Race Day. Saturday Aug. 19th was race day. My first 10Km race; my first real race period. I slept terrible the night before and woke up feeling a bit negative. I found out that the half-marathon race started only 20 minutes after the 10Km. The half is the most popular race consisting of thousands of people. Basically this meant that a gazillion fast people were going to pass me, yay? I have anxiety in general, and this was not helping. I was worried how my knee was going to hold up due to my injury and how my lungs were going to hold up due to my lack of jogging.




Reykjavik Marathon start line. A record number of runners took part as 10192 runners took to the streets of Reykjavík.



When we arrived at the start line the atmosphere was quite good. There was a lot of energy in the air. People excited, people scared. Loud icelandic music playing in the background. The first race to start was the ´charity start;´ this was just for Team Diabetes participants who thought they were going to take more than 5 hours in any race. There were about 20 people in all, mostly walkers and I felt very proud of them for the long journey they were about to take. Walking a marathon - what an accomplishment! I felt teary eyed when the gun went and off they went. It was to be another two hours until my race began.

At 9:40am, 2200 people and I crowd behind the start line. I position myself in the back; don´t want to be swept up in the madness. The countdown,in icelandic, the gun and we´re off. Less dramatic than I figured. I didn´t actually cross the start line for another 3 minutes. lol Although I hear that in actual major races it can take up to 30 minutes! I start the run out good. I walk along with a fellow Team Diabetes walker (in backless shoes nonetheless) until the pack thins out a bit and then I start to run. I catch up to another Team D (we´re quite easy to spot in our colourful singlets) and we keep at the same pace together. I´m moved by the spectators. The beginning of the race is through a residential area and there are locals infront of their houses cheering us on. I especially loved the group of about 15 or so with pots and pans and the nice man playing the acordian on his balconey! The whole "glamour" of racing is not what would ever bring me back to race again. It is these spectators and the energy in the air.

It is at about the 2Km mark when it happens; my ankle is starting to hurt. Oh no. I continue on for about another 3Km like this until ´mind over matter´is just not worth it anymore and I decide to walk the rest, or rather limp the rest. Well that sucks, I was actually making decent time. My team D buddy continued on without me, for well obvious reasons. It´s about this time when the hoards of half-marathon participants stream past me. Quite overwhelming considering we were on a trail that was maybe 4 people wide. I decided to ignore them, keep an eye out for some Canadians to cheer on and admire the scenery. (This part of the race took me along the coast around a peninsula - very pretty) When I reach the 9Km mark I decide the hell with it and very slowly jog the last Km to the finish. I come in at 1hour 29mins. and get my medal (not real gold sadly). The race is over. I felt kind of sad in a way. My Team Diabetes experience was almost over. At the same time I was happy the race was over and I was happy for all the people I met who accomplished their goals.





Taylor coming into the finish line. Yay me!








Patty, Jaime and me at the finish line with our medals






As I look back now, as much as don´t enjoy this sport, I would like to give it another shot. I had a goal of running a 10Km race to completion and I did that. Now I want to run a 10Km race and actually run the whole thing (on a 10/1 run/walk ratio anyways). Maybe I will learn to actually like running, although apparently that will take even more than running a 10km race in Iceland to do it. LOL

Blue Lagoon. Today Dad and I slept in late waking with a mad dash to get to the bus on time to go to the Blue lagoon. Bus left at 11am, we woke up at ten to eleven. Doh. I guess the combination of jet lag and staying awake for 35 hours will do that to you (we went to sleep at 8pm the night before!). When we made it to our destination, Team Diabetes had set up a brunch for everyone and made a few speeches. It was the first time that I got to see everyone from Team Diabetes (about 200 of us) who had fundraised from all over Canada. It very nice to see all the people and I bonded with a few over tales of training mishaps and fundraising successes and disasters.

After brunch we all headed out into the lagoon. It was a cool place I admit. Nothing like the Banff hot springs in Canada, which are basically a pool full of sulphur smelling hot water. These hot springs were smack dab in the middle of a very large lava field. Volcanic rocks covered all sides of the pool and the bottom was filled with mud. There was also some mud set aside to cover your skin if you're into that sort of thing; and yes of course I did!

This is me in the lava field outside the Blue Lagoon center

A section of the Blue Lagoon

Dad and I wading in the water

Leaving for Iceland Today!

It’s kind of surreal actually. It doesn’t feel like I’m about to embark on a 2 week adventure to Europe. I didn’t wake up with any Christmas morning type excitement. Everyone I talk to asks me if I’m excited with amazement and wonder in their eyes, and all I can manage umm yeah sure. Don’t get me wrong – I AM excited. And as I’ve explained to the 101 million people who have asked me about my excitement level. I will be excited, a la Christmas morning, when I’m on my third plane, Icelandair, in the air on the way to Iceland; even more excited when I actually land in Iceland. Right now it just seems so far away; and by all rights it is. I leave for public transit to get to the Ottawa airport at 2:30pm and I won’t get to Iceland until 3pm tomorrow Iceland time (or 11am tomorrow Ottawa time). That’s a little under 24 hours for transportation! Thank god they’re letting me bring a book! Although regrettably I can’t for the life of me find my mp3 player. Things could be worse; I have a friend who is at the Montreal airport right now delayed more than a day trying to get to London. Sleeping in the terminal sucks. Matt, my sympathies are with you.

New flight plan. Due to new regulations concerning Air Canada and Heathrow connection times, Team Diabetes had to redchedule my flight to Iceland (via London) as previously I had a 2.5 hour layover where I now need 4 hours. So instead of leaving at 10:30pm tomorrow, I now leave at 6pm - which means that I have to be there at 3:30pm! I also have the pleasure of stopping in Montreal on the way. I guess I should get packing!

Online Donation! A big thanks to M. Leibowitz for his generous donation!

Travel Plans.

Countdown to Iceland. In less than a week on August 16th I’ll be getting on a plane on my way to ICELAND!! Transport, airport layover and time change combined I don’t actually get to Reykjavik until 3pm the next day; but it’s worth it!

Team Diabetes has a nice little itinerary for us for the first three days including a dip in the blue lagoon, a pre and post race dinner, and of course the big race! My dad and I extended our travels for a few more days with the cost and itinerary on us. We hope to rent a car and then well drive East. I hope to hit up Geysir, Gullfoss, Mt. Helka, Heimaey Island, Skogar, Skaftafell and/or Jokulsarlon. Quite ambitious I think but at least some maybe I’ll get to see. Originally my dad called up National car rental and they quoted $800cad for four days!! LOL oh Iceland why must you be so expensive? I’ve since found something in the $400cad range but still. We will see. It stills seems less expensive than the overpriced tours. I hate big bus tours; it feels like cattle-herding.

At the end of the 6 days in Iceland my dad and I will part ways and I will head to London. I have only one day in London planned. Originally I was going to stay in England for a full 7 days but I kept asking myself exactly what I was going to do. I’m more into eco-tourism than I am into old buildings. I’d take a waterfall over an old church any day. Long extensive obsessed search on goggle and new plan – Ireland! After this search I started to wonder how people traveled in the “old days.” Lol Thank you Google!

Ireland. I’m to land in Dublin on the 24th of August. I have a 3 day hike in the Mourne mountains booked (I got the last spot!) with Dirty Boots Treks. I hope to spend one day after that around Dublin being a tourist, looking at a castle or whatever and the 7 storey Guinness storehouse etc. etc. Maybe a daytrip somewhere the day afterwards, either another hike or a cattle-herding bus tour. And then I’m on a flight back to London, a frantic transport between Gatwick and Heathrow airports and a flight back to Canada on the 30th. Excellent!

Heathrow Airport. As you've probably heard British police arrested 21 people who were plotting to carry liquid explosives on to as many as 10 jetliners at the Heathrow airport travelling to the US.

Security was raised to its highest level in Britain and carry-on luggage on all trans-Atlantic flights was banned. Passengers were only permitted to take aboard essential items, such as passports and wallets, and only then in a transparent plastic bag.

Next week I will fly through Heathrow on my way to Iceland as well as a stopover in London and flights to Ireland via Gatwick. The events of the day have gotten me a tad concerned as for my flight home I land at Gatwick at 9:30am and my flight leaves Heathrow at 2:35pm. I thought before this was enough time (Gatwick-Heathrow is about a 60min bus ride), but now I'm slightly concerned. I travelled through the US a month after 9/11 and it was madness.

A glimmer of hope. "Air Canada said there were no scheduled disruptions of its flights leaving Britain for Canada on Thursday." Hopefully that will remain into next week.

Yesterday I received my Team Diabetes package! I had been stressing about receiving my plane tickets. Canadian Diabetes Association doesn’t send out tickets until you finish fundraising or put a deposit on the remaining amount (At the time it was $337.43). So I did that a bit late in typical Taylor fashion. As I’m getting on a plane in exactly a week not having plane tickets in my hand was a bit tense. Receiving the package in the mail was a little disappointing I admit – after all that they were electronic tickets. Bah! I also received a big yellow poncho, some luggage tags, and an itinerary….ooOOoo….

Pictures. A while back Charles and I went camping in quebec for the weekend. Although we weren't really "one with nature" in the truest sense, (you could hear the soothing sounds of the highway from our tent), we did have a blast at the waterpark and the aerial park! It was a beautiful weekend and the waterpark was packed! Two different slides we ended up in an hour + line up! But each was worth it, especially the Colorado River slide! It's set up to mimic whitewater rafting with waves, drops etc. Unfortunately we dont have any pictures from that slide (too busy holding on for dear life). But we clicked a few pics on the "easy slides."

The next day Charles and I went to the aerial park. It's a short ride up a chair-lift to the top of a ski hill where there are four zones. The aerial park is basically a bunch of platforms high in the trees with a bunch of "activities" between them ranging from rope bridges to surfing snowboard to a number of ziplines. All of this finishing off with a 1000ft zipline down the ski hill to the bottom!!! Okay so I chickened out for that one but Charles gave it a whirl and said it was fun. bah. I was nervous on the 100ft ziplines. I highly recommend checking out an aerial park at some point!

Through this process I've found quite the network of Team Diabetes participants with websites. I found out two more interesting sites today that you might be interested in;

KENDRA & JOHNSON: Honolulu Marathon 2006

Ms. KOU: Dublin Marathon 2006

SYLVIE: Honolulu 2006

A big thanks to D. Bain for his donation! Very much appreciated!

Falling apart. On Tuesday I twisted my knee in jitsu class. Although it felt okay at the time, since then it’s being causing me problems. Stairs are a bitch for instance, but walking is fine. I attempted a jitsu class last night and found myself sitting out a lot as my knee was starting to burn. I ended the class half limping, and hoping that by Monday or Tuesday it will be healed and I can return 100% to jitsu again. I didn’t enjoy my jitsu class last night. It was one of those nights where you feel you’ll have to drag yourself back. Not a recreation, but a chore. In addition to my knee twisting, on Wednesday I manage to drop a 2lb weight on the exact part of my knee that hurts. %*&^!! Thankfully it was only a 2lber and it was at the end of my workout. I now have a very nice bruise to go with the pain. Finally, that same day while cleaning I managed to walk into my bed corner. Yes, I walked into a stationary object. Bruise about 2inches in diameter just above my ankle, same leg as my knee. I am such a klutz!

This weekend Charles and I are going “camping.” Camping in the sense that we are going to sleep in a tent and make smores by a bonfire but that’s really the extent of it. I’m very excited about the smores (2pts under weight watchers)! Tomorrow we’re going to the Mont Saint Sauveur Waterpark. I’m also very excited about this. I was there a few years back and had a blast! Since then they’ve added a bunch of stuff including a surfing generator. The slides are great, a quarter of which you need to wear a helmet on. I’m worried about the amount of stairs and such that I’ll have to endure waterpark day on the account of my knee. If I’m feeling okay on the Sunday we hope to hit the aerial park. I hope the weather holds up. It will be nice to have a weekend away J

A big thanks out to Pager Plus for your generous donation!

Three Weeks until I get on a plane to go to Iceland!

Yesterday I decided to take advantage of the free “stair-master” in my building, by this I mean I live on the 25th floor. Walking up 50 flights of stairs was harder that I thought it would be! I had to take a breather twice. I hope to do the stairs a bunch more times in hopes that I can do all 50 flights a) without stopping and b) with a greater speed.

Last night at my jitsu class while I was being thrown by Tai-O-Toshi my foot got caught hooked around my partner’s leg and I ended up twisting my right knee. Ouch. I took a few minutes rest and it felt better so I continued on with the rest of the class without a second thought. I had planned a run today but I woke up with my knee in pain. It hurts a bit to walk so I will be pushing any runs back until its better. In the meantime I guess I will go back to swimming.

It was a beautiful overcast 22C today with periods of rain in Ottawa today; perfect jogging weather, well in my opinion. Tomorrow is supposed to feel like 39C with thunderstorms. Sigh. Went for my first jog in the last two weeks. LOL I did the canal route and jogged around Dow’s lake. I was feeling strong the beginning half (not stopping once!) but was much slower the second half

Advice? Jogging and water. When I’m out for a jog my mouth gets dry and I get really thirsty. But when I stop for water, even if I don’t gulp it down, I’m plagued with stomach cramps for the next 10 minutes. So what’s the answer for the balance between jogging and water?

Fun in the Sun

Not one for 7am jogs to beat the heat I’ve switched up my workouts swimming lengths instead of jogging. For the last week in Ottawa, with humidity the temperature has been at least 30C (minimum)! Peak days at 45C --> Smog and heat warnings galore. Although it’s a bit tedious, I find swimming lengths quite enjoyable. It gives me an undistracted time to think. There’s not much distraction at the bottom of the pool. I think I’ll continue with swimming lengths once the heat subsides to pair with my jitsu class (if I have time!).

Yesterday Charles and I spent the day at Mont Cascades Water Park! We definitely got a workout walking up the hills to get to the slides; oh and carrying those heavy tubes! Favorite slide of the day unquestionably goes to “Black Magic.” At the end of the slide it felt like we were going to flip off the tube; and that’s not paranoia speaking, we saw more than a few people bail. Ouch. Sad to say we skipped the sunscreen and now I have a red reminder of the day. My shoulders and back are still red and sore so I’m skipping any conceivable jog/swim or any unnecessary movement until it heals. Oh aloe vera my tried and tested friend.

Another donation in the mail! Thanks Ken for your support!

I’ve definitely been slacking in the exercise department this week. Although I managed a run and a swim workout earlier in the week, homework and the heat took over mid week. Usually if I’m not running or walking I’m at my Jitsu class. I find it hard going for a jog and then going to Jitsu later in the day. But I haven’t gone to Jitsu all week! Oops! Yesterday I went for a huge walk instead of a jog. Over the weekend in Ottawa the temperature is forecasted to be approx. 30C + humidex. So yeah - I’m not that hardcore. I was sweating a lot just walking! So it will be walking for me until the heat wave subsides. Or I’ll switch the jogging for swimming laps for now.

Although I’ve been slacking in the exercise department, my diet has been going really well. About six weeks ago I wrote about my search for a good diet program and my disappointment in the Curves and LA Weight Loss programs. For the last 5 weeks I have been following a modified Weight Watchers Points Program. In these 5 weeks I have lost 12lbs! Yay! WW is basically a reduced calorie diet with approximately 50calories = 1 Point with modifications for fiber and fat intake. Although I’ve been following the program I haven’t attended any meetings. The cost of WW is the meetings, as a student $12/week even if you don’t attend! I went to one meeting run by an extremely perky lady and it was basically consisted of a group of chubby people complaining, some skinny people showing off and an exchange of recipes, that day hamburger soup. As a vegetarian, the exchange of recipes is a waste of time, take away meat in hamburger soup you get vegetable soup, hah I can make that! As well I can do all the complaining and showing off myself. Obviously I wasn’t impressed; I am happy with the WW points program however. The points are a lot easier to remember throughout the day versus adding up all the calories (to make 1200-1500 per day). It has taught me to be calorie conscious. If I didn’t get anything out of this process then knowing the calorie contents in food in worth it. For example, before my typical on-the-go breakfast was a Tim Horton’s bagel and cream cheese and a bottle of Ice Tea. How bad could that be? Bagel and cream cheese = 12 points (~600cal) and bottle of ice tea = 4 points (~200cal). In perspective a Big Mac without cheese is 576 calories. Oh dear!

Overheated. Attempted a leisurely 5km jog this afternoon. Was that ever optimistic. I had an actually good strong steady run between locks on the canal to the halfway point. I was actually running at a respectable speed and didn’t feel like my lungs were on fire. It was good….for a while. I took a mini break at the locks and then rationalized with myself that I should attempt a longer distance given that time for the Reykjavik 10km is ticking down and I should really get on this thing. It was quite optimistic considering that I was sweating like nobody’s business. The weather network says Ottawa 26C but feels like 32C, but by the Taylor thermometer it could easily pass for 42C. Way too humid. I made it a good 200m before giving up and turning around. What was I thinking? I have a gift for convincing myself to do things or not to. I stopped by Carleton U. for a drink before heading back home. The way back was a struggle. Run 200m, walk a bunch, run 100m, walk some more, run 300m, stitch in side, walk walk walk, run….oh screw this. I eventually gave up and walked the rest all the while imagining a nice cold glass of water and a cool shower. And boy were they good.

Donation in the mail!....well sort of....My mum called me last night to let me know one of her friends dropped off my letter package along with some moola! Thanks Mr. Lee!

Yesterday’s run was a bit of an odd one. It was a warm 28C in Ottawa without the humidity and I slept in so to fit my jog in I left at 2pm, probably the hottest and sunniest part of the day. I decided to do the river path as for most of it there is a lot of tree coverage. I was making good time up until the Bronson Bridge and then like always it all fell apart. There is just something about the stretch from Bronson St. to Bank St. Perhaps it is because of the distance, maybe because there is no shade, or perhaps it’s because the path is beside a busy road. Either which way the Bronson-Bank St. stretch is my nemesis. Between the heat and the nagging stitch in my right side I ended up walking half the way back home. Bah. Interestingly enough in my sweaty struggle I must have seemed extremely approachable because four different people stopped me to ask for directions or for information about the area. I found this odd because I was wearing headphones and there were other non-joggers around. The most interesting of the bunch was this random foreign guy who spoke very little English, and I very little French. After a seemingly failed attempt at directions to the bus stop I offered to walk him there as it was in the same direction and I had pretty much given up on jogging for the day. Some broken English later, I didn’t find out where he’s from but I did find out that he had done 5 years of karate and then he started to do Katas in the park spontaneously. He taught me the second kata and then I dropped him off at the bus stop. I wonder if he made it downtown, lol. All the broken English was reminding me of my time spent in Mexico on exchange trying to figure out what the hell everyone was saying. I wish I remembered more Spanish. I wonder if I’ll ever meet anyone else on my jogs through the park?

Donation in the mail! Thanks Auntie Theresa for your letter and your support!

Last Week Catch-Up. Last week was a slow week for training. I had a really good jog last Monday; accomplishing my goal of jogging around Dow’s lake and back. To my surprise it wasn’t really that far. My new goal is to jog all the way downtown (and take the bus back). Even though I had managed to walk and jog about 13km that day I wasn’t really sore the next day. Ironically I injured my leg the next day, not running but at my jitsu class. I managed to hit a double jitsu class Tuesday and Wednesday, though at a relaxed pace Wednesday so that my leg would heal. I took Thursday off to study for my economics exam. With two and a half hours sleep Thursday night I wrote my economics exam Friday morning, then had a little break and headed to help my friend Melanie move for like 6 or 7 hours. Ouch! I was so proud of Melanie, her sister Tanya and me for moving most of Melanie’s stuff armed with only a dolly and Tanya’s car. All of the big stuff, her bed, desk, bookcases etc was walked over two blocks to her new place using the dolly. We Rock! I relaxed the weekend. Happy Canada's Day!

Feeling like a slacker because of last week I went for a jog along the river today. Made it to Bank Street and back. Success! I was very happy that the weather was bad and that it was raining! When I started all this madness I refused to jog in the rain and now I wish it would rain every time. I breath better when its humid and I love the cool rain on my hot face.

46 Days until I leave for Reykjavik, Iceland!!


As the Reykjavik Race draws near I have been researching activities and accommodation in Iceland. As part of Team Diabetes, my flights and accommodation for 3 nights has already been arranged for me (and my dad on his coin), however we’ve decided to extend my stay in the country to continue to travel on our own. Although it’s extremely touristy, I’m very interested in the “Golden Circle;” most notably the Gullfoss waterfall and Geysir. My dad really wants to check out one of Iceland’s many volcanoes. Mt. Helka is an active volcano which last erupted in 2000. There is a non-technical hiking trail to the summit. Although I’m game, I’m not sure if my dad is interested in the approx. 8 hour return hike. Apparently it’s possible to drive part way up the mtn. making it a 3 hour return hike but only if conditions are good. There are many more interesting places to visit in my view such as Landmannalaugar, Heimaey Island, Skafafell National Park and Jokulsarlon.



There are several tours leaving Reykjavik touring the Golden Circle or traveling to see “Fire and Ice,” volcanoes and glaciers. As with much of Iceland many of these tours seem overpriced. I am currently trying to find an affordable car rental (which fits my 6’4” dad!). I’m sure with a good map and my lonely planet guide we could navigate this easily. If anyone Team Diabetes Iceland folk are interested in touring something similar let me know, the more the merrier!

….While we’re in the neighborhood….

While arranging flights to Iceland from Toronto, my dad’s travel agent informed him of the various gateway cities to get there (no direct flight apparently). He could travel via Boston, London, Amsterdam, Oslo and various other US and European cities. Of course this introduces the rational: If I have a connection in Europe, why not stay a day or two? The original plan was to explore Oslo in Norway for two days, but coordinating our flights became complicated. The additional cost and time layover made it a no go. Instead my dad and I will be spending a week in Iceland and then I’ll continue on to the UK for a week by myself. I have some friends in London and in the country however most of them are busy the entire week that I’m there! L Hopefully I’ll be able to find some cool people in a hostel and tour around together. Any tips for traveling around the UK?

Today was a good day.

I was very happy today to have convinced my friend Melanie to come for a walk this afternoon. She showed up bearing two bottles of the new flavoured water ‘silhouette.’ Very sweet of her. I got the strawberry version while she took the citrus variety; which worked out well because I personally think the citrus flavour tastes like diluted Mr. Clean. Melanie apparently has less discriminating tastes. I think she’s crazy.

We headed out to the river trail and turned around once we hit the o-train bridge. About 4.5 kms in total. There was a lot more people on this trail since the last time I was there. I suppose it was the time and the weather. I still stand by my preference for the river trail versus canal trail even though the latter seems more popular.

After my afternoon walk I was feeling motivated and decided to go for a jog. My time management skills seemed to be lacking and I ended up at the halfway point on my jog near Carleton an hour before my evening class. This gives about 25mins to get back to my apartment and then get ready to go back for six. So wasn’t going to happen. Instead I decided to continue jogging for the next hour and show up to class in my jogging gear. Sure I would look weird but I spent most of my classes in first year in my PJs so I rationalized that this was better. So I continued on and jogged around Dows’ lake, stopping at the pavilion where I drank way WAY too much water. I never had a problem with my breathing, specifically getting out of breather, but I did find myself pushing to continue on as my legs felt tired. I made it back around the lake with time to spare. My supposed 1.5 hour review class (exam Friday!!) turned out to be a very long 3 hours and I regretted not having a change of clothes. You can rationalize anything in the moment if you want to. I jogged home from class with the sun setting and a sprinkling of rain.

Today was a good day. Although I was tired from my walk/jog/class I felt energized and happy. I hope tomorrow will be the same.

My dad was in town for the Red Cross AGM this weekend so it was perfect timing with Father’s day and all. His meetings finished up yesterday afternoon. We walked around downtown, ate outside on a patio at a Vietnamese place in the market and then went to see Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. ooOOoo pretty cars.
Charles, Dad and I went out for breakfast this morning. After two unsuccessful attempts trying to find a breakfast place, Cora’s and Chances ‘R with lines outside the door, we ended up at a nice but packed place in Nepean called Summerhays. I recommend.
After brunch dad headed back to Sudbury while Charles and I went to spend the day at his parent’s place.
I went prepared and packed my running gear and my bathing suit. Even though everyone thought it was hot this afternoon I thought the weather felt quite good and generally nice. It was only until I went for a jog that I started to agree with them! Because of the heat I jogged fairly slow, but surprisingly fairly steadily. The last bend in the trail I was starting to wish the whole run was over and that I was in the pool. I kept picturing getting back and diving in sneakers and all. Visualizing helps I think J I decided against my dramatic pool jumping entrance and went inside to change. It was then that I heard the temperature on the radio. Ottawa 30C, with humidex 38C! Hummm….maybe I shouldn’t have gone for a jog after all….

Wahoo! My passport came today! One step forward to Reykjavik.

Yesterday I went for a short hard run. I had what I like to think of as a “double whammy.” First, unlike my previous run by the river, my lungs were just not in the exercising mood. I felt like a smoker huffing and puffing. Why does this vary so much? Second, due to my recent increase in activity my legs were a little sore and this caused them to feel like they were full of lead. Ouch. I was starting to feel like the little engine that could….I think I can…..I think I can…..must-make-5k-half-mark….I think I can……I reached the 2.5km mark with the last 100m I’m sure a fast walker could have beat me. I decided that my reward for keeping at it was lots of walking on the way back. You can justify anything to yourself if you try hard enough. Hopefully next time out I’ll be in the zone, no huffing, no puffing and legs like feathers. J

Good news! I checked the mail this morning and I received a donation from Brewster’s Mountain Lodge in Banff, Alberta. Very sweet guys! I worked front desk at Brewster’s over the summer of 2004. Good place to stay if you are traveling that way.

More Good News! I received an online donation today from one of my dad’s contacts. Thanks Judy for your support!

Yesterday I was feeling a little bit of my Thursday jog in my legs so I decided I’d rather go for a dip. It was only when I jumped in the pool that I cursed for forgetting my goggles. I really can’t see under water. I did some laps and when I was sufficiently bored with that I copied some of the ladies who were in the pool with their backs against the wall kicking. I continued my pool workout with some pull ups and sit ups on the edge of the pool in reps and sets like I do at the gym. It was funny, when I turned around the ladies were copying me now, hehe.

This morning I was introduced to a new dojo; 100% Martial Arts and Fitness. I have been a Martial Arts ‘mutt’ for a few years now. I started in Jui Jitsu and stayed over a year and completed a yellow belt. After that, I left town for the summer to Banff, Alberta. Banff didn’t have Jui Jitsu so I embarked on three months of karate. Back in Ontario I wanted to try something new so I tried out Aikedo. I found that that style wasn’t for me. I was very similar but very different than my jui jitsu training. It felt like driving on the wrong side of the road; still driving but weird. I finally tried out Judo. I felt this was a good style; very similar to jui jitsu and it had a great bunch of people. But my schedule conflicted with the dojo class schedule on a regular basis and I averaged once a week or less attendance. Which sucks. I haven’t trained in 6 months! Between School, Two jobs and Fundraising there was no way.

I’m happy to come across 100% martial arts. They have classes running every day, sometimes twice a day. So I should be able to fit it in. Very excited!

Feeling only semi-motivated I headed out for a run. I got as far as the front of my building when my mp3 player ran out of juice. Great. I stashed my player in my mailbox to avoid the trip upstairs and headed out in silence. Some people use the time during their run to be alone with their thoughts. I would rather listen to music. I don’t think; I concentrate on my breathing, and follow the yellow line on the bike path; one step in front of the other.

I decided to try a new route this time. I’ve been feeling self-conscience lately and jogging along the canal where I usually do can be intimidating. Sometimes I would get ready to go out and then change my mind last minute because of this. The path along the canal can be quite busy and it runs along the road as well. I’m intimidated with the amount of people around. Especially as I’m not a ‘runner’ yet, and everyone else on this path seems to be. So I decided to try the path along the river for a change of scenery. Wow, what a difference! There were people on the path but no near the amount on the canal. The river and trees was refreshing. And the best part: Periodic water fountains!! I concentrated on breathing and found myself going quite far without stopping; the farthest I’ve ever gone without stopping. There was a downside, however, a quarter the way back my left ankle started acting up and I mainly walked back. The woman at the Running Room told me that I have a rolling left ankle. I never noticed before; apparently she is right. Any suggestions on ankle pain?

Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have. --Doris Mortman

I’ve been concerned about my weight for a while now. I stepped on the scale a few days ago and discovered that I have reached a new maximum. 185lbs. How the hell did that happen? On average my weight usually settles around 150-160lbs and that suits me just fine. So what’s a girl to do?

I enlisted a girlfriend and headed to the local Curves center. Apparently you need an appt. but the lady told us about it anyways. We both determined that this program was not for us in probably the first 30 seconds. At the student rate it costs $150 just for the priviledge of joining plus an additional $42/month. For all this moola you get to do the famous Curves circuit. 30 minutes, 3 times a week. I was disappointed that the strength training machines were only hydraulic and therefore limits improvement for the future. In addition the diet portion of the program was running only in September and cost an additional $99. Moreover, it seemed to be based on or similar to the Atkins diet, which as a vegetarian is completely unrealistic.

Feeling a little disappointed in Curves, I thought I’d check out the other alternative. LA weight loss center. I dropped in and had a chat with their consultant Katy. She explained the whole program very well and I think it would work for me….But you have to sign up for a year at $15/week with the money up-front, a whooping $742! Oh and that was the cheapest option, the only one totaled approximately $1100. Ouch. This was actually tempting for me although I was very on the fence about the whole thing. Considering that I’m very serious about my trip to Africa, $742 is a lot of money to spend! I was considering opening a new savings account and depositing $60/month. If I haven’t lost the weight in a year then I’ll make my way to LA Weight Loss Centre. If I have, I get to spend some money guilt free.

So all in all the tours of the weight loss centers was disappointing. I guess there is a reason that this industry makes so much money.

Training Online

As part of the Team Diabetes program we get some perks. One of these perks is a Running Room Web Training clinic. The 10km training program starts on June 16. So perhaps I will use that as an excuse for my current less-than-stellar training. See! It’s not supposed to have started yet. I’m actually Ahead of the game. Buying it yet? I didn’t think so.

So I fill out some information on the Running Room Online Clinic and then I get to my race options. There are a few options for training for a 10Km apparently. Most of these options are based on time. ie) finish in 47mins..49mins…54mins…etc. I’m obviously not one for speed so I completely ignore these options. Something more my speed: the “to complete” option. Haha I can Walk that! To my surprise there are not one but two of these options: ‘To complete’ and ‘Gradual Build-up/To complete.’ Okay I click on ‘To complete;’ Week one this crazed schedule has me running 7Km – Steady run. Okay, I’m sorry but if I can already steady run 7km I don’t need a program to run 10 just to finish. Okay click ‘gradual build-up/to complete.’ Week One: 3 Km Run/walk. Now that is my kind of program!

Hey Hey! 75 days until the 10Km Race in Reykjavik!!

Fundraising thoughts for the Future...

I recieved another donation in the mail on Friday. Thanks Uncle Brian and Aunt Cathy! And of course thank you for the birthday card :)

I think I've run out of people to harass with my brochure/mail campaign. I'm starting to wonder about how to fundraise the remaining $900 or so dollars. I'm confident that I will be able to do it. I just need a plan.

I have at least a hundred dollars or so coming from collecting empty ink cartridges and cell phones. If you think your business would be open to donating ink cartridges in support of the Canadian Diabetes Association please visit www.FundingFactory.com for more information. If you are running your own fundraising campaign this program may work for you (Choose "Referred by Participant" during registration and provide my organization ID number ID# 50498 - thanks!).

I have considered canvassing door-to-door (with an amazing friend I assume) to collect donations for the CDA. Has anyone done this and have tips? I'm from a small town with it where neighbours know each other and donations asks are quite normal. How would this work out in a bigger city like Ottawa? (4 different apartments and have never spoken to the neighbours) Or do you suggest I go home for the weekend to try this out?