Winter?! Really? You for real?!

It's winter here, but I don't believe it. I told Tunes I was going to make a blog post and asked her if there was anything in particular she wanted me to include. she said to mention how beautiful the weather is here. I was going to do a typical update on the week's events, but she's right, this weather warrants its own entry and special dedication/shout out. It's been friggin' beautiful here. This is the type of weather that is PERFECT for training in, or just for going out for a walk. It's about 18 - 20C here daily and SUNNY! I mean it doesn't get much better than that. It's 2/3 through winter (picture like end of January) and I was out in shorts and a tshirt earlier on a walk to pay some rent. It's BEAUTIFUL. I went for a 22.5k run this morning in shorts and a super light singlet and was sweatin' bullets! True, I was out from 10:45 - 12:25, but I mean this is winter baby! Sorry to gloat that our winter has been better than the Canadian summer, but daaaaaaamn, it's niiiiiiice.

So on to my normal mundane section where I update everyone, who probably could care less, about the past few days of my uneventful life. This week was BUSY. Lots of school (20 hours + homework and some group stuff) and lots of training also (to keep me sane, of course). It's either training or eating, I think I'm making the healthier choice, though that's up for discussion. :) I've done 3 swims this week! Mon, Wed, Fri, AWESOME! so happy to be back in the pool. And I've done all of my other scheduled workouts (bike / run) and 3 weights workouts. Tomorrow I'll 2 hours on the trainer and then hit weights with Jerry in the late afternoon.

Now I'm going to read chapters 7 & 8 in our textbook for "Learners with Special Needs". It was $98, but there's one on the kitchen table that nobody is using right now (it's 4PM and 3/4 of the house is asleep) so I'll go knock off some reading. People are sleeping because they are ill! Kym got sick (probably because last week she went out Thursday AND Saturday drinking to the point of puking) and then gave it to Michelle (who she shares a room with) and now Julia woke up this morning with a cold. GREEEEAT. I'm pounding Vit C like it's my job and doing whatever I can to make sure Jubee gets better ASAP!

Ok, reading time.

Balance

Gettin' it back in my life. No "nigglies" that are keeping me from anything, and I'm now just looking forward to the Ironman in Dec in Busselton. This means I gotta get my butt to the pool! I really have to focus on swimming for a while! Getting to the pool NO LESS than 3 times per week! I also heard today that there's a tri coach that run "swim for fitness" classes (like master's) so hopefully I can get some feedback from him!

So I'm also planning this 100k run and it's coming up soon! I mean there's no real planning involved, I'm just gonna go and run it I think I have my route planned out already and have directions and such. I was talking to a guy in my program (Chris F-M) and he's interested in running a chunk of this thing with me. Through the park would be a good chunk for him to run with me, as I don't know how much Julia and Jared will be able to go with me for, so it would be nice to have some company through that part.

OK, so I started this while on the bike at like 2:30PM, it's not9:15! ahaha, it was a full day blog entry.

Class got in the way. ;)

Monday Monday

Here's a quick synopsis of today. Nothing special, just a random day, but these are the ones I'm gonna wanna remember are they not?!

I was up at 5AM. Easy to get out of bed this morning, as Ironman Lake Placid was on, and 5AM my time was 8 hours into the race for them, so most of the Pros would be finishing in the next hour and a half. We've been having a rough go at getting up early so I'm glad to have gotten out of bed and on with it pretty early. FRIG IT'S COLD AT NIGHT! We have about 4 sheets, a couple blankets and a towel or two on our bed, and they're RARELY on me! I dress in full clothing and am still freezing often throughout the night. It gets chilly in the evenings still. So anyways, I watched the race live as I got ready for school. Pretty cool! And probably my only chance to do that as most races don't have a live video feed with commentary and such and then when Kona rolls around, I'll miss it because it's in Kona, so the finish won't be til like what? 12PM our time or something, and I'll be at school! :( So anyways, random dudes placed in the men's race (not many of the big men's names race there, nor women really) but Canadian women, Tereza Macel and Samantha McGlone were first and third! Both these ladies have raced the Muskoka chase, and Tereza was at last year's Muskoka 70.3 but had major bike issues and had to drop out. Good on her! I also watched some local people finish (Barry Dimitruk, Dev Paul etc)

First up in the morning was PDHPE class and then tutorial right after, 3 hours total. Two hours of tutorial, some just working and listening, some actually doing games and being active. Right after class I hit the pool for 30 minutes, then the weights for another hour of power. Intense working out! I then went straight to my HSIE KLA class (social studies) and ate, listened for a bit and struggled to stay awake. Luckily it finished early and I have time to recoup before one more hour long class (creative arts KLA). Should be done here at 5:30PM. LOOOOOOOOOONG DAY! 6 hours of class on Mondays. It's all good though, Julia is at work so whatever, and I get some good training in between classes.

It felt great to get back in the pool, I just gotta stay consistent with it and keep it up regularly. I'm thinking 3 - 4 times per week, even if it's only 30 minutes like today. And then they have "Swim For Fitness" classes that I'll probably go to and maybe get some feedback on my stroke and such.

I've started major logistical planning for the "Operation Opera House to My House" adventure. I'm planning it for either the 8th or the 15th of August. I've chosen these dates for a couple reasons. FIRST, I want it on a Saturday, so I can have Sunday as an extra day to recover. SECOND, I want to do it soon enough before assignments start piling up, as it will take pretty much a full day from us. THIRD, I'm still a good ways from IMWA, so I can recover and get my training volume accross all three disciplines goin' again. So look out for it! It's comin'!

I also started writing a poem for Nanny for her birthday. :)

Weekend wrap

So here's a quick synopsis of the weekend.

Saturday we got up and decided to go to Sydney for the day. Hopped a train and were there for around 11AM. Did our usual walking around for 4 - 5 hours, stopping to chill out at the Opera House and then Darling harbour for a while. Julia's friend Michelle (from home) just got back so we met up with her and her Aussie bf at a mall in downtown Sydney and we grabbed some groceries at Coles and then went for coffee for a bit. Great day overall, just long train rides are a bore, we clearly don't have enough to talk about anymore! :P It's actually funny, we'll be walking down the sidewalk, both in our own little worlds and the only time we'll talk is when we get to an intersection, and then we're back off into la la land, looking around at all the cool stuff. haha.

Sunday we both went for runs. I ran 20k, decent, sore calves/shins, but ok, and Tunes ran 10k (first run since the marathon). After that we chilled for a bit, Jared and his mom stopped in after they had lunch and we had a quick chat about their travels.

Today I got up at 5AM and started watching IM Lake Placid. Canadian women in first and third.

I've got class at 8:30, it's just about 7AM now and I'm leaving soon for school and the pool! :)

Long day of classes today, not done til 4:30PM. :S

OH ya, and yesterday I started writing a poem for Nanny for her 90th bday. :)

I'm wearing my helmet from now on

HOLY MAGPIE BATMAN! Google it. "Magpies" and read the wikipedia description, particulary their interaction with humans and "swooping". I ALMOST DIED! On the way home from the gym one came at me from behind, giving me a "warning". I was unsure what happened at first, but looked back and saw the bird nearby, realized it was a magpie and knew that this may be "swooping season". I was scared shitless and went as fast as possible to the pedestrian bridge which is covered but it swooped at me one more time, close. Both times it gave me that warning that they describe as second I guess in intensity, a "close" swoop. WOW! I was terrified! haha...
I know I should be wearing my helment anyways, but scouts honour I'll be wearing it now!

Today I ran 15km. Lovely weather.

Brian the Runner

Haha. It's never been so evident. It's quite funny actually how my identity has come to be around here. I met a girl last night, an Aussie that's in my program. I recognized her but didn't know her name or anything, she introduced herself and asked if I was int eh program and I said ya, I'm in Primary, so's she. Bla bla bla. She asks what my name is, I say Brian. She says, oh.... "Brian the runner?" .... ya. haha. Also, a teacher who knows Jared from prac and knows the girls from the thailand prac somehow knows me also, as Brian the crazy runner/super fit guy. When the guys try to razz me for not going out, they're all like "oh he's gotta run like a marathon in the morning"... I like it. haha. I was taking out the garbage and overheard one of them say "marathons? dude, marathons are nothing to this guy!" ahaha I was also deeply entrenched in a conversation with a couple of the guys who couldn't wrap their heads around the thought that I'd be running from the Opera House to my House, 100k, all in one shot. I like this identity, I like that people know me for this. It makes me very different from the rest of 'em, and I like that. Michelle Majovsky was also saying that she was talking to someone about me, who had heard of me. hahaha... I find it funny, flattering, and makes me proud no doubt. It's kinda like my quiet way of expressing my true self. I just go out and do things, and then others do the boasting for me. :)

OK, well it's 7:26AM here, class is at 8:30AM, nobody here is up, pretty sure they came in at like 3 - 4AM, heard I THINK Kym barfing for a while so I'm not holding my breath that she'll be coming this morning. I guess I'm on my own. Grab some gym clothes to hit it up after class and then come home and run!

PS - So now I'm definitely "pot committed" (poker term) with this 100k run thing. Too many people know about it to bail on it. I guess I don't realize how many people read my facebook status! :P

PFD

PFD... Passion, Focus, Dedication. I made this accronym up myself a few years back, summarizing three core values that I strive for in myself. Regardless of the domain, sport, school, work, relationships. If you show passion in your work, in your actions, for your friends and how you go about life, you'll find a lot more joy in the simple things. If you remained focused in everything you do, you really stay in the moment, and get everything out of it that you can. If you're dedicated to something or someone, you'll do whatever it takes to satisfy the goal, or achieve what you've set out to do. That was random.



I love writing. Dunno why, probably because my brain NEVER shuts up. I can't stand watching useless TV shows so my imagination never really shuts off. It's always goes 110% full out, and in all sorts of directions. Must be the ADD. I like the ADD now, it's never really held me back from achieving what I have, and it got me $2000 free money from the government! Anyways, I love writing. I know I'll never be able to make a living doing it because my thoughts are always all over the place, though I'd love to learn how to write properly. Writing journal articles would be super cool, especially if it were about something to do with triathlon or running or the like. I never really would write like this before this year, other than for school and race reports!



Today's interview:

Had my group interview today at Bunnings, there were 13 of us, ages ranged from 13 - 65. I think I did super well, and FULLY expect one of the 1 or 2 call backs out of this. If I was successful I'll get a face-to-face interview and then maybe a job offer. I mean, not to sound cocky, but I was BY FAR the best one there. Some had more experience in trades but none had anywhere near my skills in customer service, you cold just tell and I'm sure the interviewers were impressed. :)

anyways, that's it! Gotta go put this thing away and get ready for Kym's party.... here, not by choice, but about 20ish people will be coming over for a bit, making a mess no doubt and leaving for the bar.

... so that's prettttttyyyyy coooool

I had my first class this morning of "Learners with special needs". We talked briefly about how the course would go and assessment tasks and such, a basic overview. Then we got right into a little lecture action. Prof briefly discussed a variety of learning disabilities including Autism and ADHD. We also watched this horrifically sad video called "Bulgaria's Abandoned Children". So sad to see. It made me think a lot! I came home and wrote the following email to my prof:

Hi there!

I must say that I rather enjoyed your lecture this morning and look forward to this course quite a bit. How's that for some early ass kissing? Just kidding. In all seriousness though, I've yet to be that engaged in any course to date, probably because I was "diagnosed" with ADHD while in year 6 and have grown up with it and all that it involves. I'd been written off by more than a few teachers in elementary and high school but I think I've succeeded academically on account of strong expectations placed on me by my parents and their unwillingness to allow me to use said "disability" as an excuse for poor results or behaviour at school. Today you turned on a HUGE light bulb in my head as to a correlation between my ADHD and my ability to and PASSION for multi-tasking! Most of my day involves multi-tasking of some sort, usually as a means to save time. It's a great point of pride for me that I feel I can concentrate on and complete a number of tasks at once. I always thought it was because I take on so much in my life that I adapted that way as a means to save time! As we speak I'm on my bike trainer at home getting in a cycling workout, all the while typing this email. I loved my part time job as a cook because it forced me to work quickly but maintain focus on a number of different tasks/responsibilities. I would have never guessed that these qualities were in the least bit related to ADHD, so that's pretty cool!

Secondly, in watching that video and listening to you mention over and over again about the importance of focusing on what people with disabilities CAN do and not what they can't, one particular story stuck in my mind. This is the ultimate opposite side of the story as what we saw today, and highlights all the positives of thinking the way you would want us to. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if you've seen this video before but I'm not sure how popular it is outside the world of triathlon and ultra-endurance. It's the story of Rick and Dick Hoyt, and whenever I need a little bit of inspiration for my own training, I watch this video. Rick is the perfect example of what people with disabilities are capable of, both physically and academically if they are given the same opportunities as everyone else, and if those around them focus on CAN. So if you're unfamiliar with this story and have 10 minutes to spare I highly recommend it! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flRvsO8m_KI&feature=PlayList&p=E83E548A21580508&index=10

See you next week,
Brian


To which he replied:

Brian, Thanks for the e-mail. The e-mail has inspired me to continue with the enthusiasm and joy I have in giving lectures knowing that you just hope a difference can be made.

You and I have a lot in common! I too have grown up with the condition and managed to work around the 'problems' that were caused during school to succeed in education. However, the frustration is that many don't (we are the lucky ones) and it is not because of the ADHD that many don't succeed, it is because many of the past school/classroom strategies do not cater for these students (hence why majority of people see these children and BAD). Is it such as bad condition to have? I actually am pleased 'now' for having it as there are many good things about 'us' that are due to having the condition. It is just frustrating to see many of these children written off before they have started in life.

Thanks for sending the link...I am not aware of it 'yet' but will have a look at it tonight. I truly hope you do enjoy the subject and learn from it to make you a better teacher.

Good luck for this semester and please feel free to contact me to discuss this further.

Kind Regards

Stuart



......... so that's pretttyyyyy coooooooool

My life story would be entitled: A Beautiful Chaos

haha. So many things, all the time. So many dreams, so much going on. I've grown so much in the past year, with eerything I've been able to experience. I owe so much of it to Mom and Dad and Julia, and all our family. I change a litle bit with every experience. It'll be one calendar year in a month, since I raced Ironman Canada in Penticton. With everything I experience, I dream more, I dream bigger. I'm sorry, that's who I am. If I can achieve A, I can achieve A+1 and then I'll achieve that and realize that I can achieve A+2. See how that works?

Random Timeline:
August 2007:
Move out of home to Daly

September 2007:
Start back at school in nutrition program
Step down as manager of Bayshort to go to assistant manager at Kanata with Matt
Matt leaves so I move to assistant manager of Orleans as I didn't like the new manager they hired in Kanata

November 2007:
Left GNC after almost 5 years for Popeye's

December 2008:
On my birthday: got my tattoo, which still means so much to me, AND found out from Team Diabetes that I had to do everything in 2008 rather than 2009 as I had originally signed up for

March 2008:
Had Team D dinner at Coasters Seafood in Market, raised the majority of my target, from family and friends

April 2008:
Move to Huntsville, finding a place and jobs thanks to Jody and Carole. :)

May 2008:
Temporarily moving home and going back to work at Popeye's as my job at Deerhurst didn't start til the end of May.
Running my first marathon, moving back to Huntsville and starting my life there

June - Mid August:
Train and race around Ontario (Huntsville, Peterborough, Ottawa) and see Julia and the fam run a 10k on Canada Day!

August 24th:
A dream come true. Raced and completed my first Ironman. It was a dream day, couldn't have asked for anything more. My own achievement was awesome, but I'll NEVER ever forget that feeling of seeing people finish til all hours of the night. I have goosebumps right now. It made me want to live in Penticton, so that I can experience that feeling every year.

September 14th, 2008:
Raced Muskoka 70.3. Was proud to be a part of this inaugural event. Was proud that it was in my "hometown" and my place of work was hosting it! It gave me a sort of "behind the scenes" experience and a great sense of pride when my results were posted in the back hallway of the resort.

October - January:
PLANNING, PLANNING, PLANNING. Getting ready for the greatest adventure of our lives.

January to now:
Australia day aquathon and day in Sydney
Mojo Surf trip in Crescent head
6 Foot marathon at Blue mountains
Volunteering at Ironman Port MacQuarie, the first Ironman I ever saw on television, and what got me excited about and interested in attempting the distance.
Bali, an amazing experience, THIRD continent I've been in!
Canberra <-- Julia and Jared's first half marathon!
Gold Coast <-- Julia's first marathon, and seeing her realize the same things I have. it's achievable, and so is so much more! And she wants more! :)

Beyond this we try to take advantage of every moment we have here. We go on countless walks around town, to the beach, wherever. It's half over already and we don't want to waste a minute.

A few years ago I would have NEVER thought I was capable of running a marathon, let alone preceeding it with 3.8km of swimming (aka WWF wrestling) and 180 cycling through mountains and valleys. I did it. Not only did I do it, but as I crossed the finish line, I was literraly thinking about how to go faster, or farther. See, I tend to give myself about 2 minutes to basque in my glory of accomplishing my goal and then I'm thinking of bigger and better. After that I looked towards coming here and doing this education thing, making it all work wasn't the easiest, but mom and dad helped out massive (and continue to do so). Moving ot the other side of the planet ain't the easiest thing to do, but it's achievable when you have the kind of support crew I have, in family and Julia. i'm really not sure if I'd have had the confidence to come over here if I didn't have Julia on my team. She gives me the confidence to tackle all sorts of things, because I always have this feeling that no matter what, no matter hard I fall, or fail at something I have her and she's what matters most to me, so life is always good. So coming here was a big deal for sure, but at the same time it wasn't, and just like IMC, now that we're here and settled it doesn't seem like the huge, impossible, outta this world idea. Then I saw this marathon called the 6Foot Track marathon in the Blue Mountains, "Australia's Toughest Marathon". WOW! I FRIGGIN' DID IT MAN! And did alright also! I want more! I want to go further! I want to go faster! I never feel more alive then when I'm at that point where I'm about to break, mentally and decide not to quit. I crave that moment. I crave that feeling at the moment of realization that what I thought might be my breaking point, isn't. So now the impossible challenge is to run from the Opera House to My House, 100km, Goal: 10 Hours. Will I break? Maybe, but I doubt it, because others have done it, so I can too. Then next year, next September, I'm going to try and run 220km in 24 hours. :)

Wanna know a secret? I've started a bucket list. You know like in the movie. I've started writing down a list of achievements, or a list of things I want to do and see before I die. Maybe I'll achieve all of them, maybe I'll achieve some of them. We'll see. The list includes a mix of basic things like marry the girl of my dreams (Julia), have kids, have a solid job that I enjoy and can find meaning and purpose in. But it also includes HUGE dreams. One of my biggest dreams, which I'm pretty hell bent on accomplishing by some point in my life, is to start my own charity, and raise $1,000,000. I have a rough idea of what my charity will be about. I've learnt a ton about the sociology of education this year. It forces you to be a little less ignorant to the socio-economic nature of education, and how children of the privileged society have so many more educational resources than those who are in a lower income bracket. I want my charity to help give some less fortunate kids the same chance as anyone else. I've appreciated my own opportunities that I've been afforded in education because of where I come from and who my mom and dad are and I think every kid is born with the same potential and this is a huge limiting factor what a person can make of their life. A quote from one of my textbooks says something like "a person's socio-economic standing has much to with the making of their life". That makes no sense, but it's something like that. What you're born into, in terms of social class has a huge impact on what you can achieve in life, more or less. Anyways, that's what I want to do. I figure, if I can get company's to donate say a dollar a lap for my race next september and I manage to run that 220k, that's over 500 laps! If I can get a bunch of those types of pledges, just imagine the motivation I'll have to run just ONE MORE LAP!

I dream big, I know. My thoughts are completely random, and chaotic. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Julia gets off work in 3 mintues. I gotta get down there to meet her!

You have 16 Weeks to Finish this Program...

And your time starts, NOW! Haha, Masterchef.

Speaking of Masterchef, it's over. It's over and now we officially have NOTHING to look forward to every night but Saturday! (it wasnt on on Saturdays). In an absolutely indredible finish, OUR favourite, and probably the overall sympathetic fan favourite won! WOW. Last Monday there were 6, and of those 6 I didn't think she had a CHANCE! But she pulled through! Amazing. The sweetest lady ever, and you can't help but get choked up a bit when she speaks of how much this means to her, and her goals for the future, and her family and her passion for cooking. It's inspiring. As the winner Julie gets $100,000 and a Publishing deal for a cookbook. How awesome is that?! We'll definitely buy the cookbook when it comes out, for a number of reasons. Out of ALL the contestants, her recipes and her approach to cooking is the most "homelife like" if that makes sense. Her recipes are things you could cook up at home, AND see in a fancy restaurant, given beautiful presentation. Also, I've never been so involved in a television show, that wasn't sports, in my entire life! We looked forward to it EVERY single night and when we missed a show, we'd watch in on the net. This show will be a part of our memories of this adventure, as odd as that may sound.

ANYWAYS. So the other half of that title suggest that I have 16 weeks left! today I start a new batch of classes, 11 weeks long, then we have a 5 week professional experience and then we are DONE. WOW! Did I blink!? This has gone incredibly fast. This term I have classes Mon - Friday, no days completely off, but lots of breaks on those days. Tuesdays I don't start til later, Fridays I'm done at like 11:30AM, so it ain't half bad. I'm gettin' back on the 4:30AM train. Up at 4:30, eat, BM, train and get ready for class at 8:30AM. Once in that routine, 4:30AM ain't half bad. Today will be a long day. Class from 8:30 - 9:30, the a tutorial (gym class!) from 9:30 - 11:30, then I'm going to hit the gym for an hour, then we have a program meeting from 12:30 - 1:30, then we have lecture from 1:30 - 3:30, break for an hour and class from 4:30 -5:30. WOOOOOO WEEEEEEEEEEE! Did I pack enough food? I hope I don't bonk! Mondays will be brutal, but normally I won't have the meeting at 12:30.

I have that group interview thing on Thursday at Bunnings so hopefully THAT goes well 'cause I NEED SOMETHING! It's driving me insane.

Shoot 'em up, shoot 'em up bang bang

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A stroll to Figtree

Today I got up at 5:30 AM. Trying to get my body back in the routine of getting up early to train. Well i got up, had my two cups of coffee, did my usual email stuff and then right on cue was on the can by like 7. After I finished up in there I came out and saw lil Tunes just sleepin' away. I couldn't help but climb back in bed and snuggle her up. I/we slept til 8:50! So much for that. Now I won't be tired around 9PM like I should be to get in my 7ish hours of sleep! OH welllll....

So we decided to go for a walk to the Figtree mall today. Last time we were there was when we had the car the weekend that we went to the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves for my 6Foot Marathon race. It's a pretty decent mall, but about 5k away so we normally don't bother. Today we decided to take a nice long walk through Kieraville and West Wollongong to Figtree and go to the mall there. Lots of cool houses and hills that provided both a challenge to climb up as well as magnificent views from the top. On the way we came accross a bike shop that I couldn't help but go in, gorgeous bikes ($11, 000 for one of 'em). We got to the mall, did some wandering around, Jubes went to KMart and I went to the News Agency to read Triathlon magazines for 20 minutes. Then we met back up, grab some food from Wooly's (1kg of Pears and a box of granola bars, $4.30).

Then we headed home and took another slightly different, slightly quicker route. Saw a helicopter land on the roof of the hospital and wheel someone in, that was cool, for us, probably not the dude on the stretcher. The walk was just shy of 3 hours in total. Very niice.

We're home now, havin' lunch. Me: tuna burger and a bowl of cocoa mini wheats, Tunes: Pumpkin and squash, and some hummous and bread.

After lunch we're gonna head to Wooly's to grab some food (in need of milk, yogurt, cottage, eggs, theeeee usual). Jubers works tonight at the buffet and I'm gonna put some miles in on the bike.

LOVE FOR ALL!

Heaps and heaps of miles...

Well it's been over a week since I've last entered something into here, and I know mom is a faithful reader and I don't want her to check my blog only to be disappointed, so I better put something up quick!

This past week. Stuff has gone on, nothing extraordinary, the normal mundane sorta stuff I guess... a few cool things, we'll see.

We got home and settled and back into a routine of sorts here, but I have no job, no school and no running shoes (that are worthy of running in). I put 11 hours on the trainer this week, that's a lot. Julia worked a few days and the days that she didn't, we both did some looking for job stuff. I called Rebel, and was basically told to hang tight for a while and they'll see what's up next time they want to hire. Whatever. I have another interview next week at Bunning's Warehouse (Home Depot!) which I think would be cool to work at, and it's super close to home which is pretty cool too, not that Rebel is far, 3 minute walk vs 6.

You know, I love to run. I also like to take things to the extreme. I'm a different kind of breed and I understand that most don't understand me, luckily Tunes does. Well right now I SHOULD be having a chat with Ray Zahab, he ran accross the Sahara Desert, averaging two marathons per day for 111 days, then ran to the south poll, in I think 25 days (fastest ever).... The man is a legend. We had been trying to plan a skype date of sorts, as I had some questions to ask about something I'm considering........ Mom, are you sitting down???? To Ray it's pretty routine (as he's about to do a "training" run from Montreal to Ottawa (~200k)... all I wanna do is HALF that! Sydney Opera House home, that's all. It's been done before and is measured to be around 100k, on MOSTLY paved/dirt paths and sidewalks. I'd have Julia and Jared with me on mountain bikes, and some people on webforums have offered to run bits of it with me, to make sure I don't get lost. There's a website I found with the route and I've gone through it a few times with google earth to get it right in my head. I think I'm going to do this! See how something that pops into my head, seemingly out of nowhere, and while most people would laugh to themselves at the thought, I actually explore it as a possible adventure. BEST PART IS IT'S FREE! No entry fees WHATSOEVER. Just a one-way train ride to Sydney the morning of (4:30AM train) and then we get ourselves home! I've been mulling this over for a while now, and I certainly have a lot of unused energy and fitness built up from training for the marathon that I couldn't do. That's sorted out now and the leg is good. See, I want to make this part of who I am. I want to be just like Ray! haha. I think it's special that your hero is willing to talk to you on the phone and help you out, not many athletic superstars of his caliber are so generous with their time. I'm loving teaching, I love the kids, I love the atmostphere and I love the experiences I've had in the classroom, seeing kids learn and grow. I've also learnt a lot about the socio-economics of education and how some kids, simply because of the socio-economic situation that they're born into simply never get the same opportunities for learning (duh) as those that have the means to obtain more education resources (better schooling, better learning equipment, technologies, experiences etc). I want to be able to use my athletics to bridge this gap, to somehow help kids that are "less fortunate" have the same rich educational experiences and opportunities as those kids that are afforded these opportunities. Every kid has the same potential, and should be given the same opportunities and I'd love to be able to make some of those opportunities a reality, at least for some. Ray does a lot of work with schools and with students and I'd love to be able to join him with some of the stuff he does, so this sort of stuff is a way to prove myself to HIM athletically, so he'll give me the opportunity to maybe join in some of his ventures.

............. ok well it's 9:36PM, he was supposed ot call me on skype 36 minutes ago! Ray is officially a JACKASS! haha...

OH... and next year I have another race lined up. Another ridiculous race. Another race that would make most people just shake their heads and again ask "why?" There's no glory in this race at all. No medals (I don't think), no real crowds or fan support (I had never heard of it until recently) and it's not exactly scenic either! But what it IS is an opportunity to REALLY see what I'm made of. If this event doesn't break me mentally (because it will CERTAINLY break me down physically, a few times) then NOTHING can. It's in September and only $150 to join. It's at the Terry Fox atheltic centre, out on the oval (400M track). You start running laps at 8AM on Saturday, and stop running laps at 8AM on Sunday. ......"Aw Brian, that's not healthy!" for some reason I just heard mom saying that in my head. Nah, probably not, but I'll survive it. People do a lot more unhealthy things than that, and they don't learn a damn thing from it. This is a race I think I can win. Last year's winner ran 212k. I think I can beat that. Millions and millions of people participate in running races, millions of people run marathons, thousands and thousands do Ironman, thousands do ultras, few do stuff like this. I want to be a part of those few, and I want to do it, not only for myself, but for the benefit of others. OH OH OH. And did I mention that Tunes wants to be a part of this stuff too?! Not the 24hour thing, she wants no part of that, but she wants to be a part of the adventures of the future, running and raising awareness together! AND I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO FORCE IT ON HER!

Anyways, dont' worry, I know why I'm here. School starts back up on Monday and I'm excited! These next 10 weeks or so should be much easier than the first half, as we have one LESS course than last term and we actually have PDHPE (gym and health) as a class! BOOYA! First thing monday morning we are in our gym clothes! Post grad class where I get to be in my gym clothes?! I'LLLL TAKE IT!

GOTTA RUN! TUNES IS HOME AND SHE GETS MY FULL ATTENTION! LOVE FOR EVERYONE!

Brian

A half marathon.... with LUGGAGE! :)

We had to check out of the hotel by 10am on wednesday and our flight wasn't until 8:50PM. we had nothing to do and didn't want to go to the mall and just sit around, so we decided to walk the 20k or so to the airport, with ALL of our stuff.

Other than carrying the extra 20 - 25 pounds it was quite an enjoyable walk. Mostly all along the ocean so beautiful views for most of it. It was windy though, and directly in our faces, so that made it a little tougher also. We took plenty of breaks as we were making great time.

We got to the airport right around 4PM and were TIRED and sore. I slept for about an hour, very uncomfortable, and then we checked in around 7PM and waited some more. We got into Sydney at about 10PM and then had to train it home from there. We've been buying the student fares and hoping we don't get asked to show our tickets (because I don't even qualify as a student, go figure) as we would have to play dumb and hopefully get off (as we have in the past). It's a $16 savings though overall! the train sucked because it was so late that service was reduced and we had to wait about 50 minutes at Sutherland to catch our 3rd train. We got home around 1AM! Oyve what a long day!

Race Day!

Well race day is here. For Tunes anyways. She'll post her full race report, so I'll give this thing from my perspective.

We got up super early, 3:30AM. Right away, my whole job today is to make her life as simple as possible and try to make her feel at ease and feel confident before the gun goes off. I got her breakfast ready ASAP so she could get the solid food into her and get some other good stuff out. After that she sipped on some gatorade endurance and just chilled out for a while, stretching between trips to the toilet. :)

At just after 6AM we headed down to the shuttle. We were down at the race site by about 6:45AM. This is where I really start to miss the experience of being in the race, but I can't cry about it! I gotta be here for Tunes! :) She got herself ready as I took pics and I got her in the right spot in the corral. After that I ran way ahead past the start line (maybe 100m) and waited for her to pass. I got a sweet video of her going by and giving my a high five! :)

After they went by I started walking up towards the bridge, the route they were running. As I came up to the bridge I could see that they were turning left onto a road, so I looked at a map and saw that if I ran (or at least gave it a shot) I could take a short cut and beat them to the 3k mark, so I did! I got there just in time to see her go by and she saw me too! I even got a decent shot of her in the background, just feeling confident and lookin' strong!

After she passed there I knew it would be a while before I saw her again so I walked up to the mall at Surfer's and used the internet to check emails, check her 5 and 10k splits and give people updates on facebook! :)

After I was done there I started heading up the course again, as I knew the elites would be coming through soon. I saw the leader, who had a good 15 - 20 second lead and then a few more and a few more came through. I made it up to the ~8k/22k mark and waited for Julia. She came through and I got some great video of her, as I ran along side of her for a little bit. After the video ended, I gave her some water and she gave me the bottle back. Then I sprinted ahead for about 30 seconds, stopped and braced for some photos. I put the camera on continuous which takes like a photo every second and got a bunch of great ones. I did this for literally about 3k! I managed to get some really great shots of her at different spots between 22k - 25/26k.

My leg was eventually cooked around 26k so I wished her good luck and told her I would see her at the finish!

I slowly made my way back to the finish area and watched some people come by, waiting for my little Tuna. She came through the finishing chute at around 4:10 (4:08 chip time) and I got a good photo of her there. I was so proud!

She finally came out of the finishing area and I was able to give her a hug and congratulate my little marathoner! I am so proud!

After letting her catch her breath we started looking for the shuttle to get ourselves home. She wanted gummy candy. haha, so when we were waiting for the bus, I took off runnin' around lookin' for a convenience store. I finally found one and got her her treat, but pretended I couldn't find anything until we were ACUTALLY on the bus, just to give her a little surprise.

Sunday night we went out for Indian Cuisine. Jubes is in rough condition! Like any marathoner, she's hoblin' around pretty good. Dinner was great.

After dinner we came home and I gave her a little leg massage to try and keep the blood flow movin' around in those legs, then off to bed early as it was a looooooooong day!

This morning we got up and went down to the beach early for a sunrise. We were there fore about 6AM - 7AM. It was absolutely beautiful! We took tons of great photos on the beach and found some cool shells.

Well my race is over. We just went out for a run @ 7:30AM and 1k in my leg was cooked. Lesson learned, taper means TAPER, ad I'm just TOO heavy. Now I can give Tunes my full attention though. I was a bit frustrated and emotional and probably will be again tomorrow, but it is what it is. Now I think I will run the Sydney marathon Sept 20, close to home so no travel expenses (train fare is even included in your race entry apparently) or accomodation costs, but we'll see what we can afford come then. I have til the end of August to see what the financial situation is like. :)

The rest of today is just about chillin'. We went for a walk south to a different Wooly's, grabbed a few things and headed back for Tunes to chill and get herself ready. I will do EVERYTHING I can to make her have a great day tomorrow. She now has my 110% undivided attention! :)

Today we got high... bad idea before a race? :)

Up at 4:30 AM, all the usual stuff. Chill out and decided to go to the Q Deck today. This building is the 20th tallest in the world, and to put it into perspective, the CN tower is nowhere on the list. We walked along the beach down at Surfer's and collected some shells, then walked back and went to the Q deck for 10AM when it opened. Regular price is $19. We paid $29 total! :) On the elevator and up 77 floors in 43 seconds! It felt intense!

HOLY AMAZING VIEWS! How beautiful is this?! amazing views of the coast line, beach and city in general. The city itself is beautiful with tons of finger like lakes around residential areas. Everyone has a house on the water! They look so cool from above.

After that we came back to the hotel ate and chilled for a bit, then headed down to the expo again to see what was up down there. Expo itself was lame, but we managed to sneak our way into a VIP area (for elites and media) where the press conference was going on and we got some free food and drinks! Home after than and in the hot tub for 15 mins, then sauna for 15, then back and to bed!

Not again!

SHIT! I pulled my quad, just like Canberra, but not as intense, I think I might be ok.

We did tons of walking around down by surfer's paradise, looking at shops and just seeing the sights. After that got boring we came home, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the beach for some relaxation. I decided to go for a dip in the ocean. It was supa cold, so I was in and out pretty quick. I also spent two sessions in the hot tub, hopefully helping my leg heal up a bit.

It seemed to take FOREVER for 4:30 to come. The expo is open from 5 - 8 today and I've been looking forward to getting down there to pick up race kits and see what was happening! Our bib numbers have nicknames on them that you can choose. Mine says Bizzy, Tuna's says, well, Tuna. :)

After the expo, we came home and went to bed pretty early.