The Waiting Game

I've put off posting (again) because I was hoping to have some good news to share.  I had a job interview a few weeks ago.  Originally I was to find out either way by the end of the following week.  Then I got a call that Monday to say that it would be by the end of the next week.  That brought us to last Friday, and still no word.   I called yesterday to follow up, but there was no answer, and so far, no response to my message.  Not a good sign, but I'm trying to remain optimistic.  Maybe no news is good news?  My more realistic guess is that they have offered the position to someone else, but that person hasn't accepted yet, so they haven't been able to respond one way or the other.  Hrm...

In the meantime, I've had some some good runs and workouts.

Last Tuesday, Cookie and I walked across the highway, then ran for 25 minutes in one direction, then turned around and walked back.  I tried to take a picture of us when we got back.

 

Wednesday, we went did 10 minutes of walking, run 10 minutes, walk 4 minutes, run 15 minutes, walk 4 minutes, run 10 minutes and walked home.  It was pretty uneventful except that on the way home a pick up drove by and stunk of weed.  At 11am.  On a Wednesday.  I've experienced a lot of different smells while out running at different times of day in different areas, but his was new.

On Thursday, we went for an hour long walk.  I listened to this podcast:

Have you ever listened to it?  You will learn endless pieces of interesting useless trivia.

On Friday, I was a bit of a wreck waiting for the phone call.  I didn't want to leave my phone behind, and I didn't want to answer THE CALL out of breath and panting.  I planned to go out after the call, but the call never came.  Arg.

We had snow on Friday night, and it continued on Saturday morning but was mostly melting as it hit the ground.  Cookie and I went out for a 10 minute walk, then ran (mostly uphill) for 18 minutes, walked 4 minutes then turned around and came back down the long, steady hill in 18 minutes and walked 10 minutes back to the car.  Aside from Cookie's first run in the snow, it was also her first time seeing cows.  She was fascinated!

Saturday night we got a huge DUMP of snow.  (Apparently we also had an earthquake but we didn't feel it).  We took the dogs out to a friend's place on Sunday and tromped around for a couple of hours.  I can't believe this is October.

It kept snowing all day Sunday and on Monday the roads were a mess.  I no longer have a gym membership, so settled for 50 minutes of yoga at home.  Sorry Cookie.

 

Today, the roads have been plowed, the sun is shining and it is cold.  -10C with windchill at -15C (5F) I bundled up and out we went.  Walk 15 minutes, run 27 minutes, walk home.  I took it really easy and felt great.  The time went by quickly and I couldn't believe when the 27 minutes were up.  We are on week 11 of our Pooch to 5K plan.  It has been slow going, but I am still injury free and Cookie loves to run.  She gets excited when we start running and always looks up with disappointment when I make her walk.  I think this is a great plan for getting your dog to start running, and it was a great plan for me to get back into a routine without any pain in my foot.

Forgetful me

Today was a beautiful fall day.

The weather network said it was only 7*C, and my phone said it was 5*C, but the sun was shining and it looked a lot warmer.

I got dressed in this, but lost the second shirt before I even set out, and had my sleeves rolled up on the other one not long after.  They are calling for snow tomorrow.

I drove out to run along the lake, and it wasn't until I was parked that I realized I didn't have my watch or Garmin and even my cell battery was dead.  I'm doing a Pooch to 5K plan, and today's run called for three sets of 10 minutes of running with 4 minutes of walking in between.  Thank goodness for music.  I made due by running for three songs then walking for one.  It wasn't perfect, but it worked out ok.

Because I have some extra time on my hands, when I got home, I added up the song times:

Warm up:
3:48 + 3:29 = 7:17 walking

Run 1:
3:35 + 4:49 + 3:53 = 12:17 running (a little bonus)
3:58 walk break (almost perfect)

Run 2:
3:29 + 4:05 + 3:30 = 11:04 (just a tad extra)
3:25 walk break (long enough)

Run 3:
4:09 + 2:52 +2:58 = 9:59 (it actually felt too short)
3:33 walk break

Because that last one didn't feel quite long enough, after one more song of walking (3:14), I ran for one more song just to be safe (4:12)

Then I walked all the way back to the car (18:57) for a total of around 11km in  1:17:56.  

Ever used your music to track your run?  How did it work out?

Debbie Downer

Hmmm, so I said I was back and then promptly disappeared again.  Oops!  In truth, I just didn't know what I wanted to say about that really long absence.

Here it is:

In March, the government decided to stop funding the youth program that I worked for.  Because they provided 95% of our funding, we had to close down our program.  It was a program that ran for 6 months and the announcement came at roughly the mid-way mark for the last cohort of participants.  They were able to finish their program, but that was it.  All of the houses were shut down in June, and my job ended in July.

Wrapping up was a busy time, as well as stressful and emotional.  I'd devoted almost 5 years to this organization and anyone who works in non-profit knows that you don't do it for the money.  This is not a political blog so I won't go into my views on the Harper government.  I will just say that I don't relate to their values.  At all.

In the meantime, I hurt my foot.  I had so much pain after a 10K run that I couldn't walk for 3 days.  After several attempts to self-diagnose the issue, I discovered I have a bunion that I just irritated the heck out of.  This meant lots of rest and then a very slow regimen of foot strengthening, and building slowly rather than jumping back in to running.

A combination of feeling low about not running, losing the program and the bleak employment outlook has meant that I've rarely had anything positive to say, so I've just been keeping to myself.  Wah wah.

I'm still job hunting, but I decided to get over myself and put an end to the pity party back in September.  We have had a beautiful fall and I get outside for at least an hour a day, for either a walk or a walk/run, usually with the pup.  I'm up to 23 minutes of running without pain.  There have been several setbacks along the way so when I say I'm taking it slow, I mean really, really slow.

This has been a bit of a downer post, so here's a pic to make ya smile. This is from last spring and she has grown a lot, but still has the floppy ear. Isn't she cute?