Howdy Bloggies,
Back from PEI and back to reality! Lorena and I did the camping thing for 5 days and it was fantastic, with the exception of all the rain. Prince Edward Island never seems to disappoint and we always come back home wanting to go back again. What made this trip extra special though is that one of Lorena's friends from university, Mandy, was on the Island with her family visiting her parents. I'm happy to call her a friend of mine as well, and her family is absolutely fantastic and so much fun to hang out with.
Then, of course, there is Cows ice cream. That alone should be considered a tourist attraction. We were there for 6 days/5 nights and there was only one day where I didn't have a cone of ice cream in hand. There was even one day where I had two cones in one day!! If we do retire on the island later on in life, I plan on becoming a huge 400 pound man. Mind you, I'll be happy if I get to eat that much ice cream.
While on the Island, I did do one thing that concerned running. I bought a new pair of shoes! That's right, I got a new pair of Asics Nimbus 15! In case you don't know, Hashem's Variety located in Charlottetown is a convenience store which sells Asics sneakers in the back of the store. Hashem has adopted a "quantity over quality" approach to selling shoes. The price of shoes are much cheaper there as he has a mark down which is significantly lower than other retailers, and this allows him to sell so many shoes. In about 25 minutes, he sold 5 pairs of shoes (including mine and Lorena's), and he throws in a free pair of socks in the deal, so how can you lose!!
All in all, a great vacation, now time to focus on finishing up some house stuff and getting some more miles in this week!!
7/29/2013
7/08/2013
Mmmmmmm, Dave's Produce Packs
Wow, here's something new, I'm not going to mention anything about running today (oops, I guess I just kind of did... oh well). To anybody in the Saint John area that doesn't know about Dave's Produce Packs, you don't know what you're missing. These produce packs began by a local farmer, Dave Wolpin, looking for a different way to get fresh organic foods on people's tables. In a day where we hear a lot about farmers having a tough time, it's refreshing to hear that Dave is having a lot of success.
Here's how the system works. You visit www.davesproducepacks.com early enough in the spring, and sign up. You're required to send a 100 dollar cheque for deposit, to get your name on the list. Once you're on the list, you will receive an email in mid June with more details. Then, every week on a specific day, you show up at a pick up point (there are quite a few, ours is just 2 minutes away) and pick up a bunch of yummy produce. You have the choice of a $40 or a $50 produce pack depending on how much produce you want. Every week you show up with your money or cheque to pick up your produce, which was picked from their fields that morning. Along with this yummy produce, you will receive a dozen of free run eggs, and a loaf of freshly baked bread. Lorena and I have noticed that the bread is still warm at our pick up point. That may be because Lorena and I show up right away at 4:30 to pick up our produce.
This week, our pack included a loaf of orange zest, cranberry bread, a dozen free run eggs, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic scapes, beet greens, kohl rabi, leaf lettuce, kale and onions. Mmmmmmm, yummy!!!
Here's how the system works. You visit www.davesproducepacks.com early enough in the spring, and sign up. You're required to send a 100 dollar cheque for deposit, to get your name on the list. Once you're on the list, you will receive an email in mid June with more details. Then, every week on a specific day, you show up at a pick up point (there are quite a few, ours is just 2 minutes away) and pick up a bunch of yummy produce. You have the choice of a $40 or a $50 produce pack depending on how much produce you want. Every week you show up with your money or cheque to pick up your produce, which was picked from their fields that morning. Along with this yummy produce, you will receive a dozen of free run eggs, and a loaf of freshly baked bread. Lorena and I have noticed that the bread is still warm at our pick up point. That may be because Lorena and I show up right away at 4:30 to pick up our produce.
This week, our pack included a loaf of orange zest, cranberry bread, a dozen free run eggs, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic scapes, beet greens, kohl rabi, leaf lettuce, kale and onions. Mmmmmmm, yummy!!!
7/05/2013
The "Slaughter" and a new goal race.
Hey all,
Well, Wednesday, my wife and I went out on our "Slaughter". For those of you that aren't familiar with this term from our realtor, it simply means viewing a number of properties at once. In our case, because Lorena and I are both teachers, we were able to go at a time that wasn't busy for our realtor. All in all, we ended up viewing 11 different places in our quest for a house. Two that we were really interested in were lakefront properties which were absolutely gorgeous but had some worrisome issues. It was only the last property on our extensive list that will be included in our greatest hits tour (viewing all of our favourites up till now, to see if there is a clear favourite). This "greatest hits tour" is another term used by our realtor and will happen next Monday.
Had an interesting run yesterday with my buddy Dan. We ended up going to the Irving Nature Park for a 13 km on a day where the high was around 31 degrees celcius. However, running at the Nature Park does create a cooler atmosphere, with some shade and some cool breezes at times. I can honestly say I've never been as sweaty as I was today, not even after a race! Sweat was pouring everywhere (sorry for the bad visual).
Ever since the Fredericton Half Marathon where I set my new PB, I've been kind of running around without any new goals. Sure, I ran the Rock N Run in Miramichi hoping to be faster, but the weather played a role in that race, and I had to drop that idea quickly! So, it was during today's run that Dan helped me pick out my new half marathon goal race, and it's going to be le demi-marathon de Saint-Francois. I've run this before way back in 2007. It's a beautiful out and back course, very flat, and with it being late summer, early fall, the weather may be fantastic for it. I'll keep my fingers crossed on that one.
Speaking of goals, one of my big yearly goals this year is to run 2013 kilometres. Right now, my mileage is sitting at 940 kilometres, which is at 47% of my goal (or so my Garmin tells me). I really need a kick in the pants to get my mileage up there so I don't get stuck with a whole bunch of running in December, but it's looking pretty good so far. Alrighty Bloggies, I've got to get to bed for another big day tomorrow. Keep in touch!!!
Well, Wednesday, my wife and I went out on our "Slaughter". For those of you that aren't familiar with this term from our realtor, it simply means viewing a number of properties at once. In our case, because Lorena and I are both teachers, we were able to go at a time that wasn't busy for our realtor. All in all, we ended up viewing 11 different places in our quest for a house. Two that we were really interested in were lakefront properties which were absolutely gorgeous but had some worrisome issues. It was only the last property on our extensive list that will be included in our greatest hits tour (viewing all of our favourites up till now, to see if there is a clear favourite). This "greatest hits tour" is another term used by our realtor and will happen next Monday.
Had an interesting run yesterday with my buddy Dan. We ended up going to the Irving Nature Park for a 13 km on a day where the high was around 31 degrees celcius. However, running at the Nature Park does create a cooler atmosphere, with some shade and some cool breezes at times. I can honestly say I've never been as sweaty as I was today, not even after a race! Sweat was pouring everywhere (sorry for the bad visual).
Ever since the Fredericton Half Marathon where I set my new PB, I've been kind of running around without any new goals. Sure, I ran the Rock N Run in Miramichi hoping to be faster, but the weather played a role in that race, and I had to drop that idea quickly! So, it was during today's run that Dan helped me pick out my new half marathon goal race, and it's going to be le demi-marathon de Saint-Francois. I've run this before way back in 2007. It's a beautiful out and back course, very flat, and with it being late summer, early fall, the weather may be fantastic for it. I'll keep my fingers crossed on that one.
Speaking of goals, one of my big yearly goals this year is to run 2013 kilometres. Right now, my mileage is sitting at 940 kilometres, which is at 47% of my goal (or so my Garmin tells me). I really need a kick in the pants to get my mileage up there so I don't get stuck with a whole bunch of running in December, but it's looking pretty good so far. Alrighty Bloggies, I've got to get to bed for another big day tomorrow. Keep in touch!!!
7/03/2013
New shoes soon!
Me again!!!
To use "teenager talk", OMG, I just saw and read about the most amazing shoes ever!!! My usual shoes wander between the Asics Nimbus and the Mizuno Elixirs. I think I now have a new crush, and it's name is Mizuno Wave Sayonara!! Seeing that the release date is right around the corner (about July 15th), I'm sitting on pins and needles right now. I love my Tiger Paws (Wave Elixir 7), but I think these will blow me away.
Here are what my current shoes look like :
And here are what may become my new favourites very soon!!!
I know what you're thinking! Wow, those are so flashy! But we all know it's what's on the inside that counts. And all reviews seem to mention that these shoes have a touch of support if you need it and that they are lightweight. Not as light as a racing flat, but lighter than a regular trainer. All of this has left me drooling in anticipation! I'll keep you posted once I order a pair.
To use "teenager talk", OMG, I just saw and read about the most amazing shoes ever!!! My usual shoes wander between the Asics Nimbus and the Mizuno Elixirs. I think I now have a new crush, and it's name is Mizuno Wave Sayonara!! Seeing that the release date is right around the corner (about July 15th), I'm sitting on pins and needles right now. I love my Tiger Paws (Wave Elixir 7), but I think these will blow me away.
Here are what my current shoes look like :
And here are what may become my new favourites very soon!!!
I know what you're thinking! Wow, those are so flashy! But we all know it's what's on the inside that counts. And all reviews seem to mention that these shoes have a touch of support if you need it and that they are lightweight. Not as light as a racing flat, but lighter than a regular trainer. All of this has left me drooling in anticipation! I'll keep you posted once I order a pair.
7/02/2013
Track and a House!
Hey Bloggies,
What a great track workout tonight! Our coach, Daryl, had us celebrate one of our local runner's (Superman Dean Strowbridge) age record over the weekend. He set a NB record for his age category, running a mile in 4:43. So, that was our magic number! We ran 3 sets around the track for 4 minutes and 43 seconds. Between each set was a 90 second rest. Our first set was "easy", followed by a "moderate" set. Then, the brutal part of the workout came!! That's right, Daryl had us run a "hard" set for 4:43!! The Beavertail (for non-Canadians, a pastry with lots of sugary toppings) that I had earlier in the day wasn't sitting well in my tummy.
Our next set was just as interesting. It was made up of 4 sets. Each set was 58 seconds long, with no rest between each. Our set list was easy, moderate, moderate-hard. Our last one was very hard, as it felt like my legs were super heavy.
I think my training is going well, as I've been training with people who are faster than me and I kind of feel that I'm kind of keeping up. The problem is, I don't have a goal race in mind for this year. I'll be at Marathon by the Sea here in Saint John pacing Claudia but otherwise than that, I need to pick a goal race, so I can focus on something.
Something that I have been toying around with for a while is another Ultramarathon. I've done a 50 km before, and am looking at doing a 100 km run at some point. I just need a specific race. If anyone out there can suggest a good 100 km event, I'd be interested in knowing about it.
On to the housing situation (as per the title of this post), Lorena and I will be doing what our realtor calls a slaughter! A slaughter is where we are going to view a number of properties (11 in our case), followed by a greatest hits tour. The greatest hits tour is where we would return to our favourites during the "slaughter". We feel we're pretty close to getting a house, which will be one of our biggest purchases ever! Words can't express the joy we will feel once we move into a house. I'll let you know how the Slaughter goes!!
Have a great night Bloggies!!
What a great track workout tonight! Our coach, Daryl, had us celebrate one of our local runner's (Superman Dean Strowbridge) age record over the weekend. He set a NB record for his age category, running a mile in 4:43. So, that was our magic number! We ran 3 sets around the track for 4 minutes and 43 seconds. Between each set was a 90 second rest. Our first set was "easy", followed by a "moderate" set. Then, the brutal part of the workout came!! That's right, Daryl had us run a "hard" set for 4:43!! The Beavertail (for non-Canadians, a pastry with lots of sugary toppings) that I had earlier in the day wasn't sitting well in my tummy.
Our next set was just as interesting. It was made up of 4 sets. Each set was 58 seconds long, with no rest between each. Our set list was easy, moderate, moderate-hard. Our last one was very hard, as it felt like my legs were super heavy.
I think my training is going well, as I've been training with people who are faster than me and I kind of feel that I'm kind of keeping up. The problem is, I don't have a goal race in mind for this year. I'll be at Marathon by the Sea here in Saint John pacing Claudia but otherwise than that, I need to pick a goal race, so I can focus on something.
Something that I have been toying around with for a while is another Ultramarathon. I've done a 50 km before, and am looking at doing a 100 km run at some point. I just need a specific race. If anyone out there can suggest a good 100 km event, I'd be interested in knowing about it.
On to the housing situation (as per the title of this post), Lorena and I will be doing what our realtor calls a slaughter! A slaughter is where we are going to view a number of properties (11 in our case), followed by a greatest hits tour. The greatest hits tour is where we would return to our favourites during the "slaughter". We feel we're pretty close to getting a house, which will be one of our biggest purchases ever! Words can't express the joy we will feel once we move into a house. I'll let you know how the Slaughter goes!!
Have a great night Bloggies!!
7/01/2013
I'm back!!
Hey hey hey Bloggies,
Guess who's returned back to blogging! No, not Hulk Hogan, but good guess. That's right, it's me!! That last time I worked on a blog was in 2007, and I was only able to recover a few entries from that time, but they're still funny to read, even though it's only been 6 years ago.
Over the course of the summer, I'll be tweaking this blog to either rant, review, vent or praise different things. Not to mention updates on my running, and the ridiculous things I have in mind for my all time favourite sport!!!
So take care Bloggies, hang tight, and hopefully you'll find my musings amusing!
Evan
Guess who's returned back to blogging! No, not Hulk Hogan, but good guess. That's right, it's me!! That last time I worked on a blog was in 2007, and I was only able to recover a few entries from that time, but they're still funny to read, even though it's only been 6 years ago.
Over the course of the summer, I'll be tweaking this blog to either rant, review, vent or praise different things. Not to mention updates on my running, and the ridiculous things I have in mind for my all time favourite sport!!!
So take care Bloggies, hang tight, and hopefully you'll find my musings amusing!
Evan
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