Seeya Fbook (for a week)

"This is temporary. I'll be back." That's the button that I clicked as my "reason" for deactivating my facebook account on monday. Facebook is like an addiction, it's always there, always available (expect when the sight is being stubborn and not working properly- which is quite frequent) and even though it is hard to admit, the book is a part of our lives in today's society. More and more often companies are putting on their commercials and adds, "find us on facebook," as a way for the public to connect with them. It seems as though we are becoming reliant upon this social networking site- instead of going out and doing things ourselves. Granted, the world today is a very busy place, and having facebook does make things 100x easier to connect with people, especially those who live far away.

My biggest reason for deactivating my account is temptation. I have to study for finals, and I can't be tempted by having facebook open. Logging off isn't good enough, because you can always just log back on five minutes later once you get bored of studying- so deactivating seemed like the best choice. No temptation to log in because "I don't have facebook anymore." Well, technically I do. I can reactivate my account by simply entering my email and password again- and bingo everything is back to how it was. I am hoping to make it a full 10 days from yesterday to next wednesday the 15th. After that, I guess I will determine if I really want it back or not. Unfortunately there are so many people on their that I use it to communicate with that it's too big of an outlet just to throw away.

Happy studying!

Snow mayhem

I guess the one benefit of living on a "mountain" is that it snows here. Actual snow, not just Vancouver slush- but big powder flakes that send everyone into a frenzy. Vancouverites assume freak-out mode as soon as they see it- and then EVERYTHING shuts down. I had my first ever snow day on thursday, because of the bad road conditions. The buses couldn't get up the hill, so classes were cancelled, and the uni basically shut down.... unfortunately, classes were cancelled after I had finished mine- so no luck there. Even the gym shut down, so I was forced to run in the snow on the trails. I have never got so many "what the hell is that freak doing running in this weather?!" looks from people- honestly, running in the snow is not a death sentence, it's fun. I even saw an xc skier, a mountain biker and another runner weathering out the elements.

The snow has mostly melted here, but little patches of it are hanging on still, and the track is covered in slush, so back to the gross winter conditions- but only 16 more days until I am home again and back to a real winter!

First final is this tuesday in bisc 102- open book lab final!

Back to study hall for me- two more hours of study crunch time, without facebook or blogging, or cellphone, or youtube, etc distractions. Technology is great, but it sure can be a bugger when you want to study.

-peacee && love-

teensy bit overdue

After receiving a friendly reminder about the state of my blog (or its unstate) I've decided to give an update.

Time has just flown by since September, and now there is less than a month left before I am back to the koots! The killer onslaught of final exams begins on November 29th and finishes Dec. 14th. So close to a three week winter break! I am excited for some good skiing, and a nice vacation from university/city life. I've found that there really are differences between city people and country bumpkins such as myself. People are seem so stressed and always in a hurry to get somewhere... they just can seem to enjoy the minute of life that they are in. Now the snow factor is something that really gets me. It started snowing on Burnaby mountain on Thursday morning... and it's stuck on the ground. oh my god. snow. People are seriously freaking out! It's almost funny to see how people react to this foreign white stuff falling from the sky.

I found some people slightly similar to back home today while at an AMAZING Sugoi factory outlet sale down by Burnaby Lk. Right away you can tell the type of person... not to judge a book by its cover, or in this case, someone by their car- but the parking lot was filled with subarus, volvos, trucks and other sporty hatch-back cars, most all with roof and/or bike racks. Typical outdoorsy people, all dressed in puffy Northface jackets and tights... not giving a damn about dressing nice or wearing torturesome high-heels- people like Rosslanders. Seeing that made my day! The sale was great- I bought a jacket, xc ski tights, long sleeve bike jersey, knee warmers for cycling and a pair of running tights all for under $90! I think I may need to go back tomorrow....

Running has been slowly coming back. I had my first real "hard" Mundy park practice this past tuesday- 3x 2km loop and it's definitely not flat! The injuries are coming along, the occasional strain, or ache, so I am very thankful for the amazing physios here. This weekend the girl's xc team (top 7) and two of the guys from the men's side are down in Vancouver Washington for XC Nationals... the last race of the season! The girl's team has been killing it this season- so go clan and bring home the title!!

I still don't know what I will be running for indoor track season which starts in january- but I have a feeling that it will be long distance :)

My first multi-event race will be the UBC tri/duathlon in the beginning of march. I am thinking of trying a duathlon, as the swim portion of the tri is inside the pool, and the thought of swimming 30 lengths is frankly horrible! Hopefully by the late spring/summer I can throw in a half marathon if all is going well... and focus on a couple of Olympic triathlon races around the Vancouver area in the summer.

Other than training news, I now know that I have Celiac's disease... which isn't all that surprising. I will just keep on doing what I have been doing since summer, and avoid wheat/gluten products to keep my stomach happy.

Seeing that I am a student, I do have homework that is calling my name, so I will cut this blog post short. Hopefully, I will update more frequently after final exams have subsided.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

Wahooooo

That's the best word I can use to describe things right now! After coming back from the XC training camp in Whistler, I saw a doc. in sports med and he says that my foot is, in fact not fractured! I guess my arch is collapsed and my feet are badly in need of some new orthotics- but all the bone scan picked up was a "stress reaction" and nothing is actually broken. This will be double checked on sat. by another doctor- but for the mean time I am happy and boot free. (That's a good thing, because it was making my room stink!)

Now I am all settled into SFU, and I am finding my way around to my different classes while making friends with people on my team along the way. Pretty challenging semester: Math 154, Chem 121, HSCI 160 and BISC 102. Right off the bat math looks like it will be the most challenging- thank god for free tutoring! My room is small-ish.. with only a tiny piece of concrete- so I am luckier than some who have a whole wall of the stuff. So far the weather here has been cold but sunny. Only one day of rain! I am slowly preparing myself for a full 4+ months of a constant drizzle, until then I am soaking up the sunshine!

Happy Feet?!

Happy Feet is going to be my mantra for the next 4-8 weeks.... my foot is broken. damn. Well actually it's a stress fracture of my first distal metatarsal of my right foot, and the fracture happened about two months ago- so yay me for running on a broken foot for two months. I found out on Friday from my doctor, and that immediately put an end to my plans to race Kelowna on the sunday. But I get a roll-over entry for next year! Thank-you Kelowna Apple!!

I am leaving in less than 2 days, and I am super excited! Still going to the Whistler Training Camp- where I will once again become a star pool runner (seriously- if this were an olympic sport I would be right up there with Rita and Gabs) I am glad that I will be getting a good evaluation of the injury and that actual coaches (not myself) will be able to tell me how to proceed and get me back on track! Hopefully by early/mid October I will be free of the "Happy Foot" aircast and out of the pool!

Recently I went on a trip to Banff, Alberta with a friend. The scenery was amazing!! The jagged mountains and beautiful valleys were serene! Everything was great except for the mass amounts of tourists. Literally bus-loads of them, taking pictures of everything. We went for a run to see the Hoodoos, and by the time we left there were probably 50+ people on the trail- an amount that I think is huge, but apparently that's hardly any at all!

Photos another night. I am tired!

G'Night

Update

So I've realised that this blog won't be a weekly thing- more like a monthly post... if I remember and get around to it!
Now to the update: I AM BACK TO RUNNING! (finally) It's been two months of physio and frustration for me, but finally I am back to where I was and am ready to race. sorta. Unfortunately, the penticton race had to be cancelled, but on the 22nd I am doing the Kelowna Apple... here's to hot weather and fun times! My training schedule isn't what I would like to be, with my slow approach back to running- but I've started back up with weekly early wed. morning hard runs with a group of awesome ladies. I did it in the fall and my running speed and strength improved greatly- so hopefully fartleks, hill intervals, and more intervals will soon be beneficial and I will no longer feel like dying :)
Something quite exciting is that I am leaving in about 15 days for SFU/Whistler. The varsity xc team has a training camp during the last week of August up in Whistler, and I am stoked to be a part of it! The opportunity for me to finally have proper coaching is great! Even if freshmen don't get to compete for their first year, I think the benefit of team training and proper structure will be a great thing for me, competitions aside.
Contrary to what I said at the beginning of this post, I will update back in a week with a RR of Kelowna and some pics of my hiking trip to Banff!

peace.

Photos of Late

Setting up Transition at Wasa Lake

PIC-ing

Grad- Shar & Eva

Change

From what I've always been told, change is a good thing. But who defines what is good and what is not so great? At the moment, change is looking to be both good and bad for me. The bad first: I don't live in Rossland anymore, I live in Warfield... ick. I guess that there really is that invisible dividing line that separates Rosslanders from "Trail people" even though Rossland is considered part of the greater Trail area. I really liked my Rossland bubble, but I will just have to adjust to Oxford Rd. and survive for the next six odd weeks.
The good news: only six weeks until I am gone to Simon Fraser University!!
So my July basically started out with a double whammy- pack and move to a new home, and begin the arduous process of packing for uni.

Another big (and long in coming) change for me has been graduation. Yes, I am no longer a highschool student of RSS. Friday, June 11th my diploma was handed out, and I literally felt like taking it and running as far away as I could. I am so relieved to be done with highschool and all of its drama. I am looking forward to new people and opportunities at SFU.

And to top it all off, another change in my life has come in the form of sports. I have caught the triathlon bug, and too bad for my savings account- its an expensive one. Also on Grad weekend I competed in my first tri- Wasa Lake Triathlon. I did the olympic distance (1.5km/40km/10km) and it feels to be the perfect fit. Just the right amount of distance- not too long or too short- mixed with the right amount of speed. Check out the website for results and info: www.rmevents.com
A huge thank-you to all of the people that helped me prepare for the race, especially Rita and Dallas for all of their amazing help and motivation!! So now that I am practically addicted to the sport, I have signed up for the Penticton Peach Classic, July 18th in hopes to make the BC team (injuries pending- as I always seem to be in a perpetual state of injury) let's hope all goes well!

One more thing- the very last change that I will post is this blog. I have always wanted to start a blog and actually follow up with it, and I figured where the better place and time to start than with this new chapter of my life!

Peace.