Canada - Day 7

On Saturday, Kevin and I visited Niagara Falls - what an amazing site! Although the weather was cold and snowy, it was the mist from the falls that was truly chilling. Kevin's water proof jacket and my umbrella ended up being coated with a thin layer of ice and my wool-coat ended up being covered in small beads of ice. We were able to locate the information necessary to log an earth-geocache and a virtual-geocache; yahoo - my first Canadian caches! We warmed up, ate lunch, and bought souvenirs from the Niagara Hard Rock Cafe.

Horseshoe Falls of Niagara.

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The viewing area railings were covered in ice.

Me and Kevin with Horseshoe Falls in the background.

A closer view of Horseshoe Falls.

That's me!!!! Do I look cold? (Thanks to Ken, I've been staying warm - see previous blog.)

The American Falls of Niagara.

Niagara Falls, Ontario - a view of the city.

A fluffy squirrel we spotted in the area - how cute.

This is the strange European Deli we saw in the Cambridge mall. I don't know if I have ever seen so many different kinds of sausage... The setup reminded me of a candy store, just this one was of the meat variety.

That's a-lot-o-meat!

We had fun that night at Caesar Martini's in Waterloo. The DJ played a decent mix of music and the food and drinks were great.

Canada - Day 4

So my FedEx packaged arrived!!!! I am so happy to have my cold gear Under Armour! To my surprise, Roger (see the yellow guy in the picture below) found his way into the package. So what is the story with Roger?... Roger was rescued from the evil-money-devouring UofU bookstore and was given as a gift to Ken from me before we were married.

Canada - Day 2

So how was my trip into Canada? How is Canada? (Yeah, I am lonely, sitting in my hotel room, asking questions to myself... no, I have not gone mad.)

My single serving friend on the plane to Chicago was very interesting... a native Utahn from Oak City, UT (Oak City is near Delta; yeah, I didn't know that either), who had moved away to live in Oregon, who had moved back to Utah to work for the government on Hill Air Force Base. He was being sent to Washington D.C. to evaluate some new software. Time "flew" as we spoke about the snow in Utah, trying to grow vegetables in alkaline soil, sod vs. seeding lawns, searching for the mythical "perfect" home, and various other odd topics...

From Chicago to Toronto the flight was practically empty and I had no single serving friends on my row. The lung power of children is amazing; I was glad to be ten or so rows away from the screaming, wailing children in the back row, who were in some sick noise competition with the airplane's engine.

Once on the ground, I made it through customs with no problems (unlike my co-worker, who required additional questioning in a separate room - talk about scary). The attendant at Avis tried to get me to pay for an SUV upgrade, since it was bound to snow; I declined and am now driving a silver 4-door Dodge Caliber in the snow. This car, by the way, is hideous.

My borrowed GPS took me right to the hotel, which is in Cambridge. I was a little shocked when I looked down and found myself doing 110 on the freeway... I quickly remembered that the speed was in kilometers/hour, instead of miles/hour. The temperature is another one... the temperature here has been between -8 and -14, in degrees Celsius (I have asked Ken to FedEx me my thermal Under Armour apparel - I am freezing here).

The main road near my hotel reminds me of State Street, lined with plenty of shops, restaurants, and fast food joints. I have already ate at Wendy's and Subway and found that my Discover and American Express cards are worthless; thank god for VISA (I have been living off my VISA card, since the ATM refused to give me Canadian mula with my government credit card).

So far, so good. Check back, maybe there will be more about this Canada trip... (sorry, no pictures, yet).

26.2 - THE MARATHON

HERE WE GO!!!

At 6:00 a.m. our group was loaded onto a yellow school bus and dropped off at the starting point, which was located at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza in downtown Phoenix. It was chilly in the morning, so we took some advice and wore some throw-away clothes, which were purchased in Utah from the D.I.

Me with Walking Coach Diane, Running Coach Josh, and Teammate Liz.

In this photograph you can see the Port-A-Potties in the background and yes, there were L-O-N-G lines.

READY-SET-GO! The race began just as the sun was rising.

Time to get rid of those D.I. clothes! Clothes were thrown to the side of the road all along the route; we were told that at the end of the race the clothes are gathered and given to charity.

BTW: Breakaway/Party Boy pants are awesome!

Coach Josh (on the right) met up with us along the way and ran along side us for part of the race.

Ken - all smiles until my picture taking became annoying.

Mile 13 at a time of 2:33:07.

The heat was really beating down on us. We had trained in 30 degree weather and the 60+ temperatures were not doing us any good running on the flat asphalt.

Mile 20 at a time of 3:55:32.

After mile 20, we found Teammate Raul, who's knees were giving out.

At mile 24, Ken's calves were a knotted-mess; thank goodness for TNT Staff Member (a.k.a. The All-In-One Cheer Squad) Marsha! Marsha gave Ken's calves a rubdown, which allowed him to finish the race.

Me and Marsha! After leaving Marsha, Watty was waiting and encouraged us to move on through the last few miles.

Mile 26 at a time of 5:27:23.

Ok! Now Lets Finish This!

THE HOME STRETCH!
Although the race clock read 5:30:?? when we crossed the finish line, our official finish time was 5:24:05, this is because it took ~6-minutes to cross the starting line at the beginning (with 9,000 participants not everyone can start at the same time).

M-E-D-I-C-!

Me, Team Captain Pat, and Ken.

At the finish we checked in at the TNT tent and had the best peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches in the world.

We would not have made it to the finish without the help, support, encouragement, love, and friendship of our family, friends, coaches, and mentors.

THANK YOU to all that contributed to our success. - Ken & Ginger-

Race Tips & Advice...

Here are some tips and advice that we were given before the race (most of these were told to us several times by several different individuals)...

• Start slow, don't go gung-ho at the beginning, because you'll have nothing left to give at the end. As a joke, a Pasta Party speaker said, "Start out fast, then in the middle pickup speed, and at the end sprint!" Yeah, right...
• Get in the Port-A-Potty lines before the race, then once done, get in line again, since it is inevitable that you will need to go again before the race starts.
  
• Don't eat GU on a stick, it is not an energy gel, it is Vaseline lubricant.
• Bring your own toilet paper, since you never know if there is going to be any in the Port-A-Potties along the route.
• At the watering stations, pinch the edge of your cup to make a spout, so you don't end-up with a sticky Accelerade energy drink down the front of your racing jersey.
  
• At the finish line, don't look at your Garmin or watch... instead, keep your head up, smile for the cameras, and keep moving!
• Pain is weakness leaving the body.
• One more mile.
  

Before starting the long Saturday group runs, our Team Captain Pat would provide us with some "spirit". Below is one I am particularly fond of...

Today is the Very First Day of the Rest of My Life

This is the beginning of a new day.
I can waste it... or use it for good.
But what I do today is important,
because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever,
leaving in it's place something that I have traded for it.
I want it to be gain and not loss, good and not evil, success and not failure,
in order that I not regret the price I have paid for it.
I will give 100% of myself just for today,
for you never fail until you stop trying.
I will be the kind of person I have always wanted to be...
I have been given this day to use as I will.

January 12, 2008 - One Day Until the MARATHON

Saturday's picture/story is below!!!

Saturday morning the group met for a short 20-minute run through downtown Phoenix. At first the run was stop and go, thanks to the stoplights, but it was easy sailing once we ran farther away from the hotel.

No Snow!!!! YES!

After carrying all of my stuff on the Saturday group runs, Ken had been officially named the "SHERPA"!

Close-up picture of the race timing chip and ties.

We were suppose to keep off our feet on Saturday, so I took full advantage of being horizontal and lazy.

Group photograph - showing off our flare before the TNT Pasta Party.

Teammate Liz's flare was awesome!
The slogan at the bottom of Liz's scarf reads,
"Through slush and snow we may be slow
But until there's a cure we continue to GO!"

What do you mean there is no snow here??!!
Me and Ken are ready for the slopes!

The TNT Pasta Party!

We all had a wonderful surprise at the Pasta Party... goodbyes were said to Marsha and Watty back in Salt Lake City, since they were not able to attend the marathon... until... we saw their smiling faces at the Pasta Party!!!! Marsha and Watty, as you will read later, were our lifelines at the end of the race; they are truly amazing people.

After the Pasta Party, our Teammate Lynor needed help writing the names of 41 cancer honorees/survivors on her legs. For fund raising, Lynor had sold her leg space on eBay. Me and Liz took green and purple Sharpies and wrote the names as Lynor went down her list.

The finished product - Lynor with green and purple legs!!!!

January 11, 2008 - Travel to AZ for the BIG RUN

Friday we flew into Arizona, checked into our hotel, and picked up our race packets. Below is a picture/story of the day's events; I hope you enjoy...

Our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Phoenix, which was just across the street from the Phoenix Convention Center. The Convention Center was the site for picking up our race packets and the location for the TNT Pasta and Victory Party.

The Phoenix Convention Center.

Me and Ken picking up our race packets!!!

Ken checking out the timing chip example
(wow, that is a BIG SHOE!).

There was a lot of souvenirs for purchase after picking up our race packets; this is one of the funnier T-shirts we saw, which reads, "This seemed like a good idea 3 months ago."

That evening, we ate as a group at Sam's Cafe, a southwestern grill located at the Arizona Center.

More of the group at Sam's Cafe.

After dinner, the group was crafty and added flare to scarfs and mini-green shovels for the up and coming TNT Pasta Party.