Food, beach, puppy, and books - what more could you want?

We're three weeks into the New Year and things are going well so far. I'm finally over the flu that laid me low over the holidays, work is busy in a good way, my weight is more or less where I want it, I've been doing yoga more regularly, and finally started running regularly again a couple of weeks ago (albeit only short distances). I haven't made it to the swimming pool yet but am hoping that will happen in the next week or two.

Yesterday morning first thing, I whipped up a batch of biscuits, which we ate warm from the oven with homemade strawberry jam and blackberry jelly. They weren't as good as mom's but my skills are improving. The trick is to avoid overworking the dough, and pray for the right barometric conditions so that the biscuits rise properly. Yesterday's were the best I've made in awhile so I was pleased with them.

After breakfast, Jackie Blue and I headed out for our first real run together. Now that she's nearly a year old, and runs several kilometres at a time on the beach, I figured it was safe to take her for an easy 5 km run into town and back. The challenge was to keep her from stopping too often or dashing into the road. She did well all in all - though she seemed anxious about going so far from home without "poppa". She kept stopping to look back with a worried expression on her face until we turned to retrace our steps - after which she ran along happily, grinning from ear to ear. I took this portrait when we stopped for a moment at the waterfront park in town.

With breakfast and a run out of the way, Husband and I got busy prepping to host a birthday party for my mom last night. She'd mentioned she was hungry for lobster and we missed having any over the holidays because I was sick, so we picked up some good sized bugs (nearly 2 pounds each!) from a local fisher in the afternoon and Husband boiled them in time for the party. I have to say there's not much that tastes better than fresh, perfectly cooked lobster dipped in melted butter. Everyone enjoyed them thoroughly. And the best part was there were leftovers!

Today was more low-key. I was pooped after a busy week so slept in for a few hours, then spent an hour or two helping Husband with post-party cleanup before calling my best friend for a lovely long chat. This afternoon, we trimmed Jackie' front claws - a chore we'd been postponing because she hates it - then headed to Risser's Beach for a good walk. The wind was offshore so the beach was relatively warm and none of us was in a hurry to get home.

As I write this, Jackie's crashed in front of the fireplace, exhausted by all the activity yesterday and today, Husband's in the kitchen putting leftovers together for supper for tonight, and I should be upstairs prepping for the week ahead - but I'm finding it hard to get motivated. I love being in the country so weekends never feel long enough. What I really want to do is curl up by the fire with a good book.

Speaking of books, I've got seven or eight on the go at the moment. I've nearly finished a couple on street and travel photography that I picked up at the library last week, and I'm more than half way through a book I gave Husband for Christmas, Sputnik's Children by Terri Favro, which is great fun. I'm also a few chapters into Joan Clark's An Audience of Chairs, which I started over the holidays, John Demont's The Long Way Home, which I purchased when we attended his reading the week before last, and Under the Tuscan Sun, which I'm rereading for the fourth or fifth time. The only book I've gotten all the way through since the new year is Jann Arden's Feeding My Mother, which I read in one sitting over the holidays and plan to reread soon. It was wonderful! There are two or three other half-read books beside our bed in town - including Virginia Woolf's Orlando - which I still hope to finish eventually. I think maybe one of my goals for January and February should be to get through as many of them as possible.

I didn't used to read this way - in fits and starts, hopping from one book to the next. It's partly a function of never having more than a few hours at a time, but it has as much to do with my smartphone-addiction as anything. When I was younger, I fell into books, losing myself entirely in the worlds they created. That still happens from time to time, when I'm not too tired and there's nothing to interrupt my reading but, more often than not, I struggle to focus for more than an hour or two, so it takes me forever to finish a book.

I've been reflecting on how I use my smartphone since I read this article in the Globe and Mail a few weeks ago. It infuriates me to think about how often we're manipulated by the apps and devices we use, and makes me more determined than ever to regain control. I deactivated most app notifications ages ago, and am now working on minimizing my time on social media and setting aside smartphone-free hours every morning and evening. I don't have my addiction entirely under control yet but I'm making progress and enjoy having more time for other things.

That's it for now. I'll be back soon with my 2018 running goals and an update on my wee surgery, which is scheduled for the day after tomorrow.  If you're looking for good stuff to read in the meantime, I'd encourage you to check our my friend Keith's blog. He writes much more regularly than I do and always seems to have interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking things to say. He shares lots of lovely photos too.

Until next time, happy running and writing!

Because it's there...

I've just done something that may turn out to be very, very foolish. I volunteered to run Leg 9 of the Cabot Trail Relay at the end of May. Here's how the organizers describe it:

17.84 km Rating 5 (start time: 1955hrs) Time to put on the reflective vest! This leg makes Smokey look like a piece of cake. North Mountain in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park climbs 385 km & reaches the top at 6.2 km then falls back to sea level. The route then levels off to finish at Mountain View Motel & Restaurant on the right at Pleasant Bay. Night will have fallen completely. The restaurant will be open and there will be two portables in the parking lot.

The road in the photo at the top of the post is a portion of the route. You can check out the elevation chart here.

I watched my friend David and 69 other runners complete Leg 9 in 2013 in total awe. How, I wondered, could anyone run up such a steep grade for 6.2 kms? Even more impressive were the downhill portions of the leg - more than 6 kms in length and just as steep. I was so damned proud of David. He did fantastically well and returned the next year to tackle the even tougher Leg 10 to the top of MacKenzie Mountain.

I've already run CTR four times - completing legs 1, 5, 12, and 14 - and my plan is do it just once more in honour of my 55th birthday in March. Given that it's likely to be my last CTR, I figured I might as well make it a good one, and running one of the mountain legs been on my bucket list since my first time out. I can't say why really. To quote George Mallory, "because it's there", I suppose.

That said, I confess to a moment of panic when the email arrived saying I'd been slotted in to run North Mountain. I've not done much hill training the past couple of years, and I'm a long way from being in top condition so it's not going to be easy. However, this isn't the first time I've taken on a big challenge. In the fall of 2013, I completed Cape to Cabot, the "toughest race in eastern North America". Comparing elevation charts for the two races, C2C actually has more ascents overall. And I ran C2C just five weeks after completing a full marathon, which made it more challenging.

Of course, the reality is that the hills on the C2C route are more spread out and I was three and a half years younger. Also, I ran it more slowly than I plan to run North Mountain. On the upside I've got nineteen weeks to train and three more years of racing experience. In addition, I'm determined not to let my teammates down.

I spent some time this week sketching out a training schedule. The goal is to run 4 times per week and include hills in nearly every run. For instance, two nights this week I changed my usual route so I could run up and down a long steep hill I normally avoid. I'll also do plenty of structured hill training as well as regular core workouts and yoga to keep everything in balance. I found some new strengthening exercises I'd like to build into my program as well.

For the rest of this month, my plan is to focus on solidifying my base and enhancing my diet to include more leafy greens and proteins. In early February, hill and speed training can begin in earnest. If the weather isn't cooperative, I'll hit the gym instead. Stay tuned for regular updates once I get underway.

In other news, Husband and I just spent an awesome weekend with two of our darling nieces. The girls live in the country and only get to the city now and again, so we had great fun showing them around and introducing them to the joys of public transit, the Museum of Natural History, the trampoline park (Get Air), the Emera Oval, and beavertails. They seemed to enjoy their time with us, but truthfully we enjoyed it more. They're at such fun and interesting ages, and were so appreciative of all that we did together. 

I offered to put her hair in a ponytail but she preferred to let it go wild

 

Showing off her gymnastics moves on the trampoline

With Husband on the ferry

First ride on a city bus

Littlest who skating on her own!

The weather here hasn't been too cold and miserable so far this winter. We've had a few brutal days here and there, but there have been lots of mild mornings like this too.

Hope winter's going well, wherever you are. Happy running and writing!

Farewell to Facebook (for February anyway)

I’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t had time to write a post about my word for 2016, which I finally decided a few weeks ago would be “farewell”.

Farewell as in "so long" to the things, activities and relationships that no longer serve a positive purpose in my life. And farewell as in “good wishes on the journey” to the people I expect to see less often, and to myself as I put my 2016 intentions into action.

Reviewing my priorities for 2015, I was happy to realize I'd made good progress in respect to many of them. I didn’t read a book a week but finished 27 in all – which was a big improvement over the previous year.

I also dealt with a fair bit of clutter – though the job’s a long way from done. I wasn’t able to "run more" due to injury and illness but certainly "trained smarter", which included taking time off to recover when I needed to.

I made the most progress in respect to diet, thanks largely to Husband who did a wonderful job of ensuring we ate more fruits and veggies and reduced grains, cheese and sugars. I also made good progress on putting “first things first” – prioritizing the things that really matter to me over the things others think should matter.

My intentions for 2016 aren't very different from those I set for 2015.

READ EVEN MORE! – I’ve loved reading more and have especially enjoyed books suggested by Husband. Our tastes are somewhat different but that just means I'm challenged to read stuff I wouldn’t otherwise and I've liked the books he recommended more than I expected.

EAT EVEN BETTER – We’ve made good progress increasing our intake of fruit, veggies and nuts and reducing the grains, legumes, cheeses and sugars in our diet but we’re keen to do more. The older we get, the more important it is to fuel our bodies well. We’re also experimenting with intermittent fasting to enhance brain health. More on that when we have a better sense of whether or not it’s working.

RUN MORE – My training plans for 2015 were frustrated by nagging hip flexor issues. Now that those are resolved, I hope to return to training in earnest for another marathon. I’m off to a somewhat slow start but there's still time to prepare for at least one 42.2k this year. My first choice is the Calgary Marathon since it would be a good excuse to visit family and friends who live there but that might change if the winter turns nasty. I won't attempt a spring marathon unless I'm sure I'm ready for it. (Fortunately, this weekend was terrific for running so I did an 8k with Husband on Saturday and a 14k run with my buddy David at Second Peninsula today. As you can probably tell from the photo at the top of the post and this one, the scenery was awful and we had a terrible time. ;-) )

CROSS-TRAIN MORE – This is really about training smarter. Since New Year’s, I’ve been doing more stretching and yoga to increase flexibility and core strength but I know I'd benefit from other activities like swimming, snowshoeing and weight training too. 

MINIMIZE MY STUFF – I made great progress banishing the clutter at home and at the office 2015 but I'll need cull even more stuff when and if the country house sells. In preparation, I plan to continue disposing of possessions and – just as importantly – accumulate as little new stuff as possible. One day, I'd like to get the point where we could live comfortably in a tiny, environmentally sustainable house.

FIRST THINGS FIRST – Once again, this is my most important intention. I still spend far too much time on things that, in the big picture, don’t matter very much, and Facebook tops the list. Given that, I'm taking a Facebook vacation for the month of February and plan to minimize the time I spend on it for the rest of 2016. Though I confess I'm experiencing some withdrawal, I'm not missing it as much as I thought I would - in part because family and friends already spend less time on Facebook than they used to. 

"First things first" applies to more than just Facebook. One of the things I've struggled with in recent months is finding the time and energy to maintain all our social connections. On the one hand, I'm grateful for our large extended families and the many friends Husband and I have made over the years. On the other, it's difficult and tiring to nurture so many relationships. Like it or not, we need to make tough choices and say a quiet "fare thee well" to some of them. Hopefully, we can manage it without hurt feelings.

So what about you? What are your intentions for 2016? How are you doing so far? Are you training for anything special? What are you running plans for 2016?