The post about fallen soldiers, RIP Corporal Nathan Cirillo & Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent

Saluting our nation's fallen soldier as he returns home to Hamilton, Ontario.

• It's been a tough week for our great country. The events that unfolded last week has left us speechless and in shock. Our nation is in mourning. We lost two Canadian soldiers in what appears to be terrorist attacks. Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was run down in Quebec a eight days ago, and two days later Corporal Nathan Cirillo was shot down at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa while standing guard. Corporal Cirillo was from Hamilton.
• Friday morning I took my regular running route in the east end of Hamilton. I normally run this route 2x per week. As I ran down a street I frequent regularly, I noticed Canadian flags draped on the light posts. I figured I was in a very patriotic stretch of neighbourhood, considering what had just happened. Then I saw the flowers and balloons and noticed the police cars and realized where I was. I was running by Cpl. Cirillo's family home. It was before dawn and the neighborhood was very quiet. Just me and the two police cars. I recognized the house from pictures on the internet. Such a stab of pain to my heart. I could not even imagine the pain and despair the people in that house were feeling. I continued my run lost in thought.
• I thought about a time 3 years ago when I was visiting my family in Scarborough. Just after we left on a Sunday evening in the summer to head home, we noticed a crowd of people on the 401 McCowan Road overpass. They were holding Canadian flags and there were emergency vehicles parked there as well. It took me a moment to figure out what was happening. One of our fallen soldiers was returning from Afghanistan and taking the trip from CFB Trenton to the coroner's office in central Toronto. I remember looking back at Julien and feeling such a stab of pain, just imagining what that young soldier's mother must have felt like. One of the images of this past week that was hardest for me to see, was Cpl. Cirillo's mother following her son's casket from the funeral home in Ottawa to the hearse which would bring him home to Hamilton along the Highway of Heroes. 
• On Friday night, my small family walked to the foot of our street in Hamilton to watch the motorcade that transported Cpl. Cirillo to the funeral home where he would rest in state less than a kilometer from my home. It was an incredibly somber moment. So many unanswerable questions from a 7-year-old. And it was quiet. Hundreds of people lined the streets with Canadian flags, but it was so quiet. A Hamilton fire truck waited with it's lights flashing. As the procession passed the firefighters saluted and applause broke out. Not the joyful applause of a celebration, but sad applause, if you can imagine that. No one spoke. And once the motorcade passed, the crowd dispersed and everyone walked away with heavy hearts.
• A difficult time for sure. For Canada, for the world. Our pain is felt internationally and the world is in disbelief right along with us. I still shake my head over these unbelievable events. Today Cpl. Cirillo was laid to rest in a full regimental funeral service in Hamilton. Looking at the press pictures just now, my heart is again in shreds seeing the pain and despair on his mother's face. This blog has taken me days to write because I wasn't sure if I could accurately express my feelings. The events of last week has changed our country forever. God bless the Cirillo and Vincent families. God bless us all.

The post with a bunch of collages

My runs from Sunday to Sunday...

• So this is going to be a mostly picture post with a bullet point to explain the collages. This was my week. Above are my runs from Sunday to Sunday. Sixty five kilometers in total. I'm running exclusively again and loving it. My pace sucked this week, but I'm just rolling with it and enjoying running in this much cooler fall weather. My aches and pains are being dealt with at physio and bottom line is, I need to strengthen my core to be a more efficient runner. That is where the gym comes in. Once my neck and rotator cuff are sorted, I'm going to start taking yoga and pilates classes. Should be fun, and comical if nothing else.

Sunroof selfies.

• Still in therapy. Going pretty well. Talking about your self image and how much you love yourself can be boring shit sometimes. I still heed the advice of my first therapist and take a lot of pictures. Once in a while I get negative comments via Twitter or my blog. Very few, but they always centre around me being in love with myself. Truth is, I'm trying real hard to love myself the way I should and unless you've been morbidly obese your entire adult life then lost a ton of weight, it's hard to understand. I don't take the comments too much to heart and I know that the people who leave them truly don't understand what the mind goes through when you lose the equivalent of an adult woman. I also need to take the pictures to keep myself in check. And as Sarah, loser of 200 pounds and maintainer of 10 years said, pictures help us maintain. The brain can better process a body it gets to see! One hundred percent truth! And I've mastered the selfie. An important skill to have.

Winetime

• On Twitter I do a little feature called #winetime. It's something fun I started back in the spring. I don't do #winetime everyday because I don't drink everyday. Usually Friday to Sunday and maybe once or twice during the week. Usually once. Got an extra day in last week due to Thanksgiving. I get pictures back and #cheers from around the world. And I love my red wine. One of the extras I allow myself on Paleo because I still have to live.  And wine comes from grapes...which are Paleo. Reaching? Nah:-)

Food from the week

• This week in food was not great. I did make some awesome curried chicken and some delicious turkey soup. I also broke my rule of not eating in my car and got pepperoni sticks and cashews (which was my lunch) during a long driving day because I didn't plan ahead and pack healthy snacks. And I ate out for lunch when I wasn't with a client which is something I try to avoid as well. I have to eat out with clients as part of my job, but when I don't have client meetings, I should be bringing my lunch. And I'm not eating enough. I'm going long stretches of not eating and skipping meals which is counter productive. I need fuel to run and perhaps this is why I'm struggling a lot? I vow to have a better eating week and to eat more frequently throughout the day.

Shopping and a party.

• Julien had his friend's party on the weekend. He was so excited. We did a halloween theme and four of his guests were from the neighborhood. I'm just so happy he has friends that he can play with on our street. Makes me know that even though my house is a decorator's nightmare right now, we definitely made the right choice by moving. And I found a pair of Tommy Hilfiger boots at Winners I love. But $145? Goes against all my thrifty shopping rules. It's all good, I have the photo to lust after. 
• That's all I got for you right now. I have some correspondence I am behind in...again, and blog reading to catch up on as well. I leave you with my Transformation Tuesday post from last week. Have a blessed and safe week:-)

Transformation Tuesday

The post about racing, a blogiversary, my boy's special day and giving thanks

Favorite thing about fall besides the pretty leaves? I get to
wear my leather again. Every leather jacket I own I bought
at Value Village for under $25...

• Busy time of year. And my favorite time of year. All my favorite fall veggies are in season. And cheap. Eating is good in the fall. Starchier veggies which means running has got to be on point! And it has been. I'm on my 3rd week of running 5 days per week. And just for fun, I may run 6 days this week because Monday is a holiday. Why not? A short recovery run after I do my long run later this morning.
• I have been running exclusively. No gym. No cycling. Although I'll head back to the gym once my aches are worked out (namely my neck and rotator cuff), I'm probably done with cycling for the time being. It's too dark for me to ride in the morning, and get's dark too early for me to ride in the evening. And it's fecken cold during those times. I could go on Saturdays, but I get tied up with family stuff and by the time both hubby and I run, the day's half over. 
• And I'm signing up for a couple more races. I've already registered for the Around the Bay 30K the last Sunday in March. I'm also going to do the Chilly Half Marathon on March 1st. It was my first 1/2 and I'm going to attempt to better my time. Not only was it my first half, but it was also my best time for a half. So game on! And for the 1st time ever, I'm going to run the Boxing Day 10 miler. It's a Christmas tradition for runners here in Hamilton so I am going to start making it a tradition for me too. It was almost cancelled this year due to residential complaints, but it's a 93 year old race for Pete's sake. A shame if it would have been cancelled.

My runs from this week. Still have today's 14K and tomorrow's
6K to add onto the mix. 

• So I am officially back in physio. I had an assessment with Graham at Meadowlands Physio on Wednesday. Graham was my physio guy from when I had my hamstring injury (1.5 years ago) and then my broken fibula from this time last year. He moved clinics, but I tracked him down and he's saddled with me once again. He has confirmed what I already suspected. I'm a bit of a mess right now. I don't have good neck mobility on my right side which is also affecting my rotator cuff. My vertebrae are actually out of whack, so he's working on my once again. Even with initial supervision and instruction at the gym, he suspects that I have lifted wrong and that is where this injury stems from. I need adult supervision all the time:-(
• Friday was my 3rd blogiversary. I cannot believe I've been writing this blog for 3 years...or that anyone still finds my day to day life interesting. It's not, and sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't just pack it in. But then I get emails from people telling me how much my blog helps them so I continue to write. Not as much as I used to, because truth be told, I am a creature of habit. I eat the same stuff I always have, I still run, and I stick to my eating plan 85% of the time. When I mess up (ie: the cheese incident in Europe), I need to own it. I still have no idea how much I gained over that debacle, but everything is zen again. It took a few weeks of running hard and eating like I know I should to get myself back to my happy place, but everything fits properly once again. Life is good and every once in a while I shake my head in disbelief. What a long way I have come. My former self would have taken that weight gain and rolled with it, likely adding what ever I gained x2 or three. My how times have changed.
• Not only is this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, but it was also Julien's 7th birthday yesterday. We celebrated as a family and let Jules dictate the day. He wanted to check out the toy department at Target where he picked out a few things he wanted. Then we headed to Wacky Wings in Brantford for dinner. Next Saturday is his party with friends. It will be a Halloween themed party. And we'll have pizza and cake. I let him pick where he wanted his party and he picked at home. Surprised me. Figured he would have picked and arcade or bowling alley.
• It's getting light out and it's freaking cold this morning. I gotta choke down my sportive and get running. My family's coming by for Thanksgiving dinner later and I still have to get to the store and try to hit a pumpkin patch. I'm making pork roast and ham for today, and roasting a turkey tomorrow. I cannot wait. I LOVE turkey, and turkey soup! Enjoy your Thanksgiving if you're celebrating. I have spent the weekend reflecting on what I am thankful for. My family, my friends, my life...

Pics of Jules and I from yesterday. Rocked my Johnny Cash shirt in observation
of Universal Music Day. And Julien and me 7 years ago...I think we've both
changed a lot!