Wednesday 16 November 2011

Blog#F

Downtime, XC, Im old, clowns, cement vs. concrete

Ok woah where the hell have I been, Fallen off the edge of the earth? Under a rock? Out raving with a girl with no shoes? No, No, and No,  I was just on a little down time folks and not blogging is not going to earn me a place on the Reid Coolsaet blog roll so here we go. So downtime,  DST told me the other week that we train hard so we rest hard, I was told to take a week right off of running, so thats what I did, the first day was weird, I rolled out of bed pulled on my shorts and then went, oh lame no running today, then I settled into the average-man lifestyle, Get up , eat, work, eat, sleep, repeat.  It was weird. But I think it was good. It was the first time in three years since running started going well for me that I have taken any time off.  Last week I rolled every other day easy and this week I am back full time running building and putting some miles behind me. 

So this downtime was great, I tried to put back on a bit of weight I lost over the summer but no dice,  so I am still cranking my belt down and wearing my 31-34 jeans like the punk kids.  It was the first time in the last 6 years that I didn’t have a season going on while the Royal Winter Fair was on.  So this year I got to have some fun, make some interesting decisions (waking up in the Brant County 4H Dairy exhibit Monday morning for example), and have a few drinks with my cattle friends.  Good times. 

So the collegiate cross country season has finished up, big shout out to the boys at Fanshawe College, keeping the dynasty alive, they had a repeat championship wrapped up and then my boy Lumani’s heart took a flop,  scary shit, 200m from the finish my boy goes down with a heart murmur.  Anyways he spent a few nights in Kamloops Hospital pleasing the young nursing staff and getting checked out and was cleared to fly home.  The FXC boys ended up second just out by 2 points because of Josh going down, but everyone is alive, taker easy Josh, get things checked out, we need you.  Huge props to the rest of the FXC crew though, I fallow things pretty closely and you all had the races of your lives last weekend. Proud of Ya.  Here is my Shout out to all the folks out there that are going to knock people that go to college, if you want to get a job in the real world and college will get you there and you run, and you are good at running, Get your ass to Fanshawe in London.  John Loney is running one hell of a program there.  Loney took me from a nobody to where I am today and now working with DST at the River these two men are very similar.  They build programs, Fanshawe has always been about the team and the “family.”  You work hard and have a good time when it’s all said and done.  So if youre thinking about college and you are a runner, get to Fanshawe.  Another big shout out to the counterpart of the River, the Guelph Gryph’s,  Well done kids! Well done!  Its easy for me to say now, but I told someone in August that Nixon was going to be good this fall.  There was a quiet confidence about him, he had put in a pile of base work, and was fit as balls, I think he knew it in his head,  Well done my boy, Im proud of ya. I will not mention the time that Nixon worked for me, and how he looked like a new born giraffe trying to push a wheel barrow!  Not to knock the rest of the gryph’s the boys, you guys owned everyone it was impressive.  Lady Gryph’s you killed it, all while looking fantastic at the same time. Well Done! 

I’m sure there was some epic partying going down after the Nationals that took part this weekend,  remind me of my days back in College!  Live it up kids, because next thing you know, boom youre done school, you have work to do, and you can’t seem to party worth a darn anymore.  Last Friday night I switched to water and woke up feeling good in the morning, whats wrong with me???  I remember one of my favourite team trips in my third year at Fanshawe.  We were in Grand Prairie Alberta.  I think it was one of my favourite trips because the girls team didn’t come with us,  not that I didn’t want the blonde bombshells there, my goodness how glorious they were, Ashley, Ashley, Nicole, Sarah, Dani, wow the things I would do...woo any way focus here on this blog.  Anyway the girls were not there to make it awkward so the boys had a good time bonding and getting really close as a team.  I gave team haircuts and we all shaved our legs. I was a grand ol’ time.  Any who, So this year there happened to be a beer store directly across from the hotel, my boy Josh and I go over there and discover that there are these cases of 30 cans of beer.  Josh and I think it would be a good idea to get one each. Of course we would share a few with the rookies.  Any way things were going well.  The host college put on this sort of pub night, and we all ended up there, I ended up getting kidnapped by the Mohawk team, going to some other club with them and then almost getting in a fight at a Pizza place.  Good thing Mohawks Coach Wayne was there and ready to throw down and took care of things.  Any who I get back to our hotel room sit down on my bed and the room phone rings. It was our wake up call to go catch the plane home.  Beer in the shower and threw my stuff in a bag and we headed on a long day of travel home.  Good times kids!

So I was waiting for something to get me fired up to blog about and it came the other day in a couple of facebook wall posts I read  between a few people about the low numbers at the OTFA XC championships this past weekend.  This one clown gets off telling people to be part of the solution and that more people should take part in the championships.  Here’s how I feel about this clown saying this, running is not a get rich sport,  I ran a bunch of races this year and I won a grand total of $150.  So if I had still been racing and I had the chance to race last Saturday for a few hundred bucks to pay some bills, or race for a nice medal made from cheap metals that aren’t worth $0.40 in scrap, I would be picking the road race for money.  And I know in previous blogs I have talked about not doing this for the money and for the love of the sport, but some days real life takes a hold a few hundred dollars pays for some rent or insurance or something.  Coming from a clown that charges ludicrous club fees so he doesn’t have to have a real job, makes me sick.  If I ever get to the point that I am smart enough to coach kids, I am going to do it the old fashion way, for the love of the sport, to give back all that it has given me, for FREE! 

Anyway I need to get to bed, I have to get up early tomorrow to go to court, need to fight a couple of speeding tickets I got this year so that I can get insurance next year.  I am representing myself so this should be interesting.  Hopefully we catch this judge on a good day and that all the hype about the River the past few weeks will get my semi-want to be elite runner life a break.  Hope for the best!

Sidewalks are made from Concrete! Cement is an ingredient in concrete.  As flour is an ingredient in bread!  You didn’t toast you flour and put jam on it for breakfast, you toasted your bread.  So you didn’t pour cement, you poured concrete!

That is all

John

3 comments:

  1. you have inspired me to look into the world blogging. thanks old friend

    ReplyDelete
  2. John, if you go back and read the exchange on Adam's wall, you'll find that Steve was telling Adam that he can be more active in solving the problem of low attendance at OTFAs than just complaining about it. There are many good reasons to not participate in a race, but if you don't, you shouldn't complain about OTFAs being a low-quality or low-attendance meet. Every sub-31 guy in Ontario is one or two degrees away from each other. If those guys want to get a good field together, they should contact each other. Meet directors are fans of the sport and generally would love to facilitate that race.

    I think you applied a harsher tone to that exchange than either Adam or Steve actually used.
    Tim Hain

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lewdog long time no see my friend.

    Tim it may have come across a bit harsh now looking back. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am not saying I am right or you are right, just sharing my opinion and trying to get people to think. I value your opinion and input, thanks for commenting.

    ReplyDelete