Labour Day Classic

I don't know what was up with me today - but I was on fire! I did the 10 kms in 56:49! So now I have to think of a new goal. I think I'm going to try to run 13.8 kms. If I can do that by the beginning to middle of August - I might sign up for the Labour Day Classic (which is on Aug.31st - it's 13.8 kms). The only thing I'm unsure about is the weather. I do not like to run in the rain and it would suck to sign up for the race and then feel like crap doing it because it's raining. Another thing is the time. It's at 10am. From my experience - it's usually a lot warmer than it is at 5:30am. But I guess if the weather has cooled down by then it would be okay. I'm not sure if I'm just trying to think of excuses for myself - or if these are valid concerns - LOL!

I think it's going to be a good day. I feel good today - the sun is out and the weather is warm.

interesting night

We had an interesting night last night. There was a big electrical storm (thunder & lightning). So when I got home from work, I had just plugged in the indoor grill to cook dinner when the power went out. It flickered on, and then went out again. So we had salad for dinner! We unplugged all the major things (computer, TV, etc.) in case there was a power surge, then we sat down to enjoy our salad. It was pretty good salad - romaine lettuce with creamy poppyseed dressing and sunflower seeds. We kept hearing a gurgling noise - which prompted us to remember that the pump that keeps the house from flooding runs on electricity! So we drove to Glenn's office to get the generator (which we have now decided to invest in one ourselves). On the way home lightning struck the power station near our house (as we were driving by on the highway we saw it). Two transformers blew up before our very eyes! I'm sure at that point BC Hydro had its hands quite full already. When we got home we were just in time to see the tree fall near the new house down the street. It was a very close call - the top of the tree was about a foot from the garage. That would have really sucked as the house isn't even sold yet! When we got home we discovered that the water was about an inch and a half from flooding over into the basement. So we started the generator and got the pump running. Close call. The power eventually came back on around 7:30 pm. So I finished the book I was reading and Glenn watched TV and all was normal again.

I went for a run this morning - I did the full 10 kms. I had to guess at my time because my watch isn't digital and I wasn't paying attention to the second hand when I started (I usually wait until it hits the 12). So today at the mall I bought a $10 watch that is digital and has a timer.

How time flies

Well...another weekend that flew by! We didn't do a whole lot, but that's nice sometimes too. On Friday we rented a couple movies Just Married and The Recruit . They were both pretty good - one funny, the other one suspenseful.

On Saturday I went for a run in the morning but it was way too hot out - too much sun. I had to stop after about 4.5 kms. I was still about 4 kms from home so I did fartleks for the rest of the way. Running in the morning when it's cooler is definitely better! Glenn and I hung out for a bit (well...he did yardwork while I stood around and talked to him!) Then he went golfing with his parents. I went over to my parents for a while, then my mom & I went grocery shopping. We stopped by Art Knapps Plantland and I ordered flowers for one of the cakes I'm doing on August 9th. Then I went home and played with the dogs outside until about 4pm. I baked some gingerbread and read a book on the sundeck. Glenn called around 5pm and I went to the Golf & Curling Club to meet them for dinner. I had a delicious Halibut burger - messy, but yummy. We went over to Tom & Tracey's after that to play cards. After a game of Hearts (which I won) we played Canasta. We switched things up a bit - instead of playing girls against boys we played Tom & I against Glenn & Tracey. Tom & I won - but it was a close call! We were losing by about 2000 pts in the second to last round. Our score in the final round was more that our total score for the previous four rounds! We stayed over until about 12:30 when Glenn was falling asleep over his beer. On Sunday we slept in (well..by Glenn's standards anyway - it was only 8:30am). Then we cleaned up the house and had breakfast. Glenn's parents came over at about 10am. His dad helped Glenn with the rest of the yardwork (we put landscaping ties along both sides of the driveway) while his mom & I "supervised". The house down the street was having an Open House - so Sheryl (MIL) and I walked down and looked at it. It was pretty nice, but I didn't like the layout as much as ours. We had McD's for dinner and then we watched the last half of The Recruit again (because Glenn fell asleep the first time). I read in bed for a while ( The Rescue) then it was lights out.

And all of a sudden - the alarm's going off and it's Monday morning. It felt like I'd only closed my eyes for an hour! But I got up and went to the gym anyway. Then here I am at work.

I can tell you about my trip

Okay - I'm all caught up at work. Now I can tell you about my trip!

Some friends and I (Tracey, Gillian, Lori & Allison) went on a weekend excursion to Jasper, AB. We left immediately after work on Friday (about 4:15pm BC time) and arrived at the campsite about 9:30pm AB time. We checked into our campsite, set up the tent trailer and took a well deserved pee break. Then we drove into Jasper for a few last minute supplies and a walk about the town. I found a really nice pair of hiking sandals for $50 (half their original price) so I finally replaced my old ones (which were duct taped together!). Then we went back to the campsite to meet up with Gillian & Leo - who are from Edmonton, AB. We had a few drinks and talked a while. We had a few technical difficulties (that's what the husbands are usually for) but we managed allright with Leo's help. (First we didn't know how to switch the trailer to battery - so we called my mom (it's her tent trailer). Then the battery died! So we set up a little lantern that Gill & Leo brought. That lasted about a minute before it ran out of propane. And the spare bottle was safely tucked away in their basement at home! So we went the first night by candlelight!)

Saturday morning I got up at 6am to go for a run. We also wanted to stand in line for an electrical hook-up - so my plan was to do that after my run. I went past the line-up - which only had about 2 ppl. I ran about 2.5 - 3 kms down the road when I encountered some elk and turned around. When I got back to the line-up there was about 12 ppl! I waited for about 30 mins, then I called for back-up from the camp (figuring they should be up by then). So Lori came to take my place and Gillian & I went and showered. When we were done we picked Lori up and decided to just keep the non-hookup site and power the fridge by propane instead. (The big tank was full).

Gillian and I drove to Edmonton for the day - to see our sister Danica. We had lunch at Red Lobster and did some shopping at IKEA, Michaels and Old Navy. It was a good day.
On the way back to Jasper we encountered a caravan of drug dealers (at least we think so). There were four vehicles with BC dealer plates following very closely to each other. They all passed us in an unsafe manner and were taking up the whole road (both lanes) for a while. When we passed a ghost car, they all slowed down to about 10kms under the speed limit until the officer was out of view. Since Jasper is a main hub for drug trafficking - we think that's what they were doing. But that's just speculation.

We got back to camp about 9:30pm that night. Then we all had some drinks (we picked up some liquor in Edmonton) and played Canasta. Gillian J.(from Edmonton) had quite a bit to drink and gave us all some laughs! Thanks Gill!!

Sunday we got up around 10am. We had a bit to eat, cleaned up a bit and made lunch. We took our day packs and headed out to do the Geraldine Lakes. (about a 30 min drive from the campsite). It was a great hike - a little more challenging than we were expecting but fun still. (There was a hill that was about 1 km straight up!) See my webshots album for pics! We rewarded ourselves with icecream in town when we got back down. That night Gillian J. made spaghetti for dinner and we played Mad Gab by light of the lantern (which we picked up some propane for).

Monday morning we hit the road by 8am - partially because it had started raining, partially because Lori had to work that afternoon.
It was a fun trip.