To Run or not Run, that is the question....

After almost 1 year of iliotibial band friction syndrome, I decided to get back in the game and try to work on my run discipline.  The triathlon was a success for me, not so much the time it took to complete.. but rather, that I did completed it !   If you want a challenge, the Triathlon is the a huge one, practicing 3 disciplines for a one event. 

That was a huge undertaking, and my training was effected by so many things the previous year and mostly for not being consistent in training with running. Running was my downfall, in fact, i think my running took longer then the quadruple distance of cycling did.

In January 2017, I was diagnosed with GAD ( generalized anxiety disorder)  I had realized that I needed to get back into exercise, and try and up my game. The true way to manage the symptoms is through exercise, eating right, and getting enough sleep. 

On a suggestion from by my friend, he had said, I should try the Sun Training program. Even though he suggested it last year, it fell on deaf ears, and i carried on trying to struggle through my injuries.

The Vancouver Sun run is a 10 km run that happens ever April, and has been a run I had participated in before in the early 90's with my company team. 

The training program was only 13 weeks, i learned enough to stay injury free and be able to meet the goal of completing the 10 km run. I met some great people in the group, the serious runners, i have stayed in touch with, and the rest, well maybe i will see them again next year.  
Overall it was great group of people and i took away a lot to learn more about running.

The training was tough, as we had one of worst winters this year. I had to learn to run in the snow and ice with cleats. However I stuck it through and make it to the end, did not miss one any training runs. 



Above: Waiting to move to the start line 
Right: Me & Coach Tina, she's such a inspiration and motivator to keep us going ! 


My story doesn't end here...... this was just the start !

First Triathlon Sprint.... Completed !

August 14th came and went pretty fast, so I am now getting around to updating my blog.

I am hoping that some of my followers will take that journey with me, as I am embark on the next training over the next few months.

When I set out on this venture.. it was really more like a 'dare' I didn't really believe I could do a triathlon, but as the date came closer and closer, I was able to reassure myself and say "HELL YAY"
I can do this.

Training was a struggle from everything... finding time, weather, motivation. All three factor's affected everything thing, every day. Motivation was the worst, and when you have a brain like mine, turning things off, is pretty easy. Discouragement is my worst enemy.

Keep in mind, this was a small triathlon. A sprint to be exact. What entails for a sprint, well you need to be able to swim 750 metres, ride 20 km and run 5 km. Piece of cake.. Right ?!

The first part of my training in swimming was pretty easy, Or at least I had thought so, however I did not have the speed. It had been 10 years since I had last swam. I was a competitive swimmer in the 1980's and early 90's, but interest changes, work gets in the way, and I found that I didn't really enjoy the sport anymore.

First time I jumped in the pool, I swam 1 km and it took me 40 mins. I had my 2 bosses with me. No pressure there !
And all I could think, what have I gotten myself into... I can barely keep up. I had to stop at the end of every 50 metres. I was totally out of breath. Plus I was still getting over a strained ACL from skiing so, i was having to wear support gear on my knee. Perseverance did prevail.

I continued to work at swimming for the next 7 months, slowing increasing my time.
Swimming was hardest thing to fit into training schedule, as time is so limited to pool schedules. However I did find the right pool, with the right hours.

Most of my training was at the Canada Games Pool in New Westminster, BC,  They had a nice section permanently laid out for lanes.   It is ironic though, this is the pool I learned to swim in, in 1971 and had many competitions there over the years. Familiar environment to me, but yet swimming not so familiar anymore.

The easy easy easy part of the training, was bicycling !  So many opportunities to get on a bike. Ride to work, ride in the evening, ride with a club... you name it,, you can ride. and Find lots of people to ride with ! Well sort of...
First Challenge was to get a bike. I had my trusty Electric bike for a number of years, but obviously if I was going to go through a challenge like this, i need to find something a little more challenging.
I looked at bikes, tried some out, but I didn't really know what I needed or wanted.

Until I got a text message from my friend Keith, who had figured it out. The next day, i went over to the neighbourhood bike store, and looked a couple bikes. I ended up with a Specialize Dolce, woman's version. Its a nice bike with easy gearing to get started on a triathlon.

For 2 months, I rode a bit back and forth from Port Moody to Vancouver, and on the weekends I would ride out towards Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.
Keith had said... Join the Cap's club... so I hesitated for quite sometime, because every-time I asked about the club, I was told that I needed to be able to ride a minimum of 30kph.   When I took my first ride with the club, it averaged at 22kph.. so needless to say, I should have just listened to Keith... and joined the club.

Running, shutter... that's the worst part of the training for me... I am not a runner.. yet I have run plenty of races in my younger years, and did quite well. Running

Triathlete ... to be or not to be... That is the question

I mentioned in my last post that, that i will be doing a Triathlon sprint this summer. I can't say where the total inception came from  for doing this... how ever I was urged on by my friend, not so much to do the triathlon.. but to be more active in general, maybe a bike race or a running race... But NOOOO...... triathlon is the way to do it...   Atleast that is what my brain says at this time in my life.

Complete the imaginable ! Yup.. its amazing a person like myself, who suffers through depression, anxiety, how i can still manage to pick up and complete the impossible.. well hope to complete the impossible ...

So, where do you start.. well you can be stupid like me and just go out and start doing all the things in fast motion... and then end up having IT band problems with your leg... like i do ! However this is nothing new... . and very typical of my personality. Full on... or Full off.

Yay... don't recommend that... so  I started a running program a couple weeks ago,  Pretty simple, run and walk, alternate between 1 and 2 minutes.    Now up to 30 mins of alternating.. not going a very fast pace, but that's ok, slow and steady completes the race. The only thing that is really missing, is the lack of energy that my dog has... he would run along side with me... and now.. well at at 15 years old... he runs for the first km, and then he's done.. .and when we are finished, he starting heading back to the house... sometimes even before i am done...

  Its been almost 10 years since i seriously ran a race. I kept thinking ah.. that was 5 years ago.. until I looked it up.. and realized ,,, well nope it is actually 10 years... and things are not like they were 10 years ago.. many factors, weight, age... motivation is still there... but sometimes when it is raining out there.... i don't feel like going !

As my friend Keith says..... it doesn't matter if the weather is crappy, or don't feel like doing it.. you just have to do it !

So I just keep my tag line in my head...  #KickmybuttK

Where the time has gone, and the new road i am travelling ...

Its been almost a year since I have update my blog. So many things have happened in my life, that i guess it time to bring you up to speed.

Last year, i started a new job, doing something that actually like, and working with the best company and people i could ever find. What a blessing ...

Last summer, i received a kayak, i spent quite a few days in the summer out on it, and really enjoyed it, but my physical health was not there. In 1 year, i have managed to drop 25 pounds and I am on a new path of recovery.

Lucky for me, i have always been surrounded with fun and caring friends, but unfortunately my friends were more enablers when it comes to food. Food is dangerous for a person like me, it has lead to deep episodes of depression, Severe over weight, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

However I lucked out when one friend of mine, has pushed me enough to keep going. Finding the right food to eat, making the comments when i shouldn't eat that, and basically keep track of what heck i am doing.  It was the kick in the butt that I needed. I no longer have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Depression comes and goes, but less and less these days. and my weight, well that is coming down.

January 2016, I started to cross country ski. I have always wanted to learn, i did once while i was a kid and in 2014, the same friend took me out and gave me a quick lesson. I wasn't totally hooked as I am now. but buy a pair of half decent skis and it gives you incentive to get out there.

Only 7 weeks in, and I am afraid the season is running out. However each week I physically can do more then before.













A typical Norwegian is born on skis, well unfortunately  I wasn't, however i am glad to embrace my heritage.


To set the bar high, I have embarked on training for a triathlon sprint.   That's right, gone from being totally inactive to working up to do this next step.

Stay tuned for more progress !
Canadian Nordic Girl

What's fun to a Norwegian ..

Last week, a friend of mine,  sent me a message... HEY VEGGIE GIRL, weather is getting warm, time to hike !  I said... ok.. I'm in.
Well a few days passed by and the weather wasn't looking so great, but that was ok with me.
 We had hiked before in a very muddy place not far from here last year.. how would this be any different.

The night before, we decided, we will head to Buntzen Lake. this is a lake not too far from where I live. Very popular for hikers and many runners.

Running Water on the trail March 2014

Buntzen lake March 2014

Well on Sunday, there was a few runners on the trail, not too many hikers though. It is a pretty place in the summer months. The pictures i have posted are from March 2014, as I walked out the house and totally forgot my camera .... WHAT kind of photographer forgets their camera ?!    LOL....

March 2014

The weather forecast was pretty much rain all day. The actual precipitation was 39.1 mm, at least it wasn't 43.7mm (record set in 1913)

This day, we hiked approximately 16 km.
The lower trail around the lake had areas that were washed out, so parts of the trail were closed.  We pretty much stayed to the upper trails. At one point, we were hiking up a trail, and the water was running down zig zag through the switch back. Now that is something i have never seen.

We ran into some hikers that waded through the water up there their hips to get through.. but in the end, they climbed up another elevation to avoid getting too wet.

At that point, we decided, we were probably pretty safe, so we would try and finish off at the lower trail. OH BOY.... nope, not out of the water shall we say. We only had 3 areas we had to scale off the side of the trail to get around it.
Not bad.. but interesting.

If you read this interesting link, http://afroginthefjord.com  it will tell you what Norwegian's think is fun !

Well I couldn't agree more.  Over all, even though I was soaking wet,,, we still had FUN !

Tip toe through the tulips... Fraser Valley Tulip Festival

Tip Toe through the Tulips ...

A Couple weekends ago, I spent the morning tip toeing through the tulips.... My friend and I  had wanted to go down to the Great Tulip festival in Washington, however due to the early warm weather we have had this year, many of the fields were already finished.. however, if you live in the Vancouver area, we have a hidden gem right in our backdoor.  No border wait time too !

   The Agassiz Tulip Festival, its a great little festival. 

Fields and Field of colour

Follow me through the fields....  

Reflections of a tulip

Put it on your list of places to see next spring, you will love it. While you are there, you can pop over to Harrison Hot Spring. Stay tuned for my next post.

A Pretty Little Town......Stavanger, Norway

Back in September of 2013, I was so lucky to be able to travel throughout Norway. The first exciting thing was to meet my family and while we were there we made a good trek around the country and visited many cities.   On our trip, we made a stop Stavanger.

We were visiting the city of Bergen and decided to take a ferry to get to Stavanger.
We boarded a Norled boat early in the morning. The trip was a few hours and made some stops along the way to pick up and drop off passengers. 

The landscape was very indigenous of the coast of British Columbia. Open ocean, rock formations with a odd tree or low scrub. Very similar to the San Juan Islands off the coast of Vancouver island.
 I made that comment  to Dave as we were sitting inside enjoying the scenery and later  once we were docking a couple sitting in front of us, remarked that they thought the same of the scenery, and they were from Seattle.  

When we first arrived, i looked around the town, and didn't really think much of it.
Looked small, and it was very hilly and i was completely disoriented. I couldn't figure which way we were suppose to go.

I had booked a hotel that was a couple km from the main downtown area. Wasn't easy to get too, and was kind of far to walk with all the luggage. We asked for some directions and decided to get catch a city bus.

When we first got onto the city bus, the bus driver didn't speak English and he didn't speak Norwegian, I thought to myself.. GREAT, we are screwed.  However, the word, Hospital is pretty universal.
We took the bus up the road a bit, and then we had to walk the rest of the way to the Hotel.
St. Svithun Hospital Hotel.  That is  right, i said, Hospital !

The hotel was an experience in its self. It was a hotel connected to the local hospital. So if you can kind of wrap your brain around that, it was a great place to stay.  Faily cheap by Canadian standards, only $85 a night and that included breakfast.

The breakfast buffet was to die for ... well if you took me literally, you were at least in the right place if something medically did happen.  Best breakfast buffet in all of Norway !!

You can visit this guys site and read more about the hotel  

When we started to explore the city, we found some interesting places to visit. Down by the water front, we first saw a church. This was the Stavanger Cathedral (Stavanger Domekirke) .
This was built in 1100. However it had caught on fire, and was rebuilt and refurbished.  I photographed the outside as I loved everything about the church, and the details and nice curves on the windows. 

I choose to turn this picture into a black and white, as i like the texture of the building. 

"Stavanger Domekirke" photographed by Christina Ostenstad

Another hidden gem is Gamle Stavanger (Old Stavanger).
We stumbled on to that after taking a test drive in an electric car.
The driver dropped us there, and said, Great place, you must see. 

The Gamle Stavanger, is the oldest section of the city. Picturesque white painted homes. 

The main occupation in stavanger was fishing and a canning plant.
Which was situated in the middle of town close to the ocean.


The wood homes were built in the 18th century and they are now protected as a heritage site. 

"Going Home" photographed by Christina Ostenstad 

This is my favourite photo of all times. I love the potted plants in front of the homes, and the cobble stone roads.  Each house was white, and most of them had different coloured front doors.

The woman that I photographed walking down the street, stopped and chatted with me for a few moments.  She had lived in this area for a very long time. She was elated to find out that I was  a Canadian-Norwegian decent and she said, that i looked like a true Norwegian. We exchanged some works in English and a little in Norwegian. 

"Storm coming in" photographed by Christina Ostenstad

"End of the Row" photographed by Christina Ostenstad

When I was walking down admiring the homes.. I was captured by this little guy sitting in his window. He was very quiet and was looking for someone or maybe just watching the people walk by.

"Who's there?" Photographed by Christina Ostenstad 

Next time you are in Stavanger, visit the old city and stay in the hospital hotel !