The January blahs...

The presents have been opened, the turkey long finished, family members have all gone home. The post-Christmas January blahs have begun to set in.

No, you're not reading an old entry and no, I don't think I'm losing my mind, but the end of the Tely 10 Road Race, is for me, akin to the end of Christmas and all the celebration that surrounds it.

I have been keeping my mind busy with the memories of being a part of something really special just a couple of weeks ago. Along with my wife and family, eighteen of my co-workers, most of whom have only been running since January, participated in and finished the 10-mile race - a truly incredible and inspirational accomplishment.

Well done gang. Be proud of what you've done, brag about it at every opportunity, and never forget the feelings you experienced as you made your way down Bannerman Road - even greater days await us in the future.

I guess it's time to take the tree down.

Ego, get out of the way...

Over the past few weeks, among other things, I've been reading "Jeff Galloway's Book on Running". For those of you not familiar with Jeff, he's been running for four decades, is a former long distance Olympian, and writes a regular column for Runner's World when he's not writing his own bestselling books. I have to think that what Jeff has to say holds a bit of weight.

Jeff is a great believer in walk breaks for all runners, regardless of ability. He's trained thousands of people from elite athletes to those who would be considered not-so-elite, myself being a proud member of the latter. Galloway has documented thousands of cases where veteran runners have improved by 10, 20, 30 minutes and more in marathons by taking walk breaks early and often in the race.

So why all of a sudden the great belief in walk breaks? I must admit, it is born more out of necessity and not so much because of the scientific arguments in favour of walk breaks. You see, the recent problems with my back/pelvis have been causing more trouble as my training program takes me out for Sunday runs lasting more than an hour. At about 30-40 minutes, I feel a sensation in my pelvis that slows me down to a walk, and as most distance runners know, stopping after 3 to 4 miles makes getting going again quite difficult as the legs are pretty much spent.

So today, on a short training run, I decided to try Jeff's method thinking that walk breaks early and often will keep the pelvic pain at bay long enough for me to finish an upcoming 10-mile event. I went out with the group and planned on a 5 minute run/1 minute walk strategy. The result? My overall pace was about 30 seconds per mile faster than usual; maybe Jeff is on to something here.

Galloway also makes no bones about the fact the hardest part of running/walking is the fight one has with his ego - the feelings of not being a runner because of the walking apparently tend to hit hard.

I'm going to give it a serious go this Sunday during a scheduled 90 minute run. I'm not too concerned about battling my running pride - even at my pace, I can out run my ego.

Joseph...

With the most recent road race completed and leaving me with two toenails hanging on for dear life, a blister on the bottom of my foot, and two nipples that make the shirt up against them feel like a cheese grater, one would have to question why it is we do this to ourselves. Luckily, the answer became quite clear during the event.

The Bluenose 10-K was an out and back course that brought participants across the MacDonald Bridge into Dartmouth and then across again back to Halifax. The neat thing about out and backs is that slower runners meet face-to-face with faster runners who have already turned around to complete the "back" portion of the race.

After completing the Dartmouth segment, I turned and headed down the hill to the bridge to take me back to the finishing side of the course. As I reached the bottom, I came face-to-face with the answer to why I do this. Coming up the hill with only one leg, two crutches, and a smile as wide as Halifax Harbour, was a 10-K racer. The look of determination on his face as he pounded his crutches into the pavement is something I will not soon forget. Joseph finished the event in a little over two hours, proving again, that the human spirit can bend, but can never be broken.

And that is why we do this to ourselves.