Belated birthday blogger

I thought that I'd share one of my humorous cards, especially since we had to hide the cake in the cupboard so Steph's cat wouldn't eat it. Don't you like the spacey eyes "Who me?"
The trip up to Bathurst was uneventful and I got to spend a few days at the beach and even got my feet wet after my run. The jellyfish were out in full force though and so a complete dunking just wasn't a good idea.
The main reason for the trip was to visit my Mom who is doing quite well and is in great spirits as always. I was even treated to a 2nd cake of the week and must say it was 'pretty good' but not as tasty as the homemade chocolate swirl that Jo and Steph whipped up before the trip.
Running has been on the difficult side all week and I can't quite place my finger on it. It might be the recent heat and humidity that has hung over our area lately.

Or... it might be something to do with the 3 hour test of endurance that Andrew and I battled through on Sunday. I don't really have much to say about that run other than it being a kind of vague bad memory that I'd like to forget. Andrew really does capture the essence of the run perfectly, but honestly, "I wasn't trying to kill you!". Everything, was going smoothly until our little mixup in the total elapsed time, followed by the awful realization that we were so wrong. Our minds had totally bought into the new time and as a result both of our bodies shut down at the appropriate time, which was unfortunately 1/2 hour before the run was ended. Make sense? You had to be there, but be happy you weren't. I spent the rest of the day collapsed on the couch.

Mon - rest day and travel to Bathurst

Tues - nice early morning 8 miles on the trails and quiet highway near our little cottage on the beach. My attempt to go for a swim afterwards was frustrated by the swarms of jellyfish

Weds - an early start back home via a roundabout scenic route through some nice backroads arriving home late in the afternoon with temps in the 30ies plus humidity. Slacked off with a slow easy 5 mile slog later that evening.

Thurs - tried to get some hillwork in today and did 4 repeats in about 1:30 each of the Katies Cove hill. The heat and humidity again got the best of me and I felt this workout could have been harder. At the time when doing the repeats you question what the hell you are doing pushing up this crazy steep hill over and over. And then when you're done the question is 'Was that enough?'. Maybe, maybe not, considering the mileage and general fatigue levels of late.

Fri- definitely this was going to be just an easy hour run from the starting gun at 9am. The temperature and humidity were already climbing and I was happy to just do an easy 7 miles followed by a cool off dip in the pond.

Sat - the plan for the morning is to travel to Grand Manan for a 1/2 marathon but right now I'm on the fence debating what to do. The heat and humidity should not be an issue on the island which is a 1.5 hour ferry ride away. Do I really need another hard effort like this to tell me where my fitness is at or should I slack off and put my feet up? If I'm going to go it's time to get my act together soon and start. We'll just have to wait and see if I can get up in time to make the ferry.

Meanwhile, it's time for more cake and ice cream. Hope you're all having a great week!