A MARATHON in 12 days...

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When I say what I'm about to say, you are going to think I'm crazy. And well, maybe I am...

On the weekend I signed up for the LA marathon which is happening in 12 days. Yes the FULL marathon. Why would I do that?

It all first started when I wrote this post with my marathon bucket list. And then months later after I finished my 1st full marathon this past September, I began considering my options for what's next and I wrote this post.

I really wanted to do the LA marathon in 2014, but it landed on the same weekend as an event my husband normally attends. I found out about a month ago that he wouldn't be able to attend for other reasons, but I dismissed the opportunity because it was far too late to up my distance to a full marathon... right? Never mind the cost of traveling to an international marathon and babysitting etc...

But as it turns out with the help of my ever-understanding family, I am headed to the LA Marathon!

I had only one choice this past Sunday to get myself prepared for this. The longest run I've done in the last few months has been 23km which is far from a marathon distance. So, this past Sunday, another friend, Jacki, who will also be traveling to the LA Marathon took me out for 32km.

The weather was also not unfortunately in our favor this weekend with a ton of snow which is fairly rare this late in the season on the west coast.

Nonetheless, off we went on our extremely long journey. And you know what? It wasn't easy, but it wasn't so bad. I know that I can make it to the finish line of the LA Marathon. I am not sure that I can PR, nor is that really a priority, but I know that I will get there.

Quite possibly the most exciting part of all of this is that my sister will be joining me for another racecation! Even though we live pretty close to each other now (since we moved in August), we don't see each other nearly enough. You might remember that we went to NYC together last March, almost exactly a year ago to the date of this trip.

Sisters' trip to NYC last March!

I'm so stoked to spend a weekend with her and to have her waiting for me at that finish line. Nikki & Jacki will also be racing LA and I look forward to spending time with them as well.

This is going to involve a "slightly" modified training schedule over the next couple of weeks to make up for all of the time lost but I am going to make it work. I've run over 50km in the last 3 days and even made some time to walk in the snow with my boys yesterday!

I am so thankful for my husband and his visa points which are flying us there, my wonderful Dad who is helping us get a hotel so late, and to my in-laws and favorite babysitters, you all rock!

So to those of you that know me, please leave your encouragement, your comments, and your love. I'm going to need it all to get to that finish line in 2 weeks.

Running for Clarity

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This past Saturday, I was NOT having a good day. I'm not exactly sure what was happening, I think life just caught up with me you know? I had a bit of a melt down that ended with a migraine and really not feeling the energy to run the next morning. However, I managed to get up on Sunday morning, put my clothes on, and drive to the starting point that I had planned for my (mostly) solo 20k run.

I felt rough for a few kilometers, but of course, pressed on anyway. In the bitter cold, I knew it was going to take a while for my legs to warm up. There were what looked like snow clouds overhead but when I looked North towards the mountains, the sky had opened up into a beautiful sunrise.

Sometimes it's so easy to get lost in your own thoughts and the chaos of life, and when this happens a run always helps me clear my head. At the time, it is usually the last thing I want to do, but it's almost always what I need. I feel like maybe I should make my husband a sign that says "You Need to Run Now", so that when I get the way I was feeling on Saturday night he can just put up the sign and no questions asked, I can go for a run.

My legs were still tired, but I was just so pleased to be out there on the road doing something I love. I was completely at peace, a total contrast from the day before. The question I get asked the most now that I can call myself a runner is "How can you do that, go out and run for that long?". The way I feel about it now is how can I not? It's my sanity, it's my time to sort out my feelings about everything, my time to just BE. It wasn't always that way of course, I struggled for a long time when I started to run. Even now, I still have days where my legs never seem to warm up and every step feels like one step too far, but I know now that there's a run waiting for a me, a run that will change me and remind me why I love running.

At about 12km, I met my mother-in-law so she could finish off the last 8km with me. The sky had completely clouded over now and occasional flurries were falling. That's all I needed though, an hour with myself on the roads hitting the pavement and I felt like myself again.

Did you run this weekend? How did it go? 

Today's run brought to you by Baywatch, chocolate milk, & a cold winter's day!

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You know how I know I'm not in training for anything in particular at the moment... nothing is charged and all my running things are scattered all over the house in various drawers and in all the wrong places. With so many races this year I always had a very specific goal in mind. I've almost forgotten what it feels like to just run for the sake of running. So today the opportunity finally arose to just run and I couldn't pass it up even though my watch wasn't charged, my iPod was also dead, and I had a really hard time locating all my winter running apparel. I very haphazardly threw whatever I could find on and ran out the door completely unprepared for the freezing temperature.

There was so much ice on the road that I could have gone skating!

It was only 5k, and it was mostly hills, but somehow I finished it feeling great. If you live in my neighborhood, which you probably don't (but humor me anyway), and you were driving past me today, you probably would have wondered why that woman was running up that giant hill with a huge grin on her face...

One of several hills in my neighborhood

Well firstly, I was thinking that I have a babysitter today and I get to run during daylight hours, woohoo!

Secondly, it was a gorgeous winter's day and that might just be one of my favorite kind of days to run.

Thirdly, I was laughing to myself that I was running "Baywatch style", meaning that if someone had been filming me, it would have looked like I was running in slow motion up those hills. At some points I'm sure I might as well have been walking. And in no way do I have a Baywatch figure so thank goodness someone wasn't filming me!

The point is, I was running and I'm starting to feel like I'm getting my love of running back after the post marathon blues and my disastrous attempt at the running streak. I had some chocolate milk to celebrate!

 

'Tis the Season of Giving!

This Saturday, I'll be running the Abbotsford Santa Shuffle in support of the Salvation Army and since it is the season of giving I'm asking anyone who can to donate something small. Even $5 can go a long way! You can donate here. Thank you in advance for your support!