Foxy Lady...

I just saw one of the coolest things I've ever seen while riding my bike. At the George St. pier in Belleville there was a red fox just chillin' out underneath a tree. It was huge. I didn't get too close as I didn't want to scare it, but I did get close enough to make sure it was indeed a fox and not some stray dog. Very cool, you can't get that kind of natural wildlife in a big city, just one of the many reasons I love living here.

Just wanted to share that very cool experience with you.

So today was Xtraining day, so I headed out on a 20km trek through Belleville. It was nice I went rode over to the Zwicks park trail which is pretty much complete now, the lights are up and people are using it. It will make my training a lot easier in the summer. Who would have guessed I'd be riding my bike on Dec. 17. It's supposed to get up to 10 degrees C today...very nice!

Yesterday I went out for what has been so far the coldest run of my life. It was 2 degrees when I headed out yesterday morning, but with the wind made it feel more like -1 degree. It was good, but shorter than I had planned. Here's the deets...
Run - 30 mins - 3.3 miles (Just under 5.5 km)
Cooldown - 12:44 - .84 miles (Around 1.25km)

I'm having trouble remembering the tunes from yesterday, but I remember it was a great mix. I didn't hit skip once. If I get super bored I'll check my mp3 player and post it, but football is on and I'm 2 for 2 in my pool so far this week, so I doubt it'll happen today. L8r.

Will

The Great Outdoors...

Oh, Roman and Chet, how you make me laugh!!!

You know what's really great for a guy like me that wants to run outside...this weather we're having in Southern Ontario. It must have been 10 degrees C today which is unheard of in the middle of December. The crappy part is that this great weather probably means really really bad things as far as the environment is concerned. Is it global warming??? Is the world about to explode? implode? Are we about to experience what the dinosaurs went through right before the ice age? Or could it be that we're just having some odd weather for the time of year. I really don't know, but I do know that I'm definately diggin' it!

So I'm still taking it pretty easy on the knee until the swelling has completely settled, so Wednesday I didn't run at all, although I was planning on it, but I had an appointment with the Oral Surgeon (aka the guy that wants $1100 to put me to sleep and rip out 4 of my teeth), what a freakin' scam! Thank goodness for dental insurance. Anyhow, Dr. Moneybags was running an hour behind schedule so it totally killed the time I had alloted to running that day. When your a busy guy you have to allot the time and if you miss the time, your screwed. It sucks, there's just sometimes you can't squeeze a run in. I did however feel better after the doc told me that I had exceptionally nice teeth. Man, exceptionally nice teeth and calves...my wife doesn't know how lucky she is.

Anyhow, I did get out for a run yesterday. It was tight as I had to drive Amy to her teaching gig, and had made dinner plans with my pops so I had roughly 1.5 hours to get a run in, get showered and pick up dad. It was a great dinner with Dad, we do it when we can which still isn't often enough, but it's always good times. It really gives me more motivational fuel to light the fire under my ass to achieve this goal of $6000 and 42km.

Alright, enough of the sappy feel good crap. Here's the deets on yesterday's run...
Outdoor - 7 degrees C
No Warmup - I know it's dangerous, but I just didn't have the time. I did take a few minutes to stretch though.
Run - 34 mins - 3.67 miles (just under 6km)
Cooldown - 10 mins - .62 miles (1km)

Today was my non run day so I hit the gym did 20 mins of strength training on the Arc Trainer at level 8 (f'n hard) then did some weight training.

Well, I told Amy I would clean the bathroom tonight before she got home from work and it seems bigger than the one at the old apartment which took only about 30 mins to clean. Lucky for me she's the one who's been cleaning it since we moved in, but now it's my turn. I can't honestly think of a better way to spend a Friday night. Oh well, at least there's another Holiday party to hit up tomorrow night...Woo Hoo!!!

Will

I might be a freak, but...

I do have exceptional calves!!!

So I've learned my lesson not to self diagnose yourself on the internet. I do not have Iliotibial Band Syndrome, but there is some swelling under my knee where my calf muscle meets the joint. This is what's causing my pain and it's due to the fact that my left leg is longer than my right leg (that's where the freak part comes in). This length difference causes my left leg to twist at the knee very slightly every time I take a step. Of course this is intensified when I'm running.

Apparantley the pain would have kicked in as it did eventually, but was brought on by my recent increase in mileage. This combined with the fact that I don't stretch my calf muscles properly caused the problem that caused the pain. So now, I have to do a series of stretches twice a day, everyday, and the doc also suggested it might be time for a new pair of sneaks and then I should be fine. I could have probably waited a couple more days before running to completely reduce the swelling, but I didn't so here's the deets for today...

Indoor - treadmill - incline of 2 (I stuck to the treadmill despite the fact it was a beautiful day outside - I just didn't want to be out running somewhere and get the pain back)
Warmup - walk/run - .85 miles - 10 mins
Run - 3.15 miles (just over 5km) - 30 mins
Cooldown - .7 miles - 10 mins

Today I listened to the latest album from Jurassic 5. It's called Feedback and it's awesome. It's amazing the J5 crew is still puttin' out their phat beats and chilled rhymes, just like back in da day dawg! Seriously, in a time where rap music seems to be defined by punks and chumps like 50 cent, it's nice to hear people rhymin' about something that means something. Go download it right now...you won't be dissapointed.

Oh, and by the way, I was dead serious when I said I had exceptional calves. You know it's true, I saw you checkin' them out the other day, wanting to caress them, you might have even wanted to lick them, and that's just kind of sick, but if you really want to I'll let you lick one calf for $10 and the money will go straight towards my Team Diabetes fundraising efforts. Just don't blame me if you get some leg hair stuck in your teeth...freak!

I'm back on track, baby...woo hoo!!!

Will

Mele Kalikimaka...

So here we are, just under one year from the 2007 Honolulu Marathon. The 34th annual Honolulu Marathon was held yesterday and the winner (from Etheopia) had a time of 2:13, with the top Canuck clocking in at 2:31...not too shabby!!! Just over 28,000 runners took part this year, and one dude died...but don't worry Mom, he wasn't a runner, he was a volunteer that died of a heart attack, so I should live through the race next year!!!

You've probably already figured out that a picture of Richard Simmons means bad news, after all you're not a moron, and you'd be correct. I'm having some issues with my left knee. I have mentioned my knee issues previously, but this weekend my knee really started to piss me off. I know it's not good to self-diagnose yourself from medical information obtained off the internet, but I'm pretty sure I have what is referred to as Iliotibial Band Syndrome which causes unbearable pain on the outside of the knee.

The good news is that it's treatable. The bad news is that it hurts like hell...and I'm not talking about the cool hell depicted in heavy metal videos, I'm talking about the kind of hell that is similar to watching Richard Simmons sweatin' to the oldies videos, or continuous back to back episodes of Oprah and Dr. Phil. Oh yeah, baby, convert that kind of hell to physical pain and you've got my left knee!!! So rather than keep f'n it up, I've made an appointment this afternoon at the Belleville Sports Injury Clinic, which I didn't even knew existed, and probably would have never know if it weren't for the fact that I work with a high school b-ball coach (Thanks Tim).

Anyhow, I'll keep you updated on the whole thing. I can tell you that Friday night the pain was so bad that it woke me up...I've never experienced something that actually woke me out of my sleep. Before this happened on Friday though, I did run just under 8 km in 45 mins which is pretty damn good for me. I could feel it a little during and after my run on Friday evening, but the real pain didn't kick in until the overnight hours. Saturday I felt okay and decided to run again, but after half a mile I couldn't take it anymore and switched to the Arc-Trainer (a cross between an eliptical and a treadmill), as it's low impact and didn't hurt. I took yesterday off and this aft I have the appointment with the sports therapy dude so we'll see what he has to say about the whole thing. Right now at this very second it seems fine, but the pain seems to come and go depending on what I'm doing, how I'm sitting, etc.

I'm really hoping it's nothing to serious and I'll be able to get back to training very soon, but for now, I figure it's best not to make the situation worse. I'll keep you posted.

Will

Aunt Deb...You Rock!!!

Hi everybody,

As I write this I sit on a bouncy train from Montreal to Belleville. I was planning on posting a picture of Aunt Deb on this entry, but due to the sub-par internet service on the train it's not going to happen. Actually, knowing Deb, she'll be thankful when she reads this and doesn't see a picture of herself online.

Why write about Aunt Deb you may ask...well she is the first person to make a big contribution to my Team Diabetes fundraising campaign. Thanks Aunt Deb...You Rock!!! Aunt Deb is actually my aunt by marriage (my wife's aunt for you slow folk). She is married to a man named Tom and is the mother to Matt, Phil, and Charles, and I am very lucky to be a part of their family...a lot of people may think I'm nuts, but I do love my in-laws!!!

Anyhow, who knows when this craptacular internet service will crap out on me so here's the deets on my last run which was Tuesday...I know I need to get more in, it's just proving to be extremly difficult lately as the rest of my life is once again getting in the way...why do I have to be so damn popular. ;-)

Indoor - treadmill at 2 incline
Warmup - 10 mins - .85 miles
Run - 30 mins - 3.13 miles
Cooldown - 10 mins - .7 miles

Some tunes...
Ben Folds Five - One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
Sloan - If It Feels Good Do It
Nine Inch Nails - Only

I promise, I'll have more to write over the weekend, and I'll try and get a picture of Aunt Deb up for the world to see. Cheers!

Will

High Five...

The next time you see me around, slap me a little skin (or give me a nice pat on the ass...I'll leave it up to you) as I have reached a milestone in my training over the weekend.

I'm very proud to say that on Saturday I had my longest run ever in both time and distance...a 45 minute run of 4.65 miles (7.5km). This might not sound like a lot to you (or maybe it does), and I still have 34.5 kilometres before I reach marathon length, but it feels pretty damn good to be me right now.

The problem is that I haven't ran since...which probably isn't really a problem as I should take the one day rest, which I did yesterday, but I'll be resting again today as I have my work Christmas party tonight...woo hoo!!! I do have to tell you how I spent yesterday though. My Aunt Marg flew in from Winnipeg for the weekend and yesterdat myself, Bethea (my sis), Hank (her man), Raymond (the cuz), and Aunt Marg (the aunt), spent the day at the movies we watched Borat, then stuck around and watched Casino Royale which I must say might just be the best Bond movie ever!!! Anyhow I feel pretty damn lazy for spending 6 hours in a movie theatre, but I'm sure I'll get over it soon.

Here's the deets for Saturday's run...
Indoor - treadmill - incline of 2
Warmup - walk/run - .85 miles (1.4km) - 10 mins
Run - 4.65 miles (7.5 km) - 45 mins
Cooldown - .7 miles (1.1km) - 10 mins

Some of the tunes from Saturday...
Queens of the Stone Age - Broken Box
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Readymade
De La Soul - Say No Go
Prodigy - Out of Space
Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley - Confrontations
Matthew Good Band - The Future Is X-Rated

Like I said up there, no scheduled run for today, but tomorrow is definately a run day. L8r!

Will

Who is Chris Bridges???

Luda!!! Yeah, baby, I'm talkin' bout Ludicris. He's got some of the best training jams around. I'm not sure why the title of yet another post is a reference to this one time hip hop genius (he's sold out a bit on his last record), but it's done, so here we go.

I was in the gym doing my run yesterday when Ludicris' Coming to America came on the good 'ol mp3 player, anyhow, I just happen to look up at the tv in the gym and who's on the tv, but Luda himself. Someone was watching BET and I never bothered to change it, after all rap, hip hop, and r n' b vids aren't to hard on the eyes when on the boring ass treadmill. Anyhow, I started thinking about that tune Comming to America and how it gets all crazy with the high hat, almost sounding dub like, reminiscent of Outkast's B.O.B. (Bombs Over Bagdhad)...I suppose it must be an A-T-L thing. Anyhow, then I was thinking I need to get some more of that sound on my mp3 player, which means ripping all my old Outkast cd's...no biggie...it's just finding the time.

I'm just glad I've had a few days to run lately. The painting in the kitchen is done, but now the Holiday parties are beginning, which not only mean missing some run time, but indulging in the sinful delights of the holiday season...Wow...I sounded like freakin' Martha Stewart just then...not cool!!!

We have a party to hit up tonight, then Monday is the work party for me, then the next two weekends are booked with other Parties, plus overtime, and present shopping, etc. I'll be glad when the new year hits and things can get back to normal...whatever that is.

Anyhow, it's Friday, and I'm sure you have better things to do with your time at work today, like visit YouTube, or www.homestarrunner.com, or whatever else you do to screw the pooch on a Friday at work, like reading this blog...so that being said, let's get down to business...

Indoor workout - Gym - Dreadmill set to 2 incline
Warmup - walk/run - .88 miles (1.4 km) - 10 mins
Run - 3.1 miles (5km) - 30 mins (my left knee was a little painful, so i decided not to go too hard today)
Cooldown - .75 miles - (1.2 km) - 10 mins

Tunes of the day...
Ludicris - Welcome to America, Money Maker
Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
Foo Fighters - Monkeywrench
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow (Hey Oh)
De La Soul - Me, Myself, and I (because you gotta kick it old school from time to time)

And on the 6th day he said...let thy knee rest, attend ye old holiday party and have a couple brews.

Will

Mother Nature thinks I'm hot...

There can't be any other explanation. It was a great day weather wise in Belleville, then right as I'm leaving work to drive Amy to the College for work it starts pouring rain, and I'm like "damn man, this sucks, now I have to hit the gym instead of running outside." Then just as I'm dropping Amy off, the rain stops and it's awesome again, just in time for my run. So I got to run outside in the dark of evening with 11 degree temperatures at the end of November...Bitchin!!!!

Here's the deets...
Outdoor - Belleville @ Night
Warmup - 6:30 - .61 miles (1km)
Run - 36:29 - 3.83 miles (6.18km)
Cooldown - 12:40 - .81 miles (1.3km)

I was back to running solo, so I brought along some tunes...
Nine Inch Nails - Head Like A Hole
Sean Paul - Temperature
Bedouin Soundclash - Rude Boy (dub mix)

Crap...that's all the tunes that are really sticking out right now...oh well. I smell really bad...time to shower. L8r dudes.

Will

With a little help from my friends (the remix)...

So this should have been written on Saturday, but wasn't as I had a busy weekend with not a lot of bloging time available.

Pictured left to right are Brock, Bryana, and me. Bryana is friend of ours who was in town from Ottawa and also enjoys the running. She's really not too interested in running a marathon, although she does feel diabetes is a great cause to be running for...essentially she's just lazy!!! Just kidding...actually I'm only partly kidding, as she does work for the government, which means she's extremely lazy while at work making sure all of our hard earned tax dollars are put to good use.

Anyhow, Saturday afternoon the three of us went out for a run. Here's the deets...
Warmup - walk/run 6:37 - .59 miles (just under 1km)
Run - 30:03 - 3:55 miles (5.73 km)
Cooldown - 9:26 - .59 miles

No tunes as we just did some talking instead. Actually Brock is very concentrated when he runs and doesn't do a lot of talking while running, so it's a good thing I can talk his ear off. Bryana is also a talker...great conversation!!!

Listening to tunes is great when running solo, but there's something to be said for running with friends...it's great, and the time flies by...as long as you like each other and actually have something to talk about...otherwise, I'm sure you're screwed.

I'll be spending the next couple of days painting my kitchen with Amy and working a little OT, so we'll have to catch up again Wednesdayish.

The Day the Music Died...

Since yesterday's entry was so freakin' long, I'll keep this one short and sweet...just like me!

So the battery in my mp3 player crapped out on me with about 7 minutes left in my run, and surprisingly it didn't kill me...it really wasn't all that bad at all. Now this doesn't mean I'm going to stop listening to music when I run, but I know I can do it for at least 7 minutes.

Here's the deets on today...
Outdoor - a wee bit chilly...I think I might have gotten what's referred to as runners nipple as my left nipple feels like someone gave me one hell of a twister.
Warmup - walk/run - 10:38 - .96 miles (1.55 km)
Run - 36:01 - 3.77 miles (6.08km)
Cooldown - walk - 7:03 - .41 miles (.66 km)

Tunes...
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Universally Speaking
Modest Mouse - Paper Thin Walls
The Trews - Confessions, Fire Up Ahead, Fleeting Trust
Sam Roberts - The Gate

That's it...now go do something it's Friday night!!!

Show me the money!!!

Okay, let me start by wishing all you yanks out there (especially my mom) a Happy Thanksgiving!

A lot has happened in the last couple of days that didn't include any running at all which sucked, but it wasn't all bad, so let me tell you all about it.

Tuesday I received my very first real donation for Team Diabetes. It was an online donation from my friend Jacob. Click his name to go to his website and hire him to do some work for you so he can donate more to Team Diabetes. Thanks Jacob...you rock buddy!!! Tuesday night I didn't get out for a run dispite the wicked (in a good way) weather because I had a meeting with the oil heating guy who proceded to bend me over my own kitchen table, and didn't even offer to buy me a coffee let alone dinner. All I have to say is Ouch!!!

This brings me to Wednesday...last night Brock and I took a little trip to Kingston after work to go to the Canadian Diabetes Kingston Office's Team Diabetes Night. It's something that I think happens once every couple of months and it's a way for members to meet each other and hear about everyones efforts, past marathons, etc. I was really glad we went as we got to meet some extremely lovely people who were all very passionate about our common cause, Diabetes for those of you who forgot ;-)

I was also informed by me CDA compadre Catharine that my blog was great, which I already knew, but she felt the need to point out the profanities that sometimes come out in the blog. At first I was a little shocked, but then responded with some BS like "It's conversational, and reflects how I talk." which probably made me appear to be some kind of foul mouthed jerk, so I'm going to put it to the public (that's you). If you feel the profanities in my blog entries are offensive and innapropriate, please let me know. It doesn't mean I'll stop writting them, but you may receive an appology from me, or I might just tell you to eat shit and die ;-) Seriously though, there's a lot worse on the net, and just for the record, Catherine does find my blog entertaining and is not offended by the profanities, but thought if any of the top dawgs at the CDA were to see this, they may be offended. Point noted!

Also, for the record I did walk home from work yesterday (3.3km).

Here's the deets for today's run...
Outdoor around my new hood via the riverfront and half the waterfront trail (to Foster Ave. S).
Warmup - walk/run - .63 miles (just over 1km) - 7:17
Run - 3.73 miles (just over 6km) - 35:05
Cooldown - walk - .69 miles (just over 1km) - 10:33

Here's some tunes from today...
Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up, Voodoo People
Lily Allen - Mini Mix (includes LDN, and Smile) - If you've never heard Lily Allen before, download LDN right now...you'll love it (unless your name is Paul, then you should download some Hatebreed or Mushroomhead)
Billy Talent - Devil In A Midnight Mass
k-os - Papercutz

Okay, there's football on the telly, so I'm outta here. L8r.

Welcome Home...

So this is it, this is our new home, and the reason why I haven't been running in a week. I thought today was going to be very hard, but it was all good.The move went smoothly thanks to all our friends who helped out...Thanks everybody!

Today was back to reality. It's -3 celcius here this eveining so I opted to run indoors. Here's the deets...
Indoor - treadmill - incline 2
Warmup - 10 mins - .8 miles - walk/run
Run - 31 mins - 3.2 miles
Cooldown - 9 mins - .68 miles

I also took a few minutes to retire a few tunes from the mp3 player and insert some new ones. Here's a few that came up today...
k-os f/ Sam Roberts - Valhalla
Sam Roberts - Bridge to Nowhere
De La Soul - Say No Go
Kanye West - Through the Wire
Ludicris - Area Codes

That's it for now...more updates to come this week...I promise.

I tried the Hammer Gel...

Yes, this is a picture of Arsenio Hall!

So I forgot to mention on my last post that I tried the Hammer Gel after my last run. I can't really explain how it tasted, but it didn't taste like grapefruits that's for sure!!! It wasn't totally disgusting, but had the texture of what I imagine hair gel would have if you were to eat a tube of it. It actually made me feel very nauseous at first, but after I chased it with some water it was okay. It did however, give me a boost of energy as promised, and I wasn't hungry for lunch afterward so it seems to work as it's supposed to.

Anyhow, I did get out for a run this evening. It's a good thing as I'll probably be tied up with new house stuff the rest of the week. Here's the stats for today...
Outdoor
Warmup - .62 miles (1km) - run/walk
Run - 3.26 miles (just over 5km) - 30:50 - 9:28/mile
Cooldown - .56 miles (just under 1km) - 9:16

Here's some tunes for all my people in the dog pound (woo, woo, woo, woo)...
Foo Fighters - DOA
Nine Inch Nails - Terrible Lie
Kanye West - We Don't Care
Arctic Monkeys - Mardi Bum, When the Sun Goes Down
Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights

Hips don't lie...

I just found out how to make running on a treadmill a lot easier. All you have to do is put your own tunes on your mp3 player then watch a Shakira video on the tv in the gym...man that girl can dance like nothing I've ever seen before. I usually don't watch music videos, but muchmusic was on in the gym and since I had my mp3 player, I just left in, and a Shakira video came on and it made that 5 minutes of my run fly by. Now if I can only convince Amy to dance like that for me everytime I'm running indoors I could get to 42km in no time.

Okay, I've just found out that I'm an uncle as of a couple of hours ago (congrats Murray and Ann), so I'm going to make this one quick.

Indoor - treadmill - incline = 2
Warmup - 10 mins - .8 miles (just over 1km)
Run - 37 mins - 3.7 miles (just over 6km)
Cooldown - 10 mins - .6 miles (just under 1km)

I was with my cousin (Raymond) yesterday and he told me he loves reading about the tunes I've been listening to, and I realized I forgot to list them last time, so here's some from today's run...
Prodigy - Voodoo People
Del the Funkee Homosapien f/ Hyroglyphics Crew - Burnt
Gorillaz - Rock the House
Mobile - Montreal Calling
Metric - Dead Disco
Jay-Z - Encore
Jr. Gong - Move

I'm not too sure what my training will be like over the next week as Amy and I get posession of our new house on Wednesday, but Brock is ready to run again so I'm going to definately try to get out with him a couple of times this week.

Don't make a mole hill out of an f'n volcano...

So since I was late working today I decided to hit the gym for my workout / training session.
I was reading on www.runnersworld.com about a good treadmill hill training session, so I thought I'd give it a try seeing as how I felt I needed to switch it up a bit on the treadmill tonight, and seeing as how I'll have to run around a volcano in 13 months I thought it would be good practice.

Here's how it goes...
Warm up - walk/run - 10 mins
Run at marathon speed (since I have no idea what my marathon speed is, I decided on a 10min/mile). You run on a number 1 incline for 2 mins, then go to a 2 incline for 2 mins, then back to 1 for 2 mins, then to 3 for 2 mins, and continue until you've reached an incline of 7.
Example - 1,2,1,3,1,4,1,5,1,6,1,7 in 2 minute intervals.
Finish with a cooldown - 10 mins walk

I'm telling you, this was intense. If you've never tried running on a treadmill at a 7 incline, I suggest you don't ever do it unless you're training for a marathon that involves hills. I've ran hills outside, before and it was nothing like this, but I suppose, no pain, no gain. Right???

I spent then next 45 mins in the gym doing my strength training. There were a few beefcakes in the gym tonight though which made me feel kind of weird as they were lifting crazy amounts of weight and then there was me lifting not so crazy amounts of weight as I'm trying to simply tone, not bulk up.
Have you ever noticed how weird some of these beefcakes are...all these guys talked about was getting laid, but the funny thing is that they probably aren't getting any as they spent alot of time flexing in the mirror and planning a trip to the titty bar. Maybe someone should tell them that steroids cause your dick to shrink...anyhow, once again I digress, so I'll quit now.

Take some time tomorrow to remember those who fought for our freedom ...it's important that we never forget...ever!!!

I can finally be googled...

Hello, and welcome once again to the always entertaining and witty blog of me...Will!!!

So here's some good news... www.goodwillrunning.com is finally googleable. As a computer geek by day, this is kind of a big deal. Anyhow, try it for yourself, simply type good will running into google and my site should show up first on the list...uber cool in a mega geek kind of way.

Yesterday I took the day off from running and did absolutely nothing, which made today's run even better. Here's the deets...
Outdoor - 11 degrees C
Warmup - 7:00 walk/run - 0.64 miles
Run - 36:48 - 3.88 miles - 9:29/mile
Cooldown - 9:40 walk - 0.64 miles

And here's everyones favourite segment of the show, some of today's musical selections... Broken Social Scene - Pacific Theme
Ben Folds Five - Jackson Cannery
Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley - Confrontations
Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales of San Francisco
Gorillaz - Double Bass
k-os - Flypaper
Beck - E-pro

Alright stop...shower time!!!

"Blame it on the Rain..."

Wow...2 blog posts in one day. I had to tell you that I had my very first rain run...that's right kiddies...I ran outside in the rain. It was great!!! I mean, honestly it was a little unnerving at first as I thought the potential was definately there for me to slip while running and kill myself, but after the first few minutes I realized that wasn't going to happen and it was really neat. Now, I'll be honest...it was a light rain shower. Had it been pissing down I probably would have been like...So I ran in the rain today and it sucked ass!!! But instead it didn't suck ass at all.

Here's the deets...
Warmup - .64 miles - run/walk - approx. 5 min
Run - 3.13 miles - 9:25/mile - 29:30
Cooldown - .64 miles - walk - 9 mins

Some of the tunes from today included...
Queens of the Stone Age - Song for the Dead (8 mins of great rock guitar and drums)
Beck - Earthquake Weather, Sexx Laws
Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley - Welcome to Jamrock
Chemical Bros. f/ Q-tip - Galvanize (actually this came up on the playlist the other day, but is worth mentioning)
k-os - B boy stance
Milli Vanilli - Girl You Know It's True (just kidding, but I wish it had played, I love that song)

It's funny where you get your motivation to run from sometimes. Today I was planning on hitting the gym due to the rain, but had to come home to close a window and thought it would kill my motivation and I would end up skipping my run today, but when I was on my way out of the office I yelled "smell ya later" to Jacob and he said "Enjoy the run". I said yeah right and left, but then thought about it on the drive home and decided I should run...I mean what happens if I get to Honolulu and it's raining and I have to run in the rain...I better be prepared. So anyway, normally I would thank Jacob for such motivation, but he's also the one who showed up to work today with a box of donuts, you know the mini kind covered in icing sugar...now there's motivation...so that cancels out the thanks...sorry buddy!

Smell ya later.

Will

www.goodwillrunning.com

'Sup my peeps. Okay, so I've finally made some changes to my website http://www.goodwillrunning.com/. I've been a little neglectant of the site lately as I've been extremely busy at work, and for those of you who don't know, I sit in front of a computer all day and am getting ready to move in a week, so I really have no interest in working on my website at night. Anyhow, I've managed to free up a few minutes here or there and have made a few changes...well one change...but it's great.

All my online donation stuff for Team Diabetes has been set up through the Canadian Diabetes Association website, so I've made some changes to the donation page on my site to accommodate.
Click on the link to donate now!!!

Okay, here's some training news...
Sunday was junky weather so it was an indoor training day.
Indoor treadmill set to #2 incline
Warm up - walk/run - 10 mins - .8 miles
Run - varied speed - 35 mins - 3.6 miles
Cool down - walk 10 mins - .6 miles
Strength Training - approx. 45 mins (weights and ab excercises)

Yesterday was awesome, but by the time I got off work it was dark, so I decided to slap the light on my bicycle and do a little cross training.
45 mins - 20km

In other news - Brock proposed to his Emily last night and she accepted, so they're now engaged. Congrats!!! You can read all about Brock and Emily's relationship on the website. www.goodwillrunning.com.

That's all for now, tonight it looks like I'll be running indoors again as it's supposed to rain all day...I never thought I would get to the point where I thought running indoors was harder then running outside, but I'm there. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate running indoors, but it seems harder as there is nothing to look at besides yourself in the mirror...which is cool once in a while, but a little embarassing when someone walks in and sees you admiring yourself...anyhow, time to go.

BTW...have I mentioned the website www.goodwillrunning.com. It's amazing!!!

"If you go the speed limit, stay the F*&# outta my way..."

Ahhh yes, the immortal words of Ludicris, from his smash hit Move Bitch...yet another great training tune.
Here's the stats for today's run...
Outdoor - Belleville Zwicks park waterfront trail
Distance - 3.42 miles
Time - 31:20
Avg. Speed - 9:10/mile
Warmup - 10 mins
Cooldown - 5 mins
Temperature - 4 degrees celcius (f'n cold)

So I tried a new stretching technique today. I found it in a back issue of runners world from Oct. '05 that a friend of mine gave me. It involves doing each stretch for only 2 seconds and do 10 reps per leg...it seemed to work well.

Anyhow, besides Move Bitch, here's some other memorable tunes from todays run...
Arctic Monkeys - Mardi Bum
DFA 1979 - Little Girl
Queens of the Stone Age - Broken Box
Chemical Bros f/ Richard Ashcroft - The Acid Test
Kanye West - The New Workout Plan
Ludicris - Money Maker - this one came on just as I was starting the cooldown.

On another note...sometimes life happens!!! When life does happen is sometimes gets in the way of your training, but I think I'm going to have to just learn to deal with it. My last run before today was Thursday night - it was neat because it was my first outdoor night run, but then yesterday I didn't run when I had planned to because I got stuck late at work, then I had to go back in this morning (on a freakin' Saturday), and I really wasn't diggin' the idea of a run today as I was so put off by not getting one in yesterday. Then I got out there and it was awesome, and the fact I missed yesterday didn't matter anymore. Anyhow, I don't know why I felt I had to share that with you, but I did, and now it's time for me to do my ab (aka flAB) excercises. L8r.

I've been D-Railed...

Yo, I'm in slow-mo today as I had a pleasant surprise visit from my homeboy Darryl (aka D-Rail) last night. Actually, the circumstances sucked as he was in town for a funeral, but we managed to make the best of it...which wasn't hard. Anyhow, all this means is that I didn't do any training yesterday, but Tuesday I trained like a dog in the gym for 2 hours...running and doing strength training. I'll get back at it today, despite the fact I kind of feel like a zombie right now as we didn't get home until around 12:30, which is rough when you have to be at work at 8.

I've got some not so good news on the Brock front...he's got shingles!!! I had no idea what shingles were, but apparantly it's the same virus as chicken pox, that has laid dormant and becomes active causing an extremely uncomfortable rash. This isn't good for the training as he will be out of commission for a couple of weeks. I know he's a faithful reader of the blog, so I will wish him a rapid recovery...luckily I had chicken pox twice when I was a kid, which means I'll be able to still hang with Brock while he recovers, but if you've never had the pox, then stay away from Brock or anyone else with shingles as you can easliy catch chicken pox from them. Get well soon buddy!!!

On the training music front, I have to tell you a little story...actually 2...the first is a story of a generous man named Denis. He's a friend from work, who graciously has lent me a 512MB SD memory card so I can store 100 songs on my feeble 128MB mp3 player. I know what you're thinking, and yes it's super lame that a mega techno geek such as myself would use such an ipod inferior product to listen to my tunes, but it's all I've got, and it works really well. Anyhow, the point is that I just wanted to publicly thank Denis for the card. Thank you!

In other unrelated music news, I was running on Tuesday and the song Sexy Results by Death From Above 1979 came on the mp3 player. Anyhow, it's a great tune which just happens to be used in some cell phone commercial in the US that they play all the time during football. Anyhow, it's kind of hillarious because the commercial uses the lyric "Let me show you how I work, work, work, work...". What they don't play for you is the lyric that comes before that part of the song which is this - "Sexy woman take me to your bedroom. Let me show you how I work, work, work, work..." Hahahaahahahahaha. Anyhow, I thought it was pretty damn funny, and so did D-rail...but we're kind of music geeks so maybe it's not so funny to you because you're super cool like Arthur Fonzerelli. Wow...I should have stayed in bed. Time to get some work done. L8r.

Will

Belleville - Thou art forgiven...

So either people actually read this blog, or Bellevillians simply decided today would be a good day to get out and do some physical activity. My guess is the latter, but if you're reading this, then I suppose I'm wrong...right?!?!?!?!

So this afternoon I went for another great outdoor run (3.5miles + warmup and cooldown) along the new waterfront trail again. It was great, plus I had my brand new Garmin Forerunner 101 GPS training tool...it's awesome, because now I can see my work (pacing, distance, time, etc.) real time, plus if I get lost it will tell me how to get home...hmmmm perhaps I should wear it next time I go out drinking!!!

Anyhow, I do look a little like the bionic man when I go out running now (garmin, mp3 player, cell phone), but it's all worth it...except the cell phone...but I have to wear it for work. Anyhow, just incase you were worried...I'm still running! Cheers!

Where have all the runners gone...

As I sit here eating my burritto (don't worry, it's one of those Amy's Organic brand bean and rice vegetarian chock full o' protein and goodness burrittos), I can't help but wonder...Where have all the runners gone??? I have just returned from a run along the brand new extension to Belleville's waterfront trail through Zwicks park and I passed a total of 4 people (1 walker and 3 other runners), that's it!!! Now I do realize it's 8 degrees C (46F for you yanks and old peeps who haven't converted yet...this comming from the guy who reports his running distance in miles). Anyhow, it's a little brisk, but the sun is shinning, there's no wind, and compared to the weather we've had recently around here (tons o rain) it's a pretty freakin' awesome day, but no one is taking advantage of the trails we have at our disposal. Come on Belleville...get off your lazy asses and take a walk, run, bike ride...at least take the dog out for a piss...this weather isn't going to last long.

Okay...now that I've got that off my chest, here's the deets of today's beautiful outdoor workout...
Total = approx. 5 miles (8 km)
Warmup = .75 mile (1.2 km)
Run = 3.5 miles (5.6 km)
Cooldown = .75 mile (1.2 km)

It felt great!!! Here's some memorable tunes from my playlist for today...
Beck - Nausea
Billy Talent - Red Flag, This is How it Goes, Try Honesty
Ludicris - Roll Out
k-os - Sunday Morning, Born to Run, some other tracks from the new disc I can't remember the name of
Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill
Hard-Fi - Hard to Beat
Mobile - Out of my Head

Until next time...get outside!!!

Steal of a Deal...

Hey there. So I've been a little negligent with the blog the past couple of days...it's not that I haven't been working out though!!! I'm swamped at work, and between that and getting my workouts in it's been a busy few days. I've been making a few adjustments to my training workouts recently to try and get things going right...not that they've been going wrong, but I'm trying to maximize the results of my workouts. That being said, here's what yesterday's workout looked like...
5 mins brisk walking (approx. .4 miles)
6 mins running @ 7 mph (approx. .7 miles)
6-7 mins of stretching (very important)
32 mins of running @ 6mph (approx. 3.2 miles)
13 mins of brisk walking (approx. .8 miles)
Total = 5 miles (approx)

After that was done, I did a couple circuits of some ab excercises as I've recently read a book called the Abs Diet by the editor of Men's Health magazine which talks a lot about how your midsection is the core of your body and how if you've got strong abs, your whole body will be stronger...it really makes a lot of sense, but for a guy who's spent most of his life just hanging out drinking beer, I had to read it in a book to realize it. Anyhow, today, I'll be doing a little bit of cross training and strength training, giving my legs a little rest from the running.

Oh yeah...my steal of a deal...I managed to get a good deal on a Garmin 101 through www.runningroom.com - $79, so that should be arriving next week sometime...I'll let you know how it works.

I haven't worked up the nerve to try the gel supplement yet, but I probably will tomorrow or Friday on a longer run. Until then...

With Eyes Wide Open...

Well, I knew this was going to be a physical challenge, but I really didn't have a clue. Yesterday Brock and I made a trip to a place in Trenton called Tri and Run Sports http://triandrunsports.com/ and it's a good idea we did. My sister Bethea's fiance Henry recommended it to me as it is his aunt who owns and operates the store. Anyhow, I had the pleasure of meeting Aunt Sandy and her husband Jeff yesterday and they are amazing people. They are real deal runners (marathons every year type of deal). Sandy and Jeff filled us in on a lot that we really had no idea about including gel supplements (pictured) according to Sandy after you've been running for 90 minutes plus it's a whole other ball game, and I'll tell you folks I believe her. To complete this marathon we're looking at gel supplements, hydration belts, the whole 9. Sandy gave Brock and I each a gel packet to try as we're going to have to get used to them. I just ran 4.5 miles at the gym this morning, plus did my weight training, but chickened out on the gel pack. I will try it though, once I get into some longer runs and let you know how it goes. It looks like Sandy, Jeff, Brock and I will be getting to know each other over the next 14 months. Hey we might as well turn to the experts rather than going into this thing unprepared right?!?!?!?!?

Like I said, had a great workout today, listening to the new k-os album, it's amazing, it's called Atlantis Hymns for the Disco and I highly recommend it. For those of you who have never heard of k-os, check him out...one of the most talented artists to ever come out of Canada.

Well, it's Sunday, and only 2 hours away from kickoff, the wife is at work, so it's time to hit the shower, pick up my cuz (Raymond) and spend the afternoon watching football.

With a little help from my friends...

'Sup my peeps! Yesterday was a landmark day for this whole journey...in fact I heard the craptacular Canadian government might even make it a holiday next year (of course this would be an unpaid holiday, but a holiday non the less). Anyhow, it was the first day of outdoor training for the Honolulu marathon for me. Now, don't misunderstand...it wasn't the first time I've ran outdoors, just the first time in a while.

I was on my way to the gym when I saw my teammate Brock walking home, so I wheeled around and met him infront of his apartment. Since I had my gear with me and it had stopped raining for the moment we decided to go for a run together. It was a little wet and cold, but we covered 4.5 miles (including warmup) along the waterfront trail. It felt good, but running outside in the cold really takes your breath away. I'm really not sure how accurate that 4.5 miles is as I used an online tool www.gmap-pedometer.com. If you don't have a fancy GPS training tool like me (yet), then it's a pretty good substitute.

Anyhow, after the run, it was home for a shower, then back to Brock and Emily's for dinner (spinach ravioli w/ butternut squash sauce)...it was awesome...in fact I'll see if Emily can hook me up with the recipe for it and I'll post it for you. It was way better then the time she made this Spinach Pie...not to be completely rude, but it was kind of sick...she definately redeemed herself last night.

Again, I digress...so after dinner we had our first fundraising meeting. Lots of great ideas came out of the meeting last night, now we just have to get the details down and put an implementation plan in place...2007 is going to be a busy year. We also decided not to really go full force on our fundraising until after the holiday season as businesses around our area are already committed to donating to other causes, and we would like a bigger piece of the pie then we would probably get now...we're so business savy!!! That being said, we're still going to spend the next few months soliciting our family and friends for donations. See if we hit them up now, maybe we can hit them up again in 6 months or so...brilliant!!!

In closing today, I'd like to say...It's friday...relax...have a pint or 2...then go to www.goodwillrunning.com and send us a donation...Please.

Cheers!

Will

Rain, rain, go away...

Running indoors kind of sucks!!! It's cool because your running, but not so cool because you're inside with nothing to look at except your own reflection in the mirror, which in my case isn't really all that bad :-) but you also don't get to go anywhere!!!

The city I live in - Belleville, Ontario, Canada has a really great trail system along the waterfront (cleverly named the "waterfront trail"), and it's great for joggers, roller bladers, walker, and of course runners. The trouble is that everytime I plan to run it rains. So yesterday I went to the gym...4.5 miles on the treadmill without the pain experienced on Saturday, plus some weight training due to the fact that I haven't lifted weights in a few months and my wife and I are moving into our new house in less than a month and I'm going to be expected to carry a crapload of boxes as well as furniture. Sorry...I digress...back to the running thing. So today the weather in Belleville is not to bad 15 degrees and partly sunny skies...great weather for running outside. Only problem is I'm planning on going to dinner with some old friends from high school tonight, so a run isn't really going to fit into the schedule...oh well at least I've got another 14 months to prepare for the marathon.

Tomorrow Environment Canada is calling for rain and 30km/h winds for Belleville so it looks like I'll be running indoors again...but Friday's looking good. I'll keep you posted.

Will

Back into training...

Okay, so after my little incident on Saturday I was felling a little overwhelmed, but I decided to get on the bike for 20km on Sunday just to get out. It probably wasn't a great idea, but it didn't feel too bad. Needless to say I took yesterday off from training and will be hitting the gym tonight to do a few miles on the treadmill and some weight training.

I've been looking for something to help me train outdoors, to track my speed, distance, pace, etc. I found a place in Calgary that will ship me a Garmin Forerunner 101 for $130 CAN that's including tax and shipping. From what I've seen it looks like the best deal, but I could be wrong. If anyone out there knows of something better for a good price, please let me know.

Brock and I are going to get together later in the week to put our fundraising master plan together...I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, please feel free to check out www.goodwillrunning.com - I've done a ton of updates to the site.

4 miles down...1196 miles to go!!!

WTF was I thinking!!! Okay, so I did log over 1500 km's on my bike this summer, but I haven't actually ran since my honeymoon back in May. BTW...for those of you who ever have the chance to run on an outdoor track in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean...do it...it's amazing!!!

Anyhow, I ran for 3 miles today, then walked for 1 mile as my legs were obviously telling me to stop or they were going to fall off. This is crazy...I'm in reasonable shape, and I have run in the past, plus logging all those hours on my bike over the last 4 months you'd think this wouldn't be a problem, but the muscles I've neglected from biking are screaming at me right now. I've pulled out the good old a535 and hopping I'll be able to get back at it tomorrow. I think it's mostly my quads...the muscles at the front of my upper leg just above my knee. Anyhow I'm sure I'll be fine, just thought I should let you know. Cardiovasularily (not sure if this is an actual word, but I'm gong to use it) I felt like I could keep running all day...oh well...at least I've got 14 months to get my shit together.

Now for some fun...here's a few of the bands that came up on my mp3 player as I was running...good tunes for running...
Damian "Jr Gong" Marley
Death From Above 1979
Gorillaz
Nine Inch Nails
Arctic Monkeys
The Strokes

Anyhow, time to hit the shower. L8r.

Will

www.goodwillrunning.com

Hey everybody.
I'm going to make this a quick post as I'm not at home, but wanted to give a quick update for my new website - www.goodwillrunning.com Check it out!!!
I have to thank my friend Jacob for hosting the site for me for free...you da man cool guy.

Anyhow, I hope the really nice folks over at Miramax don't sue me...plus I'm pretty sure Matt Damon and Ben Affleck together could probably kick my ass, so I hope if they get pissy about the awesome movie poster Jacob made, then my only hope is if they let me have a round of paper rock scissors, rather than fight...I'm a freakin' genius when it comes to that game.

The weather here has been super crappy, so I'm hopping to get some actual running in tomorrow. Until then...

The road to Hawaii starts now...

It's now official...I have made a pledge and am now a member of Team Diabetes. Pictured right to left is Me, Catherine Reynolds from the Canadian Diabetes Association, and my friend Brock. Big props to my wife Amy for taking such a great picture...she really managed to get my good side.

Now some of you are probably asking yourself...Why the hell is Brock all up in your fab photo Will??? And the simple answer is that I needed someone to hold up the other half of that jersey. Just kidding.

On the weekend I asked Brock if he'd like to join Team D too and he said yes, but it wasn't a very convincing yes, so I assumed he needed time to think about it. So, not so long story short, last night he said he told me he was serious, so now we're both going to raise a ton of cash for the CDA and run the Honolulu '07 marathon. Brock of course has his own reasons for wanting to undertake this task...his girlfriend Emily is a diabetic and he'll be doing this for her...awwwww!!!

Funny, today in an email, I told my friend Russ that he should do it too, seeing as how he's an avid runner. He also reads this blog, so we'll see if he decides to join the team...no pressure though Russ!!!

I just got off the phone with Dad and they're letting him out of the hospital today. He'll be on a different insulin, and probably have to make a few changes to his regular routine, but he's gonna be alright. Yeah!!!!

Up next...the actual physical training begins...now it's gonna get interesting.

Oh yeah, I forgot to get the online donation info from Catherine, so I'll get that from her and post it so you can donate to the cause.

L8r.

Will

My first entry

Okay, this is my first entry in my first blog...so don't expect much!!! Just kidding. My name is Will and I have never ran a marathon before in my life, but I plan on running one next year.

Please, let me explain...
I live in Canada and there is a program here put together by the Canadian Diabetes Association www.diabetes.ca that is called Team Diabetes. Essentially, it's purpose is to raise funds to help research, and provide education and awareness of the dreaded disease known to man as Diabetes. The way the Team Diabetes program accomplishes it's goals is the cool part...they get people...everyday chumps just like you and me to enter into marathons in cities around the world while raising a ton of cash for diabetes, and creating a good buzz in your community at the same time.

I've decided to take on this insane task to honour my father (Rick), who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 25 years ago. For those of you who know someone with diabetes or suffer from it yourself, you know it's not easy and complications can and do occur. My dad has been doing pretty good so far (although some may say he's just lucky), until recently when complications hospitalized him. He's been in for a week now, and we're expecting he will be released in the next few days and be okay, but it's been a little scary, not only for me and the fam, but for him as well. Had it not been for the progress that diabetes researchers have made in the past 25 years, dad might not be comming home from the hospital and this my friends has been a major factor for me to make the decision to join Team Diabetes.

Okay, enough of the uber-serious stuff and let's get to laughing hysterically at pics of me trying to get into marathon shape...I'm warning you now, it's not going to be pretty!!! (pics comming soon)

I'm meeting with a representative from Team Diabetes tomorrow and will let you know how it goes. I'll keep you updated on Dad as well.