Blog #I

Sometimes you need to be in a bad relationship to know what a good one is when it comes along!

So I heard the title of this blog on the radio yesterday morning and it got me to thinking about a long 3 year relationship that I was in.  And “Sometimes you need to be in a bad relationship to know what a good one is when it comes along” really makes sense.  We all know how it is for a young boy you see that dream off over there and for some reason deep down inside your heart flutters and you’re in love. You can’t explain this stuff folks just the feeling of young love and dreams.  So you scope it out from a distance you try to make yourself look good to build your confidence then you start flirting and you can feel it now, its coming. You yurn for it deep down inside and then you go for it. Then boom it’s on and I mean on like donkey kong kind of on.  Then you’re doing it and that leads to more doing it, before you know it you are doing it all the time. It’s so wild, so exciting, you don’t know how but you’re there.  It’s great this relationship is meant to be. You love it. Youre so happy, people are happy for you, they tell you that it’s great, life is good.  Then it becomes comfortable, almost easy.  You start to think this is meant to be that this is the one for you, that you cannot do any better than this, that this, this right here folks , is forever.  And why would you want anything else?.....Then on a cold windy night out of the blue you look at it and tell it straight out “I don’t have any feelings for you anymore” What? Why? Why would you do this? You were so happy it was so good!

And now youre all thinking what-the, did John just call for all intensive purposes this 9.9 out of 10 babe he has been in a relationship with for years he didn’t have any feeling for her out of the blue?  Did he just call her an “it” in that last sentence? You must be thinking what an ass, this guy is a jerk!   Now hold the phone, I am not talking about a female folks I’m talking about my three year relationship with the 15 minute 5k.  You bet folks I’m done with that! Last night I got down on the track and rolled a 14.59 5000.  An 18 second PB. I’m Pumped.  Not that there is anything wrong with a 15 minute 5k, thats a great time if you are in your late teens, or a impressive weekend warrior, or are on the Ethiopian Woman’s C squad, but I have moved on.  So to the 14 min 5k I say,  as that top forty song goes “Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but heres my number, call me maybe” So yeah stick around 14 min 5k’s I think we can make something beautiful together.

Let’s take this back a bit to three years ago when I fell in love with this old girl running again. After 3 years at college battling injury I was about ready to hang up the old shoes and quit but John Loney kept me going and BOOM we broke 16 minutes and then I started chipping away and got down to the 15.20 range and then last year was sub 15.20 and I didn’t think I could do any better.  Then fast forward to this spring three weeks ago I head down to a 5k road race thinking 15.0... was in the cards. I love the roads! It was a flat course, perfect day, time to get after it.  So on the Wednesday before this Saturday race we had done a Vo2max workout of 5x1mile and well we got out hard kids. I mean hard I wanted 15.0... so bad. At 3k the wheels came off, and I mean right off, this car was sitting on its frame!  I finished 15.33 and was pissed. Seemed the hard Vo2max session had left a little junk in the body.  The other thing is the were 7, turns on this 5km course! Seven 90 degree turns!  And well you see folks I am not built like most fly weight distance runners. I’m built more like a freight train, I’m tall, big shouldered, heavy. I really shouldn’t be a distance runner I should be a cage fighter, but my lack of ever punching another man in the face makes it highly unlikely that I would succeed in the octagon, alas we find ourselves here running.  Any who, back to the freight train idea, so you know how trains are really slow to get going, but once they do, look the heck out, theyre damn near unstoppable.  You see when my big broad manly build has to hang 7 tight 90degree turns I have to get this big brute up to speed again, unlike the typical little runner who has a much greater deal less weight to throw around. 

So how do we solve this situation? And now is not the time to switch to cage fighting! Boom we hit the track! Freight trains....tracks hahaha I didn’t even plan that but what a segue.  So yeah the track nice gradual curves, this is brilliant! Why didn’t I think of this years ago!

So we hash out a spring/summer track season. This is brilliant.  First race on the schedule or “opener” as all the trackies call it, is last night Hillsdale Michigan for the Gina Relays!  So Monday nights workout  is layed out for me (with all thoughts in the back of my head saying stay in control remember what happened last time you worked out 2 days before a race) and it’s 3x Vo2max miles with 12 mile cruise tempo after.  Oh great here we go again, let’s get the legs full of junk to blow another race.  But I then tell my old self that were still training through these first couple races so this will be better in the long run for the season and I get after it. Rolled up the workout with the boys! Done.  Boom. I am on my way to Hillsdale, the whole way down I tell myself, stay relaxed in the pack and start to move in the last mile if you’re feeling it. We don’t need a Fade from the Front type effort here tonight.  Just get this first one under the belt and we will go from there.  So I am on the line, a cold windy line at that, I go out smart tucked in feeling easy, rolling. This is good. I can’t tell you any splits, I didn’t see them, didn’t hear any of them, but who really cares about any of that junk any way.  I’m in the middle of the pack staying out of the wind as best I can, then the old John comes out! (Oh dear the Old John you see can’t count and run at the same time. I can do one or the other but never both, and when I start to try to do that one of these things doesn’t work)  So I am feeling good tucked in on the inside in 2^nd or third as we head up on what I know realize is 6 laps  remaining.  Not my preplanned race strategy of moving with a mile to go. Oh dear. So I feel the pace slow and I take the lead.  As we head into the wind my big shoulders catch that wind like a $5 Wal-mart Kite in a Hurricane. I Say to self “I immediately regret this decision.”  But it’s too late now so I push on,  Let’s just say the last 800 got ugly.  All I can recall is coming into the last 100m seeing 14.42 and thinking sweet jumping this is going to be tight. Nailed it 14.59.72.   

Thats about it. I am very excited with that.  What else is going on? Works busy, spring fever  with everyone wanting to do reno’s and deck and such. Lifes good

Have a good weekend folks live it up a bit, you’ve earned it. Rumour has it you only live once, so you better get it right the first time!

-John

Blog#H

Believe in the Beard!

So in the last blog we basically skipped over the whole running deal.  Running has been going well for a while now, mileage is back up, workouts have been feeling good, I am fired up to race on the track this spring.  Huge day for Canadian Marathoners today Duchene and Marchant ran some smoking  womens  times.  My homeboy Watson jacks a huge PB and Wykes the Granddaddy of Canadian marathoning  rips the A standard.   You may say granddaddy of marathon in Canada, why do you say that John? Well it’s because Dylan basically started the marathon movement in Canada way back in 2008. Just the other week I found the Canadian Runner Mag with Wykes on the cover, he looked like a kid.  Well Done Man!

Oh yeah I have been growing my beard again.  Beards are a manly thing women don’t grow beards, therefore beards are for men.  Growing a beard is like wearing a Tshirt that says “100%man”.  Except anyone could buy a T-shirt, Im sure there are thousands of china made knockoff 100%man tshirts.  But a beard, you cant fake a beard.   Beards have a language all their own! Beards rock! Beards command respect!  That reminds me of one fall at the Royal Winter Fair I had a pretty decent beard growth on, so theres a guy that fits cattle, A big intimidating as hell looking man who is a incredible fitter, he also has been known to be goateed or bearded.  Lets call him Frenchy, based on his last name French not on where hes from.  So Frenchy is scary as hell and I have never had the balls to chat with the man. Frenchy and I are passing each other and he looks over to me and says “great beard”. It was a pretty awesome moment.  We parted ways and have never spoke again.  I also got to thinking that everytime Im running well I have been bearded.  All through college for the cross country season-bearded, the winter I had a break through with my mileage and training?-Bearded actually the biggest beard of my life (6 full months of untamed growth) .  Last summer when I thought up the idea of Acura-beards for the Acura 10 miler I was killing it! So yeah the beard is back and it might never leave, who knows.  Beards Rule!

So lets go back to the first weekend in March.  Its Oysterfest Time! Whats Oysterfest you ask? And how does one know of such an event?  Well Oysterfest takes shape in the lovely shoreline town of Fulton Texas!  Way back in college one of my best friends Josh and I were looking for something to do on spring break.  It went like this as we passed each other in the corridor at school

Me: Hey what are you doing next week

Josh: Lets do something, get some drinks

Me: Lets go for a drive

Josh: Where to?

Me: Texas

Josh: I have to go write a test.

Josh wrote his test and then texted me and as they say the rest is history.  We got in the truck of dreams and headed towards Texas.   We stumbled upon Oysterfest and the Boiling Pot Restaurant  by shear luck and have been In love.  I have now been back every year for 4 years.  The second year Josh couldn’t go so my other great friend Kyle went with me.  This year with the new bigger truck all three of us went.  We stayed longer and had one heck of a time.  The beer is cheap, the seafood is fresh,  suns hot. What more could one want?  They love us in Fulton.  Oysterfest is just a big street party and festival with live music and beer tents and such.  The Boiling Pot Restaurant is my all time favorite eatery ever.  We asked the lady at a gift shop at the hotel the first year where we should eat. She told us “across the street is the Charolette Plummer its pretty fancy, or you can go down to the Boiling Pot, it looks a bit scary  but just go on in youll be ok.”  So obviously we went to the Boiling Pot.  The place is a tin shack, homemade door closers and ceiling fans. Beer in a couple steel bath tubs.  Any way we get the Cajun special.  They boil up some shrimp, crab, sausage, sweet corn, and potatoes.  Bring it out to your table with some bowls of butter and dump it out for you to eat. Its glorious.  Texas is great! We will be back.

So yeah, great day for Canadian Marathoners, Beards rule, Texas is grand!  Oh yeah  over 3000 views on this blog here, good job internet!  

Blog#G

Stubborn or Stupid?

Well folks it happened, I got cut from Reid Coolsaets  blog roll (http://reidcoolsaet.com/) The little buggar didn’t even give me a final warning.   He has some pretty high standards apparently and seems to be a bit of a blog nazi.  “No blog roll for you” I suggest everyone of the internet boycott Reid’s blog for a month!

Yet I forge on! You see Im a stubborn son of a..

So I was cutting and splitting firewood today. You know real manly stuff.  There was a huge Oak tree on the farm that blew down in a storm a few weeks ago.  This  afternoon was lovely  sun shining ax swinging-chainsaw good fun.  So this tree was old, really old, there were some blocks from the base over 38 inches across.   These blocks are hard as hell and the kind of blocks one would usually split with a hydraulic log splitter.  Yet Im a stubborn son of a... So I decide to take on these feats of strength with the ax.  Now hold onto your hats folks this is where this blog is going to stray from my usual content...

You see I didn’t even believe it myself when I started to think like this..it was deep meaningful thought-Rob Jackson type thought, thought that doesn’t usually come across a mans-man anchorman quoting humour man such as myself. Yet my mind went there.  So I begin to think that these massive blocks of oak are like running.  Yeah this is deep.  So these blocks of wood are like running, they are old, they are hard as shit, and not easily defeated.  And here I am with an ax, I could easily take the easy high road and get the log splitter, but no, Im a stubborn son of a... So I keep swinging and hitting and swinging and slowly but surely I have a pile of split firewood. Heck yes kids I split that wood like a man.  Much like running my stubborn son of a.. attitude kept me bashing away when others would deem it silly.

So yeah Im stubborn, all my life if someone said it couldn’t be done Id try to do it, and right now running is one of those damn things that Im going to be stubborn about.  Im going to be that ax and slowly but surely smash the heck out of running.  Im excited for the summer, I am hitting up the track with big plans to run fast, were going to rip up a bunch of 5k’s and possibly a 10k.  I have only run on the track twice since high school, but this spring Im pumped to get back there.  The kids at speed river have been handing me my ass in workouts, theyre speedy little bastards.  To quote Stevo “Ive got wheels”  as he blew by in a 300 the other night.  I also am very new to this serious track thing, You see when I run I put on regular training shoes and go run. To me it doesn’t matter if Im on the track or the trails or the road.  These kids these days all like to throw on the flats or spikes and really get after these track workouts.  Im sure there has to be some sort of training benefit from it but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  You see I like to keep my flats and my spikes and my singlet special. So when I slip those featherweight gifts from the running gods on I know it’s go time.  In my head wearing spikes or flats for a workout would be like wearing a condom to masturbate! Who does that?  You need to save the flats and spikes for the big show-the big dance if you will. So when you slip them on youre ready to rock it!

I have so much to learn!

So since the last blog let’s see:

-I went to Agribition to fit show cattle for Huberdale Shorthorns- yeah theyre a big deal

-My truck was stolen

-I got a new truck

-I went to NWSS in Denver

-I went on a weekend mission

-Went back to Texas for Oysterfest/Houston Stock show , Saw Enrique Iglesias  you know good fun

-Drove Sean Tilden back to Jasper

-And amongst all that ran and worked enough to pay the bills and survive.

Who noticed that there was never a Blog #E? Yeah thats right non of you. Tisk Tisk.

Any way I will try to keep this blog thing up and going a bit more.  Earn my way back on Reid’s “chosen“ list.  Seeing from the statistics 200+ people a month have read this blog since November!   Crazyness!  

So to summarize:

Do what makes you happy kids, be happy, be stubborn even when others think its stupid!

Wearing spikes for track workouts is like wearing condoms to masturbate? I have so much to learn about the track game!

Ive had many great adventures so I have many great stories to share again on here!

“Sometimes you just have to look yourself in the mirror and say ‘when in rome’”