Week 6 - Last Flight for 2018

This was a bittersweet week as it was my last week of work for the year. It was also the last week of school for the kids and the week before Christmas. So, it was pretty much a gong show.

Monday morning after the kiddies went to school, it was off to my buddies place to work on some speed.  We decided to change it up a little bit and instead of doing full laps around there school, we settled on running 400m with a 400m walk back to where we started. In the end we ran 5x400m. I was not thrilled with my time, but just glad that it was over. I complain every week we do speed work. I am hoping that one day I will just embrace it.

I was up extra early on Tuesday because my parents were going to come on my flight to Hong Kong and I was their ride to the airport.  I had bid this flight to Hong Kong with my friends so that we could celebrate Christmas together, so I knew that there may not be any exercise or running to be done on this layover. This was also going to be my last flight for the year.

Hostess with the Mostess

Your Friendly HK Crew

This was the first time I had my parents on a flight where I was working.  They sat in my section and I was able to serve my mom and dad and they were able to see me at work.

Besides a lot of eating and not a lot of sleeping, it was a great layover. I was able to celebrate with my buddies and also meet up with my parents for breakfast and a little bit of shopping before heading home to Toronto.

Shopping with Mom and Dad

Friday was long run number 1 in the trails. We decided to try for 5 hours in the trails.  It had rained while I was away in Hong Kong and then a cold front had moved in, so it was super ICY.  There was not much running for the first few hours of our run as we were just trying to not wipe out and manoeuvre our way through the trails.  The weather was just warming up so it was misty and a bit rainy. 

The Bell Tower

I finally got to see the "Bell Tower". I had heard  many of my friends speak of this Bell Tower and in my head I was imagining actually bells like the ones in the Notre Dame.  But, sadly it was fondly called the Bell Tower after Bell Canada, the telecommunications company

C holding on for deal Life

Our Buddy Karen Joined us for a Bit

Saturday was another early morning in the trails with my buddy Cindy.  We did a number a hill repeats while waiting for the sunrise, but it was much colder than the day before -9 with the wind chill and 44km/hour North West winds. We did 6 hill repeats and decided we had enough of the wind whipping against our faces and bodies. We headed into the Seaton Trail to finish up 18km of running for the day.

I had family visiting from California for the Christmas holidays as we were finally able to spend some time with them over the weekend.  My kids were so happy to see all my cousins and just goof around. We ate lots and stayed up plenty gearing up for Christmas Day

Cousins

I'm looking forward to Christmas, are you? I still have to run around and get gifts. I have become THAT person. The one who will be running around the malls on Christmas Eve, hunting down for the perfect present.

Have a great week. Merry Christmas to you and I leave you with a short video clip from my flight home from Hong Kong to Toronto.