Tested to breaking point

The theme for this blog entry is: Things I might be making up.

To start with, November in Vancouver, the wettest month in the world anywhere, EVER! I do not believe they has been a day when it has not at least rained once. I know, I know, I complained when I got here that it was too hot and that I had come to Vancouver for cooler weather but really this is just taking the aardvark.

Tuesday was a wet run with the club, and because of the weather and maintenance work around the seawall, the normal picturesque run was just running through back streets trying to avoid the worst puddles. I have to say at this point if it wasn't for the running club I don;t think I would have run at all this month. The company makes even the wettest, coldest run, fun to take part in. Also the a beers in the pub afterwards never hurts. The new game at the moments seems to be if we can get the barman and waitress to smile, neither is inclined to do this with any regularity.

Up until this month, Wednesday normally signalled the opportunity to climb up the Grouse Grind in the afternoon. I have a natty little card that records all my times for the ascents and also totals up the total distance climbed and tells you the equivalent mountain you have scaled, with Everest being the goal obviously. Now in all honesty I forget where abouts I am and I'm to lazy to go fetch my card which would let me access the info but I know I'm not quite at the peak of Everest yet. Now the snow has arrived on the mountain and the skiing is open. So after last weeks poor effort due to gale force winds and a snow storm I was ready to give it another shot. 3 more runs had been opened and even thought there was a lot of cloud around and yes it was raining I had faith that the slopes would be above the cloud and it would be glorious. I was wrong.

After getting all dressed up in my ski gear and putting my boots and skis out, I was making one last pass into the lounge (1 step from the kitchen) when I caught my toe against one of my ski boots. In my mind I had shattered every bone in my toe and several in nearby locations. The truth is probably more like I stubbed it and it bruised a bit. But at the time it hurt and certain curse words were uttered and I have no doubt that if any of my neighbours had heard I would now be looking for a new home. With a strapped up toe and with Skis over my shoulders I headed out the door and limped towards the skyTrain Station, as soon as I crossed the road though I realised I had forgotten my ski pass. 5 minutes later and more subversive muttering I was back under away again. 8 stops on the train, a SeaBus and a bus ride later I arrived with little fanfare at the base of the mountain. Another 5 minutes, a lot more whispered profanities and a few worried glances from parents later, I have changed from my shoes into my ski boots (which I have now taken a personnel dislike too) and I am standing at the front of the queue waiting for the SkyRide to take me to the skiing nirvana I know awaits. Only to be told by a far to chirpy girl that the mountain was now closed due to "Poor weather conditions".

ARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I found that when I got home, Martin had tried to warn me that the mountain had shut down but I was at that point hopping around holding my toe instead of checking messages. Bugger!

So with skiing now off the cards I decided not to waste the day entirely and I went in search of a doctors. No not for my toe, even I'm not that bad. for the last 7-8 weeks I have had a patch of irritated skiing on my left wrist and even after adhering to the two major rules of skin care:

Rule 1: If it is dry put something wet on it.

Rule 2: If it is wet put something dry on it.

Nothing had worked. So having paid about $200 in health care payments already, I decided to seek out a doctor and start seeing some of the benefits of that money. Luckily there is a doctor within 50 yards of my front door so I didn't have to travel far (which was a good thing or my toe my have fallen off, not sure but I'm just saying...) An hour and a bit later I'm in seen by the doctor and after my tale of bravery and resourcefulness at how I had been battling this ailment, she rolled her eyes and sent me home with some a tub of cream that "...should clear it up in a couple of days". The really annoying things is, it has.

Club night on Thursday saw the first clear nights run we have had in a while and we took full opportunity of it. Steve, Sarah and I had a great extended run around the creek and even picked up the pace a little at the end. Some how I looked a lot more exhausted than Steve but I'm sure that was just the light playing tricks, that all the black spots in front of my eyes. And to top of a good run we even took in a sneaky beer at the pub too, on a Thursday!

For a while now I have been offered the chance to have a go at finding out what my VO2 Max is. Quick explanation of what VO2 max is, the higher the number the better your muscles are at using the oxygen that you breath in. I have put this off for one reason or another but mainly because I was scared. The idea behind the test is that you run on a treadmill which increases in speed and incline until you can't run no more, while all the time being strapped up to some fancy gizmo's piloted my some genius looking people saying things like "hmmm" and "ahhhh". For a change I want bore you with all the details of my heroic exploits I will just say that I didn't get any where near the machine having to use an incline to tire me out I was done long before that, and that I set of numerous alarm bells on the machine, my heart was going a tad faster than maybe it should. I will however include the video I made of my heroic attempts instead. Ha not letting you get away with it that easily.

A big thank you to Sarah and Heather who administered the test and were very good at supporting me and making sure I didn't die. By the way my result showed I was pretty average for a runner, who knew?

After a nice long lie in on Saturday morning I decided to make use of the afternoon by heading to somewhere I saw on a run a while back and thought would be cool to look around, then completely forgot about it until I read an article this week saying it was getting shut down in March so I thought I better get myself in gear and visit promptly. I'm referring to the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park. It is a dome shaped building (a little like Centre Parcs, Sherwood Forest, only smaller) which house some tropical birds and plant life. It is being closed due to the fact the dome needs repairing at a cost of a couple of million dollars. After visiting I can see why it need repairing. It was strangely enough raining outside and it was pretty much raining inside too, there a quite a few leaks in the joins that hold the dome shaped roof together. Even with the leaks it is a great little place to visit, and although it only take 30 minutes to take a quick walk around it has some beautiful species of plants and tress and also having budgies flying round your head and parrots sitting around chattering to you, it makes for a nice place to while away a wet afternoon.

And finally. Sunday morning saw me take my latest adventure into trail running. With my shoes still a little moist still from last week we headed up to Lynn Valley again, but this time to run along the creek and finishing at the Norvan Falls. Speculation again on my part but I think the name might originate from the fact they are in North Vancouver, I don't know, but it sounds plausible. For a nice change it started off dry and we had a nice run up to the start of the trails proper before the wetness set in. I have mentioned before about running along streams and over boulders etc... this took it to a new level today, all the recent rain had made large sections of the run pretty much under water. Sukhi just plain gave up trying to keep his feet dry and just waded through the swollen stream while John seemed to leap the whole damn thing and I lumberingly leaped from rock to rock, every now again submerging a foot or both. The views along the way and especially at the falls were well worth it. There is some amazing places tucked away in the back of beyond and that I'm very glad that I'm getting to see. As an added bonus to this weeks run Sukhi and I were given a brief and interesting history and botany lesson by John, who showed where the old tree logging railway tracks used to be, where slots had been cut into tress to help the loggers cut down trees higher up to make their life easier and also what must have been the highlight of the day, I got to taste a root (actually a rhizoid, I do listen) of a licorice fern, which probably not all that shockingly has the a taste of licorice, and also a little taste of dirt and root too.

Until next time...

Rain, Rain Go Away...

The weekend has come and gone and what have I got to show for it...wet shoes.

The nice sunny autumn days of Vancouver where I walked through the park while the sun shone through the golden leaves seem to have vanished. They have been replaced by rain and all those golden leaves are now slippery mush ready for me to slip on when my mind wanders as it tends to do.

Coming from the UK, I'm used to this type of weather, but for some reason the fantastic summer lulled me into a false sense of security and now I feel slightly betrayed. Actually all this is lies, I say this to justify my complete lack of exercises over the last few weeks, only getting out to run with the club.

I have signed up for the Los Angeles Marathon in March and next Monday hails the start of my training for it. It is a brand new point to point course running from the Dodgers Stadium in the hills, through Hollywood, Century City (think Die Hard), Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills and then finishes at the Santa Monica Pier. I'm hoping with this mainly down hill course I should be able to improve my time and edging towards a 3 hour marathon.

Back to the weekend. Saturday I decided to get some fresh air and go see a movie... what????Between my buildings door, the skytrain station and the cinema I was outside in the rain for a good 500 yards.

I went to see Pirate Radio, for those in Europe, The Boat that Rocked. Having been out in England some 6 months back I missed it then but normally enjoy Richard Curtis films so I thought now was as good as time as any.

The first thing to mention about the film was the difference in trailers. In the UK the films trailers had your usual comedy clips from the film showing the story of how they were getting round the Law and Government. In North America it concentrated far more on the one American character, even suggesting he was showing the Brits how it was done. Marketing you have to love it.

The film was enjoyable and Bill Nighy is always fun to watch. One problem that did emerge in the theatre was when the humour relied on regional knowledge. There were a few uncomfortable moments where I was laughing and the people round me were just looking like maybe I was on day release from a straight jacket.

With still some daylight to kill, I decided that Science world might be worth a gander. I go past it on the train a lot and have even run past/around it a few times but have never made it in. The building itself look very futuristic or it did at some point, think Epcot Centre but smaller and with lights all round it. It has to be said, it is mainly set out for kids with lots of hands on stuff to do, but... if you are willing to ignore the looks, whispers and scowls from narky parents adults can fully enjoy it too. With exhibits to test your flexibility (I'm average), your grip (erm, I've got a good grip for some reason), your brain waves (yeah, I think that one was broken) and the worsts one in my opinion, your fears (there were people walking round with fricking snakes!!!). It was fun but I really think it is best to do with a kid so at least you can pass it off as you are there for them, like Disney movies, you know what I mean.

Sunday started early with getting up in time so I could have breakfast and have chance for it to digest before my second attempt at trail running. Sukhi and John from PRR were kind enough to take me back out to the Baden Powell Trail to do what I presume is roughly the third quarter of a race known as the Knee Knacker. We started at Grouse Mountain and ran through to Lynn Valley Headwaters and then back again (the route should be visible through a link in the Garmin section on the right for those that are interested).

The first trail run I did was on a beautiful crisp morning with the sun coming through the trees. It couldn't have been more different on Sunday. The rain while not heavy was consistent and the temperature was cool to say the least, especially up in the mountains. We ran just below the snow line even crossing it at one point although I'm not sure 1/2 an inch of snow on either side of the trail counts. It was an amazing run, all the streams were up and you could here the waterfalls from quite a distance, my favourite part would have to be running over one bridge that was partial submerged due to the rise in water. I think Sukhi summed it up best my saying we had run the Baden Powell stream not trail.

Trail running is a very different art than road running and one I have yet to master in anyway. While my two guides were lithely leaping from rock to rock, gliding over roots and fallen branches, I was clomping around like the tyrannosaur in Jurassic Park. There was no fear of meeting any wildlife along the way, they had heard me from a long way away, and had time to finish what ever they were doing and amble away at a leisurely pace long before we got with in range. Oh well, something for me to work on.

The rest of Sunday past in napping, I did get up early, and doing a bit of food shopping. I did manage to get a whiteboard though where I have laid out my day to day activities so I don't keep forgetting to do them, you know, the small things like getting dressed (I'm not kidding). I did manage to get out to the buildings gym to have a quick run on the treadmill as I'm concerned that I have lost a fair amount of speed and fitness since completing Chicago back at the beginning of October. I was doing great until Jerry McQuire came on the T.V. and I had to stop.

Today has been basically about recovery, all the feet slapping from yesterday has left me a very sore back and calves. To see me this morning would have been like looking at in 50 years (I'm hopeful) I was sort of limping with an arched back and a blanket over my shoulders, It's got cold out side and I'm too cheap to turn the heating on. Thank you pharmaceutical companies for Ibuprofen!

And just for the record, I did get dressed today as per schedule :)

It's alive.....

Right, due to me being incredibly lazy, I have fallen behind in my blog writing, so this entry will try and catch you up with where I am and then we can return to normal service as soon as possible.

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I wrote this part of the blog back in August and never posted it...

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The afternoon after my half marathon race, Gayle landed at the airport in to claim the title of my first official guest (Martin you don't count as you were helping me move in therefore you were 'The Help'). If you cast your minds back I was telling you that during the race there was a light drizzle of rain which kept be nice and cool. This drizzle became a downpour on the way to the airport. By the time Gayle was through customs it was lashing it down. Regardless of the weather, we headed off and did a quick tour through downtown and thought that due to the rain the indoor aquarium might be a plan. We thought this as did half of Metro Vancouver. The queue was a round the block and with my stomach still feeling the effects of the run (runners know what I mean, non-runners don't want to know) I vetoed the aquarium and decided that as the rain had started to ease from monsoon to at worst flash flood levels we Capilano Suspension Bridge a try.

This turned out to be one of my best decisions all week, not saying much but still. The bridge is located half way up Grouse Mountain and because of this , as we went up I think we either went through the low cloud level or we just struck it lucky and the sun came out in a big way. I'll be as brief as I can in describing the place. Basically it is a massive canyon that for reasons that seem to resemble a well known joke, a rather rich fellow decided to build a bridge across to get to the other side. We happened to come across a free tour of the park and one of the first nuggets of information we were told was that this was the fourth incarnation of the bridge. This prompted me to ask what I thought must have been a common question in response to this info, "What happened to the first three?". As usual I assume to much, after he stopped what I thought was an unnecessarily long laugh, the guide said that no one had ever asked the question previously. Long story short that were replaced due to just improved building materials but I still think before you walk out over a very deep hole you should know what you are letting yourself in for.

The view from the bridge is amazing and apart from slight rocking, which adds to the fun, is a very safe way to get to the other side, the chicken will be informed. On the opposite side of the canyon they have setup a fantastic treetop walk, some viewing platforms of the river which flows beneath the bridge and a few other attractions to keep your interest. The Capilano Suspension Bridge is now and official stop on the Parker vistor tour schedule.

The rest of the week Gayle and I meandered our way through Vancouver doing your usual tourist things, shopping, cycling around Stanley Park, going to the Indian festival (free Indian food, whoo hoo)

I had a great visit, thank you for the company Gayle.

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3 months later....

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In the last few months I have been having a great time in Vancouver and doing a little travelling too.

I have now run the Chicago Marathon and completed it with in my goal time and BQ'd (Boston Qualified), I needed to complete the distance in 3:10:59, I rolled across the line with time to spare, 5 seconds to be exact :) My watch read 3:11:05 but thankfully the race chip read 3:10:54 and that is the one that counts! A quick shout out to Andy and Martin who also completed the race, Andy completing his first ever marathon in a scorching time of 3:56:11 and Martin who smashed his target time of 3:45 to come home in 3:37:17. A BIG thank you again goes to Gayle for being our spectator support extraordinaire (her turn to run comes soon).

After the run, we managed to do a small road trip through, Cleveland and onto New York City. While New York weather let us down a little , the run through Central Park was a great highlight.

I also managed to get back down to Houston to see some friends I have missed since being 'up north'. It took all of 30 mins after landing before I need to change my t-shirt due to sweating. How quickly I had forgotten. Another BIG thank you has to go to Dan, if it wasn't for some persistent questioning of flight times I wouldn't have found out I was half way to the wrong airport in rush hour traffic! Thankfully all it cost was a $100 dollar taxi ride and a brand new bottle of eau de cologne, no time to check bags so id didn' make it through airport security :( Lesson learned! Thanks to Alan and Gill and Dan and Leann for putting me up for my stay. Another lesson that some Woodway residents should learn is that when late night skinny dipping in the pool, check to make sure no one is watching you from the balcony ;) Maximum points to the brave resident though for getting two girls into the hot tub in the first place!

Running wise I have been ticking over since Chicago. PRR club nights have kept be honest and most Sundays I have been fortunate enough to have been invited on some great runs around different parts of Vancouver. The best one of these runs having to be the last quarter of the Knee Knacker trail race course. Amazing scenery and I can easily see trail running becoming a big part of my running.

PRR also took part in the very wet and cold Haney 2 Harrison 100K relay race. We had a great day, even with a 6:30 am race start in the dark, cold, wind and rain. I got to run leg 3 of this adventure, a 15.5k distance with the first 7.5k up hill. I let myself down a little my attacking to hard to begin with but will be wiser for next year.

The movies I have seen over the time have been far to many to report back on but for me the top picks have been: Inglorious Basterds, Whip It and Zombieland.

My last topic for this catch up is skiing. Grouse Mountain has now opened there ski runs, well one run so far. I was lucky enough to spot an offer for Grouse which allows me to go skiing one night a week for the season for the really cheap cost of $150. Wednesday was my first trip up there. I lugged my skis, boots, two set of poles (don't ask) and sundry items, gloves, helmet etc.. on to the skytrain then Seabus and then finally on to the bus that would take me up to the top of the mountain. I did all this dressed in full ski gear, needless to say I got a little warm and a also few odd looks from passengers on all the forms of transport I took. Arriving at the top I found there were 100 kph winds and a snow storm in progress. Not letting these small issues get in the way of skiing, I strapped up and went for it. After approx. one hour of getting ready, 1 hour 20 minutes of travelling to the very peak and then another 10 minutes waddling to the slope it self, I was on the snow for maybe 30 minutes. With only a very small slope open and near snow blindness, there was little fun to be had. But I will say this, it was good to have a look around and to actually have even a truncated play in the snow. I look forward to more slopes opening and the weather improving.

I have skipped lots of stuff unfortunately but I shall try to get back to form and I have even joined twitter (see link on the left) as a micro blog to try and keep me up to date.

Thanks for reading and I promise to do better in the future.

Birthdays come and go

Well I certainly have been busy over the last week so I will try and not bombard you with my usually level of mind numbing detail.

After much self congratulations on hearing I had finally completed my Open University degree last Thursday morning, I wandered up to Swanguard Stadium in Central Park to watch the final of the men's 5k race in the World Police and Fire Games. Not wishing to show any disrespect to the fireman of the world out there but it seemed to be they received a good drubbing from the police. But that is just my take on it, not sure who came out on top for the entire games. The racing was good and it gave me a chance to practise some sport action shots with my camera, as it turns out I still need more practise.

Thursday nights club run turned out to be a little harder than I had imagined. A large number of the club was taking part in a 80k (50 mile) trail race on Saturday so I had thought that most would be taking it easy on Thursday in preparation for this. I yet again underestimated these guys. Their idea of tapering for a race is very different from mine. In brief, after running up a hill ()I say hill but I think crampons would have been more suitable than running shoes) to what I can only guess/hope is the highest point in Metro-Vancouver, we had a brief respite in Queen Elizabeth Park (awesome views) before running (free falling) down the other side of the hill to the site of the 2010 Winter Olympic village. After reaching (hitting) the bottom I committed the cardinal running club sin of falling so far behind that I missed the pedestrian traffic light and the rest of the group had to wait for me to play frogger across the road to catch up to them. It didn't get much better from there, I managed to keep them in line of sight until the last kilometre then just meekly finished off.

I don't want you to get the wrong idea here. The rest of the runners in the club are fantastic, they have been really friendly and welcoming and have never once complained or even rolled there eyes (that I have seen) as I gasp for breath at the back of the pack. I also don't want you to think that I'm not enjoying it either. It is a great challenge every time I go and I feel even in the short time I have been going, my running has improved. So far each run has had a different route and I'm seeing parts of the city and surrounding area that I would not normally see. Running clubs are only as hard as you want to make them, give it a go, you don't have to be fast or take part in races, you get to meet some great people who encourage and help you achieve what you want.

Friday was my Birthday!!! Thank you to all those that sent messages, it was great. After a finishing work and speaking to my Mum I had a day of mooching around, and buying myself some presents. I have now got my wireless network up and running so watch out for the video guided tour of the apartment soon. I also got the Wii connected up so I could practise my tennis. In the evening I headed off downtown to try out another restaurant , this time The Keg won my business. The Keg seems to be a Canadian chain who specialises in steak, who am I to argue. I had a great meal here and while a little more expensive than else where, on special occasions worth the extra, nothing too fancy but nice. After steak, jacket potato and a range of deserts (best not to ask) I got home after having a good night out.

As mentioned a little earlier, PRR members were taking part in a race over the weekend called the Stormy Trail Race which wound it's way around the mountains of Squamish valley. This was meant to be a relay race which the club had entered 5 teams, but some thought that the idea of taking part in a 80k (50 mile) relay version of the race was a little to sissy for them so they attempted the whole race on there own! I had volunteered to help out at one of the aid stations along the course and to be a backup runner if anybody had to drop out. I could do a whole race report here on the days events but in the hope you are still reading this and I would like you to finish I will be concise.

The alarm went off at 3:30am and I was picked up at 4am, FYI, people were still coming home from a good night on the town. We got to the race start by 5am and the race got underway at 6am with a 12 hour cutoff for the race. I nearly got to run a couple of times but on both occasions the opportunity was wrenched from my grasp (sigh). I spent the day eating sweets and crisps that were meant for the runners and cheering as they went by. Meanwhile, our club runners put in an amazing effort. Every team finished and one team only missed a prize due to a course marshal mis-directing one of there runners. All of the solo runners finished under the 12 hour deadline and not only that but Elle beat the male and female course record from last year, winning the women's race and coming third overall having taken 57 minutes of the female course record (her own). These guys did an amazing job and I can't wait to give trail running ago myself. This will have to wait just a little bit though as the amount of lost skin and blood makes me think I will wait until after the marathon. An awesome BBQ followed the event and finally made it home at around 9:30pm. Long day and I didn't even run.

Up early again on Sunday at 5:30am. This time it was my turn to run. I was taking part in the Delta Half Marathon which was about 25 mins south of Vancouver and most importantly, flat as a pancake. Due to some interesting difficulties with my car here I was very grateful for the lift to and from the race. On arriving at the start the first thing I noticed was the three fire engines lined up out side the leisure centre where the run was starting from. I'm still not sure what the problem was but the result was there were no restroom facilities, thankfully a nearby tree did the trick for me but members of the female persuasion were getting a little antsy. A Porty-potty was found and after a 15 minute delay the race was started. Just before we got off a light rain started which kept me nice and cool, if a little damp, for the race. I set off well and after settling in everything went well until the course turned into the wind, in all fairness wind might be an exaggeration, draft would be more fair but at the 9 mile mark it was enough to slow me down a little. My target was to finish in between 1:30:00 and 1:35:00, I crossed the line in 1:32:27 so job done. They had a nice pancake breakfast for the finishers, a good medal and just as important for me, a good ribbon too.

For future reference, a steak dinner on a Friday night, an early morning the next day eating sweets, crisps and BBQ, followed by a late night, another early morning and a 13.1 mile race does not a happy stomach make!

I'm going to cut you off at this point as there is more to come from the day and I don't want to overload you. I'll post again soon.

Thanks for reading.

Sea Creatures, celluloid and bits of paper...

So far so good this week. The temperature has come back down in to the 20's and I have stopped looking like a damp rag. Tuesday was running club night and I tackled the journey this week for the first time by public transport. If I haven't already mentioned, I am but a stones throw from the Vancouver Sky Train line, and when I say stones throw I mean it. One good pitch and I would be looking at at a misdemeanour, which considering it runs until 1:30 in the morning and I can hear platform announcements is sometimes a very tempting trade off. But still it is convenient when I need it. I also have recently found out how to buy a pack of tickets at a discount as well so I'm now only paying $1.90 (£1 give or take) a journey.

Getting back on track (pardon the pun). So I start off with a 10 minute train ride into the middle of downtown, which out me in Granville Station (watch out for the theme here), I then walked out on to Granville St. and walked several blocks along there, about another 10 minutes. I then come to Granville St. Bridge which while a little scary in how close the traffic gets but does give a great view of downtown and the surrounding area, and adds another 10 minutes to the trip. After a very short walk I'm on Granville Island (see the pattern?) and 5 minutes away from the False Creek Community Centre from where we run from. So about 35-40 minutes from door to door which is the same as driving but I don't have to worry about parking or having a drink afterwards.

Tuesday was also the day I joined the running group officially. After three trial runs (the jokes keep coming) I decided that I would pony up the membership fee of $35 and legitimise our relationship. I became member 99 and after a few poorly received joke about being '...a man not a number!' (Canadians, Eh!) we went out for a club warm up then out on our individual group runs. This week saw another harbour run with a nice hill thrown in for good measure. But to add to the general scenic nature of the club runs we had a guest participant for a leg of the course. A harbour seal found us to be mildly interesting/amusing and swam along the sea wall with us until we turned away from the water. After climbing a fairly step hill we the proceeded to throw ourselves down and a bloody step hill. I don't think I have ever run that fast or with so little control and hope never to do so again. The hill in question was in the great neighbourhood of Kits and was lined with street cafes and shops. I will take a moment now to apologise to anyone who had the evening meal/walk/drive/cycle ruined by me as I hurtled out of control down the hill praying that no one would step in front of me or drive out of a side street. Picture in your mid the scene from Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy is being chased down by that giant boulder, I was that boulder and the poor unsuspecting residents and visitors of Kits were brave and quick witted Dr. Jones.

The evening ended with a good blue cheese burger and a couple of pints (yay for not driving) in a Granville Island bar next to the waterfront. And after said couple of pints, the walk back from Granville Island, across Granville Bridge, along Granville St. and into Granville station didn't seem as appealing as before so I took a $3 water taxi (aka dinghy) across the creek into downtown where is was but a short walk to the train and home.

After finding a cheapish cinema at the weekend I decided to head back and make use of their Early Bird Special. If you turn up for the first showing of a film then it is only $7.95. This cinema seems to be a bit of an oddity as it is part of a major chain but seems to show a lot of Indie flicks and small films that don;t get a wide release over here, which is great but just unusual. After having a quick browse of the listings I found the film Moon, a UK film (brilliant to begin with) staring Sam Rockwell, who I have always found to be a good watch as he seems to pick slightly screwed up characters to play. As I have said in the past I will try and not spoil any film on here for anybody who hasn't seen it, I will just say give it a quick over view though. The film is set 40 years into the future where we get the majority of our power from a harvested element from the moon. Sam Rockwell plays Sam a lone worker on the moon who is coming to the end of his three year contract to maintain the facility with the help of the bases AI machine GERTY (voiced my Kevin Spacey). After an accident caused by an hallucination (been alone to long?) things start to get a little funky. This is not a fast paced Sci-Fi action film, the fact that it is based on the moon is hardly relevant, it give several nods to films past and has a very old style of film making quality about it. Worth a watch.

On the flip side to this, I rented a DVD called Columbus Day with Val Kilmer. Now there is some controversy over this film as two versions have been released, an action version and a drama version, I have no idea which one I watched I just know I was bored my it. I have heard rave reviews about it so don't take my word for it but to me it seemed badly acted and filmed.

Last bit of news for the day. It appears that I have some how managed to wangle a pass from my last Open University course. For those that I have bombarded with simple math questions over the last 12 months I thank you, your hard work paid off. A special thanks goes out to Gayle's sister's friend's young son (see I worked hard to find these people) who while we were waiting in an airport lounge to go skiing, chipped in his effort. Also thanks go Andy who checked the kids working out, Martin for having random questions thrown at him from upstairs, Mat for emailed random questions and some assignment checking and Darren for helping ensure assignments were delivered on time including a very last minute assignment emailed at 7 am ish standing in snow from a stolen wi-fi connection out side a pub in Morzine France.

With the successful completion of this course I have finally finished my BSc degree which I started long, long ago. Whoo Hoo!!!

[The seal photo is for visualisation purposes only, I cheated and thieved it off the Net, I didn't have my camera with me.]

Big Helmets and Truncheons

This weekend saw the opening of the 2009 World Police & Fire Games here in Vancouver. Teams from around the globe are competing over 10 days in disciplines from track and field to angling (I kid you not). On Saturday you couldn't move for bumping into a Fireman, steady girls. On that subject what is it about fireman that get you so worked up? It's the helmets right? You know it is. Also I think street crime over the next week or so will be at an all time low as lots of burly, short haired, stern looking guys are prowling around the city, it doesn't seem to matter if they are in uniform or sports attire, you can spot them a mile off.

The track events are being held in the park I use to run around so I 'll be trying to go and see a few events over the time they are here. As I ambled around the park on Saturday they were starting some of the field events and it could be my imagination but these guys seemed to be taking it very seriously. I have looked over the schedule of activities and was disappointed to find there were no pole sliding events or chasing the Chav sprints, feel they missed out on an opportunity there.

The heat is slowly dying down now, in the high 20's until the end of the week when it should cool further. Friday was still warm and I have to admit to having great difficulty shifting myself out of the apartment and actually ended up just vegetating the day away in front of the TV watching a few classic films including Back to the Future. That film is great, and I don't care how old I get I still want a Deloren!

Saturday did see me lever myself off the sofa for at least a small time, after a very, very leisurely plod around the park I went down town to hunt down a nice meal. After looking for the Vancouver HardRock Cafe (closed down) and the Vancouver Planet Hollywood (closed down) I found a place on Robson St. called Milestones. I had a very nice meal at a fair price even if the Pepsi was flatter than my backside. Will be adding that to the list of revisits.

After leaving the restaurant comfortably full I wound my way through the streets ending up at one of the downtown cinemas. Now so far I have found Canadian cinemas to be quite expensive at around $13 dollars a film, but I was surprised to find even on a Saturday that they were charging a matinee fee and was just $9, score! The film in question was an Indie movie called '500 days of Summer' starring Zoey Deschanel (she's lovely) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who played the young kid in 3rd rock from the Sun. No spoilers will be found on these pages but I can safely say it is worth a watch when it reaches a cinema near you.

Sunday, as anyone who has done marathon training will now is LSR day, Long Slow Run. I have to say, I both love and loathe LSR day. It is the one day of the week you should never skip if you can avoid it as these runs are the ones that will get you across the finish line. They are a chance to test out how your endurance is building up and see what your heart reckons to the endeavour and when you have finished it you know your are not running that far again for at least a week. Really everything you do during the week is in preparation for this run, you can run as fast as you like but if you can't keep it going over the distance then the marathon is not going to happen. That is not to say that if you fall short one week on a long run then you aren't going to be able to the race, I have missed my target several times, but it does act as a great measure how you are doing and it improves your mental outlook at the race to know you can at least go this far and what it feels like to do that.

Having said all the good, the bad is that there is no way to cheat the LSR. At some point in the day you have to get up out of bed and put in the miles. I'm fantastic at creating delaying tactics to avoid the reality of having to start the run. My favourite one at the minute because I'm using the treadmill is to wait until there is a good movie on TV so I have something to watch as a clock up the miles.

So with Galaxy Quest starting at 2pm I finally managed to get myself out of the apartment and with lubed nipples (I learn my lessons) I headed off to the gym. The reason I have been using the treadmill for long runs at the minute is one because of the hot weather, it allows me to put lots of water bottles around me, and two, because I'm still looking for a flattish place to run, I like hills now but I still don't want to run them over any distance. I think my Sunday sessions on the treadmill haven't gone unnoticed either. It started a couple of weeks ago with a polite notice on the gym room notice board saying that would residents please remember that a maximum of 30 minutes should be spent on the treadmill if others are waiting. This noticed then moved right next to the treadmill and now it is not so polite. In my defence I do offer the treadmill to anyone that comes into to the gym, but I'm starting to think there might be a language barrier issue at work here. Anyway I have now come up with a new plan, I have printed a notice declaring that I'm marathon training but will be happy to move off the machine if someone else would like to use it. To add to this I'm going to get it translated into a couple of the more common languages in the complex, hopefully that should assuage my guilt.

This weeks run went very well considering it is still like an oven in the gym, I took 3 bottles of water with me and still managed to lose 4 lbs in sweat! I had a slight hiccup with my heart rate monitor half way through, either the battery died or my heart gave out, given the continued breathing I went for option one. So after Galaxy Quest had finished and School of Rock was reaching its crescendo I finished the run. One problem I do seem to have picked up is a sore right Achilles tendon, I'm hoping that cause is that I have been using some light weight trainers on the treadmill and that they haven't been offering enough cushioning for my stompy gate. I'm going back to my normal trainers this week and with some rest, ice, compression and elevation (R.I.C.E love those acronyms) I'm hoping it clears up.

Enough of my droning for this post, I will go and get on with living. A quick mention to Andy, Gayle and Martin who ran in the Wellingborough 5 mile road race this weekend, they all put in personnel best times and did themselves proud, well done guys. Good Job!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

This week has been fairly quite on the activities front. Work has been keeping me busy and I'll admit to the fact that when I haven't been working, I've been trying to sleep.

Monday's run felt like a lot of hard work after Sunday's 16 miles. My legs felt very heavy and it was a bit of a slog to get myself around the course. Add to the fact that we started having a record heat wave here in Vancouver on Monday, it made for tough going.

After having moved away from Houston I had expected to enjoy having temperatures that didn't melt the bottom of my trainers, but within a month of being here I'm hearing new stories with titles like 'Once in a lifetime heatwave' and 'Record highs'. In some areas of the city the record was smashed by 4 to 5 degrees Celsius. We have had highs of 34, 36, 35 and 37 this week, which is normal for Texas but then I don't try and run out side in Texas and the buildings all have A/C.

To continue my moaning about the heat, I have continued going to the running club, Pacific Road Runners (PRR), this week. On Tuesday we did a group warm up (ha ha) of a couple of miles before heading out in our separate groups for a run. After the warm up I was sweating more than I normally would after a 10 mile run, but still not wanting to look weak in the eyes of my new running mates I headed out after the pack. Now some of these guys are fast and I'm talking, 'oh bugger where did they go?' fast, but after some phrases like 'we are going to take it easy' and 'phew it is hot, we won;t be pushing it today' I felt a little reassured that it would be OK. Wrong, OMG, WTF!

The route was great, we ran along the coast line and through a couple of beaches, which due to the weather were packed, and they were sine great views of downtown Vancouver. That was the good, the bad was my heart rate hitting nearly 95% of max within the first few K trying to keep up with the pack, the ugly was how I looked when we got to the half way turn around point. Before we got to Jericho Beach which was our half way point I did actually cave and ask the dreaded question, 'are we there yet?' quickly followed by 'how much further?'.

When we finally got there and we stopped for water I had little choice but to half stand under the beach shower to try and get my core temperature down to below critical levels. This behaviour drew some very odd and worried looks from the other runners but at this point social niceties and pride be damned, my brain was melting!

Having got my heart rate below that of a meth-amphetamine junkie on a week long bender, we headed back to base with more than a few concerned backward glances in my direction. The run back actually was not to bad as there was a gentle decline and the heat had finally had an affect on a couple of the other so I could disguise my weakness as the desire to chat and get to know people better. And as for the cold shower after we had finished, all I can say was I apologise to the guy next to me in the showers as I was make some very odd sounds and I think I may have freaked him out slightly.

Thankfully a few of the group decided on a beer or two afterwards which at $3 dollars a pint went down very nicely indeed, probably didn't help with my severe case of dehydration but hey, what you gonna do?

Wednesday night saw the third night of the Celebration of Light and it was the UK's turn to shine. Now I'm trying not to be biased but frankly we kicked arse. I don;t know if it was the stirring national anthem or the choice of the soundtrack including some classical greats but I have to say I was proud to be British that night. I have included a link to a video of the show on the right hand side of this page. Also because of the weather we are having and after the rain on Saturday's show, it seemed all of Vancouver had turned out, the beaches were heaving. Not being able to find anywhere to sit by the time I got there, I had wait standing up for an hour before the start and due to some poor wardrobe decisions I was soaked with sweat with in a few minutes, suddenly the kids in swim wear were not looking too stupid.

Partly due to the heat and mostly due to still feeling the affects of Tuesdays effort I decided to put of Wednesday's run but Thursday I was back at the club. Thankfully this time I made the decision to 'get to know' some of the other runners so I took it at a much more leisurely pace.

Hopefully the next few days will see the back of this hot front and things can get back to normal, things like being able to sleep or sit in one place with out leaving a David shape sweat mark.

I hope to have a few things happening this weekend so will report back in soon.

Back to the point

Given the title of this blog, I thought it appropriate to write an actual entry about my current running endeavours.

Out of pure narcissism and for the record so I can look back and compare here are my current personal bests (PB's):

5K - 21:14
10K - 41:27
Half Marathon - 1:36:01
Marathon - 3:24:37

I'm currently training for the 2009 Chicago Marathon which I'm running on Sunday October 11th with Andy and Martin. We will all be running separately, aiming to hit our respective goals. The reason I picked Chicago to run at is that it is a fast flat course, you are constantly in the city with things to look at and it is fast becoming recognised as one of the top marathons in the world.

My goal for Chicago is to get my time down below 3 hrs 20 minutes. I was hoping to do this in Paris but due to heat, inadequate amount of drinks and mainly due to me not training right, I missed my goal by 4 minutes and change. I say this is my goal but to steal a quote "I have a dream..." (I'm thinking more Martin Luther King than ABBA here) I would love to use the Chicago Marathon to Qualify for Boston.

For those that don't know, the Boston Marathon to some is the pinnacle of marathons, the Everest to which some of us strive to reach. It is the only major open marathon (I think) that requires you to have done a qualifying time at another marathon to enter. In my case for my gender and age I have to have completed a marathon in 3:10:59 seconds. So I have basically got to cut 14 minutes of my time, which may sound easy, but you are going to have to trust me on this, it isn't!

So there is my ultimate goal, 26.2 miles / 42.2 kilometres in 3 hours 10 minutes and 59 seconds. To achieve this I have changed my training plan from the last 3 marathons I have done and I'm using a plan downloaded from Runners World specifically created to help me run the distance in the time.

Now this is where reality sets in. I've now just come to the end of my fifth week of training for the race and this is the first week I have completed all of the runs I'm meant to do at the pace and distance I'm meant to do them. I could use the fact that I moved to Canada at the very start of the plan and it has taken me a few weeks to settle in but don't be fooled this is just an excuse. The truth is that it is damned hard and I have used any reason to dodge out on a run even though I really want to achieve this.

But enough with the negativity, as I said, this last week I did complete all the training for the week. I now feel awful as a result but there is a happiness in that aching, exhausted feeling. I'm on my way now and I have to keep it up. Over the next few weeks I'm going to try and turn it up to 11. I want to drop about 7lbs to get back to a better race weight, improve my flexibility and start training in the gym again to help rebuild my core strength that will keep me going over the distance.

So that is where I stand at the moment. For any that have made it this far in to the post and have managed not to fall asleep or be put off my the excessive use of the word 'marathon' (11 times by my count) I have included links at the very top right hand corner of this page which shows you my last 5 outdoor training runs. When a link is followed, you can see the route I took for that run, the distance I did, how long it took me, how big the hills were, how high my heart rate went, pretty much everything you didn't want to know and more about my training effort.

For those who are still left, thanks for sticking with me, it is appreciated, as are any comments on you might have on this blog experiment.

Celebration of Light and Rain

Having started on Wednesday the HSBC Celebration of Light goes on for the next fortnight. Each Wednesday and Saturday there is a 30 minute themed fireworks display linked to a country. The idea being that on each night a different team do the organise the display and then you vote on your favourite show.

I missed Canada night on Wednesday which had a Wizard of Oz theme, I admire the person who came up with the link, 'no place like home'. Last night was South Africa night and the theme was 'Tapestry of Colour'. Then next up on Wednesday is UK night then Saturday is China night.

Not to be out done, this is where Mother Nature decided to step in. At about 6 o'clock a large thunder storm came rolling in off the sea and over the mountains. With my camera ready to go for the show later I thought I would have a go at capturing a picture of some lightening. After about 100 or so empty frames and my frustration building to rather silly levels I finally managed to get this one. I'm not sure what it hit but in the full size version you can see something glowing on the ground.

With the show starting at 10pm I thought I would head Downtown at about 8pm to give me time to get down to English Bay and find a place on the beach to view the barge in the harbour from where the fireworks are set off from. The storm well underway by this point and the rain was fairly heavy but due some atmospheric reasons that are well beyond my understanding even though it was bucketing down the crowd on the beaches were treated to an amazing sunset which again seemed to be saying anything you can do I can do better!

The fireworks themselves were good, the problem is after having lived in Texas where everything is bigger, then it is hard to be impressed sometimes. I have included a link on the right hand side of this page so you can check out the Canada night show and make your own mind up. More photos of lightening and fireworks can be found on Facebook. The streets were packed after the show as everyone headed home soaked but happy. Even with a small queue to get on the skytrain, I go from beach to front door in 45 minutes.

Starting to socialise

Last night was my first time going to a running club.

After looking around and procrastinating, Martin finally kicked my arse into gear and I emailed a couple of clubs and having received only one response the choice was easy.

The Pacific Road Runners meet near downtown at a place called Granville Island which is about 30 mins away from me, no matter if I go by bike, car or train. Having had a quick look round last night I can say that I will be going back to explore the place in more details as it seemed full of cool bars and restaurants.

And now I come to think of it, While Martin was here we tried a couple of nice Granville Island beers which I guess came from there too.

Anyway back to the running. The group seems to be good cross section of people and they were all friendly enough and kept the poking with sticks to a minimum. I went out with a chap called Suki (sp?) for the first part of the run over one of the main bridges into downtown and then along the seawall to Second Beach in Stanley Park.

At about the 5k mark we caught up with another group of runners and so I merged into them so I could meet and chat too as many people as possible. After a quick lap around Lost Lagoon (not sure what is so lost about it) we headed back along the seawall and back to the club. The pace was maybe a few seconds a K faster than I would have normally done it, but that is one reason I wanted to joining a club so I could push myself a bit more.

So for a first run with them I had fun and it was great to run with people again along a very scenic route. I'll be going back on Tuesday for another run and thinking I'll be joining up with soon after that.

After the run I was feeling a little peckish so I stopped in on the way back to an 'English pub'. Well to be fair the name is Three Lions Cafe which it certainly does what it says on the tin. I had a very tasty bangers n' mash served in a Yorkshire pudding bowl. I can highly recommend it. I also decided to go against an English beer and try some more local fair. I have forgotten the name of it now but it was a very good pale ale which did the job nicely.

Due to my solo nature, I managed to get a seat up at the bar and got chatting to a couple of locals and the staff. Who turned out to love impersonating the English accent and quoting lines from a bit of Fry and Laurie.

All in all a very pleasant way to spend an evening meeting some new people and starting to build a bit of a routine into my life.

Welcome to my world...

Hello,

I have decided to give this blogging thing a go. As I have just reached Vancouver and I'm starting out fresh in a new city/country I thought now was a good time to try this out and jot down a few notes on my experiences and adventures.

I hope that some of you will enjoy it all the time and all of you will enjoy it some of the time, that way I should be pretty covered.

I will try and minimise the use of emoticons and explanation marks but I do love them so beware! :)

As for spelling and grammar, while I'll endeavour to use spell check and punctuate properly, I will mess up frequently. Always feel free to take a dig.

Right I will get on with living so I have something interesting to write about.

Catch you all soon.