Archive for May, 2011
Many of my facebook friends recently received an invitation from me to sign up for a half marathon called “Wind Horse Half Marathon and Half Marathon Relay Run for Education.” I wanted to give a personal explanation of how this race has come about, what it means to me (and others), and why I’d love it if you could join us.
As you may know, I’m a huge fan of the Sister Cities program. I’m the secretary on the Bellingham Sister Cities Association board because I’ve experienced firsthand the way that person-to-person diplomacy works. Here’s how it goes:
My family meets a family from across the world (either in my town or in theirs) and we become friends. That family shows and explains life in their country to me, the shining cultural points along with the politics and the struggles. I explain the USA to them as I understand it. We leave our encounter enriched and expanded. Now when I hear on the news that my country has diplomatic issues with my friend’s country, I’m informed in a different way. The political becomes personal and vice versa.
So more than a year ago, when Bolor Smith approached me about her desire to get Bellingham to consider a new sister city in Mongolia (her home country), I was keen on the idea, and so was the rest of the board! Bellingham has deep connections to Mongolia. Our local university, Western Washington University, has a strong Mongolian language program and a library of Mongolian literature second to none in North America. Bellingham also has two nonprofit organizations devoted to preserving Mongolia’s oral history and mythology (The Sound Essence Project) and educating Mongolia’s children (Blue Sky Education Project), respectively.
I’m so pleased to say that this summer, Bellingham will sign a new sister city agreement with the city of Tsetserleg, Mongolia! A group of Bellinghamsters will be traveling there in August to sign the official papers (alas, I will not be joining them this year).
So why the Wind Horse Run for Mongolian Education? Well, education in Mongolia is complicated. Like in many nations, the lack of a uniform or the ability to purchase books can prevent a child from participating in school – even when public education itself is free. But in addition to that, many families in Mongolia are still nomadic to a certain degree—following their herds to where there is food—which makes educating children quite complex. Blue Sky Education Project raises funds for three things: school supplies and uniforms, teachers who travel to work with students who live too far from school to attend at a brick and mortar building, and college tuition to high school graduates who agree to become teachers after college.
The inaugural Wind Horse Run for Mongolian Education will focus on raising funds for school age students in Bellingham’s Sister City, Tsetserleg, so they can purchase school supplies and books.
I’m excited about this chance to combine several of my passions: running, sister cities, and education. This upcoming race was the brainchild of Bolor and myself as we ate a delightful Mongolian dinner at her house with our husbands. We came up with the idea only a few months ago and debated whether or not there was time to pull it off this summer before the delegates from Bellingham traveled to Mongolia. We’ve decided to go for it. This first year, the race will be extremely low key—lots of fun but no frills. We’ll have aid stations, bib numbers, mementos for finishers, music and food at the beginning and end, but there won’t be shirts or timing chips or awards. We want to get Wind Horse on the map and raise some money for as many kids as possible to attend school in Tsetserleg this next school year.
I hope you’ll join us (or donate if you can’t) and celebrate how intertwined we all are with others around the world, even before we ever meet them. It’s my belief that the best chance we have as a species is if we build real connections with others around the world.
For more information click here!
Here is my race schedule for the next few months, as promised. Most of these are subject to change, so if you plan on joining me, make sure to shoot me a facebook message or an email to double check that nothing has changed. Hope to see some of you out there!
Sunday, May 29 – Happy Girl Half Marathon - Can’t wait for this one! I’ll be at the expo on Saturday, too (speaking at 11am – come see me).
Sunday, June 5 – San Juan Island Half Marathon
Saturday, July 9 – Chuckanut Footrace Bellingham, WA (7 miles)
Saturday, July 15 – Inaugural Wind Horse Half Marathon for Mongolian Education, Bellingham, WA - This is a new race I’ll be putting on along with Blue Sky Education Project and the Bellingham Sister Cities Association.
Saturday, August 20 – Park City Marathon, Park City, Utah
Saturday, August 27 – Aspen Backcountry Marathon, Colorado
OR
Sunday, August 28 – Santa Rosa Marathon, Santa Rosa, CA
Sunday, September 11 – Two Bear Marathon, Whitefish, Montana
Saturday, October 22 – Lake Padden Trail Classic, Bellingham, WA. Proceeds go to the Anna Brulotte Memorial Foundation.
Anna died this year. She was hit by a car as she and her family were crossing a street. Here is a note from my friend, Anna’s mom:
“One of Anna’s favorite things to do was go on walks. We live right by the railroad trail, so we walked it often. Anna loved being in the stroller or walking herself. She really enjoyed seeing all the things in the woods and would often point them out. During the summer we would walk up there and pick blackberries and thimbleberries. Part of the reason I was crossing the street when she was killed was because I wanted to walk with her to the park since she loved walking so much. I want to do the lake Padden walk in her memory to honor her and raise awareness about the horrific consequences of distracted, aggressive driving. I think that the beautiful scenery around Lake Padden lends itself to reflecting on the fragility of human life and the great power we have to take that life when we get behind the wheel of the car. Whether you’re walking or pushing a stroller, we want you to come walk with us.”
Melissa Brulotte, Anna’s mother
Sunday, January 29, 2010 – Tinker Bell Half Marathon, Disney Land, CA
For the past few years, a group of women in Bellingham get together to do a Mother’s Day run on Galbraith Mountain, a local trail system that winds through thick forest east of our downtown area. I received the email invitation last week and resolved that this year I was going to join this group of really cool women whom I like and admire and give it a try.
Bill regularly invites me to run with him up on Galbraith, but I always say no. I like trail running, enjoy hopping over roots and dodging mud puddles, but I always feel that running in the woods is a dreary idea. In the winter (you know, between November and June around here) I simply don’t want be deep in the dark foliage where the earth doesn’t thaw. Then in the summer, I don’t wish to miss one second of our rare, precious sunshine.
But increasingly in my life, I want to seize every opportunity to live with oomph and verve. I don’t want the weather or my abhorrence of being cold to stop me from enjoying the natural beauty of the world – or ruin the chance to make new friends. That’s why I decided to join the Mother’s Day run this year. I washed my running gear and laid it all out the night before. Then I set my internal alarm clock for 7:00am. The gals were to meet at the trailhead at 8:00.
When the morning came, however, I chickened out. Even after all the running I’ve done in the past few years, I got scared that I would hold the group up by my slow pace. Or that I would get lost. Bill frequently tells me about being lost up on Galbraith, and I imagined getting up on the mountain that morning and becoming separated from the other women, finding myself wandering around somewhere on the 44 miles of trails, fighting off bears and dying alone curled up under an evergreen tree. Before I’d finished my coffee, I’d talked myself out of the Galbraith Mountain Mother’s Day run.
I was disappointed in myself. Why did I let fear get the better of me? Why did I cave to old feelings of inadequacy and reticence? Instead of suiting up in my running tights and hat and gloves, I slipped on some Levi’s and drove down to Starbucks to read and sip on an overpriced latte. But as I sat there watching clouds float by, occasionally blocking much-welcome sunshine, I realized I missed an opportunity I didn’t really want to miss. And so, because I’m a big believer in the idea that there is usually more than one chance to do what you want to do in this life, I asked Bill if he would take me up on Galbraith that afternoon. I figured he wouldn’t leave me to be eaten alive by wild animals or sacrifice me to the land if I fell and twisted an ankle (not that I honestly believed the group of mothers who’d gone to the mountain in the morning would have abandoned me to such a fate). Bill, I though, would be personally invested in my conquering my aversion to running on Galbraith Mountain and would take the time to show me the map and explain how the trails connected to one another.
So up we went. We parked at the Birch parking lot and started out on the Ridge trail. From there we took Cedar Dust to Rock and Roll. Bill’s plan was to follow the Rock and Roll Trail all the way to the Pipeline Road, but we got sidetracked onto Lost Giant somehow, which met Pipeline further down the road. Pipeline was a nice break from the mud until we caught 1200 and headed back to Cedar Dust and back down the Ridge Trail. That was the route. If you know Galbraith, you’ll recognize the trails. If you don’t, let me tell you my impressions and what I learned from my virgin run on the mountain.
Gailbraith is a mecca for mountain bikers – everyone around here knows this. Everyone also knows that the land used to be owned by the Trillium Group and recently changed hands to Polygon Financial, a logging company who agreed to continue letting mountain bikers and runners use the trails—until recently. A very cool group of bikers called Whatcom Independent Mountain Peddlers (WHIMPS) has voluntarily maintained the trails for years. I was impressed by the bridges, jumps and obstacles that WHIMPS has created for themselves and others who frequent the area. As I said, I enjoy the focus that trail running requires, the variation in terrain and the way one never quite falls into a perfect rhythm of footfall. Galbraith is an interesting place to run. We encountered several groups of mountain bikers while we were up there. Each time we stopped and chatted with them and asked their advice about the trails: Which paths were too muddy to run today? Which ones are off limits due to recent logging?
For almost two hours (only 7 miles, my Garmin said) we wandered Galbraith’s trails. I overcame my fear of being lost indefinitely once I oriented myself to the logging road. If all else failed, I could follow it back to a civilization I recognize. Monday morning, when I went to the track workout with Carol (of the Fit School for Women), I confessed my reasons for not joining her and the other women on the mountain on Sunday. She said there would be another chance to run with the group on Thanksgiving and again next year on Mother’s Day. I won’t chicken out next time, ladies, I promise.
Note: Access to Galbraith Mountain is not a given. Lately, Polygon has said they plan on ending the agreement. Here is some information about the situation and a link to efforts to save the trails for recreational use:
• Bellingham Herald Article about recent developments on Galbraith Mountain
Shannon wrote me a note on my Second Wind Facebook page telling me that my book had encouraged her in her first race. But when I heard about what she’d done for her FIRST RACE EVER, I was shocked, awed and double inspired. I asked her to share her race report here because it’s such a great story. Sometimes we are unwitting participants in becoming our own heroines. Here’s Shannon’s story in her own words:
Race Report
Frontier Adventure – 30 April 2011
Huntsville, Ontario
By Shannon Cook
April 1, 2011, I am walking around Mountain Equipment Co-op looking for some upgraded running pants that I thought I deserved for committing myself to a half marathon in Niagara Falls in October. I check my email on my phone and read an email saying ”congratulations, you’ve won a spot in the Frontier Adventure Race, please confirm your attendance.”
I honestly thought it was a joke (being April 1st) but soon realized, I did half-heartedly enter this contest awhile back and this was a real adventure race. Time to start shopping for more than just running pants! This was going to be my first race ever and although I had been doing some 5K training, I was not at all training for a 40K-plus adventure race.
I didn’t sleep much the night before the race because I was so anxious about what the day was going to bring. Standing at the start line, a calmness came over me. In hindsight, this was the calm before the storm!
There were 12 checkpoints and, as we dashed out to checkpoint one with a light jog, I was feeling good. Then I saw the hill we needed to climb. Words my sister (who was my supporter that day) said popped into my head, “Do you know what you’ve gotten yourself into?” But we made it to the top, and with the first CP down, the joy of running downhill made me smile.
The Canoe Leg
The canoe portion consisted of approximately10 Ks total. The gorgeous day allowed for smooth waters, I struggled at the front trying to stay on track and kept hitting the sides of the canoe. Our all-female team consisted of Sally Heath (experienced racer) and another contest winner, Meredyth Spence. It took a little to get the rhythm going, but we made the next checkpoint in good time. We could have even opted for the advance CP’s if we wanted to!
The mountain biking was my biggest struggle. From what I understood, it consisted of over 32kms (apparently the 40km advertised for the entire race is just an estimate!). The ride was on paved road, hills (lots of them) and muddy trails. I worried that my little CCM Walmart bike wouldn’t make it! Some CP’s on the bike portion consisted of dropping off the bikes and trekking. I remember at one point, when we had left a trail and I was getting beat up by branches, twigs, logs, or losing my footing on a muddy hill, my favourite quote came into my head (Ralph Waldo Emerson): ”Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”We came to a water crossing and decided to go ahead and cross the marshy swamp. The first step was okay, however, the next step brought us up to our chests. I screamed in shock from the cold and tried to run across as fast as I could, this definitely woke me up! After more trekking through the woods, it was back on our bikes for a ride that I thought would never end. Many times I had to get off and push uphill because my legs just wouldn’t go, and many times I thought I was just going to keel over and die! Sally and Meredythe were so strong and made the hills look easy, and many times Sally had to hop of her bike and run downhill to help me with mine. But the farther ahead they were from me, the more it pushed me to push myself. Every time I thought I couldn’t give anything else, I would push a little more.
There was so much support from other teams as they passed us saying ”good job” or “keep it up.” I remember one lady, while we ran along the highway. She came up beside me, put her arm around me and asked me how I was doing and told me to keep up the good work. This was a boost I needed while I struggled to push myself.
There were three more CP’s remaining and about an hour and a half to the cut off time. I started thinking, “I will just be happy have finished it, never mind the 8 hours, I mean this is my first race.” But that was just nonsense talk, the adrenaline that Sally spoke of while we ran our last kilometer to the finish line and the exhilarating feeling as we actually crossed the finish line was like no other.
Shannon's Team!
I will never forget my first race ever or my wonderful teammates. The anxiety, anticipation, exhilaration, pain, sweat and acknowledging my ability to push myself beyond what I thought was possible are absolutely priceless. Halfway through the race, I was thinking, “I am never going to do this again.” Today, I am researching where I want to do my next race! The confidence that this race has instilled in myself, will only push me to do more!