Average Adventure Addict

4 days to go! I’m not hacking up a lung anymore but I’m still not 100 percent. Now I’m also panicking that my last crucial 3 weeks of training essentially went down the toilet in one big swirly. I have to keep telling myself that we aren’t racing this one, just trying to make it to the after party in one piece! Racer package just came out and I’ve been taking my little highlighter to it cuz this has been the one race that I’ve tried for the last 3 years to do, but each year something huge comes along and I can’t do it.

My highly anticipated week of nice and easy trail runs with Panda was shattered last Tuesday by an emergency trip to the vet. We were walking by our neighbour’s fence and there was a 10 inch metal prong sticking out onto the roadway, and as we walked by, it hooked under her right arm pit and ripped a 3 - 4 inch hole that required 12 stitches. We were able to pick her up the same day, fortunately, but she had to be kept very quiet for the next few days. It sucks when your 2 legged running buddies cant join you and even more when your willing 4 legged has to just sit at home and whine! She’s been living up the life of an invalid though, every new person she meets she cuddles in and lifts the injured arm to show off the war wound.

We just bought a killer new camera, a digital Olympus that can go to 35ft underwater and survive an 8 foot drop and takes both pics and video. Kitt took it on his overnight moto trip to Shrek Lake and I’m looking forward to using it at the MOMAR. I don’t know if we’ll get any underwater shots from the race (if the weather doesn’t improve I really hope not!) but definately on our honeymoon to Cuba that we FINALLY booked in November! We’ve both wanted to go for a long time so we are really, really looking forward to it!

Gotta scoot and pick up the bikes from Marty’s (just getting their pre-race tune-up) so Kitt and I can squeeze in a hilly ride tonight before it gets dark, then a rolly run with Danielle after.

Now that I’m feeling almost normal I’ve been slowly building back to my original training schedule. This last week has been mostly short easy runs and short, intense weight workouts. Great for the dog, she loves the trail runs but her hips can’t take any more than about half an hour, 3 times a week. Slow and steady as my lungs clear and the countdown to MOMAR comes to an end.

Friday afternoon Kitt and I took our new Doubleshot kayak from Swartz Bay to Portland Island, about 5 km towards Salt Spring Island. It took us 35 minutes (a HUGE difference between the canoe!) and was the most perfect paddling weather imaginable. We caught a few ferry wakes and tried to surf, which was a blast! It was 4pm when we got over to the island, so we leisurely set up our tent, made camp and sat and read our books in the peace and quiet.

Last time we were on Portland we were beseiged by racoons opening our bags, trying to steal our food, and just being a big pain in the butt. This time, however, no nosey wildlife and the full moon was stunning. At 11pm Kitt and I were still awake, walking out on the beach at low tide in our bare feet and it was still light enough to read. It was amazing, just the kind of escape and recharge we needed. As we crawled back into bed, we saw the only racoons of the trip: a mother and her 2 babies ambled right in front of our tent on their way to the shore where they ate shellfish for the next 20 minutes (it sounded like fingernails on a chalk board!!) It was the cutest thing in the world, the babies were the size of grapefruits with bushy tails! As the moon set around 4am it turned fiery red and sunk behind the trees. I’ve never seen anything like it.

When we woke up the sun was blazing and it was hot. We puttered around for a few hours, ate breakfast and packed up camp. Around 130pm we put in and paddled back to Swartz Bay. I would love to see whales one day, at a distance tho! We came home to a very happy dog, until we discovered that she had eaten a spare bike pedal that we had left out. Kitt got mad and Panda looked so incredibly sheepish that we had to laugh. Panda doesnt usually eat things unless she is royally miffed so we put it down to her being mad that we left her with a dogsitter for the night. We nursed our sunburns over a movie and dinner, then fell into bed.

Now that we are both feeling better we are going to try and salvage the last of our season. Lots of high spin miles on the bikes, and then the highlight of the week on Thursday: paddling out to Portland Island again, running the 10km trail around it, then paddling back to Swartz Bay. I can’t wait!

The Week In Review:
Tuesday Sept 9th - 25 min hilly run
Wednesday Sept 10th - XFit workout
Thursday Sept 11th - 25 min hilly run
Friday Sept 12th - paddled out to Portland Island
Saturday Sept 13th - paddled back to Swartz Bay
Sunday Sept 14th - 2 hr road ride
Monday Sept 15th - 2 hr road ride (planned)

Yep, I’m sick. And not the ’sneeze politely into a small tissue’ kinda sick, but the ‘hide your face in a paper bag’ kind of sick. I hate being sick. I hate this particular bug even more because it’s pre-MOMAR crunch time and not only have I wasted 6 days by being out of commission, I have given the bug to Kitt as well! In one foul swoop team Marty’s Mountain Cycle is confined to bed, chicken noodle soup and large novels for entertainment. Poor Panda just sits at the foot of the bed, looking out at the stellar weather outside and sighs a lot. Come to think of it, we’ve all been sighing a lot!

I think Kitt’s right about this race, we’ll do it just to get to the after party! Serious racing to come next year!

Monday Sept 1st - much needed rest day (hmmm… the prelude of things to com!)
Tuesday Sept 2nd - 1hr paddle with Kitt, 45 min run with Rosheen, 20 min run with Danielle
Wednesday Sept 3rd - slept
Thursday Sept 4th - slept
Friday Sept 5th - slept
Saturday Sept 6th - slept some more
Sunday Sept 7th - managed to drag myself out of bed to go to work
Monday Sept 8th - scheduled rest day

During Friday’s glorious rest day I happened to glance at my daytimer: one month till the Cumberland MOMAR! Time to crank it up a notch for our final event of the season! Our 3 days riding Hornby, plus getting up adnormally early for work on Friday left me a little more tired than usual. I remember sighing and starting to get annoyed with myself that I haven’t put in as much paddling practice as I wanted, but too late to worry about that! The trade off is that my single track skills have improved by leaps and bounds this year, so I will settle (grudgingly) for being a competent beginner paddler only till after the race is over.

Saturday I spun to work on my mountain bike. It was a little odd riding with a pack filled with tupperware containers of food and a full change of clothes, but it was a perfect day and I enjoyed myself. From my house to work it was 50 minutes (a full 5 minutes faster than the first time I rode to work a few weeks ago), and I had a nice spin going probably 90 percent of the time. On my lunch break I rode back home and Kitt (who had just got off work) rode out to meet me half way. At the 20 minute mark we found each other and turned for home. Kitt led as I practiced drafting in a pace line, but I found myself out of the draft more often than in it (just not confident enough to sit 5 inches off someone’s back tire yet!). All in all, we got home in 40 minutes…. Wow, a full 10 minutes faster than I’ve ever done. Granted my legs were Jell-O but my sense of accomplishment overshadowed the pain! I showered, changed, and unfortunately had to go back to work till 3am.

Sunday morning my alarm had it’s work cut out for it trying to get my butt out of bed. 0820 and I wondered in my hazy brain why on earth I was getting up after 4 and a half hours of sleep. Then I remembered I had promised a co-worker to run with him in a poker run at the Running Room in Broadmead. Oh great! All in all I actually showed up on time, got my number and Shawn and I were off. The course was beautiful, from the store out on Lochside Trail to Mattick’s Farm and back. I had always wondered how far it was from my house to the Farm (great bakery) and now I know! Slow and low, that is the tempo! It was an LSD day for me so I had a great time chatting and trying to keep Shawn’s mind off the fact that he very bravely decided to “off the couch” this fun run. Not so long ago I was in his shoes (about 8 months ago to be exact!) and fervently depending on Rosheen to talk me around Elk Lake! We came in a little over an hour (it was so weird to feel like I was just getting warmed up and could have gone on for a LOT longer!) and a cookie, some new socks (that I bought) and cuppa Gatorade and I was out on the lawn in the sunshine waiting for door prizes. The first one drawn was a $25 gift card to Thrifty’s. My tummy gave a loud rumble so I remarked, (loudly to all those that had the unfortunate luck to hear my stomach) that if I won I would promptly walk the 100m over to Thrifty’s and eat my way thru the cheese and sushi sections. Lo and behold, I won it! There was quite a few giggles from the area where I was standing but what a great return on a $10 race fee!!

Today was another great rest day. Finished most of our errands left over from the wedding and I napped quite a bit in anticipation of working late tonight. I feel a bit like a T-Rex right now tho: everything that crosses my path I get my teeny arms on and shove into my mouth. And I mean EVERYTHING!! What better day to get back on track than the first of the month?