Courtenay Brown

This weekend I got a package from Splish! Inside was the best and most beautiful bunch of polyester/lycra blend ever. I've tried everything on, and everything is my favourite. Now I love swimming even more... I am really excited to be sponsored by Splish for 2009. I raced my best race of 2008 in a Splish custom swimsuit (the fifth or sixth or seventh draft of which can be seen on the far right of the photo), I loved how it felt to be in a high-quality and flattering suit out there on the ...

I've been training a lot during these past couple of unemployed months. On some days, I start to think there is no chance I could fit in a job. I'm too busy! But then I realize that those are the days when I let the flexibility of my schedule undermine any sense of urgency I might have about getting things done. You know, "what's the rush" kind of thing. When in reality, if I'd stayed on-task, I'd have time for my imaginary job. And, equally important: I'd have time to become a better athlete. Let me explain... Last year, my workouts would stretch out over the course of the whole day, even on days when I didn't have to schedule my training around ...

Today was a very exciting day. It started with swim practice, which, according to Fedex Shipment Tracker, was my second-to-last day of swimming before getting NEW SUITS!! (Incidentally, today is also 40-days-till-I-get-to-see-someone-I'm-not-talking-about. I prefer the swimsuit countdown at this point, much less waiting time. Also 40 days of doing without him sounds a lot like "Lent" and I don't believe in giving things up for "Lent", either give it up for forever or don't bother.) Anyway then I ran, then I strength trained, and then I got the nap I've been craving for days. I was aiming for 5 hours, but had to settle for 3. Tomorrow I'm hoping for 2 hours of napping but my sister and I ...

As promised yesterday: bald eagle! I saw one on my ride. It was soo cool. I saw an immature bald eagle during a run a few weeks ago, it was also soo cool because it flew pretty close to me and MAN those guys are impressive. It's like watching a really incredible athlete do their thing, you just can't pull your eyes away. Anyhow, yesterday's giant bird was a full-fledged adult with a WHITE HEAD and EVERYTHING! He was just sitting there surveying the land, not caring one bit about some freezing cold spandexed smurf (me) down below spending five minutes untangling her phone from its headphones and plastic baggie and 2 jackets and gloves and bla bla bla just to ...

Acupuncture needles, that is. So I've been having a few health complaints, nothing serious but considering that I expect my body to do a lot for me, it's probably a good idea to take proper care of it. I've seen various western-medicine doctors over the years and I've always come away unsatisfied. Somehow spending 5 minutes describing my current complaint and then getting a prescription for a bunch of chemicals doesn't really do it for me, go figure. This time around I wanted someone who would take a holistic view of my body and my athletic lifestyle. And, I didn't want to just get handed a bunch of chemicals to "fix" me. That's why I chose the Institute ...