Not To Be Trusted With Knives

• There was a dent in centre ice from having dropped the puck more than 2,300 times over 10 days. Seriously.
• I got two new nicknames during the course of the game. One was “The Hobbit” – because I would come into the rink from RV World wrapped in my blanket. It was just too damn cold to get out of my bed without my blanket. The other was “Timbit” – this was what Bree started calling Sarah Willie and I due to our short statures (and the fact that I play like a Timbit!).
• The arena was freaking cold. Apparently they had to keep it that way in order to zamboni the ice is less than 10 minutes, which was the maximum amount of break time we were allowed according to Guinness rules. Freaking cold.
• Scott liked all my witty tshirts. Every day he’s ask “What shirt do you have on today?”  Over the course of the 10 days, I rocked such shirts as “I’m blogging this,” “Not that kind of doctor,” “Zombie Research Society” and, of course, “BETH HUNGRY.”
• A lot of people have asked if we lost weight by playing so much hockey, but no one really seems to have lost much, if any. In fact, one of the women gained 12 lbs! When I got home after the game, I stepped on the scale and weighed exactly the same as when I left. However, when I stepped on the scale the next day, I was down 3 lbs. I’m pretty sure those 3lbs were 3 lbs of water that I’d been retaining in my sausage-like fingers after the game ended!
• Weird things happened to all of our bodies over the course of three days. I mean, there were lots of things you’d expect to happen from playing a ridiculous amount of hockey – blisters, bruises, a concussion, a torn MCL, swollen knees and such, but then there was weird stuff. For example, Bree randomly had a fat wrist. No pain, no particular reason and it was just one wrist. Why would water be retained just in one wrist? We have no idea. Later, the wrist went back to normal and one ankle got fat. Why? No clue. Frankie got TMJ. How does one get TMJ from playing hockey?? I stopped sweating after about day 5. That’s not normal when you play hockey.
• The next time we do this, we should get some physiologists to follow us around to document the effects on our physiology. I think that would make an awesome journal article!
• It’s now two days later and I’m still unable to rehydrate, despite drinking water all day long. It’s like the water just goes right through me and I’m still all dry mouthed and unhydratable!
• Every person who has watched the clip of me on Breakfast Television has said to me, “You look really tired.”
• My six year old niece watched the clip of me on Breakfast Television, which also had an interview with Desneige, who made a very striking piece of artwork featuring the syringes and pill casings of all the drugs that her young son, Beckett (who has CF), had to take in one year. After watching it, my niece said to my sister, “I think I should give my donation money to those kids. They need it.” And she got her jar that she saves money for donations in and counted up how much she had and she donated. What a sweet kid she is!
• Very quickly after the game started, we lost all sense of time. By Day 2, all we knew was “It’s Day 2.” I could not have told you the date or even what day of the week it was, but I knew which of the 10 days we were on.
• For the last two hours of the game, all 40 players were dressed and on the benches. It was the first time since the first hour of the game that we had more than one sub at a time! I was actually on the ice when we tied the record at 10 am. When we set our new record of 10 days, 3 hours and 5 minutes, I was standing by the door and thus would have been the next to go on – you know, like if the game had gone to overtime. =)
• I remember when I was working on my PhD, when I got experimental results, I would sit for a moment and reflect on the fact that I was the only person on Earth who knew the fact that I had just discovered. It’s pretty staggering to think that out of more than 6 billion people, you are the only person who knows something. I can tell you that being one of only 40 people in history to have completed such a momentous feat is just as thrilling.
• A little while ago, Dr. Dan wrote a posting about how he didn’t see himself as an athlete, despite all his running, biking, yoga-ing, etc.¹. He is, of course, but he doesn’t see himself that way. I used to have that problem too, but I feel like completing this epic game has earned me the right to always and forever be able to call myself an athlete.
• My final medical count:
• blisters: 12
• fingers with skin that cracked right open: 4
• major abrasions (i.e., ~1 inch x 1/2 inch): 2
• I wasn’t too worried that I would get injured on the ice, but I was constantly worried that I would do something really stupid, like fall coming out of my RV or take a tumble down the stairs and break a bone. Because that would be such a Beth thing to do. I’m pretty surprised it didn’t happen, actually.

• “Taking off my skates feels better than sex.”
• “Beth, you have such a nice personality, you could say the most asshole thing and people would just say, ‘Oh, I’m sure she didn’t mean it that way!’”
• “I really hope this game doesn’t go into overtime!”
• “Sleep deprivation, physical pain, and isolation. Isn’t that what people do to torture prisoners of war?”
• I was known as the girl with the blog who was also constantly tweeting. A few days into the game, Sarah W said to me “You keep having real people come to visit you. I didn’t think Internet people had friends in real life. YOU ARE MAKING ME QUESTION ALL MY STEREOTYPES!!” A few days later, she asked me, “Are you friends with Miss 604?”, but when I replied “Yes,” she went, “Oh. I was being sarcastic.”

1. I’d link to the article, but I’m too tired to go searching for it [↩]

I can’t believe that the game ended just yesterday! When I was driving away from the rink yesterday, all I could think was, “Did I just dream that?” It was a truly surreal experience and if I didn’t have the blisters to prove otherwise, I would really be wondering!

I’m still pretty exhausted, even though I slept a full 8 hours last night after I had a 6 hour nap yesterday afternoon! I did, in fact, go to work today¹, but I spent the entire day catching up on all the emails that came in while I was away, as well as making sure to take some breaks to stretch my legs. I don’t think it’s very good to go from 9 hours per day of intense physical activity to 0!

Anyway, while there is still so much more to say about the game, I’m too exhausted to say it all today, so instead I want to say a bunch of “thank yous.” I’m sure that I’m going to forget to thank someone because there were so many people that made this event possible and I’m still all sleep-deprived and not thinking straight, so please forgive me if I forget to thank you! In no particular order, I would like to thank:

• Val Skelly, our fearless leader who came up with the idea for this game, who inspired us all to play for this cause that is so near and dear to her heart and worked so unbelievably hard to make her vision a reality. I will always be inspired by her leadership, her vision, her positivity and her great sense of humour!
• The entire committee that organized this event. The amount of time and effort that went into pulling this off was astronomical and each and every one of the committee members was doing this on a voluntary basis, in addition to their already busy lives!
• Meaghan Wong, one of the leads for the volunteers, who bent over backwards on an hourly basis to get the players whatever they needed or wanted to keep them going. From finding us pizza at 3 in the morning simply because I tweeted that we wanted some to having a physiotherapist come onsite to treat us on the Sunday of a long weekend, Meaghan was an absolute rock star!
• Jen Graham, another one of the lead volunteers, who was also always bending over backwards to help out the players, whether it was getting us food, doing our laundry or putting up inspiration sticky notes in the dressing room².
• Brian Wong, our chef extraordinaire, who kept 40 very hungry athletes fed at all hours of the day and night for 10 solid days, accommodating us in every way and always making sure that the players came first!
• Scott Tait, the organizer of RV World³, the keeper of the score and the playing schedules, the chauffeur to the hospital for injured players, the man who found players to fill in when the injured/sick players couldn’t keep going, and I’m sure many other tasks that I didn’t even know of. And he never once got annoyed when I continually asked him, “How many goals have I scored now, Scott?”
• Burnaby 8 Rinks Physiotherapy, who donated their services free of charge to the players throughout the game. I don’t think that I could have made it, especially after the horrific experience that was Day 3, without their services!
• All the massage therapists who also donated their time to keep the players able to move. As with the physiotherapy, I don’t think I could have made it without my hip flexors being stretched out and my psoas muscle being released!
• The zamboni drivers, who managed to clean the ice in record time, sometimes as fast as six and half minutes (instead of the usual 10:15) so that we could meet the Guinness Record requirements of no more than 10 minutes break after every hour of play.
• The refs who volunteered their time to come out to the rink at all hours of the day and night, working in 4 hour shifts in our freezing cold arena, getting many a blister themselves, to make sure that the game could go on!
• Tash & Jamie, our bootcamp trainers. I don’t think anyone else could have gotten me to “sprint” that mile twice a week! Thanks for your patience with us!
• All of the many, many volunteers who made this event possible. Whether it was blowing the beloved/despised air horn to ensure we kept to the rigid playing/ice cleaning break schedule required by Guinness, serving us our meals, going on Tim Horton’s runs to get us a caffeine fix, staffing the reception desk/security/silent auction, provided us with much needed first aid for our many wounds, or doing a myriad of other behind the scenes tasks, we could not have achieved this momentous accomplishment without your support. I was especially touched by the families who came out to volunteer – it was so amazing to see kids out volunteering with their parents – such an amazing thing for parents to instill volunteerism into their children’s lives. Special thanks to my friends who came out to volunteer – Lianna, Krista Lee, Ryan, and Sandy, you all rock my world!
• All the families with CF who came out to support and encourage us. Your words moved us deeply and helped keep us grounded as to why we were doing this crazy thing in the first place. When the sleep-deprivation and the pain got bad, it was so important to hear your words to remind us that what we were doing was so much bigger than ourselves and quickly made us realize that while we were suffering, it was very minor compared to what CF patients and their families go through. Your strength gave us strength.
• All my friends who came to visit me. You provided me with such strength and many laughs and made it possible for me to keep going, because I knew you were behind me all the way. In addition to Lianna, Krista Lee, Ryan and Sandy, there was Heather, Kalev, Linda, Casey, Chris, Deb, Candace, Roger, Hannan, Henley, Monica, Erika, Paul, Tanis, Matt⁴, Kim, Lance, Martha, Andrew, Joanie, Clayton, Sheri & Lindy – your presence at the game means more to mean than I can ever express. Heather, Chris & Deb, and Erika, the cookies, cake and brownies that you baked for me and my fellow players were absolutely delicious and very much appreciated! Kalev, Joanie & Martha, the medical supplies (and the mocha from Martha!) you brought were life savers! Clayton, the Timmy Ho’s coffee that you brought me before my final 4 hour session pepped me up like I cannot even explain! Lianna & Krista Lee, who brought me more things than I can even remember, from medical supplies to blankets to chocolate milk and diet Pepsi to a McDonald’s breakfast, I owe you both big time!
• All my friends who could not be with me in person, but who kept supporting me from a far. My parents who watched the livestream of the game pretty much 24/7; my sister Nancy who did as well and whose constant stream of text messages supporting and encouraging me; Dan, who also watched and whose tweets kept my spirits up; and  Sarah who also watched the livestream constantly⁵ and whose brilliant idea to donate $1 per goal I scored⁶ then inspired *six* other people to do the same!
• All the people who donated to my fundraising efforts – currently at $4,131.72 and counting! You helped me surpass my fundraising goal and you have truly made a difference in the lives of people living with CF.
• All of my amazing teammates, on both the White and the Red Teams. We were all in this together and I know that I have made 39 amazing life-long friends!

Also, I have to say that I am absolutely in love with the song “Barbra Streisand” by Duck Sauce. I don’t think I’d ever heard it before the game⁷, but it was played many times during the game and was an awesome song to skate to!

1. As Sarah put it, I am my father‘s daughter! [↩]
2. Those inspiration sticky notes really did help keep me going! [↩]
3. Which is what we called the fenced in area that housed the RVs we lived in for 10 days, the food tent and the massage therapy area; also known as “the trailer park.” [↩]
4. See Matt, I do remember your name right away when I’m less sleep deprived! [↩]
5. To the point that her toddler son would see the computer and say “Aunt Beth play hockey? I watch! I clap!” [↩]
6. After she had already made a generous donation very early on in my fundraising efforts [↩]
7. Though Wikipedia tells me that it was featured in an episode of Glee, so I suppose if I watched that show, I’d know it [↩]

This morning at 11:05 am, 39 of my closest friends and I made ourselves a part of Canadian history. At that moment, we completed a 243 hour and 5 minute game of hockey – the longest ever in the history of the world! We are the “unofficial” world record holders for the moment – we have to wait for the people at Guinness to review all the footage and the log books and such before we get certified as the “official” world record holders. But we know we did it – and we have the blisters to prove it!

I’ve just woken up from a 6 hour nap – in my own bed! After taking a hot shower – in my own shower! After enjoying a well-earned beer with Lianna and Kim – in my own living room! Sorry, I’m just a little bit excited at having been released from the compound to which I’ve been confined, in accordance with Guinness World Record rules, for the last 11 days.

I will blog more about all of this later – I’m still physically and mentally exhausted and it’s a bit hard to type since my fingers are blistered and cracked and swollen. I’m going to get some cold ice packs out of the freezer to replace the ones I was using to ice my hands while I napped so I can continue to ice my hands while I sleep!

But I do want to say a quick “thank you” to everyone who provided me with so much support over the last eleven days. To all the people who sent me text messages, emails, tweets, and Facebook messages with words of encouragement and who came to visit me during my captivity, bringing me much needed supplies from the outside world, along with hugs!: I’ll never be able to express just how much your support meant to me. I could not have gotten through this grueling experience without you! You kept me going when the times were hard, when the exhaustion set in and the pain felt like it was too much to bear and it seemed like the game would never end. And when the times were good, and I was just flying down the ice, scoring goal after goal, and having an absolute blast with some of the most amazing women I’ve ever had the honour to play with, it made it that much sweeter to be able to share it with you!

So, yes, I’ll blog more when I’m less exhausted because I have so much to share about the experience. But before I go back to sleep, I have to answer the question that I know you are all dying to know: Despite the pain and the exhaustion, I do still love hockey. And I’ll be back at it just as soon as these blisters heal!

Oh yes, and there’s still time to donate!

So, we’ve been playing hockey for nine days straight now. Personally, I’ve played 81 hours of hockey so far. EIGHTY-ONE, y’all¹)! And I have six hours left to play before this game is done!  Here’s the deal:

• I play my last regular 4 hour shift from midnight to 4 am tomorrow (i.e., Monday… i.e., about 3 hours from now)).
• At ~9 am, all 40 players will be dressed and play out the remainder of the game together (i.e., instead of our usual one sub on the bench, we’ll have full lines of players).
• at 10 am, we will break the record for the longest ever game of hockey in the history of the world!
• at 11:05 am, the final horn will sound to end the game!

We are almost there. So close, I can taste it!

And so now these signs, which have been really helping get me through the days, are that much sweeter:

Also, I have to share this with you – an adorable little girl named Emma, who has Cystic Fibrosis, made hearts for all the players with various sayings on them – things like “Let’s find a cure!” and “Keep Going!” This is the one that I got and it’s totally, imho, the best one²:

And so, as we go into the final hours of the game, please donate. For Emma. For Beckett. And for the thousands of others who have Cystic Fibrosis. The money you donate will go to research which will make their lives better.

1. And people on Team Red have played even more than that, as they’ve had more injuries (and thus the remaining players have had to pick up more of the time to cover for the injured players. [↩]
2. I’m sure Rick & Dan will agree! [↩]

I can’t get over the amount of media that this hockey game is getting! There was a tonne of media here the first day – “OMG, these women are going to play hockey for 10 days straight!” and there have been other stories along the way, like “OMG, these women desperately need medical supplies” and “Holy crap, they are still playing!”

There are constantly video cameras around from a variety of television stations – not to mention the film crew that is working on a documentary about the game¹.

So, because, as we all know, I’m an attention whore, here are:

• a news story on me from the paper of the town I grew up in
• a video clip where I’m interviewed live on Breakfast Television (at about the 5:50 mark of that video) – I look terrible, but please remember that’s I’d been playing hockey for 7 days at the time they filmed this!
• my interview on The Puck Daddy blog on Yahoo Sports

And here’s the page on our game’s website that has links to all the media we’ve been in:
http://longestgame4cf.com/media/

Plus, be sure to watch Breakfast Television on Tuesday, as Val – our fearless leader – and I think some of the other players will be interviewed!

1. A lot of the players have said that they are just so used to the cameras being around they don’t even notice them anymore, but not me. I’m so easily distracted. OMG! Camera!  At one point there were players wearing a helmet cam to get shots from the ice and all I could do was stare transfixed at the helmet cam as they skated around! [↩]

There are some things that I’ve learned in hockey (and other sports) that have been emphasized as real truths over these last 9 day, including:

• Playing with players who are better than you makes you a better player.
• Practising makes you better – and I’m certainly putting in the time these days, given that I’ve played 73 hours of hockey in the last 8.5 days!
• Expect the unexpected¹.
• Good music makes it easier and more fun.
• So do good teammates!

1. I expected sore feet. I did not expect the excruciating back pain or the skin on my fingers to be splitting open. [↩]

So my schedule got changed a bit ‘cuz a woman on my team had to sit out a few sessions due to a severe migraine. So, instead of playing today (Saturday) from 4 am to 8 am and 4 pm to 8 pm, I played 12 am to 4 am and 12 pm to 4 pm. And, assuming that the other girl on my team who had to sit out a shift due to an ear infection¹.

Anyhoo, as far as I know, my schedule for the remainder of the game is:

• Sunday – midnight to 4 am
• Sunday – noon to 4 pm
• Monday – midnight to 4 am
• Monday – ~9:30 to 11 am – all the players will play during this time as we break the world record and set the new record!

1. I think. She was taken to a doctor and I’ve heard she had an infection of the temporomandibular gland, but I also heard she has TMJ – since we are all trapped here, rumours spread and mutate here like nobody’s business. Last night Candice felt like throwing up – most likely from exhaustion according to the EMT First Aid guy – but by morning the rumour was that she was deathly ill and puking everywhere [↩]

So, have I ever mentioned how awesome my friend Sarah is? She’s pledged to donate $0.01 for every goal the white team scores and $1 for every goal that *I* score!

And then my friend Jody pledged to match her! That’s $2 to Cystic Fibrosis research for every goal I score in this game!

I’d like to see how many other people I can get to pledge! Will you?

Anyone out there happen to have a lot of extra medical supplies on their hands? Because we are in desperate need of them!

As it turns out, playing 8-12 hours of hockey per day is pretty hard on your body. And thus, we are going through medical supplies at an alarming rate! Our volunteers are approaching stores that we are hoping can provide us with stuff, but I figured it can’t hurt to blog it as well.

To give you a sense of what it’s like, here’s my medical regimen before each session:

• squares of Second Skin on my one blister and my one place is that about to be a blister; covered with Tegaderm
• squares of Second Skin on my lace bite; covered with moleskin
• moleskin on the backs of my ankles (preventing blisters that I could feel forming) and on my arm where the strap of my chest protector is chaffing
• one Advil, one Tylenol
• Tiger Balm on my back
• back taped up by the physiotherapist

My three best friends: lip balm, Tiger Balm, and ibuprofen.

It seems like everything here in LG4CF Land is the opposite of how things operate in the usual world.

• Usually when one is planning out their meals, they want things that are lower in Calories, low in simple sugars and low in salt. But here, I’m trying desperately to find foods with lots of Calories, plenty of sugar and let’s not forget to have extra salt!
• I have no appetite. Despite the insane number of Calories that I’m burning by playing 8 or 12 hours of hockey per day, I really haven’t wanted to eat. I know I *have* to eat, so I’m forcing myself to, but I’m having to force myself to¹ – that never happens in the real world.
• We cheer when one of our own teammates ices the puck… because it means less skating – as no one chases the puck – except the poor refs who have to go and fetch it!
• A three-on-nothing turns into an icing instead of a scoring chance because the players don’t want to skate that far.
• Teammates will tell each other: “Don’t back check. Just float up around the blue line – that’s totally fine.”
• No one is complaining that they aren’t getting enough ice time!
• I’m ashamed to admit it, because it would totally screw my teammates over and I don’t truly want it to happen, but at points yesterday I was wishing that I’d fall and break a wrist or take a slapshot off the skate and break my foot².
• I chatted with an opposing player at the face off about staging a fight to get a 10-minute major penalty so we could each get a rest… and we were only half kidding!
• I’m wishing that my vacation was over already³!
• Cameras are everywhere, yet I have no make-up on and my hair is a disaster. And I don’t care in the least.

Also of note: after my 8 am to noon session, I went to see a physiotherapist, as the physiotherapy office here at Burnaby 8 Rinks is donating their services to the players. I told Darren, the awesome physiotherapist, that my lower back has been excruciating. He said, “Did you do anything to it?” and I was like, “Um, I’ve been playing hockey for three days.” Anyway, he stretched out some stuff and electrofied some stuff and then taped up my back like this:

And then I went to see Derek the amazing massage therapist, who stretched out more stuff. And now my back is making me want to cry less than it was. So I call that progress!

In other news, I am playing this game with the most amazing women in the whole world. On our morning session today, one of the women on my team gave up all of her breaks over the 4 hours⁴ to another women who was hurting pretty badly. It’s not that this player who gave up her breaks wasn’t hurting too, she just knew that our teammate was hurting a lot and felt she was able to stay on the ice to help our teammate out. That’s the kind of amazing people I’m playing with.

Also, this sign, written by a child with Cystic Fibrosis, is up behind the bench. It’s making all the players cry!

If that doesn’t get you to donate, I don’t know what will!

1. And it’s not because the food isn’t good. It’s great! [↩]
2. I know it would be insane because the pain would be worse than what I’m feeling now and it would last way longer than the rest of this 10-day long game, but your mind plays funny tricks on you when you are sleep-deprived and in pain [↩]
3. Since I’m taking vacation time to do this. I love my job and all, but I’ve never wished for vacation to be over before! [↩]
4. Except for one, ‘cuz she was very hungry and needed to eat something [↩]