Monday, December 30, 2013

Ready to run

My family were all here over the weekend. We had 9 people and 4 dogs! But we had a good time and a good dinner on Saturday.

My mom brought our gifts, and one of mine was that she will pay my registration for the Blue Nose this coming year. I'm pretty excited, because this past Blue Nose took some financial logistics to pull off. I carpooled with other runners from PEI so that I wouldn't have to pay for gas or the bridge toll. I stayed with my cousin in the city so I wouldn't have to pay for a hotel. It worked out, but it wasn't ideal conditions.

I'm considering registering for the half for the Blue Nose. It's in mid-May, which gives me 5 months to train. At this point, it'll be like starting from scratch. But having a race to train for will give me the motivation I need. I'll hold off on registering for now, and see how things go.

Yesterday, we went visiting in Charlottetown, and while we were there, I exchanged my ipod nano for the ipod shuffle and got an iTunes gift card. I bought some music last night, and loaded it onto the ipod so that it's ready for running. I need some more song ideas... I went through Heather's tempo tunes and got a few of those, but I only have 50 mins of music so far!

I also stopped at the Running Room and bought some traction things for my sneakers and a foam roller. Question about the foam rolling (Court, I bet you know the answer): How long or how many times do I roll?

I'm looking forward to going in and getting some new sneakers! I wanted to do look yesterday, but Red and Little Fox were waiting in the truck, so I didn't.

Oh, yesterday, on our way home from Ch-town, we were almost in a car accident! A car in the opposite lane started sliding, and came toward us sideways. Red Fox steered out of the way, and the car ended up flipped up on it's side, blocking that lane of traffic. We stopped, and I called 911 while Red Fox ran over to the car. He helped the driver climb out. She was physically ok, but probably in shock. I was shaking too, from the "that was close"-ness of it. I bet that poor lady is sore today!



Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas!

OK. I know its been forever since I posted last. It's also been forever since I RAN last. I fell off the bandwagon. BIG TIME. But I'm getting back on, I SWEAR. I'm going to attempt a half marathon again this year, so I'm going to start browsing all the different races to try to find "the one". I can feel the need to run... I miss it, and I feel... not guilty... but just... I don't know. I want to get back out there. 

For Christmas, Red Fox got me an ipod to use while running. I asked for a shuffle cause it's so tiny, but he got a nano (store was sold out of shuffles). Anyone out there use a nano for running? I am concerned that it'll bounce around. I want to have music without needing to use an arm band or belt or anything. So... I'm honestly still on the fence.

Anyway, he also gave me a pretty hefty gift card for new running sneakers. I'm so pumped! I can't wait to go and get "fitted". I have little experience with the different brands and models of sneakers, so I think I'll have fun trying them all on!

We had an AWESOME Christmas day! Little Fox loved everything he got, and Red Fox was pleased with everything he got. Even Molly got presents and was obviously happy. We had ham and scalloped potatoes for supper, which is my favorite.

Stocking time

Molly with her new pull toy.

Painting on the easel the Santa brought

Colouring during a break from his John Deeres

 
GrandFox arrived today, and everyone else (Cookie fox, Scott Fox, and the Alex's) come tomorrow. Turkey dinner is on Saturday. Can't wait!
 


Saturday, December 7, 2013

Christmas Countdown: Week 1

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I tried to come up with a Christmas-y activity for each day of December. Here's what we did this week:

Sunday, Dec 1: To kick off December, we went to the Kensington Christmas parade. We got some hot chocolate, and then found a good spot near the beginning of the route, which just happened to be beside a little girl from Little Fox's class. The kids had a great time catching candy and seeing Santa.

Monday, Dec 2: Little Fox came with me to volunteer with the Salvation Army Christmas Kettles. He stayed with me for 2 or my 4 hour shift, and he.was.awesome. He thought we should give out candy canes, so we bought a box of those little ones, and he handed them out. He was in charge of the show and got a LOT of donations. After he left, I had about 5 people donate. Obviously, I am not as cute or personable!



Tuesday, Dec 3: For the past few years, I've been making a Portable North Pole video message from Santa. Basically, you enter in the kid's name, age, a photo, and a few minor details, and they send you a link to a video. Little Fox actually ASKED about it this year, and I couldn't believe he remembered. So we watched the video that "Santa emailed me".

Wednesday, Dec 4: This was Little Fox's first snow day, so I thought that it would be a good day to write his letter to Santa.



It says:
Dear Santa.
If I been good or bad.
how old are you? I am 5.
I would like some video games.
I want big trucks please.
Thank you, from Mackenzie.

Thursday, Dec 5: While he was at school, I hung christmas lights in Little Fox's bedroom window. I left them plugged in, and just waited for him to see them. He was thrilled, and asked how they got there... I told him that it was Christmas Magic.

Friday, Dec 6: We went Christmas shopping so that Little Fox could get gifts for his family and friends.no photos, cause I don't want spoilers!

Saturday, Dec 7: We went to get our Christmas Tree! We went to a local farm to get one and thought we'd get to cut it ourselves. But they had a lot already cut, and they were all so nice, we just picked on of those.

Next week starts with decorating our Christmas tree tomorrow! :)

Santa Shuffle Run Recap

This morning was the Charlottetown Santa Shuffle. It's a fundraiser for the Salvation Army, and runners get a finishers medal, so it's a win-win!

I was super grumpy this morning, and I think it was nerves/annoyance at myself for not running in sooo long (Sorry, Red and Little Fox!). I dressed in my gingerbread man halloween costume, and we hit the road. We got there pretty early; there were maybe 20 runners there when I got there, and they were all dressed in their running finest - lulu tights, running room jackets, etc. And here I am dressed as a freaking gingerbread man! I began to worry that I this wasn't going to be as "fun" as the Dartmouth Santa Shuffle I ran last year, and I'd end up being the only fool! But finally more and more people started showing up in costumes.

The weather was perfect. It was about 1 degree, and the roads were pretty clear. Only one big lake puddle to worry about. The route was two times around a 2.5km loop.

So, we were off, and I was feeling pretty good. I saw a km marking up ahead and actually swore out loud when I saw that it said 1 km! That's what I get for being a slacker. Lesson learned.

I think I finished in about 30 minutes, based on the time stamps on the photos Red Fox took. Little Fox did an awesome job cheering me on, and the Cadets they had along the route were great, giving out high 5's and encouragement at every corner. There were over 100 runners, and a day or 2 before the run they had raised $3000, with more coming in today.

The newspaper posted some photos online, and I'm in 2 of them:
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2013-12-07/article-3534965/Santa-Shuffle-fills-Charlottetown-with-Christmas-cheer/1

Here are a few more:



Monday, December 2, 2013

December already!

It's December! Little Fox had been saying that "in December, it'll be winter. The snow will come," and I told him that it won't snow JUST because it's December, but he was right! Yesterday, Dec 1st, was our first "significant" snowfall of the season. Perfect timing.

On Saturday morning, I spent some time in the cottages, gathering up bedding/towels to be stored for winter. I also did some sewing, and made Molly a little Christmas Bow. She hates it, I'm sure, but that just makes me like it even more. LOL


I also made a table runner, which I love! I got the fabric for next to nothing.

Look at my giant nutcracker in the background. I collect them, and he's one of my favorites!

In the afternoon, Little Fox and I went to the movies to see Frozen. It was ok. Little Fox wasn't riveted like he is with some movies, and while the animation of the ice was beautiful, the movie as a whole wasn't a stunner. BUT it was a fun afternoon out, and Little Fox got to have popcorn and a slushie.


On Sunday, I FINALLY went for a short run. I took Molly with me, and she was pretty energetic for a change. She really loves winter, so I think she was just happy to be out in the snow. 


In December, I try to do one activity with Little Fox each day. Anything from community service to crafts. Some of the things on the schedule this year are: gingerbread house, WarmPEI (we gather up our old coats/hats/mitts/etc and donate them to a local shelter), Christmas tree excursion (we cut our own from a local tree farm), playing christmas games, making cookies, taking gifts to the nursing home, and of course visiting Santa! Yesterday, we went to the Kensington Christmas parade, which was a great way to kick off December! It was short and sweet, and we ran into one of Little Fox's friends from school. 

Tonight, we're volunteering with the Salvation Army to man the Christmas Kettles. I'm scheduled for a 4 hour time slot from 5-9, so I'll take Little Fox with me for about half of it, and then Red Fox will pick him up. We did this last year in Dartmouth, and Little Fox is awesome at getting people to pay attention and donate! He was singing and dancing and we had a little crowd of spectators at one point. I'm hoping he can do the same again tonight. I did this last week, too, and the donations were only trickling in, so I'm hoping Little Fox can work his magic again!