Run Log: June25 2006

In the spirit of blog-variety, and since I didn't bring my running log to Vancouver on this visit, I will let you all know what I got upto this morning.

A Hot day day, even by 9am or so when we got out.
warm-up: 11:08 easy jog with Tara to gravel and cement trails of Trout lake, East Vancouver.
5:31 at about 8k race effort with 53 seconds recovery
4:58 at about 8k race effort
13:30 easy run (lots of uphill) on road, sidewalk and grass and dropped off Tara
5:01 at about 8k race effort with 60 seconds recovery
4:59 at about 8k race effort
12:58 at, as Henry Rono might say, "Grandmother's Pace."

Total: 1 hour

Workout felt hard the whole time, and I am surprised that I even pulled off the last two harder efforts. I really wanted to skip the cooldown too.

Now, getting close to the Netherlands-- Portugal game. Down to Commercial Drive for me, where I can silently hope for the Dutch to prevail while surrounded by Portuguese fans.

My own comeback

I am straining for a little comeback of my own after a year long injury layoff and a year and a half without racing.

At the end of April I ran the Times-Colonist 10k in Victoria with little training and a very tight IT band and managed an unimpressive but not horrible 38:09. AT least I ran intelligently, having really paced myself well in the opening kilometres.

This was the result I needed in a way to launch me into more earnest training. I began what will be a long preparatory phase (which still continues) of easy to moderate effort building up the weekly mileage and running frequently with my friend David (who is preparing for a 1:20 half-marathon in October). Last weekend I ran a very hilly mostly trail "8k" at Royal Roads and placed 5th overall, 2nd in my age division (30-39) with an unoffical time 0f 31:27, not bad considering the challenging layout of the course.

I would like to start laying out some of my training later.

My goal for the year is to run a 36:00 10k and its equivalent at the shorter distances. I am much more drawn to 5k and even shorter races these days and will focus there this year, knowing that 10k fitness will also benefit. The major thing is to learn to really listen to my body and such and tho work on mental clarity and strength. I have a fairly good grasp of the physiological end of things. Long tern goal at this time (more like the dream I guess) is a 32:00 10k (or equivalents) when I become a master at 40.

Season Over!

It's been awhile. Boxing season is over for me. I am moving to Vancouver in a week and so I let my gym membership expire. I may eventually seek out a gym in Van but I would like to check out a couple of more classically- oriented Japanese dojo first.

I've been running alot, really fired up now by Henry Rono's comeback:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1390583

http://www.ronorun.com

For those who don't know him, Henry Rono broke 4 world records in the space of 81 days in the late 70s and now, at 54 and over 200lbs, is preparing himself for an assault on the world master's mile record. This guy is totally remarkable and clearly one of the all time greats of athletics (his record-making streak included 3000m, steeplechase, 5000m and 10,000).



Since I have become a little overly focused on the internet lately (since Rono started documenting his comeback really) I might as well try and be a little more contributive and do a bit more writing here. I am pretty absorbed into running for the time being and this seems an obvious focus. I considered starting a separate blog for this but in the spirit of variety I will just plow on.

bringing a knife to a gunfight: don't count on the odds but sometimes it works

original story here

Former Marine uses pocket knife to fend off gun toting muggers in Atlanta

A former U.S. Marine pulled out a pocket knife after five people, including a young girl, allegedly tried to rob him late Monday evening in Midtown. That girl died.Advertisement

Another one of the alleged assailants is in critical condition.

Investigators are calling the case one of self-defense. They say no charges will be filed against the victim in the case.

Police say they have been talking to three of the suspects, trying to find out what happened.

Atlanta police say around 11 p.m., the victim -- a former U.S. Marine -- was walking home from work at Jock's and Jill's in Midtown. He says that when he got to 4th Street and Penn Avenue, five people jumped out of a Cadillac with guns. He says he kicked the guns out of their hands, and fought back with his very own pocket knife.

Police say that two of the suspects were armed -- one with a handgun, the other with a shotgun.

Investigators say two of the suspects got stabbed. They all took off and drove themselves to Atlanta Medical Center. One suspect died, a second one is listed in critical condition. The remaining three suspects were taken into police custody.

"These are the individuals we have been looking for, for the past two nights," said Atlanta police Detective Danny Stephens. "They've were riding around in this area. They were actually robbing people. There's actually been a lookout for these individuals, and tonight, we caught up with them."

The older sister of one of the three people police have been talking to said she had been warning her brother about running with the wrong crowd.

"I'm really disturbed by this," she said. "We're always telling my brother that he needs to straighten up, and get it together and not run with the wrong crowd."

No charges against the victim, but no word as of yet to what charges the suspects will face.

Police have not released the names of the suspects yet