Training Week - 16 January - 22 January

A bit of a slow week. Monday's run was shelved because of a sick child, no excuses for the other days:Tuesday 17 January:

• 60min gym, free weights, core work and stretching

Wednesday 18 January:

• 1:45h night run with Michelle


• 13km trails


• Night Run course/Capilano Canyon

Friday 20 January:

• 60min gym, free weights, core work and stretching


• 4h downhill skiing, pure heaven, great snow, good visibility, wonderful sunset

Saturday 21 January:

• 2:00h run with Pat and Michelle


• slow run, very muddy trails, Jaycee House to LSCR and back


• cold rain

Left In The Dark

Michelle and I have taken to meet during the week for an evening training run. Great way for both of us to bet our behinds out there and not find an excuse.

We are still recovering from the 50km on New Year's Day and I have been avoiding road running as much as possible to give my heels time to heal (pun intended). But where to do you run after dark if not on roads or illuminated paved bike paths?

Equipped with our headlamps we head through a residential neighborhood into the trails along Capilano Canyon. This is familiar territory, but this night seemed darker then others. Pitch black. I am not scared easily and our talks wander around the subject of the trails being slightly spooky, but who would be out here...maybe bears (shouldn't they be hibernating?), maybe coyotes, maybe dangerous creatures from the human species?

Fog reflects the light of our flashlights, the trail is hard to see. Stop, is that another flashlight between the giant rain forest firs? Another runner passes us, commenting that he was not the only nut bar out there tonight. The spooky mood is broken, but stop, look at the reflection of that sign-post. Doesn't it look exactly like eyes. They ARE eyes...What is it? The dark silhouette of a big creature is just visible against the faint glow from the canyon. A dog (best case scenario), a bear, a coyote? We settle on dog being the most likely. Hang on, didn't a human just cross our path?
Us: "Hullo, is this your dog? HULLO?"
Voice from the dark: "Oh, yes. Come on, Fido"
Fido doesn't move. Can you hear our hearts hammer? Is this big dog going to attack us? Are his hunting instincts roused? Maybe he is just a scared city dog, confused by the lights and strange voices. Scared dogs do bite, don't they? Finally the pooch makes his way past us, giving us as much space as possible, tail between his legs. He was scared, no hunting instincts! Phew!

Book Club - 16 January 2006

Finished "A complicated Kindness" just in time for tonights bookclub. This is the first time we meet AND discuss a book. No idea what to expect.

I found "A Complicated Kindness" to be a fragmented scattered read. The problems of a depressed Mennonite teenager high on drugs has little relevance for my life. Here's a review that sums it up:

A COMPLICATED KINDNESS by Miriam Toews Counterpoint Press October 2004, 246 pages, $24 by Lisa Nuch Venbrux :. e-mail this article :. print this article :. comment on this article Fumbling Towards Empathy On my first day of work at Indian Echo Caverns in the Pennsylvania countryside, I was trained by a Mennonite tour guide in a tight bun and Easy Spirits. She was my age, 17, but I guessed she was much older. Is she allowed to work here? I thought, then scolded myself for it. When I got to know her, she acted like any one of us, with fewer swear words and comfortable shoes. I had heard stories about Mennonite kids selling crack, and at once I began to believe it. They were as angst-ridden as the rest of us, which earned them respect in my narcissistic adolescent brain. I tried to read Miriam Toews' heartfelt A Complicated Kindness with that teenage epiphany in mind. Nomi Nickel is a Mennonite girl growing up in a small god-fearing Canadian community called East Village. Ironically, Nomi's dream is to live in New York's East Village, the antithesis of her closed world. She grapples with a dysfunctional family, sex, drugs, and school; all against the backdrop of the unforgiving religious community she cannot escape. We are introduced to Nomi's extraordinary life through ordinary means -- casual descriptions of daily and family life that reverberate powerfully thanks to Toews' perfectly calibrated tone. Set against the frigid Canadian countryside, the town seems chillier thanks to descriptions of the local business -- a chicken farm where the slaughtered birds hang like a nightmare over the young people destined to inherit a job at the chopping block. The narrative reads like Nomi's diary. At first, the excessive use of the word "and", as well as mind-boggling non sequiturs, can be grating. Similarly, the lack of quotation marks throughout gets confusing. It does not take long, however, to begin understanding how effectively Toews writes a teenager. The tone is pitch perfect without becoming cliched. Set deep inside Nomi's brain, the story flows through her mind's distractions, buoyed by the sweet self-absorption of adolescent life. Through carefully chosen observations that sometimes might seem trite, unusually complex characters emerge. Nomi's immediate family includes a rebellious older sister, Tash; a conflicted mother, Trudie; and her quiet father, Ray. The circle broadens to include her pious and locally powerful uncle Hans "The Mouth," and an aggravating boyfriend named Travis. Tash and Trudie flit like phantasms throughout, and we begin to understand that their existence in the book derives from Nomi's memories. Ray, on the other hand, appears fully dimensional and concrete. He is the rock of the family, part of its past, present, and uncertain future. From a left-wing, non-religious, American viewpoint, beginning this book was like engaging in conversation with a Born Again pro-lifer at a clinic picket line. I expected some confusion, or frustrated fury. The great genius of Toews' meticulously designed narrative, however, is that all expectations are turned on their heads. Nomi's inner monologue manages to capture a loyalty to her upbringing, as well as the curiosity that promotes thinking "out of the box"; or in this case, out of the sloped roof of a whitewashed fundamentalist church. Nomi embodies the balance each of us grapples to achieve: understanding the faults of our upbringings on an intellectual level, and finding comfort in them on an emotional level. This simultaneous repulsion and attraction is what makes a small Canadian Mennonite girl universal to any reader. Nearly anybody of any political or religious background will feel personally challenged and deeply sympathetic to any number of characters in the book. More than halfway through the fascinating, mundane daily life of Nomi Nickel, I began to understand that all the sameness in the scenery was building to some dramatic end. The mother, crazed in her repression, spends one memorable scene ranting and screaming at her brother "The Mouth" -- a strictly devout Mennonite leader who had rebelled as a teenager, tried to make his way in the world, and failed. Tash's announcement that she was an "atheist" sends shockwaves through Nomi's cerebral cortex. The father, Ray, stands out as the strongest and most tortured of all. Toews' subtle focus on Ray's dimensions is what gives the end emotional power. Families are sometimes so strong that they turn against themselves, breaking apart instead of holding together. That lesson reverberates among deeply loyal communities the world over. A Complicated Kindness will remind you of just that: the complex and innocent humanity inside each of us that is too often shaped by human tragedy.

I guess I need to read more detail oriented...just didn't get over the scattered narrative, that in the end I guess, correctly portrait Nomi's state of mind and age.

Not compelled to read more of Miriam Toews work, but might consider rereading some excerpts of "A Complicated Kindness".

Training Week - 9 January - 15 January

Monday - 9 January:

• 40 min gym, free weight and stretching

Tuesday - 10 January:

• 60 min slow run - Mosquito Creek and Bowser trails


• 8km


• mostly trails

Wednesday - 11 January:

• 69 min road run (Pemberton loop) with Michelle -


• approx 10km

Thursday - 12 January:

• supposed to go to the gym, but felt nauseous and hid in the office instead

Friday - 13 January:

• full day of work and family committments

Saturday - 14 January:

• 2:10h road and some easy trails (Mosquito Creek, Bowser, Ambleside, Seawall and back) with Pat and Michelle. Good pace


• approx. 18km

Sunday - 15 January:

• Squamish Scrambler Snowshoe hike with my children


• 14km to Red Heather Hut


• what an adventure and great fun

New Year's Resolutions - One Down

The post race euphoria has gone by now and the tired muscles are slowly recovering...in fact I ventured out for my first post Vancouver New Year's Day 50km run this morning. Time to reflect on an epic day.

After an intense taper because of a pre Christmas stomach flu, I feared I forgot how to run, lost all my training and was in general sandbagging mode. The weather forecast of torrential rains and gale force winds did not raise my mood. 50km...what was I thinking?
The first day of 2006 dawned gray and mild, but almost dry. The forecast was upgraded to showers (which Vancouverites know to mean there may or may not be dry spells in between downpours). I had difficulties deciding what to wear. Would it be better to be hot and dry or comfortable, but soaked. In the end I opted for a long sleeve technical shirt and my MEC burly weather jacket, with a short sleeve shirt and vest in a drop bag for the turn-around. The hydration pack was filled with an electrolyte concoction, enough gels to survive a couple of days, some granola bars, money, an emergency blanket and a flashlight.

The starting area at Brockton Oval in Stanley Park was one busy place. We had close to 100 preregistered runners all eager to start the year with a 50km run. When Ean sent the field off (I swear his watch was a few minutes early), I discovered that I had forgotten to put my post race bag into Michelle's car. By the time I had things organized (thanks for waiting, Pat and Michelle - sorry for the confusion Cheryl, Rhonda and Faith) we were dead last. At least no pressure to keep up with the fast guys ;-)

All pre race jitters were forgotten. I felt pumped and we had to make an effort to keep our pace down. Winding through the trails in Stanley Park Doug Keir and Baldwin Lee, who must have slept in, passed us. Both were somewhat familiar with the course and didn't slow down to read the course instructions (the worst combination and a sure way to get lost...) After rescuing them 3 times from a wrong turn, they finally decided it was prudent to stay with us through the park. Not sure how they fared for the remainder of the run?

Pat, who missed some of our long training runs because of sickness, decided that a 25km run was probably enough for her, turned around at Kits Beach. Michelle and I ventured on, now seriously trying to catch up to Faith and Cheryl.

I don't know about you, but 10km into the run I was still not sure what the best clothes were for the day. Long sleeve tech shirt and vest started to be too hot. Off went the jacket, but once we turned west, the winds started to pick up and rain was pelting us, I needed more. Off went the shirt and on went the jacket. That kept me happy for a while, although I was concerned about chafing around the neck from the hydration pack - the shirt had provided a layer between pack and skin that the jacket didn't.

At Jericho Beach we passed the 8km Resolution Runners just assembling for an 11:00 am start. Cheryl and Faith still were nowhere to be seen. Jordan and John's aid station just before the course veers off into Pacific Spirit Park was a welcome reason for a short break, gummy worms and a chocolate chip cookie.

My hips started to get sore on the long flat area and both Michelle and I were happy to be back on soft trails and varied terrain in Pacific Spirit Park. The 7+km to the turn-around seemed easy and fast. High fiving all the runners already on the return leg certainly was a mood buster (not that we were suffering). Thanks for all those lies centered around "Looking good".

We picked up Cheryl just before crossing 16th Ave, but still no sight of Faith...did she get lost on the trails? The rains were still holding back and the woods protected us from the gale force winds on the beach. Approaching the turn-around we even spotted some blue sky and I felt almost giddy. What a good surprise it was to find a fully staffed aid station with smiling, happy folks including my husband, at the turn-around. I guess this is were we spent the 4 minutes that were missing for an under 7h finish time in the end...Thanks John and Sarah.

The Coquitlam group set out for the return trip with us, but we could not keep up with their 10/1 rhythm of running and walking, no matter how severely Pete was bonking ;-) Eventually, we lost sight of them and continued through the mud alone. I have no recollection of loosing Cheryl, but somewhere she stayed behind and despite a wait at the aid station, did not catch up again. We did however catch a glimpse of Faith before driving rain and winds made us put our heads down and just focus on each single step getting us closer to the more protected area of Point Grey Road. Mercifully, the elements had pity and by the time we hit Kits Beach, we had roped in Faith and Roy. One by one we passed more runners and despite starting to get tired, were riding a endorphin high.

Our pace was perfect. Michelle seemed to have exactly the same speed and was able to keep up when we started to see the end of a very long 50km (I heard some GPS owners talk about measuring 54km) and increased our speed slightly. Seemed like a whole bunch of lost lambs relied on our navigational skills through Stanley Park. The harder the wind whipped through the old trees the faster we got. We heard at least one tree fall near by and came across another one that blocked the trail. Thankfully, the fire hydrant, aka finish line was near.

As for the "Freeze your Ass Swim" at the end...we tried! The meter high waves crashing into the seawall prevented us to get in. Roy, Michelle and I did sit down on the stairs leading down and got a full body soak instead ;-)