Adjustments....

So as I described in my very first post, life does not always do as I want and so I have had to alter some of my major life dreams....but I have found a peace at doing so and new ways to 'realise' my dreams...This run and raising money for the Anna Foundation was one way I could fulfill a desire of mine..... I got a sense of purpose back, it sort of helped me not feel quite so directionless shall we say....

Anyways, the adjustment of the latest dream is that I can not get to SA for the run. The cost of getting there is just honestly way too high.  My bro and I have looked at all options, and for the time I will be out versus the cost well....I just can not justify spending that kind of money.  I realise this is a first world issue.....  However, I am truly gutted at the same time.  I was so excited to be doing this, to be looking forward to running the route that this particular race goes along, its magnificent. Mostly though I feel like i'm letting everyone down....Before I gave up all hope of getting out there I checked and the money I have been sponsored so far still goes to the kids, and I can still carry on raising money.  It just feels like i've let so many down regardless....for that I am sorry, but money is a real issue and its not something to be squandered to satisfy a little need I have, too many people have none......I need to respect that.

So upon re-evaluation, I WILL still carry on training for a half marathon, however it will be here in Oulu, I will attempt it on the same day as the Two Oceans is being run, Easter weekend Saturday 26th of March. The one thing though is if I do it here I need to be aware of the weather....  So if the weather forecast is not favorable I may have to move the day...usually by that time of year its good weather though.  I will sort out a route here and I will organise a little support team to help me along the way.  I will do it...just not where and how I thought I would, I wont get a medal or have a formal running number or anything as exciting as that, but I will run a half marathon....So regardless of location, I am still going to keep at it...for the kids, for my sanity and just because I want and need to.
Maybe I need to add a new twist to the run though, to add some spice to the fact that I will be running in my town...possibly do it topless???  (....as a woman I would need a running bra on at least!) There is a man who used to run through the winter here without a shirt on...he covered all other areas of his body, but ran without a top regardless of the temperature, he is a legend, I saw him once...total nutter, but possibly I need to look into the possibility of doing something to make it more of a challenge...I wont have the anticipated hills to conquer so mmmmm..... Or do I need to try set myself a time to do it in...2 h 20 mins??! ..it may get more of you to sponsor me ;) Plus like you know, I thrive on challenges....

So yea, that is the latest news. Please forgive me, it could/can not be helped....UNLESS between now and then I win the lottery....then who knows, I also believe in the never say never philosophy!

But now enough of that...onto the training part.....

Well i'm back in Oulu.  The trip home was long and exhausting and for some reason the jet lag coming this way has been a lot harder on both of us.  We are getting there though.....Maybe its because I am so old now..hehe....

Anyways, we have come back to glorious weather, not the dreaded temperatures that keep us indoors for days on end....I have done one run so far, but have managed to drag my skis out and been skiing....

Our local haunt and my favorite running place was visited first, it was windy on the day we went, but the light is so much better nowdays and it was a real treat...it seems paragliding(??!!) is now the thing to do....

The original video does not seem to work,
so here is a dodgy pic but those spots are the parachutes.

I'm wondering if this would count as cross training???!! It certainly looked like fun...

However, for now I have decided I may as well take up skiing as my cross training.  I am the slowest skier I know...I mean apparently skiing is meant to be faster/easier than running and that is why people do it....well lets say, I ski slower than I run and all the lovely old Finnish folk (and I mean the old ones, as in they have wrinkles and are possibly nearer 80 than 40) pass me along the way, I just smile and say 'Huomenta', as if its all perfectly natural that I look so professional but ski like a snail....I have now being doing it for years and clearly i'm still crap at it...I figure I will just go for it anyways.  Its a novelty and apparently you use 80% of your muscles versus 60% for running....I think I may use about 95% when I ski...but cant be sure.....

As usual, my first ski was done with great enthusiasm, I made 8 kms in over an hour, I was all excited, felt good and got myself all keyed up about doing this local ski race on the 12th of March, its a 37 km route, I tried it a few years ago with a friend of mine (also Southern hemisphere born)....he finished it, me I managed to go till about 20 kms and then had to give up...my gloves had frozen and well...there were too many hills....I have to confess that at that stage of my skiing education I had not even realised that there was a way of stopping whilst skiing....I just assumed like with ice skating that one kept gliding until friction stopped you :)  So needless to say, getting up the hills involved me taking off my skiis and walking up, and getting down was fine till I reached the bottom which inevitably involved me skiing into the snow piles along the base of the hill, taking my skiis off so I could stand and then putting them back on...so yea, I was not ready to do it...but I tried anyways...

Now I am more knowledgeable, I realise there is a proper way to stop and a way to slow yourself down as you hurtle down the hills....As well as a way to walk up the hills  whilst keeping your skiis on too...I have not in anyway perfected the art, but I was thinking on this first day of my skiing that maybe between now and the 12th I can perfect the art and well...seen as its about 2 or 3 years since my first attempt at the tervahiito, I would be able to get a little further if I attempted it.....I'm also way more fitter than I was back then, so surely I could do it??!!

So yes, I spent that evening scouting out all sorts about the race itself....psyching myself up...etc etc...Shall we say I woke up the next morning, unable to move....I had forgotten just how  much skiing wacks you, the 95% use of all muscles in my body really was felt and a few days later, i'm still feeling it :)  So yip...my optimism is not quite so high at present...I figure I've about 4 weeks to ponder it ..but it would take me about 5 or 6 hours to do....It will be our last year in Oulu, and lets face it, imagine if I could do it....I'm stupid/arrogant enough to try, but the reality may kick in, I still cant stop properly, I cant walk up the hill like a duck either.....So for now i'm saying, just ski and get the benefits for the running, but deep down inside of me there is a little voice saying, 'Just try bales, just try...you can stop if its too much, there is always that....but if you don't try...you never know!'..

So watch this spot for details....This morning i'm trying to decide...run or ski..run or ski....easy or hard...easy or hard....I think I may ski....A long run is scheduled for Friday :)

This is the route along the forest behind my house....
I get to pop on my skis and go here....
While in non winter months I run here...how cool hey??!!

So anyways, that is me for now...

You have a good rest of your week and I will go attempt to move my limbs....

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