If there’s anything we immediately noticed about PEI, it is that you can drive five minutes in any direction and have driven through 10 different townships making it somewhat difficult to get to know the island. Can you imagine a poor police officer having to learn the names of them all? You can probably hold your breath and drive through 3 towns. Don’t believe me? Let’s track that too! I have now completed 5 weeks of my run/walk program. My run/walks are 30 minutes long and as of today, that run consisted of 25 minutes of running and 5 walking. Not bad, if I do say so myself. In these first 5 weeks, I have now run from Stratford through Wood Islands.
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Wood Islands, named for several small forested islands located just off of the shore of PEI, in the Northumberland Strait. Wood Islands is also the home of the Wood Islands Ferry. This ferry takes you across the Strait and lands near Pictou, Nova Scotia which is where my kin arrived when they emigrated to Canada from Scotland. (Oh! That’s another thing I should track. Documenting the McLean family tree! Maybe I’ll get on that in the winter.) Wood Islands is also the home of one of my favourite nurseries, Island Pride.
Wood Islands is the starting point for the 70 mile yard sale which takes place annually and it is exactly as it says. Hundreds of families and businesses set up yards sales along a designated route on a given weekend in the Fall. A great way to spend a couple of hours, or the weekend if you are an avid garage sale aficionado!
In my journey from Stratford to Wood Islands, I have now run through the following communities:
1. Stratford
2. Alexandra
3. Pownal
4. Waterside
5. Mt. Mellick
6. Cherry Valley
7. Vernon Bridge
8. Orwell
9. Orwell Cove
10. Lower Newton
11. Eldon
12. Mt. Buchanan
13. Pinette
14. Flat River
15. Belle River
16. Wood Islands
16 communities in 54 km! And you thought I was exaggerating?
Another couple of things that are in abundance on PEI. Lighthouses and Churches. I would have passed the Point Prim Lighthouse , as well as the Wood Islands Lighthouse along with 5 churches.
See y’all next Friday! I’ve gotta run!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
My Marathon Run Around Prince Edward Island in 200 Days
Not that this is news to me, but it might be to you, but I am all about the numbers. Perhaps the ticker count down on the sidebar of my blog are an indication to you. How about the tally for the number of years, months, days and hours we spent living in the Arctic? Better yet, the mileage tracked on our trek from the North to PEI? Or what about the poll for the now defunct, “Mugshot Monday”? And then there is my pathetic and unsuccessful attempt to beat the SF by 3 games? I love tracking money...how much, how little, where it’s going, where it’s been and where it is. Even better I am a sucker for a spreadsheet. I can lose myself for hours inside one. You can track any number of things – budgets, knitting stash, weight, fitness – the limits are endless...and no, I did not attend band camp.
You see the theme? I also like a little competition, even if it is by myself. It inspires me. It motivates me! And I love to track my progress. So I ask myself, “Self? Why don’t you set yourself a running goal and track it?” And I agreed. So my goal is to ostensibly run around Prince Edward Island in 200 Days. My start date was the 14th of March making my finish date October 9th! I hope you’ll join me as I track my progress on google maps and I’ll give you all some of the highlights of the island as I virtually pass them by. Check back each Friday for an update.
Please come back tomorrow for my first progress update!
You see the theme? I also like a little competition, even if it is by myself. It inspires me. It motivates me! And I love to track my progress. So I ask myself, “Self? Why don’t you set yourself a running goal and track it?” And I agreed. So my goal is to ostensibly run around Prince Edward Island in 200 Days. My start date was the 14th of March making my finish date October 9th! I hope you’ll join me as I track my progress on google maps and I’ll give you all some of the highlights of the island as I virtually pass them by. Check back each Friday for an update.
Since my starting point was our home in Stratford, I thought I would give you the low-down it. Stratford was not named Stratford until 1995 when several villages and communities amalgamated to form one. (Check out Aerial 4 in this photo gallery. The long drive with the turnaround is the park next to our house. Our house is just off camera in the bottom right corner of the shot.) Stratford is located across the Hillsborough River from downtown Charlottetown. It is an up and coming community filled with a mixed population of elderly and young families and a few of us middle-aged people. Before the bridge(s) were built, it was strictly cottage country. In fact, a ferry used to shuttle people back and forth in the summer, while horse drawn sleighs crossed the ice in the winter. The first bridge constructed to connect Stratford to Charlottetown was built in 1905, later replaced in the 60’s and again in the 90’s. The piers from one of the old bridges remain and are frequented by seals and annually migrating cormorants.
Stratford is a mix of modern suburban and rural homes, summer use cottages and farms. An eclectic mix but it all works well. Our home is located right next to one of Stratford’s parks, Tea Hill Park. It serves as the border between rural homes and some farm land.
Oh...and Stratford is also the home to my new workplace (insert free plug here) Stratford Physiotherapy! Did I mention that it takes me under 4 minutes to get to work, even with a road stop for some power pole replacement going on in the hood?!
Please come back tomorrow for my first progress update!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
He Lives To Smoke Another Day....
You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you? It seems the SF has been dumbing down his game for the last couple of months because he gave me a run for my money today. I took beating after beating....after beating today. I ran, I dived, I jumped, I lunged but, all of that was not enough to get me remotely CLOSE to beating him 3 games.
In fact, I only managed to squeeze one win out of him and when I started to pull away the next game, the panic started to set in for him and he upped his game even further. He mumbled something about, "he could beat me WHILE smoking a cigarette!"
We are setting a rematch soon because he informed me that I only have until the end of the month to win the bet and then he is retiring until the Fall/Winter season.
Fingers crossed!
In fact, I only managed to squeeze one win out of him and when I started to pull away the next game, the panic started to set in for him and he upped his game even further. He mumbled something about, "he could beat me WHILE smoking a cigarette!"
We are setting a rematch soon because he informed me that I only have until the end of the month to win the bet and then he is retiring until the Fall/Winter season.
Fingers crossed!
Wish Me Luck!!!
Today may be the day the SF MUST quit smoking. You see, he bet me that if I beat him 3 games at squash today, that he would quit! He even shook my hand. Since I beat him twice last week, it isn't completely unfathomable, is it? You know damn well he will be playing full out. And now that I recall, he had run 10k the day before?! But, if I'm successful, I suspect tomorrow will be the day of renegotiation. LOL!
As for the rest of life....I am spinning slightly by the looming start date of my new job. I can't wait to get started but I feel like I have 9 years of organizing to get done in the next couple of weeks. I continue my year and a half long struggle to organize my office and as usual, I'm not getting very far.
And, the running continues....I am in Week 5 of 8 and, knock on wood, it is going fantabulously! Yesterday's run Run 7 minutes, Walk 2 x 3....combining my warmup, I completed 4.1 km. Besides my back, which is always sore, my knees are the only thing that are feeling the impact. Just stiff more than anything. Stretch. Stretch. Stretch.
I'll check back in with you in a couple of hours....after I whoop the SF's ass!
As for the rest of life....I am spinning slightly by the looming start date of my new job. I can't wait to get started but I feel like I have 9 years of organizing to get done in the next couple of weeks. I continue my year and a half long struggle to organize my office and as usual, I'm not getting very far.
And, the running continues....I am in Week 5 of 8 and, knock on wood, it is going fantabulously! Yesterday's run Run 7 minutes, Walk 2 x 3....combining my warmup, I completed 4.1 km. Besides my back, which is always sore, my knees are the only thing that are feeling the impact. Just stiff more than anything. Stretch. Stretch. Stretch.
I'll check back in with you in a couple of hours....after I whoop the SF's ass!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Fessin' Up......AGAIN!
Forget the milkman! I'll choose the mailman any day! He knows all of your deepest darkest secrets, right? He sees all of the lingerie you order, the next miracle diet, the exercise dvds that are going to give you back the body you had when you were 16. He might know that you are having financial woes by the collection notices you receive or that you are a diversified investor by the bank statements you receive. I'm sure he knows a lot about you that you would rather him not. He knows by the magazines you receive that you love to cook, you love photography and interior design. He knows that your husband is a metrosexual and that you aspire to be an expert horticulturist by summer or a master knitter by winter.
I received a call this morning from my friend Itchy. She informed me I had, yet another, parcel delivered to her house and we giggled like two school girls at our hidden secret. You see, I have been sort of pulling one over the SF but I figure I better put an end to it and head downstairs to 'fess up.
"Honey?", I say.
"Yeeeees?" Apparently he can read my tone because it's pretty clear from his that he knows that I am about to spill the beans (again).
"I have something funny to tell you but it means I have to 'fess up."
"Yeeeees?", he says again, with a smile upon his lips.
"Remember the last time I went for Stitch n Bitch at Itchy's...waaaaaaaaaaay back when and I told you I met the nice postal worker. It was quite cold outside so when Itchy asked if he would like to come in and warm up by the fire with a freshly brewed coffee made from Itchy's hubby's own roast and a homemade cinnamon bun, of course he couldn't turn down the offer."
"Uh-huh."
"Well, when Itchy introduced me, he asked what our address was and when I told him 484, he said he had a parcel out in his van for me."
"Uh-huh"
"He asked if I wanted it now or if I wanted it delivered to the mailbox. Itchy and I laughed at our good luck. It was some knitting supplies/stash we had collectively order and I had been rushing to the mailbox each day, trying to get there before you. The parcel ended up being the perfect size to smuggle home in my current knitting bag and you would be none the wiser. And that's exactly what happened. I came home and smuggled my beloved parcel right past you and you didn't have a clue."
The SF laughs.
(Imagine how hard I was laughing inside when you insisted on stopping at the mailbox on our way home from the squash court that afternoon and I knew I had successfully foiled you!)
"The problem is...", I explain, "that now every time I get a parcel, the mailman delivers it to Itchy's house. The first time it was a birthday gift from my dear friend in Chicago. Itchy and I thought the mailman made a simple error that time so I just let it pass. Then a week or so ago, I ordered a book and that was what Itchy called about this morning. My book was delivered to her box again......"
Insert the slightly uncomfortable silent pause here.....wait for it...wait for it.... and......let the head shaking begin!
I guess it's time for me to let the poor mailman off the hook. But seriously? You tell me where can you live that your mailman becomes complicit in sneaking your knitting stash into your household unbeknownst to your husband? Can you say enabler?
I received a call this morning from my friend Itchy. She informed me I had, yet another, parcel delivered to her house and we giggled like two school girls at our hidden secret. You see, I have been sort of pulling one over the SF but I figure I better put an end to it and head downstairs to 'fess up.
"Honey?", I say.
"Yeeeees?" Apparently he can read my tone because it's pretty clear from his that he knows that I am about to spill the beans (again).
"I have something funny to tell you but it means I have to 'fess up."
"Yeeeees?", he says again, with a smile upon his lips.
"Remember the last time I went for Stitch n Bitch at Itchy's...waaaaaaaaaaay back when and I told you I met the nice postal worker. It was quite cold outside so when Itchy asked if he would like to come in and warm up by the fire with a freshly brewed coffee made from Itchy's hubby's own roast and a homemade cinnamon bun, of course he couldn't turn down the offer."
"Uh-huh."
"Well, when Itchy introduced me, he asked what our address was and when I told him 484, he said he had a parcel out in his van for me."
"Uh-huh"
"He asked if I wanted it now or if I wanted it delivered to the mailbox. Itchy and I laughed at our good luck. It was some knitting supplies/stash we had collectively order and I had been rushing to the mailbox each day, trying to get there before you. The parcel ended up being the perfect size to smuggle home in my current knitting bag and you would be none the wiser. And that's exactly what happened. I came home and smuggled my beloved parcel right past you and you didn't have a clue."
The SF laughs.
(Imagine how hard I was laughing inside when you insisted on stopping at the mailbox on our way home from the squash court that afternoon and I knew I had successfully foiled you!)
"The problem is...", I explain, "that now every time I get a parcel, the mailman delivers it to Itchy's house. The first time it was a birthday gift from my dear friend in Chicago. Itchy and I thought the mailman made a simple error that time so I just let it pass. Then a week or so ago, I ordered a book and that was what Itchy called about this morning. My book was delivered to her box again......"
Insert the slightly uncomfortable silent pause here.....wait for it...wait for it.... and......let the head shaking begin!
I guess it's time for me to let the poor mailman off the hook. But seriously? You tell me where can you live that your mailman becomes complicit in sneaking your knitting stash into your household unbeknownst to your husband? Can you say enabler?
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