Soggy Day

Sorry...I didn't get home from meeting the ladies for drinks until after 11pm, and the last thing I wanted to do was turn on the computer. It would have been 1am before I hit the sack! As it was I didn't make it there much before midnight.

Monday recap:
breakfast - oats/Greek yogurt/peaches/almond slices
lunch - leftover Mexican rice & beans, nectarine
snack - cauliflower soup (I was hungry and cold!)
Went to boot camp, after the rain, but not the cold. We did have a wicked hail storm blow through Calgary in the afternoon (there are blown out windows, downed trees and damaged cars everywhere, and downtown looked like a bomb went off - the storm went through in about 15 minutes!). Trainer Josh made sure we worked hard enough to stay warm, which I for one did. Feeling it in my arms today.
Visit with the parents went well, and then met up with the ladies for drinks/dinner. I used to live with C. (for about 4 years) and met the other ladies through her. Since then, they have all married and had kids and I am the only reminder of their "single lives". Not sure how good I'm doing, or if I'm making each one say "thank god it's not me!", but what ever. We have fun at our get-togethers, which do not happen often enough. C. though really misses adult conversation (3 kids under 10 years old) so she likes to stay out as long as possible. It took forever for me to get her to leave my car so I could go home and go to bed!!! My dinner was Butter Chicken tacos (with a yogurt sauce and mango salsa) which were very interesting and quite tasty. I did not partake in drinks through, sticking to water. Got home past 11pm and to bed after midnight, by the time I putter, feed the cats, floss, etc, so I am really dragging today.

Slept through my alarm, and really needed a latte today. Those 5 shots of espresso were a God send. I also enjoyed a scrambled egg burrito for breakfast. Since we had tickets to the rodeo today, which included drink and food tickets, I knew I would be eating at the grounds. I and one other guy had to hunt down the special item booth this year though...every year, there's some new "food" that catches everyones eye and is the hit of the Stampede. This year it's Deep-Fried Oreos. Yes, you read that right. There's also deep-dried strawberry shortcake, Cola and dill pickles, but the Oreos intrigued us more. It was just too bad our samples had been sitting for a bit. If they were fresh out of the fryer, I think they would have been orgasmic! However, they were soggy, greasy and too doughy. Kept me from eating much else deep fried though. I did have a burger for lunch, with potato chips (not a vast selection) and two Caesars for drinks (vodka and clamato, for those south of the border). It rained all afternoon, but our seats were under the overhang, so we were dry. Cold, due to a constant north wind, but dry. Can't say the same for the cowboys. By the end of the afternoon, there had to be a foot of water on top of the foot of mud in the infield. Made for some fun rodeo though!!! Nothing like hot cowboys all wet and muddy to catch your eye!! And the bulls won today...I am a HUGE fan of bull riding, and I like it when the bulls kick butt. That they did today. I think 2 of the 8 cowboys managed to stay on for the full 8 seconds. No injuries (other than a cowboy ripping tendons off his ribcage...that has got to hurt!!!!) or other horrible moments to contend with, so I left the rodeo with a smile on my face. Heard that the Stampede actually cancelled the chuckwagon races and Grandstand show due to the poor conditions...OMG, just realized that means NO FIREWORKS...I can sleep tonight! Of course, the weather is to dramatically improve tomorrow, just in time for the other people on my team to go to the rodeo. Typical.
Came home, ate the last of the Mexican Rice & Beans and went to running clinic. Our speaker was a physio who discussed heart rate, training levels and injuries. And foam rollers. I like my stick better and will use it before I go to bed tonight. Luckily the rain slowed to a drizzle in time for our 6km Tempo, although the wind did not. But we rocked it again, despite the strong headwind. Only two others from my team showed up, so the three of us managed a tempo pace for 3km of 7:02. That's faster than our goal of 7:07. Wicked.
Got home FREEZING and I now sit here with a long sleeved shirt and a huge sweatshirt/hoodie on top, drinking hot chocolate! I am finally feeling warm, and with the warm milk, am so ready for bed. So I think it's time to shut down for the night, and take advantage of a solid evening of shut eye without the booms of fireworks to wake me up.
Later,