Something is squeezing my skull

This past week has been a week of “squeezing in runs.”  My legs were a little beat up from last Sunday’s 25km pacing duties but I recovered well despite trying to front-end-load my weekly volume.  On Tuesday I flew out to San Francisco for a New Balance Minimus 2013 photo shoot.  I squeezed in a workout Wednesday morning and then squeezed in a second run after wardrobe and before the evening photo shoot. The next day was a full 12 hour work day on Mt Tam (Tamalpais) in Marin County.  When I say work I mean sitting around for 4-5 hours and then running a 30 metre section 20-40 times in a row.  Each time we took pics I didn’t think too much of it until I would go over to the computer screens to see the proofs, and each time it blew me away how good the shots looked.  I’m looking forward to seeing what the final product looks like.

Funny story about the photo shoot.  On Wednesday night we were taking pictures right in San Fran and there was quite the production.  Overhead lights, coloured lights on the ground, smoke machines, computers galore, trailers etc. Naturally people were interested in what was going on, probably hoping to see a movie star or some action.  And then we started running for 20 metres at a time, no one famous, no crazy action.  You guessed it, a few heckles and then the crowd dispersed.

View of San francisco from Mt. Tam.

I flew back to Toronto on Friday and drove to Niagara Falls where I squeezed in a run before the Marathon VIP dinner.  The next morning I squeezed in another workout before I did my first talk at the expo.  On Sunday I squeezed (I’m getting sick of that word now) in a run before meeting up with hundreds of kids for Schools Marathon Challenge.  It was a great event, the kids have run 40km over the past 6 weeks at school and on Sunday the did the final 2.2km.  The kids finished at the official Niagara Falls Marathon finish line and got medals and t-shirts. The Niagara Falls marathon is a great event on a very scenic course.

View of the American Falls from the hotel room.

After the marathon I drove back to Guelph and met with some recruits and then squeezed in a run before the Lessons From London presentation on campus.  Hilary Stellingwerff, Taylor Milne, Eric Gillis, Chris Winter, Alex Genest and I all talked briefly about the London Olympics.  The talks went well but by that point I was all talked out.  Two talks at the expo, and another at the pasta dinner the day before were plenty for one weekend.

Sleeping in today felt amazing and I need make sure I’m well rested before I leave for England on Wednesday night.  I was hoping to upgrade to executive class but I’m 3 eUpgrade points too short.  If you’re reading this, have eUpgrade points to spare, have room on your nominee list (now this is becoming a real looong shot) and want to give me a good sleep on the overnight flight I would be eternally grateful, and give you a signed picture. How to transfer Air Canada eUpgrade points.

Today’s workout went really well.  We had a great group out there tonight for a light tempo and then 8 x 1200m on the XC course. I averaged 3:23 on that course and feel that sets up the 10 miler on Sunday very well.