Free as a bird now

How about Geoffrey Mutai’s 2:05:06 from NYC!  I didn’t tune into Twitter, Facebook etc all day Sunday so I could watch the NBC coverage fresh, and it was well worth it.  Mary Keitany going out super fast and trying to hang-on to the lead for dear life was very entertaining.  Mutai’s performance should be considered good enough for Kenya’s Olympic team but it’s so tough to compare a World title vs 2:03:38 vs 2:03:42 vs 2:05:06 in NY.

I ran a 10km this weekend at the Road 2 Hope marathon in Hamilton.  I ran 43 minutes, it felt too slow but I said I was going to run 43 minutes right before the start so I didn’t want to go any faster in case anyone was keying off of me.  It’s awesome when spectators from the side-line yell at me to run faster.  They must think that I look too comfortable to be racing and I’m being a pansy.  On Sunday I watched the finish of the 1/2 marathon and marathon.  A couple of friends asked me for a training schedule 6 weeks ago, they had never run a 1/2 before (I don’t even think a 10km), weren’t going to run more than three days per week and were starting from scratch.  So it was cool to see them finish in one piece.  Thomas Omwenga ran as slow as possible to get the win (2:28).  He’s run 3 marathons in the past 6 weeks plus paced the women at Scotia through 40km, getting paid baby!

Jerry Friesen passed away last Wednesday which is very sad because he was way too young.  I’ve known Jerry since 2005 when I ran the Casablanca 5 miler which he organized (it’s an 8km now and takes place this weekend).  He always supported our club and the other elites at his Subaru race series.  I particularly like the Peachbud 10km in the summer.  It’s held on a Tuesday night and runs through the middle of Grimsby, it’a a fun event and great course.  I got to know Jerry and Jody last year when he invited me to the Run Barbados Race in early December.  In fact I was going to email him the day he passed away to talk about Barbados as I was on the fence about racing on December 3rd.  I don’t really want to race that early after the marathon but t going down to Barbados to race is just too damn fun to pass up.  Jerry will be missed by many, as was apparent by the large amount of people at the visitation last night.  I heard one kid say how the line-up was longer than the rides at Canada’s Wonderland.