Victoria Life

It’s nationals week! I’m excited to be back in Moncton and am looking forward to racing Saturday afternoon, catching up with friends, and watching Canada’s best track and field athletes compete. I will be racing at 2:30 ADT.  A live feed, results, and any other information you could possibly want can be found here: Trackie.ca and here: Moncton2014.

This post however (as you can probably tell from the title) isn’t about Nationals. So without further delay, here’s a little glimpse into my life over the past month or so.

I’m not sure there could be a more drastic change coming to Victoria from Flagstaff.  From altitude to sea level, and from dry (and mostly brown) to moist and green, it was a welcome change. It felt so good to be back on Canadian soil after being away for so long, even if I wasn’t actually coming back to my own house. A couple things I noticed while in Victoria:

1. People leave the most random things out on their front boulevards.

{ Santa hats or an office chair anyone? }

{ Small kitchen appliances or a colourful painting of birds? }

{ How about some baby books? I’m actually kind of interested as to what “Super Baby Food” is. }

I’ve also seen a car seat, loose drawers and bedsheets, decorative mirrors and clocks, and a small grill.

2. I swear all the hot water tanks in Victoria are cranked up extra high. Hot = scalding, warm = hot, and cold = cool. I must have the memory span of a goldfish when it comes to this because I’d be washing dishes and turn the tap to hot, burn myself, turn it off, only to turn it back on instinctively to hot less than a minute later and burn myself all over again.

3. BC cherries taste infinitely better when you get them in BC. Ditto with strawberries and really any other fruit or vegetable. I’m going to miss my Saturday tradition of going across the street to the farmer’s market after getting home from a hard track session and enjoying a second cup of coffee as I walked around.  Mung beans and sprouts, a giant bag of mushrooms, and some baby tomatoes were my usual weekly purchases. I don’t even really like tomatoes, but these were that good.

{ Saanich Strawberries }

4.  I think 1 out of 3 dogs here are either a standard poodle or a chihuahua. I’ve never seen so many of those two breeds of dogs in my life.

5.  There are deer everywhere.

{ What’re you looking at? }

6. Little inspirations and symbols of love are found in unexpected places.

And a few other little notes:

{ Pre-run at Elk Lake.  My dad flew down to Flagstaff and drove my vehicle to L.A. to watch me race at Oxy and then up the coast to Victoria. He then flew back out to Victoria a month later, helped me pack and clean and is currently driving it back to Regina for me.  I guess there are worse drives than up the Pacific coast, and through the Canadian Rockies, but I know he still would have done it even if it was through the boring desert or flat prairies. He’s pretty great. I was so glad I got to spend even that little bit of time with him. }

{ If Dumbledore was a cat, this would be it.  This cat just looked wise, and so interesting.  It has the longest body and strangest colouring I’ve ever seen, and these big tufts on its ears and whiskers that almost touched the ground. }

{ I will never get over the happiness I feel running along the ocean. I often had to remind myself that the clouds off in the distance were actually mountaintops. }

{ Rainbow Hunter Wellies }

{ My favourite little corner market and coffee shop – a block from where I stayed. }

{ How adorable is this baby goat?! Too bad they smell. }

{ And how ugly is this turkey? }

{ Ok, I know what you’re thinking. Jessica…WHAT IS THIS?! And the answer is: I have absolutely no idea.  It was too weird not to share, and pictures don’t even do it justice. It makes me think of Toy Story where the one kid mutilates all the toys, making them into weird hybrids.  My personal favourites in this yard are the dinosaur/barbie crosses in the last photo.  Seriously though, what the heck? } 

{ A couple times we weren’t able to work out at the university track so we ran at Oak Bay.  I loved the simplicity of the track.  Faint lines, no big stadium, and a tree on the infield marking the start/finish line. }

I was sad to leave, but I know the time will fly by before I’m back again in October. So for now I’m just going to focus on enjoying my time in the different places I’ll travel over the next couple of months.  As a final note, thank you to the Keeler/Young family for being my stand-in family while I was so far away from my own.  After living in dorms and then spending most of your time in college apartments or houses, you quickly realize how nice it is to spend even a little bit of time in a family home, especially in one that is so similar to your own.  I think having that sense of comfort and familiarity contributes more to my success than I’ve previously realized and I feel very lucky, thankful and grateful that my life has been filled with so many of these opportunities to meet such wonderful people that make me feel at home, wherever I am in the world.