Christine Cogger

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…”

Family, Kids

I wish I had…

October 21, 2013 Christine Cogger

His precise, creative nature. His deep curiosity. His running stride.

His calculated fearlessness. His tough shell, soft interior. His physical strength.

Her gregarious, confident personality. Her trusting nature. Her seemingly boundless energy.

CITS, Racing, Running

2 babies, 3 surgeries and 1 half-marathon.

October 8, 2013October 9, 2013 Christine Cogger

Nailed it.

CITS, with a few honorary members, ran the Spirit of the Shore Half Marathon on Sunday. I was going to write some big long race report but the reality is that Liz did a better job and mine can be summarized in bullet points and pictures.

Shoulder fracture? January 4^th. Knee surgery #1? January 23. Shoulder reconstruction? July 23. 6 weeks of dominating life in a sling and not running a step until mid-September. That, right there, is a good set up for a personal worst, my friends.

It's early but it sure is pretty. — It’s early but it sure is pretty.

The joys of social media allowed me to successfully farm out 3 children for sleepovers.
Pre-race meal: beer, Chinese food, wine. For the win!

She needs the extra liquid calories: this mama is still nursing.

We may or may not have been assigning terrible nick names at this point.

I chose my beer based on the looks of the can.

Pulling into the parking lot at 7:21 for a 7:30 start? You know it.

I like to give those following me something to remember me by. Also, something to read.

Someone was worried about finishing last. Did not achieve this goal. — Someone was worried about finishing last. Someone did not come close to finishing last.

Quoted at km 9: “God, I’m bored”.
Internal quote at km 15: “Maybe I should have done a real long run before this race.”

There may or may not have been some texting on-course.

We looked damn good.

It was sunny. Sunny as in “Ow, my eyes are burning I can’t see anything” sunny. And it was awesome.
Great course, fun atmosphere, good post-race food. Sign up for next year, people.

PWs all 'round, baby! — PWs all ’round, baby!

I now very much appreciate the fitness I had last summer and can now admit that running a half slowly, undertrained and under-fueled isn’t as magical as it sounds. But I can assure you that I’ll probably do it again.

Enjoy Liz’s take, friends:

When I set my sights on the Spirit of the Shore Half Marathon back in January, I knew that I needed a big goal. It’s not every day that you achieve a new PW, but I thought it was in me and I set out to do everything I could to reach it. I’m happy to report that my new half marathon PW is 2:05, knocking my previous 1:58 from my very first half off the chart.

Training

My last big training block for the race began mid July when I could finally run 3k without stopping and posted a new PW in a 5k on July 27^th. If 5k could take me 28:31, surely I could stretch that out to a half marathon by October. Since that 5k I managed a few 9k, 12k, 15k and 18k all of which left me feeling like my insides might fall out and crawling back into bed for a few hours. Truly optimal training.

Pre-race

I have my usual race pre-race routine, but to make big leaps sometimes you have to try something new. I planned the ideal weekend to reach the starting line in the best condition I could. Starting with Chinese food and beer for dinner. Then a restful night of feeding Henry at 12:30am, 3am, 5am and finally waking at 6:37am for an optimal 20min frantic search for running tights and socks. Breakfast is also so crucial and instead of packing in useful calories like most other races I thought the half bagel and a cup of coffee would really bring my performance up to snuff.

Race

Like most halfs the first 5k were easy and fun. The next 5k were still moving fairly quickly. Then at 13k or so I looked at the pavement and it seemed to me to be soft and pillow-like and waiting for me to lie down on it. I couldn’t believe how completely exhausted I felt. If I had been running alone, I’m fairly certain I would have turned around and headed back to the car or at least the closest coffee bar. Seeing as I was with super hot pink company and didn’t want to let the team down, I kept going. Besides, the last half I started ended in my one and only DNF and that wasn’t the goal this time. Things improved after I stopped to pee and didn’t have to concentrate on not being incontinent. The last few k were actually better than the first few, but we had to be careful not to go too hard and end up with more than our 5min negative split else the goal wouldn’t have been met.

Post race

It’s like the running melted away. After a shower, some food, a far too large bowl of frozen yogurt, I was back to my usual self and ready to do it again.

Future goals

Now that I have a new PW, I’d like to keep it that way. I’m sure there could be more down the road with more matching shirts and great company, but for now I think I’ll go back to getting faster again. Just 4 months to take 30mins off my time. No problemo right?

Family, Kids

The Author

October 3, 2013 Christine Cogger

For the last few days, instead of playing Lego when he comes home from school, Will has been grabbing his art kit and working on his “series”. He’s decided to create a series of books based on “Super Chocolat”, his invented super hero. It’s pretty fascinating to watch him come up with ideas, characters and locations for his adventures. Sure, they’re phonetically written and sometimes I have to guess at what’s written, but it’s still pretty awesome.

I think the best part may be that he’s created his own logo.

Maybe someone in this family will be a writer, after all. Maybe we’ll have a guest post here soon.

Even his teacher agrees that he’s got a very vivid imagination

Kids, QOTD

QOTD

September 30, 2013 Christine Cogger

Rory (5), asking about his sister.

“Do we have to pick Talky Talkerson up from daycare today or can we just leave her there overnight?”

That’s love, right there.

Kids, QOTD

QOTD

September 25, 2013 Christine Cogger

After school today.

Will: “Rory! Wanna play this awesome game? It’s called Pocket Checking. It’s this cool game where you go in closets and dig around in all the raincoat pockets and find really cool things. It’s like digging for gold. Rory, you never know. Hey look! Dad’s pocket. Oooh! Cool. ”

Rory: “Oh! Dad’s hoody. Dad always keeps cool stuff in his pockets. Oh look! A hair clip. Keep looking.”

I didn’t bother to go down to check what the “Oooh! Cool” led to.