April Fool's Half Marathon, Gibsons to Sechelt

On Sunday I ran the April Fool's Run on the Sunshine Coast, a 30 minute ferry ride from Vancouver.  It's a rural area, with lots of friendly people and a ferry to keep people from the city away.

It was a good race.  I ran the same race last year, and was hoping to better my time this year.  I ran it off the couch last year, but had a few weeks of training this year, so I was feeling confident.

It's great to be running again; if only I can make the time to train as much as I want to!  The last time I felt racing fitness was in China when I raced in Hong Kong.  My training was rewarded back then, as I felt strong in the races and had some good results.

Carmella came along for the trip, and she wished she could be involved in the race, instead of "just" cheering.  But I was happy to have her waiting at a few points along the course to keep me going.

The race is a tough one.  The first 5K or so are fairly flat.  The next 9K are flat to downhill.  Then, from 14K to about 18K, it's insanely uphill.  This course gives me a false sense of speed until 14K, then make me feel like I'm running through wet concrete. Training more would cure that I think!  Here's an elevation profile, from RunningAHEAD:

Last year I finished in 1:36:00ish, and was looking to better that this year.  My ultimate goal for a half marathon is sub 1:30:00, so in the back of my mind I was hoping for that.  Again, training regularly would help with that!

The day was overcast and a bit cold, so I decided to run in my tights and a long-sleeve shirt under my lucky yellow race shirt.  I got pretty warm around the 5K mark, and tossed my long sleeve shirt to Carmella who was cheering on the side.  With my temperature better regulated, I was ready to race!

Here are some pictures from the event, taken by SiPhotography. They had a photographer take shots at various spots along the course, and then they publish their photos online in the hopes that you buy them.

I didn't even know the photographer was there!

It was an easy part of the race, as it was mostly flat and there was a water station, and Carmella was there to catch my shirt and cheer me on.

The next photos come from the 15K mark or so.  Here I am going up a lonely hill, with a bunch of hills behind, and many hills ahead.  I'm in pain!

When looking at the pictures, I'm happy to see that I've improved one aspect of my form, even if others have fallen by the wayside.  I used to flap my hands around, cupping them like I was swimming or something.  Now, I've got neutral hands, so that's positive.

My core isn't as stong as I'd like it to be, so I want to work on that.  That will help me keep my shoulders up and back.  This was on a hill though, so there was a bit of necessary forward lean.

Because I ran this race last year, I knew to expect these hills so they didn't feel as terrible as they did last year.  They ended my race just like they did last year though!  Once things flattened out with 2 or 3K to go, I just couldn't keep my pace up, and got passed by everyone.  Last year at the same point in the race I got passed by a guy wearing a Darth Vader costume, so happily that didn't happen this time around!

I finished in 1:34:40ish, which is about two minutes faster than last year, and only two minutes slower than a  half marathon I raced in 2004, when I was a bit faster, and running more.  So that's positive!  I'll be able to break 1:30:00 this year if I can keep running and training.

The most positive aspect of the race is that I didn't feel any knee pain for the whole 21.1K.  I switched shoes, and that seems to be the solution.

Carmella is thinking about running the Sun Run in Vancouver, and that race is touted as the biggest 10K in North America, or something like that.  It's big because they get big corporate turn-out, with many teams entering.  People say it's not a race you run to get a good time, but a race you run for the experience.  So many people run the race that apparently you never get any space to yourself.  We'll see how it goes!  I may register for that race, and see what all the fuss is about.

Now it's time for bed.  Work wakes me up early, and I have to wake up even earlier to bring Shiffy into Midas, to get a new muffler.  It fell off yesterday.  I'll be bringing it in before work, and picking it up after.

Keep training everyone!

My great meal I just made

I just made a great meal!

Carmella is cooking on Monday and Wednesday, and I'm Tuesday and Thursday.  We're very progressive.

I wanted to make something fun, and I found a recipe that looked pretty easy and had a high rating on allrecipes.com .

It was going to be rack of lamb! 

I went to Safeway to get the meat, knowing that I only needed some breadcrumbs because we had everything else already.  They didn't have any lamb at all, so I walked a few blocks up to another grocery store, who only had frozen racks.  I needed to make a quality meal, and frozen just wouldn't do.

I then went to Choices, a Canadian chain of organic stores.  They had what I was looking for!  I purchased a rack, and brought it home.  Carmella was working out at the gym, and would be home at 8.  I started cooking and preparing around 7pm.

I seared the lamb in olive oil first, then coated it in a bread crumb mixture that had rosemary and garlic in it.  I put a layer of dijon mustard on the meat to get the bread crumbs to stick.

It was excellent!  I was very happy it was successful, and Carmella really enjoyed it too.  Our oven is gas powered, and it's hard to get an accurate reading on the temperature because the knob is all scratched off.  But, we have an oven thermometer and I used that, and preheated the oven to 450F.

Here it is!  The meat was so tender and great, and I think it's one of the best meals I've made.  I used a new steamer insert we got to steam the asparagi.  The meat may look pink, but that's the way it's supposed to be.

Yum!

An excellent pizza cutter, and other pictures.

It's Saturday night, and I'm sitting in a Blenz Coffee on Broadway and Bayswater, in Vancouver.  I'm two thirds of my way through an over-priced hot chocolate ($4.50!  For a small!) that comes in an underwhelming glass mug.

As Carmella is doing bridesmaid things and our house doesn't have internet yet, I figured it'd be a good idea to come here, log on and post.  Possibly I can win back some readers that I have lost recently, due to my sporadic posting.

It's been quite a long time since I posted anything, so I think I'll just post some pictures from the last little while.

Here are three from a few weeks ago in Whistler.  The lines were pretty long, because there was lots of snow, and it was a Saturday.  Carmella and I enjoyed the Blackcomb Glacier, and then some glades.

The next day, Carmella and I drove up to Pemberton to investigate some wedding details.  It turned out to be the last day of the Pemberton Winter Festival, and the annual Polar Bear Dip was the marquee event of the day.  The kids got to go timidly first, before the attention-seeking adults were allowed to show off.

Last, Carmella stands facing the dipping pool, with her back to the rest of the very-frozen lake.  The lake is a shortcut for residents, a hockey rink, and xc skiing circuit.

Next, it was on to wedding research.  We tried to visit our caterers, but they were skiing for the day.  We were successful in visiting the church.  It's full of character, and surprisingly we are the first couple to want to get married in it!  I guess all the other couples were nervous it would collapse on them mid-ceremony.  Where was their sense of adventure?  It's so small and quaint.  We'll dress up the outside somehow, with flowers likely.  It even has a wedding bell, which we hope to ring a lot.

Flashback to New Year's at Capilano Suspension Bridge!  They had it all lit up with special lights, and activities for kids.  Carmella and I asked if we could get in on the gingerbread men decorating, and we were accepted. Carmella was very proud of her gingerwoman, and the scarf she added.

Late Christmas present from Carolyn!  Mom tried to bring a deluxe pizza cutter onto the plane with her (at Carol's suggestion) when travelling from Australia back to Canada, and it ended up being confiscated.  It was later replaced with a Canadian model, which preforms most excellently.  It has a great handle and removable circular blade, which allow easy cutting and simple cleaning. 

Today was the St Patrick's Day 5K in Stanley Park.  This is the third year I've run it, and the third year that I've been disappointed with my time.  This is also the third year I've run it Off The Couch, so that could be a major factor in my disappointment.  Carmella came to watch, and we met some friends (well, our friend Jenn (on the right) and two of hers) near the start.  I'm quite a bit bigger than them!  I wear my trusty racing shirt.  It's polyester and is probably 7 years old, and I'm glad it's not showing signs of slowing down!

The race was a motivator, and I have pledged to get out the door and run more often.  I've struggled with knee problems this year, but was happy to find that I didn't feel anything after the first kilometer of this run.  I think I'm on my way back.

My probable race calendar has me running a half-marathon on April 3rd, and then possibly the Vancouver Marathon on May 1st.  It's $100 to enter the Marathon, which is silly.  It's not only houses that are expensive in this town!

I'll try and post more often, but we'll see.  The internet man is coming to hook us up next Saturday, so until then I still have an excuse!

Snow

This morning while biking to work, I was happily enjoying the sun as it gently caressed my face. I understood the benefit of a south-facing house, and how nice it is when morning sun streams through your windows and lands on the floor in a pool of liquid positivity.

Now it's snowing, and I am disappointed! It probably won't stick, but I'd still rather see an invitation to spring instead of a return of winter.

A small update (that got a bit longer as I kept writing).

Hey Team,

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  By way of excuse, I'll briefly mention the balls we have in the air at the moment. (I heard that writers should avoid cliches like the plague, but I haven't quite decided that for myself yet.)

Work.

Unfortunately, I found out that my afternoon job, where I run the employee bus pass program, is being cut due to new budget restrictions.  Fortunately, I work for a great management team who procured me a job in the campus sustainability office as penance.  Wooo!

It'll be a new job, which is welcome but also disappointing as I was just getting good at my old job.  This new job aligns with my interests and education more, and I look forward to working hard and proving myself capable. 

Housing.

Carmella and I have found another place to live.  While it wasn't the best situation living in the two-bedroom place with her roomate, it was livable for the short-term.  Carmella's roomate didn't like the situation, and found a cheaper place to rent for herself and her boyfriend.  Carmella and I had to either break the lease and find a new place ourselves, or swallow the price of the whole two bedroom appartment.

We opted to break the lease, and found ourselves a great little basement suite with 8-foot ceilings and lots of space. It'll be a great spot, and we're looking forward to having control of our own affiars in our own place.  We've found all the furniture we need for free, including a large tube TV which promises to take up more space than we'd like!  Oh well.

Wedding Stuff.

Plans are going well, and we're getting the ceremony venue and the food sorted out.  We're still planning a short honeymoon in Tofino, but haven't made a decision about that quite yet.

So far we're avoiding the acute stress that people feel when they plan their weddings, but maybe that will come when things get closer, or when we realize that all the small details need to be addressed, not just the big ones.

I'll attach a couple random pictures to end the post.

While moving out of my last place (where I had a passionate roomate who was very hard to deal with) I decided I didn't have room to keep this great armchair that I was given in Whistler.  I put an ad on Craigslist, in the Free Stuff section.

I got a few calls, and they were really annoying.  I had to answer questions like, "Is it more brown, or green?"  "Has it been in a smoking environment?" "Are there signs of wear on the arms?"

It's free!  There's a picture!  You either want it, and take it away and don't have to pay me anything for it, or you don't want it, and stay home!

 Here's Carmella dominating a Train Game session, back in Whistler.  We'll still playing a lot, and have recently bought a 1912 expansion for the Europe board.  It's pretty fun, adding routes and depots.  The Europe board is way better than the original USA board.

When I moved out of the place before this one (the same place I mentioned while talking about the chair, above) the roommate in charge of finding a replacement put an add on Craigslist and got no responses.  She then became very mad at me for choosing to move out when I did, and threatened to bring me to court over a breach of a verbal contract, because I didn't stay six months.  There was no lease.  It was silly.

Anyway, this a picture of my room that I took.  My other roommate, a nice guy, wrote up a friendly ad for Craigslist, and I took pictures.  We joined forces to create a successful ad, and suddenly there were lots of people interested in taking my place.

I am sure happy to be out of that living situation.  I've moved so much lately though, I'll be nice to have a home base for more than six months!

So that's the way things have been over here, and I'll try to post more, and take more recent and relevant pictures!  The next big thing happening is actually moving, which will happen sometime between the 15th and 28th of February. 

The Emperor's New Clothes

People often refer to the classic Hans Christian Andersen story when they're getting deep into a discussion about Vancouver real estate.  Unfortunately, I still don't really understand the allegory.  Is that something I'm allowed to admit, as I approach my 30th year?

Anyway, this blog isn't about real estate or an Emperor, but about me.  I just bought some new clothes!  I was out and about looking to buy some more running gear (tights, specifically) and found myself in a mall that had great deals on button up shirts and nice pants.  I ended up not buying any tights, but leaving with some more clothes to add to my often-used work rotation.

I'm proud of myself, because I think shopping for things you need anyway is best done in January.  I got this great green shirt for more than 50% off, and these pants, with subtle plaid design, for about 40% off.  I'm proud of my purchases, so here's a picture!

The shirt is great because the colour is nice and bright and reminds me of granny smith apples.  It's also great because the sleeves are long enough for me, which is always an issue when I go looking for a shirt.

The pants are great because they're not dress pants, but are more classy then denim.  I'll be able to wear them at work and also outside of work, because they're not too formal either.  I'm a fan of the plaid design as well, but it's so subtle I don't anyone will notice it.  But that's OK.

Christmas!

Carmella and I shared a wonderful Christmas this year, and a lot of it had to do with the generosity and love we felt from our families.

Everyone back in Ontario got presents together before Mom and Dad left for Australia in November, and we received a hockey bag full of the wrapped gifts before December even started!

Once December 15th rolled around, we opened the hockey bag and put the presents under the tree.  Here's Carmella with our natural tree, with Nisse!

And look at all the gifts we received!  We felt so happy to have them all, as we felt loved and appreciated (I know, I know, Carol said the same thing about her presents she was brought in Australia!) even though we're in a different province.

There were so many things we received that we can't list them all, but you can see in the picture everything that fit into the hockey bag!

In the picture you'll be able to make out a tent from Mom (wooo!  Carmella was really excited, as she's never had a tent before and always had to borrow them), a shirt from Kir to me, a Finnish shirt from Mom to Carmella, a sunflower calendar, a collection of exquisite teas from Minke to Carmella, a Risk Management world map (rating both security and political risk across the world from Erik), a number of gift cards, two beautiful decorative balls from Kirsten and Peter, loads of druppies and peppermints, bookmarks, an Olympic book from Mom, and Christmas ornaments.

Carmella and I were both very happy to receive a gift from Mom and Dad that was a donation to Haiti in our names, represented by the postcard in the middle of couch.

Not pictured is the wonderful pizza cutter that Carolyn sent from Australia with Mom and Dad. It got confiscated at the airport.  Apparently it was a really good one, and has no doubt been re-gifted by the airport staff, and is in the hands of a (hopefully) grateful punter who has been tired of ripping their pizza apart more than we were.  I bet those airport security check staff don't ever buy things they want, they just confiscate the items they're looking for then take them home!

Thanks everyone for being so thoughtful and generous!  Carmella mentioned during our present opening that she's enjoying the thought of having another family who cares for her, and she loved getting presents from everyone even though we're not married yet!

Today was Christmas, and Carmella made cookies in the morning, and then in the afternoon we went to Maple Ridge and had a wonderful meal with Carmella's mom and brother.  As always, we were treated to a great turkey, lots of mashed potatoes, Finnish casseroles, lox, squash, and many other things!

We then had a rousing game of Settlers that everyone enjoyed (especially me, as I was victorious, winning 10-9-7-7) because we all built a lot of cities and the Longest Road card was traded around a lot.  Everyone had good numbers and the opportunity to build, and we were all competitive in the game.

It was a great Christmas, and Carmella and I are so thankful to our families for their generosity and love!

Merry Christmas everyone, and thanks again for all the wonderful gifts!