The Earthquake of 2010

t was on a sunny and warm Wednesday afternoon that I sat down to finish writing a briefing on my balcony. I had been driven to the balcony as they had been running the monthly fire alarm tests in the building. I decided to escape to the balcony as a way of getting away from the alarm. Around 2 pm my laptop started to shift on my lap. At the same time, my chair started to shift back and forth. The alarm in the nearby car dealership started to wail. It took me a moment to realize that I was sitting through my first earthquake. There was a brief pause followed by three or four minor aftershocks. I did a quick search of twitter and there was nothing. It was a bit freaky. Later in the afternoon, I headed over to the US Geological survey web site to find that we had received a 5.5 on the Richter scale earthquake having an epicentre 50 mile north of Ottawa. I chided myself a bit when it was all over as I had picked the wrong day to work from home as my office colleagues had been sent home for safety reason. But did I really want to have to take fourteen flights of stairs down the fire escape with a bunch of panicking office workers. I think the balcony was probably the best place to spend an earthquake.

Cycling in a dryerCycling in a dryer

Most days I cycle to work and occasionally I'll run to the office. Today was a running day. A little after 7:30AM I headed out onto the bike path in my sneakers and reached the office a little after 8:00AM. I headed down to the showers, cleaned up and started my work day. I hang my running/cycling gear in my office. As I was reached over at the end of the day, I noticed my jersey was still damp. The coolness of the office was not enough to dry it out completely. As I put it on it felt wet and clammy. Upon exiting the office, I felt a blast of hot air billowing in from the west. As I pedalled in a westerly direction along the Ottawa River I felt as if I was cycling in a dryer as a wave of hot air would hit me followed by a break then another burst of hot air. I could feel my jersey getting more dry with each burst of air. This would not last long as once I crested a hill I started to sweat again and I back to cycling in a wet jersey.

Groin injury

Every couple of years, I become very familiar with a given muscle, ligament or tendon in my legs due to an injury. Earlier this month, I pulled two muscles in my groin, the adductor longus(F) and the adductor magnus(H) on my right leg. For the past couple of weeks, I've been going for aggressive physiotherapy and massages and these sessions are helping me get back to running. These session are so intense that they have been leaving bruises on my leg. I've cycling to work daily for just over a month as they cycling is good cross-training for these muscles. As well, I've been doing long sessions of indoor rowing machine which are helping to rehab the leg but spending 30 minutes on the rowing machine doesn't equate to say a 30 minute run outside. It sucks when you get injured but since I haven't been injured for a while I guess it was time. I've been doing some very specialized groin stretches which are strengthening the area. The injury has put a damper on a couple of road races in April that I was hoping to do. The running is coming back slowly with each workout getting progressively long and harder. I long for the day when the muscles are fully healed and I can run carefree.

Why you can't tell a tea by it's colour?

I have a couple of tea strainer/infusers that I use to brew whole leaf tea. I recently spent part of a lunch hour searching for one that which would be slim enough to fit inside my REI travel mug. I discovered the Luci Loose Tea Infuser which is just narrow enough to fit inside the mug and looks like a gnome is sitting inside the mug. While at the tea store I decided to buy some British tea which is hard to find Earl Grey -- Taylors of Harrogate." Once back at the office it was time to test the new infuser and tea. I loaded up the infuser with tea and put milk in my mug and waited for the kettle to boil. The infuser sat in the mug steeping for four minutes and the tea looked white. I like my tea to have a bit of a brown color. I opened up the infuser and poured in another teaspoon of tea and waited. The tea still looked white. I was getting a little desperate so I grabbed a tea bag and plopped it into the mug and now I have brown tea. It was a highly caffeinated brew and much stronger than I'm use to. The moral of the story is just because your tea has a neutral colour after brewing doesn't mean it won't have a punch of caffeine.

Calendar recycling

I normally buy my wall calendar in the second week of January as by this point they are usually 50% off. This year I decided to try something different. I have a really nice hiking calendar in my office showing people hiking in various locales around the world. Rather than buy a new one, I decided to staple a 2010 calendar page over each month of the year. The benefit of this is that I could pick the picture that I wanted displayed for a given month. In February, I decided to have a pick of a folks hiking in a spring-like setting rather suggested picture of folks hiking next to a frozen glacier. In the peak of the summer heat, I'll switch to the arctic pictures to prep me for the colder months. The benefit is that I saved some cash on a new calendar and can now pick the scenery that I want for a given month.

Why you should bag your oranges?

Tonight, I ran to the swimming pool for a workout and stopped by the grocery stores to buy some food for dinner. I grabbed some pita, meat, and dried cherries and headed over to the self-checkout area and waited for my turn. There was an older couple just ahead of me having some trouble. The norm is for folks to put all their oranges in a bag when selecting them from the boxes. This couple didn't know this so they were trying to place all their oranges on the scale but they kept on rolling off and landing on the floor. The eventually decided on the divide and conquer approach which is place as many oranges as can fit on the scale and then to weigh them before weighing the next batch. The machine didn't like this as they forgot a little detail which is that you have to tell the scale in advance what it is weighing before it will weigh it. They eventually got it sorted out but it was comical as they would have a handful of oranges on the scale and then one would fall off and the machine would start beeping and saying that they should see the attendant. The moral of the story is to put all your oranges in one bag and to place them on the scale together.

Phoenix half-marathon with a quick detour to San Deigo, CA

It's time to blog about my latest adventure to Phoenix, AZ with a side tour of San Diego. This would be my sixth visit to Phoenix and my fifth time running in the PF Chang half-marathon. I left Ottawa on Friday morning with my checked luggage and Macbook. The Christmas day travel nightmare prevented me from having any carry on luggage. It was a quick flight to Newark, NJ where I spent much day before my late afternoon flight over to Phoenix. Newark airport has wall plug in various locations throughout the termnal so one you can surf the web (work) and charge up your laptop at the same time. JB and Ashley met me at the airport and our first stop was PF Chang for our traditional pre-race dinner. When I incorporate the two hour time change I headed to bed early on Saturday morning.
I started off my weekend with a filling breakfast at the Hampton Inn. Our first stop was the race expo held in the new Phoenix Convention Center. The race expo was twice as large as last year and I was able to get my race packet and t-shirt quickly. Once again I was starting in the first race corral which brought a smile to my face. We headed to over to REI as I wanted to check out a travel mug that Jason had got for Christmas. Over the weekend I used it multiple times and it kept my tea hot for three to four hours. We next headed over to JB's place and I was able to pick some tangelosfrom a tree in their backyard. They are really juicy. JB, Ashley and I headed over to Qboda for burritos. We spent most of the afternoon walking the various trails at the Phoenix/Desert Botanical garden. I had my pre-race pasta dinner at an Italian restaurant that serves enormous meat balls with their spaghetti.
On Sunday morning, I was up at 5:00 am and headed to the hotel lobby to fill up my travel mug with hot tea. This year I decided to eat my breakfast later in the morning rather than at the hotel. At 6:00 am I caught the hotel shuttle for a 40 minute ride to the start. Your arrive in the dark and there is a buzz to the air with 25,000 people getting psyched for their marathon or half-marathon. I decided to take refuge near the Arizona Senate building to eat my breakfast until the marathoners had started their race. With a little over 40 minutes to the start, I joined that long line of people waiting to use a port-a-potty. It look me about 15 minutes before I could relieve myself. It was then a quick dash over to the UPS trucks to drop off my gear bag. I did an easy warmup as I ran towards the first corral and stretched will waiting for the race to start. The official starter was Senator John McCain and it was great to see him. At 8:30 am on the dot, the gun went off and we started our 13.1 mile journey south towards Tempe, AZ. I decided to run the race at a constant pace and to treat the race as long Sunday run as I knew that setting a course PR was out of the question. As I drew closer and closer to Tempe the crowds began to build. With a mile to go I picked up the pace and sprinted to the finish. It felt good to get my finisher's medal. I picked some food and headed out to meet JB. We attempted to head back to the hotel but got bogged down with road closures so I walked about half-a-mile which gave my legs a chance to recover. Within 45 minutes of finishing the race I had showered and checked out of the hotel which was a record for me. The goal was to see if we could catch a San Diego/Pacific Ocean sunset. It was an ambitious goal. As we headed west the Saguaro cacti and desert transformed into large boulder mountains. Along the way we were gaining elevation and peaked at 4,141 feet. On the other side of the mountain, we found miles and miles of sand dunes which eventually transformed in lush fields of lettuce and cabbages. Once we acrossed the state line the traffic started to buildup and become more congested. We arrived at the San Diego beach within 30 minutes of sunset. It was an awesome sight watching the colors develop and very gradually fade into darkness.
On Monday morning, I awoke to find my legs a little stiff but not sore from the race. This was a good thing. I looked at the heart rate data gathered during the race and it showed I had a hard race but not a stressing one. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed down to the marina. It was a dark and overcast day, not what I would have expected for California. I was expecting warm conditions, perpetual sun, palm tree along the road and miles of beautiful people. I had to settle for the palm trees. As we walked along the marina there were fishing boats with their lobster and crab pots drying out and most boat were birthed for the day. There was a warning that severe weather was coming. One of our goals of the day was to take a boat cruise of the north and south harbor. As we were waiting in line to boat, JB couldn't stop singing the theme song from "Gilligan's Island." We would be out for a two hour tour not a fateful three hour tour. As the boat was backing out of the harbor I could hear a grinding sound. It sounded like gears grinding against each other. It was under a strong wind and light rain that we started our journey. JB opted to have a Bloody Mary to calm his nerves as the boat started to rock in the waves. As the captain shift to full throttle to combat the waves the boat started to shudder and then stopped. One of the engines was dead. We very slowly crept back to shore with one engine and got a refund. Once on shore it started to rain and the clouds looked dark. JB decided I should take a picture of him writing "I love Ash" in the sand. We headed over to the beach and as we stepped of of the car I could feel the rain soaking through my jacket. I grabbed a couple of dog poo bag to protect my camera and phone from the rain. I offered JB one but he declined. I was happy to be on the road taking pictures while we scribed in the sand. He had nearly finished writing in the said when I head a strong expletive like "Oh, F***." His new Android phone had fallen in the ocean was starting to float away. Once back at the car he took out the battery and laid the disassembled phone on a towel. We were sort of screwed as we were Google maps on the Android phone to navigate in San Diego. I pulled to my GPS which only has base map for California and got using going in a easterly direction. Somehow we reached a dead end which lead onto a military base. A very attractive private gave us directions to the freeway. By this time we were experiencing torrential rain and the roads became minature lakes. This was the first time I had seen a storm surge. Most of the road don't have storm drains. We headed east as quickly as we could with thoughts that we could outrun the storm. As we climbed through the mountains the rain abated but was replaced by thick fog. As we descended down the other side of the mountains we found that we were driving in good conditions, a clear sky and a dry road. The drive back to Phoenix from this point onwards was uneventful. As we were driving towards JB's place we checked the phone and it started to work again. I credit this to good design on Google's part. On Tuesday morning I headed home to Ottawa.

Last workout before my first race of the year

It's a couple of days before my first race of the year and tonight I did my final workout under questionable weather conditions. It was midway between raining and snowing. As I set off for my run, I knew I was in for a challenge as ice started to form on my glasses making it had to see in the dark. Ever couple of minutes, I wiped my finger across my glasses to thaw the ice. As the workout continued ice started to accumulate and very soon I had a thin layer of ice forming down the front of my jacket and pants. It was a unique experience. I ran long enough to satisfy my legs but not long enough to tire them out for my upcoming 13.1 mile half-marathon race in the southern US. Once back at the gym, I noticed that icicles had formed in my hair. As I was taking on my hat I noticed a long icicle was attached to my hat. I sucked on it while doing my stretching, expecting that it would have a salty taste but it tasted like good old cold water.

Christmas Home Renovations

Every year my father and I work on a major home renovation project. This year we continued something that we started a couple of years ago and that is to lay hardwood flooring throughout the house. This year we laid red oak flooring in a spare bedroom. We started by removing the furniture and ripping up some carpet that we put down 15 years ago. The underlying floor is a little uneven some we put down a 3/8 inch plywood board to flatten out the floor. In the end, we put down about three 4' x 8' sheets. Over a couple of days, we put down about 140 square feet of red oak planks. We measured our progress in 3 1/4" segments. Our estimate of the amount of wood to buy were bang on as we only had five spare pieces. All that is left is for us to replace the flooring in another bedroom some time in 2010 and the house will be completely finished in red oak flooring.

The Mysteries of Snow

Over the Christmas holidays I have been staying at my folks place where I have been happy to be away from the Ottawa cold and snow for a while. I knew that the absence of snow wouldn't last long. Overnight we received two inches of fresh snow which brighten up the muddy front yard. As I was taking Hoover out for his morning walk, I started to notice something that the snow had revealed. The snow exposed all of the local animal activity. As we were walking around the back forty we saw mouse, rabbit, mole, vole and deer tracks in the snow. I spotted where mice had started to eat the bark off tree for food. Flying overhead were red-tailed hawks in search of a daily meal.

Albino/Leucistic Canada Goose

Today on my morning bike commute I spotted an anomaly that caught my attention, a Canada goose with an odd coloring. The bird's feathers didn't have any pigments. Once at the office I did a quick google check and Leucistic/albino geese are quick common. Here is a link to more pictures

Swing dancing -- "switch dancing"

Something new happened at last night's Friday night swing dance which I will call a "switch dance" but I'm sure there is another name. We were all on the dance floor watching the jam session and once it was over the dance started up again but with a twist about every 15 seconds we had to change dance partner. The DJ would call out "change" and we would dance with the closest follower. Over about a four minute period I danced with a fair number of women and many of which, I have never dance with before. It was a great way to meet a lot of dancers in a short period of time. After the dance I was able to dance with some new women which was great.

2009 Baltimore race weekend

Very soon I'll start my second Baltimore adventure and thought I would take a moment to write about my most recent one. For much of the summer and fall the people I train with on Wednesday night at the Running Room had been gearing up for the Ottawa Army half-marathon race near the end of September. Coach Phil had designed a training program so we would peak for around that time. I was able to continue the program for another week. As I was heading down to Baltimore I knew that I probably should have done two more 12-13 mile long runs but if I had done so I would not be racing on fresh legs. I spent the final week detraining and allowing my legs to recover. This is a phase of training that I don't enjoy as you cut back on your training volume and one feels grouchy.
On Thursday, before the race I picked up race packet and like the new system where you pick up your race number outside and then head into Raven Stadium to pick up your gear bag and t-shirt. Friday was spent giving my legs some more time to recover for the pending race. On Saturday morning, I got early and started the fueling routine of eating part of a book of Vector cereal. Jason drove me quite close to starting line area which was great. Thanks, Jason. If I'm lucky may be I can convince him to run the 5km race next year. I spent about an hour chilling at the Raven Stadium before eating my pre-race Clif bar. The idea was to stay relaxed while waiting for the race. About 40 minutes before the start, I headed over to the Inner Harbor to do my warm-up run followed by stretching. With about 15 minutes go I headed over to corral #1 to find a good starting point. After the national anthem was played we started on our 13.1 mile journey by heading north-west over to Patterson Park. The weather started to deteriorate in light rain which reduced one's traction. On the uphills you would slip backwards and on the downhill you would slide forward. One of the race highlights was running in Clifton Park. A second highlight was running a loop of Lake Montebello before heading over to John Hopkins University before heading south to finish at Camden Yards. I was pleased with the way I finished as I had medical complications along the course. When I started off the racing I was sweating which is not a good thing. I had a migraine and severe stomach pain for much of the race. I was tempted to stop in at the medical tent at the end of the race but decided to pass. In the end, I was pleased with my time and place as I improved on my performance over last year and am looking forward to doing the race in 2010.

While in Baltimore I was able to do some geocaching in Falls Road area. I found a couple of geocaches in Falls Road Park before heading over to Robert E. Lee Park which has an awesome running trail network as well as mountain bike trails.

Three more workout to go...

As I type this blog I realize that time is running out. This a good thing. I only have three more workouts before I do my half-marathon in Baltimore next Saturday. I'll do my usual 40 minute run along the Rideau Canal tomorrow night. The Friday night swing dancing and Saturday night contra-dancing don't count as workout. On Sunday morning, I'll do a 10 mile easy long run. On Tuesday or Wednesday I'll do my final workout which will most likely be quite peppy. I'm looking forward to next weekend for a whole host of reasons. It caps off my fall training season which has been more intense than usual. I will be able to see my good friend Jason and his fiance.

Swing dancing innovations

This past weekend, I spotted something new on the sidelines of the dance floor. Chip, one of our dancers, who is a professional engineer has built himself a battery powered fan that is driven by ten "C" batteries. C-size batteries are the ones about twice the size of a fig newton or your thumb. Chip has mounted the batteries and the fan on a board which uses to cool himself between dances. The fan face is on a mount which means he can just the angle at which the gusts of air hit his body. I thought it was a cool concept but a little too geeky for me.

Hints of fall...

As I bicycle commute in the mornings I find it is becoming harder and harder to wear a quick dry t-shirt as it is getting colder and colder. I'm at the point where I start the day in a long sleeve shirt and roll up the sleeves for the nightly commute. My legs are much more durable so I'll probably cycle bare-legged for a little while longer. Along the bike path there are more hints of fall each day, trees starting to develop shades of red, orange and yellow and the trees are starting to thin out as they start their annual shedding cycle. There is now a new hazard starting to appear on the horizon and that is, wet leaves on the bike path. Folks at the office say that they can almost double your stopping distance in an emergency situation could make a bad situation worse. Cycling with studded tires might be an option but I would prefer to take it easy when cycling under these conditions.

It's almost race time...

In a little over two weeks, I'll be heading to Baltimore to run in my fourth the Baltimore half-marathon. My training is progressing well and I only have two long runs before I can give my legs some much needed rest. The race comes at a good time as my running coach designed a training schedule so that team peaked for a race in Ottawa last weekend. I just have to continue the program for another week and I'm set to go. As the time draws near, I'm starting to get excited. As well, I'm looking forward to seeing Jason and Emily and catching up with them.

Geocaching and bouldering

Yesterday I went geocaching and was able to use my bouldering skills. It had a difficulty rating of four and a half stars. The highest rating is five stars. The cache was midway up a pine tree. The problem was that the lowest branch was six feet up. What to do? I had a McGyver moment and saw two possibilities brute force, or make use of my environment. About 300 feet away from the cache were two things that might help a shopping cart and a oil drum trash can. I opted to take the plastic bag out of the drum and roll it over to the tree. Once the drum was upended I could reach onto a branch and pull myself up the tree. From there I was able to climb up to the tree until I reached the cache. I signed cache log and slowly worked my way down the tree and finally landed back on the drum. I rolled the drum back to its home and was on my way.

On dancing...

This last weekend I tried another form of dancing called contra-dancing. The Wikipedia link is. I was encouraged to give it a try as many of the followers I dance with on Friday night are really into contra-dancing. As typical of many types of dancing there is always a shortage of leaders. To prepare for my initiation I watched some contra-dancing tutorial YouTube videos from a dancing group in North Carolina. As Saturday evening approached, I watched them again so I could tell the difference between doing an allemande, a star and a side pass. The dance hall is within walking distance from where I live and just across from Mountain Equipment Co-op. I arrived a little early to find that I wasn't only newbie. We were given a 30 minute crash course on contra-dancing. To ease you into the dance they pair you with an experienced dancer that acts as a mentor for the first couple of dances. Contra-dancing is a more structured dance compared to the free flowing East coast swing dancing that I am used to. The dancing is down and up a line which made up of line of leaders facing their follower. The caller is the person that calls out the moves during the dance. Below the dance starts the caller explains and walks the line through the various moves which acts as a rehearsal. Moments later the band starts planning and the caller calls out the move and the leaders and followers do their respective moves. The leader and follower either dance towards the band or away from the band. Once you reach the end of the line you sit for a couple of cords and then you re-enter the line and either dance up or down the line. When all the leader and follower pairs do there moves in sequence it is a high octane dance. The fun begins when people start to get tired or the sequences of moves are convoluted. The line will get a little screwed up and eventually self-corrects itself. I found the dancing quite demanding and opted to dance every second song. When sitting on the sidelines I realized the dance is about the leader-follower pair weaving back and forth between other leaders and followers. Tongue in check, I think I learned how some of my followers stay in such good shape by swing dancing on Friday night and contra-dancing on Saturday night every second week. We concluded evening with something special, a waltz which is something that I haven't done in a long time and only occasionally on New Years Eve. It was a really fun evening and I'm looking forward to next weekend for two reasons, a waltzing lesson and more contra-dancing.

Baltimore Race Weekend Approaches...

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be heading down to Baltimore to run in my fifth Baltimore half-marathon. It is a race that I look forward to each year as it comes at the end of my summer and fall training season and it’s how I like to conclude my racing year. There are a variety of things that I like about the race course, running around Patterson Park near the start of the race, the Lake Clifton pump house at the midpoint of the course, doing a loop around Lake Montebello and finally the finale, of running through the gates of Camden Yards towards the finish line. My workouts are getting longer, tougher and more intense as I prepare for the race. I’ve heard it rumoured that Baltimore races are for the strong runner and not necessarily the speed. I’m at the point where I still have a couple of more long runs but very soon I’ll reach a point where I can start checking them off the list and it will be time to give my legs a chance to recover for the big day.