A picture is worth,,,,,

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

5 kilometers in 27 minutes and 14 seconds?

Really? REALLY? Yup,, your darn tooting. And you want to what? I did it. ME. I didn't have Bob and Jillian from The Biggest Loser screaming at me from a golf cart behind me. I didn't even have Adam behind me on his bike telling me to "get out of my way gramma" (heh heh, I actually like that). I just got out there and did it. I'm so proud of myself today. Is my goal of doing a 10K is 50 minutes in reach? I think it is. Yes yes, I know. I know. If I can get my 5K down to 25 minutes, doesn't automatically mean I can do my 10K in 50 minutes, but come on. I've been running for a month, that's it. If I keep this up, what will I be like on April 21, 2013, for the Vancouver Sun Run or more important, May 5, 2013 when Tamara and I "bring it" to the Vancouver Marathon.

You know, I think this is even more amazing becuase, it was was just 4 years ago I was laying in Royal Jubilee Hospital cardiac wing in the middle of a 4 hour heart operation with my heart surgeon deep inside my ticker burning away defective areas (14 in total). When my new family doctor heard about it after, she looked at me and said "you know, people that have what you just had fixed, usually drop dead at 45, hoenstly, they do". Well, I'm 45, I'm not dead, I'm far from it. I'm getting a hold of my life, in so many ways.

I almost didn't run today. It's grey, cool, raining on and off. At lunch I casually mentioned whether I would run or not tonight, and Craig looked at me and said "Why wouldn't you? It's your run day". thanks buddy. :-)

I've taken what I know, applied the things I've learned, listened to some GREAT advice (thank you very much Tamara), and just decided, I need to get in better shape.

I don't think I've ever felt so good on a Monday.

aaaahhhhh The Weekend Off

yes, I had the weekend off. No visitors, not tax returns, no "mandatory" overtime, but the weekend still filled up, as I got caught up on a few errands, including a relaxing car ride to North Van where I stopped at a little roadside shop and picked up some local honey and fresh cherries. I also paid a visit to The Honest Butcher (http://www.thehonestbutcher.com/) and got some stewing beef and hand sliced bacon.

Friday after work, I snuck in a great 5K on my new shoes, "outside",,, sweet, and I knocked 3 minutes off my best time. Then it was off to Moxie's to meet up with Kelly (from Victoria). He was in town visiting friends, so we all went out for dinner. They went out partying after dinner, but for me it was home to bed. Saturday I spend the day trying to get my place together, and that led me to some cool used furniture stores on Main St. I was in 3 tiny stores for over an hour, just looking at everything, but didn't find what I was looking for.

Big brother Kevin (disillusioned with my blog on facial cleansers)  asked for a blog on my guitars. Well, I don't think I can do that in just one blog, so I thought I would break it up a bit over a few. Here is my Martin & Co D-15.

I love this guitar. About 6 years ago, after years of trusty service from an old "department store" guitar, it was time to get my but to Long & McQuade and and get a new one. I had a limit of $500 for a new guitar. It wasn't like I was going on tour the next day. But after trying 3 or 4  guitars the sales person just grabbed this off the wall and said this"try this one out". It was a bit more than I had planned to spend, but it was totally worth it.

It was love at first strum. I have since installed an internal active pickup, with a volume switch at the top of the sound hole (on the inside). And with all things that don't sit in a china cabinet, it's getting it's fair share of bumps and bruises. The first was a small hole in the side that was repaired in Victoria. More recently I've bumped the front of the guitar on something, and put a two inch crack in the front that's about to get repaired here in Vancouver. I'll keep you posted on that.

With my move to Vancouver, my Marshall amp seemed a bit too big for the place, so, I was back to Long & McQuade and with a high recommendation of a product they probably have 40,000 of in the back and the incredibly tantalising price of a $100, I picked up a "Fender Mustang I" practice amp.

 
This amp is so awesome. For the size and the price I can't believe how good it sounds and the features it has. Preset sounds, effects, a tuner, internet ready (though I've yet to plug it into the internet), it's got it all.

What I like most about this amp, is it's small enough to just have out, in my living room, plugged in and ready to go all the time. Nothing makes you NOT want to play the guitar more than having to lift a Marshal amp. It's got to weigh 200 pounds.

Speaking of pounds, I lost 5 pounds this week. It's not easy, but I'm doing it.

New Running Shoes

The are actually more green than yellow, but I'll admit the camera on my phone isn't that great. Plus I still haven't found the cord that plugs my camera into my computer. Where the heck is that dang thing.

The shoes felt great the second I tried them on, and last night when I got home, I tried them out on the treadmill in my gym in my condo building. I've never run on a treadmill before, and,, meh,, what evs. I'm sure they serve a purpose, like when it's 40 below out, but for now I'll stick to the Sea Wall.

I ran the 5K in my gym, because if I run the first couple of times on a treadmill (and not outside) and they don't feel good, then I can return them. No chance of that happening, they are great. It was also the first time I didn't look at the price tag of any of the shoes I was trying on. I didn't want some "sale price" to be a factor. In fact I didn't know who much I was spending until he rang it up. They were $139, plus I bought some running socks (I just couldn't say no to the super hot young guy helping me). So I made my decision on comfort alone,,, plus,, I'm a sucker for anything neon.

Tonight I took a break from running. Pretty much a break from everything.

A great little article Lainie sent me,,,

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/fitness/running/training-and-technique/why-i-run-alone-and-sprint-away-from-running-groups/article2437713/print/

Record Breaking Day,,,

,,,, or so my running watch is telling me, complete with little Nike fireworks. Longest run, fastest 5K, fastest km, best pace, most calories burned,,, etc etc etc

I'm totally into the novelty of the Nike+ Running Watch,,, it's kind of weird to get back from a run, download the data, and watch it plot the route on Google Map, though I just ran it, so I'm not sure why I need to see it again so soon, or ever again for that matter. Was it worth 200 bucks? Well, it seems to be getting me off the couch and into a running routine, which is great. And if I can just get to a point where I actually "enjoy" getting out and running for a half hour 3 to 5 times a week, then I'm thinking it was a pretty good deal.

Also, I'm hoping to SHATTER my next 10K time. My first 10K run was 1 hour 6 minutes, this years in the Vancouver Sun Run, my time jumped to 1 hour 10 minutes (though I have no problem blaming it on the 50,000 people that were in my way). The next time I run a 10K, I'd like to be around the 50 minute mark. I think the watch (and the Nike+ website I download my data too) can help.

Tamara has put out a challenge to me to run the Vancouver 1/2 Marathon next May. She obviously has A LOT more confidence in my abilities as a runner than I do. Craig (my personal trainer/tax adviser/lunch buddy) also thinks I can do it,,,, or were his words "I know you can". So this watch better have some magical Hogwart powers.

I'm trying to get my Nike+ data linked to my blog, but honestly, I'm not that good at that kind of stuff,,, so I'm guessing it will take some time.

The apartment is starting to look pretty nice,,, I'm moving some stuff around,, can't wait to get a kitchen table. Pictures to come.

End To A Long Weekend

After our run on  Sunday, it started to rain and didn't stop for the rest of the day. I'm glad we got our run in early, because I don't need any other excuses to not run. Trust me, I already have plenty. With the rain coming down, we grabbed some umbrellas and went shopping on Robson Street. Nicole wanted to pick up a few more pairs of shoes, and I think she was excited to get some that she wouldn't be able to get in Winnipeg. We stopped by a Shoppers Drug Mart and got some face cleanser for me. So my face products I'm using are La Roche-Posay cleansing gel, Olay Regenerist micro-sculpting cream, Dr Brant pores-no-more vacuum cleaner & Boscia no-pores no-shine.

With it still raining, we jumped in the car and decided to head up to Cypress Mountain. There wasn't much of a view with the overcast skies, but it was nice to get out of the city. It's also a neat opportunity to show a visitor how close Vancouver is to downhill skiing. Saturday your shopping in 20C and Sunday your tromping through the snow just 15 minutes away.

Our last night in town, it was time to just relax and what a better way to do that, than at a pub.  We headed to my favourite place in the Gay-bourhood, The Fountain Head Pub and sat on the patio right beside the big fireplace and had some delicious pub food and beers. Spicy Peanut Sauce Wings, Fresh Cut Fries, Nachos with guacamole and salsa made fresh daily. We chatted and giggled and told stories. What a great night.

Monday morning, it was still raining. We thought about the going for a run, but with the swish swish swish of the cars driving through the rain, we just weren't into it. My goal is to run 3 times a week right now, and I'm on schedule, so skipping my Monday run didn't bother me too much. Nicole had to pack, and we also wanted to stop at Ikea on the way to the airport. A quick lunch at Moxies and I had to say good bye to my good friend. It was such a great time and I hope next year is just as fun.

I picked up a few things at IKEA to help me reorganize the apartment a bit. I've been here almost 6 months now, and I'm STILL trying to unpack, and get things where they belong. I've been throwing a lot of stuff out which feels good. Maybe I'll try and focus the blog a bit on my efforts here at home.

Also, my running has left my feet a little sore, so I think its time for some new running shoes. The ones I'm wearing are about 3 years old. I got them in Montreal with Tamara in 2009 at Age Group Nationals.

Shopping Like Crazied Teenage Girls

What a great day on Saturday. It was hot (for Vancouver) and sunny, and the day was just begging us to get out there and enjoy it. After our run, Nicole and I hit the town running (well actually driving). After a few errands, we heading to the Outlet Mall at Queensborough Landing. I think we went to every single store (except Sleep Country Canada). I ended up with a fantastic wind breaker jacket from Bench. I had seen this jacket before when it first came out, at $125, but it was now on sale for $49. I'm glad I waited. Nicole went a bit crazy, but ended up getting some great clothes (lots for work) that she really did need. Along with a ton of braclets, as "that's her thing". We had Indian for lunch,, as Tamara would say,, nom nom nom,, it was so good. Afterwards we took the long road back through UBC and back to my place for Nicole to try on all her clothes.

Our late lunch, didn't put is in the mood for dinner, so we just vegged out here, and headed, yes, back to Earl's. It's just so easy, as it's about a 60 second walk from my back door. Again, we were both checking out all the hot men there, but we aren't having very much luck with first contact. I think we look too much like a couple.

We had a good sleep in Sunday, and did another 5km run. I'm glad we are getting out running. I'm still on my goal of 28 pounds, but it's so difficult when your having people visit. It feels like I've been eating at resturants for months now, and it will be nice when I can get back into routine.

It's now 1:37 in the afternoon, and it looks like we are both prettied up enough to face "the beautiful people" of Vancouver.

Always Hold On To The Truth

Nicole has been here for just 24 hours, and we are having a great visit. There was lots to catch up on, and boy did we chat. We went for breakfast at The Elbow Room Cafe then went shopping along Granville and up Robson. Nicole got a pair of John Fluevog shoes (to die for). Then it was a good long walk along the Sea Wall. We had a very late dinner at Earls in Yaletown. This morning, was a 5km run via the Sea Wall and it was great to have some company along for the run. Nicole is kind of shocked at how many good looking guys are in Vancouver. She's single (and looking) and she certainly has the looking part figured out,,, "look at him, look at him, wow,, look at him".  Here are some snap shots of the day,,,

Pretty Excited

You bet I am. My good friend Nicole is coming to visit for a few days from Winnipeg. I have to admit, I have lots of great friends, they are cool, fun, interesting, smart, crazy, some have great kids, some come with a great extended family I can tap into, but Nicole, well, she all that AND she's a public accountant.

We met years ago working at the same public accounting firm. We actually didn't work together for very long, and our lives have taken some twists and turns since then, but we always remained friends, and this will be our second annual May Long Weekend together out here on the West Coast.

Her flight gets in pretty early (7:55am) so I'm doing some last minute, frantic cleaning. Trying to de-pube the bathroom, make the place look presentable, put out fresh fruit in bowl and make it look like I have that available all the time (which I don't).

Tamara was just here for a fantastic 10 day visit, and she kind of laid all the ground work for Nicole's visit. She found all these great restaurants and cool stores. To Nicole, it'll look like I totally know Vancouver, when actually I don't know much about this town except a fairly cool gay bar called The Fountainhead Pub. It's a sports bar for gays, and as my friend Sarah calls it "it's the least gay of all the gay bars".

anyways,,, I leave you with a little something that public (tax) accountants find VERY funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v_alwa4V_Y

Still working on getting pics from my phone or camera onto my blog. Coming soon to a blog near you.

Words of Wisdom

Someone once told me “It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you spend”, which I’ve come to believe is very true. Take my friend HH in Victoria, he’s 55 and just paid off his mortgage. OK, that’s not a HUGE accomplishment, BUT, I do his taxes for him so I know how much he makes, and it’s not a lot. HH is a hairdresser, and unless your Hollywood Hairdresser to the Stars, you probably not bringing in a 6 figure salary. But it’s not what he “makes”, it’s what he “spends” that gives him the ability to pay off his mortgage, oh, and he did it in about 10 years.  HH can stretch a household dollar so far it’s amazing.

This leads me to a similar situation, weight loss, and another saying someone (Tamara) once told me,
“weight loss is easy, you just have to be burning more calories than your taking in”, and once again I’m finding this very true. Unless you have some weird glandular problem, either increase your daily physical activity, decrease your caloric intake, or a pleasant combination of the two.

Where I find these two situations are similar; with household income, you always know how much money is coming in, it’s difficult to track what (and where) your spending your money on. And that’s why people struggle making ends meet. And with food & exercise, it’s fairly easy to track how many calories you’re burning, but how many calories are you taking in? Again, I think this is why people struggle to lose weight. My fancy new GPS Running Watch loves to tell me how many calories I just burned on a run, but I find tracking calories going into me, extremely difficult, time consuming and boring. I HATE calorie counting.

To tackle this problem, of what food I’m eating, I’m going to go back to some basics and hope this helps. The first rule of thumb is to avoid anything white. Sugar, flour, pasta, potatoes (especially the deep fried variety), butter, mayonnaise, and the list goes on. On the flip side of that rule, try to eat food that have lots of colour, and apparently the darker the colour, the better it is for you. Yes I know that there are exceptions to this rule, like “Cauliflower is white” and “McDonalds Shamrock Shake is green”, but come on, really? It’s just a guideline, not the Ten Commandments.

Second is to plan my meals, especially breakfast & lunch. This is where I fail miserably. Breakfast is so important and yet I tend to just skip it and have a Starbucks coffee. And lunch, well if I haven’t packed it, then I’m roaming around the food court at noon try to find something, and chances are I haven’t eating breakfast either, so I’m starving to death. To counter this, I try and get my breakfast and lunch done up the night before, then it’s just done. FYI – my breakfasts of late have been amazing, delicious smoothies, and my friend CL has got me adding raw vegetables (beets, brussell sprouts) into the mix too. I get it all into the blender the night before, so I just blend it up and away I go.

Finally, everything in moderation. It’s OK enjoy things that may not be helping you lose weight as long as you’re in control, having them on occasion, or in smaller portions.  

Hi to my followers J how exciting is that,,, you totally made my day that people (other than Tamara and my mom) are following my Blog. To Amy, I am currently 208 pounds and hope to get down to 180. And to Fran, thanks for adding an international flair to Mountain Biker Eric.

Thank You Lord Stanley

For the Stanley Cup? heck no,, for Stanley Park. :-)

Today, after some serious arm twisting from Craig, I made it down to my bike locker and dusted off my Norco and went for a 20K ride around Stanley Park. It's my first? second? ride of the year. I know what your thinking, since when does Eric need arm twisting to get on a bike. Well, the only bikes I have are right now are Down Hill bikes, and as awesome as they are, they are designed for, well, going downhill, not cruising through Vancouver, but regardless, I had a great ride. Stanley Park was just amazing tonight. It truly is one of the better things about living in Vancouver, having the park right there. It was nice to see so many people out and about tonight. One of my faves are the soccer players that bounce/balance/kick their soccer balls. You see them out front of BC Place before the Whitecaps games, and always in the parks. so cool.

Right after work saw me in the squash courts at the gym in my office building with Sam, one of my work mates. Neither of us new what we were doing, but it was a good start to a new sport. I could see it becoming a lot of fun if either of us get any good at it. We both worked up quite a sweat and had a good work out.

Getting excited, as Nicole is coming to visit May long weekend. She'll be here Friday morning till Monday night. I still have no idea what we'll get up to, but she's pretty easy going, and will pretty much follow me anywhere. I'm kind of thinking about heading into the interior a bit. I haven't really explored much of BC since I moved out here 6 years ago.

My place is a bit of a mess, but could care less. My couch is super comfy, there is hockey on, and I'm curled up under my aunt Pat's blanket. ahhh life is good.

the first post,, how exciting

well, it's exciting for me, probably not for anyone that has to read it. Today is the first for a few things. Not only is it my first stab creating a blog, and coming up with something to say, but I also put on my new Nike + Sports Watch GPS and went for a 5 km run. Of course I was beet red, and dripping in sweat about 1 minute into the run, but I finished my 5K in 32 minutes and just felt good getting out there. Plus the new GPS running watch is pretty cool.

I'm starting this blog in hopes that my family and friends will log on and see what I'm up too. If some strangers want to read what's going on, that's cool.

I have a few goals in my life right now. One it to lose 28 pounds. Another is to get REALLY good on my mountain bike this summer in Whistler. I guess by starting this site, my third goal is to make it interesting, and find the cord to plug my camera into the computer so I can upload pics.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads in my life right now,, and I feel the path I'm on is a good one. I've struggled the past few years, and I'm ready for a seriously positive life right now, and I think I have all the right tools (mental, physical, financial, spiritual) to make it happen.

So,, with that,, welcome to my blog. If there is one thing I will try my best on here, it will be to keep it honest.