Holidays

Wow, I've enjoyed myself over the holidays... haven't made an entry until now - that's ok :)

We headed off for our 16K run on December 24th. My friends Cathy and Eric showed up - Cathy's brother in law Mike came too. They're part of our group of Ironman wannabe's (except Eric who is an Ironman 2x). My mom was there too. Saul, Frank, Doug, Deb all showed up - wow! Many of them did not have to get their mileage up to 16 k but were there anyway - happy to run.

It was a beautiful morning, bright, almost warm. I felt awful though. My legs were heavy from the get go and it didn't go away after the first 10:1, nor the second. At about 6 -7 km's I had to find some bushes. I had horrible cramping and had to go now. I asked the people ahead of us not to stop - my mom stayed with me and I ended up being 5 - 10 minutes behind everyone. After I used the outdoor potty my run started to feel better. I ate some fuel at 10k, Cathy, Eric and Mike ran back to do the final 6 km's with us. They were great, even slowing their pace not to rush my mother and I.

Just over 2 hours and 16 km's completed - we went into the RR store and further into the cafeteria behind it. Ate truffles Doug made, had the Baileys I brought in our coffees and chit chatted for a little while.

I was proud, but exhausted.

Christmas was quite fun. My children received way too many gifts, so did I. I now have a running jacket! and a GARMIN! woo eee! Now I can't quit. Which is tough, because there are lots of days I want to quit.

My diet suffered over the holidays. I'm not looking at the scale today. I finished off some banana cream pie our friend made for our New Years party and last night made a resolution for the month to eat healthier (again).

On the 28th I travelled with Cathy and Eric (sans children) back to their home in Kamloops. It was a long day driving. I was supposed to do my hill repeats and felt guilty for not having done them in the morning. Oh well. When we arrived in Kamloops some 10 hours later we decided a swim would do us good so off we went to the pool. I swam (after a glass of wine erhem) a few lengths and was tired out - but refreshed.

The next morning we packed up and headed out to Sun Peaks resort. I'm not a downhill skier so I talked Cathy and Eric into snowshoeing (which they love). I had never tried it. We did a few intervals of running through the snow. Tough stuff! and went up and down beautiful hills packed with powdery white snow.


Afterwards, we had a beautiful lunch and headed for the outdoor pool/hut tub. Let me tell you - I was in pure heaven. Cathy and Eric are really my best friends and I love them a lot. Eric had to work a shift that night from 8 - 4 am and he didn't want to get back for a nap - I think he was having fun.

I feel relaxed around them... we talked about triathlon goals - if we could do it. Cathy is apprehensive, like me, about the bike. Eric is very optimistic and kind with his encouragement.

That night Cath and I just rented Cinderella Man and relaxed (even went to bed early as she had to work for a bit in the morning early and I had planned my long run).

In the morning we woke up - Cath had to be at work at 8 and I was going to go for my run too. She showed me a 'just shy of' 4km loop in a park, we parted ways and me and Garmin went out to do a long run. My pace felt really good. I felt really good. It had been less than a week since my last long run and I felt much better (rested?). I kept looping the park. There was a beautiful part of the run that took you into trails and you felt like you could be on the cover of Runner's World. There were mallards and canada geese on the paths (their poop too). I did my 16km again exactly 2:00 hours.

It was my last day in Kamloops - we came home and Cathy made me a salad with boiled eggs in it for protein. Had a nap, went shopping, went out for Greek food, came home to fondu and then I caught my bus home (12 hours redeye). I was so happy to see my family. I missed them a lot. The boys were happy to see me too, I think.

I haven't gone running since. It's been two full recovery days. I'll try and get out for a 5 km and a swim tonight - I need to burn off that banana cream pie.