Wow, I can’t believe it’s been over six months since our last post. So much excitement has happened in our lives, I’ll try to do my best to recap!
For starters, Chris and I are so happy to announce that in February we got engaged! Chris totally caught me by surprise (sneaky guy!) and proposed while we were vacationing in beautiful Banff National Park on the Family Day Weekend. We couldn’t be happier and are so excited to celebrate with our family and closest friends at our destination wedding in December!
This winter and spring we’ve been trying to keep busy and make the best of what Edmonton has to offer. The weather here has definitely not been as conducive to our outdoor pursuits as the past cities we’ve lived in, and that’s been challenging for us. The last snowfall was the first week of May (!!!!!), and although it’s nearly summer solstice, the weather has been anything but reflective of that. To Edmonton’s benefit, it does sound as if the majority of Canada has been having a late spring/summer as well.
In terms of races, when we moved here in the fall Chris and I both registered for the Great White North Half Ironman, to be held on July 7. What were we thinking!?! We registered so early because the race was advertised as selling out within the first two weeks last year. Well, guess what! 10+ months later, it’s still not sold out! Plus, being new here, we didn’t realize that we’d likely not get outside on our bikes until mid-May, so our training has definitely been lacking. We’re currently re-evaluating whether we’ll actually be toeing the start line on this one or not. I sent the race director an email to see if it would be possible to merge our two individual entries into a two-person relay entry (we wouldn’t get any $ back, so they’d still make a huge profit off us). Chris is away on his bachelor party weekend right now, but if he’s game, I can’t see why that would be a problem. Hopefully the race director feels the same!
In terms of other races, we registered for Melissa’s Road Race in Banff National Park in September and are also contemplating the BMO Okanagan Half/Full Marathon in October. We booked an airmiles trip to Kelowna for Thanksgiving, so we’ll be there for the race weekend, we just need to decide if that’s what we want to spend our time doing, and if so, what distance! Regardless, there’s definitely lots of running in our future! And how could I forget – we’re also doing Challenge Penticton as a relay team! I’ll be doing the swim, Chris the bike, and our good friend Eric the run. I am so excited for this race!
Chris had also applied for a lottery spot for the NYC Marathon but unfortunately wasn’t lucky this year. I have a guaranteed entry after the race was cancelled in 2012, and am pumped to go to NYC this November and actually run! There’s a sweet 5km race the day before the marathon that Chris may still do. It’s not too often you have the opportunity to run through closed-down streets of NYC! I bought our Broadway tickets to the Book of Mormon back in 2012, and am so excited we’ll finally be able to see this show!
Another thought I’ve been having – I cannot believe Ironman Coeur d’Alene was nearly one year ago. I don’t even think the sunburn from my upper arms has totally faded yet. A few weeks back I met an athlete in my neighbourhood Lululemon that was training for the race this year, and he made me start thinking about it all over again. I doubt that I have the motivation to register for another Ironman at the moment, but it’s really fun to look at photos and reflect upon how wonderful of a day it was in Coeur d’Alene last June. I’m so lucky to have such an amazing family to be there supporting me all day!
