'the pink sox people'

ROAD TRIP ! and it was off to frontenac park (north of kingston) saturday, for our first ever snowshoe race, hosted/directed by derrick spafford - fearless leader of spafford health and adventure - and a coach possessing a sense of humor worthy of dealing with me at my best and worst . . .

so me, boots and moose left b'town - after a stop at timmies of course - and made our way to kingston.

the roads weren't too bad until we hit cobourg and then we got stuck behind a snowplow convoy for about 30 minutes. i started whining and moose gave me his i-pod to play on - angry birds i think the game was. hmm, that kept me amused for almost 2 hours! 'simple minds'. we finally got to kingston around 6:30 and booked into our room at the super6 motel - wtf - the walls were pylon orange and there was no carpet on the floor ! moose said that was so they could just power wash it when we left. so strange ! it was very minimalistic, with no dressers, no closets, no coffee maker or boxes of kleenex . . .

after dinner at kelseys and a restless sleep - my hands kept going numb from playing that game so long and i couldn't stop dreaming of angry birds being sling-shot across the screen - we packed up our crap and started the drive to frontenac park. i think moose had most of his possessions with him.

we stopped in sydenham for breakfast - mmm western omelets !

and eventually made it to the park. after finally meeting derrick - i'd only dealt with him over the computer up to this point - and getting boot's new snowshoes - dions of course - we got ourselves over to the start line . . .

ahaha - check it out - the course was marked with pylons . . .

moose didn't quite fit under the start/finish banner . . .

and we're off ! what a beautiful place ! me and boots kept up a steady pace and managed to pass a few people along the way. we came in together and had a great time ! it was so nice ! moose managed an incredible 3rd place finish - waytogo !!

afterwards we went for a little tour of the park . . .

love this shot of me and D at the finish line . . .

the awards were held inside the park office. we all sat by the fireplace and drank hot chocolate - what a great setting! one family with these 4 adorable little girls named us 'the pink sox people' - we were a hit ! here's a shot of moose collecting his prize for 3rd place overall.

in all, it was an amazing weekend. the park/trail was beautiful (i know, i keep saying that) and all the people there were really nice ! thanks D - i had a blast!

and next up - me, captain and boots head to rochester in less than 3 weeks for the 'cast a shadow' snowshoe race. should be awesome !

so this is what i would look like . . .

if i gained a hundred pounds ! eeeesh ! remind me NEVER to do THAT ! thanks for the picture fed . . .

crossfit thursday night - wallballs and pull-ups for rounds of 50-35-20. this is what my hands looked like BEFORE i started . . .

and after. 'sigh' i must be doing something wrong ! at least they lasted until the 81st pull-up.

as usual, friday night club was a blast! led by adorable adam, i did deadlifts, pushups, kettlebells and barfees with jo.

and check out fedon - not even sure what this is called, but it involved a muscle-up, followed by a handstand, and finished with a pushup ! absolutely incredible !

and tomorrow, me, christine and moose are heading to kingston for the 'dion frontenac park snowshoe race' - put on by ultra runner extraordinaire 'derrick spafford'. should be a blast and i'm really looking forward to it!

easier week

first ever snowshoe race coming up this weekend at frontenac park so i've had an easy few days of training. went out last sunday on the humber with christine and dunc. did a smooth 2 hours and felt good - especially happy after having done 3 and a half the day before.

christine coming up the 'windchime hill' . . .

and dunc . . .

by the lookout on the way back . . .

i was really pleased with the fact that i did 67 power cleans at 95lbs at monday's WOD - 'the chief' - BUT - still managed to bounce a few off the old chest. owwww! stoopid dora !

we got some fresh snow overnight tuesday, so my group of amazing trailees hit the humber with their dions and headlamps on wednesday night. LOVE this pic . . .

and my poor legs were tired today, but i still managed 90min on the humber. trail is saweet right now.

ahaha - the classic 'shadow' shot . . .

on a serious note, i have been really bothered by the death of sgt. ryan russell - the police officer who was run down by a drunken asshole loser yesterday. and i was even more bothered by a couple of things i heard on the radio today. first a dj (or whatever they call themselves) was commenting and laughing about watching some guy who was so drunk he was walking sideways, get into his car and pull away . . . WATCHING - as in he actually let this guy drive !? what the fuck?! and why is that so funny?!!!!! and then i heard this ad for 'ex-coppers' - who claim if you get caught drunk driving, you could lose your licence, or even go to jail, and not to worry, cuz they can get you off . . . WHAT THE FUCK ! maybe these clowns should go and 'tell their stories' to the family of sgt. russell and see how much it amuses or impresses them . . .

i am just sickened by this whole thing.
rest peacefully brave soul

snow's back

great workout for friday night club ! 250 double unders, 125 alternate lunge steps and 125 kettlebell swings using the 24kg bruiser. okay, so it looked easy on paper ! and for the record, i am NOT grabbing jimmy's kettlebells in this picture, so you all can get your minds out of the gutter!

the lovely lia after all those stoopid double unders . . .

sara contemplating lunges - i wanna be as strong as her when i grow up!

and tony going for his 1 rep max front squat - i believe he hit at least 215 !

saturday was long run day. not sure i could use the dions, but i threw them in my pack just in case. we'd had a bit of snow, but i didn't know if there was enough on the trails. turns out there was! after playing dodge the japanese zamboni hiking team on the way up k2 - there had to be at least 20 of them - i stopped at the entrance of glenn haffy to put on my snowshoes. conditions were great ! i made it over to hwy 9 in 1:40 and grabbed a couple of pics . . .

love this spot on centerville creek.

the legs actually felt better the longer i ran. good thing, as they were initially quite cranky as a result of yesterdays' wod when i first set out. and i was a lot faster coming back - wtf - so i had to do a few out-and-backs to get in my time.

and just before i got back to my car, i decided to get a shot by my favorite maple tree - remember the one captain ran into last year?!

oops! set the camera too low . . .

that's better !

anyways, finished up in exactly 3:30 - just what the spaff ordered ! amazing day to be out on the trail !

'life is good'

snow's fading . . .

so after 'the beating' on saturday i still managed almost 3 hours on the trail with christine and dunc. and since it had rained most of the day, a lot of our snow had disappeared. lots of ice on the ground so i wore my handy-dandy home-made screw shoes. here's a pic up by the gore.

i'm thinking christine should have made herself a pair! nice wipe-out sister!

i traded my tiara for a bike helmet and got the misfit out on the rail trail for a couple spins - and was able to avoid any casualties that may have been incurred from failing to notice patches of ice. tuesday and thursday i ventured back up k2 and was mostly running on dry ground or really shallow hard-packed snow. again - much to my amazement - i was able to stay upright! here are just a few pics . . .

so we'll see what the weekend brings. coach spaff has me doing back-to-backs of 5+ hours, so hopefully all goes well.

i got some pics from mfs today and thought i'd add a few into the blob. here's my adorable little red-headed nephew again . . .



and of course, the classic 'show this at his wedding' shot . . .

hilarious one of me and mfs. i always maintained that i was the better looking of the two of us, but this pic makes me think twice . . .

and oh yes - mfs tried out her NEW DION SNOWSHOES today and absolutely LOVES THEM!

so after a few days of a 'total sugar diet' and very little exercise, i was more than ready to get moving. i did a great snowshoe run in palgrave and then made my way back to my beloved crossfit gym. the muscles were 'very' rested, so cleans and push presses at 85# weren't too bad. until the next day that is . . . i felt like i'd been run over by a truck! thanks dillon!

thursday i hit the humber for a 90min run. trail conditions were perfect and i had the shorts on.


i spent new years' eve with my buddy kiz - who is an amazing cook - almost total paleo - sirloin steak, salad, asparagus, salad, some decadent chocolate caramel thing. i said 'almost' . . .

and then sunday - new years' day - some maniac (we won't mention any names alex possamai) comes up with 'season's beatings 2011' at crossfit. OHMYGAWD! elora's the trainer, and stevie and dino are the only others to show up. so we decide to do the workout with 3 people instead of the prescribed 2. that lasted all of one exercise, as stevie got paged for a fire call. dino lasted until the end of the pull-ups and had to leave. 'alright, i can stop . . .' i'm thinking. but oh no, 'it's okay kendra, i'll do it with you' says elora. whhhhaaaaaa ! now keep in mind, that elora had ALREADY done her WOD - which included 300 squats and a bunch of running! seriously, i did not think i would get through this. and what the hell was with the 191 box jumps at the end????!!! are you fucking kidding me??!!!!

but we did it! whew! thanks elora - you're amazing ! the whole thing took me/us 1 hour and 40 minutes! longest WOD ever ! the two wooden discs in the pic below are representing stevie and dino.

i was supposed to go running right after class, but that wasn't going to happen. i dragged my butt back to the treehouse and got some food into me. finally at about 4:00 i felt recovered enough to attempt palgrave. unfortunately it's been raining for the past day, and so most of our snow is gone, leaving the trail slushy/icy/muddy. still, the legs felt great and i had a beautiful foggy run just as it started to get dark.

great way to spend the first day of 2011

'life is good'