Farewell Ferguson!!!!

A few last cuddles for Heather....


A few last cuddles for Andrew (with a concerned look from Lucy)....


Before packing up and heading to his new home, and his new ferret friends...


Thanks for a fun week Ferguson. There may be a ferret in our future... though not too soon!!!!

More adventures with Ferguson

Heather was making apple sauce today. Here's Ferguson's contribution. :) The regular furry residents are getting desperate for life to return to normal!

Another new addition

Okay, so this one is only a temporary guest. One of Heather's clients is adopting this guy, so while he's awaiting the result of his aleutian disease virus test to indicate its safe for him to go home and meet his new housemates, we're the quarantine site.

This is a chance for Andrew to get a look at what living with a ferret is like since he's always thought they were cool. He sleeps a lot, but when he's out of his cage, he's very curious, busy, and potentially destructive. He's already figured out how to open the kitchen cupboards, dig in the house plants, and get up under our sofa. We've named this one Ferguson, although his adopter will name him Nero.


Apparently he likes the cookbook shelf as well.


The regular furry residents will be very glad to see him head to his new, permanent home and for life to return to normal.

We're on Google Street View

View Larger Map

Here's the link.

I know, you can't really tell definitively that it is us, but I assure you it is. That's Heather at the back, and Andrew on the front. No prizes for guessing which one of us saw the Google Street View car driving past us on that ride, and I've have been checking for months to see when Street View appeared for this area. Its finally there!

We're out on our epic 10 hour, 200 km ride in Spain. We will (eventually) post the route and report about that ride from our honeymoon one of these days!

Word of the Day

Squintervals.

definition
Running intervals for Heather, chasing after a squirrel with Lucy attached to her waist.

example
We had a great session of squintervals today!

Hallowe'en Pumpkins

We were tipped off by Heather's boss about a house in the London area on Glenora Drive where they put out a hundred or so cool pumpkins for people to view as part of a food bank drive. The owner of the house carves several of the cooler pumpkins, but local school students are also involved. Enjoy some pretty amazing jack-o-lanterns.





































































































Hey! What is this, two blog posts in one day! Don't worry, it won't keep up at this pace!

A New Family Member

The week before Thanksgiving (Canadian that is), we welcomed the newest member of our family!
Our nice shiney new red Nespresso Citiz machine. This was something we discovered in Paris as the apartment we rented had one that we enjoyed using a great deal in our time there.


No, its not a "true" espresso machine, what with being pod based and all that, but its a lot cheaper than Starbucks! So far, we've been enjoying the opportunity to pull a shot whenever the urge strikes.

Mmmm.... Watermelon

Nothing satisfies this dog like watermelon after a long Sunday run (okay, so maybe this was a couple of weeks ago, a dog's got important business to attend to).

A Funny Thing...

Yesterday was one of those magic days...no real schedule and lots of time for fun! Gooser dragged us over to the s-c-h-o-o-l to play with the f-r-i-s-b-e-e for a while (we have to spell. She even knows if we're typing the words and gets excited, I swear!) We followed that excursion up with a "seasonal" breakfast of apples, old sharp cheddar, honey, and walnuts on yummy Montreal bagels that Andrew brought back with him from his trip. Delish!

Then off to Stratford for a bit of poking around, coffee at Balzack's...


...and to watch "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," one of the tragedies (kidding...most definitely a comedy!) in the Stratford Festival this year. It was SO well done! We spent 2.5 hours laughing and would definitely suggest to anyone in the area that they go see it. As a sample, the main character Pseudolus, a Roman slave in 200 BC, delivers this line..."My uncle Simo, the noted Carthaginian elephant breeder, came to an untimely end. He was crushed to death on the last day of the mating season." Tee hee. Everyone in Stratford is in festival spirit right now...even the stuffed bear at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!

We found some cute little shops that we'd not seen before including an artisan who makes prints from wood blocks (and has a cute little dog named Smudge) and a great natural food shop called "A Gentle Rain" where we discovered some black beluga lentils that we can't wait to cook up. There was, of course, a chocolate stop at Rheo Thompson. Mint smoothies...mmmm...those should help to fuel a few runs this week :)


Home for a swim and dinner...and a very strange dream about elephant reproduction...

Choosing Joy...and Barefoot Running!

A few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to see our friend David (the pastor who married us!) give a dramatic presentation of Paul's letter to the Phillipians. It was incredible to watch...he had that entire book of the Bible memorized, and presented it in period costume. He titled his presentation "Choose Joy," which fits the nature of Paul's message perfectly. Paul lived at the time of Christ and has a pretty amazing story...going from persecuting the early Christians to becoming one of the most important figures in early teaching and spreading of the gospel...and in sharing that gospel for all time throug the bible. His life was full of challenge and reasons NOT to "choose joy"...he suffered from a "thorn in his flesh" (though we aren't told what exactly this was), was shipwrecked, and spent considerable time in prison for his beliefs to name a few. But in his writing, the joy that he feels in his mission for Christ is evident. In the past few months, too, we have witnessed Dave "choosing joy" as he has faced a recurring battle with cancer but remained always cheerful, always positive.

It's been a bit of a rough week for me (H) in the professional area of my life (fortunately the personal is awesome!) I work with wonderful people and for the most part like my job, but in the past several weeks the number of sad cases I've seen has been almost overwhelming, and some personal conflict that is out of my control has reared its head (which it does periodically). My initial reaction is almost always to be upset, worry, and dwell on the issue to the point where I feel almost physically unwell. It took a while for me to put the pieces together and understand how much my brain controls well being! The cool thing about this week is that by focussing on the right things....which for me means prayer, reflecting on the truths of the Bible, and choosing to "choose joy," I've been able to turn the negative around and truly feel peace and joy. That feeling is so cool. Now if only I can get to the point where my initial reactions of worry and upset wouldn't even happen! Work in progress :)

I often find that running in nature helps me to reflect, pray, and be joyful...I guess being out in creation can do that :) Lucy and I had a great week of barefoot running up at Pinery (Andrew was in Montreal so he missed out. Next week!) 1:15 on Tuesday and 2 hours this morning left us both grinning, Lucy panting, and me with sore but happy feet. This morning was incredible! There were thousands of ladybugs clustered along driftwood and the higher shoreline (mating? dying? just hanging out? Must consult Wikipedia for that one!) One very saucy seagull kept pace with us but just ahead, causing lots of flat out chasing by Goosey. Tee hee :) It's pretty hard to not be inspired to choose joy watching Lucy and her love of life and the simple things!

Happy weekend, all :)

A Long Weekend Lucy-Style!

I always get super-woofy excited for long weekends...it means an extra day with Dad and Mom home! They know that a tired doggie is a happy doggie, so they spend lots of weekend time attempting to tire me out :) I pretend that they have somtimes, just to make them feel good! Actually, they did a pretty good job of keeping me busy this weekend...

Friday: Pack the car; head off for canoe shopping and camping. Turns out they found the canoe of their dreams in Toronto and nixed the camping in Huntsville as they didn't need to go up there to canoe shop anyway. Road trips always make me sleepy, especially when we get back home late...

Saturday: Early morning frisbee session! Ran into my buddy Goliath at the school and chased the spinny thing around the field for 45 minutes. Yay! Breakfast followed by a morning nap. Just a day "off" today, so I could catch up on my beauty rest for the next couple days. A visit from Rosie (Mike and Andrea's 12 week old chocolate lab...all the humans keep saying how cute she is, but she always jumps on my head and tries to steal all my toys...) in the afternoon. Country walk in the evening. Not tired yet....come on people!

Sunday: Okay, getting a bit more tired :) 23.5 km run with Mom and Dad in the morning, including a mid-run swim. Sent the humans off to church while I had a dance party with Pumpkin and Gooberette (the stuffed bear comes alive when no one is home!). The humans thought I was sleeping the whole time they were away...yeah, right! Off to try out the new canoe in the afternoon, followed by more swimming. I look like such a dork in my life jacket...

Mom and Dad had another 8.5 km of running to do in the evening...I really wanted to go, but my fur coat doesn't work so well in the heat. Maybe if I had an ice vest? Dragged the humans around the neighborhood for a walk later in the evening.

Monday: A bit of long-run tiredness, but still up for frisbee at 7:15 am! 45 minutes of frisbee to take the edge off, then sent the humans for a 3.5 hour bike ride. Dance party #2 of the weekend while they were away :) Then...oh boy oh boy...a walk up to the apple orchard to pick the first apples of the fall! A 2 hour round trip...with something REALLY yummy to roll in at the orchard!



Another hour walk in the country with Rosie to end the day....officially tired doggle :) Life is sooo tough...

Wedding Photos!

Hi all! Some fun news...our wedding photo gallery is online! The photographers (HRM Photography) were an absolute pleasure to work with (right down to putting doggie treats on the camera lens to get Lucy's attention)...we'd definitely recommend them to anyone!

You can look through the gallery (all 500 photos! Yikes!) by going to http://clients.hrmphotography.com/ and scrolling through the wedding galleries to "Heather and Andrew." It's all alphabetical. Actually, our engagement gallery is still there too, further down the page. The username is your e-mail address; the password is "Hanik."

Hope all is well with everyone! Happy Wednesday to all :)

Seriously Amazing Salad

Mmmm...we're in the middle of cooking up our take on a salad that we discovered one lunch in Paris. We read about "Relais Gascon," a restaurant in Montmartre that was known for its big salads...a great find! Here's our take on their recipie...amounts of each ingredient are whatever is on hand or desired on the day :)

-mixed greens
-corn kernels (ideally, fresh off a cooked cob)
-beets (roast at 450 F for 60 minutes, then remove skins and chop)
-shredded carrot
-fried potatoes (mmmm...do up with olive oil and salt)
-fried egg(s)
-shredded hard cheese (currently using asiago)

For dressing:

-olive oil
-balsamic vinegar
-salt and pepper

One of the many fun things about being in Spain and some parts of France was eating amazingly good salads which weren't "disguised" by flavoured dressings. Often, the waiter would bring cruets of olive oil and balsamic to the table for us to make our own dressings (along with salt and pepper)...yummy :)

Happy cooking to all!

Running Doggle...

Forget "running man"....our little running doggle Lucy is quite the star these days. My (H's) parents whipped her into shape for us while we were in Europe, with multiple frisbee sessions each day and lots of walks. Frisbee sessions are, to adapt a quote from our friend Andrea, "intervals on crack." [editor's note...the original quote, "Kentucky Fried Chicken on crack" was used by Andrea to describe the yummiest duck dinner EVER on our last night in Paris! More to follow when we actually get back on track with the trip blog!!!] Anyhoo, thanks to her frisbee sessions, Lucy is running like the wind these days. It sure helps my leg turnover when I've got her attached to the other end of the leash :)

Andrew and I are aiming for a fall marathon...it has been a while since his last marathon, and I've only ever run one and have some seriously unfinished business :) The great meltdown (time and heat wise) in Chicago 2007 left me feeling pretty unsatisfied, so I'd like to erase that with a good run. Miss Lucy is a star training buddy for us!

So, life right now is consisting of running, some riding for fun (and to try and keep the great fitness we got riding the big mountains across the pond), normal day to day stuff, and some extra work for me (our other vet is on holiday for the month of August...back next week. Yay!) We're loving the remaining days of summer...it is gorgeous here right now, though there is a slight chill in the air at 6 am now. On a random personal note...being married to Andrew rocks :)

Trip blogging to resume next week...no, really :)

Sweet Spot in Spain!

And so begins our after-the-fact blog chronicles of our amazing honeymoon in Europe! We flew out of the Toronto airport on July 10 (and got to see the Airbus A380 parked at the gate as we taxied...huge plane!)

After a few hours between plane transfers in the Charles de Gaulle Airport (which provided us with our first "pain au chocolat"...croissants with chocolate filling that Andrew might almost kill for!) we arrived in Barcelona. Car rental took a while, even though it had all been set up over the internet. Or so we thought. Anyhow, we wound up with a compact VW minivan-type-of-thingy which served us well in the following couple of weeks. Off we headed to find the farmhouse that we were staying at. After about an hour of driving, we came across this gem of a town, much of which dates back to the 12th century. We didn't stop as we were beyond exhausted, but there was NO way I'd leave Spain without going back to see this place sometime during the week :)


We pulled into "Can Cruanyes," an incredibly beautiful stone farmhouse about 35 km from Girona and in the middle of countryside and were greeted by roosters and the neighbour's dog. We can't remember her name, so decided to call her "Esmeralda," or "Ezzy" for short. Ezzy soon became a good buddy, especially when we were cooking dinner :)



We ventured into Tortella, the nearby town, for dinner and were amused by the spoon-shaped streetlights. Off to bed after dinner....as climbing the Col du Tourmalet for our first rendezvous with THE Tour de France lay ahead for the next day!

We're Back!

Hi to all! We've been back in Canada for a few days now....our trip was PHENOMENAL. We managed to keep ourselves busy with lots of riding (including a couple of 9 hour days on the bike and multiple climbs up Mt Ventoux), sightseeing, and great eating. All of that led to no blogging...but we'll make up for it!! Starting next week, we'll post every day or two and do a retrospective day by day trip album.

Gooberette will also have some fun photos to post on her blog...lots of travels for a small bear. Unfortunately, she has now developed a taste for fine wine, coffee, and chocolate and insists that we receive air mail of such from France at least once monthly. She may need a job to support her new habit :)

Heather's parents stayed with Goosey while we were away, and we are still visiting with them for a couple more days. There is talk of a trip to St Jacob's market on Saturday :)

Happy weekend to all! Here's a first "teaser" photo...

A Perfect Day

Saturday June 27, 2009, was the perfect day. Andrew and I got to share our love with one another in front of some of our closest family and friends...and everything was so beautiful! The weather was stellar, our ceremony was so meaningful and fun, and our "garden party" reception was a blast! I hope that I'll always remember the sheer joy and excitement I felt upon waking up on Saturday morning....joy and excitement that lasted all day. And the look of love in Andrew's eyes as he pledged his love to me :) Lucy, our ring doggie, did her job SO well...she was quiet as a churchmouse during the ceremony and ran up the aisle with our rings right on cue :)

Here are a couple of pics from our friend Mike...check out our attentive ring doggie and the sheer joy on our faces :)

WEDDING!!!

In just over 2 days, I get to marry Andrew. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world :) He is amazing as is our life together, and I can't wait to celebrate with friends and family (furry and less furry)!

A huge goal for me was to make it to the day without being too tired out or stressed. I'm finding that a bit harder than I thought it would be, as it gets a bit hard to turn the brain off sometimes :) The tummy flu and 3 days of not eating this past weekend didn't help either. But all is well, and I can't wait!!!!

The past couple weeks have been really cool...lots of neat moments which have left us feeling very loved. Fun visits with some of our good friends (Emily, Mike S, Andrea, and Mike N - THANK YOU!!!); the chance to spend time with my parents who live so far away (sorry about the tummy flu wrecking our Father's Day dinner plans, Dad!); and some seriously unexpected and wonderful gifts of love from some special clients of mine at work. And there are still 2 days to go!

Some very close friends get here tomorrow...cannot wait to see them :) More follow on Friday, one arriving at 12 am on Friday!

There have been a few unexpected bumps along the way, the biggest besides the flu being that Andrew's road bike (the one that is coming to Spain and France with us for honeymoon riding bliss) decided to break while riding last Sunday. We figured that it would need to go back to the Cervelo dealer (which it did).....and were pretty worried it wouldn't come back in time. But thanks to Paul at Cycles London, all will be dealt with well before we leave. A total blessing in disguise...if it had happened while riding in Europe it would NOT have been good.

So...the dress and suit are ready; the programs are printed; the flowers ordered; the people arriving; the "ring dog" is prepped and pumped....and our hearts are bursting with love and happiness :)

Spotty Dog Meets Stripey Skunk

It was bound to happen sooner or later....two long years had passed since Lucy Goosey encountered her first skunk. She got off pretty lucky that time, as the skunk was in underbrush and she didn't get a "direct hit." A bath in hydrogen peroxide/dish soap/baking soda quickly remedied things.

Enter Stripey Skunk. Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in London, and The Goosey and I were out for a great playtime in the country. Lots of swimming, walking, and a great roll in something dead (the dog, not me!) And then it happened. Stripey Skunk was wandering around, minding his or her own business, when all of a sudden Spotty Dog entered the same airspace. I didn't see the actual incident, but heard a very alarmed bark and looked over to see Spotty Dog in all sorts of bother. Direct nose hit. She immediately started shaking her head and trying to rub it on the ground...what followed next was an amusing mix of trying to comfort her and get her to run back down to the pond to soak her head. About 15 minues of swimming/sticking her head in the pond mud seemed to help greatly...and she didn't even smell too bad by the end of it all!

Methinks that our run on wedding morning should perhaps be in town rather than on the trails...just in case Stripey Skunk happens to be out again. Though a skunky ring doggie would get everyone's attention :)

Remember, all dogs and humans alike...DON'T PLAY WITH THE BLACK AND WHITE KITTY!

An Unexpected Gift

Last Tuesday started like any other Tuesday....wake up; feed the doggle; and go for a swim. But on the way for our morning swim, we noticed a turtle hanging out on a bit of green area near a fairly busy intersection in west London. On our way home, turtle hadn't moved. Andrew had to head off to work and myself to errands, but I thought I'd stop and say hello to the turtle on the way home (as I was late as usual on the way out). 4 hours after we'd first seen said turtle, it was still in the same area and had a bit of an audiance. A lady had been watching it for the past 2 hours! Turns out that "it" was a female snapping turtle, who had just laid 35 eggs! The other woman had tried to bury the eggs some to protect them and was now trying to move the turtle into the woods to point her towards the river (as the turtle kept heading for the road). Not an easy task, moving a snapping turtle!

Between the two of us we tried to distract her with a stick while picking up her back end...didn't work so well. And the poor mom turtle was exhausted after laying all those eggs. Enter the hero of the day...the Canada Post guy! He'd seen us trying to help the critter and u-turned to come help. We managed to move her into an empty plastic letter box and carry her down towards the water. Hopefully those little eggs will do ok...

I scooted home to grab the camera and hopefully track her down again for some photos...but no luck. What I did find was lots of beauty on a short little trail down to the river that I'd never explored before. An hour of hanging out there, listening to the birds and meeting a few smaller "critters" was definitely unexpected and an amazing gift on an otherwise typical Tuesday.

How to Skin a Cat....and Other Randomness

We're back in action after a hard-drive-crash-induced hiatus from blogging. Yay! We thought that we'd start with an instructional lesson on how to properly groom a cat....

Step 1: Locate cat. In this case, a willing K-Pumpsie, who LOVES to be groomed.
Step 2: Pick a grooming tool. We use the "Furminator"...worth its weight in gold (or fur!)
Step 3: Remove all fur.


Step 4: But wait...cat still has a full coat of fur! And a new "friend!" Perhaps the K-Pump should be groomed more frequently....


Tee hee! The things you can find to do on a long weekend when laid up with a cold. A couple of weeks have passed since then and the new pet (aka - the pile of fur) is growing its own tail and is starting to show basic signs of intelligence. Scary!

Lots of other fun randomness to report! It is now easier to "keep up" with Lucy on runs thanks to the "Buddy System" leash. It encircles the waist and saves the left shoulder from being pulled out of its socket upon sight of a squirrel. Brilliant!

We both raced the Milton tri this past weekend and were pretty thrilled with how the day went. A great visit with friends the night before helped to set the tone :) A bit concerning on race morning was the fact that the air temperature was cooler than the water, but a climb up 6th line hill at the 5th km of the bike helped us to warm up quickly. As far as placings went, we were both happy to finish 3rd (Andrew) and 2nd (Heather) in our age groups. Moreover for me (H), I actually enjoyed a triathlon for the first time in a very long time and my body decided to cooperate with me! Sweet! Next up is Muskoka tri in 2 weeks...we'll see if we hold up over twice the distance :)

And on a culinary note....interesting things to munch on in our house lately have included fiddleheads (great in stir fry with tofu and mushrooms) and scallop salad (super easy! Pan fry scallops with some garlic; serve over a bed of spinach, strawberries, pecans, watercress, and asiago cheese; drizzle with balsamic).




Happy eating, training, and living to all...

Just Keep Swimming....

Andrew is definitely the speedy swimmer in our family. There have been a few little breakthroughs to quicker swimming on my end, but they often seem to be short-lived and hard to repeat. This fellow and I would get along well most days....not going anywhere too quickly in the water.

But something REALLY cool happened this Saturday. We were supposed to be out riding lots over the long weekend, but plans changed due to weather and the fact that we'd both been fighting off a head cold since Wednesday. We headed off to the pool with "50 x 100m" being the goal... 10 x 100 free; then 10 pull; 10 free; 10 pull/paddles; 10 fins. The sets with toys would be fun, I knew, as toys are my buddies in the pool. I've been attempting to sever the ties with my buddies a bit more this winter, knowing that "just swimming" would help with both technique and confidence. Still, I was NOT looking forward to the free sets. But then the really, really cool stuff happened. Normally, holding 1:40 pace per 100m is acheivable. 1:35 can happen for a couple of hundreds but not consistently. Today, I swam every 100 of straight free on 1:30 - 1:33 with nicely controlled effort. WHEEEE!

Now the trick is to do it again....and then string them together for 1500 meters or more! But, I've come up with a set of rules to follow that may or may not have contributed to Saturday's success:

1. Don't train for 3 days prior due to a head cold.
2. Wake up at 3:30 am thanks to a thunderstorm and cat fight outside.
3. Don't fall asleep. Instead, get up and write an e-mail.
4. While still awake, watch an hour of Giro d'Italia coverage on the interweb.
5. Go back to bed at 6:30, when everyone else is getting up for the day. Sleep till 10.
6. Wake up. Take Lucy doggle for a rip in the country.
7. Lunch at 2 pm - LOTS of sushi. Mmmm....sushi.
8. Go shopping with Andrew for a really cool tea kettle.
9. Swim! Follow Andrew and try to keep him within 5 - 10 meters. Relax, think "long and smooth," and just DO it!


Maybe I'll stick with the pre-swim sushi part of the plan, anyway. The rest could be hard to replicate! Besides...sushi = fish, and fish are good swimmers...even the little dude in the fishbowl. Faster swimming by meal osmosis? And maybe, just maybe, at some race one day I'll get out of the water a bit more "in the mix" and not have so much work to do on the bike :)

A Snail's Pace

One of the biggest challenges in my life is finding balance. It seems as if it should be easy, but then my tendency to rush here and there; to fit just a little more in; and to feel almost guilty for taking "me" time kicks in. One of the many things I admire about Andrew is his ability to maintain a pretty good balance (well, most of the time!) and not waste energy worrying about things that it doesn't make sense to worry about. For me, this is harder. But, after several years of stressing about this whole "balance" concept rather than acting on it, I think I'm finally learning :) Learning to look after my spirit, because that is the most important part of my being. That work is a part of life but shouldn't dominate it. That there is only so much energy to go around. That it is OK to take an unplanned day off from training if my body needs it. That a cup of tea and a good book are great friends. And that yoga is a really, really, really good idea!

In a world where we can microschedule every moment of our day; can be tracked down by cell phone almost anywhere; and can have so many demands on our time from so many sources, it can be hard to slow down and just "be." But the energy we can gain from those moments is huge! When life starts to get too busy, I try to think of this little dude whom we met while hiking the West Coast Trail last year. Okay, so he's a slug, not a snail ("A Slug's Pace" just didn't work as well for the title!)
I suspect that in his little world, life is more about the journey than the destination...'cause it might take a really long time to get there! This little guy is a great reminder for me to just slow down sometimes; to smell the flowers; to "keep up with Lucy" when she is taking a nap (as that will make for faster running later!); and to enjoy every aspect of the journey.

Racing fast is great :) But sometimes it really is OK to move at a "snail's" pace.

Thank you to our Amazing Moms!

Andrew and I are so blessed. For so many, many reasons...a big one being the fact that we both have super-awesome-fantastic moms! We love you guys every day, but today is the day to give a special shout out to you and say "thanks" for all that you are and all that you do!

Our moms have supported us through years of successes and not-so-much-successes; loved us always (a challenging task at times!); and always been there for us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! You rock! We can't wait to share our wedding day with you :)


One of the things that has been so much fun for me the past few years is that my mom and I have grown into not just a mom and daughter but also really close friends. Which makes living across the country from her hard....thank goodness for phones! There are so many moments that would be great to share in person...but then again, we have managed to share a huge number of amazing times in the past few years and learn a lot about one another along the way. Like the fact that my mom has an AMAZING cheering screamy voice at triathlons! To look at her, you wouldn't think that such a great cheer could come out of her little body :) I remember the first time I heard it....at the 1/2 Ironman in Stony Plain, AB....I think everyone in transition took note! And that she is a fantastic "doggie grandma"....I know all about those pots that you let Lucy lick out after dinner :) Thanks for EVERYTHING, Mom.

PS - Our Dads rock too....but your official day isn't until June :)

Of foxes, racing, and summer treats

It's official....we have a neighborhood fox. He (she?) made an appearance again around the same early morning time as last week in the same spot. The "squirrel breakfast" today was grey, rather than black, though :)

Sunday was the first go at racing for both of us in a little while. We headed down to Milton for a visit with Mike and Anna, a bit of riding, and to run the Sporting Life (Sporting Death?) 10 km in Toronto. The visit was great as always, and the run....well....painful :) Neither of us has done a huge amount of speedwork or tempo since last year, so we had relatively modest expectations. We wound up being fairly happy once all was said and done (39 min and change for Andrew; 43 and change for Heather) given the lack of true prep work. But man, did it hurt! We both managed to go out a bit too fast and weren't able to hold onto the pace. On the bright side, I (H) set a new 4 km PB of 16:05! If only there were a few more 4 k races around :)

Summer is just around the corner in this neck of the woods, so it is time to start making some yummy "summmery" recipies. We discovered a really great ginger ale recipie (adapted from "The Thrive Diet" by Brendan Brazier) which is SUPER refreshing, especially post-workout, and full of healthy stuff. Apparently ginger is quite a potent anti-inflammatory. Just mix everything in a blender and store in the fridge:
- juice of 2 lemons
- 2 cups water and 2 cups coconut water (can use 4 cups water instead)
- 2 tbsp agave nectar (a natural sweetener)
- 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- sea salt to taste

Happy week to all...

Keeping up with.....the local wildlife

A wise man once said that the success of a run is judged not by time, distance, or effort, but by how many critters one encounters along the way. Maybe we've got the quote a bit muddled, but oh well :) Two very cool "wildlife runs" to report:

The time: Friday morning, 7 am
The place: Komoka Provincial Park
The objective: Trail run
The critters: two deer, one racoon (unceremoniously treed by Lucy), and one very cool wild
turkey in the middle of the trail!

But, even cooler was yesterday's encounter....

The time: Thursday morning, 6:30 am
The place: Byron (our subdivision, in the city!!!)
The objective: Hill repeats
The way cool critter: A gorgeous red fox, carrying a squirrel, trotting down the sidewalk.
WOW!


Happy weekend to all!

Beach Running = FUN!

Sunday morning dawned bright and beautiful here in London. A perfect chance, we figured, to head out to The Pinery on Lake Huron for a beach run. We'd read an article which suggested that barefoot is how we are "really" supposed to run....off to the beach to test the theory! Of course, Lucy's thoughts on the matter were something along the lines of "well duh...I run barefoot all the time!" Give us time to build up callus like her pads and we'll be laughing!


1.5 hours of running along relatively deserted, beautiful beach made us happy, giggly (well, Heather anyway!) and ready for some lunch!



Lucy, of course, was still full of boundless energy and insisted on playing "stick" in the lake for another hour (who can keep up with that?) She only decided it was time to pack it in when full body shakes began due to the cold water....



Home to dinner....Andrew's first attempt at cedar plank salmon on the BBQ was a smashing success. Hmm. There appears to be a bit of a food obsession in today's post :)


The aftermath of the barefoot run experience...very sore calves! It took a bit of hobbling about on Tuesday morning to encourage tight little muscles to lengthen out. But definitely an amazing experience and one which we hope to repeat soon.

For all of our Saskatoon buddies out there....Monday was one of those "epic windy" bike ride days out here! It was a little reminder of what riding in Saskatchewan can be like. I had the day off, so went for a spin mid-afternoon. After 15 minutes or so into nasty headwind I was starting to wonder if I had no fitness or if it was just really THAT windy. A quick phone call to Andrew [at work! I truly did feel a bit guilty :) ] to check on wind conditions... hearing "gusts of 55 - 60 km/h" on the other end of the line made me feel much better about things! Time to pray that the wind direction wouldn't change, keep pushing ahead, and dream of the tailwind home.

Happy week to all :)

A Typical (or not!) Tuesday...

A rather fun morning today! Tuesday means a no work day for Heather (woo hoo!)....so even MORE time to try and keep up with our awesome border collie x blue heeler, Lucy. The day started with a 2900 m swim. Put a pull buoy and paddles on me and I can FLY! Which means, being able to sit on Andrew's feet. I have no hope of staying in contact when swimming without "toys," but give me big hands and WHEE!

The less typical part of the day....getting our marriage license! Though it is just a piece of paper (a rather expensive one at that!) it was pretty fun to get :)

Keeping up with Lucy so far has involved a 1 hr country walk with stick throwing. Fortunately, there is no hope of outrunning her for a stick, so why try? A cute little baby 'coon wandered across our path and up a tree....very curious little fellow! This afternoon will be time for keeping up with Pumpkin the cat. This will undoubtedly involve a nap. And maybe some snacking :)

Have to rest up for keeping up with Lucy tonight...a tempo run....likely with a few "squirrel drags" to boot. These involve Lucy spying a squirrel and then giving full chase, with me on the other end of the leash. Great interval training of sorts!?! We don't call her the "GPS" (aka - Goosey Propulsion System) for nothing!