My First Relay Marathon!

I have never been involved in team sports. Not in my childhood or highschool years. My participation in a university intramural dodgeball team could be described as "persistent" at best, since I was usually the first one hit. But last December, when I saw that the Toronto Goodlife Marathon had a relay team option and I knew I wanted to do it.

But I am only one person. And I actually don't know have any friends (in Canada) who like to run. So I asked friends if they knew of any runners. And reached out to these runners. Some ways of reaching out were a bit 'creepier' than others. But in about a month, we had enough people for a team! I was so excited! XD

After some people bailing out, finding new recruits, finally meeting the whole team, naming ourselves the Hot Potatoes, meeting up for group runs, motivating each other throughout training, lots of spamming to coordinate race day details and some unexpected delays during race day... 

Team Hot Potatoes finished 13 out of 69 relay teams!!! We ran a full marathon in 3:38:11!!

Not bad for a first time as a relay team, and it being two of our teammates' first running races!!

My Happiness Journal- January

Gretchen Rubin used "Vitality" as January's theme for her happiness project. She wanted to start her year off with more physical and mental energy, which sounds like a logical idea to me! Her first chapter touched on how she went about doing that with these action items:

• Go to sleep earlier
• Exercise better
• Toss, restore, organize
• Tackle a nagging task
• Act more energetic

So... What did I do this month after reading January of the Happiness Project? Watch out, this is a LONG post!