Running and cycling with Bill

2011 running and cycling

2011-01-22T16:26:00.000-08:00

OK, I am not cycling now. Taking four months off, December to March, and take the bus to work instead of the bike. Not all that bad; actually takes the same time as biking. Cannot get my head around the idea of biking in Ottawa winters, even though some stalwarts do. Had to pass on the Richmond 10k in mid-January, which is always a great race, that I have done for many years, due to the current crisis in Tunisia. I participated in several telecons about that issue on the race weekend due to my work at DFAIT. But I did manage to volunteer to hand out race kits and worked around the telecons, so at least I got my race shirt, always a favourite.

Getting out for as much running as possible, and some x-country skiing as well, along with some workouts with free weights and my rowing machine after work. Next race is likely to be the NC half-marathon in May, but since I missed Richmond I will be looking for some replacement before then. The photo is from Vietnam, where I was in April 2010, for work, and ran every day.

Army Run and then some

2010-12-01T17:02:00.000-08:00

The Army Run was great, and then there was the Prince Edward County half marathon, on Sunday October 3, which was also Run for the Cure in Blackburn Hamlet. Made a tactical error and signed up for PEC and forgot about RftC. But the RftC gang came through; we got all the preps for RftC done ahead of time and went off to Picton for the race. Cool for sure, but a really pleasant weekend. Finished in 1:54, top third of my age group. Good to go with that. Then there was the Ottawa Hospital Rattle me Bones 10k, where I was a 55 minute pacer, and finished a little under that. The DFAIT 5k on Ocober 29 finished out the races for this year; wrapped that one up in 24:54. OK with that, as I was a major race organizer, and we raised over $40k for the Virtual Reality Laboratory at the Ottawa Hospital Rehab Centre.

Army Run half marathon

2010-09-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

The Army Run was a great event, some 14,000 participants between the half and the 5k. Great weather, and superb organization. My daughter was very pleased with her 35:07 result for the 5k, and I was good with my 1:55 chip time for the half. Wife took part as well; walked the course but that was good for her. Within the top third of my age group; all good.

Now it's on to the Prince Edward County half on October 3.

Getting ready for the Army Runs

2010-08-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

An incredibly fast growing Ottawa run weekend is coming up on September 19, with the Canadian Army half-marathon and 5k. There are already over 9000 runners; this event has galvanized the attention of area runners in support of our troops. It raises funds for disabled soldiers, and many who have suffered injuries in Afghanistan and elsewhere take part. This will be my first half with this Run, but friends who have done earlier versions say it is an incredibly emotional event.

I am very pleased that our younger daughter is taking part in her first race, the 5k. We have been running together quite a lot in the past few weeks, as she increases her running portion over walking. In her first full 5k distance, a few weeks ago, she was around 51 minutes total; that's now down to just over 40, and she will keep improving. It's so great to run with her, even if a slower than normal pace for me. Stay tuned for further reports.

Hooray for long weekends

2010-07-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

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.

Upcoming runs

2010-07-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

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.

Twenty Valley wine run

2010-06-13T03:08:00.000-07:00

Tucked away in the beautiful Niagara region of southern Ontario is the Twenty Valley area, which this past weekend hosted the second Twenty Valley wine run. The feature event is the half marathon, starting from the grounds of the Peninsula Ridge winery, and ending up in the small village of Jordan. Since I like wine and I love running, this seemed a natural.

The weather was looking not too great for the race, which begins at the late hour of 3:15, as it started out very warm and muggy, but by race time the sun was obscured, the temperature dropped, and we had significant rain from about the 15k point to the end. Turned out almost ideal, actually.

There were 147 male and 197 female runners. The idea is to savour some of the many excellent Ontario wines produced in this fertile area, that has established a world-class reputation for good wine in recent decades. Seven or eight wineries had tables set up along the route, where runners could sample a small plastic cup of their wine. Much as the idea appeals as a marketing ploy, relatively few runners seemed to take advantage of this, and I opted to wait until the race was over before imbibing. I did have a very small glass of rosee at the start, where I found myself with well over an hour to kill.

The race was well-organized, and wound its way through rural and urban areas, all on paved roads, with some hills, including some significant ones at the 14 k and beyond stages. There were plenty of water stations with enthusiastic volunteers.

Perhaps the nicest feature is the end of race street party in Jordan village, where several tents were set up to provide a wide variety of wines and some great food. It's not free, but reasonably priced for the amount and quality. My wife and I had bison burgers, flank steak on a bun, and several four ounce glasses of wine. There were quiches as well. The Twenty Valley tourist promotion group also sold tuques and nice wine glasses, which we bought. There was a live jazz group entertaining us for much of the time, and the rain thankfully stopped for most of the party.

Oh, the results. The winning male time was about 1:11, and the female was 1:32 . I finished in 2:04, a bit slower than hoped, but the hills did slow me down, although I technically ran the entire course non-stop. I did come first in my age group, but hasten to add that the only other male in my group was far behind me, which suggests he was more of a walker than runner. However, it still garnered a bottle of Cave Spring 2007 Gamay VQA, whch I had no moral dilemma in accepting.

I must add that we stayed at the Atherton Bed and Breakfast in nearby Vineland, and Pat and Tom Atherton were excellent hosts. Aside from the beautiful accommodations, overlooking lush orchards, and great breakfasts they were incredibly helpful, in driving me to the race bus start point and then driving us home afterwards, so there were no issues with having to drive our car after several glases of wine. If you ever decide to do this race, check out Atherton House at athertonhousebb.com and tell them Bill sent you. I am doing this blog early Sunday morning, looking out on the fruit orchards, and listening to the birds, the best alarm clock of all.

All in all, a great race, a fun environment, and it was also a fundraiser for a couple of charities. Well worth a weekend.

We will probably come back to do this event again next year.

National Capital Race Weekend

2010-06-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, where did the time go? Anyway, late May was the usual NCM with huge tournout for all races, and 10,900 in the half-marathon. This was my fifth, and as usual the training was nowhere close to what it should have been, with only one 11k run as my 'long run'. However, the weather was good, not too hot and humid, and I managed a chip time of 1:59 something, a couple minutes faster than last year, and good enough to come in the top 20% of my age group.

We also helped with the anti-doping for the 10k, and a water station for the marathon, as well as snagging a new pair of Mizuno running shoes at the Fitness Expo. They will get their first race test as I do the Jordan ON half marathon on June 12.

I have been biking to work as usual since April, and it feels so good to be off the bus over the winter and back on the roads and trails. Will add some pics later; gotta run.

Rattle Me Bones 10k

2009-10-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Today we took part in the fundraiser for the Ottawa Hospital, the great 5 and 10k Rattle Me Bones races. After several years of racing it, I have now become one of the pacers, and this year did the 55 minute pace in the 10k. (Usually I do the 50 minute, but have not been doing enough serious running since the National Capital half marathon in May.)

It was a great fall day, with over 2500 participants in both races, and we raised some $80k for the Hospital. I was right on target at the 5k mark, to the second, but something weird happened in the second half and I ended up completing it in just under 54 minutes, in spite of really slowing down in the final k. My Garmin said I was right on pace the whole way. Anyway, apologies to any who felt they were left behind.

I also host the kid 1k family run; always lots of fun as the little ones go charging out of the gate when I blow the air horn. No one worries about pacing for that event!!

It's a fine event, very well organized by the Hospital. The weather was perfect.

2009-10-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

Run for the Cure in our community

For the seventh year, our local community organized another Run for the Cure on October 4. It was a glorious fall day and we set new records: over 200 participants, and a new record of about $25,500 raised. While most of our participants walk the 5k route, this year we had some 20 members of the University of Ottawa section of the Ottawa Lions Track Club take part. The Lions are the largest track club in Canada and have done very well in national and international events. Some of their training takes place at the Louis Riel Dome in our community, the only 400 metre enclosed track in Canada. The Lions of course were way out in front of the rest of us, but they were a real addition to the event.

I get to run it twice; first to mark the 5k course with lots of pink ribbons and chalk, and then run it as well with the rest of the gang.

You can see a lot of great pics by going to our community website, www.blackburnhamlet.ca and go to Events past, where you can scroll down to the Run for the Cure.

Biking to work

2009-07-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

It's been about four months now that I have been biking to work, and some 2300 kms, and as always, it's been great. The weather so far has been unseasonably cool, and wet, but every day I can bike is a great day. The National Capital Commission is rehabing the pavement on part of my route, so it's a bit of an obstacle course to get around the construction, and at some point they will really start ripping up the pavement. At that point I will start using the parallel stone dust path alongside the river, but it will only last a few weeks.

Incredibly, there have been just a few days, like today, when I could comfortably ride in the morning with just shorts and a cycling jersey. Most days have required an extra layer, at some 11 degrees Celsius, or a rain jacket. Or both. Our pool has gone almost completely unused so far this summer; absolutely bizarre by mid-July. Tell me about global warming!!!

Ouch, that really hurt

2009-07-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

In early May, a couple weeks before the National Capital Race weekend, I found myself helping our older daughter move from one house to another. While unfolding the heavy metal hoist from the back of the truck she had rented, I did not realize how heavy it was, and it slipped out of my hand. The leading edge grazed my left leg, and made quite a mess of my ankle, and in fact pinned me under it for a moment. Fortunately, nothing was actually broken, just major bruising, and of course, most of a day lugging her possessions out of the old house and into the new did not help.

Visions of doing the NCR half-marathon were quickly vanishing, but I applied a lot of Melaleuca Pain-a-trate, and gradually it was healing.

Race day came and I decided to run it. Between working long hours on the H1N1 situation at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and the accident, I really had not run for a couple of months before the race. However, the race went pretty well, although not quite as fast as I had hoped. I still managed to finish in the top quarter of my age group, and all things considered, I was OK with that.

Miami half marathon reflections

2009-03-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe it was over a month ago that I, along with some 8000 others, started off in the dark on the Miami half, along with several thousand doing the full marathon. It was the biggest race I have been in, with some 20 years of running/racing. The whole event was great, from the website for registration to the fitness expo to the race itself.

It was a pretty good morning, with lower than expected temperature, but more humid than I expected. Great route, and even the opening mile or so of the run over the causeway to Miami Beach was not as bad as it looked from a distance. Going across the finish line in a bit over 1:56 was amazing, with so much cheering, and of course my wife waiting for me. Turned out I finished OK, coming in the top 15% of my age group, and incredibly, in the top third of all men.

Soon after, our Run 'n' Fun group of some two dozen runners and partners boarded the Carnival Valor, for a seven day eastern Caribbean cruise. Nice way to recover! A real highlight was having Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic marathon gold medallist, along with us, for lots of coaching and general running lore. All in all, a fine time, and I am really glad I signed up for it.

Took a bit of time off in February, concentrating instead on upper body and core strengthening exercises, but am now back to solid running and training for the next race, the National Capital Race weekend in late May. Will do the half again, along with the usual anti-doping volunteer work and some water station work.

Hopefully I will be back on my bike to get in some great riding to and from work by the end of this month. Bikes are tuned up and ready to go, as soon as road conditions are a bit better. Life is good.

Run for the Cure

2009-01-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

It's not October, but it just occured to me that I should say something about the Run for the Cure (against breast cancer). Last October my wife and I again helped organize the sixth annual RftC in Blackburn Hamlet, and once again we raised more money than ever before. Here's a pic of the crowd that took part in this great "hometown" event. My wife looks after the food, and I mark the 5k course and then get to run it as well. Great fun for a great cause.

Three weeks to Miami

2009-01-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all!

Three weeks from tomorrow I will be prowling around the fitness expo at the ING Miami marathon/half marathon. Time to get really serious about training (well, it was time a couple months ago). Just finished a quality 45 minute run outdoors, as the Dome is closed today. Rounded that off with some upper body strength training when I got home. Dome is back to regular hours on Monday so I can start the morning runs again. Over the holidays I went a few times in the afternoon when the Ottawa Lions track club was training: what a bunch of speedsters! Of course, I could be any of their grandfathers, so did not feel too bad they were blowing me out of the water.

Two weeks from Sunday is the annual Richmond 10k, and I have certainly prepared much more for this than usual. We are supposed to get some small amount of snow soon so hope to get out x-country skiing tomorrow afternoon; trails are pretty icy right now.

2008-12-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for Miami

2008-12-13T16:20:00.001-08:00

Now that we are into real winter here, (25 cms of snow the other day) and it's snowing right now, I have put away the bikes for a few months. I took out a 60 day membership at the Louis Riel Dome, three houses away from me, with its 400 metre enclosed track a few weeks ago. I can now get in about 40 minutes of running every weekday morning, getting ready for the Miami half-marathon in late January, and the Richmond 10k two weeks before; perfect timing.

OK, OK, an indoor track is deadly boring, but much better than a treadmill, and with the kind of weather we often have here, more motivating at 6 a.m. than outside. With my radio tuned to my favourite news and public affairs station, it's not all that bad, and probably better on the knees than on the roads.

I usually run outdoors on weekends, as there is more time and flexibility, but opted for a track run today, and got halfway through my workout when the fire alarms went off and we had to evacuate the dome, so I headed home. It turned out to be a false alarm, but the fire trucks had to come to sound the all clear.

The picture is from an October business and vacation trip to Egypt, in front of you know what. I did run a lot in Sharm el-Sheikh, but not in Cairo, due to the world's worst pollution. Great trip overall.

Incredibly, I am still alive

2008-06-17T17:16:00.001-07:00

Good grief, someone please tell me it has been about a year since I posted to my favourite blog!! This is really bad. Anyway, I am still alive. Very much alive, actually. I am still with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and loving every moment of it.

I just turned the first 1000k on my bike this season, on my almost daily commute to work. Should be close to 4000k by the time the season is over in December. What gas price???

Did the National Capital half marathon in May, and in spite of almost zero training, managed to come 4th of 37 in my age group, so that was OK. Also did the pee patrol for the 10k winners. (Dope testing, for those who are wondering.)

Recently signed up for the ING half marathon in Miami in late January, and then the cruise right after that to the eastern Caribbean. My wife and I celebrate our birthdays just a few days apart, and they both fall within that time period, so it's a nice way to celebrate. Anyone else doing that?

Where has the time gone?

2007-08-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

Can't believe my last post was in April!! Anyway, I am still biking and running. The daily ride to and from work is great, even though the weather has now turned to summer, and I have done some 2000 k since starting back to cycling about four months ago. I am still with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and absolutely love it. I will be there until year end, and then we'll see what happens next.

I ran the new National Capital half-marathon course a couple weeks before the race in May, in a group run sort of thing, and since I had not been running that distance since early February, I think I got some shin splints. I decided to pass on the race itself, and instead helped with the anti-doping process for the 10k and the marathon the next day. I was the chaperone for the male winner of the 10k, Simon Bairu, in 28:29, and my wife chaperoned the female winner, none other than the great Catherine Ndereba, in 33:01! What delightful people they are. It was a night made in heaven for a runner, to be able to personally associate with runners of that calibre. I was able to do a cool-down jog with Simon, after the race; what a pleasure that was.

The next day I helped with the anti-doping for the wheelchair marathoners. What a great experience! The dedication of those folks was amazing. And virtually no attention from spectators or media; what a shame.

Anyway, I run on weekends, about 9.5k each Saturday and Sunday, as much as possible, and am considering a half-marathon somewhere in the warmer climes in the Jan-Feb time frame.

Finally back to cycling and running

2007-04-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

At long last, the weather and my injured foot have improved enough to allow full out participation in cycling and running. Started back to cycling to and from work, 16 kms each way, about two weeks ago. Did it ever feel good! I am using my old hybrid with fenders for the really wet days, and keeping the much better touring bike for dry days. Got clip pedals installed on the hybrid, instead of the old toe clips, so I can use the same shoes on both. And with some new wet weather gear, it's quite comfortable most days. Also snagged a locker at work so I can now shower at the end of the ride, instead of cleaning up in the washroom as I did last year. Feels so much better!

I have entered the NCR half marathon at the end of May, so now need to get the training in gear for that. The injured foot has fully healed, after three months of varying degrees of discomfort.

Hit a patch of black ice on a sharp turn on Thursday on the way to work, and the wheels lost traction, and down I went. First time that's ever happened. Other than a large bruise on the left hip, where I hit the pavement, no other damage and the bruise is healing nicely. Didn't even shred the spandex!

On the road to recovery

2007-03-03T05:02:00.000-08:00

About two months after my fall on the ice and subsequent mashing of my left foot, and no running except for the Tybee Island half marathon, the foot has almost recovered. This past week I ran with the Ottawa Hash House Harriers on a long run, for a hash, of some 8 k, and it felt pretty good. Later in the week, I got in two early morning runs of about 25 minutes each, with only a slight sensation of the discomfort I had felt for so many weeks. It was so good, as I was really feeling like a slob after so much missed running time.

Later today I will be taking my two bikes in for a tune-up and hope to get back to cycling to work sometime in March, once the roads are safe for cycling.

Next race will likely be the National Capital half marathon in May. There's time to get back in shape after two months off.

2007-02-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

I hate it when that happens...

2007-02-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

A week before the Richmond 10k, I went for a run on the Sunday morning, and to make a long story longer, I slipped on some black ice on a hill, and really messed up my left foot. Within a few hours it was very swollen and bruised. The next day my doctor said he thought I had somehow broken a small blood vessel, leading to pooling of blood in the foot. The injury meant I had to pass on the Richmond 10k, so I volunteered instead.

I was getting worried about the Tybee Island (Savannah GA) half marathon in only three weeks, as the recovery was going very slowly. I started wearing a compression stocking to help force the blood out of my foot, and started seeing a massage therapist who specializes in this kind of injury. She was able to hasten the process, and also suggested a homeopathic cream called Traumeel, which seemed to help.

We decided to go to Tybee anyway, as we felt we needed a break. The day before the race, I went for a 1k jog, the first time in a month I had run. The foot was still sore, but I decided to go for it anyway. Race day was cool, in the high 40s, but much warmer than back home. After a couple of miles, I knew there was no way I could have a really good time, as every time my left foot hit the pavement there was pain. And not having run at all for a month did not help. Talk about tapering!

I finished in 2:03, some 16 minutes slower than my PB set in the fall of 2005, and out of the age group placements I would have made had I not injured myself. However, I still had enough steam to climb the 178 steps to the top of the Tybee Island lighthouse a couple hours later.

Savannah is a great place to visit for the history and the seafood was great. While it was not tropical at that time of year, it was still pleasant and I heartily recommend the race.

On to Tybee Island half marathon

2007-01-06T20:01:00.000-08:00

After a long absence, I am back online. Finally stopped biking to work in mid-December, as it was getting a bit dicey on the roads, with icy patches and such, to say nothing of a spate of very cool weather. So I brought all my clothes home from work, and was quite proud of the 8.5 months I cycled, covering a little over 4,000 kms. And then the weather turned incredibly mild, and still is. I thought about getting back into it, but by then I had morphed into a morning run of some 35 minutes, getting ready for the 2007 racing season, and decided to call it quits for now. I hope to get back to cycling in March.

This coming Sunday is the famous Richmond 10k race, and I am working hard on that preparation. The weather could be astonishingly mild for the first time in history. Last year was bitterly cold.

With my 65th birthday coming up soon, my wife asked me where I would like to go or what I would like to do to celebrate, and it did not take long to decide that I would run a half marathon somewhere, on the weekend following my birthday. It also conveniently fits with the end of my contract at work and anticipated start of a new one a few days later. I will take a couple days off and we will have a four day weekend centred on Savannah.

So, a quick check in Runner's World, and we have made arrangements to go to the Tybee Island half marathon near Savannah Georgia. Should be a bit warmer than here, and as it is a fast flat course, I am hoping to do reasonably well. I have a huge amount of training to cram into a month, and have decided today to drastically cut back in the amount of food and wine I am consuming. I hope to drop about seven pounds by Feb. 3, the day of the race.

A colleague of mine at work is planning to do her first marathon in May, so we are encouraging each other to stick with our training plans. I have done a couple of marathons in the past, but now find the half to be an ideal distance/challenge.

Stay tuned for more frequent reports.

2006-11-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

Wow, where does the time go?

2006-11-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

In September I found myself jetting off to Beijing for a conference on avian and pandemic influenza preparedness, on behalf of my current employer, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. While it was a short trip, what an amazing place Beijing is. There are some 7,000 construction sites in the city, and there is little question that China will be the economic powerhouse of the world in the near future.

We had a little time for sightseeing, and of course a highlight for me was the Great Wall. There is a marathon run there, which must be incredibly difficult, as the steps are so very low in height, even walking is a challenge. I rode the cable car up to the Wall at Mitianyu and walked back down. It was truly an inspiring event; I never thought I would ever see the Wall. No matter that it is restored in that section; it's unbelievable that it was constructed at all.

I only ran outside once, as the pollution in the city is a challenge. My run was my own personal Terry Fox Run, as I missed the one in Ottawa, and the one in Beijing, due to travel. So I ran the 8k route on my own, getting lost of course, and much to the amusement of the Chinese. The rest of the time I ran, reluctantly, on the hotel treadmill on the 18th floor, looking out on the gathering haze.

I am still biking to work, and will do so until the weather becomes really nasty. Recently I did an 11.3k cross country race, and got rather muddy, and then was a pacer in the Ottawa Hospital 10k. A guy from Australia found me on a running website and showed up for the race after several emails; he was here for awhile on business.

An earlier post told of my incredible bad luck in having two flat tires on my bike and two in the same tire on my car within four days. Would you believe that recently I got another flat on the same rear tire on my bike, and the same week, four days later, got yet a third flat on the same tire on my car. I think I will buy a lottery ticket.

Ah, technology

2006-08-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

So I am sitting here on the deck, on a beautiful late summer morning, enjoying the flexibility of the wireless router I installed last night, so I can work outdoors with my laptop. Should have done that months ago. I am sending out a bunch of renewal notices for my writing group, surrounded by my XM satellite radio system, on Channel 71, "Water Colours" sweet jazz, playing softly, and my BlackBerry for work related stuff, my cordless and cell phones, for people things, and thinking of how technology has impacted our lives. Just to bring me back to earth, I used a cardboard box to surround my laptop, to cut the outdoor glare on the screen. Works great. Just taking a short break to update my blog, which really suffers due to full-time employment.

Running? Well, not as much as I would like, but did get out for a 9.5 k run earlier this morning, and it was very warm and humid. Used the heart monitor today just to see if it's still beating, and found I was averaging around 140-150 on most parts of the run, at a 5:20ish per k pace, with occasional spurts to about 165 on a couple of tough hills. My ideal aerobic range is 130-160, so that's OK. Only took a couple minutes after the run to drop back to about 100. Resting heart rate is 47.

Still biking to work four days a week, about 32k round trip, and the season is well into its second half. I have noticed significant leg power improvement since starting at the first of April. I expect to be at DFAIT until about mid-October on this contract and then we will see what happens next.

I am hosting my running group here Monday night for a BBQ and swim, and of course a run. I will volunteer at the NCRA Gloucester half marathon on September 10, and then do the Terry Fox Run on the 17th. Next race is likely to be the October 29 Rattle Me Bones 10k for the Ottawa Hospital, in which I am usually the 50 minute pacer, so will need to get working on that at the beginning of September.

OK, back to renewal notices...

National Capital half marathon

2006-05-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

So after doing my pee checking, for the male 10k winner of the National Capital race weekend, George Misoi of Kenya, who won for the second year in a row, in 28:30, on Saturday night, I rolled out of bed early Sunday to get to the Ottawa Hash House Harrier water station for the marathon. But back to the pee checking: for a couple of years my running group has supplied the volunteers to chaperone the top winners as soon as they finish and until they can deliver a urine sample for the anti-doping testing program. This does lead to a certain amount of jokes, and is a story in itself, but it is quite serious stuff, and even the Hash House Harriers treat it so.

Our water station was at the 7k point going out and the 15k point coming back. The weather had all of sudden turned quite warm, and even with the 7 a.m. start, runners were noticing the sudden heat. I took my XM Radio sateliite radio stuff and set up speakers to play bluegrass music really loud, which probably pissed off the nearby residents, like our Prime Minister, but no one came out of their dungeons to complain. All the water station volunteers and runners liked it.

After watering several thousand marathoners, I headed over to the race HQ to get ready for the half, starting at 10:15 a.m., and of course the increasing heat. It was going to 29 Celsius today.

Met a bunch of running friends as we were getting ready for the start, with some 7500 participants. Shant go through all the details, but it was warm, and I went through a huge amount of water, in and on me. For the relative lack of training, it went pretty well, and I finished with a chip time of 2:00:40, good enough for the top third of my age group, which was satisfying. About 12 minutes slower than my PB last year, but that goes to show what proper training does.

What are the odds?

2006-05-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

For you mathematicians out there, perhaps you can tell me the odds of these events:

I was biking home from work on Wednesday, on a lovely evening, when I realized my month old Specialized All Condition Kevlar rear tire had sprung a leak. My bike shop guy had installed this tire when he did some other tune-up things, and told me it would be much more puncture resistant than what I had. Realizing I foolishly did not have the most correct tube, or patches, I called my wife to come get me, but started to change the tube anyway. I found the tire very stiff and had not finished when she arrived, so we loaded the bike into the van and headed for the shop. Mark finished the job in record time (I hate him for being able to replace a tube so fast) and we took the bike home, as well as a proper size spare tube for the tire.

A few hours later, I went out to the garage to get the bike ready for the next morning commute, and discovered the rear tire had gone flat, again. This time I decided to fix it no matter what, and some time later, I had installed the new tube, and cleaned the bike which was desperately in need of it after four solid days of rain. I discovered a tiny pin hole leak in the tube I had been carrying around with me for many months. So, two flats on the same tire in three hours.

It gets better...

Friday I do not cyle to work, and was on my way to work in my car, and my parking space at a friend's home, when I heard a pop and soon realized my right front tire was going flat. These are high performance touring tires, with 45,000 kms on them. I have been driving for some 48 years, and have had one flat tire, in 1999, in all that time. (That time it was on the highway with a tire that had only 1000 kms on it.) I managed to get to my parking space, and after work changed the tire to the small spare, and took the flat tire into the tire repair shop Saturday morning. They discovered a 2" nail in the tread. They repaired the tire, reinstalled it, and I headed home, no more than 6 kms, wondering how I had angered the tire gods so much.

It gets better...

About four hours later, I went out to my car to do some errands, and did not look at the repaired tire on the opposite side of the car. About 100 metres down the road I realized something was not right, pulled over and checked. Would you believe the repaired tire was completely flat once again? So, back to replacing it with the little dinky spare, and my wife will take the flat one back to the shop on Tuesday to yell and scream at them on my behalf. I have no idea what happened; there is no obvious damage or puncture. I watched the tire tech do the repairs and all seemed normal.

Can you understand why I was somewhat reluctant to start using my wheelbarrow for some gardening chores after finishing my errands? However, so far, the wheelbarrow tire has held up. And I even have a spare tire/tube for the wheelbarrow. The tire gods must be satisfied.

Four flats on two tires in four days....

I need another glass of wine.

Turns out that I had picked up yet another nail in the same tire in the course of the drive home from the tire shop, a few kms on main roads. So far, the tire is holding...

Better late than on time

2006-05-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

It just struck me that I did not do a post about the delightful February week we spent in the Dominican Republic, in a little town called Cabarete, a few miles from Puerto Plata. We stayed at an all-inclusive hotel named Azzuro Beach, and quite enjoyed it. Spent a lot of time on the beach, catching up on a lot of reading, snorkeling, some sight-seeing, and enjoying the bounty of all-inclusive drinks. The local beer, Presidente, was most enjoyable.

The beach was great for running; I did a half hour run before breakfast and then a couple more half hour runs during the day. And endless walking on the never-ending beach as well. It's one of the top areas for kite surfing in the world. Here's a picture.

One night we strolled down the beach a few hundred metres to a bar to watch an Ottawa Senators hockey game on TSN; that was weird.

One week down...

2006-05-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

Having set the goal of running after biking home from work, which is something I have never done before, I have managed to get through the first week of it. Each day my time got better. Still not quite at target half marathon pace, but I'm getting there. Today was a good 9.5k run and tomorrow will move up to a 15k run. Friday has become my one day off, as I drive to work that day, instead of biking, so decided to take the whole day off.

I'm looking at other half marathons in the fall and early winter, to make into a short vacation. The Las Vegas half on December 10 is looking interesting; my wife is all in favour of it!!! Anyone out there done it??

Training 101

2006-05-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

So I started my regimen of running after biking home from work; sort of a delayed duathlon. Being a long-time member of the Ottawa Hash House Harriers, but somewhat errant in attendance recently, I decided that going out with the hash every Monday night in May would count for training, and I get to hoist a beer or two as reward, and to replace those missing carbs. That worked great last night, as we had an 8-9 k run and then lots of good food and beer afterwards.

Having pushed myself to the front runner ranks during the run, I found the "golden spike", a painted railroad spike the Hare had left along the trail, which earned me a great prize: another can of beer wrapped in a mouse pad that looked like a pair of running shoes. How appropriate.

Tonight I biked my 16 kms home into a ferocious wind, walked the dogs for a half hour, and then headed out for a run. Went down the great stonedust path very close to home, complete with toboggan hill and other natural delights, grinding out a 6 km run. A bit tougher than usual after a fast bike ride, it seemed, but it sure made dinner taste good. Makes for a pretty short evening by the time all the chores are done, but that's training...

Still alive!

2006-04-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, where does the time go when you start working full-time? Since mid-December I have been at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT)in the communications group. They keep extending my contract, now until October. Love what I do; all kinds of communications products related to avian flu pandemic and preparedness for same.

Started biking to work at the beginning of April. It's a delightful 16 km ride, mostly along a lovely parkway by the river. Weather has been a bit cool some mornings, but generally pleasant. I had to ride my old hybrid beater bike for three weeks while my newer touring bike was in the shop for repairs, but I now have the good Norco Terene, with new front derailleur, new chain, new rear cassette, new rear tire, etc. What a delight to ride! I have now figured out all the short cuts and hill-reducer routes.

Signed up for the National Capital half marathon at the end of May, but really have to get into the training now. Just biking to work is not enough, along with running on weekends. So starting Monday I will start running after I bike home from work and try desperately to get ready for end of May and the race. I am sure I will not be as ready as I was for last fall's half marathon in New York. I have also agreed to head up the anti-doping testing for the 10km race at the NCM, whereby a few friends and myself chaperone the top female and male finishers and make sure they pee in a sanctioned bottle for their drug test after the race. One does get another view of world-class runners, I must say. We must watch them pee into the bottles, and certify we have done so. Last year I chaperoned the male 10k winner and the marathon winner; both Kenyans, and it was a great experience to be with runners of that calibre. But since I am running the half this year, the timing does not allow me to do the drug testing for the marathon.

Will try to be more consistent in my blogging from now on...

Moving up...

2006-01-16T19:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's post said I placed second in my age group. That was great, as I had not expected that. Then I checked our results website and discovered it showed I had actually finished first. A little more checking and it was confirmed there were some glitches in recording times due to the extreme cold, and I really did finish first. Not that 49:22 is any blistering pace, but after missing first place in the Adirondack half marathon by one second, it feels kind of nice. Not that I am the slightest bit competitive, you know.

Richmond 10k race

2006-01-15T15:58:00.000-08:00

The 24th year of the running of the Richmond ON (a few miles west of the main city of Ottawa) 10k race went today, on what was the coldest day yet for this venerable kick-off to the running season. Some -18 Celsius and a wind chill of -28 Celsius welcomed the several hundred hardy souls who faithfully turned out for this well-organized event. The opening and closing thirds of the race were a tad chilly, as we were running into the wind (A big rectangle around the town, more or less) while the middle third, in full sun and with the wind, was actually warm, in a Canadian winter sort of way.

I completed it in 49:22, which was good enough for second place in my age group. A good friend of mine, from the Ottawa Hash House Harriers, Louise Hamelin, came second overall in the women's side, with a 44-something run. Not bad for a 40-something runner. Men's overall winner did it in 34-something.

At the award ceremony, the organizers had a stand-up comic for entertainment. He had some great lines about runners and the cold. You can imagine the fun he had with "fartlek".

Happy New Year of running

2006-01-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

Wow, seems like forever since I have done a post to my blog. Started working full-time at Foreign Affairs Canada in mid-December, working mostly on avian flu preparedness. Great job, and it will carry on to the end of January, but sure has played havoc wth my running. At about the same time, the weather conditions for the trails I usually run have overcome them, and there is now too much snow and ice.

So I have hardly run at all since December 12, except on Christmas and today. Got to get ready for the Richmond 10k two weeks from today, so I have regrouped. I have scoped out a 20 minute and 30 minute run on the roads, and with a little dedication, and getting up a few minutes earlier, I should be able to get in runs most days until the 15th, even if only 20 minutes instead of the usual 50 minutes. There's also the elliptical trainer and some other cardio stuff I can use.

I got a neat little red flashing light for Christmas to wear on my clothes, which will help with staying visible on early morning runs.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year celebration.

Tie a red ribbon...

2005-12-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

After my painful fall on the ice last week, I decided to be proactive and make sure it did not happen again. Actually, I was having a beer with a friend of mine who runs on the same trails, while we were at a fund raiser for another runner who has joined Team Diabetes to participate in Ironman Canada, and he said he was going to do this, so I just stole the idea.

So last Sunday, I took a whole bunch of bright red trail marking ribbons, and went down to the ice-infested trail, and carefully marked off all the icy patches, by tying the ribbon to trees. Used up some 28 pieces in total.

Today we had another inch of snow or so, about the same as when I fell, and this time was able to negotiate around the buried icy patches, by running in the weeds next to the path, or going very slowly in the centre of the path, and avoiding most of it. The ribbons do their job. Now with the snow and the weeds, I am not worrying much about my time, as it will be slower than in optimum conditions. So what? I am still running.

Today was a a glorious day; about -8 Celsius, not much wind, sun coming up, and I saw four deer, the most ever at one time. Two crossed the path just in front of me, and the other two were waiting off to the left for me to pass. I stopped and called to them, but they just stood there and refused to come over. "No, deer".

When I got home, the sore shoulder had healed enough to do all my core strengthening exercises, biceps curls, pushups etc. Wielding that green marker on my calendar was great. Tonight I sent off an email to my fellow blogger Lara, telling her to get her butt out there and run, if she is going to do the Flying Pig marathon next year.

Darn ice!

2005-11-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

So I went out for my regular run last Thursday, and was really enjoying the fresh snowfall, about an inch or so, and was about 3 k into my 9+ k run. The snow muted the sound of traffic, and I was hoping to see some deer in the woods. It was truly a lovely day, until I hit some smooth ice on the trail, buried under the snow, and immediately went down, landing on the left buttock, shoulder and wrist. I said some words of excitation, got up, and decided that it would be a good idea to turn around and head for home, since most everything hurt. Nothing seemed broken, however. Just a few hundred metres from my house, still in the woods, I did see a deer loping alongside the trail just ahead of me.

Coincidentally, I was having my yearly physical check-up later that day, and by the time I arrived at the doctor's office, there was just some stiffness in my shoulder. They concluded that nothing was broken, just bruised. A whole bunch of Advil made things better, much as I dislike taking anything like that.

I had to pass on my weekend runs due to being part of the organizing committee for my writing group's annual Book Fair www.oiw.ca and was busy with that all weekend.

The shoulder is still sore, but I headed out this morning, knowing that the mild weather would have melted the ice. As I got close to where I fell, I saw three majestic deer standing by the trail, two on one side and one on the other. I started talking to them, "Yes, deer, yes deer," just as I say to my wife. They stayed there, checking me out, until I was only about 10 metres away, and then gradually ambled away. Maybe they were hoping I was breakfast.

I took it easy on this run, not trying to set any pace records. So I was a couple of minutes slower than usual, and it did not bother me a bit.

That was easy

2005-11-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

So I have made it through a full week of my maintenance running/workout program, after shaming myself into it by putting a vivid reminder on my frig. Today was a 15 k run, my current version of a long run, and while I was not really trying to run it all that fast, I ended up with a 5:20/k pace, just 5 seconds/k over my half marathon race target pace. Weather was just about right, around 10 degrees Celsius.

A local outdoors store was having a 20% off on everything sale tonight for members of various sports groups, and of course I found a few trinkets I just had to have. My current running gloves, that I bought in NYC in 1992, or thereabouts, have finally worn out, so I bought a new pair of technical ones for cool weather and a fancy pair for cold weather running and x-country skiing. Expensive, but they are supposed to be the ultimate in performance and comfort, don't you know. Also a new polyester balaclava for really cold days (yes, kids, we get it down to -30ish Celsius here, and some cool breezes too), to replace the cotton one I had that gets really damp and then cold from breath and sweat. So bring on winter, I am ready.

2005-11-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

Completing the Richmond Ontario 10k in January 2005

Back on track, I hope

2005-11-17T06:50:00.000-08:00

Finally, back to regular running and other workouts, after a week of sloth and excuses. I put together a motivational sheet to hang on my frig, showing my daily training plan, a calendar to check off the successful completion of the day's training and a pic of me completing a race last January, just to remind me of how much fun it is to run in the cold weather. Now I have this big green marker that I use to fill in each day of the calendar after completing each day, and another red marker that I will use if I ever wimp out and do not follow the plan. Yes, it's silly, but just filling in that square every day, in green, is a tremendous feeling.

This morning, I did my 9.35k in 51:09. at a 5:28 pace. Nothing special, wasn't trying for anything special. After dumping my run data into my computer, I realized that since I started using the Garmin Forerunner in August 2004, on most runs and races, I have now logged just over 1000 kms. Actually I've run quite a bit more than that, but that much is duly recorded. Average pace for all that is 5:33/km.

Finally, running again

2005-11-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

Good grief, after four great days last week in Grand Rapids, doing 6+ miles a day, I returned home to a ton of work, meetings, short deadlines, early morning breakfast meetings, etc. etc., and all of a sudden it had become Sunday, with six non-running days behind me. Yucch! Finally made it out today for a 9.5k run, and saw two magnificent deer in the fields and woods I run through. One was a majestic male, with large antlers, which I normally never see. He checked me out pretty carefully before ambling off into the trees. Didn't push too hard on this run, just enjoyed getting out, and the weather was nice.

Hope this will get me back on track with my sustainable plan.

Back home again

2005-11-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

Did another six mile run on Sunday morning, by myself this time, in a light mist which gradually increased in intensity. Three walkers came out. All in all, a bigger turnout than last year in Baltimore, when only one other person ran once with me.

After the conference wrapped up at noon, the "Canadian contingent" headed out in my van. It's over a thousand kilometres to Ottawa, and it was just after midnight by the time I finally pulled in the driveway, after dropping the other four in various places along the way. It had been very windy all the way, sometimes even pushing the loaded van around a bit.

No running this morning, as I had an early meeting with another potential new client for a website, and we will know tomorrow if we got the contract. As a result of networking at the conference, I may well get another job to do some TV ad script writing; will know that tomorrow as well.

I'm not specifically training for anything right now, after doing seven races in eight weeks, from a 5k to a half marathon, so will get back into my continuation training plan described in an earlier post.

It's a small world after all

2005-11-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

This morning a guy showed up to run with me who is also a member of the Hash House Harriers in his home town in California. Like me, he was the Hashmaster of his group. We did the three mile loop with another runner, Stephanie, from Ann Arbor. We all chatted through the whole run, great early morning stuff. She did one loop and then Kevin and I got to do another loop at a little faster pace. He's a good runner, can crank out seven minute miles when necessary. Fine run, good weather again and great networking. We even had three walkers today. Three runners, three walkers; amazing turnout for this group. I think I had something to do with encouraging most of them to get out and do it. Other folks are asking me how my runs went; people who could not run to the bathroom. "Oh, you're the runner from Canada, right?" Maybe, just maybe, I can motivate a few more folks to get at least somewhat active. There's one guy here who weighs at least 500 pounds, no exaggeration, and can barely wheeze his way into a meeting room.

Now here's a weird one: a lady shows up at the conference from London Ontario, interested in doing personal histories, after just retiring from Bell Canada after 30 years of service. I retired from Bell after 30 years, but not in London. Never met her before. Her husband works in a long term care facility; my wife works in a long term care facility. Scary!

Greetings from Grand Rapids

2005-11-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

So we made it here from Ottawa yesterday, in a long drive, picking up two others along the way. Our navigator made a slight error in having us exit the I96 before we should have, resulting in another half hour delay in getting to the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. This meant it was too late for me to check out the proposed running trail I had got from some local runners, to use part of the Kent Trails system, before some conference duties, and the onset of darkness.

I checked the area later on, and decided it would be too dark early in the morning to run on safely, as the trails are not lit, and the starting point was not too inspiring. So I checked with the hotel, and found they had a three mile rectangle around the hotel mapped out. Not terribly exciting, but OK under the circumstances.

I made my appeal for runners and walkers at the evening reception, and got a few responses. The Association of Personal Historians is not composed of a large number of really physically fit people, (my not-politically-correct opinion) but I thought it was worth a try.

Six o’clock seemed to come pretty early today, and one lady showed up in the lobby, who really wanted to walk on the treadmill, and one other who was game to run. She runs ten minute miles; a little slower than me, but I was quite OK with that and off we went. We had a pleasant chat along the route, and when we returned to the hotel after some 32 minutes, she headed in and I did another loop, at a slightly faster pace, so I got in my six miles. The weather was very pleasant, and shorts and a long-sleeved technical shirt were fine. I did not bother with the Garmin today. It’s also much further west than Ottawa, so it was dark for most of the run. I will be out there the next three days, and we’ll see who else shows up. Two people who assured me they were coming today were no-shows, for whatever reasons.

I am paying $5 a day for a connection to supposed high-speed internet service, but if this is high speed, I’m Roger Bannister.

I could not get into my blog on Thursday, but made it in late Friday night, when I am posting this. Did another run repeat this morning, and it was great.

Let's hear it for massage!

2005-11-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

Wow, and to think I have always poo-poohed massage therapy as just a feel-good. Went to the Massage and Ortho Clinic here in Ottawa yesterday. Sylvie Duford is the owner, and a colleague of mine in the Business Network International group. Told her about my knee pain, and in the course of a half hour massage to the back and legs, she got rid of virtually all the pain, which was still noticeable, but not nearly as severe as the previous week. Did all kind of things to my leg, and it still feels great. Not really sure what happened, but I just know it worked.

Which is very good news, as that means I can run every day in Grand Rapids, starting Thursday, where I will be ensconced for a conference of the Association of Personal Historians until Sunday. Off momentarily with a colleague to Uxbridge, a little northeast of Toronto, to stay overnight with one other participant, and then we head out with two more participants being picked up along the way. The milk run to Grand Rapids, but it sure cuts the transportion costs.

Cross-country race rocks!

2005-10-30T18:56:00.000-08:00

Today was the 11.3k cross-country race at Mer Bleu conservation area, about five minutes from my home. The day was glorious; cool to start but by race time I was in shorts and a long sleeve shirt and was overdressed at that. Many were still wearing tights and jackets; they must have roasted in the sun. The course was a double loop, with wide trails and pretty clear footing in most of it, except for the last half kilometre or so, (twice) which was very technical, with lots of roots and other hazards, so blasting through was very dangerous. Several folks were being patched up by the First Aid people.

There were still enough leaves on the trees to obscure the satellites for my Garmin GPS, so I just ran as fast as I could, considering the footing. Finished in 58:11, with an average pace of 5:09 per k, not too bad for me, considering the terrain. While I was technically second in my age group, it was meaningless as there were only two of us. One of my goals is to always place in the top half of my age group, and while that did not happen, I did manage to place in the top 75% of all men, so I was OK with that. The winner in my age group is a phenomenal runner, who was probably about ten minutes ahead of me. Nice soup and bagels after the race, however.

Came home and tackled some more of the gravel pile, to stay loose. I'll do some more tomorrow morning, then do a 5k run over to the massage clinic, where I am treating myself to a half hour massage. Everyone says I will love it.

After last week's race, I noticed a real soreness in the inside of my right knee joint, for no apparent reason. It was very sore until Thursday, but did not cause any problem today and so far there is no sign of it; it just went away.

Getting excited about my upcoming conference in Grand Rapids, with departure from Ottawa on Tuesday and arrival there Wednesday afternoon. Hope to be leading a running/walking group every morning we are there, but based on last year, I think the numbers will be very very small. Like one person, maybe two.

Some real results

2005-10-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

Where did all the older runners go? Of the 516 runners in the RMB, there were only five men and five women over 60. Fast course, great cause, good running weather, fine food; strange. On checking the results, I would have easily taken first place in my age group had I run as a racer, instead of a pacer. Oh well, another race...

The winning male was Joesph Nsengiyumva, of Ottawa, in 33:13, in the 20-29 age group, and the winning female was Liz McGuire, of Osgoode, with a speedy 36:22, in the 30-39 age group.

Rattle Me Bones run, by the 50 minute pacer

2005-10-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday dawned cool and rainy, but fortunately by race time, the rain had pretty well stopped. After gorging myself on Tim Hortons coffee and timbits (carbo loading a half hour before the race counts, doesn't it?) , and donning my cute little black skeleton outfit, complete with plastic bones sticking out of my cap, I was off, with several hundred others. I did the first k in 4:23, obviously too fast for a 50 minute 10k, so gradually slowed the pace. I settled into a 5:00 or so, for the next few k, but then noticed that according to the time for each marked k, I was about a minute and a half too fast. My Garmin said the pace was good, however, so I stuck with that, believing the k markers to be misplaced.

I crossed the finish line in 49:52, a bit slower than planned, but I had deliberately slowed in the last k, as I was still a bit too fast. My colleague who did the 45 minute pace was a full minute over target, as the k markers got him confused as well, and he had only a stopwatch to guide him. Not sure how many in my pace group stuck with me, as I might have discouraged some at first. A few did find me afterwards and thanked me.

I then got on my scary green monster mask in addition to the rest of the outfit, and led the 50 or so little kids in some gentle aerobics to warm up, blasted the airhorn, and off we went on the 1k "funnybone" run. This time we did have marshals in place to make sure the kids turned around. All good fun, and the race raised some $55,000 for the Ottawa Hospital. At least a dozen of the Hash House Harrier gang showed up to volunteer, and that was great. The food is prepared by one of our Hashers, who is a professional chef, and it was truly delicious chili, (so good on a cool wet day), fruit, bagels, cookies and so on.

Now some serious training for the 11k Jim Howe cross-country race next Sunday...

Life gets in the way...

2005-10-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

Haven't run since Tuesday, in favour of domestic chores, my freelance writing work, business meetings, etc. etc.; all the usual excuses. My newest freelance job is doing the content for a new website for the Yucatan Mexico Beach Realty company, a real estate firm run by a Canadian. How ironic, as Hurricane Wilma threatens the Yucatan, and I am writing stuff about why it's so wonderful to buy vacation/retirement homes there...

There's still a big pile of gravel in the driveway, and today I added a pile of compost. Rented a Silverado and went to the city landfill, where for $20 you can fill a pickup with all the really great compost you can shovel, (assuming you're into compost) and got 1.2 tons. Thank goodness it was a rental truck! Weather here is wonderful for this time of year; sunny and cool, just right for all the millions of chores that need doing in the gardens and yard before you-know-what arrives. Tomorrow will be a repeat of today, and the forecast for Sunday's 10k race, naturally, is rainy and cold, woo hoo! As a pacer, I have to run in a one piece black nylon skeleton suit; should be really fun.

Hope to be back on track with the training plan next week, and getting ready for an 11k cross-country race on Sunday October 30. For details of the Ottawa running scene, go to the website of our National Capital Runner's Association (NCRA) at www.ncra-ottawa.com. Soon after that, I will be off for the annual conference of the Association of Personal Historians, www.personalhistorians.org in Grand Rapids Michigan. I am the self-appointed leader of the APH Running Team, (most likely a team of one or two) and will be out terrorizing the Grand Rapidians early every morning. I hope to keep the blog updated with running stories while there, in early November.

Nine tons of gravel

2005-10-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it was a mistake, but on Friday, this huge truck backed into our driveway and deposited some 19,800 pounds (six cubic yards) of "3/8 inch clear granite" stone. Small round pebbles, in other words, destined for the dog runs at the back of our property. Every four or five years we get a "top-up" for the runs, as over time, the dogs either eat the stones, or throw them at groundhogs, or whatever, but they gradually seem to disappear, in favour of mud that magnetically attaches itself to their coats.

It then falls to me to cart all this stone some 150 feet to the runs. On Sunday and Monday, I moved 45 wheelbarrow loads, about half the pile, and completed the top-up of one of two runs. After about 20 loads, my very elderly and poorly maintained wheelbarrow literally broke in half, meaning a trip to Home Depot. I came away with a six cubic foot steel beauty, made in Holland of all places, and guaranteed for life, either its or mine.

Each wheelbarrow load weighs some 200 pounds. I thought it might be lighter in the fancy new wheelbarrow, but no such luck. It seemed to me that this work would equate to at least one free weight workout, so I deferred yesterday's usual routine in favour of the gravel pile. My arms are now about an inch longer, I guess. The dogs think it is all quite wonderful, and promptly demonstrated their enthusiam in ways you can imagine.

I am the 50 minute pacer for this coming Sunday's "Rattle Me Bones" 10k run for the Ottawa Hospital. This is about 2-3 minutes slower than I would normally run it if racing. When I did my 9.8k run this morning, I could sure notice the effect of the stone moving in the upper backs of my legs, and slowed my pace a bit. It took about 7 k before the sensation went away. So the rest of the gravel may sit there for a few days, as I do not want to risk not doing the race pacing as planned. The good news is that no one will steal the gravel.

After an absence of several weeks, or maybe months, I went running last night with my beloved Hash House Harriers. This world wide group of running crazies has the right approach: any such foolish expenditure of heartbeats should be accompanied by liberal quantities of beer, lusty songs, decidedly unhealthy food, and general merriment. Hey, we've earned it. Of course, I was also cleverly using the gathering to solicit more volunteers for the Rattle Me Bones, and caught several who were so busy running and drinking beer that they could not refuse. On on!

Back to running, really

2005-10-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

OK, after taking about two weeks off serious running, following the Adirondack half marathon, except for a couple of easy jogs and a couple of 6k runs in Bogota, it's time to get back to it.

I got my Garmin Forerunner 201 back from servicing the other day, and so had no more excuses. Like so much of the northeast US, here in Ottawa it has been rainy for several days, but mercifully nothing like folks in New Jersey and other states have had to endure. Shorts and a Dri-fit shirt were fine this morning, as I headed out on a gloomy yet pleasant day. Followed my Saturday run schedule as published below, and it was great. Didn't really seem to push, yet still did my 9.8 k at a 5:07 pace. Completed the run a couple minutes faster than when I started serious training in August.

I'm doing a10k race next Sunday, the Rattle Me Bones race for the Ottawa Hospital. I have raced it several times; it's great for 10k PBs, because it's usually cool, and virtually dead flat. But in recent years I have been the 50 minute pacer, since the race organizer is a running friend and he was desperate for volunteers. I end up having a whole lot of fun, dressed as a skeleton, and try to do it in about 49:30, maybe a minute or so slower than if I were really racing.

A couple years ago, after finishing in 49:40, a lady in my pace group came up to me, hugged me, and gushed about how great the race was, as she had been trying to break 50 minutes for years. I was pleased, of course. Then 30 seconds later, some jerk came up and gave me crap for being so fast, since he was also trying to break 50 minutes and I was just "way too fast"; I should have been 49:59, I guess. "Have a nice day", I said, and headed for the food tent.

There's also a 1k little kid run, about a half hour after I finish the 10k, and I get to lead them in warm-ups and act like a kid, in my skeleton and mask outfit. They are from about three years old, with parents, up to about 10 or so. When the gun goes off, they are off like jets, having no idea what a K is. I run with them, and it's so much fun. Last year, the marshalls who were supposed to turn them around at the half k mark were not there, and some of the fastest kids just kept going and going. When I realized what had happened, I yelled at a parent to stop and turn the rest of them around, and then went after the leaders. By the time I caught them, and got them turned around, there was no way they could finish first, and they were some pissed. The joys of racing, even as kids!

2005-10-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Doing the speech thing before the Terry Fox Run

Back from Bogota

2005-10-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

I'm back from five amazing days in Bogota Colombia. This sprawling city of some eight million people hosted the 10th annual Terry Fox Run on Sunday October 9, and I was so delighted to be back for it. It's hard to believe it was 1996 when I voluntered to start the TFR, and with a dedicated band of Colombians and Canadians, we pulled it off. It keeps getting bigger and better, and exclusive of this past Run, has raised some $208,000 Cdn for cancer research.

All the money goes to the Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia, and has helped fund some 30 projects in cancer research. The most recent was the production of an atlas of cancer incidence, showing graphically the various types of cancer, for men and women, and the geographical incidence. This can help lead researchers to answer questions of why certain types are more prevalent in certain geographical areas.

I met up with so many friends from my previous 14 months in Bogota. I met Mario Mesa, a new member of the TFR comittee, and a sub-three hour marathoner; way out of my league. We did a 6.6k run on the Saturday, and the effects of 10% less oxygen really showed up. I felt like I had run at least 10k, and was gasping to get enough air.

The day of the Run was great; overcast, and not too warm. I did the 6.3k route in 32:14, not too bad for me in that altitude. The Run has gotten so much bigger and better, under the skilled leadership of Sra. Maria Suescun, who has been the Chair ever since I left in 1997. I met her at a cocktail party and knew she would be perfect to take over when I left, and amazingly, she agreed to do it. Her mother now suffers from cancer.

They were still figuring out just how much money had been raised when I left on Tuesday this week, but felt it had been very successful. Maria even got the Presidential Guard, a 100 member precision marching band, to appear and perform a 40 minute spectacular show. I revisited the INC and was so delighted to hear of the projects the TFR has funded. It was a truly amazing and very emotional experience.

The associated picture shows me just after finishing my speech to the 400+ participants, handing off the mic to Maria.

Going back to Bogota

2005-10-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

In 1996 I found myself in Bogota Colombia, doing some work with Nortel Networks. It's a long story, but suffice to say I became the chairman of a committee to organize the first Terry Fox Run for cancer in that city. We faced enormous challenges, not the least of which was that I spoke virtually no Spanish at that time (although I did become quite fluent before I left). Anyway, with a lot of hard work by the Canadians and Colombians, we pulled it off in very short order and had the most successful Run ever held in a Spanish speaking country at the time.

Since then, it has just kept getting bigger and better, raising a lot of money for cancer research in Colombia. It is my great honour to be going back, tomorrow, to help in the 10th anniversary celebration on Sunday October 9. You may not realize this, but Bogota sits at some 8500 feet elevation, and aside from having a virtually perfect year-round climate, it has 10% less oxygen than what I am used to, so there will be no PB set when I do the 10k Run! Just doing it will be enough.

I will be back online next week. If you are not familiar with the Terry Fox Run, and Terry Fox, one of our true Canadian heroes, visit the website at www.terryfoxrun.org

Hasta luego, mis amigos

Back to running again

2005-10-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

After taking off all the time I could reasonably justify after my half marathon, I faced the usual dilemma of what to do to keep in shape between races. So I emailed Runner's World with that question, and in less than 24 hours got a long and detailed recipe from Doug Rennie, a contributing editor and the creator of the training program I used. I took his recommendations, added some of my own stuff, and voila, a program.

So here's the deal. Monday and Wednesday I do 45 minutes of free weights for the upper body and some 10 minutes of cardio on a rotation of my elliptical trainer, rowing machine and stationary bike.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I run betweeen 9-10k, as early in the morning as it's daylight to see by, at a comfortable pace, about 20 seconds per k slower than my half marathon pace. During that run, I do four two minute pick-ups in speed, to race pace or better. I end up with 4x100 metre strides, in which you accelerate to 90% of all out, hold for five seconds and then slow down until the next 100 metres.

Sunday is a longer run, about 15k, at a comfortable pace. All the runs are about 95% on great stonedust trails, quite scenic, through some woods near my house. They have some short hills, including a nice down and up a toboggan hill (wince). Friday is a day of rest.

After each run I also do some core strengthening exercises, as described in Runner's World of February 2003. I also bought some push up stands, and they are awesome. So many things you can do with them, and I finish off with a variety of push ups on them.

It all seems to work.

2005-10-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

The local Run for the Cure organizers and politicos. I'm the one in the black shorts.

Run for the Cure 5k

2005-10-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

After pretty much taking the week off from running after the half marathon last Sunday, I took part, as an organizer and a runner, in our local Run for the Cure in our community. We had well over 100 people and raised over $10k for breast cancer research. I sort of ran it twice, as I marked the route with pink ribbons and signs earlier in the morning, and then did the Run itself. It was a glorious day, and completed it in 23:34, not too bad for me.

2005-09-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

After finishing the Adirondack half marathon

Adirondack Distance Festival

2005-09-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

Some 280 kilometres from Ottawa lies the lovely town of Schroon, New York, nestled beside Lake Schroon, in the Adirondacks. Heaven knows what else it is famous for, if anything, but the one thing it has going for it is the Adirondack Distance Festival, on the weekend of September 24-5.

This is the ninth year running, and it offers a 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon. After doing the Alpine Classic eight-mile cross country race in Jordan, New York, a couple of times, I decided it was time to head somewhere else, and a scan of Runner’s World turned up the Distance Festival. Going somewhere for a race within reasonable driving distance in the fall as a mini-vacation for my wife and me has become a bit of a tradition, so Lake Schroon it was.

The half and full marathon wind around Lake Schroon, and the marathon is indeed a challenge, with some significant long uphills in the first half. For almost the first time, I decided to actually “train” for a race, rather than just go out and run around. I adopted the Runner’s World July 2004 issue’s nine week half marathon training guide, at intermediate level, and followed it religiously. I settled on a half pace of 5:15, and the rest was mathematics, and some 260 kms of intervals, speed work, hills, long runs, etc. But it worked, as I did the Terry Fox Run in 46:14 the Sunday before the half, the fastest time ever for me.

It’s a pretty drive to Schroon, about an hour southeast of Lake Placid, just off I-87. After driving the course, I agreed with the organizers that the first half of the half was virtually dead flat, and the second half, coming up the west side of the lake, had “gently rolling” hills, which looked pretty gentle in the car.

I hit the local wine store for alcohol loading the night before, and we took in the pasta dinner as well. I had no idea this area was so into the Bible belt. Every church you could think of has some kind of camp or Bible study facility here, including a megacomplex, The Word of Life, site of the dinner, which makes General Motors look like Dinky Toys. There is a Word of Life Bible study centre, an Olympic training centre, a campground, an Inn, their world HQ on an island in the lake, and probably more, all over the place. In a long conversation with the manager of the Inn, where the dinner was held, I learned they are “conservative Baptist” in their outlook, which probably accounts for the fact that the most exciting drink they had was herbal tea.

Race day dawned perfectly; overcast, virtually no wind, and about 12 degrees (50 something for Americans). After the marathoners took off from the centre of town, the half marathoners climbed into buses and were taken to the halfway point on the other side of the lake, and an hour later, off we went. Amazingly, I even connected with another running blogger who had entered the race! My not-so-trusty Garmin Forerunner 201 died at one minute and five seconds into the race, and only rarely came back to life during the entire race, to tell me I was pretty much on pace. I had neglected to start my stopwatch, relying on the Garmin (my bad) and so was running kind of blind, but the pace felt good.

There were plentiful water stations all along the route, and a couple of bluegrass bands. The 1500 or so souls of Schroon really get into the races, with lots of cheering. Traffic control is excellent.

About halfway along the “gently rolling hills” started, but they were not too serious; mostly long inclines and declines. The last one at the 12.5 mile mark was a long upward slog, however. As we neared the finish, a little mental mathematics told me I might even better my target time. I sprinted for what I thought was the finish, only to discover that it really was another 300 metres or so around the corner. “Arrrgh” said the legs, but I finished in 1:47:10, nicely under my target of 1:50, and about nine minutes better than the 2004 NCM half, my last race of that distance. Maybe this training stuff actually works.

To my pleasant surprise, my time was good enough for second place in my age group, exactly one second behind the first place guy. If only I had sprinted just a bit harder…
There was one other runner in the half from Ottawa; Layla Prieur captured third place in the 30-34 age group with a nice 1:37:43 time. The male winner was Drew Best, a 23-year-old from Southington CT, with a 1:12:34 time, and the top female was Katherine Danner, a 31-year-old from Mecklenberg NY, with a 1:24:59 time, and a new course record by almost two minutes. The male marathon winner did it in 2:48:30 and the top female came in at 3:13:46. There was one female marathon runner from Ottawa, Susan Killeen Ramsay, who finished second in her age group, 50-54, with a 4:25:58 time.
The race ended up with a free dinner for racers and volunteers at a local pub. The Distance Festival is a well-organized weekend, with great community support and a very scenic course. Next year it will be one week earlier, with expanded events, to celebrate its 10th anniversary. See http://www.adirondackmarathon.org/.

It's almost here!

2005-09-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

After about two months of serious training, some 260 kms of running, a fair bit of sweating and cursing, I am finally ready to head for Lake Schroon tomorrow morning for the race on Sunday. My wife and I plan to make this into a mini-vacation and come back on Monday. Seems like lots to see and do in the Adirondacks, to say nothing of the race. Found one other blogger who is going for her first half marathon; maybe we will meet up along the way. Hopefully we do not run into any major gas shortages with all the terrible stuff going on down south.

So stay tuned for race results early next week. I thought about taking my laptop and doing quick reports on my blog, but decided this is supposed to be a little vacation and that can wait until our return. The training has certainly helped, I feel good and so let's go!

Hooray for tapering!

2005-09-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

Final week of training for the Adirondack half marathon, and it's tapering. Gotta love it! Just a few short intervals and some easy runs this week. No doubt this training plan works, as I can tell I am running better than before. Hope it translates into a satisfying result on Sunday. Also got in some nice bike rides of 25 and 35 kms, on lovely days, not too warm, just about right.

Terry Fox Run 2005

2005-09-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did the Terry Fox Run in Ottawa, and while it is not technically a race, many people use it as such, as it is almost 10k, on pretty flat terrain, and it's a great cause. It is especially important to me as I was the main creator of the first TFR in Bogota Colombia in 1996 and again in 1997.

My training for next Sunday's Adirondack half marathon called for a six mile run on this past Sunday, so it was perfect. The training must be helping, as I completed the 9.63 k in 46:14, the fastest I have ever done the course, at an average 4:43/km pace, which was very satisfying to me. Conditions were good, and while it was getting up to about 18 degrees Celsius, it was not nearly as hot as it has been on some recent days. The run felt good and so did I.

This week is now tapering towards Sunday, with just some short cruise intervals and a couple of short easy runs of two or three miles. Eight weeks of pretty serious preparation are now over.

Heading out soon for a 25km bike ride, on a glorious fall day in Ottawa.

2005-09-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for the Terry Fox Run in Ottawa in 2004

Garmin Forerunner 201

2005-09-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

I use a Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS personal training device, to keep track of distance, time and pace, among other things, when running. It's a pretty amazing device, and you can download all your running data to your computer, to track your progress. I have been having some trouble recently downloading all the data, and a few other little glitches, but Garmin is working on them and basically, the thing works. Sure helps you maintain a desired pace, and gives you a whole bunch of other data.

Anyone else out there doing the Adirondack Distance Festival on September 25??

countdown to Adirondack Distance Festival

2005-09-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

Just another few days to the Adirondack Distance Festival in and around Lake Schroon, New York. I'm doing the half marathon, and have been training hard since the beginning of August. For the first time in a long time of running, I am actually training, vs. just going out running. I'm following the Runner's World half marathon program from the July 2004 issue, and it really works. Getting stronger and faster, and hope to maintain my target race pace of 5:15 per km.