So Tired

This was a crazy week.

I went to two concerts and worked overtime for 3 days in a row. By the time Saturday hit I was exhausted.

On Tuesday I saw Michael Buble - he's so much fun live. The opening act was Naturally 7, I have never seen them before and they were amazing. It's a 7 guy accapella group and their ability to do instruments is mind blowing.

On Wednesday I went to Cher, and the opening act was Cyndi Lauper. Fantastic show.

I had to get a new lap top and for some reason my iphone photos don't upload so I can't share the bizillion photos I took.

At one point Cher came out in her Take Back Time outfit (remember the video on the naval vessel with all the sailors). Holy she look just as good in it now at 68 then she did then. Which inspired me to post a pic on Facebook and declare I want to grow up to be her.

I can't believe I've been at the new job for a month now it feels like much longer and the days go by so fast.

On Thursday I went to Lammles to pick up the cowboy boots I ordered. There was some trouble finding them in the store but the girls in the shop were great.

Stampede of course starts this coming Friday with the annual parade.

By Friday I was running on fumes.

On Saturday I went down for a nap at 10am and woke up at 3:30pm and completely missed weigh in. D'oh. My naps are usually 90 min tops. I obviously needed the rest.

I am working tomorrow as Canada Day lands on a Tuesday, I expect it to be quiet as many will take Monday off. I need every last vacation day to over the rest of the runs in 2014. Speaking of runs, Dumbo Doubledare is 2 months away and the cough that won't die plus crazy new schedule has not helped my training.

Excuses end now, and the gym is my destination after work tomorrow.

It's been fun to read all the FitBloggin posts. This year it was in Savannah. Last year I had bow out due to my Dad passing away, this year I couldn't justify it with all the runs I wanted to do. But next year it's in Denver, so way closer for me.

Now I should  go pack my gym bag.

Hope all is well with all of you.

Back to basics...again

I feel like my life has been on mute for awhile. 

I've had glimmers of being off mute but the button isn't completely off.

Take this week for example, while it was a rough week with the 1st anniversary of Dad's passing on the walk to the train this morning I felt like I was letting him down. 

I've been battling weight for essentially my entire life and while I've had success I feel like I've been in the longest slump. He certainly witnessed a big part of that battle and didn't understand why I battled. I want to get this done in honour of him so he can see from up there that I did it, I finally did it. 

Even with the loss last week that honestly I think was due to their scale being off. This week I bought lunch everyday and not only that breakfast, I had no plan. I haven't been to the gym in forever and the whole coughing thing since the Calgary Half has been my excuse. Though I have noted I don't cough much during those walks to and from the train station. 

This needs to stuff and I need to get back into control and back in the drivers' seat. I choose what is a priority, no one else. 

So tomorrow it's grocery shopping with plans for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No more buying and figure out when I hit the gym. I do work longer hours now so maybe I need to rethink and go first thing in the morning instead of after work, or keep after work but have meals planned in advance. 

I know I can do this so I need to just do it. 

I need to make a decision on the WW meeting. Tomorrow I'll go at 12:30 and make a final decision to either continue with this meeting or move to a different location that has an earlier meeting. I know this program works so I'm not abandoning it. I need to start following it 100% of the time. 

I need to start running again it's 68 days to Dumbo Doubledare let's get this patootie in gear. 

Do I feel defeated, heck no. I just need to remember why I want this and go after it. 

Aye Carumba

Again I go MIA for a week and  a half, the day after the half marathon I woke up with a sore throat and I’ve been a coughing fool since then plus sniffly. 

Last weekend was rough as it was my first Father’s Day without my Dad and as he passed on Father’s Day last year I don’t foresee this being a fun holiday for me. The actual one year anniversary was Monday and that day went much better then Sunday.

I laid low all weekend avoiding any interaction with Father’s Day, I had planned to go to Canadian Tire but then decided against it.

I just focused on rest.

The Thursday before I went to the walk in clinic to see if there was something I could do about the cough that won’t die.  After waiting for an hour I finally got in and I was the last appointment of the day.

The Doctor is from the UK originally and he made the observation that he notices a trend that in Canada colds have a longer period of coughing. Great.

He also suggested we drink more water as in 4L of water per day that is 16 cups. I thought about that and then tried to think how much time I’d spend in the bathroom.

He prescribed inhalers like puffers. I have never used a puffer in my life. He listened to my lungs and noted no wheezing and actually thought the lung capacity was not maximum. Ok the coughing doesn’t exactly help lung capacity. They took a throat swab too and said if the puffers don’t work next step will be antibiotics. I honestly thought that would be the first step.

I wound up with 3 puffers and the instructions to use them 3 times a day. I think the first few days were a wash as it took me awhile to get the rhythm of using them. Then the 3 times a day thing was iffy, at work I’m in meetings a lot and that would throw off my puffer times.

I do find when I’m not talking I don’t cough as much.

I haven’t gone for a run since the half and with the next one 70 something days away I want to get back at it. I actually find that during activity like walking to and from the train station I don’t cough or very little.

In terms of any improvement with the puffers not really but again my consistency with using them hasn’t been great. I’m still on the first one so I will make a consecrated effort to be better at it. 

In regards to Weight Watchers I attended my first 12:30pm meeting on Saturday, I still don't like the time but it was so nice to see everyone. What is it about Church basements that make them so oppressive. The room is tiny and very closed in. Still debating on going to a different location and the 7am meeting. Not sure what I'll do this weekend. 

|I was down 1.6 which was a surprise as that was off from my home scale and at the old location my scale was not that off from the WW scale so need to keep an eye on that.

So that's all I got, hope to be posting about getting my activity groove back on and making some fun healthy recipes for work lunches. 

Hugs!

A half marathon and belated Birthday

I didn't mean to go MIA for a week. In fact I was ready to write a recap of the Calgary Marathon 50th Anniversary but the day after the half I woke up with a cold and have been fitting a cough since then.

Let me go back to last Sunday. I caught the first C-Train in the morning to make my way down to the Stampede grounds and the start line. I wandered around a little that waited inside the Grandstand building as it was a wee chilly in the morning but I knew it would warm up. I kept to my no bag check policy, which in retrospect wasn't the greatest idea.

 Me in the corral. Now I am spoiled by all the RunDisney events I do so I kind of expect the same level of detail. There were 4 corrals in all - Elite, A, B and Open. My bib let me in B but I wasn't feeling 100% so I opted for open and moved to the back. The cut off time was something like 5 hours and I knew I would finish before that so corral placement wasn't so important.

 The amount of people in front of me in the corrals, now the corrals were not separated it was just one long mess of people.

The race started at 7am and as I made my way to the start line people were still loading into the corrals, it was chaotic.

The race itself wound it's way through Calgary streets. There were times I thought I was dead last as there was no one around me. This was kind of nice as I didn't need to dodge people. Later on I realized I wasn't dead last just had a pocket of emptiness.

There were a few people in costumes and by few I mean I saw 5 people out of 8000 or so in costume. The other observation I didn't see a single person wearing KT Tape which stuck out to me because at RunDisney events I see loads of people taped up.

 My dirty socks post race

 Tada I did it, in 3:19. My goal was under 3:30 as due to feeling blechy I walked the whole darn thing. Now my regret about no bag check. At the RunDisney events I'm usually relatively close to my hotel. I didn't factor in the two train rides home and the post race refreshments were a wee odd. They gave us bottled water, a juice box, piece of fruit, Spicy Marinara potato chips and oreos The big thing I failed to do is have a post race strategy for when I got home. I didn't have anything ready like chocolate milk in the fridge or a proper post race meal planned.

 Maybe not as blingy as a Run Disney medal but still pretty spiffy

In other news I finally got to put the Star Wars decal on my SUV.

Oh yes my birthday was on Tuesday but it was super low key as I felt blechy.

The week pretty much flew by as I fought the cold and I didn't go to WI this week as I was a coughing mess and thought I better lay low.

Today I ventured out for Church and a great visit with my friend T. Later it was a belated birthday celebration and off to Maleficient with my other great friend L. The movie was good but I wouldn't say great. It was a little slow in pace but Angelina Jolie is perfect as Maleficient.

When I got home it started to hit me that next weekend is the 1st anniversary of my Dad passing away. I guess it's technically next Monday but last year he died on Father's Day so that holiday is permanently linked to that even for me. Of course Father's Day ads have been around and I'm thinking they'll pick up over the week.

A part of me can't believe a year has already passed and how much has changed, and how much has stayed the same. This week I'll be more conscious of feelings and probably be a bit more reflective.

The last thing I need to do is deal with his house and property so that will be the focus for now on as I finally feel as ready as I can to deal with that.

Be kind to yourself this week my friends, we all deserve that.