Eat... Train... Sleep.... and Laugh....

Tomorrow starts a new week...
A time to re-group...
And make some more changes as I strive towards my next goal....
It's scary to put your goals in writing....
But I believe it makes them real....
On this journey to my next adventure I have many hurdles to overcome....
Which at times may prove to be overwhelming....
But I have 100% faith I will reach and surpass them....
So what did I do to prepare you may ask???
I drank the last 5 beers from my pantry....
Yep....
Step one... remove the booze....
That was the fun part....
Step two left my kitchen in shambles....
Actually...
It's still in shambles....
With a freezer full of amazing vegan meals....
Portioned....
Packed with flavour and protein....
A crisper drawer loaded with baggies of portioned fresh veggies...
A beautiful apple, grape and pomegranate salad.....
And a deadly Kale Salad.....
And a body that is probably the most sore it has ever been after facing Death By Gail on Saturday....
And a Tempo run today....
But I'm still moving....
After being encouraged by so many people who actually take the time to read my strange thoughts...
I thought why not take this private journey and share it a little more than I'm particularly comfortable with....
I keep my personal goals just that... personal...
Despite public opinion... I'm painfully shy....
So opening up takes a lot of work...
It's a big step....
So much so it took me 6 months to actually admit to people outside my core 5 my goal race of 2103...
To put in writing for complete strangers the fact that I plan on loosing 15-20 lbs by December 29...
In order to complete my minimum distance goal of 125 miles in 72 hours....
Well..... it's down right scary....
But there it is in black and white...
So how am I going to accomplish this in 2 short months?
Well...
So far the plan looks like this....
90% Vegan diet....
Clean Vegan... not Oreo Cookie Vegan.... Not that I have a problem with Oreo Cookies....
No alcohol for the duration of the plan....
And now here is the real kicker....
I'm relaxing on my running....
Yep....
Gone are the  long slow distances....
The 6 hour tours.....
I'm switching it up to a circuit/boot-camp/spin till you puke program....
If I learned anything form Gail's Death Camp... my core is non-existent....
My upper body is even worse....
And from Marks All Terrain (aka spin till you puke).... Well... I lack the ability to keep a fast pace for a long period of time... I'm a wimp to be honest...
I have a solid base...
My legs are super strong....
So now it's time to work on the rest of my body... the parts I've been neglecting for the past 2 years because well... lets face it... we work on the things that come easy....
Working my legs is easy....
Working my core well.... just sucks....
Yet, a great man recently told me (and a group of newbie runners)....
To increase your speed you must work your core....
Sooooo.... as painful as it is before, during and especially after.... I will be working my core...
Not to say there will not be any long runs tossed in....
Let's face it...
My legs need love too....
So tomorrow....
We keep moving forward....
No matter how much my body protests....
Because our next rest day isn't until Friday....
Eat... Train... Sleep.... and Laugh....
Sounds like a fun adventure to me!

Rigamortis and Raffi.....

The walls around me are a horrid neon pea green...
The room smells...
The florescent lights give off an eerie glow...
As I lay here dying on the thin black mat...
Smelling like something rotting....
A pile of steaming.... funky.... pink flesh....
Praying for it to end....

It all started with a simple mistake.....
You know the kind...
And innocent thought...
Leading to an action...
That leads to instant horror...
And eventually...After the tears and gallon of wine...
The resolve to move forward....
Which in this case has left me praying for death...
Laying in agony in a heap on a stale hardwood floor....
On a thin black mat....
Surrounded by mostly strangers....
I'm at the end of a journey....
That took a short 2.5 hours....
Somewhere along the way....
Between the Spinning... and backwards baby crawling I cracked....
Unable to do the simple movements of elbow to knee....
Crawling backwards...
The theme song for the Itsy Bitsy spider blaring through my mind...
Over and over and over....
UP the water spout..... Dooooooown came the rain....
And Up the water spout.... Dooooown came the rain...
And up the water spout....
Make it stop......

Delirium.....
(Interesting side note: For anyone ever wondering just what goes on in my head after 10 minutes of running..... Raffi.... Tons and Tons of Raffi....)

Relief comes in the form of a plank hover....
Finally.....
I can lay on my mat....
And as the rest of the group "hovers"...
I Make my ever so non-existent core as tight as possible....
But no matter what I do....
My body just lays there....
Like a lump on a mat...
With rigamortis setting in....
A rotting mass of petrified flesh...
Attempting to hover....
Praying for it to end....
With a round of voices singing over and over....
The itsy bitsy spider.....
All because of a single action....
One solitary moment...
That cannot be undone...
Forgotten....
Moved past....
For every action...
Requires a re-action....
And a solution to move forward and make it better.....
So the next time you decide to throw out the scale and live by measurements alone....
Be warned....
The itsy bitsy spider will be coming for you....

Moments....

It’s in the first few moments...

The first chords....

The sound of a silky voice over guitar....

And I’m somewhere else....

My heart is sitting in a hot tub with giant snowflakes falling around....

Crisp Fall air...

The 3 sisters framed by a clear blue sky....

Rundle towering over the town site....

My legs feel the fatigue of a long adventure....

I can feel the tug in my heart...

The romance lost so long ago....

Feeling so fresh and new....

The moments stolen in front of the fireplace....

Soft lips...

A warm hug...

Sparkling eyes and laughter....

The friendship...

Trusted and true....

The Magic of feeling loved....

As Ryan Starr sings the last lines... “I think that I’ve fallen out of love with you...”

The moment ends...

The heart heals....

And I realize....

Some moments will always be cherished...

The heart will love again....

But somewhere...

In the deep corner will be a memory...

A cherished moment...

A loved soul...

Held frozen in time....

Never truly to be forgotten.

Day 1

Day one....
Or at least that's how it feels....
After taking a 2 week break to let my body "heal" from my last adventure....
I'm back at it....
I have a hard time explaining what 2 weeks off does to a person....
From the pits of despair....
The lowest of lows....
You must once again crawl to the surface.....
Find your passion...
your drive.....
No runner will seriously place a self imposed "break" on them selves....
Oh sure we all say we are "resting" but in reality... we are just creatively finding new alternatives...
My last "rest" break found me tossing my two bikes into the back of my car and seeking adventure in the form of 60+km rides... and chocolate covered sea foam....
All because I was "resting"....

We all rest from time to time....
But that is just it "resting"......
Never the dreaded "RESTING"
It sucks....
The moment you realize you are being "punished" for being awesome....
A light switches in your head....
Instead of having an outlet for your awesome....
You now have a fridge...
A couch....
And an appetite to cannot be quenched....
Which brings me back to day one....
The first solid day back after 2 weeks...
A muscle tear in my quad...
And a pinched nerve in my lumbar from sitting on my couch being awesome...
(or as the famous Dr. Dan says "over achieving").....

I am once again... sitting on my couch....
After 90 minutes of torture from my dear friend Mark... the All Terrain demon....
and a 4hour adventure with Lina exploring the trails...
Seeing parts of the city very few ever see....
Yes... I'm sitting on my couch.....
Revelling in the awesome that is day 1....
With the lunch packed.. the circuit planned...
The run mapped for tomorrows adventure....
And the days to come....
Yes....
I'm once again sitting on my couch...."resting"
Mostly because I'm just too Damn tired to do the bum slide up the stairs my legs require of me to do....
Gotta Love Day 1!