The Allergen Equation

Well, when we arrived back from Calgary I was sooo happy to see the green grass and the leaves coming out. Then, I remembered... I have really bad seasonal allergies. Usually I would take an extra strength reactine and I'd be on my way. The problem is that there is this stupid cat at my work, to whom I am also allergic to. It's got loooong hair and likes to rub up against everything I touch. So for the past year I have had to take reactine EVERY SINGLE DAY just to get through the day. Now, aparently, it does not work anymore for my seasonal allergies.

It allll started on monday, I took my bike out for a solid hour and ten minute bike ride. By the time I got home my throat started getting itchy... then sore. Tuesday was a beautiful 24 degree day and it was quiet at work, so I decided to sit outside waiting for the phone to ring... Surrounded by all the beauty of the mountains and nature.. and of course allergens of new grass and freshly budded trees. My eyes started itching, watering, and my nose started running. While running that evening, I was having trouble breathing since my asthma acts up with my allergies. So I cut my run short and headed home. By yesterday, it felt like I had a TERRIBLE cold. Seriously, if you do not have allergies just imagine having cold like symptoms PERMENANTLY! AND I just got over a BRUTAL cold turned lung infection! UGH!... So feeling aweful, I laid on the couch all evening, skipping the swim workout I was to do. This morning, feeling especially sorry for myself and frustrated, I opened the medicine cabinet and decided I was going to take ANYTHING that would make me feel better. So, I proceded to take 2 extra stength reactines, 2 extra strength sudafeds with pseudoephedrin, and a large cup of coffe.. All to combatt the itching, watering eyes, the stuffed up sinus', and the extreme fatigue. And guess what, I am finally feeling a little bit better!

Then concerned that I may have overdosed, I proceeded to call my pharmacist and she assured me that I would be ok, just not to take any more than that per day. Phew! Now that I am feeling better I can actually think about training tonight and this weekend. So, for now I will live off (sudafed + reactine) squared... hopefully the pharamcist doesn't accuse me of making illegal drugs by the end of the summer because of the large quantites of sudafed I will be going through just to be able to function.


On another note, please keep Ben in your thoughts tomorrow. He is driving to Cagary and has an interview for a job that could be the answer to our prayers. Ben has struggled with finding a career, and this could be a very exciting opportunity for him!.. and it could mean moving sooner than we thought!

Enjoy your 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!

Summer is here!.. or at feels like it

We had a great trip to Calgary. I'll write more about that tomorrow when I have a chance. But I just wanted to note that when we drove in to Revelstoke we were surprised at how much changed over the weekend. The buds on the trees are now full leaves, the grass is green, the melting snow piles are completly gone, and it was sunny. That`s the pic I snaped driving into town. It reminded me of how awesome the summer time is here, keeps you going through this crazy rain. We're planning on enjoying it before we move back to Calgary in a few months! We stopped at the grocery store and got groceries for the week and we picked up some chicken, corn, potatoes, and veggies to bbq and had a delicious dinner. Man, I LOVE summer. It is definitely my favorite season!

Dear Mom.

Since it is mothers day I thought I'd write about just how awesome my mom is. I mean seriously, she is amazing. I would not be who I am today without her.

My dream when I was little was to get a hockey scholarship, even though I wasn't even playing hockey at the time. Infact, I started playing ringette when I was in grade 2 and played all the way through grade 10. Her and my father spent countless hours in cold arenas, chauffeuring me around, and cheering me on. Then, in Grade 10 I decided to switch to hockey and try and get that scholarship. Something most people thought was impossible. So what did my parents do? They encouraged me, signed me up for hockey camps, the National Sports Academy, and never let me give up on my dream. The extraordinary sacrifices, both with their time and money, was taken for granted. Then, with alot of hard work in grade 12 I made the Female Alberta Major Midget League (AAA) hockey team with the Bowness Bruins in Calgary, the first step to getting that scholarship. The next step was getting my name our there, so there I was with my mom making hockey resumes and videos and sending them to every school imaginable. But the work didn't stop there, my MOm became like my personal agent. She called following up with schools and coaches, organized a trip to the states for us check out interested schools, all while I was being an impossible teenager. Then finally, after 2 years, alot of time and money, I was packing up to head to Holy Cross in Worcester Massachusetts to play hockey, and guess who brought me down there and made sure I was all settled in.. my Mom. And I'm not sure I ever truly thanked her for everything that she did to make my dream come true. So, Thank you mom, I appreciate everything you did. I would not have achieved my dream if it were not for you believing and supporting me.

My mom is patient and kind. Understanding but strict. She left her career and committed 15 years to raising me and my siblings. She was always there, through every heartbreak and success. She believed and fought for each one of us and made us feel special. She was the glue of our family, and although at the time we didn't always appreciate family fun nights and no tv during the week, looking back I am thankful for everything she did for us. Thank you mom. I love you. Happy Mothers Day.

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!

Friday Date.... at the hospital.

As I briefly talked about, I have had this terrible cough for the last 2 weeks, and it was only getting worse. Poor Ben, he was getting a headache from the insistent coughing. I tried cough medicine, doubling my inhaler, and cough drops and nothing was giving me a minutes relief. So, finally friday evening Ben said I had to get checked out. Instead, I decided to phone health link BC. If you don't know what health link is, well you should because it's pretty great and paid for with our tax dollars. Basically you get to talk to a registered nurse about health related questions. So, I called to find out if it's normal to have a cough for this long. She went through some questions, such as do you have asthma... yes; are you coughing up green stuff.. yes; for how long... 2 weeks; are you having trouble breathing... yes, walking around the block. Aparently that was enough for her to urged me to go to the hospital. So off we went. Good thing too, because it turns out I had a bacterial lung infection, and had to get on some antibiotics. It wasn't anything life threatening at the time, but since we live in a very small town the clinic is only open monday through friday so I would have had to wait until monday at which point it would have been much worse. Instead, I got on antibiotics on firday night, and by yesterday evening the cough was a million times better. Ben is no longer ready to kill me at night because I can't stop coughing, and I finally got a good night's sleep.

Ben has been training all weekend, he got in a couple hour run yesterday, and a couple hour bike and a short run today. He's gotten back in the groove after he was sick so much. I attemped a bike this morning, but training while still having a bit of a lung infection isn't the best idea and I only made it about 10 minutes. Oh well , I'll try again tomorrow.

This weekend, however, has been beautiful. A glimpse of summer! 24 degrees and sunny! the leaves are just starting to sprout, and flowers are blooming. It's beautiful. We went for a long walk to enjoy the the sunshine this afternoon, and sat by the river. It was awesome.

Fate: Be destined to happen, turn out, or act in a particular way

Do you believe in fate? I do. And we had a taste of it this week.

In the last couple of days Ben and I have been frantically trying to make a decision on the wedding venue and it was just not working. The backyard wasn't going to work, but it was the only option on the long weekend in September. We wanted a place outside, but with the option of indoors incase the weather doesn't cooperate, an intimate venue since it will be a very small wedding compared to most, the september long weekend, and a place with views of the mountains. We thought maybe we were just being picky and we were ready to compromise. Then the other day I hunkered down and went crazy on the internet going through all our options again. There was this gorgeous place in Fernie that we hadn't really even considered because of the cost. But, I figured that was no harm in calling. So I did. Turns out they JUST had a party cancel for the September long weekend last week. And guess what! she is giving us a MEGA deal and so it now fits in our budget! It is a gorgeous place with amazing views of the mountains. It's everything we wanted, and we are SO excited. The lady that runs the lodge, Robyn, is so so nice and she seems just as excited as we are. So that's it. We paid our deposit, and we didn't have to compromise anything, we managed to get it all! So now we can move on and get started on all the other details of planning the wedding! Such as getting invitations out since it's only 4 months away too!

Oh and I stopped by the thrift shop in revelstoke here, and guess what! I got 40 mason jars for 9 dollars! I was planning on having mason jars with candles in them for the tables! I mean how simple and beautiful is this:

So that is the newest progress on the wedding planning thing. In other news, I am still batteling this terrible cold. I seem to have the worst cough ever. Cough medicine, double my asthma inhaler twice a day, and cough drops don't seem to be helping. Like most coughs it gets worse at night time, and so I have not been getting much sleep lately. Ugh. Hopefully it gets better soon because I am starting to get ansy to train! Ben on the other hand has definitely gotten back into training and has been up early nearly every day this week.

This weekend we're excited to have some time together at home. Then next weekend we're headed to Calgary! woot! Have a great weekend!

--Jen