Having a crush on Hamlet, or Learning to Relax

Joy here…In 2010/2011 I ran 6 running races in 12 months, with a good 6 of those months being the depth of a Canadian winter.  I then layered in some bike riding and had a great "summer of the sisterhood" of riding with some great women cyclists near where I live.

Then I thought I'd get back into the running over that 2011/2012 winter and train for my first ever full marathon.  I was full of dreams and aspirations.

My broken pinkie toe in the spring of 2012.

Then I broke my toe.

No big deal, I recouped, changed directions and started riding my bike.

Then in the 2012 season, I raced the heck outta my bike, competing in 2 gran fondos, 1 road race, and a whole bunch of time trials, including the Ontario provincial time trials.

Then I was kinda burnt out.

I didn't really feel like riding my bike in my basement in the cold, dark winter of 2012/2013, but I was out of shape from not running so much.

So I essentially got a bit lazy and a bit out of shape.  I was neither running nor cycling consistently, and it took me many months to get back into the swing of things.

Now it's almost fall, and in 2013/2014 I've only done 2 running races so far.  I'm sure I'll sign up for more, but at the moment I'm still just working on being consistent…getting back in the game, so to speak.

I'm also working on not being so hard on myself and giving myself permission to put my feet up and relax every now and then.

Relax by an infinity pool...

Why don't you join me? Put your feet up and take it easy.

Because everyone says trite things like "carpe diem" and "stop and smell the roses," but what do those things really mean?  How does one live authentically and meaningfully in the present without sacrificing one's future presents?  I mean, if I just sat around and totally enjoyed myself today, not thinking about tomorrow, I'd probably have Type 2 Diabetes from all the chocolate that I'd consume.  I'd probably also have my house repossessed when I wasn't able to pay my mortgage because I was so busy doing nothing but relaxing.

…relaxing in a nice, warm bath!

Now, obviously, that's not what I'm suggesting.  What I am suggesting, though, is something that Aristotle would have recognized as moderation - which is NOT what The Man always says it is that place he passes through between two extremes - but rather moderation is about finding that balance between desires and rationality.

Moderation, for me, is the Hamlet of life (if you think of Hamlet as needing to find his balance between Horatio as rationality personified and Laertes as emotionality personified).  And since I've always kind of had a crush on Hamlet, I figure that it's a-okay for me to try to pursue moderation in my life.

And so, for now, moderation will take the form of relaxation, and then when I feel like I've relaxed and recharged, I'll show up for another running race, but for now I'm going to run a bath, pour a glass of wine, and take it easy.

Over and out,
Joy

Race Report: 5kms on Canada Day

Droppin' off the bike and ready to run!

Joy here…After a great year in Malaysia, where I turned the corner fitness-wise, reaching all new PBs and improving my all-around health, I decided that I needed to sign up for a race upon returning to Canada.

What better than a Canada Day race on July 1st in Ottawa?

So The Man and I hopped on our bikes in the early hours of our second week back in Canada and headed down to the race start line, where I leaned my bike up against the fence and started my warm up run with the other competitors.

In Malaysia I had gotten pretty used to being one of the fitter folks out there.  I had started to enjoy riding my bike faster than some of the other guys out there riding up the hill on any given Sunday morning, and I had started getting used to my neighbours making appreciative and encouraging comments about my fitness as I did laps and laps and laps around where we lived.

But Ottawa is not Kuala Lumpur.

The fitness levels in Ottawa are really so much higher across the board.  That's not to say that there aren't super fit people in KL, because, of course there are, but the average fit guy/gal in Ottawa is just so much more fit than the average fit guy/gal in KL.

As I was learning.

Warming up nice and easy!

Right from the warming up I could tell that I wasn't going to be competitive in this race.  There were people of every age looking very fit and ready to run very fast.

While I may have awoken with delusions of grandeur, images of running fast across the finish line, I quickly began to revise those into more realistic goals.  I figured that I wanted to finish this 5km race in less than 25minutes, feeling strong and consistent.

I lined up on the start line with the other competitors, got my Garmin all set to record my data, and got ready to run my own race, not a competitive race with those speedy speedersons out there, but just my own race.

See me waving from the start line?

The sun was already high and hot overhead, and I could tell that some people were concerned with the heat.  But after Malaysia, it felt beautiful and balmy to me, so I wasn't worried at all.

I started my run and soon realized that (as per usual) I started too quickly.  I could hear Coach Woods in my head telling me to slow down, and so I slowed myself down to around a 4:45min/km pace (a whole minute faster than my Angkor Wat race pace of 6 months earlier).  I kept myself consistent at 4:45min/km, planning on having the energy to run the final 500m or so at super fast gusto speed.

But you know what they say about the best laid plans…

If I can just go faster…dammit!

Super fast gusto speed was not to be achieved.  At least not by me.  As I turned around at the halfway point, I was already feeling a bit tired in my legs, wondering if I'd be able to make it to the end.  Suddenly that sun that I didn't think was so hot at the starting line was feeling pretty damn hot.  That guy whose pace I had been following for a kilometre or so started to speed up for his great finish, and I wasn't able to keep pace with him.  Heck, it was all I could do to just keep steady at the pace I had set.

As I ran up the final ramp towards the finish line, I could see the minute counter was still in the 23 minute mark, counting down the seconds.  And even though I willed myself with everything in me to speed the f**k up, I saw that minute ticker tick past the 24 minute mark before I crossed the line.

Still, I had made it in under 25 minutes.

At the end of the day, I came in 3rd in my age and gender category and 13 out of 185 female competitors.

My official race stats are:
Ran for 5kms with an average pace of 4:49min/km for a total time of 24:05.

So while I may not have reached super fast gusto speed, at least now I have a baseline to start from and perhaps some more races in the months to come!

Over and out,
Joy

Running in Winnipeg, or Ode to My Sister-in-Law

All loaded up and ready for home!

Joy here…On a warm June 16, we arrived back in Ottawa after 12 months in Kuala Lumpur.  We were met at the airport by a friend who loaded up all of our suitcases and bike boxes in and on top of his car, and everything fit!  Well, almost everything.  I ended up taking a cab.

And then on June 17, I hopped on another plane to head to Winnipeg for a week's worth of meetings.

Now, throughout this past year being based in Asia, I had many a late night (ahem, all night) Skype meeting in order to fulfill my North American obligations, and in both September and March I flew back to Winnipeg from Asia for meetings.  So this quick turnaround in June didn't feel all that different.  In fact, it still felt like we lived in Malaysia, and I almost asked The Man to run down to his aunt and uncle's house for me, forgetting that they no longer live a 5 minute drive away, but rather a 25 hour flight away!

Our Winnipeg running route.

As I grappled with jet lag and feeling a surreal sense of displacement, there was one really great aspect to my quick trip to Winnipeg this June.  It was, in short, my sister-in-law.

You see, my brother and sister-in-law started dating when they were 15 years old or so, and got married when they were 27.  I'm only 2 years older than they are, and so I literally feel as though I've grown up knowing my sister-in-law.  I mean, I've known her for over 20 years by this point!

But the funny thing about growing up with someone and thinking you know them very well is that you may, in fact, know them very well in some ways and not at all in others.  I mean, the way that you can be super duper comfortable with family members, but not really know what makes them tick.  What are they passionate about?  What do they love to do in their spare time?  What do they believe to the core of their being?  These are things that I don't know that I could answer about my sister-in-law.  I know that she's generous and loving and that she has an amazing smile and infectious laugh.  I know that she's a good person inside and out.  I know that she's beautiful and serious and silly.  But I don't know that I know her the way that I would if I had just met her now - adult to adult.

Nice to not have to run alone in the wooded areas!

The good news is that in recent years, she's taken up running (yay!!!), and so when I was in town, I coordinated with her to head down Wellington Crescent towards Assiniboine Park (c'mon Winnipeggers…you know what route that is!) for a run together, my first run on Canadian soil since returning.

Running is sometimes the best way to get to know someone.  You have just you and that other person out there in the hot sun, finding your pace and your rhythm, feeling the endorphins, and making conversation.  There's something about the experience that is really enjoyable if you can share it with someone.

And so as we ran in that hot mid-day sun, we shared.  We talked about all sorts of things, some that I recall with great clarity now, and some that I've forgotten, but what I felt is that with each step of our running shoes on the pathway, we got closer to knowing each other as running buddies, not just as sisters-in-law.

And I have to say, I'm pretty happy to know her and am going to make a concerted effort to continue to get to know her better over the next 20 years.

Let's hope my running shoes don't wear out!

Over and out,
Joy

If I Had Known It'd be the Last Time...

Joy here…Our final weeks and days of our 12 months in Kuala Lumpur came like a crazy blur.  We were in the midst of many goodbyes and festivities.  We celebrated The Man turning 40; we had farewell gatherings with friends and family; and we packed up our whole life to head back to North America.

Celebrating The Man's big 40th birthday at our place in KL!

And somehow in all that insanity, my last bike ride and my last run in Kuala Lumpur came and went, with me always thinking that there'd be another truly truly truly "last" one still to come, one that I would know was the "last" one, and one where I would document every twist and turn, every green leaf, every bend in the road, and every single thought that I had to file it away as something special, something "last."

But, before I knew it, my "last" ride was now behind me, and my bike was packed up.  And then it was my running shoes put away in a suitcase, and my "last" run already completed.

3 bikes and some suitcases getting ready for the return journey.
(In the end, there would be 8 suitcases in addition to the 3
bikes…what can I say?  I guess we don't travel light!)

In both cases, I never really knew it would be the last time, and I felt a bit sad about letting that "last-ness" pass me by unnoticed.

But perhaps that's for the best.  Perhaps it's better that I experienced my "last" bike ride as just one of the many that I was able to enjoy throughout out 12 months WITHOUT WINTER.  Perhaps it's better that my last run was one where I felt strong and healthy and focused on the run itself, not on it being the "last" one.

And maybe, just maybe, that's something that I should remember going forward; I don't need to fixate on the special "last-ness" of any given event, but just stay focused in the immediate living of it, the immediate experience, the present-ness of life.

So while I keep my eye to where I want to go, I will also keep my eye on where I am in the moment, in the now.

Over and out,
Joy

Look where you want to go...

Joy here...While being based in Kuala Lumpur for the past 12 months I've had a chance to do some amazing bike rides through glorious scenery.  Along the way, we upgraded the wheels on my bike to some super fast Carbon C35s, which has given me more than one mini heart attack as I've gone descending down hairpin turns with 400m drops into the ravine below.

You see, I'm not one of those kids who grew up riding a bike, tearing around the neighbourhood on my BMX doing tricks.  I came to cycling really late in the game, into my 30s already.  And while I've certainly improved and learned how to love bike riding, I've never really mastered the fine art of descending.  Add to that my natural tendency to always fear the worst in things, and you have the perfect recipe for a pretty crappy descender on the bike.

But not to be daunted…I turned to YouTube for advice:

One of the great bits of advice in this video is "look where you wanna go," so as I rode the terrifying switchbacks down the hill in Kuala Lumpur on my new, fast wheels, I heard over and over in my head "look where you wanna go…look where you wanna go…look where you wanna go…"

And it became a mantra for me not just on the bike, but in life as well.

It is important not to look where you are afraid of going, but look where you want to go.  Don't look at those deep ravines and think about what could go wrong, but look where you want to go!

The road with the drop off into the jungle.

The drop way down from the road into the ravine 400m below.

So as I embark on my next adventure in life I'm going to keep that in mind, and I'm only going to look where I want to go, keeping my eye on my ambitions and aspirations not on all the things that could go wrong.  And at the end, I will reach my destination faster and with more confidence than I ever thought possible.  Just as what happened on my last Sunday ride in Kuala Lumpur as I raced down that winding road.

Because at the end of the day, while life sure is about the journey, having some kind of destination in mind and keeping it in the line of sight isn't such a bad idea after all.

Looking where I want to go,

Joy