Duxford Girl

When a person is in music school, there are endless hours spent analyzing music. I don’t know if that’s the reason why lyrics are important to me or not but what a song is saying is always an important component to my enjoyment of a particular tune.

It’s no secret that I’m one of “those” Blue Rodeo fans but I’m certainly not alone. Jim Cuddy has the amazing talent of being able to tell stories through song and it’s one of the reasons that his ballads are so popular. So here’s my personal analysis of the lyrics to Falling Down Blue (see, music school wasn’t a total waste). Oh, and I promise next time to pick a happier song. I've had this one stuck in my head for days and I thought that blogging about it may get it unstuck.

Another year to muddle through. I haven't had a great past two months as my total neglect of this blog is evidence of. At the end of October I started to slip into a depressed mood that I hadn't felt since well before the birth of Junior and I've continued to spiral downward since then. I think that I'm starting to come out of it but I feel so tired, as though I've actually been physically ill these past two months. I had hopes of my vacation at the beginning of December snapping me out of it but instead I just ended up more miserable. A nasty bout of insomnia made my days off anything but restful and the resultant exhaustion meant I skied with no hustle or enthusiasm at all. Once back at work, I slammed out some OT while the getting was good but I feel as though Xmas never really happened.

It hasn't been all bad, of course. The Wee One has enjoyed Xmas to the fullest between toys and food and visitors to charm. He did fall asleep half-way through our annual trip to Zoo Lights but it's to be expected when someone is being stubborn about napping. Our party on Boxing Day was small but fun and we all managed to stay up chatting until 2 am. In spite of bringing in the New Year at work, we did our best by bringing in food, dollar store hats and counting down 2010 using the railway time signal on one of our radios.

As I denied myself a delicious eggnog latte at Starbucks this morning and instead opted for my usual skinny latte (another Xmas without my fave holiday treat as punishment for not having ALL the baby weight off) I had to ask myself if November 3rd was not a bit early to start depriving myself of the caloric joys of the season.

Now that a year of mummyhood has passed, I’m starting to feel more like myself. Pregnancy was not a natural state for me and the year that followed was difficult for a number of reasons.

It’s hard to believe but my bouncing baby boy turned one about a month ago. I can’t believe how fast it went and I can’t believe how much Simon has changed. He was beginning to walk in August but now he’s tearing around the house at an amazing pace. It won’t be long before he’s out-running me while training for a kids tri.

No more formula and no more bottles either. He’s adapted to sippy cups with no issues and is eating any number of new foods. We let him try everything and for the most part, he’s not too picky. I realize that this will change as he approaches the two-year mark but right now I’m enjoying his adventurous nature when it comes to food.

A full month (and then some) ago, I competed in my first triathlon. A so-called Try-It Tri, but a person has to start somewhere. It was located at Coral Springs in the NE with a swim of 350 m, a bike of 10 km and a run of 2.5 km. I was really nervous that I was going to finish dead last or maybe have the dreaded DNF by my name.

However, once all was said and done I finished a solid 20th out of 47 and got to show off my Sharpie-marked arms and legs for two days afterward as proof of my accomplishment. In fact, I was so excited about my finish that I immediately signed up for a second Try-It on August 8th where I finished 3rd out of 10in my age category. That has led to the unfortunate level of confidence where I’ve been foolish enough to sign up for a half-marathon in November. At this rate I will either be dead or skinny very soon.

Friday, the 2nd was my first day back at work and I feel like I never left. On a positive note, I had to wonder how I survived without the place for the last 13 months. Work is good, it's not always perfect, but I missed it. The week consisted of some office work and two days of recerting my rules card. Now, I'm back training in Northern Ontario nights where I belong. My first night shift was fine, I never hit “the wall” which confirms the fact that I am a night person. Some people will do anything to hold days but I'd much rather smash all the knuckles on my hand with a hammer. I'll be weeks away from retirement and still working nights.

If you would have told me that I was going to miss my job this much four years ago I would have told you to lay off the crack. I'm back to riding my bike and it's my plan to ride as long as the weather doesn't drop below -30. I'll probably combine riding with the C-Train in the winter but that has to do with how dark some of my route is more than the weather.

In case you're wondering, I did manage to get most of my workouts in this week but it was in such a disorganized way that there was no point in logging it. Some days I crammed in 30 minutes of running and some days I went all out and spent several hours on my bike. Several factors in my life contributed to this lack of exercise organisation.

I'm working on a final paper which requires a couple of hours of quiet time each night. Junior likes to give me a hand by trying to eat my notebook and playing smashy-smashy on my keyboard but really, brilliant as he is, I don't think he's up to graduate level work yet (even in a business degree). So my evenings get used up by trying to write as much as possible from my notes and chicken scratches collected during the day when the baby is otherwise distracted or napping.

... if the Canadiens make it to the playoffs I'm going to stop shaving and waxing, force ES to grow a beard and draw facial hair on Junior in the hopes that what just happened in Philly doesn't happen again.

So ski season and hockey season have ended on the same day for me this year.

Bugger.

Into the pool, no excuses. Not even the most typical of all excuses (if you're female) could keep me from the pool today. I've got work to do:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_4

I also had an extra 10 minutes of swimming to do because I missed this day last week. I needed to find a solution to being tired at the end of the day and as it happens, the city pool I frequent has babysitting. I took advantage of the service today so I could do my swimming in the morning. Junior and I headed out to the pool for 0900 hrs and it turned out to be a great time to swim. I had the pool to myself. Best of all, I'm done my training for the day and I don't have the late evening swim to dread.