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