Another "Monday Off" trail run in Komoka!

   Okay, so today was a "Monday Off" and that meant hitting the trails once again. Before that, though, I  needed to make a little trip to the nearest Service Ontario outlet to pick up my new plate sticker for the car. If you remember from my previous post, I had run afoul of the law by driving after my birthday without a valid sticker. Not today, though!

   On Saturday, I had completed my quest of running in all seven of London's environmentally significant areas so today I opted for the tried 'n' true Komoka Provincial Park experience once more.
   It was another grey day, with a high of about 4C. I took a quick look through recent blog posts and the last time I ran in any kind of sunshine was almost three weeks ago. Hopefully, I'll be posting some sunny pics soon!
   Even if it wasn't sunny, at least it was above zero and we haven't had a ton of precipitation lately so the trails are actually beginning to dry out. Still some mud but not nearly as bad as it has been. One of the most consistent features I've run into lately is the

Had to go around this one

amount of wind damage I've encountered all over London. Komoka has been hit pretty hard and there were at least three different times trees had fallen right across the trails, plus all the visible damage in the rest of the forest. This is all the result of a massive windstorm which hit us almost three weeks ago and then went on to do major damage around other parts of the States and Canada east of here. We actually got off fairly easy.
   I had headed towards the west end of the park as this allows the longest run before you need to turn around and head back. At one point I found myself right down by the Thames River and I decided to step out onto the rocks lining it to take a pic. I turned around and saw this small ball of fur out in the open, all curled up into a circle, lying on the rocks. My first thought was that it was a beaver as they are very prevalent in the park. I also wondered if perhaps it was dead but I moved a little closer and saw that it was breathing. Just then it raised its head and looked at me and it was actually a raccoon. I instinctively took a step back but it didn't move and, in fact, curled back up into a ball. It also didn't look like a well raccoon and I was left with the feeling that it was simply waiting for the end. A little sad.
 

The "not well" raccoon.

 Shortly after this, I encountered The Steps. This is a set of wooden steps leading up the side of the river valley, and I have documented them quite a few times already. Back in the late summer, I decided to run up them one time. I almost didn't make it out of the forest on that occasion. Since then, I've only walked up. Today, though, I decided to give them another shot while running. I got to the top and...I didn't feel all that bad! This then had me wondering if maybe all this extra running might be working!
   After The Steps, I ventured on toward the very western end of the park and there I turned around. At this point, I made mistake. I let my natural curiosity get

The Steps through the trees

away with me and I took an unmarked trail on my way back. It led me nowhere and caused me to hike through a field to get back to the original trail. I then made a second mistake by taking yet again another unmarked trail. This trail took me so deep into the underbrush that I eventually had no idea where I was or where I was going. I ended up following deer trails (I could tell by the piles of poop and fur) into thickets that I couldn't possibly imagine a deer being able to get through. Brambles and thorny bushes and you name it. 
   

Matted deer fur, in the midst
of a thicket I was more or less
trapped in...

I managed to make my way to a little bit of higher ground and found that I'd been walking in the totally wrong direction. As much as possible I tried to stay on the higher ground until I made my way back to the regular trails. You're never that far away from civilization at Komoka, so you're never truly lost, per se, but it is possible to get yourself disoriented enough to waste a lot of time and energy getting back on track. This takes a lot of the enjoyment out of a run and this is kind if what happened to me today and, near the end, I just walked it back in. Ended up doing about 7K and I'd been aiming at closer to 10 but I think the same level of exertion had been attained so I was a satisfied and tired runner!

This is the same stretch of trail after
the windstorm. Two of the
beaver-damaged trees on the
right hand side have been toppled!

This is a pic I took of some
beaver damage, before the
big windstorm

My Brush With The Law (Oh...And A New Trail...)

    Ah, the weekend again and I was off to explore Kilally Meadows, the last remaining ESA (environmentally significant area) in London whose trails I had not visited.

    Kilally is in the northeast part of London so this requires a cross-town trip for me. I took Oxford Street, one of London's main east-west thoroughfares and about half way there I realized there was a police vehicle with flashing lights right behind me. My assumption was that he was headed somewhere on an emergency so, as soon as I could safely pull over and stop, I did.
   Well, he pulled over and stopped right behind me. This is never a good sign. And right up until he got to my window, I had no idea why I'd been stopped. As it turns out, I was driving with an invalid licence plate sticker. My jaw dropped. In Ontario, you need to renew your plate sticker every year as they expire on your birthday. My birthday was last week and for the first time ever I had forgotten to get a new sticker. I have occasionally been late by a couple of days but I have never just totally forgotten. I have stuck this one on my burgeoning "Old Man" file and, needless to say, it put a bit of a damper on my run day. Not to mention the $110 hit to the bank account...

Hmm...which way to go?

   I arrived at the eastern end of Kilally Meadows shortly after and parked in the lot. Once again, I was about to be running in new territory and needed to do a little scouting first. There was a small trail headed north and a concrete path running sort of parallel to it but neither of them was really clearly marked. I vaguely remembered the map showing that the first part of the trail began along multi-use path and so I headed down the concrete path. About fifty yards down the path, there was clearly a marked trail headed off to the right and I happily took it.

   It's been above freezing for the last little while and the trails were pretty muddy in quite a few spots. New trails mean second-guessing at junctions and then the pre-requisite backtracking and a fair amount of this went on today. Eventually I made it all the way to Highbury Ave., which brings you out almost in the middle of a subdivision. The last hundred and fifty yards or so of the trail takes you what feels like right through people's backyards. There are no real fences at this point and it is clear that homeowners have done work on both sides of the trail---a little surreal, actually.

Wind damage

   It was around this point that I decided to check my Garmin. I had purposely been avoiding looking at it because the miles seem to go by faster when you just concentrate on the landscape. Well, I wish I had looked at it a little earlier because it had stopped for some reason. I could remember fooling with it near the beginning and I guess I had paused it, unknowingly. I made sure it was running on the way back and more or less followed the trail exactly and it appears as though I might have run about 5K. This was way shorter than I had originally planned but the alternative was to run back and forth, over and over and today I just didn't feel like it.
   We had one of our worst windstorms ever about a week and a half ago and there was a fair amount of damage done to the forest. This and the fact that at this time of year there is no greenery and very little sun makes the running a little depressing and I had no real urge to formulate mileage today. All I had really been trying to do was cross Kilally Meadows off my list and now I can say I have run in all seven of London's ESAs. I have done some of them the disservice of only having run them in the winter. My plan is to get back to them in the summer and see how the experience changes. Maybe then I'll rate them all! 

P.S. I had way more pictures than this to post but for some reason Blogger's not quite up to snuff today---lots of pics were fine til I uploaded them but many were then only partial pics! Annoying! 

Off On A New Trail!

   Mondays are one of my days off and, as I have been

bemoaning the fact that I only seem to run on the weekends, I decided to force myself out the door today and try a new trail!
   I headed off to the north end of town to familiarize myself with the Medway Valley Heritage Forest, a London ESA (Environmentally Significant Area). I had heard glowing reviews and thought it was worth a try.
   It was about -3C (27F) and overcast. Overcast is what you get, for the most part, in London these days (although it was suddenly gloriously sunny later on) with a minimal breeze.
   

Lots of bridges....

There are a whole bunch of entry points to Medway and I tried to find the one which gave me the most trail access. I chose to go in at the northernmost point, just off Sunningdale Ave. 
   What I encountered for the first kilometer and a half was snow-packed to bare multi-use path. This meant I was running with screwshoes on asphalt occasionally, not the best mix. I tried as much as possible to stay on the snowy parts and eventually found myself on actual trail, much of it alongside Medway Creek. It appears that the trail there at one point recently had been flooded, as I found myself running on very thin ice over very wet ground. You could hear the ice cracking as you ran and several times my feet plunged through into icy water past my ankles. Not too pleasant but then I remembered that I Am A

...and boardwalks...

Trail Runner And Will Not Be Deterred, or something like that...
   At this point, there was very little in the way of human footprints but all sorts of animal ones and it was kinda fun trying to guess which animals the prints belonged to (I'm guessing deer and bunny rabbits, for the most part). Unfortunately, the actual trail seemed to peter out into fairly dense brush and I also stopped seeing trail blazes. It's possible I just came to the end of things but usually the end of things is fairly well marked. 
  I did spend some time backtracking and checking things out as I was a newbie on this trail for sure. At one point, I ran onto someone who hiked the trail all the time and he gave me some pointers on better entry points. My biggest complaint today was that I was running on so much multi-use path and when you looked up to the edges of the valley there seemed to be a constant view of peoples' mansions---neither being conducive to the "trail" feel.
   

...til you get to trails....

Because it was winter and I was running it for the first time, I think I might reserve judgement on the Medway Valley Heritage Forest for the time being and give myself an opportunity to explore all parts of it and in different seasons as well before giving it the thumbs up or down.

...and scenery

   One thing worth mentioning is that I've actually run twice in three days! I was a little apprehensive that my legs would not hold up well running so close together like that. The good news is that the legs felt fine at the end. I took a little extra time to stretch before hopping in the car and I managed to avoid that nasty little leg cramp which had bothered me the last couple of times out. So...woo hoo!

Nice Little Winter Trail Run!

   Two weekends ago, I attempted a trail run in nearby Kains Woods. Back then, we were in the middle of a thaw and the only actual snow in the woods had turned to slick ice right on the actual trail itself. I was completely unprepared for this and, apart from a little brisk walking that day, it was kind of a bust.

Screwshoes and CamelBak at the ready!

   Saturday, I was back at Kains Woods but had my screwshoes this time. The thaw was also long gone and we had had snow that last couple of days so the trail was snow-packed and trampled down by other runners and hikers. Under these conditions, the screwshoes were amazing---no fear whatsoever climbing or going down hills and I even tried sliding on the odd ice patch I encountered and the shoes held their own.
   It was about -4C (25F) and, for what seemed like the first time in weeks, the sun was shining. The first part of the run was on a snow-covered concrete path which leads down and around a residential holding pond before entering the woods. The wind along the path was a little nasty but once into the woods the wind more or less disappeared. 

Hard to tell, but this trail goes
down at a 45 degree angle, on
a sidehill. Pretty easy to fall off,
especially in the winter!

   The plan for the day was to run 7K---3.5K into the woods and then head back. At the turnaround point, I pulled out the Mars bar I'd tucked away and consumed it while I took a couple of pics of the river. The Mars bar was kind of in homage to my x-country skiing days back when I was in my twenties. I always made sure I had one with me and, partway through the afternoon (and I thought I had earned it), I ate it. Bit of an energy boost on top of everything else.
   Just past the 5K mark, my quads started to give me a little grief and I decided to maybe aim for 6K instead of the original 7. The last kilometer would have been all uphill as well so I was fine walking it! At this point, I am quite okay with upping the mileage extremely slowly---last summer, when I discovered trail running, I think I overdid it, constantly fighting debilitating post-run thigh cramps. Not this year, if I can help it!
   

 
Once again, the woods were fairly alive with people, even more so than two weeks ago. Lots of people walking dogs and even more runners than usual, people who actually looked like they knew what they were doing!
   I finally made it back to the car and everything was fine til I actually got halfway in and then all of the sudden had this cramp down the outside of my right shin. I got back out of the car as fast as I could and stood on the leg until the cramp expired, just a couple of seconds. I very gingerly got back into the car and thins were fine after that. That's all I need, a major cramp attack while driving!
   The CamelBak continues to work nicely. It's not something I even necessarily need on a 6K run in cold temps but I'm just trying to get used to running with it and so far, so good. Always nice to be able to take a quick sip without stopping!
   At this point, my plan is to try and get out every weekend, I feel like I've been properly winterized and I can't imagine anything really holding me back. And now that "Roll Up The Rim" is back, Spring's just around the corner! Whoop!
   
   

The Coughing-My-Lungs-Out Blues!

   Well, we're already into the new year and I would love to be able to describe to you all the snowy running I've been doing but the fact of the matter is...I can't! I've actually been sicker than a dog (not sure where that expression comes from) since about Dec. 31, as the woman who was sitting right beside me in the movie theater that evening can attest to.
   What started out as just a small tickle in my chest progressed rapidly to full-fledged, gut-wrenching hacking attacks that are still ongoing (but somewhat diminished) as we speak. I've spent the last four nights on the couch so that Doralyn, my wife, could get a little sleep and basically have slept sitting up because any time I lie down my lungs start to whisper to me (they sound kind of like elephants, trumpeting from afar) and this always leads to another attack. Got bad enough that I even followed my wife's request that I visit the doctor.
   So, there has been no running. This has been okay because when you can't even imagine running you don't miss it all that much!
   I did engage in some running-related stuff over the holidays, courtesy of receiving a CamelBak  hydration vest from Doralyn, a Running Room gift card from my son, Bryant, and a Sport Chek gift card from my stepson, Keenan. 

Hopefully it's left New
Zealand by now!

   After my trail-running experience this past summer, the CamelBak became almost a necessity. Running trails meant being out much longer and prior to that I'd been getting by with an armband bottle. This more or less had been doing the trick while I was only doing 5K runs but was problematic out on the trails. I had my water run out on me a couple of times before I got wise and started carrying a larger bottle in a backpack. This, however, necessitated constantly stopping, removing the backpack, etc. Hence the need for the hydration vest. Oddly enough, we ended up searching all over the internet for the one I wanted and ended up having to order one from New Zealand. And, a little sadly, it is still in transit!

Running Room commercial?
Should I have been paid for this?

   With my Running Room certificate, I went out and bought CamelBak bottles I`ll be able to use in the front of the vest. Then, with a little left over on the card, I was able to pick up some socks, some Nuun, a lock (in case I accidentally actually use my gym membership) and a couple of protein bars the cashier threw in. Good stuff.

And should Sport Chek
pay me, too?

   Then it was on to Sport Chek. There, I was torn between putting the gift card toward hiking boots or trail running shoes. Couldn't find the shoes so bought myself a pair of Merrell Moabs. My wife and I have talked at length about hiking the trails in the London area so this was kind of what I had in mind. If not for being sick, I would have used them by now!
   Hopefully, the lungs will mend soon and I'll actually feel like running! 



   

Downtown 5K Race Recap

   Well, it's been almost two and a half months since I last did a blog post and, given my age, I'm sure a couple of you may actually have wondered if I passed away but I am still alive and kicking! And, occasionally, even running!

Yep it was cold---can still see a little snow
from last night!

   In fact, this morning I took part in the Downtown 5K here in London. It's the first race this season in the London Honda race series and, for me, it got off to a pretty good start. The for me part is important because I have this suspicion I may have been the last male out on the course and my time was around 38:33 or something like that, godawful for a 5K but, given that my goal was to break forty minutes, I considered it a success! 
   This was also my first time racing in quite a while. For various reasons I missed the last two races of the series last year, once because work took me out of town rather unexpectedly and the other because I rather disgracefully punked out. So be it.

The finish line---note the winter wear

   Today, though, I actually felt like running. The legs felt good and the mindset was where it needed to be. Given the training times I'd been doing lately, finishing the race in under forty minutes seemed like a reasonable goal.
   I knew that somewhere along the line I would need a walk break or two (or maybe even six) and I toyed with the idea of scheduling them. In the end, though, I decided I would run as hard as was comfortable and take a walk break only when absolutely necessary. As well, I would only walk long enough to catch my breath a little and then I'd start running again.

Runners begin assembling

   Well, for the most part, that plan kinda worked. It got me in under forty and, although I think I might have been the last guy out there, I certainly wasn't the last person....
   It was a chilly run, winter seems to have returned to Ontario in the last few days and the race time temp was about -2C. Not too much of a breeze, though, so it was manageable and no danger of overheating. The police officers on the course and the volunteers all did a good job of keeping us safe and motivated. 

The start line was right beside City Hall.
If I were a civic reporter who also liked to
run and then blog about it, I would likely
spend a lot of time here...

   As per the name of the race, we ran on the city streets downtown, basically a 2.5K loop that we ran twice. I'm not really a huge fan of those kinds of courses, you run until you get back to the finish/start line and then they make you do that all over again. Psychologically, it's a bit of a killer and you see the same scenery all over again. All in all, though, it was a fun race and it was nice to get back into it again! The next race in the series is the Run for Retina on April 10 (quick turnaround), which has been a fairly high profile race here in London for awhile and one that I've always thought I'd like to run. Now I get to!

All lined up ready to go! Sorry, no "aftermath" pics! (gotta
get me a pair of shorts like THAT guy's....)

   
   

Catching Up and A Bit Of A Photo Dump

   When I take a look at my Blogger stats and discover that there were zero pageviews today and zero pageviews yesterday, I take that as a bit of an indicator I need to get off my butt and get blogging again! (the irony, of course, is that I blog on my butt...)
   So, winter has finally arrived here in London, Ontario. While many other parts of Canada have been enveloped with snow and sub-zero temps, we have been blessed with unseasonably (and mildly disconcerting) high temperatures. Christmas Eve, it was actually hovering in the mid teens (high fifties, for those of you who do Fahrenheit!)
   Because of this, the late fall-early winter running has been awesome!
   Lately, however, I find that most of my running has been relegated to the weekends---it seems that by the time I get home from work, there are either too many other things to do or I am simply too tired. The change back to standard time also would have me running in the dark, not my fave thing to do anymore. This, of course, will not do and I hereby resolve to force myself to get out there on the occasional (and regular) weeknight.
   The scales tell me that the holiday season was not as bad as it has been in years past but they have also gently reminded me that all is not as it should be and that it's time to get back to work. Sound familiar, anyone??
   I suppose a significant thing to report is that I seem to have fallen off the vegetarian wagon. Well, I didn't actually fall off, it more or less exploded from underneath me, bits and pieces of the wagon flying all over the place. I, of course, am struggling with this, but that's probably a whole other blog post...
   I have also decided to take a slightly different approach to my running. There was a time back in the fall when I was running pretty regularly and my times for the 5K (my distance of preference) were dramatically falling. This, of course, took much effort and it got to the point where I was totally exhausted at the end of a run and if I hadn't bettered my time by at least a few seconds then it was also a wasted run. It got to the point where I was dreading going out, knowing the stress I was about to put my body under. This was probably foolishness.
   My new approach now has me going out for a run with no expectations whatsoever as to what my time might be. I also try and run slowly enough that I can do the whole thing without need of a walk break. This has meant really slow runs! My hope, though, is that by not scaring myself into not running, that I will actually get more running in. Then, gradually (and hopefully), the times will come down all on their own. This sounds do-able!
   Okay, so now for a bit of a photo dump~random pics from the last few weeks, some of which have nothing to do with running!
  

First run in the snow this winter!

The incredible "Penis Potato"---further proof of the ravages of GMOs....

Two of my stepsons now have vehicles. This is what our
2-car driveway looks like, every other week!

The amazing "Upside-Down Backwards Book" You can read about it here

Puffer decided to come to rest on top of our pile of Santa hats---so we took advantage of the opportunity!

Cat and Buddha(s)! Woke up from a nap, looked down and this is what I saw!

My regular 5K run happens to take me past this house every time
out. This also happens to be the house my wife grew up in and is just
a bit of a reminder while I'm out running as to how lucky I am!

Back in the summer, we decided to totally -re-do our front garden.
There used to be all these big bushes we could string our Christmas
lights on but now, with all the bushes gone, we needed to improvise.
So I took some dead evergreen branches from our backyard and
"planted" them in our front garden. Then I hung Xmas lights from them!
Kind of a Charlie Brown sort of theme!


  So there you have it, a bit of an update and a handful of pics I might have used in blogs past, if I'd ever gotten around to it! And while I'm at it, would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year and hoping that 2016 brings only wonderful things!

"224"

   Just got back in from a 5K run about an hour ago. The snow was falling as I ran and I was really wishing I'd brought my cap along, instead of a toque, as it would have kept the snow off my face and glasses. I realized my error in judgement in this regard about nine or ten houses away from my place but, at that point, the thought of stopping and returning for my cap was more than I thought I could handle. I'm one of those guys who, on a long car trip, would rather just drive til he got there, rest stops be damned. So on I ran!

The sidewalk in front of my house.
It's under there somewhere!

   It had lightly snowed overnight as well and there was about an inch and a half of the fresh stuff today. This didn't bother me too much as I would much rather run on fresh snow than ice. The only problematic part of the run was along the major roadways, as the snowplows had come along and done their thing which, in turn, had caused debris to topple over the edge of the snowbanks and down onto the sidewalk. Which meant I had to run around (or through) it.
   At this point of the winter, I am really looking forward to seeing pavement and bare trails again. In the snow, it seems as though every time your foot plants and plows forward it also slips sideways maybe half an inch. Multiply that half an inch by a few thousand footfalls and we're running way farther than we need to!
   

The semi-tunnel leading up to our front steps

Okay, remember my first line up at the top of this post where I talk about just having gotten back from a 5K run? Well, that was yesterday people and, yes, this post has taken a little longer than I originally planned, obviously. The bonus, though, is that I can tell you I feel fine after yesterday's run and am even maybe planning on another one today. And it's rare when I run two days in a row anymore, so wish me luck!
   Oh, and about the title---"224". I used that as a gentle reminder of how much I weighed yesterday. I try to be as little "weight-centered" as possible and concentrate more on how I actually feel but I've decided that I simply don't want to weigh more than 224. So I will do my damnedest not to get above that. If I do something that gets me way down below that, then that's all fine and dandy. If I stay there, then that's kinda fine and dandy too, no probs. But I won't go above it. Nope.

Post-run, foggy-glasses pic.

   The nice thing about this weekend was that it was way warmer than last weekend. Eastern Canada was in the midst of a brutal deep freeze a week ago which made running outside more of a survival exercise than a training one, with windchill temps close to -40C. This weekend, the temps are a lot more seasonal at around -7C and it actually seems freakin' balmy out. Break out the windbreakers!
   Finally, one more post-run pic from yesterday. As we all know, layers are the way to go this time of year and in this pic I've got four of them on. A tech layer on the bottom, a cotton layer and then two more "tech" layers. By "tech" layer, I mean "hockey jersey"---a long-sleeved jersey underneath another jersey with cut-off sleeves. All of this in homage to my ball hockey days which, hopefully, will resume this summer!
   

Totally photobombed by Squeaker,
one of our four cats (think she
was waiting for a hug....)

Okay, time for another run!

Longest Run Ever!: Part Two

   True to my training plan, I ran 12 kilometers today, my longest run ever! This was one more kilometer than I ran last Saturday and my plan is to add 1K to my long runs every weekend. So far, so good.
   Similarly to last week, I set out from my house and headed east to Springbank Park. From there, I just followed the path along the river until I got to Guy Lombardo bridge. Here is where I clocked out at 6K so I turned around and headed back the same way I came.
   It was an overcast day and only just barely above freezing when I set out. Fortunately it warmed up another couple of degrees by the time I was mid-run and, with a couple of layers on, the running was just right. All the snow and slush from last week had disappeared as well so that was kind of a bonus.
    I've been noticing over the last two or three long runs that, round about 7K in, my right foot starts to become numb. At this point, it sort of feels like I'm running on a wad of something underneath the balls of my feet. It's kind of disconcerting, to say the least. The first time it happened, the feeling never went away and I actually needed to stop running. The last couple of times, it's happened but to a lesser degree and I at least was able to finish. I'm thinking I'll just continue to monitor and if nothing changes then I'll get myself checked out. Today wasn't too bad.
   What was bad today was this occasional searing pain in my right ankle after my run---there have been three or four occasions when I put a quick lateral movement on it and I thought it was gonna snap right off! My calves are also feeling it so there might need to be some TLC this evening for me and my sore body parts...

Made the mistake of putting my hand right INSIDE the ENERGYbits bag!

   I've been popping ENERGYbits the last few long runs. I still haven't been able to decide how much of a real difference they make---I haven't found myself hitting the "wall" if I use them but, at the same time, there always seem to be other variables going on that might account for that. What I can say, though, is that I have a hell of a time getting them all down in one sitting! For the uninitiated, ENERGYbits are small tablets of pure spirulina algae and are meant to more or less replace many of the other energy enhancers runners are prone to trying. The base dose of ENERGYbits for an athletic endeavour is thirty tablets. I make a big production of downing the two small pills I normally take in the mornings so you can imagine what goes on when I try to swallow thirty of them! On top of the sheer amount of them, they taste like...well....algae. Kind of like licking the insides of your fish tank, I imagine. So, at the same time I'm grappling with the amount of them I am also coming to grips with the smell/taste of them. I swallow them in batches of ten and the third batch is kind of iffy, kind of hard to suppress the gag reflex, if you know what I mean. Having said all this, though, I feel I must re-iterate that I've never bonked after taking them. I remember taking Buckley's cough syrup once and it was one of the worst things I've ever tasted but, damn, it worked! So maybe ENERGYbits fall into the same category...

Ten little spots for ten little toes,,,

   What I can un-reservedly recommend, however, are Injinji socks! My wife, Doralyn, picked me up a couple of pairs right after I started running, mainly because of their funky look. I initially had some reservations but was quite willing to give them a try and I loved them! They have a very cushioning feel to them, each toe safely tucked away in its own little envelope, and the overall feel is amazing! A little hard to find in London but eventually did find some at the local MEC store.
   Hopefully, next week I'll be able to tack on another kilometer as I attempt to work my way a little closer to maybe something like a half marathon distance (in case I need a goal or something...) barring having done any real damage to my right foot. Time will tell and, in the meantime, happy and healthy running to you all!

Holy Hanna-Barbera, what happened to my run glove?!

   
   

Longest Run Ever!

   In keeping with my brand-new policy of being a run-blogger who run-blogs, I offer up a report on yesterday's run.
   Yesterday, I ran as far as I ever have in my life!
   When I headed out the door, I wasn't even sure how far I was going to run. Lately I've just been concentrating on 5K training runs, as I've been pushing myself to get under the 36 minute mark (yeeks, that's slow!), eventually aiming at being somewhere in the twenties (ha!) Yesterday, though, I was feeling a little tired and not wanting to push myself so I opted for a slow and easy 10K.

MAINLY to show you the state of
the sidewalks and NOT to show off
what APPEARS to be a double-chin...

   I set out from my house and headed for Springbank Park, the simple plan being to run 5K in that direction and then turn around and head back. A couple of blocks into the run, though, I was feeling so good that I decided I would tack on an extra kilometer, if I thought that I could when the time came. This, then, would make a new record for me---11K!
   Now I know that by most standards this is not a huge distance but I also believe in baby steps and, if truth be told, I've only ever run 10K four times, so it is not like I have this strong base, either. An extra K, in this case, is significant.
   I continued to feel good when I entered the park, about 2 and a half kilometers in. Up to that point, the sidewalks had been pretty slushy and not much fun to run on. The temp was hovering right around just slightly above freezing and there was a conscious effort to avoid large, cold puddles. The running path in the park was much clearer, though, and I was able to settle in to a nice, slow run.
   My only real concern was that I would reach the halfway point in my run and then be simply too tired to be able to run all the way back. I get this feeling every time I've run a 10K and today I was going to be adding the extra mileage. The thing with a out and back run, obviously, is that you're gonna put the mileage in, whether you feel like it or not, even if it means walking back most of the way but I desperately wanted to be able to run the whole thing.
   Well, it turned out that I was able to run the entire way with no real fear that I wouldn't. I did find it necessary to stop four different times for stoplights, for a sum total of about 45 seconds, so no big deal, better to arrive alive. I was running at an 8:33 pace, so very slow, but this had been the plan all along.

ASICS shoes, Nike socks and Sugoi tights---I CLEARLY fulfilled
my Adidas clothing contract stipulations!

   I get the feeling that when I'm running this slow that I could run this way forever (likely incorrectly) so I'm sure that I can continue to add extra mileage on to my long runs. My plan right now is to tack on an extra kilometer every weekend and see how that goes. Eventually I want to run a half or a full marathon, just to be able to say that I did, so this means I  need to up the mileage. Fingers crossed.

The SAD story.....

   I managed to keep my feet reasonably dry for about 1o and a half K and then I got back to my street. The temp had gone up a little while I was running and the small puddles which were easy to avoid at the beginning were now much larger. On top of that, I didn't have the same amount of energy to run around them---just easier to run through them!
   My wife and I arrived back at the house at the same time so I was able to cop a pic of her getting out of the car after her hair appointment. She has a head of long beautiful blond hair and I'm always just a little freaked out that one of these days she'll come back with it all chopped off. Yesterday, though, we were fine and just another reminder of what a lucky man I am!

The HAPPY story!

Cute Story and Nasty Part Of Yesterday's Run

   First, the cute story part.
   In my last post, I forgot to mention a little thing that happened after the run, back at my car. Once I got back to the car after my "long" run I decided I would do a bit of a post-run stretch. I did a plantar fascia/heel stretch on the front tire of the car, all cozied up to the fender. I then did an extended calf stretch, with my hands pressed into where the driver's window meets the door frame. A couple of people in the parking lot gave me funny/suspicious (I thought) kinds of looks, but I ignored them. At the end of all the stretching, as I was digging my car key out, I looked down into my back seat and lo and behold there was a pet carrier. I hadn't brought a pet. Nor was this MY car I had just been draped all over!! It WAS a little blue Honda, it just wasn't MY little blue Honda! Needless to say, I didn't linger in the parking lot!

   The following day was a cross-training day so I headed to Goodlife and did the Fit Fix circuit. This essentially gives most of the major muscle groups a hardy workout, if you do it properly. It was the middle of a Sunday afternoon and there were hardly any people there which was cool, meant no waiting for machines.
   The next day was a run day and I had decided to explore a little more of the trail along the river, headed toward downtown. I had really enjoyed my earlier exploration of this trail a couple of days ago and was looking forward to seeing more.
   Well, if I been really thinking, I wouldn't have been looking forward to it so much.


The offending sewage treatment plant.

   I drove to the Wonderland Gardens parking lot and began my run there. This is just before my turnaround point from the previous run so I thought it would make a good start point for this one. About a kilometer into the run, the smell hits me. Sewage.


If you think about it too hard, kind of a creepy part of the river to run past.

   If I had been really on the ball, I would have realized that this portion of the run would take me right past the Greenway Park Sewage Treatment plant. Now, I guess it's cool that they can take all this sewage, treat it, and then dump it back into the river but the smell still has to go somewhere. There was an east wind today so the smell hit me before I got to the plant and then, thankfully, subsided after I ran past it. Unfortunately, I then had to run back through it to get to my car.
   In the same area as the plant is a stark reminder of what was surely the darkest day in London's history. I passed by the spot in the river where the "Victoria" boat disaster occurred, in 1881. There was a huge loss of life and it's been said that, given London's size at the time, pretty well every family in the city lost a member of one kind or another. Some of the back-in-the-day accounts are quite horrific.
   So, on this particular run, we have a smelly sewage plant and a marine disaster to contemplate. Not the best side of London to be describing, I'm sure, but it was part of the run. Hopefully future runs will be a little more scenic.
   The good part, though, is that I shaved about three minutes off the times I've been running lately for 5K so I'm pretty happy about that, with a race coming up next Sunday!
   In the meantime, happy and healthy running to you all!