I seriously doubt THAT is a holiday

Apparently October 13th is 'International Skeptics Day' but, well... you know.  For starters I can't even find anything credible on the Internet about it, not even on Wikipedia. Now in some light that almost LENDS an air of legitimacy to the whole concept since I'm inherently skeptical of Wikipedia... but I'm getting into dangerous loopy logic and am opting not to chase my tail on that topic.

Don't you think it would be pretty hard to officially organize such a celebration because of the intrinsic nature of those who would be encouraged to celebrate it?

Would you have some kind of gathering like sit-in or a pep rally? Who would come? Obviously not true skeptics, just 'skeptic posers'... which then dilutes the cause and actually reinforces the doubt that this was a legitimate event. It's a dichotomy: you can't be a proponent of critical thinking and gather en masse like sheep to listen to a bigger sheep bleating orders at you. ("Four legs good, two legs bad!")

Perhaps it's an elaborate scheme by the greeting card companies to sell a new category of product. Clearly no self-respecting skeptic (say that 5 times fast...) would buy a "Happy Skeptics Day" card so the market segment is a bit of a tough nut to crack - not the wisest retail strategy ever conceived.

Maybe this is all a ruse orchestrated by the film studio that has produced the upcoming movie, "2012". Skeptics worldwide are at least rolling their eyes in unison at that little gem if not marching in step in the 'International Skeptics Day Parade' coming to a major metropolis near you!

But imagine if we could get all those critical thinkers in one place at one time...


Be soft, but rock hard. \m/

I ran an EIGHT KILOMETRE race today!

I ran an 8K race today and it was GREAT! It was not as hard as I thought - I'm sure I experienced the advantage of being in my first group run, the momentum of the crowd and the emotional excitement of accomplishing a personal goal. Those definitely helped me get along that extra distance - longer than I've ever run before.

The weather was great - although it was just a few degrees above freezing when we left - there was no wind to speak of which is rare for Victoria and the course ran right along the ocean.

I thought of a lot of my CK inspirations during the run and a lot of my local peeps too. I wore a bracelet from my parents and a necklace from my BFF during the run and had a temp tattoo on my wrist from my girlfriend Eve (who wore the same tattoo this weekend in my honour!) that was the Chinese word for "courage".

The starting line was about 100 yards from the finish line and the course was "out & back", so we turned around at the 4km marker. I didn't quite know what gear to wear, I had a tech tank top, a jersey hoodie, and my tech running jacket.  I should have had gloves because my hands were SO cold!! By about Km 3 I had to tie my tech jacket around my waist.

The countdown to the starting announcement was energizing and at "GO!" this throng of people all tried to start running at once - which was amusing since clearly we couldn't all move at once - the crowd kind of lurched 2 or 3 times while we all figured that out. Then eventually we were all able to start moving... slowly at first. We started to space out fairly quickly and a lot of people started out really quickly but I had been warned about that so I didn't try to overtake anyone - I just ran my own speed, mouthing the words to PINK's "So What!" as I went.

I felt like I hadn't been running long, I guess I was distracted by the whole experience, when I saw the 2km marker. 25% done! WOOHOO! My hip was still feeling okay and my cardio was great, Bon Jovi was telling me that "It's My Life! It's now or never!". The three km marker came up fairly quickly as I was running along by the ocean & enjoying the early morning sunshine. Then the long slow hill started... I slowed down a bit and tried to keep my stride strong & long. It was a bit of a slog but suddenly I was at the top and found myself rounding a single pylon in the road with the crowd. That came up quickly!

The next stretch had some downhill, a nice treat to start the second half but I think that's where my hip started to bug me. It's hard not to let it get jammed up in the socket when you're plodding downhill. I was trying to run with control but I guess I wasn't being as cautious as I could have been. I hit the 5km mark at 31 minutes! NICE! I had to slow my pace a bit at this point due to hip pain. I "pulled over" and pulled my knee up to my chest and then stretched it back a couple of times. That loosened it up for a bit but I could feel the tension returning fairly quickly. ASIA's "Heat of the Moment" came on and made me smile & sing along, chin up!

I did some quick math, while mentally shouting lyrics to Warrant's "Dirty, Rotten, Filthy, Stinkin' Rich!", and figured I'd be coming in at less than an hour!! I'd guessed I'd be just over an hour so I was pretty excited by that! I knew my parents & sis wanted to see me finish (I wanted it too) so I slowed up and hauled out the phone to send a message with my ETA... but it was too late. I was at the 6km and was picking up that exciting momentum of the group! I thought of Jeff's marathon, Sarah's marathon, Amanda's Tri, Nadine's & Gina's wicked runs today... and all my other inspirational running friends. Suddenly I was at the 7km marker!!

Now I was down into the hundreds of meters left... we started rounding the tight corners in the old residential neighbourhood coming into the inner harbour. So exciting! A quick stop for a stretch of the ol' hip again and a text msg to my sister and I was picking up a bit of speed, tuning out that irritating hip and makin' a run for the border! Time to skip through the MP3's and find AC/DC's "Thunderstruck!!!"

My peeps were with me in spirit, I was enjoying the weather, the experience, the atmosphere, the other runners... it was all AWESOME!

The last few hundred meters were in sight and I pulled out the headphones so I could hear the announcer talking about the folks coming in ahead of me. The meters just zipped past me and I was getting closer and closer, the end was in sight. It was hard to take it all in. I heard the crowd cheering like crazy - for all of us - it was frickin' cool :) And then the announcer was saying, "And these folks are all finishing in under the 57 minute mark..." and I looked up and realized there was a clock. (LOL!!!) And I rushed those last few strides to get in under 57 minutes. Why? Dunno... just self-competitive instinct I guess. :laugh5:

Then I was in the chip-removal "chutes" and the water & gatorade station & the bagel/cookie/fruit/doughnut station...  and then it was all over. I was standing around in a crowd, in front of the Legislative buildings, and realizing that it wasn't all that bad! I did a quick self-portrait to post on FB and then heard someone shouting my name: our friend (& C's business partner) Jeff and his sister were nearby. I had no idea they were running! Very cool :) I chatted with them for a bit & got some congrats for my first run from these very seasoned racers (not elite runners, just lots of runs to their names) and then was off to find my parents.

It was anti-climactic in a way, I'd worked it up in my mind and considered so many of my negative factors that I anticipated a much tougher experience. I also had NO concept of how much of a benefit the experience of my first group run would impact me.

I had FUN and loved it. It was awesome and I will do it again.

In fact, I think I should find and commit to something soon because with all the emotional stress I've got going on right now, it'd be wise to have something to keep me in training mode so I don't stop all together and sit my (_|_) on the couch for the winter!

It really was a wonderful and rewarding experience. I'm still riding a bit of a high from reaching this personal goal and I'm loving it! I ROCK!

Be soft, but rock hard. \m/

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!

Well it's Friday of a week I never thought I would make it through. Thanks to my peeps local and worldwide for being so supportive and offering sage advice, wisdom, experience... and hitmen!

Yesterday was a tough day for me; I did get some work done, particularly for the fundraiser which is in 8 days, and some crucial client work. I had a fundraiser meeting in the evening which was SO incredibly hard and I nearly walked out at one point.


I'm leaving early Saturday morning (mental note: check for BC Ferries reservations) for Victoria & will do my best at the 8K run in the Royal Victoria Marathon on Sunday morning. On the plus side I've been waking up so early lately that getting up in time for a 7:15am race start won't be too drastic!

Well, that's it for me today, I'm keeping it relatively light today because I need to keepittogether keepittogether keepittogether (anyone see "Bowfinger"? HAR!)


Eating healthy, fueling my body for this race and fueling my brain to cope with stress. Remembering the latter is JUST as critical as the former to my ability to move forward.

Be soft, but rock hard. \m/

Christmas Kickstart

It's the 31st annual Vancouver Toy Run! With some "formation" riding and all for charity. Rozie and I are heading out this morning.... early.... to hit the streets with hundreds of other bikes. Can't wait! Update and pics later!

***
Wow, what an experience! I was on top of the world - a great group ride with thousands of other motorcycles for charity and lunch with some great new people afterwards, then a mini-convoy with 2 of those people to lead me on a great route home that was a good ride and scenic. So awesome!

But I came home to cat messes all over the carpet... eleven of them, seriously. I have one cat. In a 1 BR apartment mind you. He was very sick, poor kitty. Poor me for having to clean it up.



Be soft, but rock hard. \m/

Oh blissful Saturday

Saturday morning - all to myself with no external pressures, just those I put on myself. There are many of those, of course, but I'm practicing prioritizing them and rationalizing them away - at least temporarily.

Up with the sunrise, against my will, but I fell asleep before 11pm on the couch and staggered to bed shortly thereafter so technically I suppose it was a full night's sleep. I spent the deliciously lazy early hours of the morning drinking coffee, dining on instant oatmeal (mmm.... maple & spice!) and delighting in the debauchery of a few episodes of 'True Blood' I have saved on the computer. What a ridiculous but entertaining show! When that wrapped up I checked my online messages and watched the last few minutes of 'The Littlest Hobo' which is about as reminiscent of my childhood as any TV show is. "Maybe tomorrow, I'll wanna settle down, until tomorrow, the whole world is my home." Man, that dog was parachuting out of a helicopter - seriously!

I'm geared up for my run now, after scoping some routes out on ye olde googlemaps and I'm still not really sure where I should be running to get any distance in. I'm avoiding significant hills today because of my jammed up right hip - not to mention being "off" running for over a week now. But the Royal Victoria Marathon 8K is in 7 days and I *MUST* get some training in. I'm starting to freak out a bit :o It's a gorgeous sunny day and I am going out to run no matter what! I'm convincing myself, I'm sure you can see right through that little tactic - I'd rather do other things.

I set up my new widescreen monitor last night and let me tell you, this is (for me, comparitively speaking) some serious screen real estate! I almost don't need two separate monitors which is fortunate since I have no desk space on this temporary folding table that I'm using as a desk and since the second monitor didn't work when I hooked it up. D'oh!

There are pictures up on my wall and a few less boxes today after setting up my desk. I can't unpack them all until I buy my new Ikea desk setup but I'm not ready to do that just yet. The last thing I need is more boxes and things to assemble in this apartment right now! I'll get to a few more today, there's an end in sight and that's good news.


And on that somber note I'm going out to enjoy the sunshine on this gorgeous West Coast day - on the only weekend that I don't have plans and committments for in the foreseeable future. Time for these kicks to hit the pavement... they've been idle too long. Lace up and roll out!




Be soft, but rock hard. \m/