Running Again

Well here I am again running with my wife's learn to run group. Well actuall I'm only running with them on Mondays cause I've graduated from that so I think I will run with the 5k groups for awhile on Wednesdays and Sundays. A friend of mine is suppose to join the learn to run group but he hasn't got his sorry ass out yet! If I can get my lazy fat ass out of bed on a Sunday morning I 'm sure he can. Wait a minute I'm suppose to be in retirement, why do I have to get out of bed on a Sunday morning, ohhhhh, do we have a tee time booked? Except my wife won't let me retire from running after my first 5k race was quite a personal success for me. Maybe I should have finished last then I would have had a good excuse to quit running. But then she would probably make me do the 5k learn to run all over again. I don't know if can handle that voice again "run", "walk" HAhahha, just kidding honey (slave driver).I'm kidding. Anyway I'm trying to do better times for my 5k races so I'll keep training I guess as my wife won't let me quit. She wants me to run 10k with that group cause alot of people from the first learn to run group are joining it. I don't know if I'm into that just yet, an hour of running when there is hockey playoffs around the corner, I don't know. Maybe one day.

One other thing, as we run right next door to Woody's taphouse how come no one wants to go for beer after running? Or are they really that serious about running? Hmmm enquiringly minds need to know as I know a cold beer is what I look forward to after a good run. That would explain why I can't get rid of my beer belly!

Habs on a roll

Well the Montreal Canadiens are sure on a roll these days. Number one in the Eastern Conference and with two rookie goalies. I remember the last time Montreal had a rookie goalie in net they won the Stanley Cup!
remember Patrick Roy? Or even years before that another goaltender to lead the way as a rookie, Ken Dryden. Maybe this year is the year as they are running out of years to have won the cup in every decade. So now they rely on Carey Price and the way he's been playing things are looking good, maybe not this year but soon enough........I hope!

Oh the only other thing better than winning the Stanley Cup for the 25th time is beating the Bruins 10 times in a row which they have successfully done as of last night.

Out of retirement

Well I thought I was gonna retire from running after I completed the 5 k race last weekend. But my wife has other plans for me! This morning the alarm goes off at 7:00am and she tells me we are running again at the running room with the groups. As I was hoping for a weekend to sleep in, it looked more and more like it wasn't going to happen. Heck I thought I could retire on a high note and always say "hey I finished a 5k race in under 30 min" and just go through life with that as my claim to fame. But nope , wifey wants me to keep running, more 5 ks and even some 10 ks. well after we got to the Runing Room we met up with some of the people from my wife's learn to run class. They are all doing well and some have signed up for 5k classes and 10k classes. A few even doing half marathon classes. I wish them all good luck.

Anyway today I ran with the 5k group as well as some of the learn to run group and I did well , no pain, so Iguess I will have to keep running now. Maybe I can retire at the end of another 5k race!

The first of the fat guys

Well holy crap, what has the wife got me into now? For the last 10 weeks she has been teaching a clinic on learning to run. Somehow I got roped into it as well as being a pacer, anyway the whole idea was to be able to run a 5Km race at the end of the clinic. So here it is after 1o weeks of training with some really awesome people the day has arrived for the race event. The Diakonos Retreat Society 2nd annual St. Patrick's Day race. I can't even pronounce that and she wants me to run it! Oh well after moving my bib number around 10 times, started out on my leg, then on front of my sweater that I thought I didn't need to wear then I put it back on, then put the number to the side but it kept hitting my hands then I put it back on my original sweater that I had taken off cause I thought I might be too hot in it, then I was going to take off one of my layers of pants but then decided not to. So the bib number ended up on my leg again! How's that for nervous energy! Do I look nervous in the pic? Anyway all I could think was when is this thing going to be starting so I can go home and get some rum to warm up.

Well we are finally outside and the temperature was -10C according to my wife's new car! Yes her new car which can tell you the temperature outside of the vehicle and it was saying brrrrrrrrrr, well maybe it wasn't but I was. Oh yeah this car of my wife's was suppose to be my new truck! How did that happen, I don't know. The wind chill was around -22C but the wind died down before the race so wasn't really a factor. After the start of the race I was on my way not knowing what to expect. Notice how I didn't post any pics of me from the start. It's because my wife never took any of me at the start!
So as I am running down the path passing people, WHAT? Yes, passing people, I'm wondering something isn't right, these people should be better than me why am I passing them? Then I caught up to Shirley who was in our running clinic as well and she is also taking a marathon class. So I ended up running with her for the duration of the race. It's a good thing for me to have someone to run with cause I get bored if I'm on my own running. And I was getting to that point fast as there weren't many more people close to me that I could have caught up to. Our training teaches us to take a one minute walk break to refresh the body but as I was running with Shirley I sensed she wasn't about to walk so I said to myself well I'm not going to either, only a few more kms to go. Until I seen the 3km marker up ahead when I thought I had already passed 3K already. The last 2km were steady as I started to see the end in sight as the Ea Claire market buildings were just a little bit away until those race volunteers steered us into the park for a little loop through the park that I wasn't expecting! Oh well 5k is 5k I guess. So here we are Shirley and I in this pic running down the stretch with a few metres to go to the end. By the way the hippy looking guy with the mullet is me! Like the Habs sweater? Number 2 in the eastern conference baby as of last night! Anywyay my final time was 28 min and 30 sec or something like that, and I placed 18th overall of all the 5k racers. Not bad I guess for my first run, but alot of people who finished ahead of me and the 10k racers who finished ahead of me in the time it took me to do 5k all look like they weigh 4o pounds! I guess I was the first of the fat guys to finish as I didn't see anyone else with a beer belly at the finish line waiting for other racers to finish!




4 tires at Bristol
So why woudn't Tony Eury jr. bring Dale jr. in to get some fresh tires with 8 laps to go in the race at Bristol today. Harvick got 4 and passed a few cars til he had an accident with Tony Stewart. Jr. could have easily improved his position with 2 or 4 new tires, I preferred he get 4 but I was resting after my run, so is not my call! Anyway congrats to RCR with their 1,2,3 finish at Bristol Motorspeedway today and to Jeff Burton on his win.

IROC series done

One of my Favorite racing series of all time the IROC racing series has folded. Due to scheduling conflicts with other series and drivers. The Iroc series has auctioned off all its engines, cars, tools, and parts. It is a sad time as the series ran for over 30 years.

The IROC (International Race Of Champions) series was a unique series in the fact that the series was made up of champion race drivers from various racing circuits, IRL, CART, Formula 1, road Racing, Off Road, Sprint Cars and even an NHRA driver was suppose to race this year, Ronn Capps. The idea was to take all these drivers from different race circuits and different cars, get 12 of these drivers, put them in identical prepared cars and run on 4 different tracks. The series was only 4 races a year due to the commitments of each respective driver's series they belong to. The cars they used were mostly of a NASCAR design using camaros and Firebirds over the years. Hence the IROC Camaro of the '80's. All teh cars in the series were identical except for thier paint scheme. Each driver had a different color and a number from 1-12.

These races were exciting at tracks like Daytona where the sprint car racers such as Steve Kinser had a challenging time racing against NASCAR regulars. All the drivers got practice times in the cars and the IROC series had their own mechanics and opit crews for the cars.
I will really miss this series as was a fun fast shootout of champion racers from all ove rthe world.