Just got my Fitbit report from last week, 99,374 steps. I feel like if they'd sent any kind of "you're close to breaking 100k" message I'd have taken advantage of it. They send me a ton of other ones, let's just add this to the list, shall we? Sheesh.
On the plus side - they have a new program I'm quite enjoying called Adventures which puts your steps towards a trail somewhere (I'm in Yosemite Valley right now) and shows you pretty pictures along the way. There are also treasures to be found; this could be a snipit of information (one about Ansel Adams this am) or a suggested activity (one last night was to skip for one minute - did that ever drive the dogs crazy!). Only down side is you have to sync to get the "treasures" so I miss at least %80 of them. Boo. I also have realized that with all this running my step count is way elevated, so I will be in trouble when I stop and suddenly all my averages are way off. On running days, 20k is not unusual. On non running days, especially if I don't teach, I have to make a concerted effort to break 10.
In completely unrelated news, one of the barns I'm teaching at now has a penned dog area for if you want your dog somewhere safe while you ride. I just thought that was a brilliant idea :). Save loose dogs running around while owners are mounted but still lets said owners bring their dog to the barn. Little things in life.
Everywhere is walking distance if you have enough time...
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Lauren Cude Horsfall
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Poor life choices
Posted by
Lauren Cude Horsfall
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Let's chat about poor life choices. Mine today was randomly deciding to run before work. To be fair to me, as with so many, my poor life choice started out with good intentions. I knew that my team was going to the Jays game this afternoon so I was likely to not feel like doing much after, and it was supposed to rain most of the day. So I figured I'd run before work and be good to go.
So I gamely set my alarm accordingly, and indeed all started out well -- I actually obeyed the alarm and was actually out of the house within about 2 mins of when I'd determined I'd need to be to get my run in and still be at work on time for my first meeting.
Sash and I stepped out the door to discover not only was it still dark (expected) but it was also raining. Ugh. Admittedly had I discovered that before leaving the wonderful cocoon of sleep, that would've been the immediate end to today's ambition. But by this point we were already outside. Okay fine.
I realized my favourite "from the house" route wasn't going to work as it involves trails by the lake and, well, I don't see all that well in the light -- not thinking I should try it in the dark.
Mentally determined a new route and away we went. And tbh, it felt really good. Strong and fast. Have you ever experienced a time when your feelings did not reflect reality? Such was the case with me. Turns out I'm slow in the morning. Really slow. Again, logically I know this - there's a reason I go into work so early: I need time to adjust before I have to interact with people. But somehow my little brain didn't interpret that to mean I'd be physically slow too :(. Seriously demoralizing.
Ah well, felt like a good run even if the data doesn't reflect that. I finished the route I'd invented only to be almost 2k short *sigh*. Decided I'd solution that by going to the high school track across the street. A few laps of that (which had Sasha very puzzled I might add, although she gamely went along with it) and we made up our distance.
But now I was soaking wet and significantly later than planned. Fail. Quick shower and dress and good to go. Except it turns out I wanted to wear the same shoes for the ball game. Which were now soaking wet. First world problems eh? Get to the train station and they're having the same kind of day - everything is red. Frig.
Ah well - eventually get on a train, sign into work, and am caught up by the time I get there. Not enough time for breakfast, but otherwise good to go.
So in the spirit of optimism, we're going to call that a win. In the spirit of realism, Sasha and I will return to sleeping in until the last possible moment.
So I gamely set my alarm accordingly, and indeed all started out well -- I actually obeyed the alarm and was actually out of the house within about 2 mins of when I'd determined I'd need to be to get my run in and still be at work on time for my first meeting.
Sash and I stepped out the door to discover not only was it still dark (expected) but it was also raining. Ugh. Admittedly had I discovered that before leaving the wonderful cocoon of sleep, that would've been the immediate end to today's ambition. But by this point we were already outside. Okay fine.
I realized my favourite "from the house" route wasn't going to work as it involves trails by the lake and, well, I don't see all that well in the light -- not thinking I should try it in the dark.
Mentally determined a new route and away we went. And tbh, it felt really good. Strong and fast. Have you ever experienced a time when your feelings did not reflect reality? Such was the case with me. Turns out I'm slow in the morning. Really slow. Again, logically I know this - there's a reason I go into work so early: I need time to adjust before I have to interact with people. But somehow my little brain didn't interpret that to mean I'd be physically slow too :(. Seriously demoralizing.
Ah well, felt like a good run even if the data doesn't reflect that. I finished the route I'd invented only to be almost 2k short *sigh*. Decided I'd solution that by going to the high school track across the street. A few laps of that (which had Sasha very puzzled I might add, although she gamely went along with it) and we made up our distance.
But now I was soaking wet and significantly later than planned. Fail. Quick shower and dress and good to go. Except it turns out I wanted to wear the same shoes for the ball game. Which were now soaking wet. First world problems eh? Get to the train station and they're having the same kind of day - everything is red. Frig.
Ah well - eventually get on a train, sign into work, and am caught up by the time I get there. Not enough time for breakfast, but otherwise good to go.
So in the spirit of optimism, we're going to call that a win. In the spirit of realism, Sasha and I will return to sleeping in until the last possible moment.
No matter how slowly you're going, you're faster than everybody on the couch.
Posted by
Lauren Cude Horsfall
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| Gold star to me! |
To put this in perspective, my calendar said I needed to run 6k today. And had I been diligently following said calendar, this probably would've been a non issue. But you see, I had to go and get all ambitious. So Sat, I rode my bike for half hour or so. This in itself is impressive as it was dinner time by the time I got around to it and I was feeling less than ambitious. Usually half hour is about 10k, but once I got going, I was feeling good so it was a little further. All good. Sunday I felt fine, since Saturday's ride wasn't terribly intense. This is key as that's the long run day this week. Long being all of 8k (hey - it's only week 2 remember!). And I did it, and felt fine after. Awesome.
Then I got ambitious. Monday was a long weekend. With perfect weather. And I now know where the start of the rail trail is. So I took my bike and away I went... At about 5k I was ready to cry, my quads were *not* happy with me (did I mention the rail trail from this point is up hill?) But I was determined to do at least 20k, and really kinda wanted 40. So I pushed past 5, at 8 I was regretting it, but somehow by 10 I was starting to feel okay... Sweet. So I kept going, aiming for the 15k marker -- but the 15k marker wasn't anywhere convenient to turn around so I figured I'd go to the next road, which was at 18k... Here was a cruel and unusual tease of ice cream and cold drinks -- sadly I carry no cash or cards with me when I ride. And well, 18k was so close to 20, I figured I may as well go for it. So I rode the extra couple kms and then randomly turned around in the middle of the trail. At about 25k I was really regretting my current life choices. But then, remember how I said it started uphill? Well that goes to about the 15k mark. Which meant the rest of the ride was downhill. And FAST!
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| Wheeeeeee! |
Went home, showered, slept, and then went for a 5k walk. Not even kidding. Sadly this does not in fact earn a gold star because the walk was to Dairy Queen ;-P But at least I did something to prevent my quads from completely transforming to lead.
And that brings us to today. Where the first time I had to go from the 12th floor to the 18th floor at work I actually stared at the stairwell door for a good 30 seconds before sighing and stepping through. The elevator *almost* won. Add that to starting work early and ending work late (short week, of which I'm on course two days -- that means the two days in the office are somewhat crazy) and I end up getting home shortly after Chris and I usually eat dinner. Which means he's starving and would prefer we eat first and then I run. Except who wants to run right after eating? Ugh.
But I dragged myself off the couch and "run" I did. If by run, you accept a slightly faster than a walk shuffly thing. My running loop of choice has a steep downhill and a very long slow uphill -- at least the way I usually do it. Today I decided to reverse it -- started out well with the long slow downhill, that then got randomly very steep. As I got to the bottom I realized I'd taken a wrong turn, so I did a figure 8 thing that resulted in me running up the very hill I'd been avoiding running up, back down the steep one, and then finally pointing the right direction. Sweet. So next time around I manage it, going down the right hill this time, only to meet a nice woman at the bottom who warned me with a glance at Sasha that there was a pretty black and white kitty guarding the trail further on.
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| Guard Cat |
In other news, this week was super exciting as both Chris and I earned a *real* gold star in our professional lives. Sadly, I cannot say more for a coupe weeks. But suffice to leave with WOOHOO!!!
What do cows, university, and running have to do with one another?
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Lauren Cude Horsfall
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So today the elevator told me that tomorrow it will have been 19 years exactly since Mum and I drove me to my first day at university. WTF?!?!?! How is that even possible? I swear it was like 5 yrs ago. Sheesh.
It also told me that in New Zealand somebody stole 500 milk cows. Let’s just contemplate this for a moment – how, exactly, does one steal 500 cows??? And once one has 500 cows, what does one do with them? They’re not even food cows, they’re drink cows.
Given my inability to wrap my head around that, it can’t possibly have been 19 years since the day I drove to Fredericton for the first time. But then I started to think of all the things that hadn't happened yet at that point:
- Experiencing the alternate reality that is university
- Australia, New Zealand
- My first apartment
- Sherlock
- Finally receiving two undergrad degrees from UNB
- Backpacking and riding in Europe
- First non-co-op “grown-up” job at BrandIntel
- Bilbo
- MA from UofT
- The life experience that was Myrddin
- Visiting Lissa in Scotland
- Zel
- Equine Science from UoG
- My working student adventure in the US (another alternate reality)
- A whole lot of writing
- Banff vacation with Mum
- Learning to appreciate how artists think at Overdrive
- Cuba with Kerri
- The highs and lows of GRS
- My closest friends all randomly deciding to have children
- Sasha
- My first book
- Cuba with Chris
- Starting work at the bank
- Costa Rica with EVERYbody – almost ;)
- Our wedding! Still not really real to me… Didn’t I just leave for frosh week like a year ago?
- Surviving a completely gutted house renovation
- ALL the eye surgeries
- Dominican disaster – there had to be a negative trip eventually!
- Buying a house
- …
Okay maybe it has been a while. But it doesn’t feel that long ago till I work through everything that’s happened since then. Which then partially makes me feel really old and partially makes me glad at least interesting things *have* happened in that time ;) And sort of excited to see what will happen next...
Anyways – random running update… I’m still following the schedule, although tired *all* the time since my body is a little in shock. I'm hoping it acclimatizes soon, because the times I'm posting right now are pretty sad :( There’s a path not far from the house that I have a love/hate relationship with. It’s just a little over a km to run the full circle, it’s by the waterfront and gorgeous, but includes wicked hills that are completely unreasonable. Anyways – it’s conveniently just shy of a km away, so I run there, do a few laps, run home. However, in doing my laps, I may pass the same people a few times (esp if they’re going the opposite direction). And since I have the cutest running partner in the world, people notice her, and thus me. The other day an older gentleman and his lady friend were fairly amused by this and started counting. I got “that’s two, how many more to go?”, and then on the next round, “great job!” lol. It’s the little things in life, but it made me smile.
Sasha thinks our current schedule is a great improvement over her recent life -- but then she gets every-other day off since she doesn’t come with me when I bike ;) She also thinks that being able to come with me while I teach again is exactly as life should be too, so I have a mostly happy puppy these days :) I’m sure nearly as good as being at the farm all day, or even having Bailey to play with all the time, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
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| Very tired puppy after our weekend run |
Making all the mistakes so you don't have to ;-P
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Lauren Cude Horsfall
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I managed two days in a row ;) Gold star to me! Perfect weather probably helped that. Decided I wasn't up to hills again, so went in search of the rail trail entrance I'd found when I was on my bike. Failed horribly at finding that, but did end up on top of the escarpment and there was a great running trail there, so parked on the side of the road and decided that would work. Right where I was starting there was a steep flight of stairs that I was curious about, but I couldn't see where they went and, well, I was already standing on a flat trail. So I followed my trail for a bit and then it changed and went very steeply downhill. Argh. All I could think was about the run back *up* the trail. The base of that trail connected to a rail trail though! Win! Not at all the one I was aiming for, but same basic concept of wide, flat, occupied by friendly athletic people. So figured I'd run that to the half way point then go back and deal with the hill. But at about the 3 km mark, I found myself at the base of what I assumed were the same stairs. Sweet! Instead of turning around, I'd keep running another 1.5km along the trail, turn around and run back, then climbing the stairs could be cool down. So that was all good. Trail was fairly gorgeous, which was nice. The problem came when we got to the stairs and Sasha didn't want to step on them :( Oops. She gave it a solid go and climbed with me -- it turned out there were a lot more flights than I could see from the bottom and she was super tired, not to mention *really* didn't like the metal see-through footing. I felt more than moderately guilty about that one :( We did eventually make it to the top and there was a doggy water fountain there though, so that was good :) AND although I felt snail-slow, my avg time was actually slightly faster than yesterday. Win.
Newbie Running Lessons Learned so far:
- Do not carry your phone in a belt at the small of your back. It will seem like an ingenious idea, and be almost unnoticed during the run. But the extreme tenderness resulting from the constant pounding is so very not worth it. Somehow when I consider running, I've never expected my lower back to be the sorest part ;-P
- When your running buddy is a canine, consider the terrain from their point of view. I'm used to planning a route with horses in mind, and even for my bike I make definite concessions, but this is the first time Sasha has needed an alternate route. Puppy owner fail :(
- Puppy water fountains are an awesome invention. This was actually the best one I've seen yet in that the water flowed into an attached basin as opposed to just a low tap to the ground. Very civilized.
- Shorts that are fitted enough to not rub are critical. Just trust me on that one.
- Average time lost by running hills is greater than average time lost to exhaustion. As in, I was faster today than yesterday, but I'm putting that down to the fact that the route was downhill or flat. Win.
- If you drive to your run, a towel or something to sit on on the drive home might be a civilized idea. As would a large bottle of water.
- After the run, do not sit down for any length of time. Ugh. I swear my legs turned into bricks on the way home and *screamed* when I tried to reanimate them to get out of the car. I did stretch, I swear. But apparently did not cool out quite enough to dissipate the lactic acid. Fail. Sasha, otoh, seems smarter than I, for though she too was clearly tired, she's been wandering around the house and the yard since we got back with only short breaks ;)
Newbie Running Lessons Learned so far:
- Do not carry your phone in a belt at the small of your back. It will seem like an ingenious idea, and be almost unnoticed during the run. But the extreme tenderness resulting from the constant pounding is so very not worth it. Somehow when I consider running, I've never expected my lower back to be the sorest part ;-P
- When your running buddy is a canine, consider the terrain from their point of view. I'm used to planning a route with horses in mind, and even for my bike I make definite concessions, but this is the first time Sasha has needed an alternate route. Puppy owner fail :(
- Puppy water fountains are an awesome invention. This was actually the best one I've seen yet in that the water flowed into an attached basin as opposed to just a low tap to the ground. Very civilized.
- Shorts that are fitted enough to not rub are critical. Just trust me on that one.
- Average time lost by running hills is greater than average time lost to exhaustion. As in, I was faster today than yesterday, but I'm putting that down to the fact that the route was downhill or flat. Win.
- If you drive to your run, a towel or something to sit on on the drive home might be a civilized idea. As would a large bottle of water.
- After the run, do not sit down for any length of time. Ugh. I swear my legs turned into bricks on the way home and *screamed* when I tried to reanimate them to get out of the car. I did stretch, I swear. But apparently did not cool out quite enough to dissipate the lactic acid. Fail. Sasha, otoh, seems smarter than I, for though she too was clearly tired, she's been wandering around the house and the yard since we got back with only short breaks ;)
The 12 minute mile is just as far as the 6 minute mile...
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Lauren Cude Horsfall
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So on Monday I randomly decided I should run a half marathon. Cause, you know, I haven't taken on any ridiculous goals lately. I wanted to do it in the spring but surgery got in the way. And it turns out I hate winter and strongly dislike running so the combination of unfit Laur attempting to run in miserable weather was less than successful. I think my plan lasted about three days. Mostly this is about the fact that I'm not nearly as fit as I'd like to be, not riding regularly or working the barn ever, and don't have enough money to pay for a personal trainer. Running I know to be effective, does not require a trainer (although Dana's helping me long distance via FB -- woohoo!), and is *almost* free. Almost cause, well, she who hates shopping will require new running clothes. Of course. Also a bunch of the guys I work run so I can join the conversation ;) At the time I was thinking also this would contribute to beach body for winter trip, but thinking now a trip this winter may not be happening. What a waste of a half marathon. Clearly should wait and do this next fall ;-P
Right, we're going to pretend I still get to go to a beach this winter. So if I'm going to run a half marathon, I need a race to run. And since budget is a problem, it can't be anywhere fun like Hawaii. Okay, well I know the Waterfront Marathon is in the fall in Toronto and is billed as being the second-fastest in Canada -- this being because basically, it's flat. And to a newbie taking on a ridiculous goal, flat is good. Sweet. Challenge: it's in 8 weeks (minus a couple days). Hmmmm did some Googling and, well, nowhere did I find any sign that nothing-to-half-marathon training was even remotely feasible in 8 weeks. Not that that necessarily will stop me, but well, I'd like to be able to walk the day after the race.
Okay so pause on that idea. Except I really liked the idea, mostly because I want to be fit again and if I don't have a ridiculous goal to chase it probably won't happen. So do a little more googling -- and guess what, there's another race in Hamilton a couple weeks later. And it's billed as the *fastest* in Canada. Sweet! Map suggests about two blocks of uphill right at the start and the rest is downhill or flat. This seems entirely reasonable. Note, "the fastest" means nothing to me beyond my brain translating to "the easiest". I am not doing this remotely for speed. My entire goal will be finishing before the course closes ;-P I am reasonable after all. Stop laughing.
So it's just shy of 11 weeks away. And I've found lots of 12 week training plans. I'm willfully ignoring the more reasonable 16 week or even 6 month training plans in acknowledging my limited attention and dedication span. I found several "beginner" plans that are 12 weeks. Picked the one I liked best and modified slightly to include some details from second choice plan. A couple things I was looking for -- most important is that I didn't want one that built all the way to race day. I want to build and then come down for a week or two before the grand finale. I also wanted one that included cross training and strength training and at least one or two rest days / week. This I found, the only down side was it was in miles instead of KM, but google was quick to help me update that. It also conveniently had a really good option of a skip week, to bring it down to 11 in that in only one instance, two weeks were nearly identical. I chose to remove the lighter of the two.
So it being about 11:00 on Monday night when I finalized the plan, day 1 was a complete write off. I crossed it out and labeled it NA. Plan to start with Tuesday -- rest day. Awesome. Conveniently timed as I usually teach late on Tuesdays. Since that's changing to Mondays the plan might have to change slightly, but for this week it's all good.
Wednesday was a cross-train day, which basically meant I got to go play on my bike ;) I put in exactly the right time and used it to measure off some routes. Ummm 10k is *really* far. I was less thrilled by that. And that'd be a half half marathon. Now to be fair, I have done 15k before, and the summer before I started at the bank was running decent distances and times (for me - I'll never be fast) regularly. However since then, nada. Lol, just went to find the blog post from the 15k... Fun times. This one I'm actually going to try and train for, but I'm not starting remotely near as fit as I was then.
Alright so Wednesday was good. Check. Thursday. Thursday was torrential rain. And it took me more than two hours to get home. Thursday, lets be honest, didn't happen. Thursday, the first actual *running* day, didn't happen. This is not a good start.
And Friday, today, was supposed to be another cross train day (this schedule doesn't have running two days in a row anywhere) but I really feel that if I'm going to run a half marathon, I should at least attempt running ;-P So run I did, not any of the routes I'd cycled, but found a better one that goes on trails and is thus more fun. Hills though. Ugh evil monstrous hills. But I figure if I train with hills, my nice flat race should seem easier. Right? ;-P Sasha came with me -- turns out she's not particularly fit either. We stopped for one water break, but other than that was a run/walk combo (which I'm targeting for race day too -- my attempt at realistic goals) that did just over 4.5km in 35 mins (with a 1 min puppy water break). Slow, but not nearly as slow as I'd feared. However, now I've thrown off the system and tomorrow when my legs are like lead, I'll have the long run of the week (all of 6km -- week 1 people!). Should be an interesting experience.
Fun moment of the run, as I'm almost home and Sash and I are barely jogging at this point, run past a fenced yard where the dog on the other side runs at the fence, holding his toy, barking and growling. Dog's male person is in the yard with him telling him to be quiet. After we pass I hear "Don't growl at other dogs. Especially when they're with a hot girl like that." Have to admit it made me smile, although at that moment it could well have been literal -- I was a sweaty mess! Ugh.
So while I've cancelled my gym membership due to lack of attendance, I am seriously considering getting one at the gym at work so that A -- I can run early am or at lunch as I can go in there to shower after, and B -- gives me an alternative for rainy miserable days. Would also like to state right now, if it's miserable weather come race day, I'm just not that dedicated. It's early November, so my odds are iffy at best.
Right, we're going to pretend I still get to go to a beach this winter. So if I'm going to run a half marathon, I need a race to run. And since budget is a problem, it can't be anywhere fun like Hawaii. Okay, well I know the Waterfront Marathon is in the fall in Toronto and is billed as being the second-fastest in Canada -- this being because basically, it's flat. And to a newbie taking on a ridiculous goal, flat is good. Sweet. Challenge: it's in 8 weeks (minus a couple days). Hmmmm did some Googling and, well, nowhere did I find any sign that nothing-to-half-marathon training was even remotely feasible in 8 weeks. Not that that necessarily will stop me, but well, I'd like to be able to walk the day after the race.
Okay so pause on that idea. Except I really liked the idea, mostly because I want to be fit again and if I don't have a ridiculous goal to chase it probably won't happen. So do a little more googling -- and guess what, there's another race in Hamilton a couple weeks later. And it's billed as the *fastest* in Canada. Sweet! Map suggests about two blocks of uphill right at the start and the rest is downhill or flat. This seems entirely reasonable. Note, "the fastest" means nothing to me beyond my brain translating to "the easiest". I am not doing this remotely for speed. My entire goal will be finishing before the course closes ;-P I am reasonable after all. Stop laughing.
So it's just shy of 11 weeks away. And I've found lots of 12 week training plans. I'm willfully ignoring the more reasonable 16 week or even 6 month training plans in acknowledging my limited attention and dedication span. I found several "beginner" plans that are 12 weeks. Picked the one I liked best and modified slightly to include some details from second choice plan. A couple things I was looking for -- most important is that I didn't want one that built all the way to race day. I want to build and then come down for a week or two before the grand finale. I also wanted one that included cross training and strength training and at least one or two rest days / week. This I found, the only down side was it was in miles instead of KM, but google was quick to help me update that. It also conveniently had a really good option of a skip week, to bring it down to 11 in that in only one instance, two weeks were nearly identical. I chose to remove the lighter of the two.
So it being about 11:00 on Monday night when I finalized the plan, day 1 was a complete write off. I crossed it out and labeled it NA. Plan to start with Tuesday -- rest day. Awesome. Conveniently timed as I usually teach late on Tuesdays. Since that's changing to Mondays the plan might have to change slightly, but for this week it's all good.
Wednesday was a cross-train day, which basically meant I got to go play on my bike ;) I put in exactly the right time and used it to measure off some routes. Ummm 10k is *really* far. I was less thrilled by that. And that'd be a half half marathon. Now to be fair, I have done 15k before, and the summer before I started at the bank was running decent distances and times (for me - I'll never be fast) regularly. However since then, nada. Lol, just went to find the blog post from the 15k... Fun times. This one I'm actually going to try and train for, but I'm not starting remotely near as fit as I was then.
Alright so Wednesday was good. Check. Thursday. Thursday was torrential rain. And it took me more than two hours to get home. Thursday, lets be honest, didn't happen. Thursday, the first actual *running* day, didn't happen. This is not a good start.
And Friday, today, was supposed to be another cross train day (this schedule doesn't have running two days in a row anywhere) but I really feel that if I'm going to run a half marathon, I should at least attempt running ;-P So run I did, not any of the routes I'd cycled, but found a better one that goes on trails and is thus more fun. Hills though. Ugh evil monstrous hills. But I figure if I train with hills, my nice flat race should seem easier. Right? ;-P Sasha came with me -- turns out she's not particularly fit either. We stopped for one water break, but other than that was a run/walk combo (which I'm targeting for race day too -- my attempt at realistic goals) that did just over 4.5km in 35 mins (with a 1 min puppy water break). Slow, but not nearly as slow as I'd feared. However, now I've thrown off the system and tomorrow when my legs are like lead, I'll have the long run of the week (all of 6km -- week 1 people!). Should be an interesting experience.
Fun moment of the run, as I'm almost home and Sash and I are barely jogging at this point, run past a fenced yard where the dog on the other side runs at the fence, holding his toy, barking and growling. Dog's male person is in the yard with him telling him to be quiet. After we pass I hear "Don't growl at other dogs. Especially when they're with a hot girl like that." Have to admit it made me smile, although at that moment it could well have been literal -- I was a sweaty mess! Ugh.
So while I've cancelled my gym membership due to lack of attendance, I am seriously considering getting one at the gym at work so that A -- I can run early am or at lunch as I can go in there to shower after, and B -- gives me an alternative for rainy miserable days. Would also like to state right now, if it's miserable weather come race day, I'm just not that dedicated. It's early November, so my odds are iffy at best.
Why is "it's all downhill from here" negative?
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Lauren Cude Horsfall
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So as those who are also on my Facebook may know, I have a new bike. Technology has come a long way since the purchase of my last bike. With said new bike I can ride faster and for significantly longer and be less tired at the end. I can keep up with Chris with no problems; with the old one, this was a challenge. With said new bike, other cyclists smile and say hi when we pass each other. With the old one, they'd look aside and pretend they hadn't seen ;) On flat stretches I'm averaging about 10k/h faster than I used to, hills I admit I'm still super slow, but at least I can make it now ;)
I feel like I wrote a post about the bike search adventure, but can't seem to find it... hmmmm okay, well if you wish I'd *actually* posted that story, keep reading for the summary. If not, scroll down a few paragraphs to where today's adventure starts...
So, in summary of the great bike quest: DH (he so earned the title that day ;) and I spent all day driving to every bike shop within a 3-city range (news flash: there are a LOT of them) test driving bikes and talking to sales people, only for me to buy the very first one I tried ;) Ah well, that's what happens when you're shopping for something you know nothing about. I certainly don't try out that many horses before buying one! LOL. I discovered every bike shop seems to have a group of men that just hang out there. So random. At one shop said group of men was highly amused by the fact that I was test driving two completely different bikes. But well, when you don't know exactly what you want, you may as well try everything *g*
In the end I bought a Diverge from the little bike shop in Waterdown (they have impossible hours, but amazing service if you can get there). Of all the stores we went to, the sales guy there was by far the best (and in subsequent trips I can say the other staff there are equally impressive). This was proven even more by the fact that they were first, so I had my greenest questions for them and *really* no idea what to ask or what I should be trying -- esp after they suggested my Google result probably wouldn't be the best fit ;) I did try said Google result at another store later and, well, they were right. They asked the right questions, made one suggestion they thought was the correct fit, and left it at that. And in the end, it was exactly right.
So the Diverge is essentially a road bike that's just a little bit sturdier so can handle the trails. I liked the feel of it a lot more than the cross bikes, and while I did quite enjoy one of the road bikes, I *really* enjoy trails. Having been riding it for a few weeks now, I can say it's definitely best on the road, no problem on the rail trail or tightly packed trails, does *not* do sand or big gravel. It made that very clear to me ;)
Today had gorgeous weather and Chris was planning to work on his man cave all day (that unfortunately got rescheduled) so I had decided I'd go for a longer ride today. I had a flyer of Hamilton bike rides -- about half of which start/finish at the Aldershot GO station so decided I'd pick one of those. Decided on an "easy" Dundas Valley run, that was 21 km and would need just a little extra to get to our place as it didn't start in Aldershot. Okay, "easy" seems like an excellent idea, 21km sb no problem.
Right. So issue one occurred when I realized fairly quickly that the maps lacked some pretty critical information -- like street names. Some were there but not all. Okay, np, I have Google. All good, right? Yeah no. That didn't work either. Okay well, I really just want to ride and I know kinda where I want to go, so what does it matter if I can't find the outlined route?
And I mostly made it to Dudas about how I expected, so that was good. But then I didn't want to just turn around and come back (future me really wishes I'd been smart enough to do that. Trip TO Dundas was uphill, reverse trip would've been downhill. And short.) Anyways, suffice to say I did *not* in-fact, do that. I rode around Dundas for a bit, looking at some of the gorgeous old houses, then decided to follow "old Ancaster road" which, I discovered all too soon, meanders its way uphill. Ugh. Fail.
This was where I learned that short breaks can be remarkably revitalizing. Went from "can barely pedal" to "this is no problem" in about 2 mins. Sweet. When I got to the top I realized I was close to where Kerri and I went riding on the rail trail way back when. Sweet :) So I rode around for a little bit and eventually found a trail entrance. Pointed myself back in the general direction of Dundas and away I went. Bike handles well on the rail trail, so all good. Passed a bunch of riders (ummm horseback that is) which made me all kinds of miss my ponies and summer hacks but otherwise all good.
In here I was starting to get tired, so when I got to the train area (trail centre) I stopped to look at a map. I knew by this point I was in Dundas Valley, so must be reasonably close to Dundas. Except I was all kinds of turned around and it looked like the trail that should take me out was closed. So I kept going the way I'd been going and the next road turned the direction that'd take me back sort of home. All good, except the road was under construction and was *horrible* to ride on; the only time downhill in this whole ride was a negative. Credit to my awesome bike for surviving that. Sadly my brand new back light that I literally just installed before heading out, did not. And while it landed in one piece when it bounced off, it did not stay in once piece when the car behind me ran over it :( *sigh*
Eventually made it off the road from hell and back to a main street, one I recognized would take me home. Somehow uphill again? That just seemed horribly unfair after the previous downhill had been so brutal. But sobeit. Rode past the entrance to Dundas Valley -- definitely would've saved time and effort if I'd gotten there from the trains. Blah. Anyways, continued my slow pedal till I eneded up roughly back in Dundas and from there got myself sorted out to get home.
I was very tired at this point, and about half way up yet another hill had to stop. Looking over I realized I was stopped next to a dog park. Sweet -- one of today's things was to take the dog to the park.... Hmmmm C has a truck, and the dogs... Maybe all of them could come here and then we could all go home together. Maybe. Alas, C had just put something in the oven. He'd come rescue me, but couldn't come till it was done cooking.
Well I've never been very good at waiting to be rescued, so I climbed back on and continued the pedaling, very happy when I crested the hill to see there was enough of a downhill to get me up the next uphill! Lol -- little things in life. And after I made it up that one, I knew where I was and, more importantly, knew the rest was all downhill.
I think we need to reconsider the negative connotations associated with "it's all downhill from here" because at that moment, that knowledge made me just about the happiest person ever. So I made it home. My 21km bike ride took 42km -- and this, ladies and gentleman, is what happens when you decide it doesn't really matter where you're going :)
I feel like I wrote a post about the bike search adventure, but can't seem to find it... hmmmm okay, well if you wish I'd *actually* posted that story, keep reading for the summary. If not, scroll down a few paragraphs to where today's adventure starts...
So, in summary of the great bike quest: DH (he so earned the title that day ;) and I spent all day driving to every bike shop within a 3-city range (news flash: there are a LOT of them) test driving bikes and talking to sales people, only for me to buy the very first one I tried ;) Ah well, that's what happens when you're shopping for something you know nothing about. I certainly don't try out that many horses before buying one! LOL. I discovered every bike shop seems to have a group of men that just hang out there. So random. At one shop said group of men was highly amused by the fact that I was test driving two completely different bikes. But well, when you don't know exactly what you want, you may as well try everything *g*
In the end I bought a Diverge from the little bike shop in Waterdown (they have impossible hours, but amazing service if you can get there). Of all the stores we went to, the sales guy there was by far the best (and in subsequent trips I can say the other staff there are equally impressive). This was proven even more by the fact that they were first, so I had my greenest questions for them and *really* no idea what to ask or what I should be trying -- esp after they suggested my Google result probably wouldn't be the best fit ;) I did try said Google result at another store later and, well, they were right. They asked the right questions, made one suggestion they thought was the correct fit, and left it at that. And in the end, it was exactly right.
So the Diverge is essentially a road bike that's just a little bit sturdier so can handle the trails. I liked the feel of it a lot more than the cross bikes, and while I did quite enjoy one of the road bikes, I *really* enjoy trails. Having been riding it for a few weeks now, I can say it's definitely best on the road, no problem on the rail trail or tightly packed trails, does *not* do sand or big gravel. It made that very clear to me ;)
 |
| And now, for our regularly scheduled program |
Right. So issue one occurred when I realized fairly quickly that the maps lacked some pretty critical information -- like street names. Some were there but not all. Okay, np, I have Google. All good, right? Yeah no. That didn't work either. Okay well, I really just want to ride and I know kinda where I want to go, so what does it matter if I can't find the outlined route?
 |
| A fairly scenic start to my ride |
 |
| About 1/2 way up the hill, this little side route looked so pretty I had to stop and take a pic. Yes, the photo is why I had to stop ;) |
This was where I learned that short breaks can be remarkably revitalizing. Went from "can barely pedal" to "this is no problem" in about 2 mins. Sweet. When I got to the top I realized I was close to where Kerri and I went riding on the rail trail way back when. Sweet :) So I rode around for a little bit and eventually found a trail entrance. Pointed myself back in the general direction of Dundas and away I went. Bike handles well on the rail trail, so all good. Passed a bunch of riders (ummm horseback that is) which made me all kinds of miss my ponies and summer hacks but otherwise all good.
In here I was starting to get tired, so when I got to the train area (trail centre) I stopped to look at a map. I knew by this point I was in Dundas Valley, so must be reasonably close to Dundas. Except I was all kinds of turned around and it looked like the trail that should take me out was closed. So I kept going the way I'd been going and the next road turned the direction that'd take me back sort of home. All good, except the road was under construction and was *horrible* to ride on; the only time downhill in this whole ride was a negative. Credit to my awesome bike for surviving that. Sadly my brand new back light that I literally just installed before heading out, did not. And while it landed in one piece when it bounced off, it did not stay in once piece when the car behind me ran over it :( *sigh*
Eventually made it off the road from hell and back to a main street, one I recognized would take me home. Somehow uphill again? That just seemed horribly unfair after the previous downhill had been so brutal. But sobeit. Rode past the entrance to Dundas Valley -- definitely would've saved time and effort if I'd gotten there from the trains. Blah. Anyways, continued my slow pedal till I eneded up roughly back in Dundas and from there got myself sorted out to get home.
 |
| This caught my eye as I was trying to find my way home. Definitely wasn't on my route in! |
Well I've never been very good at waiting to be rescued, so I climbed back on and continued the pedaling, very happy when I crested the hill to see there was enough of a downhill to get me up the next uphill! Lol -- little things in life. And after I made it up that one, I knew where I was and, more importantly, knew the rest was all downhill.
I think we need to reconsider the negative connotations associated with "it's all downhill from here" because at that moment, that knowledge made me just about the happiest person ever. So I made it home. My 21km bike ride took 42km -- and this, ladies and gentleman, is what happens when you decide it doesn't really matter where you're going :)
How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?
Posted by
Lauren Cude Horsfall
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Fair warning: It is about 1:30 am and I'm thumb-typing this on my phone.
It's been an entertaining few days :)
Fri was my birthday, which I firmly believe should always be spent having fun ;). Chris had to work in the am so I took the dogs for an extra long park adventure which was a fairly perfect start to the day. Then when he came home we went to Darien Lake. I really wanted a water park and Wild Water Kingdom is apparently closed. Fail. Wonderland is crazy expensive so we figured we'd go try that one.
Yeah. Incredibly disappointing. There were a grand total of 7 slides going (discounting the "gentle") ones. That's not 7 sets, 7 total. One was by itself so we did it first and it was actually very cool - have never been on anything like it. An inflatable tube ride where you're basically shot into a funnel till you run out of impulsion and slide back down and up the other side (think snowboard halfpipe) until you eventually run out of power and float out the end. This would've been all kinds of awesome if not for the 45ish minute wait.
So remaining was a set of four slides that intertwined that all require inflatable tubes, and a set of two that did not. So we went up to the one that didn't need them. From the ground it just looked like every other tube slide out there -- you'll be in a dark, enclosed, tube that twists and turns to the bottom. Nbd. But the line. If I'd realized how slowly it was going to go, I'm not sure I would've been dedicated enough to try. Line was well over an hour - for a 10 second ride. The only thing that made this ride interesting was the start: you stand up in a tube (think Jetsons) and the floor drops out from under you. It was an interesting experience. Not actually as intense as I'd expected it might be but definitely different! Would've done that one again but, hour + wait.
And on that wait we heard the wait for the other set of slides was more than an hour and a half. Ummm no thanks. By this point I was so cold I was shaking.
So yeah - all the way there for two water slides. Fail. Got dressed and went to wander around the park. Chris picked the wooden roller coaster cause it seemed gentle and he knows I don't like roller coasters. What he didn't know was how much worse the wooden ones are. I've tested this theory a couple times, but this one was the worst.
He seemed to find it moderately amusing but me... Not so much. We wandered a bit to let my stomach settle and Chris wanted to do an upside down one. This doesn't bother me in the least! Lol cause well, I never do things the easy way. But in reality it's the drop I hate and loops don't have the same drop feeling so they don't bother me at all. So we did one of those that resembled Wonderland's Bat which was so much more civilized than that nightmare wooden monstrosity ;)
Wandered a while longer but didn't find anything particularly appealing -- more than half the rides we're running. So after a grand total of 4 rides, we went home. Pretty sad.
We did stop for a fairly amazing dinner on the way though which was very nice :). And may or may not have detoured through the Cheesecake Factory on the way home. Also very civilized. I'm pretty glad we don't have those easily accessible ;)
So then woke up stupidly early on Sat and went to ride, but sadly pony was fairly footsore so that didn't work terribly well. Fail.
Went home and ran some errands (including picking up my awesome new - excessively large - photo printer. Thanks hon :). Then hop on the train to go to the Roger's Centre for the Guns N Roses concert. Surprised? Yeah, not a line I ever expected to write ;). But I generally like concerts and C was really looking forward to it so why not?
So the people watching was fairly entertaining. Age range about 10-70, which is fairly impressive all on its own. I was surprised at how young some were but even discounting the extremes, there was still an impressive variety of people. Show was supposed to start at 8:30 - and opening act was before than and done by then. Stadium was still half empty. GnR took the stage a little after 9:30 and by that point it was packed.
Sitting next to me (and in half of my seat) was an excessively obese man. Had to wonder what would happen if someone his size had had my ticket. And while the empathetic part of me realizes he has to be fairly miserable -- or at very least uncomfortable -- the other half of me says if I were that large, I would buy two seats. It was kinda ridiculous. Fortunately, the row wasn't packed and C and I were able to move over one seat and get some breathing room. Unfortunately that put me directly below somebody who clearly had more money than brain cells as he twice managed to soak me with very expensive beer (like hair and shirt dripping). I thought I'd escaped beer showers by the time I left uni. It was an experience I could've done without repeating. He later tried to rectify the situation by dumping water on me instead. Lovely.
The guys in front were amusingly enthusiastic and I suspect also soaking the people in front of them -- except they knew the people in front of them so somehow not quite so bad ;) I was also highly amused that throughout the second half of the show they were continually shouting for "Patience" -- of all the titles they could have picked... ;)
The show itself was pretty good. I was surprise at how little interaction there was either between the band members or between the band and the audience. But so be it. It was very high energy, decently long, and good enough video that even swinging from the ceiling, we could still see :). Axl has had some hard years and was almost sad to watch. Like the guy who tries to fit into his rebel clothes for his 40th high school reunion. The two guitarists and the drummer though were awesome to watch, so it balanced out. And miscellaneous fireworks are always fun.
We left slightly early to catch the train, only to sit for 25 mins while they waited for the concert to let out. *rolling eyes*. Ah well. About half way home now, with a train packed full of people who evidently never take the train, but my phone's about to die so I'm off. Looking forward to bday dinner w my family tomorrow :)
Night!
Sent from my iPhone
It's been an entertaining few days :)
Fri was my birthday, which I firmly believe should always be spent having fun ;). Chris had to work in the am so I took the dogs for an extra long park adventure which was a fairly perfect start to the day. Then when he came home we went to Darien Lake. I really wanted a water park and Wild Water Kingdom is apparently closed. Fail. Wonderland is crazy expensive so we figured we'd go try that one.
Yeah. Incredibly disappointing. There were a grand total of 7 slides going (discounting the "gentle") ones. That's not 7 sets, 7 total. One was by itself so we did it first and it was actually very cool - have never been on anything like it. An inflatable tube ride where you're basically shot into a funnel till you run out of impulsion and slide back down and up the other side (think snowboard halfpipe) until you eventually run out of power and float out the end. This would've been all kinds of awesome if not for the 45ish minute wait.
So remaining was a set of four slides that intertwined that all require inflatable tubes, and a set of two that did not. So we went up to the one that didn't need them. From the ground it just looked like every other tube slide out there -- you'll be in a dark, enclosed, tube that twists and turns to the bottom. Nbd. But the line. If I'd realized how slowly it was going to go, I'm not sure I would've been dedicated enough to try. Line was well over an hour - for a 10 second ride. The only thing that made this ride interesting was the start: you stand up in a tube (think Jetsons) and the floor drops out from under you. It was an interesting experience. Not actually as intense as I'd expected it might be but definitely different! Would've done that one again but, hour + wait.
And on that wait we heard the wait for the other set of slides was more than an hour and a half. Ummm no thanks. By this point I was so cold I was shaking.
So yeah - all the way there for two water slides. Fail. Got dressed and went to wander around the park. Chris picked the wooden roller coaster cause it seemed gentle and he knows I don't like roller coasters. What he didn't know was how much worse the wooden ones are. I've tested this theory a couple times, but this one was the worst.
He seemed to find it moderately amusing but me... Not so much. We wandered a bit to let my stomach settle and Chris wanted to do an upside down one. This doesn't bother me in the least! Lol cause well, I never do things the easy way. But in reality it's the drop I hate and loops don't have the same drop feeling so they don't bother me at all. So we did one of those that resembled Wonderland's Bat which was so much more civilized than that nightmare wooden monstrosity ;)
Wandered a while longer but didn't find anything particularly appealing -- more than half the rides we're running. So after a grand total of 4 rides, we went home. Pretty sad.
We did stop for a fairly amazing dinner on the way though which was very nice :). And may or may not have detoured through the Cheesecake Factory on the way home. Also very civilized. I'm pretty glad we don't have those easily accessible ;)
So then woke up stupidly early on Sat and went to ride, but sadly pony was fairly footsore so that didn't work terribly well. Fail.
Went home and ran some errands (including picking up my awesome new - excessively large - photo printer. Thanks hon :). Then hop on the train to go to the Roger's Centre for the Guns N Roses concert. Surprised? Yeah, not a line I ever expected to write ;). But I generally like concerts and C was really looking forward to it so why not?
So the people watching was fairly entertaining. Age range about 10-70, which is fairly impressive all on its own. I was surprised at how young some were but even discounting the extremes, there was still an impressive variety of people. Show was supposed to start at 8:30 - and opening act was before than and done by then. Stadium was still half empty. GnR took the stage a little after 9:30 and by that point it was packed.
Sitting next to me (and in half of my seat) was an excessively obese man. Had to wonder what would happen if someone his size had had my ticket. And while the empathetic part of me realizes he has to be fairly miserable -- or at very least uncomfortable -- the other half of me says if I were that large, I would buy two seats. It was kinda ridiculous. Fortunately, the row wasn't packed and C and I were able to move over one seat and get some breathing room. Unfortunately that put me directly below somebody who clearly had more money than brain cells as he twice managed to soak me with very expensive beer (like hair and shirt dripping). I thought I'd escaped beer showers by the time I left uni. It was an experience I could've done without repeating. He later tried to rectify the situation by dumping water on me instead. Lovely.
The guys in front were amusingly enthusiastic and I suspect also soaking the people in front of them -- except they knew the people in front of them so somehow not quite so bad ;) I was also highly amused that throughout the second half of the show they were continually shouting for "Patience" -- of all the titles they could have picked... ;)
The show itself was pretty good. I was surprise at how little interaction there was either between the band members or between the band and the audience. But so be it. It was very high energy, decently long, and good enough video that even swinging from the ceiling, we could still see :). Axl has had some hard years and was almost sad to watch. Like the guy who tries to fit into his rebel clothes for his 40th high school reunion. The two guitarists and the drummer though were awesome to watch, so it balanced out. And miscellaneous fireworks are always fun.
We left slightly early to catch the train, only to sit for 25 mins while they waited for the concert to let out. *rolling eyes*. Ah well. About half way home now, with a train packed full of people who evidently never take the train, but my phone's about to die so I'm off. Looking forward to bday dinner w my family tomorrow :)
Night!
Sent from my iPhone
I'm back! At least in moderation ;)
Posted by
Lauren Cude Horsfall
comments (0)
A little over a year after my last *amazing* jump school on Lexi, I am finally allowed to ride again. Of course I no longer have a horse, or money to support a new horse, or any degree of fitness... But that's mere details ;) Fortunately I do still have some ability to ride, rusty though it may be, and there are generally horses who need to be ridden, so...
I hopped on the cutest little pony ;) And by cutest little pony I mean GINORMOUS percheron. Qwyn and Lexi lived together for a while -- and Qwyn made Lexi look small. Those of you who have seen how Lexi made me look like a child, can imagine the picture I must've made on Qwyn ;) hahaha And keep in mind, Zel, at just under 16hh and super compact, was about the right size for me.
It wasn't an exciting ride, nor a dramatic ride. Qwyn might actually be the calmest horse I've ridden since I was a child. What it was, was calm and effective. In about half an hour we had noticeable, quantifiable, improvement. If you'd asked me what I missed about not riding, there was quite the list... Sunset hacks to de-stress after work; jumping that little bit higher; nailing the impossible turn; galloping XC; upgrading -- any level can be exciting if you haven't done it on that horse before; crazy-complex gymnastics; nailing that one perfect stride of self-carriage; the satisfaction that comes from increasing that stride to an entire dressage test; goofing around bareback; hanging out in the field while my horse grazes on clovers; the satisfaction derived from taking a completely filthy horse and turning it into something that could be seen in public; the nicker when you walk in the barn first thing in the morning; and the list goes on... What I probably wouldn't have thought of and what became very clear today is how happy it made me and how much satisfaction I got from being able to get on a horse and create improvement. Qwyn is not the most athletic horse, but she is one of the most willing I've sat on. I teach two of her riders on a regular basis, so I have some idea of her background and the things they struggle with. It was only a walk-trot ride, but by the end I had significantly more softness and connection than I'd had at the beginning, a better rhythm, and smooth transitions. As well as a very good idea of what needs work ;) I was pretty pleased with all that for one ride :) I could feel she was starting to get tired so we went on a hack at that point.
I was also very impressed out hacking -- I remember when I started having her in lessons, she had a strong routing habit; I figured for sure she'd be a bit of a nightmare to hack through shoulder-high grass. But clearly she's had some good hacking training because she was a complete lady out there. So of course I dismounted before we got back and let her graze a bit in the yummy clovers ;)
And now I very much want to do it again with feeling ;) Although since a fun bouncy little TB project is not in the budget any time soon, I think it'll be a case of improving my student's horses where they want help and catch riding from time to time. But it's still way better than "thou shalt not ride". And what a gorgeous day to start with. Huge thanks to Kelly for lending me her lovely mare for my first ride in over a year!
I hopped on the cutest little pony ;) And by cutest little pony I mean GINORMOUS percheron. Qwyn and Lexi lived together for a while -- and Qwyn made Lexi look small. Those of you who have seen how Lexi made me look like a child, can imagine the picture I must've made on Qwyn ;) hahaha And keep in mind, Zel, at just under 16hh and super compact, was about the right size for me.
It wasn't an exciting ride, nor a dramatic ride. Qwyn might actually be the calmest horse I've ridden since I was a child. What it was, was calm and effective. In about half an hour we had noticeable, quantifiable, improvement. If you'd asked me what I missed about not riding, there was quite the list... Sunset hacks to de-stress after work; jumping that little bit higher; nailing the impossible turn; galloping XC; upgrading -- any level can be exciting if you haven't done it on that horse before; crazy-complex gymnastics; nailing that one perfect stride of self-carriage; the satisfaction that comes from increasing that stride to an entire dressage test; goofing around bareback; hanging out in the field while my horse grazes on clovers; the satisfaction derived from taking a completely filthy horse and turning it into something that could be seen in public; the nicker when you walk in the barn first thing in the morning; and the list goes on... What I probably wouldn't have thought of and what became very clear today is how happy it made me and how much satisfaction I got from being able to get on a horse and create improvement. Qwyn is not the most athletic horse, but she is one of the most willing I've sat on. I teach two of her riders on a regular basis, so I have some idea of her background and the things they struggle with. It was only a walk-trot ride, but by the end I had significantly more softness and connection than I'd had at the beginning, a better rhythm, and smooth transitions. As well as a very good idea of what needs work ;) I was pretty pleased with all that for one ride :) I could feel she was starting to get tired so we went on a hack at that point.
I was also very impressed out hacking -- I remember when I started having her in lessons, she had a strong routing habit; I figured for sure she'd be a bit of a nightmare to hack through shoulder-high grass. But clearly she's had some good hacking training because she was a complete lady out there. So of course I dismounted before we got back and let her graze a bit in the yummy clovers ;)
And now I very much want to do it again with feeling ;) Although since a fun bouncy little TB project is not in the budget any time soon, I think it'll be a case of improving my student's horses where they want help and catch riding from time to time. But it's still way better than "thou shalt not ride". And what a gorgeous day to start with. Huge thanks to Kelly for lending me her lovely mare for my first ride in over a year!
We have now been officially welcomed
Posted by
Lauren Cude Horsfall
comments (1)
So it turns out the Welcome Wagon is an actual thing. Who knew? hahaha I definitely thought it was a phrase left-over from a fictional Leave-it-to-Beaver-ish time. But no, I was out in the yard with the dogs and Chris came back with the oddest look on his face: "ummm the lady from the Welcome Wagon is here..."
Really? Yup, really. But unlike what I jokingly referred to as the welcome wagon (that'd be our awesome neighbour who brought us cookies ;) this one did not come with baked goods. She came with a basket of flyers for local businesses, some discounts (free pizza! Woohoo!), and some moderately useful items (bike trail map for one).
What also amused me was that it was clear that while she's lived here forever, she's not particularly happy with the changes in the neighbourhood after the last few years ('they turned all our shops into condos'). Nor did she seem particularly interested in being there; she was very pleasant, certainly knowledgeable and helpful, just didn't seem terribly enthused about her spiel -- maybe because she no longer believes in said neighbourhood? ;) I don't know, just was somehow the opposite of what I would've envisioned as a welcome wagon had I thought such things actually existed.
So apparently it's a Canadian thing, and available across the country -- you can sign yourself up or, as we discovered, be randomly signed up ;) Their website suggests they do other things too (new baby, retirement, etc) but I don't know anybody who's experienced it. Wikipedia says it was a US thing first (by two years), but they don't do home visits anymore. So there is your educational moment of the evening. You're welcome.
Really? Yup, really. But unlike what I jokingly referred to as the welcome wagon (that'd be our awesome neighbour who brought us cookies ;) this one did not come with baked goods. She came with a basket of flyers for local businesses, some discounts (free pizza! Woohoo!), and some moderately useful items (bike trail map for one).
 |
| This particular ad amused me more than any; Alas our lotto ticket failed :( |
So apparently it's a Canadian thing, and available across the country -- you can sign yourself up or, as we discovered, be randomly signed up ;) Their website suggests they do other things too (new baby, retirement, etc) but I don't know anybody who's experienced it. Wikipedia says it was a US thing first (by two years), but they don't do home visits anymore. So there is your educational moment of the evening. You're welcome.
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