The post about fitness, soreness and a personal trainer

My new kicks from the Running Room Outlet. Two pairs of Mizunos and a 3-pack of
socks...$160.00 (tax incl). SCORE!!!!

• I'm back. And this time should be for good. I have internet access again. The only other issue was that during the move we lost the power cord to our desk top and we just got a universal one on Wednesday. Sony wanted $150.00 for a replacement. My BIL found one compatible at Factory Direct for $20.00. It pays to investigate...as hubby always says:-)
• For those of you who have sent me private messages, I thank you and will be responding shortly. I will also be back to reading all your blogs again. I am soooooooo behind in my blog reading. I finally feel like there's some normalcy back in my life. 
• I have lots I can talk about and I'm breaking up stuff into separate posts. I'm gonna start by talking about the gym in this post. I joined the gym a couple weeks ago. I am sore. I went for a fitness assessment over a week ago, and although my cardio is good, I have no strength. I'm as weak as a newborn kitten. 
• I talked about my running, and the trainer told me I have become a sloppy runner. I agree 100%. I have become very sloppy. That is why my feet have been cramping sooner than normal. My form is lazy which causes me to be lazy. It is just what I needed to hear. And it made me realize that I have a lot of work to do.
• The woman who assessed me was 7 inches shorter than me. I weighed 5 pounds more than her. But she was so lean and muscular that I looked huge next to her. That was very motivating for me. We talked about my problem areas. And even though I'll need plastic surgery on my arms to get them looking how I want, I want to get them in the best shape I can before I go for a consult. 
• My strengthening routine at the gym focuses on my glutes, abs, thighs, arms and shoulders. I've done 3 personal training sessions and I am sore. The gym is hard! Much respect to those of you who werk it at the gym. I am completely out of my element.
• My personal trainer is a masochist. This is good for me. I need to be pushed because I won't push myself hard enough. I started with a woman, but she switched me to a young guy who is a runner. He says that if I don't challenge myself, I won't improve. He has me doing all kinds of stuff which includes machines and floor exercises. Whoever invented burpees should be flogged...just say'in!

Was a lazy shopper last week. Put the skirt on over my jeans at Old Navy.
How I wore it on Monday to work. And it was a deal. $14.00:-)

• I have been running in dead shoes. They had over 1000K on them. I finally made it to the Running Room Outlet store in Toronto and picked up a couple pair of Mizunos. Awesome deal! 2 pair for $130.00. And they're girl shoes...purple! Mizuno works for me because they come in wide width. Need that for my orthotics and more toe room for the Morton's Neuroma.
• Now that my trip to Stockholm and London is booked, this shit has gotten real. I am sore, but still need to put in the mileage to train for the half. I'm running 4-5 times per week and doing gym stuff 3x per week. I'm gonna get in a couple classes too (ie: yoga). I need to do yoga to help me stretch and recover in between gym sessions. That saying, "no pain, no gain" better be accurate. From my guestimation, I should be gaining a lot of muscle...did I mention I was sore?
• The one area I need to work on is my food intake...quantity not quality. I'm not eating enough for what I'm doing right now. I need more protein. When I come back from the gym, I crave protein. I'm going to have grilled chicken breast in my fridge like I have hard boiled eggs right now. Easy to grab the minute I walk through the door and need something in my stomach.
• What I am in desperate need of now is sports bras and running capris. It's a bit depressing shopping for sports bras. All I need is minimal support and low impact. See photo above in the red top...
• The gym is an intimidating place for sure. I'm waaaaaaaaaay out of my comfort zone there but I'm glad to be doing something different. I love running. But lately I have become bored and unmotivated. I have been struggling. I definitely needed something to add to my running routine. Strength training will lean me out and make me a more efficient and faster runner. That's exactly what I need. 
• I was told that I have no weight to lose, but I will lose inches. Bring it on I say! Last year at this time I was at my fittest. I was training for the Road 2 Hope Marathon (which never happened because I broke my ankle). Although my weight has not changed, I'm not as toned as I was last summer. This means I've lost muscle. I know my body well, and I just know I felt better about myself and my physical abilities a year ago. 
• So now I'll work my ass off to get back to there...and better! I am working hard again and doing things that make me uncomfortable. That is the only way I will progress. I know this from experience. Nothing is easy. Losing weight isn't easy and neither is maintenance. If I want to be the best runner I can be, that will take lots of work. And challenging myself is the only way I'll get there!

Now here's a comparison photo for you. The photo on the left was taken
2 weeks ago, the photo on the right this past Monday.
See what a heavily padded push up bra can do for you ladies:-)

The post about having no internet access or desktop...

My access pass to the gym!

• So a really quick update. I'm using my work lap top and I'm not really supposed to be. After our move on the 7th, we had no internet access until the 13th. And during the move, my hubby lost the power cord to our desktop computer, which is where all the magic happens. It's still missing because we have to get a new one from the Sony store and my brother-in-law is getting us one this weekend in Toronto. So anyway, this is going to be short and sweet.
• I am struggling big time with the running. So much so that last weekend I finally joined the gym because I think I really need to switch it up. My feet have been bothering me a lot lately and it's been playing some real mental games with my head. I get so anxious every time I go for a run. My foot pain is happening much earlier on than it used to. My toes will start to go numb during a 6K run. That never happened before.
• I'm going for a fitness assessment tomorrow. I'm going to come up with a fitness plan and a running schedule. Only 58 days before the Stockholm Halv. And it is official now. I have booked my flight and registered for the race. No turning back now!

• I got to hang out with Tanya the other night. She's visiting family for a few weeks. She's also in training mode and neither of us is in the best running form right now. But I am going to Stockholm to run a race with her and have fun. I'm not going to get a PB (personal best), just to visit my friend and have a much deserved vacation. We're going to have a fun race and run it together.
• Seeing Tanya this week made me realize how much I have missed her. I haven't seen her since February and it was great catching up. She's definitely someone who gets me and who I can confide in. Only 56 more days till I land in Stockholm!

Tanya and I out for dinner a couple nights ago.

• My move went pretty good. I hired movers which was the best decision I ever made. It was awesome. They had me moved in 5 hours! It would have taken us all day and all I did was stand and point. Definitely worth the thousand bucks it cost. I'm still unpacking some stuff. But I have a huge job ahead of me this weekend. I have to build several pieces of Ikea furniture. My whole house needs to be painted, but I'm leaving that until the fall.
• Although my running has been off, I am eating on plan. Still Paleo 85% of the time. Someone saw a pic of me on Twitter and asked if I have gained weight. I have not. My clothes all fit me the same as ever. Do I feel fit? Not so much. I was definitely more fit around the time I ran the Bay back in March. My boobs were bigger for a few days. You know, that time of month thing. Sadly,they have receded again:-(

My questionable weight gain pic from Twitter. The boobs were definitely bigger and I could
have had better posture. Photo was taken July 11th, 2014.

• Work has been hectic. I just have over a week left before I'm off for a week. Then I'm back for 2 weeks before I'm off for 2 weeks. Then I'm back for a week before I leave for Stockholm. Time is creeping away! And there's some tough stuff going down at work right now. Makes me anxious for sure.
• Short and sweet like I promised. I'll get into a more in-depth post once I get my desktop up and running after this weekend. This summer is definitely going to go down as one of my most difficult. Although I have made a lot of change in my life which has been good, there are some areas that have been a huge struggle.  And even though I have been coping better than I would have this past winter, the clutter in my head still has the ability to mess me up. I continue to see a counselor and I'm learning to take better care of my emotional well being. I'm still a work in progress for sure. But I'm getting there. Slowly but surely I'm getting there.

My last selfie at Mental Health court:-( I'm gonna miss
the free apples and singing during recess.
July 14, 2014

The post about a much overdue update

Although my run sucked ass, I got to hang with Monica for the night:-)

• It has been almost two weeks since my last update. Life has been hectic to say the least. Moving day is tomorrow. My life is in boxes. My heart is heavy and I had so much stress a few days ago, that I almost needed Adivan, almost. Did deep breathing instead and was able to control myself. 
• Lets start the recap from the 24th of June though. I ran the Tim Horton's Peach Bud 10K in Grimsby, ON. I was gifted the race bib by my gal Dawn who couldn't run. I could have changed my name on the bib, but ended up being her for the night instead. Not such a bad trade off. She's gorgeous and 34:-) Definitely one of my more difficult races. It was very hot and humid that night. It poured rain just before gun time and you would have thought it would have lifted the humidity a touch? Nope, just made it worse. I was soaked by the time I finished and my race time was not my finest effort by far. But I did it. My finishing time was 1:08:39 (pace 6:52/km). I wanted this race to be finished as soon as I started running it!
• Last weekend the sewage pipe, plumbing stack and drywall was finally completed at my house. My house no longer smells like sewage and my basement is drying up nicely. It went from being a dark, dank wet hole, to be being a dank hole. It still needs attention, because it is a cellar. But my closing conditions have all been met!

Uncle John did some primo work here. And the basement is drying up nicely!

• My last day of work was June 30th. I'm off until the 9th of July for the move. Moving day came quickly and I procrastinated till the last minute. I'm in pretty good shape right now. I'm spending today taking my laundry over to the new house and starting that while I do some deep cleaning. At least the kitchen and bathrooms. All my kitchen stuff is already there, so I can start putting stuff away too.
• Wednesday night I went to my lawyer's home to sign all the papers. The papers for the purchase of my new home as well as the sale of my current home. I also brought all documentation over and  everything was in order. Thursday morning around 11am he calls me and says that the buyers of my house have had a problem with their financing. The need to extend closing from the 8th to the 11th to secure new financing. He also told me that if my house sale fell through, I'd get their deposit and have to re-list. I couldn't back out of purchasing my new home though because it leaves me liable to a lawsuit. FUCK ME! Talk about the last thing I need to hear the day before my new house closes. 
• Turns out that my buyers lender messed up big time. Did not send an appraiser during conditional. Only sent one a couple weeks ago from Toronto. They don't know the market here. Compared my house to one that recently sold 3K away in the dodgiest part of Hamilton imaginable. The appraisal came in low and they refused to give my buyers the mortgage they needed. So Thursday a new lender sent another appraiser over. This one was from Burlington. Much closer to home. During the 24 hours that we didn't get the appraisal back, my agent and lawyer were in full panic mode. And so was I. I had to close on my new house on Friday and there was a good possibility that if things didn't work out for my buyers, I'd really own 2 houses and have 2 mortgages. So, so messed up. At the 11th hour, the new appraisal came back at value but shit. That was some real uncalled for stress right there. 

•  During all this stress we did manage to work some fun into the week. I took Julien to It's Your Festival in Gage Park during the week. We went on some midway rides and I got completely bruised and battered. I'm still sporting some prime shoulder blade bruises from some crazy ride that  flipped us around upside down. He loved it so it was worth it. I never say no when he asks to go on a ride with me regardless of how terrifying I think it may be. Three summers ago I couldn't fit on rides. Warning...when watching the above video, mind the volume. We're pretty loud!
• Canada Day was a busy one for me. Lots of house stuff. But we did manage some fun for the day. We went to Lynden to watch the fireworks. This is the 3rd year in a row we've gone. For such a small community, they put on a good show. Fun was had by all.
• Must go and get my day underway. I've been eating on plan and still running, but I feel a little lost. I can't wait to be settled so I can focus on the gym and training for my half in Stockholm. Some other big news is that Tanya's back home for the month of July. Yay! Hoping to get a couple of runs in with her since we are training for the same race:-) I leave you with a cute video I made with Julien on Canada Day. I'll try to update in another week!