7 am & Rain

Ah what to say about today...it was long, and tedious.  With Christmas being done and over with, and everyone broke as shit, it was the day to do markdowns at work.  Ashlee and I were at work at 7am to get a good head start on the day before customers could interrupt us.  That being said, I'm tired.

When I'm not injured from crashing my bike, I ride my bike to and from work everyday, so today was no different.  Rainy day that it was, I put on my gear and made it to work without too much fanfare.  The ride home was a little different.  My bike is equipped with front and rear fenders, so that I don't end up covered in street muck everyday, but when a huge truck passes by you in the rain, its inevitable...I arrived home with a nice spray of wet dirt over the legs and face.  THANK YOU BIG TRUCK!!

Rather than wait until I was warm and cozy, I decided to head out for my run right away, wet running tights and all.  I use two different apps to track my running...Nike+ so that my dad can pick on me, because he is a stronger runner than I am, and MapMyFitness because I've been using it forever and don't want to lose the progress that I've made while using it!  Tonight's run was 3.92 miles and it was a tough one.  I have my good days and my bad days, as we all do.  I detest stretching, which I know limits my performance and leads to my being stiff and sore everyday, but I tie up those runners and hit the pavement anyway.

I've been on 3 runs since I started using the Nike+ app, accumulating 10.5 miles...seems easy when I think I only have to do that four more times....then I remember I have to do it all in a matter of a few hours, not a few weeks.  I'll get there, I swear, mainly because I'm a stubborn a-hole, but also because I know I deserve to be fit and strong enough to do it.

And now, it's time for sleep.

Day One of Forever

In the words of Hedley (no, I don't care if you don't like them)....I can do ANYTHING!!  

The past year of my life has been full of curve balls and struggles and freedom and learning.  And I wouldn't change a thing about it.  I've been given the opportunity to get to know myself...all on my own.  I've discovered who I am.  

The greatest thing I have discovered in the past year is my passion for running.  And a desire to make a difference.  I've run before, and I can tell you it was not something I ever thought I would be passionate about.  It was uncomfortable and painful, mostly because I was overweight and out of shape.  I also never had a goal to reach.

I've set a goal.  The Edge to Edge Marathon between Tofino and Ucluelet.  That's right, I'm going to run 42km, and try not to die doing it.  I had originally planned on running a few small races in Victoria this year, including the Times Colonist 10km in April, and then tackle the E2E in June of 2015...lots of time to train and really get ready, and of course, slack off if I felt like it.  I asked my friend Maria to join me in my goal.  She agreed, but with one crazy change...we had to do it this summer, not next.  I am pretty sure I cried when she told me.  

It took me a few days to agree to the new super fast-forwarded plan, but I did.  That being said, I fully believed that I had six and a half months to train for the challenge.  Not so.  Early December brought freezing rain to Victoria, which inevitably meant I would wipe out on my bike and smash up my knee pretty badly.  I'm still recovering from that crash.  And of course, another bike crash that landed me a mild concussion and dislocated shoulder just before Christmas put another hault on the training.  

So, today marks day 1 of my official training for the marathon.  I've got 159 days until I conquer my goal.  I've never been so intimidated by such a small number before.  

Back in late November, a friend of my sister's (therefore automatically a friend of mine) suffered a massive stroke...at the age of 37, Kori's life came to a standstill.  It didn't take me long to come up with a plan.  Since I'm going to be working my ass off training for my race, I may as well raise some money and awareness for a good cause.  I found the Stroke Recovery Association of BC and discovered that they have a branch located in Nanaimo, where Kori and his wife, Mary live.  I'm in contact with the Executive Director of the SRABC, and we are working on a fundraising plan, which should be in place by February.

I got off my ass tonight, determined to get a run in on the first day of 2014, and had my most consistent run ever.  Helps to start off strong.  

And with that, I am off to bed.  Work starts early tomorrow, and my brain is too mushy to write anything else tonight!