NON RUNNING CHRONICLE....

Ok, so only 20 days until I can run again. Every time I see my Dad leaving for a run, my heart ache... ;-) But I am so proud of him that I forget about my own pain =) I totally slacked off on the bike and the swim so tomorrow I am going back to the pool!

Foot is going relatively well... no more throbbing pain and I can walk barefoot again without agonising pain... seems like things are going well but it doesn't feel 'normal' like the other foot. So, I am cautiously optimistic as I don't want to be disappointed all over again, like las time.

Saturday was my birthday and I'm starting to freak out about being almost 30 (28 to be exact). I know this is silliness and totally irrational!! But I feel like an old fart! My Dad was my age when he had me... and I am the baby of the family. I am far away from having a family of my own (if ever) guess I gotta find myself a MAN first LOL In the meantime Rocky is my Baby!! LOL

I found him a super cute costume for Halloween, he's totally hating every minute of it but it makes me laugh. And I'm sure the kids will like it when we give candies out on Friday.

It was great to be back in Windsor, it is only when you have left that you realise how much you miss the people there. My ex-boss is just the best, we worked really well on our last article when I was there. So it will be submitted to a very good journal soon! =)

Now, this is the part I was dreading writing about because I am still very disappointed about the outcome of this. In my last post, I wrote about a job possibility at Environment Canada in Burlington and having a professor I know trying to put a good word for me. Well, he did but he was told that the interviews had already been conducted.... so yeah I wasn't short listed. I am more than disappointed, I just don't know when this will happen for me. =( And I thought knowing the person would have gotten me an interview at least... ='( The professor told me I was sooooooooooo close to getting the interview.... so yeah it sucks ass. Still trying to digest this rejection. I know that in the order of things, it wasn't meant to be but I am still totally bummed out about it.

BACK IN THE HOOD!!

I am back in Windsor for a week and it feels like I have never left. Everything is still the same, my old 'Boss', the people at the Institute where I worked, the waterfront and the city in general. I really missed my old Boss! I was so happy to see him and work on this last thing with him. He's one of my favorite people in the world =)

One good news, is that there is another professor at my Institute that likes me a lot. I was looking at one of his old scientific articles and told him I'd like to read it. I said: "you co-wrote this article with Mister So-and-so, do you know him well?". Well, it turns out this is the guy I've been in contact with for the job at Environment Canada in Burlington that I REALLY WANT. He told me that Mister So-and-so is his old Ph.D. advisor! He talks to him OFTEN and will give him a call to tell him how awesome-greatest-researcher I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAHOO! How freakin great is this!!??!! I was so happy, my career goal is to be a big researcher in the government and this is my chance! I really hope it gets me an interview at least =) What a great trip so far!!

My best friend, Flashy, is running her first half-marathon tomorrow. I am so disappointed I can't run it with her =( I really wanted to be there for her but I am being reasonable with my foot now and going to let it rest for a full month. I didn't even bring my running gear so I wouldn't be temted to do it! I am pretty excited about cheering her and brought my cowbell, I'll be making some noise!

We went to pick-up our race kits for the Detroit half tomorrow. Altough I am not running, I did actually pay for race registration and I got my shirt. Not sure I will actually end up wearing it since I will not have run the race...

I got a great shirt for myself and something for my 2 year old niece. How cute is that?

Have a good week-end everybody!

INJURY UPDATE & GROSSEST PICTURE

I had my 2nd cortisone injection yesterday. The radiologist ended up teaching me that heel spur and platar fasciitis are the same issue. I thought they were different. So, he could only inject the cortisone at the same place where they had done it last time.... The pain I have is near the edge of the heel so I was kinda depressed when he told me he couldn't inject there...

He basically told me, there was 2 injection spots on the foot and he could only reproduce what happened last time. And he was not very confident it was going to solve my problem and I should do a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instead... I ended up :'( very frustrated by the doctor who told me I ONLY had PF and not heel spur... It's hard to know who to believe... And I was not sure if I should proceed with the injection or just wait for another test...

After a brief talk to my Dad, I decided to go for it and hope for the best but still asked to be referred in NMR... 1 month with NO running... ouch and then BASE BUILDING just like BeachRunner for awhile... That also means no stupid stunt (Detroit half and Miami marathon are way too close).

Ok, so last week was Marcy's first marathon and I sent her this e-card. I was really hoping she wouldn't go there. ;-)

Looks like someone else did!!! LMAO This is so GROSS!! So, would you have ended the race or hide in the bushes?????

I'M FEELING THE LOVE (aka I'VE BEEN TAGGED)

Two wonderful chickas: Leana and Michelle have given me an "I Heart Your Blog" award! Thanks Girls!

This honor also comes with another responsibility: to post another six random facts about myself and "tag" another six bloggers with some blogging love. I've done this a couple times now.... not sure what new I can share but I'll try.

1- I'm a couch potato wannabe athlete. As soon as I am injured or when one big race has passed by, I am totally happy to be just watching tv and not training at all. It takes a lot to get out of this 'inertia' mode LOL

2- I am totally obssessed with Runninmania.com, it's a running forum I joined on February 15th 2007 just after I broken up with the last boyfriend and it has been my daily drug since then!

3- I L-O-V-E to dress my dog... any circumstances, all sorts of outfits... here's a few. People think I am totally insane but he is like my Baby... and he TOTALLY hates it!! LMAO

4- I am a francophone and I am really sensitive to mistake I made in English. I am fluent in English (obviously I did my Ph.D. thesis in English!) but I never pronunce the 'h' in words that start with h (house, home, hyper etc.) But if you correct my English you go to my black list and I'm going to kick your ass LOL

5- My brother has been my best friend since I was 12 and he was 16 year old.

6- I'm a serious scientific but I love to kid around in the lab once in awhile... here's the 'smoking walleye' and the 'drunk at the beamline' pics...

Here's some people who I think haven't been tagged yet and might want to play along:

Brian

Cindy

Lumpfish

Ann

Jonathan

Ken

ETA: I forgot to tell you guys that I am getting a 2nd cortisone injection tomorrow at the RIGHT place this time... sigh it is going to be painful...

That's it for me! HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL THE CANADIANS!! =)

STUPID TECHNO...

I knew I would struggle to update my blog layout. I should have kept the old boring one!!!

I cannot find where blogger said it 'copied' my old template....

So I can't access all the modification I had made previously on the right side.... and that would means typing all my race results and finding the e-mail addresses etc. The same for the people I follow... GRR this sucks

ETA: Figured it out.... Only took me 15-20 mins LOL

TECHNO?

Me not so much.... It took me awhile to switch to the new blogger version and now there are these "Follower" thing.... what the heck is that?

If you follow me and I follow you, who are we following? Who will be our Guru?!

Anyway, I've been pretty busy in the last few days on a low intensity training schedule anyway... nothing very exciting except my Dad's fastest mile ever today 11:55 min/mile during fartlek =)

Wed: 20K bike @ 51 mins
Thur: 1K swim @ 25 mins
Fri: 5K with Dad @ 41 mins
Sat: 25K bike @ 67 mins
Sun: REST
Mon: 3.5K Fartlek with Dad & Rocky (Dad's first time!)

I've also turned into Rachel Rae... or the equivalent of a cooking machine!
I made a few delicious recipes:
Pasta with lobster, wild mushrooms and cream
Butternut squash soup and with roasted red pepper puree
Spicy dill pickes

And some of the weirdest taste ever too... can't always win!!
Carribean pumpkin and black bean soup
Spiced Pumpkin soup

So yeah that's about what's going im my non exciting life!

RUM RUNNERS RELAY REPORT

Nova Scotia has to be the best place on earth!! I love it there and the relays they organise are just the most awesome way to spend a Saturday =)

Hurricane Kyle was kind enough to wait until Sunday with his strong wind and rain so we had an almost rain free day on Saturday. My leg was at 8:55 AM and about 11.4K long.

My foot had been bothering me lately so the goal was nice and slow but the pressure of coming in last really motivated me! I started running and soon found 'my shadow' this woman was following me so close that I could feel her breathe in my neck!! In this first picture you can not even see her behind me!!

I thought she was going to pass me at the beginning since she was so close but she didn't. As the racewent by, I started to distance myself from her. My main goal was to not let her pass me at anytime!!

Then at the half point, I gave her a little wave and said goodbye for good! At that point I was about 200-300 m in front of her and would keep this lead until the end.

A big thanks to my favorite Haligonian, Lisa, for running part of the last half of the leg with me. She kept talking to me to keep my mind off the pain of all the rolling hills and a blister that had started on my right foot. In the end, she mut have run close to 3K with me and I really needed it, she got me through a big hill right and we just kept on trucking. My foot was killing me at that point.

My leg ended with a slow incline to the finish line and I kept repeating to myself: "Are you f'ing kidding me?! I was pissed LOL But I finished and didn't let that woman pass me =)

This was a very hilly race for me! I never run hills as it is totally flat around Montreal. The green line is elevation and the scale goes from 100-500 ft! I usually have profile with a 30-50 ft. scale LOL

Finished the 11.4 K in 1:16:39 (10:49 min/mile) according to my garmin but the official time is actually 4 mins faster than my finish time (1:12:47) since I didn't make the mat and got a 5 mins penalty on the last person who made the mat's time...

Overall, I'm very happy with this race and I had a great time cheering my team 'Runningmania.com' during the day. Here's a group pic with 2/3 of the team!

Other NRR good news, I got a post-doc offer while I was in Halifax at Université de Montréal. I also applied to a research position at Environment Canada and I actually know the person who is hiring and he told me I had great chance to get an intervieew! YAY! So things are starting to move for me. Send some positive vibes please!

Ok... google reader tell me there are 67 new posts? You guys wrote a whole lot while I was gone! Will try to catch up tonight and tomorrow! =)