Blog #Q

So the one Newfie is down at the local watering hole whooping it up celebrating.  One Newf says to the other Newf what are you celebrating there boy, and he says I just finished a jigsaw puzzle it only took me four months.  The other Newf says “four months? That doesn’t seem very fast!”  To which the other replies oh yes on the box it said 3-5 years. 

So we shall title this blog from that.

Things are coming together like a kid’s jigsaw puzzle!

So the last couple blogs I was going on about the upcoming Vic Matthews cross country meet in Guelph. We had been hyping up the Guelph City Championship/bragging rights.  I was fired up for this race, really fired up for it.  Workouts had been feeling great and confidence was coming back.  I was looking to get into this stacked field of runners, run smart, run fast, and boom the bonus would be our Speed River men might upset the alumni.  So, things were feeling good race morning I was ready to rock, So here we go, get down to the line, the field of athletes is huge and I know these kids are going to get out fast and I just need to race smart so I stay close to the back to the Guelph crew.  So the gun goes off and its chaos bodies, limbs, flying all over the place.  And WHAMMY 30m in everyone decides to move to the right and make a mass cluster-chaos and it happens, someone steps on my right heel, back of the shoe goes down and under my foot.  I didn’t know what to do, so I keep running, we get around the hair pin bend and everyone slows down. So this flip flop like shoe I now have is not going to work I pull to the side at 400m and try my damndest to pull the heel pack on quick. No dice and in the heat of the moment did not want to be out the back door anymore than I already was.  So I kept this flip flop thing on to get down the woodchips and kick it off just before the 1k marker.  I roll through the little loop and come around and see my shoe nicely sitting there just off to the side, Oh shit it has my timing chip on it.... So I continue on through the first big loop, by this point my foot is sore, calf is getting tight, not a good feeling. I spot Cody Murray and yell at him to find my spike by the K and get it to me.  Cody tracks down the shoe and I spot him as we are heading out to the back of the last loop. Cody! You didn’t untie the shoe, (which I later learn that he had and loosened it so I could slip it on) any way he quickly untied it and I stopped again and tried to get it on, thats not easy to do mid race, with cold hands,  shit tieing the  dam things was a struggle.  Any way I was happy to have both shoes for the last 2k on the gravel, but the legs were done my head was out of it and that results were written. 

Rolling shoeless

So I was pretty rattled and angry, it was a great day to run fast, a great course with an outstanding field of the best OUA teams and top notch south western Ontario club teams.  Any way I got over it. I let it go.  But like my old coach at Fanshawe told me a long time ago,  “at your elite level, you don’t just have off days, you need to figure out what went wrong and learn from it”  So I have learned from this event,  First thing is, there was nothing I could do to prevent it, my shoe was double knotted and tight ( hence why I couldn’t pull it on easy) But if it is to ever happen again I know now to just stop, fix it, boom back in it with the whole race to go.  My constant slowing surging stopping starting surging took its toll and if I  had just fixed it I would have been 25s back with the whole race still left.  Lesson learned

I loved that atmosphere last week when we were getting all pumped up for the big show down.  It got everyone on board and it reminded me of my college days running on a team.  Not that Speed River doesn’t have that team feeling but with people racing a range of distance all the time here and there it’s just not the same as the atmosphere of a collegiate cross country team and racing for a team.  I have also hit up the old stomping grounds of Fanshawe College to run a bit with the cross country team there,  They practice on days I am not up in Guelph so I just get the legs rolling with them on their warm up and then continue my run on the beautiful trails of the Fanshawe Conservation area.  The college and university kids are awesome, it’s such a fiery exciting atmosphere.  Everyone is on board for the team, not for a qualifying time or PB.  All they want to do is get better and run fast. It’s great!   And thats when I stumbled upon this gem and Lisa basically is saying what I am, the fire and excitement of the college and how she feeds off of it.  http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/249682-2012-Cross-Country-Season-on-Flotrack/video/658569-Lisa-Uhl-tells-why-she-left-Portland-and-Jerrys-OTC-crew 

And like my boy Josh Lumani said “I no longer watch Flotrack for the races, more just to search for wife prospects”   Yeah!

While we are on that topic of ladies, I have noticed what must be the new fashion trend for the fall while out driving. These leather “riding boots” Im going to call them?? Theyre like knee high leather boots, some have layers some are just straight.  But I like it, Ladies they look good!  Thats when I began to ponder why they look good and it quickly hit me,  these boots hide the worst part of the female body.  The Ankle.  I don’t care who you are, the ankle is just an awkward mess of joints and bones and muscle and tendons.  Even the sweetest legged distance runner girls have ankles and as slim as one can be its still an ankle.  And recent trends of skinny jeans has just brought everything tight and down to the ankle and boom there it is the ankle.  So now these boots kind of smooth everything out and flow over the ankle,  Lets say they’re doing good things.  Good work ladies!

Oh so I guess I should summarize this and take it back to the title of this blog, running has really been coming together nicely.  Really smooth and easy like a kids jigsaw puzzle.  I am in a good place and doing the little things right and that seems to be making a big difference.  I am sleeping well, getting my mileage back up, hitting the core work hard, taking my vitamins, stretching, rolling out the muscles and its working, Im back baby.  Looking forward to big things down the road.

Oh shoot yeah you might notice the advertisements over there to the right on this here blog now,  and I hope you don’t all start to hate on me.  As I have before called out runner who have blogs and just use them to beg for money and hand outs.  Well  you see they pay a little bit to allow advertisement on blogs, it is not a lot but it is based on the number of hits a blog gets.  And this here blog seems to be viewed by a lot of people. So, I wont be on here begging for a hand out, I am going to take the helping hand that has been provided.  I ran it by one of my top followers and best friends  and he was cool with the idea. Yeah there you have it. 

Keep it real folks

John  

Blog #P

Lets get ready to RRRRRRRummmmmmble!

So tomorrow is the Vic Matthews Cross Country Race in Guelph! It’s more than likely going to be the most competitive cross country race in Canada this year.  It will also play host to the Guelph City Cross Country Championship, pitting the Guelph Gryphon Men against the Gryphon Alumni against the Speed River Men to see who reigns sumpreme.  It’s going to be a battle. There will be blood shed! So lets break it down, because it’s going to be tight

Gryphons

Enough has been said about these Boys, the entire team is fit, best team in the CIS, everyone knows it!  But thats it they are boys! And there are a lot of men in this race! How ballsy are these young lads? We will see, we will see!

Gryphon Alumni

Allan “Ugly Face” Brett- a true xc  grit runner, now ready to flex his alumni muscle!  Allan started the banter about this battle in the summer and his entire season, possibly life goals revolve around tomorrow outcome! If he gets into it and works that ugly face grit on watchout. How bad does he want it? He got a high efficiency hair,  He wants the first place team T-shirt more than any CIS team title or All Canadian plaque he has.  Watch out for that right arm flailing up that final hill ugly face in tow.  

Kyle “pretty boy” Boorsma- Kyle never gets the Brett “ugly face” hes always sporting and childish grin on his baby face.  Hes been rolling hard this fall, so hard I noticed he was sporting and new pair of trainers tonight, so hard that the last ones just blew up mid workout!  Hes been working up a nasty mustache, lets hope that hasn’t left him fatigued.  Contender here!

Derek “ape man” Snider-the working class hero of the alumni,  all we have to go on are rumours and speculations! He has probably been biking and climbing and running and such to the extreme.  A dark horse for the team. A scary dark horse!

Alex “technically not alumni” Genest – we had a debate tonight as to whether or not Alex is eligible to compete as an alumni as he is still a student at Guelph.  But as my google search has found the definition of alumni is -> plural of a·lum·nus

Noun:

A graduate or former student, esp. male, of a particular school, college, or university.

 So I guess our protest will be overturned.  Alex is a baller.  There is no water pit or barriers or course so he might find himself wondering whats going on, that being said he might decide to run really fast and show the field how an Olympian rolls.

Matt “the champ” Brunsting.  The wild card! A make or break potentially for the team.  He is like two face or snoop dog or snoop or snoop lion or snoop-a-loop, you never know whose going to come at you!  If Matt shows up expect a strong run from a solid Veteran. If the Champ shows up hold on to your hats ladies and gents he could blaze a new trail. 

Cleve “caballo Cleve-o” Thorson – Cleve has come back from his shack in the mountains, living off the land training as an ultra runner.  Bouncing back from his big Run for the Toad Victory to drop down a full marathon to sprint for the Alumni.  Lets hope his vegan, living off the land, free lifestyle has him sharp.  If nothing else he is tough as iron balls and consistent as a cats meow.  Sadly ladies hes off the market now.

Speed River

Chris “wiseman” Winter – He thought he was coming back to Guelph for a training block, but really we just needed him for the Vic Team.  Hes been ripping up to the west coast and looking like a beast.  He used to be a duck, but now in Guelph he’s a hawk swooping with skill and speed and going straight for the jugular.  Serious Threat!

Matt “juice box” Jurysta – the new kid in town for the river, running like a man now.  He is longer than a Mexican mile, but I think he wears a size 18 shoe,  if he can keep those canoes rolling watch out for his wheels in the last K kids.  RELEASE THE JUICE BOX!!!

Taylor “the man” Milne- full of Northern Ontario rage this man might take your soul then bake you a cake the next day.  He is firing on all cylinders and is undefeated through the first turn.  He will get out fast and close hard.  If youre not 400m ahead of him in the last 500m consider yourself threatened, hes go wheels!   Milne Milne Milne!

Terence “the Turantula” Attema – another new power house to the team, mathematically inclined, he might be our new wild Bill.  If you know who wild Bill is youd be scared. If you don’t youre missing out.  He has been in it with the big dawgs in big meets and can throw down with the best of them.  Front Pack man!

Logan Chappell & Dan Waters  “the pups”  pups because they are young but theyre ready to fight with the big dogs.  Out to prove a point and flex the gung these boys are our dark horses!

And Myself.  John Mason – Im fired up. I love cross country and cant get enough of it.  I am ready to tear this up and show the boys how a working man does.  Just excited to make the cut.

So those are the teams.  Its going to be a dog fight.  Get yourself to Guelph its going to be great!

Also great weekend of running ahead with Sunday featuring Scotiabank Marathon.  Planning to get down there and see my good friend Rob Watson smash another good marathon.

I’m Fired Up

John

Blog # O

First we were just making laundry, now we’re making progress!

So hey there folks thought I would get back on this blog thing here.  I realize our trust bond might have been shaken as it has been since the 4^th of July since my last post.  But better late than never I guess.  So were here now lets blog.

So where have I been all this time?  Well I have been here, there really has just been nothing worth telling you about to be quite honest.  Lets recap the situation, so I had that stress fracture in my shin. I am going to go with I hope I never ever break a bone in my body because holy hell folks at the height of this stress fracture it hurt like no tomorrow. Wowser.  So that took 6 weeks.  I had a couple weeks of down time and then tried biking. Biking is fun....when your seven and you build a ramp out of some scrap wood and ride off the front porch.  Biking is also fun when you tour around and enjoy the scenery.  Biking to try to salvage running fitness, sucks, sucks like a V8 shop vac.  I hated it.  I was then allowed to start running again and slowly build things back up.  I was smart, shocking I know. But I took my time, stuck to the grass, slowly building the mileage back up.  Then September came around and it was time to try a workout.  So back to the River I go,  you see it’s also rookie time and all these kids are keyed up and want to show coach that they are fit.  Sweet grandmothers spatula those kids hammered me.  Blow to my already bruised ego.  September consisted of a lot of inconsistency.  I had a lot of rough workouts, I had a few decent workouts where I got slight glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel.   Then I raced the Fanshawe Cross Country 8k.  We strung together a team of rag tag alumni and entered a team.  It went over like a lead balloon.  Not what I had expected or wanted.  I was rolling pretty well, then apparently my  balls became introverted and I ran like a bit of a pussy.   That was a low.

So from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.  After the summer track season I had I was at an all time high, I had Pb’d at every distance I had raced, I had some confidence. I was rolling.  After that Fanshawe race I felt like a scrub.  Not a good place.  After the summer I was on the peak of my mountain of running and this injury had me slipping over the edge and I was barely hanging on.   And I guess there comes a time in all athletes lives where you fall off the edge and you don’t come back, that turning point, the point of no return.  Fanshawes race was almost that point.   I was saying all the running clichés you here “oh Im coming back”  “that was a good rust buster, got the feeling I needed”  but back in the mind there were doubts.  That mind it’s a powerful weapon, best if you don’t listen to your mind folks.  Anyway lucky for me I didn’t slip I pulled back up.  I am getting my footing again.  The week fallowing that race the workouts went great, that set me up great for the Run for the Toad 25k trail race. http://www.runforthetoad.com/  Run for the Toad is one of Canadas Largest best know trail races. It is a course of pure sin and evil, you are forever going up and down steep hills, around corners and switchbacks.  It was awesome.  I took a beauty tumble with 500m to go that sucked but other than that is was a great race.  Confidence boost, since the Toad Ive got my balls back again, Im feeling better and stronger by the day.  Onward and Upward my friends.   So yeah, suck on that mind and injury trying to get me down.    Lesson for life folks, if you want it go get it, don’t sit and wait and don’t give up.

On a non running related topic, I was joking with my boy Josh Lumani on the twitter last night.  We were busting each others chops as usual. You see Josh comes from a good family, wait good is an understatement..these folks are beauties.  His sister is a gem, shes doing big things in the world bringing water to the folks in Kenya so they don’t have to drink out of those awful swill holes of disease.  Check out her good work here -> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Picture-This-Quenching-Kenyas-Thirst/167590140015074 Josh’s  mom is also a sweet heart, always being all nice and kind asking how Im doing and such, telling me not to get tattoos and such like moms do, she also makes one hell of a banana bread.  And Josh is just a great dude, hard working runner with a similar mind set work ethic sense of humour as me.  So I tell him that I am going to either marry his sister or become his moms pool boy so we can hang out more.  Josh was not impressed.  His sister thought it was great idea seeing as Mom Lumani doesn’t have a pool.  So I tell sister Abbie that if we get married that I would suit up and maybe even pay for a haircut.  That lead me to think that I have not paid for a hair cut in over 4 years.  The last haircut I payed for was before Dean and Erin Sayles wedding that I was in.  4 years ago was also the last time I had any females seriously interested in me.  Coincidence? I think not. 

So now that we are talking about hair I should add that I have been growing a mustache for the past 2 and a half weeks.  Rob Jackson has been growing a stache since last movember and it has been noticeable the past few weeks and The Markus Vollmer has a great stache again and I was inspired.  I have now taken it upon myself to change the outlook of mens upper lip hair.  All I have heard is “getting started for Movember?” No duh, I grew a stache in a week why would I need to  prep for Movember  or the “pedafile jokes” about mustaches.  Cant a man have a mustache? Without strange looks and disrespectful comments.  Common people.

Where now,  heres another link -> http://nstirk.blogspot.ca/2012/08/enhancing-crop-marketing-as-crop.html my man Nathan Stirk is a true beauty to the core.  We always showed cattle against each other growing up and were cordial but never really got to know each other.  Until this year in Denver at the National Western Stock Show.  For the safety of mankind and sanity of the females of the world its for the best ol’ Roy and I don’t get out together very often.  Turns out when we are hanging out in Denver that we are Best friends, were basically the same people. Hard working athletic cattleman with careers that prevent us from showing cattle full time.  Stirk is a fierce squash player, and a chivalrous gentleman.  Ladies take note.  His blog is about crops.  I really suck at crops, I know cows, Roy knows Crops and cows, so read his blog and learn about crops like I have. 

Umm yeah so thats about it folks.  Oh yeah getting ready to rip up the Vic Matthews XC meet in Guelph on Saturday.  Hopefully crush the hopes and dreams of some university kids.  I will try and blog again in the next couple days to hype up the Guelph showdown...

Until then, stay classy

John

Blog#N

England and a Flat Tire

So where the hell have I been? Sorry folks for the delay, lets recap since the last post- I went to England, Raced a half marathon, came home, 1500 night, and a flat tire! 

So England, I went back to the old country! My father moved to Canada many moons ago and so I have a lot of family over there.  Grandpa was part of the sports committee 49 years ago in the village near where he lives.  He helped to organise a half marathon during the weekend festival known as club day! Turns out it’s the oldest half marathon in England.  And Grandpa wants me to win the damn thing.  And Last year after being second I had to head back for another try.  So I invite my best bud Kyle to come with me on this adventure, Kyle’s been with me to Texas twice and we have had many nights of ridiculousness.  So we arrive in England and my back and legs were tight as hell from the plane ride over, it was not a good scene.  It was also cool when we arrived and it was raining-typical England, it felt perfect for racing a half.  So for race day lets break out the sun and crank the thermostat up to 28 degrees.  It got rough.  Before 3 miles my back was tight but I was rolling pretty well then on 68.30 pace.  Oh did I mention it was windy too gah.  8-10 miles were rough and the pace slipped.  From then on I cruised in as my legs were cramping and hurting.  I knew I was not running fast so nor catching the leader so I whooped it up a bit as I passed the local pub crowd and enjoyed the atmosphere of “Club Day”  final time of 1.12.01.  So not really happy with that but satisfied with the effort with how I had felt leading up to the race and how rough I was feeling early on. 

While in England Kyle and I tried to take in the local culture.  Euro cup group play was on.  We hit up the Coach and Horses pub for the game against Sweden.  We were not prepared for what we walked into.  England in soccer crazy and from what we were told Freckleton is a soccer crazy village.  So the pub is packed standing room only.  And these fans are intense, all sipping away on gin and tonics and ales, swearing at the TV. Old ladies, sweet little old ladies are dropping F-bombs at the TV.  It was awesome.  Once the word got out who we were, everyone was talking to us.  Great friendly people in Freckleton!  So Grandpa rented Kyle and I a car while we were there so we could tour around,  lets set the scene 1-cars in England are smaller to begin with 2- I am 6’1” a broad shouldered 165 and Kyle is 6’5” a solid farmer 240 3-Were manly men. So the Rental car lady takes us out to our car WHAMMY it’s a Fiat.  Yeah a little Italian hatch back that would fit in the back of my truck.  We drove the shit out of that Fiat, poor poor  Fiat.  Other than race day basically all we drank was tea and beer.  But it was all quality dark ale, basically a food group.  It was a great time.

We had an exciting adventure on the way home, Watching the screen with the map and the little plane I noticed we were doing a circle somewhere close to Toronto, we continue this circle and as we start our second circle the Pilot comes over the mic and says “theyre having some trouble in Toronto, if we don’t get called to land in 5 min we are going to have to abandon because we are running out of fuel” and that was it.  I look over at Kyle, “did he just say we’re running out of fuel?”  Sure enough we had to land in Ottawa because Toronto was closed from a wild thunderstorm.  Do you know how much fun sitting in an airplane with the air off in 35 degree heat is? For two hours!  Lets just say it was not fun.   It made it so I didn’t get home until 1 am. Grrrr

So after arriving home at 1 am I slept until 7.30 I woke up feeling great, full of piss and vinegar as they say.  I did a little shake out run and decided I felt good enough to race that night in a 1500, seriously its only a 1500.  So anywho  I raced a 1500 feeling tired, it sucked, I felt like I was working hard the entire time. Ran 4.04, no fireworks,  no gas in the tank.   For all those out there I don’t recommend the Sunday-Friday Half Marathon-1500 double up, it’s a doozy.

After the 1500 this spot on my leg really hurt.  You see the thing was that spot had started hurting a couple weeks before.  It hadn’t gotten much worse and cold tubing seemed to be keeping it at bay.  But It was now really sore. Anyways let’s not beat around the bush here and get to the meat of the potato-I’ve got a stress fracture in my left shin.  But looking back maybe it was the 65 laps I raced on the track this summer that got me.  So I feel like a bit of an idiot for not taking care of it weeks ago.  I would like to think of myself as a sub-semi-elite runner and I thought I was getting mature and smart at listening to my body.  Damn you Track, you are an evil temptress luring me from the trails I love into lust after fast PB’s, Damn You!  And now you have had your fun so you kick me to the curb, bruised and damaged!

Who am I kidding the Spring track session was great, thanks to Eric Gillis for encouraging me to race on it last fall when I was down.  It was great, lots of fun.

 

So yeah where does that leave us....Oh so I am taking some time here to get this cleared up asap and then hopefully salvage a fall season. 

I made the most of the Long weekend, I caught up with a couple of great friends and had some drinks.  Josh Lumani turned 22, I love this kid, he is as suave and cool as anything.   He had a little shindig, it was great, Met his mom, she once made me banana bread-best banana bread in the world!  Josh writes a blog you should check it out  http://jolu26point2.blogspot.ca/2012/07/new-one.html  .  Josh pretends to be a bit of a badass gangsta but he’s got a heart of gold. Beauty of a dude if you asked me.  He is also a ridiculously talented runner.  Kids got fire and passion but he is just too damn humble.  More talent than me thats for sure.   Similar to me he made great improvements at Fanshawe College.  He tries to play it all cool, weekend warrior type but this dude is good, and he is just opening the can that is his ability! I hope he stick at this running thing. Hes gonna be good! Stay tuned!

Lumani’s mom made a slide show about his life, it was great but in it she had a quote, it said something like “I love running, I hate running, usually I am somewhere in the middle”  I thought that was very good.  Now for my Friend Wild Bill Petrcich I will admit that I would be found in the Bell curve of this data more to the “I love running side”. 

So I am going to be healing up my leg and trying to stay cool this week. 

Make the most of it Folks!

John

Blog#M

Raspberry Beret...

So where to begin, if you are not mechanically inclined I will let you know that rope is made for pulling, it is mighty hard to push something with a piece of rope. Remember this, it will help you later. Also if you have never let your dog chew on a golf ball or never fooled around in high school shop class and tried to cut a golf ball in half, you need to know that inside a golf ball is a big mess of elastic bands all twisted up.  You need to understand this.

So I raced again last night. A little 3000 down in London!  I am having a lot of fun doing this track thing this summer.  I was a bit tired from all the racing of the past few weeks with that 10k and followed closely by that 5k-1500 double up at the 401 series.  So we had a couple good weeks of mileage and workouts in again and this 3k seemed to fit.  So here we are, in London on a next to perfect evening, it’s a small field and there is a pack of guys going for sub 8.15 pace up front.  I know I want nothing to do with that pace.  So things go out fast, 64 seconds or so through 400, and so here I am, off the back of this lead pack trying to find my pace not going at their pace but not letting them drop me as there does not seem to be anyone else around me. Well, trying to push solo off the back of a pack, whilst not entirely losing touch with the pack but not going out too fast is about as easy as pushing a truck with a piece of rope. It’s not very easy.  The first lap was fast and then I sort of let the lead group go, then I decided that I needed to try to hang off the back of them a bit more and started to push on, in the middle section it go a bit tough as it always seems to do in these track races and then there was only 1km to go and I felt good and started to move pretty well again.  8.41 was a big 7 year pb. Henderson ran like a bawse up front hitting his world jr. Standard. 

So now on to the next one, actually jumping on a plane and heading to England on Wednesday night.  Going to visit my Grandpa and family over there all while taking in a half marathon.  And this is where you all are going “what the deuce?> I thought you were ripping up the track this summer John”  Well this is true.  But there is a bit of a story behind this half marathon.  It takes place in the Village of Freckleton, and it is the Oldest half marathon in England at 49 years. Also my grandfather who also bears the great name-John Mason was one of the original organizers of this race.  Needless to say he wants me to win the damn thing.  So I went last year and gave it my best but had some stomach issues and ended up second by 24seconds.  When  planning my summer season I told DST that i would really like to get into this again and he said it would fit into the schedule it just would not be any peak race with the main focus of drilling down my track times.  So yeah with all this fast track stuff I am excited to get over the England and roll through a half.  Its a flat course and I am fairly confident in my base so I would like to see a fast time aswell. #believinthebeard.  

Once back from England I will be hitting up the track again for a couple fast races before we wrap up the summer season.

So here this blog is going to take a bit of a hard left from my usual, lowbrow, ball joke humour and get a bit more deep, and believe me this is as deep as I get.  Some might say I am like an onion, with many layers that could make you cry,  but I am more like a golf ball, I have a hard rough exterior, take a good beating and come back for more, and inside I am just a big twisted mess of elastic bands that makes no sense. So....

First watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5AzvOLUtOI

Now if you have watched this video and you do not want to go out for a two hour run, or don’t not want to try running for the first time, you better check your pulse.  I have watched this video many many times and it really speaks to me.  I am not of the real religious type, I don’t understand religions.  Religions are the reason for all the war and peace in the world.  Religion brings people peace and makes people want to fight for what they believe. Anyway what I do understand is running.  I love running, running for hours, running in the snow, in the rain. A day running is better than a day not running in my books.  Running is good for the soul, it picks you up when youre feeling down, it clears the mind and helps me think.   The roads and trails are my sanctuary.  A long solid effort, laboured breathing, my sermon.   I would give up all goals of fast times, race wins, national-world level competition if you told me I would be able to float along a rolling tree lined trail everyday from now until I die.    But nothing is certain and nothing can be set in stone, so I’ll live for what I have right now, and right now I want to go fast. 

Oh yeah so about the title Raspberry Beret. The last three times I have raced as I drive to the race that song has come on the radio. I don’t know I guess it’s lucky.  One, Two, One  Two three, Huh

For your viewing pleasure.--à http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xATUw_ZVTzQ

So yeah I will check back in After England.  Behave yourselves

Believe In the Beard!

John

Blog#L.5

Shots shot shot shot shot...

So a little subsection blog here that I thought up last night.  Last night at practice I was thrown in with the dogs. Usually my group of 5k+ runners hits the trails on a Monday night for longer fartlek-tempo type stuff.  Last night was not the case.  I was fed to the wolves, the wolves being the 800-1500m group.  These bastards like to get into it, they get all spiked up and tear the hell out of the track.  So going into this workout I was hoping to just stay within 100m of these guys in a 400.  The workout went well kind of surprised myself actually.  I would have been really pumped with it if I had not had a lactic acid headache like no tomorrow.  And let me tell you this headache stayed all night.  It felt like I was hungover, my head felt like I had been slamming back shots or something silly.  I hurt.  Thats when I got to thinking that going to the track is like going to the bar, and doing 1500m work is like doing shots.  So first if youre cool you go to the bar/track with your friends,  its never cool to go and hammer at the bar or track alone.  Apparently when youre a 1500m dude just like going out to the bar to impress the ladies you throw on your best clothes/spikes so that you look good/fast.  The intervals are like shots. The first one doesnt really go down to smooth, it burns a bit. But that first shot/interval opens the flood gates.  Now youre throwing them back fast and furious. I feel so cool! And then before you know it you do one more and thats it youre a staggering mess, delusional, puking is a potential.  And then you let it all soak in and you end up feeling like a dirtbag with a headache that feels as if one has an ax in their head.


 Shots or 1500m intervals always seem like a good idea at the time, damn you peer pressure.


Am I a 1500 runner now? Absolutely not.


Whether youre doing shots or intervals. Smash them hard and fast, you know no matter what tomorrow's going to be rough.  Oh and maybe have a water or two before bed


John

Blog#L

Renew the Love and the 401

Sorry folks, I guess it has been a couple weeks since that last blog so here we go. Topics for this blog post; work,  post 10k, 401 recap, for the love of running. Hold on tight.  So the past few weeks have been super busy with work.  I have been doing some really nice work lately.  This past week I built a great deck and pergola.  It has to be one of the most impressive things I have built to date.   Check it out. 

I was super happy with it. Lots of attention to detail in the herringbone corners and the posts beams and trim.   The Homeowners loved it. All is good!

So back to the week after that 10 we talked about in the last blog. Holy hell folks that hurt.  I hurt for a full week.  The legs were just beat up, I was able to keep working out and keep the mileage up it just took longer into warm-ups to get the calves working.  I didn’t get back to feeling normal until the Saturday after, which was basically just in time for the 401 distance series to get started.

So onto the 401 distance series.  5000 on the Wednesday night down there in London.  High quality deep fields on a good night with only a little wind.  So I found myself in the second heat, with a great pack of guys.  One of the first times in my life folks I ran smart, hung out in the pack rolling 71...laps.  And as I felt myself naturally move up on a guy I went around and found myself right behind a guy in second with just over a 1k to go.  I was feeling great, I actually thought to perhaps make a bit bolder move and take the lead with 800 to go but hesitated and then the leader made a bit of a move and I was just trying to hang on.  I rigged up a bit in the last 500m, ok perhaps got a bit ugly.  I ended up running 14.54.07 just under a 6 second PB.  That last 100m hurt, I don’t really recall much thought I held it together better, but apparently I got to the line and just flopped over. Left some of my stomach on the Western Turf and called it night.  Check out the race here, Heat 3...

 http://www.trackie.com/track-and-field/media/2012-London-Distance-Series-meet-2.php?event=5

It still hasn’t sunk in to me that I am a sub 15 guy, that was my biggest fear going into that race that I would not break 15 again and everyone would say I was a one hit wonder like Aqua or Hanson.  Then when I was loading the video I saw it was 15.40 long. I said to myself “damn I wont even see myself finish”  I am excited.  In the words of Ricky Bobby “I wanna go fast”

Early this spring when the list of races came out and we were told to fill out when we would like to race I put in the Speed River Inferno column “if shit gets crazy John Mason 1500m”  Suggesting that if pig could fly or if it snowed in june that I John Mason would spike up for a 1500m.  You see folks I have not raced in a 1500 since grade 12 at the county meet.  My PB would be 4.29 with an unofficial PB coming in a 3000 later that summer in 4.25.  But after that 5k I was pumped to see what I could do in the 1500, knowing it would for sure be a PB.  I really had no idea how this 1500 would feel, nor did I have a clue how to run one, but I knew there was less than four laps so it couldn’t be that bad.  So boom the gun goes and I find myself in the mix of a 1500, there were a bunch of French guys, some high school lads.  Hey ever wonder why French people always look so fit? All of them, even if they are not, those Frenchmen looked 10x as fit as me on that line.  Anyway, were off first lap was good 63 and then things settled in a bit and we went through 800 in 2.11-2.12.  You see before my warmup I told Taylor Milne that if I broke 4 min I would do something to the track and that he would have to clean it up.  So through 400 knowing my lack of closing speed Milne yell “gotta go johhny you need some money bank” Through 800 Milne now getting worried by the slowing pace yells “really gotta go you need more money in the bank” Any who from there on I took the lead and started to push, I realized the was less than 2 laps left and I hadn’t started to hurt yet, so that was new.  I don’t know the rest of the splits but so hot shot high schooler had more wheels than me and I ended up second in 4.01.  It was good enough for a post race interview with DST, probably should have put a shirt on. Ladies eat your hearts out 

http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=5718&do=videos&video_id=69077

Full race is here

http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=5718&do=videos&video_id=69054

This racing a bunch has been fun, I like it, a lot.  I haven’t been taking it too seriously .  I think that has been good.  Last fall I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well, you kind of have to do well when you only work part days so that you can be better.  If I wanted to be average or mediocre I would have a full time job and do this running on the side. But I want better.  So one night this spring having coffee with a friend,  I told said friend how I needed to get my shit together and be better.  Said friend told me to not stress over it so much, enjoy it, do it for the reason you do it because you love it.  This friend explained that I really was doing things right and that I had to get better.  So I have tried to apply that,  all races this spring I have showed up just in time to warm up and do my own thing. I haven’t thought about paces or time, or watched splits, I have just gone out and raced, and so far its going well.  I was thinking about this today on my long run.  I was in the Dundas Valley trail system.  This set of trails is incredible, some serious rolling hills that go on forever.  I could have easily run for hours there today, I was planning to go out for 90 + minutes and ended up getting back to the truck just under 2 hours.  I love it in those trails, just love it.

I got to thinking the other day that there are three type of people in the word.  There are wrench people, vise grip people, and people that don’t know what I’m talking about. You see wrenches are designed for nuts and bolts, they are cut to the correct size for a specific nut/bolt.  They are well crafted, take skill and knowledge to quickly grab the correct size from the tool box.  Vise Grips or Locking pliers are a handy man special, they are adjustable, they also do a half ass job, they can round off the corners of a bolt and make one heck of a mess.  Dont get me wrong vise grips have made many a field fix on the farm and can get the job done.

So in life you have three options you can be a wrench, you can be a set of vise grips, or you can be an average tool.  Either way stay safe out there folks

John