Wow, what happened to the summer?

After I left my last blog entry, it basically fell off a cliff!

Things were very busy, and lots of opportunity to blog but I just didn’t have the desire I suppose?

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We went on a really nice summer holiday to visit my family in the Interior of BC, where we enjoyed camping at Christina Lake, kayaking, hiking, running, horseback riding, and biking/running the Myra Canyon Trestles, a trip to the Kangaroo Farm and then…COVID when we were in Vancouver.

We also enjoyed a fantastic dinner and wine tasting at Mission Hill, courtesy of my parents. It was divine!

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Yep, the big Covid hit us, pretty hard. Not unexpected, as my sister was sick when she had dinner/visited with us in Kelowna but I was still fairly surprised and thought it was just terrible allergies when we were in Vancouver (running the sea wall, going out for drinks, out for dinner…greeeat…). Nope, COVID.

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That knocked us on our butts for a while, and when I was feeling better I was working from home, and then back to work, where work proceeded to knock me on my butt again too!

Man, sometimes you can’t win!?

But did you die?

Not promising.

Oh lord, I am going to stop tempting fate. I have seen a few dear colleagues, friends and family get pretty seriously injured recently doing benign things (walking to the bus, stubbing a toe on a cabinet, tripping over a tree root while out on a run…) and I thought I could escape it, until it was MY TURN! 😦

I was kind of in a deep well of self-pity last week. Work was absolute nuts, we have been going through a pretty big upheaval (and I do not handle change well), my birthday while fun, also kind of sucked because Oats was lame…Just, everything, you know?

Getting cleaned up.

I should have known better.

I got too freaking cocky about my running, literally bragging to my friend about how I ‘never take rest days’…yeah, newsflash, bad idea…and I ended up with shin splints last week that really hurt, still do actually, but wait, there’s more!

I got my shin splints treated on Thursday, ok and then was running home along Dallas Rd, where there has been ongoing construction since I moved there (and I hate it. ugh) and I was keeping my eyes open for the construction, they had closed one road down and had a water truck parked on the side street, where I was running. And then…BOOM!

This one is one of the slower to heal. 

I went FLYING. Like a cartoon character. While I saw the construction and the water truck, I didn’t see the hose coming from the water truck (small, grey) going directly across the road, from where I was coming off the sidewalk to cross the side-street. I saw an elderly man trip, and for a split second I wondered what he had tripped on…And then I was a goner.

I hit the ground hard, hands outstretched. I think that’s what saved my teeth, nose and chin. I slid on a patch of gravel for about a foot, and then landed with my face on curb. I was just stunned….Shocked, I leapt up. A construction worker ran over to me and was asking if I was ok, and I angrily yelled that I was. I wasn’t though. I was shocked, and stunned and hurt.

I was in shock and I staggered up, and started walking home. I briefly stopped to consider the free book library that I wound up next to, but realized that my hands were bleeding onto the ground, and I was hurt. I fished my phone out of my bag and left a crying voicemail for Ian to pick me up (I SO didn’t want to creep home, looking insane, covered in dirt and blood…) and a kind lady was walking ahead of me heard me, turned around, saw me and took pity on me.

This one bled the most, and looked the worst. My shoulder is still not very good on this side. 

She escorted me to the seniors residence she was going to nearby, and I got washed up and called Ian again to pick me up. He got it this time and I luckily didn’t have to wait for too long.

I had a lot of scrapes, cuts and bruises, but it was kind of a miracle that nothing was broken, my nose, teeth and chin were all ok, fingers and wrists too. My shoulder still hurts quite a bit, and I don’t have great range of motion in it either. All my other cuts and bruises are healing. I had to take Friday off work because I was frankly in too much pain to be at work- I made it like 2 hours, and basically I got a tetanus shot, came home and cried for the rest of the afternoon. I had a lot of trouble with my hands- the open cuts made it very hard to grasp things. It was not a good day for me. I was in a very dark place.

But, things turn around. Saturday, I felt like 1 big headache. Everything hurt, ached terribly, BUT my scrapes were knitting together. It was just a big painkiller day for me, and I was walking gingerly. I really didn’t want anything to jostle my bad shoulder, and I needed Ian to help dry me off from the shower because the towel was sticking to my hand sores.

But by evening on Saturday, my sores already looked better. My friends were surprised I was healing so fast! So I am healing, and feeling better bit by bit, and I am back at work today. I still can’t use the gym (sore shoulder, and open sores still) as well as the ever-present shin splints, but I am hopeful that things should settle and improve even by tomorrow.

You were my favourite (until you weren’t)

We attended the Global Run Day festivities at our local Frontrunners downtown yesterday and had a BLAST!!! We went for a 5k shake-out run, and then back to the store for tacos and beer, by La Taqueria!!! It was so good 🙂 And the best part? Costs nothing!!

The event was sponsored by Saucony, and they had a rep there to demo shoes, and bonus- swag items like hats, bags, stickers, beer cozies, bottle openers and some prizes!!  Can you believe it?

My swag!!! And I had a great beer too- Sun Setter peach/wheat. 

I had a great time 🙂 I 100% recommend!

 

Going by: Fri/weekend update

After a period of busy weekends, the past two have been fairly quiet- and that’s ok. On Friday I had a dressage lesson and it was tricky! We worked on canter leg-yields, and positioning for the counter-canter. I am SO not good at positioning for that, and found it really difficult to get my legs/body to cooperate= Oats fininding it equally difficult…SIGH. Oh well, something to practice on for sure!

Last winter and the winter before was very snowy.

Saturday I rode, and worked on myself: 4X 3 minutes on/1 minute off two-point. Was it hard? Sort of? I did expect it to be harder actually! What was hard was when I was gearing up to jog home (my husband had to attend a funeral, so he dropped me off at the barn and I was going to run home). My legs were like, nahh, no.

It was kind of a slow slog home, but to be honest I was prepared to spend the time. Got nowhere really to be, so why not? The weather wasn’t bad either, just kind of chilly and blustery.

We’ve been having a nice fall so far! Just rainy now, but not overall too cold. 

I’ve been having on and off again ligament pain and it flared up  badly on Sunday. It was bearable for my run, but again I can tell my injury has not healed up yet.

We went and watched Suspiria on Saturday at a theatre that is licensed! Yes!! It was so wild, crazy off the wall. Hah, I highly recommend it. It’s nuts. Sunday I was in no rush, had a nice breakfast, rode with friends (pole work) and hung out talking for a bit. The weather did take a turn for the worse- rainy and cold. I even went on a run later with my husband and went fast for me! My hip pain came back with an absolute vengeance though, yiiiikes. Ah, I miss going fast!!

Back to work today.

Disappointing diamonds are the rarest of them all

So why not me?

Why not you?

Why not now?

On a Father John Misty kick right now, for some reasons… 😉

My weekend was much quieter but no less drama for some reason…UGH. I had a great time on Friday visiting with friends out for dinner, and then on Saturday had my usual schedule of riding, moving some jumps in the outdoor arena, running some errands and then went out for a run (was planning to replicate my husband’s route that he ran in the AM, track how long it was) and BOOM! Disaster! Of course the weather was fantastic, gorgeous day, sun shining and all is right with the world, until…

About 30 minutes into my run (my GPS of course was not working so I had the timer on), I was almost stopped dead with sudden, shooting pain out of my hip, pelvis and lower back. It felt like something had come loose in my lower back?! Excruciating. The referral pain was everywhere, weirdly. Hip? Pelvis? Pelvic bone? Lower back, near ish to my tailbone? WTF was going on?

And I couldn’t cajole my body out of it, not in the slightest. I had this bizarre lateral pain, so that every time I was on one foot, my hips ‘flexed’ in this weird and painful way, all the way through to my pelvic bones. Ouch!!!! Goddammit.

And I was at Ross Bay, 4ish kms to my home back. I could only do one thing- limp home slowly. It hurt to run, it hurt to walk, it hurt to stretch it out on the floor, it hurt to shower. Everything hurt.

And it stayed that way through our trip to Craigdarroch Castle, where we had tickets with a friend to go see Nosferatu in old timey black and white, no talking. It was so fun! I was still in a fair amount of pain. So weird.

Sunday I still went riding, but tacking up, grooming, picking up the saddle, getting Oats out of the paddock and picking out his feet were sooooo painful. Just couldn’t move right, my back hurt and my hips were killing me. Riding was fine though, so what gives????

I had a chiropractic appointment (made in desperation on Saturday night after it happened) and he didn’t find anything particularly wrong, nothing new anyways since our last visit. So what the fuck just happened>!!?

UGH UGH UGH. I have a call in to my doctor. And we’ll go from there I guess! 😦

A very good weekend: Run, ride, party, tennis, eat!

I had a lot of fun this weekend, and it wasn’t because I had anything big going down, it was just really fun!

I was feeling really crummy- sore throat, very fatigued, sinus headache- but I didn’t let that bring me down, no way! Saturday, I was up very early (gah, 7:30am) to get out to the barn to meet the saddle fitter. Earlier than I would prefer for a weekend but heck, when the saddle fitter comes out to your barn, you MAKE IT HAPPEN!

We are finally matching!! I love it, even with my trainer’s big saddle.

Long story short, needed air in my air panels as they went completely flat, and some re-flocking and tree adjustments are in order- he has my saddle this week and fingers crossed I get it back soon! Whoop!!

I am still borrowing my trainer’s saddle and she said I could try her dressage saddle, so I saddled up Oats on Saturday and wow, I did not enjoy that experience. It felt so…strange. I was very behind the motion, kept losing my stirrups even though I bumped them up 7 holes?!! And just, iick. Clearly I was not meant to ride dressage. If I do try it again, it will be in the indoor- it was just too jarring to ride in it in the outdoor ring, perhaps my biggest mistake.

Oats was kind of annoyed with me, fair enough.Sunday I moved back to the jump saddle (it is a very nice saddle, just too big for me).

No photos! Damn paparazzi!!

I got home and jogged some stairs as as quick-ish workout and I forgot how hard stairs are. Bring me a hill any day!

Saturday night I had a series-end awards party at Rustik Bistro for the Christie-Victoria Insurance Run Series. I had a BLAST! $10 a ticket and it’s a silent auction, and awards with beer/wine and appies and squares–and they were so tasty, I was stuffed!

There were also draw prizes, and my name was in the draw prizes for the 5 pairs of running shoes (people who won series awards got all their names in a draw to win 1 of 5 pairs of running shoes) and I WON A PAIR! Lucky me eh?? I got gold in my age group (30-39) and that gave me a free seasons pass to next year’s track series, and a chance at winning running shoes.

Lucky me! I would highly recommend checking out this track series- friendly, inviting, low-barrier!

Wow!!!

I also bid on some silent auction items- got outbid on a bunch- but also made out with a hair cut and a subscription to Canadian Running magazine. Yes!!

A great night.

Sunday, I was up and out to the barn to ride in jump tack again. Rode in the indoor as it was raining on and off, and it is not my saddle= no way I am getting it wet. Oats was very good if a bit lazy, and we schooled some tiny fences. I kept getting left behind? How? He was forgiving for that, good pony. A fun ride overall.

Zipped home and met my mom, who gave me this amazing pie: The roses took her 3 hours to do! It tastes as good as it looks!

My mom made the world’s greatest pie. Looks and tastes amazing!

And we walked my dog along the ocean- I really like the proximity to the water, 5 minutes and you are there. My mom left, and when my husband came home, we played a bit of tennis–and wow we are soooo bad at it. Terrible actually, but it was really fun, silly and gave Gidget quite the workout chasing tennis balls everywhere!

Then we suited up and went out for a run- 8km for me and 6-7km for my husband. A very lovely day, and I wanted to spend every second of it making it count! And we sure did! That, friends, is how you enjoy a great weekend. I hope everyone else’s was as enjoyable as mine.

Race Report- What, all 8ks aren’t created equally?

Yeahh….Much to my dismay, the Hatley Castle 8k was NOT AT ALL like the Sannich 8k I ran a month or so ago. Jesus, not at all.

My race review: BOO!! It was HARD!

I had kind of a sinking feeling when my husband was like, oh yeah I don’t think it’s that hilly, maybe we should try to push for a more aggressive pace, and I was thinking, um, I’ve been a student on that campus and I remember it being VERY HILLY.

So, there’s that. The race organizer even had a special announcement- big hill at 2-3km so pace accordingly, doesn’t want anyone blowing their race early! My stomach, already fairly unhappy from my wine/cheese/salami/bread and Arkells concert the night before was even more unhappy with that announcement.

Any day is a good day to run

We set off, and I immediately fell behind my husband and friend. ARGH.

Started up to a hill after a very nice run along the water, and I started wondering if this was the hill he was mentioning. Nope! It was just a switchback, so we went back down it and then started running up another hill….Uh oh, now this is what he was talking about…

And it just kept going….

And going…

And never went down. It leveled out for a bit, and then UP UP UP! For approximately 6km…Even through the woods, which I would normally like! Except this time I felt like I was going to have a heart attack instead.

People were gasping, muttering and I heard rumours of a ‘big downhill’ coming. It was a long time coming, and when we finally got to it? It was not NICE, it was more like a 1km suicide run pell-mell headfirst down a gravel road. People went flying down the hill.

I had my knee doctor’s reminders echoing in my head- try not to race down hills, it’s tough on your knee, etc etc…I was slower going down that insane gravel run! GAH!

In short, we spent a good 6km running uphill, then 1km flying downhill, and then 1km flat running where I had no gas left in the tank. At all.

I straggled across the finish line gasping like a fish. I had saliva coated around my lips very attractively.

My time was a tad disappointing to me- I was hoping for a better 8k time, but given the literal hell that was this run I guess it was ok: Official bib time of 39:00, but my chip time was 38:52. My last 8k time was 38:40 but heck it was on flat ground, haha.

I would have rather run a 10k, that’s how rough this race was for me. EEEEEK!~

Comparison is the thief of joy- Theodore Roosevelt

I saw this today, and it struck a chord with me. It’s true.

I find myself comparing my activities to my friends, my job to other people’s jobs who are BETTER and my riding to others who are doing better- heck, even to myself in the summer, or in the past. Why am I not like that now? I can’t help but compare, and it makes me jealous, mean and petty.

Blast from the past: Me and Wynbrook Denver. Funny, he looks like Oats!

I get bummed out about my knee bothering me so I can’t finish the runs I start. I would like to be hampered by my own lack of ability- not by an injury.

I get annoyed at my pony, because we’re going over ground I SWEAR we’ve been over before. So, where is the improvement?

Funny enough, job-wise, I sometimes dislike work (let’s face it- if it wasn’t work it would be called fun!) but I can acknowledge that I am LUCKY to have a job that at least sometimes feels fulfilling, and that lets me use some of my skills. That is valuable, even if I do feel overworked and cranky about it some/most days.

Discontentment- maybe this is the winter of my discontent?

Riding-wise, Oats was okay…Pissy and rude on Sat/Sun (he got a trail ride on Friday by the young girl, so WTF suck it up pissy pants!!) and you know what? I just rode. I ignored, and I kicked on and on and on. And he dealt with it with some bucking/kicking out but then let it go.

My jumping was beyond terrible on Sunday (didn’t really do any on Saturday as there were only poles set up) and I practiced my eye exercises and some no-stirrup work. I also realized that was where the giant bruise on my foot came from…The stirrup banging against my foot because I wasn’t willing to fully commit to crossing it over the front of the pommel. Serves me right I guess?!! haha.

Canter work did seem to be getting better (more on the left rein, duhhh), and we did a lot of 3 trot strides- 4 canter- 4 trot- 5 canter, etc etc. to keep him getting sharp!

So, in conclusion, riding in the winter still doesn’t seem a lot more desirable than chain-watching the X-files, but I’m trying. And I am going to keep trying.

The running part is still a big disappointment. I feel like I am never going to be able to run as freely as I used to. Sighhhhh.

Who needs Who?

So, weekend recap: It was great! Had a weekend to enjoy the sun, as we are having a bit of a mild heatwave here (heatwave on the West Coast- +25 deg) Yeahh!!

Saturday, I rode Oats and he was hot. He tried to test me a bit by balking and refusing to walk forward at the far end of the outdoor riding ring, but I defused by just being like, uh..no. You will walk forward, even if it is sideways. He got over it pretty quick.

We got some great canter work, and then schooled a diagonal line that we messed up in our lesson- the waves jump to the ‘road closed’ plank. He did it very well! 

Husband and I then went to Thetis lake with some floating air mattresses, and floated out to the small island. SO nice. Sublime…

The evening, we met up with friends for a small BBQ in Beaconhill park and played Bocce. A good way to end a beautiful summer day.

Sunday- busy day! I got up to run Elk Lake (haven’t done a 10k since the Times Colonist race!) and mannnnnnnn it sucked. My knee was bugging me instantly. So, a run turned into a 10k walk/limp and took freaking FOREVER.

Sigh. Guess it’s not going to heal and this may very well be my reality…Despite the foam rolling, the ‘short runs’ and stair work and the muscle-building exercises. Grragrrrh!

Brought clothes to change and some snacks and headed straight to the barn. It was getting HOT! I rode Oats in the indoor, because I was a bit afraid of getting heatstroke- I seem very prone to it right now, for some weird reason. He was pretty good, we worked on ‘gallop’ and bend/counter bend at the canter- and yes, it was tough. We were dripping with sweat!

Hosed him off, and me too, and then it was home again and off to the beach! I took my dog out, and then left her at home. Packed up my Kobo and set off to chillax at the beach for awhile. It was quite hot, I was like..Am I in danger of getting too warm? That almost NEVER happens here, hah.

I got home around 5pm after the beach. All in all, a very nice weekend.

(photo of Nemo jump- yes finallly, I told you I could figure it out- courtesy of the talented Sarah C.)