Runnin' Around - the Oakville Half Marathon

So today it was time for the Oakville Half Marathon.  It was  a great day for running, sun was out, a little cool but still just shorts and t-shirt running - a great way to start Fall today!  Also a perfect opportunity to test out my foot - I have been having some pain in my left foot when I plant, it has been a bit better so today was the day.
I started out with the 1:35 pace bunny as that was my goal for the event.  Bunny would be the right name as he took off like one!  Within 3km he was almost out of sight and I was running 4:28/km, a couple seconds under the goal.  While it was disappointing to lose the group it was a good chance to deal with running alone for the race and working on maintaining the pace.
I kept that pace up until just after the 7 km point where there was the hill - decided to back off and not push it on the hill loosing some time but trying to keep some gas in the tank.  I reached the half way point at 48:13 and given how my foot was feeling, I knew that I wouldn't be making up the time to reach the 1:35 goal.  It was time to dig in and do what I could to get to the end as close to 1:35 as I could.
The second half wasn't as good as the first, taking me 51:17, a slight head wind not helping matters out.  On a positive note, the finish was strong and I got in at 1:38:30.9, just over 7 seconds from my best for the half.
Going to be time to take it easy for a bit, the foot is really bothering me, taking me some time to walk back to my car (only 3.6km away - I used that as my warm up before the race, running to the start).  Despite stretching, I can't plant properly at all or run on it at this point - today is the worst it has been and the first time it didn't get better as I ran, it was the opposite.  It's 4 weeks to the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon where I have registered for the full Marathon - hope my foot heals.
There were a number of Port Credit Runners running today - from my Half Marathon Clinic both David Wainwright (looking awfully good when I spoke with him at the end) and Barb Pomfret; from the Marathon Clinic, Michelle Mayo, Kevin Woon-Fat, Ericka Hastie, Chris Holloway and a few I didn't know the names of.  In Amherstburg today, Teri Monti, Chuck Oateman and Simon Heath all ran the marathon, with Simon setting a Personal Best by 7 minutes!  Way to go everyone.  Great job by our Clinic in their Long Slow Distance Run today, running 16km - great job.
Whatever you did today, I hope you had a great one.
Be well, be happy.

End of Stay-cation II

So down to one more day of stay-cation II.

Friday was Zac Brown Band at the Molson Amphitheatre with Morgan and Rowan!  Thank you for thinking of me Blackjack, it was awesome!!

Well at least two of us were having a great time.  Me and Morgan went to Darien Lake earlier this summer to have fun at the park and to see Zac Brown - he knows the words to all the songs, and it's so great to see him smile and sing.

It was great to have Morgan down for and entire week, really happy that he wanted to come for an extra visit.  It's fun to have Rowan here (despite the look in the picture), we went blow in the dark mini-putting, to a movie, swimming, watched movies.  Pretty awesome vacation!!

It's been a great summer, spent probably the most time with them - really glad the schedules worked out so well this year.

Glenda is on her way back from Kingston and then it's time for dinner.  Maddie has made the move to university this year and it's Queens.  She's gonna do great as she has such a great attitude and work ethic.  So proud of you girl!!

Great turn out today for our 1/2 Marathon Clinic, great to see on a long weekend - thanks!  We did a 16km LSD Run today and everyone did fantastic.  It's hard to explain how great it feels when you talk with the group and people are telling you how great they feel after running 16km, how they know they can do it (the half) - now it's about time!  Feels pretty amazing.  Last week some of the gang ran harder than they should have and this week they were surprised as to how much better they felt by slowing down just 20 seconds a km on average (you're going to do great Lisa!), to hear how much better someone feels following their heart rate more closely for the first time (and after 21 km today Dave - no not this Dave).  I am really proud of each and every one of them, feel truly blessed to have such a great group of people to run with - thank you.

Time to figure out my foot as it's bugging me a lot when I run - only 3 weeks to the Oakville Half and 7 weeks to the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (full).  It hurts at the start and loosens up along the way - feels better when I run quicker.  Going to have to keep working on it.

Stay-cation Number 2

Can't believe the end of summer is here already. With that being said, it does mean time for a holiday again and much like the last time it is a stay-cation.
Friday after work I went to London and picked up Morgan.  He felt he needed some time away from the rest of the gang and wanted to come down here on his own for a few days.  It's been a good couple of days, we went to a movie yesterday and this afternoon baked oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies like he wanted to.  In a bit we will watch a movie here.  Sure is great having him here.  Tuesday I make the trek back to London to pick up Rowan and have the two of them until Saturday.  Can't wait, should me more fun.
Went for my long run today, ran to the Running Room in Port Credit, ran the route with my group and then ran home.  We had some people out today that wanted to go a little faster which was great for me.  Normally I run the Sunday long run more in the middle and today ran at my long slow distance pace.  The run home was a bit faster with the last part slightly under my goal marathon pace.  It felt good to get out for a run like today - 26 km in total.  Need to make sure I get in some distance with the full marathon coming up in October at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
For tomorrow's baking excitement I'm going to make Red Velvet Protein Brownies - Vegan of course.  Need to have something that's great tasting that I can sayids good for me!
Hope everyone had a great weekend and is enjoying their summer.  Sure is short!
Be well.

Stay-Cation

So I am now a couple of days into my "stay-cation" with my guys.  Saturday I headed to London to pick up Morgan and Rowan to come and stay with me for 9 days.   Gotta say I always forget how many people from the GTA head to the States and Niagra Region - took me 45 minutes to get across the QEW from Dorval to the 403 split.
We had a great first night of hanging out - mostly just me and Rowan as Morgan had been awake since 9:30 the night before - he crashed before 8pm and then got up before 5am.  In fact, I made pizza for dinner and Morgan was out before his was out of the oven.  Rowan and I sat and chatted and watched a few movies, it was good fun and glad to have them here.
Sunday morning was a Long Slow Distance day with my group so I was off by 8 in the morning to run a 15km distance with them.  Talk about a great turnout for the Civic Holiday Weekend - including people that join us on Sundays there were about 15 runners which was awesome to see.  We ran a route through the Lorne Park Road area and then down through the Rattray Marsh following the Waterfront Trail back to the Running Room.  The area through the Rattray is always so peaceful and refreshing - keep your eyes open as Greg even saw a deer.  Sure makes for a great place to run.
After a late breakfast and post-run clean up it was time to do some shopping - Rowan had her needs and wants.  She needed a new pair of running shoes for school which is fast approaching, so just what every little girl needs, a pair of Saucony Kinvara 4's!  So jealous - they're fast shoes!

And then it was time to cover off the wants.  For a while now she has been wanting to get an iPod, so we went shopping.  She has done a great job saving money and was only a little short.  We picked up a 5th generation one at Future Shop and I chipped in as an early birthday present.  We got it home and she was having a lot of fun when we finally noticed that there is only one camera on it - you can only take pictures facing you!

Today we took it back and replaced it with a new 16G 4th generation just like her brother Morgan's.  She loves it and I have been getting quite a number of texts.  She even (with a little help setting it up) was texting with Kaitlin in New Zealand.

Sure is good to have them here.  Going to be a great stay-cation!

LSD and not what you non runners are thinking

What a great day for a run.  Sun shining, slight breeze, no humidity, absolutely perfect - well except for the fact that I have to go to work in about half an hour.
Awesome turnout today, we had about 15 runners with us for our Long Slow Distance, which this week was 13km.  Everyone loved the route that Glenda mapped out, started out along the lake and through the waterfront trail, winding it's way past some nice homes back to the Running Room.  Everyone did a really super job today, all having something left in the tank.  Really important to not push it on the long slow distances and allow your body to recover in addition to lengthening the distance and time spent running.  They all had a little zip at the end and picked up the pace while staying in their proper training range.
It's been a better week of running for me personally, getting in some more distance than I have been and doing both some tempo and longer distance on my own, outside of what my group is running.  My goals at this point are to run a minimum of 250km in August (embarrassed to say I haven't been logging that much mileage), register for and run the Oakville Half Marathon in September and register for and run the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October.  That would be my second marathon this year and third since last November.  I'm really hopeful as to my potential time.  Road to Hope last November was solid compared to my first marathon two years before and in Ottawa I took off almost 7 minutes.  Still have  a ways to go to qualify for Boston, but it's getting a lot closer.
Time to get ready for work.
Have a great day!

Running, Running, Running

Having a great time with our 1/2 Marathon Clinic, what a great group of people with amazing attitudes - all ready to do their best.
Since Sunday I have run over 61km, putting in extra from what our group has done, man it feels good to actually put in closer to the mileage I should be doing.  Tempo Run on Tuesday night, started out as a run that I wasn't sure how far I would go, then decided I'd do 10km, then decided I should make it a tempo - 4:52 per km pace so it was there.  Felt so good!  Did a 17km before our group run on Wednesday - the guys did a fantastic job as it was there tempo run - had them going faster than they had ever run - way to go guys.  Tonight ran to the Running Room (long way there) and then a nice easy  steady run with the group.
We have had some great meals the past couple of days - kale and swiss chard with risotto and vegan sausage ( that part doesn't really go but it was still good).  Shake this morning made from kale, blueberries, spirulina, agave, almond milk, chia seeds, hemp hearts and Vega protein - great start to the day.  But as if that wasn't enough, had a later breakfast of tofu benedict and home made hash browns - tasty if I do say so myself.  Not to be outdone, Glenda made up curry vegetables and a great bbq tempeh for dinner post run.
Life is good.  Feeling great.
Hope that your life is giving you all you deserve.

Wow! It's been a long time!

Time flies when you're having fun or at the very least ignoring your blog.  So in the time since my last post, Glenda and I went on a cruise on the Slipstream with an amazing bunch from Lone Star Texas Grill for the trip of a life time.
I have run a couple thousand kilometres which included two 10km races, a 15km race, three 1/2 marathons, two 30km races and two marathons.  I have also taught a 10km running clinic and am currently co-teaching a 1/2 marathon clinic with Glenda at the Running Room in Port Credit.
In the way of life changing events, I have adopted a plant based diet after reading a book by Scott Jurek called Eat to Run (Scott is winner of many ultra distance races including the Badwater 135) and Rich Roll's Finding Ultra (Rich is an Ultra Distance Triathlete -think like double Ironman distance race) - both had found that when they became plant based in their eating, they were able to train harder and recover faster for their races.  I met Rich in September 2012 at the Toronto Vegetarian Festival - a highlight for sure!
At the time I was training for a fall marathon and felt it worth a shot.  Not only did I have a solid time, I also found along the way that I felt better in general and I am wearing clothes sizes I didn't wear in high school!  Pretty Cool!!
I hope all are well, gonna work on blogging more consistently.  Hopefully with stuff that will be of interest.
Be well.