I picked up a nifty little Flip Mino camcorder on my little getaway this weekend. Who knows I could be a budding movie maker and not know because I’ve never tried – yes, that was my rationale for buying it.

I shot a little clip on the way back to test it and just thought I’d share.

I know I sound like a broken record now!

Every year for the past two years, I’ve been whining about how I’m out of shape and unprepared to run the Scotia Bank half-marathon.

I don’t train, run anyway and always do poorly; this is obviously madness, I seem to be doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a change in outcome.

I want to say things are going to be different this time, I probably said that last year too, you know… the road to hell isn’t paved with hellish intentions.

I again debated not running this year, it seemed like the sensible thing to do but I’m also thinking that the race is two months away and if I started training now, I could very well do it, but only if I trained.

This month’s Runner’s World had an encouraging feature for beginners; I almost wish I was new to running. I’m not one of those people who love to run, I tolerate it at best and my biggest hurdle is getting out the door.

But I’ve never regretted going for a run neither have I ever been on a run and wished I were home in bed. I guess I miss the way running made me feel. Maybe if I romanticize the run enough I’ll be inspired to try again.

I’ve hidden behind so many excuses; I’ve come up with rational reasons why I spend my Saturday mornings watching TV instead of being out there. There’s something refreshing about being a new runner; as with every new beginning there’s little baggage – I’m already trying to figure out how to get back to my old pace.

I want to train well for the half-marathon. I’ve started small, I went for two long walks this week; I did the entire seawall. It was refreshing and inspiring; there were dozens and dozens of people running and everyone looked good. In fact, I’ve come up with a theory that everyone looks good running.

I’ve read stories of runners, who face tremendous adversities, overcome and return to running. I just want to be one of those who gave up for a while and returned, because I believe running saved my life (but that’s another story) and it’s important that I keep on.

The Boston Marathon is on Monday, Boston Billy (Billy Rodgers) is back after a decade off.

I want to run a marathon one day.

I’m going to try to slowly ease back into blogging; it’s been way too long.

Now, ordinarily I wouldn’t even go near a drink that claims to have any kind of herb/root/leave/stalk in it, unless for medicinal purposes. Because I generally don’t consider these types of drinks pleasurable.

I have memories of my grandmother giving me concoctions of neem bark, ginger and other herbs for fever, now my grandmother died when I was six so this could all be imagined (very much like our Sunday shopping and brunch dates at Macy’s in Herald Square).

Anyway, so two weekends ago I was in the South Granville area when I came upon Meinhardt (an upscale specialty grocery store, much like Dean and DeLuca). Prices withstanding, Meinhardt is a great place to spot fancy unique foodstuff; a year ago I got a friend a couple bottles of shandy because he mentioned it was the closest thing to beer he liked and couldn’t find any here. And they have the most amazing Rice Krispie Squares I’ve ever had!

It was while browsing the aisles that I saw it; Fentimans Dandelion and Burdock drink! Again ordinarily I would have given it a second glance but the weird thing was, just a few days ago I’d read about it, where else… on the internet while researching natural hair care and recipes. The section on Burdock on Anita Grant’s website extols the awesomeness of this particular drink and I couldn’t believe that I found it, right here in Vancouver. I grabbed a few bottles and headed on home.

I’m pleased to report that it doesn’t taste anything like my grandmother’s neem concoctions (not that I thought that it would). It has a light flowery taste, a little herby but not unpleasant. The smell is floral and earthy. The initial sip isn’t wowing but you find yourself wanting more afterwards.

I like that it’s not too sweet; I guess you could call it refreshing. I got the sense that I wasn’t harming my body, unlike the fear and trepidation with which I drink regular sodas – I get this visual image of my insides being attacked by high fructose corn syrup.

As much as I like it, I don’t like it enough to shell out $3.50 (plus taxes, bottle deposit fee and recycling fee!) for a 275ml bottle of soda. However, if I were in the neighbourhood and in the mood I might get a bottle or two.