CAN

I "CAN" JUST BREATHE!

Some days I find being a Mom one of the most immense challenges I have EVER attempted! Some days it feels like there just isn't enough coffee, wine, or chocolate to make anything better! The morning war zone of making lunches, finding hoodies, fighting over "Tech Decks", begging for brushed teeth, combed hair, wearing clean clothes, using our "nice" words, and getting out the door on time can make a Mother want to just fly far, far, away!!! Then, as you are driving like a maniac to get them all to their schools, so that teachers can continue the madness with them, you see this....

Nothing like a good old sunrise over the Georgia Strait to brighten any ones day!!! That is when I say to myself, "Just Breathe, you are so lucky to be alive and to have the gift of sight, movement, and three amazing boys... Breathe!" (My mantra!)

Then I come home, pour myself another cup of coffee... This time it is hot! I have a piece of chocolate, log onto You Tube, and get my daily reminder of how much harder motherhood could be! This video is my most favorite, and I cannot ever get through it without getting a knot in my throat!

Have a beautiful Tuesday! and remember to BREATHE!

I LOVE MONDAYS!!!

I LOVE Mondays because I get to meet up with great women that LOVE running in our spectacular trails we are so lucky to have!

At 7am our day was looking pretty wet. It was absolutely pouring rain! I had been anticipating our trail run today all weekend hoping for sunshine so that I could take some great photos. Fall is always a great time to do the Trent River trail because you cannot describe the colours! Just fabulous!

It was our lucky day!!! The rain stopped and the sun was out in full force! I am so sorry for the other trail running women that didn't make it today! You missed a great morning trek!! So here are some pictures for you to drool over!

Beautiful Monday Morning Adventure Running women!

Entering the trail at Trent River

Moe's Misery sign at the turn around.

A rare 'Old Growth' beauty!

It's Just Like Christmas!!!

Check out my new Sugoi "schwag"!!!

I am so excited! I recently sent in an application to the "Sugoi Brand Champion Team" www.sugoi.com

I received this exciting email from them!

"Audrey, Congratulations! Our SUGOI team has reviewed your application and would like to inform you that you have been accepted as a SUGOI Brand Champion! We believe that you will be a great ambassador of SUGOI and will make us proud in your athletic and personal endeavors. You are an incredible individual, and SUGOI is dedicated to making incredible apparel. We think you’ll agree that together, we make a great pair."

So today my package came in the mail, and I was like a little kid at Christmas!! Shawn was complaining at Ironman Canada this year that my outfit wasn't splashy enough, and that I didn't stand out for him to recognize me... Now, I have a brand new outfit for next year (another excellent reason to get off my butt!). I hope it is splashy enough for him! I just love it!! I just had to go out for a run today in my new technical shirt. I had an awesome fall run in the North East Woods!

I also just had to look up the word "Schwag". I remember the first time I heard the word at a race package pick up, I was totally clueless as to the meaning of the word!

"The term schwag refers to all manner of logoed stuff given away by companies to get people to remember them, feel good about them, have their phone number and website at hand and generally make them think about them before any of their competitors. And studies show.... it works!! The original spelling is "swag" (for Stuff We All Get). One site explained "schwag is what the coolest of the cool people say" and another site indicated it's "called schwag if the item is particularly good."

So, I can tell you already, that I am going to love wearing my new schwag! Practically 95% of my training and racing apparel is by Sugoi. It has to be my most favorite gear to train and race in. Now I can wear it and be part of their team too! Yay!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

My Boys!

If I sit up tall enough, I can still look a little taller than the boys. They are getting to be huge!!

Grandpa John carving the turkey bird! Dad, you are really looking like a "Grandpa" today, Wow!
Today, we had a small, but absolutely amazing Thanksgiving dinner at Gramma Connie's and Grandpa John's. Gramma said, "don't make to big a serving of sweet potatoes and stuffing (my contribution) cause there is only 7 of us". Yeah right! We had enough food to feed 20! That Gramma Connie always outdoes herself! Seriously! Oh, yeah and the Pumpkin Cheesecake was to die for. Sorry Kurt, you have competition!

After dinner my Mom, Dad, and Uncle Ray taught me to play "Farmer's Rummy". I am always such a terrible card player. So I reluctantly agreed to allow them to try and teach me. Being the somewhat competitive person that I am, I quickly got into the groove of the game and with a little beginner's luck, I smoked them all!!! Ha!

Today we didn't have all of our family with us, and we missed them so much! I just want to say "Thank You" to my mom and dad for having us over for dinner AGAIN!, and for all your never ending support while I try to raise the boys in such a demanding world! Thank you to my boys for being just who you are and making my life so exciting! Thank you to Shawn, who missed dinner again! and for being the absolute King of all Kings and for taking such good care of me and our boys! We really do appreciate the sacrifices that you make in your life for us to all live such an amazing life! I am also so thankful for my health and my family's health!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my family and friends that I could see today! I am so thankful to have all of you in my life!

Ooops Sorry Linsey!

Sorry Linsey!

I posted last night that she was 6th Women Pro overall. Nope actually she was 5th!!! Yay!

I first met Lindsey at the Oliver Half Iron in 2006. It was her first race as a rookie Pro and she won in course record time. I think that race Shawn had double the pictures of Linsey on the camera than he had of me! He really liked her Timex race suit... Ha! If I remember correctly, there were a lot of shots of her from behind. He said it was because she was so fast, he couldn't get the camera focused fast enough to get her coming at him! (ya right!) "We" have followed her rising triathlon career ever since!

It was so exciting to see her come across the finish in top 5! I love it when the race commentators are caught off guard with athletes that are not well known. That is what I love about the sport. "Anything is Possible" Ironman racing is so unpredictable. Every race is so different. It is a new journey every time, and that is what is so addicting about wanting to go back and do it again, and again.

LIFE IS SIMPLE: SWIM-BIKE-RUN-EAT-SLEEP

Kona Ironman World Championships!!!

"I want to do that!"

"365 more days!"...

"No Time Like the Present!"...

"No More Excuses!"...

"Bring on the W40-44 age category!"...

As I was sitting in front of my computer monitor, watching the Ironman World Championships in Kona Hawaii, drooling over the ocean swim, the athletes, the bikes, the palm trees, everything. I came to the conclusion very quickly this morning that this was the last time I wanted to watch this race from my living room! That's it no more doggin it in my training! If I want to get a spot and participate in this race I have to get my big butt off this chair and do something about it!

Yup, nothing like a little "Ironman Live" to get you feeling motivated! I decided to hop on my Compu Trainer while the men and women were on their bikes on the Ironman race course. No I did not go 5+ hours, I went 2+ hours, and tried to maintain my goal race pace of 21.5 miles/hour. I climbed when they climbed and picked up my cadence when they were descending. No problem when you are on a flat surface with a fan and all the luxuries of home.

I think that's Chris Lieto on the bike in second place.

Not the greatest pictures of the Women's overall winner... again!! Chrissy Wellington coming across the finish line and then a group hug with her Mom and Dad! What an inspiration, what an athlete! Chrissy has won every Ironman she has started! Including Kona now, twice! Chrissy started this addicting sport just two years ago, and is one of the sports latest phenom's. Wow, I wish I could run like her!
Chrissy Wellington 31/WPRO
Swim 00:56:20
Bike 05:08:15
Run 02:57:44 (new course record)
09:06:23

Congratulation to all the Lifesport athletes that raced today! Lindsey Corbin, you rock! (6th WPRO)

Ironman World Championships!

If anyone is looking for me on Saturday, I will be glued to my computer monitor watching the race live!

Sarah's Fearless Run Leaders!

This post is dedicated to Sarah Seads, our fearless Run Leader. These pic's are for you! Don't worry, while you were "striking a pose" in New York with Madonna, we ran a tight ship back at home at the Thursday night trail run!

First there were three, then there were 5!!! (Lynn is taking the pic)

Yes Sarah, we fearless leaders started the run with 3 Leaders and 1/2 way through the trail run we grew, and then we were five!!! Tee Hee! We have now "all" included us on our "Fave Fives"! We promise this will not happen again!

It is official, it is fall! We had our first extremely wet! trail run of the fall season. Everyone survived the Tomato Creek run for your life. It took us 28 minutes to scale to the top of a very slippery slope of technical west coast trails. There were several lungs that blew up on the way up. But! We quickly recovered and pulled off some layers and made our way through the rest of the Comox Lake trails on our pre-planned route that Sarah had kindly sent all of us ahead of time to review and become familiar with prior to taking our run mates out for an interesting trek of unfamiliar territory for some of us! (including the leaders!) Thank goodness Cindy was there or we could be still out there today making our way back to the Dam. Ha!Ha! We did manage to make it back before dark, and slid into the parking lot at 6:42pm! Just about time to take out the head lamps! Wow, where did the daylight go? We were surrounded by school teachers that were watching their watches and made sure we were back before Sarah's 6:40pm rule!