So long 2019; Hello 2020

2019 Year in Review

Well if you've been absent from my blog then you aren't the only one as I've been dwelling on things and also planning on all the things.

So let's see 2019

• Fitness wasn't where it was pre-ablation, but definitely feeling better
• Became a Team Awesome and Team Nuun Ambassador for 2019
• I did some sporadic running and some HIIT workouts in the first three months, but really had to slow it down which is really hard.
• Had a bit of a scare with Dr. Google after my 1st Holter post ablation turned out to be nothing, but a warning to slow the Frig down.
• Ran my first 5K race at Hypothermic Half
• Ran a MEC 10K Spring race to see if I could handle the distance 4 months post ablation.
• Then did back to back races which I haven't done since the Voyageur Challenge in 2018. Fort Town Night Run then the Manotick Miler
• Was given some new numbers from my latest ECG to be able to run my 10K at race weekend.
• Ottawa Race Weekend and ran for Team Heart of the Heart Institute, Cardiac Athletes, Team Awesome and Xtra Mile Crew it was another back to back run and was slowly feeling like myself again.
• Suffered a traumatic ankle sprain at the 1st trail race of the season and had my first DNF and then several DNS races.
• Volunteered a lot. (What else is new?)
• Met up with my cankle buddy along this journey who ironically I came across during our time at Xtra Mile Crew
• 12 weeks of rehab and a lot of time to heal and reflect. Also to figure out what and how to cope. It was not easy.
• Gave up bibs on Farm Run and Army, but volunteered instead at both.
• A lot more family time, but a lot of time binging shows while being laid up.
• Came back to running at the 2K Furry Fun Run and then the big test of doing a half marathon at 9 run run and I finished in a decent time given that I had next to no training.
• Then we pulled the trigger and decided to book a destination vacation over the Christmas holidays.
• Also I invested in an actual road bike and hoping to switch up my game in terms of finding fitness.
• Oh and the biggest news was being selected from the lottery of the Chicago Marathon. First time entry and I was selected! 

Thanks for my run tribe and for those that stuck with me through this and I gained a new member of my tribe who is now an integral part of making sure I'm accountable and just gets me. Even if she scares me. 😁

2019 Christmas Vacation

So there was talk about a Christmas vacation to try and rid ourselves of the race to try and escape the stress that is called Christmas holidays.

It was definitely a different experience, but I'm going to share what I wrote to my travel agent who found this amazing resort. It was 4/5 stars for sure.

Here is my synopsis:

Resort was absolutely amazing. We definitely would go again. In general the food hygiene and cleanliness was top notch. The entertainment was quite good. Pools were amazing. Beach was pretty small in front of the resort compared to the Bavaro which was right beside it.

The room was kept clean and we did get a room on the ground floor and it was a handicapped room which had a shower chair if needed as well, but the only issue was that because three of us were not used to a lower shower head we used the wand and we ended up with water everywhere. It was still manageable and appreciated that we got that room.

Of course we tipped well, but not sure if that really matters so much. Also the snack bar by the beach was amazing that was our go to for almost everything. We almost enjoyed that more than the main buffet because we could take stuff back to the room or to the pool if we wanted to.

After the first couple of days it was a bit of a blur, but the first couple of days stuck to my mind.

Day 1/2:

I don't know if we'll ever travel so late as when we left Ottawa our flight was delayed due to a missing flight crew (stewardess) coming in from another flight that was delayed. We did arrive safely at the Punta Cana Airport, but since it was so late we followed the crowd, but we didn't realize we got sucked into a sales pitch from the local dealers as they tried to sell on excursions. It was so late that we were getting annoyed and finally this guy let us go. (Something to be aware of as you exit to get to the shuttles as I'm sure not everyone is familiar with this "diversion")

When we finally got to the gate area one lady told us we were the last to get on the shuttle so we hurried along as fast as we could, but there were no "seats" on the bus, but somehow magically some seats appeared (this bus somehow had fold down seats as part of the aisle). We had to visit 4-5 resorts before we got to ours (last one of course). By the time we arrived it was close to 10:30p so the main buffet was closed.

We finally got to our room, but it was quite the hike to building 4 for Kiera so we took it slow. Lia and I ended up going ahead to drop off our suitcases and then went back to get Kiera and Mei-Ling. By the time we got there ML was too tired to get anything, but she was quite "hangry" so we left her in the room to chill.

We ended up finding an all night eatery called Overtime which wasn't the greatest, but at that hour it was our only option.

So for future travellers to this resort going so late be prepared for very simple food like personal pizza, nacho chips w/cheese and salsa, wings and burgers and fries. and I think fish tacos. It was relatively quick and hit the spot when travelling all day/night

One thing the hotel didn't relay to us is we didn't realize the shuttle was running all night (until 2a) so we would have taken it Day 1 if we knew. But once we figured it out it was fine. As well it was really only a few minutes walk to the main buffet. 

Day 2, I got up early to meet with the Air Canada rep for 9a and that was fine and we got some great tips about that, but in future I think I need to book excursions before hand if we wanted to as we didn't realize the hard sell it was at the resort and of course at the airport. 

Day 3-7

We did find the a la carte restaurants very confusing. We were told we had to reserve in the Main buffet (El Carey), but of course the way the resort is situated you had two ways of getting in. We entered the side of the buffet closest access to our building (La Tortuga), but buildings on the other side had access to the same central buffet. I didn't really understand the difference, but we found it was nicer on the Tortuga side which may be for the privilege members.

Also we finally got "caught" in the hard sell for the Welcome package so when we arrived late we didn't have any sort of "Welcome" but the package really was a time share push. Which took up a lot of our time. Luckily the girls found Mike's coffee bar adequate to get drinks and pastries for breakfast as we missed out on Day 3 for breakfast after getting a full night's rest. We finally were released and were able to get something at the snack bar, but nothing substantial.

We spent 90% of the time by the pool and of course we had one pretty much outside the room which was very convenient.

Weather was amazing and the staff was always friendly.

Christmas Eve we had to make a reservation as the buffet wasn't "open" but it was a very special themed day with three seating's and access to a lot of extra local fair which was a huge seafood bar of oyster, lobster/crab, fish, etc.

They still had the usual buffet fair, but the staff were extremely joyful and cheery on Christmas Eve. It was a nice touch with them clapping and cheering.

Christmas Day we had Japanese. Of all the a la carte's this was the only one taking reservations. The other restaurants. Steakhouse, Route 66, Maserati (Italian), Margarita (Mexican), Blue Moon (French Formal) were all on a first come first serve basis so if you weren't in line right at 6p you weren't going to get in. As well, they rotated closures between the a la carte resto's and you never knew until the morning of.

The lobby and entertainment around the main area was amazing and very interactive. Lia and I took in the Michael Jackson live theatre performance and had a great time. The actors did a great tribute to his songs.

We took in some group fun at the bowling alley/Pool but we didn't realize we needed socks one night and ended up doing pool/snooker on Christmas Eve, but went back after Japanese and did bowling. All good fun for family entertainment.

Overall, we were all impressed with the resort. Many enjoyable moments. We found our building convenient to be centrally located and access to items very easy. I believe we all felt that now that we've tried it that we would do this again, but maybe in a few years.

2020 I'm ready for you!!

All Inclusive

1st drink

The Beach

Walkway to the Resort

Hello Ladies

Christmas in DR

Ocean Blue and Sand

Donut Bar

Logo

Along the Beach

Resort Selfie

Mom and Daughters

Yup we did this

The sand

Lobby Drinking

Sunrise

More Sunrise

Resort Shuttle

Sunset

Barefoot Beach Running

Christmas Eve and the special buffet

Dessert was in the lobby instead of the buffet on Christmas Eve

Prosciutto

Bowling

Our only a la carte

Fall Update

10 months Post Ablation

Again and as far as I know I am still in normal sinus rhythm (NSR). Since I won't be getting my last Holter until December and of course with "Michelle" the cankle that slowed down my entire summer of training and activities this was a huge benefit to being off.
Other than the Wiggle Waggle Furry Fun Run of 2K I didn't do much in September. I did some of the Interval Return to Running program with bouts of 3 min run/ 1 min walk. But I focused in the month of September and October to work on my stamina and endurance at OrangeTheory Fitness. After all I paid for it and the folks at Kanata South were more than willing to hold my membership until I'm better. I think for the last 8-9 sessions and I tried the treadmill running once and I lasted one block as Michelle wasn't quite ready so back to the stationary bike I went. Not a bad thing, but I also took out my road bike a couple of times and I'm enjoying the cycling. It is easier on the heart and if I plan to work on the cycling over the winter then this would a huge benefit in the off season of running. Yes off season, but I'll touch on that more a bit later. For now I respect the workout and of course being mindful of my heart and being reminded that it is still healing and if I don't want any more episodes I just watch the heart monitor and pace myself and take the breaks.

Running/Races

For someone who is recovering I've actually compiled a lot of running since Army Run Volunteering. Here's what I've been up to if you haven't been following along.

NPOMR - National Peace Officer's Memorial Run

September 28th I participated with my friend Michelle (real person not the cankle and also not named after 😏) in the National Peace Officer's Memorial Run to commemorate those law enforcement officers that gave their lives in the line of duty. Most runners ran from Toronto Queen's Park all the way to Ottawa's Parliament Hill and to the memorial beside Parliament close to East Block.

This was only my 2nd run which was tricky. One, it was rainy/misty day so it was humid. Two, I had not really run more than 2-3K so this was going to be about 5-8K depending as I met up with the bus at the Ottawa Police Station on Elgin. I parked and waited with a couple of others, but it seemed a majority of them were meeting at the Brewer Park across from Carleton University.

Michelle came by van as she wasn't running the previous leg as she was doing the final leg which was almost 8K, but according to my Strava it ended up being 7.1, but then I ran back to the car so it was a bit more which made it 8K eventually. It was a sombre run, given the news from the previous day. However, the spirit was still there and it was a fantastic way to commemorate the peace officers. In fact Michelle told me that it wasn't just southern Ontario it was many detachments outside even as far as Northern Ontario. In fact other officers not just police, but border patrol as well. 

Our official escorts

Real Michelle

Runners coming from Riverside South

3K left

Almost to Parliament

Uphill walk/run/march

Officers paying their respects

After the service and my run back with a Heather drive by

Longest run to date

I'm hoping if I do this again I'll be in better shape and able to go near the front as opposed to the caboose runner I've been so accustomed to.

Great day for a run and even a drive by honking by one of the work wives Heather (who confirmed later) who honked at me.

Gesine's Run (Cycling Photographer)

So late September early October-ish I was invited to participate by Gesine (who doesn't love this crazy ultra woman) to run part of the leg, but I wasn't sure if I could run any of it for a long distance and I considered doing some, but my confidence wasn't there. So then she said I could bike and take photos as she recalled that I took photos for Evolve Run Club with the Super Run Club. So I said sure I could do that! So I met them bright and early on October 5th and took the inaugural photo of another crazy ultra man Andre Andre. Once they started I drove and met them just around Westboro Beach to grab a quick photo and then I drove to Remic Rapids, parked and then hopped on my bike and started following them and taking photos at every opportunity I could. In fact the album is right here. 

It was a fantastic day. A bit cool to start, but it was actually refreshing, but I definitely got my mileage in. In total I biked about 35K in two different legs. 25.63 K to Aviation and back to Remic and then 9.52 from the Nepean Sailing Club to the start of the SJAM. 

Near the end it was quite the crew that assembled. Warm day and tired legs with an itchy photographer finger. Oh and of course the run was for WUSC Student Refugee Program.

The Ultra Twosome - Andre Andre and Gesine

The way back from Aviation

Remic Rapids

View from the Eddy Bridge

Hydration Station at the War Museum

The crew running by the spider and the basilica.

ready to depart from Aviation Museum

Remic Rapids

I never knew that was Queen Elizabeth in front of the GG residence. 

The Falls by Sussex

Reflections of the bridge not in use

Fall Rhapsody on the SJAM trail

GCWCC 5K

Fast forward to October 9th where every year my workplace holds a 5K run for the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign (dang that's a long title).
This will be only like my 3rd official race of which these have all been for fun/charity. I was only up to 3 minute run and 1 minute walk and I only wanted to finish around 35-37 minutes as I've not run around the campus since before the summer so this was going to be hard. But I went with two co-workers and it was just fine. No complaints. Great day and was fun to be almost last. 😃

Blue Man Crew

NRC

5K done and a decent pace!

Run to Beer (Brew Revolution)

Run to Beer in this case Brew Revolution in Stittsville

Inside the Brewery

Ready to get the runners going

Ashley/Maximus and Shade

Nice out and back with Shade.

Sticks and Stones

October 12 was to be a milestone for me, but sadly the events at the MEC Fortune Fell had changed my direction.
You all know the story by now and part of it showing up to surprise Eunice and Liisa was part closure. It was so amazing their reaction and of course just being there to cheer them on. The race was in Dundas just close to Hamilton. I had left the morning of Friday at 9:30, but didn't get into St. Catharines until after 5p. That will teach me to leave on a Friday. Should have headed out on the Thursday after work.
Now Saturday morning I knew they would be starting early, but of course I was an hour away so I left to meet them as they are getting close to 1/4 of the way and I got there I didn't realize I had to pay admission into the park. That was a bit of a surprise, but you do what you have to do to support your peeps.
I parked and it was busy in the lots so I had a bit of a hike to get to where they were, but it was easily marked so I managed to find my way. I was going to go somewhere along the loop, but I needed to get my bearings. I heard some cheering so I went towards that noise and sure enough there was a small crowd. Of course the race was many distances from 5K to the 50K. So once the majority of them had gone I went to just after the finish and I could see them just finishing their 3rd loop I tried to yell to them but I was drowned out by cow bells. So I let them head into their loop and made sure they didn't see me so I could make my way to the finish and about 100 m or so before the bag drop of nutrition. So I waited and I could see them coming and the expression on their faces was amazing. In fact they were super excited and I somehow made Eunice cry. Poor thing. Not my intention, but that was a great moment.
I pieced together some of my live photos and made a video of the moment and it was fabulous.
After I sent them off onto their next loop I stayed as long as I could before I had to head back for Grandpa Pak's bday supper.
But I did get a chance to do the loop backwards, just so I can the Ultra ladies pull of their amazing run. As usual I cheered on people as they ran by me. It was a fun day to be had and I'm glad I got to be a part of their ultra experience.

Happy Trails Racing

I just missed them as I arrived for their start of the 4th loop so I waited

Then they saw me. I made Eunice cry

The race the three of us was to train for, but sadly Michelle ruined it

Part of the Ultra Crew in the back Elissa

They surprised me with a token gift as part of the plan was to do the butter tart run on the way home.

Grandpa Pak

So of course if I'm headed down for a Thanksgiving weekend and found a way to get my visit in with Dad and see the ladies so it was a great visit since he was turning 91 on the Thanksgiving Monday.

Happy Birthday Ba!

As a birthday dinner we went to this place called Ma Restaurant and it was super tasty. We went there last year for his 90th so it made sense to continue the tradition!

Grandpa Pak - This is 91

Went last year to this resto

Trying to get a decent picture.

9 Run Run

October 19th! The day I took back a race!

(Cue Hamilton Reference) I didn’t throw away My Shot! Or rather I didn’t let Michelle take it away. In fact I took back what happened almost 14 weeks ago. Was I ready? Probably not but I went in with no expectations but to get to that finish. Time was on my side!

I reached out the the race director three weeks before race day to confirm if I could start before the official time and go with the walkers. I knew I would be slower than the usual, but also I didn't want to slow anyone else down and I wanted to focus on what I've been building through my time at OrangeTheory Fitness. I did as many workouts I could and focused on a lot of stationary bike. I didn't want to take chance on the impact of the tread to the ankle as the issue with going with the walkers is running on the sidewalks and soft shoulders of the road since the course is not officially closed until 9a. So I had a whole 1 hour and 15 minute head start from the speedy half marathoners.

I started the race promptly at 8a and all walkers got a photo with Brenda the 9 run run race director! Once we got the official countdown I officially started my run/walk at the 9RunRun half marathon!

The first 5K was pretty uneventful I made sure to keep a decent pace and to be mindful of the traffic. Most of the sidewalks were OK, but as I didn't want to criss-cross a lot to get to sidewalks I did some grass running or curb running to avoid traffic. The stretch from about Westridge/Stittsville Main was all soft shoulder and instead of running into traffic as is customary I decided to just keep on the road and ensure I didn't get hit. It wasn't a long stretch to get to Flewellyn, but definitely a slow steady uphill climb.

There was one lady that started with us and she was going pretty fast. I had to guess a 6:45 pace which was pretty aggressive in the early stretch especially in the category of walker. So I stuck to my plan and kept doing the 5 minute and 1 minute walk. I kept hydrated with my lemon lime Nuun in my CamelBak on each walk break. Since I wasn't sure how much hydration I calculated with the cooler temperatures I didn't need as much so I went with 1.5L+ just to be on the safe side and if I needed more I would just stop at a water table. Well as a walker a lot of that wasn't set up yet so be warned if you are a walker to plan hydration properly.

I made it to about 9K and took a photo as I took that to send to Kathy to give her an indication that I have a 9K head start to see if she saw the symbolism in the marker and know that she had a head start on her recovery at 9 weeks. 😊

By the time I reached 10K I could see the turn off onto Munster Road. I took a Fruit2 by Xact Nutrition & I decided it was a good time to get a selfie with the firefighters and other first responders. They humoured me. 😆 Once I made it half way I had caught up with Ana and she was starting to feel a lot of leg cramping so I had asked her if she had enough hydration. She said she was almost out. I didn't want to give her mine as I had electorlytes in the form of Nuun and I didn't want to give her something she wasn't used to. I said let's stick together and hope someone has something at the turn onto Fernbank.

I kept my pace and made it around the corner, but lost Ana. So I continued onto Jinkinson Road. I was greeted by several volunteers and some cheer squad ladies that were very enthusiastic. I was sad to learn I had yet another long uphill stretch to go towards before I could hit the Trans Canada Trail, but I kept going. Once I hit the turnaround I saw Ana coming towards the turnaround and I gave her a high 5 and said keep going you're going to catch up!

I made it to the TCT...the home stretch. I was getting excited. Only another 6K to go. Now it is a countdown backwards to the 21.1K.

By about the 16K mark area I came up on a lot of loose large rocks and it appeared as if they graded the trail for the runners and it came across this dip and all the loose rocks were there. So I stopped and walked through the mine field and was fearful to turn that ankle again. Once I made it through I continued the run. But I started feeling the effects of the soft shoulders and uneven road portions I ran and started feeling cramping in my right calf. So I decided to walk a bit longer. I made it to 17K and felt something odd in my shoe so I decided to take it off and that is when my right calf seized big time. It was rock hard. I could not move it. So I massaged it and it slowly passed and took in more hydration to see if that would help. I also took another Fruit2 by Xact Nutrition to see if I needed a bit of an energy boost. So I walked and ran and decided not to listen to my watch and go with feel. My body crashed hard and was revolting so I just coasted in, by about the 10K race turnaround the volunteer asked me "What race are you doing?" I told him I was one of the walkers for the 1/2 marathon and he and his partner cheered me on. I saw some familiar faces along the 10K route and then Ana caught up with me. We compared our pain and shared strategy how to get through the last 3K +

We ran/walk/walk/ran as best we could and my run became more of a power walk to stretch out the cranky calves. I knew I made it this far and I wasn't going to quit. I kept trying to track Kathy on the Garmin Live Tracker and I thought I had zero signal, but it turns out that her phone crashed hard and she couldn't get it to work and then her awesome playlist had to be parked. Technology damnit!

So I had the presumption that she was chasing me down so I said I promised her I would meet her at the end of the trail or at the finish so I had to make sure I made it. I owed her that much to get moving.

So as soon we got to the TCT lookout the photographer was there so Ana and I made it look good and he snapped several photos of us! Thanks at Finisher Pix for the awesome photos!

I have done that walk to the lookout with Shade so many time that I knew it wasn't much further. So I kept moving on my power walk and told Ana to keep going, but she was slowing as well. 

Once we hit back on the road the speed walking lady had caught up to both of us and she was moving! We tried to keep after her, but she was on a mission and she finished ahead of us. At that point I was done. I just wanted it to be over so I could stretch out my legs and rest, but more importantly I wanted to see where Kathy was. When I crossed the clock read something like 1:54 or something and I only wish I was sub 2 hours, but I finished in 2:49:46 chip time. Considering how under trained I was in terms of mileage I am counting this as a win. I wanted to prove this to me and no one else. This was my race to take back.

No time just one goal to finish.

Now I had time to chill, but I stood waiting for Kathy and was chatting with Mark K from running room and he congratulated me. He thought I ran the 10K, but I said no I did the half and he just was in awe that I took on the bigger challenge. Gutsy move he said. Heck go big or go home!

We both watched runners coming in that we knew and I kept checking the clock. As 2:10 hit and the bunny was finishing I kept looking for her. Then I saw just a few minutes behind the bunny. I called out to her and she saw me and I said let's go lady come and get me. I doubt she heard me, but I can tell from her smile she was happy to see me and I ran her in a la Xtra Mile Crew.

Also Finisher Pix got a great poster quality photo of the two us in a hug that we think is worthy of all the feels. We both did it! She took back her 19 seconds in fact A LOT more and I took back a race finally that I didn't want the cankle to take away and give me a Did Not Start (DNS). 

So raise a glass to freedom! Freedom from Michelle! 😉

Kudos to all the volunteers, first responders and organizers.

Start line Selfie

9K

10K

Munster Road

Coming onto Fernbank and they finally closed the roads

Long climb to the turnaround

Onto the trail and then 16K marker

Cankle Buddy

On the podium

Quitters treats

Shade felt left out

That feel good moment when two cankle warriors achieve their goals

I earned every kilometre of this medal.

The Canada Beer Run - West Edition (Photographer)

I was all set to recover in the comfort of my home, but I got a late message from Ron from whom I've volunteered with and got to chatting at one of the events we did. I wasn't sure I wanted to do this, but after all it was a reason to actually get the legs moving and hoping to get some of those stiff joints moving. So I said sure why not. It would have been an ideal gig if there was two of me, but it would have been nice to get some photos of the runners on the NCC trails, but sadly there were four waves so I needed to get as many of the initial group shot and the runs to the three breweries within a 100 m radius of each other. 

I saw many familiar faces doing this race and it was a lot of fun capturing the runners and some in some pretty hilarious costumes.

Album located here.

If you're in the West End near the high tech area. There are three breweries within a stone throws.

• Calabogie Brewing Company
• Small Pony Barrel Works
• Big Rig Brewery
• WhiprSnapr (Bells Corners)
• Kitchessippi Beer Co (Bells Corners)

Also this was the inaugural edition of the West End version of the Canadian Beer Run and the downtown one was sold out.

Random Stuff in the Fall

Shade and I on the TCT just working on my 3/1's

Who knew it would be my right calf causing issues on the race day?

Also this lady from Kinetic Edge/Recover RX Dr. Joanna Taylor has been a saviour to Kathy and I.