An Extraordinary Discovery

Happy 2015!!!!  This is a big year for me and I am looking forward to my training and I can say, I am 100% for the year so far :-)  

Today I had to run 18K, the last 4k at tempo but Mother Nature had a hissy fit and dumped a load of snow and ice on us in Ottawa.  I knew I had to get my workout done and it was not happening outside so it was me and the treadmill, alone at last.  I use to love running on my treadmill but now it is complicated.  I would rather run outside with my friends, even in the cold and snow but ice is another matter all together. I though of all kinds of excuse not to do it but in the end I knew I had too but I needed motivation, special motivation.  I called upon our special weapon, "Running the Sahara", a movie about 3 guys who run across the Sahara desert...for fun! Charlie, Kevin and Ray run 6920km in 111 days, so compared to that I had nothing to complain about. 

My workout was in 2 parts, 14k at my long slow pace and the last 4k at tempo pace and the movie lasted for the first 14K, perfect timing.  I was not sure if I would be able to pick up the pace at the end and thoughts of not doing it ran through my mind when Ray was summing up the journey in the movie.  I can not remember exactly what he said but I found this on his website that kind of sums it up. We are the only person who stands in the way of us achieving what we want, have a look

 Gobi Trailer

So to cut a long story short, I cranked up the pace on the treadmill and ran it at my half marathon race pace and the last mile at my 5K race pace...lets just say, I was tired of standing in my own way and I had better move out of the way or I was going to get run over.  

My coach is another amazing athlete and she believes in me, all the time...Neale believes in me and so do my friends.  They tell me I am an inspiration and a great athlete but I never quite believe it, I think I am average at best.  I decided today, running and crying on the treadmill to get out of own way, to believe in myself as much as they do...and it feels GREAT!!!  Thank you to everyone who believes in me, it took me awhile but I got here eventually, 2015 is my year to be extraordinary!