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Grouse Grind: Eight years of love-hate

Training, Uncategorized

The girl looked over at the boy sitting at the desk kitty corner to hers. “How hard could the Grouse Grind really be?” she asked. The boy was a good person to ask, she thought, after all he was an ardent climber of said mountain, going at least once a week, oftentimes more. And the girl, who’d only just recently been taking more of an interest in her health had been toying with the idea. She’d been going to the gym for awhile now, had started referring to herself as Queen of the Stairmaster, and the Internet told her the Grouse Grind was nature’s stairmaster, so really, she was practically made for. The boy paused. He looked up from the photos on his computer, let a smile form on his face, and asked, “Do you want to go? I’ll take you.” From 2010 That girl was me. That boy was […]

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On your marks, get set…

Diabetes, Races, Running, Uncategorized

It’s funny, when I compare my MEC 10 km race from last week to my BMO 8 km race in May, it’s like night and day. MEC had me satisfied. BMO had me shattered. And yet, looking at the straight stats, I was faster for BMO… just an average of 4 seconds faster, mind you, but faster nonetheless. However, I went into BMO – my first race back post pregnancy – expecting brilliance. I wanted my pace to be unwavering. I wanted my focus to be sharp. I wanted a perfect race. But when my pace started to drop, my focus waned, my heart sunk, my legs slowed. And that devil on my shoulder kept beating me down, telling me there was no way I could fix it, no way I could crank up the speed in my legs, no way I could make my goal. Honestly, I felt like

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MEC 10 km: Personal best!!!

Diabetes, Races, Running, Uncategorized

Soooo, hey, I sort of, kind of, totally raced my butt off yesterday morning! Hehe 😀 Beyond a couple tweets, I pretty much kept my participation in the Mountain Equipment Co-op 10 km race hush-hush. I didn’t want to put a huge amount of pressure on myself, I didn’t want extra stresses on my brain, or to feel like I’d be less if I didn’t meet my goals. This race wasn’t necessarily supposed to be about getting a great time, but more about getting my body, belly, blood sugars and brain used to racing again. My goals were simple: Run hard. Don’t give up. I thought it was a good plan. Coach NZ thought it was a good plan. My competitiveness, however, did not. Saturday night I pulled out my race pace calculator, just out of curiosity, you know, to see what kind of pace I’d have to go to

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Spanish Chorizo and Lentil Soup: cooking 101

Diabetes, Uncategorized

May 29, 2013 Cook’s Illustrated – March/April 2013 Spanish Chorizo and Lentil Soup “To achieve authentically deep, complex flavor in this hearty soup, we had to turn down the flame.” ~ David Paz Sometimes you’ve just got to have faith… at least, that’s what I told myself when I gave Big Ring the keys to my 12 Months of Cooking Challenge. For May’s challenge, I plopped a stack of magazines in front of him and told him to choose my next recipe. The only perimeter I gave him was that it had to be a proper meal – no other limitations – and I was fully aware, and freaked out, of the consequences this could present. What if he picked pork? I do NOT eat piggies* Big Ring, to his credit, took the challenge seriously. He told me he didn’t want to pick something super easy, or super hard for

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Diabetes experiment: FAIL

Diabetes, Running, Uncategorized

I knew when I got pregnant having a baby would be expensive. I knew we’d have to make sacrifices, trips would be postponed, hair appointments wouldn’t be as regular, and my obsession with expensive jeans would have to be put on the back burner. But what I didn’t realize is how much of a struggle it would be living on a maternity leave pittance with a take home that is more than 50 per cent less than what I’d be making if I were working. Every month I feel like I’m struggling, I feel poor, like I’m on the edge of living out of a cardboard box. But, in reality, I’m not. It’s just Big Ring and I refuse to live off credit cards and lines of credit, and we’re not wanting to dip into our travel fund or savings accounts, but rather live within our means. And because of

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