Frustration

I was sitting in my American politics class today when two representatives from NO 2010, came in to our class to talk about protesting against the Olympic games and supporting government involvement in support other social policies such as affordable housing and free speech.

Now let me get this out of the way, I am a huge supporter of the Chart of Rights and Freedoms, and would defend it to the grave, but what these guys were arguing is bull*#@&!!

First of all, they argued that VANOC and the City of Vancouver have free speech zones and are imposing on the right of freedom of speech. As unconstitutional as this may same, it is constitutional. We have "freedom of expression" in Canada first off, not freedom of speech, and these protesters are still being allowed that right along with their right to protest, however none of this is being imposed on by the government. Just moderately maintained. For example, how would you feel if you were a bi-athlete from Germany, just spent 8 years of your life devoted to qualifying for the Olympics to have you event overrun by protesters (guys jumping in the pools in Athens in 2004, along with a excommunicate priest from Ireland nearly tackling the lead male marathon runner at the same games), or being potentially harassed or injured by this protest groups, which have not shown that they can protest peacefully. Such cases were protesters entering into the finance minsters office and vandalizing it, protesters cursing at the Governor-General greeting her as "your royal F*#&in' highness." I can see why the RCMP and the Canadian Armed forces are concerned about the security at the Olympics.

Secondly, they argued that the torch relay is costing tax payers over 150 million dollars to run. This is true, it is costing us that... for a once and a life time experience. What people don't realize in a country where being completely united is a huge issue, where it is easier to fly to Europe then it is to fly 3 provinces over, a simple thing as a torch representing pride and achievement is very symbolic to every Canadian and can unite us under that common vision. That we can be proud of our country, its athletes, its representatives who make this such an amazing place to live. Its not about the money, hell I would have chipped in a couple hundred bucks had they asked. Its about National unity.

Thirdly, they argued about corporate sponsorships and government tax payer money going into the games. Well I don't know the exact numbers, but think about how much these corporate sponsors are pitching in to promote and support the games. Without them, we as tax payers, would be left with ALL the burden. It seems like whenever a group is opposed to how the government spends the money that we so graciously hand over in income taxes, protest groups always go to the "spending tax payers money" because its easy. Personally, I think when the government uses the money for something illegal or stupid (examples: buying illegal drugs, inside deals which involve conflicts of interest or frivolous spending) then we can argue, but when a government spends 300 million dollars on a torch relay, to send a symbol across our nation to promote our unity in pride because Vancouver will be hosting the world, again its not about the money, its about national unity. Governments provide us with numerous social programs (I would argue they could provide more and inject more money into existing ones) but we live in a pretty incredible society.

The Olympics are supposed to be an event free of politics, war, and oppression. Its a celebration of sport and pride. I would argue the 99% of the people who will be in Vancouver during the Olympics will have no run-ins with law enforcement, like most people do every day. Its that 1% who decide that "their rights" are being infringed upon who create the problems. As previously stated, I am a firm believer in the Charter and everything it stands for, but I cant stand for people arguing that their charter rights are being infringed upon because the government had told them where to protest and God forbid requested that they behave appropriately for a single month in their lives. The 2008 Olympic games in China were different. China's human rights and environmental record are no where near that of Canada and they enforced these rules but its because who wants to have the world watching and see chaos with protesters. The way I see it, its like being a really great party, everybody is having a blast, and one or two people decide that they don't like how things are going or the music being played and have to protest and screw it up for everyone else. If your unhappy about the Olympics, then protest that. Don't show up and protest the environment, or low income housing, or a money spent on a torch relay and screw up the games for every one else. These issues are being addressed, they are extremely difficult issues to tackle. Poverty is another issue that governments (believe it or not) are trying to tackle. Since I have been volunteering at a downtown Victoria organization, I know this first hand.

People, lets be united and welcome to world to Vancouver in February regardless of what may be politically brewing. Show our athletes some support, who for the most part live in poverty while training to become representatives of our great nation. As for those who protest, be thankful you live in Canada and were given that right to protest, some nations aren't as lucky as we are.

Royal Victoria Marathon

So this past weekend was the Royal Victoria Marathon. As most people know, I coach the marathon clinic at Peninsula runners. I also have a few high performance girls I work with as well. Here's the results for those athletes that were racing at RVM:

Erica Summers: 3hrs 12mins 20s (half way split in 1:36:41, yes she negative split the marathon). She also dropped her previous personal best from 3:17 to this new pb. She's Boston bound in April.

Lindsay Cristante: 3hrs 39mins 49s (This newly wed who just missed the Boston qualifying time in May at the Vancouver marathon was out on a mission and squeaked a qualifying time, She's Boston bound as well)

Lindsay Delayen: 3hrs 19mins 16s (this eager 21yr old amazed me this summer. She had never ran a half marathon when she approached me about the marathon clinic. A few weeks into the trianing, injury struck but she stuck with it and ran a balls out race to also BQ. She's Boston bound as well)

Crystal Bergeron: 4hrs 33mins 30s (She dropped 18 minutes off her previous personal best. enough said, she's badass)

Kristy Wilson: 4hrs 39mins 16s (A first timer at the distance, she has a lot of potential to run fast, I mean really fast)

Chad Sergeant: 3hrs 24mins 54s (Big personal best for Chad, as he shattered the 3:30 barrier. He's only getting faster)

Ed Pratt: 3hrs 27mins 3s (he came down with a nasty cold a few weeks before the race which definitely took some minutes off him race day. But Ed is steady and is a definite sub 3:20 marathoner soon... very soon)

Jeff Aitken: 3hrs 19mins 43s (Jeff, to my understanding is first timer to the marathon. Well he definitely showed the marathon who's boss. Jeff Aitken, thats who.)

Joel Palmer: 3hrs 37mins 36s (This was my first time working with Joel. Lots of potential. He hopes to qualify for Boston in the near future. Book your ticket Joel, your going soon)

Mark Upward: 4hrs 28mins 26s (I never got a chance to talk to Mark, but his first marathon attempt is pretty impressive.)

Peter Demeo: 5hrs 15mins 20s (I didn't get a chance to talk to Peter either. Good preformance on his part!)

Freya Zaltz: 1hr 42mins 41s (I've been working with Freya for a few months now under the PT Performance Training banner. She's improving a lot and it set to run the Las Vegas Rock n' Roll Marathon in December)

Darren Lockyer: 1hr 38mins 53s (Darren ran into some IT band issues early in the marathon clinic and was forced to drop down to the half. Still with an impressive half time he's only going to improve)

Janelle Smith: Last but not least Janelle is my lone half marathoner I train at Peninsula Runners. She scored a 1hr 31mins 22s half. She was also at work til 1am the night before. H-core.

Congrats to all my marathoners and halfers. They all accomplished something most people either find stupid or insane. Well done kids.

What's next?

So its been a while since I last posted.

Lots has been going on in my end and I honestly haven't had enough time to post a blog report. Its been a very interesting couple of months and many changes have happened since Stormy in my running, school and personal life. Here's how it is...

Running:
Non existent. Since Stormy I have probably ran 5 or 6 times. Both my knees were banged up after the race from some pretty tight quads. I got a pair of orthotics from Bruce Turcotte and that has made a world of difference. His orthotics are different from most. He doesn't do an arch cast of your feet rather he looks at the wear of your shoes and such to determine how to balance your feet. He makes his running, walking, and biking orthotics custom to each sport. My feet now balanced I have a huge increase in power when I run... key word: when I run.

I put my name in the Western States 100 mile endurance run. As of last night (October 6th) almost 1300 had put there names in to the lottery that will accept around 300 people for the late June Boston-Marathon-of-Ultras event in Northern California. I'm also gonna put my name down for another. Most likely Angeles Crest 100 in California in early September of 2010. I haven't really looked at races for next year but I hope to do more races than this year.

School:
Please end this madness. Its tough being a student. I have really fallen off the "I love school because I dont have to work" bandwagon. I dropped a course because I simply want less school work and more time to enjoy life.

Life:
Well a lot has changed. As most people know, I was applying to become a Police officer with Victoria Police. However, that has been put on the back burner for now. As school nears the end I'm looking at possible career/job options and I'm a little lost as what to do now. Professional ultra runner has no salary, and my enormous amount of student loan debt needs to start getting paid off. But I would like to call these new beginnings. I have limitless options with pretty much every aspect to my life right now, which is awesome. I want to get training again, re-energize with school, and refocus my attention on whats needs to be done, rather than what I want to be done.

So if you have any race suggestions, let me know...