Injury Report

I was talking to a coworker today. She, being older and wiser, talked me into going to see my doctor. I called, they had an opening, so I went over. I definitely have a sprained ankle and a sprained wrist. When I asked her about getting back to running, she pulled out a referral form and told me to get my ankle xrayed in case there's a fracture. No xray for my wrist because I don't need my wrist to run. Fair enough.

I went back to work for a bit because I had some things to do and I had our co-op student's going away party. I went to a clinic and got the xrays done. Because it was a clinic, they have to have a radiologist look over the xrays. I won't have the results until Tuesday or Wednesday.

I went back to work to pick up J. We stopped for more wood at Home Depot on the way home. I lounged around while J worked on the deck. I'm sure he's updated his little blog by now so head over there to see the progress.

I'm looking forward to a busy weekend but not looking forward to a forced break from training. I'll decide soon about this race, whether I sign up before getting the results from the xrays. I will keep you posted. Have a great weekend, whatever you do.

Week night outings

Going out during the week really helps with the sleep-work-eat-repeat cycle that is so easy to fall into. Tuesday night we went to Pub Italia to celebrate S's birthday. There were multiple beers, dinner for me and J, and then a walk along Preston looking for gelato. There was no gelato.



Gelato or not, it was a nice night out. Happy birthday again, S!

Ouch

My big plan for my bachelorette evening (J's at work until at least 10pm) was to relax a bit, run 6K, do some laundry and maybe watch some tv. I got the relaxing and eating done and got geared up for my run. I wasn't very far from home when I wiped out. Let me first say that I'm fine. I have a headache from the pain, but nothing some advil won't make go away.

I don't even want to tell this story, but since I use this blog as a diary and often go back to see when I did certain things, I will.

I was running on the sidewalk on a street right near my house. There was a couple walking ahead of me so I went to go on the road so I could pass them. The street still isn't paved properly so there's a step down between the curb and the road. It was dark and I didn't see the step and went over on my ankle. I actually rolled right into the street, banging up my knee and my wrist in the process.

I must have scared the walking couple because they ran over to see if I was alright. They stayed with me until I picked myself up off the ground and got off the road. I thanked them and hobbled home. Like I said, I'm fine. My ankle, knee and wrist are sore but I'm okay.

Because I was feeling sorry for myself I cracked open a can of pop and munched on some chips. I just need some chocolate and I'll be fine.

Cottage Weekend

Work on Friday seemed to take forever because I knew we were leaving for the cottage and couldn't wait to get out of there. The day finally ended and we hopped in the car. We met S&L at A&S's house and headed out. We made good time even though we stopped twice - once for dinner and once for groceries.

It was SW's birthday Friday and SK's coming up so L and I got the birthday cake iced and candled and sang our little hearts out.



The rest of Friday night was full of beer and singing around the campfire. SK was the winner of the night and went to bed with a bucket.

Saturday the weather was perfect. There were boat rides and sailing and windsurfing and tanning.





Saturday night we were all sitting around the campfire. We had been talking about skinny dipping earlier and someone said that we should do it. Thankfully I had already gotten into the liquor and had enough nerve to strip down and run into the water. I've never been skinny dipping and never thought I would ever do it in a lake. But I did and I'm glad I did. Now I can cross that off my list of things-to-do-before-I-die. And now my friends have seen me n*aked - awesome.

Saturday was my night to win, but I avoided the bucket.

Sunday we decided to stay so we had the whole day and again the weather was perfect. We went searching for turtles and boating around the lake, we went out to the raft and swam, we worked on our burns.





We got back into town after 8pm, had dinner at S&L's and went home. The cats were super excited to see us. I was dozing off on the car ride home but managed to get myself completely unpacked, showered and ready for bed. It was a really great weekend.

Great weekend, great high

I had a great time at the cottage this weekend and when I have more time I will tell you all about it. All I can give you now is a quick note before I collapse into bed. The weather was good, the food was good, the company was good and the alcohol was good. At least for me. I came out of the weekend with a hang over and a good tan. I got some great pictures and some great stories. I surprised myself and did some things I never thought I would do.

I'm such a tease.

Now, if you were paying attention, the title of this post includes the word "high". I'm referring to the fact that I ran 18K tonight. 2K longer than I've ever run and I feel great! I felt strong and fast. This week's long run is 20K and then I taper before the race. I also have to commit and officially sign up. I have the rest of the week to do that.

So I promise another post soon with cottage stories and pictures. Not that you can't just go and look at the pictures whenever you want.

This week isn't terribly busy so far. I had my long run tonight and will likely be running either early Sunday morning or Monday after work again. Beach volleyball is done so I have nothing planned tomorrow night and nothing Wednesday or Thursday nights either. I even think Friday is free so far. Maybe I will get my piles and piles of laundry done. At least I have Saturday night's party to look forward to. Because I really need another party.

A glimpse into my day

K calling J at work...

J: Hey guy.
K: I'm not a guy. I'm a princess.


J calling K at home...

K: Hello?
J: Hi Princess.
K: Yay!

The crazy storm that shook the city

I was sitting at work Monday afternoon when it started getting dark. I looked out the window and saw this:



I immediately called J at work and we decided to leave early to beat the rain. We made it to the car but we didn't make it home before the heavy rain started. The drive was incredibly slow. There was a lot of water on the roads.



I thought we were struck by lightning twice and thought my heart was going to stop.

And then the hail started. It was much louder than the rain and J was worried about it damaging the paint.



We finally got home and got out of the car in the garage. Our garage door opener has battery back-up, which was a good thing because the power was out and stayed out for about 2 hours. The rain and thunder and lightning lasted for hours.



Needless to say, we didn't go on the bike ride we had planned that night. We stayed inside listening to the rain and the thunder.

Big weekend

It was a big weekend for me. Friday night we met S&L downtown for dinner. We spent hours at The Metropolitan. It was a nice dinner even though the service wasn't all that great and we had a very obnoxious woman right near us. I had a salad but steak was the popular choice for the evening.

We strolled around downtown afterwards and made our way to Parliament where Light and Sound show was going on. They project images and lights onto the actual parliament buildings. It was neat, but probably could have been a little more interesting.



The national anthem was played at the end of the show. Growing up we heard the anthem every morning in school (I don't know if they still do that) but I hadn't heard it in a long time (probably the Sens game we went to back in September). This is a good shot of J and L during the anthem.



During the day Saturday J worked on the deck. Richard stopped by and helped a little though he was quite happy to lounge around with me while J worked.



I managed to suntan on the deck for the first timee. I did this after running, well, trying to run. I think it was a lack of protein that made for one of the worst runs since I started my training.

Saturday night we headed downtown with some of my coworkers and J's sister. We tried to go to one bar, but it had lost its liquor license the night before and was "closed for renovations", so we headed to another bar and set up camp there. It was an interesting night full of drinking and dancing and trying to avoid drunken boys and playing with a fire extinguisher and swollen eyes (poor SJ got a glass smashed into her eye by a guy on the dancefloor - her eye is a little swollen). We got home late and slept like champions.



I made up for my crappy Saturday run Sunday afternoon when I ran 16K and felt great. My body felt strong and fast, though I was running as slow as I could.

J worked on the deck again Sunday afternoon. A came over to help and brought his circular saw which apparently came in handy. They put up railing posts.



Sunday night we ordered Chinese food, watched some Olympics and the Disney / Pixar movie Cars (on lend from S&L). The movie was really cute, but I would have been happy had Owen Wilson not been the voice of the main character. I really don't like that guy.

We were in bed pretty early, which is a good thing because this morning was J's first day back at work after two weeks off. He had 750 emails to sort through. I had 4. I'm extremely popular at work.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the insane storm we drove through on our way home from work today. I have pictures and video of the craziness.

Worn out and run down

After going out every night last week I was feeling completely worn out. I was supposed to get my hair cut yesterday after work and I was supposed to run 7K. I did neither. I left work early (don't tell my boss) and went home. I did some internetting then went to Home Depot with J only because he promised we could get Swiss Chalet. Waaay better than cooking. I ate and then was in bed before 9pm. I think it's a new record for me. And I slept right through until almost 8am this morning. I'm feeling much better today.

J's still enjoying his time off. I think the cats like having him around though not when he gets out the camera and papparazzi-es Sandy with it. He did get a great shot of her though:



The deck building is still going well (see last post for a link to J's very own deck blog) with no more injuries, at least that I've heard. The plan is to frame up everything today so that all the boards can be put in tomorrow. He even recruited JP to help on his day off. They're bonding over the smell of Western red cedar. If you want to take part in the deck build and have some time, come by tomorrow. J will definitely put you to work. If you want to just come and hang out tomorrow, that's what I'll be doing, feel free to come by. I won't make you build anything, except maybe a drink for yourself.

"My First Deck"

Someone is really excited about the deck he is building and started a blog to keep you all updated on the progress.

Introducing My First Deck by J.

I'm having a very strange proud moment.

I am runner VS I run

I was running today and having a very hard go at it. I started training for this 1/2 marathon at the end of June and I have completed 6 weeks of training. I had a big debate with myself today while fighting to make it a mere 5 kilometers, cramping like nobody's business, about whether I should consider myself a runner. I decided that I can't. I'm just a girl who runs.

But, as a girl who runs, I decided I needed some new running stuff. And I had a coupon for the Running Room. I bought some running shorts, socks and a water bottle holder. All three things I convinced myself I needed.

So far I've only tried the shorts. They came with me today on my short run. They felt good once I got over the I'm-mostly-naked-in-public thoughts that were charging through my head. I do not know how people wear spandex comfortably.



I've been tracking my training on a little chart thing I made for myself. I looked around at different sources, combined the best from each and cobbled together a training program that I somewhat follow. The interesting thing is that I tally up the total distance for every week. Since June 30th, I've run a total of 119 kilometers. That's about a 1/2 marathon a week. Now if only I could do that in one go and under 5 hours.

BC's Wedding

Saturday afternoon we got all decked out and headed out of town for BC's wedding. The wedding was all outside which could have been bad considering the summer we've been having, but the weather started out great and the rain held off the entire day.

There were some unique things at this wedding. The bride and bridal party arrived at the ceremony by boat.



The centrepieces were fishbowls complete with fish. JP in the background was the one who won the fish. J named it Steve and then JP named it Fred Astaire and later Elmo. the poor fish is probably mega confused and borderline crazy.



As with all Sharks weddings, all the girls wear teal, our team colour. KP, the groom, was given a Sharks jersey and proudly wore it with all of us for this picture.



To get B and K to kiss, you had to go up to the mic, listen to a song, which would get cut off at some point. Then you had to sing the next line (a la Don't Forget the Lyrics). We went up there and thankfully the other girls knew the song because I sure didn't. JK had threatened to kiss me if we didn't get it right. Though so ended up planting a big one on my cheek later on.

Dinner was buffet style. The meat, beef and turkey, had been roasting on a spit all day. There was also a million kinds of cheeses and salads. The wine was homemade and a little strong, it gave J a really bad headache. He actually went and slept in the car during the slideshow and the fireworks.

The fireworks were set off by some of the guys in the wedding party at the end of the dock. By this time, it was pretty chilly so TS and I were cuddled together under her wrap, shivering.



Like any other wedding there was dancing. The Sharks definitely spent some quality time on the dance floor.



All in all it was a great wedding. Congratulations BC and K!!

Yay!

Yay!



If I waited for the sign to change and took another picture, it would have said "Monday 9:00 Lundi". The new road is SO close! I can't wait to drive super fast over the nice new pavement.

But for now I'm content with finally going to bed. S&L graciously hosted me tonight so I could watch So You Think You Can Dance with them instead of alone - J's in Mtl for the Radiohead concert. It's not that I can't spend time alone, it's that I didn't really want to and it's nice to have friends that somehow know that and invite me over. Even on a school night.

A wedding, a hike and a dinner

Thank goodness for long weekends. Work is too busy so having three days off in a row really is a life saver. J was on call so we had a weekend in town. Saturday afternoon, I sped off to CP's wedding ceremony. J stayed home to help the guy who was installing our central air (whoo! Central air!!) The ceremony was really nice. CP looked so happy.



I didn't realize I was invited to the reception as well but I heard it was a good time. I definitely thought it would be after meeting some of the crazy boys in the wedding party.



Instead we had S&L over and watched Vantage Point. The cats hadn't slept much all day with the aircon guy in and out of the house, so Rolo curled up with S after the movie and wouldn't get up. It was funny.



Sunday we went in search of beavers on the Jack Pine Trail with S&L. We didn't find any, but we did see ducks and a heron (still trying to figure out which kind of heron), tons of fish, frogs, a feisty snake and deer.







(Whole Set)

We met A&S at S&L's house for dinner, wine, a walk and good times. It was a really good night. J and I both drank so we stayed over, something we've never done before. It was worth it. The cats sure didn't think so but at least now they have a cool house.

Confessions

Confessions are good for the soul, right? I have one.

I did something stupid last night. Something that when I see people doing exactly what I did, I wonder what they were thinking. Then I find myself doing it and not turning back.

I ran along an unlit, 80km/h road. With nothing reflective on. By myself. At night. Without telling anyone my route.

How's that for stupid?

But I'm fine. I got home just fine, though I definitely ran that whole way because my mind was racing and I was scaring myself.

Ever since starting my training program (which is going well by the way) J has come with me about half the time and the times when I've run alone, I've always Gmap'd my route and left it open on the computer for him. Last night, he wasn't home and I waited long enough so that it was dark when I left.

Did I learn from my mistakes? Not really. Will I do it again? Most likely.

At least I feel better now.