Monthly Archives: June 2008

I knew this morning was going to be the start of a heat wave so I got up at 4:30 AM intending to head out at 7 AM. The day before, Marilyn and I measured out the 15 km course on our bicycles. We put on about 27 km on our bikes. I tried to take it easy because I just ran 11 km the day before and I knew I would have a tough day today. And I did have a tough day. I headed out a half hour earlier at 6:30 AM and I intended to try to stay at an 8 minute pace. The road went on forever it seemed, and the sun beat down on the asphalt with no shade whatsoever. I rustled up a coyote when I crossed a country road bridge, just before Graminea School. At the 15 km mark I turned around and … Continue reading →

I had a most interesting run today, doing another 11 km in 1:21:40 for a 7:26 pace. I would have done better except that as I was about 1.5 km from home, running along the road, I saw a very fat and healthy pair of badgers come onto the road from out of the ditch. An excellent breeding pair no doubt. Anyway it was pretty exciting because the badgers refused to leave the road and were very nervous because I was running toward them. When they saw me, they began running away down the road. Then they would stop and look back at me to see if I was still a threat. I kept running towards them, thinking they would run off into the bush but they did not. They stopped, turned toward me very aggressively and raised their fur, hissing and growling at me. I had to stop at … Continue reading →

Well again I did not start out until 1 PM for my planned 8 km run. I still feel like crap, but I decided that if I waited until I felt perfect I’d never do anything. I decided early on in the run to go for 11 km and I did that in 1:18:47 for a 7:10 pace. That’s a lot better than my last run. Still, I was very glad to get back home. Hopefully I am on the mend mentally and physically. Day after tomorrow which is a Friday I’ll run again, probably another 11 km only this time much earlier in the day. So, looks like I am just 2 km from the 600 km mark this year.

My intention was to head out for a scheduled 21 km at the start of this, my rest week. I did not start until about 12:30 PM and things went awry. I did not finish, far from it! I only managed to finish 8 km in 1:03: 46 for a 7:58 pace. I was too hot. I felt too heavy. It was like running through water the air seemed so thick. I still am not well from allergies. A very discouraging day, that’s for sure. I am totally in a blue funk. The only thoughts going through my head are negative ones. Cancel the marathon. Reduce it to a half. Quit running altogether. And so on in a pity party for one. I have had such a rough year in terms of being plagued by one virus or another – and don’t forget to throw in some unprecedented and lengthy … Continue reading →

Today’s run started at 9:50 AM and I knew it was supposed to last a good 3 hours which would put me into the hottest part of the day. I could say I was extremely lazy and did not get out of bed early enough, but no! The real reason, *ahem* was that I deliberately started late in order to acclimatize myself to the heat of summertime running. Ya, that’s it. That way I won’t feel too hot for my August marathon. I did well, then again, I did not do so well in my run. My pace is supposed to be 7:30 over that distance, but it was 8:07 and took me 3:39:22 to run it. I’m not happy about being so slow. On the other hand I am happy that I finished as fast as I did, I actually expected much worse. I just finished running an intense … Continue reading →