Baby, it's cold outside!

Winter has come. Finally. It's cold. There's (a tiny bit of) snow on the ground. We have begun to talk about the wind chill factor. It's winter!

Winter means a few things. First, it means Christmas/Channakah/Holiday Parties. Lots of them, including a Go Girls Toronto Party.



The photo to the left captures what we did at the Go Girls Toronto party: drink and talk. Okay, we also did some eating. But just a little bit.







During the party, this intrepid reporter/blogger did her best to capture various members of the Go Girls at their best. As it turns out, this task was fairly easy. It seems that the Go Girls are pretty photogenic. See for yourself...






Here is the very lovely Joanne. Her shirt says "In my dreams, I'm a Kenyan". I think that Joanne may view herself as Kenyan whether she is awake or asleep. After all, she is profoundly colour-blind and gender-blind.














This is Olga. She is our resident fashion expert and all around business-savvy woman-about-town. Olga is (obviously) beautiful. She may or may not be single. It depends on whether or not potential suitors pass the Go Girls Panel of Inspection.










Here is Mariana, our funny little foreigner. Ooops, I mean, our very charming intellectual....who just happens to forget some little details now and again...like the name of the guy in the red suit who comes around at Christmas. Come on! Are you kidding me? No, seriously. She did forget the name of Santa. But it's okay because she is familiar with the concept of Santa and knows the basic principles involved with Christmas. Well, with a mind like that, Mariana clearly demonstrates that she is more than just another pretty Go Girls Runner.

Directly above, you will find a photo of Nana, our hostest with the mostest. Nana is our Southern Belle, the Queen of Social Events for the Go Girls, and an all around good mate. As you can see, she is also a knock-out. Sitting so regally in this beautiful chair, it seems clear why we call her the Queen of Social Events. All she is missing is her crown. And yet this same Southern Belle has proposed holding a road hockey game in the parking lot by her home. Nana, you never cease to amaze or to amuse me!



We've already met Olga, the beauty from Winnipeg. Now meet our Saskatchewan-born beauty, Carol. Note that the rosy glow on her cheeks is all natural and certainly not a result of the glass in her hand. Carol always impresses us with her work ethic and with the fact that she was almost born aboard a Bombardier! Eat your heart out, Saskatchewan. She belongs to Toronto, now!










We were honoured with the presence of a special guest at our party: Joanna, (almost) direct from Rio. Joanna is a visiting legal scholar with an interest in gender issues. We're not sure if she came to the party to study women who run, women who drink or women who run and drink. We do hope that she enjoyed herself, along with the food and spirits.

You know, the desserts were sort of a character in and of themselves at the party. Look at those goodies! Of course, ALL the goodies were home-made. Because in addition to being beautiful, athletic, smart, and charming, the Go Girls are also incredibly talented chefs. We find time to cook and to bake in between running marathons, running fashion companies, writing exams, educating the masses and generally saving the world. We are the original bad-asses.

I would be remiss, I suppose, if I did not include at least one photo of me. So here I am, reading a story to the girls. I wrote a wee little tale about how the Go Girls saved Santa's sorry *** one cold Christmas eve. We laughed. We cried. It was epic. Or at least moderately epic-like.



And, ladies and gentlemen, this is how the Go Girls celebrated the holiday season in December 2009. The food was delicious, the wine was lovely, and the company was delightful.

In the words of Tiny Tim, God bless us, every one.

Dr. Jean continues to carry the torch!

As some of our loyal readers (all three of you) may know, Dr. Jean Marmoreo has played a pivotal role in the running careers of a majority of the Go Girls Toronto runners. Most of us met through JeansMarines, the organization founded by Dr. Jean and her husband, Bob Ramsay. Jean taught us that we are strong and able and capable of completing a whole marathon--yes, all 26.2 miles/42.2 km, in a row, on the same day, in the same event.

Thanks to Jean and Bob, we met and became runners. Thanks to Jean and Bob, we continued to run. In many respects, the Go Girls Toronto running club exists because of Jean and Bob. So we are always delighted to hear about Jean's exploits in the running world. (Bob, unfortunately, is no longer able to run. He says it is because of a knee surgery. We suspect it is the prolonged exposure to running long distance with women.) We were thrilled when Jean placed first (!) in her age group at Boston this past spring and equally delighted when Jean placed third (but the first North American) in her age group at the formidable NYC Marathon in November.

But just when we thought that Jean could not possibly outdo herself, she found a way to continue carrying the torch for us--both figuratively and literally! Jean recently carried the Olympic torch in the national torch relay. Yes, the Olympic torch! What a thrill for Jean! What an honour! In my view, carrying the torch is a fitting honour for this woman who has inspired so many others to go "faster, stronger, higher".

Jean embodies the spirit of the pursuit of excellence. She has gone from a beginner marathoner to a serious age-group competitor. In the process, she has dragged many of us along with her (sometimes kicking and screaming). Jean leads by example. She leads by logging those long, lonely miles in training. She leads by encouraging all of us, no matter what our ability, to get out on the road and run. Jean instills a belief in oneself that despite the fact that one has not been physically active for a decade, it is possible to become a runner, a marathoner, an athlete. Jean instills confidence--which is often not easy to do when one is dealing with a large group of women who were more often told what they could not do as opposed to what they could do.

Jean, Olympic torch bearer, we salute you for carrying the torch of confidence, ability, and fitness for so many of us.