A wedding, a hurricane, a road trip

Well, the road trip was for the wedding, which was in New Jersey, in the hurricane!

We definitely got some weird looks from people on our way whem we said we were headed straight towards it. I'm sure they think Canadians are crazy now.

Highlights of the trip! Stopping at 2 places from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and getting new stuff for running at an outlet mall in PA.

If you're near Edison, NJ, I MUST IMPLORE you to stop at the Skylark Diner! I had a 'thanksgiving sandwich' with stuffing and turkey and cranberries. Om noms.

Got new shoes and a tee at the Adidas outlet. There is an Adidas store about 3 minutes walk from my work (also a Lululemon...dangerous), but it has NO running stuff - just track suits and street shoes. LAME.

Anyway, wedding was lovely and went off without a hitch or loss of power, we almost got stuck in Edison township after getting off the NJ Parkway, because 4 lanes were flooded out and the little Versa was not up to crossing the giant lake. Driving the wrong way on an empty parkway is an interesting experience!

In Edison township, it seemed like every road we tried to take was a) flooded with a giant lake, b) crossed by a river of fast flowing water, or c) had a tree across it. Would have been helpful if a) we had a map, or b) anywhere that sold maps was open.

Drove the sister and brother in law back, they couldn't get a flight out from Newark, but they could from TO. It was great because it meant that we got to bring back more craft beer than we had anticipated as they had only carryon luggage and couldn't take any! What can I say.....we only get Sam Adams lager here, so this is all "fancy beer!" (Yes even the Michelob Ultra don't judge me I like light beer.)

ramping it up and a competition : \

Ramping it up! I've been making my long runs slightly longer each week, Sunday was a 16km run while listening to Mockingjay. I'll be sad when the book is done, but I think I'll try Harry Potter audiobooks next.

The 16km was not terrible, but my usual route is not built for that distance - it's more of a good 12 to 14km route, so doing 16km involved a lot of looping around, which was kind of lame. I've got my sights on another route for longer distances - along the Don River, on a recreational trail. There should be fewer pedestrians, which will be nice.

Competition! There's a Nike+ competition at work, it's basically the design company vs. the advertising copany. COMPETITIONS REALLY STRESS ME OUT. I don't know why. It's a "collective group distance challenge," so it's not like I am personally responsible for the success/failure of my team, but I really worry that I will be judged if I suck (I know in my head I won't actually be judged). But, I spent the afternoon after clicking "accept" stressing out and I think I had hypertension and high blood pressure and mild panic. I realize that I am crazy.

This weekend there will be no long run, I'm off to New Jersey! Route has been planned around hitting Yogurtland, a Trader Joe's, some outlets, breweries, and a spot that was on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives! So, I will be sad to not run, but fresh legs to start the competition!

I am a bad dog mom.

Pretext - when I am sick/injured, I either assume that a) it is absolutely nothing, or b) it is life-threatening, i.e., this headache is an aneurysm! When people I care about are sick, it's ALWAYS case b. Husband (Husby!) has sore shins after running the other day and I was stressed out that he might have bone cancer. Ridiculous, I know.

So, when we realized last night that our little dog had been drinking out of the toilet, I worried that our toilet cleaner might cause her to stop breathing in the middle of the night and she would die. She's also been really itchy, which we thought might be from toilet water.

Anyway, she breathed all night, in fact she SNORED and trotted around and was in general highly annoying. Husby gave up at 5am, and took her out (he's working nights, so he figured he could go back to sleep all morning, while I had to go to work. When he got back, he said "she's got hives." I have never had hives or really seen hives, and was all "How do you know?" and he said "LOOK at her."

Have you ever seen a dog with hives? IT IS TERRIBLE!!! Google image it if you want to be freaked out a little. It looks like alien nodules all over their body. : (

Which would explain why she was fussy and weird last night. We've already started switching her food, which we think might be the cause of the itch, to something more hypoallergenic - kangaroo. Yes, our dog is eating kangaroo kibble. This supposedly a very hypoallergenic source of protein, and should rule out our chicken/fish based food as the cause of her itch. Husby also ran to get her some benadryl (antihistamine) which he said took the hives away pretty quickly.

All in all she is not hive-y anymore, but I feel like a bad person for wanting her to shut up last night while she was having hivey agony!

Oh, also, the hives could be from either of the 2 new types of treats we gave her last night. : \ One is a chicken-based treat and the other is lamb lung. Lamb lung and kangaroo, this dog's got some expensive tastes. Husby sure does know how to pick high-maintenance ladies.

I'll go back to talking about running and stuff in the next post, probably.

I don't even know myself anymore.

I know, I know. I have always been moderately anti-race because I am really cheap and don't get paying to run in a giant pack of people. The Warrior Dash was an exception, because it was quite different from just 'going out for a 5k.'


But, I've found a half-marathon that might be for me. It's the Toronto women's half, and they've got water stations and CHOCOLATE STATIONS. I know that's slightly Cathy-cartoon, "Oh women can't control themselves around chocolate" stereotypical, but....it might make running for 2 hours bearable.

I was on board with this idea until slogging through a terrible 14km yesterday, but I'm willing to write that off on the weather and try again next weekend to do a "long-ish" run.

I know some people love races because you set a goal and work towards it, so maybe I will try and think of it that way. Plus, it's not until May next year so it's more or less forever away.

oh so this is what DOMS feels like.

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is something I've heard about before. Some people say that you're not working out hard enough if you don't get it, others say it has nothing to do with muscle growth. All I know is that it is not pleasant.

I haven't pole danced in 2 or 3 months, due to a variety of factors (wallet with drop-in card stolen, schedule doesn't fit mine, etc), but Friday I wanted to hit a new studio that a friend of mine opened - it was cheap, close to home, and had spinning poles!

Let me tell you, it is a bad idea to go full in after not pole dancing for a few months. The calluses you get, the muscles you use, all these things go back to zero. So, I was able to do a lot of the moves I had before, but lost a few that need more serious strength, but nailed one that I had never gotten before which was pretty cool (knee hold! Oh yeah!).

Other than that the weekend involved about 10 hours in the car travelling to a wedding, so no running. I meant to go this morning, but I thought it was raining outside so I reset the alarm and went back to sleep. <: ) Turns out it was not raining at all.

In other news, I really like the city running tour that Lazy Girl Running has on her blog. So I kind of want to do a Toronto one. Any have any sights they want to see in Toronto? Obviously the CN Tower will be on the list, I've also got:

- The AGO (art gallery)
- The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum)
- Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome)
- The beaches

What do people come to see in Toronto? I will try to get a picture of a mountie, or at the very least a horse cop, but I don't think I can get one of a beaver or a moose. ; )

Still got it!

"It" being the ability to run 10k. It's been a while since I did anything other than run home, or maybe do 7k. So, Wednesday night, I walked the dog, then laced up my shoes and headed out in the drizzle to run along the boardwalk by the beach.

It was not too hot out for once, which was aweeeeesome, but still warm enough that with the heat and humidity, my glasses kept getting misted over and fogging up. And, trying to wipe them on a damp, sweaty t-shirt doesn't help much. : \

I was pretty sore the next day, but glad that I managed to get in a long-ish run. I think I might need a new route, or maybe to bring a streetcar token next time, because I don't mind running along the beach but I don't like turning around and knowing I have to run all the way back home!

So, followers/readers, do you prefer to run loops, or out and backs? I prefer loops! I can trick myself into going further!

3 followers, I'm on my way to a book deal, yo!

A new follower so I'll do a post! Although I don't have too much to report in the running department (still loving audiobooks! Still running home from work [sometimes]), things in the life in general department are good.

- Off to Sudbury for a wedding this weekend
- Took the pooch on a road trip home, where she got to chase squirrels in the backyard and barf on my parents' carpet
- Fatted about for the long weekend (civic holiday!)

Since I don't have any thrilling news or insight, I'm just going to provide you with a link to a great article on how heat & humidity affect your running, by Frayed Laces. Check it out, it's a good read and very well-referenced!

Also, interesting fact is that I walk by a tonne of homeless people on my way to work every morning/evening. Some of them are crazy. This morning a homeless man called out to me "Pamela! Wait up!" Um, no. My name's not Pamela, and I ain't waiting up because you kind of freak me out a little.

Another story: One time, a bird shat on my head on my walk to work and the homeless people laughed at me. True story.