what could go wrong?

next . . .

2010-02-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

well, seeing as how this adventure has come to an end, i think i'll resume posting on my other blob.

http://slowrunner9.blogspot.com/

thanks to everybody who followed along and made comments. it sure has been fun to say the least!

dora

what went wrong?

2010-02-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

''if you never did, you should.

these things are fun and fun is good.''

georgie has already mentioned a bunch of stuff, so i'll just add my two cents - for what it's worth. i got to the airport with no trouble and in tons of time - thanks wayne !!!! no lineup at the american counter - this will be easy - until - oh no - we need the address of the place you're staying in dallas . . . oh for god sakes! I DON'T HAVE AN ADDRESS !! i don't even have georgies' phone number !!! panic call to the wellness center and the lovely michelle managed to calm me down and get me the address of the super8 motel in huntsville. whew! crisis averted! thanks michelle!

georgie was waiting for me at the airport, and after a stop for pizza, some blue bell ice cream - a litre each - and a couple of wrong turns, we made it to his place. he was in the process of tidying up his house, and had arranged for a bunch of stuff to be stored in the garage. no problem except we had to get the garbage bins out to the curb (oh, sorry, they call them 'trash bins' in texas). and rather than try to move the foosball table, 249 pounds of weights, 3 bikes and an 8-sectional couch, we opted for dragging them all the way through the house and down the front steps. no problem! and oh ya, me and christine had wanted to get a traditional 'canadian' souvenir for georgie, so we opted for the ever popular beaver. it was to become our mascot for the rest of the week.

on thursday georgie had arranged for a few of his friends to meet me at his favorite friday night hangout - 'mexigo' - and a few - good grief - i counted at least 20 !! super nice people, and i especially liked crazy michelle and the lovely rachel. oh ya, and there was the 'handsome alfonso'. haha! check out the totally frightened look on my face!

we had planned on leaving around 8 friday morning for the 3 hour drive to huntsville. watching georgie trying to get ready was like watching myself! talk about A.D.D. and he never did find his headlamps!! we eventually got the truck packed, set the gps, patted our beaver for luck, and got on the road.

and of course, a road trip just wouldn't be complete without at least one trip to the dairy queen!

we made it to huntsville just after lunch and decided to check out the race start. it was located at the state park, just a short drive from the motel. upon entering, we noticed the aforementioned 'beware of alligator' sign and got yelled at by the park warden for driving too fast. oops! sorry officer.

race kit pickup was fairly uneventful, and we stayed for the pasta dinner. best part was the large serving of german chocolate cake! mmmm! after stopping at the napa auto parts store on the way back to get a flashlight for georgie, we hit the beds early in anticipation of a 4am wakeup.

race day

'what could go wrong?'
or should i say
'what went wrong?'

loop one

we started in the dark at 6am. temp was about 5* and most of us were in shorts. i was able to turn the headlamp off by 7. at one of the aid stations, this guy grabbed my arm and said, 'now i know where i've met you - transrockies 2008. i ran behind you for 6 days. you had that bloody doll on your back!' haha! texas - long time no see buddy! at one point, i started following this guy with strong looking calves who just plowed through the mud. found out his name was dan and he was from georgia. anyways, the first 20 miles went smooth and took about 4:15. only did one face-plant and i felt good.

loop two

stayed with my new friend dan for a lot of this loop. was eating pb and j sandwiches and roasted potatoes. i think about 2/3rds of the way around my feet started to ache. i got annoyed, and pushed ahead. when i finished the second 20 miles i was feeling like shit. i sat in a chair and pondered going back out. one of the many awesome volunteers came over and started chatting with me. he got me a grilled cheese sandwich and told me to really think about it before deciding to quit. my hips were burning and my feet were throbbing. i stayed there a bit longer and was almost ready to turn in my chip when dan came across the line. he yelled, 'hay sinister sister, get up and get going - you're tougher than that'. well, okay then. the clock read 9:15 - i had sat for almost 25 minutes - but i got up, stopped feeling sorry for myself, and tucked in behind him. thanks dan !

loop three

dan and i stayed together for almost all of this loop. it got dark with about 6 miles to go, so we threw on our headlamps. it was also getting chilly, so we added an extra layer. we were still running pretty good at this point. my feet actually hurt less when i was running. one of the aid stations started serving hot chicken vegetable soup - man that was good! i recall the section by the lake as being somewhat amusing! i was hearing not only peeper frogs, like we have up here, but these other frogs that truly sounded like they were laughing at us. and the other thing playing on my mind was not to step to far off the trail for a whiz, as there were alligators in the park, and i could hear rustling in the grass!!! we finished this loop (60 miles) in just under 15 hours, so that made it 9 at night. and, i actually felt better after this one. it was getting even colder, so we threw on some more clothes and headed back out.

loop four

after 20 minutes out on the trail we ran into georgie. he was about to finish his very first 50 miler! we both hollered and gave him big congrats! he was one happy guy! both dan and i felt okay up until the 3rd aid station. we then had a long stretch up a section of jeep road. he didn't feel like running, and i was getting really cold, so i just kept pushing. unfortunately we got separated and that was too bad. maybe it would have turned out different if we'd worked together. regardless, all i remember is getting colder and colder. my teeth were chattering and i was down to a walk. my feet were screaming at me and i was cringing with every step. so many thoughts were going through my head. do i quit, or do i try and keep going. lots of stuff played with my mind. i remember digger saying, 'pain is temporary, a dnf is forever'. stoopid digger! i thought of all my friends who just assume i can do these things. i thought at one point that i didn't fucking care what anybody thought. i was so cold. i wasn't having fun. i couldn't run anymore. it had been over 22 hours. i could maybe make the last loop by noon, but i'd probably have to walk most of it. i didn't want to walk the last 20 miles. i didn't come here to 'walk' a hundred miler. oh, thank god, finally, there's the line . . .

some will win, some will lose

some are born to sing the blues

but the movie never ends

it goes on and on and on and on.

'journey'

My Weekend with Wonder Woman

2010-02-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

Why Wonder Woman ? Cause I wonder sometimes how lucky I am to know people like Kendra.
This young woman is a combination of tenacity, sensitivity, humor, encouragement and class !
I can't imagine a better 6 days than to share an experience such as an ultramarathon with Miss Kendra..... a true Wonder Woman.

I wish you all could see an injured ( feet ) Kendra suck it up and run for 22 hours in freezing cold, in the woods.... no complaints, no excuses, encouraging others on the way.

We both learned that encouragement from this band of 700 Ultramarathoners came in two words... " Nice Job ". It is efficient, heartfelt and totally on message. As you pass the toiling runners, there is no How are you.... looking good..... keep it up......good luck etc. It is simply a short phrase..... " Nice Job ". Try it when you run, at work or in the home... " Nice Job ".

Well, this whole endeavour had it's highlights as any experience normally does.... but of course when you're with Kendra... there is plenty of fun to be had. We learned to shout " SHUT UP " frequently... to the idiot in Valero Gas Station, to the nimrod that checked us in at the hotel, to the guy that was coughing on us the night before we left, to the fat slob that served us ( often ) at the Dairy Queen ! So if you really don't feel like listening to someone in the future just tell them to SHUT THE F UP !!!! and then laugh your arse off.

We drove by the most ominous prison in the United States and learned that if you " Kill someone in Texas.... we kill you ". Really spooky to drive by a capital punishment mecca... really, regardless of your position on execution Texas Style.

We learned to appreciate Rachel and Debbie for two reasons !

Kendra learned to gawk at the Handsome Alfonso.

I learned to gawk at Kendra.... and of course the giant statue of Sam Houston, whoever the hell that is !

We both got a laugh from a stupid Beaver gift shop called Buc-kees ! Kendra was delighted to buy a sling shot with a Moose on it for a special friend. I was delighted to buy my traditional chocolate covered raisins. I would have bought some traditional brownies, but the better half of the Knuckleheads wasn't there and I will save that purchase for another time.

George also Learned to gawk at the 300 lb guy who did the 50 miler..... seriously, frickin awesome !

We both learned to fall in love with the participants in the race...... the 300 pounder, the two 80 year old ladies doing the 100, the 78 year old guy that was eaten up with arthritis doing the 100, the " Ladies Man " reeking of after shave that you wanted to hate, but instead saw his grit and could only say " Nice Job ". There was the young lady who had severe facial burn scars smiling and laughing as she toiled..... The guys running with no shirt for 26 hours, the guy with the 3 inch back hair...... the guy that was gassed after 1 hour and limped in to the finish line 16 hours later, the Canadian couple that flew down the morning before the race and ran a sub 24 hour 100 miler..... the 24 year old Costa Rican girl with about 2 feet legs..... she must have taken twice the steps of others in the race, sounds stupid but think about it.

I was impressed by the absolutely beautiful girl from California that knew she was going to have blisters on her feet...... she brought her own smiley face bandages and sat at the aid station patiently as others lanced and patched her up before she again went on her way, uncomplaining and simply trying to do a " Nice Job ".

It is incredible to watch the determined plodding of head lanterned folks of all ages and occupations in the totally dark woods at midnight. Slow or fast doesn't matter.... they are moving forward, in pain and totally uncompensated, unrecognized and totally happy !

I really am not trying to be dramatic..... I wanted to share a bit of insight with our readers.
It's downright emotional seeing the slice of humanity ... white, black, American, Canadian, European, Mexican etc. pursue a stupid belt buckle, quite alone but yet quite a part of a special family of runners.

Next stop..... Pike's Peak Marathon on August 22nd. I hope that those reading this will join me and Wonder Woman !!

let's take the elevator

2010-02-07T17:21:00.000-08:00

well, it's over. georgie is the true hero of the weekend. he pulled it all together and completed his first 50 miler! what a machine! as for me, i only managed 80 miles. my feet were screaming after 40, and i actually sat there for 20 minutes before heading back out. struggled through 40 more and finally decided to pull the plug. my body won out over my brain.

so we're both really stiff! but, we stuffed ourselves with mcdonalds and dairy queen today and are now watching the super bowl. will post more once i get back to canada.

am having a great time!! georgie is a blast!!!

if you kill someone in texas, we kill you . . .

2010-02-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

a few highlights so far . . .

well, we're here. we got registered and had our pasta dinner - complete with german chocolate cake! mmmmmmmm !! got together with some of georgies' friends last night at 'mexigo' restaurant and met the handsome alfonso - photo to follow!!! drove to the race start and happened to notice a sign that warned of alligators in the park. oh for god sakes???!!!! we came afraid of snakes and wild boars, and now we have to worry about fucking alligators!!! made a phone call to freddie (other half of team knucklehead) so georgie could call him a 'panty waisted, toe sucking ex-knucklehead hombre' for not showing up to run with us. oh ya, almost forgot - did some shopping at 'buc-ee's beaver on the way to huntsville!! hilarious!

so, race starts in less than 12 hours. some last minute packing for tomorrow and we're off to bed.

'what could go wrong?'

done!

2010-02-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

okay - got the clients trained. moose managed to unlock my pelvis a little - ow - but thanks - it feels a lot better! had a short visit with homey while he was laying on the chiro table having his calf electrocuted - mooooo - stoopid calf!! wish he was coming with !! and then back to the treehouse to load up my stuff.

hehe - just kidding! am leaving the dions at home!!! good one derrick!

so, as you can see from above pic, i'm done packing! with 40 minutes to spare! just have to shower and wait for wayne to get here. next step - the stoopid airport! i'm more freaked about that whole kerfuffle than the actual run!!

thanks again for all the hugs and 'good lucks' and 'have funs'. hopefully i'll be seeing crazy george in about 9 hours!!

'what could go wrong?'

and so it starts . . .

2010-02-02T17:56:00.000-08:00

well, it's 9:02 on tuesday night. i just got home from work, and am farting around on the computer. i should be packing. i have to be at the gym tomorrow morning for 7 to train doctor joe. i then have an hour to get over to see the moose for some last minute muscle tweaking before i leave. back to the gym for a couple more clients - little-short-and-cute, and mr. satin pants - and then finally home to the treehouse by hopefully 11:00. wayne's picking me up at 12:30 - SHIT! - I HAVEN'T EMAILED HIM YET! better go do that.

okay, i'm back. where was i . . . haha, georgie has already emailed me once to remind him of my flight time. ARGH! i haven't done my timesheets for this week yet! stoopid paperwork. better go do that. this is what i have set aside to pack so far . . .

OH!! before i forget, HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!!! especially to moose - he LOVES groundhog day! wiarton willie DID see his shadow, so we will be blessed with 6 more weeks of winter. stoopid rodent!!

oh yaaaa! JUST as i was leaving the gym tonight i spotted one of my very favorite redheads stretching in the corner. i dashed over and insisted he give me a 'long may you run' for good luck! after looking at me a little strangely, he managed to figure out 'what' i was talking about, and give me a 'palm five' and a 'long may you run'. thanks gordo!!

alrightee, it's now 10:05 and the above picture of the pile on the table looks pretty much the same. i DID manage to shave my legs - sheeeeeeeeesh! when was the last time i did THAT???? anyways, haha, check out the cool pic the captain sent me. this was in response to me hoping to find a rich texan while in dallas . . .

and hay! before i forget - big thanks to everybody wishing me luck this weekend!! it means a lot!!! will try to add more tomorrow before i leave!

(how am i doing so far trailman?????)

and you all wonder why i go crazy before a race

2010-02-01T17:26:00.000-08:00

check out the emails i've received over the past couple of days . . .

from georgie on sunday . . .

'of course i can't find your plane reservations . . . you get in around 7pm on thursday, right? (i actually get in wednesday at 6:20pm.)

it gets better . . .

'send me your reservations again every hour on the hour so i don't lose them . . . btw, i have them somewhere . . . but this is easier for a slug like me. is the race this week?'

not race related, but quite amusing regardless . . .

'do you have the grammy award show in canada?' yes georgie, and we all live in igloos too!!!

and this one's good . . .

'on second thought ya better rent a car (to get back to the airport) cause i'll probably have been helicoptered out at mile 33, which is when i will have keeled over from deep anxiety attack cause my car will be 200 yards from the end of lap two.'

and one more . . .

'kendra . . . the weather here in texas has been absolutely horrible . . . inches of rain . . . grey and cold. if the rocky raccoon was this weekend, it would have been impossible.'

and finally, a really cute one from my sexy fast running friend ali . . .

'hey kendra, just been looking on the rocky racoon site after reading your blog. now i can not see your entry on the list and they are getting close to their limit. now i know you are super organized this time, your blog says so, (and the blog doesn't lie), but have you forgotten to enter or have you changed your name or am i blind?'

ask me how much i panicked when i read that one!!!

anyways, the next time someone asks how i get before i race, i'm going to make them read this!!!

0 weeks 6 days

2010-01-31T14:33:00.000-08:00

got this from trailman today! kinda cool . . .

'after a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. it is not logical, but it is often true'

spock

and then he informed me that the above picture, although good, wasn't from that particular episode. soooo, just in case there are more trekkies out there, i'll include the right one!! sorry kev!!!

anyways, less than a week to go. not feeling as mental as before previous races, but i'm sure that will come. i'm actually a bit more organized this time, having my e-ticket printed off, insurance purchased, and rides to and from the airport arranged (thanks wayne and christine). week of training was pretty tame - only putting in 20 miles. couple more short confidence runs monday and tuesday and then i'm off to visit my buddy georgie and hopefully run a hundred miles!!

what could go wrong???

2010-01-24T17:43:00.000-08:00

Sunday Night..... New Orleans and the Vikings tied at 21 and instead of enjoying the game, I'm looking at reruns of Sponge Bob, frantically looking for an episode when Spongie plans to do something stupid and succeeds !!!

My 13 year old just set me up on facebook.... I plan to post my epitaph when the daunting Dorah comes to the great state..... I alway get confused how to spell " Dufus "... as in You wouldn't be dead right now if you weren't a Dufus to try to run 50 miles !!

Just heard from both Sat and Jo, the affluent world travelers from the Trans Rockies experiment. Awesome couple.... part of an awesome group of fellow runners that I would love to live proximate to so we could share local adventures ( and food, of course ).

Well, I ran 10 on Friday and 10 on Sunday..... I think this is pretty much it for runs of any distance. I'm gonna " Jog " some and do a little eliptical work and im[portantly, get a massage or two for Cary the Hun as previously " blogged ".... the 60 lb weakling that beats me like the Vikings beat the Dallas Cowboys a week ago.

Unlike Kendra, who plans runs that are social events.... I run alone ( no insane friends )....so I am looking forward to hooking up with what appears to be a fairly large group at the Rocky Raccoon.
So far, there are over 650 runners and they are actually concerned they will top out at the maximum 750 authorized runners in the state park.

The Huntsville, Texas State Park appears to be fairly scenic in Texas Terms.... we will be basically running around a large Lake and is on a packed trail. Kendra, not to spook you... but the one thing that could " Pee on our Cheerios " is for us to have rain.... the Texas soil has a high clay content and if the Trail is wet, the clay sticks to your running shoes like glue.... heavy and mushy and just plain fun killing.

On to Happier thoughts.... we have confirmed our reservations at the spacious Super 8..... they are thinking about having a free breakfast in 2015, so we're staying at a facility with aspiration.
Doesn't matter, I'm bringing a bucket of Tylenol PM to help with the ambience.

Anyhow, I'm gonna sign off...... I'm getting excited to run and to see a good friend. I look forward to meeting all the other folks that will be there and hope to take a siesta from this crazy world and enjoy the run.

Oh, almost forgot to mention that the mealy mouth, ultra conservative, spineless, panty waisted Frederick the Apple, the infamous 2nd half of the world reknown Knuckleheads has decided not to come to Texas to be our NASCAR sharp support team of one. Fred, you have betrayed the Alphi pho code and are out of the Homo club forever !!

Back to the game, looks like Bret Favre has just been Terminally tackled...... this should be interesting.

2 weeks

2010-01-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

the temp read -6 in the mazda as i drove over to coolis' to meet up with the guys. what a turnout! vents was back after a lengthy layoff due to injury - he looked kinda scairt! no worries baby - you'll never be last as long as i'm running! captain and digger drove up from the city, with digger amazed at how much snow we had up here 'in orangeville'. moose looked like his eyeballs were going to fall out and he smelled kinda sour, having left shoeless joes only 6 hours earlier! robbie came over from waterloo and brought a new recruit - what was his name??? and onions arrived sporting a pair of shorts and his new gps - a christmas present from the lovely lucy. this is the guy who didn't even own a watch up until now! hopefully he won't pull a 'laaaaaadies man' and disappear after a couple more runs! the plan was to run over to 9 and back, and see who was left standing. the trails were in amazing shape and we made for a decent pace. once back at the cars, me and digger stripped down to shorts, much to the captains' dismay. it took a bit of convincing . . .

but he eventually joined us for a picture.

vents figured that was good enough for him, so he headed out. the rest of us took off for k2 and met up at centerville creek, where we shared stories of running into low branches, falling on our heads, and dropping things on our head. we then came back up and opted to finish with the dingle, warning the new guy - what was his name - that it's uphill both ways! at innis lake we stopped briefly to discuss the tree that was hanging over the trail about halfway down - careful guys!

and got a picture of the new guy - we decided to call him steve.

as i was climbing the first hill on the way back, bringing up the rear as usual, i thought i heard someone yell 'duck', and assumed they were at that branch. once at the top, i found out that it was robbie who yelled, and that he had managed to run right into it, not yelling 'duck', but something that sounded almost the same! hehe! stoopid robbie! finally got back to the cars and after saying goodbye to moose and the new guy, the rest of us drove to timmies for a coffee. outstanding run! trails were in the best shape so far this year!

3 more weeks

2010-01-17T17:05:00.000-08:00

i guess the surprise of the weekend was georgie finally getting around to posting on 'our' blob! about time mister!!! thanks for helping me guilt him into it mimi !! and yes, what georgie says about her is true! she's one of the few chicks i know who could wear one of those skort things, and still look stunning even after running for 5 hours! this is her on the left with 2008 TR team cheetah partner sjohn.

saturday was a beauty day out on the trail. parked on duffys and ran the humber valley at least twice. lots of people out hiking. even came across christine and kevin on their bikes . managed to get in a good solid 6 hours. spent the evening watching a few episodes of 2 1/2 men. love that show! might have had a bit of ice cream to replenish low carb stores . . .

sunday i got up feeling pretty stiff. wasn't sure what condition the rail trail was in, so i dug out my blue screw shoes just in case. i took my time getting ready and eventually got going by about 10. ran over to kennedy road before turning back and then kept going to palgrave to finish off my distance. it makes you wonder what goes on sometimes when you're out running for hours! now who could have done this . . .

wait a minute, i know those tracks!!! it seems homey was up to his usual tricks!!!

and so, i made it through my last weekend of big mileage. put in 10 hours and 48 miles.

we'll see in less than 3 weeks if i've done all my homework!! argh!!!

2010-01-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been humbled into once again posting on this esteemed site..... prompted by the indomitable Miss Kendra and a mutual running buddy, the genteel fashion savvy Mimi !

This post is done with energy in that I just has a massage from one of Texas' finest.... Carrie, the Hun ! Yeehah..... she weighs about 60 lbs and beats me like a bad habit when I get on her table... Awesome massage especially now that I worked up the courage to remind her that glutes need to be rubbed at length to optimize a runner's massage. Yes, may I start by purging my need to let the world know that I like my butt rubbed.

So how is my training ? I have no fricking idea, is the honest answer. It is hard to benchmark now that I am almost 57 years young. I asked a running coach recently why I feel just as strong and just as fast as I did 25 years and yet my times are 60 % longer. She gracefully told me that there was too much sugar in all of my birthday cakes.... bitch ! She also confirmed that my hairline is receding on the left side... I maintain that it was a windy day.

I have run in excess of 15 miles about 25 times but have not done the real long back to back runs that my scripted training plan calls for. I'm listening to my body and intuitively think that a day of recovery is appropriate as opposed to a back to back. I am somewhat comforted by the fact that I did not follow the script for the Trans Rockies several years ago and " Survived ".... although the aforementioned Mimi the genteel told me the night before we began our adventure that she followed the training plan to the T and Freaked me out. Side bar..... the night before the Trans Rockies began a relationship with 8 other close friends that ate more food in 7 days than the Dallas Cowboys will eat in the next 4 weeks leading to the inevitable Super Bowl. Kendra, we have to find a way to get a DVR into our luxurious Super 8 motel for the Sunday football games.

So the honor of spending some time with one of the sweetest people on the planet is just 3 weeks away. I'm really looking forward to that as much as the run itself. Kendra has Texans to hug and I believe that her spirit could even solve the illegal alien problem here in the great state. She could have each side of the border hugging each other in just a few short days.

I would be remiss not to point out that the double dealing, lowdown, lowrent, lazy partner of the infamous knuckleheads is not participating in the Rocky Raccoon...... I will have a plaque on my casket reminding him that he has wimped out ! He will undoubtedly outlive me now that President Obama ( I never know how to spell his first name ) has given us National Health Care !

Anyhow, I am gonna try to be diligent in posting my thoughts through February 7..... I really would appreciate any thoughts / philosophies that folks have to help me plan and execute this stupid endeavour.

warming up and low branches

2010-01-15T17:10:00.000-08:00

so be careful if you're out running on the humber in the dark, especially if you're over 6 feet tall. moose, our favorite chiropractor, was moving along early monday morning, not paying very close attention to the trail, when all of a sudden he found himself 'charlie browned' and not knowing how he got there. apparently he was dicking around with his mitts, failed to notice a recently downed branch, and brained himself quite nicely!

temps this week got a lot milder. ran in rolled-up tights on thursday on the humber. trail conditions were pretty good! did 3 hours wednesday from humber station to hwy 9 and footing wasn't too bad. got a couple of nice pictures of the haunted forest by the gore.

planning my last 'long run' weekend starting tomorrow. then i can taper and get my poor old body ready for this next big adventure.

rumour has it that georgie started tapering a few weeks ago. 'what could go wrong?'

resolutions

2010-01-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

i guess i'd better put them down in writing. it seemed to work last year with the abs/no cookies thing! so, starting tomorrow, jan 11, i resolve to do a minimum of 150 pushups, 50 chinups and 3 days of solid abs per week. oh ya, i'll give up cookies again.

sunday

2010-01-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

sunday is my sleeping-in day. meaning i get up when i want and i start running when i want. saturday i try to work it out so me and homey can run together, but sunday is usually just me. after a big bowl of oatmeal and fruit, i got myself ready and drove over to the humber valley trail on duffy's south. it was a beauty of a day and the sun was nice and warm. i had thrown the dions in the car just in case. trail conditions were amazing - it was like a huge pack of people on snowshoes had stomped it down - best so far this winter! i made my way over to the north end before heading back. just as i topped the homey shite hill and was approaching my car, i came across my good friend lexi-girl ! she was just starting out on her snowshoes. 'hay, wait up' i said, 'i'll go throw mine on and join you' !!

she had done the mega-day 3 hour bike training with greg pace on saturday, and didn't seem to notice how slow i was!!! we had a great time but eventually had to turn back so she could get to her nieces' birthday party. soooooo good to see her!!

i felt i still had a bit left in me, so i decided to run down to the tennis courts and back. again, footing was good and i made it in half decent time. another saweet day of training out in the snow for a total of 3 and a half hours. one more big running weekend left and then it's time to taper.

only 4 more weeks

2010-01-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

pretty quiet week. had bootcamp twice with my CDS kids - lots of lunges and pushups! did a speedy snowshoe run with barb in palgrave on tuesday. managed an hour in semi-deep stuff. wednesday the captain was in town so he joined me and homey for a couple laps of the forest. followed that with lunch served up by homey! also discussed ideas for our pylon spring road trip - i've never been to tennessee before . . .

friday was steady with clients, but still fit in an easy 90 minutes.

the weatherman was calling for chilly-cold temps on saturday, but me and homey ventured out regardless at 8am. it was -25. but, after about 30 minutes, and the arrival of the sun, we were pretty comfortable. homey had domestic duties to attend to , so he turned around just past centerville creek. the snow was all crystally from the rising sun as i was trudging up k2, so i had to grab a couple of pics.

AND even better, the groomers were out and coming my way just as i approached the dingle! yep, our friends the japanese hikers, about 2 dozen of them, were in the process of stomping me an awesome path from innis lake all the way down k2. thanks guys! sure made my life easier for a few kms.

i turned back at innis lake and had another nice surprise when i reached the gore - snowshoe tracks - lots of them - making a nice, smooth path! my ankles were happy! i got to duffys and opted for one loop of the forest to fill in some time. despite the cold temps, it was an amazing sunny day to be out on the trail for over 4 hours!

busy first weekend for 2010

2010-01-02T15:46:00.000-08:00

well, after reviewing the weekend weather, i took a gamble that friday would be the best day for a long run. thank bloody hell i was right. despite the snow north of 9, it was a good temp and the footing wasn't too bad. i parked on duffys, and got going just after 10. when i hit humber station, i saw a black toyota parked by the road, and some big footprints on the trail ahead of me. just as i started up k2, i met the moose coming back down. after a few words, and a new years' hug, we said goodbye and carried on our respective ways. i slowly made my way over to the 7th before turning around. i found i felt better with every km i did??? on the way back, i stopped at hwy 9 to change sox, as my feet were pretty wet from all the snow i'd plowed through. when i finally hit duffys, i opted for a few more km in the forest so i could up my time for the day. i finished just before 4 with a running time of 5:48. not bad!

i woke up saturday feeling not too bad, but stiff through the calves. temp reading was about -26 with the windchill. after putting on a good 4 layers, i drove over to cooli's and had in my mind i would try and get in at least 3 hours. it was realllllly cold at first, but once i got going, it was actually quite invigorating! i again made it to the 7th before turning around. i just kept thinking this was so much better than laying around doing nothing. once i got back to the car, i refueled and made my way down the dingle, which proved to be in amazing shape! i could actually reach stride for the first time in 2 days. and with one last side trip down k2 and back, i had managed almost 4 hours. after a quick photo, during which i almost froze my hands, i jumped into the car and drove home a very satisfied runner! 9 1/2 hours in two days!

oh ya, in case any of you are wondering about georgie, remember him, the guy who is supposed to be blogging with me?? well apparently he is training, and he is serious about this race, as the email i got from him on saturday would indicate.

"so this friend of mine from brazil wants to go out to dinner tonight, drink wine and have a pyjama party! how do i explain that i can't cause i have to run 27 in the morning and more importantly, i am doing 3 loops for psychological reasons. she doesn't speak english that well! my portuguese is limited to one word . . . boa, with i think means 'good' ! i am such an idiot . . . but i'm already in a zone to run a marathon so once again, i'll blow my opportunity for a latin experience !!!"

way to go georgie! keep up the good work!!!

on sunday, kevin drove up from mississauga, (where there was very little snow) for a hike. i warned him to bundle up, put on his magic jeans, and be prepared for some major windchill. once in the forest though, it was actually quite nice. i made him email me once he got home, just to make sure he got there! he said i didn't have to worry, as the snow wasn't even staying on the roads down there.

AND, just because i hadn't done quite enough exercise yet to satisfy me, i managed to drag christine and october out for a snowshoe in the forest.

not quite sure what christine's doing here . . .

after 3 tries with the timer we finally managed this pic . . .

some last shots before we bundled ourselves back into the car.

thanks ladies for a great end to my weekend of playing in the snow. i think i'm happy in my head and am now mentally prepared for rocky raccoon. less than 5 weeks to go! ack!!

no wonder my feet are sore . . .

2009-12-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

so the week started out pretty rough! something i ate sunday evening sure didn't agree with me, and as a result, i was up most of the night, lost my record of not throwing up for 20 years - yep, 20 years - take that seinfeld - eventually slept all day monday, and lost 7 pounds. man, that was nasty! i can't remember the last time i was sick. i actually had to cancel all my clients - not that they really minded, although they were concerned. thanks to little bernie and miss liz'bet for offering the homemade soup, and my sweet glp friend for feeding me on tuesday. i didn't have much energy for a couple of days, so i took it easy. wednesday i wasn't sure how it would go, but i decided to try. i threw the dions in my pack and headed out from humber station towards hwy 9. actually made it almost through glenn haffy before turning back. felt pretty good!! must have been all the sleep, resting my poor body, and the loss of weight! hehe! footing was okay, so i didn't need my snowshoes.

and because tradition must be upheld, i did an easy 6 on the humber to close out 2009. here's a wintery view of the fern garden - the glp's fave spot.

yeehoo!

when i got home, i was curious, so i added up my miles for the year. survey says: 2,362 !! so like i said, 'no wonder my feet are sore!' think i'll put em up for a bit and give em a rest . . . ha! who am i kidding!!

happy new year my friends - may i have inspired at least some of you to get out and be crazy!

shorts to snowshoes

2009-12-27T12:08:00.001-08:00

saturday was our 4th annual 'don't run boxing day 10-miler' trail run. it all started in 2006 with the pylons deciding to drive to hamilton but not actually run the race course. instead, we took to the trails and had ourselves an amazing 2+ hour run through the escarpment. there was robbie, homey, the beaver, me, captain and laaaaadies man. it was a blast!

so this year, instead of driving all the way to hamilton, we decided to go to toronto and run out of the captains' place. the temp was a balmy +4 and we all ran in shorts through the trails of the don. stoopid dora - i forgot my camera ! and there were a few good photo opps too! grrrr! one would have been of us trying to scramble up some of the hills which were slippery as snot, sometimes seeing us sink as much as 3" in the mud. another would have been of the guys standing there waiting for me to fall down an embankment as i tried to maneuver around and across this nasty mud slide. and yet another of me trying to cross the don, especially after digger moved some of the 'stepping bricks'. i threw in a couple of rocks to make a path, as i wasn't about to put my feet in 'the don'. in total, we were out over 2 hours in the rain, and we got back with mud all the way up to our butts! we followed this with a supremo bacon and egg breakfast supplied by mrs. captain!! mmmmm!

on sunday, me, christine and kevin drove over to hockley for some snowshoeing. it was a beauty day for sure!! we all figured we'd better put in some time after all the crap we'd eaten over the past few days. we took these pics from 'the chalet' by the private ski club just before kevin tried tobogganing on a shovel.

we then waited for a ride on the chair lift but it never got going . . .

we even tried out a new side trail !

and of course, because we were in hockley, we had to hit the gen store. what a great day to be out playing in the hills.

phantom, a contusion and christmas eve

2009-12-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

got a surprise visit by the phantom on tuesday! yep, robbie was back in b'town and wanted a run on his old stompin grounds. met him late afternoon and had an awesome, yet short trek on the humber. in typical robbie fashion, he remarked that only trail runners consider the outdoors as their changeroom. he forgot to mention their bathrooms too! regardless, it was awesome to see him and run with him again. managed to catch a wicked sunset just as we were leaving the fern garden too. great to see you robbie! we miss you!!

wednesday i had plans to fit in a 3 hour run after my last morning client. i drove over to castlederg to drop water at the halfway mark. as i was getting out of the car and walking towards the trail entrance, i was stopped suddenly. thinking i had caught my coat sleeve in the door, i looked back in annoyance. doh! not the coat but the finger! oh for god sakes! i tried pulling it out and that didn't work, so i dumped the bottles and opened the door. nnnnnice! my poor finger was mashed, turning purple, had a chunk of skin hanging from it and was starting to bleed. i am such an idiot!!! it didn't really hurt though, so i continued over to the entrance to stash the water. it was about half-way home that i noticed a bit more blood and that the end of it was a pasty grey color. oh oh, starting to feel queasy now! bah! that passed and every time it throbbed i just held it over my head. i threw a band aide on it when i got home, packed up my snowshoes, threw on my yaks and was out of the tree house by 1:30. turned out to be a pretty good run, although i miscalculated the time, and just made it back by dark. still lovin the dions!!

and today was our annual christmas eve run. numbers were smaller this year, as it was only me, homey and christine who showed up. great run and the pace was nice and relaxed, although we did pick it up a bit on the way back once we realized that timmies was closing at 2pm. we made it there in plenty of time and got to enjoy a quiet coffee before the whole kerfuffle of christmas is upon us.

let the games begin . . .

yessssssssssssss

2009-12-20T14:30:00.000-08:00

so finally, after 7 1/2 hours of running over the weekend, i am officially out of my pissy mood and am smiling at nothing. i even went and did some dreaded christmas shopping!

first order of business on sunday was to try out my NEW DION SNOWSHOES! after talking to spaff yesterday, i took his advice and loaded up a backpack with my NEW DION SNOWSHOES. he suggested i gradually get used to them, instead of just hammering out 5 or 6 hours right from the start. oh puh-lease, would 'i' do that??? anyways, i drove over to duffys' south and headed out on foot with my yaks towards duffys' north. it was a beauty of a day and the sunshine was overwhelming.

i hit duffys' north in record slow time, but didn't really care. i was lovin it. took a little breather and some water before heading back.

once i hit castlederg, i removed the yaks, and threw on my NEW DION SNOWSHOES. sweet tunderin jesus - they are fucking amazing! it took me maybe 5 minutes to get used to them and then it was like i wasn't even wearing them. i didn't slip once and my ankles were singing! i did show some restraint and wore them only back to my car, but man was i tempted. from there i put the yaks back on and ran down towards the tennis courts. i dropped in briefly to see christine and then carried on over to the grumpy little portuguese's. my good buddy wayne and the glp's husband billie were just heading out for a ride into albion. they asked if i would drive over and stamp a trail down for them!! haha, nice try guys!!

after a rather scattered training session with the glp, i threw my shoes back on and finally made my way back to the car. total time out today was just over 3 hours. again, huge thanks to derrick spafford for providing me with just the right toy to get me through another winter of trying to run in the snow. you da best !

www.HealthandAdventure.com

'life is good'

on the road/trail again . . .

2009-12-19T15:30:00.001-08:00

well, i lasted 10 days. i can't recall being that miserable in a long time. i apologize to all who had to deal with me. i got back on the feet on tuesday. it wasn't fun, it wasn't easy, it didn't feel good, but i was back. as mr. chris used to say, 'order is restored'. spent 3 days just trying to get used to running again. i know that sounds silly, but you really do lose touch with those muscles when you don't use them. poor homey had to suffer through 3 hissy fits as i trashed my ankles running over to the dingle on wednesday. the footing was so brutal, that when i got home i emailed spaff and ordered a pair of 'dion running snowshoes'. a HUGE thanks for sending them out so fast! anyways, got them on friday and they are saweeeeeet !!! plan to try them this sunday for sure.

saturday the plan was to get up at 7, run on the rail trail for awhile and be back in plenty of time to hike with trailman at 3:30. 'what could go wrong?' i set the alarm for 7 and totally ignored it when it went off. i finally woke up at 9:30! doh! rushed through some breakfast, packed up some stuff, and drove over to humber station just after 10. not bad! footing was good in spots, and dreadful in others. not to worry, it was a great morning and the temp was perfect. made it to inglewood in just over 2 hours and ran up the hill to caledon cycling for some refueling.

my buddy don stocked me up with some shot bloks and some heed, showed me the latest in buff designs, gave me a cloth to wipe up the counter where i'd slopped some powder, and wished me luck on my return journey. incidently, he's done an amazing job with the shop since he took over. couldn't believe all the cool shit he'd brought in !! am planning a trip back tomorrow for some shopping, either that or i'll run back with my pack! unfortunately, i spent more time chatting than i'd thought, cuz when i finally made it back to the treehouse, trailman was waiting in the driveway. oops! he was okay though, entertaining himself with sirius satellite and howard stern. he patiently waited while i got changed and then we headed out for a hike in palgrave. he LOVES when i'm all f'd up from a long run, cuz i'm really stunned, and we don't end up going as far as usual! anyways, it started to get dark, and we headed back - me to the treehouse and him to his place in mississauga.

small note: i believe digger is officially off his diet. he emailed me last night after several beer and burgers at the captains, asking for a copy of a pic from our trip to moab, and wondering who was in the shot. 'ummm, i believe it's you digger', i replied. stoopid digger!

anyways, can't wait to see how stiff i am in the morning. but so what, it's good to be back !

'long may you run'

2009-12-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

'every time catherine revved up the microwave, i'd piss my pants and forget who i was for about half an hour or so.'

this is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies! sam had nothing better to do last night, so she came over to the treehouse and we watched national lampoon's christmas vacation.

our second favorite part was when the cat blew up under the chair. "if that cat had nine lives, it sure used 'em all".

anyways, did almost 2 hours outside on the misfit saturday afternoon. rode mainly dirt roads, and stayed warm right up until the last 20 minutes when the sun started to set. sunday i braved the snow and freezing rain to wander into bolton for kiana's hockey game and then some training with the glp. they got their christmas tree up - it's short and cute - just like her!! came home, procrastinated for a couple of hours, mopped the floor, ate a couple of hershey bars, and finally got on the trainer for 2 carmichael training workouts.

definitely back to the trails this week - or somebody gunna get a hurt real bad

thumbs of death and skiing

2009-12-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

went to see moose today and was greeted by the lovely annette - receptionist extraordinaire!

here we are sharing a few laughs BEFORE he tortures me.

owwwwwwwwwww!! and he still won't let me run.

after finishing up with my last client, i ate a box of butter tarts and some m&m's and went back to the treehouse. i thought about getting on the trainer, thought about doing some pushups, ate a hershey bar, and then finally decided to pull out my skis and give them a try. it has been at least 3 years since i've attempted this. i had considered it last year - even had richard put a new base coat of wax on them for me - but never got around to it. it took me a minute, but i eventually figured out how to hook them on!

i bumbled around for over an hour in behind the treehouse and managed to fall only once.

i ended up putting myself in a way better mood, and didn't feel so bad about eating all that chocolate . . .

guess i'll have to catch up on sheldon and the gang tomorrow. :P

big bang theory

2009-12-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

first of all, big thanks to all of you who expressed mutual annoyance that i didn't get into western states. i truly do appreciate that you get what it meant to me.

second, i haven't run since last saturday. this has been more difficult than when i quit smoking almost 20 years ago. i am ready to snap. i am miserable. i am getting fat. i went to see moose on wednesday and tried for a compromise. he said we already did, in that he originally wanted me to stay off my feet for a month. so then i asked if we could renegotiate. he said no. i might have to offer bribes next. i seriously am losing my mind. georgie asked how my injuries were, and if i was worried. i replied that i was worried about taking 2 weeks off and not killing someone! you remember georgie - he was supposed to contribute to this blob too! see, i am crabby! but enough. i am at day 5 so far.

and what HAVE i been doing?? well, let's see. sunday i bundled up and took my single speed out on the rail trail for over 2 hours. that helped a bit, as the constant pedaling was similar to my running cadence. as for the rest of the week, i've been on my trainer. in all i've put in just over 4 hours and i've watched something like 10 episodes of 'the big bang theory'. i'm happy to report that sheldon is the new love of my life, and that my ass callouses are back in fine form.

not sure how much longer i can do this. let's see what the weekend brings.

curses - foiled again!

2009-12-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

so today, for the third time, i was denied entry into the western states 100 miler due to my 'bad luck' at never winning or being picked for anything!! i had qualified through sinister and sulphur, but once again, wasn't one of the 'chosen few'. this sucks!

earlier in the week, me and the moose came to the conclusion that my body is just plain tired! gee, wonder why!? so after a last long run today with homey (mainly because i didn't want to sit around watching the lottery results on the computer) i've decided to give my poor, beaten feet a rest. i am going to try and just ride my trainer for a couple of weeks and see if that helps. hopefully the time off will mend things up and i'll be back on track for rocky by christmas.

soooooooo, i'll be doing a lot of this. . .

while sitting on this.

'what could go wrong?'

prep for texas

2009-11-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

it has to be done. i love my hills - BUT - there really aren't any where i'm going in texas - SO - i have to practise running flat to get my poor old muscles prepared. ack! and i just KNOW that this will almost kill me. so, despite the temp reading -2, and the ice on the puddles in the driveway, i dug another pair of shorts out of the drawer, threw them on, and set my mind to running on the rail trail. i figured i'd have to go as far as horseshoe hill road and back to get in my 15 miles. AND, i'd better be bloody sure to have my ipod all charged up!!!

you know what, it wasn't all that bad. there were actually a lot of people out on the trail today, so that kept me distracted. and, for sure i was the only one not all bundled up in tights and a toque, and that got me some strange looks! woo hoo - pylons rock! got my 15 miles done in just under 2 1/2 hours, and was greeted by miss zoey as i wobbled my way down the steps to the treehouse.

so i'm done for the week. i'm stiff and i'm tired. but life is good and there are still a ton of trails to run.

i ain't gonna be your fool

2009-11-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

okay, so i would have been on time for my run this morning except i happened to open an email from the captain while eating breakfast. when we were in moab, we were talking about certain flintstone episodes, and i mentioned the one where ann mar-grock sings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXCiS2FpmIc&feature=related

and of course most of you know what happens once i get on youtube !

anyways, i eventually made it over to duffy's, where homey and vents were waiting. vents was legally in tights, but seeing as how it was a couple degrees above zero, me and homey figured we could still wear shorts. poor vents was having grief with his ankle, so he turned around at the gore. just as well, cuz he was being kinda pushy, and almost knocked me off the trail just before humber station. and actually, now that i think of it, he was rather mean to me first thing this morning, asking if i was crazy to try and run 28 miles today! big nasty vents! part way up k2, homey noticed a big rock pile and asked if that was new?! i laughed and said no, look at the moss on it! but then i fessed up to having thought the same thing just a month ago. stoopid runners getting old and losing their minds! we made it to hwy 9 before homey turned back. imagine the looks we got from passing cars while taking this pic !!

i kept going and finally made it over to airport road. on the way back, my hammies were getting cranky, so i had to stop a few times to try and loosen them up. was tempted to have a little relax in the gazebo behind the tai chi center!

got back to my little red mazda after 44km and 5 1/2 hours of running. legs weren't really that tired, just very stiff! while stretching, sarah c pulled up on her bike. 'let's be idiots and take each others' picture taking each others' picture'. hehe! she had been riding in palgrave, and was heading over to albion for a bit more.

anyways, good to see her. and good to be running with my homey again! planning on doing 15 miles tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes!

'there's a town i know where the hipsters go called bedrock

twitch ! twitch !'

quiet week

2009-11-26T16:55:00.000-08:00

not much exciting this week. all 3 days were threatening to rain on me, but the spirits prevailed and i stayed relatively dry. got back on the trainer on monday for some hills, and that hurt! legs were fine, but my arse was killing me. that'll teach me for neglecting it all summer. the poor aquila didn't even want to change gears at first, but after a frantic phone call to wayne, and some tinkering with cables, she was back in business. guess she was angry with me! did almost 12 miles on wednesday on the humber, and man were my feet sore at the end??!! thursday was the usual 2 loops of palgrave, and i'm happy to report being 7 minutes faster than last week.

started the winter session of boot camp with the kids at country day school. awesome group this term and it's great being able to do it twice a week.

that's about it. planning a big weekend of running if my stoopid feet permit it.

john loves hockley too !!

2009-11-22T12:06:00.000-08:00

on another amazing late fall day, the secret love of my life came up from the big city to run hockley with me. the last time he joined me, it almost killed him. today he was flying up the hills - i'm thinking the crossfit training has paid off!!

we also had october come out. almost lost her on the very last section, but a bit of fast running and some bellowing reeled her back in.

as usual, we finished off the run with a visit to the hockley general store.

thanks for coming up john and hope you enjoyed your run in the valley.

xoxo

back to reality

2009-11-21T17:25:00.000-08:00

so the big trip is over - what an adventure. i had planned on going to cirque de soleil - didn't make it. i had planned on going mountain biking - didn't happen. i had planned on seeing the grand canyon - never got there. am i disappointed ? not at all ! cirque was more of a couples thing, which might have been a little awkward. after running the mountain bike trails in moab, i realized there's no way i could have rode them without killing myself - so that was also a good thing. and the grand canyon, well it will always be there. the other things i saw, like bryce canyon and zion national park, were spectacular, and i'm really glad i got the opportunity to go. AND, it didn't really matter anyways, cuz i got to spend a week with 5 really awesome guys. we had a lot of laughs and i can check off another incredible adventure from my bucket list. captain, digger, onions, cy and beave - thanks!!!

so we got back late wednesday night/thursday morning - thanks to boots for picking us up! couldn't manage to get to sleep, so i just stayed up, unpacked and shaved my legs. first client was at 5:30, so i didn't have long to wait. i was in a daze for most of the day, and instead of taking a nap, i decided to do a couple loops in palgrave instead. actually felt better! also blobbed the first part of our trip!

saturday i met homey at duffy's and we ran 'slowly' up to the top of k2. vents had screwed up the start time, but we managed to meet up at the bench and run back together. legs felt pretty good, but my stoopid feet still hurt. that's probably why i tripped over a stump on the way down and slow-motion face-planted into the dirt. grrrrr !! WHY DO I KEEP HITTING THE SAME KNEE!??? anyways, we finished off the run with coffees and plans for vent's upcoming christmas concert. so good to be out on the trails again with my palgrave pylons on such a sweet morning.

luv you guys !!

argh!!!

2009-11-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

good grief! i really should be packing right now instead of blobbing! i was up at 4:30 this morning for my first client. worked a few hours and dashed over to the health store to get my gels. back to work. hay! it's another beauty day - i should go for a run - well, i should really be packing - but it's soooooo nice out - just a short run - man it's nice out - just a little further. crap! it's almost 2 - no worries. i'll go home and start packing - i don't have to be back at the gym until 5. turn on the computer - OH OH - i'm supposed to checkin online for my flight. argh!! I DONT' HAVE A PRINTER! mad panic email to the captain, the glp and october. now what!? i'll pack while i'm waiting - hmm, maybe i should do some laundry - double crap - it's now 3 and i still haven't packed. frantic phone call to the glp and october - maybe they can print off my stuff. stoopid airlines! ohhhh, i just realize i have to fill out my timesheets for work. another distraction! wait, i think the washer's done - better go put the stuff in the dryer so i can pack - ack still have to pack!! oh no, still haven't emailed vents to give a pickup time for the airport. stoopid dora! OH FOR GOD SAKES, THERE'S A LADYBUG STUCK IN MY KEYBOARD! i know, i know, start packing! WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO SUPPLY AN ADDRESS AT CUSTOMS??? i don't know where we're going!!! i mean, i know which state we're going to, but not the actual city, or the address!!??? they're gonna screw me at customs for sure! stoopid airlines! and where is stoopid homey who's supposed to take care of all this stuff for me so i don't have a hundred meltdowns before i leave????? where's my camera? oh, there it is. wait, i should take a couple of pictures, it'll be funny! i'll include one of my bike - i love my bike!

okay, update, it's 9:17 and i still haven't packed. BUT, the glp came through and i am now officially checked-in and my baggage is paid for. woo hoo! vents is shooting over around 5:40 for the pickup, and we'll grab onions and head down to the airport.

finally, it's 11:06, and i'm done! off to bed now - big day tomorrow for the pylons!! have a great week everybody!! i'll try and take lots of pics while we're away.

i love hockley

2009-11-08T09:53:00.000-08:00

i wanted to be by myself today, so i drove over to hockley, threw on my pack and headed out onto all 3 side trails and the bruce. what a great place !!!

wow

2009-11-07T12:15:00.000-08:00

what a beauty day! it's november 7th and the temperature is 15*. isn't that amazing!? after a slow, cranky-leg run on the humber this morning, me and miss lilian spent some time relaxing on the deck of the treehouse, soaking up some gold.

met up with fati, vents and october for our saturday run. vents was dressed perfectly!

and although pylon rules allow tights after the 1st of november, they weren't necessary (as fati and october soon discovered). poor october drank a few too many glasses of wine with the girls last night, and was looking pretty green. we all got scattered out on the trail, and i opted for a little longer route. i was very tempted to stay lying on the grass by duffy's for awhile on my way back, but figured i'd better boot it back, as the others were waiting to go for coffee.

went for a hike in the afternoon with trail man - he's always bringing me tv series and movies on dvd , cuz i don't have satellite or cable (he just can't understand that). and today, along with season 2 of 'six feet under', and 'the big bang theory', he included the above button, which he felt was absolutely suited for me!? haha - thanks kev !!

'here i am, on the road again, there i am, up on the stage, there i go, playin star again, there i go, turn the page.'

'metallica'/'bob seger'

one more week

2009-11-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

i guess the bad news of the week is that homey can't make moab. his stoopid achilles is screwed, and we figured putting 10,000 feet elevation on it in just over 50k wouldn't be that good. stoopid achilles!! so that leaves 6 of us heading to moab now.

took it easy on tuesday - just did 5 miles on the humber. then wednesday put in another 8. legs are still a bit tired, so i'm glad it's a lighter week.

here's a pic from the top of k2 - love the yellow larch trees !

and a couple more . . .

thursday was such a typical fall day. hit sun, wind, rain and snow all within my hour of running in palgrave. still in shorts though ! may as well keep it going at least until we get back from moab !

'i didn't want to believe it then, but it all worked out in the end, when i watched you walk away, well i never thought i'd say, i'm fine without you'

hinder

time to taper

2009-11-01T15:53:00.000-08:00

okay, last heavy weekend of running and now i can taper a bit before we leave for moab. me and homey started from humber station saturday morning with the threat of rain. the toronto pylons - captain, digger and the beaver - and onions, were supposed to get going at 8 from coolis'. we met them about halfway up k2, and they decided to run with us back towards glenn haffy. digger was mentioning that we would be leaving for vegas in 2 weeks. no digger, we'd be running our 50k in two weeks . . . stoopid digger! oh, and check out the cool hat onions got me!!

once at cooli's, there was a huge group of hikers just getting ready to leave, so we pinned it back onto the trail. and, as usual, after about 5 minutes, me and homey lost sight of the rest of the guys. as we crossed hwy 9, and were easing our way across one of the many slippery bridges, we noticed a huge skid mark on one, and remarked that one of the guys must have wiped out. homey turned around at the 7th, and i kept going. as i was on the section between the 7th and the 5th, i met up with the guys, AND, i found out who had fallen off the bridge! haha! it was onions! apparently just as they were crossing, and as beaver was warning everybody, onions took a header - literally! he had a 2" ring of dried mud just below his hairline, and according to the rest of the guys, had landed right on his head!! perfect!! not his usual drop-and-roll style! we said our goodbyes, and i eventually turned around at airport road. the run back was uneventful, although the wind had picked up considerably, and the trees were crashing together pretty good up top. awesome blustery finish for sure! total run time was 5 hours and close to 25 miles. off to the glp's later that night to hand out candy and check out all the halloween costumes!!

i was pretty stiff when i first got up sunday morning, so i went back over to the glp's and watched her lift some weights, while i drank coffee and told her what to do!! me and pickle discussed his haul from the night before, expressing disappointment at only receiving one peanut butter cup. i then went over to the arena and watched nigels' little girl play hockey. it's funny how the smell of an arena never leaves your system if you spent enough time in them as a kid! and finally, around 11, i felt loosened up enough to get back on the trail. i started out slowly from the tennis courts, and took a good half hour to feel human again. check out this pic of the humber just south of the top of duffy's.

i had a pretty good spill on the way back. landed on a small tree and managed to draw blood on the same knee i always land on! argh! and i kept hitting hidden roots and hyperextending my stoopid foot - the same one i sprained last fall! argh! i met up with another group of hikers, and they graciously stepped aside to let me by. nice to see so many people out getting some exercise!

here's a shot of the trail just as you approach the lookout.

finished off with about 2:25 and 13 miles for today. in all, a great weekend to be out running trails and hanging with my buddies. just 2 more weeks till moab!!

'life is good'

50 at 50

2009-10-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

when i first heard of this i thought what a great idea! my friend and client jan niedoba turned 50 this year, and she decided to run a series of 5 and 10k races to make up a total of 50k. she also decided to collect money in support of all of these races. very cool! so between early (really early) morning training sessions with me, and lots of miles spent chasing the infamous tundra up and down hills and through the trail, she stepped on the start line for her first race on april 4.

below is a list of her races and times:
harry's spring run off 5k (35:34)

sporting life 10k (1:04:37)
acura toronto 5k (31:24)
island girl 10k (1:06:39)
longboat island 10k (1:07:10)
oasis zoo run 10k (1:06:52)

jan's farewell run at the zoo. 50 at 46.5 km.

i absolutely love when people set goals. and achieving them is just icing on the cake! congratulations jan - you did it!! 50k at 50. be proud of your accomplishment!!!

quiet week

2009-10-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

not much excitement this week. did lots of lunges and abs at bootcamp on monday with the kids. tuesday did my usual 4 miles on the humber and threw in some crossfit - 200 pushups, squats, jump lunges and dips - and 10 reps of the 82 steps. nnnnnnnnnnnice!! wednesday, me and homey started from humber station and ran up and up the dingle before reaching coolis' and turning back. here's a pic of homey at the end of the dingle. wait a minute, he's standing on a rock . . .

homey finally got his vulture bait plate cover put on the benz. much better, although it looks like it reads, 'play dirty, run tails'. doh!!

thursday i did my 2 loops of palgrave. the legs have been a little cranky all week, so i just threw in some pushups (195) and abs (lots). resting up now for the weekend - want to do one more long run before moab. woo hoo! the city pylons are coming up, but opting for shorter distances. initially digger had expressed interest in running with me, but the beave advised against it. gee beave, you're so smart!! instead, they're all running 2.5 hours, and then spending the rest of the time drinking coffee in timmies with a bunch of nuns.

and, i booked my flight for texas in february - what could go wrong???

hockley run

2009-10-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

it was a beautiful morning for a run in hockley. i convinced october that it was the 'less hilly' section and that she would be fine. we started on the 5th line and ran over to the 2nd - the bottom half of the infamous 'humpty dumpty' run from a couple of years ago. having been chirped by the captain on their last meeting, october, now disguised as september, was sporting her regulation pylon wear. (one more week until tights are allowed).

we came upon these little dudes just past the golf course.

as with all our runs in the past month, the forest was a spectacular wash of color. this is just by the big ravine before the 5th line.

and here i am trying to convince october that we only have ONE MORE HILL to climb. hehe!

awesome job today girl. for someone who claims to 'suck at hills', you sure kicked ass. be proud that you made it up every fricken one - including the nasty gravel road at the very end! running time was 1:35 and we covered around 7.6 miles.

cool quote from the captain . . .

"at our age, getting out of bed in the morning is an adventure, let's see what hurts today"

love it!!

saturday run

2009-10-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

we eventually all made it to cooli's this morning for our saturday run. robbie came over from waterloo, captain and the beaver were up from the city, and the caledon pylons consisted of me, homey and onions. meanie had thought about coming, but according to the captain, the trails were wet. hmmm. anyways, we all got over to the 5th, where cap and the beaver opted for the 'big boy run', continuing over to airport road. the rest of us chose the 'little girl run' and headed back to the cars. robbie and onions immediately disappeared from sight, so me and homey went for the 'molasses leg pace'. homey managed to catch dozens of burrs coming back down the switchbacks, while i remained clean.

he also managed 3 lacerations and a mild contusion, although we're not sure what from!

took this pic from the bridge just north of hwy 9.

we were both pretty knackered by the time we got back, but we still managed the last stoopid hill coming out of glenn haffy. robbie and onions were long gone, so it was just the two of us off to timmies for coffees and a snack. i made sure i picked up the empties at the 7th before accusations of caledon water bombing surfaced again.

stoopid penguins

2009-10-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

so my good friend and client liz'bet is finally heading to the antarctic to see her beloved penguins. she's also doing some insane hiking in argentina. i think it was about a year ago she decided to book this trip, and she asked me to get her in shape. we dragged her out of bed at 7:30 in the morning 3 days a week, we made her get on a treadmill, we made her walk up and down stairs in her big 'ice-field boots', we made her walk to work in hiking boots, we made her do hills on the treadmill in hiking boots, we made her walk to work, in hiking boots, while carrying a big backpack, and we made her do hundreds of squats, crunches and pushups. finally, this morning, after a few more hills, some abs, and the dreaded 'dead bug with a ball', miss liz'bet is 55lbs lighter and ready to take on the penguins.

here she is all freaked out cuz i'm making her exercise when she could be trying to repack her suitcase for the 57th time!

in her honor, i ran my usual 2 loops of palgrave, with 180 squats, pushups and leg drops, and 90 jumpsquats, crunches and laterals. plus 50 dips for good measure! and, my legs are still tired so i think i'll go easy this weekend.

and as for liz'bet, have an awesome time sweetie and go chase those stoopid penguins. come home safe to me, mum and pops.

luv ya !

speedy friend !

2009-10-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

so on the weekend, my sexy running friend alistair came 14th overall in the toronto half-marathon !! can you believe it!!?? his time was 1:19:54 - who the hell runs that fast!!! in his words, 'i ran my guts out, it hurt but soo chuffed with the result'. awesome job ali - you are amazing!!! but i'm curious - what does 'chuff' mean????

me, well my legs were still knackered from back to back runs on the weekend, so i settled for an easy 4 on tuesday. did some pushups and stuff, but no hills. by wednesday, i was feeling much better, so i headed out from the tennis courts for my mid-week longish run. came upon these guys just past the stairs on the section of the humber north of castlederg!

despite the grayness of the day, the colors were still stunning. here are a couple more shots from the same section.

i ran to just before duffys' north before coming back, ending up with over 12 miles.

special thanks to richard for being so patient while he dug some crap out of a tooth and refilled it. he figured it was a bunch of cliff blox or power bars. i'm figuring it was the monster pecan butter tart i ate on sunday! i must say, that was by far the least stressful cavity i've ever had fixed. for someone who can run for hours on end i sure can be a baby when it comes to going to the dentist. i do think he was extra generous on the freezing though - as it was almost 8pm before i could feel my mouth again, and we had started at 3 ! AND he said we caught it just in time. if i had have left it, and then flown to vegas in 2 weeks, the pressure from the plane, and the altitude in moab would have made it explode - or something nasty like that! could you imagine!!!!

thanks again richard!! you da best!

shag carpets, curbs and stumps

2009-10-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

this is one time i would have killed for a camera - or at least christine would have. woke up this morning really stiff - that'll teach me for not running easy yesterday. met christine and annie s over at humber station to 'try' and run. started off brutal - could barely move the legs up the first little hill! poor annie tolerated our pace for about 5 minutes, and then apologetically asked if she could go by - can't blame her at all ! me and little c persevered and made it over to the bottom of k2. what the heck, let's give it a go. i actually felt pretty good going up, chatting away, until - DOH - where did that little half inch stump come from. i went down, and christine immediately made the comment like 'gee, that didn't sound too good'. and then, as she was turning around, she noticed me lying in a pile of horse poo, with another just below my butt and a third just above my head. oh my god, we were laughing so hard. it took a good 5 minutes before we were able to stop, and then get me back on my feet. 12k of running, and i have to hit the one spot that has 3 lumps of horse poo on it. normally i could have recovered from such a small stumble, but today the feet wouldn't lift more than 2 inches off the ground. and so to robbies' statement of after a long run, trying to avoid shag carpets and curbs, we add half inch stumps! too funny!! we eventually made it to the top of k2 without further incident. the way back was fine too, except for a couple of mountain bikers complaining about a bit of mud on the trail. excuse me - you're mountain biking. haha, wait until they get to the section with the horse poo.

little c had to jet, so me and annie drove over to hockley for a sweet coffee and some yummy snacks. whoda thought an extra large muffin and a pecan butter tart could fill one up so fast??!! not to mention the caramel chocolate puddle. argh! anyways, another great fall day in the forest. thanks ladies!!

'life is good'

play dirty - run trails

2009-10-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

the weather couldn't have been nicer for the annual running of the vulture bait trail race around fanshaw lake in london this saturday. the pylons had an impressive showing, with homey, robbie, vents, boots, the grumpy little portuguese, and mrs. beaver going for 25k, and me, captain, digger and the beave doing 50. much to the captains' dismay, there were way too many rule infractions to even count, and something was mentioned about resorting to handing out fines.

we managed to get distracted with the contents of diggers' cooler,

and further distracted by digger injuring himself before he even started (something about stabbing himself while trying to attach his race bib)

to the point where we found ourselves not at all ready when they started the race. clothing was not entirely in place, and watches hadn't even been reset from previous runs!

i managed to catch up with homey just before the end of my first loop, and could congratulate him on an awesome finish - especially considering he'd been on the disabled list for most of september and october! i don't have any exact times, but i think robbie was first pylon across the line, followed by boots, homey, mrs. beaver, vents and the glp. super super job everybody! and vents, don't even think you're giving up baby! you know it's not in the constitution, AND, i just won't allow it!!!

beave was the first finisher in the 50k - some stoopid fast time like 4:30 or something like that! damn skinny-little-boy-bum !!! digger and captain were just a minute apart, and i brought up the rear! digger caused a bit of an altercation by pushing some poor girl out of the way crossing the finish line, and the cap was forced into a sprint with some other guy. me, i came in without incident at 5:13, and would have been a bit sooner if i wasn't forced to 'pull a robbie' on the second loop. oh, and brian, sorry for passing you at the 45k mark and not recognizing you. and even more sorry for my horrible singing.

here's digger and the glp waiting for me to come in.

AND look who i met at the finish line! rita and harry! it was sooo great to see them! they took time out from their busy schedule of trying to spend all their children's inheritance to come and watch us. unfortunately though, they slept in, and missed christine coming across the line. DOH!

'honestly honey, we thought we had lots of time . . . '

here's captain and the beave post-race. not sure what cap's laughing at??

and here's me, homey and meanie queen mrs. beaver just being silly.

we were just about to leave, when they called nick roberts up for 3rd place - who the hell is nick roberts??? congratulations beave - love the trophy! and of course homey just had to get in the picture.

now let's take a look at homeys' new car. the country pylons are moving up in the world. we're driving a benz baby! check out the plate - be homey 016 - purely coincidental.

one last thing. we met scott simpson and his buddy adrian out on the course. both were wearing half of matt tathams' race bib. matt loved the vulture bait and it was only fitting that he run it one more time. you were with us in spirit my friend.

'long may you run'

thursday loop

2009-10-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

did a fast 2 loops of the forest. managed to cut another 2 minutes off our record! also did some squats, pushups and situps (180 to be exact). legs a little knackered by the end but finished strong! chilly but beautiful day.

taking friday off and then to london on saturday for the vulture bait 50k. should be fun - lots of pylons attending!!

cool runnings

2009-10-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

chilly week so far. i don't think the temp got above 10. ate wayyyyyyyyyy too much at the glps' on sunday and gained something like 7 pounds. argh!! tuesday was supposed to be an easy 4 with some hills, but i ended up doing weights first in the morning. my client 'paul (aka 'the tank') had to cancel. he took out his inner thigh moving firewood, which is incredible considering all the crazy stuff i make him do in the gym. here's hoping he gets better soon!! anyways, once i finished with the rest of my clients, i took off for my run to the big log (which is no more). on the way back, i decided to do 10 repeats of the 'homey shite hill'. felt pretty good!

wednesday is mid-week kinda long run day, and the schedule called for 12 miles. i parked at humber station, ran over to and up k2, and then up and up the dingle. here's a pic of a really cool tree down by the creek.

and here's a pic of me hanging out on the dingle.

yep, it's definitely getting cooler. how's the weather down in texas georgie??

she almost killed us !

2009-10-11T11:02:00.001-07:00

it was 'take one of your clients' kids to run day' - what could go wrong?? well i'll tell you what -she's only 15 and she's only run 4k before. BUT !!!! she ran it in 14 minutes! good grief! i dragged christine out with me - told her about the 4k distance, but neglected the 14 minutes part. her dad brought her down to the tennis courts and planned on meeting us up at duffy's to see how she was making out. i told him we usually get up there within 26 or 27 minutes. hmmm! i guess both me and christine subconsciously decided we didn't want miss hayley thinking we were 'the old ladies', so we picked it up a bit. A BIT!! for the love of pete, we were at duffy's in 24 minutes! argh! we kept her going to the 9.1k mark before we turned around, and then brought her back to duffy's. we left her with her dad, and made our way back to the tennis courts at a much more sensible pace! as for miss hayley - great job girlie - you ran 9k today! and you ran it well. as for me and christine - well, it almost killed us!!

and so this gave me a total of just under 44 miles. next week picks it back up again and we have vulture bait 50k on saturday. should be great - lots of people going, including a special guest appearance by rita and harry! better make sure i have my heart on . . .

fall rocks

2009-10-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

so i did my usual 2 loops of palgrave on thursday - by myself as homey's resting his calf (moooo). threw in some squats, pushups and situps (150) and managed to cut another minute off our time! down to 1:03. i remember it taking us almost 1:30 for 2 loops in the winter with all the snow. felt good and finished strong! not sure what georgie's been up to !????

this is an easy week according to my schedule, so i only had to do 14 miles. met up with homey, captain, the beaver, christine, vents and annie at cooli's for a reasonable 8am start. cap immediately took note of annie's tights (not allowed until november 1st) and labelled her 'october'. welcome to the pylons annie - you were warned! cap and the beaver tried some 'nuun' electrolyte tabs. beaver compared them to alka seltzer, and i think they finally stopped fizzing in caps' bottle about half-way back from airport road. the beaver hit the port-a-potties at the start, and we didn't see him again until almost the 7th line - must have been some good reading material in there! anyways, the pace was a little quick, and we all arrived at the lookout around 45 minutes later.

here's a pic of the gang trying to figure out where the cn tower is.

so homey, vents, christine and annie turned back at the 7th, while the 3 of us kept going over to airport road. vents gave me his gps thingy so i could measure the actual distance. the guys pointed out both spots where ankle sprains were incurred last week.

here's cys' shrine - how ironic that he fell right at this pylon! what are the odds?!!!

took this pic just before our fave (NOT) last climb coming out of glenn haffy. gave me an excuse to psych myself up! so beautiful!

the 3 of us got back to the cars with no injuries! here's a pic of the cap just finishing up the end of the k2 climb. total running time was just under 3 hours for 15.7 miles.

we weren't too sure, however, about the status of the old guy laying in the back of his pickup. relief settled in as he started talking and moving around. we then made our way over to timmies on hwy 9 for a coffee and snack. it was here that the captain paved his way to hell. there was some lady blocking the entrance to the parking lot, and just as he pulled up beside her, and started the hand gestures and some hollering, he realized she was a nun. not good!! payback was swift, as he had to wait the longest for his food, and was served a very small version of the usual roll that comes with the chili combo! be thankful that's all that happened cap! we finished off our morning with more discussion about our upcoming trip to moab!

i love my running buddies!

homey's back !!

2009-10-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

monday was the usual - got up at 5 and did some weights. then tuesday headed out on the humber for an easy 5. picked the last hill before the rec center for repeats - started at the top with 25 pushups, and then ran down and up for a total of 8 times and 200 pushups. time out was an hour ten.

homeys' calf was feeling good enough to try a run with me. we started at humber station and ran up to the start of the dingle. the wind coming from the north practically pushed us down the gore road coming back. love running when it's all blustery like that!

just look how much stronger homey's become with all the crossfit we've been doing!! wow!!

more goofing around ! it's good to have my buddy back! and i'm happy to say the calf (mooooo) survived the run, even with k2 thrown in.

blueberry hill run

2009-10-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

no christine again this weekend, so i opted for a blueberry hill run. there aren't actually any blueberries, and it's not much of a hill, but the moose named it a long time ago, and it stuck. tradition requires everytime you run by this post, you have to circle it and sing ' i found my thrill . . . ' anyways, headed out on my own around 10.

met up with annie ess on my way back. she finally got her lazy arse off the couch after cozying up with a book all morning! love the extra terrestrial effect of the vest for sure!!

and of course, being the clod that i am, i had to get her to take a pic of me. no, i can't just stand there and look normal.

finished up the weekends' training with a 2 hour run of almost 12 miles. headed over to the glp's for some weights, but not before we treated ourselves to a coffee and a nasty chocolate snack from mercatos. then got spoilt with a visit by the tony, bearing gifts of homemade lasagna and bread for dinner.

'life is good'

retired sauconys, a bee sting and 2 ankle twists

2009-10-03T16:56:00.001-07:00

thursday i headed into palgrave for the usual 2 loops. i was on my own this week, as vents' holidays are over, and homey is once again on the temporary disabled list. stoopid calf! i'd had a massage from the ever-nasty channie the day before, and was feeling pretty good! i managed to cut 2 minutes off our record time, and included a bunch of crossfit. the run also gave me 450 miles on my old sauconys, so i figured it was time to retire them. they served me well, especially through the 146km of the sinister 7.

plans for saturday involved a repeat visit by the toronto pylons. i started out from humber station at 6:30 with my headlamp - it was still pretty dark. as i was just finishing off the dingle - the uphill part - i looked up and noticed robbie! he had come over from waterloo to join us!! we ran together up to cooli's, and met up with the rest of the guys - captain, digger, cy, vents, onions and the beaver. it was a pylon reunion! woo hoo! i believe there was only one rule infraction involving a pair of arm warmers, but we won't mention any names. after only 3 minutes and 47 seconds into glenn haffy, i made everybody stop so i could take a pic. i figured i wouldn't see the rest of them again!! do you like how they coordinated the shot, with the black shirts on the outsides, and the blue in the middle??!! almost as bad as the matching bel monte shirts last week.

me and vents managed to catch them at the top of the lookout by the 7th. notice how we all coordinated the colors again. what was up with that??!!!

and so the guys headed over to the water drop - no police this time - while me and vents kept going. well, vents stopped to turn around just before the entrance to the trail, but then decided to go a little further anyways. i was clueless as usual. while at the 'water station', cy managed to get stung, but was okay. the rest of us met up at the tai chi center, and i started on my way back. here's one of the brief moments the sun came out - on the 2nd switchback north of 9.

unfortunately, poor cy twisted his ankle just after leaving airport road, and had to walk up and eventually meet robbie for a ride back. and then a little later, digger was distracted by robbie going off to do 'whatever' in the bushes, and he too twisted his ankle. so according to cap, by the time they got to the dingle, there were only 2 of them left running. again, i was clueless. once i got back to my little red mazda, i drove up to the 7th to pickup the empty water bottles. i passed by cooli's and found cy sittting in the car waiting for the rest of the guys to finish. we decided to go and grab a coffee, and were later joined by the other 3 toronto pylons. we sat in timmies, digger with an ice pack on his ankle, and discussed training runs for our upcoming epic adventure to moab in november. in all, a great day!

thanks guys - life is good !

Off to the Marguerita Bar

2009-10-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I just did my " Saturday Run " on Friday ..... night. It's a beautiful thing not to have that to do in the morning. I'm off to the Marguerita Bar for Salsa lessons. Hope my legs can stand up to the Hispanic pulse !

Kendra, have a great run in the morning. I'm gonna sleep in and go 9 on Sunday morning.

Beautiful sunset tonight in Dallas.... hope your sunrise is the same. xx oo

Oh lest, I forget to mention that my mealy mouthed, good for nuttin ex friend Freddie the former Knucklehead talked to me from his strenuous day on the golf course today. What an absolute puss !!

Basing Transition

2009-10-01T16:15:00.001-07:00

Well, this weekend I will move from building a base to my first significant run of 18 miles.

I'm really feeling quite " Cocky " ( :) ) over my strategy of building back some muscle tone and hamstring strength prior to moving to a more traditional training schedule for a distance event.

I've run a series of 9 milers, but also have done some speed work, some hills and some runs with a 20 lb " Suicide weight vest ".

Kendra is making me post.... I have been lazy in that regard. But not too lazy to continue to call out my mealy mouthed, panty waist, sissy pants ex knucklehead team member.... Frederick the Apple for refusing to get on board and thus hastening his demise.

Btw, I know Kendra has a lot of friends... some of whom may be females. Please know that I am a pitiful divorced man that is willing to sleep with almost anyone ! So if you think I am witty and interesting, I will send you a first class ticket to Dallas for conversation and perhaps more !!

Hee Hee !!

end of september

2009-09-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

sheesh! the temp sure dropped this week. had to double up the shirts and put on the mickey mouse gloves. not complaining though!

no running monday, just some weights with kim (when she finally showed up - but that's okay - i still luv her) and some bootcamp with the kids at CDS.

tuesday headed out on the humber for some hill/step repeats by the boy scout bridge and some close-grip pushups (105) on a fallen tree.

wednesday seemed like a 'run with the turkeys' day. and no, i don't mean the toronto pylons! went out on the humber again for about 10 miles and came across 3 separate gangs of wild turkeys. the rain held off, and it was a good temp for running. colors are just starting to change.

had to give georgie hell for not posting - as this was HIS idea!!

black-eyed suzies

2009-09-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

just a short post to finish off the weekend. christine did a mountain bike race yesterday, and wasn't available for our usual sunday hockley/gen store run. (sad face). i headed out on my own on the humber from the end of the trail down to the fern garden. farmer brown had just plowed his field where we entered the trail into albion so that made for a couple hundred yards of lumpy dirt running.

the section from castlederg just past the entrance has been beautiful lately. both sides of the trail are bordered with tons of black-eyed suzies - one of my favorite flowers.

it's been a long week of training, and my poor legs are feeling it. i put in just over 2 hours today, and almost 12 miles for a grand total of 58. i celebrated with way too many sinful snacks at the glp's, and a double scoop of banana caramel/chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. it doesn't get any better than that!

hope everybody had a great weekend!

dora had some 'splainin to do . . .

2009-09-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

so i had planned on running from humber station up to the 5th today, with a side trip to the dingle (which is uphill both ways). i met up with vents at 7 and headed onto the bruce. we weren't sure where onions was, but figured he'd catch us eventually. as we were going through the haunted forest, we spotted this huge owl flying overhead and eventually landing on top of a dead tree. very cool! even sat there so i could get his pic.

i had told the pylons that i would be at cooli's by 8:20 - and i was only 15 seconds behind schedule - not bad! as cy, digger, onions and the beaver came towards me, i couldn't help but notice that 3 of them were wearing their bel monte shirts. did they call each other the night before and plan that? how cute! the grumpy little portuguese was also with them. now knowing i could never hope to keep up with their pace, i tried to explain where i had dropped water. the brains of the 3 married guys instantly focused on something else (because a female was talking), and their eyes glazed over as i gave directions. cy was the only one who seemed at all concerned. so off they went - never to be seen again! not my problem! once vents caught up and we made sure he was okay to head back by himself, me and the glp took off.

we decided to both run our own pace, and once i got her to hwy 9 (she is a little directionally challenged), we split up. as i approached the ladder at the 7th, there was a huge flock of japanese hikers coming towards me. i didn't really need water at this point, so i waited for them to pass, and made my way down the road and eventually over to the 5th. no sign of the 4 pylons. on my way back, i figured i'd better refill my camel, so i went into the parking lot where i had stashed some water the night before. there was a police car sitting there, but i thought nothing of it. as i was rummaging through the bag, i happened to look up and notice there were 2 officers staring down at me. oh oh ! i asked if i was in trouble. they asked if i had put that there, cuz apparently, someone had spotted me dropping a 'suspicious package' last night - oh ya, like i look like a terrorist in my little red mazda3 - and phoned the police. they had already gone down to 'inspect the package' and found it was just a bunch of water bottles. i asked if they'd been waiting all this time for someone to show up. they said not too long. honestly, the people who live on that road have way too much time on their hands. so we all had a good laugh over that, and i thanked them for not 'confiscating my water', and they let me take their picture! too funny!

i carried on, and to my surprise, caught up with the glp on hwy 9. she had been feeling great and decided to go a little further. good girl! we ran back to cooli's together, and after another hug, i left for my final 7km. again, no sign of the pylons. i made it back to my little red mazda with a running time of 4:17 and a total of 23.3 miles. sweet run on a sweet day!

oh yes, the remaining pylons did find the water, and did make it back to the pt cruiser. they love our trails so much that they plan on coming back up next weekend.

and so on sunday, i got this email from digger who was responding to my comment on brain-numbed men. he described what happened when they got to the parking lot where the water was. we have to imagine who was saying what.

"i think she said it was on the right hand side of the parking lot"

"didn't she say something about a tree?"

"but that's not a tree, that's more of a bush"

"there's a tree over there, but it's on the wrong side of the parking lot"

"maybe she meant the right hand side of the parking lot going in instead of coming out"

"let's check under the bush"

"nothing here, must be under the tree"

"found it!"

need i say more??

pros and cons

2009-09-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

i seem to recall homey quietly mentioning to vents, while i was doing my situps, that these were the pros and cons of hanging out with a personal trainer. hmmm! i guess he was referring to our running/crossfit session in palgrave today. after a right kerfuffle trying to arrange a start time, we finally managed to get vents puffed, and the 3 of us in the p'lot at 11:50. me and homey decided to throw in some stuff during our usual 2-loop-palgrave-thursday run. i'm not sure vents heard us, as he ambled along happily and unawares behind us. after 10 minutes, i came to a stop and barked out, 'okay, 20 squats and 15 pushups'. vents kinda stood there in surprise, and me and homey farted around doing our exercises. once done, we headed back on our way. this continued the whole run, adding more cool things every 10 minutes, like situps, jumpsquats, walking lunges, jump to a big log, and the grand finale of all of the above, with 15 dips thrown in between each one. the time was exactly 1 hour, which meant we had less than 10 minutes to make it back to the cars, or we'd have to do another set. again, poor vents wasn't sure what was going on, as me and homey pinned it back. woo hoo! 2 loops in record time - 1 minute less than our previous best. final crossfit total was 120 squats, 90 pushups, 100 situps, 90 jumpsquats, 60 walking lunges, 30 jump-to-log and 90 dips. great job guys!!

wild horses and uphill both ways

2009-09-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

wednesday is my mid-distance run, so i drove over to humber station, and headed out by myself up towards k2 and the dingle. homey is in the process of replacing the might pimpala, so he was dicking around with car stuff, and therefore, a little behind on emails. still, he managed to catch me on the dingle - which incidently, is uphill both ways - and we came back together.

we both thought we were hallucinating as we approached the gore. there was this phantom white horse just standing in the field. didn't even move as we got closer. very strange!!

anyways, i managed to put in 11 miles with a run time of 1:56. tuesday was 5 miles with a bunch of repeats on the west fern garden hill. and monday was weights with kim and bootcamp with the kids at country day school.

glad to see georgie finally posted! keep it going spongie!

Sponge Bob is Nervous

2009-09-22T17:51:00.001-07:00

Okay, this is George " Spongie " Brown.... I will be shocked if you are reading this because I am essentially computer illiterate. Dora is making me post and I do so reluctantly, because I am sober as a judge and it is likely to take an hour or two for me to figure out how to do this.

Stay Tuned for upcoming posts when I have been artificially " juiced " with post training run Margueritas. I promise to be controversial and whine often cause Kendra will be kicking my ass in just a few short months and I am prone to being cranky !

I also want to publicly chide our partners from the Trans Rockie run..... Mimi, Sjohn, Sat, Jo, Christine and most of all my timid, complaining, complacent, lazy and aging friend Freddie, who will soon be an " Ex Knucklehead " if he doesn't join Dora and me, " Spongie " in this latest quest.... We are preparing " Snoopy Fred " for yet another dangerous mission.

Finally, I want to publicly state how honored and excited I am to renew a friendship with Kendra... a gentle soul and a great french kisser ( okay, I lied about the kissing part... but I can tell all of you that she is the best Hugger on the planet.

Nice to meet all of you and in all seriousness, we will both look for your comments and I will be appreciative of any advice any of our readers may have.

frost on the pumpkins up here in canada

2009-09-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

so now that i've tried to explain to georgie how this works, i'm hoping he'll start posting his training too, cuz that was the plan.

on saturday, me and homey dragged ourselves out onto the trail at 6am. the thermometer read 2 degrees, there was ice on my windshield, lots of frost on the ground, and it was still really dark. we turned on our headlamps and headed out into the unknown - well, actually into albion hills, but the unknown sounds scarier!! the raspberries along the side of the cornfield were kinda frozen, and they really left a mark when you ran by them - as in i had blood running down my leg once we got through! the sunrise was beautiful, and eventually we were blessed with a clear blue sky. homey had to turn back after 11.5km, but i kept going. i ran into my grumpy little portuguese buddy fatima just after the boy scout bridge, and then later met up with christine and vents just before the tennis courts. they accompanied me back to 23.5k mark before turning back, and i carried on through the next section. the glp was returning from her epic venture out to duffy's, and after a hug, we both went on our way. i made it back to my little red mazda in good time, with a final distance of 31k/19.3miles. total running time was 3:26. legs felt pretty fresh considering i had raced 50k last weekend.

the view from the top of the ski hill just past airport road.

me and christine opted for a more reasonable start time on sunday. we drove over to the 7th line, and the plan was to run the bruce trail over to the 5th and back. i wanted to show her a new section onions and i had discovered a few weeks ago. we were a little stiff to start, but warmed up nicely as the km's clicked by. i did a nice face plant into the rhubarb just before the turn around, and again found myself with blood running down my leg - the other one this time! we also explored yet another freshly cut section of trail, which eliminated a rather nasty uphill on gravel. after inspecting my wounds, and determining first aid was unnecessary, we headed back. and of course, seeing as how we were already in hockley, we rewarded ourselves with a coffee and a yummy snack from the general store!! in all, a great run with an even greater friend!!