From Here to There

2009-06-28T18:54:00.004-04:00

Wow March, Really?? That's the last time I've updated? Sigh...

Nothing to really update. Heart is doing really well, i.e. it's normal. I've been working up my caffeine and wine tolerance for our trip to Europe in 2.5 weeks (!!) with no ill-effects.

I've been running more consistently, though I don't think I'll be ready for Boilermaker in two weeks since the longest run I've had recently is 11k. And it sucked. I honestly thought once my heart was fixed it would come easier, but it's harder. Oh well, I just need to keep at it.

In other news, I got my eyes lasered a week ago, and can already see 20/20. It's amazing. Because I'm 42 they decided on monovision, one eye for distance, one eye for reading, since in 3-5 years I would need bi-focals. Now I won't need to wear reading glasses until I'm in my late 50's or early 60's. Or I can get the right eye touched up. So cool!!

Before I forget, the link to our travel blog for this vacation!! http://una1967travels.blogspot.com/

We interrupt this period of silence...

2009-03-23T19:07:00.002-04:00

to report the best running song ever is.... What is Love by Haddaway. Cracks me up every time. And brings me right back to this:

And whatever whining I'm doing is gone for 4.5 minutes. Thank you Haddaway. And Will. And Chris.

The next song on shuffle I believe to be the second greatest running song of all time. And it has nothing to do with running either. And that is I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred.

I'm really embarrased by my playlist suddenly. I'm an alternative music fan! Ok, I have a ton of Britney on shuffle too. I guess running makes me think outside the box.

I'm going to take our new puppy to school now. His name is Modesto. Mo won't get a heck of a lot bigger than that. I have a chihuahua. I think I'm losing my mind.

Catch up

2009-03-01T11:17:00.003-05:00

Wow it's been longer than I thought! Where to start...

I worked from home most of January because the bus strike was still on. Somehow I had less time than if I were commuting! Maybe we were just really busy. Honestly, I can't remember.

We went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for a week in Feb. It rained for the first 4 days, and not the sunny - downpour - sunny type of rain, but the only sun until 9AM then pouring rain type. Luckily we had what they called a 'swim out' room, being on the bottom floor with a covered terrace (with hammock), then two loungers, then the pool. Regardless of the weather we frolicked in the water, and walked the beach every day. It was warm rain - who cares about rain when there was shovelling to be had at home? After the rain we had 3 days of sunshine. We went on a 'Jungle Safari' as they called it, a chance to explore some local villages and plantations in the mountains, then Macao beach, it was breathtaking. Learned how to make coffee and chocolate - Katie was happy we got to see that because she worked on coffee, chocolate and rice fields in Indonesia so we got to see what she did. On our last night we went on an ATV tour, but because the tide was too high (or something) we couldn't go along the beach. So we went by rice plantations and through a village. I saw the local jail - NOT a place I'd like to be! Oh! A funny... while were were shopping in a village I unknowingly scored a drug deal. When I realized what I had done I could not stop laughing, and Steve, who had been looking at paintings outside came in and said "what are you doing? can't leave you alone for a minute!". Funny how the vendor's voice turned all 'Cheech' too. Anyway, the vendor got a kick out of it too, he was really nice. Thankfully. Because I might have spent some time in that local jail otherwise!

Three days after being home I had my Catheter Ablation procedure. OH.MY.GOD. I knew I was going to be awake, but I thought I was going to be sedated and not really feel it. Um, no. They gave me some pain killers on a schedule but it's important that I be awake so that the arrhythmia doesn't also 'go to sleep'. 5 hours later they had ablated the atrial flutter and the SVT area. So glad they got the flutter as it only has a 50% success rate. What a freaky experience though, I felt the catheters going into my heart and getting positioned (think cats fighting under a blanket), and then they tell you 'we're going to speed up your heart now'. They didn't have to say it because you feel it alright! It was so uncomfortable. Once the heart is mapped and the sites to be ablated are noted, the ablation starts, a half millimetre at a time. And that freaken hurts. You feel the heat in the heart and it radiates up your throat and down both arms. Because you're loosely strapped down and your shoulder blades tucked under to open your chest, after 4 hours I could no longer feel my hands. Finally when they deemed the procedure a success, the catheters came out and they put pressure on the upper thigh. At which point I said "I don't feel so good" and they inverted the table slightly, the doctor put full on pressure on my leg and they put cold cloths on my face. I couldn't believe I was passing out, but they slowed the bleeding enough to get my blood pressure back up and all was good (that was a whole two minutes or so!). They put a sand bag on my leg and gave me strict instructions - can't lift my head of the pillow or move my legs for 5 more hours. Soooo glad I brought my iPod! I listened to podcasts for 4 hours, then Steve came to keep me company. After the 5 hours I was given the ok to walk laps around the nurses station for an hour, and then released. The other patients (one other was having an ablation, the rest were mostly pacemakers) were also doing laps and being sent home. I was stunned that pacemakers and defibrillator implants are day surgery!

My recovery has been harder than I expected - I am still fatigued but it's better every day. During the day I don't feel my heart at all anymore, though when I lie down I do a little. My BP is normal and very consistent now, and resting heart rate in the high 50's. I did have one episode on Monday (5 days after the procedure) where I inhaled a cracker crumb and coughed/choked and my heart went nuts. Anytime I had SVT it never felt like this. I got home two hours later and the BP monitor picked up the arrhythmia. I was so disappointed - thought the op failed. I was about to head to ER when I thought I'd try bearing down and it worked. It never worked before for me, but it was worth a shot! My BP was high for the next 12 hours or so, then I couldn't feel my heart again. :D Since then I've been feeling great, I feel my heart every so often when I'm up, a little when falling asleep, but that's it. I'm still very tired and could sleep alot, but it's improving. I spoke to my Cardiologist's office about Monday's episode and they assured me that it happens to some people but should stop within 2 weeks or so. They said that the SVT had started, but the pathway is gone so it had to find a new pathway and learn how to beat normally. Bizarre. In two more weeks I am to try a cup of coffee (my biggest trigger) and see if it sets off. Fingers crossed.

Today I am going to try to run. Considering I would prefer napping I expect it's going to be hard. I was originally going to run outside but we had a flash freeze a couple of days ago after a big melt day, and the sidewalks are very icy. It will be hard enough today without worrying about slipping and falling, so I will hop on the treadmill instead.

First I think I'll take a little nap :).

Oh my abs!

2009-01-06T21:29:00.003-05:00

Yesterday my legs were feeling pretty stiff after my return to running run on Sunday. Boy that's sad. It is what it is.

Anyway, I had strength training on the schedule, so I did Ray's plan again, but a shorter version, skipping the squats and lunges because of the above leg trashage. Of course I did to the hamstring curls on the ball which led me to...

...postponing today's run to tomorrow. Because my hamstrings are killing me! So was my core, but I wasn't too worried about that.

Today I decided I would do some yoga. I have a tough time with it because I have no flexibility whatsoever, and my big belly gets in the way. Oh, and I have bursitis in both shoulders from yoga several years ago, so need to be very careful that I don't aggravate them. I thought I'd try a yoga dvd that also has belly dancing. I've got the belly so why not make it dance?

Oh.My.God. It's hard! I discovered I not only have no flexibility, but also no fluidity. I closed the curtains and timed it to be over before Steve got home, because him seeing what I was doing I think would be a deal breaker on his side.

While I'm sure I looked rediculous, my abs are screaming so either I got the form down pat, or I got it all wrong ;) Going in with sore abs from yesterday, I can only imagine how I'm going to feel tomorrow. I bet laughing is going to hurt!

Tomorrow we're expecting 15-20 cm of snow. If Steve didn't have his track workout with his coach tomorrow evening I'd try to convince him to go snowshoeing after work. Oh well, I'll run on the treadmill instead and snowshoe on Saturday as originally planned.

The transit strike is still on and I have to go into the office tomorrow. Luckily Steve is off and can drive me in at some point and pick me up. Thursday is going to be more challenging though since he's working until 10PM. I think I have a ride home, but first I'll need to walk west from my office for about 45 mins.... I hope the strike settles soon, it's been a month! All this to say, I have to go iron some clothes!

Fitness

2009-01-05T09:20:00.004-05:00

So that's my goal. Again. Wouldn't it be nice to lose 20 lbs this year? It would still have me overweight, but think of how much better I'd feel? I lost 20 lbs last year, but gained back 6. That loss was as a result of my gallbladder problems though. On the upside, I kept 14 off. Anyway, I'm feeling optimistic that streaking is the way to go. I've said it here before, but any off day really gets me wanting to take another, and another. It's easier for me when there's a routine block of time every day that I exercise. So I commit to doing some form of exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes every day. Unless I'm really really sick. Which I don't plan to be because I spent all Fall sick! I'm done with that.

I was hurting after Ray's workout last week, whenever that was (Jan 1?). My upper body was sore, but I felt nothing from my legs or abs, so need to work those a little harder. I don't want to be in pain longer than a day though, but I'll find the right intensity within the next couple of weeks.

On Saturday Steve and I finally tried out the snowshoes! I was so excited. We went to a popular greenbelt trail, stuck to it for about half the way, and blazed (relative term!) our own the other half. Since these are running snowshoes that's exactly what we did when we could. It was weird at first, but after a while we didn't even notice the snowshoes. What's great is you wear your running shoes with them, with gators. I need to get warmer socks though, since I had ice toes for the first 15 minutes or so. Oh and I fell once. I teetered into a hole and bonked face first. It was funny. At least Steve's expression said it was.

Oh not that expression, though it's funny too. This picture was taken just before I fell down.

And this is me running, but it doesn't look like I'm running. And I'm twice the width of the skier next to me. Now THAT's not good. In my defense these pants have pockets that puff out. And I have an arse that does too. Maybe that skiier is a 6 year old. I'll just tell myself that. Do I really lumber along like an ogre? Yikes.

Yesterday Steve and I went to the canal to run. I brought my new Garmin - oh my lord it's so great! Locks in to the satellites within seconds. It took me some time to get used to it, and I couldn't hear the interval beeps very well (though I was also listening to music, but low) but it fits my wrist so well, something that I had problems with my old one! Back to the run. Since I ran what, twice since October, I thought it best to do as I've done the past several years, and start right over at square 1. Run 2 walk 1. Now last year when I did this I found it too easy, and this was after sitting on my butt for 6 weeks after major surgery. I thought I'd find this 2/1 business so easy that I'd be skipping along to 3 or 4/1.

Um. No.

It was brutal! I couldn't believe how hard it was. Now I was able to do the intervals for the planned 45 minutes, but it was a slog. The path was snowy and there was slip back with every step, but COME ON, I should be fitter than this!! It kicked me. Yes it did. But it's in the books, and I'm proud of it. I'll be running again twice this week at 2/1, most likely on the treadmill though, due to work commitments, lack of parking near run paths (transit is still on strike) and horrible sidewalks near home, because the plows don't seem to consider our neighbourhood streets worthy. Don't get me started. And we're getting snow the next few days, with 15cm on Wed. Snowshoes here we come!!

2009-01-03T09:22:00.005-05:00

New year more resolutions? Same as last year I guess :)

New Year's Eve Steve and I were in bed at 10:30 LOL. We were so tired we were actually asleep watching TV for two hours before that. Clearly we're hard core!

New Year's Day my brother held a brunch for the family, starring the straight from Vegas Una and Steve, with special guest Fork! At least that's what the email said! I've had some questions about Fork so here's the story...

Several years ago KT came home with a tupperware container and a fork - her friend Heather had brought in something for her to try, KT stuffed the empty container in her bag to bring home to wash. I kept on her for a couple of months to return these items, and she kept forgetting or wasn't seeing Heather, etc. Over these two months I realized that this was the BEST fork... perfect weight, not too big in your mouth, not too small. It became known as my 'eatin' fork' as a joke, and no one in the house used it but me. (considering I have an 'eatin' fork' might be a clue as to why I'm still overweight huh?). Fast forward 5 years and I get re-acquainted with Heather's Mom and her new husband (ok, 5 years now...). The boys hit it off, Kathy and I were laughing our heads off same as always. Then two weeks ago while at dinner I confessed I had her fork. Steve told me not to say anything, but the whole conversation was about theft, and I felt like a thief, especially when I'd hide said fork when they'd come over! It was becoming too strange for me, this fork sickness so I came clean. As we left the restaurant we were at Steve handed me a new fork that Kathy had swiped, so that I could add to my collection of 'stolen forks'. This is when Steve decided that we should take Fork to Vegas with us, and send ransom notes to Kathy. So there you go! She was very surprised when she got the photos and loved it. Oh and at Christmas she gave me the matching knife and spoons, so I could have a complete set :) Good friends, good times.

Anyway, back to new year's resolutions. The same old same old, try to get this body in shape. I did lose 20 lbs last year, but then gained back 6 lbs since September when the training fell apart! So back on the wagon, per se. I started off New Year's Day by pulling out the ball, the free weights, the yoga mat and my old training program from Ray. Two days later my arms are screaming. As are my armpits. My abs don't hurt though, so I need to work them a little harder. Yesterday I got a walk in, but only because I was picking up my paycheque and had to park a few blocks away. I ended up sprinting back though, to catch the meter! I felt like a failure for not having a true power walk in, but after picking up my cheque and going to the bank to open a business account (because I'm now Incorporated!) I had a lot of work to make up and ran out of time. Because I was hungry. It's all about the food. I need to work on that...

I have to work today as I have a deliverable on Monday, and a friend coming over tonight with (eep) take-out, so I just called Steve and asked if he could finish a little early so we can take advantage of the sunshine and finally go snowshoeing! I'm so excited :D

And tomorrow I will go for a run. It's going to hurt.

Over already

2008-12-31T08:31:00.000-05:00

I took no Blackberry photos yesterday so no pic posting until we get home tonight. After we burn our clothes. We are at the airport and I noticed an oxygen bar. Must be to clear the smoke from our lungs. The MGM grand had the smokiest casino. The Venetian smelled the best - like Abercrombie & Fitch. But it was still too strong for us.

We are at the airport now having lost a day. Which is too bad because we really wanted to go to the Freemont St. Experience after dinner last night but because of several 'suspicious packages' it was closed off. Speaking of dinner mmmm. We went to L'Atelier de Joel Robichon. Steve had the tasting menu and I asked if they had a vegetarian tasting menu. They didn't however our server Paul asked the chef if they could whip one up for me. And they did. OMFG. Best food ever. Steve's was 8 courses and two desserts, mine was 6 and two desserts. There is no way I could have eaten 2 more. It was delicious and worth every penny. And it was a lot of pennies.

Yesterday we went to the Shark Reef and Dolphin exhibits and walked through a bunch more hotels. We are happy to report having gone to every hotel to Trump. Had the Freemont issue not occurred we would have gone to the Sahara and the old hotels. I'm pretty bummed we didn't get to go so I guess we will need to come back. We also really want to see the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.

Ok I'm done blackberry typing. More later.
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2008-12-30T14:55:00.000-05:00

Bellagio. Too early for the fountains
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2008-12-30T14:54:00.001-05:00

Fork is called to the mothership
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2008-12-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

Fork at the Venetian
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2008-12-30T14:53:00.000-05:00

Yes we were Fanilows last night. Not my shtick but it was fun nevertheless.
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Day 3

2008-12-30T12:16:00.000-05:00

When we woke up this morning we realized that we see the Eiffel Tower from our room at the MGM Grand.

Oops breakfast is here!
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Day 2

2008-12-29T06:28:00.001-05:00

So random extra screening was fun. Patted down and everything.

Waiting to board our flight to Salt Lake City. It's going to be a long day.

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The best of intentions

2008-12-28T23:01:00.000-05:00

What a day. Our flight was delayed 3 hrs due to wind in both Ottawa and New York. We missed our connection and there was no room on our standby flight.
We have a room at the Mariott tonight in New Jersey. We are back at the airport for 5AM for a flight to Salt Lake City and a connection to Vegas for noon all going well.

Boo-urns
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Fork goes to Vegas

2008-12-28T13:08:00.000-05:00

Part 1 - Ottawa airport
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Waiting

2008-12-28T12:51:00.000-05:00

Flight delayed until 4. Nice and quiet here though. I'd better do something about the shine on my face!
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30 minutes and counting...

2008-12-28T11:38:00.000-05:00

Until we leave for the airport. Winds are gusting and will be at 100 km/hr this afternoon. And plane 1 is a 50 seater.

Where's my Ativan?
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2008-12-26T16:41:00.006-05:00

Downtime. I'm so lucky - I was able to just chill out today.

It's been a hectic month so far. Three weeks ago Steve's brother's house burned to the ground. So sad! Thankfully his family were out at work/school, but unfortunately their cat and dog both perished in the fire. Breaks my heart. Steve and I headed to NY to see them that weekend, of course just as I say "we're 45 minutes ahead of schedule!" we see a sign on the interstate "heavy snow next 40 miles". We're thinking... huh? How can they predict that? It's gorgeous out! Within 5 minutes, not so much.

An hour later, after following two snowplows the whole way, we realize the car is really loud. Oh great! The muffler fell off! So we hop off the highway in Syracuse, I Google "muffler Syracuse" and we get a few hits. Luckily there was one around the corner from us, problem was they closed at 7, and it was 6:10. Two super nice guys were working and they fixed it - it took them two and half hours! Most shocking of all? It cost $113. Even with the exchange it was far cheaper than it would have been here. We'd be looking at closer to $400 for what they did. So back on the road we go, and we made it to Rochester by 11:30. What should have taken 5 hours took 8 and half!

His brother and family are wonderful. They are the most positive people I've ever known. They lost everything, yet were so welcoming to us! We had a great weekend.

We left on Sunday, the minute we got on the road it started to snow again, so it was another 6 hour drive home.

Woke up the next morning with either an intestinal bug or food poisoning. Worst 30 hours of my life! I had to take two days of work (as a consultant there is no sick pay). The following day the transit workers went on strike (they still are) so we were told to work from home until it's over. We are so lucky! There are people now skiing, walking and hitching rides to work. Since there's not much by way of 'extra' parking in the downtown core, if you want to drive in, you have to arrive before 6AM. It's pretty crazy.

So work was very busy with a release and testing to be done, then trying to get out to do some Christmas shopping was difficult due to the increased traffic and lack of parking. But it all got done in time! We had KT's Dad, his wife and KT's stepsister over for a pre-Christmas dinner and gift exchange, a few days later we had my family over for and afternoon get together and gift exchange because she was leaving for Chile on the 22nd. Because "Snowmaggedon" the day before grounded all flights out of Ottawa, Toronto, NY (etc.), her flights were all delayed, but she made it to Santiago 25 hours after she left. Long day! We heard from her the day she landed, and again this morning. She is having a wonderful time, though apparently they have all lost their sense of time because by the time she realized it was Christmas Day it was 5AM this morning! She said it's a gorgeous country and I'm sure she and her 9 friends will have a wonderful month exploring it! I miss her though.

Steve's Mom came to stay with us for Christmas, arriving on the 24th after 8 hours in the car. It was a long drive in the snow for her, taking 2 hours longer than it should have. Poor thing! We had a nice evening - more or less traditional Reveillon (French Canadian Christmas Eve), which Steve calls cheating because we open our gifts on Christmas Eve! Mom grew up in Ireland and they did too, so I can vouch for the authenticity! Santa was overly generous yet again. I'm very excited about my new Garmin 405!! I'm so excited to have a Garmin that's only a little huge on my tiny wrists! I almost broke my wrist when I fell a couple of years ago with my 201. The bruising sure was pretty! Steve got a new bike trainer, which I also hope to use. Here's hoping 2009 (!!!!!) is a healthier year!

We hosted Christmas dinner for the family. Last spring Steve's store had a clearout of electric turkey roasters, so we bought one. Man alive it roasts well! Too well... The turkey which was supposed to take 8.5 hours took 5. Oh dear! Quick call to everyone to tell them to skip lunch! The dinner was fabulous, though we forgot to serve one of the sides. That is one of our traditions too! My sister's husband brought dessert - plum pudding and homemade hard sauce. Good lord it was good! After Steve and Armand woke up from their turkey comas on the couch (should have taken a photo!) we snapped the Christmas crackers - this years were 'muscial', which means in addition to the jokes and the paper crowns, everyone got a whistle with a number on it. It came with 4 sheets of music (we had to pair up) and then off we went, a-tootin'. As we read along to the music, tooting when our turn came around, we had a pretty good little orchestra. What a hoot! I am so lucky to be part of a family who all like each other! I love my family :)

I had the kitchen cleaned up by midnight, and a little shout out to the turkey roaster - a breeze to clean!

So today I hung out with Steve's Mom until it was time for her to hit the road, then I ate my weight in food, again. I really need to re-acquaint myself with the treadmill!

So tomorrow will be packing day, because on Sunday we're off to VEGAS!! Wheee! I haven't been on a plane since I was 18, when I flew to Montreal (a whopping 30 minutes!). I'm so excited! Of course we thought it was going to be warm, but apparently we were mistaken... though it will be 30C warmer than it is here today! Positively balmy in comparison I suppose!

I hope everyone in bloggerland and beyond has a safe and happy holiday season!

2008-11-30T19:04:00.002-05:00

Citizens of Ottawa? That 25cm of snow we're expecting overnight? My fault. We bought these pretty babies last weekend, and I've been dying to try them out. They are made to run in!
My running is still sporadic at best, and I'm struggling to get a decent 5k in. Still coughing, getting over the flu from 5 weeks ago. It's a lulu. To hopefully guard against any other nasty flus this year I got my flu shot yesterday. My arm hurts. Wuss.

Today's run was lousy, which I think had to do with the flu shot. I've been feeling draggy all day. I still ran 75% of my run today, and I'm happy with that. Tuesday's run in the snow/rain was brutal too! I should have worn my Elmer Fudd hat. That would have made it much more bearable. It's too bad I ran through puddles up to my ankles not once, but twice. Yay me!

On the sched for this week - work, hopefully a couple of runs, a little strength training, a movie (colleague invited me to one she won passes for) and some Christmas shopping. I did a little online yesterday and that's about it.

I'd better get to the kitchen and make some breakfast bars, prep some carrots and celery for lunches, then iron my clothes for the week. Tomorrow, while Steve is playing with our new snowblower, I'm a-goin' shoein'! Wheeeee!

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2008-11-25T18:48:00.000-05:00

This was a cold run. Brrr. Hot chocolate time.
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2008-10-28T20:52:00.004-04:00

Blah. I'm sick :( Sore throat, pounding headache, far too much goo, fever. I'm so done with this! I've had to work from home this week because of it. Thankfully I do have the option.

Work is going well. My team is really great, I just don't feel like I'm contributing much. I did get a call today from a recruiter asking about my status because the place I interviewed twice for in the summer are interested in me for another job. Oh well, I'm booked through the end of March. I hope there's something for me in April :)

Running has sucked. I've hardly been! The best of intentions. I didn't run this weekend because I felt too run down. Sure enough I was coming down with the plague. Oh well, hopefully by the weekend.

Until then, we have our first winter storm of the fall.

We're expecting somewhere between 15 - 20 cm. Maybe we'll find a snowblower tomorrow. Or maybe we're too late.

Really not much going on, going to bed early, getting up early, catching up on the shows on the PVR. Still loving 'Life' and new show 'Fringe'. Dropped from the PVR? 'Heroes', 'Dancing with the Stars'. Too much good reading I'm not getting to.

Going to bed.

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2008-10-08T08:48:00.000-04:00

In full blush - it took 10 days
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2008-10-07T13:20:00.000-04:00

My office building on the left.
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2008-10-07T13:19:00.001-04:00

On my left
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2008-10-07T13:19:00.000-04:00

On my right
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2008-10-07T13:18:00.000-04:00

Still commuting
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My commute this morning

2008-10-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

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2008-10-07T13:16:00.000-04:00

This morning off the bus walking to work
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2008-09-28T22:23:00.002-04:00

I thought it was about time I updated! Let's start with time. I no longer have any.

I'm up at 5:30 to get to work for 8:00. That in itself kills me. I'm trying to take the bus most days. On the plus side I'm home usually at 5:10. If, and it's a big if, I get a run in, I have time to get home, shower, have dinner, and go to bed. Sigh.

Running hasn't been going very well. I caught a stomach bug that everyone in my office has that had me feeling pretty horrible for a week. I missed my half marathon, which I was going to downgrade to the 5k if they would have let me. My last few long runs were disastrous. They wouldn't let me drop to the 5, and I don't think I could have done it anyway I was feeling so lousy. Today was my first run back, I did 5k, and it wasn't bad at all. I've lost a ton of fitness though, so I need to get serious again. I'm trying too cook more on the weekends, so that I have something quick to heat up for dinner, to give me some run time after work. I'm also trying to get yoga back in, just to loosen up. I'm so stiff it takes me until I get to the printer to stand up straight. I think part of the problem is dress shoes. I have leg cramps at night too. Rah! ;)

Work itself has been ok. I'm still learning the ropes, and there hasn't been that much for me to do yet, not that I'm not busy because I am, but not doing what I should be doing if that makes sense. One very funny thing that happened at the office was being recognized by a woman who whips out a photo album with pictures from my first wedding and KT's christening! We were friends in high school! We had lunch this week, it was fun to catch up. She really hasn't changed a bit, other than she's blonde now.

Other than that, there's not much going on. I feel tired and fat all the time, I'm not eating as well as I should, not getting enough sun. I'm anxious.

On that note, I'm going to go to bed!

2008-09-24T19:24:00.000-04:00

Testing blog posting by blackberry
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Weirdness!

2008-08-28T08:52:00.004-04:00

So.... I got a contract!

I was submitted for a couple of opportunities before going to the cottage, but hadn't heard anything since, so thought they were not interested.

Found out on Tuesday that one still hadn't started their interviewing.

Got a call yesterday that they hired me. Ummm.... I've never interviewed with them?!? Not a problem, apparently they were wooed by my resume and references.

It's a little scary - what if we don't click? Oh well... I guess if we don't, at the 6 month mark, when re-negotiations begin for the remaining 12 months, we cut our losses!

This has renewed my faith in my former manager though... he IMd me last week saying he'd given a reference to some gov't lady who was going to hire me without ever meeting me. I thought he'd turned to substances ;).

Not sure when my start date is yet, should receive the contract today or tomorrow. Business Analyst Process Re-Engineering. It's like being a re-enactor. But different. ;)

Booyeah!

2008-08-25T14:49:00.003-04:00

I had a great weekend! Went to my brother's girlfriend's BBQ on Friday night, it was a lot of fun. Nice people, her friends and visiting family! She's a keeper - makes the BEST dahl (dall?) I've ever tasted.

Saturday evening we were at my brother's for the August family birthdays. Since there are three with birthdays then, it's just easier for all to get together. It too was a lot of fun!

Sunday morning Steve was a little sore in the head (self-induced) and in need of a greasy breakfast so we checked out a new to us place, the Baker Street Café. I found out today their specialty is cinnamon buns. Didn't know that going in! I ordered eggs florentine, Steve had eggs benedict, and both were excellent. The plate was huge though, and I couldn't finish it all. Nice to have so much real fruit on the plate and not a slice of orange though! I wished I'd had my camera because I would have snapped a photo it was so pretty. Needless to say, there was no LSD yesterday!

So this morning was it, time to run that 16k. It was cool (14C/57F) and windy, but sunny. Brrr! We had a warm weekend and this was a bit of a shocker! The first km was tiring, and unfortunately, the top of my left foot hurt from the get go :(. And I felt really fat. My lungs felt good though! By 6k I was trying to run on my heel to take the pressure off the front of my foot. Needless to say, by the end of the loop (14k/88.6mi), both feet were hurting a lot, so I opted out of the extra 2k. I was disappointed, but as of right now, the feet aren't hurting much :). I also just visited a few health sites and all said that metatarsal breaks can be home diagnosed by pressing on the bones - if you want to pass out, get it checked out. If not, loosen your shoelaces! So my feet don't hurt at all when I press, tried squeezing, everything. So not that. But I did put speedlaces in a couple of months ago! dun dun dun.... I think they might be putting pressure on the area. Next run I'm going to loosen those suckers and see if it helps!

News on the job search - got a call on Thursday from a recruiter I'd never seen (but submitted my resume online to their company) and they had a VERY interesting opportunity they wanted to talk to me about. Not going to blog about it, because the systems involved you need to have the highest of security clearances to work on apparently. Sounds cool to me! I've been submitted and have my fingers crossed I'll be called for an interview.

Better hit the books! Today is a refresher on UML. Never had formal training, and found a great book/cd :)

2008-08-20T17:28:00.002-04:00

I guess it's time for an update!

Steve and I had a great great time at the cottage, though the weather wasn't always too great! Steve's Mom and my sister and her hubby came for the weekend and we had a nice visit. Sadly it had gotten cold by then, and we could only swim on Saturday for an hour.

Last weekend my daughter KT and I went on a shopping trip to NY for her birthday. We havn't had a road trip in a few years, and this is what she wanted for her birthday - she paid for her shopping, I paid for the two nights at the hotel, the gas and the meals. We had a great time. I'll post pictures once she loads them.

Running: I came down with a cold last week after the cottage, so I didn't end up doing my 16k until Thursday. I've been busy since, so the plan is to run this week's 16 tomorrow.

Job: I had an interview for a contract position on Monday last week. I did not think it went well at all, but got called for a second interview for this past Monday. This interview went much much better, but I found out today that I wasn't selected. The feedback was good though, I interviewed very well, and the two 'negatives' were 1. no experience working with the government (this is a common theme, which is really hard to get around since no one will give you that first 'in'!), and the other candidate had more web development experience.

I'm disappointed, it was an opportunity to learn about other ECM systems. C'est la vie. Yes, I've been working hard on bringing my French back too ;). I was submitted for two other jobs, but haven't heard anything so assuming that I wasn't selected for interview. So back to square 1.

I don't think I have anything else to report! We'll see how the 16k goes tomorrow ;)

2008-08-03T19:13:00.003-04:00

Long time no update!

I registered for the 1st annual Army Half Marathon (dog tag medals people!) a couple of weeks ago. Then ran 12k and buggered up my hip - last weekend it hurt to put weight on it, but after several steps it was fine. Strange stuff. I have no idea how I hurt it. :(

I was supposed to race in my second Du of the season yesterday, but because my hip was still constantly sore (but not bad like last weekend) but definitely aggravated by the bike as I found out last weekend. So skipped the du :( (congrats to Steve and Karen who both came in 3rd in their age groups), instead opted to stand around for 5 hours on my leg. Smooth move there chicky.

Today I was to run 14k. My hip hurt the whole time, but doesn't hurt any more or less than it has all week, so if still ok tomorrow, I will be thrilled. Only 7 weeks until the race!

I didn't get the job I interviewed for. Oh well. I have another interview on Aug 11 for a different contract, and have been submitted for 2 other opportunities. Something will come my way soon enough.

I have been spending more time sitting on the deck, reading for study and for fun, listening to various podcasts on my iPod, and enjoying my time off. It's tough, the job search is permanently on my mind, as is getting my French back in top shape. Speaking of which, I've started taking novels I had on my TBR list out of the library which have been translated into French. Ooh la la. ;)

That's if for now. We rented a cottage for the week (before the layoff that is!) so we're going to spend the rest of the week reading, studying, getting interview ready, sleeping, swimming, running, walking... Can't wait!!

2008-07-13T20:49:00.004-04:00

I need time. I'm so busy I have only read 150 pages of the last Harry Potter book in the past 3 weeks. I haven't been reading any blogs.

So what have I been doing... last Monday I attended the first of four seminars on self-employment. It was interesting enough, but I'm really eager for tomorrow's session when we look into more detail at consulting, the different types of business ownership and the legal aspects of it all. From here I went to my sister's to help set up her office network.

I spent a lot of time this week making cold calls to various agencies a former colleague recommended. There were two interesting opportunities, the first I was selected for submission (gov't contract 3.5 months with possible extension), but found out two days later the RFP was pulled and the job cancelled. The other opportunity I was selected for submission for I did get an interview - though I got the call on Wednesday night (8PM!) for an interview at 2:30PM the next day. A little short notice to say the least. I crammed a little on the gov't agency's information, went out first thing to buy an interview suit, shoes, and a few other items. Raced home, hemmed my pants and raced over to another interview for 1PM - meet the recruiter at a different agency. From here I met up with the account manager for the agency that set up the 2:30 interview and walked over. I had asked the acct. mgr. to send me the statement of work for the position, which he didn't, and I was not at all impressed when I discovered the job was not the one I thought it was. I had to scramble to get my bearings as we were just about to head into the interview. I think it went very well, the contract is through December, with possible extention to end of Q109. I should find out by the end of next week. Fingers crossed!

Bluesfest ended today, I decided not to go because I needed to do some prep for tomorrow's seminar. On Tuesday KT and I stage hopped, catching a little of Fergie, Boz Scaggs, Jason Collett, Most Serene Republic, Stars, Born Ruffians, Tokyo Police Club, Jason Ricci and the New Blood and Michael Franti. Wednesday we saw some of Kathleen Edwards and all of Brian Wilson. Poor fellow is still a mess. Thursday I was so worn out after the stress of the shopping/interviews/racing around that we didn't go. Friday we saw Balken Beat Box, Great Big Sea, and the Budos Band. We didn't go yesterday as we wanted to rest up, and get out of the second hand smoke for a while. We had a great time dancing at all the shows, KT and I gigled ourselves silly at Fergie when we sang along to all the classic rock songs from her medley, and no one around us did, and actually stared. It got even better when the band played a few bars of 'Apache' by Sugarhill Gang. Naturally we went straight into the Will Smith dance (see below) and again, people stared. Granted, these people were 14 year old girls :)

Now for today! We raced the Graham Beasley Sprint Duathlon - 2k run - 20k bike - 5k run. We had a little humidity and a whole lot of rain when we woke up at 5:30. The Weather Network was showing thunder storms through 9AM, and rain until about 3PM. Sigh. As a rule I shy away from riding in the rain. Anyway, we left for Carleton Place, about a 35 min drive. We were shocked by the number of bikes already in transition, it was 6:45 AM! We got everything organized in transition, got ourselves marked, got our timing chip anklets, and then found my friend Karen. It was overcast but not raining. We had loads of time to kill so we watched the start of the Half Iron Tri and Du races, the Olympic distance Tri and the Tri-a-Tri races. Finally it was our turn and the wind was picking up. We lined up at the start and the horn sounded and we took off. As you can see from my week, I did no activity at all other than dance, so I figured this was going to be really ugly, or really great. Looks like ugly was going to be the word of the day. I ran the first 500 m in 5:15/km. Way way too fast for me. I slowed as much as I could, was sweating bullets, and cursed myself for not wearing my fuel belt. I HURT. Made it to transition, took a long swig of my bike swill, got my bike shoes, gloves and helmet on, and raced out. When I crossed the transition line I hopped on and went. My intent was to try to get my breath back and go slow. Slow was an immediate 30km/hr, which is blistering for me LOL. I seemed to be able to keep between 28km/hr and 34km/hr. I was thrilled! The first time I raced this course I averaged 23.7km/hr. I saw Steve and Karen just before the turnaround (they were on their way back), and when my turn at the turnaround came I stopped for a minute for another drink (memories of the last time I did this race and was very dizzy from not being hydrated properly). I took off again, faced a head wind for a little while but continued with a great speed. And then 5km from the finish the rain started. And it was pelting. I had to slow down because I was having a hard time seeing, and there are potholes in many places on this country road. Then I felt hail. Hail!! Argh. I leapfrogged with Richard (so his bib read) doing the sprint tri (age 50 his calf read) and we chatted each time we passed each other. Since it's a not a draft legal event, we had to pass without meandering. For some bizarre reason with 1km to the transition at the street lights a police officer told me to go ahead, and I decided it was time to turn left. The officer yelled - no, no! go straight!! I was sure I was supposed to turn but quickly got back on track. Phew, crisis averted and I didn't wipe out even though the roads were slick. I dismounted fine but heard 'oooooooooh' from behind me. Sounds like someone didn't have my luck. I was so annoyed when I got back to where my stuff was so neatly arranged - someone had put their bike on my stuff and dumped all their crap on it. There was no place to move the bike so I had to put my bike in someone else's spot. NOT HAPPY. Got my shoes, baseball cap and fuel belt on and ran out. The rain was really coming down now, but that was fine, I was on foot. But I walked alot over the 5k. With Richard... we leap frogged for a bit, then ran together the last half. Finally we finished! I was really happy with my time considering I'm undertrained. I'm not able to compare to the first time I completed the race because it looks like transition times weren't included for some reason. Or I was really really fast on foot back then, which is also a possibility since it was 2003! The first run was also 2km longer then. I guess I'll have to do it next year to compare then ;)

Steve placed 3rd in his age group, Karen placed 2nd. I came in 8/8. Considering the next woman was 15 minutes faster than I, it's unlikely I'm going to place any time soon ;) Here we are after the medal ceremony - Steve, Karen, and I.

As is tradition after this race we went to Dairy Queen :D And it was wonderful!

We've registered for another Du in two weeks, 3km-20km-5km. It will be interesting to see if I can improve at all!

So that's my week! Please keep your fingers crossed that I'm offered the contract :)

2008-07-08T14:59:00.003-04:00

I'm tired, and it's not from exercise! The last bit done was Friday - a really hot and windy brick. I had to walk 4 times on my 5k, but happily my time was 33 mins and change. How the heck did that happen? Oh yeah, it was that first km where my legs were flying at 5:45/km. Yay me!

So not exercising because (as anyone following me on Twitter knows) I've been grooving the nights (and weekend days) away at the Ottawa Bluesfest. Since Thursday I've attended:

The Blind Boys of Alabama (always gets you moving)
The Tragically Hip
Trevor Findlay Band
Royal Wood
Corb Lund
Sonny Landreth
Wintersleep
Sean Kingston
Orchestra Babobab
The Frequency
Steely Dan
Amanda Rheaume
Lucinda Williams
Luke Doucet
Zappa Plays Zappa
Snoop Dogg
Bryan Lee and the Blues Power Band
Johnny Winter
The Wailers
James Taylor

Granted, I didn't stay for the full length of all shows as I wandered from stage to stage (there are 6 this year). James Taylor was last night - KT and I danced and swayed. It was nice to have a mellow show!

Tonight we're planning to see Michael Franti and Spearhead, since we so loved the show last year. There are a whack of other acts throughout the evening who we'll also see, and probably a bit of Fergie on the way out. The festival continues through Sunday. We're taking Saturday off since we have a duathlon Sunday morning! And it's going to be a scorcher!

That's it for now, the job search is done for the day!

2008-07-01T20:57:00.005-04:00

Well I never expected to have such a great race!

We were up at 5:45 and out the door at 6:15 as planned. I was not in the least bit hungry, so we took one slice of multigrain bread with a thin layer of peanut butter with us. At 6:45 I had a couple of bites but that was it. We were on time to pick up my sister in law, zoomed downtown and found a primo parking spot.

The walk across the bridge to Gatineau where the race started took us about 10 mins. Since we were fairly early we had time to find an empty porta potty before lining up.

And we're off! We all ran our own races, so needless to say I didn't see them after a couple of minutes. The course is really stunning, (click the links for pictures) over the Alexandra Bridge to Ottawa (you can see the Chateau Laurier in the distance through the link), beside and in front of the Chateau Laurier, in front of the Unknown Soldier at the War Memorial, behind the National Arts Centre (the only shot I could find behind it was a winter one), along the Rideau Canal and by the Rideau Locks, and beneath Parliament Hill, along the path by the Ottawa River (see previous link). All that before 3k! At 3k or so we joined up with the Ottawa River Parkway, past the War Museum, the turnaround was at 6k approx., then back across the Portage Bridge to Gatineau, by the Museum of Civilization to the finish at Jacques Cartier Park. Did I mention the entire race was uphill? Ok, it really wasn't, but sure felt it. It's a tough course for Ottawa!

I finished in 1:04:53. My best time this year (and in several years to tell the truth) and a course PR for me. Last year was 1:11:01! Happy :)

Great shirts, will post pictures when my brother sends them (he came to cheer us on). But gorgeous medals - minted at the Royal Canadian Mint no less! They model the Olympic medals. Nice!

Feeling great tonight, had the family over for a Canada Day BBQ. The Snowbirds did I flyby just for us. Nice of them huh?

2008-06-30T20:42:00.002-04:00

Steve's on vacation, so I'm not getting much done, but we are having a nice time! I've been out on a few runs, they weren't the worst, so that's hopeful. We've also had a couple of bike rides and I've come to the conclusion that my bike shorts that I've worn for years hurt me. I do much better on the skinny 2XU tri shorts I bought this year. So off to the giveaway bag the oldies go. They are in terrific shape (sadly, we haven't been biking as much as we wanted to the past couple of years).

Tomorrow is Canada Day. We have a race at 7:30 AM. Since we're picking up my sister in law too, it's out the door at 6:15. Eeep that's an early start. Going to take my breakfast with me, because that's just too early. There's no rain forecast for tomorrow, considering we've had rain every day but two in June, I'm hoping the tides are turning. Back to tomorrow, we're having the family over tomorrow afternoon for a BBQ and to watch the Snowbirds fly by. They have been doing flybys the past 5 days at least once a day, and tomorrow is the big day. We're close to the airport so they always fly over us too, but not so close that we hear planes. We might hear one a day!

Oh and in other news, there's been a Dell miracle. My laptop arrived today! It wasn't supposed to arrive for 3 weeks. I didn't think they ever shipped early!

2008-06-21T16:15:00.002-04:00

I guess it's time to post something!

Running wasn't improving, so 10 days ago I decided to cut my beta blocker dose in half, to .5 pill twice a day. My heart rate is now averaging in the 120s instead of the teens. Not perfect, but much better.

I was able to run without a walk break last week for my planned 8k. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't horrible either. Today's 10k I had planned walk breaks, but my lungs weren't happy... someone was apparently sitting on my chest the whole way. But I got it done, with no nasty after effects.

Speaking of nasty after effects, I went out with a friend last Friday night, and considering we were in a pub, I ate what I thought would be decent before race food. The menu said: Irish nachos - layers of potatoes with jalapeños, melted cheese, onions and tomatoes; and Spring rolls - fresh locally grown vegetables with hoisin and sweet chili sauces. What did we get? Greasy drippy wedge fries for the nachos with what looked like cheese whiz on it (don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the whiz, but not on fries), and deep fried spring rolls (nothing in the menu about deep frying) stuffed with cabbage. Oh man, this was not going to be pretty. I ate some because I was starving, and no doubt ate too much. I felt pretty yucky, and spent most of the night in the bathroom. Woke up and back in the bathroom a few times, so needless to say, my race wasn't happening. I did go, and cheered Steve and my friend Karen, Steve won his AG, Karen placed second. Boo-urns, I would have placed in my AG too had I run it. Oh well, next year. I spent the rest of the day eating salty stuff and shivered. No idea if it was food poisoning, a bug, or just too much grease, but I won't be doing that again any time soon.

The job search is continuing. I met with a Gov't recruiter on Friday, and meet another on Monday. I'm more than happy to explore the consulting route.

Had to return my work equipment. Boy of boy do I miss my laptop :( And the one I bought from Dell? 5.5 weeks to deliver because they are out of batteries. How I hate Dell, there is always a problem. If I could have afforded a Mac, I would have gone that route. Until then I have to use the home PC. I'm tempted to move it to my office, it's so much more comfortable.

That's about it. Not great rides recently, it's rained all but 3 days (and so far so good today) in June. And not little showers either. Torrential downpours. Stuff you don't want to be on a bike for. I came home one day last week to what I thought was foam bubbles from my eavestroughs. Nope - chickpea sized hail. Garden survived though thank goodness.

2008-06-06T19:54:00.003-04:00

I had the greatest hope for a good run on Wednesday morning. But it wasn't meant to be. It was a struggle from the get go, I just couldn't get any air in my lungs. Everything is in full bloom and perfumy, which I love, even though it causes me grief. It was windy, and there was a pollen storm. Never saw that before! The worst part of the run was a toss up between my dead legs or lack of heartrate. I mean, come on... max heart rate 111 bpm?!? I don't understand why the meds are so inconsistent, some days I can see 140's when I run, and others, not so much. Almost forgot! It did get worse, at 7k I discovered that there are no bushes by the canal between Carleton U and Hogsback Bridge. NONE that would hide my whiteness! I've never had intestinal issues before while running, so this was a shocker. So I tried to run, to get to the bathroom faster, but had to abruptly stop, to prevent an accident. So the last 4k weren't that great, but I got 11k on my feet at least. And made it to the bathroom in time :)

Today was Steve's day off, so after chatting with a recruiter we got the bikes and went to the Rockliffe Parkway. There was thunder in the air, and I had a splitting headache. So I started out easy, finishing the 22k with an overall speed of 26km/hr (16mph). I was really happy with my ride, it never felt hard, just a really smooth ride. LOVED IT! I hopped off the bike, locked it up next to Steve's, threw on my running shoes and started my run. My legs were a tiny bit wobbly, but not bad at all. I finished the planned 3k with a pace of 6:15/km. Best brick ever! Next week we're aiming for 25km/4km. The du is 5 weeks away.

No other real news to report. Working on my resume, and it's a struggle. I'm just not happy with the format. I have a few jobs I want to apply for that close next week so I need to get moving! My plan is to finish it tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Thanks Ellie :)

2008-06-02T20:11:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to report in, and send a quick thank you to Ellie - I fought my run, I really did. I was too hungry at lunch time to get out, then napped in the afternoon and woke up feeling all nasty, and got all 'snippy' with KT and Steve, because I really didn't want to go.

But I did. We had a bad thunderstorm causing our first humid day, and it hit me right in the lungs. I had the hardest time getting any air in, I hate that. Steve stuck by me for the first 1.5k, and then I sent him on his way, thinking I was going to turn back, which I didn't until another km later. I didn't get my 11k in, but I did get in 5k. I'll do the 11 on Thursday instead.

Thanks Ellie, for the kick I needed. I hope you're ride went well!

Kick me

2008-06-02T07:11:00.002-04:00

I was just loading my workouts to the Buckeye Outdoors Training Site (great great great little tool!) and I noticed that I hadn't loaded a workout since May 4th. I was so busy with work that I had no time. Then I lost my job, and was busy doing job search and getting my head straightish that I didn't take the time to do it.

I noticed I ran once last week. I only biked once last week. I've had a horrible headache since getting laid off on the 20th which I know is 50% allergies, 50% stress, and the best thing to clear my head would be to get out for a run or a ride. I've been good in working on job search every day until 1pm or so, then the idea is to clean the house, read a book, etc, but what happened 3 days last week is I ate wrong, Steve came home later than expected and I would be starving, or I just fell asleep and felt crappy when waking up that instead I'd get takeout and basically curl up. Bah!!

Thanks Karen for the Excuse Amnesty Run. It got me out of the house last week for that one run.

Yesterday I had planned to run 10-11k, but plans changed (originally we were going to have the family over for lunch to hang on the new deck, and I could run in the morning) to breakfast at 10AM. Steve ran and met us there, but I get really sweaty, and I really need to buy new running shorts and bra (they smell funky after a few years), and I wasn't going to offend my family for 90 minutes! Nor was I interested in sitting in sweaty garb for 90 minutes. That's a yeast breeding ground!

The plan for today is job search starting at 8AM, then at noon head out for my 10-11k. If Steve decides to run after work, I'll go with him but take my bike for an easy ride. It's imperative that I get my exercise in order again. Steve signed me up for another 5k on June 14th (with my recent 5k time compared to last year's results I would place in my AG), July 1st I have the Canada Day 10k! Ok, I'm motivated now :)

Will report on my run later.

The best weekend

2008-05-25T19:49:00.002-04:00

I had the best weekend.

Friday I was busy, non-stop busy all morning. I had a call with my soon to be former Manager to talk about next steps. After that was busy getting some quick housework done, and out the door to meet Steve at his work - he had a transfer in my car, which he forgot to take out before going to work. I spent a few minutes with him, then zipped a few blocks over to my friend and former colleague Ginette's house, where we sat in her hot tub. For FOUR hours. It was great to catch up, decompress and just relax. I want a hot tub :) Anyway, met up with Steve, and we headed to the race expo. We picked up our kits, and looked around but didn't buy anything. We did register for the HBC Canada Day 10k. Registering early we got a free shirt (from the 2006 race, but quite honestly, they are the most comfortable shirts that I wear my old ones every time I run!) and a discount on the entry fee.

Saturday we went to my nephew Joe's baseball tournament. It was so fun. And so cute! He's 8, so you can imagine the cuteness of the little ones playing. And some show real talent! From here we went back to the expo because I apparently forgot to sign something for the Canada Day race, and I wanted to look for shorts. No shorts that I liked, but I did find a nice long sleeved shirt. I only have one, Steve borrows all of them and throws them out I think! We bumped into my former trainer, the great Ray Zahab at the OneXOne booth. He's such a star now. I'm so happy for him, and thankful to all the hard work he is doing. From here we raced home, and our deck guys were almost done, so we had to go buy the risers and wood for the stairs, now that he had exact measurements. We were back within an hour, and it was time to change for the race! We hopped back in the car and motored downtown. Found parking for $3 (wooo!) and headed to City Hall. Holy crap there were a lot of people! I love race weekend! I tried to position myself properly, but there were so many people (7463 racers Steve says, but not sure how he'd remember that exact number... ;)) it was hopeless. I got really concerned when the group of ladies next to me were offering each other PBJ sandwiches and bananas. Sigh. The gun went off, and of course we walked. It only took a 3 or so minutes to cross the start line, and we were officially off. For 5 seconds. After about 15 more seconds, which felt twice as long, I was able to scamper around people and run a little. I never did get to just run, there was always jockeying for position, or leaping around the walkers who link arms and take up most of the road, or the sudden walk breaks that some runners take. I saw Steve 300m from the finish, and I was pushing, but I was feeling really good. My goal was under 35 mins, but dream time 33 mins. I was thrilled when I crossed the finish at 32:01! Looking over my race results, I haven't run a 5k race under that time since 2003! Ok, haven't run a 5k race since 2003 :). But even in training, I haven't seen 32 mins for a 5k probably since that time. At least since I got my Garmin in 2006. Anyhoo, I might have PR'd on that course had I moved closer to the front - I was 21 seconds away...

Steve lined up for his race, and I watched the elites warm up at the front. The women got a 4 minute (or 4.5 min, can't remember!) head start on the men, and if they crossed the finish first would walk away with an extra 5k. Oh, and Frank Shorter was there, he looks awesome. Anyway, after the gun, and the three minutes it took Steve to cross the line and fight the walkers (and he was coralled in the 50-60 mins area), I wandered over to the finish. Wow, those elites are amazing. And the lead woman I thought had crossed the finish before the lead man, but apparently he beat her at the line. It was that close, and that exciting. Love it. Steve did really really well, a 10K PR. Congrats Honey!

We came home, marvelled over our gorgeous deck, ordered pizza, ate too much, and fell into bed pooped.

Today we were up and out to watch the Marathon and Half Marathon. We took our bikes, biked around to find a good spot, watched the leaders go by (they are truly different creatures than we are!), and went for a bike ride. In all we covered 36k, and had a blast. Oh, maybe Steve not so much, he took a tumble on his bike. Poor pup. We came home and put the gazebo on the deck, got the furniture out and organized, planted the veggie garden, had dinner, and here we are. It's going to be an early night, we are pooped. And a little sunburned.

Anyway, this was one of the best weekends ever. Tomorrow, I have some housecleaning to do, some prep work for the resume and career workshops I have on Wednesday, and then I may sit on the deck and read a book.

2008-05-22T22:03:00.003-04:00

Well, it's done. After 7.5 years at my company, and I think the count is 15 rounds of layoffs (that I know of!), I received my notice on Wednesday. I am sad, because I really love my job and my company. I understand the reasons why, we are in trouble and it never seems to get better. But I don't want to go. I have 60 days where I can still apply for internal postings, and if anything suitable comes up, I just might. When the sting to the ego fades, I may just decide to walk away with my severance, and start new somewhere where (I hope) I won't be faced with layoffs every half. In that respect I'm relieved. After living in fear for 7.5 years, it's happened, and it's over. And I'm ok.

Lots to do in the coming weeks with the outplacement agency. Truthfully, I just want to take a break and curl up in a ball for a few weeks. :)

I had a terrible run on Tuesday, my legs were tight, but nothing compared to my lungs. It's been a long while since my lungs were bad enough that I thought I'd need to go to the hospital to be tented. So I sat on a bench (a spider family's bench apparently!) and concentrated on my breathing for a while, and that made it a little more bearable. I walked every 250 metres, I just couldn't do more than that. On the upside, because of these breaks I saw two deers in a field (so pretty) and baby duckies!! These were the smallest I've ever seen, they must have been only a few days old. They could actually run on water! Amazingly fast tiny creatures. I was beaming from ear to ear, and in near tears watching them. Just gorgeous.

Haven't run since, just don't have it in me. I'd better get it back soon though, I have a race on Saturday evening! Ooooh, I also got my bike back. They replaced my brake cable, did a complete tune up (I seriously thought it a new cassette and chain!). If it doesn't rain, I may take it out for a little ride tomorrow. I mean really, I have nothing else to do! :)

2008-05-18T19:15:00.002-04:00

Today I felt the pain of weeding. Oh.My.God. My hammies and my rear. So tight! So sore. Allergies? Check. Full swing. Let's go!

My goal was to run 10/1 and have today be the start of my LSDs. I did the first 10 mins with Steve at my side. I was pushing it, any harder and my hamstring was going to snap. Quick air kiss and he was off, getting smaller in the distance. That's cool, one day I'll run next to him. Well maybe not, he's a lot faster than he used to be!

I decided on 6 10/1 - 66 mins. I started at Pretoria Bridge, ran out to the little bridge in the Arboretum! The trees were in full bloom, I was a sniffling mess, but it smelled so wonderful, and looked so pretty, I really didn't care. It's so worth it. This is the furthest I'd run on Queen Elizabeth side of the Canal. I passed the little marsh on the way, and there were several red-winged blackbirds sitting on cattails. I love how they sit there and sway. I debated whether to do the loop, or to turn back. Decided to turn back. And for the first time in a very long time, I had wings! By the time I reached the end I was only 500m to 10k, so I went for it. Finished in 1:08:18. I'm thrilled! I just checked last summer's 10k Canada Day race, which I finished in 1:11:01. Granted, the race is very hilly and congested, but I think I can beat it this summer. Actually, I'm going to kill it. Today was one of those great running days.

My hammies and rear are still very cranky with me. But they'll forgive me tomorrow when we go mountain biking in the Gats. Here's a shot I found on the web, off the trail we're going to be biking on. Which is the same trail as we ran on last week. Considering it's going to rain all night, should be good and muddy! Will report tomorrow.

2008-05-17T21:03:00.004-04:00

I'm taking today off. I'm really tired, physically and emotionally. These 60 hour weeks aren't my thing anymore. And not so great news on the work front. Need to make some plans for the future now.

Been running, and improving every time. I can now run a solid 5-6km without stopping. Because of work and fatigue I missed two of my runs this week. TWO!! But the two runs I had were quality runs. Wednesday I went out after work to the canal and wanted to do 5km straight. That's it. And I did 6 something (I haven't uploaded my Garmin yet, so not sure!). I was tired and sweaty afterwards, had a little Wenckebach, but that went away within 20 mins.

Thursday my workday started at 6:30 and after all the OT, I felt no qualms about calling it a day at 3PM. Steve was off, so we headed to the Gats for another trail run. We opted for the trail we used to do - trail 1 > trail 3. There was no one around the parking area we were at, which has never happened before, but it was only the first official day of mountain biking. There were many cyclists on the road area though, climbing, climbing. So the run, my ankles are still pretty weak. I died on the first hill, because it's a killer. Actually, I died on all the hills on the way out! It was a lot wetter than I remember (a lot of marshes and a lake), we saw a beaver. I took my mini camera and took this shot of the beaver swimming, which you can't see. Trust me, he's there!

Yeah, seriously overexposed! It was really sunny out :)

There's a little area in the middle of nowhere where someone built a bench! how cute is that?!? I didn't sit, though I was tempted! We turned around at the 3.8km mark. The run back was so much easier, I was much more warmed up. Though I was getting hungry and should have had more to drink. I took this picture at 'Teenaged Snakeland', where they like to sun in the summer. This would also be where I scream like Flanders every summer. I'm scared of snakes. Very scared.

Anyway, it was a wonderful wonderful run, and really helped clear my head. It's a long weekend in Canada (Victoria Day), and Monday we've decided to take the mountain bikes to this trail :) It's not terribly technical, and will really test my skills (or lack thereof) and intestinal fortitude (again, or lack thereof).

Yesterday's training plan was a ride after work. From the first KM my bike felt strange. It just would not shift properly. At 4km I hopped off and took a look. It seemed to be working ok. I hopped back on, and I'm up-shifting, and suddenly I'm spinning, thinking that my chain fell off. I pull over again. Still can't see what the problem is. Steve comes back and has a look, he can't see a problem either, so he hops on and tests it. No problem he says. I've already made up my mind that I'm going home because something is definitely not right. Steve comes with me (even though I keep telling him to go on and get his ride in, we're only 5k from home) and after 2 or 3 minutes it happens again. I pull over and we see the problem. The rear cogs (I think it's called?) where the chain moves up and down have split from each other and are spinning on their own. It looks like it's the bottom 2 so we pick the middle gear, and decide I'll stay there until we get home. We don't get 1 minute done and it goes to. They are all pulling away from each other. So I hop off, and start walking. Steve rides home to get the car, because walking 5k in bike shoes isn't that comfy! We took the bike to the shop today, and it seems a spacer has fallen out. I think they are replacing the whole thing, since they are replacing my chain too. I'm going to get a proper tune-up while it's in there, since they need to fine tune it anyway. I can't wait to get it back and try it out!

Tomorrow I'll be running 10/1 for 60 or 70 minutes. I was supposed to run today, but after popping dandilions in the lawn for an hour, my hamstrings were screaming. And I really didn't feel like it to tell the truth. Work is weighing a little too heavy right now.

2008-05-11T09:12:00.011-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all! I'm including Mom's of human, fuzzy, scaly... to whatever babies you nurture and care for. Shout out to the boys out there who fit the Mom role to a T as well.

I've been searching around for a small camera that I take running/biking with me. I used to carry my regular digital camera, but it's a little big/heavy/awkward. And I don't want it damaged. A couple of weeks ago Steve comes home with a mini digital camera (actually, one for each of us). I realize the pictures are not going to be great, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice :). Yesterday's run on the trails in the Gatineau's was to be pinky camera's maiden voyage. As you can see from the photo, it's wee. And I'm about to run out of ink in my pen.

I also tried out my new trail shoes, that I bought on clearance several weeks ago. I tend to feel rocks and stones that I step on through my shoe, and after an hour my feet get really tired. I was curious what the difference might be to regular running shoes. I also tried out my new Dirty Girl Gaiters! I don't know how I do it, but the minute I walk out the door, I get a pebble in my shoe. I thought they would be a good investment (at $13? you can't lose!) for a more comfortable run. I chose the pink leopard print, since they match my running shoes too. And now my new mini camera!

There's a Cross Country Ski group that meets up all summer long for trail runs in the Gats. We've always wanted to run with them, but we can't make it out there in time for their Tuesday night or Saturday morning runs. But in the event we can we were curious as to what they consider a 3/10 difficulty (based on hills and technicality). Since they post some details of their runs, we decided to do the run they did yesterday, but 4 hours later! Here we are at the start, testing the new camera. Nothing like a nostril pic.

We got to the Gatineau's at 1:30. We were late because we both blanked on where we were going and took the scenic route. We forgot our trail map, but thankfully there was one posted. We knew the morning run was to park at P7, then take trail 17. Hmmm... Trail 17 doesn't join up to P7. But if we take #30 to #8 we can get to #17!

The first minute of the run was on a slight uphill and beautifully maintained 5 person wide packed trail. GORGEOUS. I could run on this all day. Hold that thought. We turned a corner and it was all up hill. I ran for another minute straight up, and then walked, gasping for air. That first hill was too much too soon. Steve made it to the top, and discovered there was another hill right after what we thought was the top. He ran to meet me and tell me this, then scampered back up. I thought this was going to be rough. By the time we got to the slight downhill, I wasn't able to find my footing, and my sunglasses (prescription) were bouncing because the arms touch the back of my hat (if that makes sense) and the ground was moving under my feet. I was sure I was going to tumble. Another hill and we hit #8. This trail was much more technical. I think there was only 50 feet or so that was smooth, the rest was tree roots, sharp rocks, rocks to leap over, fallen logs, stream crossings and hills... tons of hills. I thought we were on a different trail than the running group, or I never want to know what they consider 10/10 if this was a 3/10! As tired as I was, and I still walked a lot of the steep hills, I was having a blast. Especially when we made it to the top! We stopped to snap these photos from the lookout.

We continued on, which was downhill for another 10 minutes, and we still hadn't seen #17. At 35 mins I suggested we turn around, since we didn't know when 17 was coming up, nor how long it was before reaching the other side of 30. I was only at 2.85km on my Garmin, LOL. In 35 mins! On our way back we met a group of hikers. Steve was a little ahead of me (of course!) and I heard the hikers talk to him as he was running by - uphill. I got there right after and one of the women said "oh good for you, you're keeping up with him!" I laughed and said "I'm trying, but I'm really not!". She then commented on my shirt, my race shirt from "Dances with Dirt". She thought that was adorable. Steve met me at the top and was laughing, he said "I hope you realize how lucky you are to be with someone so famous". Sure enough one of the men hiking had said to him while he was running by them "aren't you from CBC's Gotta Run?" hahahahahah! Steve told him he was from last year's. (This year they are training a group of men in Recovery). I thought it was a hoot that a year later, in the middle of nowhere, he's recognized. Most of the run was downhill now, though still so technical we didn't gain much by way of time. We finished in 1:05 or so. We checked the map again, and looked at the legend... oh... trail 8 is a black diamond trail. Sheesh, no brains I tell ya! But we did it, I slowed Steve down so he ran back a few times to find me, and in total he ran almost a km longer than I!

Shoe report - I noticed a HUGE difference with running in trail shoes. Much 'grippier' than running shoes, didn't feel anything poking at me on the underside at all. I LOVE them.

Gaiter report - Not one stone to be had :D Completely forgot I was wearing them, they are that light and comfortable. I'll definitely be getting another pair when these get grungy.

We raced home, showered, and arrived an hour late for my brother's birthday parter at my sister's. We ate too much, slept like the dead, and here we are Sunday morning!

I'd better get back to work, lots to do before tomorrow morning work-wise, but I also want to get my Sunday run, which, now that I've officially graduated from my self-imposed learn to run program, Sunday's are 10/1 LSD. If my legs can handle it (they are tired!), I'll be running 60 mins, or 6 repeats (66 mins). I haven't quite decided yet! Each Sunday run I'll be increasing slightly. I also want to visit Mom and Dad at the cemetery. It's been a while.

Have a great day all!

2008-05-09T18:05:00.003-04:00

I forgot to report on my run on Monday, THE DAY AFTER. Ok, tried to make that dramatic. I was cold from the get go, hungry, and just wanted it done. I was flying! I was averaging 6:15/km for the first 2 repeats of 10, until the 28 minute mark, where I apparently discovered teleportation. I know in all my years of running, I've never, EVER, a 4:53 km. Ever. There was a tail wind, which I noticed from the water which had peaks, and then of course when I hit the turnaround and it was full on. My pace slowed to 6:51/km until the end. Which was fine with me.

So yesterday's run was day 5 in a row of leg stuff, and I was tired. My legs were tired from this week's activity, and sore from my little bike spill (left knee and right ankle felt loose so I had to focus not to trip or turn out). My cut has turned to bright red road rash, which I found interesting, considering there was no road to be seen. Anyhoo, I didn't want to do it, but forced myself too. Within the first 5 minutes I knew it wasn't going to be good. Headwind on the way out this time, and my average pace was 6:51/km. Not a great start. But my heart rate was nice and low, so I decided I would give myself a break, and run only 5k for a change. I love it that 5k is now my cop out distance! It was never easy, and my pace got progressively slower over the run. I didn't care, because I decided it would be a good day to run it straight, with no walk breaks. And I did :D With walk breaks I was running at least 15 sec/km faster overall. But I had no legs, so I know it's not a true measure. Or it's a measure of my performance with dead legs!

Tomorrow we're going to do some trail running in the Gats, if time allows. My brother's birthday bash is in the afternoon!

We'll, I'd better get to work. It's going to be another long weekend. :(

2008-05-07T22:37:00.004-04:00

And the moron of the year award goes to.... ME!! I'll get to that in a bit.

I ran yesterday on the treadmill as planned, it helped, my legs were less tight from the ride, but still tired. So I did not want to run again today. I wanted to ride. I mapped out a 35k route from the front door, avoiding (I think) busy country roads during rush hour and crappy paving. Naturally at 4:30 the skies opened up. Change of plans. I'm not a fan of skinny tires on slick potentially busy roads during the after work commute home.

I had a brilliant idea! Let's take the mountain bikes out and find a trail in the greenbelt! So that's what we did. I wore my black MEC long johns (which they aren't really, basically a base layer that's pretty thin, but toasty in the winter) under my bike shorts, same as I wore at the Tour on Sunday. That would keep me warm, and if I wiped out, hopefully keep the stones out of my cuts. I have enough scars and dirt tattoos to last me, thank you very much.

We hadn't taken the mountain bikes out since putting on the SPD pedals, so while I was getting a feel for them in the parking lot at the trail, Steve was fighting with his since they didn't fit right. He had to switch out the shoe clip for the ones that came with the pedals since they were slightly different.

So we all know I can't do a turnaround, no matter how hard I try. Tight corners? I get off the bike. So embarrassing. Today? Slowly turning around, because I need the practice, but for some reason I was going as slow as humanly possible without falling down... oh wait... I am going slow enough to fall down... I teetered to the left, the left foot I never clip out from, and yes, wiped out. Right there in the parking lot. In full view of commuters going home. With Steve watching me. He later told me it was a Six Million Dollar Man slow-mo fall. So there I lie, still straddling the bike, on my side, covered in mud and cut up from the "I wish it were gravel" crushed pointy rock parking lot. Steve came over to help me up, because I was sitting on the bike and since my foot was still clipped in, I couldn't get off. Now THAT's embarrassing! I got up, clipped back in, and rode on the grass for a while. And I have a hole in my MEC long johns :(

We got our ride in, Steve rode through some very deep water/mud filled trenches from the snow melt, I opted out, since I'd already wiped out today, and didn't want to dirty up my bike shoes further since I didn't have time to put the new cleats on my old bike shoes, which are now my mountain bike shoes. We did get wet though, since it was still raining.

Did we have fun? We had a blast. We saw a couple of hawks, a Blue Jay and some ducks. I love ducks! Oh and I know where the Deliverance Banjo family moved to...

We won't be going back to that trail though, it's mostly pointy rocks like the parking lot. The area is beaver land, very very wet, so I understand the need to building up the trail with the rocks. But I want a real trail! So we'll head out to the Gats in a couple of weeks when they allow mtn. bikes, and try again. It should be very painful, since I suck at hills! But I can't wait to try it.

And my knee should be healed by then. And my hip. And forearm.

I know it doesn't look like much, but it hurts!

2008-05-04T15:45:00.002-04:00

I am toast. Today was the Tour Nortel, and I thought it was going to be a breeze, I really did! I tweaked my lower back yesterday, not sure how, and was very sore last night, coupled with a horrible headache. Woke this morning and had problems getting my shoes on, my back was still a mess. Greaaaaat. Still had funky head too. Couldn't even think of breakfast, so grabbed a handful of cheerios, forced it down, and we went.

The weather called for rain, and rain it did... right until the start. Then it stopped! Thank you weather gods! I have only done one bike event that wasn't a race, and the same bottleneck happened. Within a few minutes, Steve was out of sight - he's so funny, when we talked about the ride his plan was to ride with my colleague and I - that lasted all of maybe 5 minutes. I think he spotted a pretty Cervelo and it was game on. That's cool, Ginette and I peddled away feeling great. We turned the corner and a little kid says "there's the killer hill". Oh look at that! Ok, I can take it. So early in the ride it killed my quads. This is going to be fun ;). By the turn for the 12k ride I was thinking maybe I should take it! But I don't give up that easily. And the little kid did say "the killer hill", so it's got to be the worst one.

The kid's a liar.

Every corner we turned there seemed to be another hill. I think there were 5 total. I think. The last one was a monster (at least by Ottawa's standards). At the top of the last monster, my chain didn't want to get back on the middle ring, and I hit the wall. So I stopped, got off, and had a long drink. My heart rate was at 150 and I was dizzy. Lovely. Oh, and there was an earthworm squished onto my seat. How the heck did that get there! And ewwwwwww!! I cleaned off my seat, and talked to another man stopped at the top, and asked him to check my back and hair please, for earthworms. He looked me over and said "I don't see anything". And then he hightailed it out of there! LOL So did I.

At the 20k rest stop there was an angel with oranges. I bellied up to the buffet and had 4 slices. Delish! 5 minutes later, I had wings. I was also cursing myself for not having a snack in my seat bag. Carried around energy bars for YEARS, and tossed them out last week without replacing them. Such a dough head.

On the way back we had the wind behind us for part of it, and I was averaging 30km/hr +. Finally. I did have to walk the hill because my granny ring wasn't behaving, and frankly, I wanted to save my legs. Then I zoomed to the finish.

Steve biked back 3km to meet me, and I was feeling great at that point. My colleague, Ginette finished ahead of me as well, she had the legs and didn't stop on the hill - atta girl!

I feel tired, didn't stretch after the ride (oops) so my legs feel heavy, headache is still there, but my back ache has worked out. I am thrilled with my ride, because it was really tough. There are no hills in the south end. We need to get to the Gats ASAP and start hill training again!

Tonight KT and I are going to see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood (of Who's Line is it Anyway fame). Should be a blast. I'm so excited!

Well, I was supposed to work today, worked all day yesterday, and late every day last week, but I'm just not focussed. So going to eat something and watch a movie. And probably fall asleep before the credits ;)

2008-04-28T08:30:00.002-04:00

Phew it was a busy week! This week will be about the same, and I'm really not complaining.

Work - love my new job. I'm now getting into the soy of it (I don't eat meat... ok, lame joke). I just hope I can keep it. Next round of layoffs by end of Q2. Hate my workplace sometimes.

But now for the fun stuff! Last week was run 6 walk 1 repeats - each run I found my pace increasing. I didn't feel I was pushing it any more than normal, it never once felt easy, but never once did it feel too hard to continue. Yesterday marked the beginning of 8/1. And it was awesome! The weather was in the 20's (Celcius) all week, and yesterday no different. The wind wasn't too bad, there were loads of people out, it was just so nice! The 8's never felt overly hard, except for one repeat (3rd last I think) where my heart rate got a little high (ok, considering I'm on meds to keep me from going into SVT, I shouldn't be seeing 180's!) and I knew it was happening before I looked at the watch, because I could feel my pace slow dramatically, and effort increase at the same time. It righted itself after my next walk break, and it felt great again. I was almost at the end, and there were two women running behind me chatting away, who never overtook me, and I wasn't about to stop to walk at 8 mins when I only had about 2 mins left, so I ran through it to 10 mins. I know I'll be able to do 10/1 next week. I'm BACK! :D Oh, and I passed several people. That hasn't happened in years!

On Friday we went for a ride along the Rockliffe Parkway. I realized I never got there last year once. How sad is that. They paved it last year, and they paved a little shoulder! There's one part that was redone a few years ago, and isn't that great (and my speed dropped accordingly). My bike fit was so worth it. My speed increased on average by 7 - 10 km/hr. It was really windy and a little cool (the storm hit just as we finished) so in perfect conditions I should be about 15km/hr faster. That's crazy talk! I loved it. And my flat repair held :D This Sunday is the Tour Nortel. We're doing the 35k and hoping for no rain!

So got all my runs and bikes in, but for the third week in a row, forgot to do strength training. I have a serious mental block there! I even asked Steve to remind me and he said he did, however we were in the car at the time.

Weight loss down 2.8 lbs. But the week before I was up. Taking the last two weeks into the equation, I'm down 0.3 lbs. LOL. But my body is changing rapidly. My post-surgery skinny legs are getting muscle tone back, and my hip bones and ribs are starting to be feelable again. :D I still have my big belly, but it's shrinking.

The city - the daffodils came up on Tuesday and are in full bloom everywhere. Saturday Steve had to get a run in, and I came along to the Canal and went for a 40 min walk. I saw my first tulips of the season - most beds are still green, but the two that weren't are a beautiful shocking red. It was so gorgeous out!

I'd better get to work. Not sure if I'll run today or not, I have three more to get in this week, but I'm feeling a little piriformis since last night, which is normal for me after an increase in pace/distance the day before. A slow treadmill run usually works it out.

2008-04-20T20:19:00.002-04:00

I don't know what we did to deserve this, other than put up with several 60cm+ snowfalls, but as of today, there is no more snow on our lawn! Not that I'm surprised, because once again we had a day in the 20's... 23C/74F to be exact. SERIOUSLY!! The normal high is 12C. We've been doubling that. We're having summer!

Nothing much to report, other than we slept in until 8:45AM, raked the very flat from the heavy snow lawn (filled 2 leaf bags), cleaned up the back yard a bit, and planned our deck. At 1PM we went to the canal for our run. Oh, and we had to buy gas, at $1.21 (rounded up) per litre (approx. $4.80/gal). If our road to the canal was safe enough to bike on, we would have. And it will be in about 2 years, when the reconstruction is finished. As it stands right now, it's a death wish. After getting over the shock and pain of paying $0.10 more per litre than a week ago, we made it to the canal.

Today marked the first of run 6 mins, walk 1 min. The first 6 mins were horrible. My chest really really hurt, my shoulders were tired and stiff (from raking?) and I contemplated stopping. My heart rate monitor was acting up again (I even bought a new battery for the strap, might help if I put it in) showing insanely high numbers (220) but while I felt it was really hard, I knew the numbers were wrong. So I tried to ignore it and went by feel. By the time I hit the turnaround, it all came together. So much so that I added another set at the end. And I felt great. KT came with us so that she could study under a tree, and I met up with her and we walked while waiting for Steve to finish. It was amazingly beautiful out.

Came home to have chocolate milkshakes (chocolate frozen yogurt and skim milk) and bean/corn quesadillas. Yum!

The rest of the week looks just gorgeous, even with the couple of rain days forecast. Must take advantage!

Oh, and moron that I am, completely forgot sunscreen, and now have a sunburn. When will I learn!

The ride that wasn't

2008-04-19T08:47:00.002-04:00

I was so excited to get to the Rockliffe Parkway for our ride yesterday. There were a lot of cyclists there already.

My rear tire needed a top up, so Steve pumped it, but then had problems getting the pump off. Oh crap, I've seen this before, the presta valve is tearing away from the tube and I'm about to have a flat. Steve was annoyed that his pump job 'caused the flat', which it didn't, so of course, we snapped at each other. Blah. I sent him on his ride, which he didn't want to do as he wanted to fix the flat, but he hadn't changed a tube since he was a child, and neither of us had done it on a rear wheel. I knew I had at least 20 minutes to remember what I learned in bike class two years ago. Yes, I know I should be practicing this! It started to come back to me as I was fiddling with it, and 20 minutes later, I had it changed. Wow, glad that didn't happen on a race course! I'm was a little concerned about the tube around the valve though, it doesn't want to sit nicely under the tire and might be pinched. By this time we were into rush hour and the traffic was a lot heavier (which isn't that bad on this road) but I didn't want to test my tire change in traffic. Because I'm a wuss. And don't fall gracefully.

So we came home, Steve only got a portion of his ride done, and I got none. I've caught the plague from KT and my lungs are not happy. I may take the bike out later, or I might just forfeit the long ride this week and practice changing my tire instead.

2008-04-17T21:50:00.002-04:00

It hit 23C today! It was warm, the wind off the ice and snow was cold. I LOVE spring! The snow, at least in the city, should be gone by the end of the weekend. Steve and I were contemplating a run or mountain bike ride in the Gats this weekend, until I found these photos... I think we'll wait a week or two!

I had a dentist appt. this morning and the tooth with the filling problem actually has a hidden cavity underneath! Hot dentist said it's not really visible by the naked eye (yes, he said naked :D) but the x-rays confirmed it. And he even found another little tiny one. Sheesh. So that's two more appts with hot dentist. Um, if I must. On the upside my gum exam was stellar, even better than last years'. Let's hear it for being anal about flossing (I almost wrote anal flossing, which is a whole other ball of wax! Sometimes I crack myself up).

I wasn't really feeling a run today, but it was 23 degrees! So we toddled off to the canal after work and my legs were a little cranky. 5/1 - not a problem whatsoever, though I was 3 sec/km slower than Tuesday's run. And I really wasn't pushing it at all. Actually, had I not taken an extended walk break thanks to a phone call from my sister, I might have even been faster! Food for thought. I was feeling a little ache in the PF region so I'll be using the golf ball the next few days. My shin is a little tender too - but it's only Thursday, and my 4 runs for the week are done, so two rest days from running coming up.

Yesterday we took out the road bikes. It was beautiful out, but windy, and with still too much dust on the roads and paths, I was grateful my sunglasses wrap as well as they do. I'm such a boob, when we were half way to where we were going to bike Steve remembered he'd forgot to swap out his inserts for his orthotics on his new shoes. It took me 10 minutes before it hit me... I forgot my orthotics too, but I didn't have inserts. I was going to bike foot to shoe. Ouch. This is why I'm feeling the PF today :). This was my first outing since my bike fit, and oh wow, what a difference! There were a lot of people out (it really was the first nice day) and I swear, some are stunned stupid. A whole group of runners blocking the path staring right at me as I'm coming at them at 30 km/hr, shouting "HELLO" repeatedly, until finally one of them woke up and grabbed another to give me room to go by. I was worried he was going to go the wrong way and I'd hit him. Thankfully, no. Sadly, this scenario repeated itself a lot.

We cut the ride short at 31 mins, because my feet were screaming, and Steve needs to make some adjustments on his new bike. Tomorrow I'm going to work earlier than normal because at 3PM I'm bolting and we're going to hit the Aviation Parkway. There will no doubt be a lot of cyclists as it's one of the preferred training grounds for the Ottawa Bicycle Club, and with good reason. Hopefully the traffic won't be too heavy (it will be Friday afternoon in this gov't town!) and the wind off the river too strong.

One last note - I received a letter from the Heart Institute today - one of the Doctor's reviewed my file from the Cardiologist, and because it's not life threatening and they prioritize, I can expect to hear from the Doctor in 9 months or so. I hope they will do the ablation in 9 months, and that it's not just the preliminary appt! I'm ok with having it done in mid-winter, I won't be training too heavily. The recovery is next to nothing anyway.

Well, I'm off to bed.

Best run ever!

2008-04-16T08:07:00.003-04:00

Ok, well best run in recent memory.

I woke up feeling a little funky yesterday, drained and tired. By noon whatever it was had lifted, and I have been going by my resting heart rate anyway, which has been solidly in the 50-55 bpm range. No change there, so not sick/getting sick/injured. :D. Since the cardiologist is a little worried about my 'high blood pressure', I'm back to daily readings. It's the white coat people!

Since we were running after work yesterday, and I had a break in the workday (unlike today's 6 hours of meetings... SIX?!?), I zipped out to get my passport photos done (hahahahahahha, I look like a lizard! I hate the Canadian rules - no glasses, hair down falling at sides, no smiling. All mug shot, all the time), my printer inkers re-filled, the April issue of Vegetarian Times (sure, give us a free e-zine, then don't let us print out the recipes? sheesh), a new bird feeder, and Subway, for the still sick and feverish KT. That was a very productive hour!

Now the run. It was 11C when I headed out to meet Steve at the Experimental Farm. It wasn't what one would call windy, however there was enough wind over the fields that I kept my jacket on. I ran 5/1 as planned and it was FANTASTIC. My goal was 40-45 mins or a minimum of 5k if my legs weren't there. There were times when I questioned why I was doing 5/1 and not running straight through, because I felt I could. But I stuck to the plan (main goal is to stay uninjured!). The second last repeat (the one after I hit 5k) I realized the road was cambered. Never noticed it before, and only noticed it now because my knee felt like it needed a good cracking. Hmmmm... not liking that! So I ran in the middle of the road until I turned around - farm road remember, no cars. Then my favourite Arcade Fire song came on the iPod and I felt so good, that I ran the last 5 mins at a pace 30-45 secs/km faster than I had been. I was floating on air. Overall, took off 14 sec/km from Sunday's time. But it was definitely a different running day. A great running day.

Today's high is 16C - the highest temp of 2008 so far. The road bikes are coming out!

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

2008-04-15T08:28:00.003-04:00

Check out the long term forecast!

Now if I can avoid KTs plague and enjoy it, my life will be complete.

2008-04-14T07:38:00.002-04:00

Wow, what a weekend! It was great. I love great weekends.

But I forgot to do my strength training, or rather, ran out of time. Nah, I could have made the time, but I truly did forget! I'll add it to this week. Just because.

Yesterday we headed to the Canal for our run, Steve had an easy 60 mins on the schedule, mine called for run 5 walk 1 repeats. There's something up with my heart rate monitor, or it's the vaseline gumming it up that I put over my incision, but it's not reading correctly at all when I run. There were a few times yesterday where I thought I'd be nearing my limit and it read 111. Steve thinks it's the meds, but I don't - I saw 140's running last week. The first repeat, feels like my heart stops for a beat or two. This is the 'new world'. It's really strange, there are a few things different since my surgery. When I start running my heart feels like it's stopping for a split second and then settles down, when I eat, the first bites feel like they are getting stuck in my esophagus, and I have a tough time swallowing stringy food (Chinese broccoli, spaghetti, etc), I can't swallow properly and feel like I'm going to choke. Weird!

So back to the run (must learn to focus!), the next few 5/1's went really well, to the point where I thought I'd set the repeats wrong to 4/1, but my math told me they were indeed 5/1, but it felt so good! Then the wheels came off :). I don't know why, but as soon as I hit the 5k mark (this is where I thought the HRM was reading wrong) I couldn't push myself any longer than 2.5 mins each time. That was a little disappointing, but it's ok, my first return to fitness goal is a 5k at the end of May. And I know if I had to run it today, I could run that feeling great!

We did make it to the cottage and back yard show, nothing stellar, no great deck ideas, but we got in for free thanks to the couple in front of us as we were heading to admissions (here, don't pay we have extra passes!) and entered a few draws. I'd be quite happy to win that little jacuzzi!

Yesterday Steve drove his son back to Toronto after our run, and KT's friend left his Wii here, so we played for a few hours. It's cute. While boxing was the most fun to play, watching the opponent's expressions of pain was too much for me to watch. It's a cartoon! I couldn't handle it. Softy.

Going to run on the treadmill at lunch. Then go bike shoe shopping with Steve after work... he bought a pretty new tri-bike with Look pedals, his shoes fit SPDs, and besides, he needs a bigger shoe to hold his orthotics!

Oooh, and lost 1.6 lbs :)

Well, I'd better get to work.

2008-04-12T08:26:00.002-04:00

My exercise week is almost over - 30 mins of strength training today will cap it off. I'm not sure what I'll do though. How do people do 45 - 60 mins of ST? What do they do? Any suggestions? I generally do 2 sets (or 3 if I'm feeling really energetic) of squats, lunges, calf raises, pliés, overhead tricep whachamacallems, bicep curls, seated rows, a couple of shoulder ones, then crunches, reverse crunches, hamstring curls all on the ball. That usually brings me to 20 mins.

Had a great run yesterday on the treadmill, I wanted to take it easy because it was day 5 in a row of leg cardio and my legs were tired! I may have gone easy, but I got good and sweaty! Thursday Steve and I opted to take the mountain bikes out. It wasn't horribly windy, but I watched enough dust/salt/sand/gravel fly around all day that I knew I didn't want to have to deal with that on the bike too. My brother also noted that since the post-winter (it is? really?) street and sidewalk cleaning is to begin next week, I'd better bring an extra inner tube and co2 cartridge. Seriously, not worth the effort :)

So back to the bikes. We did 15k on the mountain bikes again, but it wasn't quite as tough as last week. Yes I needed to stop a few times to prevent myself from imploding, but not as often as last week. There were several sections where I know I stopped before, and was able to make it through this time, although I would have been more than happy to stop :). Steve is so sweet, I know he'd rather go all out but he patiently rides back while I catch my breath. He says that as long as he keeps his cadence up, he's happy. And on the mountain bikes you can be going 5km/hr and still have a cadence of 100, so it works for us.

I am horribly out of shape still, but I think my fitness is getting better. Tomorrow will be my third time of re-starting running after a layoff, and usually run 5 walk 1 I find a really tough increase. Truth be told, I did this last January (remember? sigh...) and both 4 and 5 mins were tough. 4/1 was easy peasy this time around, so I'm feeling pretty confident that 5/1 will go just as well. Time will tell.

I'd best get this house tidied up, it is Saturday after all. Steve and I are going to look at a tri bike this afternoon. He's been using a very very entry level giant for the past 4 years and I've been pushing him to upgrade to a less entry level bike ;). Of course if he likes this bike it just means that I'm going to be left in the dust even more. But I'm cool with that if he is :). After looking at the bike (and maybe buying it) we are supposed to go to the cottage/backyard show, but Steve's son is in town this weekend and Steve invited him over for the afternoon, then we were going to go out to dinner, and then drop him off at his buddies'. It's his 20th birthday tomorrow, so pretty exciting for him.

Alright, off to clean!

2008-04-09T19:40:00.002-04:00

I ran out of mini peanut butter cups. Because I ate 10 of them in one afternoon. Probably good they are out of the house! But they sure made yesterday's run uncomfortable.

We didn't end up running Sunday's run on Saturday because KT had a friend stay over, and the running clothes are in the guest room. Not too cool to walk in on a guest. So we went out to breakfast, something we rarely do. Found out later that her friend crashed in the basement. Oh well! Saturday afternoon my body started to ache, and by Sunday my joints were burning. That's not cool! So I postponed Sunday's run to Monday.

And it was fine, though my joints were still a little sore.

Yesterday we ran at the Experimental Farm again, there was hardly any spring wind, and it was fantastic. 4/1 felt really good. I felt light on my feet. Heavy in the belly. Thanks Reeces. Oh alright, I'll take the blame.

Today I had 5 meetings... 5 hours of meetings!! No time to run outside, so on the treadmill it was. It was over before I knew it. Love that!

I should probably be doing some work training right now, or our taxes, but instead I think I'll catch up on some blogs and maybe read more about Tom Cruise. The Andrew Morton book so far is boooooring.

Tomorrow we'll be biking after work. Still undecided whether it will be mountain or road. I don't care either way!

2008-04-04T18:38:00.002-04:00

My tummy issues kept up for most of yesterday, not sure what that was about! The windy Tuesday run was still giving my ears a bit of grief, ringing and a case of the dizzies. But the weather was too nice to pass up, having climbed to 7C.

Wow, the mountain bike is sooo sloooow. There were times where had Steve been running next to me, he would have left me in his wake. But that's ok! It was non-stop spinning (or you pretty much stop) and after 1:15, give her take 10 mins of seat fiddling and stretching my quads we'd covered the 15k. We'll never win any speed records but I'm sure it's a huge win fitness-wise!

Today was my last run of the week at run 3 walk 1. Since my legs were burning yesterday after the ride (I almost fell down the stairs afterwards because my legs were lead!) and I'm pushing Sunday's R4W1 up to tomorrow, I decided the treadmill would be best. I wanted to give up after 15 mins, but forced myself through to 42 as planned. And feel better for it!

I'm so glad it's Friday, it was a fast week, but a tiring one. Weekend plans are tomorrow's run, my nephew's hockey tournament, and dinner at my sister's. I hope to get a few batches of soup in the freezer and some reading done too!

The Cardiologist

2008-04-03T06:57:00.003-04:00

I finally had my long awaited appt with the Cardiologist yesterday afternoon. He started with an ECG looked it over, then we got chatting.

When he reviewed the ECG print-outs from the surgery he diagnosed it as a straightforward SVT. He thinks that I was anxious going in to the surgery (I didn't bother telling him I was having cold sweats of terror), and the surge of adrenaline set me off. He noted that I'd had this a few times in the past, 3 times requiring hospital visits since the first episode in 2003, usually from some sort of stimulant (ginseng/caffeine supplement the first time, an iced cappucino the second). He said as we get older the body has a more difficult time managing stress and adrenaline, so it's going to get worse, and could eventually lead to heart damage/failure.

I wasn't surprised when he said he was going to refer me to the Heart Institute's Arrhythmia Clinic, for Catheter Ablation. The procedure is as safe as an invasive procedure can get, but it's not terribly invasive. I'm a little freaked out that I'll be awake for it mostly, and that they put you into arrhythmia (I read somewhere else that they actually cause a heart attack, but I'll hide that little thought away) to find the location to blast with the radio waves (do you think it's ABBA? Because that can kill anything... ;))

His only concern is my first problem with SVT I also had an atrial flutter, which is more difficult to cure. The good news is there was no flutter during my surgery, or in the recovery room, and I haven't had flutter since, only SVT. SVT is cured in 99% of patients, atrial flutter he says in about 50%. Of course if things go wrong worst case scenario is death (almost never happens, honest!), or perforation, which would result in an automatic need for a pacemaker. But we won't focus on that either.

Because it's not life threatening, the wait time is long (6-9 months). The Heart Institute has critical patients to help, and I'm fine with that!

I'm to stay on the beta-blockers, to keep running and biking, and if I'm training by heart rate, to drop my numbers, because my max heart rate on the meds is lower. He expects that I'll be off the meds after the procedure. I wonder if I'll be able to have caffeine again?

Then he told me to check in with my GP for regular blood pressure checks, because it was 'a little high'. I told him it was 110/65 at home, that it's just the environment. He told me it measured 160/90. I responded "that's that adrenaline thing I have issues controlling". He laughed and said "yes, that would explain it".

I'm not too thrilled about yet another procedure, but if there's a good chance (and there's a great chance!) that it will cure my heart arrhythmia, bring it on!

The Bike Fit

2008-04-01T22:02:00.007-04:00

Tuesday morning I had my bike fit. We started with some flexibility measurements (I scored in the normal range, which is better than I expected), though my right hip is a little tighter and may have the beginning of some arthritis. Doesn't hurt now, so stretching it is! My legs are good and straight (not bow legged or knock kneed) though I am pigeon toed (I knew that) and apparently have bunions! I never noticed since my feet have always looked like that and I could count on one hand the number of times I've worn high heels so it's just the way these things were born. I can add that to hammertoes! Such pretty feet ;)

The bike fit took 4 hours! This is the first photo (Mary added the sticky dots for tracking and measurement):

I feel like a complete boob, because if anyone had taken a picture of me before, I would have said "hey there quasimoto". I have horrible standing posture but never thought it would translate on the bike.

The whole reason for the bike fit was because I felt a lack of control on my bike. I suspected it was too big. And I also couldn't do shoulder checks for cars (I could look right or left but couldn't even get close to looking behind me). And of course looking at this photo I know why. When you're hunched over and your shoulders are rolling forward, you lose your neck, and it's impossible to turn it! Of course I just cringed at the photo, Mary mentioned the mechanics of it all, which made perfect sense.

So next she checked my cleats and they were too far back on my shoe. One quick adjustment and hopefully I'll feel less numbness on that right foot (it was much further back than the left). Next we checked saddle height - too low, too much of an angle on the knee, so it got raised 1.5 cm. Naturally, that brings me even further from those handlebars. Seat position? Perfect. We did one thing right. Now that the legs were angled correctly it was time to work on those handlebars.

My handlebars were tilted up in the picture above, because otherwise it was far too much of a reach for me. Mary looked at my bent wrists and asked about shoulder and hand pain. Not much but a little, but it was the only way I could ride. Not that I was being defensive! So more measurements, and she popped out the stem and replaced it with an adjustable one. I was reaching 4 cm too far. Doesn't sound like much, but what a difference on a 6.5 cm (mine was 9.5). She then moved my shifters closer to me by 1 cm and adjusted the handlebar angle (my wrists should be in line, like shaking hands with someone). So tilted down we went :). This is the after picture.

Steve and KT didn't notice a difference but I sure do. My back is much flatter, my knees less bent (more power!), the angle from my back to my arms is now 90 degrees, my shoulders are further back, I have a neck, and lastly, my hands are shaking those handlebars! On the trainer I'm even able to look over my shoulder. So we called the bike shop near my house that knew how to interpret her graph of the correct length and placement of my new stem, they had one in stock, so off I went! Because I needed to get back to work, I didn't pick up my bike until yesterday morning. He looks so much smaller! I can't wait to try him out, but first, the weather needs to get a tad more seasonal. It was - 16C/3F yesterday with ice everywhere from the flash-frozen melted snow. I'll report in after the first ride, to see if I notice a difference.

In other training, yesterday I opted for a strength training day, after 3 days of running. I also woke up to really sore and ringing ears from the wind, and a non-stop runny nose. :( This time I pushed it a little harder, did more core on the ball, and my upper ab area, incision-land, was sore when I went to bed. I need to toughen it up!

This morning my sinuses are still cranky, throat is sore, tummy is off, ears still ringing, and nose is still runny. I'll keep fighting with soup and lots of OJ and garlic (not together). Steve has been sleeping away from me the last couple of nights ;) It's supposed to warm up to 5C, so we're going to take the mountain bikes out after work.

2008-04-01T21:41:00.003-04:00

I had my bike fit this morning! But that will be in another post when I get the pictures.

The day started with pouring rain and the front walk and laneway were skating rinks. Then suddenly at 4pm we hit 13 degrees Celcius / 54F! So as soon as I could escape from work, I chipped half of the ice out front (a good 6 inches thick) and basked in the sunlight. I'm going to have one sore upper body tomorrow!

Steve got home and we quickly changed to go for a run back at the Experimental Farm. The sky got a little dark and the wind was picking up. The temperature was dropping while we were in the car and by the time we set out, the wind was insane! Because of all the snow the wind was very very cold, and my ears were aching. I never thought to wear a toque, I mean come on, it was 13 degrees!! Boy did I regret it. My goal was 5k, I cut it short to 4k so that I could get back in the car and warm up my ears. Several times I was worried that I was going to get hit with flying debris. It was the worst wind I've ever run in. I expected to see cows fly by.

Oh yeah, it's supposed to snow again tonight but we're nearing the end. We had a brief glimpse of spring today!

Tomorrow's a meeting intensive day, plus I have to pick up my bike first thing, and then head to the long awaited appt with the cardiologist. Since I've run 3 days in a row I think I'll do strength training tomorrow, and bike on Thursday.

I'm finally warm now (it generally takes me a few hours) so going to clean up the kitchen.

3/1, a new site and a party

2008-03-30T20:48:00.003-04:00

Ok that hurt! I realized today that I have only run once outdoors since my return. And that was the first run back! So today we chose to run at the Experimental Farm. The roads were good and dry and it's never very busy there, just a tractor or two, the rest are people running, walking, dogs playing, etc. Oh and about 100 families going to see the critters! Back to the run. Today was the first day of run 3 walk 1, and I knew it was going to be more challenging than on the treadmill. And it was! I'm really hoping that my lubed up incision was causing my heart rate monitor to act up, because if not, I was in trouble! It would jump from 99 bpm to 200 bpm and everywhere in between. The first two repeats were hard, then it was fine, then one repeat was just amazing. That didn't last as my second last repeat I thought my head was going to blow, which was odd, and then I was done! I'll know more when I see the cardiologist on Wed.

I never did get my strength training in yesterday, but did get the walk in. So I picked up the strength training today. I used a 'customized' program from Fitness Magazine where after you join (membership is free) you are able to customize a workout video by selecting how long you want to workout, what body parts you want to target (select as many as you want) and what equipment you have. Within second it creates it for you - it basically strings together several canned videos and you follow along. It wasn't bad at all and I plan to play around with it some more.

Shortly after the workout it was off to the showers to get ready for my former husband's wife's 50th birthday party. I got to meet some more of her siblings who were all very fun.

I'm feeling really good about my day - but expect to feel my legs tomorrow :)

The Weight Battle

2008-03-29T10:57:00.005-04:00

The positive side of that little rotten organ is losing 35 lbs. I'm really perplexed at how the weight came off, after so many years of working hard to lose. This time I sat on my butt and did nothing exercise-wise for 5 months. I cut all fat I could out of my diet, and ate slightly less than normal.

As per my usual pattern, since I've started exercising again my weight has started to climb. I'm up between 3 and 4 lbs now, though I've been stable the past week. Yes, I've brought a little bit of fat back in my diet, but overall my diet is excellent. I've also been taking a beta blocker for the past 4 weeks, and it was a beta blocker that helped me put on those 60 lbs in 6 months 5 years ago. Those 60 lbs that 5 years later I'm still trying to budge. I see the cardiologist on the 2nd, and will bring this up!

So I'm trying something new. Steve has an old palm pilot that he hasn't been using for a few years and I found a little weight loss program that I really like called FitnessPlus. What I really like about it is you enter your current weight, your goal weight and target date, and it calculates the number of calories that you should aim for to reach your goal. You log your calorie intake and exercise and the calories adjust accordingly. I've been tracking since March 19th, and each day that I don't lose brings me closer to my goal date, so each day it takes away a tiny bit more calories to try to reach that goal. I've known for a long time that the magic 3500 weekly calorie deficit to lose a pound doesn't work for me. This program will keep adjusting and doing the calculations for me, and eventually MY weight loss numbers will show themselves, whatever they may be. I've done a rough calculation of my intake when I was sick and not exercising or even moving, and it averages 800-1000.

The best part of it is, I find I'm not stressing over numbers or intake, I just log and look at the number at the bottom of the screen. If I'm hungry and have some to spare I'll eat something. If I'm not hungry and have a lot to spare, I will drink something to top up. I'm thinking that my problem over the years was under eating. Being vegetarian and a low fat eater to begin with, I always struggled to get even 1200 calories in me per day.

In other news, I got my work bonus yesterday, which after taxes worked out to about 45% of gross. Better than a kick in the butt I guess!

Yesterday's schedule called for a run, and my legs were a tiny bit tired from Thursday's ride, but not sore as I'd expected. I had a great run, the last of my 2/1. My naughty bits are still sore though. Should have worn my bike shorts under my pants.

This morning Steve and I hit up MEC and lo and behold they had my running shoes, trail variety, on clearance! I've never bought them before because I couldn't justify the purchase of a trail shoe unless I was going to really spend a lot of time on the trails. I couldn't pass them up, and can't wait to try them. I'm always turning out my ankles on the trails and feel the rocks and twigs more than I'd like with my regular running shoes. I think I will buy some gaiters too, as I'm always picking up stones and debris, but I don't like my shoes very tight!

We also bought the SPD pedals for the mountain bikes, and a couple of clip on fenders, for the really messy days. I'm not a fan of a lot of mud in my hair!

Well, I'd better get off this thing and get the cleaning under way. No running on the schedule today, just a 30 min walk and a 20 min strength training session. I hate strength training, and never found it something I could get into the habit of, so I figure I'll start with 20 mins. I can do 20 mins!

March 27

2008-03-27T19:42:00.003-04:00

Today is my Mom's birthday. I still miss her so much. Yesterday at 3PM, my Outlook reminder popped up to remind me to send the ecard I always sent, and another reminder this morning to make sure I didn't forget to call her. I would get so busy at work and not look at the calendar until late morning sometimes, and felt awful about being late calling her. Mom, taken from us too soon.

Today is also the birthday of my friend Tracy's little daughter Ella, who turned 2. Can't be sad when that little bundle is eating cake now can we?

We thought of going to the cemetery, but honestly, we wouldn't be able to get very close since there's 5 feet of snow on the ground still. We'll do a drive by on the weekend since KT is working tonight, and get as close as we can.

I woke this morning feeling a little sore in the throat again, but decided my best defense was to ignore it. So on my lunch break I hit the treadmill for 42 mins (run 2 walk 1). It was effortless, but I got good and sweaty. After work we took out the new bikes! Smokey was perfect. I on the other hand, less so. I am so out of shape! I was shocked at how sore my quads were after only a few minutes. Then it hit me. I sat on my butt for 5 months trying to heal myself and had major surgery. Of course I'm out of shape! Also on mountain bikes, you don't go as fast, it's just not possible. We trekked through the construction roads behind us, down the main road, and off to the gravel road, finally through some mud! We stopped twice so I could raise my seat to the right height. I was BURNT. This is going to be a lot tougher than I thought! gmaps said we did a whopping 8.5km (LOL!). We didn't bring any timing devices, but we estimate we were out for 30 minutes or so. It was a lot of fun, but my legs are trashed.

So we came home and chipped the 6 inch thick iceberg at the end of the laneway. THIS is what Canada's all about... go for a bike ride when it's beautiful out (-5C / 23 F... it's Spring right?), peek around the 6 foot snowbanks so as to not get flattened by a car, try not to wipe out on the ice, then chip ice for 30 mins more. Great workout.

I'm off to lie in the tub full of bubbles and epsom salts and my iPod on shuffle. Then to bed with a book. No LOST tonight after all.

Time to Focus on Something Else

2008-03-25T18:53:00.003-04:00

As I added my KM run ticker yesterday, I noticed that the Adsense bar on this blog is all about the gallbladder, upper stomach, gallstones. Ya, moving on...

Had a really great run today at lunch time. Even though I started work at 7AM, I didn't have enough time to get an outside run in (too many layers to fiddle with, keys, etc) so I ran on the treadmill (shorts, bra, shoes and good to go!). 5k done and it felt great :)

Nothing else to report I don't think! Oh yeah, I scared away the cold/bug that was brewing. Booyeah!

Awesome

2008-03-24T20:41:00.003-04:00

I feel awesome! Yes, I think I'm catching a cold, my sinuses are all jammed and I've had a few issues below the belt the past 24 hours, but I have more energy than I think I ever have had in my life.

Yesterday we had a lovely Easter dinner at the outlaws (former in-laws) house. I love how Steve is such a part of their family too. After the pain and the hurt fades, this is divorce done right. They are family. I love them all.

Anyway, I went to bed last night and something funky happened in my head. The room was spinning. I remembered I'd forgotten to brush my teeth, so hopped out of bed, stumbled to the bathroom almost taking out the door frame, then went too far the other way almost taking out the shower door. Yikes. I couldn't fall asleep because of the spinning and everytime Steve moved, I tried to keep my stomach in check. Woke up this morning feeling a little dizzy, but mostly it was over.

So I got on the treadmill and ran. And it was awesome!

Work? Getting so busy, so many meetings in the schedule, one really high profile project, another less so, both I've never heard of the tools, lots of learning to be had. Awesome.

Took a late lunch to see my Doctor for a referral. Did you know that a bike fitting falls under physiotherapy if it's done by a physiotherapist? Appt. next week. Can't wait! Maybe for the first time since I got my bike I won't feel so out of control! Awesome.

Then of course we have the new bikes coming on Thursday. I won't say it :)

For the first time in a long time, I'm feeling a little under the weather, and that I can take on the world, all at the same time.

Awesome!

Meet Smokey

2008-03-22T19:48:00.005-04:00

For the past few years Steve and I have been talking about taking up mountain biking. We LOVE running the trails, and invariably meet some bikers there, and always thought "some day". Now that we've moved to the burbs, biking from home to half decent pavement on the road bike is next to impossible, at least if you want to make it to your destination alive! So a mountain bike would allow the opportunity to get my bike in when I might not have enough time to get the bike rack on the car/drive to wherever. I'll be able to get it in by opening up the garage door and going. I think this will be a very good thing! And a chance to mix it up :D

So without further ado, I present, Smokey:

She's got an aluminum frame (light!), dark grey paint (smoke grey) and I plan to smoke the trails on her. She's definitely an entry level bike, and that's totally fine with me. If I find she's not good enough and I'm putting in a lot of riding, I'll upgrade, but for now, I think she's perfect! Steve loved her just as much, so he bought one too (name TBD). We pick them up on Thursday night. I think I'll buy some SPDs when we're out and swap out the pedals right away. I have touring shoes so I'll be ready from the get go!

The best part is since we still have 6 feet of snow all over the place but the sidewalks and roadsides are cleared, lots of potholes, ice and frozen muck, and there's not way I'd take Beethoven, my roadie out. THIS baby, is going out this week :D. I may have to wear a snowsuit, but I'm going! I'm so excited!

Busy Week

2008-03-22T15:34:00.003-04:00

I can't believe it's the weekend already! So what have I done...

Saturday last week, Steve's birthday, we went out for dinner. We haven't gone out for so long because of this whole recovery deal, it was so nice. I've been gradually increasing my fat intake - it may sound silly, but after not eating fat for 5 months, and digesting gallbladder-free it doesn't always go well :(. So we split the tappas plate (flatbread, roasted garlic, chevre, cranberry chutney, papaya and mango salsa and a blackened corn dip) and I had the butternut squash ravioli with tomato chevre sauce sprinkled with toasted pecans. So yummy! My tummy was only a little sore after that, though I only ate half of it, taking the rest home for Sunday lunch.

Sunday was Steve's birthday breakfast with the fam. It was nice to get things back to normal. I read and played Rock Band the rest of the day.

Monday I went back to work. I had been reading my emails but not actioning any of them, so at least I had them mostly sorted. Unfortunately, it also meant 3 days of responding to queries that were so old, I'd hoped that everyone had opted to log help desk tickets instead of waiting for an answer from me. Sure enough they had! I was handed two projects to become familiar with, with the expectation to be fully ramped up in two weeks. Yikes. I have so many meetings in my calendar now, it's exhausting! I'm still trying to finish transitioning my old job too. Thankfully it was a short week - we had Good Friday off.

Yesterday was my nephew's 8th birthday and we were invited to my brother's house for brunch. It's so nice to be out and about! I can't believe how icy and cold it still is though - woke this morning to -23C, and it's supposed to be spring!

I have run/walked, or walked every day this week except yesterday. Feel's good! Today I started r2/w1, for 42 mins on the treadmill.

We're on our way shortly to buy mountain bikes! yay! we're 90% decided on mountain bikes, since we want to bike the trails in the gats this year. I just don't think hybrids will be tough enough for some of the trails. We already have road bikes, so we're covered there.

Oh! And today I baked Bunnygirl's Carrot-Apple Bread. Freaken AMAZING.

Guess that's it!

I ran!

2008-03-14T14:41:00.004-04:00

On Wed morning Steve was on the trainer and I decided it was time to test out the bod. I walked (slowly) on the treadmill and only managed 20 mins. My insides hurt :( My scar hurt.

Then yesterday I felt a million times better. I told myself that every pain or muscle tear is bringing me back stronger.

Steve was working the late shift today, so I suggested we go to the canal for a run. My first since Oct 31. It snowed last night (oh forgot to mention that in the snow/movie post!), another few inches to the tally and the city is still clearing from the weekend, so we were hoping the footing wouldn't be too horrid. It wasn't too great, but it wasn't too bad either.

My plan was to start super easy - run 15 sec, walk 2 mins. I talked myself out of that in the car :). I changed my intervals to run 30 sec, walk 2 mins. After 2 intervals I couldn't stand it. Reset the watch to run 1, walk 2. Again easy, but I wasn't going to push myself any harder. It took me forever 48:25 to cover 4.7 km, but I covered 4.7 kms! I pushed it a little more for my last 3 repeats - the first I ran 2 mins sec, walked 2 mins, the next ran 3 mins walked 1 min, and the last ran to the end, 90 secs.

My hips were tight, my ankles sore from the ice and snow ruts, but considering I've spent almost 5 months resting and trying to get healthy, I'm really really pleased! My scar is a little irritated by my running bra, but nothing serious. Yay!

I'm still on the beta blockers, so my max heart rate was 135. LOL!

I've since had a bath with the bubbler, as close to a jacuzzi as we have! It was wonderful. I let the sun shine on my face through the window and just relaxed. I feel AMAZING.

Happy dance!

I had a date!

2008-03-14T14:15:00.006-04:00

It's been so long since Steve and I went anywhere or did anything... I think we saw a movie over Christmas, but I'd been feeling so lousy before the surgery, and so lousy afterwards, that I didn't want to do anything.

We had planned to go out last weekend but we had some snow. After last Wednesday's foot, we woke up to a little over 2 feet!

This was the view from the patio door. The patio door is 4 steps up from the ground, the snow is higher than that. It was gorgeous! You can almost see our neighbour's little fence. Hope he doesn't let the doggies out because they'd be gone!

And from the front door, let's just say when we're standing next to the cars, we can't see our neighbours on either side. Reversing out of the laneway is a challenge too, the snowbanks are now at least 8 feet high :D. Oh, and we've had several inches since, with more to come next week. We may indeed break Ottawa's annual snow record from 1972!

So back to the date. Steve went for a run with some of last year's Gotta Run team, and was given a preview pass to see 'Run Fatboy Run'. It's got Shaun from Shaun of the Dead! The movie won't win any awards, but it was really really cute. Made me want to run! But that will be a later post. In researching what I could eat at the movie, I discovered that a large buttered popcorn (20 cups) has as much fat as 8 Big Macs. EIGHT. Without the topping? 6 Big Macs. YUCK. Now I've never been able to eat my way through a large in one sitting, but always brought my bag home for the next day. I LOVE movie popcorn. I think those days are long gone! Even a small popcorn (7 cups) without topping is too much. I'll stick to my homemade stuff from now on! I settled for a pretzel and mustard. Not as good as the ones at the hockey games, but good enough. And much better for me! We had a lovely time, and life felt NORMAL. Awesome :)

YouTube Fun

2008-03-14T14:13:00.003-04:00

I LOVE youtube. KT and I have been sending each other vids for the past few days. Below are a couple of gems! If you close your eyes, it's as if you're in a theatre!

and I'll never watch Mary Poppins the same way again...

I'm bored

2008-03-02T19:18:00.002-05:00

I must be getting better, because I am bored silly.

I slept a record 7 hours last night! Still sleeping on my back and not moving apparently, so of course when I woke I was locked in that position and my back was screaming!

KT's friend Fi was going to come over and watch the first season of The 4400 but cancelled because her honey had a high fever. So glad she called when she did, the house was already cleaned and floors washed! :D

Steve and I decided to get out and go shopping for a bit, as he was in dire need of new pants and shoes for work. I was so tired by the time we finished buying his pants, I couldn't believe that I agreed to go downtown with him to another store to pick up a really nice pair of shoes in his size (the store we were in didn't have them in the right size). We had to walk about .5 km to the store, which was ok, but by the time we had the shoes paid for, I was seeing spots. Felt better by the time we got outside in the fresh air, so instead of asking Steve to get the car and pick me up, we slowly trekked back to the car, stopping once for a Beavertail (Killaloe Sunrise of course!) for Steve... because I was such a disaster this year, we missed Winterlude, where we traditionally eat a Beavertail. He's only a week late in getting it! Because I'm still mindful of my fat intake, I had a bite to taste. So yummy.

We came home and I was almost in tears in the car, my insides were so sore! I'll feel stronger soon I'm sure. I hope! Running still seems so far away :(

Finished Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs today - I'm reading her series in order and this is the best so far. Started the 6th Harry Potter (Half-Blood Prince) after we got home, but fell asleep!

Tomorrow we're expecting hours of freezing rain, so KT may be working from home, but if not, I'll be all by my lonesome until 10PM because both she and Steve and class. It will be a great day to rest, or go out of my head with boredom!

Yippee!!

2008-02-29T20:46:00.003-05:00

The Jackson-Pratt drainage tube is out!! I'm so excited!

While the ERCP on Monday was less than enjoyable, it was a success :D My fluid output dropped to less than 10 ml per 24 hour period and it wasn't bile anymore, but the usual fluid one has inside I guess.

I saw the surgeon this afternoon and he pulled the JP out. Holy crap that's a strange feeling - similar to when someone pulls on your finger and it is THIS CLOSE to popping... that feeling. Like someone was tugging on something inside me. So bizarre. And it hurt! He said that I started growing over the end of it (it's a mesh that fans out to capture the fluid) which is why it hurt. YUCK. He then bandaged me with gauze and I asked if he should be putting steritape over the hole and he said no, it would close on its own. Ohhhhhhkayyyyyy....

He then asked if I wanted to keep the JP - I said no thanks, and he said "as a momento?", and I said "no, I'm good thanks". I really see no reason I'd want that piece of hardware around. Ewww!

Barring any fever or major pain, I don't see him again for two weeks for my final visit. I'm so excited! But not as much as sleeping on my side tonight. I've been in one position for 4 weeks (on my back, sitting up) because rolling over/twisting made the tube move inside and it hurt like a mofo!

Finally, there's an end in sight! Yippee!!

The Procedure

2008-02-26T07:29:00.002-05:00

Well I made it through the ERCP.

I have no idea what happened, but when I got to the hospital at noon I had a sudden excruciating pain in my side. Sitting down wasn't an option. Oh well, I guess it's a good thing I was in the hospital! Truth be told, I think it was the drive there that did it. We have the luxury of living off one of the twenty worst roads in Ontario (last year we were second!). At least the road is undergoing re-construction, but that won't be complete until 2010. Anyway, there is a longer way around with a smoother road, but I was feeling so much better yesterday I suggested we take the usual road. Sigh... Thank goodness there's a turn to link up with the other road about 5 minutes in, I thought my insides were being milkshaked. Everything was vibrating! I think all the jiggling inside moved my tube causing the pain!

Anyway they ushered me right in (apparently I was supposed to be there earlier, though the appt card and the email from the Gastroenterologist both said to be there at noon) and I was soooo sore. They hooked up the IV, asked me some questions, had me sign my life away, and then the Doctor came by. He asked if I had a chance to see the cardiologist (no), but I introduced him to my new beta blockers. Told him it was so bizarre, I haven't felt my heart beat since Friday morning. He said "I think it's still working though". I really like him, he's a lot of fun. But it is really strange, I've felt my heart beat my whole life and now there's nothing. Something's missing! He went over the procedure again, and said he was going to put a stent in to keep the valve to my pancreas open, unless there was a stone there (which would have kept the valve open yet blocked for quite some time!), at which point he would take the stone out, drop it in my stomach to be pooped out later and cut the valve open as planned). This is called a sphincterectomy. Trust me, the first time it was mentioned I got a little nervous thinking "what the heck are they removing THAT for?!?" LOL.

The nurses wheeled me into x-ray (because the ERCP requires x-ray for the whole test), got me positioned (contortion anyone?) and sprayed my throat 10 times. YUCK. Such a strange sensation! You can swallow, but you feel like you can't.

The doctor came in and dimmed the lights. I said 'oooh mood lighting' and he replied 'of course! sadly, we don't have music today, but Gail here has agreed to sing'. He then popped the mouth guard in my mouth (the one with the hole in the centre for the tube) and hit me with some IV sedatives because I was out. Next thing I knew I was gagging. They told me to breathe (which helped), but then I gagged again, and again. Of course gagging when you're out of it is just 'there' and not horrible, you forget pretty quickly! Then I heard myself make a 'uhngh' sound and I was told they were filling my stomach with air, then I was out again, heard another 'uhngh' and I was told they were putting the balloon in (and I remember thinking - oh so they found stones!), then another 'uhngh' and they told me that they were cutting the valve. Next thing I remember was gagging again and they said they were done. And I went back to sleep.

I have no recollection of being wheeled back into the endoscopy area and then suddenly I was wide awake and feeling really bloated. The nurse asked me if I wanted a drink - I chose water. 5 mins later I was allowed to get dressed and they called Steve to pick me up. My stomach was still really sore from before the appt, and still is this morning, but not to the same degree. I saw the Gastroenterologist before leaving, he told me the procedure went very well (and fast! only 20 mins!), that I did great, the highest my heart rate went was 100 bpm (because I gagged), he didn't have to put the stent in because I had two stones, one or both blocking the pancreatic duct. If they weren't both there I have no idea which other duct it was blocking. I didn't think to ask. At least without the stent he won't have to go back in in 6 weeks to take it out!

I'm to stick to the as fat-free as possible diet to try to keep the bile production low, and the bile should stop coming out from where my gallbladder was in a few days. I have to call my surgeon today to book an appt with him to hopefully have the tube and Jackson-Pratt removed. I have no idea what the next step is if this doesn't fix the problem, but they seem to be very hopeful that this will fix me up. Fingers crossed! I've been plagued with severe itching in my torso, and when really bad everywhere, which is from too much bile in the bloodstream. I can't wait for this to go away! My back is really scratched up!

All in all, I don't remember much at all. If the procedure took 20 mins, I probably only remember 1 min total... everything else is gone. Thank goodness! Today I have a 'lump in the throat' feeling, but that's it. Would I have the test again? Only if I had to. Would I be nervous? Yup, because that's what I do ;).

They're Gone!

2008-02-26T07:27:00.003-05:00

So evil Lu was keeping me company last night while I was trying to get caught up on some blogs... not sure what he did, but one step across the laptop and he marked everything in bloglines as read.

I've gone through and added everything published in the last month back in and marked them as read, and will try to get caught up this week.

I'm sad to miss everything, but I guess Lu made my life much easier, since I probably would never get fully caught up anyway.

Bah!

2008-02-21T18:35:00.002-05:00

I'm still collecting far too much bile, even had some record days this week. Tuesday/Wednesday morning the fluid slowed a lot (to my lowest collection in 24 hours since this began) and it was mostly blood not bile. I hadn't seen blood since I was in the hospital 3 weeks ago. I was hopeful! Then I woke at 4:30 this morning and my flask was 3/4 full again, to make it my second highest collection day. Sigh. Today again it's low and more blood than bile. Fingers crossed that it's going to keep diminishing!

I spoke with my surgeon today and he wants to proceed with the ERCP on Monday. I can't fight it, overall I'm leaking more than I had in the first 2 weeks! He said not to worry about the blood (I wasn't). Unfortunately my cardiologist can't see me for a couple of weeks, and the surgeon doesn't want to postpone the ERCP any further. Grrrrr. The interim solution is to put me on beta blockers until I can get to see cardiologist and to the arrhythmia clinic at the Heart Institute to review the original diagnosis (Wenckebach). Who knows it may have progressed to a more serious heart block. We'll know eventually. Sigh.

I felt lousy when I was on BB back in 2003 after my first SVT. My BP is low-normal, so naturally I had zero energy when on BBs. I also gained a ton of weight in just 3 months. Sigh. Running was horrible if next to impossible. I was dragging.

In an attempt to keep positive, I'm relieved to know that the chances of my going into SVT again on Monday when they sedate me for the ERCP are much smaller. If successful, the ERCP should bring the bile leak to an end, and by end of next week the Jackson-Pratt can come out, and I'll be much more comfortable and able to recover a little faster. It should help my moods some too! I'm a little bummed to say the least.

Once I'm recovered I'm going to fight like mad to see the cardiologist and get off the meds. I did it once, I can do it again!

10 more days

2008-02-16T18:10:00.003-05:00

My appt with the surgeon yesterday went well, I guess.

Since I'm still collecting bile from the tube, I will have to have the ERCP (warning, icky pictures in this wiki page!), but thankfully the gastro-enterologist scheduled to do it is away next week, so I'm not scheduled until the 25th. In the interim, I still have the Jackson-Pratt in, and will continue to monitor the quantity of bile collected. They will also try to get me in to see my cardiologist before the procedure, because they don't want to risk my going into SVT again.

I misunderstood what the surgeon said last week, he will not have to go back in to clamp off the gallbladder duct. Apparently the infection/inflammation was so severe that my duodenum had fused to my gallbladder, so he was only able to remove 95% of it, and not get to the duct. Going any closer risked perforating the duodenum, which we don't want. There is a possibility that what's left of my gallbladder will shrivel up and close on it's own, so I'm bound to a low fat diet still, to try to keep as little bile being produced as possible, so it will dry up. If it doesn't, I have to have the ERCP on the 25th to speed things up. I am REALLY not looking forward to this procedure, not only because the thought of it is disgusting to me and as stupid as it sounds, terrifies me (I don't do barf or gagging), but mostly because of the risk of pancreatitis (5%). The plan for the ERCP is to enlarge the little valve to the pancreas to try to create an easier channel for the bile to travel through, to allow the gallbladder to close up. If needed they will also put in a stent, which is typically removed 6 weeks later by ERCP (they lasso it and pull it out... oh yeah, I really want that!).

I'm doing everything I can to try to settle this down, resting, low fat eating, but the bile keeps draining :( Some days there's very little, and others it's double or triple. I'm really really nervous that I'll have further complications if they have to do the ERCP, since everything has gone wrong (at least in my opinion) so far. I know these things happen, but I want to get better so badly! I want to run again :(. Showering still takes so much out of me that I need to rest afterwards. Sigh.

Please send positive vibes!

The staples are out!

2008-02-09T08:03:00.000-05:00

and that's the good news. It didn't hurt at all, a tiny bit of tugging. I was expecting much worse.

Now the not so good.

The Jackson-Pratt drainage tube is in for another week. The surgeon said that he had some concerns that it was still collecting bile, and called for his colleague to do some test. Turns out the test involves a camera down my throat. I said "no we don't need to do that". What saved me is his colleague didn't respond to the page in time. If in a week I'm still oozing as much, they will have to do it :(

I asked where the bile was coming from since my gallbladder (which in tribute to my daughter the boob is known as Gablo around the house) is gone. Apparently they normally clamp off where the gallbladder was, but in my case couldn't because the duodenum was positioned in the way and he would have had to perforate it to get to it, which he did not want to do. If I keep oozing, he'll have to go back in and fix it, though he said it's a simple procedure. I was feeling really rotten and weak yesterday, and should have asked if it was easy why didn't they do it? Maybe they go in a different way to get to it, like through my eye.

He asked if I saw the cardiologist while in hospital, which I hadn't. He paged him. He then said that since I had to have cardioversion while on the table it was important that we follow up. I was stunned, I asked if I had to have cardioversion in the OR as well as in recovery and he said yes, that the minute he started working on me, the anasthesiologist was frantically trying to keep my heart under control, because it was all over the place. The IV they gave me which should have settled it made it worse so they had to bring out the paddles. My HR was over 230 bpm. He said that they were both very busy trying to finish it up and get me to recovery.

I'm so bummed, but need to focus on healing, and hopefully my body will take care of what needs to be done and he won't have to go back in.

I'm in less pain now, though the referred pain in my shoulders returned twice, yesterday and this morning at 6AM. So strange. I'm also waking up every night at 3:18. I know everyone goes through periods like that, I would just love to know why it happens!

Everything went wrong

2008-02-04T19:44:00.001-05:00

Well, my gallbladder's out.

Got to the hospital on Thursday morning for laparoscopic gallbladder surgery. 45 min operation. If only. I was very nervous in the waiting room, chatting with the other patients going for surgery as well. Then it was my turn, walked to a gurney, climbed on, they raise the rail, give me booties, a shower cap and a blanket. Surgeon and Anesthesiologist should come chat with me in a few minutes. The Surgeon came by, told me he was ahead of schedule, and I should be in recovery by 12:30, and out a couple of hours later. The Anesthesiologist came over and blinded me with his perfect white teeth, asked about my health, any colds, etc. I told him that I had Wenckebach, he said he saw that, but my EKG looked normal. It was a good day then. He asked what happens, and I told him that I drop beats, and sometimes go very speedy, and if over 150 for over 30 mins need to get to emerg for an IV drip. He said ok, see you in a bit.

I was wheeled into the OR, and now I understand why they call it an operating theatre! It's HUGE!! Yes, this is my first ever surgery, other than wisdom teeth, which while was under general anasthetic, was in the oral surgeon's office. Anyway, I was nervous, but the IV line was put in, barely felt it, I was told I might get a little dizzy and to close my eyes if it bothered me, and I was gone.

I woke up, and the nurse said "Una it's ok. I said "did they do it laparoscopally?" she said "I'm sorry sweetie, they had to do it the old way". I said "damn". Then she said "Una, do you know what a cardioversion is?" and I said "Damn". She said "we have to get your heart rate down, you're up at 200 bpm. I closed my eyes (maybe they doped me again, I don't know), and the next thing I knew I was bouncing off the table and letting out a big "UNGHHHH". OW. The cardioversion didn't hurt, the freaken surgery area hurt, although a nurse was holding a blanket over it. The nurse then said "great job Una, your heart rate is coming down. You're at 135". The Anesthesiologist came to see me and said "well you certainly know how to make things exciting! Thanks for being upfront and telling us everything about your condition, because it's exactly what happened". I grunted. I was thinking put those bright teeth away. The surgeon came over and said "we tried to do it laparoscopically, but when we got in there, your organs were all gummed together so we had to do the open procedure." Then he asked about my doctor and who my cardiologist was. I couldn't remember. They found out though, and my records did show exactly what I told them.

Because they don't have telemetry in the surgery ward, I got the luxury of ICU for the night. I learned to pee in a bedpan! Boy oh boy, we girls are trained to use the porcelain! It took sooooo much focus, and I really really had to go, stupid saline IV (we nicknamed it Ivan). On Friday I was finally allowed to sit up, had a sponge bath (I was covered in iodine), discovered I have a drain hanging out of me (which Steve called a gas line), and was allowed to go to a real bathroom. Because of the foot and half of snow we had on Thursday/Friday, there were no private or semi-private rooms, so I was put in a ward, with three elderly ladies. Poor things, they were all moaning and crying. Thank god for my iPod. I didn't sleep the night before, and wouldn't get any sleep this night either because the poor lady next to me barfed all night. So I planned my escape:

1. I have a blood pressure machine and have been monitoring for 6 years. I can do this at home.
2. I don't have a fever, and do have a thermometer at home.
3. I hadn't taken any of the morphine-on-demand since Friday morning, when she had me sit up. I was on Tylenol only. I have this at home.
4. I was up and walking when they took me off the IV.
5. 'Processing' was working fine.
6. I was tolerating my food fine, although it was still only fluids and jello.
7. I was already shown how to empty my goo flask, and how to clean the dressing if needed.

My nurses agreed, talked to my surgeon and he said if I was able to tolerate lunch of solids, they'd let me go. I was originally supposed to be out Sunday or today. They brought me macaroni and cheese. I haven't eaten since Wed, and they bring me mac and cheese??? I told KT and Steve to eat it and we'd go. They refused. Then Steve took three quick bites (love him). Then the nurse came in and I asked for toast. An hour later I got my toast, gulped it down, waited another hour, and they took the IV line and let me go. Wooooo!

Since then the radiant pain has been HORRIBLE. I feel like my shoulders are about to explode. Heating pads and Percocet help, but man alive, it's almost as painful as the gallbladder attack! I haven't slept more than 2 hours a night yet, nor have I slept during the day. I had my last radiant pain this morning, and I'm really really hoping tonight's the night I sleep!

What an adventure. Now to recover. Staples (25 or so), laparoscopic dressings and the drain come out on Friday I hope.

4-6 weeks off work. Sigh.

This and That

2008-01-22T21:07:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to write something for a while, but haven't had a heck of a lot going on.

It snowed, a lot, and then it got pretty warm and melted most of it, then snowed a lot again. Today's was really pretty - shoveled 6 inches or so of the really sparkly kind at 6PM. Love that stuff. And it was light and fluffy. And not cold. :)

Had a birthday a little over a week ago, and happy to report I was much better than last year! We had a lovely brunch at my brother's house, where KT entertained us on her cousin's new keyboard "Thank you, I'm here all week". We don't do birthday gifts in our family (at least the adults don't) as we all have enough stuff, so we always get together. Because of my restricted diet, I had toast. My brother did give me lovely purple tulips. So pretty!

I did receive lovely gifts from Steve and KT. Steve lives in fear of upsetting me now after last year's birthday party sadness, so he went safe (smart boy :)) and bought me Season 3 of LOST. 9 more days until it's on! KT bought me books, can't go wrong with books. My ex-hubby bought me a 'gotta have more cowbell' t-shirt, and little black cowbell, which was a surprise. Pictures to come at another time since Steve has the camera at work.

Speaking of Steve, he bought me flowers this week. Just because. Awwwwwww :) They are lovely. I love flowers when it's snowing out!

No other news really. I'm dying to run, but my body just won't let me. I was feeling amazing for 14 days, then decided to do a serious house cleaning, and my gallbladder has been killing me since. Anytime I try to do something more than sit on my butt all day, or as I tell KT when she asks what my plans for the day are: "well first I'm going to sit here, and later, I'm going to sit over there". :( 9 more days and it's out. Can't wait. All going well I think I'll be ok to start running again in 2 weeks, though the pre-op literature says 4 weeks for strenuous activity. But if I start over doing 1/1, for only 20 minutes, that's not strenuous is it? Please?

Goals shmoals

2008-01-06T08:58:00.000-05:00

I had such high hopes for 2007. Didn't work out that way.

I didn't achieve any of them! I was doing really well with my training, had a few setbacks, but overall, by November I was fairly consistent and feeling great! I returned to racing, with a lousy time, but I'm thrilled with it. Haven't run since November, but can't wait to get back to it - goal date to return, starting at the very beginning again, is Feb 14, two weeks post op.

I've lost 20 lbs thanks to this gallbladder by cutting out almost all the fat in my diet - to less than 15 g per day (I don't add any fat to anything, and anything packaged for example I won't touch unless it's under 6 g of fat.) I'm also eating way less, and more variety. This inconvenience is a blessing in disguise! I can lose weight :) I just need to get serious about it. I can't wait to see what running feels like with 20 lbs less! I bet it's going to suck, because I'm so out of shape, but it will have to (please!!) feel easier than last January at 20 lbs heavier!

My running goals for the year are to get fit again, uninjured as follows:

May - solid 5k
July - solid 10k
Fall - half marathon

I'd be really happy to get a du in there, but I want my bike fitted first. I feel terribly out of control on Beethoven!

40 new things didn't work out so well. For a good part of the year we were a one car family and our bus service was lousy (we got the second car in March, and bus service improved in Sept) so I just didn't seem to have the opportunity to do everything I wanted to. I also really wanted to do a lot of it with Steve, and he did not have a good year, with opening two stores (never home) and breaking his leg. I hope this year he can achieve his goals without injury, and will be home more!

So that's it. Nothing fancy!

I guess it's about time

2008-01-06T08:46:00.001-05:00

It's been over a month since my last post? Time flies.

December was a busy month. Frantically trying to close out my old job, unsucessfully I might add, because people don't seem to understand when you say "as of this date, I no longer support this application, and it won't be decided until sometime in Q1 who/if someone else will". These words must show up as white in all emails, because no one seems to see them. I have a feeling I'll be stuck with this the rest of my career here.

I have a job. I should be grateful.

And I am. I'm just ready to start my new one!! Not much happening yet on that front, though we are only back two days. I'm sure tomorrow, after our second team meeting, and now that the powers that be have made some decisions, everything will be moving at a frantic rate yet again.

Steve's Mom came to visit over Christmas. I was great to have her. I must say, this lady does not overstay her welcome! She arrives in the late afternoon of the 24th, and is on the road at sunrise the 26th. I would take this personally, but apparently she's always done this. I blame Steve ;)

I can't believe we didn't take one picture over Christmas! Too busy I guess! Very busy before the holidays with the baking, shopping and getting the house up to snuff, the 26th I tidied up, then read most of the day. My tummy has been unhappy with me since Christmas, my guess is I had a little too much fat along the way, and not enough rest. Thankfully, yesterday I realized it didn't hurt anymore! Yay!!

New Years was low key - my sister and hubby came over for a few hours. Steve is exhausted from all the OT he's been pulling (retail manager), and I was pooped too from (can't think of anything), so we were both snoozing in the new year by 10PM! Party animals!

I haven't seen Steve since, he's been prepping for inventory (tomorrow) and working from 6AM - 10PM every day. I miss him! Of course his car decided it was time to conk out, so he's been driving mine since Wed. I need groceries!! If the used cam shaft fixes the problem, we're facing an $800 bill. If not, well, I don't want to think about it. I keep telling myself that it's cheaper than leasing. Fingers crossed!

If it gets any brighter today I will spot paint the walls later. We have a few scuffs and dings (patched yesterday) collected over the last 17 months. I was hoping to have this done before we had our Christmas company, but there really wasn't time, nor did I have the energy.

Happy New Year!

Feeling better

2007-12-02T08:25:00.000-05:00

Finally! It's been a long 6 weeks. After I finished the antibiotics on Monday, and was hurting a lot all week, I was concerned that I needed another round. Somewhere deep down I felt that it was stress and fatigue more than infection. I think I may have been right. Since Friday I'm almost feeling like myself. Hurray!

I'm starting to get my appetite back, or rather, getting very bored with the bland foods I've been forcing down, and I'm getting very itchy to run. But I won't run. Not going to push it!

Random thought: My house, while dusty and in need of vacuuming when I was home alone sick, is now back to messy. Steve and KT, I tell ya, are slobs. They stress me. Sigh.

Job update: was advised Friday afternoon I got a raise. WTF? Crazy.

Off to my nephew's hockey game, then curling up with a book for the rest of the day, as a winter storm blows in! We've had a few inches of snow every day for over a week! Today calls for 10-15 cm, and tomorrow another 10-20 cm. I'd better start warming up my shoveling muscles.

What a Day

2007-11-27T20:28:00.000-05:00

Thanks for your kind words. It means a lot, considering the lousy self-obsessed blog friend I've been. Thank you :)))

First where I left off yesterday. I cried until 2AM. I surfed Monster and Workopolis to see what's out there. Then I got angry. Then beyond angry to down right p.o.'d. By 6AM I got it out of my system (except for the odd case of weepies) and was ready to draft my action plan.

At 9AM I emailed the Manager who would have been my new Manager when my former boss left for a new role, had my team not split. We'll call him B to protect the innocent. I also emailed my Director. I wrote that I'd hadn't heard from my Manager regarding my status, but could only take this as a bad sign. She mentioned we'd all know our statuses by end of day Thursday, but I feared by then I'd have missed the boat. I listed the jobs I posted for, as well as a very brief outline of my skills, attached my resume, and asked for any help they might be able to give, since they may have greater visibility to any positions yet filled. I IMd my Manager and told her what I'd done to keep her in the loop.

At 9:15 I received an email from my Director asking me to apply for this job ASAP. Then my Mgr called me to tell me to do it right away. I then got from her, finally my status, and yes I was correct, I wasn't an incumbent, and unless I was offered something I would be redundant come Thursday. There would still be some hope, some fallout from jobs others declined, and some turnover, but that wouldn't shake out until I'd be on my notice period.

I applied for the job, and received an Outlook invitation from my Director for 11AM. I was a mess. My sister called to try to cheer me up and I told her that this was the third job I'd been laid off from, and I really didn't want cheering right now. I needed to focus. She understood, and told me to get to it! My brother called. Steve called. I now had an hour to prep. I was still a mess and trying to pull it together, thank goodness it was over the phone because I could fake a cold/stuffiness if needed!

My Director called at 11AM as planned, and asked me why I didn't apply for this job in the first place. I told him it was because I didn't have the certification that was required. He said 'No one has that!! That's the ideal". I told him "well it said required, and I had just signed off on my ethics certification and couldn't in good conscience lie". He told me he liked me even more. So we chatted about my current role, that I've been in for 18 months, and I mentioned that it was only 18 months so he asked about my previous jobs. I wowed him, I was a perfect fit for this job. He made me an offer!!! I thought i was going to pass out. What a roller coaster. To cap things off, it's a level higher than I currently am, so it's a promotion to boot! We were finished our interview at 11:17.

To go from notified to promoted within 90 minutes is crazy. I was stunned. Thrilled. Elated. And soooo sad. I love my current job, but I have a new opportunity now.

At 3:30 this afternoon I get a call from another Manager for another job I applied for. OH.MY.GOD. He asked if I was still interested and I said I would be except I accepted my current Director's posting this morning. He said he knew this because he had lunch with him (he currently reports to him) and he was asked how his hiring was going for his new job when he told him he had a handful left to call, and listed the names. My director told him that I had accepted his offer that morning, so this Manager said he'd take me off the list. My Director said "no go ahead. If you make her an offer, let her decide which is best for her career, and I'll let her off the hook". Wow, that's so descent!!

I think I'm going to get an offer from this Manager too. He seemed very impressed with my skills and asked me to make a choice then and there. I told him I needed to sleep on this. He'll call me tomorrow.

I went from nothing to potentially two jobs, both a level higher. INSANE.

I am so grateful. Someone was looking over me. The planets aligned. I really felt it wasn't my time to go, so I took what control I had and it worked out!

I have decided to stay with the Sr. BA job I accepted this morning. It's going to be more challenging and should the bottom fall out yet in the future yet again, is a much better job title and will offer greater opportunities than Tech Writer.

I am so blessed. I will pay this forward.

FUBAR

2007-11-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

Well it's not yet official, but it may as well be.

If you're an incumbent in one of the new roles in my org (your current job maps more than 50% to a role in the new org), you would be notified today/tomorrow. Several managers I know of have already told their teams those that are incumbents. And most are.

My manager told one person in my team, or maybe more but only one person has fessed up to it. Tomorrow begins the process of also letting the rest know if they either have a job offer from one of the new jobs that were posted, or whether they are laid off.

Since my manager has told at least one person she's an incumbent, and I had an IM chat with her at 4:45 this afternoon giving her ample opportunity to let me out of my misery, I can only guess that I'm let go. I applied to 6 postings equaling 26 actual new jobs. I didn't get one interview. Considering they went about this all wrong and over 100 people applied for each job, and my app may be low on the list and never looked at (who knows) or maybe my resume sucked (though it was professionally done... I don't think so), or my skills sucked (which I don't believe for a minute), I'm not holding out much hope. There is a small chance that when everything shakes out there will be some new vacancies for which I can apply and hope to get an interview for, but it's unlikely.

I cried all evening.

While I thought I was prepared for the worst, I guess deep down I thought I'd be ok.

My manager told me we'd all know where we stood by end of day Thursday.

I'm so sad. I love my job so much, and my team as well, but there's a good chance that most of us are toast, or shoved into new roles we hate.

One colleague who also doesn't yet know his fate noted that he's not sure he wants to be here anyway, working for an org that would do this to their employees (5 weeks of waiting and this crap), and in the end 20% reduction in staff, again entire teams wiped out, so whoever is left it's going to be hell for.

My sister keeps trying to cheer me up. I realized tonight while walking around the grocery store with tears streaming down my face that she's never lost a job. Since I graduated from university, every transition I made was due to a layoff. It sucks. It's done a number on my self-esteem. I am devastated.

Steve doesn't know what to do with himself. He's being supportive, trying to cheer me up, but I can't speak about it. I'm so stressed, all I can focus on is trying to find a new job now.

A miracle may yet happen, but it's very, very unlikely.

Had to get this out. Going back to curl into a ball again.

I'm glad we had thanksgiving already

2007-11-22T19:38:00.001-05:00

because I wouldn't be able to eat anything if I lived in the U.S. :( However, it looks like Christmas is going to be good-food free too. Let the weight loss continue then.

I've been feeling pretty good all week, no acute pain, just a constant ache (feels like a bruise). Unfortunately, all day today it's more than an ache, it's a pretty darn unhappy gallbladder. No idea why - my fat intake has remained the same as the past few days, that is less than 12 g per day. Maybe I'm eating more, because my appetite started to come back a couple of days ago. I wish this pain would stop, I'm day 6 of 10 of my antibiotics. I thought I'd feel amazing by now.

Maybe it's my flu shot? I saw my GP yesterday, I didn't bother canceling my appt because I wanted to get a requisition for an x-ray on my foot. Since I'm not running, I may as well rehab this puppy. Anyhoodle, at the end of my appt I asked if it was ok to have a flu shot. So I got one. Within 15 mins I had a big lump in my throat and felt woozy. They had me lie down, and took my BP - 168/100. Hmmm... that's not good! They repeated the BP another 5 times with the machine, and my average was 140/80. Still not great, but I really wanted out of there. They didn't think I was reacting to the shot, the doc thinks it was Vasovagal Syncope, um ok. Of course I googled it when I got home and discovered it's a fancy word for fainting. Hahahahah! I don't think it was though, my throat was weird and my tongue furry all afternoon, and by 3PM I was weezing pretty badly. It went away by evening. I think I reacted a little to the shot. Greaaaaaat. And today my arm hurts like a mofo! My daughter had a doc appt today, and had her flu shot. She didn't react, though I noticed that she coughed a lot this afternoon (she worked from home today) and she mentioned at dinner that it was odd too. Of course her arm doesn't hurt. But she didn't shovel a foot of snow from the laneway tonight either!

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends to the south! I spent the day on modified sick leave, it's not too busy because the U.S. is off, so I watched the Hitchcock film fest on AMC. Woot!

Tagged

2007-11-17T17:29:00.000-05:00

I don’t know how many games of tag I played as a kid - tons. Now I’ve been caught in a blog tag! Here are the Rules:

Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
Tag 3 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

My tagger: Karen - All Downhill From Here

I have freaky kidneys. They aren't in my back, one is at the front bottom right, the others under my left rib. Yes, others, because the left one is also a duplex (2 kidneys stuck together), of which one is working fine, the right one, is twisted and blocked. I don't have to do anything unless it causes me grief. Which it hasn't!
The pinky on my left hand is missing a muscle. It's crooked like a claw (but a dainty one thank you very much!) and can only be straightened if I pull it out with my right hand. This is a dominant female gene on my Mom's side, she had it, her sisters had it, my female cousins have it, and so does my daughter!
I can't burp. My sister thinks it's because I was born in the year of the horse. They can't burp either. And they have great hair (which she says I do as well... thanks Anne ;))
I'll talk to anyone and everyone. Drives my family/friends nuts... they step away and come back a minute later and I'm deep in conversation with some dude on the street, cashier, cop, doesn't matter. And yet I still talk in my sleep.
I have an addiction to plasticware. Tupperware, gladware, ziploc, doesn't matter. It's a sickness.

Now to tag a few more folks: Tory, *jeanne*, Dawn

This not only blows, but it bites

2007-11-16T21:03:00.000-05:00

Karen gave me a nudge to post something, and a tag, but the tag is going to wait until I can think straight.

My gut has been killing me the past 10 days. Agony. Same thing happened two weeks before that, they chalked it up to severe acid reflux (way too much work stress... do I keep my job? won't know until the week of the 26th), so we upped my Pariet and I felt better.

Then last Monday WHAM. Agony. Can't lie down, can't sit, pacing feels the best. LONG nights. This time it didn't go away so I went back to the doctor on Thursday last week, and was given a requisition for bloodwork and an ultrasound. Looking like gallbladder, pancreas or liver. Got Percocet to help with the pain. It still hurts like hell when I take it, but I don't care as much.

So yesterday I woke up and felt AMAZING. I saw my doc, he still didn't have the blood results yet, so he called for them. Glucose is high but everything else was ok. Strange, I had the glucose tolerance test in the spring and it was perfect. Have to take the test over, and he added a few more.

Today was ultrasound day. Thankfully it was at the hospital. My gut came back with a vengeance at 11AM. I was fasting, including water, and thought it would be best not to take Percocet. Once my 2:30 ultrasound was over, holy crap, that hurt too, I was told the doctor had a look at the pictures and my gallbladder is inflamed so go straight to emerg.

Within less than an hour I was in a bed, 15 minutes later with a doc. Severe gallbladder inflamation, full of stones. GREAT. Apparently I fit the profile of the 5 Fs: Fat, Female, Forty, Fertile and Fair.

The popped in the IV needle, took blood, gave me a shot of morphine and gravol, and I waited. BTW, Percocet is way better than morphine. My sister arrived and stayed with me. We chatted for another 90 mins. The surgeon came to see me, and apparently, I am too sick to be operated on. :(

My gallbladder is such a mess that it would be too risky, and they would not be able to do it laparoscopally (sp) through my navel, but would have to do it the old fashioned way. He wouldn't risk it.

So now I'm on Percocet as needed (but he doubled the dose) and a killer antibiotic. I have to call him on Monday to book an appt for 2 weeks from now to see how I'm doing, and schedule a surgery for 6-8 weeks from now. Hopefully by then my GB will have settled down, and I'll be able to have the laparoscopic procedure, but it's likely it's going to be the old fashioned way if it doesn't unblock by then.

I'm really really tired of this, but relieved that it's something. And relieved that some day in the future I won't have to stay away from any fancy foods (anything out of the ordinary has consequences), and can eat out without worry! This pain has been around for 5 years, but that was the early stage.

I wish it could have come out tonight. Oh well, I'm thankful that my pancreas wasn't affected. I don't want to mess around with that.

Running - ya right :(

How could I forget!

2007-10-29T20:00:00.000-04:00

We saw the Dalai Lama yesterday! We got tickets to go to his talk at the Ottawa Civic Centre... it was a sellout at 9000 people.

We thoroughly enjoyed it. The topic was 'Global Communities'.

He got comfortable (as you see in the picture to the right) by taking off his shoes and sitting cross-legged. He then popped on a matching red visor to see the crowd better.

He was funny (and laughs at his own jokes as well, making him that much more charming), insightful, and unafraid to speak his mind, though any opinions that might be taken as remotely negative (such as some of George Bush's policies) were made with respect.

His message: we are all humans, and should treat each other with humanity.

Steve and I had to leave just before the closing ceremonies so that he could catch his flight to Halifax, but my sister, who came with us, said that the parking lot was never so civil when they left :)

It's time for a post!

2007-10-29T19:25:00.000-04:00

I didn't really have much to say workout-wise. My foot had been hurting for a few weeks before I started P90X. Running was going well, but my foot was sore. Then one Friday it was really really sore. I couldn't put weight on it much, it felt like I needed to crack it. So I took a few days off. A few days wasn't enough, because it lingered. Then finally it felt ok for two days so I ran again. And it hurt.

The next day I was hit with severe acid reflux. I have had acid reflux for a few years, and last year finally started taking meds for it. It was sooooo much better! I could sleep, I could eat. It was great. Then that Friday I was in agony. I was up all night, couldn't lie down, couldn't sit up. The only position that hurt less was standing. So that's what I did mostly. I started a detox the next day, and lost 10 lbs in 7 days. It was nasty. But after two weeks I'm almost back to normal, and Sunday Steve and I returned to running! He got the ok from the orthopedic surgeon, that even though his break isn't fully healed, it's almost there, so he can run, slowly, safely. Hurray! Problem was, my foot. Again. It really hurt when I ran, hurt more when I walked. When I was finished it settled down after a few hours and feels mostly ok today. I fear that it's going to flare up again, whatever it is, the minute I run again, which will be tomorrow.

So I booked an appt with my ART/Massage miracle worker, Tracy, for Wednesday. I don't think it's PF, I haven't had a flare up since my orthotics, but maybe this is something she can identify, or at least rule out scar tissue or something muscular. Besides, it takes at least 2 weeks to see my doctor, and his walk in has you sitting there for 3-4 hours, which I don't have time for.

In other news, my department is undergoing a massive re-org. We are going from 500 job descriptions to 30. We find out on between Oct 31 and Nov 2 whether we have a 1-1 match with a new job description, or whether our current roles are redundant, and we have to apply for jobs within the new org. Rah. I am soooo tired of this. The big announcement came Oct 11, the next day I had the acid reflux attack. Ya, no relation there.

I should be working on my resume, but I'm just not into it. I'll do that tomorrow. Maybe.

LOL!

2007-09-21T07:57:00.001-04:00

Ok so yesterday I went for a run by the canal, while Mr. broken leg went for a bike ride. My run was only 6k, so my goal was to run straight through - something I hadn't done since June, and something my body just doesn't want me to do since I got sick in July. The run was going ok until I got to 3k. I was just dragging. And my heart rate wasn't happy, not danger zone, but not happy. So I took a walk break, ran another 10 mins, took another, and ran the last 1.5k. This last 1.5k almost killed me. My pace was 7:05/km, my HR averaged 165. I probably should have walked, because it felt like my legs were going to fall off anyway, but walking is even more painful when your HR is stuck at 150. Not sure if this makes sense, but you feel like you're running but you're not, and your chest gets really really sore. At least when you're running you're used to a higher heart rate, though at the time it's skipping beats all over the place. Blah. Anyway, I'm fighting for the last 300 metres, and with the end almost in sight, I get passed by an old man in a bucket hat. He says "hi", I pant "hhhhhello". And I'm done. He keeps going for about 50 m or so and turns to look at me. I'm walking, drinking, breathing trying to get my HR down. We both walked another 250m or so when he stops and waits for me. He says "I wanted to thank you for the challenge". I say "you're welcome". He says "I'm very slow". I laugh and say "clearly I'm slower than you". He then says "well I don't run, I do what's called "power walking"". I laugh again and say "I'm intimately acquainted with being passed by power walkers as well". We said our goodbyes and I laughed my way to the car. He was trying to be nice and grateful, but man, how to kick you when you're down!

Oh well, good on ya old fella!

I got back to the car and stretched, then walked a few laps of the parking lot. My HR wouldn't drop below 150 :(. So I stood still (because sitting is that much more painful when the heart is racing) and it finally dropped to 143. Argh. I had a 2pm meeting, so we hopped in the car and I breathed it out. Within 30 mins I was at 100 bpm, and felt much better. Though my legs were killing me from the lactic acid. Amazing how it shouldn't hurt, but when your HR is so high, you slow right down and the burn sets in. Blows me away.

Before dinner I did the P90X Legs & Back - that didn't go well at all! My quads were still burning and there was only so many squats and lunges I could do. I lasted 30 mins of 60. Oh well.

My legs are smarting today, no running on the sched, just Kenpo (kickboxing) at lunch. I'm not sure how well that's going to go though... I tweaked my knee (the one I hurt in Feb) lunging when I should have stopped and it's still 'there' this morning. And my quads/glutes are screaming!

My body is tired. I've worked out really hard the past two weeks, much more than I'm used to. I'm not near injury, just tired. Tomorrow is a 7k run, Sunday is the Stretch DVD. Can't wait for that one!

Could it be working?

2007-09-19T08:21:00.000-04:00

Could I really have lost 2.6 lbs last week? I never lose weight. My body loves its jigglies. Hmmm. What I can say is I am loving the P90X program. At least the parts I'm able to do.

Yesterday I noticed there were little blobs of something on the tv. Ewwww, it's flying sweat stains from the KenpoX dvd (kickboxing). Yesterday was Shoulders & Arms (57 mins... no problems here, actually need a heavier weight), and AbRipperX (15 mins). I could hardly do any AbRipperX. My body just doesn't do those things. Might be because I'm really heavy and it's asking waaaaaaaay too much of my core to haul an extra 60 lbs. Or maybe it's my gut in the way. Pretty sight non?

No great soreness today, though it hasn't been 24 hours yet. Today calls for a very short run, and Yoga. I did the yoga DVD last week. It's 90 mins. I think I was only able to do 60 or 70. Or maybe 50. I don't remember! What I do remember is way too many downward dogs and planks. Since my downward dog injury a few years ago (bursitis in both shoulders... couldn't do my bra up for weeks!), I'm really careful.

Better get to work!

It's about time!

2007-09-15T21:28:00.000-04:00

So I figured I'd better get back to this!

After coming back from vacation to a week of project meetings, covering for a colleague and 4 huge consulting requests, finally, yesterday, it's settled down. Of course at 3:45 another large request came in, but I'll start that one next week, once I get the requirements. I LOVE my job so much. Geeze I hope I don't lose it!

Anyway, throughout all this work stuff my workouts have suffered a little bit, however my heart rate has settled down (touch wood).

Today I ran a fantastic 7k at the canal. It was white-cap windy, and much much cooler than the temps we've been having, so I wore a jacket and it was perfect. My heart rate was a well behaved average 153 (I'm looking forward to this dropping but at least this is the acceptable range!).

As I was finishing my last km, I saw some guy in the distance and I thought "oh he's fishing". Then realized that no, "I think he's looking through binoculars". Of course as I get closer I think to myself "what the heck do you think you're looking at you pervert". And finally "OH! It's Steve and he's filming me running!" Boo-urns. His reasoning? "I thought you might want to analyze your running gait". Um. Not really ;)

So this small speck of blue in the distance would be me questioning the pervert ;)

This would be the up close and scary photo:

And the last one:

I'm the speck in blue coming back towards Steve. On the right is the locks at Hogsback Bridge. Honestly, the winds were awful and the water was horribly choppy on the other side of the bridge!

In other news, this week Steve and I began P90X. OH.MY.GOD. On Sunday we passed the fit test, but much of it barely for me - at least anything involving upper body strength. Darn little raptor arms. Anyway, on Monday we did the 'Core Synergistics' DVD. 60 minutes of pure pain. Our heart rates were almost as high as running, and we were both sweating madly. And it's NOT a cardio DVD! This was all strength training. I hurt for 3 days after! Thank goodness the next day was a cardio day, I opted to run in lieu of the cardio DVD. The day after was Yoga. NINETY MINUTES. I have zero flexibility in addition to my lack of upper body strength so I was a-hurtin'. There were some poses I couldn't do at all, so in all I completed 70 minutes of it. Very proud of this! My shoulders are still sore though! But it's a good feeling! I think I'll like this program - finally a strength training program I don't hate!

So in other news, Steve got the results of his MRI. Two lower back discs are bulging but not pressing on his spine nor any nerves. This is great news! However he's still in constant pain, as he says 'always there in the background', and can't run. Well he can, but it hurts. A lot. Stepping back to April, when Steve was getting his new store set up and working 16 hour days, not eating well, and training for his half marathon with Gotta Run, the doctor supporting the team thought the pain in his leg was radiant pain from his back. So they performed every treatment they could. Which is where the MRI came from. Back to Monday, Steve reviews the MRI with his own doctor and tells him his leg is still sore. So they schedule an x-ray of his leg for Tuesday. Once the x-ray was done, Steve was told his doctor wanted to see him right away, but first he had to get the intern. Steve of course now thinks the worst! The doctor (also a runner) came in, shook his hand and said "you have my respect. you ran a half marathon on a broken leg". Steve was stunned and said "you mean stress fracture?". "NO - a full break of your tibia".

There were a few days where the pain was so bad he was popping Advil like candy (well the Advil he took for probably 2 months), and I forced him on crutches, which he grudgingly accepted as a compromise - as the alternative was my driving him to ER. So a full break in his leg, caused by over training, over working and not eating/sleeping enough, probably came out of a stress fracture, and only 4 days on crutches. FOUR.

His leg is almost healed now, though he does have a calcium deposit and it's not a clean heal, so he's not allowed any impact sports for 4 weeks (swimming and biking are ok, and definitely no P90X), then they will re-assess. If it's not better, or not better looking on the x-ray, he will have to have it surgically broken and properly set.

I don't know whether to hug him or break the other leg ;) Stubborn boy!

Other than that, we checked out the Renoir exhibit at the National Gallery last Sunday. Love Love Love it!

I'm going to have to try harder at this!

2007-08-25T08:56:00.000-04:00

It's been several weeks, but I've been busy! Had a great vacation in the townships, then Steve's daughter visited for a week, then back to work, straight into the office for 3 full days of project meetings, and last week pretty much catching up there. Of course the rest of the world is slowly getting back from vacation too, and I now have 4 consulting requests due on Aug 31. I'm in trouble! But it feels good to be back and busy.

Today we're going for a short run, and hoping the heart rate stays down - it's not Wencke anymore thank goodness, I'm so done with that! It's just loss of fitness from the past few weeks of crappy runs, stopping because of Wencke. Then we're off to the Hershey's Chocolate Factory. I've never been, and it's going to close soon :(

Sadly, my du plans for next weekend, and half mary plans for the fall have been postponed. Heart's not quite there yet.

Laterz!

So bummed

2007-07-29T21:02:00.000-04:00

I thought I was feeling better, just a little! I think my energy is coming back. Today was my first 'official' run since getting sick a couple of weeks ago - 12k. I was psyched! I was feeling it! I was headed for trouble :(

As soon as I started my run I knew something was up. My legs didn't belong to me. My heart rate was high - 165. I was hoping it was because I wasn't yet sweaty enough and the HRM wasn't reading correctly. But I was trying to convince myself I guess. At 10 minutes I was averaging 175. The next repeat of 10 the numbers were the same. Saw 185 a few times :(. So I turned around at 16. I had to stop a few times on the way back to get my HR down again below 160. I walked for another KM once I got back to the car, to try to get my HR below 110 so I could drive. The best I could do was 115. I had a few surges while driving home, peaking at 125. Horrible feeling when you're sitting down!

When I got home I puttered around the garden for an hour, feeling lousy. Then came in and rested to try to get the HR in the normal ranges. I took my BP and it was 107/95 with a pulse (HR) of 110. Nasty. I took it again in an hour, and it was worse 90/85, HR 100. I really felt like crap, so we sat outside for a couple of hours reading, which I didn't have the focus to do. When your heart is beating like your walking around, and you're laid out on a lounger, you can't read.

My HR must had finally dropped because I wanted to sleep, and you can't sleep with elevated heart rates, and when the episodes happen it's exhausting. So nap it was, it took a long time to fall asleep, but woke up 50 mins later feeling normal. I took my BP and I was 110/70 with a HR of 65. FINALLY.

Wenckebach sucks sometimes. But I'm so grateful it only attacks to this degree a couple of times a year (touch wood!), and no need for hospitalization for 2 years now :) It's a relief to know my 'numbers', a HR over 150 for more than 30 mins and it's off to the hosp. I hope I don't have to do that ever again. I asked my doctor once if you're supposed to feel your heart beating, and he said 'only when you have palpitations'. Hmm... there's never a time I DON'T feel it beating. And sometimes it feels downright icky. But if this is the most serious health issue I have, I'm very blessed.

Enough about that. I'm on VACATION! So tomorrow, I'm going to try this run again :). I expect my HR will still be high, it tends to be for a few days after an episode. But I will try it again. I'll report tomorrow on how it goes.

Road back

2007-07-24T18:16:00.000-04:00

I've been sick. No idea what the illness is mind you. It started 10 days ago, something I ate really upset my tummy. I had 3 days of tummy and fatigue, and now only fatigue. It's BAD. Walking is too tiring.

KT and I were going to go biking on Sunday. I was thinking to myself "the way to feel energetic, is to do something energetic". By the time I got my bike shorts on I was seeing spots. Not good. I bailed on her :(. Yesterday I wanted to run, but ended up taking the car to the garage over lunch, which was just as well, as I felt like keeling over the whole time.

So today was the day. I had to run. I decided the treadmill was the best way to go due to time constraints and the sleepies. I ran a whopping 3km and really had to push it to do that much. I was hoping for 4. After walking 10 minutes I decided to pick up the pace again. Bah, no good. I had to hang in to the supports to not fall over, I was all over the place. Enough. I slowed the speed and walked the remaining time. Got 45 mins in. I could sleep. :(

Tomorrow I have a brick scheduled, but not feeling too positive. I hope I get my legs/head back soon.

Maybe I have what Lu has. He has been curled up in a corner all day, only coming down to drink or eat once in a while. Poor critter :(

Rockin' Girl Bloggers

2007-07-19T20:41:00.001-04:00

Thanks Dawn for honouring me with this award!

I now get to nominate 5 rockin' girl bloggers! This is tough, because I know some already have... Dawn (of course), Karen, *jeanne*.

So I nominate:
Renee - Because we're sisters from other misters.
Lisa - For her honesty.
Tory - For the inspiration.
TxTriSkatemom - Love love love your dedication... and time management!
bunnygirl - For her neverending support, and adorable bunny photos.

Thank you ladies :)

Hearing aid is on order...

2007-07-14T12:36:00.000-04:00

Oh my god! Went to Bluesfest after work yesterday. I was looking for KT at the Rogers stage and in looking around at the kids there thought "this looks like a mosh pit". Called KT and she was on the other side. Good call... it did become a mosh pit.

Gogol Bordello were are riot. Gypsy punk. Soooo much fun, so much energy. We were right at the front, and next to the speakers! Good call! Did I move? No! Because last night I was a teenager again. Loved the show. I will definitely see them again when they come to town next! A picture and a clip:

From here KT and I went to the opposite stage to watch The Cat Empire. Outstanding! Another clip, this one's a short one:

I stayed at this stage when they were done, but caught Edie Brickell and New Bohemians on the opposite stage. Could hear perfectly and see the big screens. At 9:30 INXS started. We were really close to the stage:

and a couple of vids:

JD Fortune was good, but no Michael Hutchence. But it was great! I'm just a big MH fan :). I felt like I was 18 again.

Went to bed too late. Didn't drink enough. Ears still rining. Body is sore from all these late nights standing and dancing. Not going to run today... I have two more days to party, and I'm too fatigued. No guilt there either!

Off to clean the house.