Iceland bound...

Well, that's the longest run so far...well, I ran farther last year but I lost it over the winter (piggy piggy, & lazy to boot). 13 km in 90 minutes, doing the 10 and 1 ratio.

I ran the waterfront trail twice, and this time I had company for the second half (thanks Dee & Oreo). Helps to have someone to talk to...it helps the time pass. This seemed especially important for the second half, but it's also nice to run alone. My mind wanders away and back again a hundred times.

Today my mind wandered to my sister, as it often does. At the risk of coming off as overly sentimental, I thought I'd talk about her for moment. When she died, I thought a little bit of me went with her. I didn't know who I'd be without her to worry about....without her to confide in, and laugh with. After a few months, when I was just starting to get used to her not being there, something really amazing happened. I realized that she was part of me. I know that sounds corny, maybe even hallmark, but let me explain...losing her put everything into perspective for me. I took life more seriously and therefore was able to start having more fun. I stopped taking my health for granted and started pushing myself physically. I thought of her laboured breath and I started breathing deeper. I took the loss of her and let it change me fundamentally and in this way, she became part of me. So when I run, I hear the waves & feel the sun & I know that I'm never alone. There IS life after death, and it can be found on the waterfront trail on a Sunday morning in Hamilton, Ontario & anywhere else you look for it.

Was NOT in the mood for a run this morning when I woke up. Was more in the mood to sit in a dark room with strong coffee & a bottle of tylenol. Up too late, too many pints of rickards red with some friends.

So I just stopped on my way to work & did a quick 6 km run and once again, i'm so glad I did because over the last few days, the goslings have hatched!!! They're so new they're still green :)

Didn't time my run, only because I left my watch at home.

It's pottery again! Yay. Today I'm making a planter. No more bowls!!!!!!!!!

Last night I received two online donations. One from a good friend from work & a surprise donation from someone I don't know. Thank you both!!!! This was the stretch I was worried about because I had no events planned between this deadline & the last one. With these 2 newest donations, I'm only $286 away from the next deadline and I have a few weeks yet before it hits. But who's counting? :)

Thank you to everyone who has donated, your generosity is amazing. Truly.

Thankful Jenny

I don't know how I'm going to manage running on Thursdays. Maybe I'll rework the schedule. After work, I managed to get a nice 6 km run in. I ran around the city streets rather than going to my usual waterfront trail run. I like to break it up. Wouldn't want to get bored!

Work was busy today!!! Chloe (7 ys old) came with me and helped check books out to people. She was better than some grown ups I've worked with. All the kids in there were asking if she was my daughter. They seemed freaked out, like they were surprised I had a life outside the library. Eventually we'll have holographic public servants who will cease to exist after closing. Then our inability to accept that teachers & librarians have outside lives will finally be justified.

Benny mentioned a kid he hadn't played with in over a year & we were trying to figure out his last name so we could look up his phone number when (i'm not kidding) the phone rang & it was this kid!!! I bet Benny'll never forget today as long as he lives. What are the chances???

Jenny

I did another 10 km just now. It was perfect out there. Cool & sunny...just how I hope Iceland weather will be on the day of the race. I hope that training in humid hamilton will toughen me up and make the icelandic air feel like I'm floating through the marathon. One can hope.

I did the 10 and 1 run/walk interval again. This time I didn't concentrate on going slowly like I did on Sunday so my overall time was much better. This is how I'm interpreting the program. I guess it can't hurt.

Last night I stepped on a dog... jerked backwards, fell over a baby gate, landed on a coffee table, broke a lamp, managing to hurt the palm of my right hand, the elbow on my left arm, my rear end and my back in the process. Everyone came running to see if I was OK...except the dog who I originally tripped over. No sign of her for a good hour.

So I was hoping that today's run would feel OK after all that and it did!! I must not have hurt anything important to running.

Now I'm off to hear Chloe recite a poem that she wrote. Both kids seem to be following in their Papa Dave's footsteps.

Until tomorrow.... :)
PS. The hamster is a dud. It dives into its tunnel (where we can't reach it) everytime we walk anywhere near it. I'm taking it back and trading it in for one without a grudge against humans.
PSS. Chloe did a great job at her poetry reading. She started the festivities, introduced the class, offered refreshments & then recited her poem. I was very proud.

Hi there.
Today's run was nice. Still drizzly out there but only enough to make me frizzy (80's hair day) , not enough to make me miserable. No one else on the trails, everyone must be at work. A few geese hissing. One guy fishing.
I didn't get to do the 10 and 1 run/walk interval today. The weekday runs are shorter but of a higher intensity. This pace didn't feel intense to me, though. I run a touch faster than this on my 5 km runs. But I will stick to the program. I was happy with my ability to pace myself. Everytime I hit a new km marker, I was at exactly the right point on my watch. I guess my internal clocking abilities are finally paying off. (I used to be really good at hitting the red button at exactly 60 seconds at the Science Centre, without peeking at the clock). Was considering buying one of those fancy GPS watches that will tell me exactly how long/how far/how fast but decided against it. Don't want to go overboard.
I just remembered I can accept donations through PAYPAL! So if you have an account for ebay purchases & you have a few dollars kicking around in there... :) My paypal email address is jmcfadden33@cogeco.ca (if you go this route, please include your mailing address in the "notes" field so the Canadian Diabetes Association can issue you a receipt) Thank you!

On Saturday May 27th, at 8pm

Back room of the McGibbon Hotel
79 Main Street South,
Georgetown, ON

LEGENDS IN THEIR OWN MINDS will perform for my benefit :) They do Acoustic Blues & 70's Music.

LEGENDS IN THEIR OWN MINDS consists of Rob Langedyk, Brian Carlo, Jim Hachey & Ken Hachey. Their name is a working title and they are open to suggestions.

Tickets are $10 & can be purchase ahead or at the door (call 905-546-0252 to get yours). There will be very nice door prizes, a 50/50 draw & there's going to be a cash bar.

Running in the rain, not such a glorious feeling. But since the rain didn't seem to be letting up, I thought I'd just do it. Glad I did!

I am following a marathon plan from a book I borrowed from a friend called "Running start to finish" by John Stanton. This will have to do until proper training clinic starts up (should have started last week...but i'm not being impatient). It says to run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute on slow, long run days so that's what I did. I have always run straight through until damn near dying so this interval thing was a refreshing change. Plus I'm running with my dog, Mini, so it was good to give her the odd break while she's adapting (not that she seems to be finding it too challenging as she trots along not even panting...should I be jealous of my dog?). So today was 10 km in the pouring rain with a few other devoted runners along the trail all with better rain gear than I have (again with the jealousy). But I'm all rugged and tough, so there! Hat? Phffft!

Off topic...the household animal count hits all time high....we now have:

2 cats.....CC and Fat Ginger
3 dogs....Oreo (babysitting him for a week) and Mini & Maya (my doggies, pictured below)
1 hamster (named "Caramel" purchased today at Petsmart...to replace the one we found dead in its cage on Thursday which, sadly, we were over by Friday morning).
2 fish (whose names escape me)

Back on topic: now accepting applications for animal babysitter for 5 days in August while I'm running in Iceland.

First thing after I drop off the kids at school (coatless today, I might add....probably not smart as it's actually freezing out) I zip to the park with the dogs to let them play with their friends for about 7 minutes because I have to rush off to POTTERY CLASS. I love it. I really love it. Today I made 3 "faceted" cups. And yet another bowl.
Now I'm home and I'm about to run....but I thought before I go I'll open this post....and then when I come back I'll report on the run and finish the post. Sort of like a before & after. Here I go...........

Run run run run run run run run...run like a bugger...past the school (hi kids hehehe) past the construction site (hi boys) over the highway overpass (hi commuters, you suckers) and on to that wonderful moment where the most pressing thought in my head is "did I just get taller, slimmer and prettier???" ahhhh endorphins, blessed endorphins!!!

So that was alright a cool 5 K run...first kilometre always rough (will that always be the case?) but then no worries at all. No hills on this wimpy little weekday run though.

Today is my long day at work (7 hours, woooooahhh) so I typically don't run. I did take the dogs to the park where they were so excited to see their sister that they dragged me up the stairs and took a layer of skin off my knuckles. I'm gonna call that my exercise for the day.

So I'll make my fundraising the update for the day.

My commitment to the Canadian Diabetes Association is to raise $6000. So far, I'm at $3643.38. If my math skills serve me correctly, that means I have managed about 61% of my goal. A decent sized chunk of that was raised at a Valentines Day women's dance at the Werx in Hamilton. A lot of it has been from the generous donations of family & friends. And a lot of it has been raised by selling donated products on ebay!!!! So if you have anything you'd like to donate, I can turn it into cash on ebay! Yeeehaaaa gotta love the Internet.

Running in the Fire & Ice Marathon in Reykjavik, Iceland with Team Diabetes!!!

My name is Jenny McFadden. I'm from Hamilton, Ontario.

I've decided to blog my fundraising and training highlights to keep all my wonderful fans, oops I mean supporters, "in the loop". Today I had the pleasure of submitting my ebay earnings to Hilary at the Hamilton CDA office. I am now creeping towards the 3rd deadline, and I'm starting to get a good feeling that I can do this. I can do the fundraising, anyway.

The running? Not 100% sure yet. I have only really ever been a reluctant runner. I have a tendency to gain serious weight (damn chocolate) so I thought I'd run to keep the weight under control. Sadly though, I'm one of those runners who thinks of nothing but the calories burnt/calories-to-be-consumed ratio. So I have to get a bit more "serious" about the running...and get onboard with the running room clinic which is supposed to be starting up any minute now. Drumming fingers.....

This winter, some life changing events happened (Ok Ok I was dumped) & I decided that the year called for something big. Getting in better shape. Getting a personal accomplishment under my belt. Getting my sense of adventure back. Etc.

So I remembered my sister Alison's struggles with diabetes (and cystic fibrosis) and remembered to count my blessings (mine & my children's health TOP of the list) and started to hear about this crazy running race in Reykjavik....

...so here I am! A member of "Team Diabetes" heading off to Reykjavik (and if you can't spell it you can't go) in August 2006 to run a MARATHON. Yes, a FULL MARATHON. The most I've ever run is the Around the Bay 2005 (30 km) and something very bad happened to my legs at the 23-24 km point. They turned to wooden stilts with about as much will to go on you would expect from wooden stilts.

Wish me luck! :)