300

Here's a recap of the activities since the last (sad and slightly negatory) post. It's been hectic in the professional and personal life last little while, but I've managed to find a little bit of time to run but no time to blog. Five times in 10 days (which really breaks down to four times in one week, and once this week).

Valley Adventure
My sister and I got together during a lovely Sunday morning and dipped into the recreation trail near where we live. There is quite a steep hill that leads into the trail. We'll come back to that later. Part way through, she decided her own odor was offending herself (I suspect she will now be offended that I actually just wrote that - ha). Lots of other people had the same idea as us to be in the valley trail that morning. We refueled in Grasshopper's garden, who had generously left a lovely cache of Gatorade, red sports beans and water for us while he was out on his epic 20 miler. At this time, we wondered if we should resume the run with the original plan of residential side streets, featuring a few loops around a gentle slope. In the end, we decided we'd attack the monster hill from the beginning of our run. As we crossed paths with many of the same people on our way back, we wondered how far north on the trail they had been. We took a tiny break before facing the hill. I told my sister that she should just focus on herself, go at her own pace, keep her head up, and not to worry about what I was doing. She made it about two-thirds of the way up before it hurt too much and she slowed to walk up the rest. I told her it was not failure to have to walk -- there is just no shame in walking -- and that she's a champ because by this time, this might as well have been Everest as she'd not only run the furthest she's ever run, but she did it with ease, a smile, and increasing confidence. That was 9 miles in the books. Originally we were going to do 8 miles, so another shot to the arm!

Sidestreet Swing
I had it in my head to ramp up the running right up until the race. My unofficial program that I'm really not following suggests increasingly long weekend runs with the half-marathon as the peak distance. No taper. So I was determined to get out there again after one rest day. My legs were feeling pretty good after the weekend 9 miler. I weaved around the side streets, bopping to my iPod, and just like that, I put up 5 miles.

Killing time before the drink
I had some time between after work and after-work adult beverages. There was an unofficial going-away party and I had a three-hour gap to fill. I didn't want to go home and come back as that usually results in me just staying home. Knowing this, I brought my gear to work and went for a 4-1/2 mile downtown dash before tucking into Heineken and some tasty asparagus and proscuitto rolls, tempura shrimp, and beef skewers. That Patron Silver tequila might have been a bad idea to cap off the night.

Saving the Pandas
Ultimate hill training? I climbed the CN Tower for charity. I had hemmed and hawwed about joining the corporate team (Would this hurt my half-marathon training? Answer:
What training?) Another reason I was leaning to not participating is because I've done this twice before -- nothing left to prove? -- and not feeling adequately trained up for stairs. But I am in reasonably good shape and at the last moment, I decided to go when a spot opened up because a colleague was sick. It's 144 flights, or 1,776 stairs, in a windowless staircase. In the end, I didn't even get an official time because my chip hadn't worked. Unofficially, I estimate it took me between 21-23 minutes (I forgot to stop my own watch when I reached the top but it read a bit more than 25 minutes well after I'd gotten water and reconnected with my team).

Negotiating with myself
Spent the weekend at a training course learning the art of negotiation. In the end, I worked out a good deal with my head to take the weekend off from running and concentrate on absorbing skills and techniques. The 10 mile run can wait til Monday or Tuesday.

To the pool
Too exhausted on Monday to bother with running shoes, but I met my contractual obligation with myself to get my 10 miler in on Tuesday. I did it right after work before going home. I quickly changed at the gym and headed to the waterfront. I kept an eye out for Yumke since this is his turf but didn't see him. My route would take me out to the lakeside pool on the western side of the city. I love this pool, visited it many a time when I was growing up. There was a time when my family would take epic bike rides together on the waterfront and end up at this pool to cool off. This was my turnaround point. By the end of the run, I felt good about the upcoming race. I felt I could easily put out another 3.1 miles so I'm ready. I worry about my sister though -- her knee's acting up.

Reflections
Here we are at Post #300. It's fun to look back at the previous 299 stories. I've concluded this blog is not about the running. Really, it's been about everything else. It's been about bonding with new and veteran runners. It's about what I eat, how much I do or don't sleep, sometimes just the really mundane details. I don't write much about splits, nor speed training, or even my pace. This space is about having an excuse to make bad puns or write really contrived haikus. Sure it's a record of how many miles these legs can or can't handle on any given day. But it's about the person that I was, could become, but just am.