Toronto Goodlife Half-Marathon!

Wow, I did it!!! I successfully ran 21.1 km!!! During the run I remember thinking back to the summer of 2008 when I joined a gym and refused to run on the treadmills because I hated running. When I was forced to run I went for about 10 mins before wanting to cry. What a long way I have come! Over the next two years I have successfully increased my endurance levels to my middle goal of 21.1 km. Whats next? The full marathon baby.

I won't lie - the half-marathon was tough. Previous to this run the longest I had run at one time was 16 km. I was unsure on race day how the race would go. I ran the first 10 km very comfortably and was looking forward to the next 10 km. This was fine until I hit the 16 km mark. This is when I started to lose steam and when I really slowed down. By 18km it was almost agony. Why weren't my legs moving faster when I told them too?? My legs felt like steel drums that took all my concentration and energy to move up and down. At 20 km I didn't care whether I finished or not anymore, I just wanted to stop running. I saw someone with a sign saying, "Chuck Norris never ran marathons" this made me smile and gave me the last little bit of energy I could muster to finish the 1.1 km. When I crossed the finish line I wanted to cry, sleep, and sit down. I tried walking and stumbled. I felt drunk. After running for 2 hours and 2 mins it felt weird to suddenly not be moving. However, I was hooked. My next goal is to run the half - marathon faster with the ultimate goal of finishing a marathon. The winter will provide me training time and next spring I will come out ready to go!

Results: http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?racecode=47247&first=KRISTIN&last=DAWSON&city=MONTREAL

The summer season is coming to an end so I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the goals I have achieved this year. The 3 most important goals I achieved to me are:

1) Finishing an Olympic distance triathlon (Ottawa June, 2010 time: 3:06.47)

2) Raising enough money to do the Ride to Conquer Cancer (and finishing it!)

3) Finishing a half-marathon (Toronto Oct, 2010 time: 2:02.37)

I am conflicted on what I should work on next season. The choice is to maintain the current distance and improve speed, OR, increase distance with the goal of just finishing. I will be honest, both the Olympic distance tri and the half-marathon took a lot out of me. If I want to increase distance events I will need to step up training time (a lot). Increasing distance is attractive to me because it is always a constant struggle between body and mind. Can I finish this? Am I willing to push through?? Repeating something you have already accomplished is a little less motivating, but being faster and stronger always makes one feel better. I will put some thought into this and decide over our long, dark, cold winter.

Bye for now!

Central/Eastern Europe Trip!

Even though the Ride to Conquer Cancer is officially over, I still very much enjoy blogging so I have decided to make this a general blog about my life. The first life entry will be about the central/eastern Europe trip my brother and I took for 2 weeks in August. Our trip was ambitious - 5 countries, 14 days, 5 languages, and an attempt to couch surf most of it. Here is our tale:

Day 1 and 2:We arrived at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Thursday August 12th ready to fly out. After picking up 4 currencies at the Bureau de Change, having a snack with the parents, having our boarding delayed by 3o mins, we were ready to go. We were flying Luftansa to Frankfurt then after a brief stop we would be heading to Prague, Czech Republic the first country of our trip.

We finally reached our hotel at 13h00 local time Friday August 13th. My brother and I attempted to beat the jet lag (since we hadn't really slept in 24 hrs) so we wandered around to sight see and find food. We had a great dinner consisting of meat and potatoes (something that would be very common during our trip) and then passed out around 20h30.

Day 3:

The next morning we awoke quite late and almost missed our Continental breakfast! After eating and showering and heading out we decided to view Charles Bridge as our starting point. Unfortunately there were tourists EVERYWHERE and everything was PACKED. People were trying to sell you things everywhere you looked and there were about 10 tourists groups ahead of us all speaking different languages. We managed to squeeze through Charles Bridge and

headed up to view the Castle.

We saw a nice overview of the city, then went off in search of the bus terminal to buy our tickets for our next stop - Vienna, Austria.

Beer was amazingly cheap and delicious so that is pretty much all we drank, I have absolutely no complaints about this!

Ride to Conquer Cancer - Day 2!

The night before we were asked not to start cycling again until after 7 am but were advised to be on the road by 8 am. Therefore Jen and I decided if we got up at 6:30 am we would be good to go. I awoke to full sunlight and lots of voices and activity outside of our tent. I heard Jen ask, "Kristin are you up?". I rolled over and said yes! What time is it? It must be after 6:30!!

Jen turned her phone on and said,"Don't worry Kristin, it is 5:45 AM!"

I have never in my lifetime gotten up so early yet felt so energized! We wandered over to the breakfast tent and were given a cheese omelet, "turkey" bacon, pancakes, and oatmeal! After an interesting encounter with raspberry coulis and Jen (she thought it was a smoothie and was prepared to pour herself a glass!) we grabbed some beverages (orange juice and hot chocolate) and sat down to a nice breakfast. We then went back to our tent, packed our gear, dropped our stuff off at the trucks and collected our bikes, ready to start the day!

A fog had settled in by the time we got on our bikes and leaving Trois Rivieres we had to cross over a bridge. It was a cool feeling to be cycling over the bridge but only being able to see immediately around you, seeing the cyclists in front of you, the bridge you are on, and a little bit of the river over the side of the bridge. The air was so clean and fresh it almost felt like you were flying. It was a moment that made me smile and really appreciate life.

We stopped at the first pit stop to have a bathroom break and re-fuel with some gatorade. By this point the pit stops were much more scenic so I snapped a picture of a boat making its way up the St. Lawrence. I really wanted to jump into that inviting water!

We continued cycling and this was the leg of the journey I lost Jen on. She had been engulfed into this cycling team that was hitting a pretty fast pace of around 30-32 km/hr. They were very efficient in passing and signaling and it truly amazed me how much they worked as a team without ever saying a word to each other. The leader of the pack would signal to the riders behind him that they were about to over take a person and they would file in line behind him swiftly move as a unit into the "passing lane" and then effortlessly fall back into place after passing the slower rider. Also if any tiny piece of debris was seen on the road each rider would subsequently signal to the rider behind him what to avoid. This held true for anything. A few

pebbles, a slight crack in the road, a manhole - you name it you were aware of it. I suppose this

all makes sense when you are an inch away from the person's tire in front of you and you

are traveling at speeds of 30-35 km/hr! It just reminded me of a flock of birds flying south for the winter. It was so civilized and caring it made me feel a moment of pride for the sport of cycling. Anyways, I managed to keep up with them for about 15-20 km then I lost them. At this point we started hitting the hilly bits and I had to laugh when an older gentleman passing me exclaimed,"Who put this here?!" In reference to the looming hill. This stretch really was quite scenic and we passed a lot of barns with numerous cows and horses. Horses really are such beautiful animals and the way they look at you with absolute disinterest is so amusing. For this portion we had to cycle the length of a river, cross the river when it was narrow enough, and then cycle back. Therefore if you looked across the river you could see cyclists on the other side.

This is another moment when it hit me just how MANY of us there were. We had kilometers and kilometers to space out but you could STILL see a steady stream of cyclists.

I felt like we were apart of a marching army pressing on and hoping we will one day conquer our enemy(cancer) just by a sheer force of will and determination. There was only one moment during the ride when I was alone battling up a hill and seeing the heat waves from the asphalt I thought to myself, what the HECK am I doing here?? Its hot, the cycling is getting harder now and all I want is a nice cold beer. Of course life seems to seize these moments to really put you in your place. After I climbed the hill I saw a man in front of me in his mid to late 60s with a yellow cancer survivor flag on his bike. THIS is why I am here. This is why I am biking 290 km in 2 days in this heat and humidity. This man was easily 3 times my age AND had battled cancer. If he could do it no problem what right did I have to complain? After that only positive thoughts filled my mind. Afterwards we stopped at our second pit stop which was in a cute little town right on the river.

Our next stop was lunch which we took quite quickly as again it was in a giant field and provided little to no shade. Lunch was a turkey sandwich with hummus and tomato, bean salad, and a very yummy chocolate brownie for dessert. We quickly set off and took the next stage fairly easy, cycling side by side, enjoying the country side and chatting. What seemed such a short amount of time we reached our final pit stop. We once again loaded up on gatorade and water and sat by the water to take one last break.

We finally set off not believing that when we stopped cycling again it would be because we had crossed the finish line. We made it into Quebec City and the excitement started to build. Teams started waiting on the shoulder of the bike path to make sure all of their team members were together when they crossed the finish line. People were high fiving and shouting their congratulations to one another. We rounded the final bend and started to see the line up of cars. We passed the last official who shouted, be careful it will turn to gravel! Our bikes followed the orange pylons, we heard the roar of the crowd, we saw the smiling faces and the announcer shouted,"Congratulations Kristin and Jen, you have just finished". We passed under the banner and got off of our bikes. We smiled for the cameras and it hit us that we were finally done!!! We had just participated in The Ride to Conquer Cancer!! What a feeling of accomplishment and pride.

Now is the moment I want to take to once and for all thank EVERYONE. Thank you for your donations, thank you for your words of support, thank you for baking, for eating baked goods, for asking when the ride was and if I was ready for it, for offering to help and most importantly thank you for showing interest in this amazing and worth while cause. Thank you to Judy for providing the inspiration (even though it was under the worst set of circumstances ...), thank you to my parents and family for the never ending supply of support and encouragement and lastly, thank you to my team member, tent buddy, and one of my best friends. You have been a life saver to me and I couldn't have done any of this without you, Jen, you rock! How does 2011 sound???

Details to follow ...!

The Ride to Conquer Cancer 2010 Montreal to Quebec City - Day 1

Jennifer Wright and I, Kristin Dawson have officially completed The Ride to Conquer Cancer 2010 a cycling journey totaling 289 km from Montreal to Quebec City. It lasted only two days but has formed memories that will last a lifetime! Let us break down the 48 hours!

The beginning. Jen and I left the Olympic Stadium in Montreal the morning of Saturday July 10 not really knowing what to expect or how the day would go. The start was emotional for me. There were thousands of riders (1,836 to be exact) and we were all riding for the same cause. We were joining in the fight to conquer cancer.

Since there were so many riders it took awhile for Jen and I to actually hop onto our bikes and take off. For awhile we were just slowly walking with the crowd. If you had a large team you could customize your jerseys and I especially enjoyed the polka dot team!

Finally we reached the starting and we were off!! We experienced a scary event about 20 mins after officially leaving Olympic Stadium. For the most part we had police escorts for major intersections but there was one point at a 4 way stop where a driver refused to stop. A security cyclist stood in front of the vehicle to prevent him from moving but he inched his car forward anyway shouting angry remarks. It is sad how some people are so self absorbed and are so concerned about their own agenda that they refuse to consider anyone else. Even worse, this man may develop cancer one day and he will end up benefiting from people who have performed self-less acts like the cyclists he was attempting to run over. Thankfully this was the only

moment during the whole ride I temporarily contemplated what our world was coming too.

Lunch: Jen and I both agreed that the pit stops they provided every 30 kms or so was a perfect distance. It is long enough that you appreciate the stop but not too short that you don't feel the need to stop. Therefore Jen and I stopped at every pit stop. They provided gatorade, water, and snacks such as cookies, oranges, bananas and bagels with peanut butter. We had a total of 4 stops before settling for the night and one of them was lunch. We had pasta salad with chicken (tofu for Jen) a bun and a butter tart for dessert. It was really hot at this point and unfortunately we were in the middle of a field so we could find no shade. Therefore we left rather quickly since being on the bike provided more relief from the heat than did sitting around (thankfully!)

Arrival and Tent City: The first day of cycling was quite

enjoyable for me and although I was tired which I think a lot had to do with the heat I was not sore at all. The arrival at camp was very welcomed and Jen and I were very much looking forward to the showers. We retrieved our bags from the trucks and headed over to our tent which was thankfully already set up.

Jen and I left our stuff in our tent and headed over to the mobile showering unit to take a much needed and deserved shower!

Afterwards we set up our things in the tent and headed over to eat dinner. Dinner consisted of a turkey sausage, pasta salad, rosemary potatoes, peas carrots and corn and also bean salad (I didn't take any). We were allowed one beer with dinner and Jen and I gratefully accepted!

There was a band playing live music and everyone seemed to be in good spirits! Afterwards we wandered around camp and found they were providing free yoga instructions so we joined the hour long class. Felt good to stretch everything out after sitting on the bike for a good 6-7 hours! We attempted to get our free massages but they were wayyy over booked (camp services ended at 9 pm) so sadly we had to forgo this nice treatment! They announced the top fundraising individuals and teams and had a little presentation and reminded us all to sign up for next year's ride and then we were off to bed. Jen and I talked for a little while and even though we could hear a man snoring a few tents away I am sure I was out cold before 11 pm.

The first day overall was a great experience for me. The volunteers were so nice and ensured everything ran smoothly. The only complaint I had was the fact they ran out of water temporarily at lunch and since Jen and I were so overheated we were anxious to get back on our bikes we decided to forgo water for the next stage. We ended up having to stop at a gas station to buy water since Jen definitely needed some! Thankfully I had a camel back (which I must thank Georghia Michael for!) so I was OK. I strongly recommend these nifty things especially if next year it is going to be as hot as it was this year!

The Ride is TOMORROW!!!

WOW! I can't believe The Ride is tomorrow!!

I want to once again thank each and every person who donated. Without you I would not be doing the ride tomorrow and because of that I can't thank you enough. I remember the night Jen and I signed up to do this back in the beginning of March and how genuinely anxious and worried I was about raising the money. I honestly thought I would be scrambling even now, the night before, to raise the $2,500. The speed that we raised the money in and the fact we were both +500 $ over our goals has really surprised and touched me. If anyone ever decides not to do the ride because they don't think they can raise the money, trust me when I say you will. It is A LOT easier than you think and you will be very surprised at who donates and by how much they donate.

I also wanted to mention my Aunt Judy (pictured above with her father - my grandfather) for she is ultimately the inspiration for signing up and raising money for The Ride. Although we miss her, I am glad she is at peace now and I hope wherever she is right now she is looking down and smiling with pride at what each and every one of us riders are attempting to do tomorrow - Find a Cure.

I am very much looking forward to and am excited about tomorrow. It will contain all of the elements which bring me happiness. 1) A physical challenge 2) Emotional connection to people around you and a feeling of being a part of the greater good 3) Meeting new people and sharing a great experience with them 4) Seeing places from a view you would not normally see them.

I must dash now - home to pack and to the Olympic Stadium to drop my bike off. Jen will pick me up tomorrow just shy of 7 am and we will be off to do an epic ride! Don't worry, we have cameras with lots of memory space and will no doubt be showering you with pictures by the end of the weekend.

Let's find a cure!

(Also, go Spain go! Although we will miss the game, we know you deserve the win!)

Meech Lake Triathlon

Georghia and I competed in this triathlon last year and I really enjoyed the experience and was therefore keen to return this year. The triathlon takes place in Gatineau Park which provides beautiful scenery, the people are so kind and encouraging and the snack provided at the end is awesome. They have mini muffins of banana, chocolate and blueberry. Also, I must admit nothing tastes so amazing as cold watermelon after pushing yourself to the limit for the past 2 hours.

This year the weather forecast was sunny and HOT. Of course for once the weather network was actually correct and the weather was exactly as predicted. I arose at 5:45 am and had my usual pre-race breakfast (toast with LOTS of peanut butter, Nutella, and banana) and headed out to Gatineau Park. This triathlon is unique in that the distances aren't a sprint tri length or an olympic tri length, but somewhere in between. I set up my gear (at two different transition zones), got my timing chip, got body marking and was then ready to go.

Due to my outstanding swimming abilities (haha ...) the swim is always the easiest and fastest for me. I really appreciate this triathlon for a number of reasons but my favourite has to be the staggered swim start. My experience in Ottawa was not one I wanted to repeat and was thrilled when we started in waves of 30 swimmers from the beach. The only slight difficulty I had on the swim was on the way back the sun was directly in our faces and spotting the shore buoy although bright orange proved quite difficult. However I made it and took the short run (uphill) from the beach to the first transition zone. I threw on my bike gear and headed out. The hardest part of this triathlon is the very hilly course for the bike. Last year this proved agonizing for me since I was most definitely not mentally prepared, but this time around it was not half as bad. You are rewarded for your hill climb by the nice and fast descent after. I must admit I am not as ballsy as some cyclists proved to be as they bombed past me on the descent at speeds I'm too frightened to imagine. I clocked my top speed at 57.1 km/hr and dare to venture some of these cyclists were easily over 7o km/hr. Not for the faint of heart ... I finished my bike and started on the run. This time I decided an ipod would be good company since by this time the heat had reached a decent level and the run was on asphalt with no shade. An event that stands out from the run is the 81 year old man who was actually running ahead of me. Now, to be fair, this event can also be done in a relay style and this man was only doing the run portion, but I must admit I felt a great deal of relief when I was finally able to pass him. I couldn't let my ego take that kind of hit no matter how tired and hot I was. The only difficulty I experienced on the run was the last km or two. This part was almost entirely uphill and it was starting to be mid-day and the sun was taking a mental and physical toll. I actually attempted to change a song on my ipod but physically raising my hands and pushing the button turned out to be too taxing so I just concentrated on running and running only. I was relieved to finish and proud of my accomplishment. Although I feel in much better shape than last year I was only able to beat my time by a matter of 58 seconds. I must remember though that progress takes time and I just need to continue training, remain patient and the rewards will come!

Results:

Time: 1:56:01. Place overall: 148/208.

The information from sportstats is below:

http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=45866&first=&last=dawson&bibnum=&page=&sortby=place&city=&sizeofpage=200&limit=2000

(again, if you click on the camera beside my name you can see the pictures they took of me ... thankfully they are WAY better than last year :).

I also just wanted to quickly comment on The Ride to Conquer Cancer. Jen and I have both received our biking jerseys in the mail and are both beyond excited to finally be able to do the ride. I can't believe how fast time has gone by and after months of planning, fundraising and training the ride is 6 days away!!! I will keep you all posted on how that turns out!!

Ottawa Riverkeeper Olympic Triathlon!

Wow, what a weekend!! I have officially completed the next step on my goal ladder: To finish an Olympic distance triathlon. My ultimate mega goal is to finish an Ironman triathlon so every year I was hoping to increase the distance I did. Last year I did two sprint distance triathlons so my goal for this year was to step it up to the Olympic distance. I'm very happy with the fact I 1) finished the race! 2) completed it in 3:06.47 3) finished in the middle of the pack (in the female category).

For those of you who are not familiar with Olympic distance triathlons it consists of 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and a 10 km run. Unfortunately this year the water level at Britianna Beach was very low so they increased the course for a 1.6 km swim and also a few hundred meters of running to the transition zone. The bike also ending up being around 45 km.

In terms of the race, the swim was the worst I have experienced this far. There were 137 of us starting off in a mass start and I was punched in the head, ducked underwear and scraped with wetsuit pieces! Also, because we had to do 4 laps around a tight course all of us swimming in such shallow water actually generated quite a tight current. When you went to swim around a buoy everyone packed in together tightly and the current pulled you through. Quite a weird feeling. There were also spots where it was too shallow to swim so it was faster to run Baywatch style on the bottom. Then, when we did get out of the water it was quite a run to the transition zone. The transition was nice as it allowed my heart rate to come down and for me to dry off a touch. Then it was the bike. I think for me personally the bike is my weakest part. Sadly, I think for the majority of triathletes it is their strength. I was 67th out of the water, but was 112th after the bike ... yikes! Thankfully the bike was still comfortable for me and I kept repeating over and over in my head: you still have 10 km to run!! I then transitioned from the bike into the run. This was the most agonizing and mentally tasking part. The first 2.5 km of running after the bike was awful. My heart rate was out of control, my legs were jelly and I felt I was gasping for air. I just repeated in my head relax, breathe, just one foot in front of the other, its easy, relax. The run course was actually only 5 km so we had to do the 5 km loop twice. Thankfully at the 2.5 km turn around mark I felt my energy coming back and although my heart rate was still elevated I felt I had finally caught my breath. The 5 km turn around to run the second 5 km was a little mean. It was placed literally about 20 ft from the actual real finish line. Therefore everyone was cheering saying you are so close!! You are almost finished! It didn't help that the man behind me WAS actually done so he just plowed through whereas I had to turn around and keep running. The last 5 km wasn't so bad, but the last km I was VERY glad to be near finishing. When I crossed the finish line I felt exhaustion. My body and mind had given all they could and I was done. I grabbed a bagel, a banana and some eload and just sat on the grass feeling so thankful I didn't have to run anymore.

I'm really glad I finished this distance and am really proud of my time. Meech Lake is July 3 and fast approaching. I will take an easy run or swim tonight but then it is back to training!!

Link for results and pictures:

http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?racecode=46408&first=Kristin&last=Dawson&city=St.Leonard

(click on the camera beside my name to see pics!)

Until next time!

Meech Lake added to the line-up!

I have continued training and hope it will pay off in a week and a half when Georghia and I attempt our first Olympic distance triathlon in Ottawa. The water is supposed to be warm, so hopefully we won't experience hypothermia like we did last year!!

I just signed up for the Meech Lake Triathlon (in Gatineau). Georghia and I did this race last year and we both found it quite enjoyable. The distance is slightly odd so it isn't a sprint or an Olympic distance, it is somewhere inbetween. It is 1.2 km swim, 24 km bike, and 6.4 km run. Last year it was quite a shock for me because the hills were quite grueling. After swimming through some fairly choppy water my poor legs found the hills quite a challenge. At least this year going in I know what to expect! Sadly, it will be my first triathlon alone. Georghia is quite occupied that weekend and won't be joining me! I guess I will have to supply photo evidence to really prove I was there! I also remember this time last year I took quite a tumble on my bike and was very timid coming down the hills at Meech Lake because I was terrified of falling off of my bike. Hopefully this year I can be a little more relaxed and hopefully make up some time. My goal is to better my time from last year which came in at 1:56.59. Better get to sleep, a tri athlete needs her beauty rest :)

10 km Run - Defi du Printemps

Well well, I should be careful what I wish for! Early last week Jen informed me that there would be a 10 km run in Maisonneuve Parc which is very close to me and which I run in all the time. I thought it would be a great opportunity to fix my pace and to try to run a comfortable race. The weather was supposed to be rainy and cold so we planned to decide on the morning of whether we would race or not. Jen and I talked around 8:30 (the race started at 10!) and we decided we should just do it. So we did. We showed up, signed up and tried to keep as warm and as dry as possible before the race. I was a little nervous about racing because we had just ran the 10km in Quebec City less than a week ago and I had trained pretty hard on my bike Tuesday, ran 10 km up Mont Royal on Wednesday and had done 4 km swim on Thursday. I felt a little sore and not "in the zone." My goal was to start the race very slowly and if I had more energy at the end I could take it up a notch. Jen started out faster than me and was ahead of me for about the first half of the race. It was pouring raining, cold and windy. I managed to catch up to Jen just before the 5 km mark which was the same time my ipod shuffle decided the wind was enough to change songs and play lists. Luckily I was still mentally focused so this small set back (although doesn't seem like much, but trust me can really get to you if you are already experiencing frustration) didn't get to me. I checked the clock and found my 5 km time to be about 26 min, not such a bad pace! I continued running and felt more energy coming to me and I realized I could easily finish the race and this comfortable pace. I decided to pick things up a bit after I passed the 8km mark. After the 9 km mark I pretty much sprinted to the finish line and was able to finish just less than 1 minute slower than my Quebec time, but trust me, the race was wayyyy more comfortable and if it adds less than a minute I'm prepared to take that! Thanks to Jen for getting me out to another race and I am really looking forward to the next one!

Info from SportStats:

http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?racecode=46213&first=KRISTIN&last=DAWSON&city=MONTR%C9AL

I also want to thank everyone in the lab for their awesome support!! I just counted the money we have raised from bake sales and other items and was able to add another $74 to my fundraising goal! Thanks everyone!

Quebec City 10 km run

Man, I have been falling behind on blog posts again! Since I have reached my fundraising goal training has taken centre stage in my life! I won't post all of my training outcomes since they are quite long now but I did want to tell everyone about our awesome Quebec City run last weekend. While in Cuba Jen mentioned that there was a Quebec City run in the beginning of May and since I didn't want the half-marathon in October to be my first official running race I thought the 10km would be a perfect way to introduce myself to the wonderful sport of running. First of all, wow, what an experience!! I have competed in triathlons before so I knew the awesome energy you experience from being in a long distance event - people are awesome and cheer you on, fellow tri-ers push you to continue and the thought of eventually crossing the finish line after all your hard work compels you to move forward. Therefore I will admit I was quite excited that I would "only" be doing the run and not also a swim and bike (that will follow in June in Ottawa when Georghia and I attempt the Olympic distance tri!). I have learned all about rookie mistakes, so my goal was not to start out too fast, die half-way through, and then be unable to finish. Therefore I started the first km or so running slightly behind Jen since I knew she would be a good pace buddy. However, after about km two or three I couldn't contain my energy anymore (and my ipod chose that vital moment to play a great song) and I sprinted ahead. This strategy worked well until about the 5-6 km mark when I looked down and saw my heart rate was an astounding 186 bpm. I must emphasize the highest I have ever gotten it in training sessions (running UP mont royal) was 180bpm. Therefore I KNEW I would not be able to sustain that heart rate for another 5 km. I was right. Around the 7 km mark I wanted to die. I felt exhausted. My lungs couldn't fill with air fast enough, my legs felt like mush, and the desire to stop and sprawl on the grass was overwhelming. This was when the mental fight began. Its very interesting how fast you physically deteriorate after your mind has decided its too much. I almost felt panicky. I had to force myself to focus. Kristin, this is ONLY 10 km! Think of the marathoners! They would find it hilarious you are struggling through a 10 km. I knew if I started walking it would be the beginning of the end. Therefore for the next km I repeated over and over and over in my head, Kristin Anne Dawson you will NOT walk, you can run slow, but you WILL NOT walk. No walking. Keep running. Then I started to pressure myself. You think THIS is hard?! Imagine running for your life. Would you stop running and say I'm tired? I don't think so. You have to keep going. You have to keep fighting. I must point out those sneaky event planners decided it wasn't worth marking the last 1 km. Therefore after I saw the 2 km mark I thought I was running the longest km of my life. It went on, and on, and on, and on. When I saw the finish line I wanted to cry. I almost thought it was a mirage - too good to be true. When I finally crossed the finish line I wanted to hug the people cutting my timing chip off of my shoe. I DID IT!!! I had won the physical and mental battle. It felt awesome. I was hooked. I may have to add more races now! Oh ya, my finishing time was 52.33. Not bad for a first try I don't think.

Info from sportstats:

http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?racecode=46164&first=Kristin&last=Dawson&city=Saint-Leonard

REACHED FUNDRAISING GOAL!!!!!!!!! :) :) McGill Bake Sale #2

THANK YOU GRANDMA AND GRANDPA MOROZ!!!! I am ecstatic today!! I have reached my fundraising goal of $2,500 and can now officially participate in the Ride to Conquer Cancer!!! It has taken me just over a month to raise this enormous amount of money that I honestly didn't think I would be able to. I have been overwhelmed with people's generosity, words of encouragement, and help! I could NOT have done this without each and everyone of you!! So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you and THANK YOU!

Today Jen and I hosted our second McGill Bake Sale. We had generally the same things as last time and after a slow start, which had me quite worried, we managed to raise $285.96. It was under $20 less than what we raised at the last bake sale which brings us to a grand total of $587.73 from two bake sales. Not bad! I want to thank my parents for supplying the majority of the baked goods, it was a great donation because it had a high return on investment, thank you! I want to thank our helpers once again - Jen's Mum, Mona, Georghia, and Tina. And thank you to everyone at McGill who supported our cause.

Training has and will take a back seat until Thursday when I hope to resume in all hardcoreness. I will definitely keep you updated on that, Jen and I have less than 2 weeks before our 10 km run in Quebec City!

Once again THANK YOU to everyone, you are awesome and I can't thank you enough!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party!

First let me just say, "WOW"!!! Last night Jen and I hosted our Mad Hatter's Tea Party. It was a FANTASTIC evening and I think I can safely say we all had a great time. It wasn't all just fun and games though, we managed to raise $408 for our ride. I must do my thank-yous. Thank you Mona and Amir for baking an amazing cake (our centre piece!), thank you Tina for bringing wine and a veggie platter (to delay the sugar coma at least a little), thank you Rox for bringing A TON of alcohol, thank you Georghia and Chris for helping with the decorations, baking pizzas, making potato wedges and bringing extra chairs! Thank you Jen for also helping to decorate and for having such an amazing costume! Thank you Mum for providing the sparkling wine, thank you Mrs. Wright for the amazing tea cups for which we couldn't have had the party without! Thank you Amy for the kick ass costume and decorations that really pulled the party together! And lastly, thank you to each and every person that came out last night and generously donated to our cause!

Jen has kindly posted all of our pictures from last night here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/117930013981631912894/MadHatterFundraisingTeaParty?feat=directlink

My training has taken a back seat lately due to all of the baking and planning we have been doing! I will post more updates when I get back to training!

Tuesday we have another McGill bake sale where hopefully we can meet our fund raising goal!! Thanks to this party I am now at 95% of my goal and have less than $200 to go until I can officially do the ride to conquer cancer!

Thank you!!

McGill Bake Sale #1

Last night my apartment was filled with the wonderful smell of baked goods! Myself along with Jen, Mona, Tina, and Georghia baked ourselves silly for our first McGill bake sale. The bake sale was a resounding success!!! We had 36 large cupcakes, tons of mini cupcakes, 24 double chocolate muffins, 12 cinnamon bran apple muffins, 1 banana bread loaf, pan of rice krispies, pan of triple chocolate brownies, 18 chocolate chip cookies, pieces of maple fudge, 15 bags of mixed nuts and a tub of lollipops!! We opted to run the bake sale by "donation" so people would give what they felt was appropriate for what they took. Although we figured most people would pay about $1 per item we were very surprised and pleased when we realized most people were giving double that - $2 an item or MORE!! Needless to say we essentially sold out of everything and made a grand total of $301.77!!! Jen and I split this right down the middle (to be fair and honest I got a penny more than she did!) so that I am now at 87% of my goal!!!! A giant thank you to everyone who baked and an enormous thank you to everyone who bought our items at the sale! Our next event is the Mad Hatter Tea Party! I have put our tea cups (thanks to Mrs. Wright!) on the table and it looks awesome! I can't wait!!!!

I have currently put my training on hold because after Sunday's outing my left leg was giving me extreme pain, even to walk, so I figured my body was trying to give me a signal ... My leg is fine now, but just to be on the safe side I thought I would take an extra day off. Injuries are the LAST thing I want! Hopefully tomorrow I can resume! Will keep you posted!

Training, Training and more Training

Friday - Swim

3.8 km

1 hr 20 min

Saturday - Day off, the legs were still a little sore from Mont Royal run! Plus, Jen and I went bike browsing (Thanks GM and Chris!) ... you know, just in case we need bikes ....

Sunday - Holy moly was it windy today - Weather Network said 40 km/hr winds with gusts clocking in around 50 km/hr! (Therefore, the bike was a little slower ...)

Bike - 1:01.24 Hrt Rate: 155 bpm average

25.24 km

24.6 km/hr avg.

Run - ~ 9 km Hrt Rate: 165 bpm average

55.51 Avg. Speed: 9.7 km/hr

I was quite pleasantly surprised, because after the bike my legs were burning and my heart rate was very elevated through out the whole run, but I managed to run the 9 km in the fastest time yet! Yay for improvement!! Lets hope I can do it faster without the wind and the bike first!

I just wanted to thank the wonderful Mona Aflaki for baking double chocolate muffins on Friday. Thanks to everyone in the lab I have raised almost $50! Thanks everyone! I am still sitting steady at 81% of my goal ($2,015) but we have the McGill Bake Sale this Wednesday, our Mad Hatter Tea Party this Saturday, and another McGill Bake Sale on the following Tuesday. Lets hope Jen and I can reel in the donations!!!

Easter break and then more training!

I would just like to do my shout-outs first, THANK YOU to Dr. & Mrs. Robson, Tim Venhuis and Jami Stanford for their awesome contributions, I have raised (with your help of course!) $2,015.o0 and have accomplished 81% of my goal!! Only $485 to go!!!!! I also wanted to thank Georghia and XiaoYan for bringing in treats to sell for the ride! Thank you!

Alright, I have fallen behind on my training updates!

Wed March 31 - Bike Ride

Thursday April 1 - day off (drove home for Easter)

Friday April 2 - Jeffy and I went on a bike ride 40 km

1:34.00

149 bpm average

(My bike computer wasn't working so this is based on Jeffy's ride)

Saturday April 3 - Jeffy and I went on another bike ride 38.5 km

1:29.00

154 bpm average

Sunday April 4 - HAPPY EASTER! Had a wonderful dinner at Grandma and Grandpa

Moroz's place and took the day off to visit friends

Monday April 5 - Drove back to Montreal - day off!

Tuesday April 6 - Swimming (3.8 km, 1:20)

Wednesday April 7 - First run up Mont Royal! About 10 km

1:02.42

167 bpm average

So, this week and last week I didn't get as much training in as I wanted too, but from here on out until May 2nd 10 km race I am putting the pedal to the medal!!

P.S. Mona is awesome

Run, Swim update

Quick training update:

Yesterday's run:

Distance - 9km (about)

Time - 56.45 min.

Average HR - 160 bpm

Today's swim:

Distance - 3.8 km

Time - 1:20

I am VERY much looking forward to the VERY warm and long weekend coming up! Bike and I are ready to go! Will keep you updated!

65% THERE!!!

I wasn't going to post a blog entry tonight, but after receiving a HUGE and VERY GENEROUS donation from my grandparents (the parents of Judy) I simply had to thank them. With one donation they have put me at 65% of my goal! THANK YOU!! The only thing separating me and my goal of doing the ride to conquer cancer is $875.00. I will easily reach this and I have to thank everyone, your OVERWHELMING support has absolutely stunned me. This is a huge inspiration and I will continue training tomorrow! Keep you posted! :)

Longest Run Yet!

THANK YOU KAITLIN SHORT!! Appreciate your donation!! 45% Already!!

Today was quite the running day for me. I decided I wanted to do a long run and ended up running about 14-15 km (to the park and back, 6km, and 3 laps around the park about 9 km). I don't think I have ran that long ever! I was surprised that I still had energy at the end to do a bit of a sprint back to my place. I noticed throughout the run that I had ups and downs. Some moments I felt like quitting, but then would get a burst of energy and just keep going! I don't know if that is a mental thing or a physical thing. Will have to work on both! Stats:

Time: 1:37.11

Distance: 14-15 km

Average HR: 156 bpm

This puts me at an average speed of 8.95 km/hr, or about 6.7 min/km. Not so bad, but still needs improvement! I'm feeling the effects now though, I am quite tired indeed! Hopefully these will get easier the more I do them. Off to bed!

Biking, Fundraising and Thank-you's!

Oh no! I am falling behind in my blogging! Bad habit to get into ... Ok, let's fix that!

Yesterday:

Let me start off by saying yesterday was cold AND windy! However, I was very determined to get out (finally!) on my bike, so I did! It was fantastic. Although the head wind had me down to 19 km/hr at some points, I preserved and managed to fight the elements for a good hour and a half. Stats for the bike:

Time: 1:24.42

Avg. HR: 144 bpm

Distance: 33.47 km

Avg. Speed: 23.7km/hr

My toes were slightly numb at the conclusion of my ride, but it was all worth it! Looking forward to the next one!!!

Today:

THANK YOU to MONA AFLAKI, SHANNON WRIGHT and BOB & JEANETTE WRIGHT!!! I'm up to $1,110!!!! AWESOME!

Every Friday in our lab we have journal club meetings in the morning. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to bake muffins and see what kind of response I would get (muffin = small donation, $0.50). To my ABSOLUTE delight, with 23 muffins (I sampled one ...) I made $20!!! Thank you SOOOO MUCH to everyone in the lab for your support, I will make this a weekly treat! How does everyone feel about blueberry for next week?!

I would also like to take a moment to plug our Mad Hatter's Tea Party! Let me just say I'm sooo EXCITED about this party!! It is going to be a fantastic time and the more people we have there, the better!! So please, come one, come all and bring everyone you know!! April 17th is fast approaching!!!!!!

Awesome!

We had a pretty solid fundraising day today!!! I would like to deeply thank Charmody Leppington, Amy Cairns (Dawson) and Sandra Stewart (Dawson) for all of their awesome contributions!! I can't believe I'm already at 40% of my goal! AWESOME!

We have some exciting fundraising events coming up that I would like to share with everyone! The first are two bake sales occurring at McGill University on April 14 and 20th. We will be selling all kinds of baked goods in the McIntyre building from 11:30 - 1 pm.

The second and the one I am VERY MUCH looking forward to is our Mad Hatter's Tea Party! I would like to extend a huge thank you to Georghia Michael for coming up with the great idea and for helping put the idea into reality. You can see the awesome invitations she made for the party!

Now for the physical part!

Today felt like winter was coming back so I decided it was a good time to hit the pool! I managed to do 3.6 km in about 60-70 mins. I always feel so relaxed and calm after the swim and am looking forward to my bed!

Thank You!! Running Training

First of all, a HUGE THANK YOU to Coon Bros Sand and Gravel for a wonderful donation, and also THANK YOU to my dear friend Jen Dobie, I really appreciate your support!!! I can't believe I'm already at 31% of my goal and we are still in March!! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

I went on another run today. I pushed this one a little harder than I have been in the past and I really felt my legs on this run. I'm really happy with my cardiovascular system but my muscular strength in my legs is something I really must work on (especially for the biking!). Stats for the run:

Distance: about 9 km (same route as last 9 km)

Time: 57.11

Average HR: 158

Thanks everyone!

More Running!

Today Jen and I went running in the park:

Time: 33.38

Distance: 5.7 km

Average HR: 162 bpm

Average heart rate was higher than usual, but this was more of a sprint and I felt GREAT after it! I usually feel very winded after running and my breathing is usually the limiting factor, not sore muscles. However, this time around my cardiovascular system was great and my legs were the sore ones.

Although our run was great, we had a really bad experience after and I must apologize to Jen! Protect your valuables people, some people just like to profit from the expense of others ...

For Judy

To begin, my legs were still quite sore yesterday so Jen and I did some power walking around Maisonneuve Park so that I could stretch my legs out. I'm hoping to either get some biking in today or tomorrow and get back into the swing of things!

Now on to the important stuff. I had always had an interest in doing the ride to conquer cancer but, out of honesty I was more interested in the ride itself as opposed to the actual fundraising and cancer message. I, like everyone else, heard of people who got cancer but these were usually people quite removed from my closest family and friends - our next door neighbour, friends of my parents, and customers of my parents. These stories are sad, and your heart goes out to everyone involved, but it still remains that cancer is something "other people" get and you don't realize the fight and struggle these people have to go through. When my aunt was diagnosed (Judy is pictured on the left in the above picture along with my Grandma and other aunt, Amy) and we realized it was very serious and that she would die at some point in the near future from this disease, things changed for me. Cancer was no longer an abstract disease everyone talked about, it was now in our family and could strike very quickly with little warning and little mercy. Therefore, when Jen and I attended the conquer cancer information session and Jen signed up, things were different for me this time. I didn't see the fundraising as something I had to do to ride, I saw it as something that is so necessary and important for the fight against cancer that I signed up even though I wasn't certain HOW or even IF I would gather all of this money! I can say now though that I have been surprised beyond belief. The generosity of people has been absolutely amazing. In one week and from 6 people I have raised $510.00, I am already at 20% of my goal. A bunch of other people have also expressed their desire to give and the words of encouragement have been very touching. People have mentioned they admire me, or respect me, or have said other very flattering things but I must stress that this is the very least I can do. The only reason it is possible for me to do what I am trying to do is because people like you have given generously to cancer research. It is YOU who I respect, who I admire and who I can never thank enough.

So again, THANK YOU everyone for your help, donations, and support. Judy, this one is for you.

Thank you GODFATHER!!

Wow! This is a day late but, a HUGE THANK YOU to my dear Godfather Paul Ecclestone and his wife Janis for the largest donation to date! I was slipping majorly behind Jen, but it seems I'm only trailing by a little now! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I went running yesterday even though I was a little sore from Wednesday's run. This one was a little shorter and slower. Stats:

Time: 1:03.26

Average HR: 154 BPM

Distance: about 9 km

Today I must admit I am feeling the burn!! My quadriceps are burning something fierce and the thought of walking down the stairs right now makes me want to cry (thank goodness for elevators!). I have an intramural volleyball game tonight (thank goodness the skill level there is basic) and then I think I will be icing my legs! I wanted to do a long bike ride tomorrow, but we will see what shape I am in!

Thank you once again to everyone who has donated, I couldn't do this without you!

Training has officially begun!

First of all I would just like to thank Ling and Rob for their generous donations which have now put me over the $100 mark! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Now I must admit the Ride to Conquer Cancer is not my only challenge this summer/fall. I have a heavy schedule in front of me that involves:

10 km Run, May 2, Quebec City

Olympic Distance Triathlon June 12, Ottawa

Ride to Conquer Cancer July 10-11

Olympic Distance Triathlon Sept., Montreal

Half-Marathon, Oct. 17, Toronto

Therefore my only training will NOT be biking! I have to incorporate a lot of swimming and running in to meet my triathlon and running goals. In order to keep track of my progress and to motivate me to work out more I'm going to use this blog also as an athletic journal.

Today the weather was amazing here in Montreal - sun and high of 13 C. This persuaded me to go for my first outside run since the fall. Although I have been training on and off through out the winter, Jen and I's recent trip to Cuba sidelined my training for a good two weeks! Therefore, this run was meant more for fun and just seeing how much shape I was in. Stats for my run:

Time: 1:17.53 (including traffic lights!)

Average heart rate: 155 bpm

Distance: about 11 km (give or take)

Actually, that is not too bad, average 8.46 km/hr. My goal for the half marathon is 2.5 hrs - hopefully that will be obtainable by October! My wonderful, awesome friend Ellie has sent me a half-marathon training schedule so I'm going to follow that on top of adding some long bike rides in.

Alright, enough for today, I'm quite tired now! Until next time!

Officially Started!

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to Mike Snudden for getting the ball rolling and giving the first donation. Also, another huge THANK YOU to Anik Therrien for being my second donor allowing me to be at 2% of my goal, so I have a long way to go, but with everyone's help we can get there!! THANK YOU! :)

TO DONATE:

http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR/Events/Montreal2010?px=2404943&pg=personal&fr_id=1341

Kristin's Journey to Conquer Cancer

I already published this post on my ride to conquer cancer personal page, but I decided I wanted a more versatile blog so I have signed up here! This will allow me to post pictures and I personally feel this lay out is easier to read and more user friendly. Here is my first post from my webpage:

Wow, I can't believe I really did it, I signed up for the ride to conquer cancer!

My friend and fellow team mate Jen convinced me to attend an information session just to "see what is the deal with the ride to conquer cancer" however, after seeing the video and realizing Jen meant business I walked out of the information session with a black t-shirt and the reality check that I would need to raise $2,500 in 4 months in order to bike 250 + km!!! What the heck have I gotten myself into?!?!?
Jen and I have since brainstormed our selves silly and now I have a glimmer of hope that this may be possible!! I am very much looking forward to the physical and financial challenge and I look forward to blogging every step of this process! Please check in regularly, I would really appreciate your support and words of encouragement!! Thank you!

And remember (this is mostly for myself ...) A journey of 1,000 steps begins with a single one!