Not the typical Runners' Christmas Wish List 2013

These items are not on a typical Runner's Christmas list. If you're looking for alternatives, I think they're pretty good ideas. Please share them with me if you've got some suggestions let me know!

Help empower someone to make a positive life change - There's a local running group that runs out of the Vancouver Downtown Eastside - Run for Change. Running has definitely been a positive change to my life, let's share this! Below is a video on Benji Chu, founder of Run for Change.

Meal tokens - Every Wednesday I run with a runclub and I see the same girl sitting outside the shop panhandling. I've seen her around town and even walking down my alley one afternoon completely out of it. It broke my heart to see her this way because on Wednesdays she's typically a cheery, smiling girl. She's always happy to see the runners and gives us encouragement. I'm going to pick up some meal tokens from Save On Meats. Maybe this will lead her to a good meal, and maybe even further lead her to meeting some good people and maybe a different path in life.

Beautify your park - Most of my running routes include parks. Did you know that you can make a donation to help beautify your parks? Check out the City of Vancouver's donation program.

Clean water - I drink a lot of water. I have free access through public water fountains along my run routes and it pours freely from my tap at home. This is something we take for granted. Come on, we live in Vancouver where it pours down on us out of the sky seven to eight months of the year. But many don't have such access. I grew up listening to stories of how my mom, as a child would have to walk long distances to get clean water everyday. My uncle didn't have access to clean water either and he had to go carry clean water daily too. You can give the gift of water.

Time - Your time shared with me will always be cherished and much appreciated. Anytime my husband suggests we go for a run or bike ride - I BEAM! I'm like, "Really?!? For real?! You want to run/bike with me??? Yessssssss!" I have swallowed flies (Ew! But true!) by accident because I can't stop smiling while biking together. Or the time my friends wanted to volunteer for an event with me. We had such a great time and felt great for being able to give back to the community. Yes, volunteering makes you feel great! Material things come and go but time together for a shared experience is precious and lasts much longer.

Happy Weekend!

TGIF! What are your weekend plans? We're heading up to the Sunshine Coast with close friends this weekend. I love the Sunshine Coast. It's where I got engaged. It's also where I met my husband totally by chance in the ferry line up.

Yes, love does happen in the BC Ferries line ups. The summer ritual of taking off for the weekend had been taking place for a few years. My friends had often teased me that I would meet my "Sunshine Boy" up on the Coast. I would reply by making like I was holding binoculars and look around searching for my "Sunshine Boy."

It was the last summer trip up the coast for me and my friends and like every other Friday evening we were waiting in the ferry line up. We bumped into one of my friend's co-workers while walking around and passing time. Introductions were made and my friend's co-worker invited us to over for lunch the next day.

My friends and I arrived the next day, we had lunch, we swam in the lake, sat on the swing and chatted (he said he liked my itty bitty polka-dot bikini). That was it, that was the beginning of our journey. What a crazy, chance happening!

There won't be swimming in the lake this weekend but maybe some sitting by the wood stove. Playing with our friend's toddler and our dogs, lots of cooking and maybe some quiet time for reading.

I hope to sneak away for a bit to get a long run in with this pack. I absolutely love the long quiet runs up there, it's been a while. I am so, so, lucky and grateful for what I have.

Here's a great song, "Into The Wild," by LP. Have a happy weekend! :-)

Seen on my run: water fountain

Water fountain. Have you seen this? Can you tell me where it is?

Music Monday

A little bitty from 2007. Architecture in Helsinki - Heart It Races.
Boom-dadadadadadada boom-dadadada. Boom! Get up, get out and get your heart racing!
Happy Monday!

A sporty and organized closet

I just organized my closet! Aaah! That's so much easier on the eyes. I have a little wire basket storage solution in my hall closet filled with all my run and swim gear. I got tired of my gear strewn all over and aways digging around the basket looking for whatever it is I needed for the moment.

I love it when it's nice and organized. Yes, that's an old Nuun bottle - I bought them in bulk so I still have a few bottles left with the old label design. My husband's squash goggles are there too. My water bottles, goggles, gloves, gels and swim caps have a nice tidy spot they belong to now.

Drying shoes after a rainy run

Running in Vancouver means running in the rain. Last night I had what will be one of many, many months of running in the rain. Some people sing "Dancing in the Rain," I sing, "Running in the Rain."

Running in the rain also means wet, soggy shoes. Here's a tip I'd like to share to get your shoes dry again and ready for your next run!

When you purchase a new pair of shoes they're usually stuffed with tissue. Keep those! Or use scrunched up newspaper and stuff them loosely into your wet shoes. The newsprint will help absorb moisture from your shoes. This should take about a day to dry. After my runners are dried out, I give them a good spritz of anti-stink shoe spray.

Wet shoes

Take out the insides

Scrunch up newsprint paper or gift wrap tissue

Stuff your wet shoes loosely with the paper

Finally, mud or sand can be kicked off easily after the shoes are dry. Happy running in the rain!

Running in Barcelona

For our first honeymoon stop in the Catalonian capital of Barcelona, I booked a private Old Town Tour with Running Tours Barcelona. This was the sunrise that greeted me on run tour day. Wow! What a great run this was going to be!!

Sunrise in Montjuic, Barcelona

And here's Robin, my run tour guide who's also a professional run coach.

Robin, Running Tours Barcelona

Here are a few places we visited on our run:

We went to see El Gato - I like this chubby cat! It think it's great. (Sorry for the blurry photo) This well-fed gatto is a sculpture by Columbian artist Federico Botero. I love his style - all his subjects are chubby and round. This chubby Gato has been moved around a lot - seems that nobody wants or likes this poor kitty. He currently stands at la Rambla del Raval. El Raval is supposed to be a dodgy neighbourhood. But I didn't find anything dodgy about it even on a later visit to the neighbourhood with my husband. I found the neighbourhood to be very multicultural and vibrant with a little bit of edge.

La Rambla, is a pedestrian mall that is usually packed with tourists. Since we were up early only some shopkeepers were out. We stopped at Mercat de la Boqueria which is typically packed shoulder-to-shoulder full of tourists. This morning I got to experience the market like this! Just a few locals and shopkeepers. Robin also showed me other markets that locals go to and are less touristy.

Mercat de la Boqueria

Whoa! Where else do you get to walk over or in my case, run over a piece of art by a famous artist? Here, we are standing at Joan Miro's signature on his mosaic. He is the most interesting artist! When I was a kid I had a notebook decorated with Miro's signature and symbols from his art. So when we came across his mosaic was really special.

Running over a mosaic by Catalan artist Joan Miro

We continued along La Rambla and then ducked down a side street and into Plaça Reial. Situated in the square are 4 lamposts designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. As theses lamp posts were some of Gaudi's first commisioned works, they do not display typical curvy and organic Gaudi traits such as Familia Sagrada, Casa Milá, or Parc Guell. The lamposts are adorned with the helmet of the god of mercury and two snakes symbolizing trade and commerce.

Lamp post designed by Antoni Gaudi

From Plaça Reial we ran on to Barri Gotic, El Born, Barceloneta Beach... you can check out the tour map here.

We ran through El Raval again to return to my hotel. We stopped in front of the building where the vampire of Barcelona used to live. Enriqueta Marti, who ran a brothel and kidnapped children! Read about her, you'll see why they called the vampire. Gruesome!

I had signed up for a nice 10k with Robin but I enjoyed the run so much we ended running 15km! Really though, I could have run with Robin all day, he made the running tour so, so enjoyable. If you travel to Barcelona, I highly recommend booking a sight running tour.