hi, i’m jenn

i kinda went dark for 10 days there, eh? Not if you follow me on twitter, though.:)

Chile is an incredible place. Played on snow covered volcanoes, ran down gigantic sand dunes, and tasted some of the best wine I’ve ever had. And that’s barely scratching the surface.
Over the next few days I’ll be uploading photos (hopefully flickr will figure things out and give me my pro account back so you can see them all). I also plan to write a few posts about the specifics our adventures in Chile — especially since I didn’t find it all that easy to find information for planning the trip online.

Also, I am marching in one of my best friend’s weddings this weekend. Hope my dress still fits (let’s just say that lomo a la pobre is delicious).

Hello from chile. I have been at the Santiago airport for 7 hours now and our flight isn’t until 7. Hurray for travel days. An iPod touch and free wifi have made the wait more tolerable and ruthie and I have plenty to talk about.
I find Spanish very confusing - like French in a dream. I know jamon is ham so I don’t order that.
We had to pay 132 for an entry visa. Americans are charged 131. I wonder why the difference? Oh well.
There were a lot of dogs at baggage claim I would think to check our bags for drugs. In reality they were chasing each other around and sniffing each others bums. Awesome.
We are heading to pucon tonight and hopefully climbing the nearby volcano tomorrow. So a lot more active than pacing the airport terminal!! Can’t wait.

I was my own flash mob on the 4th ring.

Also, think twice before you search for “White hot” on YouTube. Especially at work.

Edit: I can’t get the video to embed correctly, so here’s the link

A few months ago, my friend Elaine sent an email out with an invite she had received to the White Hot Gala for the National Ballet. As young folks in the city, we were offered tickets for about $30 to the event. We were also told that there would be the opportunity to do our own [secret] performance… And you know how I love to perform.

There were  [apparently] 2 classes in May to learn the dance. We managed to miss them both. But yesterday the reminder email had a link to a video of the dance — so I practiced in front of my 12″ powerbook until I thought I knew the number passibly well. I had butterflies in the cab on the way to the performing arts centre (I would have taken the subway but that extra run through meant I was running late - kept getting stuck the “hard part”).

Arriving at the Performance Centre was a little intimidating — I was surrounded by women in dresses (both cocktail and full-length gowns) and men in tuxes. When they said it was a Gala, they weren’t kidding! Whoops. I was seriously under dressed (but not in jeans. phew). There was a drumming crew outside welcoming us in, and then we climbed up to the tippy top (Ring 5 baby!) to take our seats.

The performance was wonderful - six different numbers (5  pas de deux, one solo) that were all quite different and beautiful. I think back to my days sitting through dance competitions — there was nothing more painful than watching bad ballet. But this was just a pleasure. And at just about an hour, it was great for my Thursday evening shortened attention span. Not to mention, even from the very top you can see how defined the ballerinas’ bodies are. Amazing.

Then the real fun began - there was food and drink to be enjoyed by all. Yes, an open bar - with Grey Goose Vodka martinis! So I was loosened up just in time to hear “History Repeating” — our cue that our dance was coming up next. Elaine provided great moral support while I danced my heart out (since no one was dancing around me). Since we were near the top (Ring 4) at that point, we could see people below us dancing as well which was useful when I forgot that the “shopping cart” was the next step. And then it was over. I was relieved and happy.

We spent the next few hours enjoying the food and drink. I might have behaved like a starving college kid when I thought they were taking away the food and double fisted on the Spring Rolls, but I blame the post performance high for making me ravenous (yes, that is just a scape goat).

We ran into friends of Elaine’s, and the four of us danced until the DJ announced that it was the last song. And then we cheered for “one more song”, which we didn’t get. Sigh.

I can’t wait for the chance to dance at the Ballet again!

I’ve been sending a lot of emails to book various things in Chile. I’ve noticed some weirdness. The first time I sent out emials, it was to four different places in the same city (Pucon). I sent all of the emails at about 10:30PM (FYI Chile is in the same timezone). I heard back from three of them between 11:59AM and 12:10PM the next day.

And the pattern has continued — I’ll get 4 email replies from 4 different people/places in Chile within 10-15 minutes. One day I received 3, and my travel partner also received 1 in the same 5 minute window. So strange.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that the internet in Chile is funky. Either all outgoing mail is delivered once a day at the same time, or maybe there’s one guy/gal who replies to all the emails him/herself.

I’ll let you know what I discover.

Genki is a Japanese word that doesn’t really have an English equivalent. Loosely translated it means energetic or enthusiastic. When I lived in Japan people would always tell me that I was genki. So while I thought I should give my Garmin a Vegas based name since that’s where I adopted it from (okay, it really came from Amazon, but I ordered it *to* Vegas) once Genki got in my head, it stuck. After all, it’s Genki’s job to help keep me energetic when I run, right??

Now, I don’t intend to blog every run, but I thought I’d give some non-runners a look at what Genki can do — here’s my run from this AM. And if I would have gotten lost, there’s a button that says “take me to the start” so that I don’t need to call someone to pick me up at the side of the road anymore (besides when you’re lost, it’s tough to tell someone where to pick you up).

I did not want to run today since my legs have been uber sore since my ultimate game on Thursday night. I know it’s a different kind of running than my legs are used to, but you’d think by Sunday my lateral quads wouldn’t be burning so much. Go figure.

And now I have 2 bridal showers. I’m a bridesmaid for both of the weddings, and they’re at the same time. I definitely have earned at least one cupcake.

No, not that kind of white dress. But the dress I bought to take along to Vegas.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter might remember some tweets about a lost (and then found) bracelet of mine that I left at a store I had stopped at the night before to try [and then buy] a cute dress from the window to wear during the day in Vegas. This is the dress:

I wore it on our second day of the trip. After we finished brunch (at Bouchon - yum) we were walking out of the Venitian and N pointed to a girl on the other side of the lobby and said “Isn’t she wearing your dress?”And she was! I suggested to N that he shoud take a picture of me and her, and he refused. But I was amused.Over the next few days, we saw at least 4 other people in that dress (or one very similar). Less than amused.So in case any you end up buying it, I want you to know I had it first. Thanks!

Took the red eye home from Vegas last night, so it’s back to the real world for me.

I did love listening to 680 news (3, 4, 5 times a day!) on our drive from the airport downtown and hearing the lead story - a BEAR in a tree. If they didn’t repeat it every 5 minutes, I might have thought my 4 hours of sleep self made it up. Gotta love Canada.

In any case, I will post some pictures once I have a chance to upload them. In the meantime, the official race pictures from Ottawa came out. Did I mention I tried to smile for the cameras when I saw them? Well, it worked, and here’s the best one of them:

The rest are here if you’re curious/bored. Funny the one that’s missing is of me with my medal actually posing. Oh well. Mental note that next time I should smile AND suck in!

Rant: Why are the pictures so freaking expensive? I totally want to order this one and digital prints cost $40+! I appreciate the need to cover costs, but  maybe if the pricing was more accessible then enough people would pay so they wouldn’t need to charge $40 per photo! Grumble.

1 = the number of antibiotics I have left to take
2 = the number of days until my Garmin 305 is delivered to the hotel
3 = the number of sleeps until VEGAS!
Life is happy.

I’m writing this on Sunday at 4 in the hotel room where we don’t have internet (and for some reason we’re unable to purchase it even when we try). I’m taking the hint and staying off-line, but thought I would document the day for your, and my, entertainment. Especially after all the build up this week.

Also worth noting - this is my first attempt at writing a race report. It came out pretty long (probably because there’s no Twitter/Facebook to distract me). So if you tune out before the end I will totally understand.

Lisa and I arrived in Ottawa yesterday at about 1. We checked into our hotel, which was less than 5 minutes from the start line and about the same from the finish. They told us they were oversold for the night, so we were delighted to get exactly the room we had ordered (and only about a month ago — even though there was a waiting list for the hotel we found a room on Expedia).

We made the 7 minute walk to City hall and hopped on a shuttle to the expo. Picked up our race kits (side note: they only had S and M shirts left because they let you ask for whatever size you wanted. The shirts were cut small [and are also thin and white = see thru and unforgiving] and even I took an M [I had put down a small] so I’m sure there were a ton of people who ended up with shirts that didn’t fit. Sucks).

Got all sorts of goodness. The official Ottawa race merch wasn’t my style - I really wanted socks as a souvenir, but was not going to shell out big bucks for a soso top. Instead I indulged in other booths. I picked up pink running socks that say “b*tch” around the top (without the asterisk) (it was either that or High Maintenance - which is probably more true, but harder to read), some bras (I LOVE moving comfort — and they even gave me a lingerie bag which I think I was the most excited about), and a visor that says Run Girl Run. AND two stickers that have the funniest slogans:

Some girls chase boys, I pass them!

If I was a running blog this could have made for a good giveaway item… Hmm… And Lisa picked up some funny ones too:

Will run for wine!  Will run for beer! Will run for Chocolate!I also tried on the Garmin 405 so now I’ve tried both that and the 305 on which I wanted to do before ordering one…Anyway, after indulging myself, we headed back to the hotel on foot. We grabbed a bite to eat at the same pub Lisa lunched at last year, and then walked along as the 5km runners were racing. The end of their course was the same as the end of ours so that was useful. In particular, saw how during the last kilometre there’s an overpass that looks like it would mark the finish - but is actually still about 100m away. Helped knowing that ahead of time! We also picked up a bottle of wine when we passed the liquor store. I loved having my race bag on my back with the top of the bottle sticking out! Hehe. (We have yet to open it)

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. Headed out to an earlyish dinner and walked along the street. Lisa got a mint aero bar that she declared would be her post run treat. We saw the cutest cupcake at a bakery. I decided that would be my post run treat - I asked the baker who reassured me there would be fresh ones in the morning, so decided would pick one up after brunch. Had some quality time with my “The Stick” that N gave me as a congrats/good luck gift. We were in bed by 10:30.

I had vivid dreams all night about having forgotten stuff for the race. Three times pretty much the same dream with different items. I kept waking up and being like “Jenn, you’re in your hotel room and your [sports bra/ipod/water belt] is here too! Now go back to sleep”. Made it until about 7:15 and then decided getting out of bed would be a good idea. Had a few egg muffins (oatmeal and egg whites - breakfast of champions!) and got dressed and ready.

Was super hyper leading up to the race. Joan and her Jen met Lisa and I in our room, and we headed to the start line (5 minutes away). I couldn’t make it up to my corral, so started further back. More people to pass, I figured. And then the race began. 5 minutes later we started to move, and 5 minutes after that we crossed the start line! I took off, leaving Joan, Lisa and Jen, and started running. All the crowds were super smiley and I really had fun for the first bit - I love when kids want to give you high fives. A few times I got “left hanging” but I didn’t take it personally. Going into Gatenau was cool. Loved the French cheers of Bravo!

I didn’t love the heat. It was really sunny, and there wasn’t much shade. At the first water station I watched a woman dump a cup of water in her hat, and told her she was very smart. I then did the same thing at every other rest stop. I also loved the sprinkle stations set up. It was so hot! There were no sponges when I ran through those stations (unless you count all the colourful foam underfoot!) which was a bit disappointing. Not that I needed the sponge that badly — I was just really excited about them because I hadn’t ever had a sponge station before! Something to look forward to I guess.
I kept pacing next to different people. First I followed a woman with a Jiggle Bum (is that mean? Yeah, it is. But it’s not like I know her name or bib number). When I lost her, I paced after a woman with blue stuff in her water belt. I stayed on her for the middle 10km I figure. But at around 16km it started getting tough. I was using my sleeve more frequently as a kleenex, and felt the need to take walk breaks. I had decided I wasn’t going to kill myself, so tried to find a good balance between pushing myself, but not pushing too hard. I was annoyed that I needed to walk inside the last 3km, but I kept going which is what matters. My calves started to seize up around 750m to go and are still cranky. Ow.

Crossed the finish line at about 2:24 gun time, and don’t know my chip time yet. I figure it’s about 10 minutes faster than that. Got my silver blanket.

Oh yeah, want to know how to confuse your pace entirely? Switch from km to miles. Yes, my ipod decided to speak Miles this morning (have no idea why). I couldn’t believe how long the first kilometer seemed - and then all of a sudden it was all “One mile completed”. Um, what? It’s never done that before - I never even thought to check the settings! So I had no idea how fast I was going. Which made it easier for me to take it easy. And again, I forgot to end my workout when I crossed the finish - shiny medals are distracting! But when I turned it off about 10 minutes later I still hadn’t hit 13.1 on the ipod. Maybe I need to re-calibrate? Or maybe I just need a Garmin. Whatever the solution, it was still great to hear Paula telling me I had completed my longest workout yet.

Made my way quickly through the finisher area, chatting on my phone to N and mom while looking for the exit gate. Went to meet up with Other Lisa, who was also there with her fiancee, and said a quick hi. Then I went to our meeting place and waited. For an hour. I had fun chatting with people. A 65 year old marathon runner from Baltimore (he looked so young!) and a woman who had just finished her first half and was waiting for her family (she didn’t know how to text, so I texted her husband to let him know where she was). Then my phone rang and it was Lisa calling from the hotel. They didn’t see me and had left — boo. She offered to come grab me because she knew I wouldn’t find the hotel (Yes, I did tell you that the hotel was 5 min away, but my sense of direction is actually *that* bad).

At the hotel hung out for a few minutes with Joan and Jen’s families. Cute kids. I think I won the “Who loves Hello Kitty the most” battle. Wooh!

After showering and getting ready (read: popping blisters) Lisa and I headed to the pub down the street for brunch. Then went to pick up some Epsom salts (and Traumeel too!) AND my cupcake - but they were SOLD OUT! Bah! I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Which is okay - lots of indulging to come at dinner tonight and in VEGAS on Friday!

And now I’m fresh out of my Epsom salt bath, with calves that are coated in cream. I have my medal around my neck and I am happy! Which is a great way to end this report. Can’t wait to write the next one!