Renner's World

Sept. 27/08




Are you concerned about climate change and want to send a message for change? We need 350 cyclists’to join us on October 4 for a bike ride that can make a difference.
 
Why 350: 350 is the most important number in the survival of our planet. 350 parts per million (ppm) of Carbon Dioxide is the safe line for our global climate. Currently, we are at 387 ppm and we need to inspire Canadians to act. For more info check out 350.org.
 
Who: You and your friends, forward this message to everyone you know in the Bow Valley.
 
What: The bike ride will start at the Bison Courtyard in Banff and continue around the Minnewanka loop. This ride is not a race. The ride is approximately 20 km long and reasonable fitness and bike handling skills are required. Proper helmets and highway safety rules apply. Ride at your own risk.
 
When: Saturday Oct 4th. 10:00 am.
 
Where: The ride will start and finish at The Bison Courtyard, 211 Bear Street, Banff.
 
For Canmorites: Cyclists who wish to bike from Canmore to join the official 350 ride in Banff must use extreme caution on the TransCanada highway. Canmore cyclists will meet at 8:30 am at the Canmore Civic Center to bike to the Bison Courtyard.


My first update is late but now I have the best excuse in the world. I am now a mother and my life has changed. I still do the same things but I bring diapers and my little wee daughter, Aria. Everyone told me my life would never be the same and I pictured endless hours washing cloth diapers, screaming at all hours, 3 hours of sleep or none at all and a huge mobilization effort before leaving the house. It does involve fragments of the above but I don’t really remember them. We visited seven countries before she was six weeks old to visit her dad and it was a blast. I have never felt more in my life. I never imaged laughing harder at a gummy smile, feeling more at peace when she falls asleep and I have never worried more about green pooh.
                

Let’s back track to the pregnancy. The last month remains particularly vivid. I was enormous and to the delight of the men’s team- outweighed every one of them. The only activity that seemed to complement the waddle and relieved the foot that was lodged in my ribs was skate skiing and swimming. I tried to do something everyday even if it was walking to get groceries. It was a challenge and also liberating to have been an athlete and then lose control of the growth of my body. I looked at my friends and teammates and thought that it is impossible to be so small. I watched Devon and Phil training at the Nordic Center before the World Championships and was surprised at how beautiful our sport is to watch. How fluid and light they appeared. And then I’d lumber along out on the Banff trail and be passed by retirees on wood skis. I made peoples winter when they realized they had just dusted the Olympic medalist.

Next up- the birth. I get excited thinking about it. I had it in my mind that the perfect day for the phoetus to come into being would be on the full moon and the day after the arrival of Thomas from the World Cups in Europe. Then we would have the maximum of five days together before he went back to Sweden for the World Championships. Our doula (birth coach) kept reminding me that you couldn’t schedule in babies. They tend to come when they are ready not when you are. As it turned out Thomas came home early to nurse a calf injury and we got to spend some extra time as a couple. The due date and Thomas’s departure was nearing and still no bambino. Since I love food, the meal before she was born deserves mention. We ate a roasted rosemary chicken with Thomas's special mushroom risotto and an incredibly tasty salad. I felt particularly full and we went for a walk under the full moon to make some space for icecream. I never got to eat desert. I tried to rest through the night and we drove into Banff in a snowstorm and she was born later in the morning. It reminded me of ski racing- the painful part. But just like racing after every uphill there is a rest except at the end where it is more like a hillclimb. 

No…I haven’t started training yet. I am going to wait until I have the urge and until my breasts won’t cause injury. I never thought I would have that problem! I hope to start training with the team in May but with the brakes on and return to racing in December for the World Cups in Canada. It is boggling to think of all the work I have to do and how far I am from race fitness. I admire the World Cup women who have had children and return to decimate- particularly Katrina Neumenova who came back after her daughter was born and won her first World Cup race as a mother. I keep a picture on my desk top of her being greeted by her three-year-old daughter after wining the 30 km in Torino. Aria will be just out of diapers for Vancouver 2010.