Ahh the spoils of victory, well not like a first place victory but the victory of accomplishing a goal.
I am not going to lie, I was thinking about how great this #cigarSunday was going to be during some tough parts of the race today to keep me motivated.
I have been saving this cigar since Toronto to have on a special occasion. Todays cigar is an Alec Bradley Prensado. This one was the 2011 cigar of the year. It is a full bodied cigar and has an amazing nose of coffee and dark chocolate. It lit extremely well, had almost an hour of burn time and was a strong spicy flavor. Another winner from the store in Toronto. 
I decided to pair it with The Irishman single malt irish whiskey. I did want to get a new scotch to try with this one, but after getting home from the race, showering and then a little nap, I just didnt want to have to go anywhere so i started looking at what is growing into a rather nice collection now, at something that I thought would compliment this stronger cigar.
For me The Irishman was the ticket.
It is a very stand along Irish whiskey, fruity on the nose with hints of vanilla and orange, has a spice all its own on the initial taste and settles into a very easy drinking whiskey.
These two got along like a house on fire.
It was a great end to the day, sitting on the deck enjoying the company of family, muscles sore and achy and a whiskey to take the edge off with a cigar that was very meaty and smooth.
I did get two, so looking forward to trying the other with the scotch that I picked out but was too tired to go and get.
I did want to take this opportunity to give a shout out to a couple of friends of the show and hoist a glass to all the help and support they have both shown me over the years. These two lads have always been in my corner and i have always counted them amongst my mentors. I always find the like attracts like, and I like to think of myself as someone who cares about the work that they do, and works hard at being fair, honest and cares about doing the right thing. It is great when you meet and work with similar minded people, can lean on them when you need some help and then laugh about it after. These men are behind the scenes guys, always pushing others towards achieving their goals and keeping their respective ships on course. So to Mr. Robert Hale and Mr. Graeme MacKenzie, while you may not be here in body on this #cigarSunday, I know you are here in spirit. Slainte my friends, and thank you.
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan

So despite an unhappy week with the old back, I was able to get in enough work outs for a #cigarSunday.  As usual the weather forecast for NS was up and down for Sunday so with the work outs in I was going to have a #cigarSaturday. 
This week I decided to give one of the big boys i picked up in Toronto a try. The Casa Magna Colorado is a full flavor cigar from Nicaragua. It has a dark color and a rich leathery nose. The website boasts rich coffee and sweet spices when smoked.
I really enjoyed this cigar, it burned on an angle, but it did have a long burn time, around 48 minutes. This cigar is a multiple award winner as well from 2008 and 2011, and I think the price point was around 16-20$. 
Because of the color and the website notes, I knew that it was going to be a stronger smoke this week so I wanted to find something that would stand up and really compliment these spice flavors.
I had my choices narrowed down to Cardhu 12 or Hghland Park 12. Both known for being very smooth, both have hints of citrus and spice flavors. I am a huge fan of the Highland Park 15, which seems to have vanished from liquor stores from NS to Ont and back again so as it was Highland Games week here in the Nish, I went with the Highland Park 12.
This may have been one my the best pairings to date. They really brought the most out of each other, and it took some strong will not to refill and light the second cigar, but will power won out.
The fam was off to the second parade of the day so I got to have some good chats with the departed, sing a couple of songs and after grab a dip in the pool. Had to be one of the best #cigarSaturdays in recent memory.
During the week I had a couple of visitors to the office. I have had the great fortune to meet some remarkable younger people with my line of work and love it when they come to visit their old stomping grounds while passing through.
My first visitor of the week brought me a couple of presents, one of them being some vanilla flavored cigars that she had picked up on a trip to the Dominican. Now, typically I dont go out of my way for flavored cigars, but how can you not love the scent of cigar and vanilla together.
My second visitor of the week brought a couple of beers for me to try, one of which i had never seen before. As I was heading off for a week of vacation, what better partner for a vanilla cigar then a beer or two.
Now I could not find much online about the origin or make of the vanilla cigar, but it had a fantastic vanilla/leather smell. These little fella's are a medium color so would pair well with the Beach Chair lager from PEI that I was given. 
Thanks again Brierley and KDugg for the gifts. Always great to see you both and catch up!!!
So as I was getting set up for an undeserved #cigarSunday we invited our friends and neighbours over to hang out on the deck and have a beverage or two, and hopefully I could corrupt someone else to try these cigars with me. My awesome neighbour Cliff was up for the challenge.
Cliff is interested and had enjoyed some of the smaller cigars that I have had and really liked this vanilla one. I have to say, I didnt have extremely high expectations, but I have to say I really liked them. They were a great smoke, didnt burn to quickly and really complimented the citrus flavor of the Beach Chair lager. The Beach Chair lager hails from PEI boasts  an ode to malt and hops, our approachable craft lager is made with only top quality Canadian Pilsner malts, spicy European noble hops, and lager yeast. After lengthy cold-conditioning, the resulting clean character allows the malt and hops to sing out! Grab a chair and sing along. 
I dont know if we sang any songs, but it was a very easy drinker, sometimes craft beer is trying so hard to be different in taste that it really misses the mark with drinkability. This one didnt. 
Any day that you can share a beverage, a cigar, some tunes and some laughs shirtless in the sun is a good day. 
Happy to have had some visits and presents from friends, corrupted my neighbour to try another cigar and be grateful to those around me to make this a fantastic #cigarSaturdaySunday.
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan

I know there are lot of other folks out there with larger struggles then I have in terms of health issues. But holy crap I hate have a shitty back. I can go weeks and months, running, biking, swimming whatever with little to no pain in my back and then one twist, one sneeze, one bending down to tie a shoe and BAMO something snaps, unhinges, and I am in searing pain. I would take my gout pain any day of the week over my back pain.
It always feels the same, and the only way to describe it is, well do you remember the old school blinds that we used to have as kids?
The kind of vinyl white blind that always pulled down and you would have to give a quick flick and maybe, maybe it would sling shot up to let the light in. Most of the time you would just keep pulling it down, inch by inch, hoping it would open, but it never would. You would be starting to break out into a sweat, like you were the Star Wars gang trying to stop the trash compactor, getting closer and closer to the floor, before finally giving up and calling for mom to come and fix it.
Any who, that is what it feels like in my back when it goes. Like you hit the sweet spot and the blind shoots up, the muscles in my lower back let go and shoot up into two tight balls ( hehe two tight balls) into my back. 
It usually takes a week or so before I am not walking like a hunched up weirdo. It just sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks.
My only relief, and I dont even know if these lil fellas even work on me anymore, is some platinum robaxacet. Now this is usually the part of the post that I would write about the beverage of choice for the #cigarSunday, and after popping the aluminum backing of the Robax pack, the only thing i can say is that the two little helpers were fresh, had no scent and were easy to swallow with some wonderfully cold tap water.
Now, even with some searing back pain, although now, getting a little numb from my Robax helpers, traditions must be observed and I did get all my workouts in last week so I pick my little beauty from my cigar tickle trunk. This week it was to be a La Flor De Cano Selecto Cuban cigar. It was the first time I was having this one, so was interested to see if not having a beverage to pair with it would lessen the experience. Now, I am not going to lie, I did miss having a scotch or whiskey along side, but the cigar was great on its own. This week I tried one that my wife had picked up for me in Halifax. It was not the same brand as the previous week, but I wanted to see if i was going to have the same problems as the week before. That way i would know for sure if there was an issue with the store, or the cigar if this one ended up being as hard to smoke.
Happy to say this cigar was much better, very easy to cut, and pull from. It kept a really nice ash and lit very easily. It has a great smoke with almost a sweet taste in the smoke. This one was a handmade one and not the machine made version.
I cant say if there is a difference between hand made and machine as i have not had a machine one to compare, but this one smoked really well and lasted about 45min to and hour.
Hoping next week I can get back to having some liquid gold companionship, but always nice to sit on the deck and have a cigar and listen to the loud noises of something crashing around in the woods behind our house. #yikes