We set an alarm for 5 a.m. this morning!! Haven't done that in a very long time. Our athlete buddy Ailsa is running a 50 mile ultramarathon at Cooking Lake, about 2 hours drive from us. Her race starts at 6:30 so we are missing the start but we will be there for her first aid station stop. We left Seba Beach just before 6 am and with a quick stop for fuel and a breakfast sandwich in Sherwood Park we arrived at Islet Lake Staging area on the east side of Cooking Lake. Barry was there and all set up beside the course with the race gear for when she comes in. At about 8:50 we recognized Ailsa coming in on the trail. She sat and quickly pulled off her shoes to switch to her old favourites for trail running. Columbia has sent her some different shoes to try and the pair she had on were not working at all. Swap to the tested faves. On with a fresh running pack and see ya later.
Holding the pack up for easy slip on
That's how we help her race, be ready with the gear and respond to what is going on with her physically and mentally. Barry has been to so many races he can tell how she's doing just by talking to her so Leslie and I try to help with shoes and sunscreen etc so Barry can talk to her. It's actually pretty exciting during the races. She's in the lead quite often which helps with the excitement. So now we wait..... she runs, we sit. Race crew is exhausting lol.
A little while after the aid stop we got an unexpected surprise when Ailsa returned to the stop and pulled herself from the race! She strained a calf muscle prior to this race and it was giving her grief today. With the Western States 100 in Lake Tahoe race so close (it's a really big deal, only 350 competitors that had to win other major races to gain entry) she won't risk further injury. Tap out now and heal before we get to Lake Tahoe June 23rd for the 100 miler. Sad but smart.
We decided to pack up all the stuff and go over to Barry and Ailsa's place in St Albert for brunch, well that's what we'll call it anyway. We were supposed to have barbecued steak for supper after the race so Ailsa and Barry got everything going early and started on a massive brunch with steak, eggs, roasted veggies and well, we've been up for several hours, how about a beer!
Ailsa & Barry
We enjoyed a huge delicious meal and maybe a bottle of wine or 3, yeah we went a little overboard, but we recovered and drank a bunch of water so we could accomplish some things today. Much later in the afternoon Barry and Leslie went to Walmart for some new patio furniture and did a quick Costco run. Ailsa and I took Margaret for a walk around their neighbourhood. I was feeling tired so laid down for a nap while Ailsa did some chores around the house. When Barry and Leslie got back we all went outside and assembled the new furniture. It looks great! Unfortunately we didn't get a picture so you'll have to trust me on that. After all the work we went back inside and Ailsa warmed up all the food that she packed for the race for the crew. We ate pizza and salad that she made and Barry steamed some mussels in garlic butter, yum. After supper we decided to head home instead of the intended sleepover. The day had changed so much from the plan after Ailsa pulled out of the race. We're all tired and everyone needs a good nights sleep. We drove home into a little rain and called it a day. Sorry for the strained calf champ but we'll be ready for Western States in a month!
A little shower!
May27
We got a good sleep and a nice slow start to our day with coffee and breakfast. We are doing our run/walk this morning and I'm excited to try some new gear that Barry & Ailsa gave me yesterday!
New trail shoes and a cool running watch!
Barry had these shoes but they didn't fit him and he wasn't using them. They fit me so I'm trying them out, they are "zero" drop Altra trail shoes and he tells me to only go short distance until I get used to the flat profile. Lots of running shoes have a"drop" from heel to toe but these don't. It's supposed to be more natural with zero drop, or so I have read online. We'll see how they feel. Ailsa gave me the running watch that she won at last years Sinister 7 Ultra, how freakin' cool is that? They both have run watches already (of course) so I'm going to try this one. Thanks guys! Awesome having athlete friends with swag :) You guys have been a lot of help while I am trying this running thing.
After our morning routine we messaged Leslie's kids to se what they were doing. Sam was busy doing stuff but Ryan was home and doing projects in his yard. We love projects lol. Ashtyn's Mom is giving them a hot tub. Sweet! They are digging out a spot for a base beside their deck and we can do some planning for the fence we want to build at their place this summer.
New tub soon !
Just like the one on Instagram, pro work!
Instagram inspired base
It was a good workout, we shoveled the dirt into the wheel barrow, then from there into Ryans truck and he gets to shovel it off the truck at his dad's garden. You're on your own from here buddy! We kept some of the dirt so Ashtyn can upgrade the planter boxes in front of the garage. Let's say the others are umm, done.
Extra dirt for the new planter boxes
We finished up what we could and headed to BP's for supper. Ryan& Ashtyn are buying us supper for helping. Thanks guys! Leslie and I drove back to Pineridge and crashed. Good day and we're tired.
May 28
We felt good enough this morning to get a walk/run in this morning. We're both a little stiff from yesterday and moving around will help. It's time to do a major clean of our yard at Pineridge. Weed whip, spray some weeds, Leslie assemble and install the solar lights and we'll plan where we want to move our shed. The spot we have it in now just won't work with the new garage build. We work good as a team so in a little while the yard looked much better, can't wait to see the solar lights tonight, and we have a plan for where the shed will fit. Now just need a plan to move it, it's heavy, I went extra strength as usual when we built it, so now it will be a pain to move. I'm thinking rollers somehow on fence rails. The Egyptians built pyramids, I can move a shed right?
We needed a couple things from a grocery store so we decided to take the Mustang into the town of Wabuman to check out stores there. We are still exploring places to buy things here in the area. Of course when you live by the tracks, chances are you see a train.
Hear lots of these!
We toured the town and the dock a little and stopped at the car wash to spray off some bugs. We went to a small grocery store and then headed for home. Wabuman has a big dragonfly festival every year and they have the worlds biggest dragonfly at the edge of town.
That's a big dragonfly!
May 29
Today we are pulling out a small poplar that is too close to our bedroom slide and spreading some gravel on the west side of our lot between us and the neighbours. Jeff, the resort owner is coming with his skid steer to push over the tree and drop us some gravel. Thanks Jeff!
Too close for comfort that tree
Will make decent firewood when it dries
Taking out the low spot at the door
That looks better right?
Cool clouds overhead
May 30
We did the run/walk thing in the morning and got cleaned up decided to meet Sam at Mucho Burrito in Edmonton. Sam is working as a gardener and it's raining so it's a forced day off. Along the way I stopped at Spruce Grove Dodge to ask about a noise my truck is making. We agreed that it is the limited slip function making a noise in the rear diff. The service person felt that a differential oil change when I get my next service will do it. At least then they can have a good look at it. Oh and it's $300 for the look because the diff oil is expensive. Of course it is.
We had a great lunch with Sam. Mucho Burrito is a favourite of ours. We decided to stop at a greenhouse for Leslie to buy shrubs for the spot between us and the neighbours. Great idea, it's cold and windy and raining a little, let's shop outside! We got some shrubs, Leslie can tell you what they are, short greenish ones to me. Next we went over to Ryan's place to lend a hand cutting some 4x6 timber for the new planters and the hot tub base, at least that was in the garage out of the wind. Leslie, Sam and Ashtyn made supper for us all and then it was time to head home. The weather is supposed to be better the rest of the week.
May 31
Our friends Steve and Dianne from Living the Dream blog are coming tomorrow for a few days so we both wanted to extend the distance of our walk/run today. Leslie walked one loop with Margaret and then dropped her off and did a long loop around the entire resort. She got a good pic of the 8th hole and our rig at the end by the green.
Way down there is our trailer and Wabuman Lake in the background
Les planted her shrubs when we got home. They are Froebel Sprirea, like I said before they are a lovely shade of green lol.
Need to fill in some more gravel
We filled the rest of the day with some more outside jobs and I did a blog post. Had a nice fire and a cold beverage that evening. Not too shabby here at Pineridge, if we could just get an offer on our house in Bonnyville we wouldn't have to do double yard work! We're excited about the next few days with Steve & Dianne, we really enjoy their company and we want to tour them around a little so they can see our new neighbourhood. Oh and they might be the extra muscle for the shed move! Hi guys, look what we get to do!!!
We'll see how it goes.
As usual, you guys keep yourselves very busy! Looking forward to our time with you...even if it does involve some work!
ReplyDeleteHopefully more fun than work. Maybe a beverage ??
Delete