I'm Back

Well after a week off from running I'm back. The trip was great, and will post some pics soon. The flight to and from, horrendous....don't fly Thomas Cook Airlines (used by Sunquest). They only have 6 planes and they keep breaking down....delays are a regular occurrence. Ours was 8 hours going down and 3 hours coming back. This wouldn't hav been so bad had the flights been early morning or daytime. But our flight down was scheduled for 6:40 pm and we took off after 2:00 am. Our flight home was scheduled for 11:55 pm and we left at 3:00 am. We lost a night's sleep, in each direction, which is difficult. My poor daughter who goes to bed at 7:30!. These flights were also not the original ones I had booked. I booked a 6:40 am departure and a 3:40 pm return which got switched less than a month after I booked the trip.

So I ran 6 miles the day I came back (after having been up for about 36 hours) and it wasn't bad. Last night's 4 miles was a little rougher. Guess it's catching up with me. Tonight's 10 miles will be shortened to 7 miles (can't muster up the motivation for 10 miles on a treadmill, mid week, at 8:00 pm). Hopefully I can pull it off.

Anyway, vacation reading was 26 Miles to Boston

"26 MILES TO BOSTON slips squarely into the running shoes and minds of the athletes as they traverse the 26-mile, 385-yard course of America's most venerated long-distance race.
From suburban Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to the center of metropolitan Boston, here are the mile-by-mile sights and sounds experienced by the runners. Interwoven throughout is the colorful history of the men and women of manifold skills who have competed in this preeminent event over the span of more than a century.
Profusely illustrated with photographs and maps, 26 MILES TO BOSTON is a book for anyone who's ever wondered what it might be like to run the Boston Marathon."



It was a great read. It was written by Michael Connelly who ran as a bandit in the 1996 race. He has references out to 2002 but nothing more recent. He writes from his perspective as a 4+ hour marathoner and has tons of references and comments from other runners including top elite runners (John “the Elder” Kelly, Bill Rodgers, Uta Pippig, Joan Benoit, and Geoff Smith). Lots of references to the women who paved the way for the rest of us to run the race as well (Kathy Switzer). A terrific book for sure.

The book is broken down by mile (each chapter) and gives insight into the course itself as well. Definitely worth the read!

3 more sleeps

We leave on Sunday for Jamaica (Ocho Rios). I'm really looking forward to it and Amelia is super excited. This is one of the reasons she's so excited:

We are going with my best friend and her 19 year old daughter. They messed up our flights so that, together with some not great reviews, leaves me a little apprehensive but I'm sure it'll be fine. I booked a Sunday departure to get daytime flights because of Amelia. Then no sooner do we book that we get an email changing the flights to night time flights. The arrival will have us at the resort probably between 1:00-2:00 am..... the return flight leaves Jamaica at 11:00 pm so will have us home probably at 5:00 am....guess she won't be going to school on Monday! Grrrrr that's so frustrating. I guess you get what you pay for and we didn't pay much!

Anyway, sun, sand, all you can eat and free booze, I'm sure it'll be fine!

Oh was highlighted to this page by Marlene
It's a data base of runner's blogs. I checked it out and I was there...cool. It was created by 2Slow4Boston

12 Miles for Sherry

Did my "Run for Sherry" in honour/memory of Sherry Arnold.

Team Amphipod

I never liked carrying water bottles when I first started running. Didn't like the way the fit and jiggled around. Someone on one of my message boards suggested an Amphipod water bottle. I couldn't find it in Canada but ordered one online. It fits in the small of your back and felt more comfortable then most, and I've used it ever since. I even purchased a small Amphipod hand held when I was in Chicago this summer. Like that too.



Anyway, the bungee cord thingy that holds the water bottle in broke. So I sent them an email to see if I could order a replacement. The response was instantaneous, she asked for my address and mailed me out 2. In no time, I received the 2 free replacement bungees with this little note:


I have to tell you, if I wasn't impressed with the product before, I sure am now. I find that most times the level of customer service you receive, on a day to day basis is not that great (in fact it's frightful), so to receive such great service sure did make me smile. Will also make me go back and buy more product. You'd think that everyone would catch on to the benefits of good customer service!

On a running note, I ran my first 18 mile LSD for this training cycle on Saturday. Almost 8 minutes/km....took me 3:49. In fact I can almost run a marathon that fast. Anyway, that was the idea...to have "time on my feet" and get used to running that long. It was a great day to run, clean dry roads and good company. This was a 40 mile week for me and it's the first time in a long time, I've run that much so all in all, a good week of training.