Work it, make it, do it, makes us harder, better, faster, stronger

Now that that don’t kill me, can only make me stronger. I need you to hurry up now, cause I can’t wait much longer…And with another race gone by, the sweet sounds of Kanye West’s “Stronger” guided me across yet another finish line.

A couple of friends and I ventured to Ottawa this weekend for Ottawa’s popular Race Weekend. I wanted to see Ottawa again, I wanted to run a 10k, so off we went. The weekend was somewhere beyond fantastic. I cannot adequately express my love for Ottawa in words. I started smiling the minute we entered the city and really did not want to leave. If I could live in any city, it would be Ottawa. Unfortunately, while it has the lure of some fantastic people (and quite clearly an awesome race one a year), it does not have my workplace. I love my job; therefore, no moving in the near future.

Nonetheless, good times were had, bridgehead coffee was obtained, places were walked to and visited, friends were seen, and a race was run.

I won’t go kilometer by kilometer with this one. I promise. The beginning of the race was insane. Over 8000 people were running it, so that was already nuts to begin with. They put you into corrals based on the time you said you finish (I said somewhere between 71-80minutes), and you start the race in waves. The gun goes off, but it took over five minutes to get across the start line. It takes another couple of minutes to get to the point where you can actually run and find your pace. It’s more of a run/walk while everyone spreads out and heads down the street.

The weather was FANTASTIC! It was beautiful, sunny, and a bit cooler than it had been during the day. That being said, holy crow did it ever get hot after a few minutes. I could feel my face heating up more and more due to the sun and the running. It never cooled down. I was crazy sweaty by the end of it. All I have to say is next time, I buy running pants/shorts. Yikes…

Anyway, the first couple of kilometers were fine. It was a lovely run as usual. I was anticipating a water break at 3k that never came. It did not appear until almost the 5k point, which I thought was a bit cruel. I was desperate for cool liquid at this point, and was happy to see it. I saw a number of people who seemed to forget (or not know) race etiquette when it comes to drinking water/ditching your cup. Do not whip your 1/2 full cup of water several feet away from you when you are done. It might hit someone. Pinch the cup, drink, lower cup, pour our remaining liquid (even if it goes down your leg), and drop the cup. Not hard.

For the most part, the course was just about the flattest thing I had ever run (aside from running on a track), which seemed to confused my body. I’m accustomed to running up and down more inclines, so you work harder, get a bit of a break, work harder, break, repeat. My muscles rebelled against the unfamiliar course (I had no idea what I was in for, and I really found that not knowing what was coming in terms of incline a challenge), and I will admit this was a hugely challenging run. Had I the time prior to the run, I would have liked to have run at least 1/2 the course, just to know. Next time!

By the time I saw 7k, I knew it was going okay. 8k made me smile even more, and I just about died with happiness when I saw 9k. They even had a count down in meters until the end, which was really motivating. As you head down the race course, there are people cheering from everywhere…LOUDLY! Strangers yell your name (it’s on the bib), and encourage you. While I thought this would be creepy and odd, I found it surprisingly comforting to know that people cared about your race performance. It was also great to hear (because I couldn’t spot them in the crowds) friends cheering you on. That last 500m might have been the most glorious of the race. My body felt good (a little tired, a little sore, but this is normal – my knees held up okay!), I had music in my ears, and I knew my friends were there. As I ran through the finish line (1hour and 16minutes), I could not help but be ridiculously happy to be part of a community that is so supportive, to have such fantastic friends that cheer me on, to be able to run, and (oh here comes to cheese) to fulfill the dreams of my teenage years to be a runner (why am I thinking about dreamracer here…). I’ve been running seriously since January, and this was the first moment that I really felt like a runner.

After the race, I ate happily, stretched, iced my knees, drank water, hugged my friends, and went off to bed where (when I finally made it there), I passed out solidly. My body is recovering quickly (much quicker than last time), and I can’t wait until the 8k next month.

What doesn’t kill me, only makes me stronger. I’ve said it before, ad I’ll say it again: I run because I have to. I run because I love it. I am a runner.

1/2 marathon, here I come!

Raindrops keep falling on my head…

but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop running. Yes, I realize that doesn’t exactly follow. As you can probably guess, I went for a run in the rain. It was lovely, really. The freezing cold rain and wind made for a nice cool run. Since I often try not to focus on the running when I’m actually running (i.e. frig this hurts, why isn’t it over yet…the not focusing on the pain/burn/run itself actually makes the run more fun), I was thinking about the nice people in their cars who managed not to splash me. While this is one time when I truly wouldn’t have minded, the people in cars, really didn’t splash me once. Go figure.

In other news, I’m going to sleep. That’s right: squash + run = Jess is tired. Goodnight. Sweet dreams.

Mixed Bag of Lovin’

So, it looks like I went to write a post the other day and got distracted. The titled was saved (kind of…I apparently stopped in the middle of composing it), but there was no content to be found. In the no-so-original tradition of this blog, I give you another list…or several small lists, divided under one big list? Oh dear. I’ll just write:

1. Driving: I’ve be driving A LOT lately. Yes, Claire, in MY car! I have a what now? I went to T.O. to visit Erin and the Grandparents. It was lovely, but it was a lot of stressful driving. I have learned the following things:

a) speed limits are just a suggestion (either way…people will go either slower or faster, and no one aims for the correct speed limit; yes, I should have known this before).

b) people on bikes are crazy in T.O. I though they were bad here. Now, I will never complain about London bikers again.

c) once you have a car, you drive every, single, darn day…I need a break or a bike; the bike will likely come before the break.

2. Librarianing: I no longer work in a library. My contract is up. It is a very weird feeling. Hopefully, something will open up there in the future, even if it is only temporary or part time. Do you think my library friends will still talk to me?

3. Teaching: All is well.

4. Running: 10k #2 is in 5 days. I am THRILLED! YAY OTTAWA! This race should be good times. There will be many people running. I’m thinking about running a 1/2 marathon in the fall. I don’t know if this is insanity or a good way to challenge myself. Only time will tell…

I swear I had more to write about at one point!

Run, run as fast as you can…

We all know how that ends. Although I was not tricked by a clever fox, I did run yesterday in my first 10K. I am also fairly certain that, at the speed I was running, several people could have caught me. Going into the race, I had three goals: I wanted to run the whole thing (for me, the whole run/walk thing means nothing — endurance was my goal), I wanted to finish, and I wanted to finish standing. So, just because I told people I would, here comes an entire blog post of my run, kilometer by kilometer…

1k: The first kilometer was probably the easiest. They start you off on a nice flat surface and about half way through, there’s downward slope. Everyone loves running downhill, right? I didn’t end up powering it down the hill for really one reason: the knees. The last time I got a little too enthusiastic running down a hill, I couldn’t run for a week or so. As I watched people pass me, I kept chanting in my head “finishing is more important than speed to you…run your own race.” Often, the psychological aspects of running are the hardest, at least for me.

2k: I don’t really remember much of this part. The ground was fairly level, and I knew a water stop was coming up, so I was fairly content. I had only been running for around 14 minutes, so I was feelings okay.

3k: Water stop the first. I was crazy thirsty by the time I got to this point. Yummy e Load After this point, the steady incline up Wharncliffe/Western Road began.

4k: I remember seeing the 4k sign, but not really much more than that. I was fairly focused on making it up the hill and finding the 5k sign. I knew I could run 5k (I had done it this past March), so I kept thinking in small goals.

5k: When I saw the 5k sign I smiled. By the point, I had pushed through the wall. Although the knee pain was starting to set in, in terms of cardio I was set. My breathing was even, and I was enjoying the cool, damp weather.

6k: This was the *yikes* moment! I was thrilled to only have 4k left to go. Water stop part two was nice too

7k: Prior to the race, I had only run about 7.5k. I knew I could make it this far, so when I reached the sign I started calculating how long the rest of the race would take. This was also the point where I hit the not-so-nice hills of Gibbons park. Someone watching me run must have thought I was insane. I was running really slow. I kept hearing my coworker’s advice in my head: when there’s a hill (up or down) run slow…run slow…run slow.

8k: Coming out of the park was nice, since I knew city streets meant only two kilometers to go. The trudge up the hill out of the park was surprisingly more difficult than the run up Talbot. The best part of coming on to Talbot street is that you begin to merge with people running the 1/2 marathon, so you’re not alone.

9k: I think I started some odd/crazy laugh when I saw this sign. I couldn’t stop smiling—only one kilometer to go. On went the Kanye.

10k: The last kilometer was the moment I had been waiting for. I had run over an hour at this point, just to get this feeling of accomplishment. Just as I hit the park corner, I saw the chair of my department, who offered words of encouragement, and I ramped up the speed. As I turned the final corner, I saw the finish line, said *oh well there’s a medic tent if this is a bad idea,* sucked up the knee pain, and hammered it on until the end.

Through the music, I could hear strangers encouraging me, and as I crossed the finish line this overwhelming sense of accomplishment washed over me. The icing on the cake? Having friends there at the end, holding silly signs (awesome!), and offering congratulations.

As I sit here typing this out, I’m realizing the inadequacy of words to describe how good it feels to finish a race. My knees hurt (although less so today — thank you Advil and sleep), but I’m ready for the next one. Two weeks and it all happens again (in Ottawa this time).

Why do I run? Because despite the potential for injury, the soreness, and the exhaustion, for a brief period of time during every run I break through a wall where I could run forever. I run because I love to. I run because I have to.

And I’m back! Again…

I wonder how many times I can post about my return to blogging? I seem to have an awful lot of these posts or at least more than I think I should. Alas, I have been busy grading final assignments and exams. Grades were handed in a few days ago, so I’m back…really. I’ve already established my love of lists, so here comes another:

1) My students. Wow. Some of them just rocked their final exams and did really great. I was so proud of them, and, best of all, I got emails from a few saying how proud they were of themselves.

2) Grading for a week straight does strange things to one’s mind. I’m just regaining my ability to have coherent conversations and not act like a complete weirdo in public situations. The last time I worked at the library, I saw a student and called her name to say hi. She turned around, and I yelped. I think I scared her. I cannot explain this behaviour beyond grading makes me loopy. I had also developed this *fun* habit of thinking things and then saying the opposite, only to have to backtrack and explain to my confused friends that no…in fact I did not mean to say that. Oops.

3) Speaking of friends…oh Facebook. I’d like to thank the kind developers behind the new features to FB. How did you know that I needed help finding friends? I refuse to add “people I may know.” In fact, I spent a good few minutes trying to delete all of the people they kept suggesting (nothing personal…I just hate the feature), and more and more people kept appearing. I won’t deactivate my account(s) because I still love the social networking aspect of FB, but I refuse to participate in the creepiness. I also don’t know how I feel about the chat feature. What makes FB fun for me is that it’s not just another IM platform. Now, it just feels like there’s too much going on. Does anyone know why there’s a new notification indicator beside the chat feature? It makes no sense…

4) M & M have joined Twitter. I don’t know if people really want and/or need to know what I’m doing at all times. I cannot resist new technology, so I’ll probably cave, but I cannot say how much I’ll actually use it.

5) J’aime Ultimate Frisbee! Need I say more?

6) The 1st 10k race is next weekend. I’m getting a bit nervous. I’d like to run most if not all of it. We shall see how the knees hold up: Advil, ice, Advil, ice, Advil….you get the point.

7) Time to go catch up on all of the stuff that I put off whilst grading.