There are 2 ways to track us:

Click here to check our live results - there will be timing mats at the start, 10K of Half Marathon and Marathon, Halfway for Marathon, 30K for Marathon and at the finish.

My bib number is #120.

Colin's bib number is #121.

Click here for live streaming - I think it's for the finish line, but I'm not certain. I'm aiming for a 4:30ish finish and Colin's trying for sub-4.

On The Road

Off to the island - race on Sunday.

Check back on Sunday morning for details on how to follow me (and Colin) during the race!

Good luck to everyone else racing this weekend! Can't wait to read about your experiences!

Three Things Thursday

1. Marathon

2. in

3. days

Playlists Are Hard To Make

I've never been overly worried about the playlist on my iPod. Mostly I'll just load a couple of albums, hit shuffle/repeat, and be done with it. But, since The Marathon is special and all that, Colin and I decided that we'd actually pick out songs. I know that I need a good 5 hour playlist otherwise I'll probably have a mental breakdown if it starts over again and I haven't hit my time goal. Not only is it time consuming, but it's also really difficult. We spent a good couple of hours last night going through our iTunes and trying to whittle down what we wanted.

We definitely have eclectic choices in music - if you had compared our collections before we got married you'd wonder where the similarities were...

My playlist is comprised mostly of rock of all varieties: Pearl Jam, U2, Offspring, Hard-Fi, Linkin Park, etc. I've lowered my standards to have some music that I will only ever run to: ahem, Britney Spears.

Colin's is much more diverse than mine: Brad Paisley, Eminem, Glee Soundtrack, Skillet. He's also more judicial about his choices. He's got one or two songs by each artist whereas I have almost full albums by some - it's not really my fault that Pearl Jam's last album is great running music.

We did have a good laugh over the titles/lyrics of a couple of songs:

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" - U2

"Get Through This" - Art of Dying

"Never Surrender" - Skillet

I don't wanna feel like this tomorrow

I don't wanna live like this today

Make me feel better

I wanna feel better

Stay with me here

And never surrender

I did tell Colin that he was not allowed to put The Barenaked Ladies' "Too Little, Too Late" on my playlist after he joked that it should be the song that was playing just after my goal time passed...

Yesterday wasn't half as tough as this time
This time isn't Hell,
Last time, I couldn't tell
This mind wasn't well
Next time, hope I'm...
Going to be good, and I would -
If I knew I was understood
And it'll be great, just wait -
Or is it too little too late?

T-minus 4 days...

Five

Ferry reservations - Check.

Printed race confirmation and gear checklist - Check.

Reservation made at The Keg Steakhouse for post-race celebratory dinner - Check.

Ignoring the fact that I'll be running 42.2km in 5 days - Check.

Six Days and a Crazy Dream

Yup. I have six (6) days left until my marathon. Well, it's on the 6th day. Sunday. THIS Sunday.

I am trying to not think about it. I figure if I'm neutral about it I won't freak out. So I'm working very hard to be neither excited nor anxious. Ask me again in a couple of days how I feel and I'll probably be both, but there's no point in getting worked up about it yet. I'm sure it will hit me Saturday morning when I get on the ferry and discover there's no way out of what I'm planning to do...

The only thing I'm a little excited about is that I have my bib number - #120. I won't be the 120th person across the finish line, but that's okay. As long as I'm not DFL I'll be happy!

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I've heard of taper madness, but I don't think I've ever experienced it until 2 nights ago. What I know is that I've never had a running related dream before and since I am in the run-up to my marathon I feel all right attributing it to the taper. That, or it was catching up on running blogs while eating a warm bowl of apple crisp at 11pm.

Here's my dream (at least what I can remember):

I arrived at the race site - pretty sure it wasn't Victoria - and found a place to wait for the start. After a while we were told to go wait in a McDonald's, but eventually we were fairly certain that no one was coming to get us. I wandered around until I found a race official and was blamed for listening to the first person as we were not supposed to leave the original location. Not only were we in the wrong spot, but the race had started already - like an HOUR ago!

Even though I had been waiting around I was not prepared for the race. I didn't have my heart-rate monitor or my backpack on. I didn't even have my socks! When I asked for help finding my socks I was handed a mismatched pair (one running sock, one regular). I complained that I was looking for my Injinji socks at which time the person helping me yelled that I could do it myself. Helpful! Eventually I found a matching black pair. I don't wear black socks, but in my dreams I apparently do.

Once I was kitted out I had to get my timing chip. You'd think it would go on my shoe, but it was actually a little puffy sticker of a crab that stuck to my leg and went under a sleeve on my ankle. I had no idea how to attach it so some random stranger guy helped me out. Since I was glad to have had the help I insisted that I get his email so I could thank him again after the race and let him know how I did. Finally I was ready to race.

So I thought. Because I was starting an hour late I had to start with the relay support vehicles. The vans pulled out of the way so that I could cross the timing mats. I went to run across, but was told I was doing it wrong and there was a specific way to do it. I was supposed to run slowly across it, but not bounce. Kind of like a Baywatch run - in slow-mo.

Once on the course I found that it was very dark with almost no street lights. There were also no bathrooms. The route wasn't clearly marked, but I did find a cafe in the middle to stop at for muffins. Eventually I crossed the finish line to find out my time was at least an hour and a half more than my goal time... not including the late start.

So that's what my subconscious thinks about my marathon training. I have no idea what it means. I am either going to have a rotten race or an awesome race. If you have any interpretations please let me know!

Better Late Then Never

Sorry for announcing the winner of my CSN contest late! After getting home from the Okanagan after 7pm last night Colin went to turn on the computer and its power supply blew. Awesome! Thankfully my dad had a spare kicking around his house so now we're back up and running.

Here is the winning number, as generated by random.org:

That means that Katherine from Forward Foot Strides is the winner of the $40 CSN gift certificate. Congratulations! Please contact me at running42km [dot] blog [at] gmail [dot] com with your email address.

Thanks everyone for entering! You helped me get to 50 followers!