Tag Archives: training

On the road again

I’ve been running regularly for six years and started competing four years ago. I’m not exactly the most coordinated of athletes and team-sports often made me nervous, so running was a good fit.

I ran my first half-marathon on May 3 2009. I was on a roll. I had just shaved my head as a fund-raiser for cancer research and I was finishing 16 months of co-op work terms, returning to complete my degree in Honours English. Nothing could stop me.

What you can’t see is that my hands are full of bananas.

I’m an ideas person. I love the idea of running half-marathons, of training, of being tiny and taught. I’ve begun training plans and even registered for multiple half-marathons since. I successfully completed two others, but the number I registered for and didn’t attend is a bit seriously embarrassing. I would start training and fall victim to a sinus infection. Or I would feel overwhelmingly busy with work and school. Or feel too cold to get out of bed in the morning to run.

Now I work Monday to Friday 8-5. I have time and motivation to train. To everyone who reads this blog, I am committing to you and to myself: I’m going to run the 28km Whitsunday Great Walk on Saturday September 23.

I recently finished reading What I Talk About When I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami, which was inspiring. A few parts have stuck with me, including ‘Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional’ and the following quote:

Your quality of experience is based not on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself.

New tools are in my kit, including the Endomondo app for my iPhone and a plan from the latest issue of Runner’s World. I started the training plan two weeks ago but had to take a couple days off because of the flu, so I started again today after work with an easy 5km. It’s the perfect running weather in Mackay right now: crisp, cool and sunny. 8 km is coming up this weekend, which is the longest distance I’ve run since September 2011. It’s going to be epic.

Guest post: Chris does Australia

Dear Katie’s Adoring Fans,

My name is Chris. You may have seen me (if you looked closely) in such photos as The Koala Family or Chris shares with his new friend. I am accompanying Katie on her journey to the other hemisphere, mostly playing as her comic relief.

While my better half has been taking in the sights of Brisbane, I’ve had some learning to do. My employer had me going through a general orientation course for my new position out at a tradesperson training centre in the suburb (I guess?) of Salisbury. Though a little dry at times, it afforded me a number of useful pieces of knowledge, my favourites being how to perform first aid on a) a redback/black widow bite and b) snake bites. I got the distinct feeling that everyone else in the room (they were all Aussies) had learned this before; in this case, I was OK being the slow one for the day.

Small talk amongst the students was always enlightening and yielded my first Dropbear and Hoop Snake mentions as well as the perfectly stereotypical exchange of, Me: “Holy shit, everything in Australian can kill me”, Them: “Ya, but Canada’s got bears to worry about”. Additionally, I’ve been picking up on the small differences in speech they seem to have around here such as asking “How you going?” (How you doing?) or the expected “No worries” (thanks). I enjoy the small things.

The time Katie and I have had to wander Brisbane together has been fantastic and it’s going to be hard to leave in a couple of weeks. Every local we’ve asked has gently informed us that Mackay is dreadful but, in my experience, dreadfulness is a highly subjective attribute.

For now, we’re here and loving it. At this very moment, I’m off to bed because I’m an old man. Expect to see me making a cameo again at some completely unscheduled time in the future.

Chris