Running and cycling with Bill

Name:
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Friday, July 30, 2010

Hooray for long weekends

As we moved towards Ontario's Civic Holiday long weekend, it only made sense to take the Friday as vacation and make a real long weekend. We decided to have an urban vacation today, even if short. I went for a 5.6k run this morning with Nika, our daughter's Doberman, on what was a lovely cool morning. I plan to keep adding several ks to each of the four days of the weekend. Nika will be up for that.

Then we did the unthinkable: a trip to a Second Cup for delicious coffee and treats, and we actually sat and read the morning paper, an unheard of luxury. Then to the Full Cycle shop, to get a new Continental Contact tire on my bike, after having the old tire on the front replaced with a Contact a few weeks ago, following a flat due to old age of the previous tire. The Contact is a great tire, so replacing the old bald rear tire BEFORE if went flat seemed like a good preemptive idea.

Then it was off to the National Art Gallery, of which we are Friends of the Gallery members, and had not visited there since signing up a couple years ago. Where does the time go??

The Gallery is a word class spectacular visual tribute to art of all kinds, and the featured exhibit was Pop Live, an expansive tribute to the Andy Warhols of the world. While every piece may not have turned my crank, the overall effect was engaging, to say the least.

We then headed to Elgin Street, an eclectic collection of bistros and the like, and settled on Maxwell's Bistro, and enjoyed a table next to the sidewalk, with a couple of draughts and a delightful ciabatta bun sandwich and salad. Again, unheard of, to sit and take that much time, when there's always gardening, laundry, cleaning, maintenance etc. to take the days.

Although it was only a few hours, a few kilometres from our home, it seemed like a real break. We also restocked the wine supply, and picked up what promises to be a great South African Shiraz for dinner tonight.

I look forward to the next bike ride this weekend, to see the impact of two new Contact tires; should be noticeable.

Well, time to get back to the usual daily chores; Nika and friends Salome and Calvin are expecting their late afternoon walk.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Upcoming runs

It's a glorious Sunday afternoon in late July, and I am sitting in our gazebo by the pool, enjoying the new-found wi-fi connectivity here, after purchasing an additional antenna for my wireless router today. The wireless network was fine in the house and on the attached deck, but did not reach to the gazebo. A trip to Best Buy solved that problem, for not much money.

I had good runs this weekend with our daughter's doberman, Nika, of some 6k on Saturday and about 9k this morning. She loves to run, or more accurately walk very quickly, when I do my target pace of some 5:40 per km, or even a bit faster. We both run the last few hundred metres, as I ratchet up the pace.

After a very pleasant weekend in Prince Edward County a couple weekends ago, I discovered a half marathon in the Country in early October, and have signed up for it. This will follow two weeks after the Army half-marathon in late September here in Ottawa. So lots of training required to get ready for these two races.

Back to sipping on a Keith's and reading Invictus, the inspiring story of Nelson Mandela and how he united his beloved country after his release from prison by using rugby as an improbable device. Well worth a read, and of course it has been made into a movie, starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.