Team Canada kills it in Jamaica!

Hello!!!

I have so much to blog about, I don't know where to begin!  Ok- let's start with where I left off last time- NACACs! 

I went with Team Canada to Jamaica in late January to compete at the NACAC (north American central American Caribbean) cross country championships.  It was a fantastic trip!  The senior women (myself, Rachel Cliff, Lindsay Carson, Maria Bernard and Rachel Hannah) took Gold, and beat out the Americans- it was awesome.  We were super excited.  The race was tough- it was pretty hot and the course was challenging with lots of hills and uneven surface.  I was definitely pleased with my race too, as I was able to pull off the individual win:)  I went out with the lead pack and stuck with the front few for the first km.  I found the pace a bit slow, and I was feeling good, so I put on a bit of a surge going up one of the hills.  No one went with me and I went through the first loop (2k) about 20 meters in front of the chase pack.  I just kept pushing and by the next loop (4km) my lead was almost 100 meters.  The last 2km was pretty painful....but I toughed it out and maintained my lead.  I finished in 21:07 for 6km- not a super fast time, but for the course it was alright.  My teammate Rachel Cliff was 2nd place- she had an awesome race!!!

NACAC CHAMPS!!!

The junior men's and women's teams both won gold as well.  Congrats to all of them on stellar performances.  The Senior men were second to the Americans, but kicked ass too.  The trip was lots of fun- what a great group of people! Here's a funny story from the trip....

On Saturday night after the race, I am hanging out in Paula's room (hardest working massage therapist ever!  she's awesome!)  Suddenly 2 of the Junior girls burst in (Natalia and Jillian), both in tears.  What the heck is going on???  Are they ok???  We are very worried! 

Natalia- "It was in hair!!!!  I was asleep and it was crawling in my hair!!!"

Me- "What was in your hair??"

Natalia- "A giant cockroach!!!  Its still in my bed!!!"

Me- "Alright, I'll come down and kill it."

Ok, I am terrified of bugs/spiders, so not quite sure what i was thinking when I said I would come down there and kill the giant cockroach.  Maybe it was the terrified look on Jillian's face.  These girls were not going back to sleep with that cockroach in there.  

We get to the room and I'm thinking there is no way I'm gonna find this thing.  I shake out the blanket, and holy f*ckn shit a giant cockroach falls out!  This thing is massive- like the size of a lighter.  I immediately scream like a little girl and yell out every profanity I know.  And run out of the room.  After about a minute, I compose myself, grab a shoe and go back to kill this thing.  I try to hit it with the shoe, but its too fast for me and crawls under the dresser.....and that was the last time I saw that disgusting thing.  My attempt at helping the girls was pretty pathetic.  We went and found some of the senior men to try and help kill the cockroach, but no one was able to find it.  Jillian and Natalia did not sleep in their room that night.  I would not have either.  I spent 30 mins searching my room before I went to bed that night.  Luckily it was cockroach free....I think....they could have crawled on me when I was asleep- who knows?! 

So besides that unfavourable part of the trip, we had an awesome time.  Even got to go to the beach on the last day.  It was so beautiful!  

ME AND THE SENIOR MEN'S TEAM

THE BEACH....SO NICE!

 TEAM CANADA "SHRUGS" LOL!!!

Two weeks after Jamaica I competed in an indoor 3000m at the University of Washington on Feb. 9th.  It was my first indoor race in a few years, and I was pretty nervous.  The energy in the Dempsey indoor facility is awesome.  It's such a great place to run, and you just feel excited being in the building!  My goal was to run around 9:10.  I was running in the Invite section so I knew there would be plenty of girls running atleast that fast. So the gun goes off and all 25 girls are elbowing each other for position.  I thought I went out pretty aggresively, but was still mid pack stuck way inside.  I did not like this at all, especially cause it was slow and I was getting jostled around a lot.  Coming through the first lap, my coach yelled at me "to get out of there!!!!"  I found an opening (or should I say, pushed my way through) and got out of the inside pack and surged up to the front.  I ran in about 4th or 5th spot for another lap.  My coach again yelled at me to pick it up and get to the very front.  So I just took the lead out right and went for it.  I felt great, and super strong, so I was ok with leading.  My mile split was 4:50- just ahead of where I wanted to be.  With about 1km to go, a couple of the girls went to pass me, but I pushed back and didn't let them!  Then with 600m to go they tried to pass me again, and I fought them off again.  So with one lap to go (300m) when 3 of them went to pass me again, I just didn't have enough to fight them off.  But, with 200 to go I started my kick and was gaining on the 3 girls.  I passed one right away and then with 100m to go, passed another.  But, I just didn't have enough to catch the last girl and had to settle for 2nd place.  But, hey- I ran a 23 second PB- 9:02.57!!  I was super stoked!!!  I was happy with not only my time, but with how the race went.  It was a good day at the Dempsey.

The day after the indoor 3km was the Vancouver First Half half marathon.  I was signed up to race, but knew it would be a stupid decision to race 21 Km the day after a super hard 3km.  I went to watch anyway, as my run clinic (Port Moody's Kintec Clinic) was participating, along with many of my running friends.  It was really hard being there and not racing!  I was at the start line watching all the elites warming up and I wanted to join them so badly!  I did my long run on the race course (we ran it backwards!) with Rebecca Johnstone, Rachel Cliff and Erica Digby.  It was fun cheering for everyone- such a great energy that morning.  My run clinic peeps did amazing!  So proud of them!  It was also cool to watch my friend Rob Watson win the race- he's a pretty fast guy and has a good blog too.  Not as good or as funny as mine but still worth a read:)- leblogdurob.com.

So now I'm in the middle of a big training block- 4 weeks of no races, just lots of running!  I was sick with a cold last week, but still managed to run my biggest week of mileage this year.  I'm hoping to top that this week!  I've gotten in a couple of pretty wicked workouts in the past few weeks- did 8 X 600m on the track and averaged about 1:42/1:43 (2:30 rest).  I feel like things are coming along well- just gotta stay healthy:) 3 weeks until I leave for Poland- and less then 4 weeks until I race at the World XC championships!!!! 

Exciting news!  My coach and I decided that I'm gonna try the 3000m steeplechase!!!  So I've started doing hurdle drills- and they are going well:)  I'm super pumped to be trying something new.  I'm definitely nervous and scared of the water jump.....I've always wanted to do the steeplechase...so we thought why not just give it a try?  YOLO!  lol- yeah I just said that.....hahaha what a nerd I am!  I am still gonna race 5ks and 10ks, and maybe even a few halfs this year, but I still wanna do a 3k steeple!  Its gonna be fun!

Ok this blog is getting ridiculously long, so I'm gonna shut it down.  I do have lot's of other stuff to talk about, but I will save it for another blog!!! 

Happy running everyone!

2013- I like you so far!

Wow- its been a crazy January so far!  I don't even know where to start with this blog!  Well, I guess I'll start with my most recent race- PIH (Prairie Inn Harrier) 8km road race in Victoria last weekend (Jan. 13)....seems to have people talking a bit!

This is the third time I have raced the PIH 8km road race.  It's always a well put together race, and lots of fun.  Plus, I'm a PIH member, so I like to come and race their events when I can.  Bob Reid always takes care of me when I come over- he's the best!  Leading up to the race, I didn't really taper or do anything "race prep" like.  I worked a 6 hour serving shift the night before the race and got to bed around 12:30....5am wake-up call came damn early!  I caught the 7am ferry from Vancouver to Victoria with 6 other mainland athletes.  I fell asleep on a bench in the cafeteria.  It was awesome. So was the sunrise that morning...here's the pic I took

'

 Bob Reid picked us up at the ferry terminal and drove us to the race course, where we still had an hour to kill before starting warm-ups.  It was about 1C- a bit sunny with some cloud.  But absolutely no wind, which was nice.  Warm-up went well- had fun chatting with Erin Burrett.  We've been racing each other since elementary school- pretty cool that we are still running buddies.

I didn't really have any big expectations for this race.  I knew that I was fit and ready to run fast- but this wasn't a big deal race, so I wasn't too concerned- just wanted to have fun racing. I figured I could run about 27 mins.  When the race started I felt surprisingly good- very peppy.  I was excited to be out racing again.  Here is the race run down-

1km- 3:00- fast, but downhill.
2km- 6:13- flat- feeling good. surprised that km was so fast.
3km- 9:33- uphill- felt awesome going up the hill- passed a lot of guys.  Hoping Idon't slow down!
4km- not sure...12:??...was surprised with how fast I was running.  First time I thought that I might be able to break the course record- 26:08.
5km- nice downhill- 15:48- this is when I was like holy shit.  That was a 24 second 5k PB.  WTF is going on?  Am I gonna die horribly and not be able to finish?  Did I go out way to hard?  I was a bit worried, but still felt really good.  Just kept trying to pass the boys.
6km- slight uphill- 18:59.  OK- only 2km to go!  I can do this! Still feeling smooth. I caught up to my friend Kris Swanson, who said he would help me run the last few Kms.  I said that would be awesome- lets work together!
7km- slight downhill.  Didn't get this split.  I'm starting to hurt now.  Kris is getting a few steps on my now.  I know that the last km is all up hill.  Hold it together Tasha!
8km- 25:28- yay!  Complete and total shock as I cross the finish line.  Did I really just run that time?  And of course I'm thinking- sweet I just broke the course record $1000 bonus! yes! lol

Here is the interview I did with Chris Kelsall of Athletics Illustrated about an hour after my race:)

Highlight video of the race- thanks Athletics Illustrated!

After the race, I got in a good warm down with Erin B, Sabrina and Mark Wilkie.  My I.T. band was hurting, and I was a bit worried....but it's been all good this week (thanks to my fabulous massage therapist Danielle Mah from Impulse Sport Therapeutics).  This has been a crazy week.  I'm still on a high from my new PB, course record and apparently (not confirmed)- Canadian 8k record!  I am super stoked to see what this season has in store for me:)

So following the race I've been getting the same questions again and again-
"Was the course short?"- NO
"Are you on drugs?" (check out the letsrun.com feed....people are assholes!) - NO!  Unless you consider wine a drug.  I like to drink my fair share of wine:)
"How did you run so fast?"- please see the interview I did for Canadian Running for complete answer- http://runningmagazine.ca/2013/01/sections/news/interview-natasha-fraser-discusses-her-big-breakthrough-race/

One thing I didn't mention in the interview that I think is very important is BALANCE!  You can't be all about running all the time.  You have to have other things going on in your life- work, friends, family, fun!  If you only concentrate on running fast you become obsessed with every last detail- not a good idea. I believe that I have a lot of balance in my life- while running is my number one priority- its not my only priority.  I have a lot of other stuff going on.  Speaking of other stuff, I had some fun times this past week.

We did a girls trip to Harrison Hot Springs.  I felt bad for all the couples in the Hot Springs trying to have romantic time, while 7 of us crazy girls were drinking wine from the box and being all sorts of loud and inappropriate.  It was so much fun- I may have even jumped in the pool in my fleece Onesie....maybe....lol!
 While we had a crazy good time, I also got in a good run the next day- it was so beautiful up there.

Also went to my pretty awesome staff party this week and celebrated my friend Kim's 30th Bday with a fabulous dinner at the Firehall Bistro this past Saturday.

So next up is NACAC XC Champs in Jamaica....I leave tomorrow morning!  I am super excited, and nervous of course.  I know that I am fit and ready to run fast....just gotta keep my head in the game.  I'll blog about the trip when I get back! 

Gotta go pack!  Have a great weekend!

2012 in the tash lane

Hello!

I hope that you have all been having a fabulous holiday season.  Mine has been great-just very busy!  As it's the end of the year, I thought it would be fitting to do a "year in review" sort of blog.  So let's get started with the running stuff.

In 2012 I raced 19 times- 4 half marathons, 5 x 10ks, 6 x 5ks, 2 x cross races (6 and 7k), 1 x 1500 and 1 x 13k.  I raced every month except for January and December.  I took a week break in January and I took a 10 day break in July.  Most of my races were great- with wins at the First Half half marathon, the Vancouver Sun Run, the TC 10k, the Vancouver BMO half, the UBC longest day 5k, the Vancouver Lululemon half, the BC 10000m Champs, BC 5k champs, Victoria half marathon, and the BC XC champs.

 However I had some pretty shitty races including my epic fail of a race at the St. Patty's Day 5k in Vancouver last march.  Don't know what happened but I ran 18:20 and couldn't move.  Questions I got asked after the race- "are you injured?", "are you sick?", "are you pregnant?", "are you on your periord?". The last one was the funniest.  Sometimes you just have a bad race.  My favorite saying is "its the bad ones that make you appreciate the good ones." So every once and awhile its good to have a shit race.  Other not so fantastic races this year were the Ottawa 10k and National 5000m champs.  So only 3 out of 19 races sucked.  So that's pretty good.

My top 3 favorite races this year- 1. Winning the Sun Run was pretty cool.  Very unexpected, and gave me a good confidence boost going into the spring season.  2. Getting 3rd place at National XC Champs here in Vancouver with all of my friends and family there and qualifying for worlds.  That was fun.  3. Winning and setting a personal best by over a minute at the Victoria half marathon in October.  That's my favorite race for sure.  I was in 2nd place the whole race until the last 3k.  I really had to fight to win that one, and I'm proud of myself for never giving up.  The big PB was icing on the cake. 

after the victoria half with my friend Kim- she did her first ever half that day!!!!

I set new PBs in every distance except 5k, which was VERY frustrating.  I was in the best shape of my life, but couldn't manage to run a fast 5k.  This year.  It'll happen. 

Ok, so I did a lot of stuff besides running this year.  I did a lot of running, yes, but I also had a lot of fun.  2012 was for sure my favorite year EVER!  I was originally gonna do a top 10 list of 2012, but decided that was too much, so have settled on a top 5.

TASHA'S TOP 5 AWESOME MEMORIES/TRIPS/MOMENTS OF 2012

5. 2 weeks in Phoenix and Palm Springs in March.  That was wonderful.  Did a week of training in Scottsdale, AZ, then flew to Palm Springs where I stayed with my good friend Leisha and her family where I was able to get another stellar week of training in.  It was the first time in my life where I got to spend 2 entire weeks on running without work.  I loved it:)

myself, Julia K, Coach Brit, Ruky A and J Smith

4. Our late honeymoon in Costa Rica in January.  Travis and I spend almost 2 weeks travelling around Costa Rica.  It was so amazing and we had so much fun.  I took 8 days completely off of running and was really able to enjoy our trip.  We got to see lot's of sloth bears.  I like sloth bears.  We tried to catch a monkey by setting up a monkey trap on our balcony- strategically placing a plantain (giant gross banana fruit), on the table.  Not very eloborate and probably why it didn't work.  But it was fun trying. We did lots of cool stuff- zip lining, ATVing, hiking to various volcanoes/waterfalls, horseback riding, white water rafting.  What a great trip!

awe...sunset pic

3. Weekend at Shuswap Lake at the Braeder's place.  7 couples stayed at my friend's place on shuswap lake in July.  It was during my week break off of running, so I didn't have to try and run every morning, which was nice.  We had so much fun- wake-boarding, water skiing, tubing, beach volleyball, sun tanning and of course my favorite activity- flippy cup (best drinking game ever).  There was a lot of booze consumed that weekend- lots of great stories that just aren't approriate for this blog.  It was a great weekend with fantastic friends.

flippy cup!!!! 

2. Mexico in November!  Spent one glorious week in the Mayan for our friend's wedding.  Travis was a groomsman and I was the MC at the recpetion.  That was pretty fun- stressful- but fun.  We stayed at a beautiful 5 star resort- Azul Sensatori.  It was amazing.  We met a lot of awesome people (the Irvings!) and had some fabulous times.  I was even able to run most days while I was there- even with the hangovers:)

Maria and I posing on the beach- wedding day

the wedding party:)

and my number one favorite time from 2012 is.......

1. WHISTLER 50 MILE RELAY WEEKEND!!!  (October) Oh man this was an epic weekend.  It is my number one because it combines running and fun!  There were 8 girls on our team, each running either 13k or 7km leg.  Rachel Cliff, Rebecca Johnstone, Kim D, Kim H, Christie C, Liz N and myself were the HONEYBADGERS.  We don't give a shit.  (please watch the youtube video to understand.)  There were 6 of us staying in one room (it had 2 bedrooms- it was an awesome room).  We went up friday afternoon and had a nice quiet evening in the night before the race.....well....not really quiet....we had a few drinks:))  Learned the Gangum Style dance.  It was a fun night, but 6am wake-up call came very early!!!!  It was freakin cold and it snowed for the first time that season. 

 

The race was fantastic- the girls all did so awesome.  We ended up placing 3rd all female team!!!  We were super pumped about this.  We had a lot of fun running around the course cheering each other on.

celebration shots!!! (gotta stay warm, right?)

 

  We got back to the room around 2pm.....and decided to bring the box of wine down to the hot tub.  lol.  We are a classy bunch.  Most of the girls chilled for an hour in the hot tub- but Kim H and I outlasted them all.  We were in the hot tub till about 5.  Yikes.  But there were so many running folks down there, it was so fun! 

ready for the after-party!  christie, liz and me

 

The Whistler 50 mile relay, formally the Haney to Harrison Ultra, is well know for its epic after-party.  And this year did not disappoint.  We hit up the after party which was held at the confrence center around 9pm.  There was a lot of dancing and a lot of drinking.  We smuggled in our box of wine, which was no longer a box just the bag.  Yup we did that. Kim even switched jeans with a fire-fighter.  So funny.  After the after-party we continued partying at various clubs, eventually arriving back at the hotel at 4am.  It was a very long and fantastic day/night. 

Spooktacular!!!

Honorable mentions that didn't make the top 5 include- 

- Weekend away at Birch Bay with Kizashina. love those girls.  Fell off a bike and a trampoline.  lol.

 

- One year anniversary in Whistler with Travis at the Four Seasons- dinner at Barefoot Bistro was amazing.

 

- Hitting up 13 wineries in one day in Kelowna with Jess.  16 this summer.  it'll be done.

 

- My 31st bday party downtown.  wow.  Vancouver kicked my ass that night.   

 

Thank-you to everyone who was apart of this most amazing year of my life.  You all know who you are.  I am so excited to see what 2013 has in store for me- both in life and in running!!!  

Have a fabulous New Year everyone!

Running, Cookies, Kloe and a Double Rainbow

Hello!

I am writing this blog while repair man "Yuri" (he's a very nice Russian man.  He likes me cause my name is Russian too.)  is fixing our peice of shit oven. It hasn't been working for over a month now.  Our oven is only 4 years old- what a hunk of junk.  And the part to fix it is $560 plus labour.  Are you freakin kidding me?!!  Luckily our warranty is still good, so atleast the cost of the part is covered.  But still- $200 in labour to fix our dumb oven. It sucks, but enough about that.

I hope that you all enjoyed my debut blog post last week!  My coach told me that I shouldn't swear in my blog.  "It's very un-professional Natasha.  You know once something is online its there forever."  Ryan Brockerville told her I was a grown woman and I could write what I wanted.  I told her that I would keep the swear words to a minimum.  My British friend, Matt, suggested I say "Gall Blimy" instead of swear words. I don't know if that will work.

It's been a pretty busy week.  Let's start off by talking running.  Had a pretty solid week of training- about 120km of running with 3 good workouts.  I had my first track workout of the season last Saturday- 5 X broken 1000s.  (200 hard, 200 mod, ect).  They were mostly 3:07ish, so I was happy with that.  It was awesome being back on the track.   On Tuesday we were training at Como Lake, which is a 1km trail loop with 200m markers along the way.  We saw a double rainbow!  It was actually really cool.  Anyway, I did 6 X 800m, with 200m jog recovery.  Fun times.  Yesterday (Thursday) was hill training at SFU.  Ran 20 mins continuous up and down a big hill.  It's hard.  Then we jogged over to the track ( about 1km) for something fast.  Brit's choice for me yesterday was a hard 800m.  Put my spikes on for the first time since the summer:)  Threw down a 2:17, trying to chase down the boys.  So that brings me to today- Rest day!  Well, sort of....I have to jog 5.7 km (I google mapped it.) to my friend's house where I left my car last night.  I was drinking wine and eating cookies last night.  It was great fun. It was a cookie exchange party. I got to be the judge for the "best tasting cookie" contest.  This meant I got to take a bite of all 17 types of cookies!  Yummy!  It was a tough job, but someone had to do it:))) 

some of the delicious cookies I got to eat:)  I got to take one of each kind home with me too.

We had so much fun!

Last Friday after work I went to my friend Christina's house as she was having a Movember party.  I didn't get there until pretty late, 11:30ish, so everyone was quite intoxicated when I arrived.  I didn't know a lot of people at the party, cause they were Christie's husband's fire-fighter friends.  But they were all really nice and very interested in how fast I could run.  This is when Christie's husband- Steven- started chirrping at me that he was faster then me and he could beat me in a mile. Just because you are a man does not mean you are a better runner then me.  Why do guys always think this?! This is kinda how the conversations went-

Steven- "I could totally kick your ass in a mile."
Me- "I really don't think so"
Christina- "She won the sun run steven!  She will kill you in a race."
Steven- "How fast can you run a mile?"
Me- "I don't know- 4:50 ish?? faster then you."
Steven- "Ok that is fast.  But I can still beat you around the block."
Me- "Fine.  Let's race.  Right now."
Steven- "Done"

So, we decided to race around the block at 1:00am in the pouring rain.  I would say it was like a 600m loop?  Christie outfitted me in her smallest hot pink shorts and nike frees.  I was ready to go!  I knew there was no way drunk Steven would beat me, but I think he really thought he had a chance.  Oh silly Steven.  So as soon as we start running he is trying to grab my shirt and push me.  Already cheating!  We are not even half way, when he suddenly runs through someone's yard and jumps the fence- taking a short-cut!  So of course when I get to the finish he is already there, claiming that he beat me.  What a cheater! Lol.  He cut his leg jumping the 7 foot fence too.  hahahah sucker!  Ah, good times. 

I have been doggie-sitting my friend's 3 year old chocolate lab for the last 8 days.  Her name is Kloe and she is the sweestest, most lovable dog ever.   However, she is exhausting!  This dog has so much energy!  She's insane.  I've ran with her a few times this week (trying to tire her out) and I'm amazed I haven't gotten injured.  Have you ever been in a race with someone that runs past you, cuts you off and slows right down.  Then you pass them, and they do the same thing again?  That's what running with Kloe is like.  She will even just come to a complete stop, causing you to hurdle her- or trip over her. Sometimes, though, she will run beside me like a good dog- untiil she suddenly decides she wants to run on the other side of me and runs right into my legs.  She did this 3 or 4 times tripping me up pretty badly.  I'm honestly shocked that I stayed on my feet.  I should have face planted a few times.  Kloe also likes to carry a stick in her mouth while she is running.  She ran 7km with a 2 foot stick in her mouth.  It's really awesome when she rams the stick into my legs too.  Love that.  So- she's not the best running partner I've ever had.....but atleast my runs weren't boring:) 

This is Kloe. She likes sticks.

Ok what else happened this week- I worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday night at the Boathouse. (Server extraordinaire). I did 2 Stella and Dot trunk shows on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm a stylist with Stella and Dot and I sell their gorgeous jewelry.  Anyone have any christmas presents they need to buy????  Email me!  And I had run clinic last night. I lead run clinics for Kintec.  This one is for the "first half" half marathon in Febuary.  They had hill training last night and they did awesome.  So it was a pretty busy week, especially since we had Kloe.  She's a lot of work.  Did I mention that we live in a 650 SQ FT apartment with a cat?  It was pretty crowded in here this week.  

Have a great week!!!

ps.....www.stelladot.com/natashafraser

check it out.

Let the blogging begin!!!

Hello! 

So a few years ago I attempted to blog- "run tashy run".  I think I got through two of them before I quit.  I just got really lazy. This time around I promise it will be different! So I'm gonna start off by telling you two important things- I am a terrible writer and even worse speller.  So please don't judge or correct me:)

I guess the first thing I should talk about is my most recent race- Canadian Cross Country Nationals at Jericho Beach last saturday.  It was a good day.  I was so nervous before the race, I could barely eat.  Once I started my warm-up, the nervousness went away and I was feeling good.  My friends and family started arriving during warm-up, and I was getting really excited to race!  My coach was not happy with my sociallizing before the race and gave me a talking to....I got in trouble:(  So I removed myself from everyone for a good 20 minutes, where I was able to focus.  My goal for the race was top 5.  Top 5 make the team to go to NACAC  and World XC.  I wasn't concerned about my time- the course was muddy, so I knew it would be slow anyway.  Here's a quick breakdown of the race- (7Km)

Gun goes off and I am happy to finally be racing.  I find myself in the lead.  What the heck?  I don't want to be leading!  Oh well- I feel strong and relaxed so its ok.  I continue to lead a large pack for about 1km

Megan Brown passes me and I stay right on her shoulder for the next 2km- I can hear the other girls, but they are about 15 meters back.  I am surprised that there aren't more girls right up with us.  But that's cool.  I'm feeling good and happy with the race so far. 

3k- Megan gets about 15 meters on me....I run past my coach who yells at me to close the gap.  So I pick up the pace and close the gap a bit. 

3.5km- The effort into closing that original gap was too much for me and Megan drops me more than she did before.  I can hear the other girls gaining on me.  I still feel pretty good, but just can't run at Megan's pace. 

4.5km- Kate Harrison and Rachel Cliff pass me.  Ok tasha its time to fight.  Kate gets about 10 meters on Rachel and I.  We are running side by side going through the 5k mark.  At this point I say to her "lets work together!".  She says "lets do it!" (Rachel is a BC girl and friend of mine.  She's awesome!)  So for the next km we ran together and pushed each other.  It was awesome.  Thanks Rachel!  But with 1km to go, its race time.  I'm still feeling strong and I'm confident in my "kick".  So with about 600 to go I pass Rachel and just keep running as fast as my little legs will go.  I was able to get about 20 meters on her and hold onto 3rd place! 

 Finish line- I got third!  I did it!!!  So freakin happy!  Find my coach- she gives me a big hug and tells me how proud of me she is- I almost cry.  Thanks Brit- I love my coach- she's great:)  Then I do a little interview with Athletics Illustrated.

 My friends and family all started to arrive at the finish line and it was very overwhelming!  I felt so incredibly loved and supported!  Thank-you Brent and Megan Braeder; Kim, Riley and Andrew Copp; Marilyn, Kevin, Aly-boo, and Christian Yeo; Nick, Veronica and Raiden Wodak; Ruth and John; Rebecca Johnstone, Kim Hollaway, and Christie Crump!  You are all amazing and I couldn't have ran like I did without all of you there cheering me on!!! 

 These were the best signs ever!  Thank-you Kim and Christie!  I love these girls!!!!

 Here is the highlight video of the race.  Thanks Chris Kelsall from Athletics Illustrated for the great video!

So the race went well and now I'm on the National Team going to World Cross in Poland in March.  Pretty pumped about this- I've gotta a lot of training to do this winter!  Speaking of training, I did not really get a "down" week like I thought I was gonna get.  Nope- just right back into it.  Although I skipped my sunday run....world's worst hang-over (we won't go into too many details.  It was rough. Lets just say I couldn't eat anything until 730pm that night.).  But besides that one missed run, training has been good this week.  1km repeats on tuesday and then hill training up at SFU on thursday. Which brings me to a story I want to share with you.

On thursday I am doing my warm-up in the trails around SFU.  I realize that this is the first time I've run alone on those trails without being scared.  Scared of what you may be wondering?  COYOTES.  One tried to kill me this year.  This is the story of how I almost got killed by a coyote (ok maybe killed is a bit extreme....but that fucker would have really hurt me.) 

Last June I was warming down after a pretty intense track session up at SFU.  I am alone in the trails on our warm down loop- about 700m loop in the forest.  I'm happily jogging thinking about the awesome workout I just had when I see the coyote.  He's just standing there in the middle of the trail.  I see them quite often, so I wasn't scared.  Just kept running at him and he ran into the bushes.  As I ran by the spot he ran into the bushes, I hear him come out right behind me.  I stop and turn around, and he's standing on the trail about 15 meteres behind me just staring at me.  I did eveything I was supposed to at this point- made myself "big" and yelled at him to fuck off.  That's when he started running at me.  Oh fuck shit.  What the fuck is he doing???? I immediatly start sprinting like a crazy person.  I am screaming for help and running for my life.  I keep looking behind me like one of those stupid girls in a horror movie when she is being chased by the pyscho killer.  The coyote is gaining on me.  He is going to bite me.  Then all his coyote friends are gonna jump out of the bushes and bite me too.  I'm gonna die.  Tears streaming down my face and me screaming "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!!!  HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" as I'm running frantically toward the trail head only 50 meters ahead.  Finally I hit the trail opening and cross the street (totally could have been hit by a car, i didn't look just ran out).  I stop and there he is on the other side of the street, just looking at me.  He's thinking- you're lucky bitch.  I'll get you next time.   I am hysterical at this point, and some random guy waiting for the bus asks me if I'm ok.  I go on to tell him that the coyote was chasing me and it was gonna attack me and I barely made it out alive.  The random guy definitely thinks I'm crazy.  I jogged back to the track where the SFU group is.  I tell them this story and most of them laugh at me!  It's not funny!  I almost got attacked by a diseased coyote. Not a laughing matter at all.  People tell me that coyote attacks are very random and almost never happen.  Well let me tell you, that coyote was gonna bite me.  I was lucky.  So ever since that day in June I have been scared to run alone on that warm down loop.  I know that coyote is waiting for me.  He's probably really hungry this time of the year too.  And he's mad I got away the first time.  Angry, hungry coyote is waiting for me. 


Ok I think that's enough for my first blog.  Hope you all enjoyed your first installment of "life in the tash lane".