road rage

Four plows attacked the snow on our street bright and early this morning. Bravo. I wished they would have plowed into those damn truck drivers that parked on the street. Ugh.. there's barely any room to drive one vehicle down the street. I hope someone rams into their trucks. 

Don't talk to me about being cold

It is hard not being jealous of other parts of the country and world, for that matter. See how cold it was this morning? Since I snapped this screen shot, it has warmed up to -27C. Crappy all around. But as you can see it supposed to warm up by the end of the week. Gosh living in northern Alberta sucks on days like these. 

Just home from work. I had a long productive day. I shot the Chinese New Year celebrations at a venue in the city. It was quite fun. I was starving though and it was hard to stay focused while people were eating! I kept looking at their food. In the end, I grabbed a plate of rice/noodles once everyone was fed.

It's been quiet today. I hope it stays that way tomorrow. 

Read this

My lenses are sorted out. Now I can actually see when I put on my glasses. I've come to terms that it is very good for my eyes to wear contacts for 14 hours a day. So I am giving glasses a go for part of the day. Above my specs sit on the book I haven't finished and is way overdue. I am a bad library patron. Very bad. 

I have the feeling this is going to be a great year for me. I can feel it in the air. It all begins with yoga. I can't explain but I get really excited to practice yoga. Now you would think a busy person like myself would have difficulties turning it all off. Not the case.
While running has added to much to my life in the last two years, I believe big things are in store for me if I continue to practice yoga.
I'm looking forward to housesitting this month. Lori has gone off to an African adventure in celebration of being 50. She battled cancer and won. She is unbelievable. I met her this past summer when I was training for the death race. She has entrusted me with her adorable puppy, Howie! (And her SUV). I can't wait to take Howie for walks.

Hypothermic Half-Marathon is quickly approaching

In just over two weeks I will run my first half-marathon this year.  It's going to be a good butt kicker. I've been running steady so I am not too concerned about finishing. And I am not setting a time goal. Like last winter I want this run to carry my running through until the season picks up again. It's going to be a really fun weekend. Both Audrey and Tiffany are pumped to run. Last year, I ran with Mike, Carleigh and Wendy. We're going to party in Calgary the Saturday night. Whoo hoo! 

planes, trains and monster trucks

Mikah is one of my favorite little guys in town. We had a great visit yesterday filled with tears (not his, and not mine), donuts and coffee. He's playing with his monster truck. 

on the reservoir and other things

Sara B and I went for a windy walk earlier this week. Nice to get some fresh air. 

Sometimes you need a little comfort and if it's southern then even better!

I love cranberry juice. And now I love cranberry juice with a splash of southern comfort. 

You won't believe how stiff I am. Has running done this to my body? No, probably not but the lack of stretching after running doesn't seem to help. I resolve to practice yoga this year. I am really excited about taking up this ancient practice. As I noted before, I borrowed a DVD from Robert. Someone else let me a few too to try.

I think I will do DVDs right now because I can fit it into my schedule. Besides I haven't seen any absolute beginner classes anywhere. When I say absolute beginner, I am a complete neophyte. Hard to believe, I don't know anything about yoga. (Yes I did spend two months in India!) I am super excited though about learning. I am going to visit the library this week to grab a few books. 

taking a walk

I decided to take a walk. Richard came with me too. See how ugly Grande Prairie is these days? I am sick of the snow. Sick of people talking/bitching and complaining about it. The city has completely failed most of the residents with its catch up snow removal. We a big snowfall last week (or was it earlier). Anyway some areas had not been touched all winter so the snow accumulated. It's a freaking gong show.  The snow will melt before they even get to my street. My poor Versa can barely maneuver the ruts in the damn streets. It's a freaking gong show. 

I am not sure where this picture came from. Looks good though. Doesn't it. I thought I needed a little colour on my page.  I had a late lunch with Carleigh at Tito's earlier. I love Tito's but it can be pricey. I love hummus. 

I just finished watching a terrible movie. I don't know why I didn't turn it off midway through. I seem to do that with a lot of things in my life. I start with good intentions and soon enough, I can tell things are working. I need to nip it in the bud. But I hate quitting.

There was one really romantic scene - "All I ever wanted to hear was music. Then I heard you," the groom while he says his vows and then he sings. So romantic. I loved it! Actually the whole movie spanned basically over a few days of someone's wedding. The wedding celebrations were out of a fairytale. I love it. Filled with people singing, dancing and lots of love. 

three weeks to go

Five of us plus Stella the dog, ran 18.5k this morning. We ran from Starbucks on 68th Avenue along the Canfor Road until about 9k and turned around. It was a really nice route. We haven't run there before. Generally we do our loop around to the Correction Line. It was a nice mix up.

I won't lie - it was tough. I didn't hydrate enough and my legs felt like lead when I was done. Thankfully, Ash took pity and ran with me. Good times. I think it was like at least +1 but there was wind (as usual).

My first 2011 half is only three weeks ago. I feel pretty good I can finish without too much pain. 

My week was nuts. The Versa got stuck a zillion times. Water leaked from my bathroom ceiling (and now there's three gaping holes) and just the usual chaos.

But now it's Saturday and I can unwind. I went to bed early last night. I have to clean up after my caretaker made a mess of my bathroom. The leak has stopped but there's still the case of the three holes in the bathroom ceiling.

I've been doing yoga all week to calm me down. I haven't run outside because of the snow. I'm going to get outside later today and hopefully we'll get our long run in tomorrow morning.

The sun is shining.

City snow removal fail

Didn't have a lot of time to blog this week. It was a crazy week in the city. Snow, snow everywhere.

moments in my kitchen

I ate a tasty pre-made Quinoa salad from Safeway last week. It reminded me how tasty Quinoa and how I haven't cooked it in ages. This afternoon I made a big pot. Tasty and so good for you. 

I don't usually eat canned veggies. On a whim I bought a can of sweet peas. I just opened it and ate them plainly. Boring but I had a craving. 

snow blankets the city

This is why I didn't run outside today. Snow continues to fall.  It is winter after all. 

I didn't plug my car in last night. So I ducked outside to plug it in and to uncover my car. 

I can't remember the last time I missed a Sunday morning group run. Today we cancelled because of the snow. We've had quite a few inches of snowfall since Thursday. My Versa got stuck twice yesterday and I needed help getting it unstuck. Cheers to Damien, Terry and the random stranger in the white Knelson truck. 

Yes, I should be driving a truck. And yes, the Versa needs winter tires. Sigh.. my lifestyle does not afford such luxuries. 

Looks like I will be pounding out a few kilometres on the treadmill. I don't know if I can handle 18k on it. I get so distracted and I can't focus on anything but the passing of the seconds. Oh well,. You got to do what you go to do. 

go on do it

My pal, Ellen turned the big 30 today. She's a pretty passionate and quirky type of gal. We fell in kindred spirit love at the DHT. Awesome always finds awesome. 

I truly love her enthusiasm and passion. With mucho great plans in the works, Team Ellen is going to kick butt in 2011. 

I'm so fortunate to have friends like Ellen in my life. So cheers to Ellen. Happy Birthday! 

I can't tell you how cold it was this past week. That's not true. I probably could. Most definitely I could. But I am tired about talking, thinking, dreaming and crying over the weather.
Yes, oh yes, it is cold enough for me.
All my runs and workouts were inside this week. It dipped down to -38C today. Reports on the radio said it was something like -41C with the windchill. Not much you can say about that right?
Of course the inside banishment is not helping with my half-marathon training. I mean I am still running/stairs/spin but I feel so out of it.
After all the race is outside. Word on the radio says it will warm up next week. I am crossing my fingers and scraping the snow off my windshield.

We're so hardcore or .... nuts

We're enjoying our well-deserved coffee after our 16k run. The man of leisure ducked out before the picture was taken. Mr. Ashley does not look amused. Generally he's a happy go lucky fella. Ross, Sonya and Kristiana started out with us this morning. The trails were knee deep full of snow. I was surprised we made it to 16k because we started off on bad trails. But once we sorted out Plan B we got running fairly quickly. Delaine met us for coffee afterwards too. 

Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to livewith insecurity is the only security.

I look out my balcony window every morning before I got to work and every night before I go to bed.  One day I hope to find what exactly I am looking for. Some days, I just don't know. 

I am a bad vegetarian

I found myself watching a cooking makeover show this afternoon. Watching television has taken a backseat to my downtime at home lately but earlier today, I found myself plopped down on my couch watching the Food Network.

I don't even know the name of the show. Basically there was this female rowing team which ate very poorly. The nutritionist taught one person to make a healthy meal for the team. Most of the advice was common sense but it was still very interesting to watch. I learned a new recipe.

There seems to be several shows with basic premise of helping people eat better. I guess that's a good thing. Still it's just obvious to me. Not that I eat great all the time. I don't. My problem continues to be that I don't eat proper full meals. I do like cooking but it's so boring cooking for one person. I really need to get over this. Plus during the week I am strapped for time. And on the weekends I am just too damn lazy.

I have to take my diet more seriously. I think that's one reason that I am having so many bad days - fatigue, crankyface, tears. Surprisingly I am still able to work out and feel good. Now imagine how better I would feel if I hate properly.

I slept pretty well last night. No doubt, getting up at 5:30 a.m. and staying up until 1 a.m. helped with my slumber.  The rest was well deserved. My stair work out was tougher than the previous week. I think it was the heat. My legs took a long time to wake up. Other than my power walk this morning, I will probably just stretch today. I'm going to save my energy for our long run Sunday morning. 

Images of a snowy day in Grande Prairie

It's been snowing straight since Friday afternoon. It really is quite lovely. I went for an hour-long walk and snapped a few pictures. I can count on one hand how many people were out walking. Not many. There were few cars on the streets.

I ran a slippery 8k. I really needed to get out. I was slow and I looked down the whole time but I did it. I feel great. I need to get to bed early tonight. We're starting our early morning stair attack Friday. The hardest part is actually going to be to get my butt out of bed.

Only 5 weeks to go before my first half-marathon this year. I am crossing my fingers it will not be -20 like it was last year in Edmonton.

The start of the work week is always challenging. But the starting of a work week on a Tuesday can be even more challenging. I hit my snooze at least three times before I got out out of bed. It's a good thing I set my alarm really early because I knew it would be tough for me to spring out of bed. I've slept in past 8 a.m. for a week.

On Friday, I am getting up very early to run stairs at the Leisure Centre. This is part of my "get awesome legs" in 2011 plan. Wish me luck. It's going to be tough to get up an hour earlier than usual.

I chose today as a rest day. I am on call so I can't really do anything so it all works out in the end. There's spin class tomorrow, run on Thursday, stairs on Friday, short run Saturday and long run on Sunday. Knock on wood the nice weather stays around for a few weeks.

I wrote out my goals for the month and stuck them to my refrigerator. I used to do this every week when I lived in Ottawa. It always made me feel like I had something to shoot for.

Last night, Geri mentioned her resolution is to live her life with passion. I want to steal some her resolution a little. It made me think seriously about some areas in my life where I am just going through the motions. I haven't felt very passionate about anything in a long while.

I'd like to find my passion and spark again. In the last six months or so, I have just been treading on water. I know this and I know I can get back to my sparkly self.

My first step is knowing I have to make some changes. Change is good.

Long run starting at 68th Avenue Sunday morning

Post-coffee run with Mr. Ashley Davidson and Lana Venier Blais. We had a great turn out. Tiffany, Jody, Audrey and I also ran. It was a balmy -8C. Perfect winter weather for putting a few miles on our sneakers. 

My first run in 2011