It is ok to take candy from strangers night!!!

Maya wanted to be a sparkle gitter princess, which is so boring she might as well broke my heart and gone as a Disney princess. However after some intense Internet research we negotiated to agreeing upon Cleopatra. Still royalty but not so commercialized. On the plus side I think there is little to no chance Disney will ever rape her story as there is no way to celebrate her incestuous marriage to her brother.
Mayas costume breakdown. Bride costume from last year repurposed. Gold belt repurposed from angel costume two years ago.  Excess fabric from the basement for the neck and cape thingie. Jewels and headband from the dollar store. Sinful.

Ever is a knight. He wanted to be a superhero, but there wasn't anything in the dress- up truck to use. So I just kinda told him what he was going to be. Don't worry he put his two cents in, to the point we had to show him what knights wore before he would actually put on his costume.
The cape was a skirt I wore when I was 22 and lined with given to me fabric. The rest of the costume is thanks to the McCutcheon- Cutting Family. Those are Kyles helmet and sward... and the armor is Courtney's old fish-hook purse.

Luke is a Pirate- Bear. There is nothing to say about that patheticness.

I'm a gypsy. The costume was inspired by my lack of shower in five days and dirty hair. Who goes well with a head scarf- gypsy costume of course! It was decided that perhaps Hanover should see a revival of the Bohemian look just so we can dress like this on a daily basis.

Post trick- er treating spoils. Plan- eat as much as possible before the kids notice it is gone.

Horror

Just cause I have not done enough distance races this year, and I wanted some pizza, and I really liked the race shirt I thought it would be a good idea to run in circles and do the six hour race at Horror hill.

This race wasn't about anything in particular. I wanted to get 50k in  but if I didn't I wasn't going to care to much. I just wanted to go out and run. A lady from the tri club was participating in the three hour  and I was really interested in seeing how she did.

The one thing that I did want to work on was spending less time at the aid station, and somehow I figured that meant not eating much......and you can pretty well figure out how that worked. Fail.
By the time I realized my error it was way to late. It took two laps to get down my sandwich. Then I just sat for a bit. Didn't work so just go up and started going again and kinda hoped I would puke so I could start again. The sensation was similar to pregnancy- so nauseous cause I was hungry but I was so nauseous I couldn't eat. I also though maybe I was dehydrated and  to kill two birds with one stone I thought it would be smart to drink some Gatorade. It wasn't. Finally I was moping along and Barb G told me to drink some coke. At that same moment a woman had fallen and I stopped to assess her. The son who was in the race didn't want me to stop but quite frankly I was looking for a reason to stop. She was fine so I had to keep going. So when I got around to the aid station I sat down and drank some coke and ate some pretzels and basically for the next 90min kept pretzels in my pocket and munched away.

Cause I am not really trained for six hours like the other girls were who were racing I was cool with the end result of 53.3k. Less than last year actually but I finished with way less fatigue and muscle pain than last year. Although, when later that evening when I walked Maya to a friends house she did express concern about me getting home ok.

Another joyous moment was telling Ron G that no I am not interested in having sex with him on the trail as I am only interested in monogamous relationships and I am already in one. He said I am only the second who has ever turned him down, good times.

Next up, strip at night- VEGAS!!!!!

Bruce County Hip

Thanks to Grammy, Maya is sporting skinny jeans and a Bench sweater.
She is decidedly hipper than I.

I will be going to the grocery store shortly in my jogging pants just to make it official.

More Posts for Andrea

As Andrea is nursing and sitting and generally bored and has been asking for posts, heres one for her!
Kyle Owen Vanderkooy- to be called Kie.
Just for the record I am slightly bitter she didn't name him any of the names I suggested. I really want to know what was so wrong with Archie or Aloysius??

Done and Done!

 

In November of 2010 somebody asked me what my plans were for 2011- in reference to sport/ races and impulsively I said, " Oh I think I might just stick to the trails next year."
And it seems for me the best decisions I make are the ones made on the fly with no thought nor insight. I am really fun to go shopping with.
I decided I would do the OUSER trail series with the aim to win it. It is a nine races series, your best five races count towards the Brian Hutson Award. For the reccord I do not know who Mr Hutson is. The distances are 25-32k which I knew I could handle with out falling apart and manage to keep my distance where it needed to be. I ended up doing six of the races that counted towards points. I did have competition from another girl who did four of the races and if she would have done the 25k at Vulture bait instead of the 50k she would have won..... and thats OK cause she is the faster runner. But she didn't and I am so blissfully happy. I knew there was a trophy for the other series in OUSER but I had no idea I would have a trophy to take home on Saturday. I was super happy that the man who shall remained unnamed and his wonderful wife hung around to see me get my trophy and act as official photographers. Thanks !!!! Now the trophy is on my sideboard and anybody who comes to my house has to see it. I even took it to work the day after I got it.

There is something to be said about setting a goal ans working towards it that gives a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Even when my ADD brain was thinking about a ton of other events I focused and did it. The only one I planed to do but backed out of was the ITT, for the simple reason I didn't want to drive to Burlington.

So now onto next year. I have been giving more thought to Boston qualifying and as I find it easier to train in the winter I could get a ton of mileage and do a 100miler...but I think I better think on  that for bit.

Vulture Bait

ahhhhh Last OUSER race of the year. At last a rainy day. I waited all frickin year to run a trail race in the cold and rain. I would have really preferred it in July, even September but I will take what I can get.
Got to London in good time and spent about 40min in my car trying to decide what to wear. In the end I went with the two layer combo of short and long sheves. And in the end of the race I was too hot, should have had a long sleeve and pulled up the arms as needed.
Met some Owen Sound peeps prior to the race, then at the start line asked all the girls who knew me where I should be and that's where I found the man who shall be unnamed. Wore my garmin just so I could keep track of my kilometres. The one fault of most trail races is you could be at km 5 or 15 or 18 and really have no clue. I also find it helpful to coordinate my numbers with the courses just so I know I am on course correctly.

Really liked this course, perfect fall location. Minor complaint being a long road section with a bridge where the wind wiped from all directions. I tucked in behind a fellow who was over dressed and rode it out. Major complaint (Not really) was the water crossing. Seriously I thought? In October? Am I really on course? My choices were try to skip along the rocks that were submerged or barrow though. In any event both choices would result in completely wet feet. Seems simple enough, but strangely I must have lost at least a minute making this decision.

Really was done about 20k in. Nagging left leg injury that I swore on the course I WILL be seeing physio about was causing serious issues. Should have taken more calories in, and perked up after getting some at the last aid station. The funny thing about this course is its lack of hills. In most trail races I usually don't run up alot of hills I just get low and walk. The benefit of this is conserving energy and actually getting a bit of rest and recovery from running. I found my self twice walking for the count of ten just to get a break. All that got me through the last bit was thinking about the line for massage and I had to run fast to beat the line. I was super smart and stashed a dry sweater at the building so as soon as I was done I got rid of my wet top and jumped right on the table.

Very happy to see the finish line in 2:09:58. Was quietly hoping for sub 2:15- but with this bum leg was thinking maybe 2:30. I think this might be a PB for this distance actually.  Good enough for third place and a free pair of Montrail shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK  one more thing to say. Whats with all those girls who look really fast but in reality are not?

Tobermory Turkey Trail Run

Very pleased with this first year event. Two EMS based there used this event to fill the down time planning it. Benefiting a planned local fitness park. Incorporating a track with a play structure in the middle. Quite frankly at times in my own life I would have drove there to use. Progressive.

I did the 10miler, a mix of gravel roads, snowmobile trails, long lane ways, Bruce trail and a golf course. The only thing I have to complain about is the heat. Hot for October. Sure there was course marking questions, but what trail race doesn't have them?

At the start line I had my usual freak outs- one female I know is faster so that's ok. LOTS- (ok like 5)-  of skinny looking, LuLu girls who I figured were holidaying in the area. I figured i could pull off a top 5. Right away Joan pulls ahead- which is fine- she is faster, and surprisingly she stays in my sight for a large portion of the race. When you could see further than five feet for the trees. I was motivated by three things:

• There was a woman with a dog running behind me, I hate dogs, I especially hate dogs I do not know.
• The winners got chocolate apples. I like chocolate apples.
• Luke gets mad at me if he does not think I tried my best. 

In the end I was 1:25ish for 16k. 2nd female, and I beat the male 39and under male. I usually am not competitive with the runners who have testicles but he seemed upset I passed him.

Great chili meal post- with the option to buy for the family. most people stuck around for the endless door prises. I got a $50 gift certificate for a local gift shop that was having a 50% off sale. I didn't buy the bongs.

Helmet Heads

On Saturday we rode our bikes from Meaford to Thornberry. A distance easily covered by the kids.....unless you forget the first 3k is uphill. Many tears for that section by Ever , resolved shortly there after.

Mental note- when riding with the kids go east to west on the Georgian trail.



Cross Country

Ahhhh my favorite, so excited this year to have my baby girl participate.
Problem is I don't know who's little girl she is.
The thing is she is as non- competitive as they come. There was intense discussions about running just for fun vs. running to win. We settled on trying our best and feeling like you left it all on the course when you cross the line.

The school elected to not really push the kids to fulfill their potential. I strongly feel if you want to see any result you need to run five times a week. The kids would be amazed at the progress they make. However my suggestion was ignored and they ran three times a week. Repeatedly the teacher would give the kids misinformation and Maya would repeat it back to me and repeatedly I had to inform her that no, as her teacher is not a runner she is wrong. Now it is not as if I am complaining and didn't try to do anything about it. I volunteered to come everyday I wasn't working/sleeping to run/coach the kids. I wasn't wanted. It is not as if I am the only one though, other runner parents have asked to help and they were turned away as well.

I am very proud of Maya, I think she gave as much as a person who hates competition can. And team sports isn't really her thing either as evidenced by her intense dislike of the team shirt. I don't think she dislikes running, but I do think she doesn't like races. However, this is one of the activities this family does for physical activity so she is doing it.

Need New Underwear

I kinda want these. How much of a run geek am i???

Congratulations!!!!

I am so happy and proud of Andrea for having a vaginal birth post cesarean with midwives.

Baby Boy Vanderkooy was born at around 4pm, weighting 7'14.

Can't wait to meet him! Name to follow.


(This photo was taken on her way into the operating room with her first child)

Jesus Christ goes Stratford

And guess who has tickets for next week.

All of a sudden I'm cultured.

FOUR!!!!!

Sweetness

My wonderful friend/sister Andrea,
Where ever we go we are mistaken for sisters , I don't think it is because we look alike but because we share such an emotional connection.

And tonight when I think she is about to break I will take her frustrations and run them out, and pray.


And here is to baby Archie coming soon.