Lindy Hop

In less than a month, I hope to achieve one of my New Year's resolutions which is to dance the Lindy Hop. I've been spending the last little while watching teaching videos on Youtube, but watching is the same as actually doing the moves. The basic steps are a little different, as you do a rock-step/triple-step/step/step/triple-step all on an eight count. My swing dancing current does a rock-step/step-hold/step-hold on a six-count. Charm City swing in Baltimore is having a lindy hop workshop weekend at the end of February. As well, one of my favorite jazz band, The Boilermakers will be in Baltimore for one of the nights which will be great. I'll be heading down to take in the workshop as well as to spend some time chilling.

Workout tonight -- 30 minute warmup/7x400 m hills/ 10 minute warmdown

Phoenix half-marathon -- part 2

The Race

I awoke at 5:15 am and started the processing of fueling for the race. It would take the form of four bowels of Kellog’s Vector cereal and hot tea. At 6:00, I headed down to the lobby and was able to catch the race shuttle a couple of minute early. The start area was a haven of activity as there were 30,000 runners milling around the downtown core of Phoenix. I had brought along the daily babble puzzle and worked on it while watching the sunrise. As it was getting brighter, I checked out the senate building and took some pictures of nearby statues 1 2 . At 7:30 am the marathon race started which much fanfare. Of note, the organizers had set aside 27 corrals. I started munching on a Clif bar. At a little before 8:00, I stripped off my layers of warm clothing and dropped then off at the UPS depot and headed for the start line. It was a cool 4C/39F. After the playing of the national anthem we were off on our 13.1 mile journey. My first two miles were done at a brisk pace of 6.55 and 6.59. At around mile 8, I started to feel my energy level drop, so I pushed back a Clif Gel with 25 mg of caffeine. This would stabilize me for a little while but I was running faster than my energy intake could keep up. At mile 9, they had a volunteers handing out Powergel so I grabbed two. These would act as a lifeline for the final three miles. I had run the first half of the race too quickly and was starting to pay the price. I could still rely on one advantage and that was, I knew the race course and could run towards familiar landmarks. At the start of the Tempe Town Bridge with 1.5 miles to go, I opened up and sprinted for as long as I could and held on until just over the finish line. I would finish in position 456 while 21,000 participants were still out on the course. The finish was special as I was greeted with flowers and two beauty women. After cooling down for a while and sucking on multiple popsicles it was time to see how JB’s race was coming along. With ten minutes to spare, I was able to watch him cross his finish line. JB was excited by his finish as he ran a 3:28 marathon which was two minutes faster than he had expected to finish.

A little while later I headed over to buy some tea. It is special tea and much sought after. I bought multiple boxes of Revolution tea and walked ever so slowly back to the hotel. We closed out the day with a celebratory dinner at the Cheesecake factory.
1:36 -- 13.1 miles/21 km
Mile splits time heart rate date
1 6.55 162/131
2 6.59 13.54 164/165
3 7.21 21.16 168/166
4 7.07 28.23 168/167
5 7.15 35.38 168/169
6 7.11 42.49 168/170
7 7.23 50.13
8 7.23 57.6 168/169
9 7.24 1.05.01 171/173
10/11 15.40 1.20.42
12 7.20 1.28.20 173/175
13 7.23 1.35.25 173/178
13.1 1.36

The Road Trip

On Monday morning, I was up early as we had to pick up the rental car at 7:30 am. JB’s dad took us out for breakfast before we started our trek north. Our first stop was Montezuma Castle in Camp Verde. It was an impressive sight. The Hopi Indians had built their homes into the side of a rock face 15,000 years ago. During the summer heat the thick wall would keep the folks living their cool. We continued our journey north and stopped in at Bell Rock (N34 47.506 W111 45.697) in Sedona. All around us the soil and rocks were red. It was like driving through a Martian landscape. Throughout the drive I let my mind wander as I envisioned John Wayne riding ahead through the desert and through the large rock outcrops. Continuing north we stopped at the Chapel in the Rocks (N34 49.920 W111 45.988) which is a church built in the 1950s in a rock ledge which is an architectural marvel. The next part came as a surprise, snow and cold. Flagstaff had received about a foot of snow in early December and it was still on the ground. We stopped in at North Arizona University and took a tour of the campus. The university’s crest contains a snowflake and the mascot is a lumberjack. Flagstaff is also the site of the US Olympic training center as it has an elevation of 7,000 feet. We threw snowballs and built a snowman. Our journey would take us next in an easterly direction to the Meteor Crater (N35 01.934 W111 01.298) which is the largest well preserved crater. It was huge and could hold 20 football fields at the bottom. We arrived a little late and missed the hiking tour around the perimeter. A couple of facts about the crater: As the sun was setting we started our journey in a south-westerly direction back to Phoenix. We closed off the day with a steak dinner.

Tuesday’s adventure would involve a fair amount of driving as we headed south just as the sun was rising. We headed in a southerly direction and were within earshot of the Mexican border. Our destination was Tombstone, AZ (N31 42.837 W110 04.018). The drive south started out flat as a pancake and ripe for speed traps. Tombstone is an old Wild West cowboy town frozen in time. There was the famous OK Corral, the general store, the post office and the saloon. The saloon was just as one would expect a great bar, cheap drinks and scantly clad women. JB opted for a whisky on the rocks and I a local Merlot. Drinking the booze on an empty stomach gave me a bit of a buzz. We visited the world’s largest rose bush and the attached museum. We stopped in at the OK Corral to watch an enactment of the famous Wyatt Earp shootout which was fun. The Tombstone Epitaph, the local paper, has a museum so we checked out the offerings. As the sun was setting we visited the Tombstone graveyard which is home where the remains of 50 of the famous western heroes. Back then justice was severe as the ceremony was riddled which folks that experienced really gruesome deaths. On our journey north we stopped in at the University of Arizona campus and eyed some weird signs. They have a pedestrian crossing for both deaf and blind folks next to a performing arts center. Visiting the UoA would mean that I had visited all three of the universities in the state of Arizona during my stay. Early Wednesday morning I caught early flight back to Ottawa.

http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Phoenix_Jan2008

Hills and more hills

Tonight, I did my first hill workout of the year. It was six repeats of 400 yards up a gradual incline. The rest of the team did eight but I opted to slack off a bit as my legs are still recovering from the race. Over the next couple of weeks, the number of intervals with increase as well as the length of each intervals. It felt good to be running with the team again.

Phoenix Half-marathon parthttp://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/Phoenix_Jan2008/photo#5158142882052942002 1

Getting there

Friday January 11

My adventure started at 5:00 am when I caught the taxi to the airport. I arrived at the airport a little later than expected and was whisked through security and customs with the stern warning that if I did hurry I might miss my flight. This had the unintended affect of boosting my blood pressure needlessly, as once I was in the departure lounge it was announced that the 6:30 am departure would be delayed due to light bulb issues. There was some talk in the lounge about how long it could take to replace a light bulb. As time went on the airline staff called up more and more folks rebooked them on other flights. After a five hour delay our flight took off and we landed in Philadelphia an hour later. My new flight to Phoenix would leave late afternoon so I had lunch and spent much of the afternoon surfing the web with my laptop. I had packed a Robert Ludlum thriller novel helped in passing away the time. The flight to Phoenix was uneventful and JB met me at the airport. In keep with tradition, we had supper at PF Chang’s and started off the meal with lettuce wraps. The main course was Chicken Chow mien. JB dropped me back at the hotel and I bedded down after a 21 hour day.

Saturday January 12

I awoke at 7:00 am local time which is 9:00 am Ottawa time and headed down for breakfast. My first stop would be Arizona State University (ASU) which is the location of the half- and full-marathon finish lines as well as the shuttles to the start line. My goal was to see how much time I would need on Sunday morning to walk/jog to the shuttle buses. The further they were away to earlier I would have to leave. The distance was 1.5 miles. While on the campus, I tried my hand at some geocaching but couldn’t find a single geocaches but found a petrified log instead. As I was heading back to the hotel, JB texted me and we set up a rendezvous time. Once back at the hotel, I checked with the front desk and they confirmed that there were still some seats available for the 6:15 am shuttle to the start line. This was a relief. I took the last available seat. My legs would be grateful on Sunday morning.

Early afternoon JB arrived and we headed over to REI to pick-up an order that I had placed over the Christmas holidays. It was a relief to find that the down jacket I had ordered fit. While trying on the jacket we starting talking to a staff member originally from Michigan and she was able to give me a good overview of the features of the jacket. From REI, we headed to downtown Phoenix to the race expo which was twice as large as last year. I quickly picked up my race package and we checked out the rows and rows of exhibitors. We next headed out for lunch at a local burritos chain. The next part was cool as we drove up to one of the highest part in the Tempe/Scottsdale/Phoenix area, South Mountain, having an elevation of 2200 feet. It is a long a windy road without any guard rails. The trash cans are elevated and set at an angle because of the coyote threat. The panoramic view from the top was awesome.

It was then onto JB’s place where I met his folks and watched and listened as he played a variety of pieces of music on his piano. It was great listening to him play his concerto. Our plans of eating at the Spaghetti Factory were scuttled when we learned the wait time was 90 minutes. We opted to have a pasta dinner at a nearby fast food place. Before heading back we stopped at Kroger’s to get some bananas, fig newtons and pretzel goldfish. Before calling it a night I laid out my running gear for the morning.

Squishy bowl

While shopping at REI last week, I found a new cool and fun gizmo, the Guyot Squishy bowl and cup. They are made out of food grade silicon and are incredibly flexible and light. As well they are fun to play with as you can squeeze and squish them and they quickly returns to it normal shape. The cup fits inside the bowl so the storage footprint is minimal. I’ll try them out of my next outdoor trip and see how they operate under winter conditions.

Almost race day

I'm in Tempe, AZ as I write this entry. The temperature outside is a sunny, 70F. Today, I have to head to the race expo to pickup my race number as the race starts at 0730 on Sunday morning. I'll stop in at the local REI store to try on a new winter jacket which went on special over the Christmas holiday. Yah, it does sound strange that have I'm in Arizona checking out winter jackets. Tonight, I'll have my pasta/carbo-loading meal as the half-marathon will draw down my energy reserve tomorrow. I'm excited by the race and can wait to see how fast I can run the course.

Wet in Phladelphia

This weekend I'll be in Phoenix, AZ running in my second PF Chang half-marathon. Last year, I set a personal best for the half-marathon distance (13.1 miles) in a time of 1:33. On Sunday, I hope to try run a faster time. As I type this blog I am sitting at the Philadelphia airport waiting for my flight to leave. I was up at 5:00 am to catch a 6:30 am flight and arrived a little later than I had expected. I had to rush through security only to find out that the airplane was having light bulb problems. The flight was delayed and delayed for about five hours scuttling my chances of arriving in Phoenix during the early afternoon. Once I boarded the flight at 11:00 they explained the problem. A light bulb for one of the main sensors on the plane had burn out. They would have to remove a couple of panels to replace it. I'm glad that they spotted the problem while we were still on the ground.

2008 Goals

2008 Goals

* Run a 1:30 half-marathon time
* Go on more OHOC outdoor adventures
* Do more hiking trips
* Climb more of the 46ers (46 highest peaks in the Adirondacks , NY)
* Loose 10 lbs by May 30 (race date –National Capital half-marathon)
* Hike the West Coast Trail/Shenandoah National Park/Old Smoky National Park
* Run a faster Baltimore half-marathon (< 1:34 ) in October 2008
* Visit Brent ( Algonquin Park ) by canoeing and portaging and bring along a digital camera
* Reach 500,000 Babble point (now 350,000) www.playbabble.com
* Do more cycling (road and mountain biking)
* Geocaching goal 900-1000 finds by Dec 31 2008
* Become more mobile
* Complete an Olympic Distance triathlon (1500m swum/40km cycle/10km run)
* Swing dancing – Learn the Lindy Hop
* Take the train to Baltimore

Phx-half-marathon in a couple of days....

In a little under a week, I head south-west for some helpfully warmer weather than I am experiencing in Ottawa. On the weekend, I’ll be running my second Pf Chang half-marathon (13.1 miles/42.2km). The goal is to improve my time over last year but I don’t have a specific target time, anything better than 1:33 would be great. After the race, JB and I will be going on a road trip exploring the areas in all four directions of Phoenix. I am debating whether to pack shorts as the recent temperatures have been in the high 50s. It will be great to complete my first race of the year as well as my first half-marathon of the racing season.

Computer Surgery

I did something of the Christmas holiday that I am proud of, computer surgery. A little before Christmas my parents bought a new HP desktop computer. At the time, my father was a little reluctant to decommission his old IBM Thinkpad laptop. This was a good decision in time. On Boxing Day, a little before I headed out for my 10 mile race the computer stopped responding. My initial thought was that it had gone into Windows stand-by or sleep mode or Windows was acting up. The problem would have to wait until after the race. I called HP technical support and we suspected it was a hard drive problem or the computer’s power supply. A couple of days, later a new hard drive came by UPS and the recovery DVDs came by FEDEX. We replaced the hard drive and the computer was unresponsive. I called HP again and they thought it was a problem with the power supply. The next day a new power supply arrived and we switched all the cables. With a new hard drive and power supply the computer started up and started to purr. It would take about an hour for the recovery DVDs to be processed. But it was a good feeling to head back to Ottawa knowing that my parent’s computer was working again.

Hamock

First off, I want to start off this entry by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. 2007 was a good year for me and I am looking forward to a better one in 2008. My Christmas holiday has been a good one this year. I was pleased with my Boxing Day 10 mile race which suggests that I will have a good half-marathon race laster this month in Arizona. I have cross-trained over Christmas, swimming every second day at my alma mater. The break from running will ensured my legs are well rested for the race. I was excited when I got a hammock as a Christmas/birthday present. Jason got one a couple of years ago and loves his so it was a must-have piece of hiking/outdoor gear. I want to thank Jason for his giftlistit website as it made the Christmas present buying process really easy and fun this year. As well, it was a lot of fun doing some end-user testing of giftlistit. My parents were able to purchase the hammock without me knowing using the wonders of giftlistit. My relatives were able to use the website as well, simplifying the process of buying 10 Christmas gifts.