Mid-February

We are now solidly in mid-February. School vacation is next week. Our birthdays are past, and for Valentine's Day this year, I threw together a meager bag of candy for Sam and called it good 😂 Can you tell we are not big on holidays in this house?! 

Monday was a swim walk, and an outside one at that! Sunset is now just after 5:00 pm meaning I very comfortably got in a 30 minute walk before the sun even started to set. It was a bit chilly, but so nice to be outside and not walking in circles on the indoor track. (2.0 miles walked)

Tuesday, I didn't get up and out early and then had late afternoon meetings and a new employee starting so I couldn't sneak out early. Ah well...

Thankfully Wednesday I was working from home, so I was able to get a bit of work done early, drop Sam off for late start and then head out a little before 9:00 for my run. An overcast and calm morning for some miles in Highland Green. (6.5 miles)

Ryan had a late meeting, so I took Sam to swim for 6:00 pm and got in a walk on the track. (2.2 miles walked)

It most definitely turned into a spring-like day on Thursday, so warm in fact that when I headed out a little after 3:00 pm, I was wearing shorts! This is pretty much unheard of in the winter-time for me, but seriously it was so warm. I did the Highland Green loop, which was pretty much a bad idea as the back dirt road was a sh*tshow, with deep mud, ice and slush. Oops. It was kind of fun, although the road shoes definitely are now a bit worse for wear 😂😂 (6.0 miles)

Friday was overcast with temps in the high 30s, and I almost made it through my run before the rain started, but did get a bit wet in the final two miles. Nothing like rain and 30 degree weather - pretty much the worst! Ugh. Not the nicest of days, but the view out at the point was lovely, with high tide and almost glass-like waters. Did 10 x 60 sec on/90 sec off after the first two miles, as I would like to work a bit on some turnover in these upcoming months before full-on 100 miler training kicks in. (8.0 miles)

Sam headed off to OOB with Lauren and family for the weekend, so Ryan and I headed downtown to Enoteca for a fun dinner out. As always, delish!

Coffee martini- yum! 

With no plans for Saturday, I had a leisurely morning and then went to the farmer's market before heading out for my run. We had gotten a thick dusting of snow in the evening hours on Friday, which made for a nice surface to run on out on the powerlines, adding a bit of tackiness atop the ice beneath, but also making the uneven surfaces a bit harder to make out. Between that and my legs feeling rather sluggish, it was a bit slow going, but a nice morning to be out, and so many animal prints seen in the new snow! (8.1 miles)

Sunday was Val's birthday run up at Riverlands. She's been holding these fatass style events for a lot of years and it is always a fun day! So while Ryan headed up to Mt. Abram to ski, I headed up for some miles with friends. But first was the walk in to the island (1.5 miles walked) - a good chance to chat and catch up with Mindy, Tami and Nicole - before we started the run. 

As I said to Janel in the parking lot, only Val could convince such a large group of us to get up early on Sunday and walk out over the ice to an island in the middle of winter 😂 It just shows how much we all love her!😍The run route consisted of a 6-mile out and back on the snowmobile trail. Ran a bit with Dana as we headed out and then caught up with Peter for the remainder of the miles, perhaps pushing the pace a bit too much as we were chattering away. 😉Then back at the island for a few oreos and fritos before heading back out on loop #2, this time with Billy and Tyler. I don't often have the chance to run with either of them so it was good fun catching up and running together. Tyler took off in the last few miles to finish his miles up with a fast finish, but Billy and I were both going farther so we just kept up a more reasonable pace. Ha! 

Val caught Billy, Tyler and I finishing the ice crossing as we headed back out for loop #2

I wanted to get in 15 for the day, so I headed out for another 1/2 lap, then realized Billy was right behind me, so stopped and let him catch up so we could run together for a bit longer before I sent him on his way to keep running and I turned around to head back to the island. The fun part of this sort of out-and-back was seeing everyone at different stages. It made for a great energy for the day! Overall, a lot of fun with a beautiful day, solid ice and decent conditions, even if the snow was getting a bit soft in the sun in the end. Such a fun celebration 💖(15.0 miles)

The only downside of the day was the long walk out, but nice to be able to chat more with Mindy, even if I wish we could have just been transported back to the car. Ha! (1.5 miles walked) All in all, a really nice way to wrap up the week, and definitely got in my steps for the day.😂