For better or for worse...

The start of the new year has been pretty good, until I got sick on Tuesday. Normally when people in the office are starting to cough and show runny noses, I just keep doing my thing and avoid any of those symptoms. That was, until this year. I felt down and blah for three days, had zero energy and just felt plain miserable. Thursday night something 'broke' and I came down with a full blown cold, which for some reason made me feel better! Well, to some extent...

On top of not feeling fit, we finally got hit by a hint of winter this week. Thursday we were treated to an extended period of freezing rain, which switched to snow Friday morning. After all said and done, we received about 20cm of snow on top of a layer of ice. Falling snow always has something romantic. Until the snow plough comes by and it takes about two hours to shovel the end of the driveway. The driveway itself is not a problem. In less than half an hour, everything is clean. But since we're on a corner lot, we get snow from two streets which simply amounts to a lot. And we haven't even had a real serious snow dump yet!  The mess we faced on Friday was about 3 ft high and 4ft wide (~0.9m and 1.2m). Not fun!
We're now seriously considering buying a snow blower. Not so much for the driveway, as just for the snow dump from the street ploughs. Maybe lazy, but if you're stuck it's nice knowing you can get out in a hurry if need be, without having to spend hours clearing a path...

Nolan taking a break in the snow bank after shovelling

Nice view from our living room

Kids playing hockey on the street

After the nice dump on Friday, temperatures dropped significantly on Friday night, with a high of -18 degrees on Saturday... Even though I still didn't feel great, we decided to get out on the snowshoes anyway, and I think that 'fresh' air has actually done me well.

We walked to the Greenbelt (literally 10 minutes away), put on our snowshoes and went! We both love getting out there, watching the sun through the trees, making our own paths in the freshly fallen snow (we stay off the regular paths so not to hinder cross country skiers), and just enjoy being out there. And even though it's 'chilly', as long as you keep moving it's really nice!

Sunday morning, our typical running morning, was even colder. I wasn't sure if I'd be up for a run, but I felt much better, and decided to try at least 6 k. We dressed warmly (almost overdressed!), and we ended up doing just under 10k. Not bad considering I hadn't done anything for a week!

And just in case you're curious, your lungs won't freeze when you run in -23 weather! We cover our nose and mouth, but once you're going, that comes off as well. You should try it!

And this one just because I'm a crazy cat lady :)

Sick...

It happened. It finally did. I am sick.

It’s the first time that Nolan has seen me sick, so I guess on average I’m not sick very often. I’ve tried to fight it all week, but Thursday night I couldn’t pretend anymore. I was coughing the lunges out of my body, and let me tell you, it did not feel good. At first I thought I would be ok, and could make it to the CIF meeting on Friday, but that was a little too optimistic. I’m feeling better now, although a grocery run this morning tired me out some. But it was worth it, now we have a fridge stocked with fresh veggies and fruit again. And OJ to make sure we quadruple our Vitamin C intake

We’re in the midst of a, somewhat minor, cold snap. It was -23 this morning, and tomorrow we’re supposedly getting a high of -22. Crisp for sure! I’m not sure if I feel like running tomorrow, but if so, I might chicken out and hit the treadmill. Although, it is beautiful right now (or so it looks…), clear blue skies, lots of sun and white snow. But oh so deceiving when you step out of the door.

With my cold, or whatever it is, my running is definitely suffering, unfortunately. But I decided to just take it easy and feel better, before I really get back at it again. The half marathon is in 5 weeks, so I don’t have a lot of time, but as long as I can get some long runs in, I’ll be fine.

Work is definitely picking up as well. We have a lot of activities coming up in the near future, together with (year-end) deadlines, which makes for interesting times! But it’s all fun, so that’s good.

When we were in the Netherlands last year, Anne Mieke and Hugo gave us a painting of Rome, which my mom actually brought to Canada in October. We finally got around to get it framed, and we are vert happy with the result. It looks beautiful, both the painting and the frame. Look for yourself!

Below some photos of Murphy. For some reason he always manages to look cute. Next time I’ll try to snap some photos of Fertile as well, she can be cute as well J