Long cold winter....

Well the winter is still grinding on and since last post there have been some eventful times. This winter we've had the most snowfall since 1971-72 so I've spent most of it shoveling. Hockey turns out to be my least favorite sport. I mean, I love playing and so does Darion (I think Adara wishes she had played soccer instead), but in terms of organization, it's a nightmare. With most sports there has been a regular weekly schedule, but with hockey it jumps all over the place. About 1/4 of the practices we found out about either the day before or the morning of....not easy when you're trying to schedule things in advance.

Costa Rica was a blast (see below) but otherwise this winter

Our cross country team won it's 5th consecutive city championship. Our midget boys were rock solid, just lacking that one or two guys that would be at the front of the pack at OFSAA. Nepean also had a strong team and we battled hard with them all year, beating them by 3 and 4 points at the Conference and City Champs respectively and then we placed 7th at OFSAA (325) with Nepean 8th (359).

We spent Christmas in Sudbury this year, visiting with Pam and Dave. That was followed by a trip to Dave's parents in Cobalt, where we had some wonderful skiing.

Darion had a very successful cub car rally this year. His car would have made the finals of the Baloo track, but was withdrawn because his car was being awarded the best original design award (they withdraw cars that win special awards to prevent doubling up and allow more boys to win awards)! That morning was followed by Adara's first youth activity day. She turned 12 in January and is now part of the Young Womens program! Luckily it was all at the Stake Centre, but there was hockey to run around to as well....hectic day.

Finally I coached our School SG Volleyball team again this year. We won the city title and qualified for OFSAA for a fifth consecutive year as well! We played very well at OFSAA winning all three matches on the first day and placing 1st in our pool. We only had one match, where we weren't near perfect, and unfortunately, that was our quarter-final match. We didn't play poorly, we just lost focus a bit and started worrying about the score as opposed to planning to win the next point. I heard an excellent quote this year from a former US beach and court player named Karch Karily, who when asked how he prepared to win Olympic gold replied, "I never did. I just prepared to win the next point." Sadly, the team that finished 2nd in our pool, Forest Heights, went on to win the bronze medal, so we feel we had it in us to do at least that well.

The Dillabaugh's in Costa Rica

Well it turns out I wasn't much more diligent with blogging than I was with my own personal journal...it's been 5 months! Oh well, maybe my life is just so boring there hasn't been much to report!We went on our first big family vacation this March Break. We've been camping and have travelled around quite a bit, but this was our first non-running related family trip....ever.....and we went to Costa Rica! Mommy's parents and her sister, Pam, and her family were heading down for three weeks to visit Hannah, Luis and Toby. Pam's husband, Dave, has been going to Costa Rica for a few years now as part of the "Light Up the World" project in which they bring solar panels and LED lights to the indigenous people so they do not have to rely on kerosene lanterns to light their small homes. It was a fun, relaxing and rewarding trip.

Sunday, March 9th - Day 1
Not the start we wanted. From Friday night to Sunday morning we got 40+ cm of snow. I woke up at 5:15am to start shoveling and didn't stop until about 11am. Luckily the neighbours came out to help, as I not only had to shovel the driveway, but the entire court to get out and some of the next road as well. It was ugly. Apparently the plow didn't come until the next morning so we would have missed our flight. Anyway, we got to Toronto and had supper and a swim and hit the hay pretty early.

Monday, March 10th - Day 2
Up at 3:30am and got to the airport about 4:30am. Check in was long, boring and uneventful until, just before it was our turn, Geran threw up. Luckily he gave us a few seconds heads up, with a whimper or two followed by, "I'm gonna be sick" and we managed to turn him away from everyone. He did manage to get himself and his jogger pretty good, but nothing a quick change of clothes, some water and paper towels couldn't fix. Once on the plane Geran became very animated and almost as soon as we were in the air he said, "I really like this."

We had a stop over in Charlotte, NC in which Geran tried to lose us in the airport (and almost succeeded once) and arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica about 3:30pm (2 hour time change). Our flight was almost one hour late, largely due to sitting on the tarmack in San Jose looking for a place to dock the plane. Gord and Pam met us at the airport with our driver Marco who drove us to Hannah and Luis' place in Turrialba. It was only about 65km due East from San Jose, but took us almost 3 hours because of traffic, the winding roads and the two stops we made to buy some food and foam for bedding. Had dinner at Hannah and Luis' and then Marco drove us another 20 minutes or so, to the house we had rented for the month for $150US. Oddly, they only needed the house for one night and one week, but it was cheaper to find a place to rent for a month than to rent a place for a week and find a place for all of us to stay for one night.

Tuesday, March 11th - Day 3
Mommy and I woke up early and went for a run in the mountains (although the road we were on was flat for the most part) and then Marco returned at about 8am and we loaded up the van to head for Congo Bongo, our jungle / beach paradise. We traveled about 100km mostly east (to Limon) and then south-east along the Caribbean coast toward Manzanillo. Once again the trip took much longer than it should have (about 6 hours) because along the way we stopped to visit a friend of Dave's in Limon for about 30 min and had a few stops - one to do some banking another for some grocery shopping, and a fruit stop along the highway.
Once we had arrived, we made sure our food was safe, put our swimsuits on and headed right for the water. The waves were great for swimming and bogie boarding and we all had a real good time. Supper that night would become pretty much the standard meal for my week there. Rice, beans (re-fried with garlic, onion and red-peppers), cabbage salad, avocado and natilla (a sour cream that is so creamy it's almost cheese) and Salsa Lizano (kinda like a salsa ketchup, but way better, spicy and very tasty). It was the best meatless meal I've ever had in my life, by far, although I'm sure the fact that I was so very hungry made it taste better. Hunger is the best spice after all. After supper it was pretty much straight to bed. The sun sets, year-round, in Costa Rica about 6pm and comes up very early(just after 5am) so we sort of kept our selves on Ontario time and went to be around 7:30-8:00pm (9:30 - 10) and got up just after 5am (7).

Wedesday, March 12 - Day 4
When I say we were at our jungle paradise I was speaking literally. Our house was built on a small clearing hacked out of the jungle. Our first night's sleep ended about 3:30am when the howler monkeys decided, for one reason or another, it was time for us to get up. Were they ever loud. The very first animal I saw was a picari, which wandered across the path, seemingly without a care in the world about 10 feet in front of me. Oddly I was looking for the monkeys at the time, which I couldn't see, but could hear very clearly. Since we were up early we went for a
nice 35 minute run, barefoot, on the beach. Felt so good and since in was before 6am, it hadn't started to get too hot yet. Had a nice nap after breakfast and since the water was much calmer today, tried a bit of snorkeling. Unfortunately, as soon as we started clouds rolled in so while we saw lots of fish, they were not as colourful as we would have liked. Took a second trip to the beach before supper and saw our first deadly creature of the day, an Eyelash Palm Pit-Viper. He was about a foot or so long, all curled up basking in the warmth on a tree along the path from our homes to the beach, then at supper time that evening saw another deadly creature, a scorpion (or at least thought it was), hanging on the wall right behind the dining table at Pam and Dave's house. Turns out that although it was part of the scorpion family, it wasn't very venomous, and it's sting would have been comparable to a bee sting, but we weren't going to take that chance. It also wasn't long before Darion managed to catch one of the many lizards / geckos that were kicking in and around our houses. They were every where - basking on warm rocks, climbing trees, on the screens of our windows and one enterprising little fellow even managed to work his way into a light covering to gobble up the bugs attracted by the light! Hannah and Luis (and Toby) joined us today. Hannah will stay with us until we go back, but Luis will have to head home on Friday for a Dr's appointment.

Thursday, March 13 - Day 5
Light Up the World Day! We spent the morning traveling to Shiroles, a small village in the mountains not far from the Panama border. In fact we came very close to Panama on the way and were able to see it across a small valley, which was filled with a banana plantation. Dave spent the morning training a crew of indigenous people how to assemble the solar panel units. It wasn't very exciting for the kids (ours or the students traveling with Dave), but in terms of the value the session had for the project it was well worth it. Instead of Dave traveling down every year and installing 10 - 15 panels once a year, now that these people have been trained, they will be able to install many more, year round. The kids did help out, stripping wires and assembling units along with the native people and it was fun. Although Darion and Tommy found it tough, they were very good at not complaining and amused themselves, playing together, while Katie and Adara worked tirelessly stripping and separating wires to be used with the panels. After lunch we headed off, on foot, into the jungle to install the panel. The family receiving the panel lived in one of the most interesting houses I've seen. It was built on stilts (to keep the animals away) and the floor dry in times of flood. Animals roamed at will around the yard. There were pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, a few cows (although they didn't come too close to the house) and several dogs. There were coffee plants, coca bean trees, banana trees and just about every other kind of fruit tree you could think of. Apparently this home was one of the nicer homes that had a panel installed on this trip as some of the people were very poor, but all of the indigenous people, just like these, relied on farming to grow their own food and some food to be sold to buy other necessities. After the install we headed back for home, getting home about 8pm. It was a long day, and not only for us, but for Gord and Peggy as well, who had looked after Geran, Amber and Beth for us while were gone.




Friday, March 14th and Saturday March 15th - Day 6 & 7
Two almost identical days. No plans other than some serious R'n'R. Up early for a quick run (Friday just Sarah and I along the beach and Saturday with Hannah and Pam along the Manzanillo trails). Breakfast after a little yoga on the beach (for Sarah....i just swam) and then we took all the kids down to the beach from about 9 - 11am. Played some ultimate, went snorkeling when it was nice and sunny and splashed around in the water. The kids are fish. As soon as we get to the beach in they go and they don't come out again until it's time to go. Adara and Katie managed to drag themsleves out of the water for a while to organize an ultimate games for us. Geran on the other hand parks himself on the beach and plays with the sand completely oblivious to all that goes on around him. Every now and then he'll drop what he is doing and head to the water to sit in the little waves for a bit. It has been much calmer the last few days. Not much at all in the way of waves to jump in or board on, but the water is still refreshing nonetheless.

We usually head back about 11am to get lunch ready, which other than day 1 in Manzanillo, has been our big meal for the day. We usually all gather together at one house and all pitch in and bring part of the meal with us.11-3 is usually the hottest part of the day so we spend that time in the jungle hiding out in the shade, eating, playing games, reading, or my personal favorite - napping. Then about 3pm we head back to the beach until 5 or thereabouts, until the sun starts setting. You don't want to get caught on the trail back the houses in the dark as you might not see the snakes until you step on them or until they bite you. We have a light supper and then visit until bedtime, which isn't usually too much later. Dave had to leave this morning as well as the student group he was with was heading back to San Jose for a Saturday flight home.

Sunday, March 16 - Day 8
Well Sunday was just that - Sunny. By far the sunniest and hottest day we've had and my last full day in Costa Rica. I was already burnt pretty good, but since it was my last day, I didn't care. Spent the morning at the beach and the only real difference of this day from the others is that we had a little church meeting (a primary lesson for the kids, followed by and adult Sunday school lesson) during our quiet time in the afternoon.

Monday, March 17 - Day 9
Well all good things must come to and end, and my family and I parted company today. While I had to head back for work, they stayed for an extra week. I was up at 4:30 and walked (Gord and Hannah joined me, that was awful nice of them) about 1km to Manzanillo to catch the 5am bus. Arrived in Limon just after 7am and caught the 7:10 to San Jose. The San Jose bus station was a Zoo, but I arrived there about 10:30am, after rehearsing my Spanish lines over and over. "Puede llevarme al Aeropuerto por favor" (Please take me to the airport) and "Quanto cuestara el viaje" (How much will it cost?). I got off the bus and headed for the taxis, but was spared having to butcher the Spanish language when a man asked me "You need taxi?" and he took me to the airport! I was way too early, but the 7am bus was scheduled to get me into San Jose at 12:40ish and if it was at all late, I might have been cutting it close.
The thing that is odd about being a teacher is that you often bump into students on vacation and strangely enough, this trip was no exception. While standing in line to buy some food at the airport I had to do a double take as I saw one of my track and field athletes walking down the concourse. I stepped out in front of him and asked him why he wasn't in class and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He was just on his way down for vacation and had just arrived with his mother. When he asked what I was doing I told him that the school had sent me, looking for students cutting school and that I'd found him!
The transfer in Charlotte was supposed to be 1 hour, but was only 40+ minutes. Luckily I didn't have any checked baggage, but had to go through US customs and then back through the screening process. Made it with only 10 minutes to spare. I'm a little worried about Sarah traveling the same flight next week as she'll have baggage to pick up and then re-check before and after customs, not to mention trying to do it with 3 kids in tow.
Got into Toronto just after 11:30 and got to the hotel to pick up the car shortly after midnight. By the time I was on the road it was about 12:30 and this was the part of the trip I was dreading the most....the long ride home. I blasted the tunes, bought a RockStar energy drink and made it home about 5am. Koko went nuts. It was good to be home. Now I'll be a bachelor for a week until I drive back to TO next weekend to get Sarah and the kids.

A Busy October

Last weekend, Oct 12-14th, was likely one we'll never forget, at least in terms of sheer volume of travel and athletic competition. I left school early Friday to go home and pick up the family as we headed for Toronto. Sarah was scheduled to run the ZooRun (the final fixture in the Canadian Running Series) and Geran was pretty darn excited about going to the Zoo. We left Ottawa just before 3pm, stopping in Belleville for supper, and arrived in Scarborough at our hotel just after 8pm.

The next morning, we headed off to the Zoo. We wandered around, trying to find some animals that weren't still sleeping (we did get to see the Siberian Tigers and the Snow Leopards...up real close). Mommy's 10K started at 9:30 and she was running very well, until about 7K, when she developed a bad stitch in her side and limped to the finish line. She was limping so bad I thought it was her achilles bothering her, but it was just the stitch (it hurt so much each time her foot hit the ground it looked like she was limping).

After Mommy's race, Adara and I did the 5K Fun Run (we finished in just under 24 minutes), and the Darion and Geran ran the Cub Run (about a half kilometre) and to everyone's delight, Darion won! Geran ended up completing the race on Adara's back!

Anyway, after all the races, we jumped back in the car, leaving the Zoo just before noon and driving back to Ottawa so we could get Adara to her 5pm hockey game. Normally we would have missed it, but it was her first game of the season (and Darion had his first game at 7pm).

More running news, Adara and Darion finished 8th and 9th respectively at their school meet and Adara qualified for the Board Championships where she finished 14th.

Cross Country season is in full swing for my school team and we recently stomped the competition at the West Conference Meet. We hope to win the NC meet next week. Info about the high school scene can be found at www.nchighschoolxc.blogspot.com

Turkey....or the fixings??

Thanksgiving dinner means something different to everyone I'd imagine. All the talk surrounding Thanksgiving dinner focuses on a rather large (and ugly) bird, but there is so much more to it than poultry. We all gathered at my parents house (about 21 in all, excuse me if I've missed someone...obviously you're not that important to me) for the feast. We ate insane amounts of food. Only 10 minutes ago Darion came up from bed complaining that he felt sick (because he was so full). I'm gonna try running a survey to see what part of Thanksgiving dinner is everyone's favorite. Please feel free to vote. If I've left something off, sorry....just read the first line of this post.

Fall has Fallen

Summer lasted a little longer this year! We've had the hottest, driest fall I can remember, but it all came crashing to a halt this weekend. As I started my school workout with the two athletes from Glebe that were brave enough to show up the heavens opened and we got soaked. There is something about running / training in the rain that I've always liked, but let me tell you, standing around and coaching in it, ain't that fun at all.

Speaking of the heavens opening, this weekend was General Conference. The priesthood session was excellent, followed by the Denny's ritual, in which 20-30 priesthood holders decend on Denny's in South Keys following the session for what (started as milkshakes) has become a six or seven course meal. There was alot less food consumed this time, largely due to the fact that Eric and Derek were absent. Derek can be excused as he moved to Calgary, but Eric...where were you? We watched the Sunday morning session at home after spending a good part of the morning on a family walk. The colours this year are amazing. Apparently the warm days and cool nights are good for the trees in terms of fall colours. The sections of McCarthy Forest we walked through were simply capreted with leaves of various shades of yellow, red and orange.

Deal of the week! Food is good, but free food is great! Last week in Toronto Sarah had a pasta for dinner that we had never tried before and it was really good. While standing in line at DiRienzo's, waiting for what is possibly the best sandwhich in Ottawa, I spotted the pasta we had enjoyed in a very large (it was huge) bag. I picked it up intending to buy it as well. Unfortunately they only took cash and the bag of pasta was $30, which was all the cash I had on me. The girl behind the counter, nodded, held out her hand; I gave her the cash and paid for the pasta and she essentailly gave the two sandwhiches to me - free! Great business. Think I'll go back? For sure.

Divide and Conquer

Our family was split up over the weekend as we headed off for different parts of the province. Grandma Peggy and Papa Gordon took Adara, Darion, Geran and Koko up to Petawawa with them while Sarah and I headed off to Toronto for Sarah's half-marathon debut. Grandma and Grandpa took the kids on a rural ramble where they visited farms, greenhouses and various other rural settings and had a good time. Sarah and I left for TO after I finished coaching Saturday morning. We stayed with Carine Caughill on Saturday night and got up real early Sunday am to be downtown for Sarah's 7am start. Sarah was more than a little nervous about her first half-marathon, but ran nice and smooth and even. She said everything felt easy until about 15K and then it really started to hurt between 17 and 18K. Her 5K splits were 18:30, 18:37 (37:07), 18:44 and 19:14. The last 5K was really only due to 2K's that had the uphill sections that Sarah struggled on. Otherwise she ran awesome and right through the line to finish 2nd in 1:19:20. She and Paula Wiltse (her Saucony teammate) were 2nd and 3rd respectively. After the race Jason and Natalie treated us to a relaxing lunch at thier home before we hit the road for home. Grandma brought the kids home Monday afternoon, so they've only got a 3 day school week this week (as Friday is PD). Life is Good.

Cross Country is a Killer!

Cross Country season has begun and our family is begining to feel the crunch. I always look forward to back to school, largely because it means the start of another XC season. Our family is very involved in XC largely because, Sarah and I first met each other (in the post-mission era any way....before I left on my mission she was too young) at a University XC race in our first year of University.

Since we no longer compete ourselves in XC we are both involved in coaching, myself at my school (Glebe CI) and Sarah with the Ottawa Lions Fall Camps. This year, Sarah has hooked me into the camps as well so that I can take over the group Saturday mornings after I finish coaching my school kids, so she can train with the Lions groups herself. She has the itch to get back into racing, although I think those days are long gone for me.

Both Adara and Darion are also involved in the camps so it's a whole family affair. Geran loves coming to Mooney's Bay aka "the track" to play on the "track-tor" (the fourwheeler used by the City employees at the track to haul equipment around...they all know us very well and think Geran is pretty cute) or playing in the park by the beach. Tonight I brought Koko with us and she spent 40 minutes chasing the ducks and playing in the water, so it really is something the whole family gets involved in.

I hosted my Glebe Open XC meet this past week at Mooney's Bay and we had good results. Our school won the meet, defeating Renfrew CI by a single point in the overall aggregate. My midget boys won their second meet of the season, after having won the Trinity Invite the previous week in Port Hope. What really excites me about this group, is that unlike all my XC teams from the past, this one is comprised of kids who like to run! Not simply soccer or basketball players looking for some other school sport to get them out of more classes. The meet does take a lot out of me though and I was pretty tired by the time it was over. The week leading up to the meet I hardly slept at all (I'm a bit of a worry wart and a perfectionist and if I think something has the chance of going wrong.....I worry). I kept waking up in the middle of the night thinking about things I had to do and then not being able to fall back to sleep. I imagine this is only going to get worse as my children grow older and I start worrying about them.