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.

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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'.