The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Another late blog… I must be distracted with training or something?
I just started to watch a documentary on the 1500m at the Olympics, noticed it was an hour long and decided that I should quickly write a blog, or it wouldn’t get written today. And with a massive day in Le Tour tomorrow an update would never get written. I’m also procrastinating my second run today because it’s 33c (44c with the humidex!) out right now. Luckily the heat is supposed to break tonight and we can welcome some civilized weather.
Last Thursday Eric and I did our longest tempo workout of the build-up, the same workout we do before every marathon. I felt much more in control this year than last although last year’s splits were faster. Once I factor in the hillier route we ran this year and 10c (last September) vs 24c (last Thurs) it’s pretty clear our workout was much tougher this time around. During the workout I felt I had a good handle on what my stomach could handle, in terms of consuming fluid, and I finished without any problems. It was so hot that once I was done the tempo I got greedy and drained all my water bottles quicker than a frat boy with a funnel of Coors. That all came up 5 minutes later, also like said frat boy after his night.
There is slightly less than four weeks until I race. That means this week the volume will remain relatively high before I cut slightly next week, a little more after that and cut a lot more in the final week.
Eric and I leave for London on July 29th. We’ll spend a couple of days there checking out the course and doing logistical COC stuff. Then we head to Germany (outside of Dortmund) and spend a week at the Athletics Canada training camp. The training camp will be very quiet. Not only is it in the middle of nowhere but most of the team will have already headed back to London to get ready to compete. This will be a nice time to take it easy, get our runs in and relax. On August 9th we fly the 80 minute flight back to London and join the circus of the Athlete’s Village. Having Dylan and Eric also in the same boat is key to staying focused while most of the other athletes are partying celebrating the Olympic spirit.
Tuesday night on CBC The National there will be a piece on the Canadian Olympic marathoners.
Here’s a picture of Gillis testing out his Olympic uniform.
This is a really boring document but I thought some people might find it interesting so I’ll post it. Here are the International Olympic Committee’s rules on Social Media.
IOC Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for participants and other accredited persons at the London 2012 Olympic Games
1. Introduction
The IOC actively encourages and supports athletes and other accredited persons at the Olympic Games to take part in ‘social media’ and to post, blog and tweet their experiences. Such activity must respect the Olympic Charter and must comply with the following. Broadly speaking, the IOC wants people to share their experiences through social media. As a general rule, the IOC encourages all social media and blogging activity at the Olympic Games as long as it is not for commercial and/or advertising purposes.
Capitalised terms used in these Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines have the meaning set out in the Definitions section at the end of these Guidelines.
These Guidelines apply to participants and other accredited persons during the Period of the Olympic Games.
2. Postings, Blogs and Tweets
The IOC encourages participants and other accredited persons to post comments on social media platforms or websites and tweet during the Olympic Games, and it is entirely acceptable for a participant or any other accredited person to do a personal posting, blog or tweet. However, any such postings, blogs or tweets should be in a first-person, diary- type format and should not be in the role of a journalist – i.e. they must not report on competition or comment on the activities of other participants or accredited persons, or disclose any information which is confidential or private in relation to any other person or organisation. A tweet is regarded in this respect as a short blog and the same guidelines are in effect, again, in first-person, diary-type format.
Postings, blogs and tweets should at all times conform to the Olympic spirit and fundamental principles of Olympism as contained in the Olympic Charter, be dignified and in good taste, and not contain vulgar or obscene words or images.
3. Photographs
Participants and other accredited persons can post still photographs taken within Olympic Venues for personal use. It is not permitted to commercialise, sell or otherwise distribute these photographs.
4. Video/Audio
Participants and other accredited persons cannot post any video and/or audio of the events, competitions or any other activities which occur at Olympic Venues. Such video and/or audio must only be for personal use and must not be uploaded and/or shared to a posting, blog or tweet on any social media platforms, or to a website.
Video and/or audio that are taken outside of Olympic Venues are not subject to the above- noted restriction.
INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE Château de Vidy, 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland, Tel. +41 21 621 6111 / Fax +41 21 621 6216 / http://www.olympic.org5. Athletes and Other Accredited Persons staying in the Olympic Village
Because of the protected environment, there are more restrictive guidelines for the residential area of the Olympic Village: any posting, blog or tweet must be in a first-person, diary-type format only; photos of the athletes themselves or other accredited persons in the Olympic Village can be posted, but if any other persons appear in the photo, their prior permission must be obtained by the person posting such photo. Video taken from within the residential area can only be for personal use and must not be broadcast, including uploaded to any websites or social media platforms.
6. Media
Accredited media may freely utilise social media platforms for bona fide reporting purposes. Photos taken by accredited photographers may be published for editorial purposes on social media platforms in accordance with the Photographers Undertaking. All other provisions of these Guidelines apply.
7. Olympic Marks
Participants and other accredited persons must not use the Olympic Symbol – i.e. the five interlocking rings used alone, which is the property of the IOC, on their postings, blogs or tweets on any social media platforms or on any websites. Participants and other accredited persons may use the word “Olympic” and other Olympic-related words on their postings, blogs or tweets on any social media platforms or on their websites, as factual reference, provided that the word “Olympic” and other Olympic-related words are not associated with any third party or any third party’s products or services. Participants and other accredited persons must not use other Olympic identifications such as NOC and/or LOCOG emblems or mascots on their postings, blogs or tweets on any social media platforms or on any websites, unless they have obtained the prior written approval of their relevant NOC and/or LOCOG.
8. Advertising and Sponsorship
Participants and other accredited persons are not permitted to promote any brand, product or service within a posting, blog or tweet on any social media platforms or on any websites. Participants and other accredited persons must not enter into any exclusive commercial agreement with any company with respect to their postings, blogs or tweets on any social media platforms or on any websites, unless they have obtained the prior written approval of their relevant NOC.
In accordance with Rule 41 of the Olympic Charter, no competitor, coach, trainer or official who participates in the Olympic Games may allow his person, name, picture or sports performances to be used for advertising purposes except as permitted by the IOC Executive Board1.
9. Domain Names/URLs/Page Naming
Domain names and URLs including the word “Olympic” or “Olympics” or any similar words related thereto (or any foreign language equivalents thereof) are not allowed unless approved by the IOC beforehand. For example, http://www.[myname]olympic.com would not be permitted while http://www.[myname].com/olympic would be allowed, but only during the Period of the Olympic Games during which these Guidelines are applicable. Similarly, participants and other accredited persons may not create stand-alone Olympic-themed websites, application or any other feature to host coverage of the Olympic Games.
1 Circular letter addressed to all NOCs – May 2011
IOC Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for participants and other accredited persons Page 2/4 at the London 2012 Olympic Games
© Copyright IOC 2011 – All Rights Reserved
10. Links
The IOC encourages participants and other accredited persons to “link” their blogs, websites or social media platforms to the official site of the Olympic Movement (www.olympic.org), the official site of the Olympic Games (www.london2012.com) and the official site of the relevant NOC.
11. Liability
When participants and other accredited persons choose to go public with any comments, opinions and any other material in any way, including on a posting, blog or tweet on any social media platforms or on any websites, they are solely responsible. They can be held personally liable for any commentary and/or material deemed to be defamatory, obscene or proprietary. They should not (i) intrude upon the privacy of participants and other accredited persons and entities at the Olympic Games without the consent of such participants, persons and entities, (ii) interfere with the competitions or the ceremonies of the Olympic Games or with the role and responsibilities of the IOC, LOCOG or other entities that are part of the organisation of the Olympic Games, or (iii) violate security measures instituted to ensure the safe conduct of the Olympic Games. In essence, participants and other accredited persons post their opinions and any other materials at their own risk and they should make it clear that the views expressed are their own.
12. Monitoring
The IOC will continue to monitor Olympic on-line content to ensure that the integrity of rights-holding broadcasters and sponsor rights as well as the Olympic Charter is maintained. The IOC asks for the support of all participants and other accredited persons in halting any ambush activity or any sites engaged in conduct which is offensive to or adversely affects the goodwill associated with the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement. The IOC asks that participants and other accredited persons discovering unauthorised content, please report it immediately to http://www.olympicgamesmonitoring.com.
13. Infringements
The accreditations of any organisation or person accredited at the Olympic Games may be withdrawn without notice, at the discretion of the IOC, for purposes of ensuring compliance with these Guidelines. The IOC reserves all its right to take any other appropriate measures with respect to infringements of these Guidelines, including issuing a Take Down Notice, taking legal action for damages, and imposing other sanctions.
Participants and other accredited persons may also be subject to additional guidelines and sanctions in respect of social media, blogging and the internet, from their relevant NOC.
14. Amendment/Interpretation
The IOC reserves the right to amend these Guidelines, as it deems appropriate. The IOC Executive Board shall be the final authority with respect to the interpretation and implementation of these Guidelines. The English version of these Guidelines will prevail.
IOC Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for participants and other accredited persons Page 3/4 at the London 2012 Olympic Games
© Copyright IOC 2011 – All Rights Reserved
15. Definitions
“Games Marks” means the official emblem, mascot, pictograms and other identifications, designations, logos and insignias identifying the Olympic Games and does not include the Olympic Symbol
“Guidelines” means the IOC Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for participants and other accredited persons at the London 2012 Olympic Games
“IBC” means International Broadcast Centre “IOC” means the International Olympic Committee
“LOCOG” means the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
“MPC” means the Main Press Centre “NOC” means National Olympic Committee
“Olympic Games” means the London 2012 Olympic Games, to be held between 27July – 12 August 2012
“Olympic Venues” shall include all venues which require an Olympic accreditation card or ticket to gain entry, including the Olympic Village, Village Square, the competition venues, the training and practice venues and the Olympic Park Common Domain
“Olympic Marks” means the Olympic Symbol and the Games Marks
“Olympic Park Common Domain” means the primary Olympic site in East London which contains multiple Olympic Venues, including the Olympic Village, Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, IBC, MPC and the venues for numerous other Olympic sports
“Olympic Symbol” means the five interlocking rings used alone “Period of the Olympic Games” means the period from the opening of the Olympic
Village on 16 July 2012 until the closing of the Olympic Village on 15 August 2012
“Take Down Notice” means a notice requiring a participant or other accredited person or third party to take down a blog in whole or in part within a specified time
“Village Square” means the Square which will be located adjacent to but separated from the residential zone of the Olympic Village which will host a number of activities including Team Welcome Ceremonies
I got a good feeling
Hamilton Showing:
2pm Saturday July 21st
Westdale Theatre
1014 King St West
$10 at the door
Guelph Showing:
9pm Saturday July 21st
University of Guelph
Arboretum – XC course (bring a lawn chair or blanket)
$10 suggested donation
(Indoor track if raining)
Running time is about one hour.
You can reserve tickets if you like reidcoolsaet.roadtolondon@gmail.com Tickets will be sold at the door
The first three trailers https://reidcoolsaet.com/road-to-london/
I’ll write a blog sometime Tuesday…or Wednesday…
I’m excited for this documentary to come out because I’ll watch it for the first time at the Westdale Theatre with everyone else on Saturday the 21st. Paul has been filming me for over a year and I have forgotten some of the stuff he’s recorded. There are a lot of interviews with other athletes, coaches, friends etc that I will see for the first time myself. I think people will be surprised by a few of the interviewees as well, big names.
Training is coming along well and, yes, I am excited to race in less than five weeks time. It seems that is the question everyone asks me… “are you excited?” On one hand the question is getting old but I’d much rather be in this position than where I was four years ago, injured and not competing. Nobody was asking me if I was excited back in 2008.
Earlier this week we did a shorter, faster, workout in anticipation of a monster we have coming up. Should be fun times.
A lot of people have asked me how they can help out Canadian athletes going to London. Right now Can Fund is asking Canadians to donate $12 (for 2012) to help raise funds for Olympians still on the waiting list for funding (I’m still on the waiting list). CanFund is trying to get all the donations in by July 12. You can donate here CANFUND http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1039771
I have been a past CanFund recipient and these guys do a great job of getting support to Canadian Athletes!
Hold me under water, teach me how to breathe
I had a productive week after the Scotia Vancouver 1/2 and training is progressing nicely. The day after the 1/2 I had a nice recovery day with one 8km run and then proceeded to get in about 36km a day for the rest of the week. Thursday’s workout was pretty long and the next day I was dead tired. I thought Friday morning’s 20km run was a struggle, until the afternoon 16km run. Throughout the last 8km of that run my thoughts kept wavering between “this is stupid” and “it will make me stronger.” Let’s hope for the latter.
On Saturday I was feeling better but I wasn’t moving that quick, until I kicked a beehive. There was a beehive the size of a softball under a drinking fountain and because kids will be using that fountain come Tuesday when day camps start I figured I should get rid of it. After I hoofed that thing I probably did my fastest stride of the marathon prep. Now my plan is imagine kicking a beehive with 2km to go in London.
What an entertaining week of Track and Field! The Canadian trials, US trials and European championships. There were some clutch performances at the Can and US trials with people hitting their A standard at the 11th hour. Unfortunately achieving a seasonal best at the Canadian trials in events longer than 800m is pretty much out of the question due to altitude. It would be so frustrating to have your last attempt to qualify for the Olympics at the trials knowing you have to race at 3500 feet. Complete BS if you ask me. AC should let athletes chase standards for one more week if they are going to host the trials where the evidence is clear times in distance events will be slower.
Congrats to Speed River teammates Hilary Stellingwerff and Alex Genest for fulfilling their Olympic requirements (had to finish top 3) and booking their tickets to London. A tough break for Malindi Elmore and Taylor Milne who have shown Olympic level fitness this season but just didn’t have that race where everything clicked. Chris Winter has also been ripping it up lately but with so may PB’s I think he has to be happy with how his season is going (hopefully more PB’s in Europe in the coming weeks). And what about the women’s 100m hurdles where both Perdita and Priscilla failed to qualify? Crazy stuff. My mouth dropped when Perdita false started. I’m glad she ran under protest anyways to prove that she could have finished in the top 3.
Remember that French athlete (Mekhissi-Benabbad) who threw punches after a race in Monaco last year? Well he got into it with a mascot (apparently a 14 y/o girl) at the recent Euro Champs
I guess pushing mascots is his thing (Euro 2010 Champs)
You never been on a ride like this befo’
Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon.
Well that was a roller coaster of a course! The first half is mainly downhill which gave us (Eric Gillis, Kip Kangogo and myself) a 29:25 10km split. After that the race flattened out and the paced calmed down, but it probably slowed more than it should have. Maybe we were all anticipating the big hill at 18km?
After 15km I started pushing the pace which resulted in Kip falling off of Eric and I. I kept the pace honest on a nice downhill section and 500m or so later I found myself running alone. And then we hit the dreaded Burrard Street Bridge hill, which is quite the nasty stretch. I thought my lead was substantial enough to chill on the uphill. However, Kip was mounting an attack behind me. When I looked back he was much closer than I wanted so I had to pick up the pace again, which pleasantly came easier than I thought.
I kept the pressure on through 21km and then realized the win was locked up. As I came around the corner I saw 1:03:06 on the finish line clock and knew that I wasn’t going to get there in under four seconds to break the course record and collect an extra $1000.00, oh well. I walked away with a good effort and felt very strong over the final few kilometres of the race. Mission accomplished.
I recommend giving the SVHM a go. The course is a lot of fun and, as always, Alan Brookes and the CRS team put on a great event. The big downhill wasn’t as steep as I thought it was going to be but still steep enough to pound some fatigue into my legs, which is good preparation for a marathon… say, in seven weeks time.
For only being in Vancouver for 48 hours I felt I maximized my trip. I got in some quality time with Rob Watson and my sister and briefly caught up with many West Coast friends I haven’t seen in a while, Dave Milne, Shaun Kingerlee, Jerry Ziak and Kristina & Ollie (with their sleeping baby in tow). Plus, I got my hands on many different flavours of Monkey Butter Peanut Butter (thanks Gillian!). Also a shout-out to Steve (Westdale alumni I may add) for the airport shuttles and rides to/from the course.
I’m writing this blog on the flight home to Toronto where I’m sitting with Krista Duchene (female winner from the weekend) and Eric GIllis. We’ve been asking Krista how she juggles training while raising three children and working part-time, it’s quite amazing. I think Gillis is happy he only has one kid and I’m happy to be flying solo. Josephat Ongeri is a couple rows in front of us. I’ll be driving him back to Hamilton with me. Hopefully he lets me play the radio, sometimes he likes to play his iPhone for everyone to hear. Maybe if he grew up in Canada he would have been a dj? DJ Jazzy Josephat. Eric is not happy that he has to sit with us common folk after he somehow got upgraded to business class on the way to Vancouver. I was only one row behind him on that flight so he kept passing me back food, he’s a true Robin Hood ladies and gentlemen.
On Saturday I was in Whole Foods and this lady came up to the counter with a six pack of cookies in her hand and informed an employee that there must be a mistake on the price tag of these cookies because they say $1.29. I told the lady “at that price I’m going to grab a pack!” She was not impressed with me, perhaps even disgusted. I told Darren Lee, who was with us, and we went over and sure enough we found a few packs for $1.29 interspersed with the same packs which were priced at $5.99. I grabbed a pack of the store baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies before an employee came and snatched up the whole tray. Rob #beernandcookies Watson was afraid to buy them because he was worried he couldn’t hold back before the race. I justified my lucky opportunity with the fact I also bought a container of chicken salad and a container of pasta. Whole Foods was still profiting from my purchase.
This is about the point where I felt Kip was getting too close.
You hide your itchy fingers well
Race week! And it’s come at a great time because I need to back-off a little and refresh after the past few weeks. We’ve been doing a little more volume and slightly longer workouts than we were when leading up to the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. In general I’m very happy with how my body has adapted to the increased work load. Hopefully backing off a little will ensure that I have a good 1/2 marathon on Sunday. When I’m in the middle of big mileage it’s a bit of a crap-shoot if I’m going to feel good on a certain day. However when I back-off just a touch it opens that feel-good window.
I’m pretty excited about the Scotiabank Vancouver 1/2 because it’s been a while since I last raced having missed the Ottawa 10km last month. I’d like to say it will be cool to visit Vancouver but I’m really only there one full day and I’ll be getting ready to race, not much time to do anything. However it will be nice to see my sister and some friends on the brief trip.
I got a little spot of poison ivy last week on my leg and when I realized what it was I was praying (still am) it wouldn’t spread. I washed with dish soap right away to rinse the oil off.
Many years ago I found out the hard way that I’m pretty darn allergic to poison ivy. I must have got in contact with the blasted plant on a run and it spread all over my legs before it broke out. My legs were probably 75% covered and it spread up to my chest, neck and even a little on my face. I’m convinced it spreads easily with sweating. My waist band broke out and the next day it converged with the affected area on my upper legs, I think that is all the details you need in that area. For some reason really hot water feels very soothing on poison ivy and I would just take these long, scalding showers.
I looked like a burn victim running around the trails. I couldn’t sleep well and I was constantly wiping the oozing fluid, fun times. It was so bad I had to go on oral steroids, which cleared it up pretty fast. This was years before I was running fast and in the testing pool. Which is one reason I was worried about a possible outbreak this time around because I don’t know what I would be allowed to take now. Although I’m sure if any WADA officials saw my body when it was absolutely covered they would have allowed the prednisone.
Check out the new Canadian Running mag. Dylan, Eric and I did a photo shoot for the cover. Afterwards we took a bunch of shots goofing off thinking they weren’t going anywhere… they ended up in the magazine…
Here’s a video of the photo shoot
I hit my highest mileage week ever last week and my workouts went well. I was a little worried that I was going to be too tired yesterday for a tempo session but I was moving better than expected. The day or two after a long workout my legs are so tired I can’t even imagine trying to run fast but when it comes time to workout my legs seem to come around just in time. It’s that fine balance between working hard and recovering.
In lieu of writing much this week I’ll direct you to a great article by Alex Hutchinson in the latest issue of Walsrus Magazine.
Here’s a video of the official Olympic team announcement back in April.
Someday the grapes will be wine
On Tuesday morning I picked up Andrew Yorke for our workout in Guelph. He had said he was good with the workout when I explained it to him the day before. When he got in the car I asked him if he was going to do the whole 50 minute and 20 minute tempo. “50 minutes! I thought you said 15 and 20?!” I could tell at that point he was wondering what the hell he got himself into here.
Gillis and I had a solid workout and Yorke ran well for his 15 minute and 20 minute tempo within our 50 minute section.
This past week started out with July weather and ended with April weather, miserable April weather. On Friday we got poured on, we were soaked within minutes. It was another tempo workout but with more breaks and a little bit of pace changing. In the first interval my laces came undone and I pulled over to tie them up except when I went to tie them my hands were frozen and it took me much longer. It was good practise to have to run down Eric and Simon. I tried to time it so I would catch them by the end of the interval. I didn’t quite get there but I was within feet.
Soaking wet.
Hilary Stellingwerff ran a PB in the 1500m (4:05.08) on Thursday in Rome which beat the Olympic A standard. That means she needs to finish in the top 3 at the Olympic trials to qualify for London. Alex Genest is also in the same position to qualify for London. Less than a month to go before the trials!
Here’s a video of the last 600m of Rome Diamond League.
79 days left workout video
Here’s a video filmed and edited by Mike DelMonte from the workout I talked about in the previous post.
Here’s a random thought I had. What if a track meet were to allow fans to vote on what event(s) they’re most interested in upon purchasing a ticket. The more votes an event gets the more money is allocated to that event to bring in better talent. That means tickets would have to be purchased well in advance (at least 3-4 weeks). The meet would benefit because people would buy tickets early and the fans would benefit because they would see the stars in the events that matter to them most. Maybe this could work with smaller meets who cannot afford big starts across all events. Maybe this is a stupid idea.
Someone’s gotta help me dig
On Friday I did a whole bunch of 4 minute intervals by myself. You see, Gillis was racing in Ottawa (he was 10th and first Canadian in 30:18), so there I was digging by myself and then on the 7th interval I ran up on Andrew Yorke in the trails. He decided to jump in and I ended up running a little faster than I would have on my lonesome. I decided to run my last three intervals the long way and Yorke would take the short way and meet me for the cool-down. I ended up running into Yorke 3 minutes into my last interval at 2:58/km and ended up 2:56/km for that interval. (Mike DelMonte filmed the workout for a thank you follow-up video for the All For The Run contributors so I’ll post it here when it’s done).
When my legs are tired I find it much easier to keep my pace with other people running the workout. Otherwise it’s easy to let the fatigue get the best of me. When I’m fresh and hitting my splits it’s not too hard to fly solo, but being towards the end of a 231km (143 miles) week my legs were not fresh. Point of the story: It’s good to be training for the marathon with Gillis.
This was a productive week, especially considering I wasn’t feeling good at the very beginning. I had good volume and my workouts were a step in the right direction. This week will be slightly lower volume before I bring it back up for a couple of weeks.
Watching Ryder Hesjedal make history at the Giro D’Italia (first Canadian to ever win a Grand Tour) today was amazing. I was hoping to watch it at Cafe Domestique but I didn’t start my 42km run early enough (or I didn’t run fast enough..). I planned to start at 7:30 (7:40 start) and in my head I thought 2:45 but my body said otherwise and I was out there for almost 3 hours. It was good to get in the full distance and good to pick up the pace throughout the entire run (second half was 7 minutes faster). Anyways, when I got in the door Ryder had just started his time trial so I wasn’t leaving the TV.
$1000 1500m bet Milne vs Jeroen update: Jeroen opened with a 3:40 today in Morocco. Milne still leads with his 3:37. In other 1500m news, Nathan Brannen ran a PB, 3:34.22, to crush the A standard (3:35.5). Also, there are some 800’s and 1500’s on tap Monday night in Guelph at St. James. If you’re in Guelph you should come and check out the races.
I forgot to post this when I first got back from Kenya but here is some video I shot near the start of the Discovery Eldoret Half Marathon. Very competitive to say the least.
14 12 week marathon build-up
Those antibiotics did the trick and I am now breathing normally, no more wheezing. The bronchitis actually got a little worse before it got better so I ended taking a day off and running very easy for the rest of the week. When I take it easy I run on routes in which I know the length, but without a watch, that way I don’t know/care how slow I’m running but I can still fill in my weekly mileage. Tomorrow I’m going to try a tempo workout however, I’m not putting too much weight on the pace because the antibiotics are still in my system. Maybe later in the week things will really start to click.
Once again a big thank you to everyone who donated to the “All for the Run” project. Big props to Shawn Brady for coming up with this idea and including me. The generous guy who Shawn is he didn’t even want any of the proceeds, he was happy to simply have his song hit the airwaves. I’m happy to say that in the end I am getting $2500, which is a good chunk of change to help with training costs. $2819 went into the production of the video.
When I first got to university Shawn Brady was one of the top cross-country runners in the province running for Queens. Our paths crossed a couple years later at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton. One night towards the end of the championships there was a beer mile at a secluded track with about 70 people taking part. After the beer mile most people ventured to a nearby house party. Nate Brannen and I noticed that people left a lot of unopened beers by the track so we filled our backpacks and brought them to the party. Well I guess Shawn came back for his beer in the grass which we had already taken and dumped into a communal cooler at the house party. Shawn asked me where his beer was and I didn’t know by that point and he told me I owed him. To this day Shawn still jokes that I owe him a beer. I really do owe him a beer now after his idea to help raise some training funds for me.
A 40 minute documentary came out today featuring some american collegiate runners who trained together last summer in Maine. I really liked the video but I wish they had introduced the runners in the beginning so I knew who they all were off the bat.
Last Monday Scott Russell and Teddy Katz from CBC came to practice to film the workout and get some interviews. Here is a little clip of me suffering CLICK HERE. Looking back I should have known that what I had was worse than a typical cold but I guess I was hoping for the best. It’s one of those things I get away with 19/20 times but this was one I shouldn’t have trained through. Live and learn.
Sometimes when I use an obscure lyric as my blog title I want to turn it into a trivia question to see if someone actually recognizes it but, with google it’s pointless. This line was taken from one of my favourite albums from high school, Perpetual Motion Machine by 13 Engines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr6bOka-WRg
FLOAT ON 