3 friends who inspire me

spotted these lady's slippers on the side of the road while heading over to tottenham on the misfit saturday. pretty cool, as i understand they're not that common.

went riding with andrea on her son's creaking/squeaking/self-changing kona on sunday. i'm hoping she asks for her own bike for her upcoming birthday! and check out that '50lb skinnier butt' - very nice girl !

saw these little dudes by the beaver damn .

i had 3 friends do incredible things over the weekend. first mention goes to the ageless bodi who ran her first marathon in ottawa. she clobbered the course in 6 hours and 13 minutes, AND, she won the 70-74 age category ! YES, i said 70 -74. so whoever thinks it's too late, or they're too old to start running - i say - NEVER ! and i might add, that she may have been a little motivated to do so by her ultra-handsome husband chris - father hen - who also walked the same marathon when he turned 70. what an amazing couple, and i love them both!!

second mention goes to my friend michael who also ran the ottawa marathon in a time of 4:33. michael is vision impaired and has to run with a guide. i recently got an email from him and i'd like to just mention a couple things he said that show how incredible he is.

'thankfully, i've managed over time to find adventure and humour in every one of these new life challenges. there are still occasional punches to the gut that come unexpectedly ... when you mistakenly get a swig of heinz ketchup because you thought you were grabbing your beer bottle from the pub table. finding meaning in vision loss had only been possible by turning my disability into a lifetime opportunity.'

and i write this with tears in my eyes.

and finally, my hardcore friend kim. she had the shitty luck of being disqualified at ironman brazil in 2009 for failing to go around one of the markers (although she did actually backtrack and do it) and was not allowed to finish. so in true 'tuff chick' style, she went back this year, completed it, ripped off a time of 10:30, AND, managed to come first in her age category! waytogo nelson - you're over the top!! just shows you don't let something get the best of you, no matter how long it takes!!!

and so, hopefully these friends of mine will stir up a little something in all of you and make you go out and try something you never thought you could !!!

hot hot hot

headed out on the humber with christine for a run this morning around 10. thermometer said 28 - stoopid heat !

wait a minute - where did the river go ?????

christine decided to 'witch' it . . .

graceful as ever !


and ya know, it's not the heat . . .

high hopes

everybody has to do pushups!

a few pics of my kids at CDS. only one more week left. good news is they want me back all three semesters for next year! wahoo !

hit the rail trail on sunday for my fave ride out to the bike shop. i met up with richard and barb, who managed to keep up with my 'blistering pace' on the way back.

i love lilacs!

monday i ventured over to hockley. wanted to see how far i could push the old feet. up to today, it had only been about 45 minutes. still not sure on the status of tennessee. told the captain if i can do 30km without pain, then i'll go.

lots of jack-in-the-pulpit.

felt so good to be in hockley!

look REAL close - i'm sure this is a massassauga rattler (to the right of the tree!) okay, a baby one, but still a rattler!

goofing around!

so, managed 1:24 and almost 11km. feet fine while running, just a little tight now.

see below . . .

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6W_Uen5gxY&feature-related

so that's what a root canal feels like !

i guess the big news of the past week or so was my inaugural experience with the dreaded 'root canal'. way back whenever, my super dentist buddy richard had filled a monster cavity with the intention of saving my poor tooth. it was monster because i was a big chicken and took forever to get it fixed. it seemed to have worked fine until about 10 days ago when things started going wrong. first it ached when i drank coffee, then it ached when i rode my bike, then my ear started to ache, and when i bit down on it, my brain shook. so i called richard and told him what was going on. 'come on in k/o, and we'll take a look at it.' 'yep, i think it's on it's way out.' 'bad news - you need a 'root canal' and i will refer you to the best guy i know.' more bad news - his office is in mississauga. i don't drive south of 7 ! even more bad news, it'll cost about a thousand dollars. argh! so i call the office of dr. kenneth serota and make an appointment for may 11th. i beg my good buddy wayne to drive me down - which he agrees to with no hesitation.

so tuesday comes, and we head to mississauga. wayne drops me off and i reluctantly climb the stairs to the third floor. nice place - for a dentist office! after filling out some paperwork, and signing my life away, a nice girl named jenn gets me to sit in the chair. in walks the dentist who reminds me a little of donald sutherland.

he chats me up a bit and notices that i have my hands balled into fists, and am pretty much sitting an inch off the chair. 'little nervous there are you', to which i yell 'YES, I AM'. 'okay then, here's what you're going to do - put your hands down by your sides, unclench your fists and relax your shoulders.' 'we're going to put this big heavy blanket on you to make you feel more secure' (and make it so i can't swing my arms!) then he says, 'oh my, you have a very small mouth, we'd better jam one of these plastic rings in there to keep it open'. 'and now i'm going to give you some freezing, open really wide (like a had a choice) and keep staring at my eyes.' after 4 needles, i guess he figured i was good so he started poking around. OW! 'oh, did you feel that - why are you feeling that - how about this . . .' OW! 'what, you're still feeling that?' 'well, we'd better take care of that' and he proceeds to stick 2 MORE needles in my mouth. 'so how's that, any sensation now?' to which i reply, 'mfwfmblpffff' and to which he replies, 'good - we're ready to go - make sure and keep your eyes closed during the proceedure.' i recall lots of drilling, the smell of something burning, and the occasional flash of bright yellow light - similar to what you'd see coming off an arc welder. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT??

and after about 40 minutes, he was done. i must say, it wasn't near as bad as i thought it would be. he was incredible. just before he left, he told me he figured i would be frozen for about 8 or 9 hours - nnnnice! jenn got me up out of the chair, and i wobbled out to the reception desk to pay my bill. i casually asked the nice lady if it was normal for my right eye to be numb. 'oh yes,' she replied, 'but that should go away in 10 or 15 minutes.' hmmmm. i went back down the stairs and sat on a bench outside to wait for wayne. i thought drinking from my water bottle wouldn't be a problem until i looked down and saw the whole front of my hoodie was wet. okay, we won't try that for awhile. wayne got me back to bolton and managed not to laugh at my puffy face or at the fact that i was drooling out the side of my mouth. thanks wayne!!! and as i sat in the treehouse, i figured the worst was over. well, maybe not quite. i started to get really really cold, and i got the shivers. then my neck started to ache and my head was throbbing (at least the side that i could feel). i got real worried when my chest started to hurt. OH GREAT! I'M GOING TO DIE FROM A FUCKING ROOT CANAL! (i can be such a drama queen) i frantically emailed richard and asked if this was normal, to which he replied, '. . . could be from the anesthetic, or your bod dealing with the germs etc. i can guarantee you can have a hot or cold drink and not feel anything now.' somewhat reassured, i bundled myself up on the couch under 3 blankets and tried to calm down. it worked - i can be such an idiot. i'd have to say that that was really the worst part of the whole ordeal. AND i'm trying real hard not to think about dr. serota mentioning that he noticed another tooth would have to be done in the future . . .

ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH !!!

so, remember the honeymooners ??? i had a good laugh on friday when my client 'paul the tank' threatened to 'send me to the moon alice' after a particularly hard workout. awesome! i loved jackie gleason.

let's see, highlights from crossfit. yummy dillon actually convinced me i could not only do a 24 inch box jump, but that i could also do handstand pushups. and he was right! whoda thought? he's really good at talking us into stuff!

above is a pic of the lovely sonia and i doing our jumping pullups. on friday, the mighty alex made us do 100 power cleans. wicked! saturday i made the mistake of having a piece of ice cream cake at the glp's before crossfit, and almost barfed during 29 minutes of deadlifts, KB swings and rowing. DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!


i had friday afternoon free, so me, richard and christine took the rail trail over to inglewood. it was a saweet day for a ride and the pace was nice and casual. i love the reaction richard gets from his recumbent bike!

and finally, after crossfit on saturday, i tagged along while christine drove over to woodbridge to pick up some tiles. and of course, i just HAD to be stoopid when we spotted this!!!! hahaha!

tomorrow, i think i might finally attempt running again. it's been since april 28 - the longest i've been off in years. so here's to soft trails and happy feet.

hooray hooray, it's the first of may . . .

i've been lazy - haven't posted in a week or so. anyways, i'm back. BUT, i'm on the td list once more. i was having major grief with my foot - not the numbness - that has pretty much gone - but with the bottom of it. according to moose, i keep tearing the scar tissue which is holding my foot together because i won't let it rest. hmpfff ! and after a dash-in-dash-out trip to the patch to see dr. nick - remember him - he concurred. he adjusted my orthotics and insisted i not run for 2 weeks.

running god was there with me, and acted as a witness.

so after a brief visit to rose avenue, and a quick reunion with rose (who had set the bbq on fire) and 2 of dave's kids (jade and jasmine) and some yummy lunch, i made my way back to palgrave. moose gave me this portable micro-current thingy so i could 'frankenstein' my foot and hopefully heal it faster.

my buddy spaff recommended the 'strassburg sock' which would hold my foot in a 'stretched' position while i sleep. so i got christine to grab me one. check out my 'old lady sock', as me and my very most favorite sister call it !

and believe it or not, it actually works! so when i told spaff, he said 'awesome', but 'keep it under control.' alright, alright! so i am being very fucking patient and not running. i really really want to be able to run in tennessee in june.

so what have i been doing to keep me sane . . . well, as i told derrick, i've been reacquainting my arse with my bike seat(s). i did a couple good rides on the misfit, until it started making a strange clunky noise. i emailed the king misfit, informed him of the problem, and got the following reply:

"i am no mechanic. i hate repairing bikes (just look at mine)... BUT ... if you still want me to look at it i will. i am back in ON friday ... you are patient ... actually at your age, everyday counts ... ne'er thought of that."

okay - next option. i'll phone my buddy wayne. he can fix anything. and here's the response i got from him . . .

"the problem is the rear wheel hub. if your buddies at misfit are of no help let me know and i will get it repaired. i know, single speeds don't need repairs. (insert sarcasm here)." and so despite his 'obvious' dislike for single speeds, wayne was able to figure out and fix the problem. thanks wayne!

in the meantime, i picked one of my other bikes, and decided to ride it. about a year or so ago, my good buddy wayne got me a sweet cyclo-cross bike. now, because of all the running i was doing, this poor little beauty didn't get much road time. i decided to take it into bolton on sunday for crossfit. nice bike, but the seat was nasty ! it rubbed in places i can't even mention! waynnnnnnnnnnnnnne, i need a new seat! (poor wayne). again, he managed to help me out by finding me a more comfortable one. so once again, i am happy and my bird is happy ! hehe! mind you, there was a right kerfuffle trying to change seats. i was being so careful, putting all the pieces in order, watching where they all went, when suddenly one fell in the gravel. FUCK! where the hell does that piece go??? argh! i have NO patience for shit like this! it took me a good 30 minutes to finally figure it out. oh, and don't even ask me about the chain on the misfit!

and finally, i have been feeding my addiction with lots of crossfit. i was concerned i would have to limit my activities, due to the stoopid foot injury, so i asked the mighty alex what he thought. here's his reply . . . "i'll just treat you like a pregnant chick - no skipping or jumping." saweet! i did notice, however, that he kept the dreaded burpees off the 'forbidden list!' rats! anyways, my monthly total for april for jumping pull-ups was 908. still can't do a real one yet. AND, i learned the hard way not to use too much weight for a sumo deadlift high-pull, especially if you bounce it off your chest! fuck that definitely left a contusion !

today we did a tabata workout with burpees, deadlifts, box jumps and kettlebell swings. you go 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off, for 4 minutes, and then you switch right away to the next exercise. incredible how much you can sweat in just 16 minutes! and that's me pretty much up to date for now.

check out the rainbow after the storm tonight . . . . .