Klutzy Saturday!

I went out for my usual long run today to finish off a tough week. I felt good during the run, but came home with some war wounds. About half way through my run, we came to a wooden bridge with a corner. I have slipped on this bridge before and slammed my hip and ankle into the rail. I tried to slow down for the bridge and right away I noticed it was slippery. I actually said, "I hate this bridge" and then just as I rounded the corner with my last step on the bridge, my foot slipped out from under me as I pushed off and down I went, right onto the cement patch at the end of the bridge.

Flat on my stomach, by co-runners stopped and pulled me back up (thanks to Mark, Trevor and Audrey). First question I asked was how bad my face was bleeding. I turned my head as I went down as I didn't want to once again take out my nose while running (been there done that). So I hit the ground with the left side of my face (cheekbone to jaw). Couple decent sized scrapes on my jaw, bruised thumb pad of the left hand, looks to be a bruise on the left hip, lump/bruise on the front of left ankle, nice scrapes on the right elbow, scrapes on the tops of the right hand fingers.

You see, I kind of got my left hand down, hence the sore thumb pad area; however, I was carrying a mini water bottle in my right hand and do you think I dropped it? Nope, I hung onto it, taking the fall with my elbow instead. Know what else I did as they were pulling me off the ground? I stopped my watch. Yep that is right, I made sure to stop the watch so it wouldn't continue adding up. Now that is a true runner! Or it is just a runner who is too addicted to the watch.

I did finish my run though. AND received some strange looks from people as I ran back through Westwood with a muddy/dirty shift, blood pooled on my elbow and a swollen bloody face. And guess what? I STILL hate that freaking bridge. Here are some photos to enjoy. If bruising occurs, which I think it will, I will post pictures later. Unfortunately I have to go to work in a few hours so its now nap time.

(wow that photo shows the nice blonde peach fuzz on my face that sticks out when I am cold, eww) I figure I may get a bruise on my cheekbone and possible jaw. Won't that look lovely!

Canucks vs Blues.... Again

I know I said over a week ago that I would blog about the Canucks Superskills, but I have yet again put that off and will hopefully get back to it (we'll see). Instead I am still going to talk about the Canucks, but I am going to take about a different event.

I was given the opportunity to attend another Canucks hockey game. My friend Kris was given tickets to the game and offered one of them to me. The game fell on day in which I was already off work so I couldn't resist. Who can say no to free tickets? The only down side? The Canucks were playing the St.Louis Blues, which is the same team that I saw back on December 20th (where the Canucks lost).

So an earlier workout than normal for a day off work and we were off to Vancouver on the 3pm ferry. For this game, we sat in the 23rd row. WAY up higher than I am used to and prefer to sit, but it was a free game. I think the highest I have sat in at least the 5-6 games I have been to was row 4. I find when I sit higher, I am highly distracted by people watching, compared to when I sit down lower.

Anyways, it was fun, we had some amusing guys from Victoria in front of us who had quite a few drinks in them. One of them spent $40 on 50/50 tickets (the pot was at just under $23,000) and claimed that if he won, he was taking his other 3 buddies and then me and Kris to Vegas. Needless to say, you guessed it, he didn't win. But he was amusing.

I have a lot of photos, mostly from the warm up as the game photos have the net in the way due to sitting behind the visitors goal. I have a project in mind to showcase most of the photos, but that will have to wait until next week when I have more free time. Here are a few teasers in the meantime.

Warm up photos!

Alex Burrows



Kyle Wellwood



Canuck Bums!!!

Ryan Kesler (yum)





"Special" Alex Burrows (this photo makes me laugh)



Henrik Sedin



Mason Raymond



Announcing the players of each team selected to the Olympics

Team USA Ryan Kesler (for all you Americano's)



And Better Yet!!! Team Canada Roberto Luongo!!!!!!!



View from our seats (too far up, but Free!)



FIGHT!!!



Boys on the bench



Fin banging on his drum next to our seats



Final Score!!

As you can see by the final photo, the Canucks won 3-2. Mason Raymond (watch out for him in future years) scored the first 2 and then Christian Ehrhoff scored the 3rd. It was a good game and I was glad we could end our home stand on a happy note. Now the Canucks are off for the longest road trip in NHL history (broken up by the 2 week Olympic break). 42 days before their next home game, 14 cities, 13 games (8 before the break and 6 after) and apparently over 12,000km travelled. Let's take these wins on the road boys!

When I was leaving Vancouver this morning, the city is gearing up for the Olympics. Many skyscrapers downtown now have HUGE advertisements on them. Here is a close up and then a far away photo for you to see just how big (and this wasn't the biggest one).

Lastly, I have had a tough week of training (in terms of how hard the workouts are), but it has gone surprisingly well. I love how feeling unmotivated due to feeling crappy going into a workout turns into a spectacular workout. That is what happened today, even though I was plenty tired from the events of this week already. Gotta love how that happens! Bring it on!

The Smells of Running

I am on a roll, as the daily smells wafting through the air during my runs continues. As you may have read, initially it was manure, the next run was the combination of gelcoat and acyrlic paint from a local business. I even said, I wonder what will happen tomorrow. I wasn't expecting anything honestly; however, I was first greeted with the smell of bark mulch as parks management had apparently covered the usual first 2.5km of gravel with bark mulch within the last few days likely (it wasn't like that last Saturday).

The heavy rains we have had lately caused some flooding and random streams to flow all over the place, which in turn took out parts of the trail. They rebuilt the trail and then put down bark mulch. They even altered part of the trail by taking out a sharp corner around a tree that led onto a wooden bridge. Anyways, I am not a fan of the fresh bark mulch smell as it irritates my nose and throat. I was thankful when the trail when back to its original footing after 2.5km.

I hit a couple of parks when I complete my long runs and today was no different. In one of these parks, I came across the second smell of the day. Adam Campbell recently had a facebook status about the same thing. The second smell of the day was..... weed. Yep weed. Now I don't know about any of you, but I personally am not a fan of the smell, especially when I am running. I think it was a car full of young men that left the parking lot as I went by; however, I am not sure. Nevertheless, I had my fill of smells for the day. Oh and I hit the lovely bark mulch on the way back at the end of my run too.

That is now 3 days of unusual smells, so hopefully that is it! Speaking of running, some may wonder why I never really discuss my training details on this site. I generally kept it rather simple with "good workout, good week, bad workout" etc. Well, I have decided to keep these details to myself out of respect for my coach. Training details are boring to read anyways, right D? So to sum up this week, it was a down week and as usual with down weeks the tiredness caught up with my body; however, I finished off the week strong feeling excellent for my long run this morning.

Race #2 of the VIRA series is tomorrow at 11am. The Cobble Hill 10km. Good luck to everyone running. I am feeling better about not racing. I am seeing the results I want in training and I don't need all these little races to help me attain my goals. I am still looking forward to seeing some wicked awesome results from friends though. Go Westwood Running Club and also Bastion Running Club.

Before I go, I must let you all know that Steve, whom I know is a favorite especially with Todd and D (not sure who Charisa prefers) growls. Yes that is right, my kitty growls. He growls at his brother Socket when Socket comes near his favorite toy that he drags across the room. I am not sure whether I will be able to get that on video as it is pretty quiet so I would have to be close up, but trust me.... he growls.

Off to watch the Canucks, hopefully beat Chicago. Our top 3 D men are out with injuries. No Mitchell, No Salo, No Bieksa. 1-0 Canucks right now.

Videos as promised

Wow. You do not even know how long it took me to get these videos uploaded. They are kind of boring, but give you the idea of how high Socket was, Steve wanted to get to where Socket was and then Socket coming down to the sound of treats.

Yesterday I talked about running with the smell of manure. That smell was luckily gone this morning; however, instead for part of my run I got to inhale the lovely smell of Venco Products, which is a few hundred meters down the road from my house. Venco basically produces gelcoat and acrylic showers. Their lovely smell was wafting throughout the neighborhood. I wonder what tomorrow will bring? Though, I am running out at Westwood instead.

Pains, Shorts, Sh!t and Kitties!

I now know why I have been feeling these nagging aches and pains throughout this month. Apparently, the reason is because it is January. January has been deemed the month that all the rocking serious athletes get injuries, well according to Todd at any rate. I hope he is right and that it means that as of February 1st everyone will be pain free!

Speaking of which, last week was a good week for my pain. Disappeared probably from Wednesday on. I received ART on my quads and hip area on Monday, Tuesday a few aches in the groin, Wednesday slight aches in my abdominals yet again and well, we'll see what today brings. I thought I might have been done with this, but apparently not!

Today was a mild day, currently 8 C at 1:45pm. I ran in shorts today. Mid January and I ran in shorts. I could have run in shorts a week ago, but never did and instead overheated on many runs. I opted for shorts today just to say "I was running in shorts in January." Want to know about the lovely smells I was lucky to run in today? As I mentioned in the summer, I ran through rotten green sludge smell. Well I live out in an area where there is a mill, a dump and also plenty of farms. I rarely smell the dump or should I say Nanaimo Regional Landfill at home (just to and from town/work daily), occasionally smell the mill Harmac (not often at all); however, often throughout the year Cedar smells like manure. Yep that is right, some farm was fertilizing their fields today and made all of Cedar smell like Sh!t. Can you imagine how lovely it is to go outside for some fresh air and smell crap? Yeah, just lovely!

Back to the waether, all this mild weather isn't good for the Olympics that are set to begin in less than a month. The mountains in BC generally have good snow, but the lower mountains in Vancouver (ex Cypress) are struggling. They say they stock piled the snow at higher elevations. Too bad they aren't using Mount Washington here on the island. They have a pretty nice base of snow with 321cm. They even posted this note on their site

With all the snow the Mountain has received over the last week, Resort Ops have had to shovel snow out from under the lift lines so the chair does drag along the top of our amazingly high snowbase!

In kitty news, Socket has learned a new trick. Jumping up on the top of the cupboards in the kitchen. I have yet to see how he gets up there, but I know how he gets down. I heard a thump and some scratching when I got home from work last night. I go to the kitchen, expecting to find Steve on the counter (which he also figured out how to do yesterday) but instead find Socket way up high (the little bugger). He wouldn't come down, so I bribed him by shaking the treat bag.

So I was attempting to post a video of Socket up high above the cupboards, but something happened and the internet cut out and wouldn't re-load before I left for work. That means, I am posting this blog without the video and will have to add it when I can get it to upload properly.

Some improvement

Last week I mentioned some injury issues that I was having. I finally ended up booking an appointment with a local Chiropractor who specializes in ART. He was highly recommended by a running friend, is the cousin of a guy who I generally complete my long runs with and also works with many sports teams in Nanaimo. Because it was my first appointment with him, I couldn't get in last week, so I booked for Monday morning (I called Monday I think).

The pain in my lower abdominal's became better on Tuesday, even better Wednesday and Thursday etc. My groin only bothered me every so often, so things were looking good and like the appointment wasn't required; however, instead of opting out and canceling, I decided to keep my appointment. I figured, I would get the first appointment done with so that if I need to book again in the future, I could do so without hopefully having to wait as long.

Yesterday was a busy day, where I attended the Canuck Superskills. I will likely blog about it later as I have to colour adjust some of the photos that I want to include. Anyways, I went to the appointment this morning and received some ART treatment. I was then tired and a bit sore for my easy run later in the afternoon. Do any of you use ART regularily? Is this normal? Just curious as to what to expect.

I apologize, I just realized that this blog sucks. I kind of lost the motivation to write it as I was uploading games to our Wii in between writing this. So I will leave you with a photo of Socket sitting looking at the birds outside.

Team Coco or Team Chin?

Wow, NBC is unbelieveable. This whole mess with Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno is crazy. First off, let me say I am Team Coco all the way. While I used to watch Jay occasionally when he was on the Tonight Show, I looked forward to Late Night with Conan O'Brien. When the deal was struck back in 2004 that Leno would retire in 2009 and the Tonight Show would go to Conan, I was happy.

As 2009 came, Jay decided that maybe he wasn't ready to retire anymore. Conan still took over as per the contract and then NBC put Jay on a new show at 10pm. Once again, Conan follows Leno. I rarely watched Leno's new show. Then, NBC decides that the 10pm show isn't working that well and wants to put Leno back at 11:35 and Conan can have 12:05-1:05, pushing Jimmy back to 1:05-2:05. I don't blame Conan for saying "Screw this" and deciding that the Tonight Show at 12:05 isn't the tonight show anymore.

So today NBC announces (apparently) that Leno will take back the Tonight Show name from 11:35-12:35 and Fallon will keep his time slot. No Conan (yes I understand he said no to the deal). So in the end, Leno decides he doesn't want to retire and gets his original show back. Screw that, I refuse to watch the Tonight Show once Conan is gone. I hope to god another station such as Fox picks up Conan and gives him a brand new show at 11:35.

In a few years when Leno decides it is finally time to retire, who in their right mind is going to want to take over the Tonight Show? I think NBC lost out big time and is going to regret this decision. Sure I understand there are Leno lovers who are stoked he has the Tonight Show back and think that Conan sucks, but come on... I hope everyone can at least agree no matter who they like, Conan got royally screwed.

Ok, rant done. Now time to prepare myself to head out in the pouring rain and wind for my workout. FYI another rainfall warning. Yippee!

Rainfall Warning : East Vancouver Island

Issued at 12:31 PM PST Thursday 14 January 2010

Summary

60 to 80 mm of rain expected for metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, the Sunshine Coast and sections of East Vancouver Island through Friday morning. 100 to 150 mm of rain expected for west and Inland Vancouver Island through Friday morning. This is a warning that significant rainfall is expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

Details

A strong pacific front is forecast to move over Southern British Columbia coast today. The front will bring heavy rain to the south coast beginning today and will continue Friday morning. Total rainfall amounts upwards of 60 to 80 mm are expected for the above mentioned regions except for 100 to 150 mm for west and Inland Vancouver Island. The front is also causing strong winds. Southeast winds of 50 to 70 km/h have developed over sections of Greater Victoria West Vancouver Island and Southern Gulf Islands. Further north, southeast winds of 80 to 100 km/h have developed over the central coast.

Bring It On!!

The upcoming weather forecast! As I said, bring it on. I am ready for it!

I survived

I slept in until 10am today and when I woke up, the first thought was "ahh it's 10am." The second thought "Guess I better get up" and the third thought was "if I were in Victoria, I would be getting prepared to begin my warm up in a little bit." I spent the morning watching My Sister's Keeper (so sad) and looked at the clock at 10:56 thinking about how everyone in Victoria would be on the start line ready to begin the 8km at 11am.

After that, I eagerly awaited the results to find that Steve Osaduik (a former Nanaimo Track Club member with me) won the race in 25:35 ahead of Richard Mosely in 25:39 and Natasha Wodak (who I used to race on the mainland growing up in track) won for women in 27:51. Lucy Smith claimed 2nd female in 27:54, Kirsten Sweetland 3rd in 28:32, Cheryl Murphy 4th in 29:11 and triathlete Magali Tisseyre 5th female in 29:24. Full results are here.

Congrats to them both and also to all of my other friends (Westwood boys, Bastion, Running Room, ROC and Frontrunners) who raced today. Many good times and personal bests achieved today. I am told I was missed down in Victoria today, though I am not sure if that is true or they are just being nice ;)

I spent my day literally on the couch, watching movies, checking facebook etc and just plain old relaxing. My stomach feels okay while sitting, but I can feel it while walking around. My friend Jane has suggested seeing another Dr in town, who I plan to call tomorrow. Apparently he is a chiro experienced in ART and is excellent with athletes. It is worth a try at this point. In the meantime I gave in and popped some Advil. Other than relaxing on the couch, I did laundry, cleaned up, made dinner and also made some yummy chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing! FYI, it was a day off training for me today, so I made the best of it!

Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know that I survived! Only 3 (approximate) more races to miss until I get to join in!

Sleeping kitties earlier tonight

2 days ago I was running under the goregous sunrise. That did not last long as the rain rolled in for Friday. Soaked for Fridays run and then another day of light rain today during my long run. Today was unlike other Saturday's in which I figured I would be alone for my entire run due to the first race of the Vancouver Island Race Series that starts tomorrow morning. The usual clan that I run with (mostly the Westwood Running boys) are all racing so the one's that showed up only did a short race prep.

I was surprised though, as another Bastion runner named Mark joined me for about half of my run. It was nice to have the company as it was definitely unexpected. Every one of my runs, except Saturday's are done on my own. While I love running on my own, it is nice to have company every so often.

It likely rained throughout most of my run, only raining a bit harder for the middle portion. I didn't mind the rain today as it was about 9-10 C. A pleasant temperature for running with the light rain to keep you cool. I am feeling the run now though, as it hurts to cough or sneeze. Damn groin/abs or whatever the issue is. I saw a Doctor yesterday and of course that is the day that it was feeling okay, so he couldn't pin point anything and suggested just to wait and see what happens. Once again I will say.... doctors are useless (or at least tend to be). I'll keep an eye on it and possibly see a physio if need be.

As I mentioned before, the VIRA (Vancouver Island Race Association) Series begins tomorrow morning with the Pioneer 8km. A few months ago when my coach suggested not to race until March, I was a bit disappointed. I completed the entire series last year (8 races) so I figured it would be hard to not be there for some of the races; however, now that the race is tomorrow, I think I will be okay. Sure I will eagerly be awaiting the results of the race, but I know that not racing is the best plan for me and my goals. Will these feelings change tomorrow at 11am when the race begins? Quite possibly, but again I will just have to tell myself "it is for the best."

In the meantime, I will watch the Canucks.... so far losing 1-0 to Calgary (boo). And just before I post this... the game is now 1-1!

Gorgeous

I ended up running earlier than normal today, after dragging myself out of bed bright and early to be out the door during sun rise. This is what I was greeted to as I went out the door, so I stopped for a minute and took a picture before heading on my way. A cold morning at -2 C but a beautiful sky!

I am so glad you like my kitties Charisa. I love them too and am so glad they get along. I will include more cute/funny photos of them whenever opportunity comes along. Whenever I can't find them, this is where I tend to look straight away. Under the spare bed in the spare room. Socket doesn't look too happy that I am disturbing his sleep. Oops.

Ouch, Something is a bit off

For the past few weeks I have been fighting some nagging niggles (yes I said it). It started in my right groin, just aching a tad every so often. It then seemed to move into my lower ab area and now the upper. It feels as though I have strained my abs, yet I do not recall doing anything harsh that would have aggravated it. I am a bit confused as to what is going on, though all I know is that it hurts to sneeze and also to sit up from lying down. It feels okay to run though, its the after effects that hurt. I think it is about time to book an appointment with either a doctor or physio to see what is going on! I hope I don't get told "Don't run" as training is going really well at the moment! Anyone had any issues such as this?

Maybe it is just related to my shoes. I have been pushing them a bit lately as the weather has been nasty and muddy. I was saving my new shoes until things dried up a bit. Then again, it is still January on the Wetcoast, so I guess there is no saving the shoes. I should probably just give in and wear them. Shoes are expensive, so I tend to run them longer than I should, which I know is not good. Time to get those pretty white shoes dirty I think!

To change the subject, here is an updated photo of baby Maggie, taken on New Years Eve. Not the best photo as she was on mom's lap.

And what is a blog without photos of my children. I am speaking of my kitties of course.

Socket all sprawled out taking a nap



Kitties cuddling earlier this evening

Lastly, Socket has a new game in which he enjoys playing. He only likes this toy if we use it this way. If it moves any slower or along the ground, he is not interested. It has to spin fast and in the air. I swear one day we will find him sitting there, all skittish flicking his head back and forth, but man is it funny to watch.

Run and Dip Photo Evidence!

Ross finally uploaded some photos from the Run and Dip on New Years Day. I promised to post them, plus this is proof that I went knee deep into the freezing cold water.

Me during the run portion (trying to catch up to everyone who had left 5 min before I reached the main parking lot)



This was the scene last year (January 1st, 2009). Ross was out there breaking the ice with an ice pick after a fresh snowfall. It had snowed a lot that December and the trail around the lake was single track due to snow being just under knee deep.

This year, there was a very thin layer of ice that easily broke. You can see it behind us where the water looks different. Here is the group of us slowly making our way into the lake.

The other ladies were ready to get out right away, but we quickly posed for a photo. I debated going all the way in, but opted not to and got out as well.



A bit blurry, but Norm and Darren after they dove into the water. Norm ended up with a nice cut right across his forehead from the ice.



Time for Chili, Nanaimo Bars, Cookies, Rum Balls, Hot Chocolate and Tea (among other food items)

2010 Run and Dip completed! Bring on 2011.... maybe I will go in all the way, then again maybe not. 2009, I did not even touch the water, so 2010 was a step up. Next step waist deep? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I ran and I dipped.... sort of!

Yesterday was one of my running clubs (Bastion) annual Run and Dip. After getting home on New Years Eve or well I guess New Years day at 3am, I was really regretting setting my alarm for 9am in order to attend the event. Once I dragged myself out of bed, I woke up a bit and before long I was on my way to Westwood in the pouring rain. The event started at 10am and involved one loop of the lake (I started my run earlier in order to get in the alloted time scheduled by my coach) and then for those who were interested, dipped into the lake. Let's just say there was a thin layer of ice on the top of the lake, but might I add, this was much better than last years conditions (lots of snow and thick ice).

After completing my workout, I stopped and debated whether to go in. I was soaking wet and muddy from the rain and at first I said no. Then standing there watching others go in and actually dive into the water, I opted to go in with 3 other ladies but planned to go only partially in. I think I got up to my knees, then washed the mud off my legs before climbing out with absolutely frozen toes. So frozen that my feet hurt to walk. A quick change of clothes and shoes, I grabbed some home made chilli, Nanaimo Bars (YUM) and some Tim Hortons Hot Chocolate. The hot chocolate was more so to hang onto and warm up my hands. I stayed a little longer before my hands were starting to stiffen up from being cold, then I ditched the event for home and a warm car.

I am not sure if there are photos, I know Ross took one of the group of us, but I am unsure if I am actually in it or behind someone. I will have to wait for him to post them and if he captured my "dip" I will post it here!