Stuck in the middle, relying on faith…

I was hoping that by now I would be writing a post about how I came out of the other side of this struggle, stronger, faster, and in better shape, that I was better off for having gone through this.  I was putting off writing a post until I was on the other side.  I realized though, that there might be as much, or more value in sharing this spot in the middle, where I’m waiting for the after to come.

2017 Goals

A year ago I posted that 2016 was going to be a year for risk taking, and setting big goals.  My big goal was to run the Lost Soul 100k.  I was really nervous going into it, but it turned out really well, and I am really glad that I decided to push myself past my comfort zone and into the longer distance.  I want 2017 to be another year of going past my comfort zone, but in a different way.

Hey 2016, I think you were pretty great!

I think there are a lot of people who are happily giving 2016 a big ole shove out the door this weekend.  While I am saddened by all the celebrity deaths, especially Carrie Fisher this week, personally, I had a really good year, and want to celebrate it.  So here goes, I’ve got 12 13 photo’s for you, with 12 13 highlights through the year.

Winter running hacks

If you live in Alberta, or know people on line who do, you’re probably aware, it’s cold here right now. It’s winter, and we almost always get a few weeks here and there through the winter of truly cold weather.  What is truly cold?  I’ll let you decide, it’s all a matter of perspective.

InsideTracker Results and Plan of Action

Last week I posted a bit of the background on why I had gone to InsideTracker to get blood work done.  Today, I’m going to go through some of the results, and what my plan of action is.

Crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s…

Way back in the spring, just a few weeks after the Calgary Marathon, on a random early morning trail run, I suddenly had a bout of dizziness that had me nearly falling down into the bushes.  This bout of dizziness would become almost 6 weeks of vertigo.  This wasn’t my first experience with vertigo, I’d had it a few times in the past, it’s caused by calcium crystals dislodging in the ear drum and floating around, causing havoc with the little hairs and balance in the ear drum.  Clearly I’m no doctor, and this is a very simple, amateur explanation.  

MEC Race #7 Recap

MEC (or Mountain Equipment Co-op for my American friends) puts on a series of races in most major Canadian cities, they are in expensive, no frills races, and until this weekend, I had yet to run one.  I’d been eyeing them for a while as I’d heard that they are good races, well organized, and of course cheap.  Until this weekend, it had never really worked out, I’d always had family commitments, been training for a different race, or had a big trail run planned.  This past weekend, finally the stars aligned, it was their last race of the season, and there was a race on, it consisted of a 5k, 10k, half marathon and full marathon.  I knew I didn’t want to race a marathon, and ever since the spring when I was forced to DNS for the Calgary Police Half, I’d been itching to race a half and see if I could PR.  I waited until the last minute to register so that I could check the forecast and make sure there wasn’t a blizzard or heat wave forecasted, this is Calgary after all!

Lost Soul Training Summary

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a month since Lost Soul already!  I’ve been taking it pretty easy on the running front, and am feeling pretty well recovered.  I’ve wanted to do a post summarizing my training, partly for myself, but also because I’ve had a few people message me asking me questions.  I thought it would be beneficial to write it all out.

Daughters of Distance Review and Giveaway!

Before kids, I was an avid reader, I would frequently plow through a book in a weekend.  I still love to read, but these days it’s hard to find enough time to myself to get very far in a book.  I often pick up a book and will read a few pages, get interrupted, go back to the book days later, and have to start over again.  I discovered Audible a few years ago.  It’s an audio-book subscription service by Amazon.  Since then I’ve been back to plowing through books again, but now I “read” while I run, while I drive or while I work. 

Lost Soul 100k 2016

I hope you like Ultra’s, Ultramarathons, and Ultra-Race Reports.  I have a feeling that this one is going to be lengthy.  I had registered for this race many months ago, back in January.  It seemed at the time to be an eternity away.  I was focused on training for the Calgary Marathon, and it was easy to mostly ignore the looming goal that I had set for the fall.