Wednesday W'oundup

I was feeling a little bullet point-ish when I sat down to compose Wednesday's blog so here is my Wednesday W'oundup for y'all.

- I swam 10x100m on Friday morning. Eight of ten of them were done in exactly 1:47.

- I swam 10x150m on Monday morning. Despite pushing hard on some and feeling slow on others, eight of ten of them were done in exactly 2:47. Consistent much?

- When Dexter was a big part of my life (I miss his cute little smile so much!), I had a special name for him when I resurrected him after 7 days. Zombie Dex was his nickname when he woke from the dead on command. Now I have Rose who is a little more dainty - although she can be a tough cookie when she needs to be. She is currently 15 days old which means she's been resurrected twice. What do I call her? Zombie Rose? Seems a little too unladylike for the wee lassie. How about a tribute to Zombies? I could call her Buffy? Or Willow?

- 18 days ago I got my nails done for Friends for Life. At my mother's suggestion I decided to try bio gel nails and then, instead of regular nail polish that chips in two days, I went with the super duper  shellac nail polish that is supposed to last for weeks. Well, 18 days later my nails look the same as they did the first day which is amazing considering they have survived hours of chlorinated water as well as the general banging around that my nails undergo every day. The only problem is that they are growing out and there is now a few millimetres of bare nail growing in. Now I need to figure out how to safety remove said bio gel nails with shellac before I end up gouging my or someone else's eyes out accidentally. These puppies are getting loooong.

- Doug took me to the golf course on Monday night to practice. Practice my chipping and my putting. I probably hit 100+ chips and putted close to that much again. I got pretty good by the end.

- Doug took me to the golf course on Tuesday night to play nine holes and practice what I practiced. I played really well on 6 of the holes. I played horribly on three of them. My score ended up the same that it always is. Consistent much?

- I just finished the latest book in the Outlander series. For anyone who knows what I'm talking about and who has also read said book, please tell me. I'm desperate for someone to hyper-analyze the book with. So many things happened. So many things to agonize about. And who is excited for the season premiere of Season One? Anyone??

- My ear buds finally bit the dust a few weeks ago. I am on super budget mode as we save for a trip this fall so I am only spending money on thing I need (like bills, groceries and toothpaste). Earbuds don't fall in that category so I've been running to the beat of my panting breaths and pounding feet. It was weird the first day. Less weird the next. Now I really enjoy the quiet.

That's all folks. See you tomorrow!

The Beats That Inspire My Feet

By the time this post is posted, I'll have finished my first post-half marathon return to running run.

An easy thirty minute trot to test out my legs...and my new sissy-coloured running shoes.

I'll have my music playing quietly enough to still hear the birds waking up and the train whistles blowing in the distance. Loud enough to work its way down to my feet and inspire them to move a little faster for a little longer.

Music is the background to my runs. I can easily go with out it but I do enjoy the soundtrack that carries me down my beloved country roads. My songs are so familiar that a few notes heard on the radio are enough to make me want to put on my shoes and run. There's probably something Pavlovian about it but I just really like tying music to my journeys because the songs enrich the journey and later help bring me back.

Two weeks ago I wrote about updating my running playlist for the Niagara half with songs that get me moving and keep me motivated. Playlists are a pretty personal thing - kinda like favourite shampoos or eye creams - and what inspires me might nauseate someone else.

That being said, I was asked by a few people to share my playlist.

So I'm sharing.

Feel free to be inspired by my musical choices or laugh at the things that I find inspiring. Either way, it's one more way for me to tell my story. I like stories and there is one behind every song I chose. They remind me of people I love. People I loved. Moments I shared. Moments I witnessed.

Every time I hear a song it brings me right back to another time and another place - and the strength of those times and places keep me moving through my days.  

Jai Ho (from Slumdog Millionaire)
You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC)
Rolling in the Deep (Adele)
I'm in a Hurry and Don't Know Why (Alabama)
I've Seen a Little (Alan Doyle)
Keep the Car Running (Arcade Fire)
Sk8er Boi (Avril Lavigne)
Anything but Ordinary (Avril Lavigne)
Cruise (Barlow)
When the Night Feels my Song (Bedouin Soundclash)
I Gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas)
Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen)
Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen)
Marry You (Brune Mars)
Summer of 69 (Bryan Adams)
Forever (Chris Brown)
Chariots of Fire (from, you guessed it, Chariots of Fire)
Viva la Vida (Coldplay)
Fix you (Coldplay)
Rain King (Counting Crows)
Holiday Road (The Dahlmanns - from Vacation!!)
When it Come my Turn (David Myles)
Tiny Dance (Elton John)
The Rain (Garrity)
Standing Outside the Fire (Garth Brooks)
See the World (Gomez)
March On (Good Charlotte)
The Good Catches Up (Gowan)
Ordinary Day, Sea of no Cares and When I am King (all by Great Big Sea)
The Rainmaker (Hans Zimmer from Power of One)
We are Unbreakable (Hedley)
Galileo (live) (Indigo Girls)
Lord of the Dance (The Irish Symphonia)
Good Mother (Jann Arden - Live with the VSO)
The Authority Song (John Mellancamp)
Southland Concerto (Johnny Clegg from Power of One)
In the Beginning and Wavin' Flag (K'naan)
The Gambler (Kenny Rogers)
Human (The Killers)
Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn)
Tuesday Morning and I Run For Life (Melissa Etheridge)
I Believe (Nikki Yanofsky)
What Makes you Beautiful (One Direction)
Who Knew (P!nk)
Graceland (Paul Simon)
500 Miles (Proclaimers)
The Show Must Go On (Queen)
Fidelity (Regina Spektor)
What I Like About You (The Romantics)
Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) (Shakira)
This is the Moment (Shaye)
Meet You There (Simple Plan)
Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)
Change of Seasons (Sweet Thing)
Dynamite (Taio Cruz)
It's not Unusual (Tom Jones)
Where the Streets Have no Name (U2)
This is War (30 Seconds to Mars)
Defying Gravity (from Wicked)

Thanks for listening!

Mitigating a Risk or Two

I don't tend to subscribe to the whole 'lucky socks' thing when it comes to running.

I don't have a good or a bad runs based on whether or not I remember to wear my lucky socks. Or my lucky shirt. Or use my lucky pins to pin on my race bib.

I have good and bad runs based on how I'm feeling, what my blood sugar does and all sorts of other variables that I can't possibly control. It's frustrating at times but I'm ok with the randomness of it all most of the time.

And I refuse to put faith in an article of clothing, a pre-race routine or some other thing that, for some people, can make or break their run. Or their race.

That being said, I do try to reduce the variables and mitigate some of the more predictable risks...especially on race day.

I pay attention to my blood sugar. I eat predictable foods at predictable times. I wear clothes that don't typically chafe...much. I slather on the Body Glide.

On Sunday I took a bit of time to work on another variable...music.

I have a running playlist that I've used for the last year or two. It has about 5 hours of music that plays randomly so I don't tend to get bored with it. That being said, there are two problems that I wanted to eliminate before race day.

The first was the tempo of the songs on my playlist. When I first made my playlist, I put songs on it that make me happy. Some are upbeat with a great tempo. Some are upbeat with a slower tempo. Some were not upbeat at all. They all make me happy. As you might expect, I tend to slow down a bit during the slower happy songs. In preparation for race day, I ruthlessly culled my playlist down to three hours. I took out any song that didn't a) start off with a great beat from the first note and b) have a fast enough beat to keep me moving. I also added a few new songs that fit my criteria.

The second problem I've been struggling with are my ear buds. My favourite ones died right before my Israel trip. They sounded great and stayed in my ears sans problème no matter how long I ran, how much it rained or how hot it was. I loved them.

I bought the Apple sports earbuds when I got home from my trip but they never worked well for me. They sound great but they fall out of my ears constantly. I have to reach up and tuck them back in 2-3 times a minutes for the entire run. I was getting fed up. My favourite pair that died back in March was purchased at the Boston Marathon expo back in 2011. They are not sold in Canada and the shipping costs are crazy. I couldn't justify ordering another pair.

I did some research and asked my running friends. It turns out that everyone has their favourites and one person's go to ear buds are often vehemently hated by another. It's a matter of taste.

I took a gamble and bought a pair of Yurbuds for Women. They are designed for smaller ears and 'lock' in place so they don't fall out. Many people love them. Some hate them. I was willing to drop $30 to try them.

I have two runs before race day to try them out. If they work, I'll have cooperative earbuds and a motivational playlist on race day.

Two variables dealt with. Two risks mitigated.

Now if I can discover the cure for diabetes before Sunday morning, I'll be all set to rock this thing.

This Is War

Don't be put off by the title of today's blog post.  It's actually the title of a pretty cool song.

I am reaching the end of my stress fracture recovery program and, as such, things are ramping up a bit.  I am now running thirty minutes but I'm also running more days per week.  Last week I ran four days a week, this week I have to run five.  Two 30 minutes runs, two 35s and a 40.

I wouldn't have said this in August but I'll say it now - that's a lot of running!

So I dusted off my iPod shuffle this past weekend.  I haven't run to music since last October.  Mostly because I didn't run for 10 weeks.  Partly because, when I did start running, I was not running for very long so it seemed silly to drag out the tunes.  And a teeny bit because I used my music to motivate and inspire me during marathon training and I wasn't sure I would want to hear the songs I used to run to as I gingerly trotted along for 15 minutes.

Saturday morning, I popped in my ear bud and headed out the door.

Shuffling music is fun because sometimes you get a bunch of songs in a row that are pretty benign.  Other times, you get a bunch in a row that all trigger emotional responses.

Saturday I got a bunch of songs that were nice, easy listening, keep your feet moving kinda songs.

Sunday, the first song that came on brought me right back to last summer.

This is the song:

I first heard the song when a friend posted this link to a Harry Potter YouTube video.  I love Harry Potter and was pretty moved watching the video because the creator used music and video clips to tell a powerful story.  A story of courage, pride, fear, despair, loneliness, friendship, giving up, and overcoming.

It's a powerful summary of the Harry Potter story.

It's also the story of running a marathon. All of those emotions, and a few more, become familiar friends by the time you have completed all of those long runs.  Every time the song came on, no matter how exhausted I was, it inspired me to keep moving forward.  I remember one run in particular.  It was hot and I was hurting.  I had run 28k and there were still two more to go before I reached the car.  I just wanted to walk it in and had lost the energy to fight with myself.  The I heard the first few notes of the song and I, to quote Lady Macbeth, was able to "screw my courage to the sticking place".  I hit repeat over and over again until I made it to the car - running.

Sunday morning, as I stepped out the door to do my 30 minute run, the song came on.  I was tempted for a brief moment to skip ahead to the next song.  I hadn't heard This is War for months and wasn't sure I wanted to hear it yet.  I forced myself not to skip ahead and, within a few seconds, was bounding down the road with a huge grin on my face.

You see, the song worked perfectly during marathon training but it works quite well now because the last few months have also been about fear, despair, hope, friendship, loneliness, giving up and overcoming.  Injuries, as it turns out, are just like marathons.

They're hard but you survive.

Thank You For The Music

Training for a race is partly to do with conditioning the body and partly to do with trying things to see what works and what doesn't work.  Ideally, you figure out what doesn't work weeks before race day.  What areas need extra body glide, what food make your stomach lurch and what songs drive you batty from the first note.

I started running with music this time last year.  I was running a half marathon and was feeling pretty worn down.  I figured some upbeat tunes might help carry me over the finish line in one piece.  So I borrowed Doug's shuffle, tossed some music on it and ran the race.

It helped.

So I bought myself a blue shuffle.  I had the words "I run for life" engraved on it and I spent a long time picking out songs for my running play list.  I knew I needed songs that would inspire me, that would not get annoying when I heard them for the 30th time and that would not throw me too far off my pace because of their crazy beats or mellow rhythms.

I've been running to the same music all summer because, like food and chaffing, it takes a while to figure things out.

I discovered that Cindy Lauper is really really annoying when I'm running so I canned her pretty quickly. Surprisingly, so is Blue Rodeo.

Gong.

I found that songs with a slower beat work well - Tiny Dancer, The Gambler, American Pie all keep me moving steadily along.

Corny songs from my childhood make me smile - the theme song from the Greatest American Hero, Eye of the Tiger, It's Not Unusual (Fresh Prince anyone?) or Holiday Road (from Vacation) are favourites.

Songs with a particularly pounding beat help me increase my pace just a bit or, when I'm slowing, help me get back on pace again - This Is War and Boulevard of Broken Dreams work particularly well.

But mostly, my playlist is full of songs that remind me of people.  People who love me.  People I love.  People I miss.  People who, just thinking about them, give me strength and courage when I need it.  It's not about the beat or the singer - it's about the feeling the songs evoke.

Which means that, should anyone borrow my shuffle, they will be greeted by a crazy medley of music that probably makes very little sense to be listening to on race day.

But it works for me.  Some songs bring a tear to my eye every single time they start.  Some, from the first note, make me think "thank god, I needed a boost".  Others make me think of my parents, my grandparents, my sisters, my lover, past loves and good friends.

Because one never runs a marathon alone.

Five hours is a long time to be by myself.  So I bring everyone I care about with me and they whisper words of encouragement in my ear as I run.

Together, we will cross the finish line.