Less Than One Month Away!!!!!

So, June 3rd is very quickly approaching. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. There's so much to do now and very little time to get it done!!

EVENTS:

1. "Fastest Fran in Ottawa" at CrossFit O-Town
Date: May 11, 2013 (Saturday)
Time: 9:30 till 11:30am with BBQ to follow
Where: CrossFit O-Town - 21 Grenfell Crescent, Units 2-3 Ottawa, ON (see link on right of blog)
What: Think you have a great Fran time?! Bring your game face and some cash and see how you do!
Cost: Minimum donation of $5 to participate and do "Fran" (get your mind out of the gutter....lol)

Money raised from this event will be supporting my fundraising efforts for the Dream Team climb - I am supoprting Habitat for Humanity.

There will be some prizes at the event - some from Pure Yoga and Fatboys.

Hope to see you there!!


2. Going away party at Fatboys Southern Smokehouse in the market
Date: May 16, 2013 (Thursday)
Time: Starts at 7PM
Where: Fatboys Southern Smokehouse - 34 Murray Street, Ottawa
What: All you can eat dinner with a live band. Come meet the team and chow down on good eats!
Cost: $75 - note you will get a $50 tax receipt as this will be going to charity (Habitat)

I've still got tickets left and would be happy to bring along more friends!!

3. Machu Picchu Massage at Alta Vista Chiropractic and Massage with Richard Stannard
Date: Now through June 2, 2013
Time: There are 2 hours available each day, first come first serve
Where: Alta Vista Chiropractic - 1690 Bank Street, Ottawa
Cost: $50 CASH - note the whole amount is going to charity (Habitat) Richard has volunteered his time!
Notes: You need to specify that you want the Machu Picchu Massage (for tracking purposes). Tax and regular receipts provided.

Get Richard to massage away your aches and pains in support of a great cause!!

Random Thoughts about the Trip - April 16, 2013

Hi!

So this past week was busy, but I did manage to get out with a special guest for the maiden hike through Gatineau after a LONG winter without hiking at all. The trails were still covered in snow, and it was very much like hiking in sand!!! With a little luck we will have sunny skies and warmer temperatures soon! : - )

I will be in town this weekend as I have a few things going on that I need to take care of (like fundraising and event planning) but I wouldn't mind going for a hike. If anyone is interested in joining me this weekend, or any other weekend, I'm always happy to have people come along with me. You can meet the team, get some fresh air and some exercise!!!

I picked up more gear this weekend, so I now have the following items for my trip
-2 sets of merino long underwear, 1 light weight, one heavier weight (I got these all 30% off!!!)
-3 pairs of merino socks - 2 mid-weight, and one heavy for after the hike
-1 pair of hiking shoes
-1 puffy 900 fill jacket (I got this 40% off!!! even better)
-1 merino sweater
-2 pairs of light-weight hiking pants - they are columbia and fit like a dream!
-1 headlamp for reading, late night bathroom trips, and for penning postcards to people back home!
-1 sitting pad incase my sore tush needs something soft to rest on after a long day of hiking
-1 pillowcase which I can stuff with my coat/socks/anything soft to make a pillow out of.

To Do:
1. Sort out what I'm doing for bags
2. Vaccines/shots for the trip
3. Sleeping bag
4. Travel insurance
5. sort out snacks and stuff to pack
6. Look at a camera with nice tax return thanks to expert Kevin Lundy!!

FASHION SHOW EVENT FOR CARE CANADA
One of the ladies on the team is doing a fashion show to raise money for her charity (CARE Canada) on May 9, 2013 at Villa Marconi Centre on Baseline. Doors open at 6:30 and the show will feature the designs of Judy Joannou. Let me know if you want to check it out, and I can provide instructions on how to make a donation, which serves as your "ticket".

MASSAGES:
I am working with Richard Stannard at Alta Vista Chiropractic & Massage Clinic, who has kindly offered to donate a couple of hours each day to to massages for the climb. All of the money paid for these massages will go towards Habitat for Humanity!!
MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW.

April 4, 2013

...so this is a second attempt at today's post. Apparently it didn't publish when I hit "publish"...ugh

Anyways I haven't posted in a couple weeks so I thought I better get on it!! I will hopefully do a more detailed post this weekend!

I really wanted to just say thank you to everyone for their donations thus far. I am happy to say that I am currently sitting at $1,525 raised!! that's amazing!!!

There will be an event, our climb send off party, on Thursday May 16/13 at Fatboys in the Byward Market
Tickets are $75.00 and you get a tax receipt for $50.00 (proceeds are going to our charities for the climb)
It's all you can eat BBQ and there will be a live band
Event starts at 7pm
I will be attending and bringing my appetite and I have 7 tickets that will be available. I might be able to get more as well, I can look into if needed.
If you're interested in getting a ticket or two, leave a comment, message me on facebook, or text me!

Em

Good Morning!

I'm happy to announce that the Sunday hikes will be starting up mid-April!!!!

Kristi Johnston, a Dream Team member, is coordinating the hikes we will be doing in Gatineau in preparaton for the trip. I received an email yesterday noting that the hikes are to start up again on
APRIL 14, 2013.

We do the same trail every Sunday to serve as a benchmark for everyone to measure improvement.

The trail we do is Wolf Trail. we meet in parking lot 13 at 10am sharp. I have attached the link for driving directions which was included in the email the team received so that if you would like to join, you know where to find it. I'm also happy to carpool with anyone that wants to come with, but you gotta meet me at my place  If you're coming, let me know so I will know look out for you!!!  :P

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Enter+your+starting+address+for+directions&daddr=45.540668493291285%2C-75.91557318338221

Training went well last week, though I didn't do as much Yoga as anticipated...sometimes you just need to take a bit of a break and let your body recooperate!!  This week I hope to get into CrossFit and Yoga on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

As part of my preparations for the trip, I've also gone on a diet! So far that is working out pretty well, and i've lost a few pounds. I'll post more details on the days it says to go and re-take weights and measurements. The way I see it, the less of me my legs have to carry up the trail, the better!! ha ha

My goals this week are as follows:

1. Get all the details finalized for setting up the framework for my fundraising event. This includes a general time table, and permission from the building landlord to use the common area (parking/laneway) between the buildings. Once this is approved, I can then get out the official word and get people to register!

2. Send out a mass email to personal contacts in my email so anyone who doesn't have access to Facebook knows about the climb and can follow my blog or make a donation!

Lets do this!!

Em

March 14, 2013

Hello!

I feel great this morning, full of pep - maybe that's because it's only 8:51 and my day hasn't really started yet....fingers crossed this keeps up all day, I'm gonnna need it!

Thought I would try attaching a photo into my blog.....Hooray it worked!
The below was taken on Tuesday night by my friend Marty, who trains there with me and now happens to be O-Town's photographer.

KNEES OUT!

This was sort of a warm up weight at 20kg.  I think I ended up working at 30kg becase there were a lot of overhead squats and i was trying to be careful!

Just an FYI for anyone who doesn't know much about lifting a Woman's olympic bar is 15kg. Those red plates on the end are plastic and weigh 2.5kg each. Alternately, a Man's bar is 20kg, is a bit longer, and is wider..

Tonight I'm gonna head to CrossFit and then do a couple yoga classes at Pure!

I found out yesterday that the hikes are going to be starting soon again in Gatineau so I will post about those should anyone else want to get some fresh air with me!

Cheers!
E

March 12, 2013

Good Morning!

My week is off to a good start, and I hope yours is too!

I thought I'd talk a bit about my training this morning. I know a bunch of my teammates are doing bootcamp training with Lawrence Ringwald, and seem to be enjoying it. I have chosen to stick with my regular training (CrossFit) and have added hot yoga (at Pure Yoga Ottawa) and will be starting to go for some hikes again in Gatineau. I try to get in 3 CrossFit workouts and at least 3 hours of Yoga a week; however, some weeks just get a little busy and the plan that week goes by the wayside.....

Anyways, this week is certainly off to a good start with respect to training!
Last night I was at CrossFit O-Town. The CrossFit classes are an hour long and broken into two sections, a "skill" and a "Workout of the Day' (WOD). The skill portion is a focus on a lift, while the workout is like a circuit with a time element. If you want to see what the workouts look like, go to the link to my gym's website on the right side of my blog : - )

So the workout started with squat-clean thrusters - got to 1 rep at 40kg (not bad, not my best either)
and then did the WOD which was:
30-20-10 Wall Balls; Pull Ups; Pistols - 15 minutes of this for as many rounds as possible. I did two rounds and was 20 wall balls into my third round when time ran out....

Then did both of Todd's classes at Pure Yoga. There's nothing like a hot yoga class to help stretch everything out and get you relaxed before bed! I've been doing the hot yoga a month now, and I'm already seeing improvement with my flexibility.

The plan for the rest of the week is to do both today, Thursday, Friday and then to just do Yoga on Sunday.

I'm also starting to plan a lifting event at CrossFit O-Town, and I will of course keep posting details on here about it as more gets set up.

Thanks for reading!!

Em

First Post

Hello to anyone reading this!
I've decided to start a blog about the things I'm doing in advance of my trip coming up in June. Time sure flies by fast. It feels like just yesterday I was registering to do this, and here I am, within 3 months of getting on the plane!!!

Anyways, I hope to have a more thorough understanding of this whole blogging thing in the near future. It's funny how even growing up around computers, I still feel so inept at working with them sometimes!

So, about the trip:
The trip will be 10 days. We fly into Lima, and stay there overnight; the following day we fly into Cuzco where we will have a few days to acclimatize to the local conditions before we start our trip up the trail.

The trail (The Inca Trail) will take 4 days to get us to Machu Picchu. days one and two will be the roughest due to the steepness of the climb. My team and I each will have a little day pack to carry, and then we have porters that carry up our overnight bags - but don't go thinking they are carrying full suitcases - I believe we are only allowed to give them packs weighing approximately 6kg. As a woman, I'm wondering how I'm going to get 4 days worth of goods into my pack!!!

I'm hoping to do some excursions and tour around Cuzco during the days we aren't climbing, but nothing so far has been planned!

As for fundraising, so far I'm sitting just shy of $1,000 of my $5,000 goal. Still have lots to do, and am still waiting for more donations to come in. I'm also hoping this blog will catch some attention and perhaps help with the effort!!

Thanks for reading!

Em : - )