I moved to Halifax eight years ago, ending an abusive relationship and starting over in a new province, with a new job. Years of being unhappy had taken their toll and I wasn't healthy. I was drinking - a LOT - eating really poorly and not exercising and as a result I was carrying almost 40 pounds more than I am today on my frame. After a debaucherous first year in Halifax, I decided it was time to get my act together and start getting healthier. I wasn't making a ton of money at the time, so I didn't have a gym membership, but I had an ipod, some sneakers, and access to a free gym at work. I started going for long walks after work, then started adding in intervals of jogging. Before long I could jog a few kilometres at a time. I felt bad that I was putting in all this effort with exercising and still eating and drinking horribly, so I essentially stopped drinking save for the occasional glass of wine and started making meals myself - meals that consisted of something other than Triscuits with melted cheese. In less than a year I'd lost more than 40 pounds. I really feel like if I hadn't started running, I'd never have been prompted to make those other changes, and I would probably be pretty unhealthy today.

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Three and a half years ago, I became a mom. I ran throughout my pregnancy until I was seven months along and started up again when Eli was six weeks old. As anyone with a newborn can attest, moments to yourself are few and far between. Running was my 'me' time. I decided to sign up for a 10K in May to help me lose my baby weight. A few weeks into my training, I completed the 10K distance and wanted to challenge myself even more, so I switched to a half-marathon training plan instead. In May 2012, I ran my first half marathon and Pete and Eli, just six months old, were there cheering me on. Running as a new mom helped me stay balanced, happy, and healthy for our growing family.

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Tomorrow I'm running that half marathon again. I no longer have a baby at home but running remains 'my' time. I love that I can sneak out at lunchtime during a busy workday and go for a run around the Halifax waterfront, or that I can spend a couple hours on a Sunday morning plodding along listening to podcasts and incredibly offensive rap. If I weren't spending that time running, I'm not sure what I'd be doing. It's so corny sounding but running has really changed my life, and tomorrow when I'm dreading the start gun or bitching about the porta-potty lineups or worrying that my time is slower than I'd hoped, I want to remember how grateful I am to be able to run and how lucky to have this sport.

HEY GUYS! It's been a minute, so as I shovel my homemade poor man's burrito bowl lunch into my mouth and spill rice alllllll up in my keyboard, allow me to update you on all the happenings around here as of late.

Mother's Day: I woke up on Mother's Day not feeling very well, which was sad because it's among my top three favourite days of the year. However, the boys planned a great day and I managed to have fun despite feeling like a bag of assholes. I enjoyed breakfast in bed, followed by some solo time to read in bed with coffee - what's better than that? Reading a magazine while neither being punched or kicked in the kidneys nor asked about playing the dinosaur puzzle app for a blissful 45 minutes - AND while drinking coffee I didn't have to make myself? Fabulous. We went to the valley to pick up some plants at the greenhouse, went out for lunch, and got some delicious gelato for dessert.



The Runs (see what I did there?): The Bluenose half-marathon is this Sunday and I don't feel prepared, in spite of running the 13.1 mile distance twice in the past month during training. I know I *can* do it...I know what pace I can maintain comfortably, and I know the course is super flat for the first 13 or so kilometres, so I should be able to plan for the torturous hills at the end. I've been having some GI issues recently which are freaking me out. And I've been really tired (more on that later). My game plan for this week is sticking to a 9:30pm bedtime every night, drinking lots of water, and eating relatively clean foods, including something carby Saturday night and my standard English muffin/peanut butter/banana breakfast on race day. I have no time goals for this race. Initially I wanted to run it in under two hours. Now I just want to finish it without crapping my pants. My two training runs were both completed in 2:04 and change, and my half PB is 2:02 something, so somewhere in that wheelhouse would make me happy.

Health: Workout-wise, I've been feeling pretty good; eating-wise, I've been doing OK. The big problem for me lately is sleep. Eli went through a phase recently where he was waking up during the night and needing to go to the bathroom and/or waking up at an obscenely early hour every morning. The past few nights have been better, knock on wood, but now I'm in the habit of waking up around 4 or 5 and having trouble getting back to sleep. I just doze off and my alarm goes off at 6. Anyone else experience this? It's making me feel really tired and rundown day to day, which I hate. All I want is a solid, uninterrupted block of eight (or more) hours of sleep! Which I may be able to get in...

The Bahamas: Monday morning I'm off to The Bahamas for a work trip. Now that I have my itinerary and it's officially on the calendar, I'm really excited. It's a work trip, not vacation, but still - it's The Bahamas. I've made a list of things to pack and things to do before we go, but I won't feel totally organized and ready until I zip up my bag for the last time. I fly to Nassau on Monday morning and come back on Friday night. I've never been there before!

Food: Last week I made these Asian noodle mason jar salads for lunch and ate them all week, except for Cinco de Mayo, when a bunch of coworkers went out for a Mexican feast. This week I've been eating the aforementioned ghetto burrito bowls for lunch. Peter made way too much rice for dinner a few nights ago, so I split the leftover rice in a bunch of containers and then added rando toppings: tofu cubes, black beans, salsa, a little cheese, cilantro - to make it somewhat of a meal. I also made these pecan pie bars from That Clean Life blog and have been eating them in place of granola bars. They're delicious! I put them in the freezer so they'll last longer, and I don't share.

Fun Stuff: I just finished The Kite Runner and while it was an excellent book it was SO SAD. I wasn't prepared for how sad it was. Just gutting. My brother bought me The Girl on the Train for my birthday, which I've wanted to read for months, so I can't wait to start it! I've been watching a lot of Mindy Project on Netflix (devastated that it's been canceled - get your shit together, FOX) and of course, the final episodes of Mad Men. I haven't been listening to anything terribly groundbreaking, basically alternating between King Kunta and Truffle Butter all day. In fact, for the half marathon, my playlist is just those two songs, on a continuous loop for 2+ hours.