Four for “Friday” – the Canadian Edition

Since July 1st…today is my Friday.  YeeHaw! 

1.  July 1st is also Canada Day …Canada’s Birthday.  The occasion marks the joining of the British North American colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867. (thanks Wikipedia)  This Bday marks # 144…looks pretty good from my point of view.

2.  A few years ago, Molson Canadian came up with a whole promo about how awesome Canada is…this is my favorite of them:

Here's to You

Here's to you Canada
Here's to your hockey hair
Your long underwear
And multi coloured money
Here's to saying please
Your ducks and geese
And always being funny
Here's to open spaces
Away from rat races
And a beer that quenches the thirst
Here's to being proud
And saying it loud
Even when you don't come first
Here's to your pretty girls
Your black coloured squirrels
And a flag that stands so free
Here's to different races
From different places
Who love this country - like me
But most of all
Here's to standing tall and saying it like a true Acadian
"I love this land, I love this country", and
"I am Canadian!"
Cheers!

3.  I am lucky enough to hang out with the hubs this weekend while also running, golfing and FINALLY tackling the gardening that desparately needs to be done.

Us last year on Canada Day:

4.  As Canadians, we don’t often brag about ourselves …but I think Canada is pretty great and am glad to live here.

Happy Canada Day…and because I am the polite Canuck I am, Happy Upcoming 4th of July to my American friends.

Sweat Your Thorns Off Race ReportSssss

Today Adam hosted the Sweat Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k.  My plan was to race this as part of my 8km training run this morning.  The race did not start off well – the alarm didn’t go off.  I sprang out of bed @ 5:30 and was out the door by 5:40.

Post race pic:

I also didn’t get my bib in time so here is the post race Canadian version – I don’t think I say “EH” a lot but others may disagree:

Race #1: 32:40.

Knowing that I would never win this race with my un-fast time, I decided to create my own category:  “The fastest 5km after running 8km in the morning and carrying golf clubs as part of an 18 hole round”. 

Race outfit #2 – taken at the golf course..this isn’t my hideous wallpaper….

I attached my Garmin to my bag (activating Auto Pause) and off we went:

We saw deer on the course…did you?

Race #2:  1:01:29

…and played a pretty good round.

Thanks for hosting Adam….and it was actually a bit chilly in this part of Canada on race day…but no snow.  :)

Four for Friday – the random edition

1.  Last night was the first tempo run I have done in ages…it was awesome, tough, sweaty, mentally challenging and I am sore this morning.  YEAH!!!

2.  Next week we are full swing back into training as our spin and core classes are starting back up.  Back to not being home until 8-9pm Mon-Thurs, sore abs and butt from core, 2 a day showers and eating late.  Another YEAH!

3.  Our lovely friends had a baby recently.  While we were in NYC for the half marathon, we picked up this one-sy for him.  Apparently, the Beastie Boys were wrong:

4.  Sunday I am going to be up super early but not for ‘ME’ reasons.  I am volunteering at The Healing Cycle event which the hubs and our friends have been raising funds for.  Who knew when you volunteered for finish line duties you still have to be there at 5:30am?   It is all for a good cause so I can certainly sacrifice the sleep in order to raise money for palliative care.  Cancer sucks. Period.

Happy Friday and weekend.  Make the minutes and moments count.

New Run Clinic a la Princess Leia

Our latest run clinic started back up last night.  Hallelujah!  It was so awesome to see tons of people out and some new people to the group.  Wait till they drink the Gatorade…no going back now.  :)

I was feeling a bit…cranky last night and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do run wise.  Since the hubs was going to the clinic to bike then run I decided to run down to the clinic.   Apparently a BondiBand plus my Sony Walkman makes me look like Princess Leia.

Once I got to the clinic we went through an intro session…it was as usual awesome to hear everyone’s run experience and # of races..I am very excited about this session.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go out for more running but felt great so I did another 5.7km with some of my peeps for a total of 11.7km…..Not bad for a Tuesday night.  I like this idea of running more from home to the clinic.  If I don’t do any detours, it is about 5km so for the early part of the clinic I am probably going to run to the clinics on Sunday to get a few more kms in.  For me…it is something I need to do.

(I managed to stay off the scale until this morning…and saw the numbers went down.  BooooYahhhhh!)

A weekend of AG placing, Sun and Family

The hubs first race of the season was a good one. 3rd place in his age group.  There is room for improvement and I can’t wait to see where the next race takes him.  I am so proud of him…especially since post race while he was feeling  like a truck ran over him, he cooked a great meal of steak, lobster and veggies. Yum.

(thanks Coach Mari for the pics!)

The group he trains with (and I run with) did amazing at this race so I am super proud to be associated with this amazing team who are also some of the best friends you could ask for.

The rest of the weekend was filled with sunshine…which for me meant running and golfing.  And I already have the weirdest tan lines on the planet.  I am being really careful with putting on sunscreen this year but my feet are pure white and I have a VNeck tan on my upper body.  Nice…….

We spent Sunday visiting the Pops in our lives and thinking of my Pop In Law who is surely enjoying some lobster and scotch in the afterlife. 

Pop In Law Nova Scotia ~ 2002?

My Dad got basically the same gift from me and my sibs – new golf shirts and books.  Creative we aren’t apparently and we suck at taking pics as yet again, I didn’t take any of our family.  Geez….But I do have this awesome one showing my Pops love of the Leafs…not cool in a family of HABS lovers….

This week our new run clinic starts – YeeHaw!  Give me my run/spin/core/coaching torture and I will be a happy camper again.

Four For Friday – the racing and running edition

1. The hubs has his first race of the year tomorrow. He has worked really hard all winter and struggled with more issues with his hips/butt than I can even count. I am VERY proud of him and know he is going to give ‘er. He was recently on our local news as part of a segment promoting the charity he is very involved in, The Healing Cycle. Because I am a geek, I took a pic of him on TV:

Kill it B! And prove to me this fancy schmancy bike was worth it… :)

2. I went to physio this week to see about the heel…Nothing major – tightness of the fascia so he did some ART and laser. I have to ice and stretch – specifically my calves. Please remind me to foam roll MKay?

3. The two runs this week were pretty good – I am still taping my heel which Mr Physio guy is fine with..he said keep running as long as it isn’t sour pain. Fine by me. I was Mrs Crabby on last night’s run with the hubs…I really did not want to go – I was exhausted. But with a little goading off we went and it was all good. You never regret the runs you do, just the ones you don’t….

4. This morning’s run was good – early but good…It was humid at 4:30am so I am glad I got it done this morning. Random things I saw this morning:

• a Mr and Mrs Duck (mallard and duck?) out strolling in the middle of the street. Do they do this all the time? Aren’t ducks supposed to be near water? Weird.
• TWO skunks this morning..luckily on the other side of the street from me…
  Seven bunny rabbits. Apparently we are now buds as they didn’t even really move when I went by them. I must be so fast now that they don’t even detect me.
  As I was finishing, a lady was out power walking…wearing ankle and wrist weights. Dude…not good….

Happy, happy Friday and early Father’s Day!!! Has this not been the longest week ever?

Wednesday’s Confession

First off…. The heel has felt pretty good since Sunday.  I am going to see our physio guy today just to see what he thinks – I am the queen of self-diagnosis (hello WebMD!) but I am not taking any chances with this.  If getting faster in the plan for this summer, that means tough workouts/speed training so better safe than sorry.

My confession for the week/month/year is I bought something I always said I didn’t care about:

A scale, specifically one that measure BMI:

As much as I know the scale just shows ‘numbers’ and doesn’t define me….I need something more to keep me in check even though:

• my clothes fit fine – for the most part
• once we are back in training, I will be running 4 X week, spinning 2 X week and cross training 2 X week. (I usually golf where I walk the course but this I don’t ‘count’ as exercise…except an exercise of new swear words I make up)
• I am healthy
• I eat well..but don’t keep track of it properly…especially of late.  Whoever invented Marble Slab Ice Cream…and opened one near my house should be hugged  jailed. I have been in denial of late as to the total # of calories I eat…Healthy food in ‘more’ quantities still equal calories!

So deep down, I knew I was probably weighing more than I should and my BMI was too high which it was.  I am feeling pretty squishy right now… Since this is the Summer of Speed and I plan to work my butt off…I need a ‘truer’ starting point to see how much of that butt I need to get rid of.   And while of course some of this is a vanity thing…it is also a better runner thing and THAT is the greater motivator.  The numbers on sportstats.ca mean more to me than being a size 2/4/6/8/10/12.

So there you go…A fancy scale has taken up residence.  I won’t be a slave to it but will be checking in with it weekly. 

And I will do what I can to be friends.

Weekend rewind

…and it’s Monday already.  I feel like Friday was so long ago and yet the weekend was a whirlwind. 

Friday started off like the rest of the week did – unable to sleep and awake @ 4am.  This time though, Mother Nature was kind and I was able to get my run on.  8km to start the day.  That night we went to see Super 8:

Loved it….I didn’t know much about the movie and thought it was excellent.

Saturday dawned and yet again I was up and running by 5am…this time though because I was playing golf @ 7:30am.  (another 8+km) Needless to say by 4pm that afternoon, I was baked.  For some reason of the last couple of days, I have had some weird soreness in my one heel.  By the time I was done walking/playing golf on Sat, I was limping.  I spent Sat night icing it and applying Traumeel as I really have no idea what is up with it.   (DONT BE PF!!)

Sunday the hubs and I went out for a run together.  He is usually Chatty McChatty everyday….except for when he runs apparently.  He ‘thinks’ when he runs….well, how does that help me when I want some distraction?  :)  I ended up taping my foot to see if it made a difference – it totally did:

The hubs and I split up as he needed to get some extra KMs in. Post run photo apres stretching:

 

I went to go find the hubs to get an ‘action shot’ of him heading home.  I found Captain Blister apparently unable to keep his fancy bright shoes on anymore…..I can relate dude:

Then off to play more golf:

So ~25km of running and ~22.5km of walking the golf course over 3 days.  My house is a mess, the garden not touched but….I be happy.

Four for Thursday – What I love right now – the non running version

Apparently Mother Nature is ticked at me as she has been playing serious havoc on my running of late.  The last 3 mornings I have been up to run (at an ungodly hour..) only to be turned away by lightning twice and a huge wind storm.  Good thing my official training doesn’t start until the 21st!

So because running has been scarce, let’s talk about some stuff I am loving right now:

1. Dresses/skirts:   I am not real girly but of late I have been all over dresses/skirts for work…probably because it has been so hot, they are easy to throw on and look somewhat put together:  Like this one from Esprit:

Even on the golf course, I have been looking Sporty Spice in golf skorts:

I really like this one as well but don’t think my introverted personality can carry it off…

2.  Franco Sarto Peep Toe wedges in red:

There are no other words…except they are pretty comfy!

3.  Watermelon.  I can eat a whole watermelon easily in a week.  The hubs doesn’t like it so it is up to me to finish it off…and I do.  Can you OD on watermelon?

4.  Coconut Mocha Frappachinos.  I am a total Starbuck moron.  In fact I order my coffee the same way – hot with milk.  So when Amy (damn her) mentioned these babies, I had to try one.

Of course I order it like this:  “Can I have a Coconut Mocha ice coffee thingy and can you make it non-fat?”  ‘Cause I am all cool like that.  It was awesome…except at $4.15 per tall and 200 calories..it will be a treat not something regular..even though I inhaled it and may have muttered about it being soo gooooddd about 100 times.

What say you?  What do you love right now?

Four for Sat- the memememe edition

Oooff…it has been a nutty few weeks with work.  I had a bit of burnout this week so used a personal day yesterday and for a change did non-chore things…

1.  I got in an early 9km run (which was awesome!) and then played golf.   9km of running + 7.5km of hilly walking the golf course makes for some tired legs….fyi….

 

2.  After a heatlhy lunch, I gots me feet done.  My poor neglected runner feet…I think they actually sighed with relief.

3.  I met up with the hubs for a chat, sunshine and downtown views.  (he isn’t cranky here..just his pic is..)

 

4.  and then home for baked sweet potatoes, chicken burgers and one o’ these…

I then proceeded to crash before 10pm…..guess having it all be about me is just too much to handle.  The rest of the weekend is more running, more golfing and getting together with friends tonight.

Are you a pedicure person?  Or even take a memememe day?