Just One Marathon

How To Get What You Want: Lessons From An 11-Year Old

Let’s say you want a cat.

 

Your parents are opposed to the idea. They argue that you already have a dog – a great dog. A cat would only add an unnecessary complication to your family’s already busy household. Plus, your Dad is, to put it mildly, not a cat person. He barely tolerated your last cat, which only lived under the same roof with him because he came as a package deal with your Mom. Knowing all that, how would you proceed? Here are a few lessons from someone who knows a thing or two about getting what he wants: my 11 (soon to be 12) year old son.

 

Lesson 1: Start Early. If your birthday is in April, start before Christmas.

 

Lesson 2: Be Persistent. Don’t be discouraged when your parents sit you down to earnestly explain that, for a variety of good reasons, getting a cat is just not a good idea right now. Nod your head, say, “I know, I know,” look a bit sad, then resume your campaign the next day.

 

Lesson 3: Repeat Your Message. Mention the cat at least once a day, more if possible. Work the idea into most conversations, regardless of whether or not they concern cats. For example, if the weather is fine, comment that, “It would be even better if we had a CAT.”

 

Lesson 4: Make Bold Promises. Vow that you and you alone will be responsible for changing the cat litter. Without being reminded. Don’t laugh even once when making this promise.

 

Lesson 5: Show Commitment. Don’t be swayed when your parents try to bribe and distract you with the offer of a new Nintendo DSi for your birthday.

 

Lesson 6: Be Charming. If you sense your parents starting to weaken and saying that they might consider getting a cat, be charmingly, giddily happy. When you fall in love with a kitten instead of the older, more sedate cat your parents were hoping they would adopt, give them your most heart-rending, pleading, big-eyed stare and whisper, “But he's my favourite cat.”

 

Follow all these steps, and you might end up as happy as this boy:

This post was reviewed and approved by Jamie, who would also like to post this picture of Chester, the cat:

Ain't It Good To Know...

My friends are amazing. I know everyone says that about their friends, but mine really, really are. Really.

Want proof? No problem. Let me give you two recent examples of how my creative and talented friends have supported my recent infatuation with running.

When I ran the marathon last May (have I mentioned lately that I ran a marathon?), my friend Lisa not only showed up at four different spots along the route to cheer me on, she also made me a special sign which included my blog details, bib number, and a few motivational slogans. She presented the sign to me afterwards (it’s hot-ironed onto a pillow case), so it’s also a one-of-a-kind commemorative souvenir of my one and only marathon. Here it is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mittens resting on top of the sign are exhibits 2 and 3 in the case for my friends being the best in the world. Those beauties are the glorious Mittens of Motivation, knitted by my friend Kelly. Last Christmas, I was outlining for Kelly my possibly-ridiculous dream of qualifying for the Boston Marathon one day. When I told her the qualifying time for a woman at my … ahem … stage of life, she quietly filed the information away. About a month later, I received these in the mail:

Look closely at the mittens – the entire pattern is made up of 4’s. Appearing prominently on the wrist, where I can see it if I glance down is my goal time: 4.0 hours. Not only are the mittens funky, beautiful and warm, but they are also inspirational. Like my friends.

These are just a couple of examples of the generous support and caring demonstrated by my friends and family. I only hope I can be the same kind of supportive friend in return.

 

What about you? Have your friends inspired you? Or have you had the opportunity to support a friend in her running or other goals?

Mashed Potatoes, Hold The Gravy

As a rabid fan of public radio, I am loving the story about Billy Bob Thornton’s tantrum on CBC earlier this week. In case you missed it, Billy Bob, who was appearing on the radio show to promote his band’s tour, became seriously miffed when host Jian Ghomeshi mentioned in his introduction – despite being “instructed” by his publicist not to talk about his acting career – that in addition to being a band member, Thornton was also an Oscar winning actor, screenwriter and director. BBT sulkily refused to answer questions, gave weird and rambling responses when he did answer, and insulted Canadian audiences, referring to us as (and I paraphrase), ‘mashed potatoes without the gravy’. Then he refused to play with his band, claiming that he hadn’t brought his drum set with him because it was so early in the morning.

The interview is perfect in two ways. Firstly, Billy Bob is a perfect asshole. It is really, really fun to watch. Unless you have a toddler, you don’t often get to observe this kind of behaviour close up. And Jian is also perfect, providing a textbook example of assertiveness by standing by his principles while at the same time being polite and classy. Now that’s Canadian.

If you haven't seen the interview, check it out below.

Reflecting on the interview, though, I was thinking that as I rise to new heights in my running career, it might be helpful to the CBC and other media organizations to provide “instructions” for anyone who might wish to interview me about my running career. Here are a few initial thoughts.

1. First of all, other than running (or possibly blogging about running), please do not mention anything else I do to pass my time. No matter how glamorous and exciting it may sound, do not ask me about my high-flying career in human resources, my experiences as a wife and mother, or my brief and unsuccessful period of experimentation with pottery. Nope, I came to running fully formed with nothing influencing me and no one helping me to get here. Please do not suggest otherwise.

2. If you’d like to ask about any off-beat magazine subscriptions that may have influenced my early running career, here are two hints: Betty and Veronica. As far as I recall, the gals never exercised, but did display admirable competitive spirit in the battle for Archie’s affections

3. Wondering what food metaphors I might use to describe Canadian spectators at running events? Think carbs. Or gels. Or possibly energy drinks.

4. Before you ask me any question, you might find it helpful to ask yourself, “Would you ask Paula Radcliffe that question?” If not, then I don’t know why you’re asking me, since I have run a marathon and I understand Paula may have run a few herself. We’re, like, just the same.

5. Don’t even think of asking me to run in your studio. I checked my training schedule and it's a rest day.

Hope you have a wonderful long weekend

Didn't It Rain!

“Didn’t it rain, children?

Talk ‘bout rain, oh my Lord!

Didn’t it...

Didn’t it…

Didn’t it rain!”

Mahalia Jackson

 

If there were Greek gods today, there would have to be a god of the iPod mix. They'd be a trio of computer-geeky deities sitting in the heavens like the Fates, tossing songs onto the iPod mixes of innocent mortals that are poignant or ironic or irritating at just the right moments. The Pod Gods could have been at work while I was running Around the Bay last Sunday.

 

I almost laughed out loud when the rollicking gospel song, “Didn’t It Rain?” popped up on my mix at the 5K marker. I was already drenched from a steady downpour that would last through the first two hours. In fact, this 30K run was really like two runs. The first was a relatively flat 18K trot in the rain. The second run was a hilly 12K slog into a cool headwind. Not surprisingly, the first race was a lot more enjoyable than the second.

 

It was momentarily dry when we started the race, but as the route wound around Hamilton Harbour and alongside Lake Ontario, the weather settled into a kind of steady but bearable drizzle. The thing about rain is that once you’re wet, all that can really happen is that you get more wet. It could have been worse.

I felt good going out and tried hard to balance between moderating my pace early on, while also banking some time for the hilly latter part of the race. Lately, I’ve been feeling weak, sluggish and dead-legged on my training runs and I was very happy that I did not have that feeling at all on Sunday. The crowd of 6,200 runners and the friendly spectators gave me a boost and I (mostly) enjoyed myself. I got a lift from seeing my sister cheering from the sidelines at 11K. 

 

In fact, the first 18K of the race really seemed to fly by. Runners, you know that feeling you have on a race when you haven’t seen a kilometre or mile marker for a while and you begin to hope maybe you passed right by the marker without even knowing it? And you know how it pretty much always happens that you haven’t missed the marker? Well, on this race, I actually missed a marker (the 3K). I ran a kilometre without even realizing I’d completed it! In fact, this is the first race I’ve ever run where the kilometre markers seemed to appear before I expected them, rather than blocks and blocks after I hoped for them.

 

That was before the race got hilly. I knew from the course description and from reading reports of previous Around the Bay races that a major characteristic of this race is its hilly final third. So I wasn’t surprised to encounter a series of rolling hills winding through the neighbouring city of Burlington. There are many (I lost count) but they are relatively gentle and there are lots of pleasant distractions on this section of the route. The houses in this residential neighbourhood are lovely, and many people came out to the end of their driveways to offer water, orange slices or just noisy support. Then (as I recall), there’s a pretty big incline at around 24K before the course levels out for a bit. I remember thinking “Wow, is that it? That wasn’t too bad.” My sister met me again just before the 25K marker and I told her I was feeling really good and making a decent pace despite the hills.

Then the course made a long descent into a ravine (that part was fun), before making a steep climb up a twisting road up to the 26K marker. I don’t know how long that hill was, but somewhere on the way up, I lost the will to run. I wasn’t alone. I estimate that almost two-thirds of the runners around me walked some or all of that hill. And here is where I hang on to a tiny shred of pride: I never walked a hill during the race. It might have looked like walking at some points, but my brain was telling my legs to run and my legs were obeying. Sometimes they were obeying with the enthusiasm of a sullen teenager told to clean his room, but they did what they were told.

 

After that, I was done in. When I encountered the infamous “grim reaper”, who stands beside the cemetery conveniently located at the 27K mark, asking runners if they are “feeling dead”, I was ready to give him my business. I did a quick Garmin check and realized I had 15 minutes to run the final 3K –- something I can't do on fresh legs, let alone after 27K of rainy, hilly slogging. So I resigned myself to my back-up goal of “upright and smiling” and tried to enjoy the fact that the last part of the race actually slopes gently downward. But I did have a few moments of sadness and disappointment.

 

Then the iPod gods served up another inspiring song to end the race: Kate Bush’s “Moments of Pleasure”, a song that has special meaning for me. To end the race, runners enter a tunnel and emerge inside Copps Coliseum. The finish line is set up in the middle of the playing field and friends and family cheer from the stands. It is the best set up for a race finish I’ve ever experienced. As I emerged from the dark tunnel into the warm, noisy and blessedly dry stadium, Kate was singing, “These moments given are a gift from time”. I remembered how far I’d come as an runner, how fortunate I am to be healthy, and how many people have done wonderful things to support me in my running obsession and it was impossible to be disappointed. I felt blessed.

 

Final time: 3:17

Place (gender/age): 273/436

Around the Bay and All Over Southern Ontario

This post was drafted Sunday on the way home from Hamilton, where I ran the Around the Bay 30K

 

I don’t think I could have stuffed more stuff into this weekend. And yet, as I sit here on the train ride home from this weekend’s Around the Bay race in Hamilton, I don’t feel tired. I feel like I have spent a weekend living life to the fullest.

 

The busy-ness started on Friday … no wait, Thursday evening. In addition to packing for my trip to Hamilton (about 6 hours drive from my home-town of Ottawa, I visited my son’s high school for parent-teacher interviews (an adventure in itself), then rushed off to attend my monthly book club meeting. I got home too late and with one too many glasses of wine in my system and woke up Friday a little hung-over and kind of keyed up. After a busy but restless day at work, I drove right to the train station for a trip to Toronto where my parents, sisters and most of my extended family live.

 

On the train, I pulled out my laptop and worked on the Classroom Assignment from Hell, making incredible progress and even feeling a little more charitable towards my professor. When my laptop battery died after about 3 hours, I was ready to rest. My Dad picked me up the train station at about 10:15 p.m., with a tray of sushi from a great place in his neighbourhood. We drove back to my parents place and relaxed, chatted and caught up for a while.

 

The next morning, I went downtown to pick up my sister Kathy. We headed to Hamilton (it’s only about 90 minutes from her place), picked up my race kit, cruised the expo for bargains and running-related novelties, and checked into our hotel. That evening, we marked Earth Hour by doing a candle-light yoga set aimed at providing a good night’s sleep. If you can possibly arrange to travel to your races with an experienced yoga instructor, I highly recommend it! It seemed to do the trick. I was asleep by 11 and didn’t wake up until about 6:45 a.m.

 

The race started at 9:30 a.m., so we headed downtown at about 8:30, which gave me plenty of time to soak up the vibe and visit the washroom facilities in Copps Coliseum (real washrooms – not porta-potties – at the start line – yay!). After running this venerable, historic – and unfortunately wet – race, I met up with my sister and her husband, who drove in to catch the end of the race. I collected my medal and snacks, changed into dry clothing (over a still-sweaty body but it was heaven to get out of my saturated clothing) and got back into the car to dash back down Highway 403 to Toronto. Dropped ‘sis off at her apartment and got back on the highway to my parents place just east of the city.

 

I arrived at their place at 3:10, knowing my train back to Ottawa left at 4:05. Thinking of my unfortunate seat-mates on the 4-hour train ride, I grabbed a quick shower, re-packed my bag and Mom and Dad drove me to the train station. We got there at 3:57. The train was over-sold and I got the very last seat. Opened my laptop and finished my course assignment, which felt just as good as finishing the 30K.

 

With just a little luck, the train should be in Ottawa at about 9 p.m. My wonderful husband has promised to save me a heaping serving of his famous rigatoni and a big glass of red wine. Then it’s off to bed and back to work tomorrow morning.

 

And the race itself? Well, with rains and a final 10K comprised mostly of hills, it was a huge challenge but a great experience. More about that in my next post.