Finally ..... a Little Update :-)

It's hard to believe that we only left Phoenix just over a week ago after an emotional goodbye to the city we had called home for the past 2 1/2 years. Sitting here now in our new home in Leduc, the intense heat and the desert trails to which I had become so familiar seem so far away in both distance and time. It's been a strange week - I've been so excited to be on the road heading north to start a new chapter in our lives, but I've felt pangs of longing when I've seen friends' pictures of those same trails on social media.

The build up to our move was pretty stressful what with Andy working away most of the time and me having to pack and arrange pretty much everything in his absence. Looking back, I'm surprised we managed to get moved on time and I'm pretty sure if our amazing friends Skye and Ian hadn't been there to help us load up in those last couple of days, we would have really struggled. Thankfully we hit our schedule and the truck with all our household belongings left Phoenix the same day as it too made the 1,700 miles journey to Leduc in Alberta, Canada.

All of our stuff - see you in a couple of weeks!

With all the stress of the move, it was hard trying to fit in my normal daily routine of looking after the dogs, working full time and of course getting in my runs, but I know that walking the dogs and running bring stress relief and make me happy, and  I actually think that the extra effort of maintaining my routine kept me sane in the last few weeks.

Before leaving the desert, I tried to run as many of my old familiar trails as I could and I had some very happy memories as I did so. There is no doubt that I was extremely lucky to live so close to such an amazing trail network in Norterra where I could literally hit the trails within just 5 minutes of leaving the house.

Saying totty bye to Deem Hills :(

One area that I hadn't had the pleasure of running was the White Tank Mountains in Waddell. Last year I had volunteered at the Mesquite Canyon 50km and having done the final sweep of the course, I was exposed to 10 miles of the course. I absolutely loved what I saw and so I decided to make Mesquite Canyon the last race I would do before leaving Phoenix.

It's now a month since I did the race but I can still remember the emotion I felt that day when I saw all my Phoenix friends at the start and the Aravaipa banner that has become such a familiar sight to me. I tried not to think too much about it being my last race in Arizona for a while and had every intention of just enjoying the day and soaking in the beauty of the course.

The race actually went better than I expected. There was a lot of climbing which probably lost me the race (I was just a few minutes behind the lead lady at Goat Camp and just 10 minutes behind at the finish), but the sheer ruggedness and technical terrain of the course had me hooked. I absolutely loved it! Running down the steep and rocky Goat Camp was amazing. I saw so many friends making their way up and I felt happy that I had spotted them and gave me a chance to say hello for the final time. There were some good runnable sections on the course and I really pushed on those stretches and manged to pass other runners in the process. The most exciting part for me though was running through the Canyon before heading in to the finish. Jumping down those amazing boulders and rocks was challenging on tired legs and yet I was like a kid in a playground and was having so much fun!

Absolutely  loving Mesquite Canyon

Podium Picture :-)

I expected to finish the race in around about 6 hours so was over the moon when I came in at around 5 hours 17 minutes and finishing second lady - like I said, it was a pretty amazing day!

I haven't raced since Mesquite Canyon and I admit to missing those Aravaipa Races which now appear to be in full swing. It's worse when Facebook shows me my memories of which there are so many linked to Aravaipa!

Saying all that though, now we are back in Canada I know we have done the right thing. As soon as we crossed the border, I felt different straight away - even more happy, even more excited, even more positive about our future.

The drive back to Canada went pretty smoothly too and we couldn't have asked for anything more. We'd opted to stay in Kamp of America log cabins to save on cost and stopped off at Beaver in Utah, Pocotella in Idaho and Great Falls in Montana before heading to Calgary for a couple of nights whilst waiting for the house keys to become available. We were driving for around 6 or 7 hours each day but it was a nice steady drive up and even the dogs and Khayman the cat seemed settled and relaxed with the drive. Our original plan had been to hire a car for the drive up and purchase a new one when we arrived but the extortionate cost of a one way drop off changed our minds. We decided instead to drive up in our wonderful little Jeep, "Pongy" and to re-import her to Canada. She's over 10 years old now, had 280,000km (nearly 180,000 miles) on the clock, but she has been the most amazing car ever. We trusted her with the 1,700 mile drive and she didn't let us down :-)

Our trusted Jeep :-)

Jeepy ready to hit the road :-)

We found numerous dog parks on the drive up and of course the dogs loved having all the space to run around in (they loved Deem Hills but it wasn't quite long enough for Wilson to get up to full speed!), although Tillie was a little unsure about the mud, and eventually the snow and ice which we encountered when arriving in Montana. Wilson and Brandy have both lived in Canada before but of course Tillie is originally from Mexico and has only known the heat. The good news is though that she is adapting extremely well and she LOVES wearing her little winter jacket to keep her warm.

Dog Park Fun in Montana

Dog Park Fun in Lethbridge

 One of our favourite dog parks when in Calgary was Sue Higgins and so we arranged to meet some friends there whilst passing through on our journey to Leduc. Wilson and Brandy certainly remembered Glady and Michelle and their daughter Abbi and it was great to see the reactions when they all saw each other again after nearly 3 years.

Old Friends in Calgary

Old Friends in Calgary

We got the keys to our new house last Tuesday and as soon as we walked in we were once again taken aback as to how nice the house is. We decided to down size this time so it's just under 1,400 sq ft, but it's warm, it's cozy and it has a lovely backyard for the dogs to play in. Andy had to fly out to Newfoundland on Tuesday evening so I've been here on my own for the past few days. Our stuff still hasn't arrived from Phoenix so I've been sleeping on the floor and working standing up. We've no television, no radio and up until a couple of days ago, no internet. It's been ok, but I'm now ready for our stuff to arrive - I tried to make a shepherds pie the other night and forgot that we didn't have a masher, and then we bought dog food but don't have a can opener. It's the small simple things you really miss!

Of course now I'm here, I can finally get back in to my running again. I have a couple of races planned with the first being a 12km trail race at Gold Bar Park in Edmonton next weekend. After that we're off to Canmore for a 4km trail race with the dogs which I'm extremely excited about. Glady and Michelle will be running with Wilson and Brandy whilst I run with Tillie, and all proceeds go to the sled dog association in Canada which promotes the wellbeing of care for all sled dogs in the country.

Then of course after that I have Blackfoot Ultra 50 miles on May 26th. I'm really excited about that one as it's on the woodland trails just an hours drive from home, it's the Canadian Championships so will be pretty competitive, and I will hopefully get to see lots of old friends out there.

I'm back into the swing of things with my training again and today I did a lovely 12 mile run. The weather had warmed up, the sun was out and we had beautiful blue skies. I found some lovely parkland trails to run along which took me to the nearby countryside and the vast open fields of the prairies, and it felt wonderful to be splashing through puddles and have water around me instead. Leduc is pretty flat so I will need to do lots of strength work to get the right muscles working for the hills I'm missing (Adam ...!) but I'm hoping to hit the trails at the weekends when things are more settled and hopefully I can get my climbs in.

12 miles of happiness, Leduc

So that's a brief summary of where we're at right now. In terms of work, I'm got a transfer with GE to Canada so for now, I'm still doing the same job but working from home. This alone gives me more time as I no longer have to commute and I can start and finish earlier as a result. How long this will last in the current climate I have no idea, but if it all falls through in a couple of months, I'm still planning on setting up my own business and hopefully making it a success here in Leduc.

For now though, I'm feeling very happy and content. I just need my hubby to come home so that when I stuff does arrive, he can set things up for me and I really will then be in my element :-)