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.

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