One month AFTER

One month AFTER

I miss this. I miss you all. Today, it's been a month since the race day. It feels like it was ages ago. It took me 2 weeks to recover from the race, beating the cold and replenishing my whole system... Now I am obsessed with the next thing. Another one? Absolutely.

I was thinking about writing this entry then I received the letter from Rover Rescue last night, then I was sure to write this.

It has been a busy month. I had lots to catch up with. I am so happy to be able to spend more time with friends and family. I think Vodka and Lilo are the only ones that are missing my training schedule. They got lazy and bored. We started rollerblading together but in Vancouver it's hard to predict the weather...I have been doing some other activities like rollerblading, snowshoeing and last weekend we had some spring snowboarding as well. But I am working on a new training schedule, let's see what happens...

I actually have so much to say since the last time. There is still too much misery, injustice and violence happening around us. Yesterday was the anniversary of the BP oil disaster... How can we forget the past so easily? Did we change to be better? The wars are still out there, brothers killing each other, Japan is still trying to heal his wounds while some people in the world talk about a royal wedding... I read that there were more than 10,000 people died in Libya. Where do we draw the line for humanity? A 6 year old in Houston Texas brought a gun to his elementary school and injured 3 kids. I remember learning how to write and read when I was 6 in Turkey.  What do we leave to the next generation? What lessons are we teaching them? We all have a special responsibility: to protect common interests of humanity by any means. The future is too important to be lost under the burden of our mistakes and personal desires. But this is not defeat, I always believe in overcoming difficult times and I know hope begins in the dark  and we will not give up.
"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." - Gandhi

Don't forget to expand your circle of compassion to all living things. Believe in animal rights and give them the gift of the gentle stroke of a human hand. Here is Vodka and Lilo, they're my family...

Now go out there, it's a beautiful sunny day. Take a huge breath and open your heart. Forgive, laugh and hug.

Lots of love to you all and take care. xo

The day AFTER

The day after
Sleep, eat, take painkillers. Repeat.

Wow, it's 5.30pm and I am finally awake   enough to write.
Yesterday, I thought I will be able to go work today but I woke up so stiff and so dozy, decided to take the day off to catch up on some sleep and try to recover a little. I am good standing up, or laying down or sitting down. The transitions between those 3, not so much... Even my writs hurt! I took some muscle relaxants and I slept until 2pm :)

This was an amazing experience. I was slower than I thought I would be, but who ever said that this is a downhill race, definitely started from the finish line to the start. It was 24 miles uphill and last 2 miles downhill with windstorm. It rained for the whole 4hr49min. I brought over the Vancouver weather to LA and added some big drops with windstorm. They even closed the airport last night due to rain and we sat down in the plane for 40 min. It was that bad. But I decided to make the best out of this, I wanted to have fun. You never have a chance to enjoy "your first" of something ever again once its gone. I wanted to remember my first marathon as a fun event not a painful one. I smiled the whole time, didn't stop and gave up. I felt stronger than my training runs. There were a lot of people cheering despite the rain and I got a lot of "go Bubbles go!" from them. I gave high fives to everyone who were raising their hands, waived at every photographer. I got a mail from Rover Rescue this morning: "Our thoughts and prayers were with all of the brave runners who faced the rain and cold and winds! It was so great to meet you on Saturday and to see you on the course on Sunday. You looked great! You looked happy and smiling even in the face of that awful rain!!"
I received my t-shirt last night, a little late for the race but it wouldn't do any good in the rain anyway.  I am really proud about what we achieved all together. LA marathon raised around 2 million dollars for charity this year. 
We had a moment of silence before the race for all those in Japan and there were around 100 runners who were from Japan, running for the victims. And another amazing thing I saw during the race: Students run LA. There were around 100 kids ages between 12-16 running the marathon with their teachers. What an amazing thing to teach teenagers of America... Teaching them determination, discipline and solidarity. They were running together with their buddies. Staying together, not quitting. It's a hard thing to teach a teenager... I respect all those teachers who initiated this movement. Great work.

Anybody who are "thinking" running a marathon once in their lifetime: There is never a good time for it. You shouldn't delay it. Life happens, you need to do it against all odds. I saw all kinds of people. I passed those "gym freak" guys who were walking the last 2 miles. It's not about the age, size nor class. I hope my story can inspire some to take the challenge themselves. Run, walk, be active for charity. The world need us to do good to survive all evil.

And back home, I got 2 little ones who apparently missed me while we were away. Or she just wants some cookies. Hard to tell sometimes.

I can thank you enough. All the messages and posts that I received made it all worth it. I am so grateful and proud to have you all with me. We raised total of $5150 for the rescue of abused, neglected and homeless dogs. We are the top fundraiser for the event. "Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!"- Anne Frank

This is going to be my last entry. This was an unforgettable thing to accomplish. I love you all and always. Thank you so much for being with me and being part of my life. I am going to miss this. Now go out there, grab your life and do something.

xo

RACE DAY

RACE DAY!
26.2 miles run

Been there, done that. This was an amazing feeling. I wish the rain and the wind storm didn't attack us all like this but oh well we all managed to run and not worry about being wet.

I took the shuttle @5.15am. It's funny to be in a bus with bunch of runner munching on stuff and anxious...

The stadium was like a Rock concert and it was super super windy and cold.I waited in line for the bathrooms for 30 min.

And as soon as I crossed the start line it started pouring rain and it did not stop raining until the end and it's still raining out there while I am writing this.

I need to keep this short since the hotel wants us to get out of the room as soon as we can.

I want to thank you all for being with me, thinking of me. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but I may change that statement tomorrow morning when I get up. And we're flying back home in couple of hours...

I ran for me, for my greatgrandma, and for everyone who supported me, especially mom and Ollie and this was for all the animals who are abused, neglected and homeless...

Love you all. I'll write tonite in full details. xo

1 day to go

1 day to go
No training

So here I am in LA. I got to the hotel pretty late last night but managed to go out and grab a bite to eat.
This morning, we woke up early and drove to Dodgers Stadium to pick up my race bib and say hi to Rover Rescue.

We were there when the 5K race was finishing up and Rover Rescue was at the finish line. It was funny, I introduced myself and she was like hi, then she was like "oh you're the Tuba, oh wow from Canada". It was kinda funny. Anyhow, I hope to see them at mile 18 tomorrow during the race and hope that remembering why I am running this will make me feel strong...

It seems like it's going to rain tomorrow. They say it's %75 chance of showers... I'll be soaked if that happens. And the hotel doesn't know if they are going to allow us to have a late checkout... I will be like a stinky wet dog if I can't get a shower right away... fingers crossed for late checkout!

That's all for me right now. I'll be heading out to have dinner in an Italian restaurant around Santa Monica tonite (carbo loading). I have a shuttle to catch @5.30 am! I'll try to write another entry before I hit the road.

Love you all and think of me when you wake up tomorrow.


xo

2 days to go

2 days to go
6.30 am 3 miles run with Lilo

Today was my last run before the race. That's it, I should be ready now. Vodka and Lilo trained me well and now I am on my own, doing the big run on Sunday.
I am flying down to LA this afternoon, I am going to try to post more often once I get there. I am looking forward to meet Rover Rescue team tomorrow.

I just saw on TV that Shelterbox boxes are being delivered in Japan. I posted on Facebook but I should mention it here as well. If you want to send supplies, if you already help the search and rescue teams or any other organization that you trust, think about Shelterbox next. It costs around $1000 for a box to get delivered to the disaster zone, but you can convince your co-workers to chip in to send a box, and you can track it online as well.

I read about the animal rescuers as well yesterday. They were saying that Japanese SPCA is allowing pets to stay in shelter for 72 hrs, then if nobody claims them they get put down... Sad truth about certain governments. In Turkey, we don't euthanize animals, it's illegal. They get neutered/spayed, and if nobody adopts them in 10 days, they go back to the streets. And then we have loooots of stray dogs in the city... It's a humane solution but it doesn't apply to certain countries like US, Japan, Canada... It makes my run to rescue the abandoned dogs so much more meaningful to me. I hope I can bring some awareness to this issue and I hope by me doing this, there would be more people supporting no kill shelters and adopt pets rather than buy.

Another note, it's about Libya, I am happy about the desperate measure that UN is taking against Gaddafi. I hope he'll be smart enough to stop attacking his own people and not cause a war in Africa. Because we sure don't need another war with US and UK involvement even though it's for an humanitarian mission.

As always, if we see only the worst, it kills our capacity to do something. I hear a lot of people talking in cliches about the world, politics... Speculating is a reaction. We need to live for a life of action, not reaction. Don't wait for others to take the first step, if you take the first step yourself on your own, it's exhilarating to see the ripple effect that you create...

LA I'll see you tonight, goodbye Vancouver for now.

Lots of love to you all and Happy Friday! xo

3 days to go

3 days to go
6.30 am 4 miles run with Vodka

Here is a fun photo to brighten up the day. Vodka and Lilo LOVE eating apple   skin. So here, my mom is peeling an apple and the girls are watching her every move. I gave Lilo a piece and look at Vodka's expression! priceless...  After seeing the footage of 2 dogs not leaving each other after the tsunami in Japan, I thought my dogs would do the same since they are so attached to each other in a way that I cannot express. I read that they rescued those 2 dogs and now they are safe and getting medical treatment. It is amazing to see the organization of the local rescue groups. I am so impressed and so happy to have them there helping reuniting animals with their owners.

On the other hand, you see a man with no gun trying to say something to the police in Bahrain and he gets shot right in front of the amateur camera... And Libya... They just fire those huge guns, not aiming to anything, or naively aiming at the planes hovering... It's difficult times all around the world. And the news agency are just making it worse. I read this yesterday and I love his point: Kuni Yogo, a former nuclear power planner tells the New York Times that the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the troubled nuclear plant, "try to disclose only what they think is necessary, while the media, which has an anti-nuclear tendency, acts hysterically, which leads the government and Tepco to not offer more information". 

Be smart and support Japan, don't just run away.
I don't want to be bitter about things. I want this entry to inspire us all, not make us feel bad. Our dreams and imagination give meaning to life. I choose to dream big and to imagine a life with lots of sunshine, smiles and hope and with no suffering and with no wars.  How about you? Tell me, I would love to hear it.
3 days till the big day. I am nervous but I am excited as well.

Lots of love to you all. xo
"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead"-Louisa May Alcott

4 days to go

4 days to go
Day off running. Stretching.

I started packing this morning. I'll be staying with my mom with the dogs until Friday since Ollie is already in LA.
I didn't go to bed at a decent time last night, so I slept until 7.30am this morning. It felt nice to sleep a little more. I know I won't be able to sleep Saturday night before the race, so these days are pretty important.

Yesterday I saw a little girl who was selling her drawings at her school to send money to Japan. She must be 6 years old or something. That's something we need to teach all children. Be aware of the world and feel the responsibility to help.
I wrote a newspaper  when I was in primary school with couple of friends and sold it at school to raise money to send it to the victims of Bosnia War.

People say only childs are spoiled.  My parents thought me well to be involved and to open my heart to all. If you have kids, it's one of the most important educations that you can give them...

Love you all and always. xo

5 days to go

5 days to go
6.30 am 3 miles with Lilo

I just can't stop watching the news. It's changing every hour, and it's hard to filter the information that you get. I respect the calmness of Japanese people and the way they are dealing with this whole situation. Please take the time to donate to your choice of rescue operations. I am adding the link to Canadian Red Cross and WSPA to my blog.

I am going to meet Rover Rescue on Saturday once I pick up my race bib. They are at the finish line of the 5k event that day. And they said they'll be there at Mile 18 to give jumping high fives on Sunday.
I am getting butterflies on my stomach just thinking about that day.

Do something today and check out dosomething.org and decide on "what's your thing?"

Love you all. xo

6 days to go

6 days to go
Day off running, physio exercices

Even though I love having daylight after work, the first Monday of daylight saving is always rough. I set my alarm to 6, but wasn't able to leave the bed until 7. Hopefully, we'll all adjust to sleeping an hour less in the mornings as fast as we can.

Today I am hoping to get in touch with Danni from Rover Rescue and to schedule a visit to Rover Rescue next Saturday before the race. I am not sure if they're attending the race expo or not. I am really really looking forward to meeting the volunteers at their location and say hi to all the rescues.
By the way, the photo below is Lilo not letting me do my stretches... Sabotage really. I got visual proof now.

I got a message on Facebook yesterday, someone from Malaysia and she asked if she can be one of my friends since she loved what I did for the homeless dogs. I can't express how great of a feeling is that to be appreciated and to be able to touch so many lives all around the world.

Thank you for all who shared/donated/followed. Now it's my turn to run the marathon.

Love you all. Happy Monday. xo

7 days to go

7 days to go
Day off

Next week this time, I'll be a proud marathon finisher. I can't believe we counted down from 62 days... All those long hours of running... I am looking forward to the race day. I will be in pain, but it's nothing compared to what we have been going through all around the world this year so far.

I am so happy to share this experience with so many you. I wanted to do something more than my day to day life for a long time. I don't like watching the news or reading the paper and feel helpless. I am so delighted to be able to inspire and spread my message. We cannot let ourselves to be spectators of the system that we don't approve. We need to stand against abuse, wars, neglect...We need to take care of all that depend on our protection.

My heart goes to the tsunami victims. Japan, you're a strong nation and have been through a lot of suffering in the past. Never forget that the strongest nations emerged out of suffering and the most massive and astonishing characters are seared with wounds. We are with you, we are sharing your pain.

Love you all. xo

8 days to go

8 days to go
6.30 am 8 miles solo run

We reached our goal of $5000 last night! I am so thrilled by the support that I received yesterday. While we were just watching the news glued to the TV or following the events online, I had you all encouraging and supporting me. It's an unbelievable feeling.

This morning it was shockingly quiet outside. I felt like I am the only one awake, and the city is just silent. It was me, the pavement and the sound of waves. If you think about it, this ocean, this water around us in Vancouver is what caused so much pain and damage to another country... I kept thinking about that while listening to the waves and a quiet city.

I hope you all had the time to take a look at what you can do to help to those who are in distress. Red Cross and all other charity groups are taking action to help.
Experiencing an earthquake is not something that you can ever forget. It's physiological impact is huge. The idea of losing a loved one, not having a roof to sleep under... Life is fragile and nature is too powerful to fight against.

Don't forget about your pets/wildlife during and after a disaster. Have a plan that includes everyone in your household. Many pets and livestock are never found by their owners after a disaster. For some of us,  the loss of a family pet following a disaster can be a traumatic event that we can never recover from.

WSPA has an animals in disaster blog.
Take a look, sometimes you may not help someone individually but if you help them reunite with their companion pet, you will help them recover from a tragic event.

The Humane Society has good advice on how to prepare your pets for emergencies as well.

Love you all. And don't forget, we are writing history. We cannot wait for another great leader to come and save us all. It all depends on us, and us only. "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive." - Dalai Lama

xo

9 days to go

9 days to go
6.30 am 2 miles easy run with Lilo

First of all, I would like to send my love to everyone who got affected by the earthquake in Japan. Nature is not playing good with us, we can make strong buildings against the shake but when you get a tsunami, you feel helpless. Please reach for a hand, a paw or a branch and do as much as you can do to help to those who are in distress.

2011 is being really shaky in all around the world, don't you think? Natural disasters in the Pacific, both in NZ and Japan and all the revolutions happening in Arabic nations. I find it really unfair that the media coverage for Libya and public attention for the massacre that is happening over there is not getting the attention that  a drunk celebrity is getting these days. Open your eyes, see the greater picture.

"To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there."- Kofi Annan

I am a humanitarian and an animal rights activist. How about you? Stand for the things that you care.

$390 short of our goal of $5000.
Love you all. xo

10 days to go

10 days to go
6.30 am 4 miles tempo run with Vodka

She didn't seem to be too excited to go out this morning but I think we had another successful off leash run with her. She is really good ignoring distractions, she just needs to focus on staying on my side.  Here is Vodka tempted to go into the water while it was raining.

While I was out there, it was cloudy then hale attacked. Then we had rain, and sunshine peaked thru the clouds and we saw a rainbow. Pretty neat.  I was planning on wearing my new running skirt but I think it's still not as warm as I want it to be. Yes, I am giving these running skirts a chance. They look really cute on everyone else that I saw. And I like 'pretty' things.

We're only $550 short from our goal of $5000. This is the time to take action, don't just wait there and watch your life passing. Give this world best you can.

Love you all.
Please share/donate we have less than 5 days until the deadline.

11 days to go

11 days to go
Day off running, physio exercises

Yesterday after their hike, both covered in mud. And I love Lilo's look, it's like "oh trust me Vodka is dirtier than me but she is hiding under her black fur" and she was right. Vodka brought the whole park over to the bathroom.
And today, they get really curious when I do my stretching. The photos show it all.

We watched Inside Job last night. They won the best documentary award at the Oscars this year. Please watch it and learn more about the finance industry and how things went down. For me the most striking part is the academics being involved in the whole thing. I guess money buys a lot of things...

5 days to go until the fundraising deadline. We're ONLY $600 short of $5000! I am so proud and happy to have such great support for my cause. Thank you so much for your continuous encouraging words and for sharing my cause online and offline.

Dreams to come true if you survive the hard times and believe in yourself until the end. There are too many obstacles in life but we have to quickly forgive and remember that life is also is about moving on.

Love you all and always. xo

12 days to go

12 days to go
6.30 am 2 miles run with Lilo

It's hiking day today, but I took Lilo out anyway. She loves to run now. And last night I took both of them with their backpacks on for a short run. It was complicated when Vodka was trying to pull and Lilo dragging behind. I managed it and I think they loved it.

It's Tuesday, we have 6 more day to reach $5000, and we're $750 short. Please, please, please share my cause with your friends. We all have the power to make dreams come true, as long as we keep believing.

Commit yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. To me, I'll run to rescue homeless and abused dogs. That makes my life feel more complete and meaningful.

Love you all. xo

13 days to go

13 days to go
Day off running, physio exercices

Happy Monday! Such a gorgeous day outside. And how do you like my hat? I dont carry it as good as a firefighter but I think it suits me :) thank you Ollie for the photo.

My training for these last 2 weeks is pretty easy, I guess it's time to rest and recover until the race. My legs are doing pretty good after 20 miles on Saturday.

This week is the last week of donations. Now I am allowed to harass some of you :) It's the last push, let's do it.  Please share my blog with your friends and family. Let's reach all animal lovers out there.

Please help me reach $5000.

Love you all. xo

14 days to go

14 days to go
Day off.

What a great day today. We started with taking the bitches (excuse my language) to the park, Vodka loves to fetch! It's great to see them go crazy. Then we headed to Main st. where I got some latte from Gene coffee shop. The green lightbulbs are from there. Then we went to 8 1/2 for brunch. Great little place on Main and 8th st.

We had our mom's house warming party today. She cooked probably for the last 3 days! It was just amazing! And I met some of my contributors from her Rotary Club in Vancouver, it was such a pleasure! I am so grateful and thankful to all of you who contributed to my cause.
We're only $800 away from $5000. I am so lucky to have you all. And I am so happy to see so many people being aware and supportive of the cause.

Here we go, last week of fundraising, here is the last push! Please please please, if you thought of donating for my cause, this is the time. I need all extra support I can get this week to reach $5000.  If we reach $5000, it's saving more than 100 dogs...

"My goal in life is to be
as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am."
Lots of love. xo

15 days to go

15 days to go
20 miles long solo run

Well, this was a long run :) I went from our place in Gastown to Wreck Beach. That UBC hill is pretty damn long! Anyway, I need to trust my training program that running 20 miles is going to be enough to finish 26 miles with the adrenalin rush. We will see.

I am a runner and running is my obsession. I complain about leaving the bed @5.30 4 times a week, and ache for the other 3 days, I look like a cookie monster who can't stop eating but I don't think I can ever stop running. I know my mom really wants me to stop training for long distance running after this one, but runner's high is something I can't let go easily.

I wasn't born to run. I was born to swim with my long torso and short chub chub legs. They used to say that watching me swim is like listening to a good poem... My running is nothing like that. I probably look like a duck wobbling :) But, I have been stopped by other runners who were curious about my funky shoes! Yes, I have pretty cool looking running shoes. At least I am able to distract people from my running by my funky shoes. Mission accomplished!

Thank you everyone who are supporting my cause. It's our last week for fundraising and we reached $4000! I know we'll break $5000 before the deadline.
We can do so much in one day as long as we dont make that day tomorrow.
Today, show compassion to those who are not as fortunate as we are. Be kind. Remember the times when people acted magnificently and took action to change the system they opposed.
Lots of love. xo