MA degree has arrived!

WOOHOOO!!! It’s official: my degree has arrived this morning!!!!

August in Ottawa, NYC, and Montreal!

This August, I spent most of the month visiting with friends and family in O-town. I attempted to stick to my training schedule and had some fun on some borrowed bikes (thank you!!).  I had a great time spending time with everyone and am super happy that everyone gave a warm welcome to Adam into the family!  We took him around Ottawa, Orleans, Kanata, Mont Tremblant, and Metcalfe.

Here are some pics from the trips.

We flew into New York City on the Friday night the weekend of Hurricane Irene and experienced what it’s like to be in NYC when public transportation shuts down and most of the stores and restaurants close. Luckily our hotel had a little kitchenette in it, so we stocked up and camped out for the Saturday night when the hurricane was meant to hit. We watched the news to see the storm coming and then went to sleep. We woke up the next day to some rain and wind, but nothing too catastrophic.  New Jersey got hit pretty hard, but we were lucky. We did cancel our trip to DC because of the back log of trains, but that let us have an extra 2 full days in NYC. We biked in Central Park, saw a Cirque du Soleil show (and we’re still confused if there was meant to be a storyline or not?!), and did a TV/Movie bus tour. The weather was gorgeous.

The hotels we stayed in have some issues they need to work out. Element by Westin is really nice and has excellent rooms, but their breakfast is a bit weird (ie. line ups, nowhere to sit, and bit complicated when it doesn’t have to be) and their elevators are awful. It does have an awesome view of NYC on the 15th floor though. The second place we stayed: Hudson Hotel right by Central Park was our nightmare. I’m not sure how their system works, but when you add a days stay they mess up your account and charge you for no-show fees, then refund you and then charge you again. The rooms were tiny and not well-lit at all (the entire hotel is not well lit). The breakfast ($28 each) was not something I’d go for again. There were no plates and we had to ask twice to bring more out. I could eat yogurt and fruit. Adam could eat that and the pastries.  For $28, it was a huge rip-off.  It’s a good thing we spent most of the time out of the hotels, and maybe that’s what they want!

I got to see some friends that I met in Harrogate and have some delicious food. We ate Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, sandwiches, subway, steaks… YUM!

In Montreal, we met up with Justina and Eric who took us around and out for dinner at a Greek restaurant. The next day we flew back but not before our boat trip along the St. Lawrence River.  Nothing like getting a great tan before coming back to grey London!

Thanks for making the trip wonderful and fun-filled!

missed a few weeks of training updates… TRIATHLON DONE!

After travelling around for a few weeks and not really keeping up-to-date here, the triathlon has come and now has gone!  It was pretty hard and I’m not so sure I’ll do another one.  I think the official times are going to be posted sometime soon, but I’m pretty sure I did it in 1hr and 34 ish minutes.  The swim was 400 m and I did it in around 8:15, then biked 15km around this loop six times with a not-so-nice hill (glad we went to Tremblant to practice hills!), and then ran 5 laps around a park that had ups and downs for 5km.  I didn’t run a full lap since my legs were dead after the bike.

Adam came and cheered me on and took some pics that I’ll post later.  Now it’s time to relax and try not to fall asleep until at least 9pm (it’s 6:41pm!).

Thanks to everyone who has supported me and donated to the Leonard Cheshire Disability Charity.  It was a great day out and a perfect environment for a first triathlon!