Average Adventure Addict

Since leaving Canada on Thursday the 20th, our vacation has been nonstop, all go go go! That being said, it’s also been brilliant! Thursday morning we bundled Panda off to a kennel for the week, got to the ferry and managed to board as foot passengers with 20.6 seconds to spare, then lesiurely made our way to the Fairmont hotel in Vancouver International Airport and the relaxing began in earnest! Thank goodness too because we had to check in for our flight at 0345 in the morning…. not the best time of day for me! After we checked in we went back to our rooms, had a wonderful breakfast (or may be it just tasted wonderful at 0500!) and went thru the gates down to our departure area.

Here I decided to check my email as it was free and I was a little restless. Nothing in the ol’ inbox, I thought I’d maybe check the Dreamchaser’s website to see if there was any new info. Lo and behold, there was a link to the names of the 90 people that, (providing all entry fees were paid) were going to MdS 2010….. I clicked on it…. Scrolled down…. And found my name and my sisters!!!! Talk about a shock to the system!!! Then I called Danielle at home, at 0545, to tell her that she was in. I think she was excited, but who can tell that early in the morning?? Also, in hindsight, probably not the best to find out that you are starting to train for a 250+ km ultra as you are getting on the plane for a week-long all-inclusive!! Aside from Danielle and I there are 2 other guys from Victoria going, Rob McKay and Don Peterson. Be nice to see a familiar face there I’m sure!

Once we flew into Varadarro, got to the resort and unpacked, it really hit home that we were here to relax and do nothing but read and sun tan if we so wished. That notion lasted for all of 15 minutes as soon as we woke up the next morning! Kitt and I motored around the resort till we knew it like that back of our hand, tried to sit, got the squirmy “let’s go do something” after 5 minutes and we went all around.

Our resort is right on a fantastic coral reef and the snorkelling is to die for. On our first foray out we came into contact with a group of large silver fish, Bahama Carp, and one came up to Kitt, bit his fin and took the fin right off his foot and swam away with it! Needless to say he’s not so keen on snorkelling anymore! After a few days of eating, sunning and improving our ping-pong game, we went into Havana for 2 days. Such a beautiful and depressing city. The people are wonderful but are so oppressed and downtrodden. As soon as we get home on Sunday I’ll post some photos. Now we are back at the resort and getting lots of paddling in. Compared to our boat at home the sit-on-top kayaks here are like tug boats but we are still racing each other and practicing surfing on the breakers.

Well, my internet card is almost expired and it’s ridiculously expensive, so I’ll write more from the Vancouver Airport on our way home!

The last week has been full to the brim with work, training and preparing for our holiday. The weather cooperated a little and Kitt and I were able to get in some great training up and around Mt Doug. Sunday was the highlight for me, up to Yuri’s house for one of his FANTASTIC dinners and a great visit before he left for Russia again. I wish I could learn to cook like a Russian, the food is brilliant! Every time we are at his house I am glued to kitchen watching, trying to pick up recipes, tips and tricks.

My shifts at work have been all over the place so I’ve been trying to squeeze in my workouts whenever I find a free block of time. I’m fortunately still getting outside a lot (with Panda, Kitt and Danielle in tow!), which makes it far easier for me to stay motivated! Last night was a goodbye party for Rosheen at Irish Times (Strongbow makes partings easier for a short time!) I wish I could have stayed longer but getting up early this morning for work would have been even more difficult if I had stayed! At least she will be back on weekends and we can catch up then. Until then: miss you lots Rosheen!!!

Kitt ended off his night shifts before his month long holiday with a bang. Literally. While riding to work with a friend on Wednesday night, in the rain, they got doored. Fortunately neither of them were seriously injured but they’ll both be sore for the next few days. To all non-cyclists out there in Victoria: Look BEFORE you open your doors.

Our honeymoon starts Thursday morning heading over to Vancouver for our 0700 departure Friday morning. All goes well and we should be on the beach by 6pm Friday evening!! Hopefully the hurricane that just blew thru there didn’t disturb too much. The satellite photos I was looking at show it crossing the southernmost part of the island and our resort is up on the northern tip in between Havana and Varradaro. My fingers are crossed that we will be able to do lots of snorkelling and hiking at our remote little hide-away! I’ve squirrelled away 4 new novels (a big accomplishment for me!) that are just begging me to read them from a reclining beach chair with a fresh fruit juice in my other hand…. Almost a year after alcohol poisoning and I still can’t stomach anything but wine and beer. Fine by me! Makes me a cheaper date when we eat out and saves me the trouble of trying to not spill a martini!

Still waiting to hear about MdS. Hopefully something comes thru before we leave so I don’t continue my daily routine of obsessively checking my email and the Dreamchaser website. Aside from the quick email to family to let them know we have arrived, we plan on just relaxing and doing our own thing, when we want. 6 more sleeps!

The Dreamchaser’s website (official Canadian rep for the Marathon des Sables) says the results of thier lottery for the Canadian 2010 race spots will be available in mid November. I’m holding out that it will be posted earlier rather than later, but only because patience is not one of my virtues! Danielle and I are both waiting to hear, it will determine a few of our winter activites and whether or not we take extra jobs to start saving the $3600 entrance fee each, plus flights to and from Morocco. I’ve really wondered about MdS, having never done a marathon, let alone an ultra. I have a love-hate relationship with the billing ‘Toughest Race on Earth.’ Will it be too tough? If we make it thru the lottery and are lucky enough to actaully end up on the starting line, do we have the mental toughness to succeed? But then again, nothing of worth ever came without pain and sacrifice. How awesome would it be to pit yourself against 250+ km of the most desolate terrain in the world and finish? You’ve got to love my sister, she is game to train, suffer and come along for the ride. The only thing she made me promise was to never leave her behind, and there isn’t, and never has been, any danger of that! The experience would be monumental. Only 2 more weeks, (fingers crossed!) and we will be put out of (or into!) our misery!!

Life and training has been interesting since I posted last. Rosheen and I met up last Tuesday for a killer hill workout, followed by weights and core exercises. As I lay in bed discussing our plans for the day, I felt great, having just gotten off night shift and slept soundly for 4 or 5 hours. As soon as we got out the door and started to run towards Mt Doug I felt like crap. A big pile of tired crap with a heart rate thru the roof!! That being said, I had one of the best workouts of my life! I had 4 very solid hill repeats, even managing to hang onto to Rosheen’s heels for the 3rd and 4th lap. It has never happened to me before, but I was getting stronger with each repeat. After an hour of weights and core I was ready to go back to sleep again!

Rosheen and I made plans to meet again the next morning for a lap of Elk Lake and when 0745 rolled around the next morning I almost didn’t roll out of bed with it! I was sooooooo sore! I managed to get to the parking lot on time (a miricle for me in the early morning!) and we were off. Rosheen is headed off to vocational school in Vancouver on the 15th for the next 6 months and I will miss her terribly! Chatting and laughing the whole way, the run was starting off great, until, around the 4th or 5th km, I rolled my left ankle REALLY badly. At first I didn’t feel anything, but within half a dozen strides I was walking. Hmmm… The great thing, (or bad thing!) about Elk Lake is that once you start, there is no short cut back home! It’s either go all the way around or turn around and retrace your steps. And now here I was, in the middle of the lap with a fat cankle! So, instead of doing the smart thing and accepting Rosheen’s offer to go grab the car and come get me, I chose to hobble the last 5 km under my own steam. I think I cursed my pride every other step and I sealed my couch surfing fate for the next 2 days.

My next day out was Friday, not being too much into Halloween, Kitt and I went to Commonwealth for a short 25 min swim. We alternated hard and easy efforts, sometimes swimming and sometimes water running. Nice and relaxing!

Saturday was another day off, crazy day at work left me zapped of all energy and I just wanted to crawl under the covers and pass out. Sunday, however, was a different story. I had made plans to take Panda for a hike with Danielle in the morning and told Danielle to call me no later than 1000 in case I had a hard time getting out of bed again. Maybe it was the time change, but I couldn’t stay in bed past 0930. I even had to wake Panda up from her sprawled position on the couch! As we got out the door the weather even cleared and the sun had us peeling off our extra insulation. The goal was to hike till my ankle started to bother me, but in the end, we tired Panda out first after 10km and numerous leaf piles jumped in. She LOVES the leaves! Cheap toys for us and right now there are tons to be raked up in the yard!

Today didn’t have the beautiful weather of yesterday, but it was awesome to get out for another 40 minute hike with no pain. I hope to be running by Wednesday, but if not, that’s ok too. The pool is such a warm alternative to the increasingly frequent bad weather that I’ll be in there more often for sure! I enjoyed water running, nice and low impact but was able to get my heart rate up as high as I liked and really felt it in my legs afterwards.

Fingers crossed about MdS - so out of my league but I honestly think Danielle and I could train for it, and maybe that’s why it appeals to me.