Pete and Repeat Went Into A Store...*

I sat down last year and set some very do-able goals. Then I had a knee problem so the TC 10K was not do-able. Then I decided to Ireland so I cut out the hiking one and the second running one. Then I was lazy so I cut out the weight-loss one.

In short, despite making sure that my goals were realistic, I failed to account for the fact that I like to use excuses as a reason to not do things. Well, I'm back to being able to run (I was actually back to that before Christmas but the holiday season is not a good time to try and set up good habits. It's a time-of-year-too-busy-thing, not a grandma-molasses-cookies-thing, I swear) and looking at my 2011 goals. Easy-peasy, they're going to be my 2012 goals.

Easiest yearly goals I've ever set. And in case you don't feel like actually going back to the old post:

1. Run the TC 10K in 1:15:00 - I'm going to change this to 'run a 10K'. I like the TC but it's stupid crowded and I don't know if I really want to be pushing myself through throngs of people for a time goal. Over the next few days, I'll research other 10Ks in the area and make a decision.

2. Run the Gunner Shaw 10K next November - The ultimate trail race in Victoria. Don't believe me? Read this. Doesn't that sound like ridiculously crazy fun times!

3. Hike the Juan de Fuca Trail - From last year's post: This one was put on hold last year due to other events. It won't be put on hold again. Hey, last year me, yes it will. But Ireland was worth it. Let's try this again, shall we?

4. End the year within 15 lbs of my weight goal - Totally do-able if I'm not a complete twat about it... again.

Now, who wants to start a pool to guess when I'll give up the first one?

*Anyone else remember that joke from yesteryear?
Pete and Repeat went into a shore. Pete came out. Who was left?
Repeat.
Pete and Repeat went into a store... and so it goes until  the recess bell goes or your friend walks away (or punches you).

2010 is Going to Be My Year. Wait, What? 2011?

I have a habit of haphazardly setting resolutions. January 1st rolls around and I think "I'd like to do this" so I set it as a resolution and then don't actually bother to think about how I'd like to make that happen. It's all fine and dandy to say "I'd like to climb Mount Everest" but if you don't bother taking any steps towards making that happen, you might as well be saying "I'd like to build a working TARDIS". (Actually, you'd grow a working TARDIS, but that's a discussion for another blog.)

This year, I wrote down a few resolutions (or goals, which ever term you prefer) and then thought long and hard about how I plan to accomplish them.

1. Run the TC 10K in 1:15:00 - I had a goal of running it in 1:20:00 last year. For a first time runner, I took 12 minutes off my best walking time and figured I could do that. Well, an unfortunate bottom-of-the-foot blister at around the 6K mark put an end to that goal but it had been within fairly easy reach up until that point. This year, I'm going into running knowing that a) I can run and b) I like to run. I'll just make sure I wear better socks this time.

2. Run the Gunner Shaw 10K next November - I wanted to do this this year but it occurred at the tail end of my hip problem when I hadn't been running for almost two months. It is not a race you want to enter into unprepared.

3. Hike the Juan de Fuca Trail - This one was put on hold last year due to other events. It won't be put on hold again.

4. End the year within 15 lbs of my weight goal - This is do-able. In fact, my actual weight goal is totally do-able in 11 months if I lose at a healthy rate without ever hitting a plateau or having a week where I gain, but I want some leeway on this. I don't want to worry about not reaching a certain number if I decided to have the fries instead of salad once and while. Also, I hesitate to set an actual number for my final goal because a lot of it is how I feel. Feeling and being healthy is more important than the actual number on the scale, so 15lbs puts me within spitting distance of all the numbers I would consider as a 'final' number. The easiest way to make this happen is to set lots of short term goals for myself. Weekly. Monthly. Whatever they are, I need to set them and go after them. It's really easy to slide when you think "I still have 11 more months before that goal comes up" but not so easy when you think "I have four weeks". Expect to see a lot more short term goals floating around here.

Has anyone else set some interesting resolutions/goals for this year?

I'm cheap and I hate moobies, but I've got new shoes!

It is Tuesday, April 6th as I write this, but I honestly don’t know when it will actually get posted. I’ve being having problems with the internet connection all day. It taunts me with five minutes of connectivity and then it crashes. Part of the problem is that I ‘permanently borrow’ an internet connection from someone in my building. Well, I call it ‘permanently borrowing’ but I believe the internet providers would call it ‘stealing’. Potato, pota... oh, that doesn’t really work when you type it out. For the most part, this hasn’t really been an issue: I use very little bandwidth when I’m online and I don’t download anything which would be noticed by someone else. But then there’s a day like this when there’s obviously a problem and the actual registered user of the modem is most likely out. I can’t very well call up Shaw and tell them I think there’s a problem in one of the apartments. That’s a phone call that can only end badly.

It’s not that I’m against paying for the internet, it’s more of the fact that I’m cheap. Why pay when I can get it for free? I blame it on my Scottish half. Here’s how ingrained it is into the Scottish psyche to be cheap: I was adopted at birth and raised in an Irish family; I never knew anything about my birth parents until a little over a year ago when I finally decided to request my live birth certificate (which includes the information of your biological parents); I was 28 years old when I found out that my biological father was Scottish (my biological mother was Irish) and yet I’ve been using the term ‘permanently borrow’ since I was a teenager. I didn’t even know I was ½ Scottish and I was still cheap!

It was a busy weekend for me. On top of parent's returning from overseas, and a night out with my stepmom and baby brother, and family functions for Easter, I turned thirty this past weekend. Thirty!! Despite being one of those birthday's that women everywhere are supposed to dread, I'm really happy to be thirty. I can't quite explain it but there's some sense of accomplishment at having reached this age. I've done it; I've arrived. Screw you, twenty-somethings with your over-done face make-up, perfectly styled hair, and skirts with less material than my bra, I'm thirty, and proud, and I'm going to wear my sweatpants to the grocery store, dammit! The only downside to getting older (so far) is the realisation that I can't wear high heels when my calf is sore and then go for a run the next morning. It was very, very painful. As a friend commented "Welcome to your thirties; start buying ointment."

For my birthday, I treated myself to some new running shoes: the Asics Gel-Fortitude 3 (right). It's pretty much love... until I get another new pair in a few months. I went to FrontRunners and went through the whole rigamarol of getting fitted. It has been at least three years since I last did and after the fiasco of my last purchase, I figured a fresh start with shoes was in order. The guy helping me was very thorough and knowledgable, and I was feeling pretty happy that I had a smart and very attractive sales rep until I realised two things: 1) he's married, 2) he has fairly sizable moobies for someone who's so fit. I am well aware that the second point is really shallow but moobies freak me out, like, moving-scarecrow freak me out. Still, I pushed past my own personal issues, avoided both eye contact and chest region for the remainder of my time there, and after trying five different pairs, I came back to the Asics. I'm scared to run in them because they're so shiny and clean. I don't want to ruin that.

My next purchase will be hiking boots so I can make sure they're properly broken in before we head off. I checked out a few stores while I was in town today (and by 'a few stores', I mean MEC) to get an idea of prices and what to look for. I'm a bit intimidated by the hiking boots mainly because I really have no idea what makes a good hiking boot. It because clear today while talking to the very nice and informative lady, that I will need to do some research online so I am better prepared to sound like I know what I'm doing next time I go in. For example, there's a difference between day hiking boots and multi-day hiking boots... I had no idea! It has to do with the construction of them to take your body weight or your body weight + a 50lbs backpack. But if you're doing a relatively flat multi-day hike (say, the Juan de Fuca or the West Coast Trail), you could possibly get away with a day hiking boot (which are usually cheaper).

I'm starting to think I should just let the moving scarecrow get me.

Juan de hike with me?

Having found a passion for running I never thought I would, I find that most of my posts seem to center on that. It's great and I'm happy to talk about it, but it's not the reason for my blog. My reason is the Chilkoot and leading up to that, the Juan de Fuca and the West Coast. This year, 2010, I'm supposed to do the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. Out of the three that I'm doing, it is the newest, most accessible and easiest of the trails which is pretty much why I put it first on the list. (Don't mistake 'easiest' for 'easy'.)

Created in 1994, Juan de Fuca Marine Park Trail connects a series of beaches along Vancouver Island's South-West coastline. The majority of the beaches are accessible for day use so for my first real hike, there's the added security that if it all goes tits up, getting out won't involve a helicopter (a la the West Coast Trail). When I made the plan last June/July, it seemed like a do-able option for the one year mark. Now, it looms ahead of me and I found myself in a slight denial that it was actually going to happen this year. Surely, I meant next year? Let me double check the calendar, nope, I said this year. D'oh.

This past week, I took the first tentative steps towards planning the hike. My mom and stepdad (who you may or may not remember is joining me on the JdF and the Chilkoot) had returned home from a winter trip to Vietnam/Laos and discussions have commenced on possible dates. This is it. I'm doing this! 2010 is the year I will look back on and say "I did the Juan de Fuca Trail". Terrifying, exhilarating, nerveracking and exciting... and all we've done is talk about dates!