Currently Accepting Rattlesnake Avoidance Tips!!!

Yesterday was day one of living up in the beautiful Okanagan and what better way to adjust than bring a sense of normalcy to my new surroundings so off for a run I went! In true Lisa fashion I revisited one of the often thrown around terms from my ski racing days, "go big or go home". Because why not "adjust" by going out for the longest run I've done in a month at a higher altitude than my usual sea level and in far warmer temperatures than my body is used to. As I was out for my run a couple of things occurred to me that I thought I would share with you...

1) While I'm used to the possibility of running into a bear while out for my run, one thing I'd not considered nor have any idea on how to survive is "running into" a rattlesnake! Off I went on my run along the road I live on which is a typical 2-lane road with no shoulder. Every now and then a car would pass and I would move over to the minimal slice of dirt/dry grass on the side of the road. This practice came to an abrupt halt when I realized that the "rattling" sound that I kept hearing was not a sprinkler, as there were none in sight never mind in earshot, but most likely the sound of a rattlesnake!!! The dilemma then became; play chicken with the cars who didn't look like they wanted to move over or risk stepping on something that rattled. I went with the obvious choice of winning many a chicken game with cars. Thank you friendly neighbours for moving over!!!

2) This one is for my tri-city running buddies... I think I've mentioned before that the road I am now living on goes downhill both ways (that reminds me of the stories my parents used to tell me about their walk to school in the snow "uphill both ways") but I digress... When your options are to go downhill one way or downhill the other way to start your run, I think you see where I'm going as to how the run finishes... Yup - UPHILL! For my first run out I decided to go the "flatter" of the two options and went right which is mostly rolling hills until you hit the 2.5km mark. This is where you hit a David like hill. Did I mention that I'm also at a higher altitude? Though it is a nice quiet lovely run with beautiful scenery, I'm thinking we will need to revisit this route a little later in the summer when I have my lungs and legs in better shape!

3) Summer - so amazing once the sunshine comes out that we all feel energized and ready to take on the world. As is common practice, with the sun comes heat which means going for a run at 10am is NOT a wise decision! Just to bring some temperatures into the mix for you, as I set out for my 10am, 10km run the thermometer already read 25 degrees. The heat was radiating up from the road and along the 10km route at 10am there was maybe a grand total of 500 meters of shade and zero breeze. Let's just say I'm extremely thankful that I came back to a pool and an air conditioned house and was able to bring my body temperature down a few notches when I finished my poorly planned mid-morning run!

The take away lessons of my, "I should know better", "go big or go home" run yesterday are as follows;
- get a couple of adjustment shorter runs under my belt before trying to be superwoman
- find a road route with shade to avoid heat exhaustion
- figure out what the heck one is supposed to do when going head to head with a rattler
- get my butt out of bed early to beat the heat
- go easy on the hills while I adjust to my new surroundings
- probably at the top of my list; find a running group to join so I can learn some local routes and tips for running in this area

Hopefully this resonates with some of you and you too can learn from my oversights. Here's to the next couple of runs going a little smoother now that I have acknowledged my mistakes??? I will keep you posted!

Huge Thank Yous!!!

Here I am, 5 1/2 months away from running the Bahamas Marathon in January 2013 with the Joints in Motion Team to raise money for the Arthritis Society and I've met and surpassed my original fundraising goal of $4,900. Today I made it to my second goal of $7,000 raised for the Arthritis Society and I have a GIANT smile on my face. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated to me - especially all my former Cypress Capital colleagues, many of whom donated for the second time!

Your support means so much to me and it means even more to Katherine, Heather, Andrea and of course East Coast Kim. Without these funds, these four incredible women would not be able to do the many everyday tasks they can complete today thanks to drug advances and research for Rheumatoid Arthritis. These funds go towards much needed research and those of us on the Bahamas Team know just how important drug research is as we lost one of our team-mates a couple of months ago to complications from her Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I can't explain how perfect the timing is on this for me as I embark on my next journey of moving to the Okanagan away from all those who have supported me during the past 2 events. It gives me the oportunity to settle in to my new environment without the added stress of trying to finish off my fundraising. I'm sure I will find a new support system quickly and have already been fortunate enough to have made some great connections up there and am looking forward to their support during the training phase that kicks off this summer!

I will definitely keep up my blog even though my fundraising portion is complete as I will need the support more than ever during my marathon training phase trying to find new running routes and new running buddies to keep me going through the long runs this fall/winter. I'm thinking I may need to invest in a treadmill as this West Coast girl doesn't run well in the snow!

Thank you again to all of my donors, as with last time, I am humbled by those who fundraise for a living - it is no easy task!!! Best wishes for an incredible summer to all!