Children teach you patience, selflessness and how to get up freakin' early!

Morning blood sugar: 4.3 (I indulged in a rum and diet coke last night for a Friday night treat- sometimes when I have alcohol the night before, I end up a bit low in the morning)

Episodes of low blood sugar today : none (it's currently 8:45 am)
C's mood today: Good. He suddenly has a runny nose...again (sigh!)...coughing, snotty, but happy.

Workout this morning: 55 minutes of cardio- 10 minute warm up on our elliptical, 45 minutes run on our treadmill. Yes, we basically have a '24 hour fitness' location in our basement!

Clean eating today: breakfast was a bagel thin (as the name sounds, a super thin bagel with about half the carbohydrate factor of a full bagel) with 1 tsp natural PB, egg whites with a bit of hot sauce, and a Christmas orange. About 40 grams of carbohydrate total. My girlfriend once asked me how I know how much carbs are in different foods. The short answer is I read a lot of labels and memorize a lot of packages. For example off the top of my head I know there is 25 g carbs in a bagel thin, 16 g carbs in 12 rice crackers, 15 g carbs in 1/3 of a cup of old fashioned oats. Fruit is a bit of a guessing game depending on size- I wagered my orange had about 15 g carbs in it this morning- we'll see later if I am right based on my blood sugar reading later this morning. All you needed to know and more about carbohydrates, right? Well when it is truly a matter of being healthy and feeling well it becomes very important! 

Yes, I've posted a photo of my breakfast, and you love it!

 

 

 

Another sweaty Saturday! 55 min workout done before 8am-Thanks C for the wake up call.

It is dark and extremely cold outside (for Vancouver Island anyways). I am tucked snugly into bed with my dog and husband snoring next to me. I hear a door knob rattle, and a little person clicking a door shut down the hall. I roll over and look at the clock. 5:38 am. I can't help it and let out a moderately loud, "UGH!" It's Saturday morning and my son is awake. It is not enough that I spent half the night listening to him cough (side note: kids can hack and cough IN THEIR SLEEP, and will remain asleep even though their parents lie awake down the hall, thinking of ways they could help them feel better. Second note: it is possible to feel physical pain when you listen to someone sound uncomfortable all night-when my son has a cough (which is usually like 4-5 times a year) I get a tightness in my chest, and I feel it is more difficult to breathe. The cause is likely my own anxiety and neuroses-but I like to think it is my "connection" with my own flesh and blood, he was a part of my body for nine months after all!)

Jeff tries the old "C, it is too early. Let's get you back in bed." To which C answers, with his favorite 2 year old term "No." Jeff counters with "Do you want to get into bed with me?" To which C answers "Yes". It goes without saying, Jeff and I are perfectly ok with this under the circumstances. Read "The Books" all you like about what to do, and what not to do; Sometimes 'in the moment' as a parent you do what needs to be done, one reason being for pure survival, the second reason being so that you don't lose your s$%t first thing on a Saturday morning. Not a good way to start your day, ever and best to be avoided.

The co-sleeping thing goes well for all of about 5 minutes.  After the 5th episode of C coughing in Jeff's face, Jeff has had enough and gets up to get ready for his day (ie. workout, shower, etc.) C and I stay in bed for another 10 minutes when C decides he is ready to face the day as well. So I do what any good parent does on a cold December morning at 5:50am (Parenting Police-skip over this part, or you might have a coronary!) -I plunk C in front of the TV with a blanket, a glass of water, and I return to bed for a 20 minute power nap. Once you have been up at 5:30, 6:30am feels like a glorious sleep in!

The bright side here? I am up, dressed, showered, and have completed a workout and it is not even 9:30am. One thing about getting up so early-there is that much more day to enjoy. Here is to hoping my day involves a nice long afternoon nap.....with some ear plugs. Love you C!

Sweaty Saturday

Hello! I have been MIA as of late. Where have I been you ask? My answer: life. Life has taken over. Between working 4-5 days a week, my workouts, motherhood duties, and trying to maintain a non-disgusting house, it has left me little time for writing.

I am enjoying a long weekend and all I can say is yay! For the last few weeks I have been working 5 days a week with Wednesdays and Sundays off. If you work a regular Monday - Friday job don't underestimate how precious those two days off in a row are!THEY ARE PRECIOUS!

I have never minded daylight savings in the past, but this year it has taken on a diabolical image for me. This due to the fact that my son has been totally messed up by this time change. His wake up times this week ranged from 3:30 am -5:50am. This was also totally messed by the cold he ( and I ) have been fighting. Mama is tired- and so is C-bear. Hence why I am back from a 5 km with him and he is sleeping while I write this! Like the good old days when I use to walk miles with him just to get him to have a nap!

Feels good to sweat. And let me tell you pushing a 32 pounder while dragging a beagle ( attached to my waist) is no easy workout! In fact I think I need some carbs pronto- hoping for no low blood sugar today- that battle continues, but I will save that rant for another day! Hope everyone is having a good Sweaty Saturday! I'm off to the spa with my Mom for a facial- my birthday present! Woot, woot. 

Yes, the dog couldn't stop sniffing long enough for me to get a good shot- those darn Beagles and their noses!

Sniff, my baby is growing up.

Morning blood sugar: 6.8 -tried to make a healthy nighttime snack choice last night and chose a homemade no bake banana coconut protein bar. I love them, they have no sugar, but apparently not a great choice for blood sugar. I've noticed if I eat celery with peanut butter at night, my blood sugar in the morning is fantastic. If I'm craving some more carbs at night my blood sugar tends to be a bit high the next morning. Sometimes a girl needs carbs, right? I didn't exactly eat a piece of chocolate cake! Ugh, this disease.

Episodes of low blood sugar today: none. Felt ill at one point but it was a false alarm. :)

C's mood today: no tantrums so far! Remains very argumentative and opinionated... What do I expect, this is MY son!

Clean eating today: Breakfast was PB&J oatmeal- combine 1/3 cup old fashioned oats with 4 egg whites (I know, stay with me, it's good), microwave in increments, stopping to stir every 20-30 seconds until cooked. Add 1tsp PB, 4 chopped strawberries, some milk and a packet of Splenda. Yum! Recipe courtesy of Sarah Gilks of Nanaimo's Core Essentials.

Workout this morning: ' Jump Start' workout with Fit To The Core Fall Challenge. This a fitness challenge I joined, it is run online by a Nanaimo couple, David and Sarah Gilks. They provide workouts  and nutrition advice for 12 weeks. This is week 2- good, tough workouts. Can't believe how much muscle I have lost since my diagnosis- time to gain it back! Also feeling exhausted from the tough workouts though, hoping this will pass.

I have not felt much like writing lately. I have taken on another day of work per week, it has been raining and cold, and having a two year old can be exhausting. Trying to write has felt like another thing on my " I have to do" list- so it has not been appealing to me. Feeling the need to write currently so I thought I would run with it.

The rain has arrived early on the West Coast-so much for a long summer. :(

Over the weekend we went out to visit my parents. They live 40 minutes away, so we packed up mid morning and stayed out there for dinner. A great day of watching football, visiting, and relaxing. C typically naps at my parents. For the first time he managed to climb out of the Playyard we keep at my parents. It was one of those moments that I found super cute as a parent-but had to keep my stern face on. C looked so guilty opening the door to the spare room-I was relieved to see he knew he wasn't suppose to be out of bed. He was good about it-we put him back in the Playyard and I lay down on the spare bed next to him, and within 15 minutes he was asleep (ok, we were both asleep. Did I mention I have been tired?).

The escape artist struck again yesterday afternoon. C was playing his new favorite game of 'testing', this specifically involved whipping me across the face with his favorite teddy (did I mention toddlers are not only exhausting, but at times mean as well? Exhibit A) and it was time for a time out. Initially I asked for an apology, which was not happening. So I took him and put him in his crib. Great 'time out' spot when your child will stay there. Not much of a lesson learned when they simply climb out after two minutes and come back to the living room, where the bad behavior went down in the first place.

Long story short, we converted his crib to a toddler bed today. This was exciting but surprising for me. Surprising because for the first time I had this strong pang of sadness go through me. I was sad because C is getting big. I don't consider myself like other mothers in the sense that I have not had a lot of these pangs along the way. Some women talk about how hard it was to give up breastfeeding-truthfully I was relieved to have my body to myself again, and C and I never looked back. Other women were a little sad when their babies started solids-I was counting the days until it was 'allowed'-my kid was 18 lbs at 2 months-he was starving all the time. I can remember thinking-'how fast can he eat all solid food?' For me, it wasn't happening fast enough.

I look at C these days-opening and closing doors, doing stairs all by himself and a part of me is absolutely amazed and relieved that those days of carrying him everywhere are over. He climbed a 10 foot ladder by himself at the park last week to go down the slide on the other side, and didn't even miss a beat. Long gone are the days when my arms were aching, and I was wishing he knew how to walk.

We are still in a learning curve though. This toddler bed is going to be a new transition. You will see from the picture below-the first nap time with the new bed did no exactly go 'textbook style' as my Type A self had hoped. Oh well, I still had a nap. Which was needed. Here is to growing up, and 'trying' not to look back.

The empty toddler bed-3:00pm

My nap buddies-listening to them snore and the rain outside was extremely comforting! So much for not sharing the bed.

Recounting Race Day-Motherhood makes you tougher, I swear!

Alone in my hotel room after the race-time for a selfie! :)

Morning blood sugar: 6.6 (up again, not bad though. What the heck? Yesterday was 4.9-nothing different in my routine)
Episodes of low blood sugar today: None- I think. Suddenly got very grouchy and impatient while running errands with C. A Starbucks' cappuccino did the trick. If in doubt, get Starbucks. I am not talkin' a Frappuccino though (might as well be called Junkoccino)-I'm talkin' a Tall non-fat variety.
'C's' mood today: Good. Much better than previous in the week I have to say. We have been under some stress in the Taylor household this week, one of the stressors being our son. C has moved at daycare over to the big kids side (3-5 year olds). He is 2 1/2 but the caring workers at the facility felt C was ready to transition. I think with everything that has been going on lately-returning from a fab trip, moving further into the year of being a 2 year old, etc. he is struggling with this transition. Here is a visual: Jeff drops him off at daycare, C is already crying as they are driving to daycare and proceeds to scream when Jeff attempts to leave. Poor Jeff. All parents know that when your kid is suffering, you are suffering times a million. Having your heart ripped out and stomped on almost everyday for a week makes one want to drink quite heavily (don't worry, we haven't gone that route). It has been rough let's just say. Onward and upward, right?
Workout today: Sprints on the Treadmill this morning. Jeff was off to work early so it was me and C. Tried to have a quick, efficient workout. 10 minute warm up, 30 sec, 1min, 90 sec, 2 min sprints with 30 seconds slow pace in between and an 8 minute cool down. Sweaty fun (and hard work!). I think my 2 year old is on to me though-everytime I slowed down he would look over and smile and say "all done?" He was getting impatient apparently. Hoping our peaceful days of working out together are not quickly coming to an end.
Clean Eating Menu: It is my mom's birthday today (Happy Birthday Mom!) and my mom and dad had invited C and I out for lunch with them. As I know that eating out can sometimes lead to not eating the best, I made sure to have a light and healthy breakfast of a French Vanilla Isagenix 
shake.  For lunch I ordered a thin crust individual Tuscan pizza at Boston Pizza (chosen for a C friendly location) which I ate half of-portion control is so important when eating out, Diabetic or not!

So I wanted to make sure and recount my race day. One, because people have been asking about it, and two, I would like to write an entry about it before my 'mom brain' memory makes it fade into oblivion. Newborns permanently fry your brain. I'm serious. True even 2 1/2 years later. Sad but true.

Lookin' fresh at kilometer 6

The night before my race I was fortunate enough to stay at the Team Diabetes hotel. I actually had access to the hotel for 4 nights but only used it for one, as I wanted to be with my family the rest of the time, and not a roommate whom I barely new. Staying there the night before my race was a really good idea for a few reasons-it allowed me to meet other Team D members at the Carbo Load Dinner, it helped me focus on getting a good night sleep (and not worry about my 2 year old), and my stranger of a roommate was kind of a God send, who helped me relax and realize I should have fun and stop worrying.

Shelby, my roommate, was 18 years old, a student of Scandinavian history and was signed up to do the full marathon (!). I don't mean to get all hippy dippy on you but her aura was calm and gentle. She was perfect for my nervous, anxious, Type A self. A few gems from Shelby: "oh, are we suppose to be down in the lobby for a photo? I didn't know. Good thing you are paying attention." "I love Icelandic music. I've downloaded a bunch of songs onto my ipod for the run" (Icelandic music, what? Other than Bjork, I have to say I was out of the loop). And finally, "Oh, you run with a belt? I don't have one of those. When I was training I would just loop back to my house every time I needed water". After training with a bunch who would die without their "high performance gear" this last comment almost killed me, and also struck me as the cutest thing ever! Shelby, a God send.

Team Diabetes-together we raised over $ 420,000.00!

The morning of the race I woke up with this refreshing sense of calm. After days of being a nervous ball of stress, it was like a choppy ocean turning into a smooth piece of glass. I wasn't even worried about the weather-I couldn't control it, so I had to just go with it. This is Icelandic weather for you-before we left they were calling for 5km/h winds, part sun and 12 degree temperatures. When we arrived in Reykjavik 4 days before the race the owner of our rented apartment told us, "they changed the forecast, it is suppose to rain on Saturday", 2 days before the race it was raining with winds gusting up to 45 km/h (I was almost crying thinking about having to run 21.1kms in that). That is what the Gulf Stream does to Reykjavik-makes its' weather highly transient. Thankfully we woke up to cloudy skies, light rain, and light winds. I could live with that.

Another thing that was stressing me was the race start time. 8:30am. Most of you are likely thinking what's wrong with 8:30am? Well if you are a Diabetic and you usually get up at 6:30 am to run, it screws things up for sure. Too late not to eat, to early not to change your insulin delivery. Usually before a long run at home I just have a glass of chocolate milk, set a reduced rate on my pump and go. When you are Diabetic and need to eat something before you exercise you have to lower how much insulin you give yourself. If you test before you run, having not covered all the carbohydrate as usual, you typically end up with a high reading. Which is exactly what happened.  I decided I would have oatmeal, cover half with insulin, and test before we left the hotel room just to make sure everything was ok. 11.7 is what it read. Again, this sense of calm stepped in. 'Nothing you can do Amy, you are about to run over 20 km at a fast race pace, you feel fine. Don't worry about it'. So I left it and went down to meet up with my Teammates.

The hotel was only 2 blocks from the start line. We walked around the corner in misty rain to meet a sea of people standing in front of City Hall. If you have never been to the start line of a race you need to do so. The positive energy was flowing, and you could feel the excitement through the misty rain. Fabulous!

I don't speak Icelandic and this was kind of a blessing at the start line. I typically start to get a bit nervous when you are standing around listening to a race organizer blather on about course rules, and number of participants, and record times. At this race I could not understand a word that was being said! Sweet ignorance!  I stood there in my throw away warm up clothes (these are clothes you wear to stay warm at the start line, with every intention of taking them off and never seeing them again, as you leave them by the side of the road before the gun goes off) shaking my legs out, and simply getting into the zone. And then before I knew it, we had started!(don't worry I understood enough to take my warm up clothes off). :)

The first 6 kms were a blur of people cheering, banging pots and pans on the side of the road and me being herded along with some pretty fast runners. There were some slight downhills in there too, which made everyone go even a bit faster, with all that adrenaline pumping. My race pace was suppose to be 5:40/km- at one point I did a 4:54, oops! A little speedy. Slow down. Robert from Team D came to see me around 4 kms in-he is in phenomenal shape and completes Team D events by running up and down the course path to see how all of us participants are doing. I know! That man is in shape!  He came to see me at the right time, we discussed my time goal and he settled me down a bit.

Before I know it, after some beautiful waterfront running "by the sea" (as Icelanders like to say-they don't often say 'ocean') we are downtown running between some highrise buildings, and I am running over the 10km mat-I check my watch 54:56 (!) holy s#$t, that's the fastest 10 km I have ever run, Diabetic or not. I'm killing this! :) I spend the next 5 kms getting mentally ready for the hill that I know is coming at kilometer 16. I am counting my carbs, and making sure to eat as planned every 20 minutes. 2 Stinger gummies, every 20 minutes or 8 grams of Carbs (with a 50% reduced rate on my pump). By 15 kms my stomach is getting full and I don't want to eat, but know I have to. I've packed an Eshot by Isagenix for this exact moment, before that hill. An Eshot is all natural, has caffeine and some herbs in it with apple and other fruit juice (think 5 hour energy shot but better for you) and definitely gives you some pep when you need it and it packs 8 grams of carbs, just like my other snacks. I choke it down.

Here is the hill. I was worried about it but shouldn't have been as I am up and over it before I know. At the top a woman says something to me in Icelandic. Maybe that helped distract me. I must look Icelandic! She switches to english when I sheepishly tell her I don't understand-she wants to know how far we have gone. I tell her 16km. Now we are in the "second half" of the race. This is when I always start to fade. They say there are 2 parts to a full Marathon-the first 32km and the last 10km because at 32 km is when things start to get 'really hard' (let's face it 42km is a flippin' long way, the whole thing is hard!)-I get what they are saying though because for some reason at 16km things change. Your legs start to feel like concrete, your stomach a bit queasy, and let's face it, you're hurting! And that's when the wind kicks up. Of course, this is Reykjavik.

I turn back onto the road to head back to the finish line. 17km, 18km, now I really want to stop. And guess what, I've got to eat again (dammit stomach, just fit in a few more chews!). The rain is pelting me in the face, the wind is whipping a bit-it's only about 10km/h but it feels like 30km/h. I hate to write this but to eat my last 2 chews I walk for 30 seconds. It's either that or cramp up-so I do it, reluctantly. I tell myself "keep going! There is no tomorrow!" "Pick me up Dennis! I know you're here!" (Dennis is my mom's cousin-we lost him to Cancer a few years ago. He was the life of the party. A man who loved life, loved family, and L-O-V-E-D being an Icelander. Some of his ashes were spread by his brothers in Tjornin Pond in the center of Reykjavik-a pond I ran passed during the first km of the race- I knew part of him was there with me!). I start running-for Dennis, and for myself. 

I pass a water station, pick up a glass of water, drink two sips and splash the rest in my face. I'm wet already from the rain, but I need to wake up! It's time to tough this one out. Let's go. The road is straight and (thank goodness) flat. I start to hear a few cheers from up ahead. 19km. It's Jeff, I can hear my husband cheering! I can see them, Jeff crouched with C, pointing me out on the road. And there is my Mom in her red raincoat-all bundled up. Thank goodness they're here!!! I fight the tears welling up in my eyes. They yell, take pictures and I have never been so happy to see them. A smile creeps onto my face. C doesn't see me, he is still looking down the road. He is so cute! Look at that face! I yell with all I can muster"I love you C!"  He turns to see me, finally. He is so handsome. I keep running. For Jeff, for C, for my Mom and for me. 2 kms left-that's like 10 minutes, I can do 10 minutes.

I take my earbuds out as I turn the corner, the fences are set up along the street now, towards the finish line. There is a band playing on a stage set up on my right, and I actually listen to them for a few minutes as I run. I can see the clock-damn it has a 2 in front of it, I really wanted it to say 1. 1 hour and blah blah minutes......shoot. I'm just a little too late.  I sprint to the finish, see a photographer and give him the best 'I just ran the best race of my life smile'. In the race program it said "make sure to look up and smile for the photographer at the finish line", so I do just that. My mom later says to me "I can't believe you were smiling after all that". I told her "how could I not smile?! I just ran the best race I have ever run after 8 months of hard training and 13 months after being diagnosed with an incurable disease." That is a hell of a lot to smile about! Oh, and did I mention the $6, 530.00 raised for the Canadian Diabetes Association? Right, still smiling here.

Official time 2:02:07. Fastest pre-motherhood time- 2:07, first half as a Diabetic-2:15. Moms and Diabetics do it faster, apparently. Yep, still smiling!

The Hot Dog gene

The most famous Icelandic hot dog stand down by the waterfront in Reykjavik

Morning blood sugar: 6.9-higher than it should be, I don't know why? My body still adjusting to the time change maybe?
Episodes of low blood sugar today: 1, almost 2 (a 3.5 at around 11am and tested a 4.2 before lunch, grumble, grumble). Jeff made this amazing egg casserole for breakfast and I obviously miscounted the carb content-he usually uses pre-made mini hashbrowns as the base, today he used shredded potatoes. Again showing that it is way better to use fresh ingredients over packaged, for blood sugar for sure anyways.
C's mood today: It's official-he is acting two today (as he should really, he is almost 2 1/2). I felt as though we had dodged the bullet thus far with tantrums and unruly behavior...well it's here today, that's for sure. Doesn't want to be told what to do, asks for something, you bring it, he doesn't want it, crying uncontrollably because Jeff told him it isn't safe to play in the street.(!) Sigh. Deep breath. :)
Workout today: 40 minutes kickboxing DVD completed with Jeff first thing this morning-C is back to his 6:30am wake up. Goodbye 8 am it was nice while it lasted. Great to be up, finished a workout, and showered by 9am though, I have to say. :)
Clean eating menu: Amazing egg casserole for breakfast (thank you Jeff)-it includes egg whites, shredded potatoes, a little bit of bacon, mushrooms, a little bit of cheese, green onions-all baked to golden deliciousness. Yummy! Another great recipe from Bill Phillips' Eating for Life


I'm outing my mother today. I know, terrible. But it's kinda funny so I thought I would share. And it involves our trip to Iceland, so I thought it was fitting.

Our first week in Iceland is kind of a blur. Between jet lag and getting ready for my race, I was one tired and stressed individual. Add to this that I am the mother of a two year old who, of course because of the time change, would wake up in the middle of the night and want to hang out...in other words I was a bit of a mess (Jeff can confirm this). We arrived early Tuesday morning (after taking an over night flight from Seattle-by over night I mean that we left Seattle at 4:30pm, and with the time change and a 7 hour flight, arrived in Reykjavik at 6:45am-more on this in another post, I promise).
By Thursday I was ready to get out and explore a bit. My Mom's cousin, Frida (her and my Mom have the same great grandmother-so cousins? I guess, don't ask me the exact relationship, bottom line we're related) who lives in Reykjavik had offered to take me out to see the race route. So my Mom, Frida, Frida's wife Sjofn (pronounced Shep...don't ask. And yes, Icelanders have marriage equality :)) and I went on a drive to check out the race route, while Jeff took C to one of the local geothermal pools.

The tour of the race course lasted about an hour. It was great to see the race course to help my mental focus, and it was kind of like a little sightseeing tour as we got to see some of the great landmarks around Reykjavik. It's funny when I have been in other races and I would read in the race program that there were race course tours available, I would laugh and think "how boring! why would anyone waste their time with that?" Hmm, apparently me. No really, it was great to know that there was a pretty major hill at kilometer 15, and definitely great to know where the finish line is when you are dying around kilometer 19.

Ok, so back to my mother. Carol has been a Type 1 Diabetic for 40+ years. She was diagnosed at 22. I have always marveled at her will power. She often says no to cake (I know, cake!?!), has one slice of toast with her eggs, and often will not even taste something if she knows it will be sugary. In her defense, she grew up with this disease at a time when they basically told you to deprive yourself. No sweets, no treats, period. Well the rules have changed lately. At least that is what my health care team tells me. They say "it is perfectly ok to have a small piece of cake if you are at a birthday party, just cover it with insulin". The take home message-you can treat yourself once in a while, just not all the time. Sound familiar? Yes, because that is basically what they tell anyone who is following a healthy eating plan-Diabetic or not. (I'm smirking, if you can't tell).

Carol is not perfect. Who is really? From my experience with her in the last 31.5 years, I know that she has two vices. One is wine. The other is, wait for it, hot dogs. I know, right? Of all the things you could love-cookies, cake, chips.....my mother loves hot dogs. I can remember her telling me on her day off when we were kids, she would go to the mall, do some shopping, and she would sheepishly tell me that she stopped at A&W for a 'whistle dog' for lunch. I could feel the guilt oozing from her pores, but could also tell that she had loved every bite.

So how can a woman with the will power of a God love something as 'kinda gross' as hot dogs? Well the mystery was solved in Iceland. Two words 'Islendingar Pylsur', or Icelandic hot dog (I guess that's three words). It's in her genes. Apparently they are world famous ( I know, this was news to me), and even Bill Clinton stopped for one when he visited the land of fire and ice. When Frida and Sjofn dropped us off downtown after our tour they told us "you have to try a hotdog" and proceeded to tell us the most famous hot dog stand was just around the corner. Well how could we not? I was carbo-loading after all.

Don't get me wrong, part of me wants to like hot dogs. They are kind of a staple-who doesn't have them at a baseball game or while camping? Well, usually me. The real reason is I usually feel sick after. Which is exactly what happened in Iceland. Our relatives that had been to Iceland before us told us you should 'order a hot dog with everything'. It tasted quite good, but I didn't realize it came with this mystery sauce. It was the color of caramel and tasted really sweet. Turns out it was some weird blended combo of relish, ketchup, and mustard. Which guess what (?), all have sugar in them. So I think I likely felt sick because of high blood sugar, which I got because I mis-calculated the carb content. Can you blame me, I have like 1 hot dog a year?

Anyways, like I say, I can't fault my mother. Nobody is perfect. It simply brings her down to the same level as us mortals. She is an Icelander, not a Norse God. And apparently she was blessed with the hot dog gene. :)

 

Look at her! She's beaming! ;)

That's Jeff in the tuque-we brought him back after my race. I opted for Icelandic pastry over another hot dog

.

Bill and I have a few things in common-running and Icelandic hot dogs (hopefully not heart attacks!)

Check out this link to Hot Dog by LMFAO I had it on my music mix while running the half in honor of my Mom. Jeff and my Mom had never heard this gem-maybe you haven't either. ;)

Back to life, back to reality

What a great trip we had! We arrived back in Canada Monday, had my first day of work today. I'm coming around but still have moments of feeling like I need to run to bed, now! I want to write more but feel like I am back to the grind already with an ever expanding 'to do' list. It was so nice to get away, get out of my routine, and above all finish off 9 months of hardwork by completing that half marathon I have been training for.

A quick post tonight just to post a few pictures...

Taking off from Seattle with Icelandair- C loved the plane, especially the window seat 

My boys out for one of our amazing dinners- Icelanders (as the rest of Europeans) know good food!

Amma (that is Icelandic for Grandmother) on a funky shopping street down from our rented apartment. That is the church Hallgrímskirkja- don't ask me to pronounce it!

Jeff and I at The Blue Lagoon. Had a beer in the hot springs. This was the day after my race-my legs loved the geothermal waters which are suppose to have healing effects ( I would hope so at 40!euros per person for entry- oh well, it's worth it!)

Promise to write more extensively later but for now time for bed-it's 9:30pm. In my defense that is 4:30 am in Iceland. 

August- I'm beginning to think you don't like me.

Morning blood sugar: don't know yet. I am trying to stay in bed as we have a long day of travel ahead of us, but I can't sleep in. It's 6:37 am and I'm writing this while lying down in bed.

Episodes of low blood sugar today: see above.

C's mood today: still asleep thank goodness- a few sleep noises here and there.

Clean eating menu: we will be flying all day so this should be interesting. I've done my best to pack healthy snacks- as best you can without packing fruits and veggies. We are flying through Seattle and you know how the US can be- I remember I went camping one year in Minnesota and they confiscated my veggie burgers ( veggie burgers, really!?There were 2 of them and they were just for me!).

Workout: planning on a light 5 km on the treadmill to stretch my legs before I am stuck in a tube for the rest of the day- did I mention this will be with a 2 year old? Wish me luck.

Oh what a couple of weeks it has been. It is enough to be flying overseas to run a race- let alone to pack a family. Needless to say the last two weeks have been busy with organizing, tying up loose ends at work, and far too many trips to the pharmacy ( I must write another post soon titled " flying as a Diabetic" just to fill you in on all the ins and outs).

Previous to last year, August has aways been a pretty good month. Nice weather, that bit of chill in the air at night makes you sleep better, my sister and dad have birthdays in the month so there is usually a celebration or two. Well, the love affair ended last year when 5 days before the month began I was diagnosed with an incurable disease, on the first day of the month I took my first insulin injection, and the vacation time I had booked for that first week of the month was spent learning to look after my new Diabetic self.

The love (hate) affair continues this year. My mother called me last Thursday as I was getting ready for my run clinic. A conversation that begins with "Amy, your Dad and I are at the hospital" is never a good one. It turns out my Dad won the "get a Staph infection that attacks your knee and requires emergency orthopaedic surgery" lottery last Thursday. Needless to say he will not be able to come to Iceland as planned. :( he is now on IV antibiotics daily which he has to go the health centre to get. Thankfully he is doing much better in the last week and is starting to sound like his old self. He is a strong enough man to have encouraged us to still travel- even his primary care giver ( my mom) is still going. Thank goodness for great family friends who have offered to help him while we Are gone ( thank you Court and Betty and Don and Claudette- you have made a very stressful situation a little easier on all of us!).

Well, better go. A crazy day ahead. I am feeling a mix of excitement, nerves, guilt ( love you Dad!), and pure " let's do this!" Attitude. After all this trip is 10 months in the making. Wish me luck! It's still August after all, I'm going to need it!

Last night's fortification- Brenivin. Only three glasses, sigh.

Think Icelandic Schnapps- also known as 'black death'  :) I'm fortified, are you?