ho hum

Kinda feeling ho-hum, had such low energy all week and no appetite at breakfast - duh, should have realized something was wrong -thought I was just tired - but woke up in the night with a dry scratchy throat - gr- should have been taking some vitamins. I'm terrible at taking vitamins - not a fan of swallowing dry, lumpy pills, and I just forget. Hubby makes up for it by taking enough for both he and I.
So kind of a crappy week, haven't done any running - this has happened about 4 times in the year since I've started running - that I miss a week and sometimes a bit more. It wasn't that long ago that I missed a week.
I get scared 'cause I think I will lose the motivation to run again. So far, it always comes back.
-have also been distracted with preparing for a couple of job interviews. I've thrown in a little extra anxiety because some of the questions will be asked in French, my second language and I've become fairly fluent, but not perfect! That is one thing that is so aggravating about this city. It is the nation's capital therefore most government jobs, or agencies funded by governments require bilingualism - french/english - as Canada has two official languages -gr-r-r-. Very frustrating for people who are highly qualified but lack french.

I work in a french program for half of my day as it is and have taken some courses. At my church we have a small french Sunday school class as well as a larger English one. Most of the people in the French class are immigrants from the Congo and a  few gov't. employees,struggling to improve their French. I like it because there is only about a dozen of us and we can really get into a good discussion.
So keeping my fingers crossed for my job interview tomorrow.

(not my hand, have never had such perfect fingernails, however, I have been told that I could be a hand model - what's that say about my face....??)

Toodles,
Lee

Resolution run

I've been thinking of signing up for the resolution run again this year. Last year on New Year's Eve, I ran the 5k, my first race ever. It was so invigorating! It was challenging as the road was covered in a layer of greasy snow. You have to live in snow country to know what I mean. It isn't really greasy but it feels that way, so you work extra hard, a little like running in sand as it gives way.

I ran that race with my group from the Running Room which was nice. I have been running solo for months and I do miss running with a group sometimes. I didn't want to sign up for the race and show up alone. What fun is that?

 Today I found someone to sign up with. She's a friend of mine from church and she ran her first marathon this past summer. She runs indoors at a gym and has hooked up with two other ladies and they train together. They have all signed up for the race. I'm going to join them and we'll train together on Friday nights. For some of them it's their first time training outdoors in winter. I love winter running! So I'm stoked about having a small group to run with. It will motivate me and keep me focused on the training for the race.
I would love for our runs to look like this

but, really, it's going to look more like this

Bring it on!
Really, it's so refreshing, and I only had to wear my belaclava twice last winter!

can I call this running?

So, kind of fell apart this morning.
Went out and it was crazy windy again. Didn't realize that it was 3C (feels like -2 with the wind chill factor according to the weather network - that's 28F) until I got back home.
There were a few things throwing me off this morning.
Probably hadn't eaten enough, or had gone too long without eating prior to the run.
Garmin died.
Hubby came along on his bike, which threw me off my rhythm, threw off my concentration.
Tried to listen to music in one ear and hubby talking, not good, really threw off my rhythm, so did without the music.
I could see him pedaling so slowly and leisurely and it made me feel like I was working twice as hard.
Did I mention it was windy? Really windy.
So, I crapped out after my 4k route instead of continuing on leaving me to wonder why I'm blogging about such short, wimpy distances at all.....

The Hills

So last night I ran some hills for the first time in a long while. I live in farm land,very flat farm land. On Tuesdays now, I've decided to run where I drop Sean off for Scouts at our church. There are lots of hills and lots of churches in this little area which influence the street names. We have Steeplehill and Piety Hill.  Wasn't sure how it would go, but it went very well. I ran short steep hills, and little rolling hills, different grades that I could feel. Best of all on my route back, I ran up one long sloping hill. It took me listening to Tom Petty's Running Down a Dream through twice to keep me going. It was just the right tempo and a great song. Felt great getting to the top of the hill. Six hilly kilometres done. I do really need to get one of these though:

I'm havin' a good time

So, woke up to this,not bad.

The sky looked a little foreboding

but the forecast is calling for sun. They didn't mention anything about the freaking wind coming out of the north that assaulted me the moment I walked out the door!

Now, I'm not a cussin' or cursin' kind of gal, however there was a time... back in the day... and those little cursin' demons pop into my mind from time to time, like this morning

Things I was cursin' on my morning run today:
%$$# northerly wind broadsiding me
%&#*hard sidewalk for about 1rst 10 mins.
$&#* slippery gravelly shoulder for about the next 10mins.
$&#! northerly wind, causing me to contort into some weird kind of running form to not lose my hat and to just bear up against it
*%&$* loose dogs causing me to stop to put Shelby on leash before they got closer and she'd want to run off after them and trying not to get all tangled up in three dogs
%*$& noisy farm machinery drowning out my music and  with their #&@^# diesel, that smell makes me nauseous
#%@% north wind hitting me head on for a stretch
!#$#!@ overly strong manure smell coming off the farms

Okay, so things I liked about my run this morning:
being out in the country
running by a little house with the smells of a wood stove coming from it
seeing a blue jay in flight
telling the wind - you aint' gonna stop me
listening to Freddie Mercury reminding me - "Don't stop me now i'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball don't stop me now" This really put a smile on my face, reminded me to enjoy the moment and helped me pick up the pace - it was so fun, I played it again
Having that northerly wind at my back for the last km and some AC/DC kicking my butt all the way home, helping me to finish strong
So, 6.84 k done, wind be damned!

Lunch on the Run

It's cold and rainy today, and it seems all I've been eating is cold foods, no wonder I feel a little chilled.
Breakfast was plain greek yogourt with frozen blueberries, frozen banana slices, a little pineapple, almond butter and chia seeds. That left me feeling a little chilly, wrapped in a blanket on my couch, catching up on a couple of Oprah episodes I had recorded.
I just felt like staying put there, but had to go out for a haircut. That usually gives me a lift, but it's so gloomy, windy and cold out and I'm feeling kind of tired that the haircut didn't quite cut it - pun intended.
I mosied on over to a little thai fusion place I like and got a cold lunch to go, which I ate in my car in the parking lot - not very romantic or fun but ya gotta eat! So I had an order of rice wraps when what I should have done was call up a friend to come join me for  a bowl of pho.
The wraps were good, albeit cold

After that, I did some errands and 3:00 p.m. found me noshing on these, just a handful, okay, maybe two small handfuls - not the healthiest choice, although the advertising makes you think so, but maybe a little better than junk candy. I wonder if there really is any nutritional value left in the berry extracts.

 if you like chocolate and chewy

they contain acai, blueberry, raspberry, cranberry, pomegranate, elderberry, and lemon juices all wrapped in dark chocolate - texture is like a jujube.
Think I'll make something warm and toasty for dinner.
Happy Trails,
Lee

end of work week run

Thursday is the end of my work week. After a not very good sleep and a long physically and mentally demanding day, and a long commute, I just felt like plopping down on the couch. How's that for a run-on sentence!
However, I put on my running gear, funny how Shelby knows even before I go change that we are going for a run. On days I arrive home and won't be running, she doesn't get excited. She seems to know.
I ran 10/1 intervals. The first interval, I was feeling the effects of all the things mentioned in my first sentence. It was kind of gloomy and raining a bit. I wore my running jacket, or 'cult' jacket as my Learn to Run coach liked to call it. Should have known, I was feeling too warm by the start of the 2nd interval but not unbearably so. I was running down country roads. Shelby stopped to crap along the side of the road, I guess she's a real runner! I'm not part of that club, yet!
My run continued on pretty good. The last k was on the main drag that goes through our village so it motivated to keep my posture good. I finished strong and felt good. My run ended right in front of our local bakery which smelled great! I walked the last 1/2 k or so home as I'd accomplished my 6.5k that I wanted to by the time I reached the bakery, 6.59k to be exact. Not bad for this 46 yr. old gal who's lugging around an extra 20+lbs. Gotta get that off so I can run more efficiently, longer and farther. Funny how that's my motivation. I'm not running to lose weight, but I want to lose weight so I can run better. On my run, I ran past some of these flitting by

 then Shelby and I startled some of these, when we ran past a farmer's field,

and we also ran past a field like this on our last stretch

It was a good little run.
Happy Trails,
Lee

running in the dark

Ran 5k tonight. I dropped Sean off at church for Scouts and thought I'd run there instead of going home and having to come back. It was nice to have a new route, but I forgot there is a stretch of road with no street lights before getting to suburbia. I had my flashing Nike light on my running jacket but a headlamp would have helped. I was hoping I wouldn't step into a hole or trip on a rock, as I was running on the unpaved shoulder. Not good!

Beautiful clear night with stars and moon shining brightly
temp: 8C (about 46F), very nice for running although 0C is the temp for me. Felt odd not to have Shelby with me, especially in the dark. Also my friend Patti, who ran her first marathon this past summer has invited me to run a marathon in Kansas with her next year. Why Kansas, I don't know, we just talked in passing so I will have to get more details. Wonder if I'm up for that? hmmm.......

Autumn Walk

Today Rory and I went for a country walk. I forgot my camera which is too bad because we got up close to farmers clearing their fields and loading up the wagons with threshed? remains of the soy plants. It looked something like this

It was a sunshiny day. The walk was 4k and I could feel it in the top of my legs after running yesterday, felt good though. Then we came home and had leftovers of all the turkey and fixin's and watched Prince of Persia, and so nice to be having tomorrow off too.
Happy Trails,
Leee

Hips Don't Lie and Lucky Socks

Okay, so it's been almost two and half weeks since I last ran. I had the sinus cold that hung on forever and zapped my energy. I might have been able to run a little sooner but I just didn't feel any strength or stamina - not an excuse, but a true listening to my body. However, my mind started playing games with me, like, maybe you aren't really a runner if you're not itching to get back out on the road, or, maybe your just a lazy person trying to go against your real nature, or, maybe, you're such a poor runner that now you'll have to cut back and feel like you're starting all over, or, maybe, just maybe, you're not really a runner so don't bother....
I noticed the last couple of days that my hips started hurting. This is what was happening before I ever started running. I couldn't believe it! I was 45 and my hips are hurting, isn't that something that might start up arouns age 70?? The beautiful thing is that once I started running, no more sore hips! So, when they started acting up a couple of days ago I knew I had to muster up the mental strength, tell that little negative voice to shove it

and get my running shoes on.

I woke up at 7:00 this morning beautiful, sunny weather +4
I got on my gear and told my self I'd do 5k as slow as I wanted to, wasn't sure how I'd feel but expected it to be a big effort. Well, lo and behold, I immediately felt wonderful even though the wind was blowing so hard it blew my hat off. A young runner passed me along the way with a friendly bit of chit chat which was nice. I was feeling so good that I continued on to my 6k route and finished up with a 6.55k total. Not bad for this newbie after missing over 2 wks. It's great how the body 'remembers' even when the mind tries to mess with you. Maybe I really needed a break.
This week I found my favorite running socks, well, the one that was missing to make a complete pair, maybe they brought me luck today :)

It's Thanksgiving weekend here and I do have much to be thankful for
Happy Trails,
Lee

dang it

Thought I might feel up to a run after work, okay, it's almost 2wks. since my last run, that's just too long.
I'm still blowing my nose every 5 minutes it seems. I was ready to drive home from work (a 50 min. commute on a good day) and get on my running gear and go. Now, not that I'm making excuses but because of unforseen circumstances I didn't leave work until an hour later than I usually do which bumped everything up. Now normally I would persevere with my run, but I am still drained from this frigging cold! I did get two walks in at work and am physically active all day on the job , but still..... got to get it together -

Fall Garden

This is one of my favorite Group of Seven paintings. It's be J.E.H. McDonald. It reminds me of this time of year and kind of how my back yard is looking right now, there's work to do tomorrow...

I am finally starting to feel better, but still keeping the kleenex close by. Man, I've been so sick and have not gone out running. I'm hoping I'll feel fully recovered by tomorrow and test out my endurance.
It felt great to turn the calendar over to October this morning. I don't work Fridays and I started the day feeling lots of hope for this month for many things. I spent the day reveling in domestic bliss. It's a treasure to be home, puttering around the house, nesting this time of year. I'm looking forward to the cooler temps. for running too. It's been almost a year (end of October) since I signed up for my first running clinic. I think I'll do another one as I'm getting a little lonely running alone, well Shelby is ever faithful, but I did enjoy the camaraderie of running with a group.
During my 2nd clinic which took place in the winter months, I distinctly remember having a wonderful 6k run with 3 other women, we broke off from the larger group and chatted on for awhile. The temp. was hovering around 0Celsius (about 32F) and a few flakes of snow were falling, it was dark outside. The conversation slowly died out as we became almost lulled into the quiet rhythm of four pair of feet falling onto pavement - it was the best- and I want more of that... but it's not winter yet... looking forward to some nice Fall running.
Lee