Meandering Through the Forest

On the weekend Ben and I had the pleasure of going for a hike with my younger brother and his girlfriend. Although our plans got derailed as hwy 66 to moose mountain was still closed because of the floods, we went for a hike through west Bragg Creek, which turned into a 14 km meander through the forest, with our conversations carrying us along. Although there was no destination to our hike, no "OH WOW" moment like you get when you summit a mountain or hike to a waterfall, we still had a great time (and I can't wait for our 3 day backpacking trip next month together!!).

Anyways, the point of this post. The question was asked if things really change once you get married. Which is a very good question, because to be honest I didn't think things would change when Ben and I got married, I mean we had been living together for 4 and a half years before that, and yet our relationship did change. Subtle changes, nothing life shattering.. changes that you may not even notice until you take a moment to think about them, the kind change that makes you feel more secure and love your partner even more, because they have chosen you forever. They have promised to love you despite your faults through thick and thin, those vows are not to be taken lightly. Its kind of hard to explain, it's just like you feel more settled, you're no longer preoccupied with when, where, and how you'll get engaged, you don't have to plan the wedding, and you're no longer thinking about what would happen if you break up.. Youre relationship becomes a constant. Which is also why you have to make a little bit of an effort to have dates and celebrate the little things once you're married. It is way too easy to get into a routine and let life pass you by.

I have found that one of the biggest differences is in arguments. There is an understanding that we're both in this for the long haul so we better figure this sh*t out so that we don't continue to have the same argument tomorrow, next week, or next year. Arguments turn into opportunities to learn and try to understand where the other person is coming from, and to work on compromise.

There you have it. I'm sure for people that haven't lived together before getting married there would be major differences, but if you already live together I would say it does change a little bit, but definitely for the better.

Also, just to keep you all in suspense... I found out on Tuesday that I PASSED MY CFA LEVEL 1! WOO HOO!

Wild Rose Detox

Ever since I can remember I've had stomach issues. It feels like I have tried everything to try and relieve the troubles that I have. After a plethora of unpleasant medical tests in 2010, I felt as though I was abandoned by the medical system with a "diagnosis" of IBS. Then I sought out a naturaopath last year, she did a controversial allergy test with electro-accupuncture. It came back that I was basically allergic to EVERYTHING. I tried that diet for a little while, however, when she later falsely diagnosed me with low thyroid and put me on some weird supplement that totally messed with my body I abandoned it. I toyed with the idea of paying hundreds of dollars for a blood allergy test, but after much research I decided not to. So alas, here we are. My mom tried the wildrose detox about a month ago, and she suggested I try it once we were done training. So we started the 12 days on Sunday. We thought we had timed it perfectly since we didn't have any plans this coming weekend, and it would be complete before we go camping to goodsoil, however, my brother is now having a Diaper party (an excuse to get drunk) with the guys on saturday and Ben is now unable to drink anything fermented (which leaves beer basically out of the question) and he has to stick to the super strict eating schedule. This will be a test for him that's for sure.

What is the wild rose detox?
Well you take a bunch of herbal supplements and eat a very specific diet that eliminates wheat, sugar (and anything sweet), dairy, tropical fruit, and fermented foods. For me, my meals didn't dramatically changed except for yogurt in the morning for breakfast. Ben, however, had to do a total 360 eliminating his typical sandwich at lunch time and replacing with salads.

How are we doing? Well we're 5 days in. I can't speak for Ben but I'm not finding it to bad. The first couple of days I had fairly low energy but I think that has mostly returned. With all of the horror stories you read of detoxing I have fortunately yet to experience most of the more disagreeable symptoms.

What do I miss?
The biggest thing that I personally miss is coffee with a little cream and sugar. I need coffee int he morning, but this black coffee is pretty gross, and I think coffee with almond or soy milk is even grosser. I also really miss salad dressing, this lemon and olive oil thing is getting pretty old pretty fast. Ben and I don't drink much, but sometimes I like a good glass of wine on the weekends so I'll probably miss that this coming weekend. Oh and peanut butter, Almond butter just doesn't quite replace it... and sauces...I am really sick of this fairly plain boring food I miss soy sauce on my rice, bbq sauce on my bbq'd chicken, and Ketchup on my eggs.

Things I don't miss?
I don't really miss cheese, or bread at all. I thought I would really miss them but I find it doesn't bother me. Actually, right now, the thought of eating a safeway pizza like we used to kind of grosses me out.

My go to snack?
Well right now my favorite desert is a rice cake with almond butter and fresh rasberries on top, mmm. Crunchy, sweet, and nutty, and the closest to a pb and j sandwhich that you can get.

What about dinner?
Well since it's BBQ season it's pretty straight forward. Chicken, Steak, or Fish on the BBQ with brown rice and veggies. If it was winter I think this would be alot harder (unless you're hardcore and BBQ in -20).

Overall, I haven't noticed the moment where you feel so much better. But I hear that it is coming. I am hoping that we can continue avoiding foods that I know don't treat me well such as wheat and dairy even off the detox.. however that may be difficult as we love pizza and they just opened a new pizza place in Cochrane that we are dying to try. Would I recommend this detox? I would say yes, if you can avoid social situations for the next 12 days, or have super amazing self control and won't cave on the glass of wine on that dinner out. I'm only on day 5, 7 more days to go so we'll see if this magically moment of feeling amazing comes my way.

Waiting Game

Wow, July 15, where has the time gone! The last few weeks since we've been home have been filled with stampede events, a baby shower for my soon to be niece, errands, planted out first tree in our back yard, a wedding, and even a broadway musical thrown in there with my sister and sister in law. Busy, and yet I feel as though I'm just sitting around waiting.

Our bodies have been slowly recovering from Ironman. It has been a little bit of a frustrating process. We started back at hot yoga last week, then tried to run a measly 10 k the next day to no success. I think I ran about 2 k and Ben made it 4 or 5 and we both wound up walking home. I'm suffering from runners knee and the plantar fasciitis from the Calgary Marathon. So heating pad, ice packs, and advil have become a staple in my daily routine. I know that there is no point in rushing the process back to working out, but it is hard to hold ourselves back. You get home from Ironman so exhilarated, excited about the sport, looking for your next race, wanting to jump back in to training to improve your time only for your body to hold you back. So we're doing more yoga, taking more rest days a week, and taking Rudy on alot of walks.

Then I've been waiting for the results of my exam, the results are next Tuesday. It has been so painful to wait this long. The anxiety I feel towards next Tuesday increases every day. It will dictate how I spend the rest of the year. As of next Tuesday I will either be completely elated and relieved, and I don't have to start studying again in January for level 2, or I will be surprised, depressed, and I'll have to crack open my books and start studying again for the december re-write. I have found the past few weeks I have turned very superstitious. Thinking things like "If I make this green light then I will pass my exam," and "if the stamps win tonight I will pass my exam." So far, all the signs are pointing to that I should pass my exam, but we will see next week. However, I have not put my books away yet, they are sitting on my desk just in case I have to get back to the grind, but it would feel so good to burn put them away next week if I pass.

Post Race Adventures

After the race, I grabbed a couple pieces of pizza and went to my family who was waiting. They had already grabbed all of my gear. I was pretty pumped so we said goodbye and Ben and I just headed back to our hotel.Ben, however, decided to stop at Burger King first, I dont think we've eaten fast food in the 6 years we've been together! He got a burger, french fries, onion rings, and chicken fingers. We went back to the hotel and while Ben ate I had an epsom salt bath and passed out. We woke up the next morning moving pretty slowly, our legs were pretty sore. We met my dad and switched our tri stuff with our camping stuff, and then we decieded to go down to the Ironman grounds. We checked out the overpriced finisher apparael, grabbed our special needs bags, and had the free breakfast. We headed back to our hotel to check out and figure out where we were going to go. We were planning on camping around couer d'alene for the week, but it had started to rain, so we started googling places. According to the weather network if we drove south we would hit sun. So we drove, and drove, and 5 hours later we arrived in McCall Idaho, a super cute lake town... that was supposed to look like this:

but instead we ended up like this:


So we quickly set up our tent and went in to town in search of beer and pizza. Which we found at a cool pizza place where we got the flamethrower pizza which was a combination of elk sausage, jalapenos, and crasins... weird combo but AMAZING. We went back to the tent and slept hoping that the weather network hadn't steered us wrong and it would clear up the next day.
Nope, it rained... poured in fact. We set up tarps and hung out by the campfire praying for it to clear up. By 8 pm, our camp site had pretty large puddles all around, and the inside of the tent was damp. SO we made the decision to sleep in the car, with Rudy. It was a little squishy but at least it was dry. We made a deal that if we woke up on Wednesday and it was raining then we would head to Fernie. Wednesday morning came and guess what, we woke up to pouring rain!! We packed everything up soaking wet, and started the LOOONG drive to fernie.. 9 hours. We would have been better off to have just stayed and camped in Coeur D'alene since it was raining there to but at least we would have been closer to home.

We had made it 6 hours when we stopped at a walmart in Sandpoint to load up on alcohol before we crossed the border only to come back to a flat tire. UGH! nothing was going right! It was totally ruined, but we scored a used tire for 40 bucks to get us home. We got to fernie around 8 pm that night. Where we were greeted with Nancy, Bill, beer, food, a shower and a nice warm and dry bed. Ahh bliss!

We stayed in fernie until Saturday. The weather was beautiful and it's always nice to visit with my in-laws. Our legs were feeling better so we climbed castle moutain on thursday.

Friday and saturday we did alot of walking, went to sureveyor lake near kokanoosa, napped, drank some beer and just enjoyed being off. Then it was back to calgary to get ready to return to reality.

6 Years

I know we're married now, so the only anniversary you're supposed to celebrate is your wedding. But 6 years ago today was a very important day; Ben ran his first marathon, and we started dating. Since then training for for running or triathlons has become an important part of our lives. I can hardly believe that it has been 6 years since I got a job at COP and I met Ben. 6 years, that's nearly a quarter of my entire life, and definitely the best quarter! He has encouraged me to go after every dream that comes my way, no matter what. With him by my side I am now a 2 time ironman finisher, I graduated from Economics with distinction, we own a house, along with many many other adventures (Peru, mountains, marathons, Revelstoke, roadtrips) and we continue to dream about our future. I am so thankful every day to have Ben in my life. He has taught me so much, he understands me, and I love him more than anything. I love our life together. So here's to 6 years, and another 60!


July 2007 -- I'm pretty sure that's our first picture together

July 2013

Ironman Coeur D'Alene 2013

Well, we're finally back home from our adventures, and I am now a 2 time Ironman Finisher. Although my day did not go according to plan at the end of the day I persevered and finished the darn thing. Our trip started going sideways before we even left Calgary. Unless you live under a rock, you would have heard about the flooding in Calgary. We planned on leaving for Fernie right after work on Thursday to break up the drive, but Thursday morning we woke up to flooding in Canmore, followed by all the cities and towns downstream of Canmore. The main highways were starting to flood, and I started to Panic. We had to be in Coeur D'alene by 4 pm friday or no race! Well with some major detours, 16 hours of driving, and a 6 hour stop over for sleep in Kalispell and we made it with 3 hours to spare.. PHEW!

Saturday was spent running errands, getting our gear checked in, and relaxing. We ate some pasta for dinner, dropped Rudy off with my Dad so we didn't have to worry about him the next day and went to bed around 9. Unfortunately that's also when my stomach started acting up. The alarm went off at 4, I drank some coffee, ate my peanut butter on bread and a banana, and sipped on some water, but nothing was sitting well. We got to the race around 5:30 am The organization at the race was top notch. No line ups for body marking, signs where to drop off our special needs, a quick stop at our bikes, and we were off to wrestle ourselves into our wetsuits.



I heard that the water can be really cold, so we went down to the water 15 minutes early to dunk ourselves, and boy was it ever cold. We swam around a bit, and I lost Ben. So I spent the next 10 minutes trying to find him again to wish him luck, which was nearly impossible since everyone looked the same with their swim cap and their wet suit. But alas with 2 minutes before the gun, I found him, gave him a big kiss and went back to my place in line. Only to hear someone yelling `Jen!` when I looked up I saw my Dad standing there, which was a treat before the race started. This is the first time they had a "safe swim" start. Which we LOVED. You line up like at a marathon in corrals according to how fast you think the race will take. This kept all 2700 participants from rushing in to the water at once and swimming on top of one another. It was WAY better, it took me 7 minutes to get across the timing mat, and I think I only got kicked once!.. which is a miracle in triathlon. It took me a few minutes to get my stroke going, and to warm up in the water, but I had space and I just kept swimming forwards. The first lap only took me 42 minutes, which was basically bang on to what I thought, but then I started to struggle. My leg cramped, my stomach was sick, and I came out of the water at 1:38, so happy that the swim was over.

Transition was very organized. It took a bit for the charlie horse to work itself out of my calf, and I couldn`t bring myself to take any of the nutrition down that I had planned. On my bike, it took a while to get my heart rate down, and I could feel my chest so I took my inhaler to try and prevent an asthma attack. About 20 minutes in to the ride, my chain fell off.... little did I know this would be a problem throughout the race. We had brought our bikes in to be tuned right before the race, and they adjusted my derailleur incorrectly. I had planned on a gel every hour, and chews on the half hours. But I when I went to take my first gel I nearly vomited, so I sipped on some water hoping my stomach would get better. The bike course is challenging. According to Ben`s garmin it is 6000 feet of climbing, more than Ironman Canada. There are 3 big hills, that you get to climb twice! what a treat! The first lap went well, I was passing alot of people who got out of the water faster than me. But around Mile 60 I started to feel light headed, probably from not taking in enough nutrition. My chain fell off my bike for a third time, and I stopped by the side of the road for a few minutes seriously debating whether I should keep going. I sipped on some coke, trying to get something in to me, feeling a bit better and digging deep I put my chain back on and carried on my way. 10 miles later I had gone up the first major hill on my second lap and I just was so sick. I pulled over at the aid station at the top of the hill and ran in to the bathroom vomiting the coke I had just taken in. I came out, sat by the side of the road seriously debating with myself whether I should continue or not. I sat there for a solid 15-30 minutes. Watching everyone that I had passed zoom pass me, which was very frustrating. However, it was probably the best thing, since I took in a LUNA bar and some water, and slowly the lightheadedness subsided and I hoped back on my bike. I had made a decision at this point that I was finishing this darn race. I started to think about how if I didn`t finish, and I didn`t pass my test then I would fail at everything I had worked so hard for this year, and since I don`t have control over the results of the test, i do have control over this race. The rest of the bike was fairly uneventful, and I let go of any time goals since the day had turned into survival, perseverance, and just finishing even if it took me the full 17 hours. I was off the bike after 7 hours and 21 minutes.

At the transition, I saw my Dad which cheered me up. I was happy to be off my bike, and set off on the run. It took a few minutes for my legs to start moving and I was running. I took my inhaler again as my chest still wasn`t feeling 100%. The run course was very beautiful, and 2 loops of out and back so I got to see Ben 4 times! But also very challenging. They decided to change the course last year and have you run up and down a pretty big hill 4 times. At around mile 3, I had just seen Ben on the way back on his first lap, I was so excited that I saw him since i had been searching for him on the run all through Ironman Canada and never saw him, and then I had a massive asthma attack. I dropped to my knees, and I couldn`t get my inhaler in. I was starting to panic and the medics nearly pulled me off the course. But I managed to calm myself down enough to get my inhaler in and slowly my breathing returned. However, after that, any time I got my heart rate up my chest would start tightening. So my marathon turned in to mostly walking with some light running. But there were lots of people around me who had been beaten up by this course and we chatted along the way. 15 hours and 7 minutes later I crossed that line. It was perhaps even sweeter than the last time because of all the struggles I had throughout the day. Also the finish line, it is seriously amazing. You run down Sherman Ave, which is slightly down hill. You can seee the finish line way off in the distance, and the entire road is lined with people cheering. It is seriously what makes the entire day worth it.

We have already decided to sign up for another one next year, but a late season one so that I dont have to do my heavy training and studying at the same time. I have some seroius goals for this one, and I just plan on continuing my training, since taking 2 hours off my time seems daunting. We were flipping back and forth between Arizona and Florida, however, we`re now thinking about perhaps Lake Tahoe. We dont have to sign up until the fall so we have some time to figure out our game plan. We also plan on getting some new tri bikes for next year too! That will surely take some time off right?

Much love! We went on some crazy adventures after the race, but more on that later.