Today was a good day.

I was very happy today to have convinced my friend Melanie to come for a walk this afternoon. She showed up bearing two bottles of the new flavoured water ‘silhouette.’ Very sweet of her. I got the strawberry version while she took the citrus variety; which worked out well because I personally think the citrus flavour tastes like diluted Mr. Clean. Melanie apparently has less discriminating tastes. I think she’s crazy.

We headed out to the river trail and turned around once we hit the o-train bridge. About 4.5 kms in total. There was a lot more people on this trail since the last time I was there. I suppose it was the time and the weather. I still stand by my preference for the river trail versus canal trail even though the latter seems more popular.

After my afternoon walk I was feeling motivated and decided to go for a jog. My time management skills seemed to be lacking and I ended up at the halfway point on my jog near Carleton an hour before my evening class. This gives about 25mins to get back to my apartment and then get ready to go back for six. So wasn’t going to happen. Instead I decided to continue jogging for the next hour and show up to class in my jogging gear. Sure I would look weird but I spent most of my classes in first year in my PJs so I rationalized that this was better. So I continued on and jogged around Dows’ lake, stopping at the pavilion where I drank way WAY too much water. I never had a problem with my breathing, specifically getting out of breather, but I did find myself pushing to continue on as my legs felt tired. I made it back around the lake with time to spare. My supposed 1.5 hour review class (exam Friday!!) turned out to be a very long 3 hours and I regretted not having a change of clothes. You can rationalize anything in the moment if you want to. I jogged home from class with the sun setting and a sprinkling of rain.

Today was a good day. Although I was tired from my walk/jog/class I felt energized and happy. I hope tomorrow will be the same.

My dad was in town for the Red Cross AGM this weekend so it was perfect timing with Father’s day and all. His meetings finished up yesterday afternoon. We walked around downtown, ate outside on a patio at a Vietnamese place in the market and then went to see Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. ooOOoo pretty cars.
Charles, Dad and I went out for breakfast this morning. After two unsuccessful attempts trying to find a breakfast place, Cora’s and Chances ‘R with lines outside the door, we ended up at a nice but packed place in Nepean called Summerhays. I recommend.
After brunch dad headed back to Sudbury while Charles and I went to spend the day at his parent’s place.
I went prepared and packed my running gear and my bathing suit. Even though everyone thought it was hot this afternoon I thought the weather felt quite good and generally nice. It was only until I went for a jog that I started to agree with them! Because of the heat I jogged fairly slow, but surprisingly fairly steadily. The last bend in the trail I was starting to wish the whole run was over and that I was in the pool. I kept picturing getting back and diving in sneakers and all. Visualizing helps I think J I decided against my dramatic pool jumping entrance and went inside to change. It was then that I heard the temperature on the radio. Ottawa 30C, with humidex 38C! Hummm….maybe I shouldn’t have gone for a jog after all….

Wahoo! My passport came today! One step forward to Reykjavik.

Yesterday I went for a short hard run. I had what I like to think of as a “double whammy.” First, unlike my previous run by the river, my lungs were just not in the exercising mood. I felt like a smoker huffing and puffing. Why does this vary so much? Second, due to my recent increase in activity my legs were a little sore and this caused them to feel like they were full of lead. Ouch. I was starting to feel like the little engine that could….I think I can…..I think I can…..must-make-5k-half-mark….I think I can……I reached the 2.5km mark with the last 100m I’m sure a fast walker could have beat me. I decided that my reward for keeping at it was lots of walking on the way back. You can justify anything to yourself if you try hard enough. Hopefully next time out I’ll be in the zone, no huffing, no puffing and legs like feathers. J

Good news! I checked the mail this morning and I received a donation from Brewster’s Mountain Lodge in Banff, Alberta. Very sweet guys! I worked front desk at Brewster’s over the summer of 2004. Good place to stay if you are traveling that way.

More Good News! I received an online donation today from one of my dad’s contacts. Thanks Judy for your support!

Yesterday I was feeling a little bit of my Thursday jog in my legs so I decided I’d rather go for a dip. It was only when I jumped in the pool that I cursed for forgetting my goggles. I really can’t see under water. I did some laps and when I was sufficiently bored with that I copied some of the ladies who were in the pool with their backs against the wall kicking. I continued my pool workout with some pull ups and sit ups on the edge of the pool in reps and sets like I do at the gym. It was funny, when I turned around the ladies were copying me now, hehe.

This morning I was introduced to a new dojo; 100% Martial Arts and Fitness. I have been a Martial Arts ‘mutt’ for a few years now. I started in Jui Jitsu and stayed over a year and completed a yellow belt. After that, I left town for the summer to Banff, Alberta. Banff didn’t have Jui Jitsu so I embarked on three months of karate. Back in Ontario I wanted to try something new so I tried out Aikedo. I found that that style wasn’t for me. I was very similar but very different than my jui jitsu training. It felt like driving on the wrong side of the road; still driving but weird. I finally tried out Judo. I felt this was a good style; very similar to jui jitsu and it had a great bunch of people. But my schedule conflicted with the dojo class schedule on a regular basis and I averaged once a week or less attendance. Which sucks. I haven’t trained in 6 months! Between School, Two jobs and Fundraising there was no way.

I’m happy to come across 100% martial arts. They have classes running every day, sometimes twice a day. So I should be able to fit it in. Very excited!

Feeling only semi-motivated I headed out for a run. I got as far as the front of my building when my mp3 player ran out of juice. Great. I stashed my player in my mailbox to avoid the trip upstairs and headed out in silence. Some people use the time during their run to be alone with their thoughts. I would rather listen to music. I don’t think; I concentrate on my breathing, and follow the yellow line on the bike path; one step in front of the other.

I decided to try a new route this time. I’ve been feeling self-conscience lately and jogging along the canal where I usually do can be intimidating. Sometimes I would get ready to go out and then change my mind last minute because of this. The path along the canal can be quite busy and it runs along the road as well. I’m intimidated with the amount of people around. Especially as I’m not a ‘runner’ yet, and everyone else on this path seems to be. So I decided to try the path along the river for a change of scenery. Wow, what a difference! There were people on the path but no near the amount on the canal. The river and trees was refreshing. And the best part: Periodic water fountains!! I concentrated on breathing and found myself going quite far without stopping; the farthest I’ve ever gone without stopping. There was a downside, however, a quarter the way back my left ankle started acting up and I mainly walked back. The woman at the Running Room told me that I have a rolling left ankle. I never noticed before; apparently she is right. Any suggestions on ankle pain?

Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have. --Doris Mortman

I’ve been concerned about my weight for a while now. I stepped on the scale a few days ago and discovered that I have reached a new maximum. 185lbs. How the hell did that happen? On average my weight usually settles around 150-160lbs and that suits me just fine. So what’s a girl to do?

I enlisted a girlfriend and headed to the local Curves center. Apparently you need an appt. but the lady told us about it anyways. We both determined that this program was not for us in probably the first 30 seconds. At the student rate it costs $150 just for the priviledge of joining plus an additional $42/month. For all this moola you get to do the famous Curves circuit. 30 minutes, 3 times a week. I was disappointed that the strength training machines were only hydraulic and therefore limits improvement for the future. In addition the diet portion of the program was running only in September and cost an additional $99. Moreover, it seemed to be based on or similar to the Atkins diet, which as a vegetarian is completely unrealistic.

Feeling a little disappointed in Curves, I thought I’d check out the other alternative. LA weight loss center. I dropped in and had a chat with their consultant Katy. She explained the whole program very well and I think it would work for me….But you have to sign up for a year at $15/week with the money up-front, a whooping $742! Oh and that was the cheapest option, the only one totaled approximately $1100. Ouch. This was actually tempting for me although I was very on the fence about the whole thing. Considering that I’m very serious about my trip to Africa, $742 is a lot of money to spend! I was considering opening a new savings account and depositing $60/month. If I haven’t lost the weight in a year then I’ll make my way to LA Weight Loss Centre. If I have, I get to spend some money guilt free.

So all in all the tours of the weight loss centers was disappointing. I guess there is a reason that this industry makes so much money.

Training Online

As part of the Team Diabetes program we get some perks. One of these perks is a Running Room Web Training clinic. The 10km training program starts on June 16. So perhaps I will use that as an excuse for my current less-than-stellar training. See! It’s not supposed to have started yet. I’m actually Ahead of the game. Buying it yet? I didn’t think so.

So I fill out some information on the Running Room Online Clinic and then I get to my race options. There are a few options for training for a 10Km apparently. Most of these options are based on time. ie) finish in 47mins..49mins…54mins…etc. I’m obviously not one for speed so I completely ignore these options. Something more my speed: the “to complete” option. Haha I can Walk that! To my surprise there are not one but two of these options: ‘To complete’ and ‘Gradual Build-up/To complete.’ Okay I click on ‘To complete;’ Week one this crazed schedule has me running 7Km – Steady run. Okay, I’m sorry but if I can already steady run 7km I don’t need a program to run 10 just to finish. Okay click ‘gradual build-up/to complete.’ Week One: 3 Km Run/walk. Now that is my kind of program!

Hey Hey! 75 days until the 10Km Race in Reykjavik!!

Fundraising thoughts for the Future...

I recieved another donation in the mail on Friday. Thanks Uncle Brian and Aunt Cathy! And of course thank you for the birthday card :)

I think I've run out of people to harass with my brochure/mail campaign. I'm starting to wonder about how to fundraise the remaining $900 or so dollars. I'm confident that I will be able to do it. I just need a plan.

I have at least a hundred dollars or so coming from collecting empty ink cartridges and cell phones. If you think your business would be open to donating ink cartridges in support of the Canadian Diabetes Association please visit www.FundingFactory.com for more information. If you are running your own fundraising campaign this program may work for you (Choose "Referred by Participant" during registration and provide my organization ID number ID# 50498 - thanks!).

I have considered canvassing door-to-door (with an amazing friend I assume) to collect donations for the CDA. Has anyone done this and have tips? I'm from a small town with it where neighbours know each other and donations asks are quite normal. How would this work out in a bigger city like Ottawa? (4 different apartments and have never spoken to the neighbours) Or do you suggest I go home for the weekend to try this out?