Mother's Day Hike

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you!

This Sunday, my family had a Mother's Day celebration that hearkened back to the mid-nineties, when my brother and I were just little. A favourite family outing in those days was a nature hike at one of the many local conservation areas around Newmarket.

So after church, we packed a picnic lunch of sandwiches, granola bars and carrot sticks, filled our water bottles and headed out to Thornton Bales to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. It was fun to point out the different fowers and trees along the way. We saw quite a few Trilliums, both white and red, but in a few weeks, they'll be blanketing the ground. We saw some ferns, too, with their curly fiddleheads. At one point, my Brother, my Dad and I climbed a very steep hill, only to find more forest at the top!

My brother picked up a couple of sticks along the way, at first using them as swords, smacking any trees or long grass in his way. Eventually, he used the sticks as nordic walking poles, which was pretty funny to me, since he previously turned down the use of my parents' poles, which were left in the car. 

I think everyone had a pretty good time that afternoon-- my Dad kept mentioning how it reminded him of his childhood, exploring the bush around his farm with his sisters as a kid. 

It really was a beautiful day! The sky was a soft blue, the grass was lush and green and we could hear some of the local birds singing high above us. I thought "it's time to read 'Anne of Green Gables'". I read 'Anne' about this time last year, and it really made me appreciate the beauty of a sunny day.

We kinda went off the trail at one point, getting slightly lost, but we eventually found our way back to the car. It was a pretty good workout, and the sun really took a lot out of us. I think everyone but my Mom took a long nap that afternoon!

1:09:40.0

 Even though I arrived home before midnight on Saturday, I really didn't sleep that well. I tossed and turned and when I did doze off, it was such a light sleep that I woke up when my Dad came home from his on call shift around 3 or 4 am.

My alarm went off at 5 and I scarfed down a couple of pieces of whole-wheat bread with peanut butter. I methodically dressed in all my running gear and made sure I had my id and some cash in my running belt. I filled a couple of water bottles with water and gatorade and I packed a post-race bag for my mom to bring down when she picked me up. I grabbed a wool blanket to keep me cozy in the car on the way down and my mom drove me over to the Running Room to meet up with my ride.

I caught a lift with Robynn, a fellow ginger runner. It was really nice to ride with her, since I haven't yet had a chance to get to know her. We picked up another runner from our group and we were down at the SportingLife store before 7am. We took advantage of the ridiculous amount of port-o-potties and made our way to our meeting place. We took a pre-race photo before heading to our corrals.

It was pretty cold, so we huddled together and ran on the spot to keep warm. It seemed like ages before it was finally time for us to start running! When we finally started, it wasn't long before the tightly packed corral started to break up. I really enjoyed this run-- it's just like I've been told, almost all downhill. Even though I was automatically faster than usual, I tried to run with control to preserve my knees from any damage. I was able to keep a pretty good pace the whole way. Every so often, there was a band playing live music, which was really cool! There were steel drums, a saxophone quartet, a dude playing drums and the didgeridoo at the same time and a few guitar bands, too.

I felt really good the whole race, but when I got to the 9km mark, I felt fantastic! Everyone was cheering and the family and friends along the sidelines were shouting encouraging help. I saw one little girl pumping her fist and exclaiming 'Da Mommy Da, Da Mommy Da!' (I think she was saying 'Go Mommy Go!') About 200-300 metres from the finish line, I saw Meg and Jay! Even though I was waving and waving, they didn't recognize me at first. I said 'Hey, you guys made it!' and They jumped up and down and cheered me on! It was jsut eh push I needed-- they gave me a real burst of energy at the end. When I saw the finish line, I started sprinting and I finished with a time of 1:09:40.0. Which is my best time ever! (My Mom snapped these picks as I sped by… I didn't even see her in the crowd at the finish line!)

I cooled down by walking through the pen, picking up my shirt and medal (woot! I've never received a medal for anything athletic before!) and looking around for my fellow running group runners. I found a few of them, but somehow we lost eachother again. I found my Mom and Dad and they took a victory photo of me, mowing down a bagel. They were so excited for me!

 Eventually, I found the rest of my group and we took a group picture! We are all so proud of eachother for finishing well!

I feel so great for being able to run 10k in such a good time! If you had told me to run 10k in highschool, I would have laughed! I've never been sporty and I actually thought I couldn't run! But anyone can, you just gotta start small and work your way up! I have always been so surprised by how quickly my body responds to running-- it's so easy to build up your endurance by adding a little more distance each time. I really encourage everyone out there who wants to improve their health to start running. Running is good for your heart, it will help you sleep better and your legs will look fantastic!

I can't wait to continue my training for my next race!

Toronto Show!

On Saturday, I went down to the city to pick up my race kit for the SportingLife 10k. I will have to remember not to go on a Saturday next time, because it was so incredibly busy! Luckily, I found a parking spot on the street right across from the store. Many were not so lucky-- I saw a couple of SUVs drive by the store a few times, circling the block looking for somewhere to park!

I then continued downtown to meet up with my friend Beth for dinner. I was way to early, so I took a stroll down Yonge St to Yonge/Dundas Square, where there was an unusual amount of evangelical activity going on. Within a radius of only 15 metres, I encountered four separate religious groups! First, I squeezed through the crowd at the corner, where an elderly gentlemen shouted about Jesus and the reality of Hell while handing out small pieces of white paper. Next, I saw a group of Catholics handing out brochures about praying the Rosary every day. A friendly Mexican man said 'bless you, sister', after handing me a tract asking me if I am born again. Finally, a group of young men had set up a large, graffiti-style poster and chatted to lookers on. It made me smile. I have had a sort of block when it comes to my faith lately-- I really miss my community of Christian friends I had in England and I have been having a hard time seeing God in my daily life. Although I'm not really sure how effective these evangelists were on Saturday, they stirred me up a bit. I was encouraged to see others who believe in their God so much that they can't help but go out and share Him with others.

I met Beth at Elephant and Castle, where we had a nice, long catch up. I carbo-loaded for dinner, with a delicious roast beef-stuffed Yorkshire pudding and potatoes. It was delicious. We split some key-lime pie for dessert, while observing our fellow diners. Beth commented on how she had been trying to pinpoint which of the Saturday shoppers would be headed for the UFC fight at the SkyDome (yes, I refuse to call it by it's new name). She determined that the buff men wearing tight t-shirts adorned with metallic filigree and black-letter, with shaved heads and earrings were probably UFC fans. I agreed.

After dinner, we made our way over to the Phoenix concert theatre. Sure enough, the young men seemed to be dressed less 'UFC' and more 'hipster' the closer we got to the venue. I scored us some tickets to see 'The Naked and Famous', 'Freelance Whales' and 'Foals'. Unfortunately, due to my early race start on Sunday, we had to leave halfway through the 'Freelance Whales' set. I was fine with that, though, since I really bought the tickets to see 'The Naked and Famous'. They were great! But… I think I enjoy them a little bit better at home, when I control the volume. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but dance along. They remind me of Robyn's latest album, actually.

If you haven't already, you should listen to this track, 'Punching in a Dream', which is my favourite track off of their debut album 'Passive Me, Aggressive You'.



To be honest, I had never heard of 'Freelance Whales' before Saturday, but OMG they are great! First of all, they are all just so cute! Plus, they have a female bass player who is neither skinny and skanky or butch! She reminds me of Joanie from Mad Men. I loved their use of such a wide range of instruments. They had acoustic and electric guitars, a banjo, a xylophone, bass, drums, tambourines, shakers, keyboards and this weird box thing. Please visit their MySpace page!

Anyways, as I said, we left early (like 10:15) so I could get enough sleep for my race!

One of thousands of blog posts about the Royal Wedding

This past Friday was a very special day. Not because I had the day off, or because it was the day before Saturday. It wasn't special because it's the day when we 'gotta get down'-- in fact,  I didn't have my bowl or any cereal. For breakfast on Friday, I had a full English breakfast. Why? In honour of the wedding of the year-- The Royal Wedding of William, Prince of Wales and Catherine Middleton.

I had spent a fair bit of time preparing for my own celebrations, making some festive wedding bunting and gluing extra feathers onto a fascinator headband that Laura made for me.

I woke up early, just before 5:00 in order to switch on the telly. When I came downstairs, I saw that my Mom had decorated our kitchen table in red, white and blue. She had displayed all her royal memorabilia. She had a book about Queen Elizabeth II, a cookie tin from the Queen's coronation that my Grandma had as well as a cup and saucer set from when the Queen Mum and King Edward visited Canada in the 30's. She came down to watch the wedding dressed in a vintage lace dress, white gloves and a hat! I was a bit lazy and just wore my feather fascinator-- although my pyjamas were red, white and blue. My Dad even joined in! He wore his England football jersey, his Scottish tie and a bowler hat!

I turned on the tv just in time to see some important guests arrive at Westminster Abbey. The Abbey looked beautiful-- especially with the addition of 8 trees. The trees helped the cavernous interior to feel fresh and a little warmer than usual. While the guests arrived, I headed into the kitchen to make a yummy breakfast for my family. Laura lent me her copy of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, so I made an English breakfast according to England's most famous chef. We ate grilled portobello mushrooms, tomatoes, breakfast sausages, bacon, poached eggs, and English muffins (yeah, I skipped the baked beans). I even went the extra mile and made some scones ahead of time, to eat with clotted cream and jam... mmmmm... proper cream tea! We enjoyed our breakfast with hot tea, sipped out of a couple of vintage tea cups, which originally came from England.

It was fun to see what everyone was wearing-- I really like the smart skirt suits and lovely sophisticated coats that many of the women had on. They looked so distinguished… apart from their hats! Well, actually, some of the hats were lovely. Carole Middleton's hat was nice and I actually didn't mind Camilla's hat either, it reminded me of a ship's sail. In fact, Miriam Gonzales' hat was absolutely stunning! (She's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's wife). But most of the hats just made the heads they were perched on look not a little bit silly.

Photo from www.rockthetrend.com

The maid of honour, Pippa Middleton, was stunning! She was only upstaged when her beautiful sister, Kate arrived. Now, I had a bet with Laura over Kate's dress. I said it would be 'Alexander McQueen' style, with intricate detail, maybe even feathers. And although the dress was designed by Sarah Burton of the House of McQueen… it wasn't crazy. It wasn't a simple dress-- the lace was quite elaborate-- it was closer to Laura's vision of a classic gown. I particularly liked how Kate's dress had sort of a 50's silhouette.

I appreciated how Wills and Kate maintained the sense of formality expected from a Royal ceremony.  The hymns sung by the choir were beautiful and the order of service, complete with an oration by the Bishop of London and a Bible reading by James Middleton enforced the stateliness of the occasion. However, it would have been nice to hear some unscripted vows from the couple. (P.S. You can buy all the music from their wedding on iTunes!)

We did get a glimpse of the couple's sense of humour when William leaned over to whisper to Kate's father: "We were supposed to have just a small family affair", or when he looked at his bride and told her: "You look beautiful."

We flipped between Global TV and the CBC until about 8:00-- but by that time, the coverage consisted mainly of reporters interviewing people in the crowd… many of which turned out to be Canadian tourists...

The wedding was lovely, and it was fun to watch with my mom, who, 30 years ago, woke up early to see Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding. But after getting up so early, I was pretty tired. Luckily, I had the day off, so I went for a little run (my last on before my big race on Sunday) and napped for the rest of the morning.

Did you watch the wedding? How did you celebrate?