Ice storm and my Yaktrax

While moving this past fall, I almost didn't pack my Yaktrax, those rubber and metal strap ons. I had survived most winters with barely a reason to put them on. Luckily I realized I'd probably need them one day.

Even on a group run this past Wednesday, I was talking to another runner and telling her about the Yaktrax. "You really can't use them much on Toronto roads," I told her, citing the concrete and asphalt surfaces that don't often get too much of a layer of snow.

I didn't read the long-range forecast. We got a tonne of freezing rain overnight, and this morning, a coating of ice covered any surface that could accommodate it -- roads, branches, signs, cars, railing, lights and the ground. 

I worked a little updating coverage, then decided to give myself an assignment of  getting some fresh art. I decided to abort my long run in favour of a 5K or 6K run, enough to continue my running streak and to let me play on the icy streets.

Yaktrax!

Outside my townhouse

Trinity-Bellwoods

Yes, my feet got soaked by this point.

Re-cycle

Winter is coming. Or, as the past week showed those gearing up for another training cycle, it's already here. I've faced many a December when I'm trying to kick start running after a long spring and summer training season and a busy fall race schedule. Well, it's time again. Lets get working.

2014 looms on the horizon and not just for me, as I'm seeing a tonne of search on this blog for Around the Bay (race strategy, hills, running it full out for Boston) and for the Ottawa Marathon.  (See below for links) Judging by how fast the races are selling out these days, I'm going to see busy trails in Toronto this winter.

Exiting 2013 with some mojo was my immediate thought after the comeback marathon, and I've declared it to anyone who asks. I want to complete the mission, and get my marathon time down, and requalify for Boston. So as winter No. 10 arrives (yes, it's been that long I've been doing this long-distance thing), I'm changing strategies in a big way.

Running with the Black Toe group

First is I'm running December with  more mileage as a ramp up to January. I'm on a mostly undeclared until now run streak to get the gears going, running from U.S. Thanksgiving all the way to the New Year.  So far, I've made it past the peak holiday party season and I think I've hit a schedule (early morning runs are tackling my shorter distances).

Second, I'm looking to inject some pace into a few of my runs every week. Part of this is just keeping sharp. I've launched into aggressive training in January in the past only to have my body rebel. Along with that, I'm giving a wide berth to all holiday treats that are invading the office where I work. I don't want to gain the holiday weight and so far, it's going well. Love those morning smoothies.

Third, I'm combatting winter boredom by doing more group runs, which is pretty much 1000% more than I usually do. Black Toe, an awesome new running store that's located right between work and home, has been doing after work and weekend runs. So far, I've been out there and loving meeting new people and having a group to take my mind off pace. The faster group is right in my wheelhouse, so I'm happy to join them.

And finally, for the first time in my marathon schedule since 2007, I'm giving up the Pfitzinger-Douglas (still love it) program for some real coaching. The coach from Black Toe is crafting an evil workout plan for me for the next four months. I'm looking forward to the challenge and gratified to have some feedback. New tricks, indeed.

Distance

We hit reset on our watches every day, while the weekly schedules reset and what was a big running week on a Sunday becomes a big fat zero on Monday morning. Running is a sport that lets you accumulate, build, add step by step, then ultimately, we wipe the slate clear.

There are so many other reasons for running, of course, but I find it amazing while running my same routes -- up and down the downtown streets or back and forth on the water's edge, that it actually adds up to something. This morning's run was more than the 10 miles that I logged at the end of a route that saw hills climbed, sidewalk and asphalt passing by and bumping into a running friend at a stop light (we weren't bouncing). At the end of the run I see time (1:15) pace (7:33 miles) and distance (16.12K).

Add it all together, zoom out to the wide view, and you see something much different. Although this was a higher than usual mileage year, most runners training for marathons pile on hundred of miles a season, even up to 200-300 miles a month. Recently I passed the 2,000 mile mark. Today, I passed 2,046, or more than 3,200 kilometres. If I flew the distance, I mapped out where I could have travelled in that one year.




Amazing, isn't it. In about a week, I would have travelled as far as it takes to fly (as crows do) from Toronto to Vancouver, or most of the United States.

Pull out beyond the 50,000 foot view, and you look at the steps and how they add up to something much bigger, something much more impressive to many who may nod when you say you went for a run for an hour, or are on a running streak.

An hour over a day can add up to 16,850 minutes, or two hundred and eighty hours on the roads. A hundred or so calories burned over a mile adds up to 234,618 and while I don't remember many hills, 92K metres kind of seems like a lot.

Why We Run

The slap of the shoe on the pavement, the swing of one's arms, the gag-inducing pace, the hop to clear the curb, the bounce on the balls of the soles as the hill crests. The efficiency and speed, plodding by some, effortless by others. The repetitive motion and the heart rate that is awakened from a slothful existence.

The act of running has me moving at a speed that is so different than on bike, car or transit, and although it's not so much faster than a brisk walk (by scale), the speed in which you travel -- real movement with the heart, legs, muscle in interplay -- have a way of activating my soul.

While I am moving while running, it is running that moves me in deeper ways that meditation could never give me. Running is my way to confront the self, but to find more that is hidden within me. I am seeking, striding, solving, negotiating, hurting, conquering, coping and -- ultimately -- living.

Non-runners don't understand. I get that now. In my years as a long distance runner, I've watched the running community repeatedly dismissed. One old example is Ted McClelland, who wrote in 2007 how the marathon was being ruined by slow runners.

Even as the sport continues to grow, capturing more women, more city dwellers and more participants at races, the naysayers feel compelled to -- shall I say -- dismiss the movement. Oh, you want 26 reasons not to run the marathon?

Just this past week, the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by a man who can't stand the 26.2 stickers, the 13.1 labels he sees on car bumpers. Chad Stafko, in essence, says running is an act of self-absorption, for showing off more than anything else.

He writes:

I have a theory. There is no more visible form of strenuous exercise than running. When runners are dashing down a street in the middle of town or through a subdivision, they know that every driver, every pedestrian, every leaf-raker and every person idly staring out a window can see them.

Mark Remy over at Runner's World does a takedown of Chad, much like I did of Ted McClelland in 2007, so there is no need for rebuttal, but I wanted to reinforce a few simple truths, some small reasons why we run.

Race Report: New York City Marathon 2013

I began my marathon with a sprint, cursing my nonchalance I'd taken the morning as train, ferry and bus had taken me from Midtown to Staten Island. The time was 8:56 on my Garmin, and I was a minute too late.

Sorry, the course marshall closed the corrals, the lady said at No. 13. My friend dashed to hers one ahead of mine where a rogue guard was letting people through. "We've come all this way," a runner from Italy pleaded before we made a dash for the other corral and a minute later, I found myself thanking the guard, into the corral and feeling lucky to have made it in.

From the time I left my hotel to get to the start line, it took more than three hours and 30 minutes. Could I run all the way back to Central Park in that time?

Journey to Staten Island

I began the start of the New York City Marathon surrounded by friends -- many I had met only minutes before. We traded war stories of Chicago, of heat waves and of expectations on what we'd do. We had all jotted 3:30 pace as our expected time, and it looked like this group was ready.

Right: At the corral. Left, top: walking to start line. Left, bottom: Me and my friend Jen (who had a similar finish time)

Here's the start of the NYC Marathon -- one of my favourite starts of any marathon.

Are you ready to run?


There are many moments during a marathon that you remember. There are very few moments that put a genuine smile on your face. It took me awhile to get that first smile, but once it hit, I couldn't let it go.

A lot was on my mind for this marathon -- remembering 2010, the last time I did this race, and telling myself to cherish an opportunity to run such an amazing race. I was thinking of Boston and the added security.