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.

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!