The Runner's High

When you are a runner you become familiar with the well-known feeling of “the runner’s high”, a feeling of empowerment you feel when you finish a long run or a race. Every time I cross a finish line I feel on the top of the world, the top of my world. At that moment I know for sure that I am the master of my life and, if I have lost control over something, I gain it back. I also know that if I was able to accomplish that, I can do whatever I put my mind into. Since I am a runner I have a stronger will, I whine less and I don’t make excuses. This is a feeling that I share with all my fellow runners. Running gives you that and it is something that you can just feel and understand when you become a runner, this is the runner’s high.

What makes all of this incredible is that not a long time ago, 1972, running was considered a male exclusive sport. Women were not allowed to run half marathon or full marathon races because we were, supposedly, not fit for that kind of physical activity. I feel lucky that I belong to a generation where, as a woman, I can be part of this mind freeing and character building sport.

The following video showcases the first woman that dared to run the Boston Marathon back in 1967. Thanks to her I am here, writing to day about how much I love running and how much I have grown as a person because of it.


Kathrine Switzer, Pioneering Boston Marathon Runner


My Animal Lover’s note: Last Saturday, after doing the Grouse Grind, I went to the “Veg Fest Vancouver” with my husband and some friends. This is a vegan festival that takes place in Vancouver, on Granville Street. There were lots of vegan vendors, amazing food and great people. We were all starving after doing the crazy Grind (which is climbing a freaking wall, literally!), so we headed straight to The Loving Hut for lunch. As always the food was delicious, but the best part was seeing the faces of my non-vegan friends, enjoying their vegan meal. They said they really liked it. I got to buy some of my favourite vegan cupcakes, candies, cookies and desserts to take home and indulge in the sweet, guilt free vegan life. As always, I was happy to see how this healthy, cruelty-free lifestyle is growing and more people are embracing it.

Ron, our running trainer and friend, Melanie (the Rock)and I

Ron, My husband and I

Me at the entrance of the Veg Fest Vancouver

Melanie and Ron buying their food at The Loving Hut

Special Edition: Vegan Adventures

One of the most beautiful places in Portland is Powell’s Books. This is the biggest independently owned book store in the world. Its building takes over a whole block. It has four levels of endless shelves of books organized by themes. It took us two hours of strolling through its aisles and getting lost in its magic to finally see it all. While reading the titles in the nutrition section, I found this very interesting, well documented and entertaining book called “Skinny Bitch”. I found the title very catchy so I decided to give it a try. Why did it catch my eye? Because since I am vegan (12 years ago) I eat a lot, including desserts, bread and so many delicious things. I see my friends dieting and worrying about daily calorie intake, carbohydrates, etc. and I always keep the same weight no matter what I eat (I could easily be a skinny bitch). This was not always like that though. Before being vegan I really struggled keeping a healthy weight, especially because I suffer from a hormonal imbalance that causes obesity. It was really easy for me to gain weight, which is why I was constantly dieting. Once I became vegan this situation disappeared. I did not have to worry any more about portion control or calorie count, I could just eat. This was one of the many personal benefits that veganism brought to my life. Also, after a year of being vegan I discovered I was extremely allergic to dairy products. Once they were out of my life I stopped coughing and constantly getting colds, my always bloated stomach disappeared, as well as the constant heart burn.

While in Portland I ate so many delicious, healthy vegan foods. Every time I had a sumptuous vegan meal in front of me, I asked myself why people keep eating all the meat and dairy crap instead of choosing a healthy diet that is good for their bodies, their health, their weight, the animals, and the planet. It is basically a win-win situation.

The following excerpt is taken from the book “Skinny Bitch” by Rory Freeman and Kim Barnouin (p.79-80): “So now you are a vegan, a person who doesn’t eat any animal product. No meat, chicken, pork, fish, milk, cheese, or butter. Feel great about it. Yes, it is challenging to avoid these foods, but you will reap the karmic rewards of being vegan (like being skinny). For starters, you’re sparing the lives of at least ninety animals a year. And every environmentalist knows that factory farming is completely destroying the environment… So what the hell should you eat? Pretty much everything else: fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Deep down, you’ve known all along that these foods are best for you… Our diets have strayed so far off course from where they belong; we’ve allowed meat to take center stage, with grains and vegetables playing support roles. Wrong, wrong, wrong.”

The following pictures are some examples of the amazing food you can indulge yourself with as a vegan.

Sea Jane Half Marathon Seattle, July 14th 2013

Today Jozen, Melanie, Ravi and me ran the Sea Jane Half Marathon in Seattle. Melanie and I wanted to run it in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Our personal best was Scottia so we did not want to push it hard today, but we wanted to hit 2:15 and feel that it was kind of easy. We finished it in 2 hours and 7 minutes and it definitely felt that we could have pushed harder, which was the idea!

I really liked this race because of the goodies that we got at the end. There was vegan ice cream, vegan chocolate, coconut water, champaign! And the usual bananas, bagels, etc. The weather was perfect so we stayed at the finish line for a while eating and chatting.

Although the course was by the water and I can't complain, there is nothing like running in Vancouver. Nothing took my breath away today. Also, we saw different running patterns than the ones we are used to in Canada. For example, almost no one was carrying water, meaning water belts or the hand ones like mine. They all used the water stations, which is fine, but you definitely see tons of people carrying their own water in Canada. You can immediately notice that we are not in the land of Lululemon. Running in Vancouver with out wearing Lululemon is almost like a sin (not that I use it). The tens and ones is also not very popular down here. You do see people walking but not following a specific pattern of running 10 minutes and walking one, to fuel and drink water. When you run a race in Vancouver you can hear all the Garmin watches beeping almost at the same time, letting people know that the walking break has arrived. Today, the only watches beeping were ours.

So, by running this race I have completed three races within 90 days, which qualifies me to be a half marathon fanatic! As soon as I get back home I will register and eventually will receive my half fanatic t-shirt.

My animal lover note: I am on a vegan quest in the west coast. I have tried two new restaurants that I did not know before. I am very impress with the variety of options that vegans have here in Seattle (as well as Vancouver). Next week I will post some pictures with names and addresses so when ever you feel like vegan, you can indulge yourself in these amazing, compassionate places.

Vegan Dinner

Last night I hosted a vegan dinner at my house with two purposes: raise funds for PETA Pack and get together with my running buddies to celebrate the end of the Scotia Half running clinic. We were 14 people in all and every person contributed a $20 donation to the fundraiser.

I started cooking at 10am and did not stop until 4pm! And then it was cleaning time, of course, because after cooking for 6 hours the kitchen is a total mess. I also had to vacuum and put things on place before everyone came. This was the menu: chickpeas with spinach and coconut milk, Dijon lentils, quinoa salad, BBQ tofu, broccoli lasagna, roasted curry cauliflower and bread. For dessert we had blueberry muffins, peanut butter and oatmeal cookies and Melanie brought a vegan chocolate mousse.

I have to confess I was kind of nervous because, even though I like my cooking, you never know if others are going to like it. People started arriving at 5:30pm and by 6:00 every one was here. We sat in the deck outside and around 6:45pm I started warming up the food. We started eating around 7pm. I was the last one getting served. I just stood by the kitchen door and observed people’s faces. Then I got my food and followed everyone outside. I was pleased to see their reaction, to listen to their sounds while eating, and finally to see them going back to the kitchen to grab more food! I think I scored! Then the compliments about the food came:
•If someone would cook like this to me every day I would easily become vegan.
•This is my first vegan meal ever. I did not know what to expect. It was delicious!
•It feels so good afterwards. I am full but I do not feel heavy like when I eat meat.
•Impressive!
•Can I have the recipes for…….?

I was very pleased with everything. We had a wonderful evening and I raised $220 from the dinner itself plus $185 that Ron, our running instructor, donated to the cause. That is amazing!

My animal lover note: copy paste the following link on your browser and it will take you to the PETA Pack website. There, you will see the money that I have raised and some of the donors. Thanks everyone for your help!
http://www2.peta.org/site/TR/Events/PETAsOnlineCommunity?px=9328251&pg=personal&fr_id=1100

What is going on…

After a race and all the hard training that leads to it, it is recommended to take a couple of days off to let your body recover. When you push your body to extreme work-outs, lots of muscle fibres break down. These fibres need to recover, rebuilt themselves. The new fibres are stronger, faster and more resistant but to be able to let this happen, you do need to give your body a break. Last week I took two days off of my training. Now that the resting is over I need to start thinking about my upcoming events: on July 14th I will be running Sea Jane half marathon in Seattle and on August 10th I will run Sea-Wheeze, a Lululemon sponsored half marathon race in Vancouver. So this is a pretty busy period, with one race after the other.

Yesterday morning we went out for a supposedly 13k run, but the heat was so hard on us that we cut it to 11.5K. We are used to running on cold weather, and although I love the summer and the heat, I can see that it takes a toll on my performance. While running we were dreaming of a swimming pool to jump in or someone washing a car or sprinkling the garden, but none of the above. We even ran by a park to get water from a water fountain and it was broken! I don’t even want to think about next Sunday, when we have to run 18k and not to mention the Sunday after that one, when it is the actual race.

Here are a couple new pictures that I got from last weekend’s race:

My animal lover note: I found the perfect way to race more fund for my cause. It is a tradition in our running clinic to get together by the end of it. We go to someone’s house or to a restaurant and spend some time together, without our usual sweaty and smelly running clothes.
I offered my house for the gathering and to raise funds I will host a vegan dinner. Each person that comes has to donate $20 that will go entirely to PETA PACK. This will happen next weekend. Of course, I will let you know how it goes as well as show you pictures of it.