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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Calgary Strong and Proud

In case some of you haven't heard (I don't know where you're all from), much of my beloved city is under water right now.  This is something out of the movies, or a monsoon/hurricane zone...not my Calgary.

I have been evacuated, forced out yesterday, not because of water but because the power was shut off.  As far as I know, my building is still dry (we are a good 12 blocks from the Elbow, and over 15 from the Bow, so it'll just be the stinky rotten food to throw away when we do get to return.  Yes, George is with me, getting to know his uncles better.  At least when I left the house, they were all just staring at each other.  Now that I'm gone, who knows what I'll come home too!

I'm at Mom's.  She is in a neighbourhood far from any water source, and on top of a hill, too boot.  I'll stay there until we get the all clear to head home.  Again, I hope that we are going home to nothing more than spoiled food.  I have friends that have homes under water right now.  I will never complain.

Needless to say, I am still not running or even going to the Box, since I forgot (subconsciously??) to pack any exercise gear.  Heck, in my haste, I forgot make-up!  Will head to Walmart shortly, since I don't know how long I'll be hanging at Mom's.

She is doing better, but still in the hospital. We're playing the waiting game right now, as we wait for a room in a facility to open up, but then again, there are other priorities now.  She's where she needs to be, and is getting the care she needs, so none of us are in a big hurry.

Pray for my city and for Canmore, Banff, High River, Okotoks, Medicine Hat and every other community touched by this chaos.  We will come out the other side stronger for it.

If this works, here's a link to a shot of the flooding.  If not, go to Global TV and follow the #abfloods links.https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aBpPjxVqBjg

In the meantime...stay dry and safe.  Hug your family.
Yay for fitness,
Carol


Monday, June 17, 2013

Anyone out there??

Oddly enough, that's the exact song I'm listening to right now!!  How weird is that??

Anyway, I realize that I have been a bad, bad blogger.  Boston threw me for a loop.  I knew people there, as I suppose many of us did, but some of my friends were close.  Scary close, like in between both bombs when they went off, close.  Took awhile for the runner in me to absorb and deal with all that.  Didn't seem right to post about an awesome crossfit challenge when people lost lives.

So what's been happening since April?  Well, the aforementioned PR challenge, which was darn hard and worth every drop of sweat.  I dropped to the Half in Vancouver, and was very happy with that decision, since the weather was HOT, and my ankle and I had a disagreement for most of the 21.1km.  I thought it should run just fine and it thought "hell to the no".  Needless to say, my worst Half ever (3:09) and while I finished, I can't honestly say it was upright or smiling.  Okay, it was upright...just with a little lean to the left!

Took a break, got ART and Graston, and (with permission!) prepared for the Blackfoot Ultra at the end of May.  After all, I could walk 50km in 10 hours, right?  Easy-peasy.  Er...not so much!!  Decided about 5km in that doing a 25km walk that day would be fine (the Ultra was two loops).  Determined by 10km that my ankle was not going to "just get into a rhythm" and feel better.  By 12.5km, I was done.  Finished, pause the Garmin and let me stop, kaput, done.  Sadly though, the aid stations were at the 5km markers, so I had another 2.5km for salvation.  Wrong.  At the 15km marker, in the pouring rain (did I mention it poured BUCKETS all week, and again on race day and we were slogging through mud?!), I discovered the only unmanned aid station.  That's right...what a sight to behold.  Me, soaked to the skin, in my orange plastic poncho (put on too late), gut-wrenching sobs wracking my body, beside the water bottles stacked up, realizing there was no one there to rescue me.  After my little hissy-fit, I determined I had one choice and that was to keep walking.  My friend caught up with me, and all the other runners said they would send help, but still, I was a km shy of the last aid station before the sweet sound of a gater coming down the pathway reached us.  Edmonton races are two for two now...not sure if I'll give them a 3rd crack.

Needless to say, I've been banned from doing ANYTHING since the end of May.  No running, walking, standing (yikes), crossfit, bootcamp...NOTHING!!  I am going insane.  X-rays didn't reveal anything, but my Dr. didn't jump on the bone scan bandwagon (yet) thinking it's more tissue than bone.  All I know is I'm now on daily anti-inflammatory, heat treatment and ART before I head back at the end of the month for a follow-up.  Just standing at Saturday's PR challenge was painful, and I am one unhappy camper.  Sold my Half bibs for Millerville and Stampede and I won't be running in Banff next weekend.

Did I mention I am unhappy??  Oh, and let the pity-parties begin as I've already managed to fine 3 pounds in the last two weeks...but then again, my cravings for sugar always increase when I don't work out.

I am headed to the Box tonight, so that I can do pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and rowing (that is all I'm allowed to do) as I desperately need to break a sweat and soon!

And that is it...I am dealing with family stuff, but that's a rant for another post.  In the meantime, I'm back.

Yay for fitness!