Just testing an embed of a YouTube clip. But if you ever needed motivation for running, this might be it.
Former U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft singing his patriotic ditty,”Let the Eagle Soar”. Yes, he wrote it. No, it’s not a joke.
For more political entertainment and rappin’ Karl Rove, check out Musical leaders: Should politics and singing ever mix? A little shameless CBC work plug for ya.
Maybe it’s the crisp fall weather — just cool enough to get focused, but still warm enough for shorts. Maybe it’s the inspiring stories from Lisa and Kenny. Maybe it’s looking at the calendar and getting under the six-month countdown to Boston.
Or maybe it’s just time.
At any rate, the itch to start training has crept back into my bloodstream for the first time since Mississauga in May. I’m ready to go.
I’m all ears to any advice anyone has. The draft plan is:
* Jingle Bell 5k Burlington (it’s tradition)
* Boxing Day race in Hamilton (don’t even know the distance, but my uncle is super-keen)
* Chilly, Burlington, early March (see above re: tradition)
* Around The Bay, late March
* Boston, April 21
Anybody interested in any of those races?
On a completely unrelated note, I think Halloween is a bit overrated, but any excuse to pound back serious candy is all right by this camper. But if you’re into it … here are some neat pics of “Halloween chic” in years gone by. (And no, I didn’t build this gallery – just thought it was kinda cool.)
Belated shout out to Lisa for tearing it up in the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon in San Fran last weekend. Maybe if we’re really nice to her, she’ll give us some insights about her Tiffany necklace and such.
And best o’ luck to Kenny, who tackles the Marine Corps this weekend. Dare ya to talk back to one of those U.S. Marines handing out the cups at the water stands. Having them bark “push it!” instills a Pavlovian reaction to just … do … it.
And to Marc, who’s thinking about a marathon next October, I say go for it, man! You’ll never look back. Trust me.
No matter how long you run, I suspect there’s always something new to learn, some new technique to try.
I was leafing through the latest Runner’s World on the subway tonight and I stumbled across this interesting article on tapering.
Basically, it suggests that the tapers in most marathon and half-marathon programs might be too long and too steep. The writer talks to some elites who’ve had success by keeping up the mileage, particularly quality mileage, closer to race day.
Don’t know about anybody else, but I’ve never felt comfortable with the traditional 3-week taper. The first week is great and usually pretty restful. But by the end of week 2, I start to feel slugg-o.
What’s that they say about an object at rest wanting to stay at rest?
I’m willing to try the short and sweet route next time around.
Any thoughts, anybody?
Is anything better than the rush of race day?
(Actually, there is. It’s successfully putting a new hard drive into your MacBook and fixing it so you can start blogging again regularly. Yes guy!)
Today, I jogged from home down to High Park to catch the Toronto Marathon at the 30k mark. Little did I know that the organizers had actually changed the route at some point since the summer and it went out along the Martin Goodman trail to Humber Bay.
Apparently I wasn’t the only person asleep at the switch. I saw two other people asking race bike marshals what happened. Anybody know why?
I have some strong impressions from this admittedly limited exposure. And let’s just say it wasn’t good. But I want to hear from anyone who ran the race before I sound off.
Read all about it. Congrats to the men’s (Charles Bedley) and women’s (Leslie Black) winners.
I can’t even imagine the scenario.
You’ve been running a marathon for 3.5 hours, maybe closing in the finish line, definitely closing in on some serious fatigue in temperatures that feel like 40 degrees Celsius with the humidex.
Then, you’re told the race is cancelled. Sorry, time to go home. It’s just too hot.
As I’m sure you know by now, that was the situation in Chicago this weekend, as one of the world’s biggest marathons was shut down due to the record-shattering heat. From The Associated Press:
Chicago Marathon organizers defended their preparation for a brutally hot marathon as runners told stories of fainting or vomiting by the roadside and of angry participants detouring into convenience stores in search of the hydration they say they couldn’t find along the course.
A 35-year-old Michigan man who had a heart disorder died and scores went to hospitals during the 26.2-mile race, which organizers halted about 3 1/2 hours after the start because of fears of heat exhaustion.
and
“We did feel we had more than adequate water supplies out there,” said Shawn Platt, senior vice president of LaSalle Bank, the marathon’s sponsor.
Platt said planners did not anticipate runners would use drinking water to cool themselves when misting stations and sponges weren’t available. He acknowledged many stations were set up toward the end of the route instead of early on when runners first started showing signs of fatigue.
“Probably we should have been a little more proactive about that,” executive race director Carey Pinkowski said.
Signs of trouble came early.
“By the first or second water station, they were out, and they were apologizing, saying, ‘Just run a mile or two and there’ll be more water,’” said Merrie Ann Nall, 59, of DeKalb.
What a frickin’ nightmare. Where even to begin with that.
I honestly don’t know how I would react to those kinds of conditions. I can’t honestly say I would have obeyed the “bullhorns” telling me to stop after months of hard work and preparation, but could you risk serious heat exhaustion and illness to continue?
Meanwhile, our friends at the AP also asked today: “Are big-city marathons becoming too big?” Not a question we need to grapple with very often in small-scale Canada, where a 3,000-runner full marathon counts as a decent-sized field.
My biggest races have been a 30,000 (Marine Corps Marathon) and 25,000 (Honolulu) and let me say — those were just huge. Frankly, once a field gets beyond a certain size, you just lose perspective as a runner. I’ve never seen a New York or a Boston live, but can only imagine the added impact of 10,000 more runners and hundreds of thousands of additional spectators.
I think the point of the article is one we circle back to in running chit-chat: Should everybody run a marathon? Is that reasonable?
But one thing is for sure: contrary to the lead on the AP story, I’ll never run a big-city race in a chicken suit or G-string. You have my personal guarantee on that.
BTW - Picked up this little bit of youtube gold from The Joggler’s site. Good catch, Michal.
It’s not looking good for the family laptop.
When I went to start it up tonight, fresh with ideas of posting about a recent hike in New York’s Letchworth State Park and other small stories, I got an error called the “question mark of death”.
Basically, the MacBook won’t recognize that the hard drive is there. And that, for those of you playing along at home, is a bad, bad thing.
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What this means to you, my blogging friends, is that the posts are going to be a bit intermittent for the next fews days while I humble myself at the feet of the Apple gods and try to get the @#$!@# thing fixed. Thank goodness we have (most) of our stuff backed up. If you don’t have your files backed up and have been meaning to get around to it … my advice is to do it, like, NOW.
I really wanted to show some pics from our hike, but they might have to wait.
Until then, I seethe and post what I can, when I can.
In my haste and sleep-deprived confusion after the Scotia Waterfront Marathon, I neglected to mention one of the biggest stories of the day.
T.O. runner — and all-around great guy — Michal Kapral set the world joggling record with a lights-out 2:50:06. From his blog, I see he even chewed a little gum throughout his history-making run.
(For the record, this author couldn’t run 42k and chew gum, let alone keep three beanbags in the air. Kudos to Michal.)
For a little background on the Joggler, check out this slideshow from the good folks at CBC.ca.
Check Kenny’s site for a pic of the Joggler in action. Thanks!
Update: I’ve been up to a few other things over the last few days, so I was saddened to learn today about the fatality at the end of the Scotia race. As the Toronto Star reported:
Running was David Youkhana’s passion.
The 65-year-old Toronto man always took good care of himself and liked to volunteer, but three years ago he started to do them together.
He began running for a cause.
“He loved to do charity events, he loved to run for a cause,” his daughter Nahrain Sciulli said yesterday.
Youkhana collapsed at the start of Sunday’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon and died at St. Michael’s Hospital.
Youkhana’s elder daughter said he began running marathons a few years ago even though he’d had a mild heart attack 11 years ago. He was careful about his health and made a point of meeting with his doctor before a race to get the green light, she said.
And he was proud when he achieved his running dreams.
My thoughts go out to his family.
Great day along the lakeshore today.
Ideal weather conditions. Believe it was about 61 F/16 C at race time. Very little wind, a striking contrast to last year’s gale-force treats.
The race has grown a lot in recent years, and has grown up nicely as well — unlike other local marathons that have creaked under the strain of bigger fields.
The organization was uniformly strong, from the system of ’seeding’ faster runners at the front to the barriers that kept the runners, literally, on course. Sorry it made it a bit harder for spectators and residents to get around, but the end result was a smooth, easy-to-follow course for the participants.
Kudos to the organizers for bringing the 5k into the mix as well by having the finishers come alongside the half-marathoners. Was good to see that race get a little time in the spotlight.
There were a number of small touches, too, from the free “Canada” wristbands to the spirited bands and cheering stations along the course.
As for the times, we have a 2:09:30 by come-from-behind winner John Kelai, the fastest marathon ever on Canadian soil. What a finish watching Daniel Rono chase him to the finish, just six seconds behind.
Congrats to Kenny, as well, for a sizzling 1:31:33. Good luck at the MCM. And my sister, Erin, beat her goal time by four minutes and didn’t even yell at her brother for almost making her late by being too flipping casual about getting to the start line on time.
My sister, Erin, right, and wife, Julie, in the cool-down area.
As for me — that was perhaps the most enjoyable race of my life. Not a PR, but close, but that didn’t really matter much. It’s the first time I’ve been out in a loooong time without the pressure of needing or wanting a specific time.
I had an absolute blast from start (getting to the corral at 6:59:55) to the high-fiving, fist-pumping antics along the last 200 metres. I’m cringing at the thought of the race photos.
Not bad considering the three glasses of wine last night, and the five hours of sleep. Damn, 5:15 a.m. comes around early.
Cheers to my mom and dad for making the drive up to see it happen, and to Julie, always my bedrock. (You have to say that about the person who brings your dry clothes to the finish line.)
Big screen near finish = fun
Sports drinks and sunshine near Roy Thomson after it’s all said and done.
This is shaping up to be an amazing day for distance running.
More on the Toronto Waterfront festivities later (there’s brunch to be eaten, after all), but the shocker out of Berlin is that there’s a new men’s marathon world record.
Haile Gebrselassie pounded out a 2:04:26 this morning to shave almost 30 seconds off Paul Tergat’s top time of 2003. Hoo-rah! What a feather in his cap after a distinguished career on the track.
More later.
Now it’s time for bacon and eggs. Would you think less of me if I have a Sam Adams before noon today?
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