my birthday was yesterday and a bunch of friends came by our place for beers and icecream to surprise me after koala’s practise. thank you everyone for coming by! thank you also H family for the throw back to my 5year old self!

I’m much healthier this week, having fought off a cold and pink eye (yarrrr). did the Koala’s workout last night in W’Loo park and felt good. there is hope for this weekend’s half marathon! I was definitely concerned on the weekend when I was still feeling miserable and an easy 5km run put my heart rate in to the 200’s. not good. everything seems to be good now though and systems are go for this weekend. it’ll definitely be interesting to see if I can maintain a sub-2hr pace to get me to my goal: sub-2hrs or bust.

update on the stink shirt:
after two 5km runs on the weekend and never really getting dry it was… well… skanky. I had to break and wash it. it’ll be interesting to see if that smell lingers. you know the one, the smell that hangs on to tech fabrics and just always kind of stinks even when the clothing item in question is clean.
it’s currently hanging to dry so it’ll get another use tonight when I get out for a bike ride.

training update to come.

I’d signed up for the Freewheels Project put on by Ziggy’s Cycle to celebrate their 25th anniversary. if you follow the link you won’t see my name listed as one of the 25 selected applicants. but, I think I dodged a bullet.

so this is the week of refocusing and getting back to being consistent.

I got a good night’s sleep, packed my lunch, and got to work early.

at 6:15 this morning I had a purring happy kitty on one side of me, a big warm sleeping boy on the other side, the sunlight was coming through the blinds and the birds were singing. it was a great start to the day and the week.

got to work and checked my feeds and saw these two gems:
New Toy from my friend K(F)S about breaking the rules.
Nailing It from runnr grrl about being alive and embracing the positive

it’s going to be a great week.

it’s kind of running related and it’s badass. lovesit.

Last week was a bit of a test as we were travelling for ME's 2nd Boston Marathon adventure. A pass was defined as getting in 2 workouts in the 4 days we were away. FAIL.

I did get lots of activity in last week, hitting my projected number of hours of exercise as prescribed as Koach Koala (clever eh… Like that?). The exercise was mostly unstructured and not sport specific though so I guess should be filled under the 'Fun and dirty but not really training' column.

As a result, I'm playing a bit of catch up and trying to get errands done as well. I'm currently sitting in Shoppers Drug Mart waiting for a prescription to get filled. Ran here and looks like I need to run to yoga after if I'm going to hope to make it in time. Did NOT plan this well. Ah well.

C'est la vie and I'm embracing it and giving myself the gift of exercise.

Thanks Coach Koala!
Updates on other workout this week to come.

Heading to Burlington to run the Chilly Half tomorrow.

Not well prepared but would like to hit the 2hr mark again.

ME and our buddy KB are running too- it's KB's first ever official half!

Wish us luck…

I've been so tired since getting back. Olympic sized hangover from the olympics. The trip was fantastic – so much energy and patriotism.
And then we win double gold in hockey (SID the KID!) and set a gold medal olympic record. Owned it. Canada is so badass.

Went to the Leafs game tonight and as usual they lost. But… SR won at the BMO card jumble on the jumbotron! So exciting! I was as nervous for her playing that as our men and women in their respective gold medal hockey games.

And then…

I got to meet Walter Gretzky and get his autograph on the way out. Awesome.

Pictures coming.

Monday night run:
10km | 59:21 | 6:00/km | 590 cal – on the dreadmill. Legs are sore today when taking stairs. Need them to be feeling fast for Sunday and the Chilly Half Marathon! (Uhhh kinda forgot about that little race)

Can't sleep.

Haven't really slept well since before we left on vacation. I thought getting home would help but it hasn't yet. Right now it's 1am and I'm in bed but no sleepiness. Usually, my bouts of insomnia are caused by stress and that's the case here. The root of my stress isn't going away in the foreseeable future though so hopefully, getting back to running and training will help clear my head.

Running – I need you. I need you to fill the gaps before I start picking at them and making them worse. I need you for the high, the energy, the sense of well being. I need you to keep me on an even keel.

We saw Stephen Colbert (Ice-hat Captain) and now the place is rammed to the gills for OT of the Canada v Swiss hockey game.

The tension!!!!! So stressful!