dragonfly dreams

Love to run, spend time outdoors, news-junkie, social observer :)

[luv-2-run]

Group run started

I am not the youngest nor the fastest but its what I need, a twice weekly kick in the pants. A little stiff this morning, will stretch when I get in from work.

Now if only the weather would warm up. A sprinkling of snowflakes yesterday and again this morning had me glaring at the sky.

Last night we all had hats, gloves and a couple of layers. Some even had neck warmers tp pull over their noses when we were heading into the wind.

I've seen robins, crocus, so hopefully, its only a matter of time before we ditch the winter gear.

A popular Montreal Half Marathon this weekend, I wish them warmer temps and less wind.

[luv-2-run]

Friggin’ Cold

Heard that the Montreal area would be colder this weekend then Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec. I checked it out and sure enough, its colder here than in a northern village on James Bay.

Jogged over to our local gym yesterday, working with a trainer to make as much use of my left arm as I can. Elbow fracture healed a long time ago but left with CRPS. Once finished,  jogged doing errands and headed home with a heavier back pack : -).

Now just got back from a short loop, lovely sunshine but I don’t get much pleasure being all bundled up fighting the wind.  

Outdoor running group starts again at the end of the month – should be interesting, so I’m going to run outdoors as much as I can until then.

I’ve registered for a 5k beginning of May -  will be a test of many things including my arm.

Treated myself to new socks yesterday which warranted me some ribbing from the family matriach - “ what are those, clothespins ? “  you have clothespins on your socks ? Have a great week everyone.

[luv-2-run]

The View

From the treadmills at our local community center.  It’s been icy the last couple of weeks, difficult to get around, walk dogs, walk, or run.  Sure I’ve seen the odd runner but they are in the street, with cars, buses, delivery trucks. Before falling I might have done it but not now.  It seems I will not recover the use of my arm, hand 100 %.  So I am being cautious – and yes, I do know I could fall indoors as well, so I try to be aware of my surroundings, whether I’m on a step ladder in my kitchen or waiting for the train to pull in to a wet platform.  I’m envious of the terrain some of you are  running on at the moment.

 I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do this coming spring and summer. There is a local race, beginning of May, birthday weekend actually, would be a nice way to go back to racing.  A goal, I have a goal. Last week of January, yes.

[luv-2-run]

Happy New Year 2018

And it’s a cold one in the Montreal area – as parts of Canada have been cold for a while now.

Got dressed for an outdoors run at lunch time, thinking I would get the best of the sunlight – and it might not be as cold – right.  

I was gone barely 40 minutes but it felt good.  Slow going, eyes streaming, nose dripping, gloves within mittens, listening to music on and off - I like to hear the crunching noise of my running shoes on snow.

Most of my running will be done indoors this winter along with other training and my physio exercises and stretching for my troubled left arm and hand. I will still get out the door to walk, run, nothing beats the fresh air, clears the brain. Have to find some time to get some snowshoes as well.

Did an out and back on the small bit of “trail” we have in the area on my way home, good workout for the ankles.  I thought I might be alone but wasn’t, folks all bundled up walking.

I stopped a couple of times to dance around, a tip of the hat to Armie Hammer in “Call me by Your Name” which I saw a couple of nights ago with my soon to be 23 year old.  Difficult to dance up a storm with many layers on but hehe, wait until summer.

I spent part of the movie thinking as a parent until I shook myself out of that mode by saying to myself, come on, you were once 17 – many moons ago you ole sock. Beautiful movie, hoping the director Luca Guadagnino gets recognized for his work come awards season.

We also saw “Darkest Hour”, with Gary Oldman portraying Winston Churchill. Thought I would lose the 23 year old on my choice of movie but no, appeared as riveted as I was, great performance.

Hope the holidays were peaceful and that the new year is full of wonderful plans.  ‘fly

[luv-2-run]

Snow on the way

Thursday evening group run was fun – the group getting smaller as we get closer to the holidays. First section I hung in but the second I was dragging.  I’ve seen improvement since September but its been a bit of a slog.

Friday afternoon came back home over the bridge and it was cold!  Le fleuve was cast iron grey, it was windy, snowing lightly and the whole length of it I met 4 cyclists all bundled up. I had Aerosmith blaring loud so I wouldn’t hear the late afternoon traffic heading to the burbs. 

Saw a small red tug boat and couldn’t wrap my brain around how cold it must have been on the water.

Have to come up with a plan to keep myself fit, out of trouble, putting on weight, once winter sets in for good.  

Habs playing tonight, let’s see if they can come up with a win.  But before that ole fly going to lace up and go for a jog.  Being outdoors, running, helped me deal with the pain I’ve had post fracture and surgeries, as its helped me in the past to sort out my head.

[luv-2-run]

Done, done, done !

Monday evening intervals - 3 sets of  what I call 1 min on 1 min off.  Small group of fast people, and I’m not one of them. I’m ok with that considering I haven’t done any speed work since fall of 2015.

Beautiful evening not cold, no wind, lots of Christmas lights and no snow, apparently going to rain tomorrow - weird.  

Lights off on the track, bummer, so we use the streets around the park.  My phone doesn’t do justice to the Biosphere that is lit at night, changing into all kinds of pretty colors and the Jacques Cartier Bridge also lit behind it.

Good start to the week.

[luv-2-run]

Winter sky – but no snow and daylight fades earlier.

Monday night short fast intervals were sidelined.  Streets were slick from the weekend’s handful of snow.   The running group felt they couldn’t get any traction and I was skittish so our instructor modified the program.   It was cold, could have dressed a bit more – hard to balance clothing  at this time of year.

Thursday night intervals, I was a no show -  I had physio for my arm late afternoon, felt quite tired. Did get dressed, made it into the car and half way to the point of departure in a local park, we came home. I dealt with a fair amount of pain to my hand this week and a couple of sore spots on either side of my elbow surgery. I think this took up a lot of my energy – so hit the sack early.

Friday afternoon after ergo for my hand I came home back over the Jacques Cartier bridge.  My hand bothered me but I focused on what I could see from the bridge and also had some old  music on to distract me.

Pedestrians, walkers will be losing access to the side of the bridge with the two lanes you see here.  As of next spring we will have to use the other side of the bridge which only has one lane – I’m told.  Will not see old Montreal and downtown from the other side but rather the amusement park and the harbor and refinery area in east end Montreal.

Saturday morning I had to go into the office for an hour and again came back via the bridge – stopped to take a couple of pictures in a nook – where folks have left  a variety of locks of all shapes and sizes…I see public works have removed them but it has started again. 

Un message d’amour pour Montreal.

These lanes will remain open until snow moves in and it becomes difficult to be cleared.  What a way to get in and out of town.  It seems to draw more and more people every year.

A busy weekend – Indian food with family and a friend then watched the end  of the hockey game last night, the Habs now have won five in a row – test coming up on Tuesday when the St Louis Blues will be in town.

Where do the weekends go ?

[luv-2-run]

Sunday November 26, 2017

In a month from now it will be boxing day.  The year has been a blur as usual. I’m finally running again, its been stop and go since I fell February 2016 and fractured my left elbow - not running, but walking on a city street. Three surgeries later, I’m hoping the worse is behind me.  I will be left with some issues, will have to learn to deal with them.

Quebec has had snow that stayed but not in my area, so this morning when I peeked out it was a bit of a surprise.

I had breakfast and got dressed, something for my head, gloves and a new pair of Asics (Gortex) that I bought earlier this fall to keep my feet dry.  I don’t mind running in the snow, rain, but getting my feet wet the moment I leave the building, urgh, no.

I’ve joined a small running group – “intermediate level” – two evenings a week, crap, I thought I would die during the first three week and came close to throwing in the towel. Particularly the evening of short fast intervals.Doing a bit of “planning” for spring and summer races, but have to take it slow, all depends on my arm, hand, if I have to deal with pain, swelling whatever it throws at me.But its still nice to look at the race calendars.

I know its going to be a lot of work to get “ready” for a race or races but after almost two years in and out of hospitals and various treatments, there are worse health issues out there.

Have a most excellent week everyone.

[luv-2-run]

November weekend

A beautiful but cold November weekend.  Signs of life and perseverance – can we attribute this trait to plants and insects ?

I took it as a sign to not give up on my situation. I fractured my left elbow last February on an icy street near work – haven’t run since. The fracture has healed, hardware removed because I was having difficulty in physio therapy.  

I am still having a number of issues but hopefully I’ll be putting these behind me.

I am walking longer distances without pain or swelling in my hand and I’ve managed to do some jogging with walking breaks.

Needless to say any time I received an email for a race these past months I felt left behind. However after many months of frequenting a variety of hospitals I know that there are a lot of worse situations out there.  

I’ll have to sit down with the tablet at some point and catch up on what the folks I was following before my fall have been up too – happy trails everyone.

Go Habs Go !!

[luv-2-run]

February 3rd

I was a bit sluggish to get started on this morning’s group run. Not much snow this year, we’ll be on the track doing our intervals before we know it.

[luv-2-run]

End of October

Short run walk on mount Royal after work on Friday, wearing shorts, nice. It wasn’t planned but when I saw how lovely it was, I borrowed a zip up from a friend at the gym and headed out the door.  Did wonders for my head space after a busy week at work.

[luv-2-run]

Saturday morning

Weather is holding up despite the signs of autumn, it was great this morning for my class in the park.

Tore out of our building after gulping half a cup of coffee, piece of toast.  Carrying water, tunes, ran along the trail behind our building, popped out on a street and zigzagged my way on other streets, getting to the park with a few minutes to spare and get my heart rate back down.  A second group only running was taking off at the same time and some of the folks asked if I was joining them, had them chuckling when I told them I thought I had done my bit while wiping off my face on my shirt.

Ran back the way I got there and noticed that kids are having “fun” along the bit of trail we have. They’ve tagged the large stone that splits the trail in two …they trampled a spot to set up camp fires at night. Maybe it’s me getting old, but it bothered me, it’s the only green spot that isn’t groomed, you can see woodpeckers, bats early evening, etc.

I took this earlier this summer before the tagging.  I’ve called the city and the local police about the camp fires when I spotted an abandoned case of beer in the remnants of the fire pit.  With school starting and cooler temps, hopefully it will put a stop to this nonsense for another year.

Just call me a grumpy ole curmudgeon.  

[luv-2-run]

Luv on the bridge

Hot one this morning, should have carried more to drink.  I never get tired of the views from the bridge and have noticed that the locks on bridge craze has struck the small look out space.

[luv-2-run]

Another case

of running under.

And running over.

First spot in the first half of my 7k loop and the last closer to home.  I went out earlier today because I knew we had a lot planned for the day.  So I ran it like I meant it - even if I am not in the speedster category.

I was listening to the radio and on Sunday morning its mellow.  As Brown Eyed Girl was finishing the dj came in with “slow start to the day, enjoy it, relax” - I immediately slowed down.  

I’m not training for a race, I’m running for a variety of reasons, so the few extra minutes it took me to get home, no biggy.

Twice I ran home from work this past week, and it was really hot on Thursday, more manageable on Friday.  I let the temperatures and the red lights dictate the time it would take me to get home and came in a lot less frustrated and annoyed.

This slowing down permitted me to see wall murals, ceramic inlays in cement and other great urban details.

On Thursday as I was coming up to a what I think is a women’s shelter - note to self to look in to this- a woman was sitting out on the stoop.  Guess she heard me puffing along and looked up.  But then she quickly looked away - but I still saw that she had either been beaten or taken a nasty fall.  She deliberately kept her face turned away until I had passed.

On Friday, she wasn’t out there but there was a handful of women chatting and they had clean garbage bags, neatly tied, with what I think could haven been personal belongings.  I apologized as I trotted through their little group, I alternate between the street and sidewalk in this area.

So you don’t only see architecture when you run, you see the community it inhabits, if only temporarily.

[luv-2-run]

Hot summer run

as the sun was leaving the sky and the almost full moon was coming up.

Waited for the traffic to die down a bit and the heat to be not so in my face.  Slow start and had the misfortune to suck in a bug that stuck to the back of my throat for seven kilometers.

Folks sitting at outdoor cafes, listening to music, eating ice cream, beautiful evening. Ran under the train tracks

 where there was a commuter train stopped then on to a straight stretch mix of commercial and residential, some of it seedy, I keep an eyeball to my left, never know who or what will come out  to the street. 

One night, don’t know where he came from, some chap, visibly having drunk too much salsa’d over to a light I was coming to and I’m thinking oh oh – he is going to get hit by oncoming traffic but it must not have been his first time crossing, he teetered on the edge of the sidewalk waiting for the light to change and I made my way around him as he zigzagged across the street.

I hadn’t realized there was a police car that had just pulled up to the light and they were watching him cross as well -  I think we were all holding our breath.

Tonight made it to the gas station where I cut across the parking lot, with no excitement,  the gal working was sitting outside in a folding chair, gave me a thumbs up and a wave.  

Then across the tracks as in this area they are  at street level…there is more than one set so you sort of hop scotch across.  

Glad to be almost home at this point as it was getting dark and there isn’t much room for runners or cyclists to share with motorists in this last bit.

Good run, glad I made it out the door. I may not be fast as Pump but I had a nice little hum going on the straight stretch that felt good.

[luv-2-run]

Good morning Elvis

And the love affair continues.

Beautiful morning for a run on the bridge, cool, windy after a couple of heat and humidity.

Lots of folks taking their bikes to work had to be attentive.

Great way to start the day.

[luv-2-run]

Sunny hot July Sunday

And went to a race, local, along a canal. Its put on by MEC (mountain equipment coop), its one in a series that ends in November.

Did the 10k there last year and the heat was tough, there is little shade along this canal.  Smart move on their part, they moved the start times back from 9 to 8 so that it would be cooler.  Its beaten path with little asphalt, and we had a loop into farm land, where it was dust and rocks.

I had noticed a family standing a bit behind me at the start, grandpa, mom, her small son and daughter. On my way back after the turn around I noticed the little guy walking on the side, red faced so I slowed down to get him going again, told him he could keep up with me because I’m slow.  A woman to my left gave him one of her water bottles from her fuel belt, told him how to use it and charged ahead and I eventually followed.

There was one water station and I actually stopped, I never do but I wanted to rinse out my eyes, between the sweat, sunscreen, my eyes were burning and I kept blinking and couldn’t see very well.

Between these two blips on my radar, I didn’t finish where I would have liked – I have gotten really slow. 

I like this organization, its no frills, don’t need another race t-shirt, I can bring my own water and eats.  I registered quickly on site, they had medics present, they had the portable toilets  -- and it’s a lovely area.

They’ll be there again in October and I’m thinking of going again.  Now I have to work on getting a little faster.