Operation Healthy Balance

After completing my first half marathon last year I kind of "let myself go".  Meaning I didn't lace up the running shoes for like......freaking 4 months.  Okay that's untrue.  I might have ran twice in the four months. This resulted in me going from feeling elated that I completed a half marathon to holy crap I can't even run 3 km without wanting to throw myself in front of the next car. I've slowly started to run again on the treadmill and thought I would give myself a little motivation.  I added some races to my dailymile profile (haven't officially signed up for them but I want to).  I added a 10K in february, a half-marathon in May, a 5K in June, and then a duathlon (run 2.3 km, bike 20.7 km, run 5km) in August.  Sounds perfect to me! I've never done a duathlon before and I don't even have a proper road bike but I enjoy running (when I'm properly training) and I find biking even more enjoyable than running so it kind of makes sense ...

I just got back from the Heart and Stroke annual conference in Toronto.  It was well run with a prestigious line up of speakers but to tell you the truth, I didn't learn anything new from them.  What I did learn is that I am telling my clients all of the right things in my new position; educating clients with all of the right information using the best practice guidelines and providing support for lifestyle change through follow ups and monitoring. On my train ride to Toronto I was thinking about what I was hoping to learn; what I struggle most with when dealing with clients.  What I desperately wanted help with is improving my approach of getting client "buy in".  I know people need to eat a healthy balanced diet, exercise moderately 5 days a week, quit smoking, drink less alcohol, etc. but how do I get them to "care" and actually take action.  Some friends, family and coworkers take the stance...."it is up to them and if they don't care then that...

Yesterday, I experienced a new "first" in my life.  Someone that I had extended my support, love, compassion and understanding to purposely took me aside and told me how much I meant to them; how I had changed there life and made then "feel" again; how I allowed them to heal and they are meaningful. This person was my uncle who through years of dealing with depression was a broken man.  He felt unworthy of love and harboured tremendous pain and guilt.  He has lived with us on the farm for 3 years.  First with my parents and now in a fixed up house on a farm property we bought last year.  He has had to undergo many physical and emotional battles but has started to finally triumph in his own life.  He works with us as a farm hand and can always be counted on for tractor work, chores, wood cutting, lawn mowing, house repairs or just about anything you need; he is earning his keep so to speak and to be brutally honest his presence is so wonderful.  Not o...

Larrin has decided to take part in Movember this year. He's decided to go for a modified 'Hacksaw Jim Duggan' look. Off to a great start....

 The outcome of 'horse therapy'. Arlen and Grandpa...strike a pose! Birthday flowers delivered at work! No explanation needed! My sweet Kali! Boys going back to school...very proud of the little men they have become.

It's hard to believe we have been doing the Halloween wagon ride for 4 years now.  It's even harder to believe that it didn't rain despite of "Sandy". I managed to leave work one hour early, dash to the dollar store to buy cheap decorations, go home, get the halloween lights out and start decorating.  Larrin had the wagon ready with the straw seating and the boys helped me decorate.  We felt a few drops of rain while we were putting the final decorating touches on so we screamed "rain rain go away...."  To our surprise it seemed to work. Add a few sleeping bags, blankets, excited kids and hot chocolate and we were ready for the night. My "friend of a friend", Chelsea, captured the night in pictures.  She is very talented and artistic so I totally rely on her for photos of the event.  Here is her blog post about it.  See if you can pick out Chase (ghostbuster Ray), Karson (psychotic blood bathed lunatic of some sort) and Arlen (red devil ma...

I've gotten the urge to start "documenting" my life again. So much has happened...and I'll get to that later.  Right now, I'm sharing my first half marathon race. I had started this post in May and got extremely side tracked. Just found it as a draft so I decided to finish it off.  I still can't believe that I actually finished a half marathon and in a pretty decent time for me:) I picked up my race kit the day before the race.  Stood in line for over an hour but it was worth having my bib and chip the day before. Larrin drove me to the race.  We got there in plenty of time to find parking and get to the start line.  I found a quiet spot to calm my nerves and do some warm up and stretching.  It was really important that I stretch out my calves and hamstrings since they seem to get tight after a while of running. The start line was absolutely crazy.  I pushed my way and just got in the middle of the pack.  I had my phone with me so I texted a...

With such little time before the scheduled half-marathon race, I knew that this week was going to be very telling.  Either the pain would come back in my foot and I would know that I should give up my race spot to someone that could actually finish the race or my foot would continue to be okay and I could then be able to judge where I was in relation to being ready for 21.1k. I decided to try to get three runs in this week, an easy 6k, a more challenging 8k, and then a 12k long run.  Monday I went out at lunch to run 6k.  It was beautiful and sunny; first run this year in a tank top.  My foot did not hurt but my calves and hamstrings were super tight.   The 8k on thursday was much the same except it was t-shirt weather instead of tank top.  Calves and hamstrings were super tight again.  I stopped to stretch at about the 4k mark and walked for a bit.  It was very windy too.  One stretch of road that I took was not runner friendly; the ...

Finally opened up the old blog today and took a peak.  I find it very interesting that the last post that I had written was the day before I injured my foot hiking.  Yes, hiking.  No running, no twisting, no spraining, no crazy story, just merely glorified walking.  Yeah, a little bit frustrating. After that family day hike, I had severe foot pain which continued for days after and then reappeared whenever I ran.  Anyways, after getting tired of the resting and re-aggravating cycle, I sought professional help.  Diagnosis: Fibularis/Peroneal Tendonitis (or something like that).  Also known as pain in my ass-itis. Rest, ultrasound and laser therapy for a month has resulted in a possible healing....I ran 5K on Friday for the first time without pain.  Fingers crossed that this the turning point. I wanted so bad to run again this weekend but to tell the truth the foot was feeling a little stiff and achy.  So, yesterday I compromised and did ...

I have been very lax about half marathon training as of late so I thought I would review some facts for motivation: Fact:  My half marathon race is in 96 days. Fact:  I want to finish this half marathon in less than 2 hrs 15min. Fact:  I will not finish the half marathon in less than 2 hrs 15 min unless I train properly. Fact:  The more I train the better I will do and feel. Fact:  I have come so far with my running in just a year. Fact:  Just a year ago I was struggling to finish 5 km in under 39 min.  Now I finish 5 km in under 30. Fact:  My average pace one year ago was 7:42 min/km. Fact:  My average pace now is around 6:00 min/km. Fact:  A year ago I could not run more than 5 km. Fact:  My longest run thus far is almost 13 km. Fact:  Training works. and lastly... Fact:  I am a competitor and most of all I am a runner.

A couple of pretty significant things have occurred for our family while I was off on blog sabbatical.  I'm feeling the need to tidy up those loose ends so I can concentrate on future events. First off, Larrin and I's trip to Mexico was fantastic.  Lane and Charlie's wedding was beautiful and it I was elated to get to spend time with this part of my family.  We swam in the ocean, experienced the pool swim up bar, did some snorkelling (saw a sting ray!), explored some Mayan ruins (those Mayans were smart), and best of all relaxed.  It was glorious!  Larrin had a super time as well. With the Newlyweds! Do you think he is tired of me taking his picture? Second, we have an addition to the family.  It was a very spontaneous Valentine's Day gift for the boys (um, and me).  Chase and I couldn't resist the charm of this little puppy at the local pet store.  Honestly we were just going to get the darn rabbit a salt lick!  We didn't leave w...

February started out great.....probably due to the fact I was in Mexico and doing this..... Then it felt like I hit a bit of a wall.  I am still going through all of the 'essentials'; kid stuff, work, cleaning etc.  Well maybe not cleaning.  But still the everyday processes that make life work for a busy family are getting done.  It's the extras that I have lost interest in.  Like running, quilting, practicing with 'my band' (yes I am in a band), and all other fun stuff that involves me leaving my comfort of doing nothing. I know it is a funk and it soon will pass.  It really didn't help coming down with a head cold this week but at least I had a noticeable illness to be able to call in sick to work for two days. I already feel better just writing about it.  I'm giving myself the weekend to snap out of it and Monday is the start of a brand new week and I'm hoping a new outlook!  Cross your fingers;)

Let's just say week three was very uneventful:)  No excuses just didn't get in any mileage.  I did have three great workouts with Sarah; worked on legs mostly with back and core strength.  One day was an intense workout with weights and cardio circuits.  It was pretty tough.  Thank goodness my gym routine isn't slacking....and week four of running doesn't have any choice but to be better!  Right?

I hope that this post doesn't come across as bragging but I have some exciting work related news. I'm usually very modest when it comes to my nursing career and to be honest, my family and friends really don't even know what I do at work; they know I am there from 830 to 430 and then I come home.     On Wednesday, my manager announced to our team and then to the rest of the health unit that little old me would be the new team leader for the "Infectious Diseases Program".  I am honoured to have been promoted to this position and I am excited about my new roles and responsibilities (and the small increase in wage).   It's unreal to think that less than two years ago I was just beginning my nursing career.  I never dreamed that I would come so far in such a short period of time.   It wasn't that long ago I was a novice nurse trying to find my way and now I hold a valued leadership role in my organization. It is a very satisfying feeling when peopl...

Another week has passed and to my delight I completed the necessary three runs for my training this week.  Here is my week in chart form thanks to my Endomondo app:)  I love tracking my run with my phone to be able to plot out my course and get accurate distances.  I find it very helpful with training as well.  Helps me with pacing and also motivates me to keep going to catch a new personal best time or distance. My long run was just done today and I despite it being a bit cold, it was awesome.  I think it shows that I am gaining strength as a runner when after 7km I finally felt "warmed up" and had enough fuel to complete  the next 4 kms in under 6 minutes each.  I ended up shaving a couple minutes off my 10 km time too (1h:01m:41s)....getting closer to under an hour:)  The roads were slippery but I was still able to maintain a great pace throughout.  I do like taking the backroads to avoid traffic but I'm pretty sure the roads were only s...

This past wednesday I attended a quilting day class at Picket Fences Fabrics in Brockville.  My mother had signed me up for this class as a Christmas present (thanks mom).  The class was for a friendship braid quilt so I picked out my colours and away I went.  The quilt consists of 8 strips of "friendship braids" and then borders are added.  I worked the entire day at the class and got 4 1/4 of the strips done.  Waking up early before I went to work, I ended up completing the 8 strips by friday morning which allowed me to grant myself permission to go pick out border fabrics and batting on friday.  Saturday I plugged away at the borders and voila....here is the quilt top finished.  It measures 66" x 74" and I am soooo happy with how it turned out. Here is a shot from a different perspective with careful photography so you can't see my disastrous bedroom:) And one more picture to show the back of the quilt top.  I love looking at the backs o...

All of the fancy and really talented quilt bloggers out there always do a year end summary of their quilt finishes for the year.  They usually have so many that it is a picture collage and they are absolutely beautiful.  Since I only have two project finishes for the year (c'mon give me a break, I only started in September) I thought a photo collage would be a bit overkill;)  So here they are: A table runner for a thank you gift that I gave to an awesome Halloween party host. And my first ever quilt.  FYI, my teacher has it hanging in her quilt shop as a display quilt for the beginner class.  I took that as a huge compliment.  She even wants me to enter it in the local quilter's guild annual show/contest (not sure what it is called) in the category of first quilt.  I took that as a compliment too. But I digress....these are my finishes for 2011.  I think it is obvious that my personality would warrant a challenge to myself.  Can I fini...

What is it about the start of a new year that makes me so happy?  Is it the idea of a clean slate that is so appealing or the vast array of people who are trying to improve their lives through resolutions?  Whatever it is, I love it. That being said, 2011 was a fabulous year for myself and my family.  Many important milestones and experiences have occurred and lasting memories have been made. I think my most significant event in 2011 was being able to take my mother to Alaska.  She has always wanted to go but really if it had been left to her abilities it would have never happened.  So, it was great to see her experience many firsts at the age of 61.  Seeing her:  take her first airplane ride, get excited about the Rocky Mountains as we were flying over them, to watch her step onto a humongous cruise ship, to see whales up close in the ocean, to visit a small native community in Alaska, and the list goes on and on.  Sure, there were times on t...