A Weekend in Edmonton

This past weekend Neil and I decided on a quick weekend getaway to Edmonton.  The Harry Potter Exhibition is at Edmonton’s TELUS World of Science until March 9th so this was the perfect excuse for a getaway.  We saw the HP Exhibition when we were honeymooning in New York but we were keen to see it again!

Luckily the weather made for clear roads on our drive up (something I’m always nervous about at this time of year).  We went out for dinner at Three Boars on our first night, a teeny tiny restaurant serving delicious and unique food.  The cocktails were also quite delicious!  Neil had to try the For Peat’s Sake (since the cocktail was clearly named after our pup Peat).

I was up bright and early for my long run on Saturday morning.  It was pretty cold out, I was starting while it was dark out, and I knew the pathways would be icy.  Running on a treadmill wouldn’t be my first choice for a long run, but for today it was the right choice.

We were staying at the Westin Edmonton, a hotel chain that goes the extra distance to help you stay active while you are away from home.  There was a great workout room with plenty of treadmills!

Thank goodness I had brought some Skratch hydration mix with me from my most recent StrideBox because it was warm and humid in there!  I needed to stay hydrated.

There were a few other hotel guests getting an early start on their workouts, including a guy on the treadmill next to me who was running in pyjama pants and bare feet.  I wonder if he knew that Westin can lend you workout gear?  My run was 1:15 long and included 45 min at endurance pace, 20 min at tempo, then 10 min to cool down.  Having that little bit of tempo in there really helped to break up the monotony of running on the treadmill.

The view from the workout room!

There was a great room with weights and was perfect for getting my 10 minutes of core in after my run.

Red faced selfie!

With my run done it was now time to eat!  We made our way to Sugarbowl for some delicious chicken and waffles.

Yeah, that dish is most definitely not Whole30 approved, but it sure was delicious.  

The Harry Potter Exhibition was still great the second time around.  I’m amazed at the amount of detail in the costumes and props from the show.  It is obvious that designers put a lot of effort into making sure that everything made sense.

image via Macleans.ca

Without a doubt Sirius Black had some of my favourite costumes from the movies.  He was one slick dresser!

I was up bright and early on Sunday morning for the 5 am puck drop of the men’s gold medal hockey game.  I watched the first period on my iPad but then wandered down to the hotel restaurant in search of coffee before the start of the second period.

I decided to stick around for some company while watching the game.  There were quite few people there, some taking advantage of the early alcohol sales today.  I stuck with coffee as I had a swim to take care of once the game was over.  The game wasn’t quite as exciting as the women’s gold medal game, but the men played so well as a team.  It was worth getting up so early to watch!

Jittery from three cups of coffee and jazzed from the Canadian men’s gold medal win it was time to head to the pool.

Coach wanted me to do a swim test by swimming 6 x 300 m and attempting to keep my pace as even as possible.  I absolutely rocked it!  I’m amazed at how much I’m enjoying my time in the pool these days.

And that was our short and sweet weekend away in Edmonton.  I had to juggle a few workouts around over the week to fit everything in, but it was great to be able to keep my workouts up while I was out of town.

How was your weekend?  Were you up early to watch the hockey game on Sunday?