Another 30 seconds faster….
strongShort version/strongbr /br /Ran the PF Chang RnR half-marathon in Phoenix, Arizonabr /Finish time:1:35.26, 30 seconds faster than 2008 timebr /Place: 443/21,000br /Distance: 13.1 miles/21.1kmbr /Visited the Grand Canyon and Four Corners, Arizonabr /(Location where four states meet at a 90 degree angle)br /br /strongLong version/strongbr /br /In mid-January, I ran my third PF Chang RnR half-marathon in Phoenix Arizona. On race day, I got up at 0500 and ate half a box of Vector cereal before taking the hotel-provided shuttle to the start line in Phoenix. The race starts in Phoenix and runs south-west finishing in Tempe. When I arrived at the start area it was pitch dark. There was an air of anticipation as both the marathon and half-marathon start side by side about an hour apart. It was fun watching the sunrise and to take in some people watch. Some people wore minimal clothing and shivering while others were bundled up and would sweat a bucket during the race. I was happy to chill on a hillside and watch the race traffic mosey by. About an hour before the start I munched on my Clifbar and did an easy warmup. As the race approached I dropped my gear at the UPS trucks and had a couple of biobreaks.br /br /I would start the race in the first of 26 corrals. They volunteers at the corral entrance were checking your bib number to make sure you entered the right corral. One of the race innovations I really like are the new disposable timing chips. It is a loop of plastic that contains an RDIF chip which you fasten to your shoe laces. At the end of the race you throw it away. After the playing of the national anthem the governor started the race. The conditions were a sunny 5C/41F. But it wouldn’t stay cool for long as the blistering Arizona sun started to rise. I started off at a brisk pace and then geared back a bit at mile three. The course is flat and fast and quite familiar. When I arrived at the eight mile marker I thought I would need to take in a gel as usual but still felt energetic. My friend JB met me at mile 10 and we ran together for the final three miles. It was good to run with him as it was at this point that I started to feel the heat. Up to this point, I had been taking in water and pouring water on myself every second water stop. With two miles to go I decided to speed up as it couldn’t be any worse than a Pretoria Bridge to Bank Street bridge fartlek surge. As we crossed the finish line I was a little concerned as I thought I ran slower than last year. It was only back in the hotel that I realized that I had run 30 seconds faster.br /br /After the race we headed north to the Grand Canyon and were able to hike around part of the south rim. It sort of felt like home as there was snow and ice everywhere. We drove the Grand Canyon parkway as far east as we could before heading north to Monument Valley the backdrop of many western movies. Our final stop would be Four Corners, USA, a location where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet at a 90 degree angle. By perching yourself you can have your hand and legs in four states at the same time.
Minimalist
Today I ran to the office (3 miles) which is something that I do a couple of times a week. With the bus strike unofficially over, the buses will remain in the yards for another week. After I showered I started to do a ritual which I do a couple of times a week, shaving. Today I had a crisis. I squeezed the shaving cream can and nothing came out but a pin-sized amount of cream. I looked at myself for a while and contemplated using the hand soap but felt it would be too hard on my face. I opted to shave without shaving cream. It worked. I was able to shave without cutting myself and my skin felt okay. Over the lunch hour, I headed to the drug store to buy some more cream. So, the moral of the story is, that if you are in a bind you can shave without shaving cream.
Half-marathon and some traveling
pThis coming weekend I will head to Arizona to run my first half-marathon of the year. I am looking forward to the race as it will give me some relief from the arctic cold weather that the Ottawa area has been getting recently. There is also another thing I curious about and that is my physical fitness. Over the Christmas holiday, I ran a 10 mile race in Hamilton in a time that suggested that I am in better shape than last year. This could be because I am eating better this year but I really think it is the extra exercise that I am getting each day. I run to and from the office twice a week and walk the other days. One of the bummer is that all this exercise leaves me more tired than usual in the evenings. The upshot is that I am loosing more and more weight which is a good thing and might mean that I will run faster on the weekend as I will be lighter. /ppbr /Once the race is over I’ll spend a couple of extra days in the Phoenix area and head up to explore the Grand Canyon area as well as head up to the north-eastern corner of the state to a place called “a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners_(United_States)”Four Corners/a.” The states of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico all meet at a 90 degree angle. It is the only place in America where this happens. I am excited to take a picture of myself with each arm and legs in a separate state. I’ll post a blog and pictures next week talking about all my adventures./p
2008 Goals in Review
Last year around this time I uploaded my goals for 2008. The wisdom was if you publicly state some of your goals you are more likely to take the steps to achieve them. I found this a good exercise last year and something I will do this year. Before I list my 2009 goals I thought I would take a minute to see how I did in achieving my 2008 goals.br /br /br /br /* Run a 1:30 half-marathon timebr /Getting closer with each race. Will have to try harder in 2009br /br /br /* Go on more OHOC outdoor adventuresbr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/spanbr /br /br /* Do more hiking tripsbr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved (OHOC trips, Catochins, Pretty Boy dam, etc.)/spanbr /br /br /* Climb more of the 46ers (46 highest peaks in the Adirondacks , NY)br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span. /spanClimbed a couple of more peaksbr /br /br /* Loose 10 lbs by May 30 (race date –National Capital half-marathon)br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved./spanbr /br /br /* Hike the West Coast Trail/Shenandoah National Park/Old Smoky National Parkbr /No. Shifted to 2009.br /br /br /* Run a faster Baltimore half-marathon ( 1:34 ) in October 2008br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span. Each year I run the race around a minute fasterbr /br /br /* Visit Brent ( Algonquin Park ) by canoeing and portaging and bring along a digital camerabr /No. But parents had two roofs and one patio deck rebuilt.br /br /br /* Reach 500,000 Babble point (now 350,000) a href=”http://www.playbabble.com/”www.playbabble.com/abr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved./span When I combine my babble scores and a href=”http://wordabble.com/”wordabble /ascores I achieved this goal.br /br /br /* Do more cycling (road and mountain biking)br /No. Ouchbr /br /br /* Geocaching goal 900-1000 finds by Dec 31 2008br /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span in the spring and finished off the year with 949 finds.br /br /br /* Become more mobilebr /Nobr /br /br /* Complete an Olympic Distance triathlon (1500m swum/40km cycle/10km run)br /Nobr /br /br /* Swing dancing – Learn the Lindy Hopbr /span style=”color:#3333ff;”Achieved/span but more work to do.br /br /br /* Take the train to Baltimorebr /Goal for 2009 (Montreal to New York to Baltimore Penn Station)br /br /2008 was a good year for me. I did more than I expected an achieved other goals that I that I didn’t push up to my blog.
The Perils of Poor Packing and Chai Tea
Today I learned about the perils of poor packing first hand but was able to make a quick recovery. In my last entry I talked about how I wanted to try running to work soon. Today, I awoke really early and decided to run to work. I packed all my work clothes and shower stuff into my backpack; it was a full and heavy load. I made a critical mistake of not closing my zipper sliders at the top of the bag and not to one side. With all the giggling of my bag the zipper started to peel open and things started to fall out along the route. One of the first things to fall out was my winter hat and office access badge. I only discovered when checking into the office of my fatal error and was lucky that I had other identification. After showering I decided to retrace my steps and found my access badge hanging from a tree as someone had seen its value and picked it up. My loss was only a winter hat. As I run home tonight I’ll stopp by MEC to buy a replacement and will most likely carabiner my zipper slides together.br /br /My second adventure today deals with Starbuck Organic Chai tea. For a long time, I have been a fan of their Early Grey teas but found at times it contains too much caffeine. I switch every so often to the Tazo Organic Chai Tea. To the folks at Starbucks when you say you want Chai tea it brings up two connotations, one cheap and the other expensive. The cheap version is some hot tea with a Chai teabag and the other is the Chai Tea Latte. Today, I was downtown for a meeting and asked for Chai Tea and tried to be clear what I wanted and jokingly the barista just gave me the tea bag in its package. I said sort asked where was the hot water and which we all rolled around laughing as they wanted to figured that I wanted hot tea.
Commuting
A little while I moved a little further away from the office. This has some advantages as well disadvantages. My new place has a partial view of the Ottawa River and is twice as large as my old place. One of the disadvantages is that the commute is a little longer. But it satisfies one of my goal of being able to run, blade, ski, snowshoe and cycling to work depending on the season. My commute recently has been a little more challenging over the last two weeks. I had only been living in my place for a few days when the transit company decided to go on strike just as our first major snowstorm descended on the city. This created major havoc as the bus drivers decided to protest in front salt/sand depot in unplowed and unsanded roads. I’ve considered this situations as a bit of an opportunity as it has allowed my to explore my new neighborhood on foot, something, I otherwise would not have done. Each day I hike 6 miles/10 kilometers round trip to the office using I can in about an hour depending on the footing. By bus this commute would normally take about 15 minutes. Each day has been different as I’m making good use of my iPod as some days I listen to swing music, jazz and occasionally a string of symphonies. I have learned about the various plows and sanding trucks the city uses to keep the roads clear. I’m starting to see familiar faces and can sort of gauge who is late and who is early. I have been able to recall what black ice looks like and what consistency of snow is the most and least slippery. As you can see much goes through my mind on my hour to and from the office. I’ve been comparing notes with my briefer as to who is loosing the most weight as a result of our extended commutes. My daily adventures will most likely end soon as I head home for the holidays at the end of the week and the city will eventually have to settle with the strikers. While the drama continue I still have to see what it us like to winter run to the office. I also openly wonder what expressions I would get as I visibly stow my snowshoes in my cube after a commute through the hinterland along the Ottawa River.
2008 Baltimore half-marathon
Short version – finishing time 1:34br /60 second improvement of 2007br /pace per mile 7:10 br /pace per km 4:27, br /position 142/6245 br /br /Long version –br /br /This past weekend I headed down to Maryland for my forth Baltimore half-marathon. My friend Jason met me at the airport and we headed over to the race expo to pick up my race kit. Registration was well organized and was able to get my gear quickly. One innovation this year is that they had disposable timing chips that look like a loop of tape. He headed back to Jason’s place and had a pasta/BBQ dinner with his girlfriend. I came dressed for Ottawa weather and very quickly had to start peeling off the layers. Mid-evening, I checked into a nearby hotel as I would have to start race preparations early. I awoke at 5:30 AM and started my feeding. Over the next little while, I ate half-a-box of Vector cereal. I caught the 7:00 AM hotel shuttle over to the race start and was able to watch the start of the marathon. For the next while, I chilled before eating a Clif bar at about an hour before my start. After multiple bathroom breaks I did a long warmup along the edge of the Inner Harbor. I was seeded in the first corral and had a great start. It would take me a while before I finally reached my race pace. The first four miles are a gradual uphill reaching the steepest part at the six mile mark. Along the way I enjoyed running along Patterson Park, and Clifton Park. One of the highlights of the race is running around Lake Montebello. Your start at the south-east corner and come out at the south-west corner having knocked off two miles. We next headed over to John Hopkins University at which point we start the downhill section of the course. My energy was starting to wane a bit so I pushed back a gel. I was pleased as my mile pace was a consistent 7:10 despite the rolling hills. The final hill takes you over the very colourful the MLK (Martin-Luther-King) parkway. The hill comes at a bad time as you still have three miles left to run. I finished off my gel and appreciated the sugar surge and caffeine jolt (15 mg). Ever so gradually the view of Camden Yards (home of the Orioles) became closer and closer. At this point, I pulled away from a pack of runners that I had been working off as they detoured to a water stop. I increased the pace a bit and imagined that I was doing my last 2.5 km/1.553 mile interval along the Rideau Canal. I was in a fair amount of discomfort but knew that I still had more left in the tank. I was really pleased to find that I had finished the race a minute faster than last year.
MacGyver moment
While on my run tonight I had a ibMacGyver /b/imoment. When I packed my running gear this morning I packed my large winter overpants. They are designed to be worn over a couple of layers. As I started out on my run they started to slide down. Every so often I would pull them up a bit. At the midpoint of run there is a span class=”yshortcuts” id=”lw_1224298917_0″construction site/span with miles of span style=”border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;” class=”yshortcuts” id=”lw_1224298917_1″yellow caution tape laying around/span. I grabbed a foot of tape and used it to secure my pants. My run back to the university was at a faster and more relaxed pace.
Another 31 second improvement…WooHoo!
2008 May 25br /292/8368br /1:33:42.7 chipbr /4:29 pacebr /br /2007br /377/7005br /1:34:13 chipbr /br /The a href=”http://www.ncm.ca/”ING Ottawa half-marathon /ais one of the three half-marathon races that I train for each year. I usually start off the year by doing the Phoenix, Arizona, PF Chang RnR half-marathon in January and close off the season with the Baltimore half-marathon in October. This year’s Ottawa race allowed me to better my time by 31 seconds but a few hours before the start even running the race was uncertain. After an 11 km tempo run on Wednesday night I developed a severe cold which affected my lungs and throat. For three days I was without a voice. I decided the best thing I could do was rest and hope that I could nix the cold. By late Saturday, my lungs were clear and throat was still coarse. Using the old running adage that it is okay to run as long as the cold as above your throat, I decided wait and see how I felt on Sunday morning.br /br /I got up on Sunday to find my legs feeling fresh, energetic and ready to go. I ate four bowls of Vector cereal and drank some strong tea before heading over to the start line. At this point my first challenge arose as I was 300 folks behind the 1:40 pace bunny who I could see off in the distance. It would take about 1.5 miles of hard and fast running for me to surge by the bunny and his entourage. The pace I was running at was fast but very comfortable. I asked myself do I want to slow down or speed up. I sped up and surged by a hoard of people. The course was very familiar to me so I was able complete the Gatineau loop quickly. I surged each hill and glided down the backside. As we were heading across the over of the Ottawa River I went into a “zone” and worked hard climbing the three hills before descending along the Rideau Canal. At this point, I saw my folks who cheered me from the sidelines. The remainder of the race would be on familiar territory, the bike paths and roads that run parallel to the Rideau Canal. My journey down to Bank Street went quickly as we were racing in ideal conditions a cool and crisp 8C/46F. At this point I had a bit of fun as there was a jazz band playing in a nearby tent. They were playing swing with a fast tempo. I decided to do a 400 meter wind sprint and have my legs keep in sync with the beat of the music. It was fun to do. I eased back on the pace once out of earshot. At the Bronson Bridge, we crossed over the Rideau Canal and started our northward trek. I threw a couple of cups of cold water over me and sponged down at the water stop. I ingested a Powergel with 35mg of caffeine when I was 5km away from the finish. As I was heading up the canal I heard the jazz band playing a fast tune from the other side of the canal, time for another surge. For the next three km I pressed myself to try and shave at least one second off the next km. This strategy worked well under the final kilometer when I stitched slightly but the energy of the crowd pulled me through. I was really pleased by the race as the 31 second improvement was unexpected.
11 days before half-marathon
Tonight, I did my final interval workout before my a href=”http://www.ncm.ca/”half-marathon race /anext weekend. The workout was brutal, 6×1km on 30s rest. It was over quickly but a painful experience as you are only able to take a couple of breaths before you start sprinting again. My intervals times are better than last year but I am still not sure about my fitness level so I will use the outcome of the race to act as a judge.br /br /I am looking forward to the race as I have been training for it for the past couple of months. The race really be special this year as my folks are coming to town to watch me run.
