Do You Know the Capital of Canada? Hint, it's not Toronto or Montreal

It's cold in Canada's capital city today, and no Arnold, Canada's capital is not Montreal (although it was from 1844-49), and our brave troops are not serving in Iraq, they are in Afghanistan.

Yes, it's cold today,

this kind of cold,

that's R, playing with the snow blower,
but despite all of that I woke up feeling good, it's not been the greatest month here at Lee's but it seems to be ending on a good note.
Yesterday R, and Shelby and I did a 4K walk, with me and Shelby throwing in some run intervals.
This morning I got up and found myself a 6wk training program for the 5K  I'm running on St. Patrick's Day.
Since it is so freaking cold out, I decided to muster up the mental courage and determination to head down to the basement and get on the treadmill, which I did for 25minutes as per my first training day schedule. And it actually felt good, beige walls and all.
I kind of like focusing on the time and not the distance, which this whole training schedule is.
And here is my feel good song for the day, I mean how can you not feel good running to this, or just while doing stuff around the house, good 'ol Freddie, wonder if he knew the capital of Canada?

Socks! Socks!

Last night I arrived home to a package on the table. It was my socks that I won from ajh's giveaway at agegroupsrock Thanks AJ!
Here I am relaxing by the fire in my new socks.

It's been incredibly cold here the past few days with temperatures dipping down to -34C Br-r-r!
I'm on a little running hiatus this week. One thing I've done though is to post an ad on our village website in the hopes of organizing a little running club here in the boonies. I've had a few e-mails back. No sense running alone if you don't have to. I'm not sure how to go about organizing it though. I want to include all levels of runners. Maybe I should just see what people's interests are and see if we can co-ordinate run times for different levels. I just want to keep it simple. Maybe just everyone can meet on certain days/times and then break into groups from there based on distance or training program.  I'm lucky if I'll have 10 people to start, so any ideas of how to get the ball rolling in the simplest way  - let me know. I'm also going to post an ad on the grocery (yes, we only have one grocery store in the village) store bulletin board and see what that drums up.

Happy Running!

Hoar Frost

Was out the door at 7:30 this morning. It was -16C/3F and colder with the wind chill.

 But it was sunny!
How 'bout that hair!

I am the walrus goo, goo g'joob
5K complete and I'm pretty happy with that on this cold morning!

"Hoar frost (also called radiation frost or hoarfrost or pruina) refers to the white ice crystals, loosely deposited on the ground or exposed objects, that form on cold clear nights when heat losses into the open skies cause objects to become colder than the surrounding air. The name hoar comes from old english and can be used as an adjective for showing signs of old age in reference to the frost which makes trees and bushes look like elderly white hair ." Hey! who you calling old!

Eat your Oats!

I like to make this on the weekend, but had some today
Just throw some oats into a pan with double the amount of water and a little salt. As, it's coming to a boil, grate in an apple, include the skin. As it thickens, add a little mile to it and you can add a little butter if you want.

I guess what makes it a weekend indulgence is that I top it with this:

Yum, and what makes it extra special is that my Dad bought this big 2L jug for me. He and I share an appreciation for the real stuff!  Years ago he had a friend who ran a maple sugar bush and used to bottle the stuff in old whisky bottles, kind of looked nice sitting in the fridge with their amber glow.

Hot & Cold

Last year on this very day I was here:

ah-hh- sunny Mexico, - there's where I was running around the resort and the red line along the beach is where we'd walk almost everyday, stopping along the way for a dip whenever, notice no resorts there, we had the ocean pretty much to ourselves in that area, We usually did a 7k walk, just nice. As for the running, I went early in the morning, but still the humidity was killer!
SNAP back to reality,
Today here, the weather is this:

It was actually -23C/-17F when I went out this morning! But at least it was sunny and no wind! I can deal with that. I did some speed intervals at the race track across the street from me. At least I intended to. When I got there, the track was not clear, but there was a little foot path in the snow from dog walkers Yup! I ran around there like a fool getting an extra workout for running in the snow. Shelby loved it. She was tearing around the whole place. Then I decided to stick to the streets and I did the rest of my speed intervals that way.  By the time I got home, I was feeling very energized. Nothing like a little run in the freezing cold to get you going in the morning!

Shelby, looking a little frosty!

Sexy Pants!

So, I got up and got my butt outside for a run this morning! It was a beautiful sunny morning with temps hovering around -15C /5F. The roads were clear and best of all - No Wind!
I put in 8k. When I've missed a few runs, like say a week's worth, a-hem, I always get this fear that I'm not going to be able to run, that I'll have to start from square one, or that I'll lose the desire to run. It's a Scary Feeling!
But alas, it felt so-o-o good! Good enough to put on my Sexy Pants after stretching and showering.
Such a state of mind, yesterday I was feeling all schleppy, frumpish, sluggish with a slight brain fog - the effects of missing a week of running. There was no way I was going to even put those pants on because you know - I'd be thinking I look fat in those. But today, I'm thinking I'm looking pretty great in those pants. It's all what you exude! Amazing what a run can do. Definitely a chick post! Sorry guys! Here, this is for the guys. See how confident he looks, he must have just come back from a run. Y'all should get yourself a pair.

Sucked through a Portal

I am still around, I think I got sucked through a portal into a different dimension

where running is at a minimal, time moves too fast, dark clouds hang overhead, day feels like night and night feels like day. In other words, I'm trying to adjust to my new work schedule, not succumb to the PMS monster and generally keep one step ahead of the game. And I thought December was busy!
Well, I must get a little more familiar with my new running shoes, they are looking a little lonely, there in the corner by the front door, and a little too squeaky clean. And how 'bout that new Ipod Shuffle I got at Christmas time. Still haven't loaded any running tunes onto it.

I'll get it together, always do...eventually..