November 2013 – The SMO's stories

Laki.

November 20, 2013 Christine Cogger

Laki means lucky in Hawaiian.

And that’s what I am. Lucky. And a bit spoiled. But I can certainly appreciate it, and will never take this kind of thing for granted – ever.

This week, I’m in Maui with Liz and her family. I came for a mental break and I have sun, my bike, good friends, surrogate parents, a baby to squish and books. What more can I ask for?

Poolside morning coffee? Ok, why not.

I know this is a holiday, but somehow I feel a teeny bit less guilty if I call it a triathlon training camp (or as Lizzie and I are calling it, Ground Zero 2014). It feels good to get back on my bike – especially when my bike isn’t going nowhere in my dark garage; to run and to really sweat, and to contemplate swimming (I’m not cleared to properly swim yet. It’ll come). Look out, St-George, you might not be an epic fail after all…

Coffee by the pool courtesy Matt the barista

Training buddies! Avert your eyes from my pastiness

Kids

QOTD: A day in the life of Anja.

November 19, 2013 Christine Cogger

She comes by her nickname, Talky Talkerson, quite honestly. From sunrise to bedtime, she talks. Talks and talks and talks. Conversations, questions or monologues, on and on she goes. It’s a combination of amusing, entertaining, exhausting, frustrating and endearing.

98% of the time lately, the days begin with her little voice yelling one of 2 things in her groggy, semi-wakeful state, from the comfort of her bed.

“Can I come dooo-oo-own?”

“I’m getting hungry for my bektest (breakfast)”

With our permission, she trundles downstairs, dragging her ratty blankie, and she’s off.

Some samples from Wednesday:

“Even strangers have feelings, you know”.

“Call me Alice. I can never go back to being Anja.”

“Mum, who am I again (me: “Alice”) “Oh yeah, Alice. Call me Alice.”

“I need to tell you a story about, um, me.”

“Can I tell you something very important? (…) I love (…) my blue curtains.”

“What are you thinking about me?”

Her parting words to me as I left on my holiday (that’s right… my holiday. More on that, later).

Me: “If you are good for Dad while I am away, I will bring you a new bathing suit.”

Anja (eyes wide as dinner plates): “What?! Really? For me? A new one? Ok! I want it to have boobies and underpants and black and white stripes and all the colours.”

I’m on the hunt for said item.

Kids, Running

I don’t get it.

November 13, 2013November 14, 2013 Christine Cogger

I’m the first to admit that I love running with my kids. Sure, the pace is different than what I am used to but running with my 7 year old on the trails is just really fun. I let him set the pace, we stop a lot and we chat about the most random things (usually: Lego). Both boys have each run a 5K. And by run, I mean run/walk/zigzag/play tag/stop for water and cookies, etc. They had fun (which is the primary goal) and got a ribbon at the finish line (secondary goal).

Whistler Valley 5K. There were almost always 2/3 kids in the stroller/snack transportation system

Lately, lots of headlines have been popping up about 5 year olds “setting world records” for half-marathons, 14 year olds running marathons or 6 year olds petting llamas and raising money for pro-life organizations (this one infuriated me).

Maybe I’m missing something here. Maybe these kids are just way more competitive than mine. But I have a really hard time believing that these kids do it on their own volition. 21k is a long way to go (and this leaves me wondering how much training is involved to get them to the start line). It’s a lot of pounding on little joints, bones and muscles. And let’s face it – it can be boring. Maybe these kids are more focused than mine and don’t mind the boredom. But I doubt it. I have sneaking suspicion that there’s a running version of a hard-core soccer mom or dad lurking in the background. I mean, do we really believe that a 6 year old understands what pro-life means?

For now, I think we’ll stick to playing in the forest and chasing each other through the trails.

—

EDIT: Bravo, Runner’s World, bravo: http://www.runnersworld.com/fun/1-year-old-runs-marathon?page=single

Day-to-day life

What would you have done?

November 13, 2013 Christine Cogger

This afternoon, I went to the gym for about an hour before picking up the boys from school. Lately, I’ve not been wearing headphones when I’m there because I can focus a little bit better on what I’m meant to be doing but I suppose the downside to that is that I am privy to every grunt, gripe and conversation around me.

I was minding my own business in one corner as a ‘personal trainer’ was working with a client near me. The client was a new mother – as evidenced by the new baby in the car seat by her side – and because I heard her say “It’s my second baby”.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as the ‘personal trainer’ guided her through a sees of basic exercises but cringed inwardly at her terrible form. But, obviously, I said nothing.

Moments later, they pulled a mat to the floor and the client lay down, per the ‘trainer’s’ instructions, to do some ab work. I continued to watch surrepticiously. But here’s where I wonder if I should have piped up.

The client/new mom told her ‘trainer’ that her abs had split during her pregnancy. The ‘trainer’ looked confused and said “what do you mean?” The client then explained that there was now a sizeable gap in her abs. The ‘trainer’ bent down, touched her client’s stomach, squealed and then jumped back saying “Ew!” The client laughed awkwardly.

‘Trainerlady’ then proceeded the lead her through a series of exercises that she clearly couldn’t do. Her only advice was “make sure you do the same number of reps on each side”. Shortly after that, the ‘trainer’ signed off the day, telling her client to keep at it and that she’d see her Thursday.

Here’s my dilemma. I had the same “condition” after each kid. I have some pretty basic knowledge of what you can and can’t do in that situation. The fact that this ‘trainer’ had never heard of the condition, let alone what to do with it when training a new mother, made me uneasy and wondering if I should have pulled the client aside after the ‘trainer’ left and given her some friendly, albeit unsolicited, advice.

What would you have done?

Day-to-day life, Kids, Racing, Running

In the trenches

November 7, 2013 Christine Cogger

I bow down to you, full-time stay at home moms. Seriously. I’m onto day 4 and I’m exhausted. Work was so… quiet.

Don’t get me wrong: I love the extra time I get to spend with my kids. But I have never met 3 people who verbalize their every feeling quite like my kids – and in particular, the smallest one who quite literally never. ever. stops.

—

This happened, and it was awesome:

—

Then the next morning, this happened:

Can you see the flu starting to creep into my head? I can.

—

The I got strep throat and that totally sucked.

—

Then this happened:

I guess that means it’s game time.

Kids, QOTD

QOTD

November 4, 2013 Christine Cogger

Anja had a friend over to play today. Her friend was wearing her Terry Fox ribbon.

Anja: “Did you know? About the story of Terry Fox? He ran all the way across Candada (not a typo), all the way to the North. Then he broke his leg and died.”

Close.

I then explained the real story to her, but she made sure I started it with “Once upon a time, there was a boy with one leg…”