Falling in love is hard on the knees.

Or back as it would seem.
Sunday night I went for my first real, long, solo trail run. To say I loved it would be an understatement. Being in love doesn't even come close to what I feel for trail running now.

Pre Sunridge last weekend.

Matt and the kids dropped me off at Sunridge shortly before 8pm. Of course, as soon as I start up the first hill (nice warm up right?) it starts raining. With hard wind. And lighting. And even a little thunder. I was giddy with excitement.
Had some issues with the ol' Garmin getting started. Tech support, I am not. Got it figured. Had my intervals set for 10 hours instead of 10 minutes. No wonder I didn't hear a beep!
Bottom of the first ski hill I saw a guy clearly looking for something. As I was ascending the "mountain" I heard him whistle. Then I saw it. A dog. A big old black one. Who looked so lost and sad and thirsty. I pointed him in the right direction and carried on. He took off in front of me. So I stopped. Called him over, and walked him back to meet his owner who was making his way up the hill. I even TOUCHED him. A dog. Me. Who woulda thunk? That one's for you mama!
Carried on rather uneventful for the duration of the Sunridge portion. I ran without music. I've actually decided I like that better. Crazy as it sounds, I can focus more without music. 10 and 1's were a godsend! Totes be using those bad boys again.
Over the bridge and through Rundle I really tried to focus on my stride and my speed. Ate some jelly beans. Ran in the mud and puddles every chance I could. Over the Ainsworth bridge and back into the trees. Towards the latter half of this I started to lose focus and my legs were getting TENSE. Had my frozen apple juice (thinking this will be my post race treat?) and increased my walk breaks as needed.
In the home stretch, it started to get DARK. I didn't have a headlamp and was thinking I could still take the river valley trails right to the house. Until I hit a heavily treed area. I sprinted through that bad boy let me tell you! It was dark and scary. What have I got myself into?
Once I climbed up into the city again, I had a goal in my head that I wanted to be home by 11. All I wanted. Of course, I couldn't see the time on my watch. I did happen by a large sign that told me it was only 10:27. SHAAWHAA?!?!??!?! I actually giggled.
Losing focus, those last couple blocks are HARD, I changed songs. Hoping against hope that I'd get my Death Race mantra. Mika's "We Are Golden". And I DID! Clearly it was a sign. From whom I don't really care. As soon as it came on, I had the NIKE commercial in my head. And I RAN the last 5 blocks home. The kind of real running that makes people nervous. When I hit the front yard I wanted to scream. I wasn't ready to stop. I was pumped. So proud of myself. And maybe I cried a little. *shrugs*
Best run ever. I LOVE THIS SHIT!

*Well mostly. I haven't really been able to pick up the kids or walk the last two days cause my back eff'd up. But that comes with it right? Matt thinks it's because of my "transverse abdominal". Yay, more core work.

Love Thy Neighbour

****Caution: I use bad words****

We've had some new neighbours move in. This is the 4 "family" in 3 years. I've hated all but the first set. Them, I disliked. This is an old rant about the 3 family. Good for a laugh while I work on some stories about the newbies. Enjoy!

For those of you that don't know, I live in the ghetto. And I don't mean ghetto like the cool kids say. I mean, crack house in the back alley, bums pushing carts down the alley/street to the handy bottle depot on the corner. G-H-E-T-T-O.
Once in awhile, some smelly bum or drunken indian will meander through our yard. I feel angry and violated all at once. Not in the fun way either. Since Fred came out and re-built the fence and gate for us, we haven't had a problem. Thank god. I HATE people in my space, touching my things, LEAVING THEIR FUCKING GARBAGE!!!!

Every so often, in the backyard (attached to said alley) bums and slimy punk kids throw their garbage. Charming right? I hate it, but I put on my big girl panties, my garbage gloves (canvas and get used for nothing else) and pick it up. It's usually nothing too major and along the back fence. Rude, disrespectful and ignorant but I manage to cope. Over the winter, I noticed that the garbage seemed to be making it's way closer to the house. I don't think empty pop cans can fly that far. I mentioned to Matt that I'm pretty sure our neighbours are doing it. At the time, it was only a piece or two and who knows? Maybe it was really windy. Only in the backyard. That happens right? Again, frustrating, but I managed to deal. We actually "know" our neighbours. We say Hi, know each others names and occasionally shovel each others sidewalk. I even went over to tell him that his car was about to get towed. No fucking more.
I took out the garbage this evening. Not on my list of chores but Matt's ill so I sucked it up. As I was collecting garbage from the yard, I noticed a pile of burnt ichiban. Right beside my fence. My side shared with the fucking noisy ass neighbours fence. No doubt they over cooked dinner because they were too busy drinking their 40's of Old English and just decided to dump it over the fence. I was mad. Then I looked up. Wwwwaaaaaaaayyyyyy up. And lo and behold, near the front of my house, is a large pile of snow. You mean to tell me they've been shovelling their snow into my yard?! Are you kidding me? I approach to investigate, Horatio Caine's got nothing on me. And what do I see? Do my eyes deceive me?! Not only have they been shovelling snow into my yard, THEY'VE BEEN SHOVELLING THEIR DOG SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Into my fucking yard. As in throwing it over the goddamn fence. Who fucking does that?!?!?!?!?!?!!?
I was (and am still) PISSED. Like Mike Muise lied to my face fucking ANGRY!! Shaking, seething MAD. So what do I do? First things first. Shovelling some shit back into their yard. It should be noted that I have a strong dislike for dogs. Number 1 reason? I HATE DOG SHIT. I hate yippy dogs, and happen to be surrounded by 5. The smell of dog shit from my neighbours (on both sides) yards is more then enough thank you very much. But in my fucking yard?! I don't think so.
You may be asking yourself, why didn't she just go over and talk to them? I've got to admit, I'm a pretty nice person. I like to keep the peace. However, these neighbours are scary. I'm talking domestic dispute scary. Chasing people out of your house with a baseball bat screaming at 5 in the morning scary. I'm not walking into that.

Instead, I will call the city. Maybe have them check if the dogs are licensed or if I can file a formal complaint. In the meantime, I'll just keep throwing the shit back over the fence. And maybe a dirty diaper or two.

From the Mouths of Men

My husband is AMAZING. Truly. I could go on for days about his good qualities. Don't even get me started on his dashing good looks. However, and this is a double edged sword, he's brutally honest. Never hesitates to tell me the truth. Having been with the man for 10 years, I've learned that sometimes I need to ask him to lie to me. Because, let's face it, sometimes a girl just wants some comfort. The following is some examples of the awesome truths that fall from his otherwise wise mouth:
In reference to Kourtney Kardashian's post baby body

B-"Her baby is the same age as Cason?! Why don't I look like that?"
M-"Honey, if we had that kind of money you could look that good too."

Because I've been running/spending a lot of time outside, I was bragging about my sweet tan.
M-"And it even looks like a real tan, not a fake ginger tan."

B-"If you didn't know me, would you still read my blog?" (Can you hear the insecurity? Reaching for validation...)
M-"Nope."

In deciding on the Death Race:
M-"Well I don't really think your decisions should affect my life."




Even if he doesn't always think before he speaks, I still love him more and more everyday!

The Proverbial Plate

Count yer chickens folks! We're like 34 days out from the Death Race. Thirty. Four. Days. How did this happen?! How did we get here already!?
Training's been up and down and all over the map for me. May was a HARD month. Trip to BC and some personal issues. June's been good to me however. Ran my very first race ever. Said race happened to be the hardest in the 5 Peaks series. 14.3 km's of off road toe bruising single track awesomeness! I finished. I was not last overall. Success!!!!! Really looking forward to improving next month. I hear it's a much "easier" course. My first thought is to shave at least 15 minutes off my time...I'll let you know how that goes.
We've decided to try and sell the house again. Because packing, showing and selling a house is so convenient. Plan is to have this bad boy listed within the next 2 weeks. Moving is so much work at the best of times. This, is not the best of times. Pretty sure my hair is going to start falling out from the stress.
Kids are doing well. Kiara's two. Those of you whom have children, know what that means. Most days are good days. Freezies are her new currency so I keep that in my back pocket.
Matt tried to take her and get her haircut. Didn't work. The hairdresser gave her a wagon wheel.

Me:"Kiara did you get your haircut?"
Kiara:"No"
Me:"Why not?"
Kiara:"I scared. Man. Have choplet?"
Me:"The man scared you but gave you chocolate?"
Kiara:"Ya. More choplet paaaalllllllease mom?"

Perfect. Now when I comb her hair, she thinks she's getting a "haircut" and would like some chocolate.
Cason's a beast. He'll be 6 months tomorrow. At the beginning of the month, he was 16lbs 7oz. 27". Two teeth. Army crawling and into EVERYTHING. He's deffo one of those kids where everything goes into his mouth. Perfect for when I'm trying to pack. And Kiara's unpacking behind me.