Good times when least expect it.

Time 12pm
Place MAA
Distance 15km

What I ate before yogurt and banana
Temperature -5 C
No wind.
What I wore: Blue Sugoi long sleeve, Sugoi midlayer Adidas shell, NB run hat, N2S gloves, Sugoi tights, Wrightsocks and old blue Asics Nimbus V
What I drank. Water bottle of blue gatorade
How I felt before: Physically tired, mentally alert


Today marks the first time I have ran outside since last October. Having spent the last two months in recovery today yielded plenty of surprises.

I ran with a running mate who's part of the triathalon club at McGill. She brought her two friends, one a member of the cycling team and the other, an Ironman competitor who coaches the McGill cycling team at night and who's a PhD student by day.

Pretty intimidating field considering the company I was running with today. The other girl ran nyc last year and is getting ready to run Boston this year. I was fortunate that Mary needed to run at a slow pace. Here conditioning is better than mine overall but with respect to running our, "Mets" as Dorys would refer to is pretty much the same. She dictated the pace and that allowed me to stay with the pack.

In all fairness the 15km felt really easy, I charted the course today beginning on Peel and going uphill to Dr. Penfield and the long uphill westward. That definitely woke us up and our heart rates as well. The conditions were pretty wet and there were some icy patches. As we ran down Cedar Ave on to the Boulevard, we chatted up a storm and I found Clarice and Patrick to be really personable and interesting.

What I enjoyed about these long runs is getting people to open up. We chatted up a storm (which slowed down the pace- part of my strategy ;) ) and lamented about the usual things that people do regardless of their background. Work, relationships injuries. Playing the game of six degrees of separation yielded interesting results.

On balance they were really exemplary people. They appreciated the course; as we turned down on Cavendish and headed toward Sherbrooke, we were able to run faster with the same effort. Heading east on Sherbrooke, we noticed the false downhill slope so we were able to run faster with relative ease. I teased Patrick about the Gascogne pastry shop where he and his ex used to frequent. Labelling him as a, "sissy" was a great source of comic relief for both of us.

The girls disappeared into the running room in Westmount for a washroom break. The people at the store had noticed Patrick and I pass by earlier and suggested to the girls that they along with us run with them.

I share my gatorade with them on several occassions. Patrick and I broke away from the girls. I'm not sure who was pushing who but I was able to maintain a conversation the entire was back. Laughing aloud and just chatting up a storm like I would back in high school.

I wasn't expecting much from this run. However, I came out with more that I bargained for. Despite running in all these layers in slippery and varied terrain conditions. I was not only able to complete injury free but I excelled in this outing.

No injuries. I streched properly but I feel fatigued from this outing Too much fun but well worth it.

I dedicate this run to the Running Room guys running Vegas tomorrow. Though I'm not there in person, I'll be there in spirit all the way through to the end.

Free ain't too shabby...

I was able to feel the difference wearing these shoes during yesterday's sprint training. The weight difference is defintely noticeable. My feet have gotten used to running in these shoes. I've removed the insoles to prevent friction and thus far all is fine. I was able to bang a out a solid 9 km run in total. I'm looking forward to running outside with them.

This Saturday should prove to be interesting, as it will be my first outdoor run since last October. I'd like to wear the free, but for this run, I'll play it safe. I'm headed toward NDG from downtown and my running mate is keen on running for a 100 minutss at a nice slow pace (6 min per km). Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

New York....

New York, New York. la la la....

Now the work begins.

Words to live by

"Dream as if you're going to live forever, live as if you're going to die today..."

Nike Free it ain't

Received my Nike Frees today. Argh I had to pay a brokerage fee of $40.
Ugh. What a way to begin. On top of that, when I opened the box, Bonnie noticed an advertisement for the Nike free for Women on the flip side of the lid. Seeing the flashy green shoes, she thought that they had shipped the women's version to me. Fortunately that wasn't the case.

Very light in my hands (it's listed at 8.4 ounces) compared with my Asics Nimbus (12.9). The sole of the shoe is very malleable and the slits if the forefoot of the sole provide me with a greater range of motion never experienced with the Nimbus. The shoe last is very supple. I found the sole to be uneven; I have low arches and the way in which the heel tapers off toward the forefoot left a feeling of the sole in my arch.

I experienced less elasticity when my foot would hit the gournd and bounce back than I did with the Asics. I thought that switching to a ligter shoe, would enable to the, "bounce back" to be quicker. I'm not sure what material the sole is made of but it holds less elasticity than the Asics shoe.

The inelasticity made technical drills tougher. I guess I wasn't as strong as I thought. I never realised how much difference a shoe makes.

I ran for 10 min on the shoes and they felt fine. Seeing these green shoes floating in the air from the reflection in the mirroir looked stange. The only good thing from having these shoes is that because they are so flashy, I can only wear them if I'm able to meet my performance targets.

Mind you, they are comfy and they'll make a great after race shoe. My dance buddy, Bonnie, drew certain parallels between her dance shoes and the Free.

Oh la la, will a running flat and training shoe as well?

All in all, a neat little shoe. Definitely different that what I am used to. I'll continue to use it in speed training. However I realise that there is always a price to pay when it comes to using a different type of shoe.

Long run Sunday

I was able to run 16km at 9.8kph (6:07 min per km) maintaining a heart rate of 140.

Feels great

7:00am MAA gym treadmill
for breakfast, yogurt and banana

issues. backpain for badminton night before