The Road to Metcalfe

This was truly a great day. I felt really happy. Content, happy, in love. I love days when you know you're making a memory. It seems to be that the truly great memories are of spontaneous happiness rather than planned occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, although I have many happy memories of those, too.
I wanted to take Peter and his new bicycle on a good long ride to help break it in and decided that the ride to Metcalfe would be perfect. First we cycled to Cyclelogik so that Peter could pick up a spare tube. From there we headed over to the arboretum so that we could cross the locks to Colonel By. Our route took us to the airport parkway, around the airport to Bowesville Road and then into Emerald Links. I was following Gail's map and proceeding backwards from the way we had cycled home from Metcalfe the week before, so I got a bit disoriented in the golf course after missing a turn. I eventually figured it out and got us over to Greely. From Greely, we continued on side roads, following the map, until we arrived on Victoria Street in Metcalfe.
I was ready for a break when I located the Tea Biscuit Cafe on the main street. I had noticed signs for this shop on our last trip, looked them up on the web, even posted a note on their blog, as a matter of fact, and so I was looking forward to trying this spot out. We put our bikes on the verandah and they very graciously agreed to let us put chairs outside so we could drink our coffee and watch the bikes. In fact, when the pitcher of iced coffee was ready, they brought it out with a table. The iced coffee tasted wonderful. Peter had a tea biscuit and I had an oatmeal walnut square. Both were very good.
I was sitting on that verandah feeling very content. Those moments spent sipping our coffee and listening to the country music being performed just down the street (there was some kind of fair going on) were already becoming a pleasant cycling memory. As we were leaving, the owner of the cafe, Crystal, came out to ask if she could refill our water bottles with fresh, cold, filtered water. That was very nice of her and very much appreciated on the trip back to Ottawa.
I took us on a longer route back, traveling further east before we began the trek back towards town. As we were heading north on 9th line, I did my best to keep up to Peter and draft all the way down to Mitch Owens. At times it was tough to stay on his wheel, but worth it, because I would have found the cycle much harder on my own. Peter says that there were times on the way home when he was drafting off me and working hard to keep up. (Hard to believe, since his bike is so much faster, and he is naturally so much faster, but I'll take the compliment.)
Peter wanted to extend our trip a bit to drop in on his Mom since we were in their neck of the woods, so that's what we did. We had a short visit with Rosie, Franz, Erika, Mark, and Peter's mom. By the time we cycled home, we were feeling the ride and stiffening up a bit. All in all, we cycled 90k.
At home, I sat in the yard with a tall glass of water and truly enjoyed the warm burn, I guess an endorphin rush, really. Peter brought us out a great snack of leftover pasta and sausage in a bun with leftover couscous on the side, and a glass of pink sparkling wine. Just as I was ready to settle in to an evening spent in the backyard, Peter suggested we pull together a quick picnic, grab our festival chairs, and bus to Lebreton Park for the free Ian Tyson concert. And that is exactly what we did. (We had taken my Mom to Opera Under the Stars at the same venue on Thursday night. That will be another great memory.) It was a terrific plan. Peter made us sandwiches of roast chicken, arugula pesto, roasted red pepper, and mango and packed some red wine. We managed to get pretty close to the stage and really enjoyed the concert. We bused home, had another glass of sparkling pink in the backyard, followed by maple walnut ice cream. I didn't want to turn off the little white lights in the yard and put an end to such a fine day but we were both awfully tired, so we did end the day by reading a few pages under our new bedroom ceiling fan, then finally falling into a deep, well-deserved sleep.

Off Road

It's funny that I should choose today to blog about what's happening off road, considering today I got back on my bicycle, and the road, to cycle out to Metcalfe. A good cycle, all in all, and I'm thankful to be literally back in the saddle, but I did want to talk about things besides running and cycling on occasion on this blog.
I'd like to get down some of the other ways I've been spending my time this summer. In years past, my biggest summer complaint has been boredom, but strangely enough, I'm not really bored yet this summer. (Oh, I hope I haven't jinxed it by claiming this.) Maybe it's because I've been sick off and on, or maybe it's the addition of cycling, for whatever reason, I've been somewhat content. I've had many hours of idleness, but it's been okay. Here's how I've been spending some of them:
Reading
So far this summer, I've read:
Of Human Bondage (re-read, but the first time was in 1976)
Snowflower and The Secret Fan (for book club)
Eat Pray Love (loved it - could even be why I'm more content, some great insights and "ah-ha" moments)
The Film Club ( a memoir by David Gilmour about time spent with his 16-year old son when he dropped out of high school)
I'm currently starting Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, and working my way through Naked by David Sedaris.
Movies
After the Wedding (truly great Scandinavian flick - my kind of movie)
Into the Wild (read the book, which I enjoyed much more than the movie - but still loved the Eddie Vedder tracks)
Once (the music is amazing)
The Jane Austen Book Club and Becoming Jane (which is why I'm now reading Northanger Abbey)
The Other Boleyn Girl (entertaining but didn't love it)
August Rush
Waitress (both of these Keri Russell films were largely forgettable)
Charlie Wilson's War (very watchable, but at the end of the day there wasn't much there)
Scrabulous
I loved this game as a teenager. It's been fun to play again and some of the Scrabulous features have made me a better player. I've been playing mostly with Jane and Frederica. Yesterday, I scored my first bingo with SUNBURN for 76 points.
Our Bistro Patio
Most of my time outdoors, besides on the road, has been in our teeny backyard. It's a lovely spot this year, with more greenery and a new acacia (teak-like) table and chairs from IKEA. We've been trying to eat out there as often as we can. Peter has grilled some delicious suppers for us. I often take a book out in the afternoon. My favourite time is when we stay out long enough to turn on the little white lights and listen to music over glasses of wine.
There's still a lot of summer left. Tonight we're going with Frederica to swim in Meech Lake. They'll be triathlon training but I'll just splash around a bit, then read my book.
I've got a few weeks' holiday left. I'd like to keep up what I've been doing but also work in more picnics, beaches, and maybe a mini-trip to Montreal.

The Road to Wellville

I'm sick. Again. I can't seem to get better. I'm caught in a strange pattern. Feel scratchy, sore throat in the middle of the night, wake up feeling rotten and headache-y, also extremely weak, cancel any fitness plans because you just don' t have the strength, feel miserable for one or two days, then feel miraculously better, compete in a race or just complete an ambitious long run or cycle, then boom, repeat - wake up in the middle of the night with sore throat, etc.
I've gone to the doctor to rule out some kind of infection, but I'm fine. As soon as I hear I'm technically okay, I start to feel better, but do too much - like the 16K long run on Sunday, followed by a 70K cycle with a loop in Gatineau Park, and I'm down for the count.
Today, I'm taking it easy, but I'll admit, I'm starting to worry. it seems to me that this is about recovery. Not enough of it. Perhaps not the right kind of eating, either. I fool myself into thinking that I have really good eating habits, but delicious gourmet doesn't always mean nutritious.
Can I cycle and run? How do I approach both sports so that I'm not constantly knocked out? I don't even feel that I've done that much, especially since I keep missing runs and cycles due to illness.
It's time to start training for New York, so this is a problem I have to solve soon.

Road Race

The best road race I've run in a while - the Canada Day Hbc 10K. Yes, I achieved a personal best, without much training, I might add, but perhaps even better, I felt strong and able throughout the race. My last minute strategy, dreamed up some time after I'd crossed the start mats, was to stay behind Peter. I was just behind him right up to almost the 4k mark before he noticed me there. At about 5k, I decided to pull ahead. Not much ahead as it turned out. Just past the 6k water station was the turnabout. As I ran back in the opposite direction along the parkway, I looked to see how far Peter was behind me, but couldn't see him at all. Eventually I realized he must be close behind me - so close that I didn't see him after I made the turn. At 7k, I decided not to check my watch anymore and just hope for the best. I tried not to speed up or slow down - just keep a consistent pace. Maybe I'd pull something out for the last kilometer. I did speed up for the last stretch, buoyed on by the runners around me and the spectators. Just as I was approaching the finish, I saw Peter come up past me on the left. With only seconds to spare - one second, in fact - Peter passed me and crossed the mat just ahead of me. When I realized he was there, I tried not to let him beat me, but I was too late. I couldn't believe it! Peter's race time was 49:01.5 and mine was 49:02.4. Less than one second's difference. It was pretty funny. We laughed about it all day. This is the first 10K in a very long time that we've run together. I knew that Peter has getting been faster then me and that my days of beating his time, especially in a short race, were likely over. Still, I think it's great that he didn't beat me by much. Incidentally, I came 3rd in my gender/age category, out of 88 women. I'm proud of what I did and wondering if perhaps I couldn't be faster.
Maybe it was our race success, maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the festivities downtown, or some combination of all of these, but Peter and I had a wonderful Canada Day. We wandered around downtown, doing a bit of everything, and really feeling part of the massive Canada Day party. We even caught the end of the Blue Rodeo show and stayed for the fireworks on Parliament Hill. Dinner, by the way, was the great bistro burgers at Luxe and a bottle of Bonnie Doon syrah. Life is short. Celebrate your victories big and small, and be happy to be a Canadian.