Nov 25 - 30th ... Two Birthdays and Thanksgiving, oh My!

Well, the week of Nov 25th to 30th is always busy in this house!!! We have Emily's Birthday, Jonathan's birthday, and then Thanksgiving! The house is full of laughter, smells of cakes, pumpkin pies, and turkeys cooking, and best of all ... family and friends. A great time of year. 

 

Here are the cupcakes we made for Emily's birthday party - Emily did the decorations :) The pumpkin pies snuck into the picture too ...

Emily's Birthday cake - she wanted a farm :) Yes, I decorated it!

Jonathan's birthday cake. Emily wanted him to have a blue bear ... this one took a while :)

More birthday treats ... we went down to BurgerVille for dinner when we were at Great Wolf Lodge :)

Fun at Great Wolf Lodge

I'm a runner again ... did i just say that?

So I've been running a bit more this year - had to get in shape for the 1/2 ironman ... and then decided to do a 1/2 marathon this fall. It's fun, I love running ... and really like the balance of running and biking ... with the odd swim thrown in. I feel less tired, and my muscles have time to regroup after a hard run/ride.

And yes, I think it is time I acknowledge it ... I am a decent runner. Not super fast. But decent.

I signed up to race the XTerra Harvest 1/2 Marathon ... here are the details by the numbers :)
- Miles ran: 13.2  - all single track
- Vertical feet climbed: 2600ish
- Time running: 1:48
- Days till my legs felt 'normal' again: 3

What a race! I love running on the trails, but with all the 'busy-ness' of a new job, regular life, and getting married, I didn't get in much trail time, and definitely did not get in enough hill descending. Yes, I said descending. I can climb just fine ... but descending ... I have to work up to it. My quad take a beating and I usually work up to the long descents. But for this race, I didn't. I simply did not have the time ... but hey, I was doing this race for fun, and to keep myself motivated to run.

It was a mass start and all 100+ runners started down the trail at the same time. There was a lot of passing for me to do in the first 10 min .. I felt good. My legs felt light, springy even. I was drinking well, and even better, I was enjoying the single track. Let me explain that a bit more ... enjoying the single-track means that I feel like a little kid. I generally have a goofy grin on my face and do airplanes down the hills for the switchbacks. I hop and jump over anything on the trail, as if it is a game. So yes, I was enjoying the single-track :)

There were two laps; and in each lap there were two big climbs, and two big descents.  The climbs served me well. I don't consider myself a fast runner ... but on the hills I was passing like crazy ...  and even on the descents ... and the flats.  And I know part of it is that I started towards the back (texting with Jonathan until the start gun - whoops!) .. but still. It felt good to pass. And on every single climb, I passed.  About 1/2 way thru the 2nd lap, I caught another girl. We both got a bit lost at one point but figured it out together. I ended up ahead of her at that point and put on the gas thru the woods (I knew I was better at dancing thru the technical single track) and then thru the field till the end. I beat her by a whooping 60 seconds :) I worked hard for that!

And come to find out, I was 2nd. 2nd overall! What the heck! I was pleasantly surprised ... what a fun race :) Yes, I will do it again!

Enduro racing ... it's all about the downhill

This summer I found out about a new race at one of my favorite riding venues - Tiger Mountain. The race format was intrigueing .. lots of riding (4+ hours in the saddle); but they only time the descents. hmmmmm ... I figured I had to gie it a try since there was one at Tiger. Here are the details ...

By the numbers:
- Hours ridden: 4.5
- Miles ridden: 38.5
- Vertical feet climbed: 3500
- Total of all timed sections: ~32 min
- Finishing place: 3rd

It went pretty well considering it was my first rodeo :) The first section felt like cheating - I ride that course so much as part of my training (well, not a lot this year - but normally) that I can almost ride it in my sleep. It's technical, twisty, rooty, rocky, and oh so FUN! I give it a 8 for technical difficulty. and a 10 when you are trying to go fast. for my Ottawa readers, this is harder than Fortune. Much Much harder! also so much fun to ride down!  The second section was new trail and really tough. deep mud for the first 1/2 mile had me off my bike and running ...and it was over really fast! The third section as also familiar territory and I managed to rock that one out too. good times!

OK OK, enough about the timed sections - lets talk about the race format and why I enjoyed this type of race.  They had designated start times so I got in a 2 hour warm up before we even started. fun. i love riding at tiger.  Each person started 1 min behind te person in front of them to ensure minimal passing.  Goodness! The race organizers and volunteers were awesome - friendly and fun.  Oh, and it was raining. I am not talking about a gentle Seattle drizzle ... I am talking full on rain. As in buckets of rain. As in so hard I can barely see where I am going rain. This is where the 'able to ride the trail in my sleep' skill really helped :)

After each timed section it was pretty chill. There were three of us girls that kind naturally landed together and we rode to each section together. yes, these are the 2 that beat me :)  It was fun to chat and be chill in between sections where we tried to beat eachother. Adds more social dynamic to the race.  Add to that the fact that I wasn't feeling 100% and didn't have any kick ... well, I was glad they were only timing downhill sections :)

All in all, a great race, organized by good people! Thanks to Element Cycles for their support - not just to me - but also to the race - they were a key sponsor.

Married!!

Yes! It is true!!! It was perfect … in every possible way.  There are so many reasons why …

I married the man I love more than anything in the world. So even if it was pouring rain and nothing went well, it would have been amazing.  It was awesome to be ‘home’ at mom and dad’s farm in Nova Scotia, for the wedding. It was amazing to have 98% of our family present – the only one absent was Jonathan’s sister, who could not travel for health reasons. It was so fun to have Emily and her immediate ‘best friend’ Kirra be our beautiful mischievous flower girls.  It was so connecting to have personalized vows, and to sing the song I wrote for Jonathan.  It was special for my dad to walk me down the ‘asile’ between the sunflowers and garden while Luca and Luke ‘managed’ the music.  It was special to have my sister hand me Jonathan’s ring, and for my brother to hand Jonathan my ring.  It was also special to have our Mothers signing the wedding certificate, and for my father to do the welcome and Jonathan’s father to a blessing. It was really cool that Jenn could skype in for the ceremony! I loved that our Justice of Peace is the mother of my very special friend, Kate – and that even better, Kate could be there!

It was fun to get ready with ‘the girls’ and entertaining to spend more time on Emily’s hair than on my own ;-) Our little princess!  It was very cool to have a bouquet which was picked from my parent’s garden by Caralee and then assembled by my sister, Eloise.  My mom outdid herself with our cake – it was delicious, and looked SPECTACULAR … decorated with edible flower petals from the gardens around the farm.  My dress was stunning – the alterations shop did an excellent job, and LaVerne make sure it was perfect by steaming it, by hand, before the wedding.

Mom and dad did a great job prepping possible wedding spots, and organized a photographer …  so we have loads of photos before and after the ceremony. And the dinner! Amazing. I love my mom’s country-style Sunday dinners so this is what we asked for. With over 20 people around the table the conversation was lovely, there was lots of tinkering on glass for kisses, and the food was spectacular!!!  The wine that my brother and Caralee picked out was spectacular too - they did a perfect job wine shopping based off one phone conversation :)

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue …. Yes we did that too! Here are the details … Something Old – we used my parent’s wedding cake cutter (and had their topper out as a decoration).  Something New – heh, this was easy … my dress, Emily’s dress, Jonathan’s suit … J  Something Borrowed – this was very special.  Jonathan wore Otto’s first wedding band (he had it replaced a few years ago) on his right hand. Very special.  Something Blue – this was fun … Jennifer had given us some blue angles and Jonathan carried one in his pocket.

Even weather was perfect – a beautiful September day in NS (~74F, Sun, and fluffly white clouds).  Everyone made the day perfect and special!! I cannot thank my family and friend enough for such a special day.

I am a very lucky woman … I have a wonderful man and little girl in my life whom I love very much. I am very excited about this chapter in my life. Love to you all!