Winter Update

I'm still here, and still there.

The Strathmore Women's Triathlon in August was a blast!

Orienteering was fun too. We might not go for the whole junior program again this summer, but we will definitely show up for some fun in the parks with the maps and the FWOC again.

I survived directing the Robert Hamilton Memorial Race for the first time. This year I have a new co-director helping me out. Hopefully together we'll make some improvements and enjoy keeping this great tradition going. 2009's event is scheduled for July 12.

My experience at Moose Mountain this year was all that I'd hoped and trained for! It felt really really good to reach the top of the mountain, and of course I thoroughly enjoyed the descent.

This winter I'm sticking to the Calgary Roadrunners Grand Prix Cross Country series and training sporadically with the 10k group. I hope to reduce the "sporadic" part of that last sentence in 2009.

In non-running news, late this summer I taught myself to knit. It is fabulous how many tutorials, videos, diagrams and free patterns the internet offers. My favourite knitting website is Ravelry. Awesome place!

Have a great winter. Stay warm!

Summer Update

Every now and then I remember to update things here, but you already know that most of my stuff is over there, right?

This summer I added in a few extra activities to the usual running and volunteering. I signed up for a triathlon, so I'm swimming and biking, too. And just for fun, I've been "exploring" (getting lost in) Calgary's parks while learning orienteering with my daughter.

I'm taking the volunteering a step further than usual this year; this August I'll be directing the Robert Hamilton Memorial Race for the first time. Come out and join us as we celebrate the friendships forged by running together.

I'm also training to run the Moose in September. It's calling me out the door for a long run now. Can you hear it?

Strange Fascinations

Lately I've been enjoying reading blogs written by folks on Antarctica. They remind me that there are those who live and thrive even where it is way, way colder than our winter is here.

I have enjoyed reading science fiction for many years. Reading Antarctican blogs is like that, but more real. Living on that icy continent seems similar to living on another planet.

The bloggers in that extreme southern region have a very quirky sense of humour. I think it's a requirement of the psych tests they have to pass before being allowed to go there. Nobody stays there for long. They take quite long breaks and sometimes one stint on the ice is enough. It's a harsh place to live and work. It's often interesting to see where they go on holidays and how they think about the rest of the world when they get back to it.

Here are a few of my favourites lately:
the siren song of the antibears
his descriptions of the mustache competition and the spam cooking fest are hilarious!
Ice, White and Blue (it looks like she's leaving again - read her back posts - great stuff)
Homeless Heidi (a polie back for her fifth winter)

I saw a good list of other current blogs recently, but can't find it now, or I'd post it here too.