Crunch Time!

24 days to go...does that make it an official count down now that I have put an exact number to it? I have to admit I have been steadily getting nervous and I haven't felt this way in a long time, I think since I raced BMO to qualify for Boston.....this one is much scarier though!

I have been hitting training at all angles - nutrition, mobility, sleep, running, stairs and fun! Perhaps a little too much weekend nighttime fun in May but it was worth it! I had a birthday and a somewhat class reunion at a conference.

Epic training runs so far? Definitely! Ones to remember:

• Running from downtown Toronto to Port Credit - 45km on the water front - bad armpit chaffing and ran out of water due to the public water fountains not being turned on! It was good mental practice.
• Running 5.5 hours up/down/around Burnaby Mountain - jumping out of the bush at the 3.5 hr mark to run into the grocery store to grab food and jump back in the bush resulted in many funny looks.
• Running 55km in 8:49 just a few days ago where I discovered just how much feeling tired is a mental thing. I was able to change around the way I was feeling in a matter of minutes by changing what i was thinking about - AWESOME! This will come in handy. 
• Hitting a new level of endurance athlete - I went out for a "quick run", it was a 20km road run and the thought that I may need food or water during it didn't cross my mind until half way through.

My goal for the next few weeks is to amp up my sleeping, especially since I still have a 60km, a 70 km run and a 50 km race before my big day. I have been taking naps instead of lunch breaks (most amazing thing ever!!) at work and spending more time vegging out at home with Keisha. Yes this does mean my house is in somewhat of an awful state right now (mostly migrating fur balls as I hate clutter) but it is worth it,  maybe one will even turn in to a puppy haha.

I am starting to put together my gear bags for the transition zones and my support crew is slowly growing, so happy that I will be having my parents, sister and best friend there!!

Let the count down begin.............

Freshly 32 and hitting the ground running…..literally

Another year has gone by and I now find myself being 32, funny how time flies! I also feel that it just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t do my yearly re-cap!

As life continues to prove, each year gets better. There were some major highs….some major lows but most of all major growing this past year. Yes I think I will look at 31 as being the year of self-growth.

•    31 started with a bang when the VPD renamed my position to Athletic Therapist at which I have been continuing on being a pioneer on therapy in policing. I have been extremely lucky to have my dept support my vision for where I want to see it to go and we are slowly progressing forward. Though slow it is still ahead of my planned schedule!

•    I ran a marathon in Greenland, though not my best time, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I cannot wait until I can go back. Its vastness I find calming and embracing and would love to do some sort of adventure trip throughout the country

•    I spent August in Japan with our National U20 Soccer Team for the World Cup. The culture there is by far the most amazing culture that I have been exposed to so far. The respect they give to everyone and their professionalism will be hard to top!

•    I started working with the Woman’s Olympic Soccer Team again and went to China, France and England. It was great to be re-acquainted with many of the players and to see some of my U20 players take the big step up. I feel like such a proud parent! The staff of the senior and U20 teams are the best I have worked with yet, truly inspirational.

•    I discovered the strength of my commitment and my limit as to how far I will sacrifice my health and well-being for someone or something. Though this can be taken a few different ways, I look at the fact that I pushed myself to and beyond my limit as a positive one as I learned a tremendous amount from it and have grown from it. Through this my body showed me just how resilient it truly is. Less then 6 months ago the accumulation of stress over several months took its big toll on me and my body, to the point that day to day functioning was a challenge. However, giving my body  time to recover, switching to a vegan (95% of the time) diet and focusing on fun has allowed my body to bounce back much more rapidly then I could have ever imagined and right now I am on track for running my biggest ultra yet!

Why do I like to write this out? Its all about perspective. It can be easy to lose track or undervalue all of the amazing things we do. Sometimes when looking back, things that didn’t seem amazing to us at the time are actually truly amazing and you are given a chance to appreciate them with this reflection.