A few of my favorite things...

A perfect Saturday.

Hurry up and slow down

' Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. '

The days and weeks are speeding by here in Vancouver. I try and get over to Rachel's once a day to have time slow down for a moment. Even that seemed like an impossible task this week. We've been participating in readiness exercises and they ran from 7:30am to 8pm Monday through Thursday. Luckily I started practicing shift changeovers with my staff so after the first day I had 10 hour days max in the exercise with regular work happening during and outside my shift. I also practiced trying to get to the gym in the middle of all the working and I actually had some success. While I didn't get any long workouts in, I did manage 40-45 minutes each day. It kept me balanced. Still trying to figure out how to make it to 6:30am bootcamp class January through March. It doesn't seem feasible that I can finish a shift after midnight, get home, sleep for 5 hours and get up for bootcamp the next morning. We'll see.

People I work with who have done previous Games tell me you either turn into a 'skinny' or a 'fatty' during Games (their words, not mine). So I am working on a plan to combat this. I have a desk job and apparently the 'skinnies' are usually people that are on large venues and end up walking 20km in a day. Maybe I can get a treadmill put in instead of a desk.

Speaking of health, bummed I missed brother man and the family this weekend. I hope Kohei is on the mend. As I am super busy at work and running a half marathon next weekend, I am kind of paranoid about being near anyone that is sick. I'm also hanging with Henry a lot and don't want to bring any germs over there or get sick and not be able to visit.

Having a debate over trying to get the H1N1 shot. I'm really worried about getting H1N1 as I've had pneumonia three times over the last two winters. Everything I've read says if H1N1 turns into pneumonia you're likely to end up in the hospital and be on a respirator. Am I worrying over nothing/fear mongering? Do I wait it out until December when the rest of us can get the vaccine? One of my colleagues' brother had it. He had no complications but was in the hospital for 24 hours. But with all the press on que jumping I don't know if I really am considered to be more at risk than the average person just because I have asthma.

Hopefully if I wash my hands frequently and stay away from anyone who is sick I will be fine. Or maybe I need to create a bubble to walk around in. How do you think the suit above would look on me?

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.

One good reason to blog

It was going to take something spectacular to make me put up a new post. And here he is... (really hope blogger uploads photos as it is down right now and I promised someone in Montreal they would get their photos of Henry asap) This may just be a big tease. Sorry Grud. Technology was not cooperating.

 

Was trying not to steal Rachel and Chris' thunder with announcements and photos.

 

 

weekend repeat

I am having the same weekend over and over again. And loving it.

Usually involves brunch, grouse grind, some other activity, pool time, a long run, errands and a bit of housework. And a few bud light limes. My only complaint is I need to stay away from the computer. I can waste 4 hours looking at MLS listings, researching travel plans, reading Facebook, and pretty much getting nothing real down.

I was lamenting to Rachel that I have a better run in the afternoon but am worried because a half-marathon generally starts in the morning. Maybe I will need to get myself on a different sleep cycle so I make it through a half in October. Pretend I'm living on Europe for a while.

On that note, off to the library, then Costco (for fruit & veg - so much cheaper and higher quality than my IGA), so R&R (reading & relaxation) and then my longish run this afternoon. Fingers crossed it stays overcast and windy; these are perfect running conditions for me.

day on

While still cranky and tired I did manage to have a very productive day at both work and play.

Work: I worked from home and cranked out some stuff that I needed to get done. Felt good. Real good. Especially since I was dressed in workout clothes, able to make 2 lattes from my kick ass espresso machine and did not have to get on skytrain. I only got one panicked phone call from someone at work stating that the wheels might be falling off a project. Talked them down from ledge and was rewarded with an email late afternoon that the wheels were securely on and all was as it should be.

Play: After yesterday's day off I hit the gym feeling refreshed. Debated over the spin class but it didn't look like a good instructor so I chose to do 60' of cardio and 30' of running on the treadmill.

Met up with Rachel this evening and we tried on stuff at Banana Republic to prepare for Montreal Dave's offer to use his status to get us discounts tomorrow. Brunch with Grud, her Dave, Chach and Rachel at my place tomorrow morning. R and I are going to go for the later afternoon Grouse Grind. Legs are warmed up by then and we're ready to dodge tourists.

day off

I can't quite remember the last day I took a full day off from working out. But today will be one.

Tired and cranky. The weather has turned to grey skies. The microwave has been broken for over 3 months now and all I have to eat is delicious healthy FROZEN meals that I've been making. And I need to get these damn fake nails off ASAP.

Luckily I am working from home tomorrow so I think that will improve my mood and allow for 2 workouts given the 90 minutes of commuting time I save.

Need to get to bed early so I wake up feeling refreshed and rested for bootcamp tomorrow morning. The class is going to be a struggle because the usual instructor is on holiday and the replacement makes the workout painful by using bad music, not getting a good flow of exercises going and adding in random jumping for the cardio component. Wednesday morning she had us going random twisting jumps that looked like 'the twist' on speed. And I actually get less of a workout than I normally do because of the stilted flow of exercises.

Need to go sleep off this bad mood.