Friday, October 12, 2012

Random Friday Facts: “It’s Almost NZ Time” Edition

1) I've realized that when I say "I have a day off" most people assume I'm talking about work, but in fact, I'm talking about training. If I have a day off from work, I will specify that I have a day off “from work." Do all people who crazily train for endurance sports do this?

2) I watched a great little Canadian movie on my flight home from San Diego in August. The movie was called One Week. Who doesn’t love Pacey Witter? Anyway, you should totally watch it if you get a chance. Oh, and Gord Downie makes an appearance. [And now anyone reading this that is not Canadian is like “Who is Gord Downie?”]

3) I don’t really swear a lot, but the times I can’t seem to control ‘the swears’ are usually when I’m participating in some sort of athletic event or when I’m stuck in traffic. During athletics, I think it is because my focus is on the task at hand and I don’t have enough energy to devote to coming up with more eloquent words. In traffic, I dunno, maybe I’m just really tired of the long commute each day.

4) I often still time how long it takes me to pee and when I don’t, and it is a particularly long one, I’m always like “damn, I wish I would have timed that!” Then I laugh at myself.

5) I raced the 8k at the Victoria Marathon last weekend. Since then, I have not felt the urge/need to write an in depth race report (the blogosphere cries, I know). So instead, here it is in bullet points:
  • Shane dared me on the Saturday before the race to run without a watch. No Garmin. No Timex. No splits.
  • I did it!
  • I went out a bit too fast and definitely slowed down as the race progressed.
  • I think I may have pushed a bit harder if I had my watch and knew what my time was – or maybe I would have just beat myself up for going too slow. Who knows? Don’t care.
  • I thoroughly enjoyed the out and back course and spent a lot of time looking for all my friends on the way ‘back’. It was a nice distraction.
  • I technically PB’d (according to Shane and Kirsten) but did not actually PB (according to me).
  • Chip time: 37:29. Good enough for 9th in my age group.
  • I know I can run faster (because I have before) but I was actually pretty happy with this outing.
  • I felt like I ran strong and somewhat comfortable the whole time and it left me feeling pretty good mentally leading into Auckland (even if I am having minor “impostor” freak outs).
6) Shane and my Mom are considering skydiving while we are in NZ. It’s one of those things I feel like I will regret not doing when they land safely back on the ground, but I’m not sure I could physically do it. I think I would pass out the second that I was pushed out of the plane.

7) I bungee jumped when I was 17 (or was it 18?). I will (most likely) never do that again.

8) Last night I was doing some hill repeats at the end of my workout near my parents’ house. I ended up walking down the hill after one of the repeats with a young boy (about 10 years old I would guess). He looks at me and says “I wish my Mom would run up and down the hill like that.” My initial thought was that of confusion “does this boy think I’m as old as his Mom” then about a split second later, the realization hit me “oh gawd, I am old enough to be his Mom!” The whole scenario really made me laugh, but it also made me feel kind of old.

9) A long but interesting read: Marathon Man. I can’t imagine going to so much trouble to have a fast marathon time. It seems like it would be easier (and more satisfying) just to train hard rather than cheat.

10) My wave start in Auckland is at 7:09am and will be combined with the F25-29 age group, for a total of 127 scratching, clawing women all fighting for position in the pack. Somehow this makes me more nervous than the start of IMC where I was only swimming with, what, 2600+ of my closest friends. Go figure. That said, I’m pretty confident I can hold my own.

11) My furbaby Rusty turns 7 on Monday. At times he is such a curmudgeonly old man, then without a moment’s notice, he’s just a playful carefree little puppy. I sure love that wiggling, drooling, handsome little beast.








Next post from the Southern Hemisphere!
Peace Out.

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