Blisters and Black Toenails: Adventures of a Racing Junkie: Farewell Summer + Moving On

Hi!

I'm BACK!

Stage one of Operation Florida is done. Last Saturday we said goodbye to the home we lovingly rebuilt just over 4 years ago. We had spent a total of 12 years in that house. To say that we're going to miss it, would be an understatement. I had a really tough day. I would burst in to tears at the drop of a hat. I'm still a little emotional when people ask how the move went (it went REALLY well thanks to the awesome crew from Tippet Richardson). I think if we had moved into our new place right away, it wouldn't be so hard. Unfortunately we couldn't make the closing dates align so we are in temporary lodging right now. Nothing like living out of a suitcase for a month to keep your life pretty simple.

What this move had made me realize is that I hang on to a lot of shit. I've never thought of myself as a hoarder like the ones you'd see on Intervention, but I do tend to put a fair bit of emotional attachment to certain things so they end up hanging around for sentimental reasons. I'm also fairly practical in that I don't like to see things go to waste. So, if I paid good money for something, I don't want to just throw it out. I try to re-sell things as much as possible. If I can't re-sell it, then it gets donated, eventually.

This move forced me to purge so much crap. Honestly, it feels SO good to get rid of things. Moving forward, I am going to think twice about what I purchase or bring home from work. I work in a photography studio and sometimes we have leftover props or wardrobe that the client or agency doesn't want. Sometimes they get donated, sometimes we keep them. I have brought home so many things from shoots over the years and I"m pretty sure I've only used about 10% of what I've brought home. So from now on, I'm going to ask myself: Do we really NEED it. Will we actually USE it? If it's a maybe, then I don't need it. Period.

Our goal with this move was to downsize into a townhouse. We wanted a maintenance free lifestyle and we got it with this new place. We no longer have a lawn to mow or a driveway to shovel. We have a small back patio and a deck off the dining room so we have some outdoor space which is perfect for us. Surprisingly this new place is bigger than our house by about 300 square feet, so we actually have more living space. The best part was that we significantly downsized our mortgage as well. Which means that we will be mortgage free much sooner. Wahoo!

What have I been up to this last month....?

When I last left off, I was still not really running often. That hasn't really changed. I go out once, maybe twice a week. Running feels hard. Although once in a while I have glimpses of that "flow" that I used to feel and that's what keeps me going. I'm thankful I've been on my bike a lot this summer, I at least still have some good cardiovascular fitness!

So what's the deal with the injury? Well I don't have answers yet. I had my MRI last week. I go back to Dr. Galea in two weeks. Some days I feel fine and other days, I don't. I know I've aggravated the nerve this week because I've felt that twingey-ness a lot. I think I actually did it in the pool of all places.

I've been seeing a variety of health care practitioners to keep me from completely falling apart. I seem to fix one thing and something else crops up. My back has been a problem for the last few months and I'm chalking that up to poor mobility through my T-spine and weak chest muscles. All the more reason for me to get back into the gym (which I have been doing). I've had a couple of interesting treatment experiences that I will elaborate on in another post. I do know that I really need to work on my mobility and flexibility. It's absolutely atrocious. I make a point of stretching every day, even if I haven't worked out. I've definitely got a long way to go to undo all of this though. That's ok, I've got nothing but time....

A few months ago I was chatting with my friend Lauren, and she commented that with all the things going on my life at the time, it was probably just as well that I wasn't racing as that would be one more thing on my plate. I agreed wholeheartedly with her and I've thought about that often over the summer. It's been strange not racing the MSC circuit this year. Had I been healthy, I still may not have raced much simply because we put so much time and energy into house selling, house hunting and moving. Did I miss being out there? Of course. I love to race. But I feel like the universe gave me as much as I could handle this summer and racing just wasn't in the cards. That being said, I couldn't let a perfectly good summer go by without toeing the line in some form or another. I had a $25 credit from Multisport Canada for being a series award winner last year so I put it towards my entry fee for the Ontario Women's Triathlon on September 10th. My old coach Paolina Allan is the race director so this is going to be AWESOME. I'm in no condition to race a 5km so I opted for the swim / bike. My swimming has gone to shit but my cycling seems to have improved a fair bit over the summer, even without following a specific training plan. It will be fun to get back on my tri bike and see what I can do. I was also roped in to being the swimmer in a relay team at The Barrelman Half Ironman. I had wanted to do the bike but the boys I'm racing with are both lousy swimmers so I get to do my least favourite thing of the three sports, ha ha. I am looking forward to swimming in the Welland International Flatwater centre though. It looks amazing.

While this summer may not have been what I had hoped for in terms of racing, it hasn't been a total bust. There have been some wonderful moments. Most of them spent on two wheels with great people and spectacular weather.