Summer Recap

This summer has been a busy one for us. While other parents and kids were attending birthday parties, we have been running and enjoying sights in Vancouver. Weekends are also the times where we do the bulk of our grocery shopping and cleaning.

Since we traveled a lot in the Spring, we spent our whole Summer at home here in Vancouver. It was great actually! We have been very busy and the summer just flew by. Even with all the training we had to do on the weekend, we still got to do most of the things on my Summer bucket list.

2012 Summer Bucket List:

Do the Grouse Grind with Tristan
Outside picnic at a park
Boating at Deer Lake
Symphony at the Park (Deer Lake)
Redeem fish/chips voucher at Pajos in Stevenston Village
Take Tristan swimming at least once
Aquarium
Visit another bike skills park
Go to the beach
Go strawberry, blueberry, blackberry picking
Go camping
Attend a fire station open house
Weekend in Seattle

As Tristan gets older, there will only be more and more things we can do with him. My Summer bucket list will only be growing! Summers really are the best times in Vancouver. Some times I forget how lucky we are to live in such a great city :)

How was your summer? Were you able to accomplish everything on your bucket list?

Countdown is on for the Victoria marathon

We have less than 1 month to go. 26 days today to be exact! Ready or not Victoria marathon, here we come!

Today I am still sore. Yesterday I was very sore. I'm recovering from Saturday's 30km training run with Jean-Louis. It took me around 2 hours 45 minutes of continuous running to reach that distance. After the run, Jean-Louis was all smiles and said that he felt great. Me? I think I hit the wall. I'm not certain but about 4-5km from the end, my left foot had a killer spasm and was throbbing with pain, my back ached, I was thirsty and had no energy, my muscles and joints were sore and I was running really slow. I kind of felt like dying. If that isn't hitting the wall, I don't know what is :(

 

I've had a spasm at the bottom of my left foot for a week already. It never really heals since I keep walking and running right on it. Obviously it hurts more after I finish a run. I was worried about it when we started our long run this weekend but it didn't really start to hurt until about the 15km mark. Then the pain just intensified from there. Yesterday I was limping most of the day. I bought a compression band to wrap around it since something is better than nothing. I read various sources online about how dehydration and lack of potassium can cause spasms and cramps. Oh yeah, I bought bananas yesterday for the extra potassium! But I did eat more bananas during the week so I'm not sure it's that. The weirdest remedy seems to be pickle juice, which Jean-Louis mentioned to me before. It seems that the vinegar in that helps, not so much the pickle. I haven't looked into it too much but it's just odd to drink pickle juice.

 

My body covered in salt after running. I sweat A LOT!

Yesterday I enjoyed a full day off. Hooray!!! Today I'm going to have to drag my poor spasm recovering foot out on a 10km run. Overall, I'm more sore than usual :( I'm pretty sure it's because I slacked a bit in training the past week, almost got sick with the common cold, and ate somewhat badly in the past two weeks. It really does make a difference in my performance and recovery. Sadly, this weekend's run was a bit of a wake-up call for me.

Last time I ran a marathon (my very first one) was 9 1/2 years ago. Jean-Louis and I both did it. We trained by running races every weekend. I'm not sure if it's because I was much younger or not but I trained and raced without any particular problems. I didn't even get a single blister. I had a bit of a sore knee and had to wear a knee brace as a precaution during the race but that was all. It was kind of a breeze. Now many years later and after becoming a mom, I find that I'm sort of starting over again. This time I'm experiencing many problems common to new runners. Stuff I never knew about! I just can't believe it. Here is what I have encountered (so far - gasp):

1. Chafing everywhere! Under my arms from rubbing against my fat or clothing. In between my legs from rubbing there and other places I would rather not mention but also due to rubbing of clothing. I didn't buy new clothes to wear but all of a sudden I have problems. What the heck?! Okay so I'm at least 20 lbs heavier now than I was 9 1/2 years ago. Solution: Apply Vaseline in all areas that get rubbed during running. This works like a charm :)
2. Blisters from wearing cotton socks in hot weather and sweating profusely in them. Solution: No more cotton socks for me!
3. Black bruised toe:( This one was a killer. It started about 3 months ago(?) My toe was getting bruised more and more after each long run. It hurt so much I thought it was broken at one point. There was blood underneath the nail and the whole toe was red. It wasn't even my longest toe being affected either. I have worn my shoes for the past 3 or 4 years with no problems until suddenly. What the heck?! Then I started googling and it scared the bejesus out of me. Did you know that there are people who run often that lose nails all the time? Someone claimed they only had 6 toe nails left. It's only a matter of time before my toe nail falls off. I can see the new one growing underneath already! TMI? Solution: I bought new shoes 2 weeks ago! I specifically looked for the best running shoes for long distance running. No more black toes for me! I'm soooo happy :)
4. Ongoing foot spasm, as mentioned above. I'm still waiting for this to go away! Please go away. Solution: Compression band during rest, potassium, pickle juice???
5. Back ache. This has only happened lately on the long runs. I think I hunch forward a bit running when I'm super tired. Yeah, I'm going to have to work on good posture to correct this one. Solution: Focus on good posture?

I sure hope that is the end of it. OMG. Now that the 30km run is over with, we're dropping our distances. They say runners should run at least a 20 miler (32+ km) during marathon training but 30km is good enough for us :) With just 26 days left in training, we don't want to risk injury either. Next weekend, I want us to do a 10km mountain run. It's going to be a killer pushing the jogging stroller up a mountain. Luckily Jean-Louis is better uphill and since I suck maybe we'll actually get to run side by side. Lol. When the weather cools down even more the next few weeks, we're probably going to start stressing about getting sick. I almost got sick this past week since Tristan was sick. Jean-Louis did get sick around mid week and his nose is still running today! But he still kicked my butt during our run! He's at the top of his game. Yay for him :)

Play date of the year

Last Thursday and Friday, Tristan had a play date with two boys, age 3.5 and 5.5. These two boys were my friend's children from Victoria. We have been friends since Junior High so that makes her "the friend I have been friends with the longest." We have been meaning to do this for awhile so when we finally picked a date this summer, it finally happened! Also, I haven't seen her in a year.

She took her two boys and came over to Vancouver as foot passengers on the ferry. After a bus and skytrain ride, she arrived Thursday in time for a lunch picnic I had organized for us. That morning I made us frosted soft sugar cookies for treats and vegan cassava tortillas for our picnic. We skytrained to Central Park, had our lunch picnic and the kids played at the playground while my friend and I talked. I got to socialize and Tristan had so much fun playing with his two little friends. He was so happy! He gets like that whenever he has little people to play with :)

After a couple of hours at the park, we walked to Metrotown where we rode the train in the mall. Then it was off to Sushi Garden to pickup sushi for dinner and skytrain back home. The kids love sushi as much as us. We all stuffed ourselves full! That night after the cleanup, the kids played together with Tristan's toys until 11PM. My friend and I looked at photos and talked about recent vacations.

On Friday, Tristan was up around 7AM, his usual time really. We were all awake around 8AM. I did a bit of planning while everyone was getting ready. We headed to Little Nest for brunch. I have never been to Little Nest during a week day before. It was still busy but much less chaotic compared to the weekend. We all liked our meals and my friend really liked the place :) It's one of our favorites too.

After brunch, we walked along Commercial Drive and checked out some kids stores. Then we crossed the street into a big playground where the kids ran and played for at least an hour. We ended up walking up and down Commercial a bit more before leaving for the day. My friend had never explored Commercial Drive. In fact, she doesn't come over to Vancouver often. When she does it's usually just for quick stops and she visits with people and doesn't really get to tour much. All the places I took her were new to her and she seemed to have enjoyed her stay. We weren't the only ones enjoying ourselves, the kids had a blast too! They got along so well and were all so well behaved :) It actually dawned on me that her kids were more obedient than Tristan. When it was time to say good-bye, her 5.5 year old was first to say bye to Tristan. He gave Tristan a hug and said "I love you." Haha. It was so cute though.

Tristan was sad to see them leave and they were sad to leave too. This was probably only about the fourth or fifth time Tristan has ever seen them. You wouldn't have guessed though since they played and interacted so well together. You would have thought they have been friends all their lives. Well all 3 1/2 years of their lives :)

Tristan's 3rd haircut