Flea market finds

Temperatures here have been falling dramatically. Until Friday, we were in the high thirties, but since Saturdays things changed, mornings and evenings are getting cooler. On the pluse side, cooler weather and lower humidity ensured I survived the 32 km run from Saturaday. And what better way to spend the middle day of a long weekend then a visit to the flea market?

I googled flea markets in Ontario within a couple of hours drive at the most and I found this one: http://www.mchaffiefleamarket.ca/. The morning was windy and cool, but luckily most of the market is inside. It's a good thing, seeing that the market is opened in the winter too. I doubt the markets here are as good as in the States though. From what I hear, one can get really good deals South of the border. But maybe it is question of luck, as always ...

Here is what I found: buttons, few stamps, vintage paoers and photos, a wooden penny ...

Of hypothermia in May

Saturdays are sacred - runningwise I mean. Long run day. Yesterday's plan was 20 km, which to be honest felt like a walk in the park after last week's 35 km. So I happily showed up - usual time and place. It was clouded,  cool and windy. I wore a jacket. Half an hour into the run, it started raining. Cats and dogs. The wind picked up too. After a while, the jacket was soaking wet, I could not feel my legs and my hands were frozen. I don't remember ever been so cold since I started running. I kept thinking how ridiculous it is to suffer of hypothermia in May. I suppose that no good things go unpunished, right? We had great weather in April, it was time to pay the price. But I should have known better and check the weather forecast. Usually, the weather in Ottawa at the end of May it hot. I am sure I can use the memory of yesterday's run to mitigate the effects of the heat at around .. say km 35 with 7 more to go. After all, a marathon is a mind game, is it not?

As for art making this weekend, nothing to show I am afraid. I signed up few days ago for Carla Sonheim's online class. I downloaded the files; the exercises are fun. Some of them could be used as a starting point for abstract compositions. Need to explore more ... when I am not sure ... some day...

Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next six that count.

So said Barry Magee. You have no idea how to true that is... And on the road to the next six there are a number of very long training runs, such as the one I was supposed to do today - 32 km.

I woke up late and did not have time to check the weather. This is probably the worst mistake one can make over here. So here I am in the wee hours of the day ready to start my run ...wearing only a long sleeve tech tshirt and no jacket at 2C with a strong, chilling wind.... Luckily, two of my running buddies had mercy of my soul and lended me another tshirt and a sweatshirt. I could have easily end up with hypothermia, instead I only lost my voice. As I write this, I sip my "medicine" - milk blended with jalapeno pepper. It boosts the immune system and has lots of vit C.

I finished my 32 km, then went for breakfast. Two of my running buddies celebrated their breakfast today and we all gathered for post-run breakfast and schmoozing. One of the Bday boys is an electrician and a mountain biker, he won a national competition last year. Not sure which one, I am not too familiar with mountain biking. He works 6 to 2, then he trains. Lucky him. He knew what to do in life to have maximum control over how he wants to live his life. Kudos to him. I wish I could say the same about me. All I know is htat if I could start over, I would not study engineering even if they payed me. But that's another sad story ...

Here I am enjoying my breakfast when somebody points out that I did not run 32 km, but only 30. Darn ... All of a sudden, I am not feeling that great anymore, the last six miles start haunting me. But I have six more weeks to go before the race.

Saturday

No, I was not about to go rob a bank. I was about to start my Saturday run at about -30C. My toes stayed frozen for the 10 of the 12km I run. It took me 2 hrs to warm up. It was not an easy task. The cat tried to woake me up, but to no avail. I thought that would be so nice to just stay in bed till noon ...but no, the duty called! I had to go. In case you wonder, I hate the cold ...

What I have been up to lately

I neglected the blog, but I have good excuses! It all started with the Army run. It was "only" a half-marathon, but the goal was to cut my previous time by 5 min. It all went well until km 13, when I had to stop. In the end, I managed to improve my time only by 2 min.2 min is good, says Coach!

Then, I started renovating the kitchen and the bathroom. Still not finished. I am waiting for the tile delivery. Apparently, they picked them up from the warehouse, but "forgot" to deliver them. I forgot to take pictures of the "before". I guess I was too anxious to finally get rid of the '80s from my condo. Here are some pictures of the kitchen "in limbo".



















































And after:

































I discovered the alpacas! And guess what - there are alpaca farmers in Quebec! I always assumed there were none outside of Peru (the main producer of alpaca products with about 2.5 million animals). It turns out there are breeders in Canada, US, Australia, South Africa and Europe. I went to visit a farm not far from Montréal - Alpagas des Hauts Vents. I enjoyed the visit. Sara gave me the tour of the farm and the boutique. It took a lot of gumption to go against the current and move from the city to the country with 4 young kids in tow. Or because of them. In times like these when young (and not so young) people seem to be preoccupied with one thing - how to make the most money in the shortest amount of time so that they can buy another toy - they chose to go against the tide. They have big plans for the farm and I am sure they will soon have their big farm with more land and at least 100 alpacas ...

Oh yeah.. art ... not much of that I am afraid. I want to finish the 30 pages needed for the fat book for Art Unraveled. I have few new journal pages and that is about all.

Army run

Leaving for Ottawa. I will be racing tomorrow in the first Army run - a half marathon. I fell off the training wagon this year, so I had to surrender to the evidence that I will not be running a marathon this fall. As for the half, I am not expenting much better time than in the past - most likely around 2:15. It has been a very uneven summer for my running feet. Will try again next year.