Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Oh yeah I actually ran lately!

I went running Saturday morning with friends over for a bachlorette party, then played paintball in the afternoon. Let's just say....you can't have "paintball" without "pain."

Monday was a holiday, I ran down to the boardwalk, which was jam-packed with people, vendor carts (hot dogs! funnelcake! cotton candy!), pets, volleyball players! Great weather brings the people out, and I'm used to running the boardwalk at 6 am - definitely fewer people at that time. But it was a good run, so I won't complain too much!

Tonight's dilemma is whether or not to plan on a morning run - in thundershowers. : \

Hope you all (all two of you followers!) are having a good week. HALF OVER!

A look into my psyche.

TOTALLY NOT RELATED TO ANYTHING.

I stopped into a beauty supply store today and bought some of my old standby hair product, and I am more thrilled out it than I would care to admit. In terms of joy, this is up there with the time I thought The Mister convinced me to get rid of my old mega-comfy holey jeans, and then one day I realized that I hadn't and they were still in my closet!


This also kind of reminds me that my life is somewhat shallow, and I am somewhat okay with that.

What does this all day about me? In my defense, I have curly hair and curly-haired people know how important the right hair product can be.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Post #15, in which my fears of snow are justified.

Well, due to the crazy snow, one of our campgrounds is closed and our reservation there is cancelled. We did some last-minute re-scheduling, we're going to Death Valley and the Mojave desert instead of Mammoth/Mono Lakes!

Upside: I wanted to go to the Mojave our last trip, but we didn't have time!

Downside: 40 degrees during the day.

Upside: It looks awesome and we don't have to rely on questionable roads that might not be open going into Yosemite because we'll be taking a different route.

Downside: 29 degrees at night.

Upside: Lava tube! Sand dunes!

Downside: I think 40 degrees during the day counts as 2 downsides. I am not a "heat person." I like a cool comfortable 23-27 degrees and that's about it. So 40 degrees will be, ah, interesting.

In other news: Running along the boardwalk is much more difficult on the weekends! I went yesterday afternoon, and the boardwalk was so crowded it was hard to run around everyone, AND there were funnel cakes, cotton candy, and hot dogs stands along the boardwalk. Um, it is hard to run past funnel cake. The smell! It kills me. Although it did remind me why I run!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

worried about snow.

Yes, It's May here and even though I live in Canada the snow is gone. But, it is not gone from Yosemite yet, and highway 120 is closed and odds of Half Dome being open are bleak.

The Man and I made plans for each possible scenario (120 open, 120 closed, half dome open, half dome closed) so I know we'll still have fun in Yosemite despite being unable to climb Half Dome.

Does it make me a bad person that I am a teeny bit relieved that it might be closed?

Anyway.

We've had rain here since last Friday. Last weekend was one of 2 weekends The Man has off THIS ENTIRE SUMMER that isn't booked with a wedding/something already. So it was gardening weekend despite the rain. And by "gardening" what I really mean is "manual labour involving digging up large swathes of our backyard, which is mostly clay." It was thoroughly unpleasant but our yard is now starting to look like a yard, which will be great in a few weeks if we can get some sunshine and actually plant all the plants we bought!

So, here's to hoping for sunshine and crazy nice here and in Cali!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

upside/downside: run commuting

I've been running home from work consistently enough now to call myself a run commuter. So, today I will discuss with myself/my two followers the pluses and minuses of run commuting. Keep in mind that I only run home because we don't have showers at work and I'm a sweaty beast-girl.

Minus: I don't run in the mornings anymore.
This is my own fault. My run home is only 4.5k, I could easily do another short run in the am if I wanted to. I am hoping to start doubling up a bit next week.

Plus: It's hard to skip this workout.
I have to get home somehow and public transit makes me rage because people can often be rude and inconsiderate on the streetcar. And walking takes so long! So, even if I'm tired, it's better to slog through a run than walk or spend 3$ for the streetcar (I'm sooooo cheap).

Minus: It's hard to skip this workout.
Sometimes I want to be a lazy slug.

Plus: I can justify buying more cute running stuff.
Since I don't have car payments/insurance/a transit pass, spending 60$ on shorts that I'll wear from April through October to run home seems really reasonable!

Minus: I wear a backpack everyday which kind of makes me feel like a kid.
I guess this is sort of not a fair minus, because it's not like I have lots of high-end handbags that I'd be using if it weren't for the backpack. And I wear jeans and a t-shirt almost every single day, so it's not like I look like a 29-year old anyway.

Plus: Running every day means that I need more fuel.
Which, obvs, means more cookies.

SIDENOTE! There's a bakery outlet down my street that have frozen cookie dough balls, 2 dozen for 1.50$. They are in a random freezer, which could contain fruit, pies, frozen veggies, or something else, but lately has been cookie dough. M+M cookies, fresh out of the oven? Yah, that's run fuel.

So, I guess I currently have a like/mild dislike relationship with it. I guess the tipping PLUS would be that people at work think I am really hardcore, which is pretty cool.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

A long hiatus, a long hike, and a course that felt very long.

I've been busy and have not updated. To my two followers, I apologize most heartily!

The mister and I went on our longest hike yet, part of our training for Half Dome. 23 kilometres, lots of hills, rated "very challenging." Obviously how we want to spend our Saturday! So it was off and up to outside Orangeville, back into the Hockley area.

The hike started out walking up a road that was basically a giant-ass hill. And it got worse from there. Well, actually, I had been expecting terribleness so it wasn't so bad. We only got "misdirected" twice (the first rule of Hike Club - if you don't see the trail flashings on the trees, GO BACK to the last place you sa them!). Overall a great hike, didn't feel too bad afterwards, but a lot of exposed walking along roads, and I got a bit burnt. But, I am feeling slightly more confident about Half Dome, thought it is doubtful that it will be open in time!

As for the course that felt very long, I did the Nike "Run GIRL Run" 10km run on Friday. It was through the Nike store run club, which lends you shoes/gear for a run to try out then gives you smoothies/massages/manicures post-run ALL FOR FREE! The course wasn't posted beforehand, so my friend and I had no idea what we'd gotten ourselves into.

The first maybe 800 metres was twisty twisty twisty small hills, with no room for passing, then onto a muddy trail, where we had to go to the end, turn, run to the other end, turn, then back to the first end, and then back, and then down to the finish line. OR SO I THOUGHT.

So, I did the last turn (what I thought was the last turn) and buuurrrrrneeed it to what I thought was the last downhill - only to realize we had to go BACK through the twisty twisty twisty bit. Kill me! But, I made it to the end, and beat both my "public" goal time, and my "private, less achieveable so I am not going to tell anyone about it" goal time - just under 5:15/km!

Today I am trying to talk myself into going for a run, partly because I want to hit 600km on my Nike+ and partly because I have cute new shorts to wear. <: ) I'm vain like that, I'll admit it.