Thank You & Happy New Year!

Every year we hear the same tune,

"So this is Christmas, and what have you done?
Another year over, a new one just begun"

It seems to pause us into reflection and personally rewind the previous year's  experiences, and growth. With 2012 coming to a close, we look back on our 2DreamRunners inaugural year with pride, a sense of accomplishment and excitement for the new year.

What have we done?

It's always good to check in on your success from time to time, and reward yourself for your hard work. Our first year of 2DreamRunners was ambitious. Our goals were to:

1) Establish our purpose.
2) Develop a web presence
3) Formulate and execute our 2012 campaign.

Our campaign was to embark on fundraising for the Make-A-Wish Foundation B.C and Yukon. We also planned to train for and participate in 3 major events to drive our personal goals and raise money for Make-A-Wish.

So how did we do??

Our purpose is to help make dreams come true through the positive energy of health and wellness.

We have created a solid web presence with our blog and Facebook. Our blog has had just under 1200 page views of our 20 blog posts from Canada, USA, Russia, UK, Germany, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, France, and Malaysia!

On Facebook, we have 135 friends from around the world-THANK YOU for joining with us :)

1) We completed the Vancouver Marathon- Barry did his first full marathon while Karen did a half marathon.








 2) We completed the Sinister   7 ultra relay in a team of 6







3) We completed the Dublin Marathon which was Karen's first full marathon where we also had the pleasure of meeting one of our mentors, Stephen Price.

 In our Make-A-Wish campaign, with the help of many generous friends and family we raised $579 for Make-A-Wish B.C and Yukon. While we didn't get anywhere near our goal of  $8,000, we have helped Make-A-Wish by increasing awareness of what they do and raised enough to contribute to the granting of a child's wish.

We did accomplish all of our running goals combining for over 3,000 km of running and collecting a raft of medals, memories and runner's highs. Both of us ran our first marathons and with our team completed one of the toughest trail ultra-marathons in the world.

2012 was epic!

2013 is right around the corner and we have some very exciting plans and expect it to be another awesome year. We'll be posting our 2013 plans very shortly.

Until then.....

"Another year over, and a new one just begun.

 Let's hope it's a good one full of happiness and cheer!"

Karen and Whiskey (the dog)

Every morning when I wake, I have our beautiful big black dog anxiously awaiting her morning ritual of a fast pace 3.5k walk around the neighborhood. She is always ready to go. She has no excuses of why she can't make it. It doesn't matter what is going on in the day. It doesn't even matter if I am training for a marathon, the first 45 minutes of my day is spent with my best walking buddy, Whiskey.

We rescued her from the SPCA about 6 years ago . She is getting older, but still has the energy of a pup sometimes.

I have tried many times to run with her and it goes okay, but it is a little awkward. She can't go much more than 5k without fading. My form suffers a bit because I am holding the leash, and every now and again a pheasant, or an alluring smell will capture more of her attention than me. I totally expect and accept that. I mean she is a dog really, and I believe it is the best part of her day, next to eating and sleeping of course.

I've been seriously wanting to train her to run with me sometimes. At least for a little while. Ideally by the time I hit marathon training next summer I would like to be able to safely run with her for at least 5k and on my longer days I could drop her off at home and continue on to complete my mileage. This way I wouldn't be walking the dog and then running. Not that I mind doing both, but one of my intentions this year is to workout smarter.

I started researching running leashes a few weeks ago, and came across a site called irondoggy.com To my delight, they specialize in hands free running leashes and have had many outstanding reviews. They are for strong, stubborn dogs who sometimes have a mind of their own. No hesitation here! I ordered one up right away.

When my new leash arrived, I was so excited to try it. I felt like a little kid with a brand new toy, BUT, my realistic side reminded myself that this won't be perfect, and there is snow on the ground. I decided that we would walk before we run.

So off we went onto our dark,snowy morning route. Indeed the first few blocks were a little chaotic. The leash is designed to make dogs feel like they are free. Then when they get too far, a bungee cord corrects them back.

Whiskey was so joyful! I played around with the adjustments so that we could find our most comfortable leash length. She kept looking at me with happiness and delight in her eyes as she sniffed the ground and ate the snow all while sticking with me.

I decided to go for it. I wanted to see how it would feel to run with her hands free. We were on a safe stretch of road and it was uphill, so ideally that would take some of the speed out of Whiskey, or so I thought.

I let out the leash to the longest length and started to run. Soon, she was running way out ahead of me and the leash was almost stretched to the max. Just as I was thinking that we weren't doing it right, I realized she was pulling me up the hill. It was easier to run, so I kept going for a few more blocks. I laughed out loud when I realized how funny we must have looked. Anyone need an extra reindeer?

So now I have gone back to plan A and I am training her to know exactly where I want her, so that when the snow is gone, we will be ready to run together. Until then we will just keep practicing. Happy winter:)

Marathon Magic

It has been three weeks since my first marathon and I am still realizing that I did it. I have been asked how it was multiple times and all I can say is "Awesome." I am not sure how to describe it, really.

 I have run a few times since, but nothing over 5k. Today was my first longer run. I slept in, had a good breakfast of steel cut oats with blueberries and greek yogurt. I then proceeded to get ready for my run. I decided to wear my Dublin Marathon "Proud Finisher" shirt.

As I pulled my head and arms through, I felt a surge of pride, exhilaration and energy surge through me. It came on like I had been sprinkled with fairy dust. "Wow", I thought, "I ran a marathon!"

In Dublin, you actually have to finish the marathon before you are given the shirt. That is a new experience for me as every other race I have run, I have received the shirt the day before the race in my race packet. I never wear it until I complete though; because not only have I not trained wearing it, but I have a race ritual that I like to earn my race shirt. I don't think that has anything to do with the magic I felt, but it is an interesting fact I wanted to share.

I saw the finish line

So out the door I went feeling all happy and glowy. I decided to run a route I haven't ran since I was training for the Sinister 7. It is a challenging 11.4km loop with a lot of hill climbing, It has a mix of trail and road which was perfect for today's fall day. It felt so magical to feel that something that was once incredibly hard for me today was incredibly enjoyable!
It is official!! I am addicted!

I want to work on my shorter distances a bit more this year. I am currently working on body sculpting, conditioning, flexibility and weight bearing explosive cross training. I have returned to my favorite DVD personal trainer Chalene Johnson (love her!) alternating her program with running.

This year my intention is to crack a 30 min 5k, a 60min 10k  a 2:15 21.1 k, and a 5hr marathon. I  encourage others to join in as I think this magic feels too good not to share.

I have already registered for the 21.1k in Vancouver in May and will be running the Okanagan full marathon in the fall.
Of course Barry will be with me for both of those. We plan to run some local races 5 & 10k in the area, and of course all the fun runs we can!

So Now What?

International breakfast welcome run

Wow! What a year it has been. I am still pinching myself. Did I just run a full marathon? In Ireland? Yes indeed I did. All 42.2 km of it. What a beautiful city Dublin is. What is more beautiful is the people I met along the way. A hundred thousand welcomes. I could go on and on in detail about every inch of the run and how I felt but I will just share the parts that were the most moving.
Standing in the third wave waiting to go, I felt incredibly proud to be there. I felt welcomed and grateful, oh...and full of delicious Irish food and spirit! I was ready to run.

Along the way I thought of all the wonderful places we had been and how for the first time in a long, long time, our family was truly experiencing the priceless gift of in the moment living.

Pushing through, and moving on :)

I struggled quite a bit between 21k and 30k or so. I can't explain why. Maybe I had too many Irish breakfasts the previous week, or maybe I was just letting my mind convince my body that this was hard.
Whatever it was I managed to push through.

When I came around the last 3k, I knew I had done it. I knew I could finish. That is when the street got narrow and the fans were close and all I could hear was that I was "brilliant" in a beautiful Irish accent. Well I started to cry, but I quickly realized that crying sucked up way too much energy and so I managed to hold my tears until I crossed the finish line.

Now I want to do it all again!

I followed very good advice from trainer Stephen to rest for two weeks and I have done that quite well.  I didn't exercise for 4 days after. Then we came back home so I started walking the dog for about a week before I began cross training with yoga. Okay , sure I cheated with some burpees and screamers in a 20 minute HIIT training session, but I did that only a couple of days ago, and it felt awesome.

I went with Barry today for our first post marathon run, and we ran with no gadgets. I felt so free of a schedule. No worries on pace or structure or distance...just run....ahhhhh.

Barry, Stephen & Karen -Proud Finishers!

BUT...that can't last forever. I am addicted to exercise and need to have a goal so I am working on that and will share in the near future.

Running In Circles

As I think about what it means to have successfully prepared for and completed the Dublin Marathon - a significant milestone in our 2DreamRunners journey, my mind is spinning in circles.  Our trip to the Éire seems composed of an intricate Celtic knot of intertwining circles overflowing with meaning and purpose. 

There were tangible circles made by our paths.

We travelled circularly through 22 of the 32 counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland, weaving left and right through small villages, vast peatland barrens, lush farmlands and forest and bustling towns and cities. And our circles wove briefly in and out of the circles of Irish people just going about their daily lives - rockus mobs of school kids cornering us in a Ballyshannon candy shop, in...around...and out of a million traffic circles, a cozy evening in a hub of Irish cultural intersection for supper and a pint of Guinness in the E J Kings Pub in Clifden, and resting under the safe and warm roofs of welcoming families in a bevy of B&B's.

The marathon route was a circle of sorts windings its way through all 13 neighborhoods of Dublin.  Running lets you experience a place perfectly.  The marathon speed is slow enough to let you take it all in and fast enough that you can see a good deal in a short time.  It's a buffet for the senses as you feel the texture of the road, hear the the voices of the people, smell the homefires burning and taste the sweet candy offered freely at each corner. 

And there were less tangible circles. 

Ireland surely deserves its "friendly" reputation!  Time and again the locals brought us into their circle of friends and networks.  We found the people very interested in our journey and eager to share their perspectives, jokes and warmth with us.  céad míle fáilte - we received at least a hundred thousand welcomes!

Circles represent unity.  Two weeks in incredibly close quarters away from the rigors of our normal lives sharing adventure and fun strengthened our family circle.  Nothing like a road trip to build our comradery - we laughed and enjoyed so freely - it was very liberating.  And we felt the strength and positive energy of our larger family unit back in Canada in a modern way through social media.

We were fortunate to spend an afternoon visiting the Newgrange Temple - a place older than Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.  At this ancient place one symbol is overwhelmingly present - the circle.  From the greater architecture, to the ancient megalithic art to the trinity of offering cradles - the wisdom and purity of circles are everywhere.  Precise engineering 5000 years ago acknowledges the circular path of the planets around our sun.  The passage and chamber are illuminated for 17 minutes on 4 days centered around the winter solstice.  For a very short time, the circles align and a very special energy fills the temple. 

In a similar way, our circle overlapped perfectly in this ancient land with so many others. For 4 days in Dublin we shared our stories, hopes, anticipation and success with many new friends from around the world.  We met, hung out with and said goodbye to Stephen and Vanessa.  And then just as quickly as we came together we dispersed all over the globe again.  It is wonderful that technology will allow us to keep building those new circles through the internet and we hope to converge again one day.

The 2DreamRunners vision is to help make dreams come true through the positive energy of health and wellness.  Our 2012 campaign is our first weave of circles where we focused our efforts to create inspiration through perspiration and determination.  Karen and I look forward to continuing to quilt together a network of our circles with those of others and make dreams come true. 

Ready to fly!!!

In August I noticed the Canada Geese a lot during my training runs. They were teaching their young to fly. They were noisy and disorganized. I imagined what they may have been squawking about.
I was amused by them and they always made me smile.
This morning as I was taking my last Canadian run before the Dublin Marathon, I noticed the geese again. They were flying in perfect formation. I actually feel proud of them! They have completed their training and are ready to go and so are we!!!!!

We are going to run a Marathon in Ireland and you can track us here.
Barry is 12068 and I (Karen) 12067

Ready...Set>>>>GO!

Sunday Run

Do you ever wonder if all the energy in the universe is being sucked up by something else bigger and nothing is left for you?
Let me explain this a little further with a recent experience. October 7th- 32k run scheduled. This will be the last time we go this far before the actual Dublin marathon. I could have stayed in bed easily, as I was incredibly tired, but we also had a house full of family coming and a turkey to cook (which we are very thankful for).
So 6am we are up and filling our water bottles and exchanging our running routes with one another. I was having a hard time waking up.
Interestingly enough, this day was also a big race day with the Okanagan BMO marathon, Victoria Goodlife Fitness marathon, Chicago marathon, and Grizzley ultra, just to name a few. Lots of people racing, all basking in their race energy, and all graduating from their training at the same time. I felt excited for those I knew going out to race, but I was still so tired.
I shook it off. My mind knew this was going to be hard and it kept trying to convince my body to feel the same. I started out in my first kilometer too fast which is nothing new. What I found interesting, and just a little unnerving was that I felt like if I closed my eyes, I could just fall asleep while running. My body felt great, and there was no pain or fatigue, or difficulty holding my pace, I just wanted to sleep.
I do always fall asleep in the passenger seat when we are on a road trip, and during movies all the time, but never during running before. I started to think about all the racers, and the possibility that they had all the energy and running spirit. At about 4k in, I thought about going home. I was beginning to wonder if something was physically wrong with me. I shook it off again, as I was beginning to feel like my head was playing tricks on me.
Just past the 8k mark, I started my "I am strong, I am an athlete, I feel great" mantra. Sometimes it helps me push past pain in tough workouts. I've never had to use it to wake up before. Then I saw a family of deer and I felt lucky to be able to experience that.
For the first time ever on a run, I felt lonely.
Things started to get a little better at my refueling station (my parked car) at about 13k. I faught the urge to just jump in it and go home. Again, I shook it off, but started to feel queezy a few kilometers later. I started daydreaming again as much as I could. I was finally beginning to wake up and my legs felt great, so I kept on going.
Pitstop number two included a bathroom break, and a water bottle fill. I knew that I was more than two thirds done and that encouraged me that I wasn't actually sick. I was winning the mental game. After kilometer 25, I gained energy and felt as though I just began. That is when my thoughts started wandering again to the racers. The majority were probably done by now and the energy I was calling on was finally free to come and help me.
Or I had just won the most persistent battle I have had with my mind and body and pushed through. Yes, I am ready for the marathon, I have some fine tuning to do yet, but I know my mind will be strong.

Add caption

Dare to dream - then make it happen!

Two years ago this Christmas, inspired by my Dad who completed his first half marathon at age 68, I took an online running course with the Running Room to learn how to train for and complete my first half marathon.  A year later,  inspired by my achievement, Karen ran her first half-marathon with my Dad and I in Victoria and our teens Jake and Cassidy ran their first sanctioned 8K road race.  Just after that event, one of the online running coaches I originally trained with, Stephen Price, told us of an idea he had to run in Ireland in 2012 and suggested it would be nice if we could join him for the Dublin Marathon.  We had never met in person and never been to Ireland.

The power of positive energy through health and wellness is incredibly contagious. Inspired by Stephen, the enjoyment of the running lifestyle and a desire to help others, we decided to go for it.  But we wouldn't just sign up and run - we'd make it an opportunity to do some meaningful work to help others - and to demonstrate to our own children how you can merge healthy active living with giving.

So we created 2DreamRunners, to gather energy from many and focus it on helping others - especially those that can use a hand up.  We contacted the Make-A-Wish Foundation BC & Yukon in our area and developed a campaign for 2012 to try and raise $8,000 to grant a wish for a child with a life-threatening medical condition. We have been fundraising in 2012 through our participation in 3 main running events that have built in magnitude through the year:

    Vancouver Marathon in May 2012 (Barry's first ever Marathon)
    Sinister 7 Ultramarathon in July 2012 (team event)
    Dublin Marathon October 2012 (Karen's first ever Marathon)

For us, the half and full marathons symbolize in a very small way, the challenge that children with a life-threatening medical condition must face - although the kids didn’t choose their path.  We hope that we can provide some inspiration for anyone facing challenges in life and  also hope to make a difference in a child’s life by combining the energy of many to grant a child a wish.  Cassidy and Jake have supported us through our training and participation in these events - including volunteering to serve nutrition through the night to runners at the Sinister 7 Ultramarathon.

In getting to our big day at the Friendly Marathon, Karen and I will have run 3000 km's in 2012.  Our family will have travelled 9,400 km from western Canada to Dublin.  With the help of Jackie Abello at Uniglobe Geo Travel, we will have experienced one hundred thousand welcomes as we stay in B&B's around the country for a week and we will have touched history with an historic stay at the Ashford Castle in Co. Mayo.  We will have met our coach Stephen for the first time in person in Dublin October 27th.  We will have calmed our nerves with a warm Irish welcome at the International Breakfast Run. 

On October 29th, we will run Dublin, Karen will complete her very first 42.2 and we will celebrate our special achievement of completing a year of running for Make-A-Wish with our new Irish friends.

If you can, please consider a pledge to our campaign.  Click on the link on the top right of our blog choose 2DreamRunners 2012 under support a specific BC Campaign and complete the rest of the donation form.

A Hundred Thousand Welcomes!

A year ago, Stephen Price invited us to meet him in Dublin and run the marathon together.  Well, we took him up on it and will meet him for the first time in person in Dublin - and we'll run the marathon together.  Here's a sneak peak at the route.

This is the 33rd year of the Dublin Marathon, which is run through the historic Georgian streets of Ireland's largest and capital city. Dublin is home to a quarter of the country's 4 million people, a vibrant, dynamic city where half of the population is under 25.

In the spirit of the Irish Gaelic Phrase "Céad Míle Fáilte" meaning "a hundred thousand welcomes, Race Organizers host an International Breakfast Run the day before the race to welcome the more than 7,000 overseas runners - like us!  And many thousands of spectators will line the city streets to cheer on all the runners.  No wonder it's called 'The Friendly Marathon'. 

Hill Training or Fatigue Training

I have Barry on my mind as I sit down to write this tonight. When he returns home he will have graduated from the hill repeat section of our marathon training.

Sometimes the hill feels like it will never end

I finished mine this morning. What a sweet celebration I had! This has been a big week for us with a 32k run on Sunday, a 6k tempo yesterday and today 10 hill repeats. It is only Wednesday.

Every Wednesday for the past 7 weeks we have ran to a hill and ran up and down it, starting with 4 repeats and adding one every week. I could say that I will miss it but I would be lying. It is hard and sometimes the only thing that can keep you going is mental strength. I had to dig deeper this morning than I ever have before. I have enjoyed the strange looks and waves from those who see me out there, but the most enjoyable part of hill days is completion.

We are following John Stanton's (founder of The Running Room )book "Running" to train and have had fabulous success with it in the past.  We completely trust his training methods and we have and will continue to recommend his books to everyone!

I never really questioned the training method, I just did it , but this morning I understood it more than ever. My body was fatigued from Sunday still, and yesterday, and there I was coaxing my butt up a steep hill over and over again. I kept telling myself that I could do it. Nothing hurt, except the lactic acid buildup. I know that pain. I had to get comfortably uncomfortable 10 times. That may be what it feels like to finish the last 10k in a marathon. I don't know, I haven't been there yet. It is different every time for everybody but this week I have definitely earned mental strength.

Why do I do this? Because I really really really want to run a marathon and this is how I will do it. By preparing my body and mind to connect and help each other to get through the tough parts because the reward is success in finishing upright and smiling.

So here comes the analogy.....

We want to grant a wish for a child and we need you to help us reach that goal. We can't do it alone.

A child with a life threatening illness and a wish on their horizon has more strength to fight through the tough parts.

Well Barry will be home soon, and I will celebrate and congratulate him on completing the hill section. And we will move forward to the next part.

We are going to run a marathon.... We are going to help a child.

Karen

We Did It!

This update is long overdue. We wanted to update much sooner, but both of us have been incredibly busy with work, regular house maintenance, and well....training for a marathon eats up a fair amount of time as well. Thank you so much to everyone that has donated to our 2DreamRunners 2012 campaign. So far we have raised $405 !

When Barry told me about the Sinister 7 Ultra + Relay in the Crowsnest Pass mountains last November I had no intention of participating because I felt that it was way out of my capabilities. I was saying no before even thinking about it. Are you crazy? Through the dense mountains, up and down steep slopes, with grizzly bears and cougars? And have you seen the elevation?

It wasn't very long..maybe an hour later before I started imagining what it would be like as a spectator and I actually imagined that I would feel jealous of the ones who weren't afraid to go for it. I knew I wanted to participate because a voice inside me said "You can do anything you train for and there is plenty of time to train."  I studied the course and decided Leg 1 would be a reasonable challenge for me. It is rated difficulty 1/7 so it must be pretty easy right?...."This race will punish those who are not prepared" Those words from the Sinister website rang through my head as I interrupted Barry at work and enthusiastically said "I am in! I am in! I can do Leg 1, it is mostly flat and uphill and I won't have to face my fears of scaling down!" 

We had a month to build a team, we succeeded and were super lucky to get in as this race fills up an hour after registration opens! 

Oh-oh, there is a time limit and I am out first and if I don't make it, the entire team will be disqualified! Pressure? Yes! Fear? Yes! Motivation? Incredibly powerful yes! So what motivates me is pushing past what I have never thought I could be capable of.

So, on to the weekend!  The weather forecast - Sunny and HOT - well not ideal but it's better than rain.  Our team travelled from far and wide (various locations across BC and Alberta) to meet in Blairmore.  Most of us made it to the pre-race banquet where the local conservation officer thoroughly scared everyone with his instructions on what to do when you meet charismatic mega-fauna like grizzly bears and mountain lions. Afterward we set up our luxury tent accommodations in a baseball diamond in town and spent a few hours that evening talking out the key details of the race and summoning our collective courage.

6:30 am and the team escorts me to the start line!  It is clear and cool and we are ready to go!  The race starts, I'm off and running and John board's the bus to the first transition area where he will take the baton from me and begin Leg 2. Even though I barely slept the night before, I felt great. I thought I would feel the elevation more than I did, so I was pleasantly surprised that my pace was faster than I thought. I decided to abandon my planned pace and just go hard for the first 8k because I knew there was plenty of up hill and unknown trail when I hit the mountain in the last 8k. I was NOT prepared for the teeny weeny goat trail that zigged up and down the side of the mountain. I struggle with a fear of falling off the edge. I actually get vertigo any time I am close to an edge of something (a cliff, the top of a grandstand, a balance beam,even the Imax theater) I have tried to shake the fall fear off my whole life. It has gotten better, as it does not completely paralize me anymore, but it did slow me down considerably and in one spot, I actually slid down a section on my butt just to keep going.
After that section, there was a lot of mud. I loved just plowing through it and felt like a warrior for what I had just overcome. Then, there he was, at the top of the last hill I needed to climb, when I thought there was still 1km to go, the angel volunteer pointed to my finishing shoot to the transition area!

John was there cheering me in and I finished 15 minutes faster than I had planned!
I passed John the timing chip and cheered him off and then got on the bus loaded with other Leg 1 finishers back to transition 2/3 and our team!


Around 11:30ish, John comes ambling down the mountain into the Leg 2/3/4 transition and the first thing he says to Barry as he's handing off the baton, "its so hot!".  He's right, by this time the temperature is about 30 C ( 86F) and there's hardly a breath of wind.

Barry takes the baton and heads up Leg 3.  By the time Barry was half way out and in the middle of the Lost Creek burn, the temperature had climbed to 35 C ( 95F) and the heat was taking its toll on all the runners.  Around 8K, Barry and a group of 5 other runners missed a turn (we think the sign must have fallen) and ended up running 2 extra kilometers off course.  This was a bit of a set back but all part of the race.  8 Litres of water (3 reloads of the camelback) later Barry returned to the Leg 2/3/4 transition happily high-fiving Dave as he handed over the baton.

Dave enthusiastically sets out on Leg 4 while Barry settles into a nice cold beer.

We later make our way up to transition 4/6 to cheer in Dave's arrival and see Richard's departure. At the same time we escort Jake and Cassidy to their volunteer station where they will be the little angels who aid the hungry runners through the wee hours of the night.

Dusk was setting in while Barry, Richard, Lisa and I watched the runners come down the hill. One of the hardest things about this race is waiting to depart! Dave came in right on his predicted time! What a fabulous job he did!

We planned to bring Lisa up to transition 5 where Richard would be coming in and sending her off on leg 6. This is where we messed up. The drive up the mountain was much longer than we thought it would be and Richard was much faster than predicted! We arrived to find Richard had already been in for half an hour! Super fast in the dark!

Lisa quickly took off into the darkness and we made our way back down in the car to transition 4/6 to bring in Lisa and send out John (again) to the finish.

As I watched our wonderful volunteer teens from afar I was filled with pride. Our kids have grown into helpful, caring, beautiful people. Yeah,*sigh* I had a teary moment there. But then I was quickly submerged back into reality when I overheard on the safty radio that there was a cougar spotted on the trail! Oh no! An ATV was quickly barreling up the trail to check it out in protection of the runners. Don't worry, there were no tragedies or cougars found for that matter.

We were so happy to see Lisa and cheered her in! We learned that her headlamp had died and two other runners gave her flashlights to use. How kind. She had many obstacles in the beginning of her run, yet she finished fast and strong! Way to go Lisa!

John set off into the last leg to bring us home. I am sure he super sprinted because it seemed like no time and he was coming through the finish line.

That’s the hardest run I have ever done”, “With the heat, we are just relieved there were no fatalities”, “epic, can’t wait to do it again next year”.  These are some of the quotes we heard after the 2012 Sinister7 Ultra-marathon.  

It’s an incredible effort that we tackled as a team – 6 people covering 148 km of gravel road, single and double track trail and some downright nasty wet areas.  

With over 5,000 m of elevation gain with an equivalent elevation drop, the Sinister7 stands as one of the toughest ultra’s in western North America.  Without an incredible support system in place – the volunteers – runners would be hard pressed to finish. A big thank you to the organizers and volunteers of this epic race! The volunteers are the runners’ lifeline – an oasis in the desert – a warm smile offering hydration, nutrition and some empathy – to the weary warriors.  Cassidy and Jake were part of that lifeline helping runners with nutrition and rest at the Leg 5/6 transition area through the night.  From 9pm until 5 am they prepared and served sustenance like fresh fruit, cookies and cake, chile, scalloped potatoes and coffee for the runners. Superstars??? Oh yeah!

Thank you to our team! We came together and conquered something brand new, exciting, challenging, breathtaking AND we met our goal to have fun and finish!

Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM)

JOIN THE TEAM with a donation to our campaign to grant a child with a life threatening illness or condition a wish.  $5 or $10 makes a difference and 100% goes to the Make A Wish Foundation.

Please click on and highlight 2DreamRunners 2012  under support a specific BC Campaign when you to click here make a donation and complete the rest of the donation form.  THANK YOU! 

While it is true that individuals can do great things on their own, accomplishing great things with a team can be much more powerful.  This weekend, July 7^th and 8^th, we will take on a huge personal challenge -but we will not be doing it alone.  Our second milestone in the 2DreamRunners 2012 campaign to grant a wish for a child with a life threatening illness or condition is the Sinister 7 Ultra + Relay. The 148km course travels through some of the most rugged, remote and beautiful terrain in Alberta's stunning Rocky Mountains. Just as the children we are fundraising for need the support of their families and generous people like you, we will need the support of our team to cover the distance of Sinister 7.

7 amazing people have joined with us to form team 180 – DreamRunners.  Allow us to introduce these awesome and brave folks:

 

Zach Romano:  Zach is a long time runner who, as part of his training for this race decided to train for and participate in the Vancouver Half Marathon this spring.  Zach finished his first Half in an impressive 1 hour and 49 minutes.  Zach was scheduled to carry Leg 2 of the Sinister7 but had to withdraw in order to support his family.  While Zach won’t be running with us, he’s still a valuable member of our team and we‘ll all carry his positive energy with us.

Karen will start our team off with the first leg of the Sinister 7 crossing the massive debris field of the Frank Slide. Spread over several kilometers, the slide consists of rocks and boulders as large as houses. After the Slide, Karen will run through the town of Hillcrest and onto cross country trails to the base of Hastings Ridge covering 16.5 km and with an elevation gain of over 500 meters.    

Karen will hand off to John Thomson.   Talk about supporting the team.  John joined our team to bring us home on Leg7 – after all the other legs had been spoken for.  No problem, the Canadian Death Race runner said, “I’ll run whatever is needed for the team”.  Wow, did he mean it!  When Zach realized that he couldn’t participate this year, John stepped in and took Leg 2 as well as Leg 7.  John will run Leg 2 Saturday morning beginning with a grueling climb to the top of Hastings Ridge before descending down the other side and back to Blairmore to the finish of leg two.  Approximately 17 hrs later, John will put his runners back on and run the 7^th and final leg of the race.  He’ll begin with a steep, ugly climb up the base of Wedge Mountain, followed by an incredible single track descent into the Nez Pierce Creek valley.  Overall, John will run a total distance of 28.8 km with an elevation gain of 1, 343 m.  After completing Leg 2, John will hand off to Barry who’ll carry the DreamRunners banner for Leg 3.   

Barry will run across the Continental Divide and through the haunting remains of the 2003 Lost Creek fire where one feels as though they are on another planet. After passing the burn Barry will climb back into Blairmore running 35 km with an elevation gain of 1,327 m.

Barry will hand off to Dave Lovekin for the start of leg 4.    Meet Dave - he works for The Pembina Institute - a non-profit environmental organization working on Canadian energy issues.  He lives in Nelson and has the pleasure of walking, biking, riding everywhere.  Dave lives in a collective house called the Dandellion Collective - a social cooperative type of living with people that have shared values on the environment, food and social living.  Dave has been running on and off for a few years and has completed some fun and challenging races!  Dave will run the second longest leg of this race covering a total distance of 32km with 1,000 m of elevation gain.  Just as the sun sets, Dave will pass the torch to Richard Simpson for Leg 5.

Richard and Lisa Simpson are running legs 5 and 6, respectively, this year.  They recently returned from a 10 month trip around (or part-way around) the world and have been slowly easing back into a regular running schedule.  Richard has run legs of the Death Race in Grande Cache, Alberta and completed his first marathon in 2010.  Richard’s leg 5 tries even the toughest of racers. Running north on one of the wettest and dirtiest trails in Canada, Richard will make his way in the dark to the evil climb across Seven Sisters Mountain.  Richard will run a steep 22.7 km climbing over 1,000 m before handing off to Lisa.  Lisa has very little running experience, but served as a pinch-runner for an injured friend in the 2009 Death Race...in which she completed her longest run of her life at 19km!  Her bucket list does have a half-marathon on it and she’s quite certain that her overactive imagination will assist in increasing her pace during her nighttime leg of the Sinister 7 this year.  Lisa will make her way around the base of Crowsnest Mountain along trails and numerous drainages just before dawn Sunday morning running 13.8 km on a run requiring sure footedness with steep descents dominating.

Two more very important people round out our team.  While Cassidy and Jake, our amazing teens will be supporting the DreamRunners – they’ll also be volunteering to help race organizers pull off this incredible event.  Jake and Cassidy are working through the night from midnight to 5 am supporting racers and organizers at the McGillivray Aid Station/Transition Area maintaining facilities, keeping the water flowing and assisting race directors to make the event run smoothly.  As with any large event, volunteers make the difference and we are proud of Jake and Cass for giving of their time and effort so generously to help all the racers have a safe and enjoyable race.

Good Luck to us - and remember, our challenges are small compared to those children facing a life threatening illness or condition.  Please join our team and make a donation through our campaign.