We Remember a Legend

I originally had a different blog planned that include updates since my marathon but I have opted to postpone it for the time being. The last month has been pretty crazy with loss and I wanted to briefly touch on it. First off, on April 14th, one of my high school classmates Colin Laird suddenly passed away at age 34. He leaves behind not only his parents and siblings, but his fiance Kellie and their son Hunter. 

Now I cannot say that Colin and I were ever close. He came to my high school for Grade 11 and 12 as all Cedar students had to move to Barsby for their final years as Cedar was only a junior high at the time. We didn't hang out in the same crowds. I do however, run by Colin and Kellie's place almost daily over the last 5+ years. Other than the rare FB message, our only communication was if he was out in the yard or drove by me when I was running, we would always exchange waves and say hello. Nevertheless, it was shocking to hear of his passing. Rest in Peace Colin.

That brings us to yesterday, I was on my dinner break at work and scrolling through FB and I ran across news of the passing of Steve Smith. Many of you probably don't know who Steve is, I certainly didn't until I met him in February 2013. Steve also well known as Stevie "Chainsaw" Smith, is a local athlete out of Nanaimo who is huge in the downhill mountain biking world. He was essentially Canada's downhill legend and a World Cup Sensation. 

As I mentioned, I met Steve in 2013 when we both picked up Nanaimo's Individual Athlete of the Year awards for 2012. It turns out, I once worked with his Grandma and my mom and step dad are also friends with his Grandma and know his family. 

Steve and I after the awards in Feb 2013

After the awards I stayed in touch with Steve via FB and the odd Happy Birthday or congrats text. I most recently had a brief chat with him this past November to wish him happy birthday as he turned 26. Unfortunately this past weekend, Steve was out living life like he does when he suffered a serious brain injury in a motorbike accident. He was ultimately removed from life support and passed on.

The sports world has lost a great athlete. I am shocked and heart broken at the loss of this local athlete. Not only was Steve talented, but he was so down to earth even though he was quite famous in the sporting (mountain biking) world. I admired his love and respect for his hometown. He probably could have lived anywhere in the world, but he stayed true to Nanaimo and constantly talked about the beautiful trails and scenery around here. 

Again, I cannot say that Steve and I were close, but more like acquaintances who respected each others athletic talents. I urge you to watch the 3 videos below to get a glimpse into who Steve was. But first here is a quote from one of his teammates, 

"A driven athlete and fierce competitor, Smith was humble and grounded off the track. He was a notable influence on all young and aspiring Canadian gravity racers and others around the world. He was also a key mentor to friend and DGR teammate, Mark Wallace."

 Talking about how he just wants to ride bikes

His winning World Cup Run

Rest in Peace Steve

A Steve Smith Legacy Fund has been started to provide funding for up and coming athletes. Should you wish to donate, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/23k7fus

A Look Back

What to say about 2014? Well, to be honest I have mixed feelings about the year. It was full of ups and downs. It started off with a bang, then a crash and burn in the middle before finishing off with me picking myself up off the floor. How exactly did it all play out you ask? Here, let me break it down for you. 

January 2014

BC 8km Champ

- Booya! A great start to the season including running a huge personal best in the 8km (27:13) at the Harrier's Pioneer 8km in Victoria. This race played host to the BC 8km Championships where I won my first BC title since I was probably 14 years old. It came as a surprise and I rolled with it. 

Indoors

- January also played a roll in my very first indoor track race where I went down to Seattle with Sabrina and Mark Wilkie for a 5000m. Boy was that an eye opener. After a less than ideal race where I felt like I was going to pass out, I swore off indoor meets (still undecided if I will return). 

February 2014

Nanaimo Athletic Awards

- Finalist for Nanimo's Individual Female Athlete of the year. Won the award for 2012 but was not lucky enough to take home the win in 2013. Congrats to badminton player Melissa Liew for her win!

 NACAC

- Team Canada trip to Tobago for NACAC XC. My first National Team and it was an eye opening experience. While my race didn't exactly play out how I had hoped, I had a great time, met some incredible people, gained some experience and definitely left me motivated for the future. 

March 2014

Asics

 - I teamed up with Asics Canada officially in March! A great company with kick ass shoes and apparel not to mention stellar teammates (Lanni Marchant, Natasha Wodak, Rachel Cliff, Jessica O'Connell). *I have some work to do in order to keep up with those women! Thank you to Michael, Anne and Yves for believing in me and for everything that you have done for me thus far!  

5km's

- Another PB and another race win, this time at the Bazan Bay 5km where I ran 16:35. I followed this up 6 days later with a 16:52 at the (hillier) St.Patricks Day 5km placing 4th in a talented field. Two back to back races, resulted in a nagging hamstring which kept me out of the Modo 8km 8 days later. 

Auntie Erin

- I also became an Auntie in March to 2 beautiful little girls (Karys and Ashlyn). Coming from little to no baby experience, I won't lie, it was scary to be around them at first; however, I like to think I have slowly overcome this issue! They are growing up into beautiful children!  

April 2014

Flagstaff

- Technically at the end March I headed off to Flagstaff Arizona for my 3rd stint at altitude, this time staying with Jonny and Amy. I tend to call Flagstaff my 2nd home. I love that place. 7000ft and athletes everywhere! 

Toronto

- Mid Flagstaff I headed to Toronto for the Yonge St 10km. A spiffy (yes I said spiffy) downhill 10km PB in 33:28 and 3rd female behind blazing Rachel Hannah and Krista DuChene. 
 

Montreal

- Back to Flag where I hit some killer workouts before ending my trip and heading to Montreal for the Canadian Half Marathon Championships. After 2 less than successful years in Montreal I finally got lucky pulling off a huge PB in 1:15:01 finishing 2nd (after Krista unfortunately became injured). I still remember yelling out "Sorry Krista" as I ran passed. 

Fired

- April is also when the year started to take a "bad" turn. April 1st is when I found out via Facebook (while in Flagstaff) that my entire work (minus a few people) received their pink slips to be officially terminated on September 25th. April 1st = April Fool's but this was no April Fool's joke it was a cruel twist of life.

May 2014

Ottawa 10km

- May brought on some pain in my lower left leg as I pushed through with some wonderful laser therapy courtesy Abe Avender at Island Optimal Health and Performance. Even though Abe was out of town, he arranged the treatment for me. I was able to get to the Ottawa 10km with the issue improving; however, the race was not to be. It was a good effort but I felt as though I had no power in my legs. In fact, I ran slower than I did the year before (35:38 vs 35:21) and nowhere near what I was capable of. Immediately after the race I noticed pain in my pelvis but put it off due to feeling as though my SI joint was out of whack. 

Partnership with Sundog Eyewear! 

 

- That was exciting. A twist of fate on the plane ride home sat me next to Oliver Mende from Sundog Eyewear who was able to hook me up with some pretty sweet sunglasses. Sunglasses are pretty the next important thing after shoes and clothes when it comes to running. I need my sunglasses all the time, except when it is raining or dark. Thanks Oliver and Gary for your support!

First hospital Visit

- A few days after Ottawa led to me in tears in Abe's office after literally breaking mid way through a run and hobbling 4km home. This resulted in my first hospital visit in ages and also resulted in the most pain I had experienced in a long time.

Near Partnership that Fell Through

- Nearly had a new partnership this month, but it appeared to fall through once I became injured. Some more bad luck on my side! 

Interview

- Had an interview for my own job. This actually happened the day before I became officially injured. 

June 2014

Confusion

- June was full of not knowing what my injury was. It was full of trials and failures. Incorrect diagnosis via physio's. Cross training failures. You name it. Not much happened in June but frustration not knowing what was going on.

Asics Photoshoot

 - A fun time in June was the Asics Photoshoot with David McColm and the Asics Canada team. I didn't know it at the time but I was running on my stress fracture to get those photos. Oops. 

Still in La La Land

- No word yet on the job front. Still technically unemployed after September 25th. 

July 2014

MRI

- Finally my MRI on July 9th to confirm my injury was a stress fracture to my inferior pubic ramus (left). Nice to have answers but the diagnosis left me sad. 

Dr. Goodall

- Got in to see the local sports doctor who initially made me cry telling me I needed another 6-8 weeks no running only to change his mind a week later allowing pool running and elliptical.

Surgery

- The day I got my approval to start my run/walk was the day I ended up spending the entire day in Emergency for a hernia I popped at work the night before. D'oh. This bad luck keeps going. 

Still no word

- Still no idea whether I would get my job back in September. Talk about stressful. 

Auntie Update

- They are still growing

August

Running Again

- I was allowed to walk/run. While I was grateful to start again, the 10 weeks I had off with no exercise was very evident. Wasn't allowed to work or lift anything for like 3 weeks post August 1st surgery, but I was permitted to run/walk. Comebacks are HARD!

Shuswap Lake

- A nice get away to Shuswap for my first time. Beautiful lake and hilly hilly roads to run on (at least in the area I was without access to a car)

Got my job Back

- I think it was August sometime when I finally heard I would be rehired into my same position but with less. 

September

Fired and Rehired (Officially)

- September 25th I lost 6 years of my work life. Back to square 1. Grateful for a job, but heartbroken about the loss. 

Still building

- Comeback is still hard but getting easier. Walk breaks disappeared and workouts began. 5 weeks back into my comeback I ran a local race as a tempo and was surprised that it wasn't absolutely terrible.

Nanaimo T&F Club

- Started back coaching with the track club again after a less than ideal spring where I was unavailable due to racing/training and eventually injury. 

October

Birthday

- Turned 33. Can I stop now? 

Running

- Still running, still building, slowly getting easier.

November

Gave Up on XC

- Was striving to run the National XC race at the end of November, but wasn't where I wanted to be training wise in order to give it a real go. It was a hard day to sit back and watch, but definitely the best choice for me. 

Auntie Update

 

December

BC Road Runner Finalist

- Nominated for BC Road Runner of the year against Asics Teammate Rachel Cliff and new BC/Canadian Natasha LaBeaud. These girls are smoking fast so I kinda predicted I would not be the ultimate winner. Huge congrats to Rachel for taking the award. Definitely a honor to be nominated along side these two. 

Strength Begins

- Begun working with Greg Howe out of Island Optimal Health and Performance. Excited to have him take my running to the next level along with my own coach Matt Clout. 

Hitting my stride

- I am back! Workouts are kicking butt and I am getting to where I want to be. 

2015

- BIG things are coming in 2015, running wise and in just life in general. Happy New Year everyone! Stay tuned!

Taking Care of the Little Things

 "Strength training is a supplement to a runner's roadwork because it strengthens muscles and joints, which can improve race times and decrease injury risk." - Runner's World

It is well known that strength training plays a huge role when it comes to developing and improving as an athlete. Over the years I have done a little bit of strength stuff here and there, mind you random at home type stuff, but never had a proper gym session to follow. I believe that this has been a weakness of mine and quite possibly played a role in my most recent injury. While it is important to run a lot in order to improve, it is the little things on the side that help keep you healthy which in turn allows you to keep improving. 

In saying that I am pleased to announce that I have teamed up with Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Greg Howe and the Island Optimal Health and Performance Center. Greg is highly talented, well trained and the highest certified strength specialist at the center. With an athletic background as a former VIU Volleyball player, he understands the demands of training and the mindset of an athlete. I believe that this new partnership will bring me closer to achieving the goals I have set forth for myself in the upcoming years and trust me, they are big! I look forward to continuing to work with Greg and seeing first hand how he can help me with these goals. After only a few weeks I can already feel improvements (no lies). 

To my Nanaimo friends, if you need a trainer, I highly suggest Greg. Feel free to contact me if you would like more info. On a side note, a huge thank you to Abe (owner), Greg and Curtis (manager) for this setting this up.