Earth Day Celebration Picture Collection

100 of my favourite pictures of the au naturel places on earth that I've been lucky enough to see:

Arizona

                                                    

Banff

       

Collingwood

Costa Rica

 

Cyprus

 England

 

                                 

France

 Hilton Head Island

Ontario

    

NYC

New Hampshire

 In the clouds

 Niagara Falls

 

North Carolina

                                  

Grand River

 Huntsville

Websters Falls

Ottawa Valley

Poconos 

 Portugal

 Scotland

Venuzuela

 Vermont

New Zealand

St George, Utah

 Zion

So those are some of my favourite places.  What are yours?  Bet you can't name just one either!

HAPPY EARTH DAY

xoxo Mel

100 days

Well I got 82 runs done in 100 days.
It was a good way for me to building my running base back up.  The little goal helped keep me pretty focused and was a good motivator.
It obviously was challenging, since I fell short of 100 runs, but that's life, literally!!
Towards the end of the 100 days, the goal also helped reiterate an old saying "quality over quantity".
It's time to take the base I've built and add some quality!
Happy training!!

Olympic Trials

The other weekend I felt like a jet-setter, flying into Montreal with my oldest daughter Cadence, to watch Saturday night swimming finals at the Olympic Trials.  Because I wasn't able to take any time off work, flying there for the weekend was my only option and thanks to a flight credit from when my last flight home from Montreal was cancelled it was a more affordable option too.  Ever since a little buzz about Olympic Trials started at our swim club I thought about how fun it would be to watch some of the fastest swimming in our country and to be at an event that happens only every 4 years.
This may be as close to Olympic Trials I'll ever be, from a swimmers standpoint, but I can't help but think (hope?) that one day I might be there watching Cadence swimming... Could being this close to the action be the little inspiration to make Cadence want to be there herself/to get her really motivated?...
Once I decided we were going on this little mother-daughter bonding weekend, I asked Lisa if she wanted to go too with her daughter Sarah.  Sarah and Cadence are friends from swimming.  And Lisa and I have become friends as well.  Lisa was in fact Cadence's first coach and also who I trained under to be a coach last year. And they wanted to go for a little get-away too and we decided to share a hotel.   We had a plan for a fun filled, fast-swimming watching girls weekend.
Lisa in fact signed up to officiate at the meet and got a nice "officials" shirt souvenir out of it.  She was in the ready room where athletes do their final prep before racing, that would be pretty neat, but I was happy to take in the swimming live (they had the races on the TV in the room too and we occasionally saw Lisa peak her head out on deck).

First, I must mention the facility!  We could really benefit from something like this close to home, multi-pools, large seating area, deck space, oh my!  Making the comparison to our 6 lane, no scoreboard facility very sad!...I won't get into my feelings that Hamilton dropped the ball on getting some better facilities in conjunction with the PanAM games in 2015, but this solidified them!....  But the most striking part of the Montreal set-up was the "bus" to London that all those qualifying for the Olympic team signed, I thought it was an excellent idea!


We saw Joanne Malar, a multi-Olympian swimmer from Hamilton getting ready to do the tv broadcasting.  Cadence, Sarah, Rachael and I went down closer to the broadcast area.  She recognized us, my sister and her are the same age, and were good friends during their youthful days of swimming.  Joanne commented to her broadcast partner that Cadence was the "niece of her best friend from her youth".  She also said how much Cadence looked like the Price sisters and that seeing Cadence "brought her back to when she was 12 years old"  After the broadcast, she asked the girls to be in a picture with her... it was pretty cool for Cadence.

Next there was a parade of the 1980 boycotted Olympic team members.  Can you imagine what that would have been like to qualify and then have the games boycotted?  It was nice to honour them.

The singing of O'Canada, one of my favorite parts of big sporting events.  I sing!  I'm proud!

First event Men's 100 Fly.  One word: beautiful!  When it's done at this level by these guys it looks so incredible, maybe the fact that I think fly is a tough stroke makes it even more impressive to me.  Joe Bartoch, the Canadian record holder wins (in 53.01), and gets his spot on the Olympic team.  Interestingly Joe is from London, Ontario and at Cadence's Regional meet there last February, he was present for a few medal ceremonies, including giving Cadence one of her medals.



Next Women's 100 Free.  This and 800 Free were ones Cadence was looking forward to, being "her events".  Julia Wilkinson presents herself so well out of the water and although she had already made the Olympic team I was still happy she won (in 54.73).  But I was also hoping for Heather MacLean to make the team.  Heather's younger sister Brittany had already done so earlier in the week, thinking of my sister again after Joanne's comments about our young swimming days, I felt sentimentally hopeful for the family... but she came 3rd, not able to qualify for the individual event, so we waited and then the judge held up 4 fingers, indicating the relay team qualified, the top 4 (including Heather) were going to the Olympics!

Men's 200 Back was next, Tobias Oriwol won in 1:58.79 and is on the bus to London.  I might add he is nice on the eyes too.

Next was the event I was really looking forward to: 200 Breast, because it is one of my favorite events to do.  It hurts but I'm reasonable successful at breaststoke (for my level).  But at Olympic Trials it also became one of my favorite events to watch as well.  It's the best stroke to cheer for/be cheered for in, matching cheers with breaths... Martha McCabe had the early lead and was still leading at the 150 mark... but with 25m left Tera Van Beilen (who happens to be from a local club OAK) starts enclosing on Martha and then passes her to finish 1st in a time of 2:24.03.  Martha 2nd, swam fast enough to make the Olympic standard time and hence the Olympic team.  In fact top 4 girls had the qualifying time, but only the top 2 go.  Pretty incredible; in many other events the 2nd place swimmer doesn't make the team because they don't make the time standard, but in this race 4 made the time, that's some fast swimming!!  In fact they announced that Tera and Martha had just swum the 2nd and 3rd fastest times in the world this year.  All my jumping and screaming, that made all the difference I think (lol)

Last but not least - Women's 800 free.  Adding to the excitement in the race was Bridget Coley, from Hamilton Aquatic Club (our club) swimming in lane 6 (seated 5th)  This was an exciting race too, Bridget was swapping places with 5th and 6th for the 1st half.  Then she started to pull away from 6th and had a solid hold on 5th, but that wasn't all, she was catching 4th and that's where she finished in 4th place, in a new HAC record of 8:43.47.  Savannah King was 1st in 8:30.79 and Alexa Komarnycky also made the Olympic team.  This race, sitting by Bridget's parents in the stands, who seemed quite calm, made me realize what a mess I'd be if Cadence is ever at this level.  I honestly don't think I could handle it, I'd be going crazy! (but since the road to crazy is short for me, I won't stop her for going for it if she chooses to)...

Girls4Sport

I was recently contacted by Girls4Sport, a company that sells UV protective bathing suits as part of an initiative to promote healthy, active lifestyles for women and girls.   Their suit designs are tailor-made to flatter the female form, while providing a full range of motion and comfort necessary for an active lifestyle.    They contacted me because they felt that with my passion for sport and our common desire to promote an active lifestyle, I embodied what Girls4Sport was all about, and they asked me to be an ambassador for the company.  

So I had a look and decided to try their Sports Tank Top with the Athletic Bottom and found it to be flattering and comfortable. 
The 1st time I put it on, I "modelled" it for my oldest daughter Cadence.  She said I looked very fit in it.  Getting compliments from a teenager daughter must mean something good!
 
The other week I gave it a try in the pool.  This was my 1st time wearing a 2 piece like this for training and I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  But it didn't disappoint..... (I found it very suitable for swimming, and I mean real training) 

I think this suit would be great over long distances due to the 2 piece design and the straps, which I think would reduce chaffing.  I look forward also to trying it in a triathlon this summer.
The colour and pattern are very nice and it is unique to any other suits I've had, which of course I like!

I will be looking into getting a suit for little Dahlia too.  They have some wonderful bright and colourful suits for kids too, which she will love and I will love knowing she has the extra sun protection!

I may also try the SupraDry pant as I think they will be perfect for coaching in.  I have already worn the swimsuit for coaching, I was in and out of the water and I didn't feel awkward standing on deck in this suit because it's not your typical looking swimsuit, I guess it feels more like a regular top...

I am happy to be an ambassador for Girls4Sport and to promote this company and a fit active lifestyle at the same time; so check them out at http://www.girls4sport.net/  If you want to purchase something from Girls4Sport, please contact me, I have a 10% discount code you can use.  
Happy swimming!  Mel


As an ambassador they do a little bio on me for their website too: http://www.girls4sport.net/Swimming-Melanie-Price-s/475.htm

P.S. They wanted a few pictures of me in the swimsuit, so I was fooling around in the rooftop pool in our hotel in Montreal on the other weekend, very comfortably I may add, in my pretty & functional swim suit:

Sending a cheer out to Olympic Trialists

My novice kids made up this video to send to the team's Olympic Trialists:



We are cheering for them!!

3rd time running in the Around the Bay (ATB) 30k road race

Yesterday I ran in my 3rd Around the Bay (ATB) 30k race.  Always an enjoyable race no matter how I do.
At that, I will give a little background on how I've done in this race:
2009 was my 1st time running it.  At the time it was the longest race I had done.  But I was in pretty good shape going into it, as I was getting ready for my first Ironman later that year.  The only down point to my physical conditioning was a toy dropped on my foot which as silly as it sounds was a bit painful, and had caused me to back off running a little before the race.  But maybe that run taper was the trick because 2009 still holds as my fastest 30k run at 2:38:39 (5:17/km pace)
The next year 2010, found me not nearly as in shape.  I took a long time to recover from Ironman and just didn't have the base, plus I had a foot injury, don't know exactly what it was, not a toy this time, but it hurt me going down the hills a heck of a lot.  It was last minute that I decided I would try to run it on my sore foot, and I plugged away to finish in a time of 2:53:51 (5:47/k pace).
2011 I didn't race because I was focusing on distance swimming...
So that brings us to this year.  It has been a long process of getting back to running after being off it for basically a year, but starting in January 2012 I was running regularly/daily.  But ATB is 30k and for whatever the reason my longest run since starting back was only 19k, so this would be a stretch.  I knew that when the hills started on this course my legs would already be feeling the distance run... Still I set my goal for this year to be in between my best and worst time (a 15 minute window to play with)
The day started a little overcast about 7C.  I hung on to Bill at the beginning until he took a potty break at 10k, I kept on but I missed my personal pace bunny and kept looking over my shoulder.  He eventually caught back-up and quickly started to pull away.  This is the biggest running race I've done in terms of # of people and I love that there are always lots of runners around you, so even without Bill near me, I wouldn't feel alone.
It warmed up and I was overheating a little by the end, the sun came out when I was on that last hill (which I power walked up)  And with legs screaming at me, I chugged along to finish in 2:43:49 (5:28/k pace); within my goal time range and happily closer to the best than the worst.
I was a little surprise to realize as I looked at results later that at 20k I was actually ahead of my 2009 split; so I sort of regret that I hadn't been more properly prepared with my mileage leading into the race as a PB may have been possible.  Not to mention that I dream of breaking 2:30 in this race one day and earning a "silver" medal.

As a perfect wrap up to a running race, we went out for lunch with a bunch of running friends, sat on the patio in the sun, and had a couple beers.

I am sore but I expected that and I am happy with my race.
I was chatting with Bill after and said that even though I started to hurt at around 21k, that having that past experience of the Lake crossing when finishing didn't seem possible, but somehow I managed to, stored in my memory bank, helped me to plug through some pulled muscles and keep running.
So every time you get through something tough (applies to more then just physical events) it will help you face the next challenge.  You don't ever know how far you can push, so just keep pushing!

World Water Day

It is World Water Day ~ take a moment to think about the importance of freshwater today. Let's not take this precious resource for granted anyday. Let's respect it and be cognizant of how our actions affect it everyday, so we can benefit and enjoy it for many days, years, generations to come.

A positive run along Lake O

After being sick at the end of February and feeling set back in my training, especially approaching the Around the Bay 30k running race coming up this Sunday, I had a very positive longer (relatively speaking) run on Saturday (St Paddy's Day).  It was an enjoyable 19k run at a respectable pace, that didn't kill me, which gave me back some confidence too.  The pace also confirms that my treadmill is not in sync, as this pace was more than a minute per km faster then what I've been doing on the treadmill and not physically any harder...  

Because of work hours and the kids I hadn't been able to get outside for training (this time of year, the schedule dictates me to indoor training) and hadn't been able to train in the incredible weather we have been having until last Saturday morning. Saturday wasn't quite as warm as some other days and it was a bit drizzly, but still enjoyable and comfortable with pants, a jacket and toque (the way it should be this time of year).  
Although this warm weather is nice, it does have me concerned regarding the environment...  

So I got out to run, went down to the path along the Red Hill Expressway and just ran.  I went across the walking bridge over the QEW and for the 1st time on this route, I kept going and connected up with the waterfront path and ran along by the water; with a great view of Lake Ontario.  I was filled with a wonderful feeling just from seeing the rough waters; even though it was overcast, I thought it was beautiful!  It also brought up some great memories, that added a little skip to my step.   And maybe that was what gave me the extra energy to negative split my run back?

P.S. Although training outside is sparse these days for me, Dahlia and I have been getting out to enjoy some fresh air a little more regularly.  She has been riding her bike and scooter.  And the other day after a few scooter trips up and down the street, she said to me, "time for a drink break because I'm running out of steam"  Just made me chuckle, she is so cute!

Swimming robots

the robots "swim" without fuel, gather data and
set a world distance record in the process

This story is just kind of neat: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17367984
Maybe I like it because they are "distance swimming" robots or that they are gathering data about the quality of ocean water; research I hope can be used to help with the conservation of our waters.  Add to that, the robots are not powered by fuel as you might expect but "swim" by converting energy from the ocean's waves (how do they do that? I'd like to know, it sure could be useful for distance swimming humans ☺) and they use solar panels to power the data gathering sensors.


Seems like an all around good news record breaking story worth sharing:

Swimming robots break world distance record in Pacific

Four robots have set a new distance world record, swimming more than 3,200 nautical miles (5,926km) across the Pacific Ocean.Continue reading the main story

The drones are taking part in a project to gather data about the composition and quality of sea water.

Built by US-firm Liquid Robotics, the PacX Wave Gliders are expected to cover 9,000 nautical miles (16,668km) by their journey's end.

The first leg of their voyage from San Francisco to Hawaii took four months.

The robots are designed to reach previously inaccessible areas of the ocean and gather data on how acidic the water has become and the shrinking size of fish stocks.

The previous Guinness World Record for the longest distance covered at sea by an unmanned device was 2,500 nautical miles (4,630km).

"I have no doubt new ocean discoveries, insights, and applications will emerge from the PacX data set," said Edward Lu, chief of innovative applications at Liquid Robotics.

No fuel

The gliders were launched from the St Francis Yacht Club at San Francisco harbour on 17 November 2011.

Each robot is composed of two halves: the upper part, shaped like a stunted surfboard, is attached by a cable to a lower part that sports a series of fins and a keel.

To move they do not use fuel but instead convert energy from the ocean's waves, turning it into forward thrust.

Solar panels installed on the upper surface of the gliders power numerous sensors that take readings every 10 minutes to sample salinity, water temperature, weather, fluorescence, and dissolved oxygen.

After a short stopover in Hawaii, the quartet will split.

Two drones will continue to Japan, crossing the Mariana Trench en-route - the deepest place on Earth.

The second pair will swim to Australia, passing the equator.

Researchers expect both "teams" to reach their destinations by late 2012 or early 2013.

"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

I have long been a big fan of Dr. Seuss!
In an earlier blog about my favourite motivational quotes http://melaniepriceadventures.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-of-my-favorite-quotes.html I included a quote from probably my favourite Seuss book The Places You'll Go: "Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting.  So... get on your way"  I like(d) to read this book to my kids and I add in their own names at the end, "whether your name is... Cadence or Dahlia... kid you'll move mountains"


What a gift Dr Seuss had to write such catchy stories with such good simplified morales in them.


The Lorax by Dr Seuss illustrates the plight of the environment.  It was published before I was born; incredible foresight to write a kids story, that is so applicable to this day and age!  The message is a good one, that we decided to take Dahlia to see the adaptation on the big screen (her 1st time at the movie theatre) And since my blog has some ties to environmental concerns I thought I'd do this little blog too.

Over 10 years ago I painted a page from The Lorax on the playroom wall

Dahlia sat captivated by the bigness and the volume of the big screen.  There was lots of lively music which she bopped to!  In the movie, since there are no trees, the city's big-wig sells 'air' to make a fortune; I wasn't quite sure Dahlia would get the concept, but afterwards she said it was sad when the animals had to leave because they couldn't live there anymore... so it wasn't completely over her head. 


If you haven't before, read this book or watch the movie adaptation and share the story with your kids, because "UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not!"


Thanks Dr Seuss!

when you burn the candle at both ends eventually you'll get burnt

The fact that I have been trying to write this post for over a week could be considered proof of what I am about to say: I'm a busy gal!

Canadian Wildlife

I'm very humbled to be called a local hero by Canadian Wildlife Federation!

You can see the article in the magazine or read it here: http://www.cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/magazines/canadian-wildlife/ma2012/local-hero.html

And I'm genuinely happy to have been able to raise some funds for Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and thankful to everyone who supported me and/or made donations.

Keep caring for our planet!

P.S. It was kind of funny that the weather wouldn't cooperate for us to get a picture outside... but that's mother nature! :)
xoxo Melanie