Third wheel

The picture is from Morocco but I thought it fitting seeing as how the Olympic flame is on Canadian soil and life is about to take a turn.

Why no posting? you ask. Well, I just didn't have much to write about and if I'm being honest, I was kind of tired. But a few weeks ago (or maybe at this point it was months) R reminded me that I will need to blog a lot when I am travelling next year. So when I forced myself awake at 6:30am (big week next week and I don't want to jet lag myself by sleeping in Sunday when I need to be up at 6am tomorrow) I thought about what leisurely activity I could do after breakfast and before my run. Blogging it is.

Working out: going okay but had a bad spell there right before I was supposed to run the half. Got a cold/flu the Wednesday before the Sunday half. It took me down. I cancelled my plans and ran the turkey trot instead. 10k was still probably a mistake but it was fun race and I broke an hour for 10k (a first for me - I have none of Dave man's speed). Took me a while to recover from the cold and am now preparing to run the Fall Classic half on November 15th. Which means today is an 18k day. Or maybe 19k. Will see how I feel. I'm really looking forward to being done with the half marathon running. I enjoy the running but find it stressful on the weekend to get the longer runs in. Especially during flu season when the risk of getting sick is so hight. Will be happy to run 10-14k max on Sundays after November 15th.

Work: busy. What you would expect in the last leg leading to the event. There have been a number of very poignant moments for me in the last few months as I see the last 5 years coming together. They unveiled the medals, our workforce uniforms (yes! I look good in blue) and have now lite the flame. We watched the flame arrive in Victoria and after some excitement in the office (felt like early Christmas!) I know realise we're literally racing the flame back to Vancouver for the Opening Ceremony. The other day I was thanking someone for their help on a project and they reminded me that everything we finish now is bringing us one step closer to the Games time...which leads to unemployment.

Unemployment: yes, I know it is coming. It is amusing to have people ask me if I have thought about it or remind me that I need to start looking. Trust me; I know the end of this job is coming, I will not be caught off-guard on March 26th. And work is really good about reminding you and providing support to get us brushing up our resumes, networking, job searching and creating a plan. My plan so far is travel for 3-5 months and then a job in the fall of 2010. I'm looking at overseas jobs as well as some here. To have anything organised for after Games right now would mean signing on with another organising committee. Other businesses don't want to hire you in November for a position starting next September. So we'll see. Right now I would like to work overseas and travel for 2 years. Seems like the right timing and I definitely still have the urge to see much more of the world than I can living in Vancouver with 3 weeks vacation a year.

Travel: I have a plan. 3 months traveling and then 2 months stationary somewhere. More on that when I start booking flights.

Henry: He is awesome. Trying to get as much time as I can in now since I know I'll be too busy with work soon. I think out of his 11 days so far I've only missed 2. Rachel and Chris have been awesome about letting me hangout with them. I literally went over there Tuesday night for 15 minutes just to get sometime in before going out for dinner with friends (two thumbs up for Chambar! Food was awesome).

The less than 24 hours of time I spent hanging out waiting for him to be born was exciting and stressful. Stressful because he was early and that was unexpected. And you know...my twin sister/best friend is having a baby so I was worried as one worries. People seemed to be expecting the play by play but really, after 9:30pm I was at home so I didn't really have much to tell until I arrived 2-3 minutes after Henry was born. At that point it seemed a little out of place to be breaking out the phone as I'm watching the new nephew's cord being cut and Rachel and Chris are bonding with Henry. As well, the midwives and doula were all 'no phone' and 'guard the front door' to let the family rest. R and C never had a talk with me about who to call and when so I didn't want to steal their thunder telling people.

Rachel was amazing and even though I missed Henry actually being born and Rachel's active labor, I still feel like I got to see some cool stuff. The fact that they had a baby at 6:10am and then by 9am the place was cleared out and it was just the new family taking a nap together was a real highlight. I also got some odd/memorable chores on his birthday like taking out a big garbage bag of stuff from the birth, doing the laundry from the birth and helping the guys from Sears bring in the new kitchen appliances less than 6 hours after Henry was born.

It sounds cheesy but I really feel blessed that I am getting to kind of third wheel on life's miracle.
I should go for my run now before it starts raining. Hopefully this won't be the last post for the next 5 months.