Just. Running.
The road to New York…Archive for June 16, 2008
12 Week Challenge
I just wanted to congratulate a friend, Chris Price, on winning Flight Centre’s ‘2008 12 Week Challenge’. This was a global competition for employees of Flight Centre, with the individual winner being determined by the greatest overall positive change in their body-shape and lifestyle. This is an amazing achievement and one that Pricey should be very proud of. I am hoping he will have the time to write a personal account of the 12 week challenge, which I will post on this blog.
Run for One Planet
I first heard about ‘Run for One Planet’ at EPIC Vancouver, a sustainable living Expo, a few months ago. Matt and Stephanie Tait were advertised to speak on the Saturday afternoon and I was very keen to hear what they had to say. A couple of mad keen runners, they have decided to run close to 11 thousand miles (17.7 thousand kilometres) across North America in a year, about the equivalent of a marathon a day. I won’t go into too much detail, as you can check out their website (www.runforoneplanet.com) for yourselves, but this is all for a great cause – to raise awareness and inspire actions for the environment. They have already run close to 1.5 thousand miles and raised $42 thousand dollars, which is awesome. I hope to catch up with them later in our travels across Canada and maybe even keep them company for a few miles or so!
Happy Days of Summer
I woke on Sunday morning to one of those days that you just can’t help but have that extra spring in your step. After two weeks of unseasonal cold and wet weather, the sun was out in force and hardly a cloud in the sky. It’s days like this that Vancouver lives up to its reputation of being one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
This week’s knee knacker training run went from the Cypress Top lookout to Deep Cove, about a 33km point to point run.
After a challenging out and back run to Old Buck last weekend, this weekend’s run didn’t seem so daunting. The trail was in good condition and the tempertaure perfect for running.
One of the highlights of getting involved in the trail running scene in Vancouver has been the amazing people I have meet. You can’t help but be motivated and inspired in this sort of environment. So today being no exception, I ran with a group of very competent runners, all with their own stories. Just to keep up was a victory in itself!
I thoroughly enjoyed the run, especially the downhill stretches where I just can’t help myself. I feel sorry for the people out for a nice Sunday morning stroll being scared out of their wits by this rampaging Kiwi coming pounding up behind them on the trail. We finished off with a soak in Arctic cold waters (well cold compared to back in Queensland) and a coffee and berry bun at a favourite jaunt of trail runners in Deep Cove.
I came away from the run still happy at how I am progressing and feeling confident heading towards July 12th. I don’t think I have ever been so excited about a race.
