Hen Party

You know sometimes when the thing that you need the most, comes along at just the right time?  That happened to me today.  I admit...I've been pretty stressed the last little while with all the stuff going down my mom.  It's a weird thing to take the role as the parent all of sudden, and the realization that your parents are growing older and won't be around forever dawns on you.  I guess sometimes as we grow older and get busy with our own lives, we forget that our parents too, are growing older as well.  Anyways, that combined with dealing with some people's idiocies this past week (grrrrrr!) and a persistent headache that just wouldn't go away not matter what I did...I felt exhausted and wanted to hole up at home and shut the whole world out.

This morning I got up to start my usual weekend cooking routine and was just getting into it when I heard my phone ping.  All of sudden, my phone went crazy...pingpingpingping!  I picked up my phone to check it out and two of my oldest friends were messaging back and forth and had looped myself and another friend into the conversation.  Now these friends are some of the very oldest friends I have...I met these guys thirty years ago when I was fifteen, and somehow through marriages, babies, rough times and just the overall hectic thing we call daily life, we've still kept in touch.  Anyways, the planets aligned today because even though getting us all together at the same time is like herding cats, we were all free and around our phones when someone threw out the words "anyone wanna go for brekkie?" 

Now even though I was knee deep in cooking and the kitchen was a disaster, I realized that this exactly what the doctor ordered.  Hubs is amazing and is so supportive, but sometimes you just need time with your girlfriends, so I dropped everything and headed out the door.  I know!  For those that know me personally, I am incredibly anal (and borderline OCD) about tidiness, so to leave the kitchen in a mess is a big ass deal.  Anyways...as I sat there today and spent time with my fabulous friends, I could feel my batteries recharging and it was exactly what I needed to get on with the week ahead.  It was perfect timing and I loved how it was just so spur of the moment...somehow it just made it all that much better, like a really pleasant surprise.  So thanks E, C and C...you'll never know how much it meant to see you all today...love you guys!

2014 Goals - Checking In

Yikes...have definitely not been very good with blogging lately, have I?  Things have been insane in my life...working through my mom's health issues has really sapped my energy, but I've managed to stay relatively sane by working out and getting out my stress that way.  I've been a total beast at bootcamp and throwing all the craziness into my workouts and it's been so helpful...I think even Jason gave me a little nod of approval when I was taking no prisoners one morning and slamming out chest to floor burpees like nobody's business.  Ha!

So instead of recapping Week 8 and 9, I thought I'd update quickly on how I've been doing with my 2014 goals! 

1.  Take Swimming Lessons
Done!  I've finished the first session of swim lessons and am crazy loving it...I've managed to get to the point where I can swim on my side and rotate onto my stomach, but not rotate from side to side yet.  I've signed up for the beginner class again, and am gonna keep on taking it until I'm comfortable enough to swim in the deep end and move to the next level.  I don't care if it takes me all stinkin' year, but I is learning how to swim if it kills me!

2.  Take CPR Course
Haven't signed up for anything yet, but absolutely on the radar.

3.  Volunteer for a Food Related Cause
Le sigh.  For some reason, there are not a lot of food related causes that I can volunteer for on evenings or weekends!  I know!  I'd love to work in a soup kitchen or something so I can put my mad cooking skillz to work, but no go...lots of stuff out there but always during the day.  I'll keep trying!  Some good news though on the volunteer front...I've been asked to help handing out medals for the Times Colonist 10K!  I guess I was a medal giving machine at the Goodlife Victoria marathon last year, so have been recruited to work at the TC10K this year.  Normally there's no medal at this race, but because it's a commemorative year, there are medals and a half marathon distance.  So cool and am so excited.

4.  Improve Mobility and Posture
I've been stretching, rollering and lacrosse balling like it's my job...every night I sit down in from of the TV and spend at least 20 minutes working on my mobility...I went to my physio today and great news...she was super duper impressed with my hip stability and how I was moving through my upper back and thoracic area!  Hurray!  My right shoulder and lower back were a little tight so she did a few needles and some stretching, but the last few times I've seen her things have been pretty good.  Not sure what happened though but tonight as I got up from the couch, my left knee twinged weird and it hurts a bit now when I walk on it...gah!  I immediately got some ice and Traumeel on it...I'm sure I'm overreacting and it's likely just a little niggle, but I'm taking no chances.

5.  Floss Once a Day
Flossing like a rock star...can't wait to see my dentist and show him how awesome I've been doing...maybe I'll even make patient of the month...ha!

6.  Jars of Awesomeness
I've had a lot to be grateful for the past little while, so my Jar of Gratefulness has been filling up quite nicely.  And so far, I've got forty two smackaroos to my name in my workout jar...not bad!

Oh!  and some other news...have signed up and paid for 18 personal training sessions at PISE!  I decided to bite the bullet and just do it, and actually pre-paying for it means I'm committed to doing this.  I'm making sure I'm totally healthy physically before I start...I asked my physio today if there's anything I should concentrate on, and she said neck and head positioning, thoracic strength/mobility and scapular stability...so a lot of upper body stuff.  Can't wait!

2014 - Week 7 Recap

When it rains, it definitely pours!  These past few months have really been a challenge on the parental front...my dad has had some chronic health issues for years, which unfortunately came to a head at the very end of 2013 resulting in a trip to emergency.  Thankfully things are in control now and he's doing OK but I guess the parent health gods have decided to really test my mettle and my mom is now dealing with health issues which also resulted in a trip to emergency the other night.  After seven and a half hours sitting in emergency with my mom, we were released and she's doing OK so far, thank goodness. We're running tests on her to see where things are at because my mom is also one of those people who never, ever, ever go see the doctor.  Like as in ever.  Soooo, things are complicated to say the least, and me being the only child here in town with her (she speaks almost no English), I've been helping her out with this whole situation as daughter/translator.

So...why am I blabbering on about this?  Well, as you can imagine I'm stressed to the gills...worried about my parents, frustrated because my Chinese sucks (even though it has improved greatly over the past few weeks!) and tired beyond belief.  It was interesting because the one thing that has been my saving grace is exercise...you see, for me exercise is the one thing that I can guarantee will make me feel better when I'm feeling this way.  It clears my head, gets me outside in the fresh air...just the feeling of putting one foot in front of another is like recharging me somehow and makes me feel like I can handle things far better.   In the days after the issues with my mom started up, all I wanted to do was to get outside and move my body.   I was desperately looking forward to my first bootcamp after my mom's trip to Emergency, and it was weird because I should have been dog tired after class...Jason ran, burpeed and get out of bedded us to death, but I felt so much better after and ready to deal with things.  So I'm posting this to say that I'm so incredibly thankful that I have exercise as part of my life and that it truly is something I'm so grateful for.  And yes, I did put a note in my Jar of Awesomeness about this...hah!

So last week's workouts:

Sunday:  strength
Love strength work day!  Shoulder is feeling good so I bit the bullet and have committed to personal training at PISE!  Yay!  OK, I've committed verbally so it's not fully a done deal...but as soon as I hand over the old credit card, the deal is sealed.  Look out for some posts on how I'm doing with that.

Monday:  rest
Hubs and I made a deal that if we made sure we worked out Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, we could sleep in on Monday...and sleep in we did.  Ha!

Tuesday:  treadmill

Wednesday:  bootcamp/swimming
More side swimming and have added in rotating from my side to my front...I can only do that for one side though before I start flubbing things up.  So much coordination!

Thursday:  rest

Friday:  bootcamp

Saturday:  10K run
I gotta say...our running has not been at the levels it used to be at in terms of frequency or intensity, but it's all good.  Just getting ourselves out there is the key thing or at least that's what I keep telling myself.  Ha! 

2014 - Week 6 Recap

Happy Family Day, folks!  I've been waiting for this day forever...life hasn't seemed to have slowed down much lately and I was super duper crazy looking forward to hanging out with Hubs today with nothing to do, and that's EXACTLY what I've done today.  Yesterday I was a woman possessed...I had a to do list a mile long because I wanted nothing, nothing that would niggle me and call my name as I sat around on my duff today.  After a luxurious sleep in this morning, I whipped up a yummy breakfast of gluten, egg and dairy free pancakes (super delish!), homemade hash browns and bacon.  Yep, we had bacon...in our defense it was the low sodium version and it was fab-u-lous.  Hah!  Anyways, I'm glorying in today's downtime to just do whatever strikes my fancy...sometimes you just need these kind of days that recharge your batteries.

WORKOUTS:

Just checked...$27 in my workout jar so far...yeehaw!

Sunday - strength
It's like it's meant to be...in April my annual membership that I have with my bootcamp runs out, and I was thinking that I might do try something different.  I'd still like to go to bootcamp some days because I love the cardio workout so will get a per class punchcard, but I'd been sort of thinking about doing some personal training once my membership runs out.  Well, in the latest PISE newsletter there's a deal going on where if I sign up for 16 sessions, I get two extra!  I've been wanting to do this for awhile now because I really wanted to focus on building strength and if I start in April, that will give my right shoulder ample time to really get healed up.  So...I think I'm gonna do it!  A combo of strength training at PISE, a few bootcamp sessions per week, runs with Hubs and swimming...perfect!  I'd been feeling in a bit of a funk with my workouts lately so this adds some variety...variety is the spice of life, right?

Monday - circuit

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - circuit/swimming
Brrrrrr...Victoria was hit last week with a bit of a cold spell.  OK, OK...for those that live in the prairies, minus 10 is not that cold but us coastal folks are not used to it, and it's a damp kinda cold!  Whine.  Anyways, D wasn't feeling all that hot and it was freaking cold so I decided to do a circuit at home.  Evening was swim class...I have to say, I'm super loving the swim classes and look forward to them!  I feel like a bit of a fraud though...having taken lessons before, everything we've done up to this point I already knew how to do so my instructor treats me like some kind of superstar student when I'm soooo not.  This class I actually got to try something new and I nailed it!  I was never able to get the hang of swimming on my side before, and finally got the hang of it and was swimming on my side like nobody's business.  Small victories, folks...ha!

Thursday - rest

Friday - bootcamp

Saturday - circuit

FOOD:
Woohoo, our month anniversary for our gluten, egg and dairy free living!  So how's it been, you ask?  So far, it's been not too bad...sometimes it gets a bit hard when you see ads for stuff like pizza on TV, but there's enough options nowadays that it hasn't been that hard.  Allergen free products have really, really come a long way in the past five years...when I did my food sensitivity testing previously, I had to cut out wheat, egg and dairy (amongst other things) and there was basically tapioca bread (truly awful) and these crackers that tasted like twigs.  Blah.  Hubs' skin has improved a lot...it still gets red some days but it feels a lot smoother and less dry and flaky then it has before.  And there's so many recipes out there that we can still eat...I went to a Mexican food cooking class last week because I figured it would be free of gluten, eggs and dairy or I could make modifications.  Class was fabulous, and I made everything from the class this week...who said you had to feel deprived?

2014 - Week 5 Recap

Oy vey...watching the Superbowl and while a tiny part of me is kinda happy that the Seahawks are winning, I feel a wee bit bad for Hubs because the Broncos are his boys...and I do kinda like Peyton.  I have that vaguely sinking feeling that I did when I watched the Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup in 2011...argh, must go lie down in the fetal position NOW...still not over it.  Sigh.

Anyways, short and sweet recap this week...

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  strength
So far, so good...I kept the weights relatively light still and added just a teensy bit more!  Things felt a bit tight after but I made sure I did lots of stretching and mobility and my shoulder and glutes are still feeling OK.  I keep having to remind myself to be patient...I've been off with some sort of injury or another since June, so I need to just GO SLOW.

Monday:  treadmill

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: bootcamp/swim class
Killer bootcamp class with Jason!  It was pouring rain out so we worked out underneath cover of the stadium at one of our locations...it was all legs and I was absolutely wiped out for the rest of the day.  Evening was swim class...have now progressed to kicking and stroking with arms!  There are only six sessions so I'm at the halfway point...I'm thinking I'm not going to master breathing or feel comfortable enough going into the deep end, so I'm going to sign up for another few more sessions.

Thursday: rest

Friday: bootcamp

Saturday: 10K run
Still feeling like I'm going through the motions a bit...I've got more of my mojo back, but this run was not one of our most stellar.  Both Hubs and I felt a bit meh...normally when we're running, it goes by relatively quickly...this time it felt like forever until we were done! 

FOOD:

Hubs is doing so awesome, I can't get over it.  No cheats or cravings on the "free" diet, even though I did discover that the cookies that I thought were gluten free, weren't (they were, in my defense, egg and dairy free though).  His skin is looking awesome and he's had another positive side effect...he's dropped some weight!  I was looking at Hubs the other day and noticed that his clothes looked looser and voila...five pounds lost just like that!  I'm sure cutting back all the carbs and reducing the inflammation has helped.

2014 - Week 4 Recap

OK, who the heck came up with a five day work week?  A three day weekend would be just perfect...a day to hang out and do stuff, a day to do chores and errands, and then another day to just get to hang out and chill.  Either that or I need to get myself a wife...ha!  Anyways, I'm slowly getting my mojo back and feeling more spritely than I have in awhile...life is still busy but I've had a bit more down time so it's helped.

WORKOUTS:

Sunday: strength workout
Wow...that Functional Movement class I did at PISE had made a huge difference with my shoulder!  I think whatever my physio did the last time I saw her really helped to loosen things up, but it just needed that final oomph and I think the class was the piece de resistance.  The next day my shoulder felt like a million bucks with no pain.  I added in a tiny bit more weight with my shoulder exercises and so far, so good. 

Monday: bootcamp

Tuesday: rest
I went to go see my physio and...drumroll please...I'm looking and moving awesome!  I told her about my shoulder and how the areas that have been bugging me have been fine the past few weeks, even though I was in a bit of trouble the last time I saw her and wasn't moving well.  She said I had a tiny bit of tightness in my hips, but otherwise I only needed to see her on an as needed basis now.  Yippppeeeee!  I think the regular visits combined with regular stretching and mobility drills (regular as in every single night) has made all the difference. 

Wednesday: swim class
Second swim class!  So much fun...we graduated from gliding with a floating device to using nothing and kicking our feet.  And I've met some pretty nice people in class, especially my Russian friend.  Last week she was terrified...this week after class she was saying how awesome it was.  So amazing to see!

Thursday: Functional Movement PISE nothing (boo)
Noooooooooooooooooooooooo....as I had feared, class was cancelled due to low registration.  I emailed PISE because I wanted to give them some feedback on how great I thought the class was, and told them about how the one class made all the difference in my shoulder, and that I'm using those techniques daily.  I wanted them to know that the class was very worthwhile to run, possibly only for a few sessions or as a one time workshop.  Anyways, they were happy to hear how much it had helped me and said they would likely run it as a workshop...hooray!

Friday: bootcamp

Saturday: 10K run
Woohoooo!  First longer run in almost three weeks.  For one reason or another, Hubs and I haven't been able to get outside to run since New Year's Day.  I know!!  A travesty.  It felt great to just get out there and I'm feeling pretty good today...no soreness or pain.

FOOD:
Week Three of "Free" living has been good...we've both been able to stick with our changes, and Hubs is starting to notice a bit of a difference with his skin...yay!  I was looking at his neck the other day and normally it's reddish...this week, the skin colour looked normal and it wasn't dry or flaky but felt smooth.  I truly think this will make a difference in how he feels...we went out for dinner on Saturday night and while he tried to choose items that were "free", sometime things might slip in there and he noticed his skin itching a bit, whereas it wasn't before.  Small successes but it all counts.  Now the big question is...what gluten, egg, nut and dairy free options are there for Superbowl Sunday?!  Hmmm...

2014 - Week 3 Recap

Just going to start this post off by saying woohoo, go Seahawks AND go Broncos!  During the NHL strike when I was dying for any kind of sports to watch (no baseball though...blargh I hate baseball), I started to tune into football and am slowly, slowly figuring out football and...dare I say it...I kinda like it.  Shhhhh...don't tell Hubs.  Hee hee.

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  strength
Slowly, slowly, slowly I'm adding strength back into my workouts and not lifting too heavy to start.  At this point I'm not trying to gain any muscle or really build a ton of strength or anything, but just to maintain my current level of strength right now.  My shoulder is feeling a lot better but I really want to get to the point where my physio is really happy with how I'm doing before I start adding a lot of weights...am hoping that if I work hard over the next while and get things under control, I'm thinking about doing some personal training starting in the spring!  Once a week weight sessions just to keep me committed.

Monday:  bootcamp
First bootcamp in the new year!  It was a super rainy and windy morning, but strangely I feel super badass when I'm out there running around in the crappy weather.

Tuesday:  rest

Wednesday:  treadmill a.m./swim class
Wooohooooo!!  First swim class...I gotta say, I was actually more nervous taking the Olympic weightlifting class than I was swimming.  Weird, hey?  Anyways, I got to the rec centre super early to make sure I got the lay of the land...I'm taking this class by myself so always feel a bit nervous as I don't know what to expect!  I managed to get myself changed and out into the pool area...it was a bit disconcerting because it was SO incredibly busy...zillions of kids taking lessons, so there were lots of parents sitting off to the side watching and people just hanging out in the whirlpool.  I ended up skulking over to the area where people were waiting for the instructor, and managed to strike up a conversation with someone else in the class...whew!  It helped to ease my nerves a bit that I'd made a friend, haha.  There were about ten people in the class, and the instructor split us up according to our level of experience...I've taken lessons before but decided that I just wanted to start from square one and ended up with two other total noobs.  One of the other noobs was a Russian girl who was absolutely terrified...she could barely stick her face in the water without absolutely losing her shit and freaking out.  We started off with just floating, and it was cool because there was one point where she managed to stick her face in and float for just a few seconds...both the instructor and I were cheering her on, and next thing you know, she was floating like nobody's business!  It was cool to see someone who was so terrified make so much progress in just one session. 

Anyways, the first class was floating and gliding, which I was pretty OK with.  I gotta say, it was a ton of fun and I'm so glad I took the step to sign up for lessons.

Thursday:  PISE
Second new thing of the week!  I signed up for a sample class at PISE for a Functional Movement and Mobility class...I was intrigued when I read the course description:

"Already have a solid training routine but feeling a few aches and pains? Functional Movement and Mobility is the key to giving your body the TLC it needs to facilitate recovery and maintain optimal functioning. Our instructor will lead participants through concise and coordinated movements aimed at improving current motor patterns and facilitating an increase in mobility and functional stability."

Hmmm....sounds right up my alley!  I wasn't sure what to expect but the class was awesome.  We did a bunch of dynamic stretches and then lead into a lot of mobility drills and stuff like foam rollering to loosen things up and free up restricted areas.  I felt like a million bucks after the class was over...I decided to sign up because the day after, my shoulder which was ached every day for the last three months, felt absolutely amazing!  I'm not sure how much interest there's been in this class but I hope it runs...it's not a "bootcamp" style class but I think people need to pay more attention to this kind of stuff in order to prevent injuries. 

Friday:  circuit
I know...I shoulda gone to bootcamp but my bootcamp buddy D was still sidelined with sickness and I decided to work out in my nice, warm basement.  Yes, I suck.

Saturday:  circuit
Poor Hubs...he's had his share of back troubles this week...he had two ribs out which was locking up his back and causing him so much discomfort!  He decided he didn't want all the jarring from running, so we ended up working out at home...him on the stationery bike and I did a circuit. 

FOOD:
Week two of "free" living has been good...Hubs has been a trooper and is sticking to his new routine no problem, and I've managed to stay totally egg and dairy free this week and I totally feel the difference!  My face (especially under my eyes) and waist were so puffy from the dairy (and sugar) overload I was on during Christmas, and I'm starting to deflate and am feeling really good.  Hubs hasn't noticed much of a difference yet, but I'm hoping that maybe after a month or so when the inflammation has had a chance to settle down, his skin will get better. 

Why I Love Sports

I admit it, I wasn't always a sports fan.  In fact, I would say I was the exact opposite and just couldn't be bothered.  But over the past few years, I seem to have become a sports addict...I would say 90% of the time, our TV is on Sportsnet, TSN or CBC.  I got hooked a few years ago on hockey (Canucks, I am your number one fan!) and have developed a whole new appreciation for what it takes to compete as an elite athlete...I think a piece of it is that I truly admire what athletes can do with their bodies.  I'm no athlete, but I've tasted a tiny piece of what it is like to push your body to its limits when I ran the marathon, so have a whole new appreciation for people who push their bodies to the limit every single day.  The other thing that I love about sports is how it can bring people together...we all remember how sports helped people heal after the Boston marathon tragedy...I still can't hear the song Sweet Caroline without getting a teeny bit verklempt.  And the Olympics...anyone remember Vancouver 2010 and how everyone under the sun was wearing the Canada gear, and how the whole nation cheered as one when Sid the Kid scored the golden goal?  But the thing that makes me appreciate sports the most is how it can help people see their full potential and truly believe in themselves...watch this commercial and see for yourself.



So inspiring.  Go Seahawks (and Broncos!).

2014 - Week 1/2 Recap

Well I gotta admit...the first week and a half of 2014 haven't been the best as far as working out and eating well have gone.  Still suffering from a post holiday hangover, even the promise of the new year wasn't enough to get me really motivated.  I don't know why, but this December really took it out of me...all I wanted to do after Christmas was over was to crawl into a cave, curl up into the fetal position and hide from everyone.  Ha!  It's been tough to fit in workouts as both Hubs and I have been feeling under the weather, so while I've worked out, it definitely hasn't been with any real intensity.  I've just been so meh.  And...I gotta admit, my food has been pretty crappy as well...way too much dairy and sugar and I've been feeling like a big Asian dumpling, but not in the good kinda way.

In an effort to get myself motivated, I decided to do a vision board...I've been wanting to do one of these for ages but for some reason I feel like I can only do one at the start of the new year.  I know, I'm so weird!  I was totally inspired one night when I saw a Facebook post by some of the bootcamp crew.  It actually came together pretty easily...I thought I'd have one or two things to put on there, but as I thumbed through various magazines, I was cutting tons of pictures out and slapping them down.  It's interesting because to someone other than me, all they may see is pictures of girls working out and some beaches...but that's the beauty of the vision board.  Each picture has a special meaning to you, and if nothing else it gets you to think about what you really want.  I'm not done yet as there's a few other things I want to add on there.

not the final one but it's a good start!  yep, that's a girl doing

a chinup...one of my bucket list items!

Even though I haven't been working out with any real vigour, I have managed to save $7 in my awesome jar!  And a couple of notes are in my gratitude jar.  These jars are right next to the couch where I do my blogging so they're a great visual reminder of my commitment to supreme awesomeness.  Ha!

Alrighty.  So I'm not going to do a full recap of the last week and a half as...well, I haven't done much exciting worth writing about....but with the dietary change from my last post, getting back into bootcamp and my first swimming lesson coming up this week (egads, what have I done?!), there will be some foibles to report, I'm sure. 

Oh, and today is Day One of dairy/gluten/egg/soy/nut free living.  So far, so good!

Eating Clean 2014

So remember how last year Hubs and I completely revamped how we ate?  Well, it's Eating Clean on steroids for 2014!  Poor Hubs has suffered for years with really bad skin...he has excema so bad that his skin is thick in spots and is red, raw and cracks and bleeds on a regular basis.  It gets particularly bad on his neck and face, and I always feel so awful for him because it keeps him up at night and I can hear him scritchscritchscritch-ing.  Last year he had a bout that was so bad that it looked like open skin, and no amount of creams, lotions or cortisone seemed to help.  Knowing how much food sensitivity testing helped me, I suggested that he go to my naturopath and get himself tested.  One thing that my naturopath had said to me that really stuck with me was that if my skin was irritated on the outside, could you imagine what was happening on my insides.

So what were the results?  Well, I'm glad that we'd already changed our diet quite a bit because the changes, if we had to make them cold turkey, probably would have been pretty difficult.  Here is the list of things he shouldn't eat:

Nuts
Soy
Wheat (gluten specifically)
Eggs (super bad for him)
Dairy
Cranberries
Pineapple
Garlic
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds

At first I was like, what can he eat?!  And garlic, the best thing on earth?  I could almost hear my heart shattering in my little garlic infused chest.  Basically the naturopath said paleo...fruits, veggies and meat, but Hubs also had high cholesterol and triglycerides, and cutting back on meat, dairy and eggs over the past while brought his numbers to well within normal range.  Argh.  What to do, what to do...after doing a little research, I realized there is still a lot of things he can still eat...grains like amaranth, buckwheat and oats are still OK (even though he has to be careful with oats), fish is good and beans are still a go.  So basically what this means is that our diet is going to be pretty darn healthy...it's going to be mostly fish, beans, tons of fruits and veggies, some whole grains/seeds like quinoa and amaranth and some very lean poultry occasionally (chicken or turkey breast).  Basically we were already egg and dairy free (except for some cheats during the holidays, oops), so it is mostly a case of taking out wheat, nuts and soy, which was a fairly large portion of our diet and significant source of our protein. 

While this may sound really restrictive, I'm actually kind of excited about it.  Firstly, because I want to get Hubs' skin under control, and I think he could really feel amazing once we get rid of a lot of the inflammation that these foods are causing.  He's tired a lot too, so I'm sure that taking these things out of his diet, at least for a little while, will really help.  I love to see physical changes as a result of a healthy lifestyle change, and Hubs' is all gung ho and wants to make these changes too.  He's such a trooper!  Secondly, I'm happy to eat better as well and this will really force me to stick with the egg and dairy free thing to support Hubs.  It's easy to cheat when it's just me, but when it's the both of us holding each other accountable, I feel bad.  The last month has been more egg and dairy laden than I'd like, and I can really see and feel the difference.  But the best part is that our diet will be even less processed, which is awesome! 

So there you go...we're doing this for three months and seeing what happens with Hubs, and will at that time also get his cholesterol and blood sugars tested to make sure we're still on track in that regard as well.  Hubs is also taking a probiotic and some other supplements recommended by our naturopath...we're starting this new regiment on Sunday.  For some reason, I have to start stuff like this at the beginning of the week.  Weird, I know.  Ha!

Eat Clean 2014, here we come!

Hello 2014!

Happy New Year, everyone!  With the start of the new year comes new goals...I've thought off and on about this all year, even going as far as to keep a running list of ideas that would pop into my head on my iPhone.  Yep, I'm a bit of a geek like that.  Ha!  As I looked at my list this past week, I narrowed it down to a handful of goals that I've been thinking about for a long time.  I was going to whittle the list down to a very meaningful five, but at the last minute added one more item because...well, you'll see.

1.  Take Swimming Lessons
I've finally decided to take the dive (OK, I couldn't resist) and take swimming lessons!  I never learned as a child and have always regretted it because how the heck am I supposed to do a triathlon if I can't swim?!  Yep...I would love to do a triathlon one day...I can run and I know how to ride a bike even though I haven't done it in years...but swimming is the one discipline that eludes me.  I've signed up for adult lessons starting January 15th at the local rec centre not very far from me, which is awesome.  Am I scared?  You bet...but it's better to try than to not try at all, right?  If I can run 42.2 kilometres, I can definitely squeeze myself into a bathing suit in public.

2.  Take a CPR Course
This one was inspired by my step father in law, who unfortunately passed away earlier this year.  He had a heart attack one night while out for dinner...and for some reason it took ages for the ambulance to come.  While they were waiting, no one performed CPR on him because no one knew how.  Now it may have been that he couldn't have been saved even if CPR had been done but I would hate to be in a similar situation and stand by helplessly when I could have done something. 

3.  Volunteer for a Food Related Cause
The Year of Volunteering was a resounding success, but I was thinking that this year I'd like to expand on it and volunteer for a food related cause in addition to volunteering at races.  As someone who loves food, it truly breaks my heart to think of people who can't afford to have a nutritious, healthy meal.

4.  Improve Mobility and Posture
This past year I've been plagued by injury after injury, and it dawned on me that a lot of this was my own doing...I fully admit, I have very poor posture habits when sitting and standing which has resulted in muscle weaknesses or tightness that have contributed to all my niggling issues this year.  This year I vow to improve my alignment by doing the following things:

Foam roller the crap out of myself and stretch nightly

Work on head positioning (dang forward head)

Stand as much as possible at work and sit properly (no slouching!!!)

Work on areas of weakness to improve muscle imbalances (glutes, neck, upper back)

Work with my physio regularly

Go for regular massages

I’ve had all these bad habits for ages so it’s going to take a lot of work to fix what’s taken years to create, but half the battle is awareness and consistent application.  Game face mode:  ON.

5.  Floss Once a Day
I know...such a cliché, right?  But every time I go to the dentist, my hygienist Dave (who is awesome) always implores me to floss regularly...I've been blessed to have good teeth and he compliments me on how great my brushing is, but the flossing...not so much.  This last time I kind of realized...I take good care of my body and my health by eating well and exercising but then I slough off on flossing when it's no big deal and takes mere minutes.  I've been flossing like a rock star in the past three months and want to knock his socks off the next time I see him.

6.  Jars of Awesomeness

these jars are kinda big, but i'm planning on being pretty

darn awesome in 2014...hee hee!

What are these, you ask?  Well last year, my friend A started a gratitude jar where she wrote little notes of things she was grateful for throughout the year and then voila!  At the end of the year you have a Jar of Awesomeness.  I promptly forgot about this when planning my goals until I saw a Facebook post by Michele, the owner of my bootcamp, where she started a jar where she was going to put in one dollar for every workout she did.  Inspired by both these ideas, I'm starting my own Jars of Awesomeness this year.  It's so easy to forget all the small moments or things that happen throughout the year, so what better way to write little notes to yourself.  And what better way to have a little shopping spree fueled by your own hard work?  My bootcamp buddy D is also joining me in this endeavour...looking forward to seeing what the year brings.

2013 Goals - Year in Review

Heya folks! 

Soooo...I didn't exactly mean to take a five week hiatus from blogging, but oops.  The last little while has been nuts...we headed off to Maui at the end of November so we were busy getting ready for the trip and the impending holiday season...we wanted to hit the ground running when we got back and we definitely have been going full steam ahead since returning!  Work has been busy and there's been so many dinners and such to go to...thankfully we've been keeping up our workouts and squeezing them in wherever and whenever we can.  A sanity saver for sure!  Anyways, hope everyone had a lovely Christmas...ours was full of copious amounts of food and lots of family, so am now decompressing and getting ready for the new year.

So now that we’re almost at the end of December, I’ve been thinking a lot about the year that’s past and reflecting back.  I don’t know what it is, but for some reason odd years have always been better for me...coincidence I’m sure, and I’m not already writing off 2014 or anything...but 2013 has been a really memorable year on so many levels.  I’ve discovered new loves, had a few ephiphanies and challenged myself to try new things.  So a year of growth I guess you could say and the starting point was 2012’s goals (link here) which really provided a framework for some of the most amazing experiences I’ve had this year.

1. Volunteer

I’m glad to report that the Year of Volunteering was a resounding success!  Finally...finally...I got my butt off the couch and signed up to volunteer for races this year.   The impetus for this was the Boston Marathon bombings...completely distraught at what happened, the night of the bombings I signed up for the local 10K race as a way of supporting all those that were there.  It’s like some kind of weird foreshadowing that I would name this blog Foodie at the Finish Line, because that’s where I ended up for each race and I absolutely loved it!  I completely caught the volunteer bug this year...I was so lucky to meet some fabulous people, experience some memorable moments and be a part of many runner's day, albeit in an eeny weenie teenie tiny way...but most of all having the opportunity to give back to a sport that I absolutely adore is something I'm hooked on.  As much as I love running and while I may run the occasional race (running a 5K race in Maui in 2014!), I think I’m hanging up my racing shoes in favour of volunteering.  One of the epiphanies that I had this year was that I was getting too hung up on personal bests and comparing myself to other runners...I mean it’s always great to have goals and to strive to do better, but I was getting lost in that and losing sight of the ability to run for the love of running and just hitting the open road.

2. Do One Chin Up
Success!!  OK,  I haven’t been able to do a chin up unassisted yet but doing one chin up in public (in public, people!!) was more of a mental thing than physical as evidenced by this post about my very first chin up experience.  I did manage to move down a band size in the pull up bands and was working hard on doing an unassisted chin up before I started having shoulder issues.  I’m hoping with lots of work on my posture and alignment, I’ll be able to fix my right shoulder problem and get back at the chin up goal.  I'm so thankful that I was invited to join the ladies at PISE because it introduced me to one of my new loves strength training, and it's absolutely something I'd like to continue on with and do more work on. 

3. Eat Mindfully

I initially set this goal with smaller changes in mind, but it ended up that Hubs and I completely revamped how we ate and are now fully on board with the new way of eating.  Simply, we had no choice in whether or not to change...Hubs had some bloodwork done that didn’t come back great, so we made some significant changes in our diet which I wrote about here...very little processed food, reduced drastically the amount of meat we eat (we still eat fish and poultry occasionally, but beef very rarely), cut back on sodium and really worked on making our diet more plant based.  Hubs’ bloodwork came back normal after only three months of these changes, and we both feel amazing.  I actually can’t get over how different we feel...I don’t remember the last time we had a bad run, whereas before we were amazed when we felt good on a run.  My taste buds have totally changed...I don't like super sweet things, crave healthy food (am extremely sick of eating out during the holiday season) and am really starting to get turned off salt.  Another epiphany here...I’ve worked out for years and have always been a  bit of a cardio bunny, but have come to realize that eating clean in combination with strength training and cardio is what works.  I always thought I ate really well before (now in hindsight I realize I really had some room to improve) and never got the results I was looking for...eating clean and adding strength work has made all the difference.  The adage “you can’t exercise away a bad diet” really rings true for me.

4.  Do Yoga

Gah.  I know, I was doing so well with hitting all the goals but this one...not so much.  I started off OK and managed to get to some classes, but then went on a downhill slide and made it to only a handful of classes this year.  Boo urns. 

 
5. Try One New Recipe per Week

Ending off with a success!  I think I missed maybe two or three weeks out of the year, but I’ve managed to make at least one new recipe per week and some weeks two or three so I think that makes up for it!  Because of how we had to change how we ate this year, I had to find lots of new recipes that were tasty but still good for us and there were definitely some real winners this year. 

So not bad!  Four out of five goals hit and some life changers.  I’m really happy with how things fell out this year and love the idea of setting fewer but more meaningful goals for the future.  Now 2014...what shall we do with you? 

How to Hug a Runner

Just saw this and had to post it!  Apparently November 20th is Hug a Runner Day...I'm a runner and I love hugs, so bring.it.on.

2013 - Week 45 Recap

Today Hubs and I went for a really nice Fall run around the hood (full 10K and no pain or niggles!) before we headed out to the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies that take place not too far from our place.  Remembrance Day is something that we always celebrate, no matter what the weather...there's been times where it's been pouring rain but we always, always attend because it's the very least that we can do to honour our veterans...because of them, we have the freedom to do the things we love, like going for today's run.  Standing in the rain for a half an hour is nothing compared to what these people have endured.  The thing that I really noticed this year that I thought was totally cool was that there were quite a few younger people in the crowd, paying their respects...and it wasn't like they were there with their parents so had to go, but they were groups of young teens that were going on their own accord.  All I have to say is...someone done taught their kids right!

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  10K run
First full 10K that I've run in months and man, did it feel great when we were done.  I've really made sure that I've resumed distances slowly and while sometimes it was frustrating to hold myself back from running further when I was feeling good, I'm glad I did.  Nothing like being injured to make you appreciate being healthy!

Monday:  bootcamp
Lots of running and hills in this class, so I was a little bit tired and draggy after having run the day before.  I ended up getting paired up with a lady who's very fast and pushes the pace, so by the time we were heading back to our cars I almost yelled "uncle!!" and had to stop and walk for a bit.  I could feel my hamstring getting a bit tight so thought better safe than sorry. 

Tuesday:  rest

Wednesday:  bootcamp
Finally decided that I was OK to attend a Jason class.  Not gonna lie, I was feeling a bit scared because I haven't been to his class in forever, and he is one kick ass instructor.  I definitely wasn't disappointed...after a brief warm up, he had us line up on a field where we had one minute to do two sets of exercises and then sprint to where he was standing and back...all this fifteen times.  After this I was already gassed, but he took us over to the neighbouring stadium and had us do five sets of stairs while our partner did an exercise like pushups or tricep dips...lather, rinse, repeat five times. Thinking we were done, I was ready to crawl back to the car but nope...out we went to run hills backwards and forwards.  I was done like dinner after but felt great.

Thursday:  Raise the Bar class
So the class I've been dreading for weeks, but super excited about was Thursday night.  After silently freaking out all day, I drove myself to class and sat in the car to gather my nerves before I went in...as I waited for my doom, a friend was texting me and making me laugh which totally helped (thanks G!).  Turns out the class was really small, with only two other guys and me...the advanced class is run at the same time, so the instructor went back and forth between the two groups as we practiced.  We started off the class by doing a basic squat, and then moved up to doing a front barbell squat.  Now keep in mind these guys were both well over six feet tall, so I had to have a bar set up for my five foot and change self, otherwise I couldn't load the bar properly.  The front squat is a fairly basic lift but dang, it was hard!  So many things to remember as far as body positioning before we even start the squat portion of the program.  It was awesome because the two guys that are in the class with me are a good mix...one is quieter and I think newer to any kind of strength work, and the other guy seemed to have a bit of experience and was more chatty so was pretty good with providing feedback.  After we worked on the front squat, we worked on the deadlift, which was one of the lifts I've been dying to learn how to do.  Again...I've done deadlifts with the trap bar, but the instructor really broke it down and I realized I was doing a few things incorrectly before, like not really setting my body before I started the lift.  It was totally awesome because after I did my deadlifts, the instructor nodded approvingly and asked if I'd lifted before!  That totally made my night.  So yep...it was all fine and I'm totally glad that I signed up for it, and even though I was super scared to go to class.  Signing up for this class totally made me realize how much my strength has declined since the summer when I was taking classes at PISE because man, was I ever sore!  Using muscles I haven't in a long time. 

Friday:  20 minute treadmill run/stretch
Yep.  Legs were feeling super tight/sore and I was feeling tired after ramping up the workouts this week, so I didn't go to bootcamp in the morning (D was in the same boat so we tag team played hooky) and decided to do a very, very slow treadmill run and rollered the soreness out of my legs.  Upper body was sore too, and I think the combo of Wednesday's Jason style thumping and Thursdays class, my shoulder was bugging me again.  Staying off it and taking it easy this week! 

Saturday:  bike intervals
Hubs and I were busy and couldn't do our run Saturday, so I did bike intervals while he did a circuit.  I definitely have a love/hate relationship with intervals...love how I feel after and love the results but hate the during. 

FOOD:
Food was pretty good this week...no more Halloween candy binges!  The next week and a half is going to be interesting...Hubs is going to take the same test that I did a few years ago to look at food sensitivities...his skin has been really bothering him and has been so red, itchy and inflamed.  Part of the test involves eating as many foods as possible on a list of 96 items, so it's been a test of my mad culinary skillz to come up with recipes that incorporate as many of the foods as possible.  Look for future posts on results of Hubs' testing.

RECIPES:
All Canadian Seafood Chowder from Canada's Best Recipes and the Lazy Margherita Pizza from Smitten Kitchen.  Just going to put in a glowing review for the pizza recipe...if you've been looking for the easiest and best tasting homemade margherita pizza ever, make this recipe.  It is the best, I kid you not.  I made the crust with half whole wheat and it was still amazing...and the best thing is that it was crazy easy with no proofing of the yeast, no double rising, no kneading and no rolling.  I will never buy a store bought crust again.

Do One Thing a Day that Scares You

So like...remember a while ago when I wrote this post about the Olympic weightlifting class I was taking at PISE, and I was all woohoo, I'm so excited and stuff?  All I have to say is I'm seriously crapping myself now.  Getting sooooo nervous for the first class on Thursday night...I'm taking this class by myself and I have no idea what to expect.  Will it be full of super fit people and then me?  Will I drop the barbell on my head?  I know it sounds weird but I have horrible gym anxiety...you'd think with the amount of working out that I do that I'd feel right at home in a gym environment, but it's in situations like this where all the feelings of physical ineptness as a kid comes out and I freak out.  I'm sure I'll be fine (it always is!) and I'll probably just love the classes...but this is really coming out of my comfort zone.  This blog is about documenting my journeys through life and right now I'm documenting that I am totally and completely shitting myself.

Girding loins now and thinking to myself "suck it up, Wong!"  Will report back after class!

2013 - Week 44 Recap

Finally...after four months of physio appointments and setbacks...I finished 10K today, yahooooooie!  It's felt like forever since I strained my hammy/glute but am thrilled that I'm able to get back at running.  Everything felt pretty good out there today with only a teeny, tiny bit of tightness in my hammy...after an awful windy and rainy weekend, we woke up to a gorgeous, cold, clear day which is my absolute favourite kind of day to run.  We had to head over to the big city on Saturday for the day and got home late, so I was extremely thankful that it was daylight savings so we got an extra hour worth of sleep.  I'd actually forgotten to change my clock, so when I got up to get ready, Hubs said "you know it's only 6am, right?!"  Woohooo, love that feeling of being able to go back to bed.

Other good news...I was able to get back to doing three bootcamp classes this week!  I haven't attempted a Jason class (gulp!) yet and have had to scale some of the exercises, but feels good to be able to get all bootcamps in this week.  So, so wonderful to be back at it...happy, happy sigh.

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  circuit

Monday:  bootcamp

Tuesday:  rest

Wednesday:  bootcamp

Thursday:  rest

Friday:  bootcamp

Saturday:  rest

No strength work this week besides what we did at bootcamp.  Really want my right shoulder to feel better so will start up this week with some lighter strength and slowly (key word here!) start lifting again.  I'm missing it and feeling my body turning into mush.


FOOD:
Overall I was pretty good but had a few incidences of sugar fuelled insanity.  I haven't really eaten a lot of sugary stuff in a long time...sure, a couple of treats here and there but nothing too crazy.  Well, this week there was one day at the office where I went nuts.  We had some Halloween treats in the office and I'd been pretty good but on Halloween I went totally off the rails...I must have been bored or something because I sat there and scarfed back six of those little chocolate bars and a package of rockets within ten minutes...gah!  I felt kind of jittery and extra edgy at a block party we had to go to after work, and once we finished I came inside and absolutely and completely crashed...my blood sugar must have just plummeted because I could barely keep my eyes open, I had a headache and basically lay on the couch with my eyes closed.  Within about half an hour I felt better but man...definitely not going to do that again!  I think because we don't eat a lot of sugar anymore, my body just went crazy.

So speaking of sugar...we watched this really great piece they did called "The Secrets of Sugar".  Did you know the average Canadian eats 26 teaspoons of what I like to call white death?  I can see it...there's so much added sugar in processed foods.  I'm so glad I was able to attend PISE's grocery store tour because while I feel that I know a fair amount about nutrition, the dietician on the tour really opened my eyes to how much the nutritional information on food packaging really tells you.  Anyways, if you're interested in watching this clip on sugar, go here. 

RECIPES:
Vegetarian chili from Vegetarian Times. 

2013 - Week 43 Recap

Week 43?!  Wow...this year has whipped past...seems like yesterday I was doing my Week 1 recap and not really sure what 2013 would bring.  It's definitely been a growth and learning year for both Hubs and I...to continue on that front, next week I start my Olympic weightlifting class at PISE!  Egads, what have I gotten myself into?!  Sounded like a good idea at the time when I signed up.  I just hope and pray that I'm not in a class with a bunch of buff young bucks and then me...little five foot middle aged pipsqueak.  I'm excited and terrified at the same time, but I'm going to bite the bullet and just do it.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  circuit
Gadzooks, my shoulder was absolutely killing me so I did a circuit and scaled the upper body stuff so I wasn't lifting quite as heavy.  Sigh...just as my lower body is getting back on track, my upper body is starting to squawk.

Monday:  bootcamp

Tuesday:  rest
Visit to see the physio...thank goodness!

Wednesday:  rest
Bah...had to skip bootcamp as I had had needles the night before...most of them were in my upper body so I considered going and just doing lower body stuff but then I thought better of it. With my luck, I'd end up pushing it too hard and straining my glute or hammy again.

Thursday:  rest

Friday:  bootcamp
Lots of stairs and plyo with this class and I could feel hammy wasn't super loving it, so I modified again.  Sometimes I wonder if I baby it too much, but then again it's taken months to recover so whatevs...gotta do what feels right.

Saturday:  8K run
Wahooo!  I'm getting closer and closer to 10K and I'm SO excited.  I felt a couple of twinges here and there but overall it was a great run. 

FOOD:
A couple of little miscues here and there...Halloween treats have hit the office and I snarfled back a couple of boxes of Smarties lickety split.  I've also failed miserably at the Great Dairy Experiment of 2013...I've been craving yoghourt for weeks.  Like as in every time I go to the grocery store, I look longingly at all the colourful yoghourt containers in the dairy aisle...not sure what mineral or whatever I'm missing, but I've been jonesing for it for ages.  I finally gave in and bought a container of Greek yoghourt and pounded some back last night.  Oy vey folks...my stomach today looks like I'm five months pregnant and is as taut as a drum.  It hurts to press down on it and it's so bad my lulus are cutting into my stomach!  Ugh...I should just know better. 

RECIPES:
Smoky butternut squash pasta and a delicious Slow Cooker Apple Butter from Oh She Glows...also improvised a roasted cherry tomato and garlic pasta with chickpeas, basil and olives (which was delicious, if I do say myself...heh).

This Post Brought to You by the Letter P

Physio, progress, pecs, posture...as I sat in the physio's office yesterday and let my mind wander as she stuck me full of needles, I realized yesterday was full of P words.  Back for my monthly check in with my old physio girl...honestly, I know I say it overandoverandover again about how great she is, but I'm going to say it again...she's SO fabulous and I'm so happy that I found her.  I actually had a panicky thought last night about what would I ever do if she moved away or something.  Must not think of such horrible thoughts, lest I crawl into the fetal position and hide under my desk.

In my last post I was saying how much better I'd been feeling and she was thrilled with how I was doing on the lower half of my body.  I was standing better and more evenly on both legs...the first time I came to see her, I was actually almost standing solely on one leg I was so far shifted over to the left.  She liked how my hip, hammy and glute were doing so that means the stretching, rollering and exercises I've been doing are key and working.  My upper body, however, was a whole different story.  I was still feeling sore from Friday's workout and woke up Tuesday morning with a stiff neck, so had her check me out and sure enough...my scapula and back were locked up and my whole torso was restricted in movement.  I had done a lot of chest movements on Friday and because my back wasn't helping stabilize me, my poor little wee pecs were doing all the work and...well, let's just say they were a wee bit pissed off.  It's all very interesting because I had noticed recently that pushups were inordinately hard for me...I thought I was just losing fitness, but because I couldn't activate my back muscles, I was relying solely on my chest to do all the work.  Not good.

My super fabulous physio girl worked on me diligently as I peppered her with questions.  What was causing all the issues, what can I do to stop this from happening, how can I get better?  Stretching, different exercises?!  It all came down to my posture.  Yep, I admit it...I'm a serial sloucher and have been for the better part of  my life.  The one awesome thing about working with weights is that I've made huge progress in my back muscles and my posture has improved greatly...my physio said that my shoulder and back position now is good, but I've got what is know as "forward head posture".

Caused by years of slouching and sitting at the computer for work, my head position was far in front of my shoulders, much like the second picture and causing all sort of issues.  My ears are supposed to be in line with my shoulders, but they were at least few inches forward...then I throw in a restricted back/torso, hypermobility and a bajillion pushups and it's a recipe for a big old hot mess.

If you're interested in seeing if you've got forward head posture, check out this link.  Basically, your shoulder blades and the back of your head should touch the wall when you're standing.  When my physio put me in the proper position, it felt so weird!  But when I checked out what I looked like in the mirror, it did look way better than the Hunchback of Notre Dame position I had before.  She gave me homework to work on my head position and watch how I'm seated at work (I tend to schlump to the right when I sit) and check back in a month, but not before she did a round of beloved needles all over my neck, traps and pecs.  Not gonna lie, didn't love it but I've come to embrace the pain as a sign that I'm getting better.  Or at least that's what I tell myself when I'm writhing in pain.  Heh.

So there we go.  I am feeling way, way better and now that I know what's up and what I can do, I'm all over it as I want 2014 to be the Year of Being Pain Free.

2103 - Week 41/42 Recap

OK, back on track with the weekly posts!  I'm feeling optimistic and (knock on wood) physically I've been feeling better than I have in ages.  Back in the summer, I was achy, sore and seemed to be facing injury after injury, niggle after niggle...every morning I would wake up feeling a million years old.  The past while all the little issues I've been dealing with seemed to have gotten better and I'm feeling really, really good...I've been a very diligent girl and have been stretching and rollering nightly, and have eased back into exercise so I don't overdo things.  I'm finally feeling stronger and I think I'm almost ready to attack a Jason bootcamp.  Girding loins as we speak, folks...Jason is force to be reckoned with!

WORKOUTS:

Two weeks worth!

Week 41:

Sunday - 6.5K run

Monday - bootcamp

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - 30 mins treadmill

 Thursday - rest

Friday - bootcamp

Saturday - strength

Week 42:

Sunday - Volunteering at Goodlife Victoria Marathon
I didn't work out but I stood for over eight hours and spent two hours taking down the finish line...I think that counts, no?  Heh.

Monday - run 7K

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - 30 mins treadmill

Thursday - rest

Friday - circuit/strength
We were in Vancouver for a quick overnight trip...Hubs was volunteering at We Day at Rogers Arena, so I decided to tag along and "practice retirement", as Hubs and I like to say.  It was awesome...he had to head off very early in the morning, so I got up and had a lovely, long, leisurely workout at the hotel gym, which was fantastic.  They had a full bench press set up, barbells and all ranges of dumbbells so I was in heaven...I ended up working out for over an hour and a half!  Seriously, am so in love with strength work.

Saturday - 7.5K run
Yahooo!  Am getting close to our usual weekend run distance, 10K.  So far, so good.

FOOD:

Bang on!  Oversnacking has been reigned in.  One thing that I have added that I've been finding has been making a huge difference in how I feel is a probiotic capsule every day.  I've cut out dairy so unfortunately can't do yoghourt, but ever since I've been taking a probiotic, my stomach has been feeling amazing. 

RECIPES:

Butternut squash soup from Vegetarian times and Mapo Tofu from Wandering Chopsticks.

2013 Goodlife Victoria Marathon - Race Recap, Volunteer Edition

Best weekend ever.  I always thought that the race organizers for the Goodlife Victoria were brilliant to schedule the race on the Thanksgiving long weekend, but this weekend Thanksgiving Day took on a whole new meaning for me.

Race weekend events kicked off for us with a fundraiser on Friday night for a running group called Every Step Counts, a walking and running program designed for people experiencing challenges or barriers with housing, mental health, poverty, addiction and other related issues.  I'd heard about this group a few years ago and thought wow...I know what running has done for me and how it's made a significant impact on my life, so I wanted to throw my full support behind this group.  This was our first time attending this fundraiser and it was a great evening.  Keynote speaker...

OK, you probably can't see clearly who it is, but it's Dick Beardsley...yep, that Dick Beardsley of the 1982 Boston Marathon Duel in the Sun fame.  He was an amazing speaker...after his famous run against Alberto Salazar, he had a series of unfortunate accidents and ended up becoming addicted to prescription drugs.  Clean for years, his story was inspiring to everyone, but particularly for those in the group struggling with addictions. 

There was a live and silent auction at the event as well...what, I get to eat and shop?!  My kind of fundraiser!  I ended up bidding on a Global knife and sharpener and some gift certificates to a restaurant.  What can I say, I'm a foodie.

Saturday morning I headed down to the race expo to listen to some of the speakers and then trotted down to the finish line to start my first volunteer shift of the weekend.  OK...just gonna say that I am super happy that I've been working with weights because it was four hours of setting up fencing and signage.  I made the mistake of doing some upper body strength work that morning, so needless to say, by the end of my shift I was one tired, sore and hungry girl.

my handiwork...

signs, signs and more signs...

slowly but surely, it's coming along...

I deserve every single calorie on this plate!!!

Sunday...the day I've been waiting for all year!  I've been so excited for this, and was so stoked when I headed down to the finish line that morning.  As soon as I got to the medal area, I was put to work checking and sorting the medals. It was a beautiful, beautiful day and there were tons of spectators lining the finishers chute.

lookit them all!

After we sorted them, we had to hang them on the racks so we could load them onto the arms of the people who were handing them out...we were like a well oiled machine!  As we worked, I got to know some of the other volunteers and made some quick friends. 

medal me, baby!

After we finished hanging the medals up, I managed to squeeze into the line up to hand out medals...this was the moment that I'd waited for all year!  Each finish line has its own meaning for every runner...all the sacrifice and everyone has their own story.  I'm sure no one will remember who it was who gave them their medal, but I was truly honoured to be able to be a teeny tiny part of their marathon experience. 

aren't these gorgeous?!

The winner of the marathon, Lamech Mokono, enjoying some well deserved drink and food after a course setting record of 2:13:42.

I'm a bit of a runner groupie, so I stealthily snapped this picture of the half marathon winner, Hilary Stellingwerff.  If her name sounds familiar, it should...she competed in the 1500m distance in the 2012 London Olympics and just barely missed qualifying for the final heat.  I was a little awestruck. 

i'm not worthy, i'm not worthy

It was a long day out there, but I didn't feel tired in the slightest...I stood for almost six hours straight handing out medals, and I could not wipe the smile off my face even if I tried.  I loved every millisecond of the day...I had so many big smiles, so many thank yous for volunteering, and I even got a few extremely sweaty hugs!  One fellow asked for a hug after I gave him his medal and warned that he was sweaty...I exclaimed "bring it on!!" and he enveloped me in a huge bear hug!  It was pretty funny, and got a good laugh from the crowd around us.  Another memorable moment for me came when I was giving a woman her medal and she started to cry and we spontaneously hugged...I could feel how proud and emotional she was...like I said, each marathon is a journey and I was so happy that I could be a small part of hers.

And so concludes the Year of Volunteering.  All in all...this weekend was truly amazing.  As I said, it was so fitting that it was Thanksgiving.  I found myself getting verklempt throughout the day...last year at the race I was having one of the worst days of my life, and this year I was having one of the best.  I had never considered volunteering before, and was so thankful that out of an unfortunate situation came something that I've enjoyed so much....I'm a true believer of all things for a reason and I think I'm hooked on volunteering for races now!  The other thing that became so apparent to me is how the race is such a community event...I love how running can bring so many people together from all walks of life. 

finish line, i'll see you again next year!