We're back!

Things have been busy but we got back Tuesday night.

It was a fabulous trip and I'll post pictures soon.

On our first day we saw a moose. Got 3 feet from a loon. And got lost a bit, which took us almost an hour extra in the canoe. There was even a chipmunk that reminded us of Trouble and kept trying to get into our food bin.

On day 3 we saw a snapping turtle and a seaplane go by our site.

We had 2 days with rain and one crazy cold windy night.

Overall we portaged about 5k I think and paddled around 20k.

Again it was fantastic and we're already making plans for next year.

Algonquin bound

Well the kids have been dropped off with the grandparents. We're on our way for 4 days of hiking and canoeing. I'll be back with pictures and some wetlogged stories I'm sure. See you Wednesday!

Three Things Thrusday

1.
The clinic did 5 hills yesterday. I had issue with the 2nd hill last week and and had to walk up part if it. I made it my goal that this week I would make it up it all the way. Actually I made it up it twice. I've learnt that even though its recommended that when running hills you're supposed to look up at the top of the hill. Yeah when I do that I can't make it all the way. If I look just ahead of me and kinda down, then I can do it. Something about not seeing how much more I have to go or seeing the steepness of the hill makes it more bearable.

2.
My shoes need replacing. I've been wearing Saucony ProGrid Jazz. I've been looking all over and it seems that its been discounted. Its not even on their website anymore. So next week I'll be getting new shoes. I lucked out picking out these ones since I got them from Foot Locker and picked them because they looked good. At the time I didn't know better but thankfully it worked out. So it going to be weird getting a different one. I'm thinking I should stay with Saucony, though its tempting to try something different.

3.
I'm very excited/nervous. This Saturday Handy Manny and I start our Portaging trip in Algonquin. We'll be doing 3 nights and 4 days. Its actually going to be our first time away from the kids since we got married. I'll have some pictures and a post up after we come back.
The boys are looking forward to spending the time at my parents.They've got a countdown going on and Bug has it written on every calendar "To Nana and Papas".

Runniversary!

Today marks my 2nd anniversary of running.

Two years ago today I walked into the Running Room's Learn to Run clinic. There was a group of us that had no clue what we were getting into. Most of us had no idea about the Wednesday and Sunday runs. We barely understood the difference in shoes and the importance of wearing the right shoes. I remember the WTF was I thinking after doing the first couple sets of 2 minutes walking-1 minute walking. I couldn't even imagine getting to 10 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking we supposed to do at the end of the 10 week clinic.

Yesterday I was running.
I was running with the Marathon clinic.
We were running 24k. and we're about half way through our clinic on the way to my first marathon. I've learnt a lot from other runners, blogs, websites. I've grown from someone who would have called you crazy to do anything phyiscal to training hard for races. I've even kind of considered all this training and being on my feet for hours fun.

Today I'm proving to myself that I can do anything once I set my mind to it.

And so is Bug. Yesterday he said he wanted to go running with me. I asked him to wait till today so we went and did 2k around the neighbourhood. Before today he'd only ran up to 1k. There was a couple walk breaks in there but it was great sharing my love of running with one of my children.

This feels funny

Today the schedule called for a long run of 20k.

Previously when I would hit this number it was the last long run before the race. It would be so close to the end. Two weeks from race day. Right now I'm 84 days from race day. That's still a long way to go. That's 12 more weeks of training.

So yeah it feels funny that I'm where I used to be almost ready to reap the reward for my training, but I'm no where near ready for my reward.

I did today's run on my own. Mostly for the fact that a bunch of people from my clinic signed up for the Beaches Jazz Tune Up
I didn't think to sign up for it so it sold out before I could and since enough were doing it the race route was the route even for those that didn't sign up. We were just encouraged to not use the water stations. I wasn't comfortable with that so I decided to do the route that takes me all around my area of the city. Its a nice mix of residential and store fronts with the rec trail at the end. I thought of sending an email to see if anyone wanted to join me but I only thought of it this morning and knew the clinic leader wouldn't be able to get it out in time since she was doing the race.

I did also try some shot bloks for the first time. I had the mountain berry flavour and these are way better than gels for me. With gels I need tons of water and it doesn't feel great in my stomach. These took a bit of chewing but way less water so I think I'll stick with these for now. I'm sure most of you get how much this excites me. Mostly since I did my halfs with gummy bears and I didn't think I could do those for a full.

Now I'm off the enjoy Handy Manny's last day of vacation before he goes back to work tomorrow.
Hope you had a great weekend.

We're Back!

Anyone try the breakfast scone recipe yet? I have an homemade animal cracker one I want to try once this heat wave lets up some.

I'll be perfectly honest upfront. I did 1 5k run the whole week we were up north. Part of that fact that we spent 4 of the 6 days up at Dad's camp. Its boat access only(well except for the winter when its ski-doo access only) but it was vacation. I'm actually quite proud that it only took us 10 hours coming home. It took 11 getting up there since they are doing major repaving work along the second longest highway in the province.

We hit the carnival that happened to be in town while we were. Did some fun rides

There was an attempt at fishing once we got to camp.

But all we caught was one little perch.

And it was hot so we then opted for some swimming at a neighbours dock.

Afterwards we came back to town and visited with more family. My Aunt and Uncle have this amazing garden and the snap peas were divine and the strawberries they had were better than candy. I'm so jealous. I would totally move out to the country if I could have that myself. Visits are never long enough when you're having a great time.

Clinic meets up tonight so I might go there for out run or get it in first thing in the morning. Considering today is going to be major record breaking heat. I'm pretty much planning on staying in.

Foodie Friday

Changing it up a bit.
I like to make easily portable food for when we travel or go camping. I usually make these when we go Thanksgiving camping because its a meal all in one basically. I just made these ones for our trip up north. Perfect for car rides where we're on the road right after waking up.

Breakfast Scones are your basic scone recipe with bacon, scrambled eggs, and shredded cheese. The best part of these is that you can use basically anything in them. Sausage, potatoes, spinach, chicken. Really anything that is either pre-cooked or doesn't need much cooking.

But heres my recipe

2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (I usually omit since I use salted butter)
1/4 cup butter, cut into cubes
2 eggs scrambled and cooled
4 slices of cooked bacon, sliced up
1/2 cup shredded cheese
3/4 cup milk
1 egg (uncooked)

-Mix the dry ingredients and add the butter and cut up till its crumbly like oatmeal.
-Add bacon, scrambled eggs, cheese and toss to mix.
-In a small bowl mix the milk and other egg together then add to dry mix until it all comes together as a sticky dough.(it will be lumpy)
-Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface and knead 2-3 times until workable.
-Pat into about an 8inch circle or roughly 20 cm shape of your choice.
-Cut into pieces. This makes usually 6 large or 8 regular pieces.
-Brush with a bit of extra milk.
-Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!