too sick to run

I had such a good run on Wednesday and was looking forward to running today, but dang it all, I really do feel like crap. I tried fighting it off since Sunday but it's caught up with me.

'Til next time,
Lee

Bad Dog

Today's run:
Temperature - 21C (about 70F) - a little warm for my liking but had a breeze while running north, more of a strong head wind at times
Food - ate an apple, 1/2 banana and 1/2 a Fibre 1 bar on the commute home, about an hour before running
Sleep - good, really needed to catch up last night and did
Distance - 5.7k - felt pretty good and steady throughout, took it slow, my feet were a little sore, think it's time for some new shoes.
Distractions - Cows

At one point during my run I came up along side some cows and they started running along the fence. I was just hoping that I didn't look like one of them! I knew I was a target for a good joke by anyone driving past - hey, look, one of the cows got loose - yes I do feel a little self-conscious when I run sometimes and have , 20, 30 lbs.( gained  10 over the past few months, in fact weighed less before I started running last fall) to lose so hoping I didn't resemble the cows too much.

Dog Antics - Shelby was very well behaved but as I was running down a dirt road, out bounded this big beagle mix dog from a farm fairly close to a busy road. This is not my first encounter with this dog. I yelled out - 'Call your dog', again, 'you need to call your dog' no response. I kept running and the damn dog followed me to the busy road and all the way down it for a couple of kilometres right to my front yard- It was so frustrating - I had to worry about the dog getting itself killed and try to keep my pace and rhythm going- I think the owners shouldn't leave him loose even though they are on a country road, especially at rush hour when there are lots of people coming and going. I don't feel it was my responsibility to bring the dog back. That happened the first time. The dog followed dh and I for 2 or 3 km, and then we walked him back to the farm( round trip of 10k when we were planning on 6) - no one home had to let him in the porch.  Bad dog or bad owners?

under the weather

Woke up at 6:30 a.m. - don't you love that when you wake up, wide awake on the day you can sleep in. Never happens on a work day. Throat felt a little dry. Put on the eye mask and readjusted the ear plugs and fell into a nice sleep for a couple of more hours. Woke up in time to make it to church but just for the first hour.
Came home, feeling a little scratchy in the throat and achy in the muscles. Went back to bed for three hours.
Woke up and put my running clothes on, grabbed the Garmin, some tunes, the dog and went out for a slow 5k. It actually felt pretty good. I think I've been running a little too fast and instead of enjoying it, I feel like it's a battle to get through it. So maybe I need to slow down a little.
Took it easy for the rest of the night, feeling a little feverish. Hope it's better by morning as I need to go to work.
I've done this before where just as I'm feeling like I'm coming down with something, I've still done my run and maybe it's the sweating it out, but it seems to help it pass. Hopefully by morning I won't feel like this

 

going to sleep now. bye, 'til next time

Saturday Work

Worked today, not typical for me,to work on a Saturday, that is,  but occasionally I help out at  an Autism  Program.
I was on my feet from 8:30 - 3:00 with the little guys. Good day.
It was such a nice sunny day we took for them for two long walks and played outside at the park too.  Run day tomorrow.

Fair Weekend

Here's the view out my son's upstairs window this weekend.

Our village is all geared up for the annual fair. Most days of the year I just have lovely open space to look out at from my kitchen window. Some weekends there are horse shows going on and I love waking up to the whinnying. But this weekend it will be a busy hustle bustle.
Tonight is the smash-up derby and by dark the rides area is pretty much inpenitrable  due to all of the drunken teenagers. But day time is a great family time at the fair. I love to walk through the agricultural halls, watch some of the horse events and look at all the old farm equipment.
Today's run - just over 5 k
Weather - 15C (59F) - still a little warm for my liking (for running, that is)
Sleep - 6 hrs. not my best for running, and dealing with an 11yr. old this morning who did not want to go to school. He said: "You're the worse mother I ever had!!" to which I replied, "I'm the only mother you ever had" - oh what fun!
Food - had a bagel with Almond butter and banana about 2 hrs. before running.
Run - felt like I was lumbering, plodding, outer right lower calf was bothersome,( I think it started because I had to run on the shoulder)  felt a little too warm by about the half way point
Dog Antics - Shelby plunged into a farmer's drainage ditch and came out looking like a big wet rat and stopped right in front of me to shake off - now she smells - badly!
After Run - protein powder mixed with water, stretching - felt great  that I accomplished my run even though I was tired.
Happy Trails all,
Lee

after work de-stress

So, I'm still adjusting to the grind and all the demands and responsibilities of the day. Started off with some farm fresh eggs for breakfast,

looks good doesn't it?

By the time my work day was done, I felt kind of like this,

I got home from work later than usual with not a whole lot of time left before it was time to go to bed and wake up and do it all over again. I made time for my run though as soon as I did get home. I think to myself, 'Yay, I get to run today'.
My run went really well, the cooler weather really helps and I even passed another runner running with his dog like I do. So I did a little over 5k in a nice rhythm, with a little sun, a little breeze, and a little music on the mellow side. Afterward, I felt more like this:

Time to go have a late bit of dinner. Happy Trails,
Lee

Information Overload

Today DH, Shelby and I walked a little over 4k when I got home from a very full day at work. Information overload! So it was great to get out in the late afternoon sun and decompress from the day. It's a great way to spend some quality time with DH. I was a little tired as I didn't sleep well and am still adjusting to being back to work. September is always a crazy month, getting to know new clients, families, staff, routines etc., etc.,
So a nice walk along some farmers' fields was just the ticket to add a little balance to the day.

Better slow than not at all

I'm still adjusting to being back to work. Today was a good but very full work day.
I came home and ran 5k. It felt more like I lumbered 5k. But the sun was shining and there was a little breeze and I just tried to relax into it and be in the moment. I thought about how good this running was for my body, mind and soul. I thought about the alternative. I thought about how good I'd feel after the run-good physically but also good about accomplishing what I set out to do. I relaxed, found my rhythm and took in the scenery. It was a slow run but better than not running at all. Hope you had a good run today too.

Mill Walk

Just walking today with  dh. It was nice to have some cooler weather.
Here is where we walked.

It is so pretty in this little village. We walked the hilly streets, looking at all the quaint homes and gardens.
Run day tomorrow.
Happy Trails
Lee

Wild Turkey Run

This is such a nice time of year. I woke up this morning and while everyone was still fast asleep out I went for a  5krun. I guess it was around 8:00 a.m.  I came across some 

wild turkeys having breakfast in a farmer's field.  It was quite a large rafter of turkeys. There seemed to be a mix of toms, hens and poults, about a dozen or so total.
What a nice sight to see, just about ten minutes in. Turning the corner onto a long stretch of farms, I could smell very strongly the smell of what put me in mind of hops. Not sure if that's what it was. Of course there were the regular farm smells permeating the warm late summer morning air and I had to dodge bits of manure on the road that a farmer's tractor was leaving behind down one section as he traveled  from one field to another.
Shelby was loving the off-leash run. Oh, I haven't mentioned Shelby yet have I.
She's my running partner, but I'll introduce her to you in a future blog.
Hope your morning was as pleasant as mine. I've even got our bed linens hanging out on the line.
Rural living, it's so nice this time of year, and running through the farmlands really makes me aware of the subtle changes of the seasons.
Happy Trails 'til next time.
Lee

Nihao

So we went for some

yes, for some Chinese food. We walked to the restaurant on this glorious late summer evening, just Papa Bear, Sean and I. The other two boys were wherever young men of that age go on Friday evenings. I stuck to mostly vegetables, a bowl of Wonton Soup and avoided foods that weren't worth the calories. I avoided the dessert table. I may have had some if I really was in the mood, but  I really wasn't feeling like dessert, so why bother. There was a time that I would have eaten it just because it was there.
Afterward we walked home while the sun was setting and made a longer loop around the neighborhood.
Sean was kicking a can around the whole way. Remember when that was an irresistible thing to do?
Tomorrow I am going to run, think I'll change up my route a bit.
Zai jian

Excuses, Excuses

I had many reasons why I felt that I 'deserved' to just sit down, take a load off and zone out today after work instead of going for a run.
1. It's my first week back at work.
2. Today was non-stop, so was yesterday and the day before
3. I didn't get a chance to have lunch.
4. I still had lots to get done at home.
5. My head was pounding.
6. I'm not used to the early mornings yet.
Okay, so I could go on and on and on.  I did entertain the thought, Yes I did indeed, but not for long.
I thought of how good it would feel to go sit down and relax but then how bad it would feel to come blog about how I had skipped my run. I thought about how good I'd feel after the run.

I put on my shoes and ran!

Cardinal Kind of Day

So I survived yesterday and first thing this morning I saw a male cardinal fly across my back yard and land on our feeder!  He looked something like this little guy.

Such a change from what I woke to yesterday morning! I took it as a positive sign for a brighter day.
So it's rest day today, but I did lug, carry, haul, lift, etc. all kinds of boxes, equipment and assortment of things all day as we set up our rooms in the two community centres we run our programs out of. Run day tomorrow.

Dog Crap kind of Day

So it was back to work for me today. I'm always anxious for about two days before the start day. I love the work I do, but not the logistics (setting and schedule) that gets me flustered. So, after a restless night I woke up to dog crap all over the den, not a usual thing for our dog Shelby to do, but happens if she's gotten in to some human food. This couldn't have happened yesterday, no, she saved it for my already stressful day. I tried to stay positive thinking that it could be worse, she could have done it on the carpet. Glad the den door was closed.
Work was information overload . Okay, so driving home with a headache, I arrive to DH at the door waiting to drop a bomb or two on me about our teenagers and their antics. Oh, and the dog decided to leave a little more crap on the carpet afterall.
Arghg-gh. So just when I felt like running away for home, or tuning out to something mindless with a mindless snack of something with too many empty carbs, I heard a little voice inside my head, I think it was Beth from Shut Up and Run telling me, well, you know....
So I did. I wanted to go outside to run but it started thundering and lightning, but I didn't let that stop me. I trudged downstairs to the  treadmill and put in 40 minutes. I'm doing 10/1 intervals. I sweated out all that stress and frustration to some rockin' tunes, truly therapeutic! Relaxed with a shower and some stretching and life doesn't look so bleek afterall. I'll try to get a good sleep and tomorrow is a new day. Blah! Felt good to get all that off my chest! Take Care - Happy Trails

Capital City Walk

I was reading Roni's blog and decided to post this in response to her challenge at  http://www.blogtolose.com/profiles/blogs/challenge-weekend-activity. Ok, so it didn't happen this weekend but it was a very recent family walk with  Papa Bear, Sean and our nephew. It's a great place to walk in Ottawa along the Rideau Canal bringing you up to the Parliament buildings and back. Here is the route we walked. It's just under 6k.

My starting point is just about where I ran my first 5k on December 31rst of last year. It's the annual Resolution Run and I enjoyed it a lot. The race was in the opposite direction to our walk.

The boys at the Pretoria bridge, often the starting point for races along the canal, but above at street level

a view of a section of the canal with the Parliament buildings in the background.

downtown Ottawa

Rideau Canal Locks

many who live here work for the government in buildings such as the one with the Canada sign

the clock tower
Anywhere along the canal is a great place to get out and walk, run or bike and in the winter you can skate along most of its length. Hope you are enjoying some great outdoor places with your family too
Lee

where I run

So here is the 4k route I've often run.

Isn't it great! It feels so good to get out into the country. There is a 6k that I do that takes me a little further up the first road before I turn right and then continue as for the 4k. The roads running across (east/west) are hard packed dirt/gravel. The rest is asphalt. I've run 8k by looping around  further to the west down more dirt roads. I live in farm country, in a little village, 10 minutes by car to suburbia,  - best of both worlds. There is also a Running Room in  this nearby suburbia where I've completed two clinics. I'm going to join another clinic this fall. I find it fun to run with a group and motivating too. Happy Trails,
Lee

Windy Walk

Today, I went for a 4k walk with Papa Bear and it was mighty windy but so refreshing, after so many days of high humidity.
Went shopping for groceries state side and was surprised at how many products have

 high fructose corn syrup in them which left my cart a little emptier than I expected. I did stock up on some things as the prices are overall better. We filled up our gas tank too. Gas where I live in Canada is 99 cents a litre and the price in NY state was 73 cents a litre. Run day tomorrow.

Go-go-go

Didn't get a lot accomplished yesterday so it's go-go-go today, busy in good way but starting to feel the stress level rise  as it's back to work in 4 more sleeps which coincides with getting Sean ready for back to school. He's starting middle school which is grade 6. How did I ever get 7 boys ready for back to school? Oh ya, that was when I was in my thirties, and didn't work outside of the home for a few years, most days were effortless (yes, my husband and I have 7 boys between us!!)
So today, my priority was to run. As a warm-up I cleaned the kitchen dishes, vacuumed the main floor, cleaned one bathroom lickity-split and threw in a load of laundry. I'd worked up a bit of a sweat and was ready to run. I wanted to run outside, but I've had enough humidity for one season, so down to the basement I went.
So today, I only did 32 minutes on the treadmill. That was it. A drop in the bucket for some of you, but hey, for me, it's an accomplishment - the self-discipline and just being able to do it physically, sounds pretty lame, but 'ya gotta start somewhere. The most I've ran so far is 8k and that feels like quite something to this newbie, and it was outdoors in winter, (with the wind in my face, uphill both ways lol)

Here is what I had for lunch. Pre-run I had half banana with a smear of almond butter, then a protein shake mixed with water, post run. So this late lunch is my main meal and I'll finish the day off with a yogurt and fruit bowl concotion and a little something for protein

It quickly became this

always tastes better when you share, in my case with Papa Bear

and for dessert, better to have it at lunch than later

apple pie and green tea - does shopping for back to school supplies count as a workout?
It's a long weekend in Canada, elsewhere too? Enjoy your weekend.
Lee

Today's Eats

Woke up this morning and felt thankful for a Mom who gave me these

from her hobby farrm. It's great to eat fresh eggs from free range chickens not pumped full of antibiotics etc. Thanks Mom! I put them on to boil for some egg salad, then threw together a little breakfast for me and the man.

Started out with some of this balkan style yogourt and added banana, frozen grapes, pineapple and a little Kashi Go Lean

I added

just a little dollop of almond butter, it's so tasty and I don't usually, but I put just a drizzle of this on the top

This is local honey which was a gift from my friend which makes it all the sweeter. It's so nice to eat locally grown foods.

Did I say that I love my crockpot? It's so nice to prepare supper in the morning and at 5:00 it's all ready, hearty and healthy. Here's what went in it with the chicken, so-o-o easy. Just cut up a bunch of

Add it to the pot with

stir it up and let it cook all day. Put some rice in the rice cooker and by 5:00 voila, a nice dish of thai curry chicken

I added some fresh ground pepper and drank a little bottle of San Pellegrino on ice with a twist of lemon. Lime is nice too.

 The San Pellegrino is very nice. I prefer it to Perrier.  Oh, and this is how the egg salad turned out. I was going to make a spinach salad with it but just didn't feel that hungry. Didn't have enough greens today though. Too bad I'm going back to work next week and won't have as much time to just enjoy cooking, then it seems to become another task on the 'to do' list - what a shame

Hope you all had a good food day! It's my rest day but I should get back into doing some form of stretching, yoga or weights on these days.
Lee

in my tracks

After my first 10 mths. of running, something stopped me in my tracks!

It wasn't the heat and humidity that I've endured since May

 nor, the tight, pulling feeling, in my groin,
nor, the same old route


no what stopped me was,


a photo

not just any photo, but  the worst photo of myself, on the dance floor at my cousin's wedding

I thought I was looking so cute and fit on the dance floor, ok, so I know I'm not skinny but after nine months of running I was feeling pretty fit, and toned, sort of and confident

That photo owned me though and I came to a dead stop in my tracks and fell into a cesspool of discouragement. After three, yes I missed three weeks of  running, my mind and body started to feel like mush. I felt like I could barely string two thoughts together. I felt my energy lagging more and more each day. I just couldn't bring myself to get back on track

But all is not lost:

Today, I put on these

and ran for an hour on my treadmill - too hot and humid outdoors. Immediately, my legs felt happy, then my heart and lungs started to feel happy and then my mind started to feel clear and happy. I was only aiming for half an hour to ease back in but I felt so darn happy that I just kept going.
Then when I stopped, I looked for my trusty shaker to shake up some protein powder with water, but couldn't find it so I used this:

then I did some of these,

while listening to this:

followed by this,

ah-h-h-h, now I feel 'right' again, good, relaxed, refreshed, cleared out the cobwebs - running - takes care of what ails you  - I'm so happy to be back and hope you'll join me on my quest to be healthy in mind, body and spirit
Lee