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.

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 ;)

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.

YouTube Fun

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...

Tagged

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

1. 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!
2. 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!
   
3. 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 ;))
   
4. 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.
5. 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