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!

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!

 



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:

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! 

Motivation, Please!

I need some running motivation, please.

Anyone know of any challenges, or virtual races, or... Something? Anything?

I haven't been running since the Lucky 7... It's really hard to find time during daylight hours, and there aren't street lights anywhere around here, unless I drove the K-town and ran the streets there... which would then turn running into something I have to pay for (gas).

I know I CAN run during the day (on my lunch hour, for instance)... but I'm lacking the motivation. I need something to train for, I think.

High Water and Swags

It's been SO windy here in PEI. It seems like it's been "blowin' a gale" for weeks now. A few nights ago, we were driving home and when we passed the docks on River Road, we noticed that the water level was REALLY high. I think it was a combination of the daily highest tide and  the wind blowing the water into the bay.

Here's what the water looks like on an average day in the boat launch ramp:

This is what it looked like a few nights ago. Sorry it's dark, but it was... you know... dark out. 

Here's a photo of the docks on an average day. You can see how low the boats are, and in the background, you can see the wharf and the water line. 

Here's a picture of the same wharf: 

OK, so maybe this isn't interesting to the average reader... but for a geo-geek like me, it's exciting!

Also, here's a picture of our house, with Christmas decorations in progress... lights will be put up soon.

See those swags on the posts? Yesterday morning, I went to the field behind the house. I thought I could cut some green branches from the tree line there... only, there weren't any evergreen trees along that tree line. I could see lots on the other side. So, I hiked across the field (this is a big PEI potato field!). Halfway across, my legs started to feel heavy, and when I looked down, my boots were CAKED with wet clay and mud. Out in the open field, the wind was crazy, it was snowing and COLD. I finally made it to the other tree line, cut some branches and then realized that I'd have to carry them all back to the house... if I dragged them, they'd be covered in mud too. So I gathered them all up in a big bundle, and headed home... the wind and snow was in my face this time, and the branches were wet and heavy. When I got home, I was exhausted, my arms were shaking, and I was wet, cold and muddy. After I warmed up, I cut the branches and wired them together, and added some dollar-store silver branches and a bow. I think they turned out really well, and I love them. 

Last night, Red Fox hugged me and said that I make Christmas special. THAT makes it all worth it. 

That Damn Hill

Last weekend, Heather asked me what the deal is with the hill that I so lovingly refer to as That Damn Hill.

I used Google Earth to get the elevation profile. I tried to start it on the flat part at the bottom of the hill, and end it on the flat part at the top. The stats are as follows:

Elevation gain: 35 m
Total Distance: 640 m
Average Slope: 5.7%

This hill kills me because it's at the end of my run. By the time i get to this damn hill, I have nothing left.

Another hill I run often is on Hwy 20. It's not as steep, but it's 1 km long, 33 m elevation gain with an average slope of 4%.

So my typical 10 k run looks like the profile below.  It's an out-and-back route, so for clarity I only digitized the 5 k from home to Anne's (big red arrow on the map). Then I have to turn around and run back home. The vertical exaggeration makes it look crazy...

Here's the full 10 k, from home to Anne's to home. 

 No wonder my splits are so inconsistent!

T-Shirts

Jeeze, in my pre-coffee stupor this morning, while I was writing my blog post, I forgot to mention the t-shirts that Courteney made for our team!

She made pink t-shirts with our team name on the front (Swift Bloggers). On the back, each shirt was personalized with a list of the races we've blogged about this year, as well as the blog url.

I loved having team shirts, and we were certainly pretty in pink! tutus included!

Thank you Courteney!

Weekend/Race Recap: Lucky 7 Relay

Bright and Early Saturday morning, we piled into the truck and headed to Halifax for the Lucky 7 Relay race weekend. The race wan't until Sunday, but I had plans for Saturday too!

We got to the city around 11. We went straight to Bayers Lake so we could get Silver Fox a Christmas gift. After that, we went for lunch at Boston Pizza. I had the chicken and mushroom pasta, which was enough for my lunch AND supper (pre-racce carbs)! Then... I went to target. It's a good thing I don't live close to a Target store... I picked up and bought the very first thing I saw once I walked in the door. (Another gift for Silver Fox!), and a few other random things, like a fox mug and running tights.

After shopping, we hung out until Cookie Fox called and said they had arrived at their hotel. Little Fox was pretty pumped to get there to go swimming in the hotel pool. We managed to get in a quick (and LOUD) swim before having supper. Then we went to the Christmas Parade. It was ok. Everyone in the parade seemed a little subdued... usually people are singing and dancing and cheering, and this year was kinda blah. then about half way through, there was a HUGE gap in the floats. Afterward, I found out that something happened and someone needed an ambulance. The best parts of the parade (for me) were the huskies, the Halifax Pride float, the HalCon people, and the look on Little Fox's face when Santa FINALLY arrived. After the parade, we left the hotel and went to Nana Fox's house for the night. It took us an hour and a half of stop-and-go traffic to get out of the city. It was crazy slow.

This brings us to Lucky 7 Relay time!

I met up with Courteney and Heather at the Atlantica Hotel. We chitchatted a bit and then walked over to the starting line so Courteney could run the first leg of the relay.

 Focus

So cheery! She gets the Happiest Runner Award!

Heather's husband also ran the first leg... "The Blur". Cause he's so fast and because... well, it LOOKS like he is looking at us in this photo, but is he really SEEING us?? :)

Next, it was my turn to run in Leg 2. 

Ready to go!

Half done!

Finished!

My mom and Scott came to watch the race. Mom and I look NOTHING alike...

Then Heather was up for Leg 3. If Matt is The Blur, Heather is the Blur-ette!

Don't blink, or you'll miss her. Well, not really... she was almost glowing through the fog.

(There was a bit of a "close call" at the end, but no disasters!)

I really liked this race. It was so fun to see all the costumes, and to cheer on the runners as they passed 4 times. The fact that you had to pass all the spectators 4 times during your leg was incentive to KEEP RUNNING. They had some good music playing, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. 

Photo via Courteney 

Photo via Courteney

After the race, heather and I went for coffee to meet up with another blogger that we've been reading but never met in real life: Janet from Jan.etc. We chatted for 2 hours about running, yoga, our jobs, travels, "etc". it was so nice to chat and be social! 

After that, Red Fox picked me up and we headed home, after a quick stop in Porters Lake. I think we all had a really nice weekend! 

Weekend Fun

This past weekend, I had a few things planned.

On Saturday, Little Fox and I went bowling. He did AWESOME! We're thinking of signing him up for the youth bowling league. On the way home, we stopped for frozen yogurt at a new place that just opened.

He did really well on our second string, and got 2 spares! No bumpers required.

Little Fox had chocolate, with crushed smarties, Lucky Charms cereal and a few pb cups. I had vanilla with Oreo crumbs, strawberries and pb cups. Delicious. I can't wait to go back! If this photo had been on me, I'd be making the exact same face as Little Fox!

On Sunday, we went to the Ray's Reptile show in Charlottetown. I must admit, it wasn't as good as I expected, and I think 10 dollars per person is too much. Little Fox loved it, though, and the birds of prey show was kind of interesting. 

After we left, we went to visit E and B, and Little Fox played with their daughter for a few hours. And THEN, after supper, I took him to the hockey game in Kensington. He was so excited! I didn't think he really understood what "watching the hockey game" meant, but he seemed to be really into the game and actually sat and watched (most of) it. 

Watching the action. Intense. Also, cold.

This was, of course, the highlight of the game for me. 

On Remembrance Day, it was cold and rainy here, so Little Fox and I went to E&B's again while the dads went to the service to see their old friend. The kids ran/screamed/painted/jumped/play-doh'd for 4 hours, and had a great time!

Little Fox has a bit of a cold, so after we got home, we snuggled in for a movie (Elf). 

And, after all these nice, heartwarming photos, I'll leave you with this... which I took at my physiotherapy appointment this morning... acupuncture... Please keep in mind that this is for my JAW pain. 

Virtual Race Recap: The Dynamic Duel

Today I ran the virtual 5k in support of the Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I haven't done any running since Halloween! This virtual 5k race was just the thing I needed to get myself off my butt and out the door. We spent most of the day in Charlottetown today, and on the way home I decided today was the day.

When we got home, I tried printing off my race bib... "tried" being the operative word there. What is with me and printers/copiers/scanners?! I had to get Red Fox to come inside to print it off for me. While he was working on that, I went to get into my running clothes. I couldn't find my running toque and my Garmin was dead. I decided to use one of the (many) apps I have on my phone to track my run, but of course since getting my Garmin I haven't used them. I had to download updates for them; the first one messed up, so I had to start all over with another... all the while I'm standing at the end of the driveway, freezing, with Molly Dog barking her fool head off at me! Finally, I got my phone set up, and I was off and running, hoping Molly wouldn't follow.

I ran to the beach and back twice. It's a somewhat boring route, considering I do it twice, but the scenery can't be beat, and it doesn't include That Damn Hill that's on the River Rd. It wasn't an easy run for me. Because I haven't run since Halloween, I'm a little out of practice. I just kept thinking about the warm fire and coffee waiting for me when I finished.

When I got back to the driveway at what should have been the 5k point it's 1.3k from the driveway to the beach), I looked at my phone and it said 4.8k, so I turned around and kept going. I'm not sure why it was off by so much, but that last 0.2 was the worst!

I finished in 30:43, which certainly isn't my best, but not my worst either! I was happy to do this race in support of such a great cause, and thanks to Laura for organizing Team Canada!

Finish photo, lighthouse on my route, and my distance/time/pace.

Parent Teacher Interview

This is a total mommy-brag post, so if you're not into that, this is your warning!

We met with Little Fox's Teacher last night, Mrs. G. Pretty much the first thing we asked her was about his attention and focus, and she said that he DOES get distracted easily, but not to the point that she's worried right now, which is great.

Then, we got down to business. Mrs G said that Little Fox is very kind to his friends, and that he's friends with everyone. He's very helpful and polite. Socially, he's just fine.

In reading/language, he knows 24 of the 30 sight words for Kindergarten already! She said he knows things that she wouldn't expect them to know until May or June. He knows all of his letters, upper and lower case, and is doing well with printing. She had a progress report thing and everything was checked off, except one thing. Rhyming. Little Fox just can not get the rhyming concept. We've been working on his at home for months and months now. He can identify rhyming words when given to him, but he can't come up with them on his own. Usually, he will say a word with the same starting sound.

Mrs G is going to start sending home little books for the kids, and she said that she's going to have to choose carefully for Little Fox because most of the books will be too easy for him.

She shows us his story journal, where they have to meet 5 criteria to get 5 stars. Name, picture, 3 colours, letters/words, and something else I can't remember. Little Fox's stories are just awesome. They are, of course, simple, one sentence things, but I can't wait to get this journal at the end of the year and look through it all. Mrs G showed us a few pages, and one of them said "I stayed up late". Well, that's what he TRIED to write, but it said something like "I sd p lt" which shows her that he's hearing the start and end sounds of the words. She said a lot of the kids are just writing random letters, still. Little Fox needs to be a little more neat and careful with his writing and drawing. Mrs G said that he rushes through things just to get it finished. We'll work on that with more colouring at home.

Next, Mrs G showed us the progression of his drawings. The first drawing of himself was all green, but he did have all of his body parts (head, torso, legs, arms). His most recent one used some different colours and had more details like hair. We've been working on that at home too... using more colours and using the right colours for things, instead of purple trees.

In math, they've been working on patterns. He did one worksheet that he did perfectly, and she showed us his workbook. She pointed out that Little Fox has taken the ABAB pattern further and will do patterns that are a little more "complex", like ABC patterns using shapes or colours (or both).

Mrs G said that she can tell that he's holding things back because he doesn't like to stand out. He's certainly been holding back from us, because I didn't know he could do these things!

I feel like we've been doing the right things at home. And it feels damn good to get that kind of validation. It's funny that just a few weeks ago, Little Fox and I had the "use the right colours" talk, and it just so happened to be the same time they were doing that at school. He's been really keen on colouring lately, so I'm going to use that to our advantage and get to him practice slowing down and being a bit more neat.  I guess the pattern games we play in the car will having to get changed to rhyming games. Or maybe I can combine them... Dig big pig dig big pig...

Overall, a great meeting. Mrs G is doing a great job, and Little Fox just loves her.

So, teachers out there (looking at you, Heather)... what kind of gifts do you like to get from your students at Christmas/end of year?

Lately

Just a few random things that happened lately.

1. Little Fox got a phone call the other day, from a GIRL. His friend from the school bus. I missed it, but Red Fox was there and said they chatted for about 10 minutes.

2. At the NP, she asked if he knew what a humming bird is, and he said "it's a bird that eats nectar". We looked at each other like whhhhaaat? He said Nan and Grampy Scott taught him that.

3. The NP wants us to ask Little Fox's teacher about his attention and focus in class. I think she's thinking ADD or something similar. I think we need to consider it.

4. Winter is here, so I have all the curtains closed. The only room in this house with natural light is the sun room. We're going to have season depression by the time the new year comes around!

5. I'm looking forward to going to NS for the Lucky 7 relay, and learned today that it's the same weekend as the Christmas parade in Halifax. Awesome!

6. Little Fox Came home from school with a swollen and bruised finger. He said that he fell on the playground and someone stepped on it. :( He isn't complaining much about it, but he does say that it's hurting him.

7. We got Little Fox's school photo proofs back yesterday. I love it!

8. This morning at 6am, Little Fox came in, woke me up and said "Mommy, my alarm isn't set." I said, that's ok, mine is. He was worried he was going to miss the bus (yeah right, if only he'd sleep in til 7:30!), and I tried to reassure him that we wouldn't miss it.  He went back in his room, and I heard his clock beep, so I told him to put the clock down, and go back to bed. He said "I'm not happy about this!" LOL  Twenty minutes later, he said "Mommy! You ruined my life!" LOL All this over an alarm that turned out to be set and on anyway.

Happy Halloween!

It started yesterday with pumpkin carving, of course!

I love this pic, cause you can see that he's making an "ew" face.

I had him draw the face he wanted, and then I cut it out. I love it. :)

Today, at school, the kids weren't supposed to wear costumes. They had "Orange and Black" day instead. He had this bright orange shirt, but it had "I love my beach" written on the front (from the beach clean-up a few months ago), so I made the black and orange pumpkin thing to stitch on the front. I love it with the striped shirt under it!

I didn't have much of a Haloween-themed lunch planned, but I did give him mini-pizzas with ham cut into a pumpkin and a ghost (yes, that thing on the top pizza is a ghost... weirdest cookie cutter ever).

For supper, I made stuffed orange pepper pumpkins.

Then we got dressed (I wore my gingerbread man sweater, but I pretended to be half grown-up and wore jeans). Here he is, doing his best "zombie" impression.

I was surprised at him when we were trick-or-treating. We stopped at a few houses near home, and then went to Kensington. We did 2 short streets... MAYBE 20 houses, and then he said he was done! I kept telling him we can keep going and get more candy, but nope, he was done. So, I'm glad that he wasn't being greedy, but... what kid wants to STOP getting candy?? We visited with A and LA for a bit, and then came home. Silver Fox said that we had no trick or treaters! He may or may not be going to school tomorrow with remnants of face paint around his eyes! 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

PS. How many trick-or-treaters did you get? What was the best costume you saw?