“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
everyone's most sensitive topic...
Thursday, August 26, 2010
oh, the line of focus...



Tuesday, August 24, 2010
just a little laugh
Monday, August 23, 2010
to rob a title... "the indignity of commuting by bike": bixi's to the hospital

Monday, August 16, 2010
back in montreal
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Photos from Lake Chaparral


Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Lake Chaparral Race Report
Ah yes. Olympic distance triathlons. the distance that made me fall in love with this sport. the distance that causes me to suffer a bit, but allows me still to do well, since it is still fairly endurance based...

Sunday, August 8, 2010
hard to concentrate...
the race, this morning, in calgary, was not bad. but, it was not great. I will write a detailed report tomorrow, when I am a bit more concious, and a little bit more focused, with my results.
I got 4th in my age group, 9th OA woman.
the course was long (about 10.75km for the run, 41km for the bike)
i got blisters on my feet, because i made the stupid decision of not putting my socks on for the run.
bike was good.
swim was the slowest and hardest that i have had, since my first OLY in July 2008. i almost thought that I was going to have my first DNF. thank god I didn't.
despite it possibly raining, it didn't. and, that made me happy.
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Today, I had a the beginnings of a conversation that started to get to the very route of my being. a conversation that will continue to go on longer.
I have recently been given a gift that is the something which challenges me to be a better person. a gift that challenges me to be more like christ, because it challenges me to think of someone else, more than i think about myself. I have recently been given a gift that is amazing. and beautiful. and something i may have never been given before.
this conversation, and this gift, continuously has made me remember how the things we go through, people we meet, and circumstances we encounter in life form us into who we are today: the good, and not so good. the way we choose to act, and the unconscious reactions that we just do. and, it is not so much that our past defines who we are. we do not have to be held captive to the things of our past, they just tend to influence some of the things we do.
it is likely that I will say things that i do not mean to say.
it is likely that I will not do the things that i do not mean to do.
it is likely that I will be selfish, and forget to think of other people, before i think of myself.
it is likely that I will forget to trust, forget to extend grace and show mercy, forget to rely on faith, and forget to love.
every day, we wake up, with a series of decisions to make. do i wake up, or stay in bed? do i phone so and so. do I help out in the house, or at school, or at work? do i choose to be positive, or be upset, angry and have a negative outlook on life? do I choose to walk forward into the good things, even though they may be unknown, scary, and risky?
i pray that every day, I can wake up and say 'yes. i will not be defined by the things of my past, or be scared of everything that is different or new or makes me feel vulnerable. i choose to have a positive outlook. i choose faith, hope, love. i choose to go beyond my fears, and experience something new. I choose the good things in life.'
i choose life.
Friday, August 6, 2010
the weekends pass fast!

I am pretty sure that it is going to be a strong race for me. I am currently feeling quite strong. I am definitely noticing the increasing in hours for training times throughout the week, and definitely noticing that I am on a building period right now. It is interesting though, because coach and I have (for reasons unbeknownst to either of us) missing eachother on the "being good at connecting on skype." thing. why is this interesting?! well, because i just feel like i am going to be racing this race without overly thinking about it as being a race week. just go into it feeling a little tired. is this good? well, it's not bad. why? well, because we are building for an A race in the fall. i will be racing Syracuse 70.3 on sept 19th. and, that is soon. that is just over a month away. yipes!
Anyway, for lake chapparal, the top 3 times for women, last year were: 2:19, 2:28 and 2:29. i am kinda curious as to if i will be able to manage that 2:30 time slot. I raced a 2:36 at slave lake, with long transitions, and running 5km with bare feet. I also have upgraded my bike to the flying machine. maybe i have purchased myself a win. :)
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the past 2 weeks have certainly been interesting. It has involved a lot of family stuff. Most notably, a last minute August long weekend trip down to the Nelson BC area for the baptism of my youngest neice, Elizabeth. I traveled down in a rental car with my sister, and my oldest neice. We stopped overnight in Fairmont Hot Springs, and I had the best ride so far on my flying machine. 90km at 6 am, down a low traffic mountain secondary highway: rolling hills, beautiful weather, wide shoulder. virtually perfect (except for my seat... yup, have to see if that pain is going to pass on the longer rides).
The trip was better than expected, but a lot of driving. With the diverse personalities of the characters that were there, it could've led to a lot of drama. but, it was a beautiful weekend, and the best possible outcomes. More photos will come, but for now, a few stolen from Makayla's facebook page...
the dog.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010
jammed packed couple days
- emails pile up.
- i find that I am only getting 6-7 hrs of sleep a night.
- i drive 12 hours each way to see family, only to stay in the destination for a day and a half.
- i don't answer my phone when it rings.
- i bring school work to work work.
- day schedule looks somewhat like this: wake up. work out 1. study a bit while eating. grab a coffee. work. eat. work. go home. snack. workout 2. go hang out with boy. eat dinner. bed. REPEAT.
- i realize that it is already the 4th, and I only have 10 days left in this city.
- i barely have time to squeeze in dinner with my mum.
- i don't blog much.
so. things like that have been going on. a better blog post will follow. but, for now, I leave you with some more photos. remember how I mentioned at one point in a "things i like" post, that I love getting film developed after they have sat in my room for a year, or longer. these photos (and the ones in the tree post) are from a recent film developing.
These are from my recent trip to alaska, at the end of june.



