Hills Hills Bo Bills

Before the birth of my first child (hereafter referred to as "C"), I was training for a marathon. I never ran it. It fell on the same day as a 10 hour rehearsal. In my petulant state, I ran a 40K run the day before just to prove that I could have run it. (Yes, I know a marathon is 42K, but I figured that in an actual competition, I could find a way to drag myself through the last 2K). The next weekend, I took a pregnancy test, and my goal of a marathon was put on hold.

Now, over two years after the birth of my second child (who shall be known here as "G"), I have yet to run a marathon. In fact, I haven't run longer than 14K at any one time. I gave myself some leeway, saying that I have two small children at home, and I just don't have the time. Which is true.

The other day, I found out an acquaintance of mine - who coincidentally has two children the same age - is not only training with the group that I used to train with, but she runs half marathons on a fairly regular basis. And, she's fast. Well, I'm nothing if not competitive. I figure if she can find the time and the drive to get back into it after two kids, then so can I.

So I've set my sights on a half marathon in September. Which means somehow increasing my distance and including speed workouts when I can. This morning, I tried to do a hill workout for the first time in over five years.

Wow. I suck.

I planned to do an easy run to the hill, do the hill seven times, then an easy run back to the house. Well, the easy warmup run was good. The hills? Not so much. Hills are easily my worst workout at the best of times, but after a 5 year + hiatus, they were horrendous. Back then, I had a trainer timing me and pushing me to do better. I had other people to run with to make it a fun and friendly competition. Today it was just me.

Hills 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were lazy and made me want to puke. Hill 3 was good, but only because I passed two walkers on the way down and wanted to impress them on the way back up with how "fast" I am. What can I say? I'm an actor. I always perform better with an audience.

Now, my legs are like jello and I'm humbled by how much work I have to do.

But, it's a start.

Precious

(Oops, I think I just got in trouble for not calling it "Precious based on the novel Push by Sapphire". Did anyone else watch the Oscars? That bugged me more than anything. Now I am determined to call it Precious and nothing else. I'm a rebel and I never ever do what I should.)

Hot damn, I wish I had watched this movie without hearing all the hype about it first. I was all primed by the media to think that this was the most heart-wrenching movie, evah. I hate when people tell me that, because I inevitably remain a cold-hearted bitch throughout the viewing. It was good. It was moving. Was it better than anything I've ever seen before? Meh.

Gabourey Sidibe did a really great job - especially for newbie. Trouble is, I had a really REALLY hard time understanding her. And I was listening hard. (Extra hard, because I had to interpret for my dad who doesn't always hear too well. Btw - watching this movie with your dad? Weird. I don't advise). I am of the school of thought that it doesn't matter how authentic your dialect/speech/accent is, it's not a good thing if people can't understand you. You have to ease it up a bit for the general audience who may not be attuned to that kind of speech.

I had a hard time backing Mo'Nique (is that a super-fancy way of spelling Monique, or is she "more unique" than the rest of us?) because I watched her Oscar speech where she pointed out that her winning was "proof that these awards are based on talent and not politics". A little cocky, no? And how does she know that her win wasn't based on politics?? She did have Oprah backing her movie, after all. That being said, her breakdown speech at the end was very compelling.

The biggest surprise for me was Mariah Carey as the social worker. I spent an inordinate amount of time going "Is that Mariah Carey?", "That looks an awful lot like Mariah Carey..", "It can't be Mariah Carey, cause this chick is good!". I had no idea that she was in the movie and she gave such a subdued and grounded performance that I still can't believe it was actually her. What a nice surprise.

I think I would have been more blown away by this movie if I was caught unawares at a first viewing in a film festival. I picked up the book in Chapters yesterday (cause someone smartly put a display of adult fiction in the children's sections for those of us who are held captive by the train table). I started reading it and was instantly drawn in. I forgot to watch the boys for a few minutes. I'm going to have to read the whole thing when I'm done this month's book club selection and see how it compares.

If you like Pina Coladas..

I was tired of my old blog, we'd been together too long. Like a worn-out recording, of a favourite song. So while she lay there sleeping, I started a new one instead. Me and my old blog, we had fallen into the same old dull routine.

I've been putting off writing my first post because I felt like it had to be insightful, witty, and impressively clever. Who knows when that's gonna happen though, because my moments of inspiration are few and far between.

I first started blogging in 2006 because I was feeling lonely and isolated after the birth of my first child and I wanted to connect with other moms. I did that, and more. Yay me! I met so many awesome people - live and in person! - and it's been a really great addition to my life.

But somewhere along the line, I started feeling lost. Like I was Mom, and no more. Now, being a mom is a great and wonderful thing. A life-changing thing. But it's not everything. At least, I don't think it should be. I don't want to be my pre-child self. I love who I am now. But that doesn't mean that I have to get rid of everything that is not me-as-a-mother. It just means that I have to be more selective about what stays and what goes.

So...hello. My name is Alyssa. I am a wife and mother. But, I am also an actor. And a runner - both for fun and competitively. I like giraffes. I am overly fond of the colour green. I have an ever growing collection of necklaces. I think that peanut butter and chocolate is the best combination, ever. Except maybe for tomato and cheese. I exaggerate. A LOT. It's fun. I use the word 'awesome' far too much. I watch a lot of tv. Too much. (And not necessarily good tv, but bad tv can be good.) (I also really like using parentheses.) But, I also love to read. If I don't have a book on the go, I get hives. If someone doesn't stop me, my entire wardrobe will consist of v-neck shirts and sweaters. It's a problem.

There's a lot more to know. But that's enough for now. I don't want to break a nail typing, or anything.