Letting Go

Week 28/29: September 8-21

Bike: 80 km (more downhill than uphill...physically impossible if not for a shuttle)
Run: 200 m in the pool (which equals 3 hours of pool running)
Swim: 3000 m

Growing up, my Mom had a sign above the kitchen that said "Relax - God's in Control". Whether you believe in a higher power or not, sometimes it's nice to think somebody out there has got it all figured out, because I apparently don't. The past two weeks have involved putting my life into the hands of others (not God - but Kate, who as far as I'm concerned is pretty darned close)and ice packs/antibiotics/Ibuprofen. I prefer when I am completely in charge, but considering the circumstances, it hasn't been too horrible.

Following the glory that was the Klondike Road Relay, I decided to try my luck at the local 5 km Tuesday race. Thanks to a very low turn out, I managed to not only set a personal best and crack the 25 minute mark, but also win the women's side of the race. This was recorded in posterity by the Yukon News which graciously identified me as "marathon runner Sierra van der Meer". I found this an interesting description, as it is almost as accurate as saying "Red Sea diver Sierra van der Meer", which I've also done once. You have to love Yukon newspapers for helping bolster the self-esteem of all their lowly readers. While basking in my new achievement (and subsequent fame and glory), I failed to notice that my knee was not feeling nearly as happy as I was.

It appeared that a mere four weeks before the marathon, I was going to be temporarily unable to run. This meant that instead of running, I would have to spend some time enjoying the last weeks of fall and final days of mountain biking. With the colors changing, the bike riding became more like bike and click, than anything else. Tony and I enjoyed a trip down what is soon becoming my favorite Whitehorse ride - El Camino/Blues Brothers.

As you can see, Sheera is practically camouflaged in amongst the autumn leaves.

Even Starbuck looks classy against the multi-colored foliage.

After the El Camino ride with Tony I was feeling surprisingly confident in my new mountain biking abilities and decided to step it up a notch and try one of the more difficult trails. This is not something I would be capable of doing on my own, and recruited some friends to take me down the hill o' death (I needed back up that could call the ambulance if I went down in a horrible accident). The four girls decided to head up to Easy Money on the top of Grey Mountain. As you can see - 3 of the girls are excited about the trip and one (yes, it's me) is terrified at what could be her last fully mobile sports activity.

As promised, Monika, Kate and Jocelyn kept me safe and managed to get me all the way down the hill - on my bike! Logic (and physics) says that going down the hill should be faster than going up, but my hesitancy meant lots of additional waiting while I cried in fear. Despite my pleas to walk, Kate convinced me that I could (and should) go down on the bike, despite the insane grade. Eventually, we made it all the way down the hill, and while I'm not sure that I'll do Easy Money again, I certainly find everything else a little bit easier.

My newly acquired over-confidence convinced me that a trip to Carcross would be a great way to practice more adrenaline pumping downhill biking. I was slightly worried about being the slowest one in the group, but thought I should take advantage of the expertise of mountain biking experts like Monika:

And Paul Gowdie:

The day of Carcross fun ended with one broken wrist, one separated shoulder and four flight tires. Is it wrong that I'm happy it wasn't me? The rides down Montana included some hike and bike, but less hike and more bike than before. While I'm not hucking off any sweet jumps, I am slowly conquering my fear of the steep. I'm also learning all about the glories of shuttling - in theory shuttling ruins the purity of the ride - in practice in means no up and just down. Shuttling rocks!

While all the biking has been fun, I am still left with the slight problem of three weeks until a marathon that I've never run more than 3 hours, or 26 km in preparation for. Between unhappy knees and newly diagnosed tonsilitis, I'm feeling less than confident and more than worried. I had hoped for a sub 4:15 marathon, but now I'm hoping to finish. I'm still trying to figure out what to do: Option 1 is try to finish the Victoria Marathon, Option 2 is forget about Victoria and try for the Seattle Marathon at the end of November. I'll see if these antibiotics do me any good, and I hope to be running by Saturday.

Sierra posted this on Sep 24, 2008 from the gym | | permanent link