600

I cannot believe that I have posted 600 times...well, I can because I am a bit of a talker, but still, I wasn't sure what to expect of this "blog" thing I started. You see, years ago someone suggested that we start a blog together, as a way to lose weight. After all, someone else did it (maybe referring to Angie at the time) and had lost 100 pounds. I was suspect, however, as I could not figure out how you lost weight sitting on your butt in front of a computer - what did I know? It wasn't until I heard about the Biggest Loser challenge through H-woman who had a blog, that I finally joined up. Have I lost a hundred pounds? Nope. Have I lost anything at all since starting this? Not really, but life continues to step up and get in the way of things. Do I appreciate the blog and blogland for support, ideas and a place to vent? Absolutely!!! Yes, I try to blog my food (not quite the photographer that Jaime is), it's been a great place to track my training (although not as hardcore as Laura), and while I may not have the following of some of these ladies, I'm slowly building you folks up...12 at last count! But it's not about that either...I guess it's a place for me to rant, to ponder and to get my thoughts down. I've never been good at journalling in the traditional sense, so am rather surprised that this has hit the number it has. Here's to the next 600. After getting our Success Sharing cheques on Tuesday, we learned of a really harsh decision the company had to make when they announced a 4% reduction of our workforce across Canada yesterday and a hiring freeze! Wow...big shock as some really good people are no longer working with us. But that's the way my company does it...it's not based on seniority or hiring date...they look at the redundancy of jobs, the quality of work and your fit. Still very sad for 500+ people. It continued to snow all day again yesterday - seriously at the end of my patience with this weather - and it was a tad cooler than the day before. Granted, not the -30's we had in February, but there was a definite bite to that wind last night that made hills training a tad miserable. That and Bad Uncle Doug (we heart Good Uncle Garrath!) made us run Centre Street light to light rather than lion to lion, or about a 800m hill by the time you reached the top!!! At tempo effort, oh, and times 7 please: I thought I was going to hurl. Good thing I didn't eat before I went out, or my dinner could have very well been on the side of the road. I did 5 and at my usual hard pace (saw numbers starting with 6 - crap, too fast), before I realized I have a Half on Saturday and should probably slow it down a bit. So I only did one more, to the 2nd lion before calling it a night. Overall, average pace with the 1km warm-up run was 7:16, a mere 10 seconds slower than Tuesday night's tempo run! None too shabby. Went for our usual beer (must get those carbs back, right?) and I actually ordered dinner. I tried the tomato, avocado melt (tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, sprouts, grainy mustard and mozzarella cheese on multigrain) with a side of fresh fruit. It was light and very tasty, despite being a little on the dark side (not quite burned, but darn close). Got home, watched the tail end of Survivor (even though I don't watch the show, I do participate in the pool and as of last week was in 4th place), read through some mags and finally went to bed. You see, I took an unplanned emergency day today (we don't call them sick days anymore) as I have to take Mom to the "meet & greet" with the doctor - who we already met, but there's nothing wrong with our healthcare system - and just decided a little lay-in today would be in order. That and I really am fighting a bit of a cold, so technically I am sick! Don't worry...it's all on the up and up, as I gave my boss the head's up. Besides, in the 11 years I've been with the company, I've used sick days about 4 times. I try to arrange my illnesses to hit on the weekends or when I'm on holidays. Much more convenient that way! LOL! Okay...going to have another cup of coffee, and then head down to weight watchers. I also have to clean up the walks from yesterday's snow, and then go get Mom. Later and thanks for being here,