Race Recap: The Starting Block 3km Fun Run

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I’ll start off by being completely honest: The day before I wasn’t even sure if Isla and I were going to do this race! While Kyle had already signed up for the full 10km race, I wasn’t completely feeling up to doing the 3km fun run with Isla the day before. The weather wasn’t really all that great and the roads were going to be icy, but of course after asking Isla if she wanted to run in a race she said yes, and who could deny her? Certainly not me …

So on Sunday off we went to just outside of Vernon for the race. We had a decent drive in but then motion sickness sunk in for Isla and we had just, JUST, parked the truck and got her out of her seat when she barfed in the truck. (Thank goodness for rubber floor mats!) I asked if she still wanted to race and she said yes, so not wanting to disappoint her, I got into my running shoes and she hers and we signed up while Kyle warmed up.

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The 3km fun run started immediately after the 10km runners left the starting line, so Isla was excited to start. She got off to a good pace, but the roads were snowy and icy and her feet eventually got cold and she wasn’t enjoying it. Norah was having a grand ol’ time just being pushed in the stroller, but she eventually grew weary of it all and also started whining. Fun times!

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And she’s off!!

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And she’s spent.

 

There’s one thing that never fails to impress me, and that’s the encouragement that everyone gives one another; Isla was cheered on by the race volunteers and even the other runners to keep going and that she was doing awesome. Even the few 10km runners who were passed us on their way to the finish line told Isla she could do it. (I’d be out of breath and dying if I were running that far!)

I think the big cheering section at the end gave Isla an extra bit of adrenaline, because she managed to run one last time to get through the finish line with a smile on her face. Yay! We managed to finish the 3km run with about 10 minutes to spare before we expected Kyle to finish his 10km, and both girls were excited to cheer him through. :)

Overall, it was a pretty decent start to the 2017 racing season! The cold weather is behind her and Isla’s already looking forward to the next one!

What I’m Reading: Truly Madly Guilty

Posted in Book Review, Books, What I'm Reading by

26247008From Goodreads.com:
Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It’s just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong?

Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, Sam has just started a new dream job, and Clementine, a cellist, is busy preparing for the audition of a lifetime. If there’s anything they can count on, it’s each other.

Clementine and Erika are each other’s oldest friends. A single look between them can convey an entire conversation. But theirs is a complicated relationship, so when Erika mentions a last minute invitation to a barbecue with her neighbors, Tiffany and Vid, Clementine and Sam don’t hesitate. Having Tiffany and Vid’s larger than life personalities there will be a welcome respite.

Two months later, it won’t stop raining, and Clementine and Sam can’t stop asking themselves the question: What if we hadn’t gone?

In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty takes on the foundations of our lives: marriage, sex, parenthood, and friendship. She shows how guilt can expose the fault lines in the most seemingly strong relationships, how what we don’t say can be more powerful than what we do, and how sometimes it is the most innocent of moments that can do the greatest harm.

My review:
This is the 4th book by Liane Moriarty that I’ve read and once again, she didn’t disappoint overall.

My first reaction after finishing the book? Whew! Like many other readers have noted, it took a while for things to take off and get interesting, but once you hit that point in the book it was hard for me to stop reading! The flash-forwards and flashbacks made me constantly scream inside my head, “WHAT HAPPENED?!!??” And then when it did my heart dropped and well, you’ll just have to read the book to figure out why.

This book also tugged at the heartstrings a little bit and makes you really think about people’s behaviours – a “don’t judge a book by its cover” sort of situation. It also made me think of how friendships are made and slowly evolve over time, changing as we do.

While I didn’t really connect with any of the characters they were still relatively likeable, although I would’ve liked more background on why Clementine decided she needed to do those talks of hers … the rest of the story could’ve went on without that part.

Still, I’m giving Truly Madly Guilty 4 stars out of 5. If you have the patience to get through the first half of the book it’s definitely worth picking up! 

Weekend Update

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This weekend was a mixed bag of emotions: Stress, fun, laughter … it goes on! It went by super fast but thank goodness we have a long weekend coming up. Here’s what went down this past weekend:

{friday} The weather took an unfortunate turn for the worst and the snow started falling mid-morning, super lame because Kyle and I were supposed to be driving down to Langley to visit friends KID FREE. I had an appointment in the morning and then got Isla, Norah and Daphne loaded up right before noon and dropped them all off at my mom’s. The weather was only getting worse, but the mountain pass looked like it was in decent shape to drive through, so away we went! It really wasn’t too bad until we got to the Fraser Valley, and that’s when things started getting a little crazy …

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Really, that section of road right before Chilliwack wasn’t too bad, but as soon as we got into the city things started getting crazy: cars in the ditch, heavy snow and the traffic – oh the traffic! It’s a general rule that a lot of people who live in Southern BC don’t have snow tires on their vehicles because the generally don’t get a lot of snowfall, and it really showed as we drove between Chilliwack and Langley. I think our average speed was about 25 km/hr and the roads were just slick with snow and ice. Nightmare! I’m amazed by how well Kyle kept it together.

Thankfully we arrived at our destination safe and sound and we were able to relax, unwind, and have a good visit!

{saturday} The best thing about travelling without kids? I got to sleep in! Sure, I woke up just after 8 am, but when Norah is usually up just after 6 am it was a wonderful change, lol. We had an awesome late breakfast and eventually figured we should pack up and head out since the weather definitely wasn’t getting any better …

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Yes, that’s a truck in the ditch to the left.

The roads (again) between Langley and Chilliwack were HORRIBLE. The wind was just howling and in one 200m stretch there were 5 vehicles in the ditch. In only got marginally better outside of Chilliwack, but nothing worth breathing a sigh of relief over. It wasn’t until we got to Merritt that Kyle was able to relax a bit. It was soooo stressful and I’m so thankful that he was able to pull through that mess and get us home safely. Lord knows I couldn’t have. We picked Campbell up from his mom’s place, grabbed a pizza and decompressed at home for a couple of hours before I went down to my mom’s to pick up the girls and Daphne. (Who were all very happy to see me!)

{sunday} We had our “usual” Sunday affairs of laundry and grocery shopping. Norah decided to have a meltdown while we were shopping and was unconsolable unless I was holding her. Thankfully my old coworker took notice of my struggles and got someone to help me out to the truck with all of our groceries, which is the first time I’ve ever accepted an offer for help out. We got home and had some lunch, and Kyle took Norah for a quick drive in the truck so she’d go to sleep for her nap.

Of course, we tuned into the Super Bowl, mostly just for background noise/curiosity’s sake since neither of us pay attention to football, but I also wanted to catch the Halftime Show. Lady Gaga did not disappoint! Kyle made us an amazing roast for dinner and after the dishes were all done it was the usual bedtime routine of baths for the girls. Kyle got a run in on the treadmill since he has his first race of the year coming up next weekend. Fingers crossed the weather turns around a bit!

How was your weekend? Did the groundhog lie about the weather where you are?