Post-Marathon Wisdom

Two words - locked-hips. That is all it took to completely destroy my goal of running this marathon under 5 hours.

Let me start from the beginning. Sunday morning in Niagara Falls was beautiful. Nice sunrise, little to no clouds and certainly not the amount of wind we experienced on Saturday. Great! We hopped onto the buses, stopped to clear customs then were whisked away to Buffalo to view the art gallery before starting the marathon. It was a bit chilly but once I started running it was quite comfortable. The first 21.1 kms were excellent. I was exactly on pace, felt energized, heart rate was under control and I had little to no pain. The sun was out and the wind was dead. My half-marathon split was 2:22:50. That was a whole 5 minutes faster than my previous half-marathon split. Things were looking great - I was totally on target to beat my goal.

   And then it happened. My hips started to feel very tight and then all of sudden I had a sharp pain, which felt like someone was stabbing me with a fine tipped knife on both sides of my body directly into my hips. I stopped to try to stretch it out and re-focus my mind. I started experiencing slight panic since I realized I was only half-way through. If this pain kept up for the remainder of the race, I wasn't sure I would be able to keep on pace. I started running again. We were now running along the Niagara Parkway, which was beautiful since we were running by the water, but also quite desolate. There were few scattered spectators but for the vast majority of the run there was nobody else, save for the few hydration stations we ran past. The wind was also starting to pick up at this point. The pain wasn't subsiding. It wasn't getting worse, but it was definitely not improving. What to do?

   I decided to take a short break at the next hydration station and see if a little more extensive stretching and a bit of walking might help. It didn't. Full panic was really starting to set in now and I could feel the tears forming at the edges of my eyes. Then something amazing happened. A man ran past me and asked if I was OK. No I stammered, I was in a lot of pain - a lot of hip pain. The man stopped running and offered to show me some hip stretches. I graciously accepted. To my immediate relief they seemed to help, if only a little bit. He told me we would walk a little bit and then start to run again - I agreed. We got to talking and I found out his name was Mike and he was from Dallas, Texas. He had run a bunch of marathons and had even finished some ultra trail runs - talk about hardcore. I felt better knowing someone was there. The pain was coming back though and I could tell I was really slowly down, I could feel my dreams slipping away and the tears were instantly in my eyes again. I was looking ahead and I saw my dad in the distance with his phone obviously trying to take a picture. I waved to my family and tried to hold myself together. I introduced Mike and my family said they would be waiting for me at the next spectator area.

                                   Mike and I running with me trying to regain composure and sending out the friendly wave.


  By this point in the race the pain was quite unbearable. Running was not something I could consistently do. I think Mike realized this and he suggested we do some power walking for awhile to give my hips a break. He was being extremely positive and was saying things like - All that matters now is that we cross the finish line. Or, Even with walking we are only 1-1:30 min/km slower - not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I know he was trying to be comforting, but the only word flashing across my mind was - FAILURE. I knew now there was no way I would be able to run more than 1 km without having to stop and walk for another km. My goal shifted from finishing under 5 hours to just finishing period. Somewhere between kilometer 33-37 Mike told me I was "too fast" and would have to go on without him. What an emotional parting that was. He told me to remember the stretches he had taught me and if I had to, I should walk and that I was much stronger than I realized. I pulled ahead and with tears streaming down my face attempted to walk/run to where my family was waiting.

   I met my family and when I saw them, I burst into tears. My mum was running beside me but I basically just fell into her arms and started sobbing. There was no way I could finish this. I still had almost 5 km to go and I was done. The pain was just too much. Even walking at this point was hard and I knew I was compensating for the pain by slouching my back which was giving me back pain. Months and months and months of training had failed me and I was reduced to a distorted slow walk. My family kept cheering me and telling me I could finish, I could go on, I was almost there, so close. They would wait for me at the finish line. I reluctantly starting walking, tears still streaming down my face. I had to do this, I had to finish.

                                                Running to my mum to give her a hug and take a cry break.

    I ran/walk for another 3 kms. I was beyond frustrated and pissed off. My energy levels were fine, my muscles were fine, my heart rate was fine, it was my stupid stupid stupid hips that were holding me back. I could have made my time in under 5 hours, I know I could have. What had I done wrong?? Did I not do enough long runs? Did I under-train? Did I not stretch enough? Did I not rest enough? The questions came flooding out and I had no answers. I was devastated to think I would never run another marathon again. I came across a bend in the road and a woman running in front of me had her friends on the sideline run beside her. She too burst into tears as she hugged her friends and sobbed. I thought to myself - at least I'm not the only one having an emotional breakdown. As I ran by I said to her - I just did that myself a few kilometers back. She smiled and I hobbled onward. I came across a man who also seemed to be struggling and I said to him, we are so close! Almost there! (More for me than for him) He laughed and said I know! My body just doesn't want to get me there. How true I thought, either does mine.

   The last 2 kms dragged on forever. The course was marked in miles but had markings for the full marathon, the half marathon and the 10 km and I was a little confused on how many miles/kilometers were left. I just kept telling myself - 1 km to go! That at least seemed manageable.
The last kilometer of the race was in fact downhill. Right before the downhill part there was markings on the road, obviously intended for vehicles, but which fit perfectly into my predicament. It said - NO STOPPING!! I actually laughed out loud and said damn right no stopping. The downhill part was winding so it was impossible to see the actual finish line although I knew it had to be close. A single spectator who had obviously ran either shouted to me - it is just around the bend!! I gave him a nod and threw every ounce of strength I had left into my hips and sprinted whatever distance was left. I was alone and I could hear the crowd. The instant I saw the finish line I burst into tears.

Seeing the finish line - the exact moment I burst into tears

                                                          Running and sobbing towards the finish line

                                         The last few meters before finishing the Niagara Falls Marathon 2013

The crowd saw me and started clapping and shouting. When I crossed the finish line I couldn't help it. I began to sob. A very helpful volunteer put a coat around me and said congratulations. With tears streaming down my face I chugged back 3 cups of cytomax and collected my medal. A photographer came over and offered to take my picture. I said sure, let me just pull myself together. He said are you kidding me? After what you have been through you look great!! This caused me to laugh and I was able to smile for my picture.


   I met my family for a giant group hug. I heard - KRISTIN !! I turned around and saw that Mike had also finished the marathon!! He said congrats, I knew you could do it. He gave me a hug and I said thank you so much, without you I wouldn't have been able to do it. We walked away and my tears started again.

   What can I say? This marathon experience was DRASTICALLY different from my last one in Toronto. I thought I was better prepared, not only physically but also mentally. Turns out I wasn't - in both regards. I lost it physically which in turn caused me to lose it mentally. The marathon really is a wild beast. Tough hardcore looking men that could kick my a$$ were also limping and hobbling to the finish line next to me because of knee pain, hip pain, leg pain etc ... It is so unpredictable and it is such a grueling event. Family and friends have been unbelievably supportive and keep telling me I should just be proud I finished. To some extent they are right, just the fact I could finish the marathon is a feat in itself considering how much determination it took to cross that finish line, but to some extent they are also wrong. I didn't set out to "just finish" this marathon, I set out to beat my previous time of 5:00.28 and that didn't happen. I in fact added 18 minutes to my previous time. It hurts, it really does, but I learned a valuable lesson. The marathon is very unpredictable and quite unforgiving. You need to be able to focus and handle yourself when something goes wrong. It also showed me the amazing kindness of strangers. Mike didn't have to stop and help me, but he did. That is what I love about running and running culture. I feel like the marathon spirit engulfs every runner and ties us together as we experience this true test of endurance together. The whole experience alone makes me emotional but this time around it took me to a whole other level.

   I promised myself I would never run another marathon after this experience. It was just such a devastating blow to my ego and to my sense of determination. However, Mike mentioned to me that the Chicago marathon must be added to my bucket list. If he saw me at my absolute worst and in a fit state of mind suggested I might run another marathon maybe all hope isn't lost for me after all. I know one thing is for sure, I am taking a break from running. I feel like we need time apart. I might turn back to my true love (swimming) or maybe schedule in some yoga to sort out my hip but I need time to heal (physically and mentally) from this experience.

   What will the future bring? Stay tuned !  

Pre-Marathon Strategy

I can’t believe the marathon is this Sunday. Toronto held their Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon last weekend, I ran my first marathon there in 2011. That was an amazing experience and during that time I learned a ton of things I wanted to repeat and even more things I knew I would need to change if I wanted to do another marathon.

Reflecting back on my last marathon training plan, I realize now it was just way too much mileage for the type of marathon runner I was (a beginner). It called for over 950 km in 18 weeks which averages to just over 50 km a week. During my taper last time I just slept and when I got to the start line I still felt tired, sore and just didn't possess that “fresh” feeling tapers are supposed to instill in you. I also was skipping a lot of runs towards the end because I just couldn't push myself to get out and run. This time around I picked a less intense mileage plan. This one calls for 770 km in 20 weeks, averaging to just over 40 km/week. This plan has been much more enjoyable for me and has even allowed me to incorporate tempo, interval and distance training at desired speeds. For my last program I just went out and ran the distance with little respect to time or pace because whatever pace I wanted to run, I couldn't maintain it. This time around has felt much more like a training period as opposed to a just doing it period. I am very curious to what results this training program will produce as compared to the previous one.

This time around I was also much more flexible in my training. Last time I tried to follow the training program to a T (including which days each run should be done on) this created stress because sometimes I just couldn't run when I needed to (other things took priority). This time around I adopted a relaxed attitude. If I had to do a long run on Tuesday instead of Sunday, I did. If family or friends were over I would skip the 5 km planned for Saturday and not feel guilty about it. I also forced myself to run my slow runs SLOW. This might sound easy, but trust me, it can be difficult at times.

The things I repeated this time around were – to keep a daily running journal. I would log the exact mileage I had ran, what I had eaten and the amount of sleep I had gotten. This helped me keep on top of myself to make sure I was looking after myself. Half way through marathon training the idea I was marathon training had worn off and I was getting lazy/messy with my eating habits including skipping meals. This really decreased my energy reserves and I was struggling to finish long runs. Bad habit!! I was also cheating myself out of sleep. I realized sleep has a MAJOR influence on my running ability. Not only physically but also mentally. You slack off and let yourself get away with more shortcuts because you are “tired”. Don’t give yourself that excuse, make sure you are well rested. I really did pay more attention to my body this time around and let myself rest if I felt I needed it and pushed through times I was just being lazy. I think that has resulted in an overall more enjoyable experience.

Overall I really feel I just had more fun with marathon training this time around. I did have a few brutal long runs where I had to walk but I realized why that was (lack of sleep and poor diet). I think there were a lot less surprises this time around.

Looking forward to Sunday I have decided to set 2 goals. One that I hope can be more or less achievable and one that if I obtain would be a huge cause of celebration for me!

Goal #1 – Like I stated awhile back, my first marathon goal was to finish in under 5 hours. This caused me to run it in 5:00.35. This time, I REALLY want to run this marathon in under 5 hours. I honestly believe this is possible (fingers crossed).

Goal #2 – I would be extremely happy if I could run it around 4:50. As I am writing this, I feel my time will be around 4:55-4:57 so if I could shave about 5 minutes off of that predicted time I would really be proud. 7:00 min/km pace would get me around 4:55 but I am hoping to maintain a 6:45 min/km pace for the majority of the race, possibly slowing down to 7:00 min/km in the final stretch.

Goals are now set, the only thing to do is enjoy the final taper week, eat carbs like crazy (not a single complaint from me on this one) and load up on sleep.

Good luck to everyone else running this weekend, we are going to ROCK IT !!!!

My love hate relationship with interval training

Ahhh, interval training.

For the love part of this relationship, the only way to get faster is to run and to run fast. Makes sense.
Another pro is that after running fast, you get to run slowly for an interval of time. I like that.

Now for the hate part. You have to run really fast for a long period of time. I initially started off running 5 x 400 m intervals. This wasn't so bad. I was averaging 4:20 min/km (about 13.5 km/hr) but after talking to a veteran friend of mine she mentioned that 400 m intervals were too short for marathon training and that I should step it up to 800 m intervals. So I thought I would try that. I decided to start off with 3 x 800 m Wow. Those are tough. As a non-runner friend of mine stated - you can't run all out for 800 m. How truthful that statement was. I thought I was gauging my energy and time right but after 500 m I was losing steam quickly. A weird feeling is when your legs either feel like complete mush or they are numb. You gaze down just to make sure they are still running and just hope they can hang on for the remaining 300 m. Then you get that rush of lactic acid and the pain and stiffness follow. Interval training really is a strategic event - making sure you are running fast enough to get the benefits of that vs. making sure you can sustain that speed for a decent amount of time without losing consistency or stamina.

However, the net outcome of this is that short term pain really pays off in the long run (haha) for serious gain. Last week I was doing my weekly long run (23 km) and decided to run 1 min below race pace (5:30 min/km) for the last 2 kms and I was actually able to do it. This was purely due to interval training.

  Of all the different types of runs I do during the week; long run, recovery run (x2), tempo run and interval training, interval training is by far the hardest workout for me to get out there and do. Its funny, it is always the shortest run but is always the hardest (mentally) to do.

   Today is Sunday - long run day. The weather is gorgeous outside, full sunshine, warm and little to no wind perfect fall day. This is my second last long run (today will be 26 km) before I start to taper down. I am hoping to average 6:30 min/km about what I hope will be my race pace. This should comfortably allow me to run the marathon under 5 hours even allowing for some slow down in my last 10 km. I can't believe I'm already in week 17 of my training plan! I have so far logged 570 km and am feeling great! Can't wait for October 27th to roll around so I can see all of my hard training pay off!

The Long Run

Does this happen to other people?

     So I spent all day psyching myself up for my long run. Today was rainy and thunderstormy and a little chilly (perfect procrastination formula) for the beginning of August. I kept putting it off because I had decided today was going to be "the first 48" marathon watching day. After mentally battling myself all day I finally managed to kick my butt off the couch around 6 pm to go running. I had already complied the podcasts and playlists I wanted to listen to, turned on my Garmin, and prepared to embark on my 14.5 km Sunday long run. And what happens next? Well, nothing actually. My Ipod was dead. Apparently charging overnight for 10 hours isn't enough to breath life into this thing. I'm starting to think it needs nuclear radiation to power it. Like simple electricity from the wall is not enough for this thing (typical Apple arrogance right?). Anyways, HUGE mental block right? I'm all for running, but I also need the mental distraction or else ... I'm left with *gasp* my OWN THOUGHTS !!
 
   This little inconvenience brought me to the second mental battle of the evening. I can't possibly run that long without my Ipod right? I can put this run off another day (Kristin = 1 pt, run = 0 pt). But - I had already put all my running gear on, had actually managed to sync my Garmin to satellites (another battle) and we all know I wasn't going to get up early tomorrow morning ... so today it was (Kristin = 0 pt, run = victory).

   I set off on my run. The first 20-30 mins is the usual mental chatter you experience. Wow - I really accomplished nothing today. My apartment needs a clean. What work can I reasonably manage to get done this week? Did I leave the stove on? Why is it so cold? Will it stop raining soon? Why do 2 people manage to block an entire sidewalk? Then ... for some reason after the 40-45 min mark your mind starts to go into weird places. First weird thing - I was running past a bus stop and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a man standing inside with a hoodie on. My first thought? (For serious) was - He is trying to kill you. You need to run faster. He has a knife, no wait, probably a gun and he is going to run you down, drag you into the park and murder you. He is going to leave your body hidden in the bushes. Obviously you have no ID on you, so when some poor person (probably another runner) finds you nobody will know who you are. You didn't tell anyone your running route so nobody will even know you are gone until (at best) the next morning. You know what this all stems from? A full day of watching "The first 48!". For those of you that don't know it - it is a reality detective show that follows the detectives in the first 48 hours following a murder since if they don't solve it in the first 48 hours their chances of solving it are cut in half. Alright. So after calming myself down and reassuring myself no one was going to kill me I ran past a group of nice young men.

   So they decided to wait until I had run past (they always do ...) and then they shouted something. Not something encouraging like - Run harder! Or, you got this! Or wow, like your top! (Like the old Italian men do) they shouted something like, "huggrragfuuuuuuuuk". This word occupied my run for the next 20 minutes. Was it positive encouragement? Were they attempting to compliment my nice running gear? Maybe they didn't like it. I was told once orange wasn't my colour, maybe I should have listened ! Perhaps they had noticed my socks didn't match the rest of my nicely coordinated outfit. I finally decided I didn't care what their opinion was either way because they don't know me, they don't know who I am, WHY ARE PEOPLE SO JUDGMENTAL ?? !!!

   My last mental distraction tangent was a much more emotional one. Weird how your long run puts you through emotional changes (or maybe I'm just the only one ...). I ran past a park and there were two men in wheelchairs who had obviously lost the use of their legs. This made me instantly appreciative and humble for the fact that I could even decide whether I wanted to run today or not. Just the fact I had the complete use of my legs and it was more my mind that was the hindrance to getting out there - not any sort of physical disability. This happy almost meditative mood followed me to the end of my run when I could finally push the stop button on my handy Garmin. I am still in a post-run happiness/motivated/encouraged mood but I'm sure the instant I have to get out of bed tomorrow to run it will be long gone !!

    Point of today's blog post. Do other runners experience weird mental journeys on their long runs when they run without music? I'm deciding whether I might need to talk to someone or not, or whether tapering down on the First 48 might be enough ....

Blogging for the Niagara Falls Marathon

So I just found out something really cool. The Niagara Falls Marathon is linking individual runner blogs to their website and facebook page! I thought this was a fantastic idea and volunteered my own humble blog to the cause. I look forward to reading about and following the journeys of my fellow runners! I also look forward to other peoples comments and words of encouragement and wisdom.

I thought I would take a step back and introduce myself. My name is Kristin (in case you didn't see the huge blog title ...) and I have become an accidental runner. I used to hate running. I mean REALLY hate it. I signed up for a gym and they told me I would have to run on the treadmill for 15 mins to warm up, so I promptly left and joined another one.
(Don't believe me? Check out my first run as part of my first triathlon - do I look happy to you?)

  All my life I have been a swimmer. I love the water. I love the feeling you get when you dive into it, the feeling you get swimming through it and the feeling you get floating in it after a great workout. I then met two friends - a biker and a runner. This set me down the path of triathlons. I enjoyed triathlons. It turns out, most people can't swim. Or at least, they can't swim well. The first triathlon I did, I was one of the first out of the water. I will admit, this made me a little cocky. This isn't so hard I thought to myself. I'm going to win this thing! Then came the bike. Followed by the run. That sure showed me. I think I finished in the bottom 20%. Although discouraged I thought, if I can just decrease my run time, I would be a lot better. Then, Bam. I started running.  Well ... running is probably a bit to strong. I started jogging ... errr ... walking briskly. At first it was painful. Not physically, mentally. How boring is it to run alone, on a treadmill, facing a wall for an hour? Let me tell you (in case you couldn't guess) - it is really boring. I thought ... this isn't going to last long.
(A much happier me in a bathing suit as opposed to running gear)

   Then something changed. I started running outside (and having music/podcasts didn't hurt). I actually found myself enjoying it! (GASP!). Now. I'm going to be honest. There are days when I HATE running. Like days when the entire time I'm running I'm cursing myself for setting down this stupid path (after all WHO the HECK would want to run 42.2 km voluntarily?) but those days are made up for by the days when you feel like you are literally flying down the sidewalk. This is turning out to be longer than I had planned. I should hurry things along.

   The basics are this. I signed up to run the Niagara Falls Marathon in October, 2013. I have only ran one marathon previously with my only goal being to do it under 5 hours. What was my time you ask? No joke ... it was 5:00.28. Seriously. You know when you get really excited and then all of your happiness and joy comes crashing down in 29 seconds? Ya ... it sucks eh? So ! I decided, it can't be that hard to knock off 29 seconds over 5 hours right? So I am attempting this again. If anyone out there has advice/experiences/funny comments to add, I would be grateful ! Sometimes out there running for hours you need something to ponder over, so if people want to add some of life's unsolvable questions, maybe I can ponder those over as well (Not the usual ones like, why is chili called chili when it's hot? I need more originality here people).

    I hope at least 1 person reads this post and finds it somewhat amusing. That would mean - mission accomplished ! Good luck to everyone out there and I will try to update my blog more then once a year ...

  - Kristin

Niagara Falls - Here I come !!

I really am terrible with keeping on top of blog posts. I apologize.

I have realized that running reappears in my life during times of great unhappiness and uncertainty. It is a way for me to re-focus my life, set a goal, stick to training and hopefully accomplish what I set out to do. I have direct control over it and I get out of it exactly what I put into it. There is a peace that comes with that. When things around me fall apart, I always turn to running to bring me back to life so to speak.

In 2011 I was emotionally devastated. My heart had shattered into a million pieces and I was beyond miserable. Nothing was able to pull me back into my former self and I was scared I would never get back to the level of happiness I had felt before. I decided that now was the best time if any to sign up for a marathon and just do it. That experience was something I will never forget. I trained hard, like really hard, for 5 months and it became the center of my world. I was either eating, sleeping, working, or running. It give me purpose and a sense of drive back into my life. When October approached and I actually ran the full marathon it was one of the most freeing moments of pure happiness that I can't really even begin to describe. Before even starting the marathon I was an emotional mess. In the car, with my family, driving to the start line I had to pull back tears. When the race finally started and I ran past a woman holding a sign, "You are a true inspiration" I completely lost it. It was only kilometer 5 and I was practically sobbing while I was running. Months and months of hardwork had paid off and now I was here, running a marathon, something I have always said I would do, never fully expecting to actually be doing it. Crossing the finish line, or rather, approaching the finishing line is one of those moments in life, that unless you experience it for yourself, can't really be put into words. I would say it is a sense of accomplishment, but it really goes far deeper than that. I had hit rock bottom and I had slowly, with the help of running, clawed myself back to the top. Those 5 months gave me my life back, I was re-born. Running had put things back into prospective and I had found myself again. That was 2011. Oh ya, I also had an amazingly supportive family and friends (including my brother) who liked to remind me I was "only" running a marathon.

This year, 2013, has been amazing to me. I finally published two of my scientific articles, I was moving on in my PhD and had finally applied to medical school, another life goal I had always had but never thought I would seriously get out there and try to do. It was a long process, I had sent my application in for October 1st, 2012 for possible admission for September 2013. I was granted an interview (a great feat in itself!) and went to it in April 2013. The results were released on May 14th, 2013. After months and months of anticipation, sleepless nights, thoughts of where is my life going? I found out I was rejected. Like horribly rejected. I was once again devastated. A life goal that felt soooo close to coming true had once again shattered before my eyes. I lost my sense of purpose and drive again. What would I do now?? I felt lost and unworthy. Once again, I turned to running. I signed up for the Niagara Falls marathon in October 2013. If running was able to give me myself back 2 years ago, will it be able to do it again? Well, 2 weeks into training, time will tell.

Good luck to everyone else out there training for any running event!

Marathon training advice

I read a lot of other people's blogs about marathon training and advice on marathon training and I found it extremely helpful, hopeful, and encouraging.  Since I have basically been doing this on my own I have turned to the internet and people's typed words to give me inspiration and encouragement.  I therefore decided to compile a list of my own tips for new people setting out on the marathon training path.  The following tips are only my opinion and are only based on my own experiences.

1. Pick a program and stick to it. The hardest part is getting out there and just doing it.  Nobody else is going to run those miles for you, it is up to you and only you to kick your ass out there everyday and run.  A great quote for you:  "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."  -John Bingham  
2. Sleep, sleep, sleep. Training isn't all physical - it is also very mental.  It is very easy at the end of a long day to say, I'm too tired.  The more well rested and confident you are the easier it will be to do your runs.  Sleep also does wonders for the aches and pains associated with running.
3. Don't over-train! This might seem obvious, but trust me, its easier to do then you realize.  It took me lying in bed, crying on the phone to my mum at the thought of having to get an oil change for my car to realize I was over doing it just a tad.  Running more and more and more will not make you a better runner.  The body needs rest and you need to allow yourself to have it. 
4.  As much as you think you are an all star runner, you aren't. I started out with huge expectations for myself and when I started to feel tired and sore I was upset and hard on myself.  Why did I expect to push all my weekly runs hard and still have all the energy in the world to run a fast long run on the weekends?  I have only completed a handful of 10K's and one half - I am by no means an accomplished runner.  Be realistic and be kind to yourself.  We can all beat ourselves up over what we haven't accomplished, but try to remember what you ARE accomplishing. 
5. Buy a heart rate monitor! If you are like me and always feel like you have to be sweating buckets and huffing and puffing to have a good workout, you need to start heart rate training.  I feel it is incredibly frustrating to run at a pace I feel is slow.  This however, is crucial for endurance training.  I have a Garmin Forerunner 305 and it is amazing.  It has heart rate alerts (which are horribly loud and annoying) so if you are running too fast you will hear about it immediately and trust me you will WANT to slow down.  As an added bonus the alert scares people out of your way when running on busy sidewalks. 
6. Buy some sort of hydration device. The long runs are long - like 3-4 hours long.  If you are like me and decided to do the bulk of your training in the hot and humid summer you will need to hydrate.  Sure you can plan your route around fountains or stack water bottles around the city like a squirrel but I find having either a camelback (or any other make) or the waist water bottles is much more practical.  When I get into my running groove I like to stay in it, I don't want to stop and wait in a water fountain line while some dog ahead of me is drinking out of it, or digging around in the bush trying to unearth my water bottle.
7. 7. Realize bad days happen, you will doubt yourself and yes, this IS normal.  The worst run of my entire life was a long run of 29 km.  I started out WAYYY too fast and ended up walking the last 8 kms.  This killed my confidence and made me wonder what the hell I was doing. I told myself, phff, I don't even like running anyway!  Therefore quitting now isn't even a big deal because I will just be stopping something I don't enjoy.  Don't let yourself get away with this.  You have a goal, you are amazing, and if you stick to it you WILL finish it! 
8. 8. Keep a running log and update it daily. There are many reasons for this.  1) If you ever experience #7 above, you can look at everything you have done so far and remind yourself how awesome you are.  2) Some running days are better than others.  If you felt good one day and horrible the next, check your log.  Did you eat something off?  Was your sleep shorter than it should have been?  New stresses in your life? 3) It can help you prevent #3 above.  Are your times getting progressively worse and your heart rate is consistently elevated?  Sometimes you just need some extra days off to keep yourself in tip top shape.

I hope this can offer some help to anyone out there starting on the incredible journey that is marathon training.   Just remember this - you are not alone, you are awesome, and you CAN DO IT!

Marathon training ramblings

After going through my blog I realized I haven't posted a single entry since after running the half-marathon almost 1 year ago.  So many things have changed!  After much thought and consideration I decided it was time to run the marathon.  I struggled with whether I was ready or not but decided why wait?  Life is much too short and putting off something just because you are scared or uncertain is not the way to go!  I came across this from a blog post and it summarized exactly what I was thinking:
   
   "If you’re thinking about doing it, stop.  Plenty of people think. They have dreams and ambitions and goals, and they’re beautiful… but you need to become a person who stops thinking and starts doing."  (From: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/couch-to-ironman/ an excellent read).

   I signed up for the marathon in Toronto back in February.  It is October 16, 2011.
   (This one: http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/en/index.htm)

   I started training June 20th and decided to follow an 18 week training plan found here:
http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/metric2.html

    I thought initially the training program wasn't so bad.  The program suggested to have a solid base before starting but I thought since I had been triathlon training all winter I would be good to go.  The program went well right up until week 8 and 9.  Up until this point I had been progressing nicely and I had just finished my last long run (26km) at a reasonable pace of 6:36 min/km.  Then it hit.  I missed my long mid-week run because of soreness and overall tiredness.  Then the next long run came - 29 km.  It was awful.  I hit the wall around 23 km and couldn't run anymore.  I had tears in my eyes but no energy to cry.  I experienced the most intense feeling of thirst I have ever had.  I thought I could make it through 29 km without fluids.  Boy was I wrong.  I saw a discarded gatorade bottle on the side of the road and it took all my self-restraint from reaching down and drinking the remaining few millilitres.  I managed to do a combination of walking/running (mostly walking) and finished the 29 km in 3h32m.  The following week was a well deserved rest week and I thought I had finally put myself back together.  Boy was I wrong.  I set out for my long Sunday morning run of 32 km.  This is probably the worst run I have ever experienced in my life.  The wonderful weather network had predicted cloud and rain with a high of 24C.  I thought perfect, if my run goes a little longer the heat won't kill me.  Wrong again.  The day turned out to be HOT, HUMID, and SUNNY.  At least for this run I had learned from my previous mistakes and had bought a camelback from MEC so I could continuously drink on my run.  This worked for the first 20 km and then it happened again, it was like my energy was completely knocked out of me.  I couldn't run more than 5 mins without having to stop and walk for a good 10 mins.  My amazing pace I had maintained up to here dropped like a lead weight.  I walked/ran the remaining 12 km home.  I ended up finishing this "run" in 4h20m, my pace was 8:06 min/km.  If I wasn't so exhausted I would have been horribly upset.  I got home, showered and slept the day away.

   The following week I only managed to run 10 km.  I was exhausted.  I woke up Saturday morning (almost one week after the 32 km run) and I wanted to cry.  I didn't want to leave my bed all day, just lifting my feet out of bed felt like the end of the world.  My mum called to talk to me and I started crying uncontrollably.  This was not right - I was overtraining.  It had gotten to a point where I didn't want to eat, or sleep, and I sure as hell did not want to run, I just wanted to sit in my bed and stare at the ceiling.  Then slowly I came out of it.  I rested and ran as slow as humanly possible.  Then it was time for my next 32 km run.  I was beyond scared, the last experience had scarred me.  Would I be able to finish it? What was the point? It was a Sunday morning of a long weekend, why did I have to get up at the crack of dawn to run 4 hours when all it did was make me miserable?  It was cold and it was wet.  Why the hell was I doing this again??  Self-doubt set in and I felt frustrated with myself for feeling this way, scared I might not meet my goal, and upset that obviously I wasn't doing something right.  I felt this challenge was impossible.  Not for other people, just for me.  I had bitten off more than I could chew and it was finally catching up to me.  However that blog I had read previously had this to say:

   " I hate the word “impossible.” Hate it, hate it, hate it.

Anyone who does an Ironman needs to learn to hate that word, too. You’ll hear it a lot during your training, and it’ll sneak into your thoughts now and then, after a bad run or when you panic during your first open-water swim start."

   And somehow I throw myself out of bed that morning, geared up, mixed up my gatorade and headed out the door into the pouring rain at 6:30 am on a holiday Sunday.  I had to run on the shoulder of a dirt road and it got to the point where the sand shoulder was like quicksand.  Then it really started pouring.  I said to myself, this is it. I am stopping.  This isn't worth it.  Then something happened.  A little tiny voice inside my head said - just one more step.  Put one foot in front of the other and just DO IT.  And that's what I did.  I told myself - OK.  If it is still this bad in 30 mins then I will stop.  After 30 mins I said OK, in the next 20 mins if its this bad I will stop etc ... and this went on until my wonderful brother joined me.  Together we finished the run and with better pacing and a better mental attitude I was able to finish this run in 4h07m.  Certainly not a fast run by anybody's standards but faster than before and I had finished without feeling absolute exhaustion.  This, although a small step, was amazing progress for me.  And so it continues.  I have one more long run (this Sunday) before the mileage drops drastically into taper mode before the marathon.  I am still nervous about these long distances because your mind is amazing at playing tricks on you and telling your body it can't do it.  I saw this quote awhile back and I think it's perfect:

    "The mind tells the body it can't, but the body doesn't have to listen"

With just over 3 weeks to go until the big day I have conflicting thoughts.  I know the marathon race day itself is only one day and is a product of the last 18 weeks of hardcore running but I still have worries.  Will I even finish?  Will I hit the dreaded wall?  How will I feel after?  Have I prepared myself adequately? Should I have run more years before attempting the huge challenge that is the marathon?  However, the only way to know the answers to these questions is to just get out there and do it!

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!