Hey All!!

So remember how I mentioned that Spring had arrived? Well that was a big fat tease because it was snowing all day yesterday and it’s pretty chilly outside today. NOT COOL!

I survived the weekend… it was a fun time with the students but man, was I ever happy to arrive home.
Ottawa is a beautiful city! I would love to go back and spend more time there. I was really kicking myself in the !@* for not having studied French all through highschool. I can speak Spanish and Italian but I can’t speak my countries second official language. Awesome. (I can understand a bit of it though :))

It was a busy weekend and we got to see and visit lots of places.

One of the places being the Parliament Building, with a guided tour.

this was part of the ceiling in the museum... pretty neat!

We went to the National Museum of Canada… lots of things to see there.

We went to see RIO and it was soo cute!! The soundtrack was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie!!
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In regards to food, I packed a bunch of fruit, trail mix, homemade granola bars and of course my water bottle that I take with me everywhere I go. Yeah it was great, not even an hour within being on the bus, a banana was smushed throughout my entire bag… just my luck.. oh and it smelt really great too. Not!  I wanted to try and eat as healthy as I could while away.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get much sleep because SOMEBODY was snoring like it’s nobody’s business. It was insane. We were not happy campers in the morning but we put on our happy faces

I packed my running clothes.. I thought it would be nice to run the Streets of Ottawa but after getting there and taking a look, I thought twice. Our hotel was right downtown, all the buildings looked the same to me and plus I’m a scaredy cat to run in the dark in a city I don’t know. Ok, let’s be honest, I’m a scaredy cat to run in the dark period. I couldn’t believe how busy it was either. So I decided to hit the hotel gym instead.

I woke up at 4:45am on Saturday and had a good 50 min run on the treadmill, did some arm weights and stretched a bit. I was so tired but so glad I woke up to get a workout in…especially since I had been sitting for soooo long on the bus.

If you want to get your sweat on, just go to the gym with your outside running gear on… holy bananas it was hot!

too early

I set my alarm for 5:15am on Sunday but I was so tired I didn’t even hear it. Thankfully we had a mistake wake-up call fifteen minutes later, so I was able to hit the gym again for just over an hour. I ran hard on the treadmill for 55 mins and had an awesome workout. For every song change, I would change the incline and speed to pick it up a bit and if it was a mellow song, I would slow it down a bit. I also did 10 mins. on the elliptical for a cool down.

a red, sweaty mess...but feeling good!

Even though I was exercising and trying to eat healthy while away, I did treat myself to one of these

A Beaver Tail!! Ottawa is famous for them. It was SO good! I had the original flavor – cinnamon sugar. I want to eat another one right now just thinking about it.

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This morning, I had a good 13km run with the Runners’ Edge crew. I almost whimped out when I looked out the window but decided otherwise …. and am I ever glad that I did!

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Do you speak any other languages?

What’s your favorite city to visit?!

Happy Friday all!!

I’m off to Ottawa for the weekend for work. A 7 hour bus ride full of a bunch of teenagers and a jammed packed weekend of fun. I’m actually really looking forward to it… I love my job!

thankfully we'll all have seats ...or it would be one crazy trip

I do have a confession though. I’m such an emotional baby. I hate leaving GMan… because I really miss him.

don't worry... i do brush my hair when i go out in public. really.

Although this weekend is going to be so busy, I don’t know if I’ll even have time to miss him. You know I’m kidding, Papi :) I remember when I was going away to a Cancer Retreat with Young Adult Cancer Canada, GMan literally had to push me on the Airbus to get to the airport. I just didn’t want to go… my heart hurt to say goodbye.   Lame? Maybe…. but I don’t care.

I think he may be happy to get rid of me for a few days and have a “boys” weekend.

You know your a runner when you pack more running/workout clothes than regular clothes. That’s one good thing about Springtime… you need A LOT less gear than you do in the Winter time. Winning!
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I officially live in a nut house.

I think the majority of my socks have a hole in the exact same spot (Mom, feel free to throw some socks in the next care package :)) We were chilling and CrazyMan told me “not to move!” Well guess what the final product was:

I couldn’t help but laugh. Even though we have adult responsibilities and are supposed to act like adults who says we still can’t have fun and act like 10 year olds once in awhile eh?! I like to think it’s good for the soul!

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My sister started running outside and I am SO PROUD OF HER!! She goes to the gym often and does Body Pump (PS: Do you go/have you ever gone to Body Pump? The last time I did a class, I was shaking so bad afterwards I could hardly walk because it was such an INTENSE workout. Oh, and I had about 4 lbs on the barbells. In total. It really is Intense!)

So the Sister just started running outside and I am soooo excited for her! She sent me this awesome pic after running 5.5km

WAY TO GO SISTA!

Something to be VERY proud of I’d say!!! She mentioned that her one knee was bother her a bit, so I told her to ice it. I got a text awhile later saying she iced it with a bag of peas and the entire bag split right open!! We are definitely sisters. Don’t worry, next time she will take a picture.

I really do have THE BEST SISTER EVER!

Some days we talk/text about 20 times a day and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am encouraging her to train for a half marathon so we can run one together. What do you think…. do you think she should do it?! I say HECK TO THE YES!! How fun would that be!!

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC weekend!! Anything exciting planned?

Have any race or workout photos you want to brag about?!  Email me one and I will post it and link you on my YOU + ME page!!

OK, so who watched American Idol last night?!

AH-FREAKING-MAZING!!!! I love that show!! This is by far the best year yet.. they are all just SO TALENTED!! Stefano ROCKED his song, Lauren totally owned her performance and she can most definitely can sing it better than Miley Cyrus. Casey totally believed in himself and look where it took him.. SO GOOD! I guess it would be easier for me to just say who my least favorite is… Paul McDonald. His vocals and performances don’t do much for me compared to the others.

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Everyday, I wake up really early. Most of the time I have no problem although tired has been my middle name these past few weeks and today was a fight to get up. I had already decided that I was going to get an early run in because the rest of the day is busy and I’m going to be sitting on a bus for 7 hours tomorrow. Awesome, I know.

I was so excited for my run: 

don't judge k... it was early.

GMan thought my enthusiasm was worth documenting, for the blog of course.

Trying to pump myself up…fake running and all.

Showing my guns off for GMan. So big, I know.

He was quite impressed……….

I literally forced myself out the door and I’m SO glad I did!!

I knew that I would feel soooo much better after my run. Even on the days you don’t feel like getting out to the gym or for a run, most days it’s so worth the extra push because you will feel so good and proud of yourself afterwards!!  I LOVE running EARLY in the morning.

Even though for about the first 8km I was trying to make excuses as to why I should cut it short and head home, I actually had a pretty good run! My legs were a bit sore but I was able to get in 1:05 hr/12.51 km and it felt great!

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If you haven’t already done so you should go and send Janae some love. She has been training her heart out for Boston and is now unable to run it due to a femoral stress fracture. I was soo sad for her when I read her news. I can only imagine the disappointment and sadness. She is wicked cool, so positive and inspiring to so many people!!
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Have you heard about Jen’s { Why I Run}  giveaway?! She is a barefoot running Momma. She has an awesome giveaway going on so go and check it out!!

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