Whirlwind Weekend

Ben and I headed to Calgary this weekend for 2 main reasons: 1) to find a place to live and 2) for Ben to run the Calgary marathon for a 5th time in a row! and both of those were a sucess but boy was it ever busy. We were up early saterday and hit the ground running and didn't stop until our heads hit our pillows at 11pm that evening. We went to the gym, and by the time we got home we were already running behing schedule as it was 10:15 and we had an appointment to meet a landlord at 11 (and we were in cochrane at my mom's house). So we had a quick shower, shoved some breakfast in our mouths and hit the road. We were late meeting the first landlord, which then had a ripple effect and we were late meeting every one after that. But in the end, we found a place! Actually the place that I wished for!.. well kinda. It turns out the exact one we were supposed to see was rented out but they had another one that would be available on June 15th (when we need it), and it is AWESOME! There is a dishwasher AND laundry in the suite! ALso a huge balcony for our bbq! We are so excited! We grabbed some pho for lunch (mmmm jsut like I hoped) and then drove across town to get our race packages for Sunday morning. It was super busy, but we got our race bibs, then remembered that my goggles are broken and I have the oliver half ironman next weekend! To top it off we only had an hour to get back across the city to get a new pair, so back in the car we went. I found some great ones, so hopefully there won't be any issues next weekend. By this point we had been driving around with a car pack to the roof with stuff so we then had to head to my dad's house who is graciously letting us store some stuff there until we move in to our new place in a couple of weeks. After unloading the car we headed to the jewlery store to purchase our wedding bands. We had picked them out the weekend before in Kelowna, but decided to wait till we were in calgary to buy them because of the difference in taxes, which saved us a pile of money. We then had an hour to get downtown and meet my dad, sammy, angie, jenny and baby jack for some pre race pasta.. mm.. But Ben and I decided that after 8 hours of running around looked like bums so we stopped in at winners on the way and walked out with some new clothes to wear for dinner! We had a great dinner with my family, then headed back to cochrane for a good night sleep, although short!

Sunday morning we woke up to frost on the windshield and 0 degree weather!It was chilly! Ben's race started at 7, so we left the house around 6am and had to be up at 5! It was early, and we were tired and cold. We met up with Jacque and wished Ben good luck and he was off. We started a half hour later. It was a good race, we had fun and got across that line without stopping. Infact, I have not been able to run 10 kms since I got pneumonia a month ago, so it was a good confidence booster for my race next weekend. When we crossed the finish line my dad was there with my little nephew Jack. We had a couple hours to kill until Ben would be coming by, so we let jack run around the park. Ben hadn't trained specifically for this marathon, and thought he would take maybe 4 hours. But we went up to wait for him around 3 hours 20 minutes and thank goodness we did because he came by 9 minutes later with a time of 3 hours 29 minutes! We passed Jack off to Ben, and Ben carried Jack across the finish line, it was pretty cool. Infact, the Calgary herald snapped this picture and they got on their website!

Ben's Mom and Bill even made just in time! We then went to my mom's for a birthday lunch since my birthday is in a week, had a nap, then hit the road! It was a crazy weekend, but all in all a sucess!

Looks like wishes do come true!

Well, it looks like my wishing yesterday paid off! We found out yesterday afternoon that Ben got the job!

So lets rewind. Ben and I have been discussing moving out of Revelstoke for some time now. Although we love the mountains, in the last year we have learned alot about us and what we want in our life and Revelstoke just doesn't seem to be able to provide it. So, we have both haphazardly applied to a handful of jobs in the last few months. After not hearing back from anything, we didn't really think about the possibility of moving and accepted that we were going to stay the summer and move in the fall. But then, Ben got a call last tuesday for an interview with the WCB (workers compensation board). Since he has fridays off he drove to Calgary friday morning, nailed the interview, and then drove back to revelstoke. That's 8 hours of driving for an hour interview! He definitely could have stayed over night at one of my parents house but he wanted to come home to hang out with me (isn't he awesome!). So this is for a job as an adjucator with the WCB, as in he reads claims and decides if they get benefits. It will actually combine all of his experience with construction, safety, customer sercice, and his kineisiolody degree. It has a great wage, good benefits, and great work environment that really supports health and wellness (compared to construction which supports the local pub and strip bar).

Anyways on Sunday they emailed him to let him know they were contacting his references and yesterday they phoned to let him know he had the job! There was no doubt in my mind that he would get it, I mean he is awesome as long as someone gave him a chance with an interview he'd be a shoe in.

So, Ben will be trading in his karharts for polos, and his tools for a computer. Looks like we're going to have to go shopping! He starts on June 23rd, so we'll have to be back in calgary before then. Yep, that is 5 weeks from today. So, now comes the crazy moving back to calgary part. Luckily we're going to be in calgary next weekend so we can have a look at a couple of places. We will also bring as much stuff back with us each time we head to calgary to make sure the move is smooth.

Then I'll have to get looking for a job. There is an oil and gas career fair on June 10th, so I'm hoping to go to that. So it looks like we'll be in and out of calgary a few times in the next 5! we're pretty excited! Happy Thursday!

Said "Yes" To The Dress

This weekend was a very busy, but very sucessful trip to Calgary. We didn't get to my mom's house until after 7pm but we were greeted with a delicious roast beef dinner (a treat since I have yet to learn how to cook meat in the oven.. such as chicken, roast beef, ham.. ect) Then my Mom and I talked excitedly about wedding planning until way past our bedtime.

Saturday we left the house early for a day full of errands. First we headed to the forzanis mother's day sale where we all got some awesome deals. Then Ben went to meet up with my brother and my nephew at the zoo. We laughed because they probably looked like a gay couple at the zoo together with Jack. While Ben was preoccupied, I went dress shopping with my mom and Beccy. We hit up one store, and found the perfect dress within an hour! It's a simple, A-Line, no train, dress in white with a little bit of bling and the best part... it was under $500! So, I bought it! I was debating buying a dress online from lightinthebox.com, but since this one wasn't that much more expensive and I know that I like it we figured it was less risky. So, now it is hanging in my mom's house hidden from Ben. I dont have any pictures, since my mom doesn't trust that I won't show ben, so you'll just have to wait like Ben to see it. After the excitement we went out for lunch, then hit up the mall and I bought my shoes and a garter, so I'm done! My wedding day atire is bought and its all perfect and was quite a bargain. Now we just have to find Ben a suit.

We also decided on the invitations which we'll order this week, booked a photographer, and got mini mason jars that we're using for our favors. So all in all it was a sucessful trip for wedding planning.

Saterday night we had yummy burgers at my dad's house to celebrate my little brothers birthday, then Ben and I passed out at around 10. I guess we're not used to all the excitement of the city. On Sunday for mothers day we went for brunch with my mom and my grandma then drove home to a sunny Revelstoke.

This morning we woke up to a gorgeous day here, and I have the afternoon off today, so I plan on getting outside for a short run, then a bike with Ben after he gets off from work. Hope you have a great week! It's supposed to be nice all week, so we're hoping to get lots of training in... only 15 weeks until Ironman, and 16 weeks until we get married! eek!

Slow and Steady

So this week I have slowly been trying to get back into training. Tuesday I attemped to run in the morning, and well... it didn't go great. I pretty much felt like a asthmatic smoker who was trying to race a 10k without any training. Seriously, I did a small loop that I can typically do in roughly 25 mins and tuesday morning it took me over 30.. ugh. But, I did it that's all that matters. Tuesday evening Ben and I decided to go do some weights at the gym, I didn't have much energy so after a short warm up bike I did a quick circuit. Wednesday I headed out on the bike since it was sunny, and my lungs felt alot better and was feeling pretty good, even thought about attempting to run after. But by the time I got home I was freezing and ben was already home, so motivation to run waned quickly. Thursday we were supposed to swim, but the pool has changed their hours and they aren't open after work anymore until 7:15 so we took a rest day. This morning we got up early and I hit the pool for a swim at 6:30. I was feeling a bit run down and could feel my lungs so I only lasted 25 minutes. But, that was the first swim in 2 weeks and it felt good to get in the water. As you can see this week I haven't done much but it's more than the last 2 weeks and I don't want to jump right back in and end up way sicker. However, I do have the half ironman in a month from tomorrow, so I better ramp this up quick and get back at it. The longest bike I have done to date it 60 km, the longest run was 18 kms, and the longest swim was well over 2000m. So I only need 20 more kms biking and 3 more kms run to complete the half ironman... piece of cake. Last year I was training really hard for a sub 6 hour half ironman, but this year since it's not my main race I'll be happy with more like 7.

This weekend we are headed to Calgary. We were planning on bringing our bikes out and biking the 70 kms from my Mom's house in Cochrane to my Dad's hous in far SW calgary on saterday for dinner and then bike back on sunday for brunch, but it's supposed to be pouring rain so we're just bringing our running shoes. Hopefully we'll get a couple good runs in on our old stomping grounds.

I'm also going dress shopping with my mom and my cousin this weekend! I have a dress that I've been eyeing online, but I want to try some on and make sure that I like the style before I go getting it custom sized and shipped! So that's exciting. While I'm off doing that, ben's got a list of errands such as FINALLY putting some summer tires on the stealth fighter (our car) and then hes hoping to hit up the Zoo with our adorable nephew and my brother.

Have a great weekend! and make sure you spoil your mommy! because mom's awesome! don't know what I would do without mine!