When it rains it pours!

Okay I know I just posted yesterday about the rain; however, I now have some photos of the aftermath of the rains. Keep in mind, these photos were taken this morning at about 10am. The Nanaimo River, which was extreamly high when I went to work just before 3pm, was supposed to peak around midnight last night and then slowly drop down again. So the photos below are well after the peak.

The Cedar Bridge which I drive over daily to and from work/town. The water is normally not that high. The water appears as though it went up to the line on the wall under the bridge.



The below photo was taken by a friend yesterday prior to the peak (only this photo was pre-peak)



The river with a road on the back side not far from the edge of the river



The river at the side of a local road. The river flooded this road yesterday according to the paper



Same road, but further down. Evidence where the water broke over the road



Wide River!



Here is the same road yesterday, photo stolen from the local paper



Another of the bridge



My back yard also tends to flood apparently. The was more water last night when I got home, but it was too dark to take a photo

Flooding isn't really a new thing around here, especially in Cedar. In fact, the trailer park that was declared a "state of emergency" due to flooding, floods nearly every year or at least every few years. Anyone who chooses to live on the river, runs the risk of having their house flooded, which is why I would never choose to live on the river.

The last big flood, which was actually worse than the floods so far this year, was in December 2007. It had snowed over a foot and then poured with rain until all the snow was gone. Between the snow and clear ground it was 2 days. So with all the rain and the melted snow, the floods were massive. Here are some photos of the flood back then, when it actually flooded across the main road into town. These photos were also before the peak of the river.

When the river peaked, it went over that side road









The aftermath of the flood over the main road



This isn't a lake, it is actually a field 99% of the year, except when the river floods



Gotta love the Wetcoast. FYI, the rain has taken a break today!

Wetcoast has arrived!

For at least the past 24 hours, actually probably longer closer to 36 or so, it has been raining. Needless to say, I had a very wet and muddy run today and I enjoyed every minute of it! I saw only 1 person and his dog in the park and he was wearing gumboots. The other person I saw was in the parking lot putting on his rain jacket.

Normally when it is raining, I tend to be the only one in Hemer Park as it is never really busy. I like these days as I run through the park and it is silent, except for the wind howling through the trees and the rain drops hitting the leaves and dropping to the ground. I find it extremely peaceful. Anyways, I took a photo of my legs when I got home and in fact, I wasn't as muddy as I expected. Maybe the puddles on the road near the end washed away some of the mud.

Christmas Party in November?

Yesterday was the annual Frontrunners party, which is a local running store in town. In fact, there are only 3 stores, 2 of which are in Victoria and one here in Nanaimo. I am not sure whether it is in fact a Christmas Party as there are no Christmas decorations; however, others tend to call it that so I will too.

For the past 2 years I have driven to the event, which occurs at the store in the north end of Nanaimo (about a 20-25 minute drive one way from my place). Last year, it fell on a night I worked, so I stopped by after work at about 11pm. Due to driving the past few years, I was unable to have anything to drink and was severely bugged about not drinking by one of the store owners, so this year I decided I would get a ride, kick back and relax with a few drinks.

Each year, they cover the shoe wall and clothing walls with plastic and push the center displays to the side, they hire a dj, buy a keg or 2 of beer, pick up some wine and charge $10 for unlimited drinks. The shop fills with probably at least 50 people, its hard to move around, people are drinking left right and center and by 10 or 11pm, the dance floor is full with runners having a blast. Outsiders may be surprised, but runners can sure party when they want to.

I too had a blast, though I am a very light weight for drinking as I rarely do it anymore. In the end,I think I had maybe 4 glasses of beer and I was good to go. In fact, I felt the buzz after 1 glass (I told you I was a light weight). Hard to believe that when I came back from Australia in 2004 I could put nearly 12 beers into me. The 4 beers was enough, added to leaving the store at about 1:30am, left me with a slight headache when I woke up this morning.

It was totally worth it though. Frontrunners knows how to party and I am already looking forward to next years party. Here are a few photos that a friend (Tony) took at the party.

Tami, John and I

Dennis, me and John

I can't end the post without a new photo of Socket. I left his treats out the other day and next thing I knew he stole them off the table and attempted to break into them. I captured some photos and video of it.

Daredevil Kitty!

My 6 month old kitten Socket has turned into quite the daredevil. My bf has been working on my new truck in the garage lately and Socket goes out to explore and get into trouble. The other day, when Jay left the garage for a bit, he came back to find the cat up on the garage door track's (I have no clue what they are actually called).

At first, we were unsure as to how the heck he got up there and tried to get him down. As Jay went for a chair, the cat looked as though he was going to jump, so I was standing beneath him in case he fell, but then he turned around and jumped onto the hood of the car. Crazy cat. Not long after that, he once again jumped up on the rafters; however, this time Jay saw how he got up there. He does in fact climb up the hood of the truck and then jumps up onto the garage door tracks.

Later that evening, I noticed the cat had some fur missing from his neck and it looked like a cut. I have no idea where it came from, but at some point he hurt himself. We'll have to keep an eye on it to ensure he doesn't scratch it and make it worse. At the moment he is booked in to get neutered on Wednesday. I told Jay that he has to take the cat in as I won't be able to do it and leave him there. Knowing me, I'd burst into tears when Socket looks back at me as I walk out of the vet. Sad I know.

It's the same reason I am unable to go into an SPCA. The reason I bring that up is because apparently Socket wants a brother as Jay says. So we are in the process of looking for another kitten under 6 months in age. Ideally we will adopt one, but I told Jay that I cannot go into the SPCA to choose just one because I would end up coming home with them all. I always think about "well if I take this one, what about that one." What can I say, I am a sucker for animals. Because we are getting another kitten, we decided it is time for Socket to get neutered. I will keep you updated on how our search is going!

Shoe Woes!

I just finished watching the Canucks get smashed tonight, but the St.Louis Blues of all teams. How pathetic. I think it was 4-0 within the first 10 minutes of the game. Why did I not just turn the game off? Oh Canucks, why can you not be consistent? Yet I still love you guys for some reason.

Remember back in September when I won the Run for the Mountain and scored a free pair of Saucony shoes? Well my preferred Saucony shoe is the Fastwitch 3, which I absolutely love and use often! I was a bit lazy in claiming my free shoes due to the fact I had just bought a new pair, so when I finally went to look into getting them last week, I found out that I am unable to get the Fastwitch 3 as they do not have any 8.5's in stock. In fact, they won't be getting anymore due to the release of the Fastwitch 4 in February.

Fastwitch 3's no longer available :(

Hmm... so initially I was a bit disappointed, but the rep at Saucony was nice enough to suggest 2 other pairs that are similar (Grid Type A3 and Grid Sinister). I searched both online and asked a friend for her suggestion and I think I will try the Grid Type A3. Some of you may suggest to visit a local shoe store to try them on; however, that is easier said than done.

The local running stores are Running Room and Frontrunners and neither of them carry many race flats. In fact, Running Room carries zero and last time I went to Frontrunners they had only 1 type of flats, which was the Fastwitch 3. So I will just randomly select a shoe and hope for the best. I know new models are always developed, but I must admit I get disappointed when the model I use is no longer available.

So which shoe would you suggest? Does anyone out there use either of the 2 shoes below?

Grid Type A3

Grid Sinister

Now as much as I complain that I cannot get my favorite shoe, I can't complain as they will be free and if they are anything like the Fastwitch 3's, I will likely love them!

Two old Friends Reconnect

Alright, I will say right away that D is going to kill me for this, but I am going to post it anyways.

This photo was taken on Saturday at the BC High School Cross Country Championships and I think it was the first time D and I have seen each other in person since at least 1999. It was a cold and muddy day. Everywhere was muddy, not just the course. I guess that happens when you have 257 girls in a race and 249 guys or something like that. And that is only counting the 2 main races of the day. I actually took a few photos of the day, I will just post a few of the races and mud.

MUD!!

Here come the girls (first lap)



Here come the boys (first lap)

In the end, NDSS didn't take a full boys team (you need 5 on a team to qualify for team standing). Our boys seemed to get distracted with other "priorities" which included work, life guarding course or the best yet.... piano. It was disappointing that a full team couldn't go, but in the end, because we only took 4 boys, I was able to go (only 6 seats in the van).

The boys we took ran their hearts out, finishing in 48th, 79th, 159th and 248th. The last boy was so happy because he wasn't last and was in fact 2nd to last. Kids like this are great. I give him credit though as he has been sick with the flu and a cough for the last week and was still sick on race day. Now the XC season is over so I will have more free time until track season starts in 2010. While it was fun helping out, I am glad to have some of my time back for the next few months!

Speaking of which, for those who read my last blog entry, I was down and out with the flu. I believe it was a seasonal flu though and not H1N1 as my temperature only lasted just over 24 hours. I took a few days off running and then came back into it easy. I don't think I am 100% yet, but at least I am back into the harder workouts. I am not sure the last time I had a fever, so hopefully this is it for awhile. Good news is that I am pretty much back! While sick, I did spend from Saturday at about 8pm until Monday at 2pm in bed. My lovely kitty kept me company for a lot of the time as you can see below. Gotta love pets!

Who made YouTube?

I have been doing random searches online to see if I can find any photos from my night with the torch and I ran across a couple of videos on YouTube. The first one features only me! And it shows me that I ran too fast with it and should have gone slower. No wonder it felt like my time flew by. I started slow but the pace picked up without me knowing!



The second one shows me briefly near the beginning at 55 seconds and then at about 2:53 you can see me take the lit torch through the park. Editing is a bit weirdon this one. Oh and I'm also in the background waiting for that kid with the torch at about 1:50. Just thought I'd share in case anyone was interested!