she said I need a goal

I “met” Matty_O on twitter ages ago, years I think. Since then he has proven to be a great friend, amazing supporter, inspiring athlete and a super sucky ho-ho eater. Matt is hardcore, Matt trains HARD, Matt has an opinion, Matt tells you way more than you ever wanted to know about him, especially when it comes to bathroom activities. Few people can make me laugh harder be it on twitter, facebook, his blog and I have yet to meet him or Heather in person. Despite that I consider them to be good friends. Oh and they have fabulous dogs Frank and Sophie.

I’ve had the pleasure of following along while Matt and Heather trained for and completed their first Ironman. What I loved most about these two is they are a team in every sense of the word. They trained and competed and raised (and continue to raise) loads of cash for charity together, they do it for others, not for themselves. When they completed their Ironman their plan was to complete it together, every leg and they did.

This past weekend Heather participated in the Rev3 Knoxville 70.3 and Matt participated in the Wildflower long course.  They did it all with smiles on their faces as usual.  Please grab a coffee/tea/something and click the links.

Last month Heather sent a note out to some of us saying that Team in Training were going to put together an inspiration packet for Matt as appreciation for all he has done in raising funds etc. She asked us to send a letter, note or email to Matt through them so he could read it before he did the race. Of course I joined, I’m an awesome joiner and then I totally freaking forgot. I wanted to be a part of that and I missed the boat. SO how do I make it up to him? I dedicate a blog post to him.

So here goes Matt, here’s what I would have said had I not been an idiot.

you.freaking.rock! (alla emz).

I love how you dedicate all this to other people

I love that you REALLY put yourself out there, opinions and all.

I love that you can take it as well as you dish it out.

I love that you are willing to do just about anything to raise money for your cause.

I love that you are one of the funniest and most caring people I know

You inspire me every day.. You really really do.

You, your wife and your dogs all rock my world, I’m so glad that we ‘followed’ each other on twitter and through you I have met even more amazing, inspiring and funny people. You make a difference.

Ewww that was a bit schmoodgy..

I hope to meet you guys at IMMT if you can make it, if not the beer run in August.

One more note, I DO NOT love any posts related to bathroom activities..

that’s all I got…

I love George

Holy busy weekend coming up.. What’s on the agenda you ask? Ok, you didn’t ask but whatever.

Friday night I have some friends coming by to help me tackle the forest of weeds that is now my backyard. I’m not kidding, it’s bad.  Once that’s done I’m getting a company to come in and re-sod for me.  Since I moved in it was a bed of weeds but now I’ve managed to kill almost everything it’s time to start over. Unfortunately it’s going to cost me a boatload of cash to get it done but will be nice to have it done for the summer and be able to sit out back and torture my neighbours.

Saturday I am going for a swim, cause I wanna.. Yeah that’s right, I wanna.  I’m hoping the weather will be so nice that the pool will be quiet.

Sunday I am getting up early to go for a bike ride with one of my favourite Mommy’s in Motion, she just got new clips so we’ll go for a short ride so she too can experience that which is the wipe out while standing still. I’m also on deck for my first wipe out of the season, woohoo! First aid kit ready to go in the trunk of my car. I’m super excited to get riding outside but you know how I hate traffic. I am still looking for a 25km out and back route (total 50km) that is a quiet road with little traffic so I can ride for a long time in a row but sadly all the roads around me have cars. HATE that. Then when I get home a short run to my friends house for coffee, she doesn’t know I’m coming over yet, and run home again.

Then have to figure out what we’ll do for my mom on Mother’s Day. I love my mom!!

that’s all I got…

Ice (cuber, berg, snugglebum, minime) May 1998-April 2012

not sure why but it just struck me, blog blog blog

thinking about what to write, too many words in my head so I thought a “so I was…” would be a good start back

catching up on google reader and sad to find a lot of my favourite bloggers suffering from probably the same thing I am

missing the interaction with my blog pals

happy to see everyone is doing well though

feeling a little anti-twitter lately, not sure why.. well I know why, some people on twitter are not who they are pretending to be but let’s move on shall we cause at the end of the day, that doesn’t matter, I KNOW who the rest of you are

getting a great laugh from my facebook lately

happy to be with my family for the one year anniversary of Hunter’s passing and being able to hug my mom and my sister and my nephew and Jim and Pete and this list could go on and on

so sad to find out my dog had to be put down. My ex got custody in the ‘divorce’. Ice was a weimaraner and a month away from her 14th birthday which is a long life for the breed, plus I know she had the best life any dog could have

Little Sister - yes that's really her name

reallllly missing my other dog “Little Sister”. A german shorthaired pointer also known as sugarbear and/or peepeepants

letting work get in the way of my life, working late a lot and most weekends and then not have the energy or care to do anything past that.  In fact I have preferred it, it’s so much easier to hide behind work, it’s what I do

not gonna let the dust settle on that treadmill

happy to call justjunk to come get the crap outta my basement, it will be much prettier in there now. Will it make me run more? What the hell, I say YES

ready to put my toe back in

warning you to tread quietly, you might scare me away

that’s all I got…

Hunter and Dayen

Dear Hunter,

I can hardly believe that an entire year has gone by since you left.  365 days.  The date of your death is officially April 10 but for me it really happened when I got that call on April 9 and somehow I knew you were already gone.  A year sounds like a long time but in my heart it still feels like last week, like I’m still on the edge yet somehow in those 365 days, I’ve managed to move forward.  I don’t spend every waking moment thinking of you anymore, I know you are always right there, sometimes I can feel you so close, almost whispering in my ear.  I’m still learning that I can let go of it but not let you go in the process. You are missed.

Dayen is doing better, that whole ‘almost dying’ thing.. twice.. back in December was NOT funny, nor was the emergency surgery on Christmas Eve however I don’t remember the last time I got to spend Christmas Eve with my sister, Jim, Uncle Mark, your dad and Dayen, I was happy to be with them.  Because of all the running around we didn’t have much time to dwell on the fact that it was our first Christmas without you and for me that was almost a good thing, I’m not sure how that would have felt.  And Dayen turned 18 in January, how did that happen?   You are missed.

This is the last time I’ll post on the anniversary of your death.  I wanted a marker of some sort, a stake in the sand to say that we made it through a year, we survived, we are here but, from now on I’ll celebrate your life, what you gave to us on anniversary of your birth.  I don’t want to remember you in death, in that hospital bed trying to say goodbye, I will remember you in life, and every day I’ll think of all the things you taught me.

Be thankful, loving, caring and be grateful that I had you, if only for 15 years, 9 months and 26 days.  We were all  blessed for 5778 days.  You are missed.

Love Aunt Deenie    xoxoxoxoxoxoxoinfinity

Hunter and Aaron

Hunter and her mom

As always, to those of you that held me up this year and continue to do so, I love you.  You have proven to be honest and true, amazing people in my life.

The “anti-meh” thoughts have been swirlling around my head this week. 

I’m sure I just spelled swirlling wrong.

I had a fantastic lunch with a friend that has got a fire burning, it’s embers but it’s there.

It’s hard not to smile when Jason aka Schmoodge sends you a note.

I donated to Matt’s Team in Training fundraiser, no ho-ho’s this time, that made me feel good.

I donated for an entry into Heather’s Leap Day Giveaway, that made me feel better.  I got lots of entries plus extras.

I read this story this morning and please please please go read it.  I said please 3 times.  I cried when I read it.  Mary’s passion for her cause is contagious and I really hope Lance Armstrong takes her up on this.  I also hope she kicks his butt.

I can not wait for the clocks to go ahead, in fact I’m so stoked about it that I’m moving mine tonight.

that’s all I got..

basement in progress

meh, I’m not feeling it.  I have moments where I feel it but for the most part, it’s all just a big pile of meh for me.  I am training, but more sporadically than I NEED to be, jesus I have a half marathon in 8 weeks.  Looks like I’m walking that one.  There’s too much going on around me and yet nothing in particular.  I’m feeling totally overwhelmed with everything (house, work, lack of training, social life) and yet, not.  I have GOT to get it together. I need more than a small window of mojo.  Half the time I don’t even really care about any of it but I so desperately WANT to..   meh

I need to be clear about this, the ‘meh’ is not a dramatic ‘wah type’ meh, it’s really just a ‘whatever type’ of meh..  I barely feel bad about the not caring but there’s a voice in the back of my head saying ‘come on, do it, you know you want to’. 

So the prescription for this? Who wants to move in and kick my ass for a week straight?  Any takers? 

that’s what I thought…

It's started again... maybe this will help

"BLAT" also means best sammich EVER

still smiling after hanging out with Fran on the weekend.  I know I say it all the time but she is amazing!

still dreaming about the amazing sandwich I had at Kindfood with her.  I could eat there every single day.

not admiting to anything about that mile high brownie

happy to be quickly catching up on blogs over lunch

freaked out when I logged in to see over 400 entries I needed to read

sad to see that Punk Rock Tri Guy is shutting up shop on his blog

reminded to wear my Punk Rock Racing shirt tonight when I run. I won that in a Run EMZ contest last year and it’s still my favourite

quoting PRTG, he ended his blog with ‘You’re alive… Prove it’.  I friggin love that

full from the extra delicious lunch I brought to work today, in fact aside from Monday’s ‘where the F(&* is my balsamic vinegar incident’, lunches this week have been awesome

wondering what’s you’re favourite lunch to bring to work???

that’s all I got…

mile high brownie - gluten free!!

It’s coming on March, spring is around the corner and other than “I love my treadmill”, I’ve got a brain full of mush and blah so I thought I might re-post something from last year for those just starting out.. I may not be starting out but sometimes I still feel like I am..

A note to (scared) newbies and the overweight…

from June 2011  On Tuesday night I attended the first session of our mommys/babes in motion team training and we had a lot of new people. I remember the newbie feeling last year, another way to put it would be SCARED TO DEATH. I heard afterwards that a few of the girls were thinking that they were out of their league but if I could get some time with them I would tell them a few things that I have learned along the way. (these are also good reminders to myself). 

The run tonight sucked but you DID IT! Who cares if you walked it all, you were out there. 

It does hurt but it gets better, ummmm probably not tomorrow.  

You will run a bit more the next time and a bit more the time after that.

If you think next week will be easier because you’ll be more prepared, in a better frame of mind, **insert any old excuse here**, you won’t.

A year from now you’ll wish you started today. 

This is supposed to be fun, if you honestly don’t like it, find something else, dance, weight lifting, walking, just swimming, just biking, anything. But I gotta say, triathlons are just plain cool. 

Find a coach, join a team, it’s much easier to get out there if you have loads of people waiting for you and it’s the most fun when you cross the finish line and they are all there screaming your name. 

Swimming, biking and running seem to hurt less when you know everyone around you is in pain too. 

The high afterwards last for hours. 

It will still be tough to get out the door the next day for another work out, do it anyway. 

If you start thinking about it, STOP THINKING. It’s very easy to talk yourself out of a workout. 

Connect with like minded people. Why am I still doing this after all this time? I have connected to some amazing people that I really look up to.  They motivate me and understand my goals are not the same as theirs. If I bike or run what is for me, a long distance and am super freaking excited about it, they are even more excited than I am!!! And these people are hard core, my long distances are a drop in the bucket compared to what they do. 

DO NOT compare your training to anyone elses. What did YOU accomplish, how did YOU feel, what’s on YOUR schedule this week. 

If you miss a workout don’t sweat it (haha), can you make it up? If yes, go for it, if no let it go.. Don’t go on and on about the miss, shit happens, LIFE happens. 

You won’t find a better community than the running/biking/triathlon community for welcoming and supporting newcomers. 

Accept that you won’t look like Chrissie Wellington in a month, most of will never get close, ever. 

Accept that your body, even unfit and/or overweight can accomplish amazing things. 

If you practice it gets better. 

If it’s getting easy you’re not working hard enough, increase your challenge. 

Pick a short term goal and work towards that. 

Screw the scale, how do you feel? 

If you eat Mickey Dees tonight, your run tomorrow will suck, just sayin’. This is not to say that Mickey Dees is always out of the question. 

Get involved. I have more fun volunteering than I do even racing.. ok it’s equal fun really but volunteering is great and connects you with so many people you might not meet otherwise.

Get over yourself, I look absolutely terrible in a bathing suit/tri suit/cycling kit but I do it anyway. Once you do it the first time I can’t say it gets easier BUT you care less. Now I spend my time thinking about how well I’m going to do or what I want to accomplish rather than ‘oh my god look at my ass!!!!’ Ok, I admit I still think ‘oh my god look at the size of my ass’ but my ass ain’t gonna get any smaller sitting on the couch.

And when you see a newbie with that look in their eye, pass the message along, show them some support. 

with one addition from BDD “I didn’t say it would be easy, I will say it will be worth it”

with love, that’s all I got…

Ok first, there is an awesome 20% off sale happening on TRISLIDE, TRISWIM and Foggle products til the end of February.  Discount code is “triswimval12″.   Stock up!!   It’s not limited to the US, everyone can get in on this. 

And now,  in my last post I mentioned my awesome co-worker Allison. Allison lost 50lbs a few years back and has kept it off. I had a few people asking me that all important question “how did she lose it?” and more often “how has she kept it off?” Meeting Allison and watching her behaviour made it clear to me exactly how she does AND she makes it look easy. Consistency. She did the same to lose the weight and keep it off. She eats well, but healthy choices 95% of the time (ok except maybe over the holidays, haha, more on that later) and she exercises. No fancy diet, no fad diet, no pills.

She eats mostly the same way everyday and I’d like to point out that all the girl does is eat! It’s a constant source of teasing every day at the office.

When I first met her she was working out with a personal trainer and running on her treadmill. Last spring she started running outside consistently and completed her first half marathon in Oct 2011 at the Scotiabank half in Toronto. I like to think I had a hand in both of those, maybe a nudge or two.

I asked her to send me a note about what she eats everyday because I thought you might be interested. I have learned loads from her and can say there is no one in the office that is as supportive of me and my efforts as she is. I said it before, I’ll say it again, Allison ROCKS!

From Allison: Not sure what you want so here it goes:

Breakfast – I eat the same breakfast almost every day (unless I am away on vacation or hungover – then that calls for a big massive breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, etc… ). ed note, see why I love her! My breakfast consists of the following: 1/2 cup of egg whites (usually at 6:30 in the morning) package of oatmeal. I add a tablespoon of each of the following: Wheat Germ, Crushed Flax Seed, Hemp Seeds, Oat Bran, Wheat Bran, 2 tablespoons of Kefir and 1 1/2 cups of mixed berries – raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. I eat this at work every day, on the weekends it’s whenever I drag my ass out of bed. I very rarely ever waver. I also have a cup of tea

Snacks – Banana – I usually eat one every day around 10:30

Lunch – I eat a salad every day at work (unless we decide to go to Freshii or Sezchuan Sezchuan as a treat). My salads usually contain kale, spinach, dandelion (just started adding this), carrots, celery, cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, all 4 coloured peppers, avocado (ed note she got me HOOKED on avocado) goat cheese or feta cheese and nuts (sunflower, sesame seed, pumpkin, slivered almonds and pine nuts). I always add a protein to it like chicken, tuna, salmon or shrimp. I use a variety of salad dressing but I swear by Renee’s Tuscan Garden at 4 calories a tablespoon. (she also adds in spicy chilli sauce, I see her do it!!)

Snacks – oranges or clementines and lately I’ve been having watermelon and pineapple.  Nuts/dried Fruit – I usually munch on a small handful of these in the afternoon as well (pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, dried cherries, cried blueberries, cranberries, raisins) – more so when I know I’m either going to workout or run but I always keep one in my purse just in case I’m out and not able to eat at a regular time. Apple – Eat one every day on the way home from work (usually on the train so that I don’t pick at things when I first get home

Dinner – Usually a repeat of lunch but lately I have been switching it up with whole wheat pasta and pasta sauce made with ground turkey or chicken and lots of veggies and spices or sandwiches with fat free meats and a bit of cheese, always on healthy breads.

Snacks – Usually either a couple of low fat cookies, my treat for eating well throughout the day or a couple of gourmet crackers again healthy ones with a couple of small pieces of extra old cheese – hey it’s a treat!

I am very regimented (ed note, she’s not kidding) in making sure that I prepare most of this stuff on the weekend. I make up my baggies of goodies that I put in my cereal and my baggies of mixed nuts/fruit. I cook my egg whites and do my berries for 3-5 days at a time (they actually do stay fresh). The same goes for my salads (although I only make 3 days at a time). I very rarely ever have to throw any fruit or veggies away. I probably eat well past the daily recommended amounts of fruit and veggies but I’m not concerned. I also am always drinking water and green tea. I don’t waver much from this, I use an 80/20 rule. I love to go out to dinner at least once a week but for the most part try to order something healthy and of course a few glasses of red wine!

I run 2-3 days a week. I work out twice a week, once a week with a trainer and once a week on my own. I very rarely watch TV (other than sports) I would rather be making my foods or working out. As you know I eat throughout the day and I am the same at home. Sounds boring but it works. I started this change in my life just under 2 years ago. I was having migraines almost very day, was moving up to yet another size in my clothing (was buying size 16 at my heaviest) and was becoming depressed. I smoked for a very long time but was able to quit and it will be 5 years on May 1st.

I now wear a size 6/8 I have lost just over 50 pounds, ran my first ever half marathon (thanks to you!) and am signed up to run two more 1/2 marathons this year with my daughter. I am pretty athletic for the most part. I play golf, baseball, run and Workout. I can’t sit around. I feel and look better today (with less than one week to my 50th birthday) than I can ever remember. It took a while but I finally realized this is not a diet but rather a lifestyle change.

As for me, I had a freaking awesome run on Saturday!!  I haven’t been posting/tweeting much about my workouts because quite honestly they haven’t been rocking my world at all but that run.. I loved it.. actually loved it.   Looking forward to another good one tonight.  And yes I’m loving my treadmill and my new basment.

that’s all we’ve got…

way behind on reading blogs!!

too busy at work to make this more than a quickie

loving my new basement, I ran for Sherry on Saturday on my treadmill and it was a great run for me

excited that our endurance cycling clinic starts in a few weeks

that’s all I got… (told you it was quick)

nope, I lied (again) This is Allison, I work with her. She lost 50lbs a few years back and has kept it off. She is a runner and did her first half marathon back in October.  I told Allison about Sherry and she dedicated her run to her on Saturday.  Allison rocks.