Friday 26 July 2013

Play: In Training

I had these great plans that I would be able to blog my training for my upcoming race. Ha! Between working, being a mother and wife, piles of laundry and days with "nothing to eat in this house" AND training, who has time to blog about it?
So, here I am, a little over 3 weeks away from the race, and I am making a bit of time to record how I'm feeling.
To recap, I'm training for a race called Wilderness Traverse. This year, the race is being held in the Parry Sound area.....one of the challenges will be to take the time to notice the beautiful surroundings I will be in! My team and I will spend 24-30 hours running, hiking, canoeing, portaging and biking a 150km course through the wilderness. For fun. And we paid someone to let us do this. Hmmmm.....I'm still trying to figure out if I should feel proud or foolish when I admit that I have signed up for this.
I've been training for 6 months, and over this time I have learned that I have great friends, who have supported me, helped me, and even seem to understand why.  Some are my "mom friends", who have held playdates to allow me to squeeze in a ride, run or swim when my husband was away. Nana who has driven out to pick the kids up so I could squeeze a ride in before work. Friends with bikes who have joined me on long rides, and taught me how to be a better rider. My trainer who has created training schedules, makes me stretch, and has gone out on cold, windy crappy days to ride with me. Co-workers who listen to my endless ramblings about my training rides/runs and current hurts. Friends who think a fun Friday night out is running through the bush with a headlamp. My husband, listening to me whine when I hurt, and is OK with me taking off for a 4 day weekend to do this. Sales rep that have hooked my team up with some free gear (pressure is on, you could say that we are sponsored athletes!.....Thank You Black Diamond & Icebreaker!!!) And a friend crazy enough (and ready) to agree to step in 3 weeks before to join the team, hope I can keep up with him.
They say it takes a village to raise a child.....one could also say it takes a village to train an athlete.
I've learned that you're not too busy to train for something. Be it your first 5km run, marathon, obstacle race or adventure race. You don't even have to wake up at the crack of dawn to do so (something I just can't bring myself to do, I like sleep) You will somehow find the time to creatively squeeze it in. And your village will be proud of you, and will step in to help where they can, you just have to accept it.
My team and I race on August 17-18. You can check in with us while we race, there will be a bit of a live feed during the race: http://wildernesstraverse.com/ click the Live coverage tab. And if I live to tell about it, I'll report here how it went!
My team is Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Where's The Finish?
What The F%$@?
Why The F%$#?
We Trained Furiously.
Whining Through Forests.
Which Trail's Fastest?
We Trek Fast.
We're Tough F%$#er's