Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The post about another extreme cold run, Chinese zodiac and CNN

It was quite the nippy run this morning:)


  • Monday was a sick day. I could barely talk when I woke up in the morning and pretty much spent the day vegged out on my couch. I drank, what seemed like, gallons of lemon ginger tea with honey and by nightfall, my voice was back. That was unfortunate for my family. I'm sure they enjoyed my silence. Poor Julien. He was genuinely concerned and kept worrying about when I was going to find my voice again.  When my voice came back, he told me I sounded like a stranger! Since I couldn't talk on Monday I dressed like a mime. I wore all black and wore my hair in a slicked back ponytail.  It just seemed fitting.
  • Monday was my scheduled rest day, Tuesday was my forced rest day. I was feeling well enough to go back to work on Tuesday, and I would have even run, but it was -30C (-22F) with the windchill. I stuck my head out the door and my face hurt, so I knew I just couldn't do it.  I checked out the forecast for the rest of the week and began to freak out. The temperatures did not look like they were getting much warmer later on in the week. It called for -28C (-18.4F) for this morning, and I didn't want to miss another run, so I resigned myself to suck it up and run. When I got up at 5:30am, it was -28C and DARK! I worked late last night, so I decided to flex my time and go to work later so that I could at least run in the daylight. Hubby wanted to run as well, so I waited until he dropped Jules off at school and we headed out for a 6K together.
  • Even with the sun it was freaking cold. My run was slow (for -26) too because hubby was struggling a bit and I  kept looking back to check on him. He's just coming back after his concussion (which turned out to be okay last weekend so he never went to urgent care). I wore 2 layers on my bottom, 3 pairs of socks, 4 top layers, 2 pairs of gloves, a bandana and a hat. I never got warm. But I did sweat. The sweat froze to my face in tiny icicles and my eyelashes froze together.  I wanted to take a picture when I got home, but my phone froze and I couldn't use my camera. All in all it was a bitterly cold run in the sun. I have a cold, dark run to look forward to tomorrow. I have to run by 6am at the latest because I have a dental appointment in Scarborough at 10:15am followed by my first appointment for the day. The scheduled temperature is -24C with the windchill and snow. Lovely! I'll be layering up again!

My Chinese Zodiac says I am a dog and my compatible partner should be
a Horse or a Tiger. My husband is a pig:( My fortune from yesterday. My
client finished the sentence with "or blow his head off". Keeping warm at
my satellite office in between appointments:)

  • So yesterday I downloaded my ireport onto CNN. I haven't been featured yet. What it means is that I've told them a bit about myself and members can read my blurb and decide if I should be the feature weight-loss story of the week. If it gets enough votes of "This belongs on CNN" under "What do you think of this story", it will be featured on CNN.  So if you are a CNN member, or if you want to join the community and leave a comment and/or vote, please do so. I'd love for Dr. Poon to get more recognition in North America. He's helped so many people in the greater Toronto area, and so many more can be helped. Obesity is a major epidemic in North America and I am living proof (along with countless others) that Dr. Poon's diet works. So go read the story and share it on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Google+. Share it all around. You can read it here.
  • I felt bad for my Tim Horton's guy yesterday. Back in November I mentioned him. He was growing a mustache for Movember and I already knew he had a bit of a crush on me and complimented his mustache which he ended up keeping on for most of December. He shaved it off while I was on Christmas vacation. I saw him last week a couple of times, then saw him yesterday morning. He asked me how I was, I said I was cold because it was -28C at the time. And he said, "no, you're hot...er, I mean warm...um, I mean keep warm". Then he turned beet red and just turned and walked away from the drive thru window. He didn't even give me my coffee. Another server came and apologized for him and gave me my coffee.  It could get a bit awkward when I go through the drive thru tomorrow morning.  Did I also mention that he's about 21. I'm old enough to be his mom.

Size 6 skinny jeans on the left (which I did not purchase).
Size 6 bootleg jeans on the right. 

  • A side by side comparison to show you exactly why the skinny jeans are not a good style on me. Thank you to everyone who complimented me on them, but I think you can see why the bootleg cut is much more flattering to my figure. I have runner's legs. They are fairly muscled and I'm good with that. Don't piss me off though. I can crush your head with my inner thighs...just say'in:)
  • My paralyzed hand is coming along nicely. It's about 90% better. I pretty much have full use of it. Just once in a while it will feel weaker than normal, but it's only when I'm lifting with the wrist, and not all the time.
  • This extreme cold weather is reeking havoc with my hair. It's super dry right now. It got very dry during our last extreme cold spell too. I'm trying to keep it as hydrated as possible but it is proving difficult.  The ends are also in desperate need of a trim. I'm going to have to go see Kristjan sooner than later. My hair needs an intervention, stat!
  • My gal Tanya asked me to run a 5K race with her. It's a Valentine's race in Burlington. What an awesome idea! She's moving away at the end of February (to Stockholm) and we took the Learn to Run Clinic together through the Running Room back in March 2012. I ran my first race with Tanya, and I will run her last race in Canada (for a while) with her. We're gonna get a room after;)
  • I'm off to bed. My eyes are getting droopy and I'm still feeling a bit run down. I have a 6K in the morning. I'm putting off hills until Friday morning which means I will be running 5 days in a row. It's all good. I hate missing runs due to illness or extreme cold, so I will feel better doing 5 days of running. It's my penance for having skipped Tuesday's run. Good night beautiful people!