The 10 km Human Race

It is done!!  I just ran a 10 km (first one in a long time) which was part of the Nike 10km Human Race.  What is that you ask?

The Nike 10km Human Race was held today, August 31, 2008, around the world at select race venues and wherever Nike iPod+ runners run.  You see, their goal was to get as many people in the world to run 10km on the same day.  At last count, I saw that over 4 million kilometres had been run by runners all over the world, and I got to be 10 km of those.

They are hyping it as a historic event, but then for those that have no idea it is happening and who are not runners, it means nothing.  For me, it is a pretty cool idea and I am glad I was able to run it and be part of running history.

On another note about historic events; my buddy Ken just completed his ride across Canada from Vancouver to St. John's.  I think it is historic since how many people have ridden across Canada?  Each one should be named somewhere.  I think each person that does is a huge motivation to each of us that strive to reach for our dreams.

Congratulations Ken!!  I can't wait to hear the stories of hardship and "companionship" when you get back.

Finally, Some Progress

With my knee that is. First run in a long time that it is not aching too bad.

It took about 2 km before the ache came along but it was more of a lingering ache rather than a limp inducing sharpness. Hey, small victories.

Well, onto future news; I have a goal for next year. If the stars align then I will be entering the Paris Marathon which takes place April 5, 2009. That means about 6 weeks of training to get my base built back up, then training over the winter to get ready for the Marathon.

The Marathon training will be 26 weeks, so that means I start training October 6, 2008 for the April Marathon. (Again, I note for those asking how long it takes to run a Marathon. About 6 months, give or take a few hours at the end.)

Heck, with any luck (read, no injuries) maybe I will have enough planning and juice in the batteries to do the May Marathon in Ottawa as well. I'll wait and see on that one though.

Running Increases Lifespan

Yup, you read it right. A study by Stanford University was released August 11, 2008 in the Archives of Internal Medicine and connects running to increased longevity.

The study has been in the news recently, but if you missed it try this link: Running Improves Disability And Life Span In Older People

Just another reason to keep running for a long time.

As for my current running. Well, a new baby in the house has cut into free-time a lot. It has been hard to get runs in and I am still seeing a Chiro for my knee. I am getting swimming in 2-3 times a week to help the knee recover.

I will find more time and the knee will get better, allowing me to keep on track for 1000km this year.

First Run Since the Birth of Our 2nd Son

Our second child was born last weekend and we've been home since Monday. He is settling into a nighttime routine. My wife has been graciously letting me sleep the night since he has been both pretty easy going and I have been looking after our 2.5 yr old son (lots of energy needed for that).

So, all to say today I was not too tired and had recovered from the first few sleepless nights. I got out for a run and ran into Darren Clark. I ran along with him and a friend of his who is an Ultra-Marathoner. His friend (I forgot the name, doh) is currently training for a 50 miler.

Man, to think of that distance. It is huge!! It's only about 80 km or 5 km-ish short of a double marathon!!

It's great to realize that there are other people out there, with 3 kids, holding down a job in high tech, and training/running their races. If you make room in your life for sports/running then you can do it. The only excuse to not exercising is that it is not your priority to exercise.

I learned this some years back when I decided to cut down on the "entertainment" factor and increase the "exercise" factor in my life. It is now a part of my life and I fit in exercise however I can. Running being one of the easiest (and I enjoy it). That said, you can feel a bit like a freak when you are training all the time and have nothing to talk about except splits, your schedule this week, what you are training for now; while others are talking about the latest movies, reality TV shows, or what some Movie Star did recently.

I'd much rather be out there pounding the pavement than grooving out the couch.

Kicking It

The good: swimming is coming along well. Overall time is decreasing for distance covered.

The bad: after extra rest my left knee is still bothering me during my runs.

It gets a little disconcerting to have so many different injuries; one after another. At least I love swimming and biking, meaning I can continue to use those to keep up the fitness while I go easy on the knee.

On a different train of thought, our second child is still waiting to join us. Due date was a week ago. So, every day is a day which the chance of seeing my new son is higher than the last ;-)

A Swimming We Will Go....

I bought a 3 month pass for swimming and am on track to get my money's worth. Paying by each session is $4.10/adult. For three months, unlimited indoor or outdoor swimming (minus special swims like the wave pool), it is $75. At that rate I only need to go 19 times to break even. That is easy since I've gone 5 times since I got my pass.

Ok, now for totally awesome toys. I used to be the gadget man, with lots of new toys but this one I think I am not leading the pack with, by any means. I bought a waterproof case and headphones for my Nano and tried it out today. It is totally awesome to be doing lane swim and getting to listen to tunes. I bought the H2O Audio system and it works awesome. Check them out at h2oaudio.com

If you swim a lot and love to listen to music then you need to check their products out. Man, I need a sponsorship ;-)

The funniest thing while trying them today was that I was listening to Techno music from Beatport.com and one of the songs had a pinging in it like from a submarine. I found that ironic.

Training Again

Well, I am back into training and it feels good. Right calf is fully recovered but I am still experiencing an ache in my left knee. Hey, if it is not one thing it is another. I will continue to monitor, do some strengthening exercises and see how it goes.

This past week was a good one, I got in 2 swims and 3 runs. About the same plan this week. Swim Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Run Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. With a possible bike ride thrown in.

My buddy Ken is biking across Canada this summer. He has been gone for 2 weeks now and has lost 10 lbs. It took 2 weeks to cross British Columbia and he is now in Alberta. This week he moves through Saskatchewan. I am getting regular updates from him and he is having lots of fun and making me very envious ;-)