Long overdue pictures!

As promised here are a couple pictures from the last little while...The one of me dressed up is from a gala I went to a little while back and same with the one of Lea and I on the side. One picture is from Lea's birthday party and she is being closely observed as she opens one of her presents. Maybe she will share....

The other two are of a future star...Spencer who was with me on the weekend during my accident. The pictures are from a triathlon he did at the end of the summer. He's a great athlete and an even better kid!

Rough Weekend!

This weekend I went to North Bay to coach a swim meet on Saturday and Sunday. I had a really good time staying at my aunt and uncles house Saturday night with Spencer. Sunday after the meet Spencer and I went up to the cottage to check on a few things and I had to empty out the fridge and freezer. While we were up there is started to snow quite hard! So on the way back I slowed down because the roads were snow covered. We had just crossed back into Ontario and were about 30minutes from North Bay when a car came up from behind me very fast and passed me. As he was coming back into the lane he came in too soon and I had to use my brake so that we wouldn't hit. As I braked I lost control of the car and did a couple 360's before going off the road backwards down a side of a hill. It was very scary but somehow neither of us were hurt. As we climbed out of the car and got back up to the road we noticed the other car was nowhere to be seen! To make things worse there is no cell phone service on that stretch of the highway. I waved down a car that drove us back to the gas station in Eldee. I asked the guy if there was a towing company in the area and he said there was only one guy who worked for himself. So I called him and he said he would leave right away and that he only lived 5minutes away. Over 2 hours later he shows up...I reported it to the police as well and they showed up as well. After my car was pulled out of the ditch the tow truck guy said the car was "drivable" as soon as I changed one of the tire and put my spare tire on. Not too sure what made him think it was drivable but after $140 charge for 5minutes work to pull me out I didn't want to know how much it would charge to have him bring it to North Bay. We made it to North Bay though alright and we stayed at my aunt and uncles again. I owe both of them BIG time for everything!! The next morning I brought it over to the dealership and after finding out I need two new rims, two new tires, two new bumpers, an alignment and they still haven't looked under the car I decided I had to go through insurance. So after the $140 tow or should I say "pull out of the ditch" and the $500 deductible it turned out to be a not so good ending to the weekend.

On a more positive note it was Lea's Birthday last week and we had a nice party at the YMCA with a bunch of friends. We went swimming and then had food and cake. I got some good pictures of the party that I'll have to upload soon.

Not too much else is new...I did another school presentation last week which was a lot of fun! My new shoes and orthotics are on order from Robin at BioPed that I should be getting any day now. Robin and his team over at BioPed are great and they've helped me out a lot with shoes and orthotics which has saved me bit time!! Other than that training is going good...I'm really focusing on swimming right now and have been swimming fast and I have a few goals for some big swim meets after Christmas. I'm still running and biking though but it's just been a lot of base work. My aunt and uncle who I stayed with in North Bay this weekend are going to Florida for the winter and have invited me down to do some training in the nice weather. I'm going to try and take them up on it this year and try and get in about 10 days of some really good training.

Christmas is coming soon and I just want to remind everyone after my accident this weekend to be extra carful while travelling over the Christmas time and just be aware of the other drivers on the road as well because it could of been a lot worse on Sunday!

New Construction

This is a picture from where I grew up of the new house that is being built from the people who bought our place. I have a lot of really good memories from growing up there from skating on the ice, fishing, making forts in the bush...the fun was endless. I'm fortunate that our old neighbour and one of our best friends still lives there and I can go out to visit when I get a chance.

Training has been going really good lately! I've been swimming probably the fastest I've been in a very long time. Today my main set was:

10x100 @1:20 holding 1:09-1:10

5x200 @2:40 1-2:19

2-2:19

3-2:17

4-2:17

5-2:12

On Sunday I had a big work out as well...I did an hour run +stairs in the morning. Then later I did an hour and a half hard swim and had my bike set up on pool deck and did an hour on the bike. It feels good to get back into the hard training after a little bit of down time and some lighter training.

I have to say a Big Thank You to Josee who is the owner of Gagnon Opticians and a very good friend for my new glasses! They look really good and even though I have pretty good vision I still find they make a big difference especially at the end of the day when I'm tired and I have trouble to focus.

Early Christmas

Friday was almost like an early Christmas for me. First I received a big package from RBC with all my Olympic clothing with shirts, sweaters, vest and a really nice winter coat! Next was my new racing bathing suit from from Omni Swim that arrived a little later in the day. It's a speedo FSPro. I had to get a new racing suit because of all the new rules to the suits. It kind of sucks when you have all these suits worth a lot of money sitting in your closet that are no good anymore. Last but no least Lea had ordered me a book back in August when I crashed so kind of inspire me and all that but it was on back order and it didn't come in until Friday. It still looks like a good book and even though I'm not a huge fan of reading I'm sure I can find some time for this one...there are pictures so that always helps:)

Here is a picture that I was just sent from the photo shoot I did while I was in Toronto for the RBC Olympians Conference. We just finalized everything today for their website so my profile should be up in the next little while on the RBC website.

I received some exciting news yesterday that I've been nominated for the Community Builders Award Of Excellence in the category of Sports and Recreation. The description of the award is: The award goes to the individual or group that has contributed to the strength of sport in Sudbury. They have inspired people (a coach), established a program (a league or playground), mentored a team or an individual to extraordinary accomplishment, or set an example for many to carry in their hearts.

So many things...so little time...

Things have been a little crazy around the Green house as of late. We have a swimmer from the Sault who is going to be staying with us for a while. We've been trying to get things figured out with him as far as getting him into school and such.
Lea's uncle passed away last week after a short battle with cancer. Lea just got back last night from London where the funeral was.
This past weekend my sister and I and Josh the guy who's staying with Lea and I went up to my cottage for the weekend. It was a beautiful weekend with all the fall colors and we had a really good time and even caught some fish.
I've also been busy with work and my training has kind of taken a back seat for the past couple of weeks. Although it's a big frustrating for me it's also a good thing because it gives me kind of a break after the season before I start training for next year. I've been swimming though almost everyday and I'm starting to swim pretty fast again so I know my fitness is still there. I have a swim meet this weekend here in town but I'm only swimming one race.

Sault Article

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2103412

Check out this link from my trip to the Sault this week to do a presentation.

RBC Olympic Training Week

I got back last night after four days at the RBC Olympic Program Training Camp. It was a great experience all around. There was about 30 athletes there who are all past, present and future Olympians. I got to meet some very interested people from all over Canada and from all different sports. It was a lot of fun and they really treated us well! Yesterday we had a photo and video shoot and I got to hold the Olympic torch. They had a make up artist there and unfortunately even the guys HAD to have their make up done...that was an experience in itself!
I was told about a few of the cool events that I'm going to get to do over the next couple months. I get to go to the World Under 17 Hockey Championships and I get to spend 6 days on the torch relay as you goes through all of North Eastern and Western Ontario and right to Winnipeg. It's sure to be and excited time and some experiences I'll never forget.
I'll get some pictures up from the photo shoot as soon as I get them!
Tonight Lea and I are going to the Northeastern Ontario RBC Gala at the Holiday Inn. I have to give a speech to about 300 RBC Employees which will make for an interesting evening.
Unfortunately this week I've been feeling a bit sick...no full cold or anything but just something lingering around so I've tried to rest this week and my training has been pretty limited but I'm sure my body needed the break.
This Thursday and Friday I'm in the Sault for a torch relay school presentation. They have a bunch of activities planned so it's sure to be a lot of fun.