Running With Scissors - Dave's Running Blog

Run For The Toad 25k Trail Race 2010

I just wanted to post a quick report on The Run For The Toad. This really is a race / event that calls for much more than a quick report. So much to be said about it's organization, support, aid stations, swag bag and great people that attend but my mind is now elsewhere and I am thinking I really need to get back on track with reporting sooner after the events than I have been lately.

Nevertheless, here is a little tale of a big race. About 1100 runners and walkers. 900 in the 25k and 100 in the 50 plus 100 various walkers. And EVERYONE in great spirits and friendly as is the case with the Ultra marathon and trail running scene.

For now, I will tell you, if you have not already heard, it is a fantastic event. The options are 25 or 50 km trail race that repeats a 12.5 km loop which is about 90% trail and 10 percent asphalt. Superb running conditions on a dry day and still manageable in the rain, although trail shoes would have made the rain we experienced a whole lot better.

The loop stars out on hard packed grass along a small lake shore and heads around the lake and into the woods. It is single track trail for a while but wide enough to pass fortunately as a lot of slower runners started way up front.

We then traversed over about a kilometre of asphalt, which was mostly roads and parking areas for the campground. We pass many tents and trailers and finally headed into the woods again where we were met with the steady hills. Beautiful though and so fresh.

The loop winds and turns so often you start to wonder where north is pretty quickly. Or where the start finish area is for that matter. And the hills. about 20 of them up and down, up and down. They were not menacing, except for a couple ,and they were usually brief, about 30-60 seconds to climb or go down, but they were just so persistent. Every bit of flat land was a relief. I am sure there are tougher trail runs out there, but this was no slouch.

The key point to this race was a hill, about 3/4 of a km from the end of the loop. This particular hill was tougher than the rest. Steep, and fairly long at 150 metres. No 150 metres isn't long but when it is grassy, damp and steeper than most hills we tackle, it's a chore. Eveilishly there was a photographer at tthe top making this spot feel like the grim reaper area of the Around The Bay Race.

I made the first loop in my goal time of 1:02:00 as I hoped to finish at 2:05 or better. Then the rain started in and it got to be unsafe to run down the hills too fast, and slippery so turns and uphills were a bit slower. That and my fatigue level having finished off an 80km week and I turned in a 1:07 second loop for a 2:09 total.

I will definitely invest in a pair of trail shoes for future off road races. I was quite envious of those who had theirs on.

The aid stations were great, typical of an Ultra race as they were serving us lowly 25k'ers and the 50km peeps. Water, gatorade, Bananas, M&Ms, gummies, pretzels. All good, especially since I inadvertently missed breakfast (Left my bagel and cream cheese on Starbucks counter!)

Post race, very memorable, full meal with grilled chicken breast, buns, 3 kinds of pasta salads, raw veggies, grilled veggies and crumble pie. Awesome. Unfortunately we were pressed for time and had to hurry off bit the cold afternoon rain didn't really make it too upsetting to rush off. I would ave liked to have been able to wait around to hang out with our friends, Duff, Frank, Bob, Dave, Larry, Martina and several other familiar faces.

So next year, I am going to lobby for a group trip as this is a nice change of pace, scenery and quality of events we do on a regular basis. We won't go there for personal bests, but we will go for a great time.

Don't wear the race shirt until after the race

Those who know me well, know that I do not approve of wearing the race shirt until AFTER you have completed the race. Don't worry Ginny, I still love you!

So, I get the update email today for the Goodlife marathon and what di I see? A proposition to wear the shirt during the race! What? yes, here is is as it reads in the email:

Win a Karbon Training Jacket - value $100!
Be spotted in your Karbon GoodLife Fitness Toronto Marathon tech shirt as you cross the finish line, and you could win a great Karbon Training jacket!

Oh my, this will lead to more and more people breaking the cardinal rule of event shirts!

Well Said: Ottawa Marathon Race Promo

"Cool, bright autumn days rank up there with balmy spring days as some of the most pleasant times to run throughout the whole year. The crispness in the air and the almost cinematic quality of light make being outdoors both relaxing and invigorating, and you find yourself looking for excuses to get outside instead of looking for excuses not to.

Of course, that's when the sun is shining. But even on chilly overcast days, it's still nice to throw on an extra layer and head out for a run along the canal or the river, not worrying about heat stroke or whether you're lugging enough water around to stay properly hydrated. Yes indeed, autumn is a great time for running."

This quote comes from the most recent email adcvert promoting the 2011 Ottawa Marathon.

Photo of Duff taken from the Run for the Toad 25k Trail Race. A premier Autumn event!

Scotiabank Waterfront Half Marathon 2010

I chose to run the half marathon this year. The last couple of years I have tried to fit in every marathon I could make it to. This year however, I needed to stick by my training plan and just run what was necessary to qualify for Boston again.

That means less racing and more proper training. I feel this has gone well up to this point and as we are two weeks away from my goal race, the Toronto Goodlife Fitness Marathon, I am confident I am as fit as I was the last time I ran 3:19 in order to get to Boston. I will do it again, and the bonus, is that a fall marathon gets me into 2011 and 2012 Boston events. That will take some pressure off and allow me to get out there and run a bunch of marathons again with no regard to speed. Just the love of running.

So, back to the race. As it was 3 weeks out from Goodlife, I was scheduled to do a 20 miler. Anita and I planned on getting up early enough to run before the race as part of the training run, then do the race as the 2nd part. This worked out well, forcing me to do the 10k easy and save the good stuff for the race, or the 'tempo' portion of the workout.

After my warm up, I went to the appropriate corral. people still do not so this! Annoying. Anyway, I met a few of the usual suspects there, started the race with them and then let them go at their pace. After they moved ahead, I caught up with Boston Bob whom I ran with for a couple of km. His great race of 3:20 was in fact great, but I felt good enough to run my shorter race at a bit faster pace so moved ahead and ran solo, kind of the way I like to race, no talking, just focused.

I promised myself not to push too hard so as to not burn out or get hurt. I ran for the first time in a while without letting my GPS watch decide the pace. I ran a 'comfortably hard' pace and kept it going, pushing hard only in the final kilometre.

1:34:57.1 was my actual time and the only signs during the race I would come in around there were the pace bunnies. I was between the 3:10 and 3:15 marathon pace bunnies. This result was only a minute shy of a personal best, while feeling like I had more in me even despite the lengthy pre-race run. Very confidence boosting especially since I did not feel tired on the following days. This ended up being one of those races that gets you no rewards, other than a shirt and medal of course, but yet the joy of the run was there, the weather was spot on, the people around me and the feeling of successfully completing a run as planned made it a great race. I would have loved to have run with that effort and finish closer to 1:30 but I guess I need more time.

Playing it smart. All part of a good marathon plan.

Next up. 25K trail race (training run!) The Run for the Toad.

Long Overdue things like blog posts and PRs

It's true, I really am due for a PR. I think the way training is going, I am in a position to beat any of my previous race times. This is a very confidence boosting thing to know and I will head into this race season enjoying the confident feeling.

The only PR I am after of course is the Marathon. Goodlife Toronto Marathon being the goal race and with just a little over 4 weeks to go, it is looking good. Ultimately, good for a 3:20:59 or better in order to re-qualify for Boston 2011 but if all goes well and I finish strong, I will get under my PR of 3:19:10....well under.

This is a bold statement yes, but that's the way to go - I plan to leave nothing out there and this is how I have been successful previously.

Other upcoming events include:

Scotiabank Half Marathon (Sept 26) - I plan to run about 8-10k before the race as a warm up and run the event at just under marathon goal race pace. This will make for a strong training run / practice race.

Run for the Toad 25k Trail Race (Oct 2) - My plans for this race are to take it very easy and enjoy the sites on Paris Ontario's lovely 12.5k double loop trail. Apparently this is one of the nicest, well run races in Ontario as noted by anyone I have spoke to that has run it in previous years. Another reasson for taking it easy here is that it is only 2 weeks out from the marathon and although the distance is close to what I normally would run, the terrain is not and I do not need to incur an injury from a fall or a turned ankle. So I will go VERY easy in the technical parts and do some pick ups when the ground is even. Should be interesting to say the least.

As for the recent past, I did not get around to writing a report for the Oakville Half Marathon and 10k which I ran with Cam, nor have I even pondered writing a Midsummer Nights Run Race Report. Maybe I will get around to those one of these days :)

Do you like winning stuff

Well, I do. I also like promoting decent blogs so I have chimed in on my friend Run Short's blog contest and to their wishes, I am linking to their blog. If you have already read any of Run Shorts posts you will probably agree with me that they are a quite a bit more interesting than the self absorbed, yay me, woe me or yay my family type reading you get when you visit Running with Scissors. Anyway, I do suggest you popp on by and have a read, and well, you can even enter the contest I am referring to. But if you win instead oif me, I will subject you to another woe me blog post!

Click here to get to Run Shorts' blog contest

The family that Tri s together

We had a great time last weekend, running (and riding and wading) the Sundridge Triathlon.

Cameron, 10, was in the 10-11 age group. this was a relatively small group, 12 boys, 1 girl, who covered 100m in the water, 5k on the bikes and 1.5k on foot. Fitting in with the rest of the family as a weak swimmer, he was out of the water 2nd last, but managed to end up 2nd overall being beating only by a rather tall, strong 11 year old. Well done Cam!

Daughter Sarah, the Mrs, and my niece Chelsea participated in the Try-a-Tri which was a 375m swim, 10k bike and 2.5k run. They all did quite well with Sarah coming from a 15th place after the swim to 4th overall and 2nd female. Very impressive for someone who didn't really train for this, other than for the run portion. I think maybe next time around she will sink her teeth into the bike and swim and be very competitive at this sport.Gramps already has high hopes for her to be an Olympian in the event. Maybe he's right to think that.

Well done to Anita for completing her first triathlon as well as my niece whom I think may have got the big, or at least a taste of how fun it is to race. I wouldn't be surprised to see her back soon and finishing well.

I stepped it up this year and did the Sprint distance - 750m swim, 23.5k bike and 7.5k run. I did get a few opportunities to swim but again this year, not as much as I'd hoped. It always seemed too wavy when I had the time at the lake, and our tiny pool is no place to train for swimming. My biking to work definitely helped me there and my current fitness level left me with enough energy to run the 7.5k portion at marathon goal race pace which I am happy about.

Sundridge Triathlon Results

Swim 20:36 (750m swim + 100 meters of knee deep water to wade through to the mat)

Bike 54:10 (23.5km 40% hilly gravel road 60% paved road)

Run 35:07 (7.5km road)

Total: 1:49:50

Tons of fun...well, the swim was tough but I did it.

And, my placements were:

39 / 70 after the swim

22 / 70 after the bike

15 / 70 after the run

It seems I need to work on my swimming - but I can't wait to tri, er, try this again!

Some Photos...

Running - Not good for you

At least, that's what an older (65ish) lady said to me on my run the other day. She literally put her arm out to stop me. I stopped, paused my watch thinking she needed help, directions or whatever. She then said, in a thick German accent (not that that matters) "Runnink eeze not good for you". I said I disagree and so does my doctor. She said we were both terribly misinformed. So I (lied) said my dad is 95 and hasn't missed a day of running. She said again..."Runnink ezze no good for heeeere" - pointing to her midsection, hips, legs. Weird

I said listen, you don't look so good for your age, YOU should start running or you won't last much longer. I ran off too fast to get her response to that.

Ironically (coincidentally?) Anita, running later that same day, took a walk break and an elderly lady said to her..."Keep running dear, I wish I still could"

Strange days.

Training training training and not racing

Well, not racing ... yet.

It's been a while since I blogged. Probably no one coming by here anymore due to my lack of entertainment, if that's what you call this.

But I have been running, and almost as much as ever. My summer of no racing and only training is hopefully what I need to get the elusive Boston Qualification back under my belt. I am actually enjoying the challenge. It definitely is a challenge as the many marathons, 11 since qualifying for Boston in May '09 definitely wore me out and made me slower. I don't regret this, but I do know I need to change my ways in order to improve again. I will be very VERY happy to regain the fitness to run 3:20 in October at the Toronto Goodlife Marathon.

In the meantime, I have been enjoying trying to fit in as much run, bike, swim and strengthening as I can in this busy life I lead. I am managing just under 80km per week which is about 10k less that winter/spring of 2009. The difference is hopefully in the cross training. I am also biking a lot more and trying to swim whenever I can. Add to that some strengthening and hopefully the puzzle will be complete. Judging by my previous couple of weeks at running fast , er attempting to run fast, I am not quite there. But I am close, and pending my health and injury free ways continuing as they have been, I should be able to get the workouts in and build my speed back up.

This weekend is my first race in 2 months, a Sprint Triathlon. The distances are: 750m swim, 25k bike and 7.5k run. It will also double as a great training day. I am completely looking forward to it.

As for the Midsummer Night's run will be a Pacing Duty race for me and then I will find a few 5 and 10ks to work on some speed. Then, on October 2nd, 2 weeks before the Goodlife event I will be racing, sort of, the Run for the Toad 25k trail race. I won't be out to kill myself but it should be a good final long training run.

9 weeks to go, and work to be done...now, if I could only give up Ice Cream!

Aside from running, - Nothing but Flowers

This is one of my favourite songs and I just stumbled upon the video, which I don't believe I ever saw before. Really good stuff. I love the bass line, I love that Johnny Mar and Kirsty MacColl both guest on it and I love the World Beat influence to this song, and the whole album, a classic [ Naked ]

Canada Day Long Weekend

The first weekend of 2010 at the cottage is behind us. It was a great weekend with very favorable weather. Definitely better than last year's nasty summer weather from start to finish.

It was relaxing in a sense. Mentally it was but I did manage to fit in a 10k run on Thursday, a 6k run with Cam plus 5 more of hill repeats. A 24km bike ride around the lake followed by a 5.5k easy run and a long run of 25km also around the lake which is one of my favourite runs especially when the weather is nice. It was hot but bearable, especially as we started out at 7am. Anita got in 19km as per her schedule. We drove around the lake the night before and dropped off Gatorade at various spots which made it a lot nicer to run without running out of fluids.

The 4 days flew by and the traffic on the ride home was a bit of a bummer. But I can't wait to get back. These cottage weekends are the source some of my greatest memories.

My Blackberry was the source of the following photographs. Thankfully it takes decent photos as it seems to be the only camera we ever have on hand. Click the photos to view larger images.

It seems like I have taken this photo several times. Well I have, but each time I make a stop at this point on the run around the lake, I feel compelled to capture the moment. It is just that nice of a view!

This is a good spot to rest if you want to and there are porta potties if need be although the woods work just fine.

This is another shot from the same spot, 10km into the run at a picnic area overlooking the lake. In this shot, I'm sort of looking back to where I started. It seems further that it is but the starting point 10km earlier is at about the top middle of the horizon. I didn't take any more photos on the run this time. I did a couple of years ago .

View that slide show here

This is a shot later that day, from our beach. The sun had set and left a peaceful blue shadow across the lake. I have taken photos from this spot many times and the colours and lighting always seem to come out different.I could sit in this chair on the beach for hours soaking up the breeze.

Margaritas make sitting here even better!

Saturday we golfed. It was hot and humid and my first round of the year. It took me two shots plus 4 putts to make a 6 on the opening par 3 hole. Yuck. Pars on the final 2 holes helped me break 100. 98 at one time would have really upset me but this time, it's not bad considering the frequency I have played the last few years.

Like marathons, golf is tough for me but as I finish a round, I start looking forward my next one!

It is always nice to spend some time with my brother and nephew. Andy loves and hates golf too. He looks quite upset when he's out there. But he too keeps going back for more. I beat him again. Of course I beat my dad but he may tell the story different.

My nephew kicked all our butts.

We had a campfire Saturday night and watched the fireworks across the lake at the town dock. The small town spent $10,000 on these. Impressive. Almost as good as Ashbridges Bay's really.

We found an abandoned baby bird (two actually). My sister in law nursed them over the weekend. She has them at home now and plans to feed them 'til they fly.

The kids got a kick out of this. I wonder if they will make it back home in the city. I guess I'll report back about that.

These fries were good. My dad insisted on buying them for us on our way back from my tool shopping spree. I broke down and as usual regretted it. They were tasty though. Mom made french fries for dinner too. My parents are overweight, because they don't think these things make you unhealthy.

By the way, they give the fries to you half full so you can put condiments on, then you hand them back and they top them up. Kind of cool.

Next time we make it up to north country., there will be a no fries rule in effect. I say that now...

Niagara Ultra 50k - 2010 Race Report

Time: 5:17:45 ( PB for this race - 4:39:30 )

Weather: 22c at start, 30c at highest. no rain, light breeze.

Course: Mostly bike trail, some road, some grass, some touristy cobblestone paths by Niagara Falls

Never again. I can't imagine running that long again.. certainly not until I can solve some nausea issues. The heat was tough. Not ungodly, but tough enough as everyone who has done this race before seemed to be well behind their usual time. Duff, myself and a few other people we know were about 40-45 minutes slower than last year.

First of all, I shamefully admit to getting to the start late, despite staying in the hotel across the road from the start line! Yes, I thought I had more time to spare. I was getting my chip when the gun went off. I could have used another washroom trip too. Anita was more upset than I was though. It was after all, chip time. I ran fast to catch up with everyone. I caught Duff and Frank and ran with them for a bit and then pushed ahead, with thoughts of beating mother nature and last year`s time of 4:39. Oops.

The first 20k was awesome. I felt great, well trained and had to force myself to slow down as I hit sub 5:15 per km. I really felt like the heat was not an issue and I took my salt pills, water, some gels and assumed I would feel this good the whole way. Up the big hill and to the hydro tower and I realized I hadn`t stopped to walk yet, other than a brief stop at the eater station to refill my bottles. This was 20k and we were heading into the tourist area, it is funny to watch everyone look at us like were nuts...we are...and it was funny trying to navigate through the 50+ Amish people, dressed like it was minus 5 degrees and they were all dressed in blue, head to toe. Weird. I moved on and was glad to be halfway, The mist at the falls was lovely. I saw the fairy lady Frank spoke of. She said she's training for a 100 miler and was just taking it easy. Nice lady, nice.

I got to the halfway point, in 2:20 which was 5 minutes slower than last year. I was still feeling fine at this point but it seemed as soon as I changed directions I was going downhill. I took my shirt off and planned to pawn off my belt as soon as I saw someone to take it. Nir did, I saw him at 30k. When I saw Nir, I didn't even want anything. I couldn't stomach any more water, Gatorade or anything food like. All I wanted at the aid stations was gingerale. I felt so nauseous by 35k that I considered bailing. I haven't bailed yet and I didn't want this to be the first. I decided to run - walk the remaining 15k.

At the 38km mark, Julie, Cam and Anita were waiting. It was the bottom of the long 1km downhill where even gravity couldn't pull me faster than 6:00/km pace without my upper stomach feeling like it would burst. They had everything there, oranges, bananas, bars, water, pretzels but I still wanted nothing. I had been suppressing the rising liquids from my unwilling stomach and was constantly reminded what it was like to be hung over. I wanted to stay and hang with the gang but I needed to press on. I accepted the challenge to run in this state and knew I was only suffering from nausea and not dehydration. I felt the need to pee and was still sweating, both which are good signs.

My legs kept feeling great and they were asking me to run harder. I did the entire race with no pain, no sore feet, no tired legs, that part was lovely. But the nausea just wouldn't lift. Ginger ale with stolen ice at each water stopped made me feel good for a minute but that was it. I just focused on moving forward, long since abandoning any time goals.

Anita and Cam biked ahead and waited for me every few kms. The water they had was good for dousing my hat. I tried to keep drinking a little just to be safe. Every step at this point was tough, but inside was loving the challenge - hating the nausea but masochistically enjoying beating it and plowing through.

3km to go, it was like a dream, I knew Anita and Cam would be at 1k which gave me something to look forward to. I pretty much ran the final 3k as the excitement of finishing pulled me through. the last km was filled with the satisfaction of finishing and looking forward to a beer, a shower and a nap...an no more nausea!

Finally, the last 100m, on grass and the finish line in site. People were cheering and I heard none of it. One lady told me to smile....huh? Cam caught me and ran with me, so nice and I crossed the line. 5:17:46...38 minutes slower than last year but feeling just as satisfied with the result.

I headed straight for a picnic table and buried my head in my hands. I couldn't take deep breaths without coughing and the nausea was taking it's time in dying off. Anita finally got me to get up and walk around. I grabbed a beer (hey, they're free!) and downed half giving the rest to Nir. I laid down on the grass and started to feel better. I got up, grabbed another beer and a slice of pizza and boom, I felt right again. So nice...when is the next race? Hahahaha.

Nir, Julie, Anita, Cam and myself went back to the Pillar and Post for a nice swim and shower and lunch as we were allowed to hang out all day as we stayed there the night before. Worth the extra cash spent on hotel. thanks to Anita for letting me nap on the drive home!

Next time it`s hot, I will forgo all time goals and try to enjoy the run. I think I am eating too much the night before and morning of the race...too close to race time perhaps. More experimenting will tell. If I never see another gel again it will be too soon.

Thanks so much to my wonderful Anita and Cam, Julie and of course Nir, for putting in 50k on his bike! Great support guys!

I know this race report might not get anyone excited to run 50k, but hopefully it will inspire you to push yourself to some new limits. It always feels great when the agony is a distant memory and the good parts remain etched in your mind. :)

I may have said never again but...

Ottawa Marathon Race Report 2010

Click pictures to view larger...

The weekend wasn't really about racing. It was about fun, and sharing some laughs with our friends in the running community. We rented a cool ranch house in Quebec, about 30 minutes drive from downtown Ottawa. Like last year, we had the luxury of cooking our own meals and saving a bundle on food and booze costs. Like last year, we spent a lot of time in the car. It is worth it though.

This year we ended up with 15 people staying together which is the best part of renting houses / cottages / chalets etc.

Saturday AM was spent in Ottawa mostly. First we had the Running Room friendship run where we donned our Bunny Attire and met up with some of the people we would be pacing the next day. After the 3k run, a few of us were interviewed by the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. Here is what we had to say....

- Article Link -

Saturday afternoon evening is when the 5 and 10 km races took place. At 5pm, Cameron and I took on the 5k, in 27 degree heat, and a crazy crowded course with 8,800 people! The route is pretty nice, going along the canal on one side and back down the canal finish, same as what the marathon does. Unfortunately though, we are in plain sunlight the whole way through. We'd love to get a nice cool cloudy day for this next year!

After having to shuffle the first 50 metres of this race, then dash around the walkers and plodders, which is fine, just please, please please, not at the front of a 8800 person race, Cam managed to run 21:34, just 4 seconds shy of his personal best which considering the conditions was awesome result. This got him 4/124 in the boys - 9-10 category. He's 10 again next year and hoped to return for the number one spot again. I lagged behind him a bit with a 22:45 to save some energy for the next day's marathon.

At 6:30, the 10k race set off and Anita toed the line again for the first time since the Beaches Spring Sprint. Still fighting nagging injuries and perpetual soreness from her Personal Trainer (no, not me) she ran a comfy 1:06 and finished all smiles once again. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction and we will see her on the starting line of the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon.

Saturday night was spent relaxing and we took it easy as the morning wake up call was for 4:30 am! Our pal Duff, not feeling well, passed the 4:15 bunny torch over to friends Ron and Anne who teamed up to carry out the task. Rob did this, on hardly any training, running only 10k in the last month after foot surgery. This was also after a little...er, a lot too much to drink Friday night....Rob surely wins the HTFU award for this year!

Oh ya, The race report? I was the 4hr bunny and got the job done. 3:59:38. Of all my pace bunny efforts, this was my furthest time from the exact pace time but I couldn't help it, I had Boston Qualifiers running in with and I wanted to keep up with them as they sprinted ahead.he, 22 seconds is not too bad.The race itself was fun. I always enjoy being the pace bunny. With it being the 3rd marathon in 15 days, I was a bit tired which made the 4hr pace a challenge but very gratifying all the same and I had my largest group yet. Several finished a few seconds ahead of me, several a few seconds behind, and a bunch more just off the 4hr pace but happy to have gotten personal best times. I really enjoyed this race, the new route and the post race meet-up in the park and the local pub. It's hard not to want to do this race again next year which is why we are doing the Canadian Looney Challenge. What's this? Stay tuned, but it does involve running multiple races next year with the gold medal and highest points going to those that run the 5k, 10k and marathon. You in?

Sunday night topped off the weekend with a fantastic BBQ and several glasses of wine, or beer. We also celebrated our 18th anniversary and it was lovely to spend it with good friends ... and many many laughs, echoing well into the night....long after I went to bed. What troopers.

We capped the weekend off with a breakfast just as good, minus the spirits and said goodbye to the ranch, it's private lake, 2 dogs, 6 horses, cat and lush, pollen dusted surroundings and wished we could stay another day.

Well, we'll see you next year. I wonder if the dogs which were not to be seen Monday morning, ever returned? Bob, where are they?

Whitby Internation North Marathon Race Report

Well, that title is a mouthful. The race itself ... a handful. Especially the week after a hard effort marathon. I ran this with Nir who himself ran the Mississauga half marathon, is the 3:50 bunny for next week's Ottawa marathon and somehow let me talk him into running this marathon with me, which I am very glad he did as it would have been tougher and lonelier without him there!

The race was actually very well run and the volunteers, water stations, course marshals and all were fabulous. it is a good thing there were a lot of volunteers as it made up for the very small amount of spectators and crowd support.

The route was interesting to say the least. Definitely more tiring than your average route as there were about 60 turns. There were well over fifty 90-degree turns, several sweeping curved turns plus 6 of the dreaded u-turns where we'd hear the marshals call out 'around the last pylon boys' ...

Some of the course was really cool and different form most marathons. There were trails that led from one rural side street to another, tree lined roads, waterfront paths, boardwalk, grass for a few hundred metres, wooden foot bridge, metal foot bridge over marshes but unfortunately there was also the 26-32km portion of mostly desolate commercial / industrial which wasn't so bad if not for all of the turning around pylons!

It was overcast for the first half of the race which of course kept me from putting on the necessary amount of sunscreen! And I wore a singlet to boot so the sunny 2nd half, well, 18k onwards actually, got me pretty good and now I have a neat temporary tattoo of a singlet on my upper body.

Water stations were every 3km and well manned with water and e-load drinks as well as e-load gels at 26km and 32 km. I staggered home with Nir urging me on to 'get it over with' but I was really tired and the heat got to me, and for the 2nd week in a row I was quite nauseous. Up until 40k I felt great, but had really tired legs. for the final 2k it was fatigue everywhere and I was reminded of how much I dislike running long distances in hot weather. The last 90 degree turn was at 39k and then back up a hill where I was running so slow that I walked to pick up the pace! I usually enjoy the final 2k even when that tired as I get excited to see the finish but this time with no spectators and the sun beating down and vomit barely staying down and wondering if I am going to feel this crap next week, well let's just say it was not my favourite final 2k! That said, within a few minutes I was my old self again and I actually felt pretty good on Monday. Much better than last week and today, I definitely notice better recovery from a the 3:56 time vs the previous week's 3:35 so I am not fearing Ottawa's 4:00 pace bunny task.

The finish area was a bit cramped despite the fact there was a huge field right next to it and we had to walk across the field and road to get to the post race food, which was well worth the walk as they served us turkey subs, chips, cookies, apples, bananas and ICE CREAM. Best post race food ever!

It was a small town race with a great small town feel. Definitely a mental struggle in parts and a very challenging route but also very satisfying to complete and despite the fact it was my slowest ever non-pace-bunny race, I feel good about it under the circumstances. I am getting older, I am going to have to learn to deal with the fact there may not be a 3 at the beginning of my multiple-week-marathon results much longer!

Thanks for joining me Nir. I owe you. That's 2 marathons in a row that you helped me finish! Can you come back and get me next week after you complete your 3:50 task? Thanks in advance!

~Dave

Mississauga Marathon - 2010 - Race Report

It's hard to come up with a definite feeling for this race. On one hand, I should be really happy that I finished. Ok, I mean really happy that I finished in a decent time (3:35:58) and that the huge decrease in mileage didn't make it as tough it could have.

Now 'tough' is the wrong statement as well. It was tough. It was slower than I hoped, but not surprisingly. In fact, if we bring up the expression "Positive Thinking" then I would say I was positive. Deep down inside I was positive I did not have the fitness level for a 3:20 Boston Qualifying time. But I remained hopeful, and especially hopeful that I could tough it out and pull it off. But let's face it, reduced training, lingering injuries a mere 2 sessions of speed work won;t get you that time. Unless you are like in the 20-25 age group category. I am not.

The week leading up to the race went well, some good taper runs, good sleeps and not too much stress. I look back and realize I could have eaten better. I felt great on race morning and the first half of the race went well. I felt good but got to halfway 3 minutes slower than last year. That was where I realized I was not going to run my goal of 3:20 but I din;t stop trying there. I was on pace for another 10k after that, but it was getting darker and darker in my mind by the step. I wish I had of paced better but I wanted to try for the prize and knew I was in for a painful finish. People around me will know this as I exclaimed all week that this one was gonna hurt.

So my negative outlook on this race is really only aimed at the last 10k. This is where the well know Wall was in effect. I knew I'd hit it and that there was no mental toughness that could overcome this.I accepted this pretty quickly and eased up, to avoid being nauseous. For the first time ever racing, I threw up. At 32k, I consumed a gel, downed it with some water, and 10 seconds later, I was fortunate enough to have a garbage can to lean over and let it go. Not too nasty, just Double Espresso flavoured water. I walked a bit and got my pace back up to test the waters and as soon as I got going I'd feel nauseous so I kept it easy the rest of the way.

I met Nir at 38k and he was kind enough to run back in with me. This made the fatigue / nausea levels bearable and I kind of enjoyed the final few rough miles. Finishing this one felt great although for a good hour afterward, the queasiness lingered. It just felt nice to lay on the lawn, warm sun shining and managing to eat some grapes and a beer. It was awesome to spend the time with all of our running community and I was so happy to see so many good results, particularly Sari's personal best in the marathon and Julie's smashing PB. Well done ladies.

The topper though was having Cam and Anita waiting there at the finish line to catch me.Thanks guys!

marathon #16 is in the books and many things were learned and confirmed. I have 2 more this spring. Whitby, Ottawa Niagara on the Lake Ultra (50k) The head down and train hard for Goodlife Marathon and another attempt at a BQ. I am hopeful and ready to put the effort and be disciplined enough to reach the goal again. And I will enjoy it, don't you worry!

---------------------------

OK, so, we're 2 sleeps away from Whitby, and a fun run is the plan. I do not feel I have recovered enough to go at it very hard at all. Thankfully Nir has joined in with me and we can have some fun with it.Oh, and i will be tweeting as iRunNation from the start finish, and sure, a few tweets along the way. Watch their page to track our progress.

Spring Racing Season and a new trilogy

Yes I said trilogy again. This time around it does not seem like the Trilogy of Terror like 2008....or even the Quad Factor of 2009

I am looking forward to the next month or so. There are several races I enjoy immensely this time of year, finishing off with the Niagara on the Lake 50K Ultra Marathon.

This week's Mississauga will be the toughest of the 3. A Boston Qualifying attempt of 3:20:59 or better will take all I have got. It is actually a good thing I was guest speaker at the Rosedale Running room tonight. The topic was Race Prep and it got me to dig up my racde prep notes and tweak them. This caused me to really look at them andf remind me of several items I tend to forget. View that article here

Next up is Whitby International North Marathon. I definitely want to run the inaugral event and insert number 2 into my already planned Mississauga / Ottawa. This will be the easiest of the 3 as I will run it with no time goal...other than keeping my sub 4 hour streak alive at 17/17. Ottawa may be tough. I am the 4 hour pace bunny but it will be the 3rd in 3 weeks and I am running the 5k with Cameron the eve before. At sub 21:00 this will be a fairly tough task butr I am up for the challenge. I better be, as the pace bunny devotees will be counting on me. And Ottawa has proven to be a tough event.

Last is the 50k Ultra, but I will have 3 weeks after Ottawa to get ready/ One week of easy running. One week of back to back long runs and a one week taper. Goal for that race is to beat last year's 4 hours 39 minutes.

Then, Summer to get ready for Scotia (another BQ attempt if....well...) plus Goodlife Marathon, prince Edward county, Niagara Falls and Hamilton Marathons for my new task - the "Cinqo de Maro" - 5 marathons over a 5 week and 1 day period. (6 weekends)

Now, need to get to sleep...rest is needed for Mississauga!

Boston Marathon 2010 - Race Report

Boston Marathon 2010 - first of hopefully many trips to Boston for me.

Here's how it played out...

Friday

We drove there after work hoping to make good time and get there around 1am. Between Toronto and Hamilton we hit tons of traffic, lot's of stress and had to cut the drive at midnight a few hours away to shack up. Good call.

Saturday

Got to Boston, checked in and hit the Race Expo (Amazing!) and met for lunch with an old friend who moved to Boston, and some of our group of Boston Qualifiers and spouses. Oh,m yes, of course I bought this years celebration jacket and a few other things. For dinner we went to the north end with 12 of our group of 16. Nice restaurant, great food, good vibe.

Sunday

We were up early for the 5k race. Anita, Cam and Sarah plus a few friends and spouses of our group ran as well.

Sarah, 16yr, finished 3rd with a 19:44 in the 15-19 age group, 18th woman overall. Cam, 9yr, ran 21:39 and finished 12th in the 10-14 age group. Very cool. Very proud.

Anita limped through with a nagging hip injury and simply took it all in. She is a trooper!

After the 5k we went to the 'All Canadian Brunch' put on by MyNextRace.com and was sponsored by Porter and Tim Hortons. That was pretty cool. Another trip to the expo...yes, this was necessary.

We enjoyed a nice dinner in a cool Sth Boston small restaurant (224 Boston Street) at a tiny restaurant near our apartment, just with the fam and our room mate, Duff, my good friend/mentor who made his 3rd trip Boston

Unfortunately I slept like crap. Nervous about missing the alarm combined with loud talkers outside out window, major traffic and footsteps from floor above. I knew it was going to be a tough race.

Monday

Managed to wake up early somehow. Excited! Duff and I got in a mess of traffic and got lost trying to meet our friend Nir to then walk to the buses. So I never did see Nir until after the race. Even though wee weren't going to run together, it would have been nice to hang out beforehand. Nir ran a PB of 3:16 by the way. He proved hard work pays off again. So Duff and I waited forever for the buses, then a long line up for the porta potties but there was much excitement to make the long line ups bearable...nothing but good memories despite the waiting and stressing. The spirit was wicked.

As for the race...

Checkpoints	5k	10k	15k	20k	Half	25k	30k	35k	40k
Checkpoints	0:24:31	0:48:39	1:12:44	1:37:21	1:42:52	2:02:45	2:29:47	3:00:21	3:30:09
Finish				Pace	Projected Time	Official Time	Overall	Gender	Division
Finish				0:08:32		3:43:38	11115	7915	1481

As you can see, well off my best time but not too bad all things considered. I hoped I would be feeling better, in order to be in the 3:25 range and still feeling good enough to enjoy the whole race. I did race my plan which was to test the waters after this year's intermittent training by going out in 1:40 and take it easy in the 2nd half if I felt I was risking a struggle to finish at that pace.

I got to the half in 1:42 thinking if I tried to run a negative split I'd be crawling in based on how I felt. I wanted to enjoy my first trip to Boston so I shut it down and managed to enjoy the entire race, the entire day. From the Athletes Village and the long walk to the start. Feeling 'dead' after the first downhill. (who bonks in the first mile?) All the great spectators and all of the landmarks.

Heartbreak Hill.

We've heard so much about it. It is not a terribly steep hill but it is long and it does hit you just after mile 20. Even though I was going easy at this point, I still found it tough. It follows several other hills and is followed by several more. despite the net downhill course, the rolling hills are tough on the legs....and tiring.

I spent the entire last 5 miles high fiving despite my tired arms from the constant high fives along the way. I often ran way off yo high five people on the outside of the turns that were not getting their chance for high fives. I am nice that way. The constant cheering and exuberance was awesome. Simply awesome. I texted my wife at a porta potty stop at mile 21 to tell her not to worry, and that I was going to cruise in and soak it up.

Wearing a Canada shirt paid off huge, must have received over 300 'Go Canada' and other runners around me were bummed that I was getting cheers and their local university shirts weren't. I still can't believe how great the spectators were. And the race direction...my god the BAA organization is overwhelmingly impressive.

The Citgo sign came into view, I got a bit emotional here, and a bit upset I wasn't able to race harder, but that passed. Because I was running the tangents long and to the outside, I was able to hear my family calling my name. I stopped and snapped a photo of them and gave them all kisses.

Almost done

But not necessarily happy about that. I really didn't want this one to end. After I saw the fam, I had 1 mile to go, it flew by, I ran it pretty slow, second slowest mile of the race, chatted with spectators, asked for some of their beer and was offered one, but I declined.

Right on Hereford, left on Boylston. I ran to the far side and got loud cheers as nobody else was going that far over. It was a fun way to finish. The famous blue and gold finish arch got closer and I worked my way through, crossed the line and threw my arms up in triumph, not because it was a fast time but just because it was the celebration of finishing a big goal. Man was it cool. The post race volunteers were so nice, congratulating and smiling, seeming so happy to be a part of the race themselves. And this is after 11,000 other runners had already finished.

Monday night, we partied back at our apartment, pizza, junk food, beer, laughs, all of the stories. Everyone had a great time at the race and we celebrated a couple of PRs a couple of blow ups and a few ran like me, just enough to finish in a decent time and still enjoy the race. I slept much better Monday night!

Tuesday

We got early to drive Duff to the airport. He is doing 'Boston to Big Sur' next weekend in California. First 400 to sign up for both races gets special shirts, jackets and medals. Sweet, I'd like to do this next year, or some time. It turned out Duff got his flight time wrong and rushed off in a cab, making it there just in time.

The drive home was much smoother despite frequent stops to keep the legs moving. We saw Boston shirts and jackets at each stop (we stopped 8 times) and had some good chats at each stop. The running community rocks.

The final word

I did not get Boston out of my system so to speak. It doesn't work that way.It's definitely not a feeling of 'been there done that'. In fact it is more like a drug, you try it, you like it, you want more, you need more. It's a good thing that this drug won't have too many adverse side effects.

I can't wait to do it all again!

Beaches Spring Sprint 5k - 2010 - Race Report

Wow, time flies. It seems like just a year ago (it was) that I was vying for a sub 20 5k. Spring Sprint last year was really the first time I was fir enough to do this, but it was a;so the first of a few 5k races where I either didn't pace well and didn't dig deep enough to get under 20 minutes.

Eventually, I did, in the fall, where I finally ran a smart, tough race. It was a great day for me, and I hope to get there again.

This year, my training-interuptus lead me to believe, or rather, not believe a sub 20 was in the cards. So I played the cards conservatively and went into this race feeling good about my legs again and hoping I hadn't lost too much speed.

I started out conservatively as we headed into the wind and ran a 4:00 even first km, about 10 seconds slower than the race where I ran 19:55. I assumed I was going to start slowing down as this is the fastest I'd run since last fall. No speed like this in training except for maybe a few strides here and there but certainly nothing close for 5 continuous kilometers.

I got to the 3km mark feeling better than usual but slightly behind a 20 minute pace. I was sure I was going to crash any second but I kept feeling good and pushed on. At 4k I was close to 16:00 but not sure exactly, I thought I was too far off but again, felt good and pushed as hard as I could right to the finish.

20:05

So close! I don't know if I could have run the final k faster but I sure think I could have gotten away with running the first few a bit faster. I wasn't upset at all. I was just happy to be able to put in an effort like that with almost no soreness during or after. I felt like a runner again. Especially combined with the previous Around The Bay race.

The Beaches Runners Club's debut as a team.

This highlight of the day was definitely entering the race, along with several other Beaches Runners Club members as a team. We finished 6th of 9 and were proud to get the name out there and be a part of a team. Something you do not get a lot of in this sport. I look forward to many more events where we can do the same. Awesome job to our participants from that race. Duff, Nir, Julie, Graham (an injured Heather cheering from the sidelines), Melanie, Pat and Frank. Thanks for coming out!

Around the Bay Race report - I say Yeh Yeh

I have fallen behind ib blogging, reporting, and well, I will make this report brief, just to keep things moving along.

This race is king!

I mean, rain or shine, everyone always seems to enjoy this one.

I went into the Around the Bay race this year, way under-trained (for my liking) and slightly injured although the day of the race was luckily the first one in a while where I woke up and thought, wow, I could really go for a run today.

We struggled to get to the race on time, as we usually do, but fortunately, parking wasn't such a nightmare (if you're willing to dish out a double sawbuck) and we were ready to go with enough time to get 1km in for warm up, which my legs really needed.

I bumped into RunShorts fellow Running Coach / RR Clinic instructor / Blogger and we exchanged pleasantries both a little wary of what we were capable of. Time to focus. Congrats to her for a 3rd silver medal, given to women who run sub 2:30.

I ran a fairly conservative first 10k in 47 minutes, and then pushed a bit harder in the 2nd 10k getting there in 1:34. 1:38 and change at the half was satisfying for me after such a dismal winter---spring training. From there on in the hills roll. I kept it just under 5 minute kms and struggled a bit with pain in the left hammie up the hill and pain in the right quad down the hills.

At 27k, in 2:05 and 3k left to go, all of the hills out of sight, I thought I would be able to kick and run close to 4 min/km and get under 2:20 again, but alas I was out of juice, I barely kept in under 5 min/km and finish 2:23:30. All in all not too bad and promising for the upcoming trip to Boston.
I did not wear headphones, as per usual, but I did have a great song going through my mind the whole race. Matt Biaco's Yeh yeh...look it up. Great running tune!

It was a great outing for all of our Beaches Runners and Running Room friends. Loads of PRs and huge smiles. Love that aspect of racing. I doubt we'd be so into it if it weren't for so many friendly faces at these events.

Moving on, more races, Good Friday Road ra ces, and Beaches Spring Spring. Those reports to follow shortly.

Around the Bay Success

Congratulations to the Around the Bay runners!

And of course, kudos to anyone who got up and ran yesterday. We ended up getting pretty lucky with the weather. I thought about a few things to be grateful for during the race.

1. The weather. Well, not just the weather turning out decent, although a few degrees warmer and some sunshine would have been welcome but also how great for runners the weather was ALL winter.

2. I thought about how lucky we were to be there, running not injured. I was nearly not able to run myself but my body has played nice in the past 2 weeks, mostly in part to finally listening to it and taking 8 days off. The loss of conditioning was more than worth it.

3. We were lucky to be healthy enough to run, but we were alive. This sounds corny but we are lucky. We were a held up behind a major accident on the QEW (yes Julie, the accident was real) putting us behind schedule, and we were already behind after leaving the house late...again. As we cursed the slowdown on the QEW and worried that we'd miss the start of the race if we were held up too long (like if it were a week night at 6pm) Anita pointed out to me that we were lucky we were only held up and not one of the 3 cars that were sitting there in a crumpled heap of metal. Yikes, she was right and I hope that all fared well for the participants in that incident.

4. Lastly, as we headed towards the fated big hill at km 26, we got to run down a long hill preceding it. This hill is a nice long, not too steep of a grade complete with a great cheering section that always plays good tunes. Everyone talks of how nasty the big uphil butno one ever says how nice the downhill is. And lets remember, the run is a net downhill race as you make your way from street level to the below ground ice surface. Think of that next year!

What goes up...must come down.

My Race report to follow shortly. I need two lunch hours for this social life of the 2010's!

Time off for bad behaviour

I am not religious....but, when it comes to running, I am a preacher. When it comes to anything 'Fitness' or 'Diet' related, I am a preacher. And when it comes to injury prevention, or mending, I am a devout preacher. Except when it involves my own running, health, diet, fitness and especially injuries.

I can guide you to a personal best race, of almost any distance. I can help you train, plan your schedule, script your diet, recommend the proper cross training and tell you what to do and when to do it, or NOT do it in the case of injuries. All this, even if you are a stronger runner than I. Am I boasting? No, just confident in my knowledge and abilities to motivate. I am a preacher fro crying out loud, listen up.

This is where I fall from the grace of (the running) god(s).

I know what it takes to run faster....although I often over or under do it. I know what to eat, what not to eat, and how much of both although I rarely, consistently follow my own guidelines. And, lord knows I know what injuries can be run through, and which ones should put you on the sidelines....but when it comes to my own, everything can be run through.

I managed to somehow, badly injure my upper right leg. I say leg because that is where the pain is ... all over, hopping from spot to spot denoting that it is most likely 'referred pain'. I am pretty sure I picked up this little issue as I ran, too fast downhill (good old Brimley ave to the Marina!) as I tried to catch up with my running mates whom were too 'weak;' to have to stop and wait for me to un-pebbalize my shoe on this particular run back in February. Yes, I blame them. Anyway, as I sped down the hill to catch up, I felt a twinge in my thigh. I didn't hurt too much at the time, nor for the rest of that run, but from the next morning onwards I have experienced the strangest pains, all over that leg. From the muscles, to the hip joint, knee joints, all over numbness, sharp pains down either side and occasionally, just a general weakness. At first, it was bearable.

I thought I could run through it. I kept running on it even after I realized I shouldn't be. After all, I do want to be strong for Boston next month. I finally started to at lest limit the distance and duration of my runs. I had this magical feeling that while on a 2 week vacation, which we just arrived home from, I would miraculously get better and run in the Florida sun with no pain. That didn't happen, and after 4 runs down there, I could barely even walk. That was it, time to rest. I took 8 days off in total, minus 2 short slow runs with Cammy where I walked as well while he ran ahead and back. Things actually got worse. I thought for sure this is serious and will be a long time off, maybe even no Boston! Grrrr.

Yesterday, I planned to get back on the bike at least. Perhaps that would be enough to maintain some fitness and allow me to shuffle through Boston. Lo and behold, I woke up feeling good. I tempted the running gods and ran 21k with the RR gang and all went well. Maybe I should have stayed off it longer but I was desperate to get back out there. Today's PT appointment will hopefully shed some more light on this situation. I am a bit sore today but not too sore to run ... although I won't. I am trying to keep both ambitious and cautious for the remaining 4 weeks to Beantown.

Pray for me!

Running with the Stars, and wind and snow

I may have stayed home this morning if I had a solo run scheduled.

But, I had 5:30 (yes, am) plans to meet a client, who we will protect his identity by referring to him only as Hue Dylan. I do not like to pass up the opportunity to run for a living so I got up and looked out the window. It was blowing wind and I half expected to get a text saying 'call it off', but no, last night Hue said let's do it for sure at 5:30. I talked him into actually when he mentioned he's lost his Yak Trax (strap on slip protection for sunning shoes) but since our daughter was working at Running Room as we spoke and we were intending on picking her up, we were able to replce Hue's lost traction and that was it. We were on.

When I looked out the window a 2nd time, it was apparent that we got a fair bit of snow last night it would be a tough run. I considered crawling back into bed and telling Hue we were better off staying in but as I thought that, a couple of ladies ran past our house (5am!) and that was that. I got ready and headed out.

Would 'Pre' have stayed in? No.
Should I have stayed in and rested my leg some more? Probably. Should I have kept Hue and I off the roads and not risk slipping? Maybe. Is even asking these questions soft of me? yes.

Although it was by no means a fast run, it was a good workout trying to push through the snow and wind. We were both dressed properly so it really didn't turn out too bad. It ended with a rough patch heading north back to Hue's but after that, the feelingof accomplishment made it all worth while.

And the complimentary Venti 6 shot Americano that I just received is going down nicely now.

Sunny Sunday Afternoon Long Runs

Sunday mornings are usually reserved for Long runs with the reward for getting up to run being a big breakfast, usually somewhere in the Beaches area.

This week however Sarah had her first Varsity Tack Meet of the year. She ran both Saturday and Sunday, 1500m and 3000m respectively with top 10 results for both races. This is a good sign as Sarah usually aims to peak closer to the big races so she is right on track for the upcoming meets.

After we got back, it was time to run. Unfortunately Cam's Hockey Team Fundraiser was Saturday night and although my ambitions were to take it easy, I did end up feeling a bit rough on Sunday and was still not 100% by the afternoon.

I am also fighting off some fatigue in my legs which is not only from training harder lately but also compounded by too many late nights. I blame the Olympics! I seriously need to sleep more.

Anyway, it was tough to get out the door and going, on what would be my first solo long run in a while but I persevered through a very dicey run through Taylor Creek Park and the Lower Don Trail which was icy in parts but very nice, especially with the late afternoon sun beaming through the trees.

I happened to have my Blackberry in my belt so I figured why not pause (take some much needed breaks)and snap a few pics. Here is what transpired.

My goal was 26k...but that was just what the schedule was saying, It was after all a scale back week, so the fact that this run was just under 20k was fine with me. With the help of "Yeh Yeh" by Matt Bianco, I was able to run the 2nd half fast, doing 8 x 4:30 per km repeats with 30 second rests between, and repeat listening to that song for each one...it is perfect for that tempo. So I am feeling good about that. Now, time to get a massage!

Beaches Runners Club Website is now live!

With the advent of the Toronto Beaches Runners Club, this site, Running with Scissors has been relegated to just a blog. That's right, my place to diarize my running stories and happenings. I hoe you all stick around to see what is going on in my world of running!

All data, and articles found here will be available on the new website http://www.beachesrunners.com plus a whole lot more.

Check it out, and if you're not already a member, well then you should sign up!

~Dave

In lieu of a blog update

This has been a busy week...really busy, and I was thinking about writing several times and then the day was over, life got in the way, yada yada yada, that said, etc.

So, why not get someone else to do it for me right? Well, Matt Radford from the current Beaches Running Room marathon clinic has a blog of his own. he does a regular feature write up on various runners in the grande smoke that is Toronto. Since I am his featured runner this week I only thought it fitting to let Matt do the writing. Maybe it's not big news but it's worth a read. Really.

Thanks Matt!

http://www.fartlekrunner.com/?p=657

Some days the running is just plain good

This morning was to be the return of Wednesday doubles. 10 km easy in am and 10km Tempo in the pm.

I went to the washroom and crawled back into bed. Nice!

The darkness and coziness of my single king size bed was to much on this day and the time flew by to a point it was 'too late' - but - not to worry, I am still doing the 10 km tempo this evening with the group so I guess I could skip the am run....hmmmm.

But I really wanted to run, and get myself to work on foot, so at what would be the last possible moment I jumped up, dressed and managed to get myself out the door. To a mess of slushy new fallen snow. Yuck.

I walked for a few minutes a bit bummed that the long streak of snow-less winter had finally ended. I turned the walk into a very slow saunter, to a dare I say it, jog, and finally started running. Running is never very fluid on new fallen, partially walked on, road slush splattered sidewalks. I mustered up the energy to fight through it and before I knew it, I was in the groove.

As I headed onto Dundas, I came across, as suspected, snow covered bike lanes. So I ran against traffic on the road which due to the lateness of the morning (after 7:30am by this time) was interrupted with frequent oncoming cars so I had to keep reverting back to the slushy bike lane. I was wet footed by the halfway point but not bothered by that at all. The run just felt so easy and smooth despite the conditions and I was actually upset when the greatness of my downtown building appeared.

Some days we really need to just run, not train, just run. Running to a destination is also something I find enjoyable on an easy run.

Tonight though, it's time to work hard again. Boston is not going to run itself you know.

Why do you run. Why should you. Your Choice.

We have all heard this question. We have all asked ourselves. Why do we run? Why do you run? Why do I run? The reasons change from day to day, season to season and they keep growing.

With the help of some thoughts I found on a Running Forum out there in the scary www, here are just some reasons. You may have more, and by all means, feel free to share them

There are no tricks. Run because you have to. Run because you love it. Run because you want to be fast. Run because you want to be skinny. Run to find some quiet time. Run to sweat. Run to eat. Run hear your heart pound in your ears. Run because you're a runner. Run because you gotta keep the streak. Run because you don't know why the hell you're running. Run because you fought with your partner. Run because your job is shitty. Run because you got no money. Run for the sunrise. Run for a race. Run because it's impossible. Run because it's easy. Run instead of doing the laundry. Run instead of watching TV. Run because no one else understands. Run because the cool kids do it. Run because you're tired of talking. run for numbers. Run for feel. Run to prove something. Run because it hurts so good. Or don't run. If you really do have something better to do.

I fought the law and the law won

I hate to say it. The laws that are in place are there for a reason and did not work in my favour yesterday.

Last August, on her birthday nonetheless, I was pulled over for speeding, while on my way to meet her at the cottage. Lo and behold, I had a nasty ticket and fine on my hand, one which I really felt not justified having been travelling with the flow of traffic.

So, we decided to fight it. Even tough I really felt ripped off, I knew there was not much of a chance to get out of this once. We hoped the officer may choose not to show up. Well, small town (ish) Barrie OPP obviously have no issues getting to court. I took their offer to a lesser charge and counted my blessings. Time to pay the fee, and a nice sunny day spent with the mrs. Worse things could happen.

At least the court time was late enough in the day, we were able to get in a decent run!

Oh to run again on cold winter days of Toronto

I am back. It was a very VERY busy December. Holidays. Family. Work. Downtime - which included 2 seasons of Dexter.....yawn. No, not yawn because Dexter is boring, yawn because we kept staying up so late to watch just one more! What a great show!

Back to running though. After the layoff with a broken toe, I am finally able to run again without pain and without it aching later in the day. Bliss.

I need to catch up on some fitness. I still maintain the same goals such as a PR in Boston and another in May at Mississauga. Add to that several other marathons and hopefully a record year of 8 or more marathons.

Last year was a good one, and I should be happy that the year went by with almost no sidelining injuries. I still have that nagging hamstring and piriformis issue, which I wonder how long will last seeing as it seemed to get worse during my down time. I am due for some physio on it for sure.

It was a good year for personal goals though. I look back and think of how well it went and would be glad to be able to maintain my rate of improvement before my body starts saying it is time to slow down. It won;t be easy, but then again, I do not want it to be. I embrace the challenge.

Today, my run into work (10.5k) took a lot longer than usual. I am a ways off to being race ready. But I am almost glad. I have that sense of need to improve that I had in the early days of my running career. Ultimately, I'd rather be in top shape and a look at improving my times dramatically but injury aside I have not been disciplined enough. Perhaps I let the toe break get me down but now I have fitness to gain and weight to lose in order to be where I want to be.

I can do it. I will do get to where I want to be. I just need to get season 3 and 4 of Dexter out of the way first!

A true off season

Yesterday, I missed my second Sunday Run in a row ending 2 weeks without a run. As nice as it is to sleep in on a Sunday, it's no fun sitting around wishing I was out in the fresh air, earning some brunch points!

No exercise is strange when you've been on a good run with no injuries or health issues like I have. I covered well over 2000 miles in 2009 and there was only one week I ran less than 3 days. Most weeks were 5 days, some 6 and a some 7.

December was supposed to be a high easy mileage base building month and January was to begin my toughest training schedule so far. Now, I am thinking of a start back program as opposed to launching into a marathon training program. I want to run a strong Spring Marathon and was hoping Boston would be the one but that is only 16 weeks away and I am not yet ready to test this slowly healing toe. Maybe I will make Boston a tune up race and go hard at Mississauga again.We'll see how well I bounce back

The toe injury is 2 weeks old today, and almost as sore as day one. Everyone I talk to who has experienced broken toes is saying 6+ weeks of healing and still, after those 6 weeks they had pains and soreness.

Cross training will be key here. I need to get disciplined and get out on the bike or to the pool. The holiday season, a cold, and busy days at work are not helping the cause.

Some may like these excuses and enjoy the downtime. I am just glad they all happened at once.

If you are one of the few people reading this, get out there and run a loop for me. I will join you as soon as I can!

Fiji part 2 - Hip hop and a broken toe

Have you read Fiji part one yet? if not, click here

It looks like this will be a good time to let my hamstring heal.

Why?

Well, let's just say, I am not 16 anymore. Breakdancing at parties however, is something that has stayed with me through the years. One move that I never really perfected when I was a youth, still impresses those who cannot break-dance at all, so every once in a while I pull it out of my bag of tricks and entertain the (primarily) intoxicated onlookers.

Don't try this at home kids. Also, do not attempt such a tricky maneuver with sandals. It started when the entire bar got the 'train' started. We all joined in and well, one thing led to another. The trained made it's way back to the dance floor with me atthe front. We ended off by formain a circle, which of course is my cue to hit the hardwood. I actually pulled of my A move and got a few cheers. As I stood back up, it occurred to me that my left big toe was sore. I figure I twisted it or something but over the following few minutes it proved to be worse than I thought. This prompted me to call it a night as it was getting late anyway. For the record, I was pretty much sober, it was just all in fun. Some might argue this point, but those present were too drunk to know I wasn't. Anyone else questioning me can get stuffed, I know my truth.

So I woke up in the middle of the night with throbbing pain. I managed to get back to sleep, but woke up early and decided I should ice it. When I called down to room service for a bucket of ice they thought we were still drinking and sort of questioned why I needed it.

After a short time 'ricing' my toe, I got up and headed for breakfast, knowing that this indeed was more than a bruise. By the end of the day, it was swollen, and part blue, purple, brown, grey and a new colour I have never seen before. I knew then it must be broken. I have not seen a doctor about it but I know that would be futile as there is never much they do about a broken toe. 3 days later and I still cannot walk on it. I assume, after Googling about this, that I will be laid up for a few weeks. Last night I stubbed it, with shoes on and it was some serious pain for a few minutes. Not fun but on the positive side, like I said, my hamstring needs the rest anyway and I probably would never let that heal properly if not for this.

Fiji part 1 - fun in the sun and on the run

My absence from the online world has been nice. While away, I managed to attend a work conference in Fiji that despite the full day of travel in each direction was worth it for the 4 days we spent there. Although we did have plenty of indoor sessions, they were interesting, motivating and better than most conferences I have been on. We had plenty of free time, including the whole first and last days and the evenings of both middle days.

My primary focus was to have fun and not get too caught up in the party atmosphere that tends to get out of hand at Flight Centre Conferences. I was successful here and managed all mornings hangover free. I choose to make the best out of the early evenings, consume heaps of water and not stay up too late. This definitely made it easier to sit through the work sessions we had planned.

I was also able to get up early enough to fit in a few runs with a couple of fellow Flight Centre runners (before I broke my toe...that story later). The island we were on, the main island of Fiji, which was named Viti Levu is fairly large and our area was great for running although it was tough due to the fact we were situated in a very hilly area. Each run required some hill navigation before hitting the flat areas. The people of Fiji are said to be the friendliest in the world and I;d say that is no lie as every one we ran by greeted us with their version of Mahala, Ola, Bonjour, Irie mon etc...Bula. They are actually quite exuberant with their bula greeting which can mean almost anything, like hi, hello, hello again, bless you, thank you, so we heard it as much as we needed to ... ever.

The heat took away some of the motivation to go long so I only managed 3 runs, the longest being 10.5 kms and I was well spent at the end of that run especially since I took the hilliest route possible that morning. All in all, a good trip, decent weather, enough downtime to make it feel like a break from work. I am still a bit jet-lagged but very glad to be home with my adoring family again.

Read Fiji Part 2

Chilly Willy Half Marathon 2009 - Race Report

You heard it her first - I have a strange skill.

What is this strange skill you ask? The ability to run a long race on the same course for the same amount of time as the previous year. It happened first this year at the Goodlife Marathon, where I ran 3:35:02 for the 2nd consecutive year. Not intentionally I swear, not even while looking at my watch and altering my pace in the slightest.

This weekend, it happened again. I did not look at my watch the entire race. I decided since I was tired from Saturday's 8k XC race, that fatigue would be a factor and that I would just run as hard as I thought I could handle and see where it gets me. Sure enough, I headed to the finish area, around the final turn and boom, the clock read 1:34:xx. I immediately thought it was similar to last year and had a little chuckle. Anita pointed out after the race that it was exactly the same as last year. 1:34:41 -Weird.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I ran this race without a real goal, just the hopes that I could run around 1:35:00 on tired legs. The weather was near perfect, a bit chilly (ironically) and no wind. By km 3 I threw off my hat and gloves with intentions to grab them later on, and was glad I ended up choosing to stay in shorts.

At 5k, I was in 26th spot (I counted the runners passing me by on the 5k turnaround point. I made a point to aim at top 20. After 3k, I had been in about 35th but quickly got by many runners who started out way too fast.

The course is very convoluted. We first run a loop by the waterfront, part of the Mississauga Marathon finish, then head out to a street that leads to more run/bike trails, where we head back to do the first loop again, continuing on to do a different loop bythe waterfron (close to the water by the Mississauga Marathon post race food area.

After that loop we repeated what we'd already run. I find it hard to repeat a section of a course as you are covering ground that eralier, did not feel that hard. Now I was tired and having to do it again. It was nice to pass by Anita a few times as we looped back. According to post race Garmin watch analysis, I did the first 10K in 44:26, the 2nd 10k in 45:30 and the final 1.1 km in 5:50. Pretty decent times for old tired legs. I didn't really expect to do this well. It definitely made up for the dissapointing finish the day before.

22nd overall, out of about 100, but 8th in my 40+ age category so we avoided heading back to the Mississauaga Canoe club for post race festivities as there would be no medal for me this year. The race had about 40 more runners this year, unfortunately a lot of them strong 40+ runners!

As for Anita, I will let her tell her own story. It is an interestinf one. Watch the Froum for her remarks.

No races this weekend...thankfully, I need a rest!

National XC Masters Chamionships - Race Report

Funny enough, my first crack at an official Ontario Masters race was for the National Championships. How did I manage to qualify for the National Championships?

I didn't qualify, but this race, held in Guelph, was also open to all Ontario Masters registered runners. Since I recently registered as an official Ontario Track and Field Association athlete, I was anxious to get out there and run. I have also been excited to try my hand, er, legs at a Cross Country event, especially after seeing Sarah and Cam run their XC races.

Now, as I mentioned, I was in a tough field, among some very strong runners and my only goal was not to finish last, or rather last in my age group.

This event, which I originally thought was a 5k race turned out to be 8k. No a huge deal but I had to reassess my strategy. Well, not really, I just planned to test out the waters and see what it was like to run on grassy trails, up and down hills completely expecting it to be a half hour of pain.

And that it was, 4 loops of a 2k route that started on the higher ground for the first km and headed downhill to the 2nd km where it rolled up and down before looping back a long uphill to the start/finish area. The hills were not good to me as I had yet to purchase spikes and had a hard time gripping the ground, and as well, my hamstring still does not like climbing hills, something that I normally have no issues with. I also ran the first loop too fast which made the final 3/4 of the race rough.

Loop 2 was spent trying to recover from the fast loop 1 and I got passed by several people ... with ages posted on our backs, I was humbled by being passed by several '45' and '50' category runners not all whom were male. These were strong runners.

Loop 3 had me wondering what I was doing there and not sure if there was even anyone behind me anymore! I caught a glimpse through the trees and realized I was not last. I actually passed a couple of people at the end of loop 3 and set my sights on a couple more.

Despite running the final loop almost as fast as loop 1 I was unable to catch more than one person, and I finished 10 seconds behind a guy in my age group that turned it on as I approached him.

I finished the 8km course in 34:52, a fair bit slower than I would have run a flat road race in but pretty satisfying based on a few concerns that I had, such as many late nights in a row this week, off to work early every day and terrible pre-race Friday night (beer, wine and dinner consisting of only cheese and crackers!)

I was 26/27 in my age group and 129 of 167 overall. I know I can do better than this but it will take a bit more discipline to get there. Next year, maybe less focus on marathons and more focus on shorter distances. We'll have to see how it goes.

For now, it was a joy to be a part of this racing community.

The remainder of the day was spent recovering and getting ready for the weekend's 2nd event, The Chilly Willy Half Marathon....race report coming soon!

Cross Country - Running on grass

In preparation for this Saturday's 5k cross country masters race, I ran yesterday, as much as I could, along the grass portion of the Lakeshore path. During this part I made an effort to do some intervals, trying to hit the same 4 minute/km pace I ran last weekend's 5k race.

What a shock, it didn't happen. In fact I couldn't even get close. I seemed to max at out around a 4:30 pace. Now, perhaps I was a bit tired, having already run 9k at lunch time, with only a few hours rest between but still, I could really tell the terrain was a factor in leg turnover.

Saturday now scares me, a little. Hopefully the grass where we race is not as long, or at least trampled enough that there is some firmness to the ground because it seems my stride is not suited for a soft spongy surface.

Hannukah Hustle 2009 - Race Report

I went into this race, somewhat tired, unsure of my 5k fitness level. I know I am in decent marathon shape but the 5K can be a bitch, a tough race where you really need to hurt from start to finish in order to beat your best times. I have been so close several times to going under 20 (recent times of: 20:21, 20:14, 20:09, 20:09, 20:41) and I always finish thinking could I have not just pushed a bit harder in the final kilometre?

I thought I'd just go out on the appropriate pace and see what happens. I never did start my watch so I just followed my Pace readout and tried to constantly keep it under the 4 minutes per km I needed to reach my goal. I also had the joy of using Sarah as a guide as I knew she;d be in front and just tried to keep her within site. Last year, same race, we turned around at 5k and I let her go thinking I would not be able to maintain the pace and I finished 20:21. This year, same spot I decided to be strong and stick with it. I momentarily entertained the idea of saying Iwas done, no shame, run it in easy. After all, Iam not far removed from 4 marathons in a 36 day time frame, who would fault me?

Me, that's who. I'd be my own worst critic. Plough through Dave, plough through.

As we headed back on this out and back route, i saw Cam, and cheered him on, which also gave me a boost. he was not that far behind!. I saw Anita, further back than I thought she'd be. Turned out Josh's back had spasm-ed and she stopped to help him out and find a vehicle to take him back to the start. Such a shame.

I started using the old, reel 'em in technique and managed to pass a few people in the 2nd half. Occasional glances at my watch readouts were saying I was close, always reading either 3:55 - 4:05 occasionally a bit slower so I was concerned that I had not banked enough time on the initial downhill start. I got to 4km sign, 1 to go, did I have enough energy left in me for one more sub 4 minute kilometre? I had to try, I wasn't sure of my time so I just decided to give it a shot and finish as strong as possible. Then the hill, that damn hill. I just put myhead down (not the right form I know) and barreled through. I slowed slightly, as you do uphill at the end of a 5k race. I wanted to remain close enough to Sarah to hear them call out her name if she were to finish top female again. I heard nothing, but as I got within sight of the finish I heard them call the guy in front of me and thought they may have said "... in a time of 20 something" What? I missed again? I almost slowed in frustration but instead ran through the finish and glanced over at the clock....19:55...I did it. And today, I am more sore than after the marathons. A bit of a shock to the fast twitch muscle fibres!

I felt as relieved after this one as I have after any marathon. I found Sarah and we congratulated each other. She was 3rd female in a personal best time of 19:27...awesome. We turned around in time to see Cam, only 97 seconds behind me, 21:32...sick. Too bad Josh got hurt and couldn't finish. it would have been nice to see him cross that line too. Thanks to Anita for taking care of him and sacrificing what would most likely have been her best 5K time.

Next week, we do it all again, in what will be the last 'race' of the year. We will run the Santa Jingle and Resolution Runs for fun, but next weekend is a weekend of tough racing again. Sunday is the Chilly Willy half marathon in Mississauga. Another small but well run event. Saturday we head to Guelph for my first race as an official Masters Runner for Ontario Track and Field Association. It is also a 5k, but it isa Cross Country Race, no high hopes of another sub 20! I am looking forward to it though. Sunday's HM should prove to be a tough one the day after a 5k....no partying next weekend for me!

My extended running family

This photo is being used without permission and I feel terrible about that. I will remove it in 1 year.

Canadian Athletes of the year

Canadian hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep capped a stunning season by capturing three 2009 Athletics Canada awards on Sunday.

View this story and the other winners on cbc.ca

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/11/15/sp-athletics-schliep.html

12 marathons 12 months - a friends quest

Race Director for A Midsummer Night's Run, Mark Trenton is on a quest to run 12 marathons this year. 1 in each month, all for a good cause. His daughter Laura and her affliction with Arthritis.

Now as we head towards the 12th month and Mark has run out of local marathons to run, and no time to travel to a southern route, he has decided to stage his own 'interesting' event. 105.5 laps around East York Collegiate's track on December 12th. Why is Mark staging this quest?

This part is taken directly from Mark's website:

The short answer is because Arthritis affects over 4.5 million Canadians and that number is growing.

The much longer and more complex answer is that my daughter Laura has had Arthritis since she was 7 years old. Her pain and debilitation was so acute that once her arthritis was properly managed our family vowed to do whatever it took to ensure that the disease did not affect her in the same way ever again.

As we learned more about Arthritis we were shocked to learn that:

Juvenile Arthritis affects an estimated 1 in 1000 Canadian Children under the age of 16
There are over 100 forms of Arthritis
Arthritis is Canada's most common chronic disease
Women are affected more often then men by many forms of arthritis:
60% of rheumatoid arthritis;
60% of fibromyalgia
90% of lupus

Today there is no cure for arthritis, but a lot can be done to manage the pain and improve the quality of life for those afflicted with the disease

You are cordially invited to view the 12th of Twelve

Saturday December 12th at East York Collegiate. Come and watch mark run 105 1/2 times around the track. Bring your shoes and join me for a few laps. Or simply just watch me go round and round and round and round. I believe this to be the only marathon in the world to be serviced by 105 aid stations! email marktrenton@yahoo.ca for more information.

So if you want, you can even come run with us that day. As little or as much as you want. No race fees but donations to a good cause would be appreciated. I will run all or some of the marathon with him.My final decision will be made in the next couple of weeks, but I would really like to run the distance with him. For now, please donate to Arthritis Research. You can do this at Mark's website.

Visit his site here http://www.12intwelve.com/

Quad Factor 2009 - Race Report

36 days of madness - in a nutshell

Day 1

Event: September 27 - Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon

Goal: 3:59:59 (4 hour pace bunny)

Result: 3:59:53 Goal Achievement Rating: 99%

Event rating: (out of 10) Start/Finish Area - 6, Route - 8, Organization - 8, Race Kits/Shirts - 7, Expo - 8, Overall - 7.5

Summary:

I originally set this out to be my season goal race, then take the following 2 weeks off and run the Goodlife, Niagara and Hamilton marathons as a pace bunny or just for fun but after taking some time to recover following the 50K Ultra at the end of June, my training had lapsed and that was compounded by the distractions of new home renovations. It seemed like using Scotia and the following 2 weekends as training runs was a better call. Fortunately for me I got in as a pace bunny for Scotia because Asics was the sponsor and we got lots of swag, or sccchhwag. Can't beat free shoes, shorts, shirts, hats and socks as well as the opportunity to get more for closest bunny to their goal time. The time goal was met and I was closest without going over which should have won it for me but a bunny running the 1:45 half finished 1:45:02 - so I was ripped off there.

The race itself was great, decent weather albeit rather humid but bearable and the rain held off. I had a good crowd to run with and really enjoyed the new route into our home turf along Queen Street East. Great crowd support as usual for this race especially in the beaches. Yes I said beaches - deal. Many of my group made their sub-4 hour time goal and Glenda from Michigan got her BQ and sweaty hugs followed. She even made the City TV news broadcast (no mention of yours truly!)

For me, the race was dare I say it, easy. Yes, It was enjoyable from start to finish and sure beat the hell out of a solo long run. With it out of the way, I had 20 days to prepare for Goodlife which was now my new goal race.

Other Notes: Wanted to try out my new compression socks but Asics required us to wear their socks, which were actually quite nice. Took 3 gels, didn't feel the need for any more. Post race, ran straight to the car and rushed off to Cam's rare Sunday game making it a total of 44kms. Missed out on the post race food!

Day 2 - 21

Recovered well although a bit slower than a standard 20 miler. I got in a few hard workouts and tapered for Goodlife. In retrospect, I think I tapered too much this time especially in the last week.

Day 22

Event: October 18 - Goodlife Toronto Marathon

Goal: Beat personal best (3:19:10)

Result: 3:35:02 Goal Achievement Rating: 85%

Event rating: (out of 10) Start Area - 6, Finish Area - 9, Route - 8, Organization - 7, Race Kits/Shirts - 7, Expo - 6, Overall - 7

Summary:

With the change of route for Scotia and the great organization I now prefer it over Goodlife. I still love the first half of the route, down Yonge, Forest Hill, Rosedale Valley Road and into downtown. The 2nd half is ok but it is a long way out and then back along the Lakeshore with very little crowd support at times when you need it. The finish is great, even though you have to work hard up University, once you get to Queen's Park it is lovely.

I ran the first half with the thought of beating 3;19 in mind, and was pretty much on track but never felt as good as I did in Mississauga so I had a feeling I was not going to make it. I tried to remain positive but it seemed quite hard and painful in the left hamstring and butt. I hit half way in 1:40 and thought for a while that a 1:39 or better 2nd half would be enough. Unfortunately, when I got to 30K I had lost a few minutes so knowing I had 2 more marathons to run in the next 2 weeks I slowed up and cruised the final 12k so I could enjoy the rest of the race and save some energy. It was actually too late for that as even with the slowed pace I was still tired and incredibly hungry. It was a struggle but I made it and enjoyed the post race cheering everyone in with our gang at the final corner.

Next year, I will make this event my goal race and run the others all for fun. I think even as a 4 hour bunny, 3 weeks is not enough recovery time to make Goodlife a goal race.

Other Notes: Diluted 5 gels into bottles and ran with my belt. I hate racing with a water belt. Never again. Arm warmers, not needed after 3k, had to stuff 'em in and run with them my shorts. Bummer.I tried out the compression socks. Although they worked well in a few training runs, I did not see real benefits here. Actually, my calves were more sore after this marathon than any other.

Day 22-28

Again, recovery went better than expected. A few days sore, a bike ride, ran on the Tuesday, cut Wednesday's run short due to a bit of right arch pain and was fine on Thursday's run. Planned to run again Saturday but way too busy. We had to drive to Niagara Falls to clear customs as the race starts in Buffalo and crosses into Canada. After visiting the lame expo we headed back to Toronto for Cam's hockey game and then all the way back to our luxurious suite at the Days Inn which I mentioned in my original Niagara Falls Marathon race report.

Day 29

Event: October 25 - Niagara Falls Intl. Marathon

Goal: 3:59:59 ( 4 hour pace bunny )

Result: 4:03:02 Goal Achievement Rating: 95%

Event rating: (out of 10) Start Area - 9, Finish Area - 9, Route - 8, Organization - 8, Race Kits/Shirts - 7, Expo - 5, Overall - 8

Summary:

Wow, an overall rating of 8, better than both Toronto Marathons. Well, the weather helped here. I am sure if it were cold, snowy, very windy, then my view would be different. But the course was lovely. Starting from our warm pre-race warm spot at the Albright Know Art Gallery, listening to live classical music, we headed through the prettiest neighborhoods Buffalo has to offer. Then, over the Peace Bridge into Ft Erie and along the Niagara Parkway, full view of the river, autumn leaves et al until we arrived in Niagara Falls, finishing with great views and the roaring waters and alas a rainbow at the finish line which was on the scenic platform at Table Rock. Very nice. The finish area may have got a 10 but I factored post race food into the equation and it was only average. We got duffel bags instead of shirts and although the marathoners got excellent quality bags, I am still not sure I like the different swag.

Other notes: Wore my toes socks. Very nice, best socks ever. They feel weird with no shoes on, but awesome while running and best my toes have been post marathon. No belt. Water stations every mile worked out well. 3 gels again. Best race number so far...# 262 or as I like to see it 26.2

Day 30-35

Last week of fun. Felt way better than I thought I would. Dean Karnazes said he felt the best for his 50th marathon in 50 days running his fastest time of the 50 at New York. I think I see where he's coming from. I slept better this week, ate better and was really looking forward to Hamilton. It's downhill course was what I needed for the final stage and made the lead up less daunting.

Day 36

Event: October 25 - Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon

Goal: 3:29:59 ( or better )

Result: 3:28:43 Goal Achievement Rating: 100%

Event rating: (out of 10) Start Area - 7.5, Finish Area - 8.5, Route - 8.5, Organization - 7.5, Race Kits/Shirts - 6, Expo - 4, Overall - 7

Summary:

Well we made it to the final stage intact thus far. Anita was set to run her 3rd marathon in 15 days and marathon number 4 in 36 days awaited me. 5 weeks, 4 marathons. Who'd have ever thought I would do this. Nevertheless, this one was fun. I like the Hamilton route and although 2 years in a row this has been one of my favourite races, the overall rating is 7, but that's because of the poor expo, and lousy shirts, otherwise it would score higher.

We got to the finish area just on time to catch a bus to the start line, which despite the change in start area was fortunately still associated with the warmth of a school gym again. I made a last minute porta potty visit and started dead last. That was kind of fun, catching up and passing people, making me feel faster than I really am. I coasted through what felt like pretty easy sub 5 minute kms and ended up 1:45 at the half and we headed downhill. I made up enough time on the long downhill section that I was able to back off and coast in keeping my pace sun 3:30 the whole time. With a bit of effort on the final few kms, I was able to run it under 3:29 which for some reason, I made my goal during the passing of half way point. The 6km finish along the waterfront trail was not really windy this year which is good as that may have killed my sub 3:30 quest.Seeing Anita and Sari at the 40k point was nice. Always nice to see a familiar face or 2.

It was by no means the most difficult marathon and turns out to be my 2nd best time. It was enjoyable but it sure felt good to finish. I actually laid down to rest and breathed a sigh of relief, realizing how much I had accomplished over the last 5 weeks. Within moments I felt right again and hoped up and over to the food tent. Hot Soup. Wicked.

Other notes: Toe socks again, may be permanent. 4 gels, not diluted. Water and or eLoad at most stops. ran the entire race but for one short walk break at 35km. I will run a marathon entirely start to finish one of these days! For only the 2nd time, I treated myself to music for this race. Not necessary for me, but with less crowd support than most races it was nice to have in spots.

Final thoughts: That's pretty much it. I remember lot's of little things here and there that are relevant to future training plans, what I may tell somebody if were chatting about running. And if I have any trouble going to sleep at night, I replay some of the races trying to replay each step which is both fun and yet it helps me nod off, which I am sure most non runners would say, "duh, of course that would make you fall asleep!"

Do not say time to rest. I feel fine and look forward to my next run, my next race, Boston and periods of multiple marathons down the road. next year I hope to do a double weekend, Saturday and Sunday marathons...who's with me?

Because I am delinquent

I have had a busy week and a half and not gotten around to waxing eloquent about my overall look at the quad factor 4 in 5 week marathon blitz. I don't want to just wing it. I will look back on it one day for reference so it is as much for me as it is for anyone. Hopefully I can get to it soon.

For now, you must watch this most excellent video...Why Do you Run?

Oh, and if you even think of stopping it early, at least check out the final 15 seconds...awesome running.

We interupt this blog for Prostate Cancer

Please read on, and donate whatever you can, small or large. Every little bit helps!

You may have heard of Movember. We are participating in Movember here at work.

About Movember

The Movember Foundation is a global not-for-profit charitable organization which runs the men's health initiative, Movember.

The Mo (slang for moustache) and Movember, the eleventh month of the year (formerly known as November), come together each year to create the world's largest movement for men's health - bringing much needed awareness and funding to men's health, specifically prostate cancer.

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Hamilton Marathon 2009 - mini Race Report

3:28:43 is how I finished my 4th marathon of the season, 3rd in 3 weeks. 'B' goal was not to break into pieces during the race. 'A' goal was to run 3:29 - which would make it my 2nd best marathon time.

That I did, cool weather, windy, but not as bad as last year. It is a fast course which I pretty much coasted through it enjoying each step. Well, almost every step, after 23 miles, the leg fatigue set in and I had to fight to maintain pace to run under 3:30. It was different this time, all the wind in the world, just no leg turnover. If I relaxed, I would slow right down, I really had to focus. It did feel good to finish this one.

I didn't see many costumes (is it sacrilegious to dress up the day after Halloween?) but the pace bunnies were actually pace 'devils' - cool.

Some of our other running group were there with some great results. PB for Sari in the half, an almost PB from Fred. Anita also ran the half (her third in 3 weeks) Army Mark, Efraim, Ray and Melanie from the clinic ran the marathon. Hopefully they will contribute their thoughts to the Forum.

Quad Factor, Stage Four - Witching Hour

On this windy, menacing Halloween, I sit patiently, resting as much as I can. Usually, I'd be almost wishing the day away. Sometimes when I get anxious, I get impatient and look for little ways to whitle away the time. But this would be the most peaceful I have been on Marathon Eve, a holiday that lately, come quite often. Oh joy. I think we need to write caroles to sing and rejoice the spirit of the day.

This Marathon Eve has an air of eeriness as Cam listens to Thriller as we speak and the winds howl through the fireplace chimney. A power outage would make it even better. No, I need power. One more hot epsom salt bath, kettle for tea, and of course, Internet all require power. Internet is a must for researching last minute motivation and also to begin planning future races. yes, the eve of a race always makes me want to think of what's coming up in the near and far future. When I race tomorrow I can use this research to bring brightness and positivity during dark periods of the race. Mind you, I have often blown these thoughts away citing to never run another race as I suffer through a long spell of discomfort.

The fact is, I know I can get through tomorrow and though I have the urge to run this one hard and fast, I also want to enjoy the run and not fall apart due to it being my 3rd in 3 weeks, 4th in 6 weeks and 7th of the year. So my biggest fear this time around is making the wrong decision. Start too fast and I suffer if my body can't hold it for the duration. Sart to slow, enjoy the run but finish wishing I'd tried harder. No need to dwell, my spidey senses are telling me now, that I will see the light at the start line, feel it out and decide as the gun goes off.

oh, should I run in a costume?

You can do it - Anitas change of tune - by Frank

Ok, can I be Frank? At least let me try.I simply adore my wife. She is my biggest supporter, in all aspects of life.

Lately, she is especially supportive towards my running adventures. "You can do it" she keeps saying whenever I doubt myself. Last week, after Goodlife, before Niagara when I was feeling a bit tired and sore still, she said "don''t worry, you can do it. I know you can, Anytime you make a plan you see it through with flying colors"

Wow, that's support. Sure enough she was right, Niagara went well and now we're heading into Hamilton and her tune is the same.

But here is the funny part. At one point in time, many years ago before I'd ever run more than 5K at one time, I declared that I'd like to run a marathon one day. "Forget it" she said, "you'll never have time to train for a marathon so put it out of your mind."

Time passed and we both needed to change our ways to live a healthier lifestyle and lo and behold, we both became marathoners. We were chatting a couple of nights ago and she reminded me that she'd once said forget about running a marathon, and here we are, 13 marathons down and a 3rd in 3 weeks only days away. We got a good chuckle out of that.

I am glad I made a believer out of her. She is always making a believer out of me. Now if I could just get her to believe I can run a sub 3 marathon

~ Dave

Niagara Falls Marathon - Race Report

Niagara Falls was a must on my to do list. How can you pass up an out of town marathon that is really not too far to go, cheap accommodations and as picturesque as Niagara Falls. That and I wanted to fulfill my desire to run back-to-back weekend marathons, which of course will end up being back-to-back-to-back after next weekend's outing in the Hammer.

After a couple of trips back and forth in order to meet our Saturday obligations of clearing customs, visiting the race expo, and getting Cam to hockey, then back to Niagara, we settled down in our $62 room, which was actually upgrade to the honeymoon suite when both of our room key-cards failed to work.

After an interesting evening (see Anita's report) we got up and dined at Starbucks. Bagels, Banas and codde, the jolly BBC breakfast. Niagara Falls marathon starts in Buffalo NY, which is why we had to clear customs. We were bused there and I had the opportunity of being only one of 3 english speaking people on the bus which had already filled up with the Marathon Tour Group from Japan. A fun ride was this as I entertained many questions pertaining to my bunny ears and '4:00' sign. We arrived at the start, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery where we were allowed to stay warm and enjoy the gallery while listening to live classical music, a nice change from the norm of rock and roll running songs.

The Buffalo portion was surprisingly beautiful. Yes, those two words were in the same sentence, beautiful and Buffalo, who knew? We made our way to the border, about 7k, avoiding all nearby fires and then we climbed the Peace Bridge, the toughest part of the race - steep and windy going up, and very windy going down almost offsetting the downhill. The remainder of the course was gorgeous, along the Niagara River, fall colours in full force. The spectators were minimal but every mile on the mile was a large water aid station manned by local school kids and some spectators all whom cheered loud and and exuberantly. Once a mile is often enough for me although some of the runners with me were hoping for more crowd support.

As the 4 hour pace bunny, I was able to really enjoy the route and the crowd with me, my largest following yet, whom were in good spirits and very chatty. Of the 30 or so at half way, 12 finished with, or slightly ahead of me. most of the others not too far behind. It's a testimony to even pacing vs banking time as we passed, easily 25-30 runners in the last few miles, all of whom groaned as they watch the 4 hour group slip by.

The finish was lovely, one of the nicest finishes you will come across, complete with rainbows in the mist and a great view of the Falls. I toyed with my efforts to run exactly 3:59:59 by slowing a bit in the final few hunderd metres and then got caught in traffic and blew it by 4 seconds finishing in 4:00:03. There goes my perfect record of sub 4 hour marathons!

Post race was followed by many thanks from the group and then off to Hard Rock Cafe for post race nutrition. Anita drove home, allowing me to enjoy delicious Creemore on tap. A nice sunny drive back to Toronto capped off our lovely "date race weekend".

And now, a few days later, feeling good and recovering well, ready to give Hamilton a good shot. No set goal yet but I think a sub 3:30 is a possibility especially seeing as it is Canada's fastest marathon.

Sore Quads next Monday anyone?

Team in Training Fundraiser

Hey gang,

Some of you will know my neighbor Matt, a former Running Room clinic member who still runs with us on occasion and is one of my faithful cohorts when it comes to being a pace rabbit as I always seem to be pacing the time he is running.

Never the less, please have a read, this is in relation to Team in Training Fundraising which is for Leukemia research, a illness that has affected Matt's niece.

Matt and his wife Lisa are fundraising in memory of her three-year-old niece, Julia, who passed away in September after battling leukemia for 11 months. Lisa is billing it as the Marathon of Martinis, a holiday bash to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training (with whom she's fund raised for in 2009).

She's fundraising for, and training to do, the Marathon de Paris April 11 2010. This event will be held at the Bedford Academy in Toronto on Saturday November 28. Tickets are only $25 and there will be free finger food, plus a chance at some great prizes like an iPod Nano.

Everyone is welcome. Bring friends too--the more the merrier. Please RSVP to Matt Sylvain, at mssylvain@hotmail.com by this Sunday, November 1 (Lisa needs to assure the Academy there'll be at least 50 people attending--drinking--on that date).

Here is the URL for Lisa's personal TNT donation site (people can also make a direct donation; all donations over I think $15--it may be $10--generates a tax receipt). It includes more information about her goal and her niece. http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=776620&LangPref=en-CA

And while the death of her niece is undeniably a 'heavy' topic, the tone of the night will be happiness and positivity.

On behalf of Matt and Lisa, I thank you for considering attending this fundraiser.

D

Race Day Tips Article - Funny

An old RunningAhead.com message board friend [ 'JakeKnight' ] wrote this acouple of years ago.

I was recently reminded of it. It is both informative and fun to read, so here it is for you all.

http://www.runningwithscissors.ca/resources/articles.php?id=1344

Enjoy!

Goodlife Toronto Marathon - Race Report

Well, I thought about writing my race report now. But to be honest, I think I will wait this one out and follow up later with a full report on the Quad Factor - 4 Marathons in 6 weeks. With 3 in 3 weeks already in progress, I figure I can make it one nice tidy race report encompassing all 4 events.

For now, if you like, you can read my brief synopsis originally posted in our clinic forumn - click here to read it

3 days until Niagara Falls, my first back to back marathon weekends. Aside from tired legs at this point (still!) I am pretty excited to run Niagara. Go figure.

Onward, to the Quadruple Bypass stage 3 - Niagara Falls!

Is Marathoning Dangerous

No

When comparing death rates in large cities who host marathons, even when there was a death of a runner, it was discovered that on the month of the marathon there were fewer deaths than for the same month during other years. The reason, it turned out, was that because of all the street closures which were needed for the event, there were fewer traffic deaths!

Full article

http://calorielab.com/news/2009/10/19/dr-j-on-marathon-deaths-in-detroit/

in my words, it need not be debated. More people running = more people healthy = less people dying (young)

Goodlife Pre Race Welcome Party

Duff and Nir with Boston Billy

A gang of former elites, and us

Interesting fellow Boston Bill

Only Canadian woman to win Boston - Jaqueline Gareau

Nir, Duff and myself with Super Rick Ball

Me and my pal, Katherine Switzer. A definite hero!

Hmmm, I said something funny...

Duff and his wannabe date!

Marathon is a 4 letter word

I admit, I have been very slacking in my blog content as of late. So why not rehash what others are talking about then right? This is from RunShorts’ tweet yesterday.

There was an online article Monday, by the Toronto Sun, regarding Sunday's 2nd marathon in the downtown core. Yes, I slightly agree we do not need two shutdowns in our city. I can't deny that is is a pain for motorists, although it is announced on all new programs etc.

Click Here to view the news article

and here is one of my favourite comments from the online replies...

I have run multiple marathons in cities BIGGER than this. New york does it and the crowds cheer you and the close ALL major bridges. Chicago does it and the crowds bring you water and clap from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. - and YES its the down town core. Ottawa is getting it. To all those drivers who booed you should be ashamed. Where is the pride of this city? I am sad for Toronto and embarrassed as a 7th generation Canadian that this is how we treat visitors who travel from all over to run our city for one day.

Q Minus Two - Some Truths

The weather is looking good for marathon #12.

Tapering is the name of the game this time around. This will definitely be the most I have tapered as I head into this one.

I know my hamstring needs it, I know the rest factor is debated often, too much tapering makes the legs get tight and unresponsive etc but I also want to go into a marathon fully rested. Oddly, this morning, my hamstring is more sore, and I am wary of over stretching it.

Other than that, I couldn't be more positive. I had a conversation last night with someone and mentioned to him that I am going into this one completely ready for failure. But not in a negative way. I want to run hard, I want to do well but I know my body may not respond, either because of under-training or various aches and pains that will slow me down. The 'smart move' would be for me to be conservative and run somewhere around 3:30....but I would be more pissed if i did that and finished knowing I could have done better.

I have made a promise to myself that I will not be upset if I get to 30K and feel like shit and need to do the walk-shuffle for the final 10-12k.

I will try to make it 12 out of 12 sub 4 hour marathons though. This is set to be a most interesting marathon.

P.S. The image shown is the quad burger [ quadruple bypass ] looks good doesn't it?

Q minus three

Reminder: Q = Quad factor - 4 marathons in 5 weeks.

3 days to go to marathon number 5 of 7 for this year and my 2nd attempt of the year to run a personal best.

This one will hurt. I am a bit nutty this time around, expecting more of myself than ever. But this time around I am experiencing a mental positivity that is stronger than ever. I have backed that up with some decent runs of late and for all I know, my training program this summer/fall will have some sort of magic quality.
I am a big advocate of high mileage training. That was unfortunately a tough thing to accomplish this time around. Partly because of obligations and partly from trying to heal 100% as my hamstring has been bugging me since Mississauga Marathon last May and lately, a bit of Plantar Faciitis.

But hells ya it feels so good to run and last I remember, it feels so good to set a PR so why not give it a try.

Unfortunately last night's sleep was poor, worst in a while. Possibly from eating too late after a hard 10k run but on a brighter note, I have been eating much better lately and as a result I have been feeling better than ever. A true testament to trusting that a disciplined diet is worth it.

Thanks for....Autumn Running

I have pleaded for the past 10, or maybe 15 years, to my parents, please have Thanksgiving at the cottage! It is so nice in northern Ontario at this time of year. You can't beat the taste of everything, toast, coffee, turkey, Wyndham Estate's Bin 555 Shiraz ;)

The only thing is that not all of the family were able to, or wanted, to do Thanksgiving at the cottage so it was a quiet one in comparison.

What I always loved most about lingering around the cottage in the fall is the smells. Indoor and out. Smoke wafting from the chimneys, the sweet smell of foliage and crisp air, and of course, all that food cooking. Dress warm and enjoy!

Running is new to this mix - seeing as we have not been in Sundridge in the Fall for many years. I mean, I was always somewhat active spending October days up north, walking, maybe one more pickup baseball game or a final dirt bike ride of the year (yes, this is exercise). Now that I have developed a love for running, I found a new love for this northern town. I almost wish it were earlier in my training schedule so I could have trekked the 24k distance around the lake [ see a summer view here ] but alas, one week from a goal race marathon and I kept it to 10k. I was actually a bit tired and yes, a bit hung over so I was not expecting much but after a couple of ragged kms I warmed up and enjoyed the cool air and fine vistas.

The route was not too different than what I ran many times over the summer but it had a completely different feel. It was literally raining leaves. I was trying to catch them as the fluttered by me and became part of the terrain. I deviated near the end of the route and ran up a small hunter's road which climbs up about 200 feet over the course of about 800m. This would be a great hill repeat but once was enough for me this day.

I managed to take a bunch of photos, some of these from the run, and some from just walking around, or driving. ALL from my Blackberry as we forgot to bring our camera this weekend. 29 made the slideshow

All photos are taken with my Blackberry!

The Yasso 800 Teaser

I did a Yasso 800 workout last night...

You may know of Bart Yasso. You may even know of Yasso 800's - no?

Click here to find out. "Yasso 800s"

Last night was my final 'hard' workout until Goodlife Toronto Intl Marathon Oct 18. I shouldn't even be thinking Personal Best at this point, after a very distracted summer of training. With the busy schedule and time spent renovating, I ran about 75% of the mileage I did for Mississauga this Spring.

That said, I am feeling very good about things. I would assume that the renovations acted as some form of cross training, and I did add biking to my routine in lieu of the reduced mileage. Most of my runs were done on tired legs which accounts for something. My time at Midsummer's was respectable and not far off a 3:20 marathon pace even while feeling sick and tired. My HR has been lower on easy and hard runs than it was in the spring, and well, my Yasso's went well last night.

I ran the 800m repeats in an average of 3:05 (3:05, 3:07, 3:03, 3:03, 3:04, 3:10, 3:07, 3:03, 3:05) That's only 9 and if you are a true Yasso follower you know it should be 10, but hey, it was late and I was famished....met with Anita and cooled down back to home together.

So, I know Yassos are not a guarantee, but that is a pretty decent workout, and I did these with less rest between repeats than he calls for....gotta be worth something. Plus, it was faster and felt better than when I did them in the Spring.

So I will go for it. Maybe I will crash and burn, but it's a goal race and i am not out for a pleasure run. Scotia, Niagara Falls and Hamilton can server that purpose. Goodlife will be a pain run, a 'raison d'etre' run - and hopefully another step towards my goal of, dare I say it, a sub 3 hour marathon one day. I am getting old, might as well push forward before it is too late!

So my ABC goals, in fine print are:

A: sub 3:15
B. PR (sub 3:19:10)
C. Finish without breaking into little pieces, hopefully somewhere near the 3:20 zone

and

D. None of the above but HAVE FUN

Romantic Runners

Interview with Haille G

Interesting Running Blog - My Run Shorts

Well, since my updates have been sporadic, I offer you a decent Running Blog to keep you occupied. In fact, you'd need a long day to catch up, but you may find that it's worth it.

Speaking of long days doing nothing much, I really miss those days, like rainy movie days, or the day after boxing days where we played whatever new game system the kids got, all day, order food, play more, doze, get 'Bandicoot thumb' etc. Need to schedule one of those, although they are so much better when they just happen.

I digress, here is the My Run Shorts link

Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon 2009 - Race Report

Hmmm, not the best photo ever....

Anyway, Marathon #11 complete. I was the 4:00 Pace Bunny for this race. This in itself was great because the Pacer Program for Scotia is sponsored by Asics. This meant free shoes, shorts shirt, socks and hat on top of the usual free registration that Bunnies get. The 'large' shorts and shirt however were geared towards larege Kenyans maybe, so unfortunately they will go to my daughter instead. The shoes, Asics of our choice, were to be worn for the race (or an older pair as long as they were Asics) I wore my new ones, Nimbus 11's right out of the box, which I would normally not recommend but I tried them on Friday night, wore them around the expo Saturday and deemed them worthy. That they were, and deservedly to be called a great shoe right out of the box.

I treated the race as a final long training run seeing as Toronto Goodlife Marathon in 3 weeks is my goal race. I did not taper and I did my regular runs and speed work this week skipping only my usual Saturday 10k run. A one day taper you could call it! The good part of this is that with the stress level low, I slept well on Friday and Saturday and woke up Sunday morning feeling great. I followed my usual pre race plan, eating 2 hours before the race, grabbed a coffee, picked up Nir and got to the race plenty early. The atmoshpere was good, making it an enjoyable long training run. It felt pretty easy right off the bat and right through the entire race.

I thought the course changes were fantastic and allowed us to cross paths many times to cheer and encourage our fellow clinic mates. I so so many familiar faces which was nice.

Running through our home 'hood was a treat. Passing by the 32KM 'WALL' with Anita, Julie and Duff there to greet us was also very nice.

I had a good group of people as the 4:00 pacer but no one from our group. I did have a Boston Qualifier, 50+ Glenda from Detroit, ran here first sub 4 hour marathon and crossing the line with her was awesome. She even made the 11:00 News on CITY (no mention of her faithful bunny!)

I had to run, literally right after the race to get to my son Cam's hockey game. Because we were blocked in, I had to run another km and a half to get to my car! Because of this I missed out on the fun post race festivities of watching others come in and chatting up those who finished ahead of me.

Wicked day...looking forward to Toronto Goodlife!

Quad Factor Fall Marathons

OK, last year was the Trilogy of Terror. I completed 3 marathons in a 5 week span, earning my way into the Marathon Maniacs Asylum. 3 in 5 weeks, or the 2 in 2 weeks were the minmum to get in. I am upping my status this year with the Quad factor. 4 Marathons in 5 weeks, same 3 marathons as last year (Scotia, Goodlife, and Hamilton) with the addition of Niagara Falls where I will pace again (4 hour pacer)

The 2nd, 3rd and 4th of this set will be back to back to back weekends. Insane? No, I am looking forward to the challenge. Last year they all went well, in fact, the 3rd, Hamilton was the most fun of the 3 and my time that day was only 5 seconds shy of my personal best at that time (3:35:03)

The only limiting factor is that I have not trained as hard this summer as I did last year but i am still feeling up to it. Hopefully the addition of cycling to make up for the reduced mileage will benefit me. Goodlife Toronto Marathon is my goal race where I will attempt to better my PB of 3:19:10. - this will be difficult, but I am still going to give it a shot.

This Sunday, Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon will kick off the fall season with a 4 hour pace effort from me, which will serve as my final long training run, then a 3 week taper to give Goodlife a run and Niagara and Hamilton I will run 'easy' heh....hmmmm. Those 3 in 3 weeks are the new Trilogy of Terror for me, although I more embrace them as much as fear.

Some reading you may enjoy:

~ My favorite Marathon Maniac and acquaintence, Chuck 'Marathon Junkie' Engle

~ Marathon Maniacs Website.

Toe Socks - Don't laugh!

I bought these toe socks yesterday. I ran in them last night and this morning. 10km runs and I actually really like them. They feel weird when you first put them on but feel great when you put your shoes on. I have wide feet so my toes invariably end up rubbing together. Vaseline helps, but not always, and occasionally I forget the Vaseline so I thought I'd try these out.

A quick Google of toe socks benefits revealed this extensive list - pretty crazy

Despite the fact they felt good on these 2 runs, I won;t really know if they benefit me until I do a long run of at least 20km. That is about the breaking point for my toes.

That said, I have another product I want to try out which is also something that only a long run will be able to tell me if it works. The product in question here is Compression Socks. From the picture [which you can click to enlarge] you can see they are pretty 'scientific'. I have actually heard great things about them, especially for marathoners and with 4 marathons on the horizon, I am eager to try them out. They apparently help with circulation which in turn reduces fatigue and aids in recovery.

Now, if I can find compression AND toe socks in one combination....

Dear Dave Emilio - Remember this number

20004289

This is the registration number for....??? anyone :)

Oakville Half Marathon 2009 - Race Report

So, a half marathon 4 days after a 21 miler with speed work mixed in and hoping to beat my best time of 1:33:59? Not a chance!

1:37:10 - I knew after the 2nd mile it was not going to be a special day, but I gutted it out and held a steady pace of consistent 7:15 - 7:25 / miles. 2 minutes faster and feeling better than last year at this same race so I am pretty happy about things as they are.

Anita ran the 10K (64 minutes) and was sort of in the same boat, fighting off the fatigue of hours of driving, laying floors etc, but we did enjoy our races.

This event, although too pricey, is well run and runs through the beautiful area of Oakville finishing along the waterfront at Coronation Park. Great post race festivities with loads of food and musical entertainment.

Once again, our friend Predrag Mladenovic won the half marathon in a time of 1:08

As always, great to see fellow Running Ahead Allumni...especially locals

The highlight of the day really was the drive home. We stayed on Lakeshore drive the entire way, stopping a 'Starbucks for a treat and enjoying the drive passing some of the nicest houses in Southern Ontario. It was a beautiful sunny day that we took advantage of and as always, we're glad to run these races despite the results.

RV to Boston

Long craaaaazy run

Since last weekend was so jammed with life getting in the way of my long run, I only had time to get in 17kms which I ran close to goal marathon race pace to increase the validity of the shorter run.

This coming weekend I have decided to do the Oakville Labour Day half marathon. This will of course require skipping my long run next Sunday.

To make up for this, I scheduled a long run yesterday and what an interestingly tough workout it turned out to be.

I started out from work shortly after 5pm and fit it 14kms before arriving at the Running Room for our group run. 2 scheduled workouts were on the go for the clinic. A 2k warm up leading into set of 5 x 1km intervals w/ 1km rests and a 2k cool down. (I still think they should be 1x mile with 500m rests!) Or a 2k warm up leading into a 6k tempo run with 2k cool down which I choose to do. Throwing in a tempo run slightly faster than race pace is just what my training needs right now. It felt great and we arrived back to meet the group as they were starting the 3rd interval set. I decide to continue on with them and ran 3 sets at a pretty decent pace considering I was about 22km into my run at this point.

After the intervals we cooled down as a group back to the Running Room where I continued along towards home tackling the final 4k of a total 34k on the uphill route home feeling half decent although quite hungry as it was past 8pm and my last meal was lunch. I made a pit stop for a new Gatorade and a banana, brief walk and made it home drenched, ready for a dip in the pool. Nice. Lingering pains reminded me I need to get back into more long-hold stretches after runs, especially longer and tougher workouts, which, for this this one, was both!

I went to bed after a good epsom salt bath and more stretching, expecting to wake up sore but lo and behold I feel great today. This reminds me that the post run stretching really does help with recovery.

I have 4 days to recover and give the Half Marathon on Monday a good shot and I think I am mentally stronger than Ihave been which will hopefully make up for the fact my training and mileage are less than this time last year.

Broken up run into several parts
16km - easy (5:30 /km average)
6km tempo (4:30 /km average)
3 x 1km intervals with 1km rests (4:15 on 6:00 off)
6km easy finish (5:45 /km average)

A Midsummer Nights Run 2009 - Race Report

This event is unique. From the theme, of A Midsummer Night's Dream and it's evening setting. The waterfront location with nice views of the city and the very community feel of it, mostly because it is set near our community. I like the route visually although it can be tough to navigate in some parts. Although flatter, I think I'd actually prefer to 'race' the Around the Bay course.

Pre-race at MSNR is always good as there are so many familiar faces, clinic members and other friends I know from the running world. Again this year, the fun and frolic kept me from warming up properly!. Originally I was at one point meant to be a Pace fairy for the race so I was supplied with a tutu and wings. Well, I opted out of pacing (and glad I did due to my pending stomach issues) but I did wear the outfit for a short while. Although the wings broke right away, I did wear the tut for the first 4k. When we looped back by the start, I handed the tutu off to Anita who wore it for the entire race. Good sport!

I heard many stories of stomach issues. I wonder if it was the race time (we run at this time or thereabouts quite often) Maybe it was a bug. I was plagued by major stomach issues and had to 'stop' twice, first after waiting at the guard station potty on the way out to the spit and again after we got off the spit. - and there were several 'tense' moments between stops.

The route changes were good, I much prefer the loop along Unwin as opposed to the route around the Balmy Beach club. I an sure everyone would agree. The spit is always a great part of the route, not just for the views but also the fact you get to pass by everyone after you make the lighthouse turn. It was great to see so many familiar faces, clinic members, former clinic members, various running friends et al. Waves and hellos from everyone prompted the 2 guys behind me to ask each other "Is this guy famous???" I got a good chuckle and wanted to turn back and ask "Don't you guys know who I am?" but at this point, I was already looking forward to and concentrating on my next potty stop! Even when I met up with Anita on the way out for her 15k race, I was distracted as I looked past her at the 'red occupied sign' on the guard station solo porta potty! I didn't even realize she had the tutu on!

I stopped at the Leslie St potties and fortunately did not have to wait like I did at the first one. It always seems like forever when you have to stop but after looking at my Garmin splits, it seems like I only added about 2-3 minutes onto my overall time aside from the slowdowns during several 'tense' moments. Anyway, after my second stop, I felt better and was able to get my pace back up and tried to pass as many of the people who got past me during the stop. This is not always a god move as is burns a lot of energy. In a marathon, I would probably not have tried this. Into the beaches area, I felt the comfort of the familiar terrain, the Boardwalk and 'Pretzel' AKA The Peanut and crossed the 21.1k mark in 1:39, not bad considering the delays until this point. I did my best to finish the last 9k as strong as possible, fought off a few more tense stomach issues and fought through the fatigue. I was tired partly from a debaucherous wine tasting evening that ensued after Thursday's canceled run. Not recommended for 2 nights prior to a race! I stopped for a walk at the 2nd to last water stop, and was passed by a guy I passed early in the race. I got going again and made it a point to pass him back. You see, he had knee high cotton socks on and this years Midsummer Night's Run race shirt. I couldn't be beat by him! I caught him and he kicked and kept with me. My competitive juices flowed and I kicked hard to which he could not match. I do love racing. I was planning on visiting Duff's final water stop but dd not want to be passed back by him or anyone so I kept going through. (Sorry Duff, you did great - everyone said they were so glad to see you - and we are all sorry you had to pass on the event)

I finished strong and feeling good, running the final 2 kms in 4:39 and 4:22. I finished 70th out of 771 with a time of 2:23:02, better than last year but a few minutes shy of beating my 2:19 Around the Bay time. Oh well, there's always next year! I am pleased considering my reduced mileage this 'busy' summer and all of my ailments. I think I did a good job of overcoming these setbacks and ran a strong mental race. It's not often I say that. I feel good heading into the final stages for my fall marathons.

I spent the post race at home (instead of the beer tent ) keeled over in pain and wasn't able to eat for recovery. I did feel a bit better Sunday but am still not 100% today. I thank Anita for taking good care of me Saturday night! I would have like to have stuck around and enjoyed the Beer garden with the gang and my other Running Friends that were there but this year, it was not to be.

Sundridge Triathlon - Race Report

In retrospect, I could have 'handled' the sprint distance. But I think doing the short version insured it was it a really enjoyable intro to tri's.

Decided Saturday I wanted to give it a shot. Don't currently own a bike! Drove to Huntsville, 40 minutes away to rent one. Now I own a $100 decent Norco mountain bike which was fine for this short event that included gravel roads for the bike portion. They gave me a loaner helmet since I do already own one although I like the one they loaned me better. I did not return it on time so will call them and pony up with my cc#.

Race day

Hadn't yet decided on Try a Tri or Sprint. The swim portion finally made me opt for the Try. I went register only to be told there was no race day registration. Apparently their idea of registration is 'race kit pickup', not sign up. Their excuse was that the info was already sent to the timing company. So I walked over to the timing truck, asked them to add me, they did, gave me a bib number and sent me back to registration. Good thing I didn't give up hope after my $100 investment. Thankfully we had already signed Sarah and Cam up. Anita sat out as she volunteered to watch Cam while we raced.

40 athletes, majority female (one of them being Sarah who threatened to whoop my ass)

We had fun racking our bikes for the first time, laying out our ride/run stuff. We then waded out to the start line.

350m swim.
Deep water start. I got kicked right away. 'Welcome to Tri's!". Quite wavy, out to buoy #one, settled down, over to buoy #two mostly breast stroke and crawl all the way, slow and sure, a few gulps of water when bigger waves hit me. The water got shallow and we were then allowed to run. Sarah and almost 20 others were ahead of me at this point. Onto shore and the the transition zone a new term for us. Sarah was a bit ahead still and got out of the transition area first. I didn't rush but managed to get through the change pretty smoothly.

10km ride.
I felt good right off the bat and started to make up lost ground passing a couple of people in the first km. Then I passed Sarah at about the 2km point. I passed a couple more by the time we got to 4k, and then had to do nearly 1k climb up a dirt road. I was gaining on one more person and then broke down. The quick release rear wheel slipped and I finally figured it out after a once over. I pulled the wheel back and tightened it, got back on and it slipped right away. 3 people one being Sarah passed me. I hopped off did a more thorough job of loosening, pulling the wheel back and tightened it harder this time. It seemed to work. The turn around was at the top and we got to fly back down the hill. This was the most fun...Garmin pace read 1:20 / km at one point - that's about 45km/hr on a gravel road, a bit hairy for a minute or so! I was thankful here to be on an off road bike. Back on the flat road I got past Sarah again and the 2 others and passed a few more by the time we got to the transition zone. I think I was about 12th by now. I parked the bike and ran with my helmet still on...back to the bike hung up my helmet, then went the wrong way out of the zone and turned back heading over the proper timing mat this time and headed out to the road on legs that felt like rubber (I haven't biked since a teenager other than occasional bouts on the exercise bike at the gym - very rare)

2.5km run
I felt like I was going really slow but my Garmin pace read 4:45 / km and I managed to maintain that pace or close to it for the run, passing 4 more people doing the run portion in 12:19 and felt good coming in, right at 50 minutes, 8th overall. Sarah did the run in 11:40 and almost caught me! She finished 9th overall and 3rd female.

Fun, we were pretty stoked and happy we'd finally given it a 'tri'. Yes, we're looking forward to a next, and longer triathlon.

Cams mini-tri
The swim was 50m and in shallow enough water that the 20 8-9 year olds could touch down if needed. Cam didn't ralize this and fell to dfl before finally run-swimming to catch up. He got out of the water 10th and did great in the transition zone and on his way on the 3k bike portion. By the time he came back he was 3rd. He. Did great transitioning again and ran well enough to catch 2nd but ran out of time to get 1st who was still about 10 seconds ahead at the finish. He came out with his medal and crashed on the grass, tired and elated. I think he really enjoyed it.

And so, be it small, short, and not well attended with talent, we still did well and are now officially triathletes! Next time Anita will join in.

I confess - I love Timbits

OK, first off, I am really really upset with two people today. Someone in our office was late this morning. It's customary for us to pick up snacks, treats of Starbucks when we are late. Well, she brought Timbits..The 40 pack. I ate 13. So you guessed it, the 2nd person I am mad at is myself.

Hey...Let's do some Math!

Amount Per Serving

Calories 50

% Daily Value^*

Total Fat 2.0g 3%

Saturated Fat 1.0g 5%

Sodium 40mg 2%

Total Carbohydrates 9.0g 3%

Sugars 4.0g

Protein 1.0g

Multiply x 13 Timbits = 650 calories..it's actually more. 3 of them were Chocolate Cake Timbits at 70 calories each. Add another 60 to the total and we're over 700! Well, not we. I shouldn't include you in my fess!

Thank god I have been good with the rest of today's food intake thus far.

I have no excuse. (Excuses are the nails used to build the house of failure!) I have a reason. Weakness and I can change that. I plan to right now and confessing here is the start.

This is not the only slip up lately. In a time where my mileage has dropped from 100+ kms per week to approximately 50-80 kms, I should be matching that with reduced calorie intake but I haven't. In fact, today was supposed to be a good day I promised myself to get back in the zone. I need to as I am looking for anything to give me a boost in energy. Sometimes I just need that one good day to get back on track. 'Tomorrow" has been the starting point too often, and is the common fault of most people trying to improve a health habit, be it smoking or snacking or exercising. Tomorrow comes and a new tomorrow is there for the plans to be put off.

It has to be today, it has to be now.

Hot, humid, tired, and injured.

4 attributes not well suited for a good long run. So I bailed. My hurting hamstring, combined with the incredible amount of sweat (which could not possibly have been replaced with my on-the-run nutrition) caused me to reconsider running a planned 32k route. At about 20k I altered my path, headed home and ended up at 24.5km feeling like I'd completed a marathon. Actually, no, not that good. Frustrating even though I know all the answers why.

I will persevere, and give the hamstring a little while longer to improve. Hopefully some physio, better nutrition and more sleep, will contribute to some improved long runs over the next few weeks!

Juggling it all

What a fitting week for the clinic to be focused on the topic of "Juggling it all".

Never have I felt so much like there is not enough hours in the day. As far as running goes, I have regretfully dropped off as far as mileage goes in comparison to what I ran last year. And the intensity of each run has dropped as I have spent far too many nights trying to get one more job done and more cleanup done. This has adversely affected both my ability to get out for as many runs as well as the overall enjoyment factor. I mean, I still love getting out for a run but it is definitely not as enjoyable when each run feels like the end of a long run right off the bat.

I wish we were in the position with the move and renovations that we could relax a bit and tackle one small job at a time with no urgency to get it completed as fast as possible. Actually, we are at a cosmetic stage for the main floor at least but the basement is a whole new ball game and with Josh returning from India next week we will have to get cracking on his lair!

Might I be implying that a PB Fall Marathon is out of the plans?

We'll just have to see.

Back on track

Ran at lunch today.

Attempted to hook up with Duff for a lunch run. Alas, no response to my email, I thought maybe I was being shunned. After my run I see my email notification of message undeliverable, recipient's mailbox is full.

It was hot, but not bad considering it was an easy run. I pushed hard on last night's easy run due to the fact it was my first run in 3 days and I felt like going hard. This will end up being the 3rd week in a row of low mileage but after the 50K run and moving, and renovations, I needed it but I am definitely geared up to get back into some decent training and start deciding which if any fall marathon will be a goal race. It is easy to lose a bit of confidence in one's abilities after 2-3 weeks 'off' but last night made me feel a lot better.

Niagara Ultra 50K - Race Report

I am very tired today, not just leftover from the race, but due to following up the race with 16+ km run on Sunday and then a week of moving / house repairs. I had to skip a run or 2 this week. I will try to get back on track for next week.

So, that said, I am finally getting around to this report, which I will keep brief as I need to get some sleep!

Anita, Cam and I we up nice and early, 4AM on Saturday morning. We gathered our stuff and picked up Duff, who kindly had coffee ready for us. This was a good thing as we needed a pick me up for our 90 minute drive to Niagara.

Shockingly, we got lost (made a wrong turn!) but found a nice lady out gardening (at 6:30am!) and got to the event with just enough time to change into running clothes and visit the washroom.

We met up with Shan, a friend of mine who was running the marathon. Unfortunately we didn't have time to chat much before hand but afterward we had a chance to chat and have lunch.

So Duff and I took off at 7am and headed towards Niagara Falls. It is a pretty 'tame' route as far as Ultra Marathons go, navigating a multi-purpose path along side of the Niagara River almost all of the way. The drizzle started after about 5k and became a steady rain by 10K and then a downpour that lasted until about 48k where it finally stopped. The puddles were deep and keeping shoes dry became impossible. From 10k to 14k was almost entirely an uphill climb. I wasn't expecting this and it through me for a bit of a loop. Thankfully I had the downhill portion to look forward to on the way back.

I got to the 21.1k point in 1:54:00 and halfway at about 2:16:00. The rain was heaviest at the halfway turnaround point and I was planning a 1 minute stop to eat something and enjoy the view of the Falls, but it was so misty, foggy and rainy that I just continued back towards home. By this point, I was soaked right through to the bone and knew it was going to be difficult to keep on pace (My goal being under 4:30:00) even witha good downhill section awaiting.

A lot of runners were in a similar situation of running a slower second half as I passed about 8-10 runners on the way back and only one person passed me (Mark, the race director for The Midsummer's Night Run) I was tempted to stay with him but I was running out of steam and even though there was only 2K to go I decided to enjoy the last part by running an easy pace.

The final few kms reminded me a lot of the last 8kms of my first marathon. The excitement of finishing my first Ultra masked the tiredness somewhat but at the same time I was glad to be done. I came around the last turn, onto the grass area we started on and saw Cameron and Anita waiting. Cam ran out to me and joined me for the final 200 metres which was nice. I crossed the line in 4:39...about 9 minutes shy of my goal but not too bad considering it was my 3rd marathon in 6 weeks and I chose not to taper as much as I probably should have. I have no immediate plans to run another race of this length this year so probably this event next year where I can attack it a little differently. I definitely prefer the marathon distance but I think once a year I could handle going beyond.

Duff was not far behind me finishing at 4:52 and I missed his arrival due to the need to change out of wet clothes. I felt bad for not cheering him as I am sure he would have been there for me. Boo to me! What is most impressive though is how well Duff did considering he hasn't really taken a break all year after his 2 Ocean's Marathon (56km) in April, Mississauga Marathon in May, Ottawa in May and now Niagara. Then he went out and ran Sunday like it was nothing...The man is a machine!

Anita and Cam ran the 10k event and although Anita is still getting over her injured leg she had a good run, perhaps her best in a while. She let Cam run ahead after 3k and he ended up finishing in 56 minutes, good for 14th out 48 overall.

Shan came in from the marathon a little after 4 1/2 hrs with a good first half but a sore leg forced her to walk a lot of the 2nd half. SHe was still smiling big when she came in, seemingly loving ecery second of thgis wet race day! We were able to enjoy watching more runners finish while we had a few post race snacks and carbo-rich beverages provided for us. After hanging around the finish line for a while we headed inside for the awards then made our way to the town of Niagara on the Lake for a big lunch before heading back home. Next year, we'd like to make a complete weekend of it and hopefully entice a bunch of people to join us. It really it a great event and the route is one of the nicest we'll ever run, in Ontario that is. We highly recommend it.

Duff, will hopefully follow this up with a spin of his own and fill in some of the details I am sure I have left out. I will add any thoughts as they arise, but for I need to call it a night!

~D

50K a few days away

I guess I am feeling pretty relaxed. It doesn't seem daunting, for now. It probably will the night before, and the morning of. Having recently watch Prefontaine (twice) and Without Limits, also about Prefontaine I am antsy to run shorter distances. There will be time for that soon.

Usain Bolt's controversial shirt

As he arrived in Toronto the other day, world record holder Usain Bolt had this shirt on. You need to tilt sideways and give it a good read! Click the thumbnail to view article.

RWS Marathon - Race Report

So, I ran a marathon today. I finished 1st...and last. Well, I was the only entrant actually. Here's the story....

The low key race was held by the Running With Scissors Race Club. It started, conveniently, in front of my house. From my house it headed east to Rosetta McLean Park and then turned back to the first 'rest stop / aid station' at the Beaches' Running Room. I was joined by a few (about 40) good friends as the marathon headed west and then south to the Martin Goodman Trail, or at least part of it as we turned around at the split in the road. This was a 'rest stop' and I spent a few minutes discussing race plans and form technique with the Duffman. Then, the last of my pacers came through (my lovely wife) and I ran back to aid station number 2 with her (yes, Beaches' Running Room again). My pacers were done for the day and I was back on my own again, in the lead still (or last place still, depending on how you look at things) After another short rest stop, the route headed west again along Queen to the Lower Don Trail. Strange that there were stairs involved in this segment of the course. The race director is quite creative.

The route headed north along the Lower Don Trail until we, er, I got to the washrooms just past the DVP 'molars'. Good timing for washrooms as I was in need...but alas, still closed for the winter. You might agree with me when I say, hasn't winter long passed???

The route headed back and into Taylor Creek Park, east through the park to Victoria Park and up the mountain of stairs....3 flights worth is very tough at this point in a long run! At the top, I headed north on VP and detoured to Dawes rd trying to estimate getting in 42+ but not too much more. So south on Dawes. down into Taylor Creek Park again, this time heading west. One of the trails out of the park lead to Woodbine and O'Connor, up the stairs again! This was about where the finish line was. There was no flashy finish area, no medal, no spectators, no post race stale bagels and half bananas or apples that have been touched by who knows who. No mylar blanket, no chip removal, no wandering back to the finish line to cheers others in. Just a city street with passing cars and people walking by, going about their business oblivious, to the fact I just ran a marathon. I imagined them saying "Hey, good race!" - but no one did and so I slowly shuffled to my destination satisfied with my efforts.

Fortunately, my final destination was less than 1 km away where little Cam was at a friend's for a birthday party. Lucky for me, this is where I got some post race refreshments and a hearty welcoming from my awesome wife who awaited me with dry clothes.

Today's totals:
Total Distance 43.18k - 4:28:04
Marathon point 42.2k - 4:23:37
Place 1/1
Fuel: 2 gels, 1 pk of Gu Roctane chews (great stuff!)

All in all, a pretty good run, in preparation for my 50K ultra-marathon debut in 2 weeks. Time on my feet was my goal today with no concern for time. I was pretty tired from a 15k tempo run yesterday and a pretty hard week in general, logging a total of 102.5 kms. Most mileage in one week since before Mississauga's taper period.

Gotta love these 'small marathons'!

No rest for the wicked?

You might say that. With the upcoming 50K race on June 20, I have to keep at it. Last weekend I put my time in with an 11K run on Saturday, 10K run Sunday morning and a 2nd Sunday run of 30.5k. All in all that felt pretty good considering it was only a week after the Ottawa Marathon.

I took Monday off, which I plan to make a permanent thing as long as Sundays remain in the 40K + range. I refuse to fall into the lure of "streaking"! The rest of this week has gone well, with the clinic runs as well as a double yesterday (2 x 8k). This morning, as well as yesterday were just picture perfect days to run. Great temperatures, sun shining, the kinds of days you want to bottle and save for sometime in say, January!

This weekend I am planning on some more big mileage with 20ish Saturday and 40ish Sunday. Maybe I will "round" it off to 42.2 just for kicks!

Ottawa Marathon - Race Report

Ottawa Race weekend was a blast. We drove there with our fearless pal Duff. Sarah stayed at home to 'rest' for her 1500m track city final. Josh and his friend Ryan were in tow and we didn't see them all weekend as they spent time in Ottawa with friends. We met up with Rob and Anne from the marathon clinic as well as my neighbor Matt who was in our previous clinic. The 7 of us rented a big cabin (luxurious!) and it was a busy weekend. We were about 35 minutes away from downtown Ottawa and it was worth the drive. It was a 5 bedroom 'cottage' with radiant floor heating, huge windows, a view of the gorgeous lake and a massive kitchen dining area very suitable for post race bbq & brews!

Saturday was the 5 and 10K races. Cam had been looking forward to the 5k for a while. Due to the size of the 5k race (8500) I decided to run it with him as he was hoping to do well in the 8 + under Age Group. It was run at 5pm Saturday before Sunday's marathon. It was hot as hell, and after a congested start we managed to get free and run it in 23:03 - not his PR but good enough for 1st of 79. Very impressive from this durable little guy. As happy as I was to run it with him, it did leave me a bit spent and worried for Sunday's duties as 3:50 Pace rabbit. That of course did not stop me from enjoying a few glasses of wine back at our palace on the lake.

It was hot again Sunday but I felt good. I donned my pace rabbit shirt & hat complete with pink ears and our goal time on it. And my sign with our pace on it so people could follow me from behind. The 1st km saw us already 20 seconds behind but mainly due to the congested start. We got back on track and actually got a bit ahead of pace 8km. This is where I had to pee, real bad, mainly because I did not go before the race due to the fact I was supposed to be in my coral with my 3:50 sign for runners to find me. So I had one of the runners hold the sign while I jumped into a porta potty line. After a bit of wait and them what seemed like the longest pee ever, I got back out with no signs of my group. I think I burned up some valuable energy catching up with the group almost 5 minutes later!

Pacing this marathon was a blast, I had a group that varied from 12-20 runners as people joined and dropped or moved ahead. I shouted words of encouragement, tried to amuse them with some joking around with crowds, got all the busier sections to roar as we ran by and even ran ahead and stopped to dance with the belly dancers.

I had a good group that included Matt and Ron from the Running Room as familiar faces and they helped me to remember to get the walk breaks on schedule. We were diligent with thanking the spectators, volunteers as well as Ottawa's finest.

As jovial as the first half was, it quieted down and became all business by about 30K. Actually, right after I got the group to cheer themselves through the 30k checkpoint, it really got serious. I talked to people who needed encouragement and some even said they'd be dropping back as sub 4:00 was their ultimate goal. By the time we got to 34K I was down to 6 runners. By the time we got to 40K it was me + 4. I lost 2 more in the last km as I kept on pace but they couldn't quite hold on. Let me tell you, this was tough for me. I started to really tire around 35k in a part of the course that has beat me up the last 2 years. Despite being on a pace 30 minutes slower than 2 weeks ago, the fact it was only 2 weeks of recovery, the heat, and the 23 minute 5k the night before (along with the wine....oh, the wine) I did manage to get the job done bringing in my group at 3:49:52. Keeping the pace over the final 5 minutes was a killer! So the 2 runners that finished with me moved ahead in the chute as I waited to see how my others finished. I managed to find about 8 of them and they were all ecstatic with their sub 4:00, sub 3:55 PRs. I got a lot of compliments and thank you's and it made it all that much more enjoyable. I'd do it again definitely!

On a different side of things, Anita was a guide runner in the 10K race. She backed off from the marathon a while back due to a nagging hamstring injury so an easy 10k was all she was up for. Our good friend Duff is associated with the Achilles Track club (info on Achilles) and he was able to hook her up with a visually impaired woman who needed another guide. Needless to say this made her 10k much more interesting and we're both looking forward to doing it again including local runs with the Achilles Tack club on Saturdays. The runners need more help than just at the races - if you're interested in helping, contact me!

I am stoked, proud and exhausted - all in all pretty much happy to be a runner and a running family!

The gathering of the rabbits before our Saturday morning meet the rabbits fun run

I leave you with this photo I took from the bridge at 200m from the finish, which I love.
It is Rick Ball, from Orillia, on his way in to set the record for 10K single leg amputee with a wicked time of 37:57!

Until next time - happy running!

Mississauga Marathon 09 - Race Report

So, this report took a while. Generally, I like to do my race reports the same day or the day after, when it is still fresh in my mind. You would think I would have done this report much quicker due to the fact this was the biggest race of my life so far.

For those of you who know me well enough, you know my goal is not just to qualify to run the Boston Marathon but also to continuously improve my running capabilities for as long as my body will let me. Maybe until my mid to late 40's. This is probable considering I did not start seriously running until my late 30's.

Well, none the less, a major goal has been completed. I don't mean to cut to the chase so early in the race report but there it is. My friend Nir and I were in this together, throughout most of the training since last fall, and we ran this one together, both needing the same finishing time to get the prize.

We needed to run at least 3:20:59. A 4:44 per km pace! We knew it was both possible, and not possible depending on the day and how the final stages of training played out. This included the need to be injury free, which we both flirted with, as well as all of the little stars needing to be aligned.

When it came down to it, we both felt confident that we'd done the training as best we could, and if we were in good enough shape, we'd reap the benefits. We also had doubts as this would have to be a personal best time of around 17 minutes for the both of us. All we could do was plan our race and race our plan. We had all the support we needed, from our running community friends to our adoring partners. Of course, Nir's own Julie was running her first marathon on the same day which make this fairy tale all the more interesting. She did, by the way, run a fantastic debut marathon of 4:39 with our other good friend Graham side by side. Well done to those two!

So with all of this support, training, confidence and surprising calmness, we went into this day quite...well...ready. Nir and Julie picked me up bright and early and we got to the start line with plenty of time to spare and managed to meet up with about 10 other running friends, some running the marathon and some running the half. We stayed warm, waited in toilet lines both in the cold and in the warmth of Panera Bakery, by the start area. I managed to stay warm with about 5 minutes of light running, not wanting to tire myself out but not wanting to take off at race pace too cold. By the time it was ready to start, we were way at the back and had to further warm up by running up the sidelines to get into the 3:20 corral. We made in time to get our walk on after the gun went off, taking 50 seconds to cross the line. (The marathon and half marathon started together making for a crowded start)

We ran together, same pace, same goal, not saying much other than confirming pace and commenting on certain bits of terrain like, hill coming up, water stop ahead, wow that guys runs weird etc. We spoke of niggling injuries, which became more common as the race wore on. Our plan was to bank 3 minutes in the first half and make good use of the downhill portions and then 'coast' in for the 2nd half. This worked well, the weather was good, the pace of the crowd we were in was steady and similar to ours so it seemed to flow very well. At 14k, we split from the half marathoners and suddenly it was quieter. Quiet due to far less footsteps, less runner chatter and was less crowd support. Not to worry, we can do this ran through our minds consistently. This is also where my hamstring started to play up and shoot pain up through my groin and butt. This worried me a bit, and more so when my knee ached a bit, probably from compensating. Tylenol here helped somewhat as did some strong mental blocking. Although it got worse around the half way point, it also started to ease up shortly after and no longer seemed to be an issue.

We got to the halfway mark in 1:37:10, just where we wanted to be. Normally, I'd be freaking out thinking, too fast, too fast but we did let the downhills carry us which is where we banked the time. Good to go. Time to work harder now. In fact, shortly after the half way mark, we headed south with the wind at our back, which was nice, but that meant turning around at 25k and back into the wind...which was very strong. For 10 minutes / 2k we slowed down to over 5 minutes per km and let it happen knowing that fighting it was not worth it in the long run. We turned out of the wind and ran in a really nice, secluded neighborhood for a couple of k's which took us to the 30km mark at exactly 2:20 minutes. This meant we could average 5 minute k's for the remainder and still make our time. This was a great confidence boost, especially because I could feel a slight slow down beginning.

The last 12k was hilly, and windy, from every direction it seemed. We stopped for a short walk at the next 2 aid stations. The 2nd stop, I took extra time to work out some issues with my hamstring that had returned. Nir continued on from here, and although I wanted to catch up after I stopped, I resisted the temptation to burn out by attempting to run fast enough to catch up. I decided to keep him in my sight and let him run with his pal who was waiting for him at the 35 or 36 km marker...I can't quite recall. All I know is I was enjoying the feeling of finishing strong without suffering and looking forward to crossing the finish line standing and smiling and not crawling!

And that's how it played out. The last 5k are very vivid. No wishing it to be over, no need for any walk breaks, just a pleasant steady 4:50 pace that got me to within 1k to go and with 8 minutes to spare! I just kept running and smiling as much as possible (yes, I was pretty tired here, but also elated) - I got to 300m to go where Anita, Sarah and Cam were and said hello, high fived Cam and continued on, careful not to trip over the several paths and roadways we have to traverse at the end of this route. A good crowd awaited us at the finish and I heard a few familiar voices call out my name, recognizing them but not really knowing where to look to wave back. And the finish line appeared. As I approached, it read (gun time) 3:19:55. I stopped at the mat, let it turn to 3:20 and hopped on. I thought that would make a good photo but unfortunately they took the finish line photos with 50m to go so alas it got missed. Anyway, Nir was there and the first thing he said to me was 'Did we do it?'. I said of course, and he was still in a bit of disbelief but finally realizing together that we did what we set out to do and a huge load was off. We hugged it out, like men do and then posed for a photo together. If you see it, you will notice Nir still looks a bit unsure if we'd really done it!

And so it ends, we are Boston bound. Not for a while mind you. Still many races between now and next April and possibly a new PR by then. Who knows. Here we are, a week after Mississauga and I am still elated at what we accomplished with a feeling of confidence that if I continue to train hard and smart, I can accomplish a few more fantastic things down the road.

I cannot take credit for this accomplishment without offering a huge thanks to Anita and my family for their support and encouragement. Sarah and Cam have been so fabulous and inspiring in their own races lately - I had to carry that over! Thanks to Nir for his companionship both in training and on race day and to Duff, for his words of wisdom and keeping me down to earth. And thanks to the members of our running group and marathon clinic for their inspiration. I hope to share many more of mine and their goals in the future.

For now, it's time to enjoy this a while longer!

P.S. Thanks to our pal Debbie T for the photos!

Sarah's Rocking Regional Races

Well, it was a great week for running in our family. Sarah had regional track finals yesterday and today and competed in 3 events. 1500m, 3000m and 4 x 400 relay.

Yesterday she won the regional 1500m with an exciting final lap surge taking over first at the final turn and sprinting in for a personal best time of 4:59.

Today she ran the 3000 first and won handilly, 39 seconds ahead of 2nd place. Shortly after the 3000 she ran the 4 x 400 relay as the 2nd leg and took the team from 4th to 3rd where they remained for the remainder of the race.

3 medal in 2 days for her and a trip to the city finals in those 3 events. A good showing at the city finals will earn her another trip to OFSSA (Ontario finals)

How proud can one dad be????

Awesome day for the kids - Race Report

Little Cam, ran his city finals XC race today. After a terrible start from the worst spot on the line of 92 runners, he fought hard to catch up. We lost sight of them as they headed into the woods and when they came out a few minutes later he was in 5th. He was looking a little overheated and although I was hoping he'd make a charge, I knew he was done. They passed us at about the half way, he was still in 5th. We lost sight of them again shortly after that and they came into the final straight in 8th, he passed a guy back for 7th and could quite catch 6th. So he finished 7th overall, in the city finals (no state for 8 year olds). The 6 ahead of him lurked a foot taller than him. He is so small and looks like he is in the wrong race some days!

Sarah turned 16 yesterday, and ran her first race as a 16 year old. It was a preliminary track meet preparing for upcoming more serious races. She was seeded in the faster of the 2 1500m heats and it proved to be a very fast heat. She ran a personal best 4:59!

After a great final lap surge she went from 4th and caught right up to the 2nd runner but finished a half step behind in a close very close 3rd place. It was an exciting race that had the feel of a championship.

A friend mentioned to me today, may this be a good omen on my upcoming marathon this Sunday!

Cam, at the start

The big finish

Sarah - Lap 1

Sarah final lap

Anita races again!

The lovely Anita lives to run road races. Like me, this is the case in recent years. Those who've known us for a long time will know that we didn't always love running. We used to like things like....well, not running.

Now we love to run and especially, the group aspect of it and of course the joy of races. From looking forward to them, to the fun on race day and the great feeling afterward. That and it is good to put our money towards race-charities as opposed to bar owner's wallets!

So, yesterday, Anita was fortunate enough to have gotten some runs in lately and felt strong enough to tackle the Sporting Life 10K event. Although she did not run her best time, it was great to see her run this race, complete with a smile and remain smiling all day. Her plans to get back into distance racing looks positive. Hopefully the healing trend continues and she will be able to train successfully for her 2nd marathon with Scotiabank this fall being her goal race.

I know she can do it and will see to it she continues doen the path of smart training. I want her out there as much as she wants to be there!

Way to go Anita!

A big week for us runners!

This is the start of the biggest week in running for team Daddyo.

Sarah has 1500m and 300m track races this week and although preliminary rounds, she is gearing up to get herself ready for the more important events in the following weeks.

Cameron has Cross Country City finals on Wednesday and is hoping to pull it all together for the win after finishing 2nd at the regional finals last week. If he can tough it out and get a good start, then he has a great chance. Their coach took the team through the new course on Saturday which the other schools may or may not have done. Any advantage in racing helps!

And for me, it is the fateful week of the Mississauga marathon, where I am hoping to run a 14 minute personal best and qualify for Boston.

Training finished off well with a solid tempo run on Saturday up and down the 400m Bowmore hill. It's only a slight hill and ran it at slightly faster than goal race pace with no recoveries down the hill. I felt this would be a good last hard workout considering that Mississauga is a hilly route, fortunately more down than up! Sunday was a recovery run and very enjoyable on such a nice day.

I visited my acupuncture / A.R.T. girl today and hopefully my hamstring issues are sorted. Although I feel soreness where we worked on things like glutes and hips, I do feel the improvements in movement and strength reserves in my legs and I am looking forward to see how this translates come race say.

I have no doubts that I am capable of running a 3:20:59 or better but the stars will need to align. Good weather, good rest, good eating and down to me, a good smart race. I am mentally preparing and planning the race in my head now. Very preoccupied, very excited yet not really nervous....yet.

Training in the Bahamas

I have arrived safe and sound from the Bahamas. It was a great weekend I am sorry to say but it is good to be home and with family.

At this point in my training, it was tough to be away for a weekend in Bahamas and have to behave. On the whole, I managed to be good, but day one was rough. I Mean how can you avoid getting caught up in the fun when you are handed a Bahama Mama upon arrival to Sandals Royal Bahamian?

So day one consisted mostly of free time and by dinner, a large percentage of the 60 Flight Centre crew were already in '2ND gear party mode'. Actually, several were in 3rd gear and racing toward full speed! I made the mistake of not drinking enough water throughout the day. By dinner time I was at my worst (best?) and coasted from there. Apparently I had a brief nap at dinner - but don't remember that! I had hoped to remain sane enough to get up early and run before the conference started. I was scheduled for 23K. In the morning, I was in no shape for a long run. Now, I did give it an honest try. I woke up 6, was out the door by 6:30 but after 5 minutes decided I was not in any shape for anything beyond, say, well 5 minutes so I turned back and sat on the beach, watched a beautiful sunrise, then caught 2 more hours of sleep. Looking back, I was thankful that I went to bed at midnight as my roommate did otherwise I would have been in really rough shape. I only followed him because I had left my key in the room and didn't want any trouble getting in if I had stayed up any later.

So Sunday was rough for a while but I recovered soon after breakfast and actually had a really good day. We spent the better part of the day on Sandals' private island across from their resort, doing team building drills on the beach. A pretty good excuse for working if you ask me! Although most people were already back at it, I passed on the beers that were being brought out and drank nothing but water and 1 diet coke all day. I attempted the run again as we had a couple of hours to kill but cut it short to a easy 4k run. After dinner and some presentations/speeches, it was a little after 10:00and before I got sidetracked, I beelined it to the room and was asleep by 10:30.

I had behaved well enough Sunday and having gone to bed early enough, that Monday morning I was able to get up at 5:30 for a long run and it went quite well. I did feel the fatigue left over from 2 night's previous (you may have heard that the sleep 2 nights before a run is more important than the night before, well now I really believe that!)

I ran from our resort, to Paradise Island in Nassau which takes you over a huge bridge around the halfway point. This was tough. Actually, the whole run was tough especially since I was trying to run it at race pace but fell short on that for most of it. Overall, not too bad of a run all things considered and avweraged a 5:09/km pace.

Here is a map of the run. It shows the 2ND half of the route so it was essentially an out and back route from the left to the right and back. Strangely enough, on the way back, I was feeling spent and thought I had at least 4-5km left and then suddenly came upon the driveway to the resort which was the most welcoming end to any run in a long time.

So, the rest of Monday was spent indoors 'working' which wasn't too bad. After we were done, we had free time for the last night and other than a beer and a few glasses of wine, it was a good night. and i called it quits at midnight before I got caught up in the continued excitement that apparently lasted until dawn. I got up early and went for another, short, run and a swim and after feeling like I may have been missing out on the fun the previous night, was grateful for feeling good. Upon seeing the weary red eyes at breakfast, i definitely was glad I kept the debauchery to a minimum this weekend.

Will this weekend deter my chances of running a 15 minute PR and qualifying for Boston in less than 2 weeks? Maybe, but if so, I am prepared to keep at it and try again in the fall. I do have 2 more marathons scheduled this spring but Niagara in June is not certified and for Ottawa I have already committed to the 3:50 Pace Bunny slot. The summer marathons are to hot for me to run fast so it will look like Fall as a next attempt. Wait, why am I being negative? I am still feeling good enough to do this. It's now time to rest and eat and sleep well for the next 10 days and then get out there and feel the pain!

Little Cam - Rocking at Cross Country!

1st of 70 at first XC race of season. 6:09 - 1500m - what an exciting race it was!

Halfway, just after taking over the lead.

Top 3 - all from Cam's school

Home Stretch - exciting!

Spring into Action - 5K Race Report

A last minute decision to run another 5K race. This one was in High Park and I had a feeling it could be a tough race...

I didn't realize how hilly this race was going to be!

This was a fun 5K to run, but not to race. It was mostly downhill for the first half and mostly uphill for the 2nd half.

Anita was on hand to cheer and unfortunately keep resting her leg. Our friends Heather and her daughter Maxine were helping another friend, Jim, from the Running Room do the Race Timing.

My results: 20:45

Garmin - 5K Splits were...

1k 3:54 - mostly downhill
2k 4:03 - mild hills
3k 3:55 - 11:52 at this point - thinking sub 20 - oh ya, there's a big hill coming - oh oh
4k 4:24 - between 3.2 and 3.8 was up a steep hill then a slight grade to 4k...this killed me.
5k 4:02 - hardest 4 minutes I have ever run
.25k 00:27 - bad tangents? This was entirely on a fairly narrow path???

Like I said, it was a fun race through Toronto's High Park, and about 100 runners.

As for racing against people vs myself, this was a fun one, I passed about 10 people from 3k - 4k up the hill and was glad they didn't pass me back after I was spent!

I finished 7th overall, 2/7 in my AG. Won an 8 x 10 race photo print.

I'm not disappointed in the missed sub 20, it was to tough course and I felt good despite the hard effort. Now, just 3 weeks to BQ goal race.Then we can look for some more 5Ks.

Good Friday Road Race 2009 - Race Report

I'll start with the highlights. Little Cameron ran this race in 22:34 - putting him 124th out of over 500 runners. Pretty cool. Sarah ran another sub 20 5K with a time of 19:58, on 'an off day' I am jealous! Her friend Hailey ran as well clocking a 19:17 and good for third in the 14-19 age group. Anita ran this as well which although her time is not even close to her personal best, it was great that she even ran after some time off and some acupunture to heal her ailing leg.

Julie and Nir also attended with great efforts on their parts including Julie's first shot at the 5K distance and a taste of what it is like to go all out for a short period of time as opposed to a longer easier' paced race. Both hard, just different :)

Nir was the story of the day with a great 10 mile race of 1:12:44 - good signs for his upcoming marathon in 4 weeks.

And for me, it was another almost in the great world of goal setting. For the 2nd straight week, I attempted to run 5K in under 20 minutes. For the 2nd straight week, I ran 5K in 20 minutes and 9 seconds. I am not upset at all really as I know the factors of marathon training are impeding my chances of getting faster at the short distances and as soon as I am able to I will focus on the shorter events and bust the hell out of that 20 minute monkey!

Beaches Spring Sprint 5K - Race Report

Color me dumb.

Though it was a PR for 5K...by a few seconds. 20:09, I am bummed that I blew another shot at sub 20.

OK, I'm over it now. What happened? I started out, into the heavy winds along this waterfront trail with the front of the packers - big mistake. I realized that at about half a km in, at 3:20 pace I was wheezing, and it took a while to recover. I recovered for too long as you can see from my splits!

1k - 3:56
2k - 4:16
3k - 4:10
4k - 4:06
5k - 3:41

This Friday, we do it all again, another 5k - hopefully in better conditions and smarter pacing.

The best news is that Sarah smashed her 5k PR with a 19:3, 8th female overall and again beat me by half a minute!!!!

Cameron ran the 2K (at his cross country coach's request not to run the 5k) where he finished 2nd in the 9 and under and 14th overall with an 8:04.

Poor Anita sat another race out, but on the bright side had a great appointment this morning with her new PT and some accupunture which apparently went over quite well!

Running Around the Lake

It's almost time...summertime..and I am looking forward to the first run around the lake. A 24k jaunt in some great northern atmosphere. Care to join me?

Around the Bay '09 - Race Report

This was my 2nd running of this race, the first being last year coming off an injury and ran a safe 2:35. This year, feeling better and stronger I was hoping to run under 2:15 (good for the silver medal) but went in slightly under the weather with upset stomach and a night on the home based port-o-potty. I am sure missing out on carbo loading replaced by 'unloading' had a bit of affect on my results. I was only a minute behind pace at the halfway mark but knew the 2nd half, being as tough at it is, and not being able to stomach Gatorade or gels, I was in trouble. The rain and puddles weighed my shoes down big time (as I really noticed after I took them off!).This put a damper on the 2nd half but I held on for a decent finishing time of 2:19:09. This keeps me on track for a 3:20 marathon in 6 weeks so I am hopeful still to qualify for Boston this spring.

Of course, it is always so great to see the kids hanging out for a high-five near the finish giving me that needed boost to finish strong. It was particularly nice because I was expecting them to be inside the stadium, not on the street.

Overall crowd support this year was slightly down but still surprisingly good despite the cold and rain. I overheard many people saying 'man, it must be tough for these runners to run today. I tell you, I'd rather be running and moving around than standing still at the sidelines!

This is normally a really well spoken of race, but the weather took a bit away from that. Finishing in the Copps Coliseum with runners announced and filmed on the jumbo-tron is quite nice and always great for meeting up with other runners and family as well as staying dry and warm before & after the race. I thought the post race food was exceptional with a bagful of goodies, juice, water, fruit, bars, snacks. Decent bronze medals (the silver would be better! - next year for sure)

I especially enjoy racing more and more these days since our local running community has grown so much and more and more familiar faces are showing up and meeting up at each event. I was very impressed with everyone's results and there were some great first efforts at this particular event.

Here are my gory details/stats on this race:

Date: 3/29/2009 9:30 AM
Type: Race
Course: Around the Bay
Distance: 30 kilometers
Duration: 2:19:09
Pace: 4:39 / kilometer
Field Placement: 340 / 6500 (5.2%)
Age group: 40 – 44
Group Placement: 70 / 433 (16.2%)
Gender Placement: 296 / 2618 (11.3%

Elevation chart:

Around the Bay 30K - 3 days away

OLDER THAN BOSTON!

Yes, that is how they promote this race. In fact it is older than the Boston Marathon. 1894 was the first year this race was run. For Boston, it was 1897.

Information on these 2 events

Read about Boston here.

Read about the Around the Bay 30K here

So, with the big ticket goal race being the Mississauga Marathon on May 10, this weekend's race becomes a sub goal. I do want to do well and I definitely want to beat last year's time which shouldn't be too hard as I am definitely in better condition. Last Year's time was 2:35:29, this year I am gunning for under 2:20 which will put me on track to run 3:20 for the Marathon. It is actually a faster pace than a 3:20 marathon but allows for some slow down over the additional 12k.

So this weekend will be a good test. Not a 100% guaranteed prediction either way for Mississauga but at least it will either build confidence, or make me realize I have a lot of work left to do. And with Mississauga only 6 weeks later, that could be an issue!

Accountability since last post: Almost None.

Good snacks, no junk other than the fact Cam had hockey last night and it was 8:30 by the time we could get dinner. So we grabbed Wendy's on the way home. Single, no cheese, no mayo, no fries, water as beverage. Barely passable as a meal I know but better than a full out combo!

No core workout yesterday but I did get to bed early for a change.

Darn Alarm

99% of the time, it is the user's fault when it comes to alarm clocks 'malfunctioning' and this morning is no exception. I can clearly recall shutting it off yesterday and not immediately resetting it as I normally would. So, I woke up later than planned and managed to get up and out fast enough to get in 8k - easy - recovery - but was hoping to have got one more longish run in before this Sunday's race (Around the Bay 30k).

As it turned out, I was feeling tired, to a point that I was actually glad I slept in as the 8k seemingly took forever. Oh, and that reminds me, I did do my core exercises last night but felt very tired then as well. Obviously I need some good sleeps still to catch up after that drive home from Florida!

Accountability: Ed's Real Scoop last night after we went to see a house for sale. We had a rare situation of having the entire family in the car at once so it seemed like a nice thing to do. I at least had the discipline to opt for the kiddie cone size :)

Girl Guide cookies r 4 runners ;)

I may not have gone to bed as early as I wanted to, but at least I got a good sleep. It has been harder to get up in the mornings lately. I don't know why. I finallydid get up though, long enough to get in 11k.

2k warm up, 8 x 800m intervals @ 10k race pace with 200m 'rests', 1k cool down

As I ran last night, I was a bit tired, even though last night was an easy run. I had a hard time hitting my goal pace for the intervals and was very glad for the 200m rests.

Which reminds me of a runner's saying...

If you feel like crap, run faster. You won't feel better, but at least you'll be done sooner

Accountability factor so far today:
Good breakfast
Good snacks except for a few Girl Guide Cookies (who can resist those?)
Thai lunch, but only ate half, saved half for later or tomorrow.

No core workout yet today. I will, I will I will tonight.

Boston or Bust - Revisited

OK, what's a running blog without, well, discussions on running? And for that matter, Qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

For those of you that are even remotely interested in my postings, you will know that I get lazy and only post in fits and spurts. Also, you may know that I get busy, and want to share with you my thoughts, events and travels, but time flies by and the relevance dissipates.

So, now, as we get nearer to an attempt at running 3:20:59 or better for the grand 26.2 miles, I plan on monitoring my progress a bit closer, as much for my own interest and to look back at the events that lead to success or failure so I know what works and what doesn't.

I know my weaknesses, and hopefully have not left it too late to improve upon them. They are in some particular order:

Core strength. So important. I have the discipline to run hard, and run often, but when it comes to core strength cross training, I wimp out and do about 20% of what I should be doing.
Eating Right. I know all about that. In fact, I could probably write a book now on the ins and outs of nutrition and the benefits of foods in relation to active lifestyles. Again, I get sidetracked by snacking. I definitely have eaten better this time around, especially as far as getting good foods in me. Problem is, I also eat too much of what I shouldn't. I could probably have gotten my weight down 5 or more pounds by now if i could cut out the crap.
Sleep. A biggie. I am a night owl, I love the nighttime. I am productive, and or, I enjoy watching TV and movies in the evenings. Bedtime comes quickly, and 'one more show, one more email, one more chapter' all seem to win out too often.

So, in the final stages of this training period, I am going to make it a priority to focus on these 3 weaknesses. I shall report in each day, as much for personal accountability more than anything. As for right now, it is 10:55, about an hour later than I should be getting to bed considering I am running 90-100 km per week. The body needs to repair itself and be ready for the next hard workout. So I am calling it a night. Right now.

I remain positive. I can do this.

Running along Vancouver's Seawall

I am in Vancouver for a couple of days this week. It's always a joyous occasion to be here and meet up with good friend Ronny D. Ron and I shared a few beers and and feast of sushi Vancouver style and I was lucky enough to be provided with great accommodations at Chez Ron & Lisa. And somehow, I even managed to woo their 2 lovely children and not feel like a stranger to them. Very nice!

This morning I was able to meet up with Craig, another good friend and co worker. Craig met me for a run nice and early and I finally got to run Vancouver's notorious Seawall and through Stanley Park. I have heard many times what a nice run this is and was not let down. We did 12K and I would have liked to have kept going. I will not deny the beauty of this city.

Looking forward already to my next visit, hopefully with family in tow.

click - Wikipedia Info on Vancouver's Seawall - check it out!

Running in Shorts

For those of you that know me well, you are aware that I love to wear shorts. AS soon as the temperatures are close to zero (with no wind chill) or above zero with a slight wind, then the shorts come out. I love the freedom of motion and feeling of shorts and find it amusing how much attention this gets. I really do not do it for shock value as many people assume is the case.

So with spring, hinting at being here for good (knock on wood) I hope to stow the Sugoi tights away for the season!

Chilly Half Marathon - Race Report

This past 2 weeks have been rough. Fighting off a 2nd cold this winter has put a damper on the recent training. Anita having to spend 11 days away from home was an issue for her training as well. I was not happy with my last few runs and had been feeling quite tired. Anita's leg, the one that has caused her troubles for almost a year, was tight and sore after all her travelling.

This brought us to this morning's race. Could we do it? Hell ya.

Weather Report: Cold, -8c at Race start, windy from the north and east, affecting most of the first half of the race but helping a bit in the final 8kms.

Despite the bitter cold and wind, and troubled sleep (loooonger story) we were able to get through this half marathon and actually enjoy it. The Chili Half is always a good event and this year was no exception. Very good crowd, full of smiling runner's faces.

Anita. despite her minimized training of late and very hectic days, was able to finish in 2:26 treating this race as a long training run and feeling better than she has after a long run in a long time.

I was fortunate enough to race this morning at the very end of my cold and was able to give it a good shot, finishing in 1:33:59, a 45 second personal best. It was also the first race in 18 months I ran by feel and not using the aid of a GPS watch to monitor my pace. I was quite happy about that.

This race was well attended by fellow Running Room people all who seemed to have as much fun as we did, one in particular, our good pal Nir, who ran a personal best of 1:39:55.

So end this portion of this marathon training. Now we head into some heavier workouts including hills which will lead us to the next race - Hamilton's 30K Around the Bay which should be another great event.

On a slightly different, good samaratin note, Ron Kreuger from our clinic, along with a good friend of mine, Dave P from Oakville, teamed up to Guide Duff's mate from the Achilles Track Club. Their prospect was Delano Brown, a visually impaired runner who was aiming to run in 2hourrs and they got in pretty close to that. Way tp go to those men for stepping up in a time if need!

Now for a well deserved early night to bed!

Information About Your "Medication"

The pharmacological lowdown on running
By Scott Douglas (Thanks for this Duff!)
As featured in the Web Only issue of Running Times Magazine

What is RUNNING?
RUNNING is one of a rare class of drugs that combines amphetamines and narcotics. It is used to treat one or more of the following conditions of modern life: lethargy, overeating, sedentary employment, unsatisfying employment, unsatisfying relationships, existential angst, depression and screaming kids. RUNNING can also be used prophylactically for the urge to go on shooting sprees.

How should I take RUNNING?
It is important to take RUNNING regularly.

Although you may experience some relief from your symptoms in the first few days of RUNNING, most patients require at least four weeks of treatment with RUNNING to notice significant change.

You may take RUNNING at whatever time of day is best for you. Most patients have the greatest success by taking RUNNING at the same time every day. Patients with asshole bosses, unloving spouses and otherwise miserable lives often take RUNNING twice a day.

You may take RUNNING before or after, but preferably not during a meal.

Overdoses of RUNNING most typically occur in the first few years of treatment. With time, you will find the dosage of RUNNING that works best for you.

Who should not take RUNNING?
You should not start taking RUNNING if you are unable to walk around the block. It is recommended that all patients start at a low dose of GENERAL AEROBIC CONDITIONING before starting RUNNING. It is not recommended to go from no doses of RUNNING to 26.2 miles of RUNNING in six months.

Can I take RUNNING with other medications?
Although RUNNING is designed to relieve all of your symptoms, it can be safely combined with most other medications.

Some patients cannot tolerate a high enough dose of RUNNING to gain all of the help they need. Depending on your symptoms, you might attain better results by combining RUNNING with CYCLING, STAIRCLIMBING, YOGA, HIKING, CROSS COUNTRY SKIING and ELLIPTICALLING.

Although similar to RUNNING, there are slight chemical variations to WATER RUNNING and TREADMILL RUNNING. Most patients require a significantly higher dose of WATER RUNNING and TREADMILL RUNNING to achieve the same results as their regular dose of RUNNING. It is not recommended to attempt long-term usage of WATER RUNNING and TREADMILL RUNNING.

Use extreme caution when RUNNING with scissors.

In no case should you combine RUNNING with SHOTPUTTING.

The following interactions have been reported:
• Long-time users of RUNNING reported social ostracization and spousal disownment when DANCING.
• Patients on a high dose of RUNNING had trouble staying afloat SWIMMING.
• Patients who mixed RUNNING with BASKETBALL were laughed off the court.

What are other important safety considerations with RUNNING?
RUNNING will increase the effects of alcohol. Use caution when using alcohol to counteract the drymouth that RUNNING can cause. RUNNING is best combined with alcohol by finishing your dose of RUNNING first. In a study conducted at the Beer Mile World Championships, alcohol was found to lessen the efficiency of RUNNING.

If you miss a dose of RUNNING:
Patients who miss a dose of RUNNING are advised to make up for lost time by increasing their amount of RUNNING on subsequent days until all feelings of guilt, remorse, self-repulsion, depression, loss of fitness and sudden doubling of bodyfat percentage have abated.

Some patients can miss a dose of RUNNING without experiencing the above withdrawal symptoms. Most other patients hate them.

If you regularly miss doses of RUNNING but still report good physical and mental health, you are in denial and should resume treatment immediately.

What are the possible side effects of RUNNING?
RUNNING may produce side effects in some patients. In clinical studies, the most common side effects with RUNNING included: obsession with shoes; obsession with numbers; waste of brain power on arcane statistics; insensitivity to clothes that smell like ammonia; searing hamstring pain while driving; black toenails; purple toenails; no toenails; prepubescent biceps; loss of lateral movement; severe reduction in vertical leap; crow’s feet; smelly feet; antisociability; confusion about what constitutes an acceptable toilet; feelings of superiority toward people who don’t take RUNNING; confusion about how much others want to hear about RUNNING; potentially embarrassing public displays of appetite; inability to recognize that RUNNING on television is boring; misperception about how much flesh should be shown in public; excessive time spent reading RUNNING message boards; and extreme fatigue when spouse wants help around the house.

These side effects tend to increase, not decrease in direct relation to how long and how much you take RUNNING.

Where can I learn more about RUNNING?
This page is only a brief summary of important information about RUNNING. For more information, talk to just about anyone but your doctor.

Stuff White people like #27 - Marathons

Found here - on the site "Stuff White People Like"

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/26/27-marathons/

In life, there are certain milestones of physical activity that can define you. A sub 5 second 40 yard dash, a 40 inch vertical leap and so forth. To a white person, the absolute pinnacle of fitness is to run a marathon. Not to win, just to run.

Click the link above to read the full article.

Running vs Blogging vs Designing

These 3 things have all been on my mind. However, Running is oof course, currently the more important of the 3. Designing, or re-designing this site has also been high on the list as well and I am happy to say I am glad it is mostly done. There are a few minor details to attend to and as usual, look and feel changes will take place as I am never really happy with what icome up with.

That leaves blogging. I think I forget to more than anything, because when i sit down with the laptop with intentions to blog, i either get side-tracked right up the bat with site improvements, design changes, new ideas, or marathon treaining research...and the blog gets back burnered.

So, here I am, blogging again for the first time in a while, at least as far as the running blog goes. I am happy to say it has been a great past few weeks of training. The clinic has been going well and I have been able to fit in at least 9 runs a week. 1 a day most days with 2-3 "two-a-days" as well bringing my current weekly mileage to around 100km per week and almost 400KMs in the past 30 days. Although this is higher than my average last fall, it is still slightly below what I would like to be at but time warrants this, as well as not wanting to progress to high too soon to avoid injury. I have aquaintences that are hitting the 150k range and these are the guys running sub 3 hour marathons, so you can see why I am striving to get there. These guys swear by the high 'easy' mileage with speedwork only coming from a weekly tempo 'semi lonng' run and some harder intervals closer to goal races. If it works for them, I say give it a go. I can tell you, I alreadt see a difference in my speed vs effort in bith my tempo runs and long runs.

My sights are still set. This is BQ year!

Pricey in Canada - A Great Blog

Chris Price is a co-worker of mine and has, like me, but more so, done a complete 180 in the fitness aspect of life. Chris went from a couch potato to a full fledge, super fast runner and health guru in a very fast time. He currently holds a Half Marathon Personal Record of 1:25:11 with many other fast times for trail races of varying distances. This guy is a mad man and a true inspiration to me and many others here at Flight Centre.

You can check out his blog Train Harder

Running in Niagara Falls

This run was after a 2nd day of hangover but somehow I managed to get up and get going without too much trouble. I took a bunch of shots with my cellphone but alas the lighting of the day was not god enough. Any way, here are a few to give you an idea of what it was like out there.

Slippery when wet (Run Through it)

I missed Friday and Saturday's runs due to being out of town and occupied with Cam's hockey tournament. Sunday's run along Niagara Falls was quite nice.

This morning, I was motivated enough to get up a bit earlier. than I have been in order to get another longish run in. I was hoping to get in 15K. I was motivated to push through the sloppy conditions and try to maintain a decent pace. I was disciplined enough to stick it out and keep going even though I wanted to cut the run short after I realized I left without eating anything at all or even dinking more than a half a glass of water, plus I forgot to stuff my gatorade bottle into my belt.

I slugged it out on slippery roads that forced me to slow down. I tried to run faster when the conditions allowed. Where the roads were totally clear, I kicked it in as fast as I could but nothing felt good. I looped back home around, got to 14K and was home, and at that point felt a bit defeated so I slugged out one more kilometre at 10K race pace and used all I had left to do so. I returned back home feeling a bit less defeated but pretty tired and starting to get very pissed off at these wintery conditions that I have been so patient with. I don;t mind the cold at all, I just want some bloody traction!

Cold Running

-21 degrees Celsius this morning. Now, that may sound bad but it's not really. Dress properly and running is no trouble at all. Thankfully, a few pieces of apparel I have helped me through.

1. Neoprene balaclava. I am not a huge fan of having to cover my face, as it makes breathing harder, but you get used to it.

2. Goggles, only really needed when it's windy, and it was not too windy this morning so I wore them up most of the time.

3. Warm gloves. Check, but switched halfway to not so warm gloves knowing that my hands would feel too warm after a while.

4. tights, on top of tights. With shorts on top of those of course. The 'Canadian "3 sock" rule'

Now, after getting out there, I can honestly say there is no reason to avoid running in this weather. I will follow up this report when it gets colder and windier. Then we'll see how rugged I really am.

Slow and Steady wins the race

Unless of course, it's a real race!

I love that line.

Anyway, I am back into the marathon training zone. I am starting to plan and build my spring marathon plan. I need to make a few changes if I hope to crack 3:20 and qualify for Boston.

More miles. Yes, I ran a lot last year, but I plan to bump it up a little sooner this time around including being more diligent with my midweek, longish tempo run. I have heard to may times from successful marathoners the importance of this run.
More sleep. I definitely lacked focus in this category last year making it difficult to trsain as hard as necessary. Good sleep also helps with injury prevention so I am told.
Better diet. No more 'I can eat whatever I want because I am running so much. I really could stand to run the next marathons 10-15 minutes lighter than I am now. I need to be better at not letting people tell me how it is ok to indulge (in booze and treats).
Core strength. I have been off and on with this and I need to step it up now and trust that the 'experts' are right about this.

And there it is, the beginning of the plan. Time to get a schedule together.

For what it's worth the past few weeks of running have seemed easy, fun, enjoyable and somewhat promising. Not to say that the days of hard work don't lay ahead!

Santa Jingle - 5k Race Report

I almost forgot about this race already. Even though it was a good one. Everyone in the race was required to dress as Santa. Fortunately, the race director handed out Santa suits for everyone including hat, coat pants belt and beard! You can view it on you tube here

1500 Santas running around town. What a site. The weather turned out a few degrees warmer than we thought it would be and we ended up feeling pretty warm in those suits!

Sarah, her friend Hailey and myself ran the 5k race in respectable times of 20:10 for the girls and 20:14 for me, lagging 4 seconds behind them!Sarah, her friend Hailey and myself ran the 5k race in respectable times of 20:10 for the girls and 20:14 for me, lagging 4 seconds behind them!

Mrs Daddyo and little Cam volunteered handing out timing chips and at the finish line.

Sarah finished 1st in her 15-20 age group with a time of 20:10 and 3rd female overall. (Hailey, her friend - finshed 4th female overall even though she was actually our pace bunny. I am sure she could have won this race if she went all out)

I was 2nd in the Masters age group (40 and over).

We both hoped to go under 20 yesterday but found it a bit of a task running in the suits!

click - for a short you-tube-video-clip somebody took just before the start

Oh, that elusive sub 20 5K I thought I'd hit this year

Las Vegas Half Marathon - Race Report

Well, this one was a bust!

This report is late, in part because we are stupendously busy...or stupid busy if you will these days.

The story on Vegas is divided by a few different topics. The travelling, the race, the company and the city itself.

1. The travelling.

US Air 4 thumbs down from Anita and myself, as I am sure Julie and Nir will agree. $15 surplus fee to check in our bags. Checked baggage - $15 USD extra? Outrageous.

2. The race.

Las Vegas, should be a great place to run a half marathon, or so we thought. After an average race expo, we were hopeful that the race itself would be interesting. There was zero on course entertainment, very little crowd support, sparse with spectators aside from a handful scattered here and there. The route was fine for the first 8K running along the famous Vegas strip in the early morning darkness, but then we headed into industrial wasteland, commercial grayness, potholes, construction and dullness before finally heading back behind the hotels on the strip for the final 2k. The highlight? The fireworks from far off before the race started while Robin Leach counted us down (which we could hardly hear on the poor sound system used for pre race festivities)

As far as our race goes, we didn't shine, although Julie did set a Personal Record of 2:13:58. We were hoping to do 2:09. Maybe next time under better conditions as the start was very crowded and slow for the first 5k until it opened up a bit. We did start way too far back in the pack. My fault. I really should have known that with 18,000 runners and all.

Anita pushed as hard as she could to get on pace, and for a while, we weren't too far behind our goal but her nagging injuries got the better of her and she did an amazing job just persevering and holding on to finish about 5 minutes behind her best time. I have now ordered her to rest up and cross train only for a while to get those injuries healed in time to train for a spring marathon.

I enjoyed my duties as pace bunny and would like to have another go at it in the future. Running across the finish line, hand in hand with Anita may be schmaltzy, but it was nice.

Oh, and I must mention, of all major races we have run, and most small races too, these were one of the worst finisher's medals and the worst (cotton!) t-shirts...and for a fee as high as we've paid anywhere else.

3. The Company

Yes, now we have our moment of brightness. It was nice to travel with Julie and Nir and great to meet up with old friends Ron and Lisa who joined us from Vancouver. Even though we weren't all in sync as to when it was time for napping and time to party, it was a good time. And of course, any time travelling with Anita is a good time. I just plain love to travel. Even if it is to Vegas! I;d travel anywhere to be with and meet with friends.

4. The City

Which brings us to the city itself. God awful place it is. Well, there are some good points. We saw a great show "O" by Cirque du Solei. Maybe not $300 CAD good, but quite enjoyable. Some (some) of the food was really good, although much more expensive than the last time we were in Vegas.

If we were looking for hookers, we were in the right place. They're everywhere as are the people who hand out their 'business cards'. For instance, $35 gets you Candy, but for $38 you can have Victoria. The some are $150....are they that much better? They are beautiful girls if their business card photos are any indication. Do you think the girls on the cards are the same as the ones who will show up at your hotel? Do you think the $35 gets you any more than a 'Hello'? No and no. (I am assuming :)

The casinos were not nearly as fun as last time due to the smaller crowds. The recession has really hit Vegas hard. No more loud constant ringing of slot machines and people cheering for big wins. And the bars and clubs all want an exorbitant cover fee to go into mostly empty establishments. I must say though, we did enjoy the (free) time we spent in New York, New York's "Nine Fine Irishmen" a small but neat pub that featured a great band playing Irish classic tunes, new and old complete with a great step dancer joining in every few tunes.

That's it, our fabulous 4 days in a nutshell. Is there a doctor in the house, I NEED A DOCTOR! (Inside Joke, sorry to those who don't get it :)

Julie and Anita, before the fun began!

Chilly Willy Half Marathon - Race Report

It gets cold in the Toronto area this time of year, but if you're resourceful, you can find running events and races all year 'round.

Today for example was a 10K & Half Marathon, in Mississauga, run by the Mississauga Canoe club. The weather was actually decent although since we ran this race on the waterfront trail, the wind at times was quite a burden.

Temperature average was just above freezing 1°C - I switched from shorts to Sugoi Mid-zeroes tights at the last minute, partially because of the wind and partially because they were new and I waned to try them out. (I do not always abide by the 'Don't try anything new on race day' rule) - anyway, they turned out to be warm and comfortable.

After a busy schedule lately, work wise, socially, kid's sports, late nights etc I felt it all on th 1st 2 kms. I felt the fatigue set in right away and started questioning whether or not I would even come close to a half marathon PR and whether I should try or just hang back and enjoy the rub. But that's not me. If I have a goal, I will always give it my best shot.

I stuck with it, and actually go into a good groove, sub 1:40 pace and hoped to hang on and tough out the final few kms. and maybe even beat my HM PR of 1:38. It was one of those races where I felt like I was giving it all I had so I didn't pay too close attention to splits late in the race as it's not like I could have turned it up any more if I was in fact falling behind. I finally looked at the last km and realized I was very close to going sub 1:35 as long as I ran a 4 minute final km. - which I did finishing 1:34:41, a PR by over 3 minutes.

Post race festivities were a short drive away. Chili lunch was served and I received my 3rd place medal for the Masters category. 3rd of 18, and 8th overall in this small race of 60 runners.

Anita attended as well and also PR'd in the 10K event finishing 1:00:50, just 51 seconds off her goal of breaking 1 hour. On a windy day like today, i think she did awesome - especially for toughing it out through a sore hamstring which she promises to rest after next weekend's Las Vegas Half Marathon. Read Anita's account of today's race and next week's Vegas 'Half' on Needys blog - click here.

Hannukah Hustle - Race Report

My first 5k in 6 months. A distance I have not really trained properly for but with all of the running I did this Summer/Fall I figured I may be able to pull of a sub 20. Well, I came in at 20:21.

I cramped and couldn't hold the pace. The race was a tough one, with icy hilly conditions, but good temps though. No more eating a big breakfast so close to a 5K race. I guess I am just used to prepping for marathons ;)

I finished 2/7 M40-41 and 25/163 overall, but got 1st place medal 'cuz first Master didn't get 2 awards.

The real story is Sarah, who is doing so well.

Sarah was 1st.....female....overall in a race to the finish with a 20 year old McMaster track member, she got to bust the tape which I could see, and hear them announce her finish, from my spot 25 seconds behind her.

She busted sub 20 -------- 19:52 !!!!

$50 Running Room gift certificate for her.

Damn 15 year olds! AND she beat me in our personal race to sub 20. We were supposed to pace each other and cross together but when I felt that cramp at 3k coming on, I told her not to let me drag her down. I was hoping to catch back up but it was not in the cards for me this day.

My proclamation....at Dec 13th's Santa Jingle 5K in Brampton, a flat route, I will finish in 19:45!

There, I said it, now I gotta do it!

Good showings from our good running friends, Nir, Julie, Ginny and Walter today, while Mrs Daddyo spent the weekend in Guelph on a work conference.

I am dead tired, yet masochistically looking forward to next weekend's Chilly Willy Half Marathon. Weather permitting

Then, the weekend after is Las Vegas with Nir & Julie and our now infamous Half Marathon of hope!

Anita's Pose

You gotta love Anita's poses for Race Photos. When she sees the camera, she immediately becomes Richard Nixon!

There's more, I know, I need to hunt them down and add them in!

Sarah Rocks

Our lovely daughter Sarah followed up her fantastic performance at OFFSA with another good showing at the OTFA Cross Country Championships. She place 39/102 running with the top girls in Ontario. Sarah usually excels in the heat and this was far from that. A cold blusterry day was a drawback for her but she persevered and did awesome. It was a '4k' race that actually turned out to be 5k and that helped her as she passed about 10 girls in the last 1k. She would definitely benefit from a longer warm ups as she seems consistently finish strong.

Marathon of Marathons

A while back, after my first marathon in 2007, I posted about wanting to do a marathon in each province and territory in Canada. I still want to but obviously (which it was so obvious back then) it will be hard to do, financially and time wise. Anyway, here is a recap:

Spring
British Columbia - BMO Marathon, Vancouver, early May - › info
Nova Scotia - Blue Nose Marathon, Halifax, mid-May, › info
Ontario - ING Ottawa Marathon, Ottawa, late-May - › info
Manitoba - Manitoba Marathon, Winnipeg, mid-June - › info

Summer
Nunavut - Midnight Marathon, Arctic Bay, early-July - › info
Quebec - Deux Rivieres - Quebec City, late-August - › info
Alberta - ING Edmonton Marathon, Edmonton, mid-August - › info
Yukon Territory - Yukon River Trail Marathon, Whitehorse, early-August - › info
Northwest Territory - Overlander Marathon, Yellowknife, mid-August - › info

Fall
Saskatchewan - Queen City Marathon, Regina, early-September - › info
Newfoundland & Labrador - Nfld. Provincial Marathon, St John's, mid-September - › info
New Brunswick - Marathon by the Sea, St John, October - › info
Prince Edward Island - PEI Marathon, Charlottetown, mid-October - › info

Anita also wants to run either the marathon or half marathon at these events as well. Any takers in joining us in this crazy venture?

Hamilton Marathon - Race report

This report is for 2008 ~ For 2009 click here

I am really happy with this race result. I just have to start this report off by saying that.

So yes, the "Trilogy of Terror" is complete. 3 Marathons in 5 weeks and 7th total, and I am happy to say lucky number seven was the best one yet. Although I missed a personal record by 5 seconds I am not to upset about that. I know I could have run easily 5 plus minutes faster today knowing then what I know now.

The craziness of the whole day has been 2 weeks in the making. After the last marathon I developed some pain in my left foot, maybe plantar fasciitis, hard to say. Just really sore to walk on. It eased up enough to get some runs in although it turned out to be the lowest 2 week mileage since I was laid up in January.

My Diet this week....hmmmm

Top this off with the fact I wasn't behaving in the nutrition department. I didn't lower my daily calorie intake and was seen enjoying ice cream on an almost daily basis. It didn't concern me much because my goal was to just finish this marathon so I didn't take the whole 2 week layoff very seriously. The runs I did get in were a bit painful but bearable and that's what I hoped for on race day.

My carbo loading day was different than usual as well. A protein shake for breakfast, Burger King for lunch, grilled cheese and some leftover pasta for dinner. Add to that an apple, 2 bananas, a pear and lots of pretzels thrown in throughout the day. No ice cream though!

Race day morning

I didn't set my alarm for daylight savings and it ended up going off at 4:00 instead of 5. I didn't really get back to sleep but I wasn't worried as I slept well up until then. I laid there questioning my sanity though :)

We didn't register until Thursday so we had to do it by fax as online registration was closed (remember fax machines?). With the race an hour away we resorted to race day pickup which was an event in it's own right. First of all, the city of Hamilton is laid out in a non grid pattern scattered along a very hilly area. So the fact we missed our exit to the registration/finish area it was a nightmare trying to navigate our way back and forth trying to get there. We were at one point in time 2 minutes from the right area but didn't actually get to the right spot until 20 minutes later, which was only 10 minutes before race kit pick up closed. We then had to take a shuttle to the start and caught the 2nd to last bus for the full marathoners. On a bright note, I am thankful Mrs Daddyo was able to fit the car into a VIP spot right by the kit pick up (and this was also nice after the race not to have to walk a mile to get our change of clothes). Anyway, the freak out was over and we made it to the start with enough time to stretch and breath deeply again.

The start area was a 5 minute jog from the school we were keeping warm in and after waiting in the long port-o-potty line (surprise) I got there with only a few minutes to spare adding more stress to the morning. I till you, it was a relief when the gun when off (actually, there was no gun, no horn, just a guy yelling 'Go!' which didn't quite resonate to the back of the pack where I was) - I was finally off and running and really able to relax.

Race Strategy

My race plan was in progress, just run smooth and easy and try to enjoy it all the way through assuming that this time around I could possibly crash and burn so I went out with no real time goal other than maybe finishing under 4 hours. I have also been nursing this foot soreness and was worried that it might flare up and slow me down. Every 'left' footstep hurt but it never got bad enough to hinder my running.

This first half of this marathon was set in a rural area, farmer's fields, nice older homes, and no spectators other than at a few turns here and there bit the ones we did pass were very supportive. It was extremely windy in most of these parts with a fair bit of it straight in our faces making me think this was going to be a loooooong day. Still it was enjoyable and without too much strain I made it to 10K in 52:00 then made up a bit of time getting to the half way point in 1:48:30. This worried me a bit because I have never negative split a marathon so I figured I would end up 3:50 or so. I decided to just keep running around 8:15 miles until I started tiring and coast in smiling. We hit the long downhill, about 3 kms of steady downhill, which was nice but for the strong headwinds as this section was run on a very open highway. Still, down hills are always nice halfway through a marathon. So the 2nd half wound it's way back into civilization and along a road by the waterfront . This is where we hit the 20 mile mark and I felt better than ever, of course because I went out nice and easy even though I was actually making good time. I figured if I felt this good at 36k I would pick up the pace and try to keep it in the 3:30's. At 36k I felt so good and my time was close enough that if I finished strong I could actually PR. I picked up the pace and got it going as fast as I could muster, around a 7:45 per mile pace. Unfortunately at this point we had hit the waterfront trail which is where the wind was crazy so this pace was making me work hard and I was expecting to bonk, but never did. I did the best I could to run as fast as I needed to PR and thought I could do it. It was a tough HTFU final 5K, in about 24 minutes but 5 seconds too slow to tie my PR. I finished in 3:35:07 - 2 weeks earlier it was a PR of 3:35:02. So freaking close. I wish I could go back and run just one of those mile 10 seconds faster!

Not to worry, like I said before, this was my best (marathon) race so far, in all aspects. I really enjoyed every moment, from the sore footsteps, a small field of friendly runners, and nice route, to joy of being able to givie it my all and run a fast final 5k with no wall. And my first marathon negative split, really cool, making it very apparent that at this rate a Boston Qualifier awaits me next spring.

I must mention that Anita ran as well. Another 'long training run' she calls them as she has not really been able to train hard so these races seem to act as her long runs. She was a few minutes shy of her personal best but that's pretty impressive based on her training, the weather and the fact that she drove for seven hours the day before allowing me to snooze in the car, to which, I am deeply indebted! You can read her race report here.

The post race was decent for a relatively small event (489 in the marathon, 850 in the half). Shirts were tech and passable, medals although not the best were decent enough and the food was good (including pizza!). I would definitely run this one again - and next time we will know how to get there on time!

Oh, this 3 in 5 week spree earned me my Marathon Maniac Status - Woo hoo!

With that downhill in the middle and a fast finish, I imagine I am going to be sore tomorrow so I head now for a hot bath and early night and dread the walk down the stairs in the morning. Who doesn't love marathons?!

Trilogy of Terror Complete

It is done! I have completed my goal of running 3 marathons 5 weeks!

Marathons Recap
Sept 28 - Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon: 3:38:15
Oct - 19 - Goodlife Toronto Intl. Marathon: 3:35:02
Nov 2 - Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon: 3:35:07

That makes 5 marathons for the year so far and 7 all together. With many more to come for sure!

Full Hamilton Race Report to come (and watch Anita's new blog for her report)

ToT Part 3 - T minus one week!

Well, here we are, 7 days away from the 3rd installment in this Fall's Trilogy of Terror. The past week has been the slackest week since January with only 2 runs for a total of 10k. A much needed rest though after the 2nd marathon. Plus, my left foot remained sore all week, probably from the shoes I wore for the Toronto Marathon which were light weight racing shoes and do not offer a lot of cushioning. They felt great during the race but I paid the price this week for sure.

So, this coming weekend is Hamilton Marathon. Cool weather, a fairly downhill point to point course along and down the escarpment finishing by the waterfront, which could prove to be a very chilly finish.

My goal is to finish but f course I will want to finish under 4 hours, or even faster if I am feeling well enough. This week I will need to get a few runs in and get my 'legs' back starting tomorrow morning.

By the way, today was the first Sunday I have not run since February!

Toronto Marathon - Race Report

Marathon number 6 - time 3:35:02 (personal best by 3 minutes)
349th of 1703 (chip time)

Am I happy with this race?. Hmmm, let’s be honest, perhaps when the day comes, where I finish a marathon, turn around, high five and congratulate Haile Gebrselassie for coming in 2nd behind me, then and maybe then I will be happy.

Seriously, how can I complain about running two marathons in 3 weeks both in the 3:30s as a recently rehabilitated couch potato?

I can’t complain about that. I am happy. I enjoyed most of this race, even at that pace. I was on pace for 3:28 at 32k, and still under 3:30 at 36K, then I took a walk break and couldn’t really get going again and lost 5 minutes in the final 6K. Was I not fully recovered from Scotia? Probably not. Maybe a slower start would have helped. Real time splits were 1:44 / 1:51. I ran the first 30K thinking about how good I felt, knowing that it might not last but it was worth it. Given a 2nd chance I would run it like that again except I am going to try to avoid the walk breaks and keep plodding along.

I began the race with pal Nir. We started at the very back of the pack, which meant we had a lot of weaving to do, expending more energy than necessary but getting a lot of positive mental energy from passing so many runners along the way. I passed runners right up until the final kilometre. Nir was planning on running 3:45. Had I known he was going to finish so strong (only 1:50 after me) I would have stayed with him, although we would have been compelled to chat and I don’t marathon well while chatting too much.

Crowd support was not as good as Scotia event, but the great route made up for it, especially running down Rosedale Valley Road on what felt like rollerblades staring at the fall colours.

One of the highlights of the day, other than low sunny temps, was the cab ride to the start. He asked us if we wanted some upbeat tunes and when we said yes, he played a few tracks from Rocky Horror Picture Show, and sang along too! It really perked us up!

Other notes of interest
I tried out new shoes - Asics DS Trainer - really liked them.
All of my half marathon clinic members ran great times
Anita ran a decent 2:23 half marathon on almost no recent training, coming back from pulled hamstring, and losing her mother last week. What a goddess she is. She truly ran the best race of the day all things considered.

The first 2 water stations at 5k and 10k, what's up with that! I didn't carry my own water today too - oops.

2 weeks to the next marathon, which I will have to see how it goes, but will probably just look to finish in under 4 hours completing my fall "Trilogy of Terror"!

Wrap up
Excellent course, beautiful weather, friends and family waiting at the halfway point, 40K mark and at the final turn all make for an amazing day. Aching thighs, a sore left foot today, puke green race shirt souvenir, decent medals, edible post race food are all part of the experience.

Knowing that if I train smart and make Mississauga my next goal marathon in May, I will run the 3:20 I am aiming for to qualify for Boston leaves me with a satisfied, yet highly motivated outlook on marathon running.

Great Story on Running

I came across this in a runner's forum and just had to share it!.

© Copyright 2001 Roger Hart. This work first appeared in Natural Bridge, the literary magazine of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Runners - by Roger Hart

We ran through blizzards, thunderstorms, freezing rain, covered bridges, creeks, campgrounds, cemeteries, city parks, parking lots, a nuclear power plant, county fairs, and, once, a church service. We were chased by goats, geese, a crazed ground hog, guards (the nuclear power plant), a motorcycle gang, an armed man in a pickup, a sheriff's deputy, and dogs both fierce and friendly. We ran when two feet of snow covered the roads and when the wind-chill was thirty below. We ran when it was eighty degrees at seven in the morning. We ran on streets, sidewalks, highways, cinder tracks, dirt roads, golf courses, Lake Erie beaches, bike trails, across yards and along old railroad beds. Seven days a week, twelve months a year, year after year.

During the hot days of July and August, Ed ran without shirt or socks; I always wore both. Norm ran with a screw in his ankle and joked that it was coming loose. Ed was faster going downhill; I was better going up. The three of us met at a race and became training partners, competitors, best friends. We ran together on Saturday mornings, usually a twenty-mile run along the shore of Lake Erie or a twenty-two-mile route over hilly country roads near Ashtabula. We ran thousands of miles and more than a dozen marathons together, but most of the time we ran alone.

We gave directions to lost drivers, pushed cars out of snowbanks, called the electric company about downed lines and the police about drunks. We saved a burlap bag full of kittens about to be tossed off a bridge, carried turtles from the middle of the road, returned lost wallets, and were the first on the scene of a flipped pickup truck.

We ran the Boston Marathon before women were allowed to enter and before the Kenyans won. We were runners before Frank Shorter took the Olympic gold at Munich, before the running boom, nylon shorts, sports drinks, Gortex suits, heart monitors, running watches, and Nikes.

We ate constantly, or so it seemed. My favorite midnight snack was cookie dough or cold pizza. Ed enjoyed cinnamon bread, which he sometimes ate a loaf at a time. Norm downed buttered popcorn by the bucketfuls and Finnish cookies by the dozen. We all loved ice cream and drank large vanilla shakes two at a time.

Still, friends said we were too thin. They thought we looked sick and worried something was wrong.

We measured our lives in miles down to the nearest tenth, more than one hundred miles a week, over four hundred a month, four thousand a year, sometimes more.

The smells! From passing cars: pipe tobacco, exhaust fumes, and sometimes the sweet hint of perfume. From the places we passed: French fries, bacon, skunk, pine trees, dead leaves, cut hay, mowed grass, ripe grapes, hot asphalt, rotten apples, stagnant water, wood smoke, charcoal grills, mosquito spray, roadkill. And from ourselves: sunscreen and sweat.

Some people smiled and waved. A few whistled. Once or twice a woman yelled from a passing car, said we had nice legs. Others, usually teenage boys in sleek, black cars, yelled obscenities, called us names, gave us the finger, and mooned us. They threw firecrackers, smoldering cigarettes, pop cans, half-eaten ice cream cones, beer bottles (both full and empty), squirted us with water, drove through puddles to spray us, swerved their cars to force us off the road, swung jumper cables out the window to make us duck, and honked their horns to make us jump.

We saw shooting stars, a family of weasels, a barn fire, a covered wagon heading west, and a couple making love in a pickup; we ran with deer on a golf course, jumped a slow-moving train to get across the tracks, hid in ditches during lightning storms, slid across an intersection during a freezing rain, and dived into Lake Erie to cool off in the middle of a hot run. We drank from garden hoses, gas station water fountains, pop machines, lawn sprinklers and lemonade stands. We carried toilet paper, two quarters, sometimes a dog biscuit.

We were offered rides by The Chosen Few motorcycle gang, old ladies, drunks, teenagers, truckers, a topless dancer (not topless at the time but close, real close), and a farmer baling hay, but we never accepted a single one. We argued about the dancer.

We were nervous before races and said we'd quit running them when we weren't. We won trophies, medals, baskets of apples, bottles of wine, windbreakers, T-shirts, pizza, pewter mugs, running suits, shoes, baseball caps, watches, a railroad spike, and, once, five hundred dollars. Often we didn't win anything, although we never looked at it that way.

Ed liked to race from the front and dare other runners to catch him. I preferred to start a little slower, stalk those whose inexperience or eagerness took them out too fast, sneak up on them around twenty miles when they began to look over their shoulders. I felt like a wolf, and they were the prey. When I passed, I pretended not to be tired, and I never looked back.

Our goal was to qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon, to run faster and farther, to beat other runners.

Did we ever have runner's high? Didn't it get boring? What did we think about? Why did we always look so serious?

Sometimes. Sometimes. Running. We didn't know we did.

One spring day it rained so hard the road was one giant ankle-deep puddle, and Ed was huffing and our feet were splashing and it struck us funny. We laughed until we collapsed, tears and rain running down our faces. We joked about the time Ed had to pee and caught himself showering a snake's head, the time we got lost during a winter storm and refused to turn around, and the time we ran by Don King's ranch and were mistaken for two boxers. (We never understood how anyone could mistake our skinny arms for a boxer's, but we loved it, too.)

We felt guilty about the time we ran into a church service being held in the middle of a covered bridge, and we were too tired, too inconsiderate, too stubborn to turn around, so we sprinted down the center aisle, dodging the two men with collection plates, and ran out the other end of the bridge while the congregation sang "Praise God from whom all blessings flow ..."

And the dogs! The ones that tried to follow us home and the ones that attacked us. Take the time Ed, Norm, and I were surrounded on a dirt road by half a dozen blood-thirsty, snarling, circling canines, each begging for a bite. We picked up rocks, stood with our backs to one another, and yelled at the dogs, yelled for help, yelled for anything. Then Ed threw a rock, not at the dogs but at the farmhouse where the dogs had been sleeping on the front porch. The rock hit the aluminum siding. Bang! Like a gun going off.

An old man came to the door. Looked at us, looked at his dogs, and I thought we'd done it now, and he'd lift a shotgun to his shoulder, shoot us, and let the dogs have what was left.

"Harvey, Louie, Princess, Tucker," the old man called. The dogs trotted back to the porch, and we raced down the road.

But another time we only yelled at a growling Doberman, told it to go home, and the owner jumped in his pickup, chased us down the dirt road, swearing he'd shoot us for bothering his dog. We ran through a field and across a four-lane highway, circled back through the woods, hid beneath the underpass, and then jogged into a gas station, where we celebrated our escape with ice-cold Cokes.

I was bitten by a Dalmatian, a terrier, a cocker spaniel, and a red-haired, knee-high mutt. Three of the dogs escaped after drawing blood, but I caught the mutt in mid-air and threw it over my shoulder as its teeth clamped down on my arm. The dog sailed into a telephone pole headfirst and fell to the ground, knocked unconscious. The owner, ignoring the blood running down my arm and dripping onto the sidewalk, screamed at me for killing her dog. But when she stroked the dog's head, it jumped up and bit me again.

Or the time a sheriff's deputy stopped his cruiser to protect us from a German shepherd as large as the Poland China hog in a nearby field. The dog jumped through the open window and landed on the deputy's lap, and, while they wrestled in the front seat, we ran, afraid of what might happen if either ever caught up with us.

We found pliers, purses, golf balls, bolt cutters, billfolds, money (once, over two hundred dollars, returned to an eighteen-year-old boy--no reward, no thanks), tape cassettes, CDs, sunglasses, school books, porn magazines, a Navaho ring, car jacks, a fishing pole, a pair of handcuffs (no key), an eight ball, and a black bra (36C).

We ran farther and faster. We sprinted up long steep hills by the Grand River until we staggered and our heart rates exceeded the two hundred twenty minus our age that doctors said was possible. We ran intervals on a dirt track: twenty quarter-miles in under seventy seconds, the last lap in fifty-six flat. We got light-headed, our hands tingled, and sometimes blood vessels in our eyes ruptured from the effort.

We ran because it beat collecting stamps, because we were running towards something, because we were running away, because we were all legs, lungs and heart, because we were afraid of who or what might catch us if we stopped.

One winter, while running twice a day, I was on my way home from a seven-mile run, and I couldn't remember if it was morning or night, if when I finished I would shower and go to work or shower and go to bed. I looked at the horizon and the stars, the passing cars, and the lighted barns for a clue, but I couldn't figure it out. Ed often said he once went out for a run and bumped into himself coming back from the previous one.

We lost toenails and we pulled muscles. We suffered frostbite, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, sunburn, blisters, dehydration, and tendonitis. We were stung by bees, bitten by black flies, and attacked by red-winged blackbirds. Sometimes, after a long run or a speed workout, or after a marathon, our legs would be so sore, the Achilles so inflamed, that we could barely walk, and we'd limp or shuffle painfully when going from the couch to the refrigerator or from the front door to the mailbox.

We treated aches with ice and heating pads, or soaked our legs in DMSO, sometimes in Epsom salts and hot water. We tried medical doctors, surgeons, chiropractors, acupuncturists, podiatrists, sports therapists, trainers and quacks. We were given shots of novocaine and cortisone, told to take ibuprofen, Tylenol, and aspirin. We were warned that we were ruining our knees, our hips, damaging our feet, breaking down too much blood, that we would suffer arthritis and degenerative joints.

But sometimes it was like floating, like sitting on top of a pair of legs that you didn't think would ever get tired or slow down. It was like the legs were yours and like they weren't. It was like being part animal, a running, flying animal. A horse, a bird. It was like feet kissing the pavement and effortless strides, the body along for the ride. It was like sitting in Ed's '67 Corvette, that monster engine gulping high-octane fuel and turning 6000 rpms, your foot ready to pop the clutch. Like freedom and invincibility. When we ran around corners, we were jets sweeping in formation.

We all had a resting pulse in the low forties and body fat of seven percent or less. I was six foot two, raced at a hundred and forty-eight pounds, and went through a pair of shoes every six weeks.

Once, I experienced chest pains, a sharp stab beneath the ribs. A Saturday morning, twenty-two mile run. Seven steep hills. We raced up the first hill to find out if it was my heart or not and when I did not drop, we raced up the second and third. After six miles the pain eased off, and Ed said if it had been a heart attack, it must have been a mild one. Thousands of miles later, a doctor unfamiliar with a runner's heart sent Ed to the emergency room where he was poked, prodded, hooked up, and given oxygen until Ed said enough was enough, pulled the IV and ran home. Two weeks later he set an age-fifty record for the mile in a local meet.

Although we ran faster and faster, we never ran fast enough. We failed to qualify for the Olympic Trials. Still, four times we drove for hours and slept in our cars to watch others compete for the three Olympic spots.

Then, just as we once stalked other runners, time stalked us. We began looking over our shoulders and thinking about the marathons we had run instead of thinking about the next race. We slowed down. Our bodies balked at hundred-mile weeks, and it took longer to recover from a hard run. Sometimes when the weather was bad--very hot was always worse than very cold--we took a day off. Sometimes we would skip a day because we were sore or tired. We stopped giving the finger to those who ran us off the roads. We gained five, seven, ten pounds. More.

Now, Ed has a granddaughter; Norm has "screw pains," and I have a retirement clock and deformed toes. We've turned gray, lost hair, and joined the AARP. We run twenty-five, thirty miles a week. From time to time, we race, no marathons but shorter races, three, four miles, maybe a 10K. We measure our lives in days, months, and years.

Ed and Norm still live in Ohio; I moved to North Carolina, then to Minnesota. We no longer run together, but we keep in touch and reminisce about the time the Star Beacon ran a front-page article about a group of snowmobilers who had ridden nearly ten miles on a day when the temperature was five below. We had passed them on our way to a twenty-mile run. We argue about who threw the rock at the house, whose fault it was we got lost, and which one of us the topless dancer really wanted to take for a ride.

We complain that we're running slower than we once did and make jokes about timing ourselves with calendars and sundials.

Sometimes when we're running we'll spot other runners ahead of us and the urge to race comes back, and we'll do our best to catch them. Last fall while I was running in a park, I overheard a high school cross-country coach urge his runners to pass "the old, gray-haired guy." I held them off for nearly a mile although it almost killed me, and, when I had completed circling the park, I ran by the coach and said, "Old guy, my ass."

But my ass is getting old along with all the other parts. When I sometimes fantasize about one more marathon, the fantasy seldom lasts more than a day. Fast marathons, hundred-mile weeks, ten-kilometer races under thirty-one minutes are things of the past.

And what did we learn from running seventy-thousand miles and hundreds of races, being the first to cross the finish line and once or twice not crossing it at all, those runs on icy roads in winter storms and those cool fall mornings when the air was ripe with the smell of grapes, our feet softly ticking against the pavement?

We learned we were alive and it felt good. God, it felt so good.

ToT Part 2 - T minus 6!

Reminder ToT Part 2, T minus 10 means:

ToT = Trilogy of terror. 3 Marathons in 5 weeks.
Pt1 = The 1st marathon - Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon
Pt2 = Toronto Goodlife Marathon
Pt3 = Hamilton Marathon

T minus 10 = Toronto Goodlife Marathon - 10 days away

Recovery from the Scotiabank Marathon is going well. Feeling good, feeling faster, feeling confident.

Hopefully, these feelings last another week and a half!

Today, a minor setback. It was just too hard to say no to McDonald's breakfast! I will have to make up for it the rest of the day. At least my cold has completely gone away!

Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon - Race Report

Here's the low down on my 5th marathon. Scotiabank's Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

Since I am running 3 marathons in 5 weeks, I wasn't planning on tapering for this one, as I was thinking about running it easy and save my good stuff for the Goodlife Toronto Marathon on October 19th. But, I had this cold and sort of forced a taper as I tried to rest the cold away, which pretty much worked.

I felt good and after going out too fast (Downtown buildings and running under a highway made my watch pace readout go all wonky and I really did think I was running slower). Anyway, I just stayed with it and hit the porta-potty at 5 miles....there were 3 side by side so I figured it wouldn't be a wait. As far as I can tell, it ended up being 90 seconds (not as long as I originally thought) but I really could have waited a half mile more for some bushes. Argh. Then I rushed the catch up and got to 10k just behind a 3:30 pace. I made it to 13.1 at exactly 1:45, still on 3:30 pace.

At 16 miles my right calf cramped and I stopped every mile to stretch and massage it but that didn't seem to help. I have never had calf cramps like this before and it was quite painful. It was a bummer that put a bit of a damper on an otherwise very enjoyable run.

By 20 miles I was behind 3:30 pace again and didn't feel I had it in my to make it up so I enjoyed the rest of the race and conserved my energy. I didn't realize I backed off that much but I have never been a good pacer! As well, passing a man collapsed, pale white, on a stretcher at 22 miles, really took away and thoughts of toughening up to get under 3:35 - It really kind of freaked me out!

Ultimately, 3:38 without murdering it was very satisfying. It was nice to not have to struggle in and still while running a 9 minute PR. So it is proof, 'running more' works. I didn't do much speedwork at all since the spring marathons.

Some notes on the race.

Temps at start 19/66 - temp at finish 22/73

Last year, worst medals EVER. This year - very nice!

Shirts, Adidas tech shirts, top notch, in looks and quality. Rest of Race Kit was lame though.

The spectators and crowd support was awesome. 2nd best so far to Columbus OH

The flat course was nice, especially on a sunny day, but too flat for my liking. I am looking forward to the nice rolling hill course we will run in 3 weeks.

Anita bounced back from an injured hamstring just missing her best HM time by 2 minutes.

Cam and Sarah ran the 5K, but got brutally blocked by starting BEHIND the walkers. They ran 90 seconds behind their 5K PRs.

PR's would have gotten them first place in both male 14 and under and women 14-19
About 25 of the runners from our half marathon group also ran. So many familiar faces and so many PRs for them really added to the event for me.

Overall, a really good day. I think I will stick with this running thing!

D

ToT Pt1, T minus 6!

What does ToT Pt1, T minus 6 mean?

ToT = Trilogy of terror. 3 Marathons in 5 weeks.
Pt1 = The 1st marathon - Scotiabank Waterfront
T minus 6 = this Sunday 6 days away

So ya, 6 days away and guess what I got?....

...a nasty cold...$@#*#!

One week to go

One week to go until the Scotiabank Waterfront marathon! The first of my 3 marathons in a 5 week span.

Sadly though, I missed today's run. I was going to run this morning while we were still at the cottage but it was freezing so Anita and I planned on doing our runs when we got back to the city. Then we got back and it is now, 8:30, much later that I had hoped to be home. Usually I take Mondays off so instead I will run in the morning - no biggie.

Heading into this weekend, at this point I feel good and confident that I have some good marathons in me this fall. Originally my plans for Scotia this weekend was to run it easy like a training run but I think I am peaking and ready to go at it hard and then see what happens for the other 2 (Toronto International Marathon - Oct 19 and Hamilton Marathon - Nov 2)

Long Run Blues

After a great week of running, sparked by the fantastic long run last weekend, today's hot and humid run ended the string of good runs. I suppose I was tired to begin with after yesterday's 10k tempo run and just plain tired from being busy and not sleeping enough. If there were a marathon to be run today I may not have been able to finish it!

But that's why we train for them and hopefully rest accordingly.
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At least I got out there and got through the run. They won't all be euphoric right?
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There was a great quote in this month's issue of Runner's World.

"There will be a day I cannot do this anymore. Today is not that day"

40K long run

Sunday morning. Long run day. Believe it or not, a day I always look forward to. I do like to run, and I do like the long runs and their tranquility.

The weather was perfect. Sunny and cool. I did the first 13.5 kms alone and then met up with our running group where we did a further 20K. Towards the end of the run, I headed back to make sure everyone was ok and ended up adding 6 more kms to the run for a total of 39.8. I did this in a time comparable to my best marathon time, just a bit sower yet I felt many times better.

So it looks like the training is paying off and the distance is becoming easier. This was a very confidence boosting run and comes at a time where I really needed a boost. Especially after last weekend's struggle to break 1:40 in the half marathon.

The cool weather was certainly a bonus but I think I also solved a few nutritional issues by not eating too much breakfast and also diluting my Gel packs and drinking them seemed to be easier on my stomach.

I really felt like continuing on and completing the marathon distance but I decided to hold back and save my legs. I am hoping this extra long training run will help prepare for the pending 3 marathons coming up soon.

View the run data here

Stryker Waterfront Trail 5k 8k - Race Report

Again, Sarah was nice enough to Pace Cammy in the 5K event. Anita and I volunteered and got to do the finish line, chip removal.

We left the house in what we thought was enough time but got into a few slowdowns on the QEW and then a standstill as the Burlington Skyway was shut down. We got there 5 minutes after the race started and Cam and Sarah had to start late. How unfortunate that this was a gun time only race. Oh well, due to the small field in their age groups, the both still got medals. First for Cam and second for Sarah.

Cam and Sarah helped us in the finish chute for teh 2nd event, the 8k race.

Our pal Predrag won both the 5K and the 8K but officially won the 'Double Crown'. We had a nice chat with him afterwards.

Labour Day Half Marathon - Race Report

Race: Oakville Labour Day Half Marathon: September 1st

Woke up to beautiful sunshine! We started the day off getting up pretty early and meeting Matt from the clinic for the ride out there. By the time we parked and got to the race however, we didn't have as much time as I hoped we would. I managed to get a short warm up run in, long enough to tell me however it was not going to be an easy day. I could feel the lingering fatigue from the 30K race 2 weeks earlier and the tiredness of training.

The atmosphere was nice though and everyone seemed friendly and smiley which is a nice way to start any race. We also met up with Jason another one of our running friends but as we got to the starting line a bit late I couldn't work my way up to meet up with another buddy, Dave, who I planned to pace with. No worries, I figured I would try to catch him and run with him. (This didn't happen until about 18k when his nasty cold finally slowed him down).

We were lucky enough to run in shady tree lined streets of Oakville, but it was still pretty hot (24° at the start and 27° at the finish) - if you know me, you know I do not like hot weather races!

The first 5k for me went fast, a little over 22 minutes and I was already realizing I would not be able to hold that pace and meet my incredibly huge goal of 1:30 ish but maybe my sub goal of 1:35 was still attainable.

At the half way point I was at 47:30, still on track for a 1:35 but...BUT....there was no way in hell I had the guts to maintain that pace. I mentally didn't have the threshold for pain and decided to try to enjoy the 2nd half. Even slowing my pace slightly was rough and I ended up dropping about 5 minutes on the 2nd half. So much for an even paced run. I guess every race can't be a personal record. And on this day, I was happy to see each of the final km markers go by and was quite happy to cross the finish under 1:40 (1:39:51). I do wish however I was more contientious of time in the final 5k because I am sure I could have toughened up enough to shave a minute and a half off to get under my previous best half marathon time. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the race despite the toughness of it and of course, the heat. I am really looking forward to this autumn's racing temps!

Anita's race went well finishing a bit behind her personal best but not bad considering she is still nursing her lingering hamstring issues. And as always, she finished with a big smile. (See pics below). Perhaps she would like to comment on thsi post with her own race report? :)

The race was won by our friend, Predrag Mladenovic in 1:07:12. It was nice to see him win again after a hiatus with foot arch issues. Congratulations Predrag!

Post race festivities were nice. Good food (and lot's of it!) and a nice setting in Oakville's Confederation park. A one man band provided music for the hoards of people resting on the lawn. The major flaw of this race though was the water at the water stations. Hose water, stored in garbage bag lined garbage pails! Yes, seriously. A strongly worded email needs to be sent to the race director for this loser decision at a not so cheap event.

All in all though, it was a nice day, and always nice to spend it with the mrs. I wish we had the kids out for this race too (there was a 10k as well). they would have enjoyed it. Thet are back to the races this weekend with a 5k in Brampton where Anita and I will sit out but we are volunteering again for the great VRPro people.

Here are a few snaps of the race.

A strange LONG weekend of running

We had Friday off. 3 day weekend! We ended up leaving Friday morning because if we leave Thursday evening, we'd miss the world's greatest bakery on the way up to the cottage as it is only open 9-5.

Thursday - So since we're in town Thursday evening, and since our usual group wasn't out, and I know many others in another group that were running, I choose to run with one of them, Brad, a 3:13 marathoner, as it was purported that they were doing a recovery run from their previous evening's Intervals and I wanted to do a tempo run, so his recovery run should have worked out to be close to my tempo run. Well, as it turns out, he hadn't run in 4 days and decides he wanted to do a tempo run which I didn't realize until about 2k in. We went from 3k to 8k in under 20 minutes. Although, breaking 20 for 5k has been a goal for a while I didn't think I would do it this way. I finally let him get ahead and I finished the last 2k alone, nice and easy.

Did I get to analyze the run and split times on my watch (Garmin 205)? No. It was toast. The beeping alert sounds died after a rainy run 2 weeks ago and it this night, it started flickering from screen to screen at the end of this run and then just shut off as I was walking the last block. Damn. Still under warranty, but with the signs of wear on it I will be shocked if they fix it no charge, plus the delay of waiting for it. Perfect time to upgrade to the 305 : ) - Which I did pictured here.

Friday - We drive north and as we approach the town we are in I decide to have Anita drop me off 15K out so I can do my Friday run from there. I figured if I got there, and started relaxing with a beer, I would not run at all. So, I change in the car, and say goodbye. I didn't realize it was so hot, one of the hottest days of the year. After a few minutes I was wishing I skipped this run, still being extremely tired from the previous evening's 10k run with the sub 20 5km squished in the middle. I was tempted to call Anita to come get me, but being too proud and dumb to, I carried on, inside left knee feeling twinges of my recent high mileage. Sh*t.

Then, I get the shock of my life. Seriously. I'm alone on this back route to the cottage, save for the odd car passing by and occasional cyclist. I run against traffic as always and see a car approaching, fairly fast. She starts to gradually move towards the extreme right side, right at me! I move to the shoulder and she moves right to the edge of the road and speeds by me, literally an inch away. I couldn't believe it! My heart was in my throat thumping like mad and I felt the adrenaline rush through me as I turned and shouted pointlessly at the driver. As she passed me, I caught a glimpse of her and she didn't appear menacing or mean or laughing so maybe she was just dozing off. I will never know. I continued onwards, slowly and wondered, aloud, what the f*ck is wrong with some people? (for real) and really now wished I wasn't still 11km from home but settled down and made the best of the remaining mileage. The post run beer tasted really really good.

Saturday - Normally an easy 12k, I decided to do a shorter run as I was still feeling tired and had a 20 miler planned for Sunday that I wanted to get in. It was going well, I was running really slow and relaxed and recovering nicely when...WHEN. Boom, german sheppard, from out of nowhere comes out of the bushes, barking like mad, teeth showing, right on my *ss! I was even more scared than the day before! For some reason, thank Sammy Wansiru (god), the dog backed off when I screamed at it F*CK OFFFFFFFF! He stayed put as I moved away and I felt another huge surge of adrenaline flow though my body, right down through my toes. I walked for a bit, yelling as loud as I could 'tie up your f*ing dog. I don't know if anyone heard me and didn't care. I just wanted to get home. And I got home safely. The post run beer tasted really really good.

Sunday. Through might and will (and motivated by the previous night's Olympic Marathon) I got up and ran 3/4 of the way around the lake and back again making it 34KMs. The run was plagued with fear of cars and dogs and the warning signs of too much mileage as the inside of my left knee hinted at giving out. it actually did a few times but if I slowed my pace and improved my form it seemed to be ok. Not the greatest long run but satisfying to finish. Afterwards, I jumped in the lake, tea coloured & overflowing from so much rain. It felt great and very soothing. Reflecting upon the 4 previous runs, I wondered if I will survive all of this training and actually ever get to Boston! If I don't, it certainly won't be from a lack of effort!

It is a good thing today is a rest day. I really think I need it.

A Midsummer Night's Run - Race Report

We ran this race last Saturday which was an evening race, with a start time of 6:30 and finishing in the dark. The theme being 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' has many runners dressing accordingly in wings and fairy costumes. No, we didn't. Well, Anita and our friend Julie did wear some fancy frilly lace gloves with feathers flowing from them.

Pictures from this year have not been posted on their website yet but they will be shortly, otherwise, you can view last year's here

The race itself was slightly marred by unorganized baggage check and way to few porta-potties but otherwise a good event with decent post race food, long sleeve tech shirts and cool finisher's medal. The route itself, for 30k was interesting, spanning most of Toronto's eastern waterfront trail system although in the beaches, boardwalk touristy section it wasn't closed off and there was much navigation to be done to avoid collision. I actually collided with a pedestrian who didn't understand me when I yelled out 'Passing on your right' - whereupon she quickly swung to the right and smacked me in the chest spilled the cup of gatorade she pilfered from the previous aid station all over me!

For me, this race held both high and low expectations. Low, because I was heading into it fatigued from recent marathon training including higher than ever mileage, a tough hill repeat workout on the Wednesday preceded by a fast tempo run on the Tuesday and no real rest other that taking Friday off when I normally would have run. High expectations came from the same reasons. Lot's of training and hard work certainly were sure to pay off despite not resting up for this race. And so I finished about 10 minutes faster than my previous 30K race and probably about 10 minutes slower than I am capable of if I had made this a goal race.

I started out nice and easy and picked it up about 5k in finishing the first 10k in 48:30. I started pushing a bit harder and managed to get to run the next 10k split in 47:30 and worked hard to maintain that pace through the final, congested 10k in 49:00. If it were amarathon this day, I would have struggled with a lot of walk breaks needed to finish but I figure at a 6+ minute per km pace I could have finished around 3:30, 3:40 tops. I am looking forward to giving that distance another shot soon!

Here are my race stats.

Place	Time	Pace	Category	Category Place	Gender Place	21.1km Split
57	2:25:22	4:52	Men 40 - 49	17/101	52/275	1:41:24

Post race was awesome. Being a local race I found myself in the company about 20+ regular running buddies. It was a shame when they shut the beer garden down forcing us to find elsewhere to rehydrate (or dehydrate!)

Anita, 'Mrs Daddyo' made her way through the 30K on a lingering hamstring issues and found herself alone in the dark on some of the trails and was somewhat spooked. She is a trooper for gutting it out. Should she have run the 15K race instead? Probably, but that's not the way she rolls :) She finished, smiling, upright and not far off her last time despite her nagging injury. She impresses me every time we hit the races!

On another note, I met up with some of my fellow cyber training buddies. These guys all live in and around Toronto but we normally only communicate on runningahead.com where we keep our training logs and chat in user forums about running , training, racing and well anything. Ruth, seen below ran this race on her 51st birthday AND the 8 year anniversary of her last kemo-therapy treatment. Way to go for her!

Next races:
Oakville Half Marathon - September 1
Scotiabank marathon - September 28
Toronto Marathon - October 19
Hamilton marathon - November 2
Las Vegas marathon - December 7

Burlington Downtown Dash 10K - Race Report

OK, let me just start by saying that going to party in Hawaii for a weekend and then coming back and catching a nasty summer cold (a bit rundown maybe??) I was not expecting anything much for this mid-summer, mid-week 10K race.

How long would you drive to an event? This was supposed to be about a 45 minute drive but a traffic jam turned it into 2 hours!

It was hot, around 24 - 25. I ran shirtless in a race for the first time, which was nice. I set out with no idea of how I would feel after a few Ks in my condition but was hoping my fitness level was able to prevail. First km was the fastest @ 4:05 because I was thinking why not just go for it and see what happens. Managed a decent 5k split of 21:29 and thought if i could keep it up I could PR with a 43 something. By 8km point I was still close to being on track for a 43:00 but was feeling done and thought, decide now, bail and survive or dig in and get it done. I used people in front of me to motivate me and caught and passed a bunch of them running the 9th and 10th kms as the 2nd and 3rd fastest of the day. Surprisingly I felt fine holding this pace. Sprinted as fast as I could at the finish as one of the guys I passed had caught me and I thought it may have meant the difference between an age group award. Not so as he was in the next group as it turns out.

Time: 42:48 (PR by 1:50)
Field Placement: 35 / 193 (18.1%)
Age group: 40 – 44
Group Placement: 6 / 14 (42.9%)
Gender Placement: 30 / 105 (28.6%)

Anita PR'd with a 1:01:30 (she did NOT run shirtless : )

Little Cam (8 yr) took 1st place in the 11 and under age group with a 24:32 in the 5K. His sister Sarah stepped up and escorted Cam as the race was run in a fairly busy area with only pylons separating the runners from traffic.

Post race festivities were fun, Cam getting his 1st place medal, saw many familiar faces and got served cabbage rolls and pierogies. VRPro events are always great.

Wow, Hawaii and more

Wow what? No posts for a week. That shows how busy / tired I have been!

Let's see, I have been to Hawaii since last week. A short 3 day trip compliments of work, The Flight Centre "Global Awards Gathering". We got to stay at the Sheraton Waikiki Beach in Honolulu which is not necessarily the best part of Hawaii but it was definitely nice to be there.

I managed to run both Saturday and Sunday mornings. Saturday, I met up with Steve, a friend from an online running club whom I arranged a run with while I was there. He showed my a nice up and down route around Honolulu's famous Diamond Head National Park. I offered some fantastic view of the southern part of Oahu Island. Sunday, I ran another 11K around the Waikiki area and although I was planning a longer run, I was just to tired and dehydrated to go any further. I guess I was due for a scale back week anyway.

The work conference on Saturday was a blast with Lance Armstrong as our surprise guest speaker. What a treat. The Awards Gala was quite spectacular and lasted until 1AM, followed by the 'after party' which took us to a new venue, a dance club and I finally realized at 4Am I am too old for this sh!t and took a shuttle bus back to the hotel so I could get some sleep before Sunday's 8AM run. Ya, Stupid, I know, I know.

Coming home Sunday was a very long day of traveling. Especially after Saturday night. It was so nice to finally get home. The 4 days (in total after travel time) seemed like a full week. There's no place like home we say around here. Here are the 2 Hawaii runs.

Day 1

After the runs, I headed down to the hotel beach for a swim. Diamond Head (where we ran around on Saturday) is seen in the background

Day 2

Ran part of this run alongside the finish of the Tinman Triathlon

Would love to get back to Hawaii again (who wouldn't) Maybe for the Honolulu Marathon!

By the way, one of our staff got a pricey ticket for jaywalking! I lost count at the number of times I ran across streets before the light was green for me. Lucky I didn't get deported!

Hot Hills

Tonight was hill night with the clinic. Unfortunately it was wicked hot. 30 degrees, almost 40 it felt like with the humidity. No breeze by the lake either. By the time we got to the hills it seemed like everyone was ready to go home! I ended up completely soaked after our 4 hill repeats. The best part of a run like hill repeats in this weather is that you can do the repeats slow and still gain in the strengthening aspects. I was pretty impressed witht the group's perceverence tonight and tried to shorten the warm up and cool down as much as possible. I think they appreciated that although I know some people curse me for making them run it!

I hope Hawaii isn't this hot!

14 Miles around the Lake

Running at the cottage is always the highlight of the week. The weather is always a few degrees cooler and running amongst tall pines, birch and maple trees wondrous. Not to mention the softer roads. This makes long runs especially more enjoyable. The route around our lake is 14.6 miles (23.5 KMs) and is very picturesque. I decided to take it slow and easy last weekend and snapped a few pics to share. Enjoy. Click Here to View Slideshow

HBC Canada Day 10K - Race Report

Well, it was Canada Day so we took Monday off and spent the weekend up north at the cottage.

The weekend concluded with a 10K race in Algonquin park - here is my Photo Essay...

The cottage

We found a robin's nest above the window of one of the cabins...it's contained hatching babies.

The mother and father robins attacked me when I was snapping pics!

I did some landscaping in the rain (note the 'non blue' skies above the lake/background)

The lake, early morning before we left for the race.

You gotta love the combo bib-shirts for this race. (In support of Canadian Olympic athletes)

Race Report

After a long drive (abut 90 mins) we got there, all having to 'go' and the limited amount of porta-potties were well lined up for... so we all had to find some trees, which wasn't hard being in a provincial park area. Thank god for wet-naps!

We got to the start after some warm up running and lined up at the front as it is a tight start and hard to get by slower runners as I experienced last year. Little Cam started out with mom but took off on his own after 4k which wasn't too much of a worry in this out and back trail race. The trail was pretty low technical with occasional rocks, stumps and mud puddles to navigate. It wouldn't be too much slower than a road race and by far prettier, running alongside a lake most of the way. Well stocked with volunteers and 3 water stations. Mostly shaded except the first 1.5K (and hence, last 1.5K) It was hot, about 80 degrees at the finish. Great post race festivities, band, lots of food and located in an area where you could spend the rest of the day exploring.

Results

Cam (8) - his first 10K race and longest run yet....55:48...what a freak!
139/395 overall, 20/26 men 19 & under 82/156 men

Sarah (15) - A PR of 51:34...after taking 3 weeks off to rest after the high mileage of school track.
82/395 overall, 5/27 women 19 & under 24/240 women

Anita - A PR of 1:02:51
241/395 overall, 30/53 women 30-39, 122/240 women

Me - A PR of 44:39
28/395 overall, 10/42 men 40-49, 26/156 men

Not bad considering Anita and I ran a half marathon and marathon last weekend!

Team Daddyo - Post race. (I had to change out of my soaked shirt and into last year's model)

Siblings, proud of each other

We went for a hike afterwards, found some nice rapids/falls

Self portrait of me 'nearly' falling in.

We followed this hike with lunch at a restaurant right on the river and ice cream from a local dairy. We then headed back to Toronto in time to run 4 recovery miles with the half-marathon clinic I lead. We decided to avoid the crowded Canada's birthday fireworks displays and had a deserved relaxed evening with yet another round of ice cream.

That's it. Another great Canadian weekend. I highly recommend it.

Top Ten!

The results are posted for last weekend's marathon. I knew it was a small race (25 of the 35 registered ran) and I finished in the top ten. 8th actually. Yes, it's a small race but 8th in a marathon still sounds pretty cool :)

Niagara on the Lake Marathon - Race Report

Another one in the books

Niagara on-the Lake is quite a nice place and a great place for a run. The weather was beautiful, although a bit hot but Anita and I both managed respectable finishing times... 3:51 for my marathon and 2:24 for her half which we were both happy with considering we ran the Ottawa marathon 4 weeks earlier.

We managed to get up and eat (too much) with enough time to drive for a hour and a half to Niagara on-the Lake. It was nice to have enough time not to be stressing about getting there.

We got our kits, hit the porta potties then walked around a bit and ran into a friend Kevin and chatted with him for a bit, then needed to make another trip to the porties. I ran into "Marathon Junkie" Chuck Engle who also trekked in yesterday tfrom Ohio to run our little race. Chatted with MJ for a while and then hit the porty one more time. I came out to find MJ and Anita makin' time by the start area :) - I joined in on their conversation for a few minutes before Anita looked over to the start line and said isn't that your race that just took off? (No gun, no horn, just a guy sending the small group off with a 5,4,3,2,1 go...they were gone and we were standing there watching...we looked at each other and said, yup, I guess that's us and headed out, at least 30 seconds behind the last person. Didn't take Chuck long to catch 'em and get into first place but my 8 minute first mile was only good enough to catch about 10 people.

I ended up running the first 10 miles with a guy a bit slower than I wanted to run but it was lonely out there and didn't want to run alone so I stuck with him until he dropped back. That was it, I ran the last 16 miles alone. By this time I had made it to about 15th or so (out of about 30 ) and never passed or got passed again. Quite a different race than the 3 previous marathons for me but very nice. It was an out an back, and out and back again (10.5K each leg), so I got to see Kevin and Chuck a few times as well, I got to cross paths with Anita twice as the half marathon was out and back on the same path as us.

As it turned out Chuck toyed with another fast runner for most of the race and eventually eased past him at the end of this 'training run'. Kevin was not far behind these 2 guys and ended up in 3rd place. I may not be fast, but I have fast aquaintences!

I had started out slowly with mostly 8 1/2 -- 9 minute miles but after I left my running mate behind I cranked out a bunch of sub 5 minute k's and got to the last turn around to head home (10k to go) with a time of 2:37-- I felt great, better than ever, a bit tired but no wall in sight. I figured I would try to run 10 more 5 minute kms and finish with a three-thirty-something...but all of a sudden, and I mean night and day, I started to feel nauseous. I slowed to 6 minutes for a km or so and then sped back up and felt naseous again. If I ran a 5:30 - 6:00 minutes pace, I felt fine. Good legs, good lungs thinking clearly, just dry heaves as soon as I worked hard. I was so miffed because I felt great otherwise. I was thinking 'toughen up' and tried to run through it but ended up heaving up water. I coasted in finishing 3-4 minutes slower than last month, but pleased with how I felt legs and lungs-wise. I thought I could have done better though...It could have been the heat (started at 70, finished at 80), gels, too big a breakfast, who knows.

As always, i am looking forward to the next one!

YIKES

Only 1 more day. I feel fine, but I have really been looking forward to tomorrow's marathon until today. All of a sudden I am a bit pyched out! Ahhhhhhh.

Ok, calm, calm, relax, relax, I am trained, I am rested, I am ready.

OK. I will be fine. Bring it.

Sh!t, I need some Sports Psychology.

Time to rest

2 more days until lovely Niagara...I did an easy 6K tonight. Ran with the clinic and did the middle part of the run just a bit slower than marathon pace. Now, two days of rest and lots of carbs. My favourite part

Don't want to run a marathon?

This is taken from a Blog of a friend of mine. He is a Running Coach and wrote about someone not wanting to run a marathon and not wanting to train hard to get faster and feeling bad about it.

Do you feel obligated to run a marathon, even though you have no real interest in doing so?

I recently had a discussion on that topic with Chrissy from New Jersey. She said:

"Lately, I am realizing that I might not even want to up my running abilities. I am not an athlete, and never will be - so why do I feel bad about being content with my pace? I know I don't have to constantly train and work towards running faster or better, but I feel like I am not 'worthy' of calling myself a runner when I just don't have the love of it that I know so many of you have. Is that so wrong of me?"

Chrissy is concerned by her lack of desire to run a marathon, but there is no reason for her (or for you) to stress about not wanting to run one.

I think that almost anybody that has the desire to run a marathon can train themselves to the point where it is possible to do so.

I also think that there is little reason to if you have no desire to.

1 More Week until M4*

*M4 being Marathon #4. It's hard to believe that! This time 2 years ago I was training for my first half marathon and would NEVER have conceived I'd be on the verge of a 4th marathon by now...or ever.

Anita is going for another PB in the half marathon and she probably will, even if it is just her patented 30 second improvement which she has done 4 times in a row.
If the weather co-operates and stays cool-ish, it will be a great day! If it is too hot, well, we will have to settle for a slower times and just try to enjoy the scenery.

Runner #56 in the picture shown above is Duff, the Beaches' Running Room Marathon Clinic instructor.

This photo is taken at the turn around for the 50K ultra which changes directions at the Horseshoe Falls. Click the image to enlarge and see more.

Half Marathon Clinic

Our Half Marathon Clinic started up again last night. I will once agaim be instructing it with my trusty sidekick Julie. We have a fairly large group and it looks like it will be as much fun as the last one. The weather was perfect for our firsdt run as a group too which was nice.

The dilemma for me again this time around is training for a marathon while instruction a half-marathon clinic. I will have to get creative again with fitting in longer runs on other days or before/after clinic runs. Otherwise, I will run doubles, short runs in the mornings in addition to running in the evening with the group.

I actually ran a double yesterday for the first time in a while. Fun :)

New Clinic Blog

Our new half-marathon clinic starts tonight.

Click here to access the clinic web page.

See you there!

Running in the heat

Wow, a hot weekend it was. My schedule long run of 32K was cut down to 29 and I couldn't have been any happier to stop. It was a tough run and I actually felt more tired yesterday after the run than I did after recent 32, or even 37K runs. The heat will certainly take a lot out of you.

Anita, along with friends Ginny and Julie ran a 15K race and despite the heat had very respectable times. Hey, the fact they showed up and finished the rwce is respectful in itself!

Hopefully it cools down in the next 2 weeks, as I am scheduled to run marathon #4 in Niagara on the Lake.

Team Daddyo Gives Back

Today (Saturday), instead of racing we were volunteers (this being only 1 week after our marathon). We helped out a race promoter that we see quite often as they hold many events not too far outside Toronto. They are nice people so when we ran their St Patty's Day race, and she asked if we were coming to this one, we said no but would love to volunteer.

We were lucky enough to be assigned the finish line. Little Cam handed out water bottles and Mrs and I removed timing chips. Then we helped out tidying up and watched the awards. It was a pretty small race and we would have iked there to be a bit more action but it was fun. We got Tech shirts and lunch and enjoyed being there even though it was tough to not be a part of the racing! Maybe we even made it into some photos, if so I will post them.

MTA: By the way, the first woman in the 5k came in just over 16 minutes, with the first male a few seconds behind the her try desparately but not able to catch her.

Ottawa Runners

I have nicked these photos from the Ottawa Marathon site. They're the usual low res versions of course but they're always worth a look. Some of your either weren't posted yet or too far away for low res pics. Did anyone take any decent photos while in Ottawa you would like to share? Send them my way and I will post them here.

(click photos to enlarge)

Ottawa Races. Team Daddyo Strikes again!

For the first time in over a year all 5 of us were there at the same time for the Ottawa Race weekend. Anita and I ran the full, Sarah ran her 3rd half marathon and Josh our elusive eldest escorted lil' Cam in the 5K.

Our times

Josh and Cam - 24:37 (A PR for Cam, and 3rd place out of 72 in the 8 and under age group!)
Sarah - 1:48:07 (A PR and 5th out of 89 Females 19 and under!)

Anita ran with an barely healed pulled hamstring and only one training run in almost 2 weeks yet she was able to run easy and finish in a bonk-free 5:23 making me a very proud hubby

Me - 3:47:17 (an 8 minute personal best)

It turned out to be a pretty good weekend all around considering a few setbacks (crap hotel with no kitchenette that was supposed to be booked & a few bad restaurant choices with several meals having to be sent back!)

We were a group of about 25 that travelled from Toronto so it was nice to see familiar face at an out of town race. Most of our group ran the half, a few ran the full and a few ran the 5 or 10K.

Mistakes: Saturday, was spent getting to and from too many places on foot. Damn, I said I wouldn't make this mistake again but lo and behold we walked all around, between the 5K race (the 5 and 10K races were held on the Saturday) to lunch, shopping, to dinner, back to the race 10K race to watch friends and then to the awards area where we stood forever waiting for the age group medals to be presented only to find out that age group medals are mailed out!

My Race Report 26 miles of madness

I was hoping for a sub 3:40 but running a HM 2 weeks ago and spending all day Saturday on my feet and not really getting a decent meal on Sat. Had me bonking pretty bad.
I started out ok with and 8:30 first mile, an 8:15 second mile but then knocked off far too many sub 8's putting me on track for a 3:30 by 10'. By the half I was still on track for sub 3:40 (1:48-) but started feeling fatigued. In fact I felt better at the half marathon I ran in 1:38 2 weeks ago than I did at this point . All I could think of was 'toughen up' so I continued to average 8 minute miles until about 17 and then slowed a bit. By 20 I knew I'd overcooked this bird and hoped for the best using all of the positive thinking and mantras I know of to get me through. Extended walk breaks came into play from here on in.

Funny thing, at mile 20, the velcro strap knee tensors I have been wearing were hot and making me feel very restricted. I pulled aside ripped them off and tossed them beside a landmark I know I would remember so I could go back and get them later. I felt much better after this and wonder if I should have done this sooner as they are more of a crutch that I use on long runs only. I did the rest of the race without issue and the old knee pains have not returned. Hmmm. By the way, we drove by that landmark later on. No knee braces to be found...sharp cleanup crew!

Slowtime: Mile 21 was over 10 minutes and 24 was almost 10 minutes. I hadn't looked at my watch for a while as I assumed I wasn't even going to break 4 hours (those walk breaks felt like eternities especially because my legs didn't respond when I told them to start euuning!) At 24.5 I finally looked and realized if I toughed it out I'd get in under 3:50 so somehow I managed to run/walk it in and actually enjoyed the beautiful finishing road alongside the Rideau Canal although I couldn't oblige the spectators offering high fives as I didn't have the energy to lift my arms!

With 300 metres to go I was walking and a race director told me to get running for the finishing photo. I just looked at him, no energy to even smile and say who cares?...then I broke into stride, realized I had made it through another marathon successfully and smiled for the cameras feeling so relieved it was over and immediately looking forward to the next one.

Strange yes?

The Pros

Great City, great start-finish area, decent post race food. Medals are one of my favourites. Awesome course with some of the best fan support I have seen. The entire course, save for a few of the early miles is absolutely stunning, rolling hills, beautiful rural areas mixed will lovely old streets and picturesque downtown Ottawa areas, a lot of which runs along the canal. I highly recommend this race.

The Cons

There were limited amount of porto potties along the course although last year there were plenty. I wonder why this changed. I had no issues peeing in the bushes but I feel bad for the ladies, maybe who had to do their best squatting out of site.

Race kits were as lame as any, again unlike last year's which were one of the best.

The pace bunnies talked loudly and were very annoying causing a lot of people to run ahead or fall back to get out of their earshot.

Our group had a nice post race dinner and party and made the whole trip even better. The convoy home was nice too.

Despite the major fatigue factor I felt better afterwards and today I feel great and lloking forward to another marathon in Niagara-on-the-lake in 4 weeks!

3 days to go

Not much to say at this point. The training is done. I wouldn;t mind running one more time although I felt really sluggish just walking up the stairs today. That tells me maybe a few days rest will be good for me. Josh has switched to the 5K due to limited training so at least he can run with Cam. I would love to see Josh sink his teeth into some training and run some races at his optimum level. It would be fun to see how well he could do. I am sure I would be humbled when he trains and shows me up but that would be great.

Ottawa awaits, off tomorrow morning so we will not be rushing around as much this year. My excitement is starting to mix with nervousness. I just wish Anita was feeling better.. It looks like it will be down to the wire for her and her sore leg :(

Hopefully Sunday brings miracles!

Taper Madness

The tapering is not so bad this time, although I felt a little sluggish this morning,. That said, it has been taking me about 4K to get warmed up lately, which, by then I'd hit the long uphill climb home, so maybe I am ok.

It's a science I say.

Poor Anita, still hurtin'....

Injuries Suck

But this time it is not me. Poor Anita has a pulled hamstring which is causing her issues. This is too bad seeing as we are a week away from the marathon. Hopefully a few more days of not running will allow it to heal up and let her run on Sunday. Good luck Anita...HEAL UP!

After the half, before the full

It has taken a few days to recover, which is not surprising after a net downhill race. This morning's run was definitely better than Tuesday's. Tomorrow I should be able to get in a good Interval run as a final speedwork for the marathon. Sunday's final long run will be 20K split by 10K easy and 10K at Race Pace. Then next week, Tuesday and Thursday, 2 short race pace runs and that's it...bring on the Marathon!

Ahhhhh, much better

I am happy to say, this morning's 10K left me feeling much better. No tiredness today! yay - guess I just needed a down day

So, after all, I am really looking forward to Sunday's half marathon...bring it!

Feeling tired :(

Maybe the long run knocked me out? Man, it's supposed to be the last week of tapering that the sluggishness sets in. Not the first!

Off to bed early tonight! Hopefully a good night's s;leep and a good run in the morning will help.

2 Marathons, 2 weeks apart?

Hmmmm. I'd like to. I think I can. First one fast, 2nd one for fun. Hmmmm, decisions, decisions....

Last Hill run..for now

3 weeks until the marathon. I am not even glad to say no more hills. I always feel great after hill days.

I did 10K total this morning and beat the rain. It stopped before I went out, and restarted after I got in. Yay.

So I did 3 less hills this week but extended the length by 100m and ran them a bit faster than last week. Would have liked to have done a couple more (glutton for punishment) but time didn't allow. Lazy Dave had a hard time getting going this morning!

Last long run is this Sunday. 36K, divided by 3. 1st 12K @ race pace + 45 sec per K. 2nd 12K @ race pace + 30 secs per K and the last 12K @ race pace with a few sub race pace thrown in for good measure.

The next 3 weeks will definitely be full of anxiousness! It's hard to believe I am actually looking forward to running 42.2 K again. The pain of final 6 miles of the Colombus Marathon last Oct. is a distant memory!

Getting faster!

I ran to work this morning, carrying a backpack, 3K warmup and 2k cool down with 10k tempo in the middle...faster than my 10K personal best for a 10k race, with what seemed like less effort? What's going on here???

4 weeks and counting

Ottawa Marathon - Sunday May 25...actually, with it being Tuesday night, that makes it less than 4 weeks. I am very excited already, moreso than the 2 previous marathons because....A> The first, altough I was excited, i was very nervous and dreading it. B. The 2nd, I was hurt, so I was just hoping to get through it. Now, I am healthy and feeling stronger than ever!

I am also excited to see Anita accomplish her goal of completing her first marathon. With a big group of us going it should be a great weekend all aound. So that's why I am already very excited.

Easy like a Friday morning.

Just last might I was reading an article on 'Getting Through a Bad Run" and was thinking of how I haven't had a run like that in a long time, even while battling stomach flu (food poisoning?) last week in Florida. So I figured after eading the article, I may ironically have a bad run. Well this morning's run, a schedule easy run, 9K into work, went well, so well in fact that ater about 3K, I looked at my watch to gauge my pace figuring I must be going slow because it felt like I was running too easy. Not so, I was running about 15 seconds per K faster than I would usually do an easy run. I picked it up a bit more and ran about 30 seconds per K faster for the rest of the run and it felt easy and enjoyable the whole way. A totally enjoyable, easy run, that was only a bit slower than Tempo Run 2 days ago. It would seem that the hard running / smart running / and strengthening I have been doing this year is really paying off. And making running more enjoyable than ever.

Oh, and I decided at the last minute not to wear my knee tensor....with no pain, no problems.

No rest for the wicked

Despite going to Florida, despite having the flu (or food poisoning) for 3 days, training continued. Although both Anita and I did run 1 day less than usual, we still did pretty good with Anita clocking in her longest run yet (32K) and I did a 33K long run hopped up on Tums and Alka Seltzer after fighting stomach aches and cramps for the 2 days prior. I got through without 'incident' and even managed a hot and fast tempo run 2 days after. In Orlando we got to repeat our run from last year around the Disney parks. Perfect weather overall as far as running goes.

The Hills Have Eyes

Will. Power. Hills, daunting. It was a tough get up this morning, we almost didn't make it. Being up to 8 hill repeats now is putting the overall run over 10K with warm up and cool down. Since we got out later than we hoped, cool down had to be shortened although we walked the last half kilometre. We? Yes, Anita and I went together this morning. She's running with the big boys now! Even on the hills I can see the improvements. Her mileage this year is definitely showing on these runs. It was nice to have company on the hills. Having companionship certainly helps motivate you on these lonely mornings.

Beaches Spring Sprint - 5K

But, didn't we just run the 30K Around the Bay race last weekend you ask?

Yes, but Anita and I recovered well and just did 2 easy runs this week + some cross training on the bikes. We had to run the 5K race this weekend. It is local, located just a few blocks from our house on the Beaches Boardwalk area of Toronto. This is a very nice under-promoted but well attended event with a lot of familiar faces and great burgers served up afterwards.

The weather was near perfect. It was a balmy 6˚ at race time.

Cameron and Sarah ran today as well. Cam, although he has been running 5Ks lately was told to run the 2K race as a part of Cross Country School Team tryouts. He is in grade 2 but grade 3 is the lowest division - He will still make the team as an allowed under-ager. He ran the 2K today in 8:31 despite a bad crowd at the front. There were a lot of big kids pushing up to the front and squished him back, a lot who were not fast runners and forced him to navigate around them. Cam was a bit upset as he has been running 8:30-8:45 times in practice runs and was hoping to break 8 mins today. Still not a bad result for a 7 yr old. No medal though as the age group was 7-9 and tere were a lot of fast kids there. 8/44 M 7-9 age group.

Sarah, had a good result with a 21:40, a 5 second PR, she was also hoping to go lower but she just hasn't put in the mileage lately. She is a fairweather runner, and for a 14 year old, I can understand that. We did after all have a nasty winter. 14/33 13-17 F age group

Anita impressed me and herself with a one and a half minute PR pf 28:10. Only 6 days after her longest run ever and fighting off the tail end of a bad cold. 13/33 F 31-40 age group

And for me, the elusive sub 20 slipped away. 20:15 was my time - a 49 second PR with a stop for shoe retie thrown in at the halfway point. Was this a good rest, or was it the reason I missed a sub 20. We'll never know. At least I still have that goal to keep me motivated - 4/20 M 31-40 age group

30K Around the Bay Race Report

Sunday March 30 marked the 114th running of North America's oldest running road race. Hamilton's 30K Around the Bay. Anita and I squeaked in on the waiting list, we both were unsure of our readiness for this even as we have taken January to rest our ailing knees. As it turns out, the rest period, as well as our improved regime of warm ups, cool downs and better stretching has made us better!

We didn't train specifically for this race but more so inserted it into the training schedule for the Ottawa Marathon on May 25. So neither of us were too eager to break and records, plus, it was the first 30K race we'd entered so we didn't have previous times to beat. No pressure.

We didn't bother getting too worried about tapering our training and resting for this race. We went about last week as usual doing our hill regular runs including hill work on Wednesday. We did however eliminate Friday and Saturday runs to save some energy but managed to spend all of Saturday on our feet either at the race expo, shopping, working on the house renovations and going to Cameron's last hockey game of the year. Not too restful but nothing to worry about.

We got to bed fairly early Saturday night and slept pretty well, which is unusual for both of us on the eve of a race. We woke up with plenty of time to spare but found it hard to actually get out of bed and get going. It was dark, cold, and 30K of Hamilton's hilly steel-town lay ahead of us...yikes. We did manage to get there on time, although we had to dish out money for parking as we didn't have enough time to hunt around for free parking, which there was apparently a lot of. We met up with James, my 'Sunday Long Run' friend and various members of our running group. It is always nice to see familiar faces before a race. Our meeting spot was nice being in the warm arena (Copps Coliseum) which would also serve as the finishing chute. Very cool. All finisher's names are announced as you enter the arena and cross the finish line at what would be 'centre ice'

Without any real warm up aside from some walking and light stretching we headed to the start line. The first few KMs would have to be the warm up. The large crowd all seemed to be in a great mood, the weather was near perfect...a bit less wind and a few more degrees would have been better. The 9:30 start was right on time and there was nothing left to do but tackle the beast. A very crowded start, and a lot of people lined up ahead of where they should be. We started back a bit and passed so many people in the first kilometre it was ridiculous. In the end, the slow start was probably good for us all. I parted with Anita after the first km and ran with James for another few before picking up the pace. I ran the next 6 kms at about a 5:15 avg pace and cross the 10 KM point in 53 mins + change. I felt great and had no fears I would be able to pick up some time in the remaining 20. I ran several sub 5 minute Ks and caught up to James' friend Allan, ran with him from about km -13 to 19. I had slowed a bit here but not too much. At 20 Idecided to go for broke and pick up another few minutes, despite the fact this is where the course gets realy hilly....really hilly! See the elevation graph below...

The scenery was really nice here and I was able to tune out the difficulty of the hills - except the big one at the end of this section, almost 1KM ending just before km 27. The crowd was particularly dense and friendly through this section which helped immensely. Before I knew it, all of the hills were done and there was only 3k to go! The headwinds on the final stretch were rough, which put me in a decision making mode. I was determined to do 2 things: run a negative split but also finish without struggling. I decided 3K would not really do me in if I pushed hard so i went for it. I managed to run the last 3kms under 5 minutes each and finished feeling better than I have after a race longer than half marathon distance. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable runs ever.

My time was 2:35:29 and my splits were;

1st 10k - 53:37
2nd 10k - 51:32
3rd 10k – 50:20

1st - 15k - 1:19:28
2nd - 15K – 1:16:01

Finishing in the arena was a blast. I made my way though the finish chute, got food and stretched. I met up with another familiar face, Jeremy who ran a few minutes faster than me, as usual. We sat comfortably in the stands and watched everyone finish. It was a great vantage point to watch a race finish.

Anita played it safe and ran it as a true long distance training run and finished in 3 hours 30 minutes, with a huge smile, energy to spare and looking ready to run more. Bring on the marathon I say!

looking forward to running this race next year for sure...better sign up now!

Around the Bay 30K - race report

Saturday:
We had to drive to Hamiton on Saturday t pick up our race kits for 'Around the Bay', and took some time to drive the course and see what all th hoopla about the hills was all about. Ya, a lot of hills in the last third of the race including a biggie at 26K!

Back in time to do a little work on Cam's room and the bathroom and off to his Semi-Finals game. It was a good, close game until the 3rd period where we just could hold off their strong (stacked!) team. The boys played great and had a great year. Make coaching worth while to see the kids have fun. It was heartbreaking to see the few who take it quite seriously and were teary after the defeat.

Sunday:
We got up, not early enough for comfort :) and headed to the race. Ourlateness forced up to drop $20 on parking but it was worth it. Got there on time to meet up with a few people and get to the starting line stress free alveit no warm up. Warm up would have to be the first coupl eof KMs. The race went well. I will post a full report in the running section but let it be known I am proud of mrs Daddyo for completing her longest run ever, upright and smiling!

We headed home after the race to get to see the hockey finals and afterwards there were the year end awards. All of the players got their trophies including the 'participant's' trophies which always goes over well with the little ones. Cam also recieved the big trophy for most assists which lit up his face.

Sunday night on the couch, very deserved couple hours of downtime! Back to work today :(

Long Distance Running Quotes

What’s your favourite?

1. Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder:
"The marathon is a charismatic event. It has everything. It has drama. It has competition. It has camaraderie. It has heroism. Every jogger can't dream of being an Olympic champion, but he can dream of finishing a marathon."

2. Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist:
"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming."

3. Rob de Castella, winner 1983 World Marathon Championships:
"If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal."

4. Emil Zatopek, Czech runner; winner of four Olympic gold medals:
"We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon."

5. Bill Rodgers, winner of four Boston and four NYC marathons:
"The marathon can humble you."

6. Hal Higdon, running writer and coach:
"The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals."

7. Rob de Castella:
"The marathon's about being in contention over the last 10K. That's when it's about what you have in your core. You have run all the strength, all the superficial fitness out of yourself, and it really comes down to what's left inside you. To be able to draw deep and pull something out of yourself is one of the most tremendous things about the marathon."

8. Mike Fanelli, running club coach:
"I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart."

9. Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ:
"The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed."

10. John J. Kelly, winner of the 1952 Boston Marathon:
"Marathoning is just another form of insanity."

Around the Bay - a day away!

30K race Sunday - I wouldn't say I am in the top possible shape seeing as I took some time off in January and came back slowly to avoid injury, butI feel very ready to put in a good showing. I am planning on running no faster than projected marathon pace as part of the training for Ottawa. Although if I am feeling good near the end I may try to finish strong. It's my first race at this distance so I won't begunning to beat a previous time.

This will be Anita's longest race yet so she is a bit anxious to say the least. I am very proud of how far she has come this year, both in endurance and speed. It's proof that if you put your mind to it you will get results!

Hills Day Revisited

There is an oft heard quote regarding running a marathon.

"The will to run a marathon is not as important as the will to train for it"

Somedays this rings so true. It took a lot to get up today knowing I had a 10K run with 7 hill repeats in the middle. But I willed myself to do it and am very satisfied I got through it. Especially after spending last evening paining Cam's ceiling and repairing the ceiling in the bathroom

Incidentally, both jobs were a result of the nasty winter and melting snow - thus notifying us we needed to fix the roof, inside and out!

Good Friday Road Races - Race Report

First of all, we had another good showing for the Daddyo Family of runners at the Good Friday Races in Burlington. No medals this time around but Little Cam set a personal record of 26:06 for the 5K race - Not bad for 7! Thanks to Sarah who masterly paced him to this great result. Anita and myself both just narrowly missed PRs by a few seconds with 29:17 and 21:20 respectively. BUT, the actual distance for this event as measured by my GPS watch is 5.12KMs so at the actual 5K mark all of our times would be about 20 seconds less....hmmm...
Anita was 17th of 30 in the women 35-39 class
Sarah was 14th of 44 in the girls 14 and under class
Cam was 31st of 50 in the boys 14 and under class
I finished 7th of 40 in the men 40-44 class

Sarah is looking forward to April 5 'Beaches Spring Sprint' - where she will again get a chance to run her own race and go sub - 21 for 5K. We will run that one together as we are both hoping for similar results. She may not beat me as she has not been running as much over the winter but I predict she will soon and probably get a sub 20 in before too long! Go Sarah!

So, on Sunday, our marathon training continued as well as a final long run before next week's 30K Around the Bay Road Race. Kudos to Anita for getting her longest run ever in at 26K!

And to make the week's success that much better is...no signs of any of my nagging injuries returning! I guess my new regiment of better warm up and cool downs and more thorough stretching routine is working. Woo hoo!

Hills Hills Hills

Today was hills day. Wednesdays are hills days for the next while. Today it rained. It is dark when it is time to get out for the morning runs.

Bed is warm.

Anita is there too.

How do I get up?

Believe it or not, I like hills. Yes it is hard work, but I know their benefits and sometimes I even do one extra for good measure.

This morning I didn't.

It was raining.

Bibs and medals

I figured out, without thoroughly counting, that we have accumulated a lot of bibs and medals from our relatively short racing career as a family.

Spending family time together rocks and I love not having to drag anyone out. I was looking at the stack of bibs last night wondering what to do with them. In the last 18 months we have attended about 26 events. A couple of those had only 1 of us racing. A few had 2 of us and the rest was the 4 of us (Josh attended a couple but now is too busy with pubs, girls, friends etc although he was a top 3K cross country runner when in high school)

So the total amount of bibs and medals is: (unofficial as I think we're missing a few)

63 bibs

Sarah, 2 half marathon finisher's medals + 8 first, second or third place medals
Cam 4 kids race finishers medals + 4 first, second or third place medals
Mom, 4 1/2 Marathon finisher's medals + 1 third place medal
Daddyo, 2 marathon finishers medals, 4 half marathon finishers medals + 3 second or third place medals (no firsts yet!)
Josh, 1 third place medal

Plus Sarah and Josh have another stash of bibs and medals from their school cross country team races.

So yes, when we move next, we will have to plan a 'place' for these.

St Patrick's Day 5k - Race Report

A family of medalists!

SO...the 4 regular runners in the family ran a 5K yesterday. In Burlington, St Patricks day 5K. It was a smaller event (just under 100 runners) so the chances of medalling were good. What we didn't expect, was al 4 of us to place.

- Cammy finished 1st in the 10 and under age group (there was only him this time around but he - still ran well, (62nd overall :)
- Sarah finished 1st in her age group, 35th overall, and 6th female overall.
- Anita got 3rd in her age group. She would have fnished 2nd but she had to wait for Cameron ;)
- I finished 21st over all and 3rd in my age group with a personal record of 21:05. On my way to my goal of a sub 20 5K. Needless to say, it was a good day for us. Another well run event by VRPRO, The chili and beer included afterwards was awesome!

Cammy the speedster

I dug up this old photo of Cam enjoying a burger after his 5K PR (26:30) last summer. He is training now to beat that time. Eventually he will be beating me! What a competitive little fellow.

Brrrrr

I guess there are a lot of Runner's Blogs out there that have titled today's post the same. It may not be original, but it is true. That said, it really was an enjoyable 10K run this morning 1K warm up, 8K tempo, 1K cool dow (that part was easy!)

Don't fear the cold!

In full swing again

20K under my belt for today. Felt pretty good. My feet were a bit tired. My Addidas socks suck. Less expensive that the Running Room sock I prefer, but not worth it...you really do get what you pay for. No advil today. Hurray. My plan from now on are no pre-run advil. Based on some heresay it is not a good idea.

I ran with an old friend today, James, the original guitarist in the band I played with in ye nineties. (Jealous of Youth) Turns out after getting in touch recently that James also runs long distance races. So we thought why not hook up for a run now and then. It really does make the running time fly by when you have a mate out there.

Looking forward to the next one :)

What weather?

Ya, so it's painfully obvious that winter is here for a while longer. Sunday's long run was nasty, wet, wild, icy, slushy, windy and gross. But I got in 19K and felt good otherwise so why complain? :)

This morning I did an easy 6K. Easy was my only choice as it was just too questionable to push it harder.

Tomorrow's Speedwork / Tempo will be difficult. May need to get up extra early to find some main streets that are clear of snow/ice AND traffic!

Otherwise, it just might be time to get to the Dreadmill!

Running to work is fun?

Ran to work again today. How fun is that? It shouldn't be any fun at all right?

You see, you start out in the dark, cold morning on a slushy street. It's 6:30 AM and you haven't yet fully awoken. As you 'wake up' you begin to get tired already from running. Especially when one sits up too late...tv...reading...enjoying spouse time. As you continue to run, and maybe get in a groove, find your pace, maybe even start to feel good, the buildings of downtown, that were small, or completely hidden at the start of the run, have now become quite visible and slowly get closer and closer. This means that work is also getting closer. Fun? Enjoyable? Really?

Yes.

15+

It was cold, it was windy, it was a bit icy in parts. But managed to get in 15.25K in today. Not in too bad a time either considering the conditions. Feeling pretty good too, although I can tell that as soon as I lapse in stretching exercises I will feel the wrath an get laid up. BUT, if all goes well, we will be running the Chilly half marathon in 3 weeks and well on our way to the Ottawa Marathon. The lovely better half managed to get her run in today as well. She just had to go 16 to outdo me! ;)

Back at it

It looks like the troubles are behind me. Another good run today, 10K in the slush, good pace, pain free, felt goof afterwards. Can't wai until tomorrow's long run (16K) and especially can't wait to get the long runs up into the 20's and beyond.

Back in the saddle again

It was nice to run this morning with (almost) no pain, and definitely no discomfort afterwards. Looking forward to building the mileage back up (slowly?!) and getting into some good marathon training. Then, bring on Ottawa and a new personal record! ya baby.

Who wants to blog when yo

Not me...that's who. It has been a hard couple of weeks. Only one run n the last 2 weeks. I took the time off even though both physio therapist and massage therapist said I could run through this injury, with the proper stretching, and exercises. I was been lazy and gave up for several days and wasn't doing what they recommended. I even went for xrays & ultrasound assuming it may be worse than what they are thinking it is. I have yet to get these results back. I probably not until Monday will I know.

That said, I went for a run with Anita's Marathon Clinic last night, the scheduled 6K run, which was actually 7.5 went well. No pain for most of the run, just a bit at the half way point, and felt good afterwards. It may be son to tell but i think I may be on my way back!

More trouble - off and on

1st run since last Wednnesday, 4.25 km, walked the first k, then ran very easy. Seemed ok, little stiff i the knee but no pain. I will need to alternate days and ease back into it I suppose. Hopefully it holds up...with Ottawa marathon 18 weeks away...I AM READY TO TRAIN HARD!

Rest rest rest

Physio Therapy rocks again.
Well, I am not 10% sure but it feels better today. I went out (on doctor's orders!) and ran today. She wanted to know if the diagnosis was correct. The diagnosis is / was tight outer muscles running along side the lower leg and wrapping under the foot. With each don stride it aggravates the top of the fibia where it connets. Some therapy yesterday along with some exercises and stretching and volia, almost better. I will be able t tell more when go for a longer run tomorrow.

Rest rest rest

Well, resting the running part anyway. Went to the gym last night for some weights and rode the stationary bike to keep my cardio up. My knee felt fine doing this but it is, in a word or 2, boring....boring. And my butt gets sore on that bike but I guess if I plan on doing any triathlons one day I better get used to that.

I will try to get to the pool for some stress free workouts this week as well.

More knee pain

Bummer. It's been acting up after longish runs. Not ITBS this time though, not the same spot definitely. The pain is very internal, I think it is a result of not stretching the quads and hamstrings enough. Reading up on this semi-confirms this and I feel better after taking today off and stretching a lot last night and seveal times today. Iam going to run tomorrow and see how it goes. If ther eis no improvement i will take a week off. I dont want to delay marathon training if at all possible!

Love this weather!

13 degrees when I went out this morning! Another winter day run in shorts! We have done up our marathon training schedule, viewable online using the ever awesome Google Docs. Check them out HERE

Being Anita's first full marathon she is very excited and nervous but I know she will do fantastic! I am hoping to remain healthy enough to get in al of the runs, and do more speedwork this time around as I am still on the quest to qualify for Boston!

A 5K race personal record

We ran in the 5K "Resolution Run' on Sunday. I kicked it up a notch and beat my previous best time by 41 seconds, finishing with 21:19.

It is good to see my recent hard effort training is paying off. Hopefully next time out I will be able to get it under 20 minutes :)

To work in record time!

Almost as fast as motorized transportation, my little feet (size 11 1/2 is little?) took me to work, 8.5 Ks in 42 minutes. That was with a slow 6 minute 1st K and another easy 2K warmup, then I ran the next 4.5 Ks at near 5K race pace, with a 1K warm down. The drive at best of times is 25-30 minutes so not too bad. The Subway, with cab to subway is 25 minutes. The streetcar including waiting and walk in from Queen St can be at least 40 minutes!

Now, the fact we don;t have showers at work and I am limited by using the sink as a bath is the one obstacle that deters me from doing this everyday. Soon we will have a new floor here with showers in the plans. I still wouldn't run in everyday as that would mean missing out on the drive in with my lovely missus :)

A good week of running

Despite the weather, I got in a good week of running ending today with a snowy evening run. It was a slick, snowy, bright, beautiful 6k run - in 37:30 ... about 7 minutes slower than usual despite the fact I was working hard! Here are some pics of the beautiful night. I screwed hex screws to the bottom of my shoes for traction. Looking forward to going again this evening!

Jingle Bell 5K race report

Today we ran the Jingle Bell 5K in Burlington. It was the first full field Emilio event since Florida's Bay to Bay 12K.

Josh ran with Cam today but the cold kept Cam from being motivated enough to go full out. All of the hockey lately has certainly tired the little one out!

Sarah once again impressed us all with a great performance, beating her best time by a minute finishing at 21:54 - good for a 2nd place medal in her age group.

Anita ran her best time, breaking the 30 minute barrier with her best time of 29:12.

I was hoping to break 22minutes today but just didn't have the will to push hard enough. I thought I was heading for 23:00 but was surprised at the finish when I saw the clock read 22:05. Had I been paying attention to the time I may have pushed hard enough to get under 22 minutes. As humbling as it is, it was nice to see Sarah beat the old man. Did I mention that Sarah managed this with hardly any training lately?!

Next race, Dec 30, Resolution Run 5K...a chance to redeem myself...weather permitting. Now, time to rest a bit and then get in some speed training this week!

Winter Running Pt 2

As far as running goes, winter here in Toronto is not too bad especially compared to some of the states that get blasted. We have had some bad luck so far though, snow, followed by rain, followed by cold. A little icy out there! But, it really isn't much different than a trail run. I like the navigation and the finesse needed to stay upright. There is almost always a good stretch of dry streets to get a rest in. I really feel like I get my money's worth on these runs..

Only strong cold (zero degree F + colder type) winds are enough to get me to the treadmill.

I almost ate these words this morning however. I was going through a stretch of sidewalk in front of an area where no one had been shoveling so it was pretty built up with crusty mounds of frozen snow. I stretched out what I thought was a long enough stride to clear a particularly large protuberance and clipped the top which nearly sent me for a spill. Thank god my agile Canadian winter skills pulled me through!

Man I love running....all year all conditions

A chilly week of running!

With the onslaught of bad weather we have stil managed to get in some good mileage. Sarah, Cam, Anita and myself ran the Santa Shuffle 5k race last weekend. It was quite the experience! Just got back from an 11K run around the beaches. Not too fast but I managed to avoid slipping and really enjoyed running at the easy pace. I was heading in after 8K and decided to extend it. Frankie goes to Hollywood's 'Welcome to the Pleasuredome' came on and I decided to run for that song's entirety (almost 10 minutes) What a great running tune it is.

To work and back

I ran to work and back home. No, no, no, not all at once. Yesterday morning I ran in. This evening I ran home. I kind of like this run with it being point to point and you just have to keep running to get to your destination. Of course I like running home better with there not being showers at work...but yes, nice hot showers await you at home :)

Atlanta Marathon drought

Today was Thanksgiving in the US of A and also the day they run the Atlanta Marathon. What do you not want during a marathon? a DOWNPOUR. What does Georgia need? RAIN. Well they got it today and word is that the entire field of runners and spectators cheered wildly as the sky opened up and dumped a load of wet on everyone.

›Rainy Thanksgiving will make Georgians grateful

Going Fast is hot!

Last night I was doing another easy 6K. Easy because I am still getting back into the groove after the rest period so I am 'easing' back a bit at atime. Halfway through I realized we were running at a good pace and it felt great. For the last couple of Ks I pushed it and ended up finishing pretty quickly, feeling fine. It is such a good feeling to push a little harder and still survive to tell the tale. i guess that's why we race, which i am looking forward to doing again soon. Next race, Dec 2, 5K Santa Shuffle.

Cycling, sorta

Well, I do not own a bike at the moment, and I want to get cycling into my cross training so I gave the stationary bikes at the gym a try. I like the sit down (like a go cart position) one better but you seem to get a better workout with the standard one. It is easy to fall back into to easy of a pace so you really have to concentrate on kicking it up a notch. Unlike the treadmill where you are forced to continue at the right pace or you'll get thrown off the machine!

I am hoping to start increasing the tempo on some of my my runs again. Not for too long at one time but enough to both get a better workout and start building my speed up again. Shit, I'm even looking forward to doing some hills again!

We have a 5K race on Dec 2 and although I know beating my best time is probably not in the stars I would at least like to be in the neighborhood of 23 minutes or less. With such little intense running since the marathon I will be happy to finish feeling half decent.

Ouch

Oh dear, look at that running log. Tuesday eve 8K, Thursday eve 5K, Friday AM 10K and Saturday AM 10K. Someone wasn't following his plan of alternating days! Feeling a little sore in y other knee. After spending so much time working on the right knee, I have neglected the left ne. So now I will need to rest a few days and work on this one!

Arrrrg.

8K with my mate

Craig, my buddy/co-worker from Vancouver was in town and looking for a run. We headed to the beaches after work and ran along Queen and then the boardwalk to give him a taste of the Toronto waterfront. Of course the thai food and brown pops afterwards nulified the time we put in on the run but whatever, we had a blast. Thanks Craig!

Bumped it to a fast 10K

Maybe a bit much as I could sense discomfort towards the end of the run. no pain, just 'hints' Will keep it around 8k or less for a couple more weeks. Had a lovely brekkie with the mrs and Natalie afterwards. I really do need to watch my eating though considering the reduction in mileage! Food...Goood.

Back on track?

I did an easy 6K last night. headed to East General to meet up with Anita as she was visiting her mom. Rain behaved as did the knees. It is tempting to get back into the daily run routine...but I will resist! Looking forward to a (slightly) longer run this Sunday with the Running Room clinic gang.

It's hard to believe only 3 runs ago was the marathon!

I ran

Ran last night...so far so good. 5.5K - not lightning fast by any means but it sure felt good :)

UPDATE: I originally wrote this because I was hurt. I lost about 100 entries previous to this post so a lot of these archives will make no sense!

What to call this blog

I guess I will have to change it back from Swimming to Running since I have hardly even been swimming. I am always glad I went when I am swimming, but it is SO hard to get the motivation to get there.

Almost there

I think I can run soon. I don't know if I should, bu tit feels like it. I will try a short run tomorrow and see how it feels. If there are signs of soreness after a few KM's I will wait another week.

The Swimming Blog

May have to rename this blog...who knows how long it will take until I can run again. I can still 'feel' that I am not ready. Maybe another week? yikes.

So, I needed to get some sort of workout in. Swam for about 30 minutes and did some weights after that. Swimming doesn't give me the same workout but I suppose it is because I don't have the required strength to go hard enough to feel the cardio burn.

Run...please soon, run.

Day 9 - ready to run

I have not yet run since the marathon. This is day 9. I feel better, but will probably wait another day or so. I may actually test the waters on the eliptical machine first. I definitely want to make sure I am fully rested and healed before I get back at it. I know I didn't allow enough time after the Ottawa Marathon which is when the ITBS first reared it's ugly head.

I can't wait! I need to run soon. Just don't feel 'right' - running has become such a regular thing. The next marathon is only a little over 6 months away although I may find something a bit sooner if we feel like travelling to one.

Columbus Marathon Video

A quick video of our little trip to Columbus....

Columbus Marathon

With 10,000 runners (for the half and full marathon) packed into a relatively tight starting area it was hard to find a port o potty that didn't have a long line up but in retrospect I wish I had waited. I ended up needing to visit the first set on the route and blew almost 2 minutes away. I made the mistake of trying to make up for lost time by getting myself back on track, ignoring my watches' "Slow Down" message for the next couple of miles.

My sore right knee (ITBS) acted up immediately but I felt would be bearable for the 26.2. I stumble on a sidewalk crack and very VERY nearly did a face plant making my way back down to the road. I only headed up to the side walk because some of the side streets were way too narrow to navigate the walkers (they started an hour before the runners) The half marathon also took a shortcut from the course a bit which made it difficult when they came back as it made them almost a mile behind so that meant we were having to pass slower pace runners. You use a lot of energy weaving around and avoiding bumping. My watch also measured 26.5 at the end so I did a fair amount of weaving throughout the race!

So with the race course layout Anita and Cameron were able to walk me to the start and then meet me at 10 miles, 15 miles and the finish. It was nice although once more at 20 or 22 miles would have been lovely. At ten miles I picked up my Gu's and a knee tensor that I wasn't sure I was going to need. I am glad I got it as it seemed to suppress the pain a bit. At the 15 mile mark my parents joined them. The weather being as good as it was allowed them to enjoy the race much more than last time where it was cold and rainy.

I finished the first half in 1:50 and felt I could repeat that for the 2nd half. I was originally gunning for 3:30 or so but I knew with the reduced training due to my knee that it was not going to be possible. By 17 miles I knew it was going to be a rough finish. My left leg began to fatigue due to compensating so much for the right. By 20 miles, the wall was all too present. I didn't eat well the day before (traveling with my parents is not a good idea for scheduling meal times or anything for that matter) I walked around the Easton Town Center for far too long...but how can you not, it is a great place to shop! This was also right after the race expo and then the kids races so I basically ruled out any great expectations right then and there. The highlight of the weekend was Cammy coming in 2nd in the 6-8 yr old race (About a half mile).

By mile 21 I was practically done in... and the walk breaks began. Everything hurt and when I pulled my leg up to stretch my quads at mile 22 my hammies locked up and I could barely straighten my leg back out. I was a mess! I was seriously thinking it may be possible I don't finish. The hardest thing I have ever done was that last 6 miles. I know that is a marathon standard line but man, I was done. At 23 miles the 3:50 pace bunny passed me during a walk break and I tried to get going and finish with them but I could maintain their pace any longer.

By this time it had gotten pretty hot. Not 90 degrees like Chicago 2 weeks ago, but hot for me. I haven't done a warm weather run for months. To make it worse, I have a habit of migrating to the right side of the road, and in this case, it this kept leading me into the sunniest parts. I would consciously make my way back to the shade only to find myself in the sun a minute later!

At mile 25 I felt awesome and whipped off a sub 9 minute mile and then conked out again, as I suspected I might.

At mile 26, my hamstrings locked up again and I couldn't move. I could see the last turn heading to the finish but I had to limp over to the side walk and stretch it out. A policeman said I was right there but I told him I was stuck!!

I got going again and managed to limp around the last corner and fortunately a downhill to the finish. I managed a smile as I tucked in a minute and 20 seconds faster than my first marathon. 3:55:15, a small victory! No, make that a huge victory considering all of the circumstances.

I spent about 15 minutes with a paramedic afterwards and then another 15 in the medical tent. I was diluted. I went to see them because I felt really dizzy and it hurt to pee...even though no pee came out! I got worried so went t them to make sure I was fine. Turns out the Gu's I avoided to take because I didn't want stomach cramps was a bad idea. I took 1 gu before the start, 1 at 10 miles another at 15 and a another at 22. I only had a few cups of gatorade during the race so basically I was electro-low! With my reduced mileage training I am feeling it today. Sore everywhere! Both knees now hurt and I can't get up after sitting for more than 10 minutes.

I learned a lot again and am actually looking forward to the next one to see how much of what I learned I can apply and hopefully have strong, recovered knees to train harder.

The city of Columbus was awesome, the crowd support...AMAZING! I got lots of "Go Canada" as the shirt I was wearing was red with white maple leafs on the front and Canada on the back. Great route - with more than enough water stops. I have said I will never race the same marathon twice but I am already considering doing this one again.

Columbus Marathon
Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon

Columbus Marathon - Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon


date:	Oct 21st, 2007
location:	Columbus, OH

Summary

number of finishers:	3972
number of females:	1520
number of males:	2452
average time:	04:19:34

Dave Emilio

bib number:	2092
age:	40
gender:	M
location:	Toronto
overall place:	1447 out of 3972
division place:	227 out of 378
gender place:	1144 out of 2463
time:	3:55:15
pace:	8:59
5 mile:	42:35
half:	1:50:55
20 mile :	2:54:30
26.2 mile :	3:55:15

Here we go

On my way, out the door, Columbus here we come. Marathon Madness weekend starts again. Felling good :)

Silly Me

Couldn't resist. Went to the gym to workout, saw the treadmill, did 40 minutes at a fast pace. Not too bad. Once I got warmed up it was good. A few points where I was pushing it a bit fast the knee felt a little bit 'givey' but very positive overall. Rest tomorrow, run Wednesday. Physio and rest Thursday, rest Friday and Saturday, Race Sunday. Beat my previous time, come home happy. That's a near perfect week! Let's hope!!!!

Family Race Day

Today was Anita and Sarah's Half Marathon. Their training paid off as Sarah beat her personal best by over 5 Minutes and Anita beat her best time by more than 10 minutes. The weather was chilly but almost perfect for running. I paced Cammy through the 5K but the incredibly crowded start which was made worse by the walkers who decided to start way ahead of where they were supposed to start made it hard to get going. We were not able t make up for the slow start and Cam missed his record time by about 30 seconds. All in all it was a great day!

BUMMER

Well, after taking yesterday off, I was hoping to get out this morning for a final set of intervals. Knee was too aggrevated to run more the warmup 3K so I stopped, figuring rest is better than a bad run. I have to run a 5K race this Sunday as I promised Cammy I would pace him. Other than that, I think I might rest for the entire week. Maybe do a short run on Thursday or something. Who knows how I will feel come race day.

Another painful 6K run

Leftover pain from altering my stride mixed with pain from trying to avoid the initial knee pain = pain x 3.

Going to try to rest for a few days before running again :(

Columbus Marathon - Googl

Cool Map of the upcoming marathon complete with all of the notable points on the course and marathon related events.

» maps.google.com/maps/ms

Toronto's Race King

Predrag Mladenovic has won many events in and around Toronto and we have been fortunate enough to have been at many of those events. Last time we saw him he won a race out in Burlington and He snapped Cammy up for a photo op when Cammy went over to congratulate him. I was able to track Predrag down and lo and behold he still had a copy of the photo. and sent it over to me. Predrag is a world class gentleman and awesome runner. He had been specializing in 10 Ks and Half Marathons but has switched over to Marathons and won in his first ever attempt at Mississauga this year with a time of 2:23:16. Predrag says he is going to attempt to get the time down to 2:18 for London this year and qualify for the Olympics. Good Luck Predrag!

Click photo to view larger | Check out his website

Another attempt - Success

Went out again today, looking to get my last loooong run in. I got extra sleep, stretched extra, packed on the biofreeze, a couple of advil and walked the first KM. Had a few issues here and there but by halfway I had discovered a new shorter stride with a quick enough turnover that I still managed a pretty good pace. Covered 26.5 KMs in 2:35:00. Not bad for long slow distance running but I do not know how much faster I will be able to go with that stride. Hopefully the rest I get over the next 2 weeks will allow me to push a bit harder for the marathon. At that pace, I will finish around 4 hrs and not beat my last time. I figure if all goes well and I am well rested (and NO 10K run the day before the marathon!) I should be able to do at worst, a 5:20 per K pace and finish around 3:40. If the rest gets me there pain free I can go ahead and run for it at a 5:00 pace and finish around 3:30. I really was hoping to run at 4:45 pace which would get me to Boston but unless miracles happen, I doubt that will be the case. There's always next time!

Shit n short

Today's long run, 25K as per Hal Higdon's Marathon Training plan, was cut short. My knee is still sore from Friday's dog attack. Strange as it was feeling very good yesterday (a lot of walking around, may have tired it out)

I will try again in the morning (thank gawd for holiday Mondays!) Lot's of ice and rest after this morning's run will hopefully have alleviated the inflammation.

40 Year Old Virgin no mor

So, I am forty and a day. This morning, I get up, feeling good, knee feeling better than ever, and look forward to doing a nice 10K tempo run. It all goes well, knocking off relative easy 4:40-4:45 K's until the beginning of the 7th K, when I lose my virginity.

Yes, MY FIRST DOG ATTACK!

I live in a very heavily populated dog area of Toronto, and never even had a scare. This morning as I am running along, I feel a nip from behind then a brush at my side and I realize a BIG, BLACK monster (Doberman) is nipping at me. I stopped abruptly and proceeded to use my sore ITBS inflamed knee as the brake! ouch. The dog is full on angry, teeth showing not playful, and he grabs my ankle in his jaw. As an animal lover, I did not want to boot him and as I would up with my free leg, his owner (who was slowly limping in his way over, knee in a brace!!!) caught up and I held off for a few more seconds and thankfully got away unbitten. The guy was sorry but I reamed him for letting his dog get loose. I started off again and couldn't run. I couldn't even walk! I limped home, about a KM and a half. Thank fully I was doing a double loop around my neighborhood otherwise I may have been more like 4K away!

So now, I will have to rest the knee again. We'll see how bad it is over the weekend. I have only one word running through my head today and it rhymes with Truck!

Ju suis fatigue!

After a tough, long week, that included a 33K training run, a day of speedwork and a couple of other marathon training runs, I am happy to say I ran the half marathon a minute faster than my previous best. It was definately a tough one but I am hoping that it will serve as a good practice race for the Columbus Full Marathon in 3 weeks. Good luck me.

Time: 1:42:21 - fairly flat course (not as flat as they advertise though!)
Previous time 1:43:30 on a net-downhill course.

Friday - easy run - not s

We have been so 'on the go' lately, so tired. need more sleep. My 5l yesterday felt all uphill. Will take it easy today and rest up for tomorrow's half marathon. Going to need to feel a lot better than yesterday if I am to break 1:40:00!

Physio Rocks!

Thanks to our physio therapist, my knee feels way better, even after 2 days of hard running! Way to go Julie.

Ups and downs

This week showed some promise, until Friday morning when the ITBS knee pain got as bad as ever. This was the morning after Physio and Massage therapy. Some say they probably just aggravated it. Today's long run was good overall as far as the knee goes but around 25K it hinted at not letting me finish. Fingers crossed for the remaining 4 weeks!

Today's run was slower than I hoped too, but a couple of factors were, 1. Running with ny HM training group and not wanting to run ahead of everyone, and 2. The fact I spent all day yesterday painting and doing odd jobs around the house.

Wednesday's speed intervals suggest my marathontime is going to be around 3 hours 30 - 40 mins. It will depend on the knee if I am to be slowrer or faster than that.....patience, patience patience.

Pain free...almost

Well, I had a few pain free runs in a row. Then this morning it was a bit sore after 10K I know I need to stretch more ice more and rest more. I can do the first 2, rest is not an option. It is runnable pain, and I will be able to get through the marathon at which point I will rest from running and switch to swimming and eliptical to keep up the endurance. Then in the new year I will be back with vengeance and will work to qualify for Boston.

Tomorrow, 30K, next Sunday 35K.... I will do what has been working best for me. NO SLOW RUNNING. It is the slow running than makes my knee hurt most. I will go fast and take resting walk breaks to allow me to complete the distance. This is how I'll train so this is how I will race. I get the Scotiabank Half Marathon in 2 weeks to test this out.

After a year of Running R

The family that races together....a year later and still at it harder than ever.
In one year we managed...between 4 of us (5 if you factor Josh ran one race, a 12k )

1    marathon
4    half marathons
6    12Ks
9    10Ks
21 5Ks
3    8Ks
5    2Ks

51 races, 427.9 KMs
A lot of registration money to charity...

And many more in the very near future. Then winter will be here and we'll be forced to spend Sundays watching old movies

Longboat Island Race Repo

Anita and Sarah ran the 10K race and had personal best times. Sarah came in 3rd in the 19 and under female age group.

I escorted Cam through the 5K race and he ran a smashing time of 26:30!

The not so bright side is my knee is still hurting

Sunday's Long Run recap

This past Sunday's long run showed some real signs of improvement. It was a 31K run, a bit over 10K less than themarathon distance. I held back, went out easy, took walk breaks, finished feeling like I could go another 10K and as ist turns out, I was faster of the last Marathon pace! Hopefully with 8 more weeks of training to go, and now we head into more hillwork and speedwork, i should be able to get my time down considerably. Down to Boston Qulaifying time of 3:20:00? Too soon to tell. 3:30:00 should be doable for sure though.

The pain continues

I took it a bit easy this week, after last Sunday's painful run. It is not really a pain that makes it impossible to run, but at the end of last Sunday's 34k run i was prety bad. As I got tired it got worse because the knee does not like to be run on lazily. So I only rand 5K once this week and this morning did a shorter than usual long-run. 20K and it felt like had I continued I would have had similar results to last week. So it is probably good that I cut it short. I will run another reduced mileage week. I have been swimming a bit to keep up the endurance but honestly I get so bored swimming laps. It is more boring than running laps!

Tomorrow we are going to the Island to run a race (I will just be escorting Cam through his 5K race) Anita and Sarah are running the 10K. It's always nice on the island!

Week Recap

This week went quite well, although it didn't finish on a high note. The midweek runs were strong. I felt really good and strong, particularly onhill day where I ran a couple of extras for good measure. Friday;s speed intervals felt easy. Sunday's long run, 25k was the low point. It really was due to the pain in my right leg due to ITBS. The hills around the lake-run seemed to be a bit much this time. I will take it a bit easier this week, although that makes me think I am not ready to run a Bostin Qualifying time just yet.

Columbus Marathon Trainin

View Remaining COLUMBUS OHIO MARATHON TRAINING SCHEDULE Oct 21
Week 3	Run	KMs	Week 11	Run	KMs
Monday July 2	Rest	0	Monday Aug 27	Rest	0
Tuesday July 3	Easy	8	Tuesday Aug 28	Easy	8
Wednesday July 4	Steady	8	Wednesday Aug 29	9 Hills	9
Thursday July 5	Steady	8	Thursday Aug 30	Steady	8
Friday July 6	Progressive	10	Friday Aug 31	Progressive	10
Saturday July 7	Easy	8	Saturday Sept 1	Easy	8
Sunday July 8	Long	16	Sunday Sept 2	Long	35
	Weekly Mileage -	58		Weekly Mileage -	78

Week 4	Run	KMs	Week 12	Run	KMs
Monday July 9	Rest	0	Monday Sept 3	Rest	0
Tuesday July 10	Easy	8	Tuesday Sept 4	Easy	8
Wednesday July 11	Steady	8	Wednesday Sept 5	2 Speed Intervals 3 Hills	9.5
Thursday July 12	Steady	8	Thursday Sept 6	Steady	8
Friday July 13	Progressive	10	Friday Sept 7	Rest or Progressive	10
Saturday July 14	Easy	8	Saturday Sept 8	Rest or Race	0
Sunday July 15	Long	20	Sunday Sept 9	10K Race + 10K easy	20
	Weekly Mileage -	62		Weekly Mileage -	55.5

Week 5	Run	KMs	Week 13	Run	KMs
Monday July 16	Rest	0	Monday Sept 10	Rest	0
Tuesday July 17	Easy	8	Tuesday Sept 11	Easy	8
Wednesday July 18	4 Hills	8	Wednesday Sept 12	3 Speed Intervals 3 Hills	9
Thursday July 19	Steady	8	Thursday Sept 13	Steady	8
Friday July 20	Progressive	10	Friday Sept 14	Progressive	10
Saturday July 21	Easy	8	Saturday Sept 15	Easy	8
Sunday July 22	Long	25	Sunday Sept 16	Long	30
	Weekly Mileage -	67		Weekly Mileage -	73

Week 6	Run	KMs	Week 18	Run	KMs
Monday July 23	Rest	0	Monday Sept 17	Rest	0
Tuesday July 24	Easy	8	Tuesday Sept 18	Easy	8
Wednesday July 25	4 Hills	9	Wednesday Sept 19	4 Speed Intervals 3 hills	10.5
Thursday July 26	Steady	8	Thursday Sept 20	Steady	8
Friday July 27	Progressive	10	Friday Sept 21	Progressive	10
Saturday July 28	Easy	8	Saturday Sept 22	Easy	8
Sunday July 29	Long	29	Sunday Sept 23	Long	32
	Weekly Mileage -	72		Weekly Mileage -	76.5

Week 7	Run	KMs	Week 15	Run	KMs
Monday July 30	Rest	0	Monday Sept 24	Rest	0
Tuesday July 31	Easy	8	Tuesday Sept 25	Easy	8
Wednesday Aug 1	5 Hills	7.5	Wednesday Sept 26	4 Speed Intervals 2 Hills	11
Thursday Aug 2	Steady	8	Thursday Sept 27	Steady	8
Friday Aug 3	Progressive	10	Friday Sept 28	Progressive	10
Saturday Aug 4	Easy	8	Saturday Sept 29	Rest	0
Sunday Aug 5	Long	25	Sunday Sept 30	Half Marathon	21.1
	Weekly Mileage -	66.5		Weekly Mileage -	58.1

Week 8	Run	KMs	Week 16	Run	KMs
Monday Aug 6	Rest	0	Monday Oct 1	Rest	0
Tuesday Aug 7	Easy	8	Tuesday Oct 2	Easy	8
Wednesday Aug 8	6 Hills	8	Wednesday Oct 3	4 Speed Intervals 3 Hills	12
Thursday Aug 9	Steady	8	Thursday Oct 4	Steady	8
Friday Aug 10	Progressive	10	Friday Oct 5	Progressive	10
Saturday Aug 11	Easy	8	Saturday Oct 6	Easy	8
Sunday Aug 12	Long	30	Saturday Oct 7	Long	25
	Weekly Mileage -	72		Weekly Mileage -	71

Week 9	Run	KMs	Week 17	Run	KMs
Monday Aug 13	Rest	0	Monday Oct 8	Rest	0
Tuesday Aug 14	Easy	8	Tuesday Oct 9	Easy	8
Wednesday Aug 15	7 Hills	8.5	Wednesday Oct 10	6 Speed Intervals	12
Thursday Aug 16	Steady	8	Thursday Oct 11	Rest	0
Friday Aug 17	Progressive	10	Friday Oct 12	Progressive	10
Saturday Aug 18	Easy	8	Saturday Oct 13	Easy	6
Sunday Aug 19	Long	32	Saturday Oct 14	Long	18
	Weekly Mileage -	74.5		Weekly Mileage -	54

Week 10	Run	KMs	Week 18	Run	KMs
Monday Aug 20	Rest	0	Monday Oct 15	Rest	0
Tuesday Aug 21	Easy	8	Tuesday Oct 16	Easy	6
Wednesday Aug 22	8 Hills	8.5	Wednesday Oct 17	Progressive	8
Thursday Aug 23	Steady	8	Thursday Oct 18	Easy	5
Friday Aug 24	Progressive	10	Friday Oct 19	Rest	0
Saturday Aug 25	Easy	8	Saturday Oct 20	Rest	0
Sunday Aug 26	Long	25	Saturday Oct 21	RACE DAY	42.2
	Weekly Mileage -	67.5		Weekly Mileage -	61.2

				Total Mileage	1166.8

Solid Weekend

Steady 8K Saturday in the heat.I neglected to get up early again. It was pretty hot out by the time I got going (11:00) Was also a tad hung over :P Sunday was better. Went to bed early and prepared for the run like it was race day. Carbo loaded Saturday and ate a race day brekkie. Probably a little too light of food though. Ran 30K and ran 3 x 10K negative splits. 60 min / 59 mins and 57 mins. Last 10k was a bit tough, maybe a touch fast for the first 10k not leaving enough in the tank. total time for the 30K was 2:56:00, about 4 mins faster than my first 30K training run from the last marathon so hopefully I am able to improve a bit more on this time vs distance.

The training contuinues

Slowly but surely. Despite travelling, a few aches and strains, I have managed to stay pretty close to the training plan. Arizona threw a bit of a damper into the mix as this is where I was aching and finding it hard to get the runs in. That and the fact that we were 6000 feet above sea level made the runs tough. Haven't missed aday since we got nback though. Today is rest day and this weekend is 8K tempo run Saturday and 30K Long run Sunday. Looking forward to finishing off the week strong!

Still too early to tell if I will be ready to gun for a Boston Qualifying time of 3:20. I imagine 3:30 is where I am headed and will have to wait until Spring to attempt the BQ time. I will know better after the Scotia Half Marathon (Sept 30)

A night at the Races

Anita, Cam and myself headed out to Burlington (1hr away from Toronto) last night for a 5K & 10K Race. It was a bit hectic trying to get there in rush hour traffic and threatening thunderstorms but we made it. Thankfully so as it was a great event. Great food and well organised as usual with this particular Canadian event/race organizer (Vrpro).

Cam and Anita ran the 5K. Cam ran it in 31:39 beating his last time by 7 minutes and taking 3rd place in the under 11 age group and received a medal. he was ecited as it is the first one based on performance and not participation. Anita was only 45 secs off her best time which, considering we did 8k of hills the evening prior, was a pretty great feat. I managed a personal best of 46:31 for the 10K despite feeling very sluggish in the first couple of Ks. I guess the marathon training paid off this night! I even got a medal for 3rd place in the 35-39 group even though I was 5th. The 1st and 2nd place finishers in my age group also won 1st & 2nd overall and they often do not give the overall winners their respective age group awards as well, so the next 3 place got the medals)

Sarah was babysitting and Josh is on a bit of a running hiatus although he claims to want to start up again soon. All in all a worthwhile evening of running and racing with almost the fam.

Sore today

Worked hard this weekend. Between gardening and running, I am glad today is a rest day. Was going to hit the gym this AM but I definitely needed the sleep in. Saturday was a progressive 8K (Started out easy and gradually got up to about a 5K race pace by the end)

Sunday was a 20K long run which was tougher than normal as I choose to run around the lake which is about 23K. Anita dropped me off at 3K and I ran the rest. You see the difficulty here is the hills. For the firsy 10K it is rolling uphill and downhill. Definitely a test on the legs! Next week the long run is up to 25K in which case I will tackle the entire lake and add on a bit at the end. I believe the exact mileage around Lakeshore drive is 23.7K

Long Run Report

This week's 16K long run was enjoyed in the lush surroundings of Cottage Country. 5K out and back and 3K out and back the other direction. The first 10K all asphalt, the last 6k all gravel. Aside form a few deer flies it was quite enjoyable and the bump back up in mileage doesn't seem to have tired me. The hundreds of wheel barrows full of sand I carted 150 yards to the beach from the parking area at the cottage DOES seem to have tired me. We could barely move Sunday night. But the legs feel fine today after Monday off.

I have been meaning to get a small digital camera in case any interesting views present themself during the cottage country runs. (Bears, moose?)

Catch up

Well, the running mileage is getting back up there. I have finally gotten into the routine again except for that is is "more" of a routine than before. The extra running on Running Room Clinic nights that I instruct, (4K) to go with the morning runs is adding to the mileage. I think my body is able to handle the extra runs especially since I treat them like recovery runs, nice and easy. When we get into Hill training I am not sure whether I will do them with the groups as a supplement to the morning hills I will be doing, or whether I stick to my morning plan and then just 'coach' on the evening run and take it easy. We'll see.

Double run Tuesdays & Wed

Starting last week, I am on 2 runs Tues & Weds...the lower mileage of the half marathon training won't be enough for my upcoming marathon. This week I did 8 1/2K to work and another 4+K with my Running Room Clinic.

Loving the clinic, meeting lots of really nice people who seem to enjoy the running as much as I do! Plus it is nice to put to good use all of the knowledge I have absorbed!

Running Room Clinic

Started this week leading the half-marathon clinic for The Beaches' Running Room. So far, a lot of fun. Having trained for all of my previous half marathons and marathon alone, this running with a group looks like it might be a nice change. I will still be doing my long runs alone for the next while as we will be up north for the weekends.

Did my first speedwork run this morning since the marathon. I have definately lost a bit of fitness "recovering" for the last month with rest & easy runs. With the heat though, this morning's workout seemed that much tougher! This, though, ius neccessary to improve my speed and endurance to get cvloser to a Boston Qualifying time.

(Not so) Long Run

First run over 10K since the marathon. It was hot, and I was abit tired after yesterday's 5K race but it felt good.

Morning run by the lake

It's days like to day that I am glad we live where we do. It is so nice to be able to run on the waterfront. I was not alone, that's for sure. It was as busy down there for 6-7 AM as I have ever seen it. Lot's of people meeting to do yoga too - 3 different groups. One film crew was filming a scene where a hurtler was doing hurtles by the shoreline. And dogs...how many dogs are there in this city???? Crazy :)

Good run today

The knee did not hurt - although I was 'aware' that it used to hurt if that makes any sense. The running part was great. It was the first run since the marathon where I felt I could have run forever and enjoy it. Nice. I did 5.5kms to get to the gym, worked out for a bit and ran 4kms home. Looking forward to tomorrow!

A hot 10K race

Anita and I ran a 10k race Saturday. I had not been feeling well and didn't expect great results. Same for Anita. I ended up walking the last 2ks due to the heat and fatigue, it felt like I may never run fast again!!! I guess my body just does not like the heat. It was 31c degrees after the race, not sure what it was during the race but it would have been pretty close to that. I ran the first loop (it was a 2 x 5k loop through a trail like area) in 23:30 ish. I felt I might be able to repeat that or close for a PR but felt the shivers come on around 7K - not good to feel shivers on a hot day...I wisely called it quits around 7.5K and took a walk break. I probably shouldn't have put that much effort into the first 5K. While walking I caught up with 2 lovely ladies in their 50's or so who were 5k walkers ... they were actually organizers for the charity the race supported (Healing for Breast Cancer). The conversation was good so I stayed with them and walked the last 2.5 K except for the last 200m to keep it under an hour. I don't know why that time concerned me as it was still 10 mins longer than my best 10K time. I ended up coming in just under 59 minutes ... which was actually good for 3rd place in my age group and a nice pin (in lieu of a medal) so all was not lost. Anita had called it a "5K" after the first loop as she does not like the heat either and had a bit of a hamstring pull left over from last weekend. The best part was spending the day with Anita. We love Bronte Creek Park in Burlington where the race was held and it's always nice to get up and do something early on a Saturday morning. Unfortunately the heat aggrevated whatever ailments I have had lately and I still feel like I am dog. Ruff.

The weekend is here....

I was planning a run this morning but after playing hockey for the first time in over a month I felt too tired. There was a shortage of players last night so we skated extra hard.

Tomorrow there is a 10K part trail, part road race in the National Park that I loved racing at previously (Beautiful Bronte Creek) but Cam needs us to take him to a birthday party....anyone out there tat can drive him for us? :) Otherwise there is a 5K race on Sunday that we may do. I really feel like getting a race in. I know there will be more but when ya feel it...ya feel it.

I forget I have a blog...

Sometimes days go by and I forget I have a blog on the go. Not that it matters, I haven;t told many people anyway, it really is just my practice site for Web Development...and even then, I hardly put any of my skills to use here. That said, I have not been 100% for running lately. My knee is still a bit tender and despite the physio therapist confirming it is muscular and not to worry about running on it, I have still help back. 9K on Tuesday was my longest run since the marathon and the few other runs have been short and sweet. It hasn't been hurting while running especially if I warm up properly including some stretching after warm up, which is very foreign to me. I was brought up with the routine of 'easing' into any exercise and that stretching can both damage and 'shut down' muscles and impede performance. I don't know if that's true or not but I guess the fact that all the world's greatest runners do a hell of a lot of warm up and stretches before runs/races it must be OK. SO now, I am a converted warm up type of guy. Hopefully it will be the factor that gets me back on track. I really miss the long run (well, It's only been a little over 2 weeks :)

Need to run!

I have managed a measly 15k in the past 8 days. Nagging knee pain has me avoiding too much mileage. Hopefully soon I will be able to get some serious miles in which will also help keep me sane! Patience is not my best attribute!

Let the games begin - Mar

Well, the training is done, the miles have been run. The tapering is over and this is the end of the line. One more day of rest tomorrow, and then Sunday and we all get what we asked for. Many miles as fast as we can go.

The packing is almost done and we're heading out first thing in the morning. Hopefully the weather holds out and the rain and t-storms called for blows over (just like the Sens will against Aneheim! :)

See you back here after the race for the exciting results from my Marathon, Anita and Sarah's Half Marathon and Cam's 2K race.

Crazy Nutrition

www.runningplanet.com/training/glycemic-index.html

Ouch!

I needed a 2nd day off this week. Quads were still hurting from Sundays race. So I went swimming instead. It was nice! Being in better shape helps as I had less fear of getting so tired and sinking! Maybe time to start thinking of a Mini Triathlon????

OK, let's get this marathon out of the way first!

Marathon of Marathons

Having completed my first marathon, and having enjoyed the experience, from training to the pain of finishing, I have been thinking of a possible new goal. This would goes alongside with my original goal to continue my quest to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I also plan on finishing a marathon in each Canadian Province! I also want to run some worldly marathons such as Paris, New York, Honolulu, Great Wall of China, Berlin and more, so obviosuly for physical and financial reasons these are pipe dreams but we'll see. Maybe I can get sponsored!

Here are the where and whens for the Canada-wide-Marathon-of-Marathons. I am aiming at the most popular marathon in each province. They are divided into Spring / Summer / Fall assuming I can run 1 in the spring 1 in the fall. The Summer ones may need to be run by themselves that particular year

Spring
British Colombia - BMO Marathon, Vancouver, early May - › info
Nova Scotia - Blue Nose Marathon, Halifax, mid-May, › info
Ontario - ING Ottawa Marathon, Ottawa, late-May - › info - Complete
Manitoba - Manitoba Marathon, Winnipeg, mid-June - › info

Summer
Nunavut - Midnight Marathon, Arctic Bay, early-July - › info
Quebec - Deux Rivieres - Quebec City, late-August - › info
Alberta - ING Edmonton Marathon, Edmonton, mid-August - › info
Yukon Territory - Yukon River Trail Marathon, Whitehorse, early-August - › info
Northwest Territory - Overlander Marathon, Yellowknife, mid-August - › info

Fall
Saskatchewan - Queen City Marathon, Regina, early-September - › info
Newfoundland & Labrador - Nfld. Provincial Marathon, St John's, mid-September - › info
New Brunswick - Marathon by the Sea, St John, October - › info
Prince Edward Island - PEI Marathon, Charlottetown, mid-October - › info

Well, there you have it. It will be quite an adventure, each and every one!
Obviously this goal will take some time. I am aiming for 2017 when I will be 50 but there is a possibility with running 2 per year on some occasions which will speed the process by a couple of years.

3 things

1. Ouch...ran a few K this morning..ended up walking as my knee was bothering me. Looks like I will swim as my exercise for a little while. Crazy to think I actually miss running!

2. Anita ran yesterday and today and is eager to get back to another race!

3. I commited to leading the half-marathon running group at The Running Room. It's a 'hardly' paying gig but you get store discounts and we will definately make use of that!

Marathon Report....

Hey! It's over, and done, and the report can be read on my daily blog...here www.daddyo.ca/blogs/daily/index.php

More new shoes...an epic

Bored? Read this...

So a couple of months ago, I replaced my old lovable but worn out Asics 2110's with Saucony's Progrid Triumph 4's In the delicious Yellow and Black as seen here.

They were great right off the bat and are better for my feet as i am an under pronator. (The running world doesn't like the word supinator, but it it the proper word). Anyway, they became a problem as the toe box was too narrow for my feet, so I switched between them and the older Asics 2110s and eventually got around to buying new Asics 2120s. I don;t know what they did, but they're just not the same. I wore them a few times and they gave me great pains on the tops of my feet. I went back to the Sauconys as the older 2110s were getting too worn. The Sauconys everntually got worked in enough that the toe scrunching became bearable and other than that felt good while running and my feet / knees always seem good afterwards. SO eventually, with all of the marathon training, the Sauconys have got too much mileage to be reliable for the upcoming marathon. The running room was able to find me a pair of Asics 2110's from old stock and have them shipped to the store near me, but by this time, I am liking the Sauconys better. I decided, after trying them both on, the Sauconys are better for me. Although they didn't have them in the brr like black and yellow anymore, I settled for the just as nice looking black and white.

After all that I, ran on them this morning and it was .... dreamy. Hopefully they will remain this way as I do not need any more shoe woes for the approaching marathons.

35K!

Well I hadn't planned on running that far. Most training schedules call for 32k as the longest run at this point of the plan, but some call for 34k and that's what I decided on, having already done 32 already and also, wanting to stretch the time of the run to as close to how long the marathon will probably take me. I ran with Anita for the first 15k which was good for both of us. It kicked her pace up a notch and forced me to slow down a bit, which is recommended for training runs upwards of 30K. I ended up running for around 3 hours 35 minutes and feel pretty good right now (been back for about 90 minutes).

It's tapering time now. The runs will shorten up a bit and after next week's Mississauga Half Marathon, I will take it very easy to get ready for the big day.

Another great weather mor

Cool, but sunny and warm enough for shorts. It rained overnight but stopped in time to leave behine dry roads. After all of this good luck with the weather, I suspect we will get either poured on or sweltering heat (or both!) for the marathon (knock on wood!)

lucky with the weather

For the past 3 days they have called for rain in the morning and we have been lucky enough to remain dry.
This morning however was testy, it looked the whole time like possibilities of lightning!. But we're still alive. Anita was out for 5k today which is fantastic news since her knee has been acting up and she needs to get some mileage in for the upcoming Half Marathon.

The first few Ks for me was rough, as it has been lately, it seems to take until the 3rd km or so to feel comfortable and not like I am pushing it. Then it feels great so I guess it's ok to keep going. I suppose we should be getting more sleep. it's just so hard when there is so much good television and DVD rentals to watch! That damn "The Office" (USA and UK versions!!!!)

It doesn't get better!

What a nice day! 29K run in the sun, not too hot - not too cool. Saw some trails and ran by the lake...nice. I saw a lot of familiar faces out there too, both runners and loungers...it MUST be spring!

Felt great the whole way and felt like i could have gone another 10K easy. All this in a pretty fast pace for a training run. I know we are supposed to do these long runs at a slower pace but I have a hard time. I threw in some walk breaks and still maintained a fast pace (for me!).

Anita was able to get out for 12K...signs that her knee is getting better since her physiotherapist-girlfriend gave her some good exercises to do!

First Month Over 200K

This morning's 6.65K run put me over the 200 km mark for April. The first + 200km month so far.

I like th fact that if we need something from downtown, and we want to save gas, that I can just run and get it.

..."Be right back honey, just going out for abit to get something Ieft at work:" :)

Rude

Party Time

Well, this week was a 'scale back' week for the long run distance. Back down to what was supposed to be 23K. I mistakenly ran 25 as I was not really running an accurate route. After mapping it out -post run- I realized it was 24.5. The bright side is that I did it in a a time that based on average minutes per KMwould have beat my Half Marathon race time from last October, so is seems I am improving. I didn't get a full nights sleep, wasn't really eating 'pre race quality foods' and spent the first half of the day doing yard work and paying road hockey with Cam and his friend...then went out and did a training run faster than my last race time. Hmmmm....I like it :)

Butt = sore

After Wednesdays big "10 hill marathon" and this morning's tempo run, I am butt sore! Especially since I did not stretch this morning and didn't until I remembered to after lunch today. Better late than never they say.

Optional rest day tomorrow...I am feeling like a run - it will be my first 6 day run week in a while and I need to get the miles in to build up for the marathon.
By the way, I also signed up for a half marathon...in Mississauga, May 13th...as a sort of pre-marathon practice-prep race...be there!

I must be in shape

Went out for an easy 6K run this morning expecting to have troubles after Sunday's 32K / 20 miler....ended up coming in around 30 mins without any pains. Even the nagging foot pain was almost a non entity. I was stoked.

On another note, just found out my mate ran his first 10K race last weekend. Always good to hear another couch potato like myself has taken to the lovely sport of running.

Way to go Pricey!

Getting There!

32K today. Felt way better than last week. It was nice of my 3 day headache to have finally disappear yesterday, I was beginning to worry!

I made it from home, to Queens Quay, to the Princess gates by the exhibition, to Dundas, to Church St to Bloor, to Broadview, to O'Connor, to Woodbine, to Danforth, to Main st to home and around the block with Cammy for one more KM to bring it up to the scheduled 32K (20 miles). Nicer weather would have been a plus but at least it is not 30 Celsius!

My foot hurts...I am not still sure if it is a shoe issue or an injury.

Sunday's Long Long Long R

30K!

...ouch. I pretty much assumed marathon training was going to be tough but now I know for sure!

After scraping through 30K at a 6:00 per K pace, I am imagining it is going to be hard to do 42K in a sub 4 hour time but we'll see. Imagine, to qualify for Boston I would have to do it in 3:15 for my age group. HAHAHA! Maybe one day, but not anytime soon :)

Today = day off - thanks the heavens!

Marathon Madness

Well, it's only 6 weeks away. I am about on track as far as training goes. I would still like to stay with the plan of finishing this one in 3 hours 45 minutes and training for the next one to run it in a Boston Marathon qualifying time. If I wait until Niagra Falls this October I will be 40 and in a new qualifying time group (see below for times)

Of course, this being my first full marathon my goal should be to just finish, but if you know me, you know I like to set my sites higher!

Boston Marathon Qualifying Times:

AGE GROUP	MEN	WOMEN
18-34	3hrs 10min	3hrs 40min
35-39	3hrs 15min	3hrs 45min
40-44	3hrs 20min	3hrs 50min
45-49	3hrs 30min	4hrs 00min
50-54	3hrs 35min	4hrs 05min
55-59	3hrs 45min	4hrs 15min
60-64	4hrs 00min	4hrs 30min
65-69	4hrs 15min	4hrs 45min
70-74	4hrs 30min	5hrs 00min
75-79	4hrs 45min	5hrs 15min
80 +	5hrs 00min	5hrs 30min

I Heart Hills

Did hills yesterday, dreading them slightly after the 18 miler last Sunday but miraculously the human body does recover! 8 400m hills with 3k warm up and 4k warm down...felt like a pro

2nd Place!

Well, yesterday's 5k race went so-so. I went out too fast and ran the first kilometre in 3:20...Being about 40 seconds faster than I should have, the cramps set in and I could not recover. I ended up walking for a bit and let Sarah catch up. I ended up with a respectable 23:45 a somehow managed to place second in the 35-39 age group. A medal and a $20 prize for me even though it was 1:45 slower than last week's PR. Saran and Anita both ran well and almost matched their PRs which is great for a hilly course on a sub-freezing day. Cam's 1k was not officially timed but I think he finished first or close to that in his age group.

Longest run yet 25K

25!

...and I feel great today. Even after 5K race and 5k easy on Saturday. I had to do the extra 5k after the Saturday race as I ran with Cam in his kids 2K race. Little bugger dragged me along at 5:15 min Ks! Then, I had to run back 1.5 Ks to try and find my long sleeve shirt I wore for the beginning of the 5k! Never did find it, nor the running gloves and hat I kindly set down near the volunteer! :(

Spring Sprint a Success!

Myself, Anita, Sarah and Cam all set personal records!

The weather was miserable but it was a great day anyway. Cam finished 3rd out of 18 in his age group!

Hills this morning....ouch!

After 2 weeks of just maintenence running and no speed or hills workouts (other than the 12K race in FLA) I hit the beaches 'hood this morning for an hour of hills and thrill...and I am feeling it now!

Need to get prepped for this weekend's Beaches Spring Sprint...I don't want to lose to Sarah and her friends!!!!

Spring Sprint

The Beaches Annual Spring Sprint - 5K and 2K for kids - This Saturaday at Balmy Beach Club. Be there!

increase your stride rate

www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--11604-0,00.html

Here we are in Florida

I have been barely maintaining my mileage and needless to say, being on an al lyou can eat cruise has had it tolls on the diet although I think we all did pretty well not to gorge too much. Tomorrow is our Bay to Bay 12k RACE here in FLA. Running from Tampa Bay across the peninsula to the gulf of mexico. Fortuantely it is supposed to be cool in the am so at least we won't swelter!

20K again....

20!

Well, it's been since Oct 15 that I hit the 20K mark. I ran my long run today as opposed to the usual Sunday as we have a busy schedule tomorrow. My pace was only slightly slower than my Half Marathon pace yet I feel heaps better than I did that day. I guess training pays off. The next few weeks are going to be interesting as far as training goes as we embark for our 2 week vacation next Friday. We will try to get all of our sked runs in but it wont be easy. Especially being on a cruise ship the first

The hills have eyes

...and they know when you are slacking! Hill training this morning, legs like mush now. But, it feels good knowing you put in a good effort. In my eyes, anyone who gets up early and subjects themselves to excersizing in the cold AND running up and down hills deserves a pat on the back. So here's to me, and Anita who did just that this morning.

Toronto 1/2 Marathon Rout

FYI - This is the layout from my half marathon.

So I didn't run today...

I did start out, went less than 1K and turned around. Although it was a beautiful day, sun shining, not too cold...and felt tired. I think if I continued Sunday's long run (19k) would be too tough. Listen to your body they say. So I did.

Piece of cake?

Did 10K this am, Fartlek...ya, so what the hell is a fartlek? This is the definition, culled from Wikipedia.

Fartlek, which means ‘speed play’ in Swedish, is a form of conditioning which puts stress mainly on the aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of this exercise. The difference between this type of training and continuous training is that the intensity or speed of the exercise varies, meaning that aerobic and anaerobic systems can be put under stress. Most Fartlek sessions last a minimum of 45 minutes and can vary from aerobic walking to anaerobic sprinting. Fartlek training is generally associated with running, but can include almost any kind of exercise including cycling, rowing or swimming.

Anyhoo, it was the easiest mid-week 10k I have done yet, meaning that I must be getting in better shape. As long as the weekend long runs continue to leave me feeling, not so beaten, I should do ok! Still 15 weeks and many many KMs to go.

No Photos!

Well, 17k under my belt for today, but the camera seems to be dead. And I am not lugging our newer big one! Well, may have to see if there are any good deals on some tiny digital cameras.

17K - 1:35:00 / 5:30 per K

Today's Long run 18k

Here we go...about to head out for 18k...it's cold, but bearable.

A New Forum!

This new blog is not just for runners. OK, maybe it is. If you are interested in running or following my marathon training trail to Ottawa, my first marathon then check back here often. You can even comment and tell me what I should or shouldn't be doing .

Maybe this is where I will be documenting my road to running in the Boston Marathon. Ya, I know, first things first...let's see how well I do and how much I enjoy my first one!