Weekend Report

It ended up being a pretty good family weekend - still feeling a little under the weather, I just decided to give up on any training aspirations I had for this weekend.

Saturday was beautiful and sunny and perfect for the T-Ball Opening Day Parade and party....  T-Ball, Baseball, Little League - call it what you will - is awesome!  I have to say they really have it figured out compared to a lot of the other kids leagues.  It's all about sportsmanship, you hear it again and again and again...  the kids learn about being on a team and cheering on your teammates and all kinds of other great things...  it's just a great vibe.

Saturday afternoon was spent in a friend's backyard enjoying the sun - Maya's 4th birthday was the event but the sun was the star for all of us sun-starved folk...

Sunday was pretty mellow - raining...  Sacha gave me a free morning to read the paper and enjoy a coffee at Starbucks - very relaxing.  I then took over with the kids while she took a nice long walk in the rain.  All in all very relaxing day.  Left me feeling mostly ready for the week which is good because I need to ditch this fever, cough etc. ASAP!

Monday Masters:  We knocked off 3km in the pool this morning.  It was a lot of fast 50s - some on :50, some on :55.  Also a fair amount of kick which for me turns into "pull".  It was alright though I did spend a lot of time coughing into the water and also at the edge...  it was tough.  The coughs were heaving, hacking coughs - not pleasant...

I am back at it, though far from perfect....  hopefully better tomorrow.  I am also nursing a bad blister on my leg - came out of nowhere and very disappointing.  Might have to go leg-less for a few days.... 

Today was LASERDOME day for Mattias' birthday - pretty fun times for all the kids (and yours truly).  If you ever find yourself in a Laser Tag centre 1. sign up and play with the kids it's awesome and 2. bring earplugs.

Gotta run - b-day dinner.  Peace.

                                                            Laser Dome here we come!

                                        Birthday Boy blowing out the candles - 6 years old!

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Momentum Foundation

Well, yesterday was a BIG day for me.

About two years ago I had the idea to start a foundation to help disabled people do the sorts of things I am fortunate enough to be doing - running, riding, skiing, cycling, swimming etc. etc. These types of endeavours are often particularly expensive for disabled participants - for example a running prosthesis like mine costs about $12,000.

After discussing the idea with a bunch of people I was actually a bit discouraged.... I found a lot of people's eyes glazed over when I started talking about this idea. Looking back I think there were two reasons - 1) I was talking about selling one of my businesses to concentrate on this; and 2) charity stuff just plain isn't interesting to most 30-something guys. (About #1: I think most people were very doubtful that selling a business and replacing it with the "idea of a charity" could be financially smart. Understandable...)

A little time went by and I talked to a few other people... finally to my training partner and good friend Kevin. He was the first person to get a spark in his eye and start tossing out ideas. I think we had the first of many 90 minute bagel and coffee chats post-Masters and I left feeling energized, and I had at least one BELIEVER. Thanks Kevin!

I did a bit more work on it in the next few months. Bit by bit I had a few plans coming together... a real boost came when I did sell my business last summer. I took some of the funds and had an identity created, I also hired a lawyer and got a society incorporated and an application for charitable status submitted to the government. The process to achieve all of that was long arduous and a little expensive. It's not all smooth sailing in the world of lawyers and the CRA.

The Government of Canada (god bless them) guarantees that it will take "at least 9 months" to review the application... a little longer than one would hope given the rapidity with which they check 20-odd million tax submissions this time of year EVERY YEAR but I digress....

Anyway, after months of waiting I got a call yesterday that we have a charitable number! If you write me a cheque I can give you a tax receipt! (Actually, I am not sure how to do that yet but I will be soon!)

Thanks to everyone who has been supportive from the start or who joined in along the way to help me get to this point. It is only the beginning but boy did it take a long time to get here!

There will be more info and news showing up here on a regular basis.

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Shark Attack!

Well my "training" consisted of an hour-long stretch session today.... I am still feeling pretty "off".... I might have started to feel sorry for myself until I heard that a triathlete training in the ocean off of Solana Beach died after a Great White Shark bit him across both thighs this morning.

Solana Beach is 14 miles north of San Diego and one of my favourite areas ANYWHERE. I have spent lots of time in San Diego getting work done on my leg and the north coastal areas are so awesome... I have always fantasized about getting a group together for a training holiday there - riding on the Pacific Coast Highway, running some of the cool trails, and swimming in the ocean off Solan... uhhh... well? It would still be fun... we could swim at the UCSD pool.

You can read all about what happened here.  It would be quite a coincidence if anyone there reads my blog (indeed if anyone, anywhere reads my blog) but my condolences go out to his family.

On the home front, the weekend should be pretty good:

1. I think my health is improving (fingers crossed.)

2. Mattias has opening day ceremony for T-Ball tomorrow, including "Parade of Teams" - ha ha... awesome!

3. Sunday should mark my return to training if I have my way - I haven't decided what it will be but it doesn't matter it will be good to do something...

4. I am calling for good weather - not sure if I heard it, or it just feels like it will be nice all weekend, but I'm betting it will be and I am stoked...

Next post is the one I'm excited about...  coming up in a jiffy....

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Sick!

I've been sick since Monday morning...

I went to Masters on Monday morning and the first sign of a problem was when I dove in and it felt like the pool was unheated...

Second sign - couldn't eat my bagel or drink my coffee at Delany's after... these are fixtures that I look forward to WAY too much so I knew it was serious.

Anyway, I've had a fever on and off since about 9am on Monday.... very irritating. At night it has been bad enough that I have been hallucinating and sweating like crazy....

I had a dream last night that was the mental/visual equivalent of a skipping CD... the same 5 second clip again and again, even after waking up and going back to sleep. Strangely, it centered around red and white banners (??), with absolutely no context, which I also couldn't read (#%@!) Not so cool....

In other news, I had some spectacular and unexpected work news today and it cheered me up A LOT. I will elaborate in a dedicated post tomorrow (or maybe on the weekend) depending on my ability to "compose"....

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Sun Run Race Report - 2008

What a great day for a road race!  Many would say it was a bit chilly (around 2 degrees), but I was just happy it didn't snow...  Bright sunshine and crisp conditions - sweet!

I woke up at my Dad's place (where we continue to live since my Dad is in Montreal and our house is not yet finished... Thanks Dad!).  This may need to be a yearly occurrence as he lives about 4 blocks from the start area - no driving, no parking, no hassle.

So, the Sun Run is one of those events that makes you proud to be from this city - 59,120 registered!  Are you kidding me?!!  So awesome...  And everyone orderly, polite, happy and ready to rock.

There's a bit of standing around that comes with a race of this magnitude...  My early warm-up efforts jogging alone downtown and with friends near the starting areas were distant memories by the time the gun went.  Oh well...  the downhill start is handy in that you can maintain a great pace even cold out of the blocks... 

It also worked well with my Race Plan.  The first mile was completed in a scorching (for me) time of 6:10...  I was a little scared/excited by that info as I passed the 1 mile mark - would I be bonking from the early exertion?  Anyway, mile 2 (as reported by my Garmin 305) went by in about 12:40 which was still good and fast.

After that I settled into a more maintainable pace of between 7 - 7:45min/miles.  I remember thinking that I was suffering at times but being happy about it as it was PART OF THE PLAN.  Everything was coming together.

I really like the Sun Run course as it segments nicely and there is no part of it that is long enough to lull you to sleep...  As I came across Cambie toward the end I was a bit concerned about my time - but I had forgotten the downhill there which boosted my speed to get me to the line in time for what I am deeming a Silver Medal.  43:35 (unofficial).

A note on outcome goals...  It is generally not advised (by most book-writin' types) to set outcome oriented goals - like "Sub-43 minute Sun Run".  Rightly or wrongly I sort of ignore this...  It has never been an issue that has caused me to need psychiatric assistance so I continue to allow the clock to be a part of my goals from time to time.  But this is how I do it:

Sun Run - 2008 - Goals

Gold Medal:  Sub 43

Silver Medal:  43-44

Bronze Medal: 44-45:24

Ouch: 45:24+

I was very happy with the plan - to take a risk by going out fast.  I was very happy with my discipline to follow the plan and bingo! the results were there.  Sweet!  A new Personal Best!

In the massive crowds after I met up with many of the Innovative Fitness runners (of which there were 157!!) - they all seemed very happy with their races.  It's awesome to be a part of a group like that.  I am hoping my time will be fast enough to be counted towards Innovative's corporate race time (top ten IF runners).  Congrats to everyone!

If you do only one run/walk/stroll event every year this should be it....  proud to be from this city.  Thanks for reading. 

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Willing to suffer...

Check out this awesome clip....  with the best running song of recent years (and my personal favourite)...

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Bevan Docherty of New Zealand...

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Overcoming Adversity

On Tuesday I was proud to be able to speak to a great group of about 30 people from GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver.

I have been volunteering at GF Strong for a while now and have enjoyed helping other amputees with various aspects of their recoveries.  Sometimes we just chat, sometimes we ride bikes, sometimes we run....  all in all, I guess I try to demonstrate that an active life is still a reality and that the rewards are even more poignant when it requires extra work to overcome adversity.

That was what I talked about on Tuesday - Overcoming Adversity, Goal Setting, Using a Process to Achieve your Goals.  I also showed a few pictures and told a bunch of stories about my own exploits to illustrate the rewards when these things are done properly (and the failures when they aren't!)

I really enjoyed the opportunity and found the stories shared by the people in the room to be very inspirational.  I even got a pineapple for my efforts - which was most fortunate given the pineapple addiction I have after 2 weeks in Hawaii! 

                                                           A few folks from the group

                                                                    Chris and myself

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