Spooky Day ...

It is pounding rain and blacker than the inside of a crow. A very spooky start to All Hallow's Eve day.

Last weekend was warm with drizzle, not this heavy rain, so I pulled out the Iron Horse and went riding. I love the mountain bike, it's big, safe and can take me places Ruby just can't.

Saturday was spent riding through our forest trails and along the roads to the beach...it was fantastic....Sunday the I.H. was loaded up on to the bike rack and we headed to Flat Rapids, just outside of Stewartville where I meet up with a couple of friends and we headed to the TCT that would take us to Renfrew. It was VERY windy and cool but that didn't stop us.

Here is some of 30K+ ride in pictures.

Had to do a little trail maintenance along the way.

We rode past swamps and marshes.

Across some pretty interesting bridges.

Some VERY interesting bridges.

and met up with some colourful characters.

Got a group hug while we were at Coco Jarry's

This one's a little too thin for me.

Don't look up,
I SAID DON'T!!!

and then, there he was, sitting alone at the end of the bar with a far away look in his eyes...

my kind of guy, an individual, with a great sense of humour, comfortable with the way he presents himself to the world....now, if he only had a.......Brain!
(Wizard of Oz)

What were YOU thinking???

HAVE A SAFE 
AND 
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

One Lucky Girl

Well what can I say other than life has been VERY busy and I'm one lucky girl too.

Way back in the early fall the ever lovely Marlene who is the creator of Mission to a(nother) Marathon had a random draw for not one, but two Halo Headbands which were being given away.

Well don't I get an email saying I had won a headband, how incredible is that?

Not only did I win a Halo headband, I got to pick which colour I wanted...well, being the matchy matchy dresser I am, (yes I am), I chose red to match my bike Ruby....now I spin in style. Marlene is such a cutie she also threw in a TriBerry GU too. Thanks Marlene and thanks to those at Halo.

I'm also back running, mind you oh.so.slowly and I'm actually enjoying it again. Several weeks ago, after a really nice 10K run, Jen and I went for a cycle along some of the NCC trails, the weather was quite cool, very windy and it started to rain so we only ended up cycling for about 18 - 20K.

After we put the bikes away we decided to go to a cute little restaurant called Lapointe's which is close to Jen's home. It has fantastic seafood and of course adult BEvERages. When we placed our order for lunch, the server said if we ordered either a Moosehead Beer or an AppleCider drink our name would go into the draw for the beer fridge that was displayed at the front of the store...well, okay, don't need to twist my arm so I ordered a Moosehead, put my name on the ballot and didn't think twice about it.

Well, guess what?

I'm now the proud owner of a beer fridge...

Cute huh?

oh, I just want to take a moment to thank those of you who checked in on me during my Hiatus. Thanks!! Thanks too for those who sent me emails and notes on FB. I'm feeling much better now that I'm over my bout of whatever it was. I can't say it was a mild case of H1N1, because I didn't go to the doctor (yea, I'm stubborn like that) but from reading the symptoms and from what I had it was about as close as it gets to it...

So, there you go, I'm back and looking forward to running the 8K Beat Beethoven on Saturday!

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

Wordless Wednesday

Are you for real?

The other day I was talking with my elderly neighbour, we were outside working in the gardens just chatting about this and that and I happened to mention on several occasions what had been going on around the world in blogland. She thinks I'm crazy to be running at my age and always worrying about me out on the bike, (I thought I was the queen of worrying, but no, I believe she's got me beat).

I had mentioned injured runners, cyclist's being hit by cars, several friends who had competed in ultra running events, friends training for Ironman Triathlons, some who had already completed an Iron, friends dealing with elderly parents, babies, engagements and divorces.

Then there are the free give-aways of really awesome items that I had won and people posting cool video's of their home and native land(s).

Nodding her grey haired head, she smiled at me and said, but dear, they are not real.

Huh?

Interesting take on the virtual world that is foreign to someone who has grown up throughout world wars, T.V., telephones, cell phones, aircraft and better cars, but she has not accepted the world of communication via computers.

I've met some of you, we've shared laughs, thoughts, hugs and friendships that have continued on even through our computers. Some of you I haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting, but hopefully will one day. You have ALL taught me something, you've shown me parts of the world I would never otherwise get to see, you've taught me new languages, slang and swear words and I got to participate in a running sock review. How great is all of that?!?

You guys are really real to me.

Thanks for the friendship!!

I'm not feeling particularly chatty lately so I'll be taking a little break.

I'll continue to read and catch up with you ~ good luck to all of those competing, cycling, cx-ing and just living life...because,

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

Wordless Wednesday

Oh nuts....

This past weekend was our Canadian Thanksgiving, thankfully the weather gods shone their smiling faces down upon us for three.full.days!!

It was a good news, bad news sort of weekend. The bad news is a very dear, life long friend of mine has been hospitalised with a brain tumour. I received the phone call from her son on Friday afternoon. At that point in time the doctors still hadn't determined the severity of the tumour.

Saturday I drove the almost three hours (one way) to Kingston to visit with her in the General. When I first arrived she was delighted to see me and we had a fairly normal conversation, but as our visit progressed you could obviously tell the full affect of the tumour.

Thoughts were jumbled, people's names, dates, times and words were not making any sense. Sometimes you could see the frustration in her eyes, other times she just didn't realise what was coming out of her mouth. Over the weekend many, many tests were performed, her surgery is booked for tomorrow, Wednesday. Even though you don't know her, please send positive energy thoughts to the universe .... thanks!

Now for the good.

We had fantastic weather (well, breezy and cool), but great and sunny none the less. I had the chance to get some running done(10K, a solid 6.5K, plus a 10K walk on Sunday) and had Ruby out for some biking too. I'm a regular now at the gym too, hopefully that will help me survive the winter months and keep my weight down.

The rest of my patio furniture is stored away along with the rain barrel's. The yard's were raked and I can't believe the number of acorn's this year! Unbelievable.

Now I just need to get the leak in the roof fixed and I'm ready for ole man winter. Well today is a work day, so I'd better get at it.

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wordless Wednesday

Just sometimes

You have to start from scratch.

I'm learning that just because I've been able to run long distances at a fairly reasonable pace, when you start back from an injury that will never get better than it is, you have to start slowly and you have to go shorter distances.

This past week, I've been going to the gym and running on the routes that I have marked out over the years at home. I find the dreadmill hard on my knee for some reason, so I'll use it sparingly (while wearing my brace) and use the gym for weights and spin classes.

It'll be fine, I have come to terms with the fact I'm running my way to a knee replacement.

The weather has been so typical of fall, warm, wet, sunny and windy, you don't have to wait very long for the weather system to change, in fact yesterday it was sunny and bright at the front of my house and it was raining with a thunderstorm in the backyard...no kidding. The weather gods are having a lot of fun.

I'm hoping to get a lot more ride time on Ruby before she goes onto the trainer for the winter, worse case scenario, I bring out the Iron Horse (mountain bike) and hit the trails, see how the knee holds up on those adventures.

Well, that's it for now,

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

The B*tch is back

2009 has been pretty much a write off for me in the race department, after injuring myself in March, everything went down the tubes. Although I did get some really nice cycle tours done, just not the one I really wanted to do in June, the 100K Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour, well there is always next year.

It doesn't help that I've been running around like Henny Penny, thinking that the sky is falling with the on set of winter.

For Gawd's Sake, it's only the 1st of October!!!

You all know how much I detest winter and at the first sign of turning leaves I went into a mad dash to close up all things summer and prepare for the first blast of winter. I'm sure it was a bout of depression and in fact we have had some not so bad weather lately. Well better to be prepared I suppose.

Which leads me to the fact that I have been a slug in the work-out department. Seven months of hit and miss work-outs, running and cycling does not keep one in any semblance of shape.

So, new month, new outlook, new attitude. I've packed my gym bag this morning and will start the ever so slow process of getting back at it. Feel free to kick my ass if I wimp out, because as the Wooo Hooo's know, I'm not a winter person!

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily