We Won!

We won.  (Mixed that is, one male, one female, another canoe term for you! although, obviously, tennis stole it from us). That's me.  When I see a cameraman in the water, I try to look as ignorant as possible.  And No, i don't think I'm using that word right.

I could look up ignorant in the dictionary to see if I even come close to any sort of true definition, and if not, could then proceed to try to look up the word that I DO mean, but instead I'll just tell you my definition, so you can all change your vocabulary.

Ignorant: adverb  Pure determination, inability to feel pain or feel tired, eye on the prize. example: Towards the end of a race, I don't get tired, I get ignorant.

I think in this picture, I have perfected the look.  No smiles. no glamour. just grit.

Canoe racing...say what?

Just got back from my paddle.

I told y'all I was taking a break didn't I?

Well not yet. You just can't quit paddling cold turkey.

The truth is, I have two of my biggest races of the year coming up.  On memorial day, the General Clinton Canoe Regatta which is a 70 mile canoe race from Cooperstown NY, to Bainbridge NY.  I'm racing with my significant other Marc. (i detest the word boyfriend). And then the end of May, the Ausable canoe marathon which is a 120 mile canoe race that starts at 9 at night and goes til approximately 1:00 the next afternoon. Thats the end of July and I'm racing that with one of my idols, Gloria.  So my canoeing hiatus will officially start after Ausable.

But I will be weaning myself off canoeing after the 70 (ie the general clinton, you all gonna be down with the canoeing lingo soon!)

Today was C1. (one person canoe C2 is a two person canoe, K1 is a one person kayak..K2 is... - see you're learning!) I sucked major ..ly.

Thats ok, i had a tough weekend of racing last week, and for some reason this week has just been hard on me all together. You'll have that right? right? I'm not the only one?

Lunch run

I often go for a run during lunch. In an ideal world I'd get up and run in the morning, but in an ideal world I'd be a billionaire and not have to get up in the morning to go to work. 

But I digress. 

I had an interesting run, which had to do with my clothing - I'll save that story til I know you a little better. But I made a friend on my run! Hello little painted turtle! 

Also today was new shoes day! Woot! First run in the new brooks pure cadence. I love these shoes !

It all started with a gift to my Grandpa.

This:
http://canoegalholly.blogspot.com/

is the blog that I did when I did my first marathon.  You can get the whole gist of it there if you like.  OR I can just fill you in on the details.

My father died in 2007, towards the end of that year I got a bug in my head that I could do a marathon, (more on that later, as in all the time) so on Thanksgiving day, after I did my frequent "run around the lake" in my hometown of Cuba NY, I decided that for Christmas I would give my Grandpa a gift certificate to a "Wineglass Marathon Weekend" where I was going to run my first marathon.

I trained...fairly well...ok not really well at all when it comes down to it. But did very respectable. 3:26.

I was happy with that for...oh, 24 hours.

Then, I thought...I could do better.

The following year I ran Wineglass again, and blew up at mile 20, finishing in 3:35 after mostly walking the last 10k, then, full of the thought of redemption, signed up for the Harrisburg marathon.  Did one session of speed work (noteably my first speed work ever) and Ran a 3:22 at Harrisburg.

Decided to give Boston a go, paid a real coach to coach me, and pulled off a 3:15 from Hopkinton to Boston.

I returned to Boston again the following year and blew up at around mile 13.  Thats a long way to go with no energy.

The following year, I trained for the Shamrock marathon, and had a disappointing race, finishing in 3:27 after having a bad 8 miles, then signed up for the Gansett Marathon in RI, having a flawless first 20 miles, right on pace for a sub 3:10, only to fall apart and finish in 3:18 - however I'll take it.  Because there is one thing that is very important in all of this.

I am, or at least have been, first and foremost a canoe racer.  I race around 15 marathon canoe races a year, ranging in length from 2 hours to 16 hours.  Needless to say, you use different muscles for both of these sports.

But now, I'm considering taking a year (or two) (INCONCEIVABLE) off of canoe racing, to see how far I can go in this running world.

Far is not to be taken literally, I have absolutely NO desire to run further than 26.2.

Why Not?

I am decent writer.  I just lack stamina.

Which I find fairly comical, because when it come to athletics, that's where I excel.

I ain't going to "go public" with my blog til I'm sure that I can keep up with it, at least a little.

So...here goes nothing.

On your Mark..
Get Set..
GO!