Priceless

Previously, I've written about Wednesday night being Daddy/Darcy night. Sometimes she treats me to really special occasions. Tonight was one of those nights.

We were done eating supper, I was putting a few last things away in the kitchen and D was singing and playing in the other room. Then she came into the doorway and said, "Hi Dah. I deh a boom boom." She was tapping her butt, just in case I wasn't sure what she was telling me.

How special is that?

New Favorite Words

This week D has been going on with her two new favorite words: "MOOOMMMMY!" & "Ehmo".

Return of the Diaper Bag

We got the diaper bag back! There was a knock on the door this afternoon and a complete stranger was there holding our bag. She said her kids had found it at the park near our house. Most of the stuff was still there, including her jeans, but her books and a couple of toys are gone. Someone had taken the time to dump a handful of sand into the bottom, but that can be cleaned up.

The woman who returned it said that she saw it was full of baby stuff, and our cheque book. She said that once she saw the cheque book she knew we needed it back. So we have the cheques back, completely undisturbed. It weird because everything else was wet from being outside for a week, but the cheque book is fine.

Yee Haw!

She's the birthday girl!

Happy Birthday Sue!

Here are some facts about this date in history.

She did it!

Sue went out and ran 5 km yesterday! It was more than a km further than she's ever gone and probably ten minutes longer than her previous best. I was totally impressed. Since she started running last September, for the first time ever, she got close, but since going back to work she has struggled to find the time to keep things going. But she hasn't let herself get discouraged and has stuck with it. I am very proud of her. In two weeks she'll run her first official race, I can hardly wait to see her come across the line!

Oh, the other day I wrote that my goal for the weekend was to do a hard 5 km run and break 20 minutes. I meant to write that my goal was to break 21 minutes. I went out way too hard and suffered in laps 3 & 4, but brought it home strong in the last km to finish in 21:11, matching my previous best. I suffered partly because of the stupidly fast start and partly because I didn't fuel myself properly at all.

Who Said What?

Spoken last night in our house:

"She still falls a lot, is that bad?"
"So do you. Good night."

Stressed Out

This was a horrible week. Save for running home from work twice, there was no end to the stress. Work was beyond insane. Keeping up with Darcy is always crazy, then I went and left the diaper bag on the trunk while we drove away this morning. Insert your own descriptive adjective here. To top it off, our 2002 Neon needs about $700 of work. Insert another descriptive adjective here. I took it in for service last week and they found that two of the tires I had installed last October are worn out. They need to be replaced, the bushings on both lower control arms in the front suspension are worn out and those arms are sitting on the chassis. This isn't immediately dangerous, but causes the car to shake at high speeds (120 +) and is contributing to the premature tire wear. So I went to talk to the guy where I bought the tires, he said right away that they are worn from poor alingment and that he wouldn't get anything for them from warranty. My only option is to get two new tires. But unless I get the bushings fixed (a very labor intensive job) and get the wheels alinged, those tires will wear out prematurely again. I'm so glad that this is right before Sue's, my brother-in- law Steve's and my own birthdays. Not to mention Christmas. I guess I'll ask Sue for lower control arm bushings for my birthday, maybe she can stuff my stocking with new tires.

I'm really grateful for the days when I can run home. This week Thursday was particularly stressful and I even had to stay late at work, which is VERY rare (this makes 4 times in 6 years that that has happened). So I ran home, all stressed out and ready to hate the cold. It was an amazing release. My wind breaker kept me perfectly warm and I felt 100% less stressed when I got home. Too bad running every day isn't in the cards.

'Tis the season

Windsor is typically warmer then the rest of Canada. That's one of the few things going we have going for us down here. That and being south of the US.

However, I saw, get ready for it, the dreaded 's-word', S N O W here today. It didn't last once it hit the ground, but I did it whisping along the ground in the wind a bunch. That looks nice, but I only appreciate it from the comfort of a vehicle. We're also getting a lot of US Thanksgiving hype here, which means that the Christmas season is almost officially here.

So this talk of snow has sent a pretty powerful message to me: Running outside in the winter is going to suck. The Santa Shuffle is 17 days away and it's only getting colder. Hopefully it's just initial shock of actually seeing snow and I'll get over it. But all I can think is that running outside in the winter is going to suck.

As an update for the race, Lorne (the owner) is in. He's been running for about six weeks now on his treadmill. He's started to do some outdoor runs, but has found them to be a lot more difficult. My schedule has a fast paced 5 km on Saturday, my goal is to break 20 minutes. I hope I feel more positive Saturday morning than I do now.

New words

D has put some new words into her vocabulary.

Last week she was thrilled with the poppies on our coats and learned to say "poooppppi." But really she wanted to be eating the poppies with pins. That didn't exactly work. She's also learned the word 'out'. Most often it's used in this context, "Darcy get out of there," as her latest trick involved going into a room and then closing the door behind her. It doesn't really matter if you're in there or not or even if the lights are on. I open the door and she'll then say "ooouttt," with a real strong Canadian accent.

Also new is the scowl that she'll give us when she doesn't get her way. She's got quite the little attitude for a little girl. Almost 18 months, going on 18 years. Great.

Family Resemblance

Does anyone else see the family similarities between Uncle Marc and Darcy?

I think it's uncanny.

Word of the week.

This weeks word is "water". Most of the time she'll say "whhhaaat", but you can get her to go "whhhaaat err".

In the bath she'll be splashing around going "whhhaaat whhhattt whaaaaat err".

New Shirt

If you've ever watch track & field in the Olympics, you probably know that the best distance runners are from Kenya. They are always the hardest ones to beat and almost always seem to win.

I found this and I think it might be appropriate on race day.

I could pass for a Kenyan.

Found Time

It's November now. I haven't biked in about ten days, for the most part it's too cold in the mornings to ride. So last weekend I cleaned up the back yard, brought in things that had been stored out there since the basement renovation and put the bike away for the winter. Then this week has been warm again and I could have riding every day. Too bad for me.

I don't want to get out of shape this winter. My plan is to keep running and building my distance to be ready for some 10 km races next year, along with a sprint distance triathlon and if things go well an Olympic distance one as well.

With our busy schedule, Sue being back at work, the days getting much shorter, it's been hard for either of us to run consistently. Ideally, I'd like to be going three times a week. But that just wasn't happening. Until I realized that the shortest route home from work is 4 miles, right at the distance I've been running. So twice a week, usually Monday & Thursday, I take my running gear to work and run home. It's better then car pooling, I have to get home some how and this way I'm done my run by the time we eat supper. Also, Sue doesn't have to drive the extra distance to get me across town after picking up Darcy, so we use less gas. Yee Haw!

I've done the impossible, I've found the elusive 25th hour in the day.