Rain or Shine

4 years ago I was a good weather runner. This means that I just went for a run if it was sunny and nice outside. It did not matter if it was cold, but it did matter if it was raining or even if there was a slight chance for it. When I was driving and it was raining hard, and I saw runners running, I always thought of them as the most crazy, fanatic people in the world. Who in hell would voluntarily go out for a run on a rainy day? Or even worse, on a strong thunderstorm? This kind of craziness was not for me at all.
When I decided to run my first half marathon I knew I needed to join a running clinic. Up to that point I had run 10K races and trained all by myself (with my dog). I knew that to go beyond 10K I needed people running with me, motivation, stories to take me beyond my limits.
When you are part of a running clinic, you build relationships and pretty soon you have a great group of friends that become your running buddies. Having a group of people to run with, changes your approach to running. You tough up a little bit (or a lot), in part, because you do not want to be the “baby/chicken” of the group that did not go for a run because it was raining. Even if it is pouring rain when you are leaving home, you know everyone is going to be there (and they are). None of us like it, but we do it, we learn to run through rain, cold, wind, puddles, car splashes, snow, ice, and running noses. And when we finish we always say, “I can’t believe we just did that.”
This is why I keep running with my group, because as a group we become a larger entity that can overcome lots of obstacles. I know if I have to run by myself under the pouring rain, I still would not do it; with my group, we do it almost every week.
Now when I am driving and it’s raining and I see someone running under the rain, I smile and I get it. I have become a running fanatic and even though I keep being very sweet I learned not to melt under the rain!

My animal lover note:

Half Marathon Fanatic

Thanks to one of my running buddies, I found out about half marathon maniacs of “half fanatics”. This is an online page that sets the “official” criteria to be called a half marathon fanatic. When I was reading through it I could not help it but laugh because I could see myself in most of the questions and requirements to be a fanatic. So a couple of friends and I are going to work towards getting the official half fanatic certificate, which means that we have to run 3 half marathon races in 90 days. The first one was BMO in May, the second one is going to be Scottia by the end of June, and the third one will be See Jane half in Seattle, on July 11th. That way we will run 3 races within 90 days which will make us the proud be holders of the “half fanatic” title! This will change my original goal of running 5 half marathons this year, to running 6. Way to go!
According to halffanatics.com, if you answer yes to some of these questions, you can easily be a half fanatic:
Do your thoughts switch to the next scheduled race immediately after finishing a Half Marathon?
Are you signed up for more than one race right now?
Do you start to feel down when you haven't run a race in a while?
Are your closets and dressers filled with race t-shirts?
When asked about your racing from none running people, do you find yourself talking with great passion to the point that the person that asked the question regrets ever asking?
Have you run a Half Marathon as a training run? Or just to pace a friend?
Do you plan all your vacations around races?

My animal lover note: it had been a while since I wanted to eat at The Loving Hut. I follow them in Facebook and lots of my vegan friends had told me amazing things about them. Once even some one said that if they were in death row and someone asked them where they would like to have their last meal, they would say without a doubt “at The Loving Hut.” So with very high expectations, my husband and I finally headed to down town Vancouver on Saturday afternoon. The Loving Hut is a food truck located in the south corner of pacific boulevard and Davie St. They open just Fridays and Saturdays from 11:30 to 4ish. They sell vegan burgers, sandwiches and tiramisu. We arrived around 2:30 and ordered our food: vegan fish burger with tartar sauce, onion rings and tiramisu. We had to wait around 10 minutes because they are always very busy (which is great!). We grabbed our paper bag with our goodies inside and headed to the Round House Community Centre to eat it in there. OMG!!!!!!! While we were eating, my husband and I couldn’t talk but made noises of pleasure. What an amazing meal! And the best of all, IT WAS VEGAN! Every time I eat something as good and delicious as that (which is every day basically), I don’t get why people keep making the choice of eating meat over eating healthy, compassionate food.

My New Smoothie Recipe

I found a new vegan smoothie recipe and since I had not changed my original recipe for a while, I decided to give it a try, and I love it! It is full of iron and vitamin C and it tastes delicious. For those who are afraid of putting spinach into a smoothie, I promise you won’t be able to taste it. The flavours are so well blended that the spinach flavour disappears completely.
So here it is my Greena Colada:
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup frozen berries
1 handful of raw spinach (or I’ve used Kale too)
1 scoop of Vega One French Vanilla Plant Based Protein Powder
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
½ tbsp. maca powder

My animal lover note: Check out the official PETA PACK site at http://www2.peta.org/site/TR/Events/PETAsOnlineCommunity?px=9328251&pg=personal&fr_id=1100 you will see my name under the top fundraisers tab. So far I am number one thanks to all your help!If you want to donate you can do it through this site. Click on my name and you will find a link to support the fundraising.

BMO Vancouver Half Marathon

Today I ran BMO Vancouver Half Marathon in 2 hours and 11 minutes. It was such a beautiful day. It was warm and sunny and just perfect. Every time I run a race in Vancouver I can’t believe my eyes how beautiful this city is. Just before crossing Cambie Bridge we had a spectacular view of the down town core with all the North Shore Mountains in the back, shining with white snow in a 20 degree, sunny day! It is just stunning! I ran the race with my 3 running buddies: Melanie, Laura and Andy. We all started together and Melanie and I took off around kilometer 14. Melanie and I kept running together for a while and when we hit the 19th kilometer I decided to pick up the pace a little bit more. I was feeling really good today, with lots of energy and willing to push harder.
The race started at 7:00 am. As you all know, I have to have my breakfast smoothie before I run. These kinds of activities are too demanding to go without any fuel in your body. So, to plan for the bathroom times, I woke up at 4am, had my smoothie, got ready and left home at 5am. When we got to Laura’s house I went to the bathroom there, then, when we were getting closer to the start line, we stopped in a gas station and went to the bathroom again. Finally, when we got to the start line we used the bathroom one more time! I know, it seems a little but obsessive, but you want to avoid going to the bathroom while in the middle of the race because, even though there are some, the lines are always long and you don’t want to waist 5 precious minutes in a bathroom line!
Every time you run a big race, like BMO, you see really crazy people running it. This makes the curse entertaining and gets you distracted, which is always good. Today I saw some guys running the race wearing a purple tutu and one wearing a ginger bread man outfit (I really don’t know how they can run with that). The other thing that I love while running is reading the signs that bystanders have to cheer us up. Today’s favourite ones were: “I don’t know why all the cute guys are running away” and “If running would be easy, I would be doing it too.”
Today was a very special race for me because I got to run, for the first time, wearing my PETA PACK t-shirt. I felt so proud of it and loved it when people commented on it or when I saw them reading it! Everything helps to spread the message of animal protection.
After we all finished the race we went for brunch to The Naam, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant located in Kitsilano. As always, the food there is amazing. I got the vegan Shatki cake, scrambled tofu and tea. My friends, although they are not vegetarian/vegan, enjoyed the food as well. And of course, in the afternoon I took a well-deserved nap.



My Animal Lover Note: Yesterday we went to a potluck organized by the Langley Herbivores. We ate delicious vegan food and met amazing people. It is always nice to see that there are others out there that care about animals the same way my husband and I do. It is always nice to have an amazing, healthy meal knowing that no animal was killed or suffered in the process. We are just what we eat!