Week 12: Slow progress

This was a tough week. It started out pretty well, with a 10 km run last Sunday, but then it kind of went down-hill. Monday night I bailed because it was -44 with wind, then Christine got ill, so I needed to stay in Tuesday night to look after her and Alexa. Wednesday was quite productive, I did a little bit more than 13 km, but I wasn't able to get out either Thursday or Friday. To make up for it, I went twice yesterday, but still ended up with just barely more than my weekly minimum. In total I did 39.13 km for the week, with a rather slow average pace of 5:10/km. My overall total is now 477.74 km, giving me a surplus of 15.74 km. Almost a quarter of a way to my goal!

I don't think I can stress enough how tired we are getting of winter. It just won't let up! Both times I ran yesterday it was -44 or -45 with wind, and today it's again in that ballpark with some limited visibility to go along with it. Yay. The forecast for the coming week is also not promising.

Alexa has started teething, poor little thing, but she's otherwise doing well, and developing so fast. I love my little girl.

Well, will check back in next week, hopefully with some better results.

Week 11: Continued Progress

This week I managed to get in five runs, for a total of 45.18 km (including 6.68 km surplus). Most days I did only slightly more than 8 km, but yesterday I did 12.7 km. Average pace for the week was 4:55/km. There were a couple of nicer days this week, which helped. My total for the year is 438.6 km, with a surplus of 15.1 km. I expect there will be times during the summer when it may be difficult to get all of my runs in, so I'm revising my minimum distances to 8.5 km per run during the week, and 10 km during the weekend - hopefully this will help ensure I stay on track.

Alexa has had an exciting week. She's had a number of firsts, including grabbing something with both hands, rolling over from front to back yesterday morning, and sleeping through the night last night! It's neat to see the advances she's making.

My dad is scheduled to arrive in a little over a month; we're excited to have him come up. He'll only be here a few days, but then he's going to help Christine travel with Alexa for the first time. She's heading to Saskatchewan a bit before me so that she can spend some additional time at her mom's place with the little one. I'll be following about ten days behind.

This week may be prove to be busy because I'm acting manager at work for most of it, and it is getting close to year end.

Week 10: Making gains

This week I got in five runs, for a total distance of 45.89 km. I considered putting in a sixth, but that didn't quite happen. Still, that puts me up 7.4 km for the week, and 8.4 km overall, so I can't complain. My total for the year, not including today's run, is 393.5 km.

The forecast for the coming week includes some days warmer than -20 degrees C, so I'm looking forward to that.

We received a new car seat for Alexa this week. We ordered it from Sears because it looks like it will be easier to strap into cars than the other one we have. The reason this is a concern is that many people in Iqaluit do not wear seat belts while driving, and some taxi drivers are not good about waiting for Christine to strap Alexa in. The older model seat we have might take 5-10 minutes to strap in, whereas the new unit shouldn't take more than 30 seconds - it's a much better design. Having this new seat will definitely give a bit more peace of mind when Alexa needs to go somewhere via taxi.

The only other noteworthy development is that Alexa learned how to scream this week. Joy! She's been practicing, which has put mommy's nerves on edge, but it looks like this stage may pass in a week or two. It might be a long week.

Week 9: Getting by

So, this past week I achieved my goal, just barely, but didn't make much in the way of gains. I only got out for four runs. I skipped Monday because I was tired, Thursday for grocery shopping, and Friday because it was -37 with windchill. I'm really tired of running in -35 to -45 conditions. However, it looks like I probably have at least another month during which those will be the prevailing temperatures.

Because I blew off my run on Friday, I needed to go on a longer run yesterday. It was colder (-30, -45 with wind), but at least it was in daylight. I ran out to Apex and back, the only snare being that for a good portion of the return trip I was running directly into the wind. After doing 9.3 km, I had to come home to warm up, then went out again to do another 4+ km.

This week I did 38.57 km, which including my surplus from last weeks leaves me just over 1 km to the good. Overall total is 347.5 km.

Otherwise, it was a pretty normal week. Alexa is learning how to laugh, which is cute, and has started grabbing toys and blankets. We pretty well have finalized our itinerary for our trip to Saskatchewan and Manitoba in May, it will be a busy trip, but we should be able to fit in most people we want to see (and who will want to meet Alexa).