My First 5km Race

About this time last year I decided that it was time to get healthy. Part of this new lifestyle meant getting out and being active as often as I could. I figured the time spent lying in bed and listening to the morning news on the radio could be better spent going out for a walk. On weekends I would go a little bit further and would start telling myself to run to the next lamp post or tree. As that started to become easier, I found that I could run a bit further to the tree after that, and so on. Eventually, I was able to incorporate more and more running (be it, slow running) until I could do a whole circuit without stopping to walk. I must mention that this all happened over maybe around 6 months.

Once I could say that I was a "runner" and not a run/walker, I needed a new goal. So I decided to aim to participate in the October Partner Re 5km women's race. 5km probably sounds small to many, but it took me quite a while to be able to do this distance without stopping – let alone actually run up those lovely Bermuda hills.

In the week before the race, a friend and I ran the route a couple of times so that we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Doing this meant that come race day, I knew I'd at least finish, which was actually my goal – oh, and also to not finish last.

Race day came, and I lined up to get my number to attach to my shirt, as well as a tag to put on my shoelaces so that we could be timed. I felt like a real runner now! I found my friends and we made our way to the starting line. There were hundreds of people all there, so we found a spot at the back, in front of the competitive walkers (whom we also said that no matter what, we would NOT finish after any of them!).

When we first got going, it was all quiet except for the sound of feet hitting the pavement. I was off to a good start, but I was thinking that I should remember to pace myself. Throughout the race, I tried to remember this, but as people come up from behind and pass you, it's difficult. Often, someone would pass me, and then I'd pass them up ahead when they decided to walk. Being in a race was definitely a different mentality to just running on your own. I found a lot of people often walked where I usually try to keep running, even if it is slowly. However, when people around me kept walking, I started to think it would be a good idea if I did too. I confess, I did walk for about 30 seconds at the top of Tee Street (a nasty hill in the last leg). But, given that my goal was to not come last and to not have a speed walker pass me, I knew that walking wouldn't help me achieve this. The race was almost over, and I needed to push on.

At the entrance to the Botanical Gardens I picked up to a sprint to the finish line in order to gain some extra seconds and pass some of those people who had just passed me. But I'm not competitive or anything! I finished the race in 33:16, which is about 3 minutes better than my old time. I guess that the race mentality worked!

My next race will be the 8km Bacardi Run in November. I've got some training to do!

Storm Season 2010

Hurricane season this year seemed to hit late. In the last 2 summers I've been here, we've had a big storm July or August. Although, both Bertha and Bill turned out to just be tropical storms where we just "battened down the hatches" for a few hours, and ate non-perishables and drank rum/wine. However, this year, once the season did pick up in September, it threatened us with about one possible storm per weekend (notice that they always came on weekends?!).

For Bermuda, first there was Colin, who wimped out and fell apart. As it was the first storm warning we'd had, everyone braced for it. Businesses (such as the dvd rental store) closed, tennis games were cancelled (for me, anyway), and it turned out to be a rather boring weekend of sitting and waiting. Although my friend's karaoke birthday party went ahead, thank goodness!

Next there was Danielle. She didn't even bring us clouds. Just wind and great waves in which we spent a couple of hours body-surfing at Horseshoe Bay.

Then there was Igor...
In the week prior, people in Bermuda were glued to the storm tracking websites such as stormpulse.com and weather.bm. What scared people was that until the day before, it was a category 3 direct hit. That would have been worse than anything anyone's ever seen here – even worse than 2003's Hurricane Fabian.

Igor was supposed to be at its closest point of approach by Sunday evening when it would be as close as 10 miles from the eye. But as it was a whopping 1400 miles across, we'd be feeling the effects of the storm for many, many hours before and after that.



Friday afternoon I had a bit of a panic attack when I realized that I had no food in the house, let alone any batteries or water, or whatever else one should have. We got out of work early to take care of things and I stocked up.

Luckily though, it was downgraded to a category 1 by Saturday. Saturday was overcast and windy, but everyone was still able to get ready. People were busy putting plywood over windows, trimming branches and bringing things inside. I went for a pre-storm run in the afternoon just in case I ended up being sat inside for a couple of days eating and drinking – as you do.



Sunday was the big day. I could hear the wind and rain gradually pick up as the morning went on. My friend and I were invited to spend the storm at some friends of his. We made a break for their place in Paget it around lunch time.

The power went out mid-afternoon, but they had a generator so we were completely spoiled. We had lights, watched dvds, and were able to cook dinner. At around 6pm we ventured outside and walked to the end of their street to see the ocean. The waves were bigger than I've ever seen!

The next morning, it was all over except for a bit of wind. There were lots of branches down and leaves were everywhere. Also, from the force and length of the the strong wind, many of the leaves on trees have been burned brown. It kind of looks like fall. I attempted to go for a walk on the railway trail that afternoon. I realized that it probably wasn't the best idea I'd ever had when a few metres in, there was a fallen tree blocking my path. Still, I climbed through, and went a few more steps only to come to another, etc. Eventually I had to give up and turn around.

I think that the hurricane season is probably over now. This storm made the sea-surface temperature go down 6 degrees! As the water cools down, so do the number of storms. To be honest, it's probably a good thing that none of the storms amounted to anything.

Tenting for Termites

A couple of months ago, a house down my street was covered completely in a blue & red striped canvas. It was done up tightly with what looked like bulldog clips, and had warning signs about the use of deadly poison.

This is what they do when a house is tented for termites. Apparently, it's a last resort, but needs to be done when the problem gets too great. According to a lady that I work with, it takes a really long time for them to do any damage. However, the roofs here are made out of heavy slate, and so if the wooden beams holding the up is infested with termites, it will become weakened and that's not a good thing!

Cup Match in the Rain, lalalalala

Bermuda has just had a 4-day weekend for Cup Match. It's a 2 day cricket tournament between the teams St. Georges and Somerset. This is such a big deal that the country gets Thursday and Friday off for it. It was nice to have the extra time off – however, weather-wise, this year's was a wet one!! It poured each of the 4 days with one wave after another. I took the opportunity to properly organize my place and give it a good clean.

Here's what I got up to:
There was a beach festival at Horseshoe Bay on Thursday which my friend and I went to late afternoon. We met up with some other people, and hung out for a few hours. That's when the rain started, and so we took shelter under a nearby tent and the tent owners shared their rum swizzle with us. My friends gave me a ride home (as I hadn't brought my rain gear to wear on the bike). It was raining so hard, their SUV wouldn't make it up my hill! We started rolling back and so they pulled into a driveway half-way up and I had to walk up the rest.

Friday was a rainy day, good for watching movies and more organizing/tidying. We turned to the TV coverage of the cricket game. Of course the pitch was covered over with a tarp due to the rain delay. A group of people were using the tarp like it was a wet-banana. I think it was more interesting than watching cricket! On the news the next day some politician said that they had "disrespected the game and the wicket". !?!

Saturday I went into town to run some errands. Got caught in stores several times as each wave or torrential down-pour hit. Went out in the evening, as I couldn't do another night at home watching movies. Sunday, we went to the "Non-Mariner's Race" in Somerset's Mangrove Bay. This is a race (or "non-race") where people build vessels out of whatever they think will float. These vessels (notice I'm not saying boats) usually are decorated with a topical or political theme. We were sat behind one that looked like a rocket with an "effigy" of the current Premier who's term is up in October. Here's the local newspaper's story on the day's event.

The rocket ship "vessel" before entering the water...

...and how the "vessel" looked by the finish line.


As we didn't have a spot on someone's boat – which is THE place to be, I'd bought a couple of really cool inflatable noodles with the plan to float amongst all the boats. But wouldn't you know, I forgot them at home, which quashed that plan. So we sat on the beach waiting for the groups to assemble their "non-boats". Soon, the rain came and we had to run for cover a few times. Eventually we figured we might as well go in the water if it was raining. We swam out toward the boats and held onto a mooring. But I got a bit uneasy because we'd left our belongings on the beach, so we headed back in time to see the "vessels" set sail. Before leaving, we walked over to the dock where the real party was happening and had a rum swizzle before heading on our way. By this time it was about 4pm, so we picked up Murphy the dog and went to Warwick Long Bay to have a nice swim. The weather had cleared up and it was beautiful!

A Traditional But Non-traditional Christmas

I decided to stay in Bermuda this past Christmas. Flights were very expensive, and the weather in Canada is so damn cold. I figured that it would be good to experience at least one Christmas here. Plus, I've never been anywhere warm over the holidays, so being on the beach on the 25th sounded like a novel concept.

Just in case I got 'cold' feet and found a cheap, last minute flight home, I'd booked the 24th off work. However, a friend contacted me to say that she was thinking of coming to visit – which meant that the decision was made, I'd be staying. Having a guest meant that I didn't have time to miss my family, which was a bonus.

Christmas day we went to join the crowds down at Elbow Beach. We made it there around noon after a traditional Swiss breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, lox and capers (my guest was Swiss-German). This is the view we had upon arrival. Lots of people, and lots of Santa hats.



I'd come prepared with some bubbly at a wine tasting earlier that month, so we walked around talking to friends with the bottle in one hand, and a wine glass in the other. After a few hours of this, we headed home for a much-needed nap. Or rather, my friend had a nap while I skyped my family. We opened presents just like I was at home with them.

By then it was time to head over to join some friends at Jill & Alex's place for Christmas dinner. Since Alex is Swiss, they decided to break tradition and serve Swiss cheese fondue instead of turkey. It was absolutely amazing! Dessert was courtesy of Valérie who cooked chocolate molten cakes. Delicious!


After dinner we returned to tradition and played games. When the first game didn't really work out, we resorted to poker. Good old Christmas gambling!

Queen's Visit

I've got a bit of catching up to do on this blog. A few notable things have happened over the last few months which are worth a post or two. For starters, let's go back to November.

On November 24th, 2009 Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip arrived in Bermuda to commemorate Bermuda's 400th anniversary. They were here for a couple of days and spent their time in a whirlwind of touring, events and dinners. November 25th was their only full day here and we had all studied the day's schedule in order to catch a glimpse as they drove by. Luckily, I got to see them three times throughout the day... well almost.

The first time, someone at work heard that they would be driving past the office along Front Street. So we all ran out onto the balcony to see. As they went by, Prince Phillip who was on our side of the car, saw us up there and gave a good wave. My co-worker got a good photo of him (above).

When it came time for their next move, we went to the bottom of Queen Street to wait as they headed to the ferry terminal. This time we knew what side 'Liz' was sitting on so we made sure to stand on that side of the road. The motorcade had come from the cathedral, the wrong way along Church (a one way), and the wrong way down Queen (also one way). I guess the Queen is allowed to do this. Anyways, as their car passed I got a good look. I'm not a die-hard royal fan, but as I saw her my heart skipped a beat for a brief second. It sounds like a strange thing to say, but I think was quite excited to have seen her as it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Later in the afternoon, we heard that their car would pass by the office again, so we went back onto the balcony. This time, as I'd gotten a good look at them already, I thought I'd try my luck taking a photo with my cell phone. The Queen was going to be on our side so I had it ready as the line of cars came. However, all I got was a photo of the road. By the time I looked up, I only saw her hand waving. Oh well, at least I'd already seen her.

Soup Schpiel

I'm busy making 2 different kinds of soup tonight. There's no reason why I'm making so much. Just that I've got the ingredients, and I'm on a roll.

One is lentil and carrot which I've never tried before. The other is one that I've made several times now so I thought I'd share the link... which is why I'm going on about making soup.

Curried Carrot Soup – http://www.chow.com/recipes/10748

It's very tasty and easy to make. It says to add coconut milk at the end which you could skip if you wanted – but I find it adds a nice touch. Also, I've found that spice I got at St. Lawrence market (I think it's called garam masala – definitely contains cinnamon) tastes nicer than curry power.

Anyways, that's my soup schpiel.