Earth's Muddiest Heroes (Race Recap)

Unfortunately Carrie was not able to run Mud Hero this past weekend, but we found someone to buy her bib.  Laura had wanted to participate, but missed the registration deadline, so I arranged to have her buy Carrie's bib.  The deadline for doing online transfers passed, so I wrote the organizers and they told me to have Carrie write a permission note for Laura to run in her place and bring it to the registration tent upon race kit pick up on Saturday morning.  Thursday I met Dan for lunch at Lovey's and feasted on their delicious pulled pork poutine.  Dan brought me Carrie's note which was written on a used envelope.  He explained that she wrote it quickly that morning and couldn't find any paper to write it on, so she used the envelope.  I found this hilarious.  Well it's good enough.  I also printed off the email from Mud Hero and combined with this note, get Carrie's bib transferred to Laura.

So I was supposed to race with Carrie and her friends.  Having only met one of them once, I decided to bail on them and asked Ed and Jay if Laura and I could join their team.  They said no problem, but we'd have to buy a couple accessories for a team costume (shown below).  I was able to pick up yellow bow ties and stockings from Party Stuff.  The rest of the team consisted of Bryan, who played basketball with us one year, two other girls and another guy whom I don't know.

My legs are going to look sexy

Saturday morning came and I had gotten maybe 4.5 hours of sleep.  I showered, had some cereal and got ready.  My intentions were to wear my Vibram Five Finger shoes during the mud run, due to them being machine washable, so I had to cut the toes off the stockings.  I geared up as much of my race clothes as possible and wore sweats over top.  With my car packed, I awaited for Laura to arrive.  I was going to drive us out to the Grand Beach Entertainment Centre, as Jay was driving and said his car was full.  We left close to 7:30 and was about an hours drive north.  We reached the Mud Hero site close to 8:30 and Jay had texted that they had arrived.  Laura paid for parking and was guided to a parking spot.  We decided to first get registered and come back to the car to get ready.  As we exited the car, Jay called out to us from the next row up and a few cars to the left.  He was with Ed and our teammate Kyle.  We all got introduced and chatted for a short while, then went to collect our race kits.  We had to sign a waiver first and I got my kit.  Laura had no issues getting the registration transferred to herself.  In the kit was a drop off bag, a Mud Hero Tee, our bib and a timing chip to be attached to our shoe.  

Race kit - Drop off bag, Tee, Bib and Timing Chip that I had already attached to my shoe

We returned to the car and got prepared.  I was ready first and joined the guys as they put on their accessories.  Bryan had now arrived and joined us at Jay's car.  Had I known he was driving up alone, I would have offered to pick him up.  Oh well, was a little late now.  Laura joined us with her bow tie on her head.  Most of us preferred this look over wearing it around our neck and did the same.  By now, it was not even 9:30 and had more than an hour until our 10:30 wave time.  We chatted a bit while waiting for the last 2 members of our team.  They had arrived on the grounds, but didn't join us until nearly 10:00.  We met Kerri and Lisa as they wore their bow ties loosely around their necks.  They too preferred the idea of wearing them on their heads.  We took a few group pics prior to checking out the rest of the grounds.  

Kyle, Laura, Lisa, Kerri, Ed, Bryan, Jay and me up front.  Unfortunately half the team wasn't ready for the pic

Most everyone got some free vitamin water from a booth and used the rest areas one more time.  I checked my bag with mine and Jay's keys as well as my phone.  By now it was after 10, so we made our way to the starting line.  It was a long wait as we wanted to get the show on the road.  A DJ played music and pumped up the crowd while laying down some ground rules like no spiked shoes or sliding head first for safety reasons.  Finally at 10:30, the horn sounded and we were off.  We all ran together at the start.  I hope to recollect all the obstacles in order by using the course map, but it appears to be inaccurate.  They are either out of order or we didn't even encounter some, like the tires shown in obstacle 9.  We ran through the trails and I could feel every rock through my Vibrams.  At one point, my left foot encounter some flower type weed which got stuck between my big toe and second toe.  This made running slightly uncomfortable.  We carried on up a steep hill and it got backlogged going down.  I took this time to remove the weed from my toes and made our way down a steep slope.  Here we reached our first obstacle, a muddy water pit with logs that we had to duck under.  It seemed to be more top soil filled water rather than clay or Manitoba gumbo if you will.  So trudging through it wasn't difficult, but it was freezing cold.  Upon exiting I was covered in mud up to my nose.  I continued running while spitting out mud and wiping it from my eyes and the rest of my face.  It stung my eyes for a bit, but I kept blinking until whatever lodged dirt was purged.  Ed, Bryan and Kyle (I'll call them Alpha Team) took the lead, Laura and I (Beta Team) ran a bit behind them while Jay hung back with Kerri and Lisa (Charlie Team).  

The second obstacle was the car park.  This featured 2 rows of 3 cars with planks of wood covering the windshields.  It was a fairly easy obstacle to run over and gave me a chance to slow down and rest a bit before returning to a run.  Alpha team waited for us at the end.  Next we approached a horizontal rope net.  I saw some people walking across them and made the same attempt.  After a few steps I fell forward and had to resort to crawling across it on all fours.  We made it through and caught up again with Alpha team.  More running ensued before we got to the Spidey Web, which was a series of bungee cables strung between trees making it difficult to pass.  In order to get through, you had to pull the cables apart and squeeze your way between them.  I got through the first several webs without difficulty until the second last set.  My foot snagged on the cable while stepping across.  I quickly said "I'mGonnaBail" as I tumbled sideways onto my back and rolled back onto my feet.  I exited the final web as Laura and I rejoined Alpha Team at the front.  Charlie Team fell behind and we had not seen them for some time.  Next was a simple 8 ft wall with hand holds to climb as well as a more difficult way up using ropes.  We chose the easier of the two.  Next was the deep woods.  It wasn't much of an obstacle, as it was only a trek through some wooded trail.  

This whole time, there was a lot of slight uphill slopes, making the run a bit more tiring.  I'm used to flat runs on cement, but the slopes combined with uneven pasture and rocky terrain with debris just added to the degree of difficulty.  One of the next obstacles was the Over/Under.  It was a series of maybe 5 foot walls and low beams to crawl under.  I would hop the wall, then slide roll under the beams, doing this 3 or 4 times.  By this time Alpha team had pulled ahead of us.  Beta team attempted to keep up, but had to occasionally do some rest walks.  We made our way to a path that sloped down towards a swamp which didn't smell very pleasant.  This led to another mud pit with upward sloped tunnels.  I crawled in and rolled to my back as I pushed myself upwards with my feet and shuffled myself up with my hands.  As I reached the opening, I pulled myself out using the mouth of the tube.  While running I noticed now that I didn't seem to have full control of my feet.  I realized that we were often running on a slight down hill slope now.  My feet we sliding forward in my Vibrams, making downhill running slightly awkward.  I did not like this very much, so had to slow down my pace to prevent losing control.   Next up was a climb to a slide which led to another muddy pit which again was freezing cold.  We approached the Superhero Cargo Climb which is basically more cargo netting that you had to climb upwards to about 25 feet and then climb down the other side.  This to me was probably the scariest obstacle.  I didn't want to rush myself and lose my footing, otherwise it could have been a painful fall.  Again we encountered another mud pit with low boards that you had to bow below close to the water.  Needless to say, it was very cold.  

Following that, we came to a long path with a return path separated by rope.  Alpha team passed by us on this stretch as Ed cheered us on.  This next obstacle was a fairly high wall with hand holds to a platform and fireman poles on the other side.  I slid down the pole, but being fairly wet, I had no traction and landed on the ground fairly hard.  It stung momentarily as I didn't absorb any of the impact upon landing.  At this stretch we had now passed Charlie team as they were now approaching the fireman poles.  We were coming up to the final stretch and it was uphill again.  Laura and I decided to walk up the hill to rest a bit.  There was some guy in orange directing traffic to the bouncy slide.  I said to him, you need a hug and he said sure.  So I gave him a quick muddy embrace leaving his bright shirt, slightly sullied.  I climbed up one side of the bouncy slide, jumped and slid down to the bottom.  I told Laura about the hug and she was surprised that no one had offered him a hug yet.  Then the finished line quickly approached and we ran through some muddy, sandy dunes while the announcer called out our names right before crossing the finish line.  We were given medals, water and Muscle MLK.  We are Mud Heroes.  I bumped fists with Alpha and Beta teams as we celebrated our accomplishment.  Charlie team arrived shortly after and Jay dropped to do pushups while Ed joined in.  We rested, drank fluids and chatted for a bit before suggesting that I pick up my bag to retrieve my phone and take pictures.  

On my way to the bag pick up, I stopped at the Kodiak booth, filled out a ballot and got a free Kodiak bandana.  Just what I needed, something to wipe my muddy hands with.  Now off to get my bag.  It was a silly system.  They told me to find my bag and show them the number to confirm it was mine on the way out.  The problem was, the bags were placed on a long table within a certain range of numbers, but in no particular order.  Had I known, I would have paid attention to where my bag was placed upon drop off.  I sifted through countless bag trying to find my number until I finally found it.  Huge waste of time.  I returned to the group and told them about it.  Jay had a good point, anyone could stuff their bag with a few other bags and snuck them out of there.  Doesn't make me feel safe leaving my possessions there.  Anyways, we took a few muddy group pics while in line and again on the Mud Hero photo booth or whatever you want to call it.

Back - Ed, Bryan, Kyle, Me - Front - Jay, Laura, Lisa, Kerri (yes, she is a blond)

Me, Kerri, Lisa, Jay, Laura, Kyle, Ed, Bryan

Now it was time for the most challenging part of this event, the showers.  We retrieved towels from our vehicles and made our way to the outdoor showers.  It was basically a tall, long horse structure with hoses running to the top and spraying downward at a slight angle.  When it was my turn, I stepped into the freezing cold water and washed as much mud off my body and clothes.  I was still a shivering mess. It didn't help that the sun had disappeared and there was a slight breeze We went back to the vehicles and I removed what articles I could and stuck them into a garbage bag.  I wiped off most of the mud and put on the Mud Hero Tee.  I opened up both driver side doors to make a shield and with my towel wrapped around my waist, I was able to remove the rest of my muddy clothes and put on fresh ones.  We met with the rest of the team, but Kerri and Lisa had to get going.  They gave us their timing chips (to be redeemed for a Michelob) and we said our goodbyes.  The rest of us headed for the BBQ.

We lined up for food while Jay and Ed scouted the area.  They returned with beers and then saved our spots so that we could do the same.  It was a slow line, but we entertained ourselves during the wait.  Outside of the area we saw Teletubbies.  I gave my beer to Bryan to hold and I went over to get their picture. 

Cool costumes, but just imagine the weight they'll have to carry after trudging through the first mud pit.  No thanks.  We got to the front of the line and ordered our food.  I chose a delicious quinoa burger with all the fixings and asian slaw.  Unfortunately there were no tables to sit at, so we decided to go back to the cars and lay down blankets on the rocky terrain.  Good enough.  We enjoyed our meals in the sun.  It was coming up to 2pm and we really had no reason to stick around, so we too decided to depart.  Overall, it was a great event.  It was more difficult than my usual races, was a lot of fun.  I would have preferred if if there was actually muddy obstacles rather than soil.  I'd still do it again next year for sure. Next up is Dirty Donkey on August 17th.  I have a feeling that it'll be a bit disappointing in comparison to Mud Hero, but we'll go out there to have fun and get dirty.

Mango Turkey Spaghetti

Blogging recipes seems to be a popular thing to do, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and start including some here.  I wouldn't say I like to cook, but I'm a big fan of eating.  In order to get my money's worth in a meal, I'll cook it myself then have plenty of leftovers for several days rather than eating out all the time.  I'm one to follow a recipe once or twice, then modify or wing it.  Thus the case with one of my favorite dishes to make, spaghetti.  It is now the night before Mud Hero and I figured I'd carb load to have plenty of energy for tomorrow.  My typical spaghetti usually contains chicken breast, ground pork or ground turkey.  I don't cook with ground beef, because it triggers my ulcerative colitis, so I avoid beef altogether.  I usually add some of the following, garlic, white onion, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, various spices and of course pasta sauce.  Having made skewers a few times in the last 6 weeks and adding mango to the mix, I decided to include this ingredient in my spaghetti this evening.  I googled mango spaghetti and came up empty.  I even searched those ingredients at allrecipes.com, again without success.  I find it hard to believe that no one has thought to add mango to their spaghetti sauce, but I'm sure some people have but never recorded it to the internet.  Well here is my somewhat recipe.

1/2 White Onion, chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
A bunch of mushrooms, sliced
1 Zucchini, shredded
1 Tube of ground turkey
1-2 cups of frozen mango, cubed
Spices: Garlic powder, seasoning salt, ground pepper, crushed peppers, oregano

In a pot, on medium, cook garlic, onion and mushrooms in some olive oil, stirring occasionally.  Add ground turkey and seasonings to taste and cook on high until browned.  In a separate pot, boil water with some olive oil and add spaghetti.  I usually break them in half.  Back to the sauce, shred zucchini into the pot and stir.  Add pasta sauce and stir.  Add mango, stir, cover, lower temp to medium stirring occasionally.  Once pasta is cooked, drain.  Remove sauce from from heat and cool.  Serve with sauce on the pasta.  Feel free to wing it and add or omit ingredients to your own taste. 

I hope my "recipe" doesn't sound as silly as it does to me.  I'm no cordon bleu, but I try.  And it taste delicious to me.  I think it took me about 35-45 min to prepare from start to finish.  I found that the mango added a hint of sweetness to the dish.  I did enjoy it, but I think I cubed the mango into too small of pieces.  Next time I'll leave the cubes a bit bigger, that way they won't lose as much flavor to the sauce.   

Mango Turkey Spaghetti

30 Day Challenges

250 squats today, 1 month, 3295 total, 30 Day Squat Challenge is completed.  I am now ready to tackle Mud Hero on Saturday morning.  30 Days ago, Steph and I started this challenge and we are now done.  Confirmed with her not too long ago that she finished it this evening.  I have noticed a difference in my glutes, quads and hamstrings being tighter.  This should definitely help me as I run through mud this weekend at Mud Hero.  

Finished this challenge this evening

Tomorrow we are going to start a new challenge.  The 30 Day Abs Challenge.  I know it says June, but we'll go from July 24-Aug 22 if my math adds up properly.  It looks fairly easy to start, but with the gradual increases, day 30 looks tough.  I thought the same of the squats, but in the end, 250 wasn't that difficult, especially in sets.

Starting this challenge tomorrow

My plan is to continue on with 250 squats daily, with a rest day every 4th day.  Feel free to do the Ab Challenge with us or start the Squat Challenge on your own.  I have also convinced a couple other friends to do the Ab Challenge with us.  Always good to have friends help motivate and encourage each other to follow through.  Also, I would like to wish Steph good luck as she runs the 2013 Tely 10 Mile Road Race this Sunday in St John's Newfoundland.  Looking forward to seeing her new bling.  Carrie and I will be tackling Mud Hero Saturday morning with a few of her friends.  Jay and Ed will be joining us in the same wave, but on a different team.  It will definitely be a challenging, fun and muddy event.

The original pic was a bit difficult to read, so I created this spreadsheet with the intended dates of our challenge which is a bit more legible.

I Am Iron Rad! (Race Recap)

Tyla and I started a team for Color Me Rad, a 5k event held in Winnipeg on Sat July 20th with a second event opened for Sun July 21st.  As you run the race, you get painted a multitude of bright colors in the form of a starch based powder.  We each recruited friends who in turn recruited friends, etc.  Our team Did Someone Say RUM? grew to 29 members.  Unfortunately closer the the event, 5 people had to drop out and we were able to replace them with 4 others.  Thursday marked the first day you could pick up your race kits.  Race kit pick up was held at the Convention Centre (for those not from or familiar with Winnipeg, that is down town).  I was not please with this choice of location.  For one, it's busy.  Two, you have to pay for parking.  Three, other events that I've participated, race pick ups were in a lower traffic area with free parking and you can run in quickly and leave.  Sure it's convenient for those who work down town, but I was driving back to the city from the cabin.  Now I have to deal with traffic and trying to find a place to park.

I paid for 30 min of parking, thinking that was more than enough.  I got into the Convention Center and it was a mad house.  Thinking it would be a quick in and out was quite ambitious.  I may have waited about 15-20 min and grew worrisome of my parking expiring.  I finally got to the front of the line and picked up race kits for myself, Sandra, Steve, Crystal and Carolyn.  This included bibs, shirts, sunglasses and temporary RAD tattoos.  I also picked up a pair of orange Color Me Rad socks and some guy behind the table told me they were $8.  I paid him $10 and waited for my change.  Before he could get to the register, some girls asked him about shoes and if the color will stain them or something.  He then put his leg up on a chair and was explaining something about his shoes and how the color will brush off.  I wasn't paying attention, because my patience was wearing.  Just give me my change already so that I can go to the next table and collect the shirts and glasses for the kits.  Now one of the girls behind the table joined the conversation saying the guy has been putting his foot on the chair all day because he loves showing off his calves.  He was claiming he was showing off his shoes.  Well he finally got me my change and I was able to collect the rest of the race kit.  I hurried back to my car and arrived with a couple minutes left on the meter.  Needless to say, worse race kit pick up experience ever.  

I got home and took the above pick.  I then wanted to try on the not so knee high, socks.  One size fits all, so they say.  I put on the right one and it run well below my knee and was tight around my calves.  As I attempted to try on the left sock, all of a sudden my left index toenail snagged.  My nail that turned purple from my Fargo half was hanging from the corner.  No!  Not now!  I have a race to do on Saturday.  Upon further examination, I realized my toe felt no pain and like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, another toe nail had grown underneath.  I can only hope that the same thing happens to my right index toe.
  
Fast forward about 36 hours to Saturday morning.  I got up at 7am, got ready and picked up Crystal at 7:50.  The plan was for everyone to meet the team at the Ex grounds at about 8:20, giving us an hour before the race.  I got an orange star helium balloon to use as a beacon so that everyone can find us easily.  This was Sandra's idea.

Just follow the orange star balloon

We took the perimeter, but as we were nearing the grounds, traffic got crazy.  It was down to a single lane along the cloverleaf due to construction and traffic was crawling.  We made the decision to exit right, back into the city and Uwie to avoid the back log.  Well, traffic through the city wasn't much better.  After being stuck at one set of lights while moving only one car length per green for maybe 10 minutes, I made my way to the inside lane to bypassed a lot of traffic and snuck back into the outside lane.  Traffic coming off the cloverleaf was slow, but once we got passed that bottle neck, we started moving at a decent pace.  We arrived about 8:45 and met up with Carolyn at the front gate.  I gave her her race kit and we suited up.  My main accessory was an Iron Man mask which I painted white and light grey as seen in pictures below.  We warmed up with Zumba at the Energy 106 stage while they shot purple powder into the crowd.  Slowly some of our team members located our Star Beacon.  Laura, Marissa and Taylor had now joined us.  Taylor had managed to forget his bib, but having picked up the remaining 4 kits the previous day, I had extras (knowing at least two weren't showing up).  Unfortunately they were in the car.  Taylor and I jogged back to my car and retrieved the bibs.  I decided to pin the other 3 to my side in case someone else showed up.  

Pre race, all nice and white (or blue :S) - Taylor, Marissa, Crystal, Laura, Me, Carolyn

Catherine arrived shortly after and her friend had also forgotten her bib.  So I gave her one of our extras.  9:20 was nearing and only a quarter of our team was here.  Sandra texted saying she and Steve were stuck in traffic.  We went to the starting line and waited for them to release us in waves.  We started off in a slow jog as volunteers threw blue powder at us.  We approached the 1km mark and slowed down as there was a short line up to get blasted.  This time they threw purple powder at us.  People started rolling on the ground (which was covered in plastic) in order to take in more color off the ground. We got back into a jog and carried on.  Towing the Star beacon, a girl ran up beside me and asked me "has anyone told you that you're a star today?".  I responded "no, not yet".  She then told me "well you're a star" and I said "thanks", as she and her friend accelerated and ran ahead.  Unfortunately I didn't see her in the crowd after the race and probably should have ran up with them for a bit.  Oh well.

We approached field terrain which had a wide path mowed through.  The second check point  featured a green spray.  We ran through getting blasted with the green paint.  Crystal isn't much of a runner, so Laura and I slowed to a walk occasionally with her.  We eventually lost Carolyn, Taylor, Marissa, Catherine and her friend.  Check point 3 had bottles of water and now red powder, or was it pink?  I couldn't really tell with our Rad sunglasses on.  Either way, I told the volunteers to throw it to my face to cover my mask.  We walked a bit and chatted.  Frosty was standing on the side with his friend and called my name.  He couldn't see faces from far, but some how picked out my voice out of a crowd.  They walked with us for a bit, then we went into a run and he waited for some friends. 

The 4th check point was again a spray, this time we got a dose of yellow.  As I ran through, I spun around, making sure my back was sprayed.  Now we were back on a gravel path as we snaked around some parking lot areas.  Before we knew it, we were approaching the finish line.  We met up with Marissa, Angela and her sister, Jacquie and her friend and decided to line up for the photo booth.  It was a long line so I took the balloon in hopes to find more team members while they waited.  Taylor and Caroline found us and we took a pic.  I had also lined my phone with a modified ziplock and tape to protect it dust damage.  With the sun so bright, it was difficult to see while taking pictures or viewing them afterwards.  I suppose there was powder on the plastic covering the lens, causing my pics to appear a bit foggy. 

Post race - Back - Me, Angela's Sister, Angela, Laura, Mariss - Front Carolyn, Crystal

 Afterwards, we walked around looking for more members.  Sandra was going to catch a ride home with me, so we needed to find her eventually.  We did split up a bit and a few of us got a smoothie samples from the McDonald's booth.  We also saw people raiding some boxes of bright yellow volunteer Color Me Rad shirts and we each got one ourselves.  We ended up back to the Energy 106 stage and partied as they played music, threw swag into the crowd and everyone launched color packs.  By now, more team members found us by way of the Star Beacon.  Great idea Sandra!  We were now reunited with her, Steve, Dave, Steph, Tyla, Danelle, Natasha and Marci.  We took more pics and enjoyed the colorful dance party.  

Back - Steve, Crystal, Sandra, Laura, Me - Front - David, Marissa

Photo bombing - Crystal, Sandra, Steph

Me, Marci, Marissa, Steph, Natasha, Danelle

After a while, teammates decided to leave for other commitments.  Some had to work, others were playing volley ball at Super Spike.  I left with Crytsal and Sandra and headed toward my car.  We toweled off as much color as we could, removed some of our colorful clothing and placed them in garbage bags.  We then lined my car seats with blankets and towels to protect them from staining.  Exiting the Ex grounds was a lot easier than entering and made our way home a lot quicker than arriving.  This was a very fun event.  It gets people out being active, we get blasted full of color and people dress up in fun costumes.  I definitely want to do this again next year.  What I would do differently is to get up earlier, convene at a common location and car pool.  Although I enjoyed the run with the company I had, it would have been even more fun had we all ran together.  With the traffic and the late arrivals of team members, we all ran at different times. 

Road Rage?

I was returning from picking up our remaining Color Me Rad race kits from Down Town.  4 people had not picked theirs up.  One I knew for sure, but if the other 3 aren't running, our team will only be 25.  Anyways I was going southbound on Donald in the left hand turn lane to Osborne coming to a red light.  A lady in a convertible was pulling out of a parking lot, so I let her in and she took the next lane over.  The light was still red, so I let another lady in a mini van exit into my lane.  I immediately heard honking behind me.  At first I paid no attention to it.  Then the honking continued as the light turned green.  I slowly advanced and looked in my rear view.  Some older man was signalling 1, 2, 3 with his fingers, pumping his hand on each count and mouthing out the numbers.  I found this odd.  He did it a few times.  Was he counting the cars I let in?  No, it was only two.  The seconds it took for them to enter traffic?  Not really sure.  I shrugged at him.  He continued to count to 3 on his fingers and I shrugged again.  I turned left and came to another red light.  This man pulled up behind and again blatantly counted to 3 on his fingers.  What's with this guy?  I was just being considerate of others.  Really, neither car affected him.  The first lady took a different lane and when we turned the second lady took the 1st lane and this old guy and I took the 2nd lane.  We all made the light and with traffic in front of us, would not have advanced through the intersection.  So I closed my fists and made like I was rubbing my eyes to signal that he's crying.  He then laughed and clapped at me.  What has our society come to when letting 2 people into traffic upsets someone to the point that he's honking and trying to indicate that I let too many people in.  Really, I don't see the big deal.  Well this man pulled into the first lane behind traffic while I advanced and pulled into the same lane several cars ahead.  I never did see him the rest of my route home. As long as people signal and aren't trying to blatantly cut the line, I have no problem letting people into my lane.  Obviously with these two ladies exiting a parking lot, neither of them violated these "rules" that I tend to follow.  So to my fellow drivers, be courteous to each other and we'll have that many less angry people on the road.

Old skool lists

My friend Danielle invited me to do a list.  This is the same idea as those lists that you would receive in an email or see in a note on Facebook.  Then you would have to copy and paste it, change your answers specifically to you and fire off that email to multiple friends or tag them in the note.  Danielle claims to be the only one who enjoyed doing them, but I will admit, I used to do them all the time.  Here we go.  Here is my list.

5 Things I have a passion for:

1. My New York Knicks

2. Creating costumes and dressing up at parties

3. Transformers - Everything - collecting figures, watching movies/cartoons, t-shirts, etc

4. Trying new things (this year I've tried a 5k race, 2 half marathons, a duathlon, skating on the river and Zumba.  Future races include 2 mud runs)

5. Running and Racing!


5 Things I would like to do before I die:

1. Travel more

2. Do some crazy activities like Sky Diving

3. See a live Knicks game at MSG

4. Go to San Diego Comic Con

5. Run more difficult races, like a full marathon and possibly an ultra marathon
 
5 Things I say a lot:

1.  Oh/Aw Snap!

2.  Woot!  Woot!

3.  What the F*&%?

4.  Good morning (when it's not morning)

5.  That's what she said

5 books or magazines I've read lately:
It's been a while

1.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2.  Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

3.  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

4.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

5.  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkahban

5 Favorite Movies:

1. Transformers

2. Avengers

3. The Incredibles

4. The Prestige

5. Star Dust


5 places I would love to travel to:

1. Australia and/or New Zealand

2. Jamaica again

3. South America (Brazil, Argentina)

4. Africa

5. Space

5 people I invite to do this list:

1.  Honestly, I don't knowingly know any bloggers aside from Danielle and she already did this.  I also don't like asking people to do these as most people don't.  So I'll leave it up to you.  If you decide you want to make your own list, let me know and I'll read it and add you to the list below.  I really down anyone will do it, let alone 5, but I challenge you to surprise me.

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 



Danielle also has a blog: I Eat Therefore I Run.  She has been incredibly helpful during the my journey with running.  She's given me lots of advice like when I first started running, Iran 21 straight days of 5k.  She told me not to run every day, that I needed rest days or I could cause injury to myself.  Or suggested I buy shoes online at Wiggle.  I saved $40 buying a 2nd pair of the same shoe here and got free shipping.  She also helped me start my blog with constructive suggestions.  Well the other day she posted a beginner's guide to running.  Some items she's already shared with me, but others are completely new.  I will try and incorporate more of this into my regime, so I recommend you read this whether you are new to running or think you know it all already.  I've learned first hand that there's so much info on running that it's great to read the point of view from others.  You can then use that info to see what works best for you and be the best person you can be.

I Like To Ride My Bicycle (Race Recap)

It was the eve before my first duathlon.  Steph, Carolyn, Ed and I were set to head to Winkler Saturday evening to spend the night prior to a quick drive to Morden.  There, we would participate in a Try-A-Du, which is a 2k run, 10k bike, 3k run event.  Being in the southern most part of the city and Carolyn having to work until 7pm, we decided to convene at my place for dinner.  I marinated some chicken breast and pork loins in smokehouse mesquite and honey dijon.  Steph arrived first and we cubed up the meat and veggies to make skewers.  Included were mushrooms, red pepper, zucchini, onion and mango.  Ed dropped off his gear and potatoes, then returned home to retrieve his bike.  I boiled the potatoes for a bit and put on the first batch of skewers onto the BBQ.  Once soft, I seasoned the potatoes and put them on the BBQ as well.  Steph prepped her salad and once Ed returned, the food was ready shortly after.  It was a delightful dinner indeed.  Carolyn arrived soon after and partook in a bit of dinner.

Delicious duathlon eve dinner

Once finished, we loaded up mine and Steph's SUV's with our bikes and luggage.  Carolyn rode with Steph and Ed rode with me.  It was about an hour and 20 min drive to Winkler.  I just followed Steph all the way there, despite having it mapped on my Garmin.  We checked in and unloaded the cars.

All lined up and ready to race

We chilled in the hotel, had some snacks, etc and started a game of Settlers of Catan.  Ed had never played, so I explained the rules and he caught on fairly quickly.  The board wasn't ideal, but note I didn't set it up.  2 deserts, later replaced one with wheat, removed the only 5 because it was placed on a desert, only one 9 and a trifecta of 11's were all placed together.  Ore was a commodity seeing as they were all 3's or 11.  During the game, it started pouring outside.  We just hoped that it would stop raining before morning.  Another bummer was, we lost all tv reception which didn't return at all that night.  Carolyn won Stettlers in the end and we decided to turn in.  

I always have difficulty sleeping away from home.  I don't think I slept at all.  If I did, it might have been no more than an hour between 5 and 6am.  Alarms went off at 7am and we got ready to leave.  We all grabbed a bite from the continental breakfast then packed up the cars.  Morden was no more than 10 min away and I followed Steph to Colbert Beach, the site of the Duathlon and Triathlon events.  We registered, got a wrist band chip, body marked with our numbers at the tent and then got our bikes ready at the transition area.  To my disappointment we didn't get racing bibs as I've been collecting mine.  The full adult Du's and Tri's were held the previous day.  Sunday was reserved for the kids Du's and Tri's as well as the Try-a-Du/Tri. 

Our duathlon was supposed to start at around 9:50, following the kids races.  We actually didn't get marshaled in until close to 11, so the waiting around was getting a bit tiring.  I made sure to stretch, but might have been a bit too early.  Including our group of 4, there were 5 male and 3 female participants in the duathlon.  The race started and I took off quickly out the gates.  Probably a little too quickly.  I fell into a slower pace and 3 or 4 people passed me along the way.  My lack of sleep probably hit me sooner than I expected, so I paced myself the rest of the 2k run and got myself to the transition area to helmet up and grab my bike.  I'm not a very strong cyclist, so I did what I could.  Just after passing the entrance to the park, one of my water bottles fell out of my belt.  Doh!  I wasn't about to stop and turn around to retrieve it.  As I got to the highway, we cycled into the wind, uphill.  This was not fun.  Not knowing which gears to use, I experimented.  More people passed me.  There were more people passing me than were in the race.  How could this be?  I realized later that some of the participants were from the triathlon.  Shortly before reaching the turn around point, I found the right gear that required easier peddling with better speed.  I also caught up to some participants and passed them now that we were going down hill with the wind at our backs.  It was a much easier cruise back.  I spotted my water bottle, so I quickly pulled over to retrieve it.  Shortly after I got back to the transition area and hopped off my bike.  This was where I expected my legs to fail me, but I ran my bike back to the rack, removed my helmet and exited to do the final 3k of the run.  My guess was, the little jaunt with support of running with my bike made the transition easier from biking to running.  I did not have the same sensation of useless legs as when I did my practice runs earlier that week.  I ran the 3k almost continuously, except for when I grabbed water where I walked to drink to avoid spilling most of it.  I wasn't using my own water, so I decided to ditch my belt at the water station near the finish line (we did 3 loops and passed it multiple times).  On my final loop of the final stretch, I broke into a faster run passing 3 girls on my way to a strong finish.  Someone retrieved my racing chip off my wrist, I grabbed a chocolate milke and to my surprise, I was given a medal.  I was so happy to earn my 3rd medal, much better than a racing bib.

I walked a cool down, then walked back to meet up Ed and Carolyn to cheer on Steph as she finished.  I later found out that I finished with a time of 1:04:25. We celebrated with some post race drinks and snacks until we were asked to retrieve our bikes so they could remove the racks and fences of the transition area.  We posed for some pics, then headed out and stopped off at McDonald's before returning to Winnipeg.

Showing off our medals

Hoisting up my bike

Bike crashing down on me

This was a fun experience that I shared with friends.  I prefer running over biking when it comes to racing, but may try another duathlon or maybe a triathlon in the future.  Unfortunately there isn't another one that fits my schedule.  The girls were talking about one in Wasagaming (wherever that is) on August 17, but unfortunately Ed and I will be competing in the Dirty Donkey that morning.  We'll see what next summer holds.  I'm sure there is a growing interest amongst our friends for these type of events.

Here is a little web comic at The Oatmeal that a friend sent me regarding running.  I did find it amusing and can relate to some of the artist's experiences. 

Stabby Stab

Saturday I attempted something new.  My friend Conrad rented out the gym and fencing equipment from his Fencing Club for his birthday and invited a few friends out to give fencing a try.  I thought it was a cool and unique idea, so I decided to attend.  Who doesn't like stabbing people with swords with no repercussions?    Back in high school I went with a friend to his fencing club to try, but that was so long ago, I really don't remember much about it.  I arrived and patiently waited for Conrad and his fencing friends to set up.  Please excuse me in advance, as I'm no fencing expert and don't know all the terms.  First we suited up with a jacket, glove, mask, an orange cable that runs from the back of your jacket, through your sleeve to your hand that holds the epee and the epee itself.  Having just attended a pirate themed pool party the previous weekend, I decided to come equipped with a few pirate accessories. 

En garde!

Conrad and his comrades showed us the stances and a few basic moves.  The movements are a lot more difficult than what they show in pirate or mid evil movies.  Next it was time to get connected.  In the middle of the dueling area there's a box that indicates who scored a point.  A cable runs to the back of the dueling area on both sides to the rear of each fencing and connects to a red box seen in the picture above.  From there, there's a retractable cable that connects to the orange cable coming out the back of your jacket and tethered by a clip.  This allows you to move forward and back like a small child on a leash while staying connected.  The other end of the orange cable connects into your epee.  The tip of the epee has a trigger which signals the score box if a point is scored when it makes contact with your target.  So I had the jacket on and zipped up from the back, but was given the orange cable to feed through my sleeve.  I would need to remove my jacket to do this.  I then said something I never thought I'd say to another man while turning my back to him: "unzip me please". 

After feeding in the orange cable, getting zipped back up and getting connected, my first opponent was Charlie, one of Conrad's buddies.  Neither of us fence, so it was a fair match up.  We decided to duel up to 5.  I scored the first 2 points and was actually feeling confident in my abilities to fence.  I ended up winning 5-3.  My next opponent was against one of Conrad's fencing buddies.  I don't remember everyone's names.  We played to 10 this time and he beat me fairly easily.  I did manage to score a few points, but my inexperience started to show.  By now the gym had gotten very hot and I was sweating buckets, so  I decided to ditch the pirate gear.  I dueled several other people that afternoon, losing to all the real fencers, including Conrad 10-5.  I felt like I was improving, understanding the art of fencing a little more than when I walked in.  I managed to use some parries effectively, counter to score points and even use the lunge attack a few times.

At this point, the group decided to duel with sabers.  This required a different cable that runs through your sleeve and a different jacket worn over the regular jacket.  This jacket has some sort of conductive material over the surface which is connected to a wire and in turn connected to the helmet.  This allows any part of the saber's "blade" to score when contact is made on the jacket or helmet.  This allows to slashes on top of stabbing with the tip.  My first opponent was Cory, someone whom I had previously dominated at sumo wrestling at Conrad's bachelor party.   I quickly learned that saber dueling is much different than with the epee.  I often tried to stab, but wasn't defending well.  Cory dominated me with constant slashes to my right arm.  I could feel it stinging in multiple places.  Some of the fencers were giving me some tips, but I was too far behind for them to make a difference.  Cory won convincingly.  Upon removing the jackets later on, I was surprised that I had only one visible mark, despite the pain throughout my arm upon applied pressure from my finger. 

I had one more saber duel and a few more epee duels before our time there came to an end.  Overall, I had a great time and it was a fun experience.  If you get the chance to fence, I highly recommend it.  I don't think I'd take pursue it with all my other activities, but I'd certainly be up for it periodically. 

My Legs Don't Work (Race Recap)

My bike needed a tune up, since the chain was hopping off the gears.  So I inquired with Sport Chek and they told me to drop it off on Tuesday and the tech would adjust it on a first come first serve basis.  So after procrastinating a bit, I finally got motivated for a bike ride to the mall.  It was only 5.2k and didn't feel that bad.  I arrived at the mall and walked my bike in towards Sport Chek.  The guy at the tech shop took my bike, I filled out a form and he said it'll be ready Friday.  Good enough, I don't need it until Saturday.  Equipped with a pack sack, I stored my helmet and decided to stop into Walmart where I picked up Robot Chicken DC Comics Special.  I love stop motion and love superheros, so this was a must have, especially since I own most of the Seasons and Star Wars Specials on DVD.  I made my way outside and proceeded to run home.  Although I had a bit of a rest from my short bike ride, my legs again weren't working as they normally should.  This was a bit concerning since I was 5k from home.  It was a shorter bike ride than I did previously on Monday and now a longer run.  Well too late now, I just have to power through it.  It was actually only 4.7k, since I biked an indirect route to the mall and took a different route home.  My pace was horrible, so it's a good thing the final run of the race is shorter.

Today I swapped vehicles with my folks so that I can borrow their Rav4 for the weekend.  Need it to transport a couple of our bikes to Morden.  While at home, I got a call from Sport Chek informing me that my bike was ready for pick up.  This was unexpected.  My plan was to run to the mall on Friday and bike home.  Seeing as I was registered for the 20 Minute Challenge that evening, I didn't want to tired myself beforehand.  Conveniently I did have the Rav4, so I decided to pick it up and load it in the back.  I relaxed at home for a bit before leaving for the Running Room for the 20 Minute Challenge.  I got my free hat.  Not a great hat, but it was free.  I'll likely just use it for running instead of sweating up one of my good hats. 

Free hat from the 20 min challenge

I then found Steph chatting with a friend, so I joined them and we waited patiently for the run to begin.  Some lady got everyone's attention and gave a quick speech before pointing out the run leaders for the 5k run as the fast, faster and fastest run leaders.   I found this humorous as they used these labels instead of slow, medium and fast.  I suppose it is more positive and motivating that way.  Everyone proceeded to gather outside for a few group pics. Apparently Steph's running group was doing a different route (unsure of the distance, I think it was shorter), so she decided to just to the intended 5k for the challenge.  The fastest leader started out first and we decided to follow him.  It was a nice little job which we ran continuously.  The fastest leader and others did pull away from us, but the fast group didn't pass us, so we chose the right leader to follow as we seemed to fall in between them.  We returned to the Running Room and poured ourselves several cups of iced-tea.  Inside we got a cookie, a watermelon slice and some yogurt/granola.

Our plan afterwards was to check out Los Chicos.  I had passed by there a few weeks ago not know what restaurant it was, but it had a nice patio overlooking a man made pond with waterfalls.  It looked like a nice place to go.  I proposed to Steph that we should check it out after our run and she agreed.  When we got there, there was 6 groups ahead of us and it was supposed to be a 30 min wait despite the restaurant not looking that full.  We decided to wait and while Steph was in the restroom, the hostess brought the remaining groups a mini margarita in a shot glass to make up for the wait.  I informed her my friend was in the restroom and she said she'd get her one too.  Upon Steph's return, we got seated almost immediately, but we didn't get the extra party favor.  We were seated away from the water, so we didn't get to enjoy the view.  We did order drinks.  I got a Bulldog (for those who don't know what that is, it's a corona, sitting upside down in a margarita) and Steph got a sangria.

Nearly finished my bulldog before my enchiladas arrived

We proceed to order an pork carnitas enchilada for myself and some fish tacos for Steph.  The meals we delicious, but the drinks, water, food and bills took forever to arrive and we had to ask for cutlery.  The server did apologize as they were short staffed.  I was in no big hurry and was nice just to sit on a patio on such a beautiful evening.  We paid our bills and departed the establishment.

My 30 day squat challenge continued today.  Yesterday was a rest day, so when I got home, I completed day 17 with 150 squats.  By day 30, 250 squats is expected.  I frequent two web sites in particular which I occassionally order T-shirts from.  Tee Fury and RiptApparel.  These 2 sites sells pop culture T-shirts designed by commissioned artists.  Each day it features a new design and is removed after 24 hours.  Tee Fury sells them at $11 each and allows the buyer to choose from one of two or three colors for their shirt.  Occasionally they will offer a grab bag, where you can buy a random shirt from the previous ~3 months at $7.  RiptApparel sells their shirts for $10 each, but with no choice of color.  Today's RiptApparel design has caught my eye.

Mini Bendingbot from RiptApparel

Being a big Futurama fan (I built a Bender costume that I used for a couple of Halloweens years ago), I'm contemplating this shirt.  I'll have to sleep on it and decide tomorrow.  

Gearing up for a Try-A-Du

Well I took another 8 days off between runs for numerous reasons.  Yes, they are excuses and most are valid.  Last Sunday I met up with Jeff and Chelsey at her mom's and spent the day in the pool as well as had a tasty BBQ.  Also spent the evening at Leigh Anne's condo down near Osborn Village for some pre Canada Day celebrations.  Monday was Canada Day and went out to Danelle's, again in the Village to do some partying.  Met a lot of cool people that day.

Happy Canada Day!

Tuesday I felt lazy, so no excuses that day.  Wednesday I spared for soccer.  It was gearing up to be a hot one, so didn't want to run before hand.  Thursday and Friday, I worked 12 hour night shifts.  Saturday after about 5 hours sleep, went swimming again at Chelsey's mom's pool as she hosted her Pirate Themed Birthday Party.  I was pretty much the only one who dressed up, but nonetheless it was a fun afternoon/evening.  A few of us discussed the possibility of making our own duathlon with a twist.  I have dubbed it the First Annual Duathlon, Xk Run-Yk Bike-Zoz Rum.  Yep, we would start off with a shot at someone's house, bike to the next location for the second shot, then run to the last location and proceed to party.  Costumes was also discussed.  We think it would be funny for bystanders to see a group running/biking in costume in the middle of the day.  Details would need to be hashed out, as we'd have to do distances/have check stops that is manageable by everyone.  We'd also likely pick a date towards the end of summer or in September where the weather isn't crazy hot. 

Arr Matey!

Sunday my plan was to go for a short run in the morning and possibly a bike ride in the afternoon.  That didn't happen.  I finally went for an 8k run at around 9pm.  Wasn't a bad run, but felt good that I finally got out there again.  It was a fairly warm night and the sun was going down.  It was fairly dark by the time I finished and I was drenched. 

Today my phone alerted me that my friend Joanne from Calgary had just completed a workout (both a run and a bike rid).  I caught her on Facebook chat and told her that I was planning on doing a Try-A-Du on Sunday.  She then informed me that she was training to do her first Tri in August.  An Olympic distance of 1500m swim - 40km Bike - 10Km run.  Quite the feat for a first Tri.  I'm only going to attempt a modest 3k run - 10k bike - 3k run.  I asked her for advice and she said  "to start doing some brick workouts ... a bike followed by a run and a run followed by a bike just to get your legs used to transition ... that is probably the weirdest part because you will get off your bike and try to run but your legs are still in bike mode".  She also said she is going with her sister to support her in  the Death Race in Grand Cache.  This is apparently 100k run through the wilderness with 3 mountain peaks to scale in which her sister hopes to finish in under 24 hours.  Not my idea of fun, but sounds impressive nonetheless. 

Anyways, I got motivated to actually go out and do something today.  I started off with a 10k bike ride.  I made my way around to the service road near the perimeter.  It was a mix of gravel and dry, bumpy mud full of massive tire tracks.  Wasn't an easy ride, but wasn't hard either.  I finally got back to the road and it was a much smoother and faster ride.  My speed wasn't stellar, but I'm not much of a cyclist to begin with.  Not planning to impress as I just want to finish.  I reached home again, stored my bike in the garage, grabbed a quick drink of water and exchanged my bandana and helmet for a head band.  So as I proceeded to run, I found I really didn't have any running legs.  I thought it might be hard, but not this difficult.  Having biked 10k with no stops and now went into my run, my breathing was more difficult more quickly.  I chose a loop which I thought might be about 3k, but was short about 0.4k, so I continued on past my house and went down some side streets to loop around again.  Man it was a hot day.  I should have probably did this run much earlier in the day.  In the bigger picture, I probably should have started training for this duathlon a few weeks ago when we decided we would take this on.  It's a small enough duathlon that it won't kill me, but I could have made things much easier on myself.

Well I have neglected my squats for long enough.  I'm on Day 15 of the 30 Day Squat Challenge, which means I still have 140 squats to do tonight.  I shall leave you with this video.  It is Rick Mercer going Flyboarding.  He seriously has one of the best jobs on earth. 

Post MB Marathon runs and Vibram Spyridon LS Review

It's been a few weeks since my first entry, but not much of significance has happened  Just a few small events.  The first being that Thursday, where I helped chaperon my friend Roni's grade 3 class to birds hill park to do some biking.  That was a lot of fun and her students were adorable. I took a full week off from running to recover, even though I was probably fine on the 3rd day after.  I got in a couple 7k, a 5k and a 3k run that following week. The first 7k run was on Sunday the 23rd during my lunch break around the Corydon area where I work.  It was a nice change of scenery in which I got in just before a torrential downpour.

Steph signed up for a 20 min challenge with the running room on Wed July 10th and got me to sign up as well.  It's free to register and you get a free hat.  It's something to do and thought it'd be fun.  Steph and Carolyn were also discussing doing a duathlon relay on Sat July 13th and a regular duathlon on the 14th in Morden.  The relay is a 5k run, 30k bike and 10k run while the duathlon is a 3k run, 10k bike and 3k run.  The relay didn't seem worth the price compared to the duathlon and would mean an extra night's stay, so I decided against it.  Steph booked a room in Winkler as Morden had no vacancies.  My plan as of right now is to do the duathlon since it's same day registration.  My mountain bike will need a tune up before then.

The 5k was just a leisurely run in my neighborhood.  I took it easy that day because I was taking advantage of a free 7 day pass that I apparently signed up for at the Subway Fit Expo for the MB Marathon.  I probably over did it on arms and chest, as I was in considerable pain on Friday.  That evening I was also sparing for soccer.  We ended in a 2-2 draw, but I scored my first ever header in soccer (I technically scored one in ball hockey earlier in the spring).  Both were pretty sweet. 

As mentioned above, Friday I was hella sore from working out for the first time in forever.  I relaxed most of the day, but helped my folks lay their hardwood flooring.  I did that until the early evening and came home and slept from 8-10pm as I felt drained.  I woke up feeling a bit more refreshed and since I had no plans, I decided to test out my new Vibrams Spyridon LS.

 

I picked these up in Fargo with the intention of using them in my mud runs.  I figured they'd be good in the mud and I wouldn't wreck my running shoes.  I know they look silly, but many people swear by them.  They do feel funny as I'm not used to having my toes separated.  After researching them after the purchase, I found a couple sites that rank them as a top 10 shoes for mud runs and another as a top 3 shoe.  One site said they are machine washable, which makes them ideal for Mud Hero and Dirty Donkey.  I was also told that being a minimalist shoe, you have to be careful when training with them, because they change the way you run and you don't want to injure yourself.  Anyhow, I decided to be cautious and go for a 3k walk.  At first they seemed fairly normal just walking, so after a few minutes, I picked it up to a light job.  This is where I noticed a huge difference from my Nike Air Pegasus.  Since there's no cushioning, you can feel the impact through your body with every step.  Also, you can feel every pebble that you step on, especially where I ran over 2 removed cement blocks on the side walk which were replaced with gravel.  Not even halfway through my run, it felt like some bones on the top side of my left foot were grinding.  Not a pleasant feeling.  So I took a couple minutes to just walk.  The feeling subsided and I went back into the light job.  That grinding feeling did not return the rest of the run.  There shoes definitely will take some getting used to and I don't see myself running long distances in these.  I prefer the cushioning of my Pegasus'.  5-6k mud runs on grass or through mud and water is about as far as I'll run in these.  I'm also thinking of wearing them for Color Me Rad, since that'll be a 5k fun run.  Again, they'll be easy to wash and I won't stain my running shoes with color.  Perhaps in the future I may change my mind after a few runs, but for now, they'll have a specific purpose.  

On a side note, my cousin Tony suggested I do lots of squats in preparation for the mud runs.  Running through mud is very difficult and requests lots of leg strength.  I found a squat challenge online from Fit-tabulous.  Steph and I decided to complete this challenge.  We're currently on day 9 or 100 squats.  Should anyone feel like doing this challenge, let me know how you make out.  I'd love to hear about others completely this as well.

Saturday after a day at the beach (Bird's Hill Park), I decided to squeeze in another short run before that evenings festivities.  I ran in my area and was listening to music as I normally do.  Steph texted me asking if I wanted a ride to Roni's for a bon fire.  I thought this would be a nice time to fall into my minute walk, read the text and respond.  A few seconds later, a random guy ran up beside me clapping his hands encouraging me not to stop, keep going, come on, let's go.  I responded that I got a text, but immediately put my phone back into my pocket and said, ok, I'll run with you.  He was going at a pace that was faster than I normally run.  So we chatted a bit.  I told him that I completed 2 half marathons recently.  He told me his name was Jonathon and lives in the area.  The previous day he had run 30k to downtown and back.  Not sure how far he was going today, but it sounded like he took a different route going away from downtown and was going to the direction of his home.  Whether he was going further or not, I did not know.  So I asked him if he has run a race before.  He said not, but plans on running a full marathon next year.  There was more idle talk about running and how good it is for you.  It was nice running into and then running with someone this enthusiastic about running.  He took me a little further past my intended route and I kept up with him for a little bit.  But because of his pace, I bid him good bye and turned down another street to loop back home.  I do hope to bump into him in one of my future runs.  

That pretty much sums up my runs since the Manitoba Marathon.  This month I have the 20 Min Challenge, the Morden Try-a-du, Color Me Rad and Mud Hero.  Other possibilities for races include the Fort White Twighlight run (10k) at the end of August and the Winnipeg 10 & 10 (10k) in early September.