A New Challenge

Week 30: September 22-27

Soap Opera Episodes: 14
Ben and Jerry Tubs: 1
Twilight Books: 4

As you may have guessed, the recovery from illness has not happened as quickly as I had hoped. My dreams of a long Saturday run were officially destroyed by a Friday night visit to the hospital and subsequent perscriptions. Friday night trips to the hospital are not advised, as Fridays seem to be a favorite for a plethora of injured/ill people. This has left me in a difficult position - my Doctors (and my lungs) are suggesting that a marathon in 2 weeks is not possible. In an unfortunate case of being too well prepared - I have already booked flights, hotels, and got the early bird price for the marathon entry; none of which I can realistically cancel. I also managed to convince my parents to join me in Victoria, and it's going to be difficult to place a pseudo-Sierra in my place. So I am heading to Victoria in 14 days with a new challenge ahead.

That's right, I've replaced the sub 4:15 marathon girl with something even more difficult. Joining me in this difficult task will be my Mother, the bronze medal walker in the Edmonton ING marathon. Anyone who has met my Mother or I will know that this will be one of the toughest races of our lives because we are going to try to NOT get a personal best. In fact, we are going to go above and beyond a worst time and shoot for something that will result in no sore feet, or achy lungs, or questionable joints. We will aim for the bottom of the finishers list and possibly enjoying a couple of lattes (to stay) on the way. We will keep a pace that allows for maximal gossiping and minimal heavy breathing and in the end it will do nothing for our training or racing resume You might be asking yourself why this is such a difficult thing to do. You might even say to yourself: "Sierra you are already naturally slow, why would you care about being even slower". But the truth is, I don't like to be slow. In fact, I secretly dream of being moderate...or even fast.

I'd love to tell you that my Mom was going to be there to keep the pace down, but this is the same woman who perfected the "Fake n' Sprint" - a clever move where you ski/bike/run with your family for a long race, before sprinting out the last 100 m and leaving everyone in the dust. If anyone catches on to the move, there are several variations that you can try - asking for a drink of water, then sprinting away when someone goes to hand it for you, grabbing your knee in pain and then knocking down the person who comes to help before racing to the finish - you got the point. I am keeping my guard up in the final 200 m, in fact I encourage anyone in Victoria to be at the finish line around 2:00 pm on Thanksgiving Sunday for a sprint finale that will rival the Men's Olympic Triathlon for excitement.

Although my sub 4:15 marathon girl is on hold, I haven't given up on it completely. I'm contemplating an end of November Seattle marathon as long as lungs and knees hold up. I'm determined to strike this one of the list before January 1 and I'm hoping my body will help me out. It seems like a silly thing to even consider when I can't bike to work without losing my breath. If anyone knows of good CHEAP accommodations in Seattle, please let me know!

What does someone do when they are stuck on the couch/bed for 7 days? As ashamed as I am to admit the truth, I feel like it is my responsibility as a blogger to share my experience. If it can save even one internet user from making the same mistake, it will be worth publishing the truth. I spent the bulk of the week reading the Twilight series. If you haven't read Twilight, you are probably thinking that reading anything is a good idea. The truth is that Twilight is cocaine infused words. I don't know what kind of crazy mind altering tricks they incorporated into that series, but after one chapter you can't stop. Chapter after chapter - book after book, it's impossible to curb the urge; and yet with every word you ask yourself why you are abusing your brain. Approximately 4 books and 3000 pages later, I still wonder why I wasted so many hours when there are fabulous books waiting to be read. At the same time, I just want more...more Jacob and Edward and Bella, more dazzling and forever and vampire love-making. I had to return the books to their owner this morning because I knew as long as they were in the house I wouldn't be able to keep away. Now I just search Wikipedia and IMDB for updates on the film. This cures some of the withdrawal, but I worry that going to Mac's Fireweed or Amazon will send me careening off the wagon and back into Forks, Washington.

Sierra posted this on Sep 29, 2008 from the livingroom | | permanent link