All too well...

Time won't fly, it's like I'm paralyzed by it,
I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it.

It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well.

Right now...

When there are no words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqoHPzqUkZo

All over again

Fall is almost here. This morning stepping outside I noticed I could see my breath and my lawn was covered with sparkly crystals. Great news. I adore fall. The sweaters, the colours, the holidays and anticipation of Christmas.

I finally felt like I was back into an old workout groove. I had some great workouts last week including a solid day of chasing around my 8 month old nephew. This weekend I spent a good deal of time at the gym and unfortunately managed to ignore a back injury which only resulted in some knee problems. It's the same knee I hurt last time and I'm sure it is due to a misaligned spine. Couple that with a daily dose of wearing heels (oh fashion is pain sometimes!) and here I am, a bit swollen and plenty sore. Thursday evening I'm set up with a chiropractor appointment and should be good to go. 

Minor setback. But tomorrow is a new day to try again.

Rain rain...

Sitting here shaking during a thunderstorm. Or possibly sitting here shaking because I lifted weights tonight like a champ! I prefer the latter but the first is much more likely.

Had a really great spin class yesterday evening and felt good about adding something new to my workouts. Tonight I had a brief jog and focused on a weight routine. I'm still quite happy with my fitness app which has hundreds of exercises to target specific areas and allows you to track or customize a routine. It's encouraging to see weight and reps increase and is a reminder that I can do it if I stick with it!

So, while it may be a sleepless night, I'm hoping the rain will wash away the heat and bring on some cooler temperatures. I'm ready for my favourite season.

Goodnight

Time for bed! What a weekend, a good one but oh man did I get in over my head. It started with a great idea to paint my living room. Two days later, a bucket of paint, several cans of spray paint, some new accessories for my room and achy hands and I'm back to working out.

Had a great run today, felt like it was getting easier and I focused on getting my form and breathing right on rather than speed. Finished with weights and planks and I'm feeling good overall. Looking foward to taking some classes this week to mix up my workouts and challenge myself with some variation.

Need to keep it up to keep up with this one...

Beautiful thing

A late night last night and an early morning today had me grasping for some form of energy boosting drink/food this afternoon. I managed to make it through the day, a busy one at that, and opted on a post dinner workout to avoid the university crowd.

Today was a solid weight day with a warmup of rowing. Not gonna lie, have never really paid attention to the rowing machine but some recent articles about the benefits have peaked my interest. Tonight I didn't have a particular area of focus and did a total body workout. Putting my hair up in a ponytail afterwards had my arms screaming so I'm sure tomorrow will be once heck of a slow moving day. But, I think I'm okay with it.

"Behind every beautiful thing, there is some kind of pain" Bob Dylan

10:51

It's a short week and cramming in everything that needs to be done is proving to be challenging. I had an appointment after work today so I wasn't able to get a workout in until after 8. Now, if you know me, you know I would rather be at home, tea in hand and reading with my feet up. Nope. Not me. Not today. I got in there, got it done, and am happy all the University kids had cleared out by then. Add a stop at the grocery store post workout and it's got me here at 10:51 pm. Way past my bedtime.

Despite a late finish, I'm happy, I'm sore, I'm in need of a shower and I'm looking forward to doing it all over again tomorrow.

Dear body...

Dear body, 

I am sorry for the torture I've put you through. Sorry for the carb laden escapades followed by inactivity. Sorry for the cheesecake, the lattes, for my love of crackers and all things butter. Sorry for my torrent affair with ice cold beer on super hot summer days. Sorry for those s'mores too, although Reese peanut butter cups in place of regular chocolate was a borderline genius moment in my life. 

I'm not sorry for the soreness in every step today. I'm not sorry for the hamper of sweaty stinky gym clothes this week that I have to deal with. I'm not sorry for waking you up early this weekend to get an early morning run and workout in before a busy day. I'm not sorry for the multiple baths ran to soothe achy muscles.

So body, while I feel you may hate me right now, I'm learning to love and resect you more and more.

Love, N.

Ps. Tomorrow, we do it all over again, and then some...

Listen hard

Happy to report that I have worked out the past 3 days. No skipping, no lame excuses, just a valid attempt to get back at it. And I am sore. Fricking absolutely sore. Serves me right for some intense weight sessions along with running after all this time. But, better to be sore than sorry.

This long weekend will be a short one for me. I have a 7 am flight to Vegas on the holiday Monday for 10 days. Some work, some play, and lots of taking in the scenery and experience. Tomorrow will be crammed - early am run, brunch and some fam jam time. 

Tomorrow is also 4 years since my dad passed. Can't believe it, still feels like yesterday. He was always my biggest fan and I know if he was here he would encourage and guide me to follow my heart and dreams. He always understood me, listened to me, and made me laugh when I wanted to cry. He was so genuine, sincere and showed me how to be strong. He smiled with his eyes, just like I do.

I'd give anything to talk to you right now. Miss you and love you. 

A day without...

August. August is like the Sunday of summer. Can't believe there at 30 days left until school buses clog up the morning commute and open toed footwear becomes borderline inappropriate.

Today I had a short, but solid run. It felt great to get moving after a day in the office and I complimented my 5k with a good upper body weight session. My vacation afforded me a chance to skim through my reference books and I'm going to start following a plan again to keep me on track and help prevent injuries.

I'm realizing some things just occupy a big part of mind, and I need to do something about it...

Two favourite things

A few of pics of my day.

Kiss the maritimes...

Out of office notice:

Hello, I am currently on vacation, returning on...well...I don't really want to leave Atlantic Canada to be honest....

Ps. The photos below are taken by moi. 

Up up and away...

Hello Tuesday. Hello über early alarm clock. Hello hitting the snooze button 17 times. Nobody should have to get up so early. So much for my pre-office workout. 

After work today I dragged my tired butt to the gym. While I'm sure running outside would be a nice change, the soaring temperatures that heated up my car to be hot enough to burn my arse suggested I would likely overheat. This week is crammed with appointments and visits so morning workouts make sense. Plus, I'm sure I could have a reasonable energy level to have some decent times. Today was not a day I ran for time records...I just got in there, got it done and left. And while there may have been some sighing, I'm happy I went. I even felt inspired enough to come home and pickup reading some good running reference books. 

I'm sitting now in my cool basement with a bowl of Yonanas. (Google it. Life changing.) A little up after a little down.

P.s. for the record, I did use all my gym gear I packed for my Florida conference. And then my luggage was lost BUT I promptly ran within of minutes of retrieving it on Sunday. No kitten.

Right meow.

Well, I took some advice and ran my cold away. Finally. Over two weeks of tissues, NyQuil, sprays, prescriptions, allergy pills and a clogged head, I am over it. And it feels good. Good to be active, release stress, find time to be me.

When asked today if it was hard to get back into it, I couldn't lie. It was hard this week. There has been a huge way too big gap between workouts. And I am fricka licka sore. But, feeling sore today is way better than feeling sorry.

Quiet weekend ahead before a solid week of travel and conferences. Planning on yet again packing my gym gear, and actually using it.

70

It's been a long time. A long time since a post, a long time since a run, a long time since I've felt like me. 

So today I ran. I ran from people, I ran from bills, from chores, from feelings, responsibilities, from the red blinking light on my phone, from my stupid head cold, from everything. And guess what. I feel great. Why the heck do I go through phases of on again, off again. This is too important to me, my health, my sanity and my happiness. 

Today I ran for my dad, who would have been 70 today. I ran as a reminder that life is too short, too precious and fragile to stay idle. A reminder to take time and better care of myself. A reminder that he raised a strong girl.

Surprise!

Surprise! Nice to see you. Been a while. Despite what you think I have actually been running. Not as much as I'd like to or as much as I should be, but I still managed to get out. At least a few times...

In a nutshell, the past few weeks of my life have included several work trips, two weddings, birthdays, bridal shower, stag and doe, a few friend visits and just thinking of it all again is exhausting. Luckily, I have this week and most of next with no events and I'm looking forward to getting into a routine again. Also, I am happy to say that I ran this morning. Yep, not at the end of the day or midway, but legitimately in the AM. This is some serious progress. Mind you, I still needed my coffee before I even opened my eyes but nonetheless, I'm happy I did it. 

While I haven't hit my half marathon goal yet (sadly), I'm happy to still stick with my overall goal and continue to work on being healthy. And really enjoy some cheesecake and merlot along the way :)

Just do it.

I can't lie. I did not want to workout today. At all. Nope not one bit. And yet, here I am, with a sweaty ponytail stub feeling so happy that I actually went. No more excuses, right?

It's been two days since my last run. Saturday provided another glorious atmosphere to head outside. I eyeballed what I thought would be a decent, safe route and away I went. A whopping 6 km by my watch certainly looked to be a much greater distance by car. However, the good news was that I didn't get run over.

Despite my complete and total lack of enthusiasm to run today (I really wanted to go out as I had a pretty sweet outfit) I got into a good groove off the bat and had a solid 8 km run. And you know what, it was easier than I anticipated.

So, lesson learned and I applied the Nike slogan "just do it" today. Tomorrow is another day with greater odds to head to the gym with a smile. And the balance of my days? Well, I'll just have to create them them the way I see fit.

Run with me later?

I. Love. Long. Weekends. And even more so when the sun is shining and its a glorious temperature outside to run in without risk of hypothermia or heat exhaustion.

Today started out just right...with a sleep in. I had an early night last night but really looked forward to a few extra hours of sleeping in. Plus, after an intense weight session on Tuesday, my body really thanked me. A few rounds of coffee in, I felt really motivated to start on some spring cleaning. Problem is, it was the kind of cleaning that led to more cleaning. And now I have a house in disarray which will likely take the balance of the weekend to find a home for all my accrued treasures.

One of the greatest things about where I live is the beautiful countryside and proximity to conservations and trails. There came a point today when I looked a the clock and realized my window of opportunity to head outside before attending a family function, was shrinking. What a perfect day to run on a quiet road. Traffic should be minimal, everyone is busy with family. Wrong. Who knew there would be a traffic jam on a back road. Why didn't I think about all the city folk and their desire to see how maple syrup is made? A good portion of my run was explaining to the line up of cars where the park entrance was and that no, despite my fluorescent orange shirt I was not an employee directing traffic. I was simply wearing it so they didn't run me over in their excitement to see the sugar bush.

So, I had a lovely run of just over 5.5 kms and felt good about actually running outside again after many, many months. It inspired me to stick with it and I'm pretty pumped to go again this weekend. Okay so it was clearly more difficult than a treadmill but I know with some persistence it too will get easier and better.

Hi, you might remember me from...

So, it's been a while. While I received a few notes of concern from people thinking I disappeared or died, I was actually up against some obstacles...

2 days after my last post, my illness came back with a vengeance. So much so, the doctor gave me multiple prescriptions to get rid of my pneumonia-wannabe germs. It was another 2 weeks of coughing, sniffles and just down right gross feeling. Luckily, this round of super pills cured what I had and I think I only contracted it to 2 people.

In addition to this, I had a solid 3 weeks of travel. California, Calgary, Edmonton and Chicago brought incredible opportunities but also early mornings, long days and late nights and different time zones to contend with. And good food....okay yes also some delicious cold beverages too. Lame-o-schmamo excuses. Especially since I packed my gym gear everywhere I went. What a good lesson in discipline and a wake up call, as reflecting I am disappointed in myself. The whole point of setting goals is to work towards them, right? Plus, there are so many shining examples around me of people balancing way more than me. No excuses. Who knows, I may even attempt an early morning wake up and get a run or workout in before my day starts. (Haha, ya, not likely but if I tell someone they may hold me accountable).

So, ten days ago I had a run in between a trip. Today I pushed through 7.5 km with some relatively decent times. I'm not going to lie, it was more difficult than I wanted it to be but I know with perseverance I can get back to a schedule, my plan, my happy place.

"Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life."
Good to Great by Jim Collins