For more recent and regular updates, please check out Margreet's website http://www.MargreetDietz.com/

For Tim's website http://www.triathletetim.com/

The Chief, the weekly newspaper in Squamish, posted this story about my race on the front page of their website. To see story

On Sunday I raced the North Olympic Discovery Marathon in Washington state – it was a last-minute plan and only five weeks since my previous marathon.

A good friend, an amazing and inspiring athlete, suggested I do another one soon after I wasn’t entirely happy with my Vancouver Marathon performance.

Initially thinking it crazy, I soon warmed to the idea and took her husband’s offer to guide my training for 2 1/2 weeks.

Their help and inspiration has been great. I’ll write more about that later.

For now, just a link to a newspaper article about my result, see here

A reporter from The Chief, a weekly newspaper in Squamish that goes to about 6000 households, contacted me for an interview. Here‘s the result. The print version of the newspaper ran a picture that Tim took after the race – good news for my sponsor SBR Multisports.

Before he’s even five months old, Luka has already found fame in the BMO Vancouver Marathon newsletter.

To see the story, click here

On Sunday our family is set to expand. Tim and I agreed to adopt a puppy from the local SPCA.

He’s about four months. We have met him twice and love his energy – he is very happy and up for anything.

Congratulations!  You have been selected as a memberof the SBR Worldwide Ambassador Team!  We received over one hundredapplications from so many amazing athletes of all ages, abilities andnationalities.  After reading through each and every application, we areconfident that we selected a solid team of men and women to represent SBRMultisports and the worldwide triathlon community.  The WorldwideAmbassador Team is comprised of athletes ranging from 22-66 years, and 26different locations around the world.

Both Tim and I were selected to become part of the SBR team this year – very exciting. 

If you visit New York, don’t forget to check out this great store. For more information, click here.

As a professional writer with a passion for running, I’ve been contributing articles to running and triathlon magazines in Australia – and recently Canada – since 2006.

I particularly love writing profiles of runners. Few people start running with the intention to Become a Runner. But they discover that running is much more than a way to boost their fitness or shed some pounds. Running provides true revelations about yourself. And these will change your life.

Here is a story I wrote for an Australian running magazine. This runner got in touch with me after my running coach helped me to find people to talk to for a book I am writing. While I’ve not yet met this runner, we’ve gotten to know each other very well. We share a passion, and I admire her grit, determination and her honesty.

Here’s the story:

Download karen_scott.pdf

Watching President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech was inspiring overall but particularly the fundamental truth in this sentence:

"..firm in the knowledge that there is nothingso satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than givingour all to a difficult task…"

The start of 2009 in Squamish has been – mostly white! The amount of snowfall we’ve had here is incredible. Especially since we were told by one of our neighbors that it was the first white Christmas since 1998.

Both Tim and I have set some key race goals for 2009. Tim is back into full-on triathlon training, with Ironman Canada in August as his goal race. He’s doing nearly all of his training indoors, which means currently about 4 hours on the wind trainer every Saturday. I can tell you from experience (a while ago now) that that takes a lot of mental willpower.

As for me, my goal race for the first half of 2009 is the Vancouver Marathon. Last year I ran this course for the first time. While my race didn’t go as planned, I took home some valuable lessons and the knowledge that my mental willpower as a runner is strengthening all the time. This year, I’d like to improve on last year’s experience and – as always – the goal is to improve my PB.

Both of us have chosen shorter races in between. Our next one is the Chilly Chase 10km on Jan. 18. We’ll aim to push each other towards that 38-min mark. That’s new territory for me, and it’d be a return for Tim.