Category Archives: Uncategorized

Dec15

A Lot to Talk About From the Past Week!

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Wow. Just wow. One more week complete, one week of school left, Christmas vacation, and a Disney trip around the corner! But who’s counting? All that is on my mind lately is Disney World and this Dopey Challenge. When you invest almost a whole year into preparing for something, why wouldn’t it be? Sure, at the start of the year after registration for this race it was always in the back of my mind…but I had so many other sweet races to be preparing for and heading off to that it didn’t consume my every thought. My husband made a wise ass comment, as seen below, on my Facebook page last week….and he is spot on:
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This last week brought a lot of excitement for those in the RunDisney community heading down for WDW Marathon weekend—-corral placements were released! And colored course maps! And more stuff with be released daily, you can bet! Corral placements are a stressor for many people doing RunDisney and I was anxious to see where I would be placed. I was in Corral A during Wine & Dine half marathon, with my submitted time of 1:46:32, and for the Dopey Challenge I was able to submit a faster time of 1:41:07 from my Bare Bones Half. This earned me a spot in Corral B for the Dopey Challenge weekend. Below are the bib ranges for those of us doing the Dopey, and you can see how small some of the corrals are with just Dopey runners.

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Now each corral also has people doing the Goofy Challenge (half and full) and the half marathon or full marathon, dependent on the race day. A guy in one of my Dopey challenge Facebook groups made a document combining all the participants for each big race (half and full) to outline how many people are actually in each corral. And there’s tons of other diehards who have analyzed the corral breakdowns. In short, I am very happy with my placement, and I assume my corral will be starting at 5:32 am, two minutes after the official start of elites and corral A. This will allow me to fully enjoy the half marathon and stop at EVERY photo stop with little to no wait and ball my eyes out as I run down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. I am also still planning on giving it all I got on the day of the full, so I won’t have to worry about weaving between people and wasting time and energy at the start. I will be talking more about my “game plan” as I get closer 🙂

On a different note, last week also brought on a 48 hour flu. Sunday and Monday night I slept like total crap???and when I woke up Monday my whole body ached. My gut instinct was to contribute this to my running 5-7-13-18 indoors on the track all weekend. But when I got home after work Monday I could tell it was not that. Woke up with a full body sweat and had to call in sick to work Tuesday. I took it easy Tuesday, did not run Wednesday, and changed this weeks mileage a tad. I am completing another Thursday-Sunday “Mock Dopey” but did 2.5-5-10 and will finish with 20 today. The weather is warmer (well above freezing) but we are having stupid Lethbridge winds today which will make it interesting. My husband keeps calling me crazy, but I am going to head out anyway to do this 20 by about 1:00 pm.

Lastly, my fundraising is still going well, and I have confidence I can break $1500 for both the American Heart Association and the Heart & Stroke Foundation before my completion of the Dopey Challenge. I am currently at $1471 for American Heart Association and $1155 for Heart & Stroke Foundation (Canada). The reason I embarked on this craziness was to raise awareness of heart disease and how it can effect any of us, no matter how fit we are! My dad is cheering me on, and I know his presence will be felt my whole trip to Disney World—he’s going to be helping push me through! If you are able to, please help me reach my goal! Every little bit counts!

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Nov21

A Quick HELLO to the HOC Readers!

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As previously mentioned in other posts, my dad was employed by Milwaukee County at the House of Corrections for 27.5 years.  This facility is in Franklin, Wisconsin.  I had been contemplating for some time how to get in contact with some of the employees there, as I knew there had to be a handful still there who would have worked with my dad or know who my dad was.  I had started thinking about doing this during Spring Break when I was back in Franklin, but it never happened.

This week, I decided I had to call.  I was able to get in contact with one of the associate superintendents.  He phoned me back yesterday and it turns out he in fact worked with my dad!  We chatted for a while and I informed him about my site, and asked him to forward the information on to any employees he think may be interested.  He also said he will get the information to a group of retirees who get together often.

 

I am very grateful for being able to get in contact with the HOC, as my dad’s work was important to him, and was a gigantic part of his life.  I welcome any old coworkers who are on here to leave comments on memories you may have!  Check out all the links up above as it will give you an idea of what this fundraising  ‘project’ has become…take a look at old posts….and enjoy!

Oct27

Reevaluating my Training Calendar

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On August 19th, after my 16 day Disney extravaganza, I started following my official Dopey Training Calendar. Brian Darrow from Digital Running Club had outlined a sample basic calendar for members of our Facebook group (Dopey Training Crew) and he was nice enough to suggest to me which weeks to splice together, as I was starting it later than others and had more of a base of miles started. When the school year began, I had been signed up for the Super Spartan in Red Deer, Bare Bones Half in Lethbridge and the Wine & Dine Half in Disney. Three races during the school year and then Dopey to top it off in January seemed good!. But the I signed up for then Spartan Beast….and the Spartan Sprint the following day….and I got asked to be a relay member for the Grizzly Ultra in Canmore….and I signed up for the Lethbridge Claus Cause 10km….and I randomly just did a 10km for the University of Lethbridge Pre Med Club this past Saturday….

So my three races before Dopey turned into 8….

I have still been getting in my miles needed for my weekly totals. It has been tough due to the hectic nature of this school year, but I have made it work by juggling days in my calendar. Last week Sunday on the day for Bare Bones half, I was suppose to run 18 miles. So after the race, I ran home. It ended up being 5.5 miles back, but I made my weekly.

This week, though, my body started to hit a wall.

I have been taking every race I run seriously, and not used them as “training runs” but as competitions. My adrenaline has been going harder than ever before. For instance, at Bare Bones I knocked 5.5 minutes off my previous best time and rolled in at 1:41:07. I felt like a rock star after finishing and that feeling stuck with me as I ran home.

That feeling turned into immense pain in my hamstrings by morning.

The average person will train some months for their first race, and then take about a week or two off after to recuperate. If you take that race seriously at your race pace, you will undoubtedly feel like crap the next day, unlike after an easy 10 mile training jog.Feeling like “crap” after a successful race is good in my eyes, as it means I pushed myself enough. I admit, I haven’t taken days to rest after each race…..not like I should have at least. But I needed to keep building my mileage base since I will be competing a full marathon in January.

But the pain in my hamstrings Monday morning hit hard. I was going to run 5 miles that day but when I stepped outside to start the run, the first few steps hurt so bad. I readjusted the calendar. The 5 miles in Tuesday turned into 3 miles. Wednesday was 1 mile, Thursday was off, Friday was 5. My race on Saturday became just the race, not an additional 2 miles after to make that day 8. And today’s 18 miles just didn’t happen.

Am I failing myself now? No…but I need to take care of my body so I can make it to Dopey. I could have gone out and ran that 18 today….but I pushed hard yesterday at the Pre Med Hoof It 10km (got my PR with a 46:32!) and just have an overall exhaustion taking over my body from the work during the weekday. I slept a solid 12 hours last night, and I needed it. This morning I readjusted this next week and next weeks’ training days, as I will be prepping for Wine and Dine. I needed to incorporate more of a taper leading into Wine and Dine, as my friend gave me the go ahead to run in Corral A on my own and go for my best time (I hope to get into the 1:40s, and ultimately maybe under 1:40 into the world of the 30s!)

My goals with my races have evolved over the past months since starting. Back in April when I ran in Waukesha, Wisconsin, at the Trailbreaker Half all I wanted to do was break 1:54:19. I did that with a 1:52:53, and I have not looked back since. I went on this running and writing and fundraising journey to do something special in memory of my dad. I was always planning on running more races in one year than I ever had before. But I hadn’t planned on having the sheer drive to keep competing against my own personal bests and to keep on striving to improve. I am excited to see what the rest of 2013 brings with my upcoming races, and I am even more anxious to continue what I have started as I head into 2014!

Oct17

The Picture So Bad, it is Epic.

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Behold….20 years ago….almost year to the day….my second trip to Walt Disney World.

I was downstairs getting my carry-on bag from the closet for my trip tomorrow to Drayton Valley, Alberta, for Cross Country Provincials, when I found my Disney photo album I made some years ago filled with highlights. This picture caught my eye.

Take note of the duel fanny packs my mom and I are rocking so casually. I have cords on my sunglasses. I am wearing a coordinated tank top and plaid shorts. And my dad……terrible Speedo tank top.

But this moment, as retched as it may look and laughable as it is now, it is priceless. I get to go to WDW in about 20 days for my first RunDisney race and in January I will go again for the race of my life, the Dopey Challenge. I will be able to run past this very spot during that half marathon and the full marathon.

Maybe I’ll wear a fanny pack.

Sep30

Evening Pondering

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I didn’t get to write my Sunday entry yesterday due to being on the road with Erin, heading back from our Spartan Beast/Sprint/Trifecta adventure. That entry will hopefully come next week, as I hope all pictures are posted by then. But we had an amazing race weekend—-one of a kind! And after spending two nights and 20+ hours in a car with Erin, I feel like I can refer to her not as my husband’s cousin, but my cousin. (Much like she did towards me as she took photos of me winning a beer chugging contest!)

On a different side….I turn 29 in 2.5 hours. Well, technically my birthday is October 1st at 2:03 pm. But for ease of understanding, I turn 29 at midnight. And I honestly don’t think the 29 will hit me. Yeah, it’s another year older…but this past year has been a roller coaster of emotions, and I am hitting my 29th birthday while on an euphoric high I have never been on before…and I want it to keep going for my last year of my twenties.

What am I getting at tonight? Nothing really, just a small ramble and musing at all the things that have been happening lately to make my entrance into the last year of my 20s a grand one. I look forward to what 29 has to bring, as 28 taught me a lot about the important things in life.

Aug26

One of my All-Time Favorite Pictures….

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I am getting a little bit off on my Sunday entry schedule, and I apologize.. I have been writing more sports tidally each week and still try to manage a post each week, but I cannot always guarantee the day of week. For instance, I want to now do a race recap on my event from Sunday, but I would like to wait until I see all pictures from the course photographers and any my friends took. So that will wait until later. But until then, I will put out a short photo memory post.

The photo below is of my dad and I during Christmastime of 2002.. While my website strongly talks about my loves of running, Disney World, my dad, and how they all tie together, there are other moments I love to cherish from when my dad was alive. This moment is one of them.

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The American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin, is a hotel that can simply not be compared with many other hotels in the world. The main building used to house the immigrant workers for the Kohler Company (yes, the company that makes toilets and faucets!). It was converted to a historic hotel in the early 80s and has received much praise—it is a AAA five diamond hotel! And, after Walt Disney World, it is definitely my family’s favorite getaway.

My parents first went to American Club when I was in 8th grade, and they got hooked. They first brought me in 2001, during Christmas. It was our backup trip that year, as after 9/11 occurred, my mom wasn’t sure if our airline tickets for Jamaica would be holding true by December—it was hard telling what would be flying by then at that point in time. So a trip to the American Club occurred. We went back again that Easter for a night, and then the following Christmas, in 2002. That’s when this photo was taken. In the main building off of the front foyer and library is this little nook by a fireplace with a chess set. My dad taught me how to play chess when I was a little girl and it was a game we would always play. He had a carved set from the Philippines I learned to play on, and now I am the owner of my dad’s stone chess set from the Holy Lands.

This moment of us playing chess together freezes an important memory and moment forever in my mind. I will always cherish the times our family had up in Kohler at the American Club, and this simple act of playing chess before heading off to dinner is so special.

Aug3

My Family Saves a lot of Shit!

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Growing up, our family basement was “finished” in terms of the fact it had more than just a sub floor. It wasn’t necessarily a livable space, or somewhere where you would want your middle child to have their bedroom, but it had the flooring down and was framed and insulated. My friends and I could play down there, and it was fine. We had a lot of storage space in my parents house—it’s amazing my mom and dad did not become hoarders! I know as an only child, we have more photos of me growing up, more photos of our family at holiday events…I know I was spoiled growing up with gifts and other items….but with all that, comes years of random stuff being stowed in your parents’ basement. But then, over the last ten or more years, some of that “garbage” has been filtered out and thrown away.

Now, I know for a fact nothing precious has been tossed. I’ve been a guardian of that basement my whole life. I spent many of days when I was middle school aged or older looking through my moms’ family photos. I loved the idea of the past, and loved looking back at it. Photos like the ones below exemplified my grandparents and their families, and we have held on to those!
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But other than family photos, there was a bunch of my toys. The things piling in my parents’ basement were random Barbies, board games and hand-me-downs from my cousins. We also had a lot of my school work. The wooden walls in our old-school basement were a stapling ground for anything I did in art class. We also had an old-fashioned desk we got at a rummage sale, that my best friend Ali and I would use to play school. In the desk we stored old notebooks, folders and classroom supplies. From kindergarten and, on this desk was in my basement—and I added old notebooks into in. But later on, many got thrown away. However, me being the master of the basement, I made sure my early ones stayed.

When my family went to Walt Disney World for the first time in 1991, me; being the studious young kid, made sure to ask Mrs. Shrake if there was anything I needed to do. We use to do a single sentence journal entry every day in class, which included the date, and was usually about a topic on the board. She told me to write in my journal each day when in Disney World. Since I am currently on my 15th trip to Walt Disney World, I thought it would be fun to look at these pieces of history (ha!) Here are excerpts from my school journal in 1991, when I was on my first ever trip to Walt Disney World:

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I have, and always will, remember those first words: I am up in the airplane. I am up in the sky. And it is even crazier to think about these words I wrote back in 1991, while in Disney World with my family, and that I am here now in 2013, writing words about these words while on vacation with one of my best friends.

Aug1

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge-Expereince & Review

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I am the only person in my circle of family and friends in Canada who prefers Air Canada over other airlines available to me. No, really….I am. Everyone else bitches about lack of service they have received, rude employees, bad flights, and more. Well, maybe I am just lucky, but any flight I have flown with Air Canada has gone fairly well. The only time my luggage got “lost” was when my connection was too close and I did not have time to wait for it in Toronto to clear through customs. But since they had switched my flights that day and my connections got shorter due to delays, I talked to the right people and was persistent in emails, and I got a cash voucher valid for future travel. See—I was nice. And it paid off.

Anyway, I am flying Air Canada to Orlando for my Disney trip. Before you Canadians start saying “Fly Westjet!”, yes, I realize they fly to Orlando, but I found a better deal with Air Canada, and I am accruing miles by flying with them. I fly Air Canada also whenever I book a flight using my Air Miles reward card, so if I had to estimate how many times I have flown Air Canada since meeting Dan, it would have to be about 16+ times.

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This trip I decided to take advantage of a flight “enhancement.” While I can no way afford first class on an airline, I can afford $40 to have access to the first-class lounge. The lounge is designed for the passengers flying first class or executive, or are elite/super-elite mileage flyers. Air Canada has their Maple Leaf Lounges in major airports across Canada, a few hubs in the US, and also in a few international spots. After checking in for my flights in Calgary and going through security, I approached the tall double doors into the lounge. I just had to present the lady at the reception desk my ticket, which had the authorization code for access to the lounge. The lounge was larger than I expected—-it had a dedicated table and chairs area, a ton of comfy chairs with end tables in between, and many tall bar-height tables. I found a spot to set my stuff down and headed to the continental breakfast.

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There were all the typical continental items—-fruits, breads, muffins, cereal, oatmeal. There were juices and coffee and tea and espresso. I helped myself to a banana, a muffin, some seasonal fruit, orange juice and coffee. While this doesn’t make you see the $40 value, the fact I had a private seating area and restroom access, different wifi than the general public in the airport, and I would have access to Toronto’s lounge during my layover, made me feel real good about my purchase.

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So I made it through Toronto and through customs. The lounge is hidden just past security into the departures wing. You needed to take an elevator up to the third level, and you get let out to a reception desk. I had no idea whether to press up or down, so I pressed both, but a nice gentleman told me it was third floor. I gave the reception lady (who did not seem happy to be there, but not rude at least) my ticket, but it took longer than at Calgary. I got nervous for a split second that I did something wrong and I did not have access to the lounge in Toronto also. Imagine—being rejected to this would be worse than when Dan and I went to Costco with a possibly expired card from when he worked for another business, only to be denied at checkout with the three things we had. That was a low moment. Nonetheless, she scanned my ticket and I was in.

This lounge is about four times the size as Calgary’s, and they even have another one in the domestic flight area. There are two self-serve bar areas, fully stocked, and a serving station with quick bites. I helped myself to cream of mushroom soup, a salad loaded with olives, chips and salsa, and a glass of Chardonnay. (Or more…) Cheers!

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The thing I was concerned about, being out of place, isn’t an issue. I am not sure how many people in here are executive or elite flight members, or how many buy day passes, but there is a wide range of people and I don’t look like a fool. It is interesting being here on my own and overhearing all the “business” conversations…some to do with housing and construction, trailers, some stuff I don’t understand, some stuff with stocks. The one thing I had to do different in preparation for the airport is I am actually wearing a normal outfit of coral khaki shorts, a striped t-shirt, and Steve Madden sandals. I couldn’t come in here wearing garbage like I sometimes do when I fly! If we were to go back to the 50s and all get dressed up to fly, I would be all for it if everyone took part-that era seemed magical…

I still am going to be hanging out here for another 45 minutes, but I am concluding this entry now by saying YES I would do this again. But ONLY if I have the same flight gaps or greater. If you have tight connections, it would not be worth it. Also, if you do not drink alcohol, you would be laying for a more respectable area than general concourse junk, and food privileges. But at least you aren’t paying an exorbitant amount for a Coke. I was dropped off at Calgary this morning by a friend who lives 10 minutes from the airport, so I was able to enjoy my breakfast morning routine in full. And with a 3 hour layover from landing to takeoff, I had about an hour and a half to enjoy the lounge (even after taking customs into account.)

I do a lot of traveling on my own—-usually flying back to Milwaukee to see family, to Disney World with Maureen or for RunDisney events, California to see my friend Ali….and if I have a layover during a lunch time I sit solo at a airport sports bar and have an overpriced appetizer and a glass of wine or two. So the cost of the Maple Leaf Lounge is nothing. Treat yourself next time you fly on Air Canada…maybe you will have a better attitude about them-I recommend it.

Jul31

A Runner’s Thoughts—Potty Training

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You get up to your alarm nice and early…eat breakfast, let your food settle, get ready and go out for a run…and even though you JUST went to the bathroom before locking the door…you have to go again.

Welcome to my demise.

I know, this may be a little TMI, and usually it just happens with nerves on race days. Anyone who has been to any race knows what it’s like at the porta-potties…lines longer than at Disney World. You have to get in line early so you have enough time before start time, but if you go too early, you have to go again. If you go too late, you might miss the start. If you don’t think you have to go, I guarantee by the time the gun goes and your timing chip starts timing, you will have to go.

And you men out there—-you all suck. Completely. I can’t tell you how many times, and I know any female long-distance runner will agree, I have seen men swerve off a marathon course, even at only 1/2 a mile in, into the bushes to let out their schlong.

Not. Even. Fair.

Where am I going with this? No where really, but just lamenting a common runner problem, and a deeper problem for women. Today I had a 10 mile training run to do, and I needed to do it early. See, I headed up to Calgary this afternoon to stay at a friend’s place, because my early morning flight to DISNEY WORLD is tomorrow! So yes, I have had excited jitters all day. All week really. And I think I actually went to the bathroom three times from when I woke up, to when I went on my run…all between 7:30 and 9:00 am. But, of course, I start running down my street and I got to pee. Maybe the two cups of coffee did something, or maybe all the red wine from last night did, but I digress…I refuse to turn around and go back home so I tailor my run through Copperwood neighborhood, over to The Crossings and the new high school and library—after three miles I arrive at my pit stop: the public library.

After this 3 mile stop, I was fine the final 7 miles, but I made sure to loop past public areas where restrooms were available—Tim Horton’s on the Westside and the public bathrooms at Nicholas Sheran Park. As I ran those first three miles, though, I remembered three races that bathroom stops and mental blocks absolutely ruined me-Calgary full 2009 and Edmonton Derby half 2011. When you gotta go, you gotta go. It just sucks when it happens at a race. And even most recently, at the Millarville half in June 2013, I got in the porta-potty line too late. There goes being able to focus on my run.

So, as I head off to the wonderful world of Disney tomorrow, I will be thinking lots about my upcoming RunDisney events—Wine & Dine Half Marathon and the Dopey Challenge. And I will be reminding myself how I don’t want to ruin the race experience for myself and that getting in line to go pee before the race, even more than once, is a key factor to having a magical race!

Jul21

An Inspiration on the ESPYs…America’s Team

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On Wednesday evening, the 20th annual ESPY Awards were televised on ESPN. I will admit—I never had watched these awards before. Maybe a quick flip-through, but never a beginning to end. My mom and I were visiting Calgary, Alberta, this evening and were out to dinner at Saltlik (a delicious steakhouse!) During the meal, we could see the ESPY’s being televised. After our meal was complete, we transitioned to the bar to split a bottle of wine. We had a straight on view of the ESPY’s from here and a few minutes after sitting down, they started discussing the recipients of the Jimmy V Perseverance Award.

Since the TV didn’t even have closed captioning and no sound was being emitted, my mom and I watched the video segment in silence, but in awe. The recipients of this award were Dick and Rick Hoyt, a father son team from Boston, Massachusetts, who since the 1970s have been competing in any road race you can think of—-triathlons, marathons, half marathons, and even Ironman races. The thing is, Rick has cerebral palsy and must be pushed in a wheelchair during all these events.

I had heard of the Hoyt’s before, though I admit, I did not know many fine details about their race history, their bond to Boston, among other things. But what I find interesting and reflected on is that my mom had never heard of them. I don’t fault her, but, she isn’t a runner and doesn’t live in Boston…so how would she know? My husband had heard of them but knew very little. He is not a runner either—he plays basketball and may be the only Toronto Raptors diehard fan in the world. And I bet there are many other non-runners out there who had know idea who these two were until their video played on the ESPY stage.

It is a shame that our highly paid and highly celebrated pro football athletes, NBA athletes, NHL players and all other glorified professional team sport athletes are more well known and more looked up to than a team who is so powerful and has made such an impact in their sport. The Hoyt’s, according to their website, have run 1077 events, as of April 2012. Boston 2013 would have been added to that, but about four miles from the finish line, the horrible bombing occurred. Their times are ridiculous—Dick was never a runner before his son asked him to push him in a local race. After years of hard, dedicated training, he was making fantastic times in many road races. It says in their site their best half marathon time is 1:21:12!! That is crazy for any individual, but the fact Dick is pushing Rick for 13.1 miles makes it even more astounding.

I really wanted to reflect on the Hoyt’s today because after seeing their ESPY speech, I immediately found it online so I could actually hear the whole thing, not just watch it in silence at a bar. Thinking about all the struggles and hardships their family had to go through in the early years of Rick’s life, the early races the men did together, and the accomplishments they have made so far, is really motivational. I know people will always say “Never give up. Don’t say you can’t. Don’t quit.” Those are just words. When you see their story played out and think about how fortunate we are to have the ability to run on our own two legs, you realize that even on that hot 90 degree day there is no excuse to stop running. There is no excuse to quit. The Hoyt’s, in my eyes, are America’s Dream Team.

Below is the best links I could find to their ESPY presentation in full. The first link is the presentation in full, though not highest quality. Below are higher quality versions. The first is their video story, and the second is their acceptance of their award. If you haven’t seen it, please take 10 minutes and watch. Then, head to their website so you can read more about them, as the video only shows highlights.

This link is the whole presentation in full (try this first)
ESPY presentation-Team Hoyt

If that doesn’t work, try both of these in order:
Team Hoyt Video-ESPYs

Team Hoyt Award Acceptance-ESPY

Team Hoyt Personal Website