Hypothermic Half

So I have just finished my first official Half Marathon (21.1k). Official in the sense that I actually trained hard for this. This race was called the Hypothermic Half. From the picture, you can see why it is called that. It wasn't too cold of a day for the end of January and the sun may have popped out once or twice but I didn't really notice. I was pretty focused on my race. I had my music going and my Garmin by my side helping me along.


There was one little problem with my music which took a little while to fix. I started the race listening to it and after a while I noticed I was listening to the same song over and over again. Apparently I had it set up to repeat one song rather than the whole playlist, so once I got that sorted out everything else went quite smoothly.


This race is not one of the most exciting ones to run since it is a lap kind where I ran the same area about 4 times, seeing and smelling the same things over and over. It took place at the Central Experimental Farm. So you could definitely smell the farm many times especially as the wind blew your way. The only good thing about running the many laps is that I was able to cheer on the other runners from my group as I passed them as they did for me. It always feels good when you hear someone giving you those words of encouragement, and it is probably what helped me get through the race. I am proud to say that I finished the race with a personal best time of 1:52:50


I have started already training for the next big race of Ottawa the ING Half Marathon in May, it is one of the biggest events here in Ottawa as a lot of the racers who run the full Marathon run it to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I am very excited to participate in it this year. Last year I ran a 10k but I feel I am ready for the Half and maybe next year I will finally attempt a full Marathon as well (not necessarily for the Boston though). Training for this has me being a group leader with the Running Room. We started last Thursday and hopefully I will have more in my pace group this week but if not that will be ok too.

Reading Again

I have started reading again, no not Harry Potter, I have put that aside for a while....I needed a change. I found this book at Chapters, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and it sounded kind of interesting. It is about a boy in College who leaves when he becomes poor and parentless and joines the circus. He made friends after making a lot of enemies first and even fell in love. The story goes from the present, at the age of 93 to the past, starting at the age of 23. It really was a good book since it took me less than a week to read it and that rarely happens. I just felt I had to know more about the circus life and what went on behind the scenes. Basically I couldn't put it down.

I went to the book store again in search of another great book and picked up Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, it is a biography. We'll see how it goes.

Dilemma

I've been having a hard time adjusting to my new situation at work. For those of you who don't know me.....in September I finished Nannying for one family (sort of) and started with another. The family I finished with (Family 2) has 2 children 6 and 4 years old, I was with them for about 4 years and both the kids started full time school this year. It was sad to not be with them as much anymore.

The new family I started with (Family 1) had their first child in June and asked me to start with them in September to get adjusted while the mother was still on maternity leave. Also so that I wouldn't get a job somewhere else and leave them looking later on. Since she was on mat leave Family 2 asked if it would be ok if I worked part time with them as well. I would pick up the older kids after school and stayed there until mom and dad came home for the night. So basically I work 7:30-2:30 with Family 1 then I drive to the school to pick up the kids and I am with them from 3:00-5:30. I was delighted to do this since I didn't really want to leave the older kids anyway.

It was in an agreement between the 2 families that I would do this until January when Family 2 mom was to go back to work. Well now it is January 15 and I am still in the same situation as I was in before. Now don't get me wrong I love the time I spend with Family 2, I am just getting more and more frustrated with Family 1. I didn't think being a Nanny would be following the mom around while she did her errands and appointments, because mom is on mat leave I am basically not doing too much with the baby, who is now 7 months. I feed her in the morning and at lunch and I play with her during the day when that is possible. Mom puts her down for naps because she likes to stay in the room with her and watch her sleep. I am finding it harder and harder to do my job as a Nanny. I don't feel like she trusts me or thinks that I can handle things as she is always intervening. She will be going back to work but the when is what is bothering me. Can I really put up with this for the next 5 months she is on mat leave? Will things be any better then anyway? Should I be looking for another family?

This is just something I have been thinking about lately. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A New Year

I haven't written in a while so I thought now would be a good time. I've been back at work for a week now after having a good two weeks off over the holidays. The week started off really well, I heard lots of interesting stories about what the kids did over their holidays and surprisingly the baby missed me.....or so it seemed.

She is now 7 months old and is more attentive, I can actually play with her now and she responds to what I do. She likes to knock over my towers repeatedly :( She is not quite crawling yet but can sit well on her own. She has started eating more varieties of foods which is not always nice for me, her favourite right now is sweet potato. I have also begun taking her to some playgroups (well one so far), she really liked watching other kids play and move around. Hopefully she will start to move around more herself because she is starting to get heavy.

The other 2 kids went up to Montebello Quebec after New Years for a few days with another family and had a good time.....well mostly good. Poor little Choo Choo ended up getting an ear infection the day before they went and had to go on antibiotics. They have had many experiences with ear infections and ear tubes that they still had all the ear plugs so she was able to swim still. They also tried out cross-country skiing and I think it is now Nugley's favourite thing to do as that was all he really talked about. Then I had to try and get them back on their routine after picking them up from school, hopefully next week will be better. Choo Choo ended up getting hives, a reaction from the antibiotics so she was itching all day at school and the next day too thankfully they went away pretty quickly. She was very brave.

Choo Choo on her new horse from Santa

2008

Well, 2007 is over and done with and 2008 has come, what will it bring for me? for you? We will never know what is ahead which I find exciting. I had a pretty good year last year and I am looking forward to what is to come. I have not made any New Years Resolutions, not really sure what I would consider an actual resolution anyway. There is always the usual ones about living healthier, exercising more, cutting back on finances, but who actually keeps these? and what do they actually entail? I would just rather take things one day at a time and just enjoy everything I do, with my friends and family.

I ran in a Resolution Race last night along the Rideau Canal, I ran a 10k and beat my personal best, I found that a good way to end of the year for sure. Now I'll have to see where I can go from there.

What did you do for your New Year's and what kind of plans are you setting? Well what ever they may be I just hope that you are happy.

Happy New Year!