We took a quick trip back home to Northern California to visit the fam this week & most importantly visit our father who has been quite ill and recently admitted to the hospital. After seeing his grandchildren (Christy's 3 and my boy) all running around his hospital room tearing things apart, he had a quick recovery - or at least feigned one so that he was released to go home to continue his recuperation and enjoy the company of his visiting family.

It was beautiful there - the first thing I noticed was how green everything was. It was raining quite a bit during our visit, but the temperatures were quite mild compared to what we are used to. Christy and I got in a run along the rail trail near my parents home. It was great to be out in the running skirts (without the tights, mittens, tuke, etc.). My little guy was thrilled to walk in Grandma & Grandpas garden and see the birds in the trees. His favorite activity was picking oranges out of the trees so that Grandma could make him fresh squeezed orange juice. Now after living in Canada for 3+ years, I am starting to miss the simple pleasures that we took for granted living there....like walking out and picking a fresh orange off the tree...yum!

It was a quick trip to California and unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to hook up with my old running friends from Sacramento and the fleet feet racing team. I was hoping to maybe get in my favorite runs around lake Natomas or along the American River Trail too. Next time!

We are back in the "north pole" as I fondly refer to it. It's almost March 1st and it's -29 below outside. I have my first official run of the season tomorrow in Burlington, Ontario - it's called the Chilly Half Marathon (wonder where they came up with the name?). I'm running with Arma and Val as a training run so it should be good times. I did 30 minutes easy on the treadmill this morning to loosen up the joints after 2 days off and lots of air travel. I always tell everyone that I can't wait until my son can run with me and that I hope he inherited my passion for running. Well, my dream came true (sort of) today, as he went for his first treadmill "run" with mommy.
Check out the pics (oh - yeah - check out our new orange running skirt coming for spring).



















On his baby treadmill (he has to push to make his belt go)


































Stretching with mommy



















Daddy was getting jealous and wanted to realize a dream of his own!


















playing "hock" with Daddy

It's never to early to involve your children in fitness and sports, right?

Will have a run report from the Chilly Half Marathon and some new icicle face photos for you all after tomorrow. Next week we will be in Orlando for the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I'm so excited! This will be my first race of the season - in a cute little princess skirt too! I can't decide which one I want to race in....probably Cindy Blue (cinder-elly) or maybe Snow-Belle yellow (since I'm a brunette). They are all super cute - gotta love the princess "bling" sparkly tiara on the front.

See you at DisneyWorld!

Hola! It's been a while since I've had a moment to update the blog. I was lucky to escape the freezing sub zero temperatures, treadmill and the 200 meter indoor track I've been training on in Toronto with a last minute getaway to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It's about a 4 hour flight from Toronto and a great place to escape the winter wonderland.

We booked a last minute all inclusive trip to a resort called Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro which is on the eastern side of the island of Dominican Republic. It was a huge resort, with about 5 or 6 ginormous pools, a beautiful beach and tram (trolley) which ran all day to transport people from the lobby, restaurants, pools and beach. I had flashbacks to my last visit to the dominican (it was to the other side of the island - Puerta Plata) and doing a 20 mile long run in the rain in a 1.5 mile loop, they recommended tourists stayed within the compound at that resort. I woke up at the crack of dawn the first morning there and put on my running skirt with delight and was pleasantly surprised by the size of Gran Bahia Principe resort especially since I found if I ran around the entire perimeter of the resort, It was about 5k. After my first 5k loop, I was really feeling the humidity, whew like running under water. For my long runs every other day, I opted for 2 loops and occasionally threw in some 150 meter pick ups at the end of the runs. I ended each morning run with a plunge into the warm carribbean waters - aw - heaven! That was the extent of my training last week.



















The new cheetah haute pink skirt & cheetah strappy top were great in and out of the water. I'm amazed at how quick they dry. The first 4.5 days of the trip were very rainy all day....pretty much a downpour, but luckily the sun made an appearance for the last 2 days of our trip. It was so nice to simply wear a running skirt & strappy top (no tights, mittens, tukes) that I didn't mind running in the rain at all. I am a warm weather runner - give me the heat any day over the cold. I swear my muscles and joints just perform better when they are warm.

So now - as I type this post, I'm am back in the great white north, looking outside at the snow and ice and trying to motivate for another sub zero run. It's 14 below right now, but if I wait a while the temperature might get up to 7 below (that's a difference between having to wear one or two pair of tights). I really do need to start ramping up my mileage and workouts since the spring running season for me is about to begin. Races on the horizine for me include, the Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington on March 1st (as a training run) and then the following week the Disney Princess Half in Orlando (really looking forward to that one!). We have great new "princess inspired" skirts & tops that we will be revealing at the Princess Half Marathon. It's the first year for this great womens running event and it's gonna be awesome. After that, I will be running the 30k around the bay (which is the oldest road race in North America - even older than Boston) and then of course, Boston!