The Running Diva

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Yesterday was completely off from training and singing. My brother Al was in town to receive two Lieutenant Governor awards for his excellent work during his 27 years as a police officer with the Vancouver Police (he retired last year). During his career Al has “walked the beat” in Vancouver’s drug infested downtown East side. He began taking photographs of life in the skids back in the early 1990s to educate young people about the horrors of drug addiction. To more vividly capture the nightmare drug users face daily, he replaced the still photographs with video in hopes that the explicit footage of life on the streets would really hit home. A few other officers witnessed how much impact the videos were having on the young viewers and wanted to get involved so they joined forces with Al and called themselves The Odd Squad. Since then The Odd Squad has formed their own multi-media production company. Their first award winning documentary Through a Blue Lens, gained international attention and is a candid look at the lives of six men and women and their day to day struggle with drug addiction over a 4-6 year span. The addicts speak openly about how they ended up on the street and their brutal existence, each one sharing their painful stories in hopes that others will not fall prey to their cruel reality. They have just completed a new documentary film called Tears for April. We got to see the film over the weekend and it was very powerful and moving. Check it out! Can you tell I am proud of my brother?!

I did my audition for the Victoria Symphony this morning. I think it went very well. I sang much better today than last week so at least I walked away feeling happy. Tania had me sing four out of my five pieces so I am hoping that’s a good sign…I mean if it were horrible she would have stopped me sooner, right?  I missed the IRR run at Juan de Fuca this morning so as soon as I got home from the audition I went from wearing a skirt, nylons and heels to running tights and running shoes. Al and Christiane drove out to the lakes with me and Juice and walked while we did our workouts. I had to do a 30 minute tempo while Juice did IRR’s wo from last weekend. The run for me was just ok. My breathing was high and I felt kind of stiff. I think I was a bit drained from the audition so I was working too hard. Not surprisng I guess.  I was averaging 3:45/km but would like to be closer to 3:40.

We went out for sushi for dinner at Sen Zushi and Al and Christiane said they were really impressed….a compliment because they are sushi connaisseurs!