A Sunday saunter

The weather for yesterday's National Capital marathon and half marathon was perfect. Overcast and slightly cool, a little humid, with a light drizzle starting partway through (near the end for marathoners). Sounds dreary, but it's perfect for a long run.

Me and Sweetie McPie ran the half marathon. We won! Seriously, I think just about anyone who finishes these races must feel like they've won.

Reality:

Our chip time was 1 hr 55 min 52 seconds. Technically, I was 1:55:51.9 and McPie was 1:55:52.6, but that's just because I'm the more experienced runner. (I.e: my elbows are sharper.) Kidding. We resisted linking arms, and satisfied ourselves with maintaining fine sprinting form as we crossed the line.

It wasn't a PB for me, but it was better than I expected given our level of training. (Our long run training was fine, but I didn't do much mid-week work - just jogging home from work a few times a week, with a few 10k in there - no speed work. And almost no frisbee.) However, it was the most enjoyable race I've done. Running with the Pie was most excellent. In the last four or five kilometres, we felt like Maverick and Goose, our communication limited to agreeing on a target to reel in, and encouraging each other as we slowly closed the gap. We zigged and zagged all over the road, too, trying to keep pace and stay with amid the bazillion other runners. It was so cool.

Ok, there were 7664 other half-marathoners (we placed 3002 and 3003!), and they weren't ALL in our direct vicinity, but it sure felt like it. This was my third time in this race, and it was by far the most packed. I'd heard that they'd capped registration, but I'm not sure what the point was, it was so crowded.

Another cool: The new course winds near our house around the 6 km mark. The kids' moms brought them over and they all cheered us as we passed. Constance had made a big sign, and Ben ran alongside (actually somewhat in our path) for a half a block. How fun is that?

One of the BEST things about any race day is the FOOD. This year, we treated ourselves to a giant brunch with the family and Pete&Emma, our running pals (Pete kicked our butts in the race: 1:53:39.9; Emma cheered us on: Suck Less!) The other Moms had done the 10K race the night before, so it was a well-deserved celebration all round. To top it off, the kids' Maman had given us a gift of delicious steaks so we could have a champions dinner.

(Is it wrong to feed your kids shake 'n bake chicken legs while you eat premium steaks? Constance led us to believe so, and thus scored herself many bites of our meal. The shake 'n bake - McPie's special recipe, of course - was also delicious, so I don't really think anyone suffered...)

Anyway, now we are pumped to train our butts off and try another race and blow our PB times out of the water. 1hr45 anyone? The Fall Colours race always happens on Thanksgiving and it's pretty nice to come home and have a turkey dinner after a long run. (Even if you have to make it yourself!)

Since when...

...are they called the Anaheim "Ducks"? They're not Mighty any more? Is "Ducks" supposed to be more sophisticated? Did ownership change and/or Disney sue for trademark infringement?

Both names are stupid for a hockey team (I'm sure this isn't a novel judgement), but at least there was a reason for the previous name (however lame).

Just "Ducks"? It's just stupid. Stupid like hockey mania is stupid.

(Look, now that I've given in and watch TV every so often, I need a new target for my withering disapproval.)

Adrenaline spike

I was sitting here slumped at my desk, first day back after a working (but still lovely) vacation, when a friend sent the link to this video. (For both of you out there who read this and may not be familiar with ultimate frisbee, this will give you a taste, and it is sweet.)

Immediate goosebumps of anticipation, and I couldn't help but watch it twice. Now I'm sitting a little straighter in my seat, a little more raring to go.

Nine days and counting until our first tournament of the year!

(My guess is that the video was shot at No Borders? A local Ottawa tournament...)

In the weeds

I am very busy with work these days. I expect to come up for air in about a week.

Then, I'm straight onto vacationy goodness. After that, I'll have pictures and updates from our upcoming trip to the Farmhouse Inn.

Check out the link on the right under Pals. The Fair Innkeepers have just finished reno'ing two of their rooms and will be posting pictures... All the better to lure you into an East Coast vacation!

Portrait of a modern family

Left to right: Ben, Constance, Dad, Hevver, Lilly, Maman.

We came, we saw, we narrowly avoided puking

This weekend, team Gong Show took our act to Montreal. It was chaotic, chronically behind schedule (as much as we ever schedule anything), and lots of fun. We came home feeling like a team that just won the big trophy.

We'd been meaning to visit Aunt Olive in Lachine for a while; she's not too far away and apparently a load of fun. She's also pushing 90, so we figured we'd better take the kids to meet her sooner than later.

So we concocted a plan to pop over to Montreal, see "Tante Oh-Leev", stay in a hotel WITH A POOL, and visit the Biodome. Good clean, kidlet-friendly fun.

We aimed to leave on Saturday around noon or so. In true form, we hit the road at 2 PM. (Thanks to McPie for doing all the prep so I could go on a big 18 km run.) We had to stop on the way to buy a bathing suit for Constance who is constantly growing out of them. (She's grown AN INCH since February.) The whole way, we battled "kids in the back seat together" (if you have siblings, you know what I'm talking about) and potential car sickness. We arrived at Aunt Olive's two hours late, and C had to go straight to bed with a nervous stomach (she's not one for car trips, and planes are even worse. We think is psychosomatic, but that remains to be seen.)

Aunt Olive is awesome. She plied us with cocktails and delicious tortière, patiently humoured Ben on his need to watch TV because there was nothing to play with. She worried over poor Constance, and in a classic move, she slipped both kids fivers on the way out. She also assured us that 90 year olds still talk about sex (usually over drinks at the Legion), but generally can't be bothered to have it. Now we know. I had seriously been wondering about that.

Sunday was breakfast in the hotel restaurant, swimming in the pool, watching Teletoons, and the Biodome. We even ate lunch at the cafeteria there, AND got to pick out souvenirs from the gift shop. How's that for adventure?!

(I'd never been to the Biodome before - it was pretty cool. Ben was pretty much swinging from the trees with the monkeys with energy, so we kind of whizzed through the place. We did enjoy a satisfying tête-à-tête with a beaver - I'm convinced that the beaver has to be the largest rodent ever. At least, the well-fed buddy at Biodome was bigger than the capybara we saw...)

Towards the end of drive home (during which there was much napping), we heard a little Ben voice pipe up from the back seat:

"It was a big day, huh, Dad?"

Go team!