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Please be advised that the contents of this blog are opinions only (my opinion, the opinions of my family and the opinions of anyone else directly or indirectly involed in this blog). This is not an accredited training blog, nor is it an accredited anything blog. If you (and you) do anything that this blog says, or don't do anything that this site says not to do, and you get injured, sick or killed, you cannot blame me or my family or blame anyone else directly or indirectly involved in this blog. By reading anything on this blog (including this message) you are saying that you are a person who makes thier own choices in life and does not hold the writer of this blog, the writers family or any one else that may be directly or indirectly involved in the production or writing of this blog, responsible for your stupid and irresponsible behaviors, injuries, sicknesses or deaths. With that said, please enjoy my fun blog.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

What I really meant to say was…

So you know when you have something to say, and you spend like 4 hours writing a blog post and it just doesn’t seem right and you don’t know why? Well today I figured it out. I liked the Race recap I wrote, but I couldn’t get the feeling I had about the race down on paper(well… you know) the way I wanted to. Here is what I wanted to convey.

Somewhere between the 14 and 16k mark I realized that the race would be over soon, and that made me sad. I didn’t want it to end.

How was that? I actually started to dread the end of the race, for the same reason I dread the end of a golf game or an amazing concert or sports game, or an amazing movie, or an episode of Glee. I know you know what I mean, even if for you it doesn’t include running. I am finding myself so freakishly in love with running, and everything that comes with it.

A part of running that I really love is being able to encourage and support others, without these same others wondering what I might want in return for this encouragement. I find that runners are the genuine article, where you can take what we say at face value, because we mean it.

Heh, I check my blog stats a lot and this just popped up. I really REALLY love this! I hope the person who searched for this found what they were looking for and enjoyed the blog post! If this is you, please leave a comment and let me know who you are!

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I want to acknowledge a number of others who were at the race and made it the great day for me that it was!

My Wife! Traci is the reason that I can put so much into running. She supports me and cheers for me!!! Thanks! You always # 1!! I can’t wait until we get started on your plan this fall/winter!

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And! My Club, who are really a bunch of my best running buddies! Firstly my group that was with me and supported me when I got booted out of the Running Room. T, L, K, W, E, T, D, you know who you are. Also, the group that ran and trained with me for the last number of months leading up to the Harvest Half. Jim, Susan, Jamie, Mariea, Adam, Judy, Marian, Darren, Carolyn, Mary Ann, Michelle, Tammy, Tammy, Tracy, Catherine.

Dan. What can I say about Dan, he’s my guy. Was there on day one of the first clinic. Hey Dan, we gotta figure out how we can run together more!

Kelly. Kelly was there when I took my very first running step on the treadmill in Oct 2008. Yesterday kind of closed a circle for me when I was able to watch her finally complete her long overdue half marathon. Karma at its finest.

Here are some more pictures from the Harvest Half Yesterday.

See the pOp lineup in behind!! hurry up people, the race is starting soon! Tammy and Judy were happy to be done with that business.

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Mariea, ready to run!!!

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Jamie, your ride is here.

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Anxious times!! Shouldn’t have worried tho, everyone finished strong and happy!

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I got the Idea for the Hero Shot from Lorne. Thanks Lorne, I like it!

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They said they were trying to lose weight. ok.

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Here are Alison and Leon. We were running near them most of the way and were certainly a part of our Mojo team for this race. Thanks!

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This is Dave. He was another very friendly face on the run! You said you were shooting for a 2:15 and you ended up with a 2:07:xx!!! Way to go!!! (I snipped the pic from his FB profile.) Hope that’s ok Dave!

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Some of our Club winners yesterday!!

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Can’t forget to mention my favourite Coffee House. They are the proud supplier of my Ice Bath Tea! Yum, Vanilla Bean Tea. See the Sweater AC? I have running shorts on too! Works kind of like a wetsuit in the cold water.

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  • Barefoot mileage since June 29th : 207.1km
  • VFF mileage since July 7th : 45.2km (12 on trails)
  • Shoe mileage since SOBF (start of barefoot): 5km (25:30 5k race PR on July 1st)
  • Geocaching!

    Many of you have expressed an interest in what it is, or you know what it is and you would like to do it. Ok then, DO it! A Garmin 305 is a very highly rated geocaching device! Interesting hey? What won’t that amazing little piece of tech do?

    First thing, what is geocaching? As taken from the site www.GeoCaching.com 

    Getting Started with Geocaching

    Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache.

    See geocaching in action! Watch this clip from the movie Splinterheads, now on DVD.

    Easy Steps to Geocaching

    1. Register for a free Basic Membership.
    2. Click "Hide & Seek a Cache."
    3. Enter your postal code and click "search."
    4. Choose any geocache from the list and click on its name.
    5. Enter the coordinates of the geocache into your GPS Device.
    6. Use your GPS device to assist you in finding the hidden geocache.
    7. Sign the logbook and return the geocache to its original location.
    8. Share your geocaching stories and photos online.

    Got it? Now, just to make it easier for you to get going, here is the link to gps device ratings. You’ll be surprised at the functionality of your Garmin device for this awesome hobby.

    So now, what do we get out of this hobby? Well, since you ask, I’ll tell you. Family time. It always turns out to be an incredible adventure, that takes us places we would never go! We hike hills, we drive backroads, we crawl under bushes and just generally laugh and smile a lot! The greatest thing for us tho, is that Andrew LOVES it and asks to go geocaching over any other choices on the weekends!. Yesterday after the half, and after we ate and got cleaned up we chose a direction and just headed out. South was the way, but within 5 minutes Andrew was asleep. He needed a nap, so we decided to just drive for a while. Here is the result of that drive. All these shots are taken out the windows of the car. When Andrew is napping in the car, we have to keep moving or he wakes up and we pay the price in grumpiness…

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    After an hour, Andrew wakes up on his own, in a good mood and we ask him. “So, what do you want to do?” he simply replies “go geocaching” in his sweet, soft, I just woke up from an awesome nap, voice. So that's what we do. I have a Palm Pre phone and it has an official Geocaching app for it and is a remarkably good device for this hobby, except it needs a high speed cell signal for the mapping and GPS function. The other con is that you have to be moving for the software based gps to be accurate. The upside is, all we do is go out into the great outdoors and stop somewhere, hit the ‘Nearest’ button on the app and it birngs up the closest Cache, then the next and the next. Once you choose one, the chase is on!

    Yesterday we ended up following the compass into a private yard by accident, but before we got turned around we saw these majestic fellows!

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    Once we got back on the right track, we drove to this awesome hilltop. wow. incredible. Never in my life would I have a reason to come here, but here we were staring at the most incredible views of prairies, mountains, family.

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    We were off  the mark a bit for the cache, but we soon found it and were exploring the contents. Some of Andrews favourite toys were trades from Caches. He loves the idea that he can pick something and place something else for another person to enjoy.

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    In this cache he got a really cool fingertip flashlight that he has played with steady for 2 days now!

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    Ok, here is a cool series of pictures. note the tree in this pic. We had no idea the significance of this picture when I took it. When we left the first cache site, and hit the next button and headed for the next cache it took us down the road where the next shot was taken.

    Tree shot

    We stopped and took this shot back where we just were, as I thought it would be cool to have the opposite shots. Then we moved on to the cache…

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    Which is hidden at the base of this tree. Which is the tree noted in the first shot in the series above! (if you already didn’t figure that out)

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    Here is the cache find activity shot. Andrew found this one. He is really good at scoping out these well camouflaged containers. He got to choose between and toy skateboard and a toy car. He took the skateboard, as he thought his toy Handy Manny back at home would enjoy it more than the car. Handy Manny already has lots of toy cars.

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    We had a bust on the next one, I actually took a bit of a tumble down an embankment into some thistle, but that’s all part of the adventure. We go places we would never go. And love every minute of it.

    Here are some of our other Geocaching Stories,

    11 comments:

    1. Great pictures of the race. I know what you mean about a run or a race not wanting to end. To me a long run or even a race is kind of like a little bit of Christmas as I get the nervous and exciting anticipation a few days before hand, I prepare and wait and then it's finally here and I am so excited. By the end, my body's glad its done, but then it's over with until next time and it leaves me a little down.

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    2. We used to do a lot of geocaching and then for some reason we stopped. We even found a cache in Vietnam so this is a global pastime and not for kids only. BTW, Andrew is awfully cute.
      Thanks for reminding me about this cool activity.

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    3. I like that you were sad it was almost over...great pics of the race too :)

      Geocaching sounds cool...

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    4. Loved this post! And I love the story that your photos tell.

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    5. My mom and dad spent their very first year of retirement getting every single geocache at each of the Minnesota State Parks. Was so much fun, listening to them adventure and have fun together - the likes of which they hadn't done for the 37 years my dad worked so hard. Really re-connected them to one another.

      And the afternoon of my first 5K, I was super depressed. Because it was over.

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    6. Thanks for the awesome pics of the scenery and the geocaching info. I'm so happy I replaced my 305 and I can try geocaching one day with Noah. I can't say I enjoyed the race as much as you did, but hopefully the next one will be better! Andrew is lucky to have such awesome parents!! Mariea

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    7. Love how all the reflective gear shines in race pictures!!!!

      Goecaching really seems like a fun activity. I've looked into it but, that is about it!

      It's great to have a supportive spouce!!

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    8. I scanned some of the Archive, but I am not seeing anything about being booted from Running Room, how does that happen? Must be a good story.

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    9. So you definitely have my attention about this geocaching stuff. Wow! Never heard of it, but very interested now! As for somewhere between km 14 and 16 of Saturday's race, I would have been ok with it being over. Haha! Then at km 19, wow those last two kms were LONG! No sadness for this girl when it was over (well maybe a little bit once I recovered), but it was easier than I could have imagined, went better than expected and was just plain exciting. What a great event. Great organizers, great weather, great route, great scenery and great friends. I'm still excited that I did it :)

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    10. Sounds like so much fun and I am sure my boys would loooooove it! Thanks, as always, for the great pictures!

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