Long weekend

Thank God it's Friday and thank Him even more for the one extra day off work!! I am running myself ragged, and need a day to recoup.

Went to a new Vietnamese place for lunch, and while it wasn't our absolute favourite Vietnam Fortune, it is a close second. The shrimp salad rolls were totally fresh, and the chicken satay pho (with extra veggies) was good, albeit on the slightly spicier side than I'm used to. Still not the broth of Fortune, but it was very good.

Had a bit of a meltdown with our payroll department...not over my pay, but over our work. See, what I do is reconcile and balance certain departments where I work, and in order to do that, I need a report from payroll that lists all the pay for the period. Normally we get this report a few days before month end but today, at 8 am, we were still asking for it. I was calm, and just pointed out that if we didn't get the report soon, we would most likely be working the long weekend and asked who from payroll would be joining us. After all, we can't balance if we can't get questions answered from them. Lo and behold the report finally showed up, along with phone, email and in-person apologies, and finally, whatever we asked for was dealt with faster than it has been in months! Guessing a couple of heads rolled in their morning meeting!! Whatever...when I left at 3:30, only 2 of the 17 areas were left to balance, and that places us in great position to move on to the next phase on Tuesday. Enjoyable weekend, here I come.

No great plans...also have some tenants moving this weekend, so I'll have some walk-through/showings to do. Long run on Sunday (23km!) and will try to get to the medical supply store tomorrow to price out beds and other essentials for Dad. To quote Mom tonight..."I really don't like this place". Think she now wants Dad home too, although she has been living as a single lady for 4 months now. That's going to be a hard adjustment!!

Dinner was leftover salmon from last night, along with some spinach dip and flax chips. Very high in fibre (10gr) but also in salt. I can feel my lips shriveling as I type.

Going to shut 'er down for the night, and try to catch up on some sleep over the weekend. Hope everyone has a grand one, regardless of where they are and what they're doing. And watch for some revisions to this blog...I want to focus some more on running (I'm not very good/consistent at the food pictures) and working out, as well as trying to live life as a healthy 47-yr-old. Think I may have a thing or two to say about that.

Later,

A new plan

Took Mom over to see Dad in the new room, hoping that they had finally got him moved. I mean, seriously...he was coming from the 3rd floor to the 1st of the same building, and when I was there at noon, they hadn't moved him yet ("we'll be moving him after breakfast")...when I left at 2, they still hadn't moved him!!!! Left hand calling right hand, asking what was going on, where he is, etc....this does not bode well, nor did I leave feeling confident with the decisions made.

So what I'm working on is private home care, renting and setting up a medical bed at home, adjusting the bathroom so it works for him, and even looking at meals on wheels to make sure they're both fed well. Mom was initially sceptical, scared that she would worry herself to death about Dad, but after being there, I think she's changed her mind. So I'll be making a bunch of phone calls tomorrow, and try to get things rolling on bringing him home. He looked so miserable tonight...said no one would talk to him (crap...can you imagine being the "new kid" at 77 years old?!?!), his roommate is basically in a coma (haven't actually seen the man move) and when we left Dad was just sitting there, staring at the wall. I can actually feel my heart breaking in two. And it didn't help that as we left, others were asking where they were, saying hello, wanting friendship...it takes a special person to work in a place like that and I'm so not it! I would be a useless pile of goo the first day.

Food was very erratic today. I was up at 5:30, at work by 6:15, walked to WW at 7 (up another 1.2 - is it really selfish of me that I want Dad home so that I can get a bit of my life/routine back?! Don't answer that...I already know), and on the walk back to work (couldn't stay for meeting), I grabbed a 5-shot latte and a scone. Worked the morning, and headed down to meet with admissions at 11:30. Finally left there close to 2, drove home, parked the car and walked back to work...realizing that it has now been roughly 7 hours since the scone!!! I grabbed an obscenely long hot dog from a street vendor, but only ate about half (didn't sit well), and then munched on a tomato that I had at my desk. That held me over till I left work at 3:30 and walked to Safeway to pick up some fish for supper, a bag of salad and oddly enough, two packages of cookies found their way into my bag! I've only had 3 thus far, and one package is going in the freezer immediately.

I did not run tonight...mainly because I knew I hadn't eaten nearly enough through the day to fuel an 8k steady run, and because I'm tired, the skies were threatening to rain and I just plain wasn't feeling it. I give myself permission to miss a run every now and then. It will not derail marathon training in the long run.

Okay, going to bed. My brain is tired.

Later,

Where to start

Oh, the difference a day makes. After much back and forth about my dad, the decision was made and it was final. He gets moved, tomorrow morning, into the long term care facility of the hospice he's in. Which is good, as that's the building we wanted. But it's also bad, as we go from quiet, dignified individual hospital room to utter chaos, screaming, dishes clanging and a shared room that's smaller than the room he's in now. It's only temporary...that will become our mantra. We will immediately request a private room, and one in the newer wing, not the old, rundown, sad wing. I was in tears when I left there yesterday and I'm sure I'll be in tears tomorrow when I have to "whip down" (they're very big on me "whipping down" to have a look, fill out paperwork, meeting with meaningless individuals - have I mentioned to these people that I have a full time job that I would love to keep?!) and fill out the admission papers. The lady tonight says "it's such good news that your dad recovered, huh?"...um, that depends on what you call "recovered" and who you ask. "Oh, soooooo...this wasn't your decision??"...Um, no. "Oh, that's explains a lot..." I'm trying not to take my frustration out on these people, as they weren't involved, and the one nurse has been lovely and is as upset as we are. The rest of the yahoos there though...don't even freaking speak to me! Mom is upset, I spent almost 2 hours just sobbing at 3 this morning (reset the alarm and went into work late), and Dad doesn't seem too pleased (although he's very quiet and doesn't spew as easily as his daughter does!). But he's stable and that's all that seems to matter to these people. I am looking into other options, which I'll discuss with the parents tomorrow. Hoping to figure out something that makes everyone happy...soon.

So, not only do we have to fill out the admission papers, pay for July and August, leave a void cheque for future months (oh, hospice is free, this costs $47 a day), we also have to bring our own TV. And phone...and hook up the phone. And hook up the TV. Oh, and a paper, if he wants that, pay for laundry labels, pay for the photo ID FOR THEIR FILES! I get so mad...luckily my parents are in a good financial position, but what happens to the poor old folks that don't have a nest egg? Will be picking up a TV for Dad on the way over tomorrow (good thing London Drugs is close) but I have to get Mom to give Shaw permission for me to call and set up the phone, etc. Despite working for the company, I can't just update their files without it. Sucks...

At least I did okay food wise...again, coulda/shoulda been a food-a-palooza all week. I stuck with salads and soup, even managing to bring a lunch to work yesterday. And I've kept up the running, although my running buddies would like me to slow down a bit!! I run much faster when I'm mad!!! Oops...

After some seriously hot hill training tonight (+27C), I chilled with a pint (Guinness - pint for pint less calories than 1% milk or OJ, by the way) and tried the mussels at the pub. I love, love, love mussels, and these were really good in a Frank's Red Hot lime sauce. Just spicy enough, with a slice of bread for dipping. Nom, nom, nom. Next time I'll order a salad or something to make it more of a meal, but still quite satisfied. Enjoyed the lovely evening, and great laughs (which I so need) until the mosquitos moved in. I am seriously down a pint right now!

Home now, and getting everything organized for tomorrow. I will drive in the morning, walk to weigh-in first thing (will miss my lunchtime meeting), drive to the admissions, drive home, and walk back to work. Then I'll run after work, which I am already anticipating to be a very, very fast 8k!!!

That's it for me. Hope your hump day was grand. I do hope to get back to the blog being about running and food, and less about bitching about the current state of health care for the chronically ill...I'm sure you all hope for that too!

Later,

Beat

Whew...not sure where I got so tired from, but it's all I can do to keep my eyes open.

Day in review:
Work - can't believe it's already the end of July. One final report due for June payroll analysis, and then it gets to start over from scratch for July. The good times never stop!

Food - all right. I didn't have my act together today, so no packed meal, but I did have an egg & sausage burrito with salsa for breakfast, and a really good chicken fajita for lunch. It was a theme today, apparently. Dinner, which I ate later on was KD, but I like it, so it's fine.

Boot Camp - Trainer Josh is back!!! And we worked HARD today. Think I sweat out about 6 pounds before the class was over.

Parents - all is well with them. Am playing phone tag with the Dr., but the nurse and I are both for Dad staying put. Let's see how much pull we have.

Home - angered homeless couple last night. I know I'm picky, but still, I should be able to tell people that I don't know, who don't live here, that they shouldn't really have sex on someones car in the parking lot. I believe my exact words were "please take your party elsewhere". She screamed and ranted on for about 20 minutes (could hear her from my 3rd floor apartment!) about how SHE was going to call the cops, and on and on. I was more worried about the fact that they saw me get out of my car, and how my poor, unprotected baby was doing! Checked her out once last night (phew, fine...) and again this morning. Either they forgot which building they were at, or...nope, think that's it! She didn't strike me as the type of person to forgive and move on. I did plant some flowers yesterday, finally. The sales are great, but the choices are slim for annuals at the end of July! But the place looks a little brighter, it rained on them tonight, and that makes me smile in the end.

With that, I'm heading for bed.
Later,

Retro 10 deets

Was looking at Mr. Garmin and found it interesting that I could tell which km was hilly vs downhill vs flat, all based on my average pace. Makes me think that if this were a flatter course, that I could have killed it, pace wise!

km 1: 7:15 - flat, heading west, and just warming up
km 2: 9:06 - enter the switchbacks, long uphill climb
km 3: 6:28 - running down said switchbacks...I LOVE running downhill!
km 4: 7:13 - back to flat, running east
km 5: 7:21 - still flat
km 6: 8:50 - BIG hill!
km 7: 7:22 - some rolling hills, mainly down though
km 8: 6:41 - all downhill at this point...wee!
km 9: 7:37 - a slight climb up to the turnaround point
km 10: 7:58 - still a small hill up to the turnaround (was told I did the best turn ever - I may not run fast, but I look good doing it!)
km 11: 7:28 - back down to the flats
km 12: 7:38 - the climb back up is just starting. While I can't smell the bacon, I am imagining it waiting for me at the finish line!
km 13: 9:27 - back into the rolling hills, but this time all up.
km 14: 8:03 - still hilly, but am almost at the ridge, which is mainly flat. Bacon, here I come!
km 15: 6:39 - down the big hill of km 6! WEEE!!!
km 16: 6:58 - held the pace from the downhill, and refused to let myself walk and rest up - the finish line (literally, a big red thing) was in sight and I was heading for home.
Sadly, to no bacon.
:(

Hit the sack last night around midnight and slept like the dead, despite my afternoon nap, finally waking up around 9 (okay, I was prompted awake at 5 by two hungry furbabies). Had to sleep with the fan running, as the heat stuck around last night (so unlike Calgary), but it is much cooler already this morning. That will make the yard work I'm about to do easier.

Legs feel great after yesterday's run (I did dip the feet/calves into the icy cold Bow river for a bit yesterday - ahhhhh...can you say glacier-fed?!), but I am feeling my abs from Friday's boot camp session. Guess she knew what to do about abs...she just needs to figure out the rest and then I think she'll make a good trainer. Thank goodness Trainer Josh will be back tomorrow!

Plans for the day include hauling some recyclables, cut the grass and pull some weeds, visit with Mom and Dad (and that probably means a grocery run) and then home to plan the week's menu. I need to sit down and map out a plan, since this floopy "eat whatever is quick and easy and available when I finally get home from running around all day" thing isn't working so well!!! I used to follow menus from Weight Watchers with great success, and I need to dig them out and post them up again.

Oh, goodness...hurts to cough!! Just thought I'd share that!! LOL!!

Happy Sunday, people. Have a great one.

Later,

Retro 10

I was a little worried after last night's clouds blowing in, but this morning dawned bright and clear. Literally not a single cloud in the sky. Again, as much as I hate mornings, thank goodness our race started bright and early.

I was up just after 6, and had a pre-race breakfast of bagel, PB and Croft Superfruit (North America). I decided to give them a try, since everyone in blog land seem to really like them. I do have problems with store-bought, since I've had home-made jam my whole life, but this was pretty good. Not my Mama's, but pretty good. Topped off with a cup of milk and I was ready to run.

Drove to the far north west end of Calgary, getting to the park about 30 minutes before the race. It was nice and cool (almost too cold for the tank and shorts I was wearing) but that was fine, as I knew it was only going to get hotter as the day progressed. Sadly there were only about 40 of us that showed up for this run (needs to advertise better!) and it wasn't a timed event. But it was a good distance to practice race day techniques and challenges, and it means I get to sleep in tomorrow!

We started at 8am, and headed west through the park, crossing the river under Stoney Trail, and that's where the first of the hills really started. A full km of switchbacks, up into Valley Ridge, to the golf course. I decided it was really stupid to burn out in the first few klicks, so I walked up this section, and then enjoyed a good run back down. Cross back over the river, and now we're headed east, up and into Blood & Guts! Going east isn't so bad, as after you get over the first hill (which is a steep SOB!), it's pretty much rolling downhill to the next turnaround point at 10km. You can really see it in my pace times...turned around at the church (10km mark) and now it's time to head back home. A few kilometers through the trees and fields before the hills start again. Remember the rolling downhill?? Now it's all rolling UPHILL! Again, I walked when I had to, and ran the other times. I also walked at the water stations - which for such a small run, there were quite a few! Four in total, I think, which is more than the Half I ran through there in the spring. Finally back at the top of the big hill, and started booking it. I felt strong, and kept driving forward, thinking 'bacon'...that was supposed to be waiting for us at the finish line! I crossed through, getting a high-five from Garrath and his son (cutey-patootie!), finishing at (my Garmin time) of 2:01:56. I was aiming for under 2 hours, but I am still pleased with the run today. I feel great still, and know what I need to work on for Toronto. Of course, if I can run these hills, Toronto is going to be a freaking breeze! I think where this will really make the difference is in Banff in September (Melissa's 22km) as that has it's far share of hills to climb.

Did some stretching, grabbed the last of the bacon (one tiny little piece) and some pancakes, and a cup of the worst coffee, ever. Seriously, have none of these people heard of a filter?! I've had camping coffee that was better!!! And it was Starbucks! They should be arrested for caffeine abuse. The "winners" were announced (which for a non-timed event was odd), and then some door prizes, which I won one. And it's like they knew me! Cool Starbucks Moose mug, the fudge popcorn (so gone already), coffee coated almonds and some Pike's Peak coffee beans. Can't wait to grind them up for a cup in my new mug. George was checking everything out, and tried to claim (kitty face rub) the cup for his very own. Too bad he doesn't drink coffee. I do apolgize for the blurry pictures...when I have my contacts in (for distance) I can't really see close up that well and didn't realize they were so out of focus. Growing older sucks...just saying.

Had something a little more substantial to eat, baking up some samosas and dipping them in Greek yogurt blended with a bit of lime juice. Then enjoyed some of the Liberte "Crack" Coconut yogurt dessert...I lurve this stuff!!!

Then I needed to lay down. I was fading quickly at this point, and enjoyed a nice little nap until the heat woke me up. Puttered around, before walking to Safeway to look for something raw for dinner. I did not want to turn anything on, so ended up with some dip, high-fibre corn chips (10 grams!), a 7-layer dip, baby carrots and sugar snap peas. Enjoyed a drumstick cone for dessert (I did manage to burn off over 1400 calories this morning) and am now praying for the predicted cold front to hurry up and arrive. I truly hate being hot! Off to find my lightest outfit to wear to bed, and then I think it's time to settle down for the night. I'm going to cut the grass early tomorrow morning, before it gets too hot, and then do some more puttering around. I think I'll try to find a dishwasher tomorrow, as mine is dead and I hate hand-washing dishes.

Hope everyone had a great Saturday. I know I did.

Later,

Female trainers

So far, as far as Boot Camp goes, the female trainers are batting zero! Trainer Josh had another commitment tonight, so he sent in a sub. I knew it wasn't going to be a stellar class when we started us warming up with high knees, butt kicks and jumping jacks. One guy was so choked, he actually left! It did improve slightly with the circuit, except she took way too long to explain what to do and kept getting herself confused about what move was next. Once we got started though (bicep to press, drop legs, v-sit (although not a v-sit, but a leg lift), squats, push-ups, extensions, lat flies, mountain climbers, lunge walking, suicide drills, and back to the start. We did each drill for a minute, so even by the time this was done, the class was barely half over! She then took us to the BA hill (why we didn't start there, I don't know), and had us run up and down it for 5 minutes. Did I mention that it was probably in the high +20's (Celsius, not Fahrenheit) and totally sunny? Yikes! After that, we returned to the mats, where she did have us do a pretty good ab routine (she said she used to work for Bikini boot-camp) before we stretched and finished for the day. I heart Josh...I did not heart her. Boo.

Got Mom, and saw Dad, who was doing much better today. Still a little slow and seemed tired, but at least he made sense and was responsive. I had ordered him some Humbug candies from a place in Ontario, and they made it to work today. He said they weren't quite what he remembered from his youth, but at over $30 just for the shipping, he's eating every single one of those bad boys!!!! Never did hear from the doctor (she was at the hospital this morning, apparently) but the nurse and I had a very long face to face conversation. She pretty much said that moving Dad is never going to happen, given this week's events. That made me feel much better, and then we discussed making sure Dad was comfortable above all, and cared for. I left there feeling more reassured then I have in a while.

Home, carb-loading. Stopped in at Community Foods to get some Greek yogurt, and came home with some whole wheat pita, hummus and a tuna sandwich on a really good grainy bread. Dinner was a mish-mash (hummus, the sandwich, a bowl of cheerios) but once again, it's late and I didn't want to turn the oven or stove on! I'm also getting loads of water in, so should be ready for the run in the morning. It's supposed to be a hot day tomorrow (feel rather bad for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer walkers tomorrow!) so I am happy that the race starts as early as it does (8am). Of course, I'm not happy about the 16km through the hilliest area of Calgary...twice! Deets on the run to follow.

By the way, thanks to you all for letting me rant here...I do feel better after spewing it all out.

Later,