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.

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.

Happy Birthday Wordabble

Today, I achieved two goals one of which was expected and the other a surprise. 365 days ago I played my first game of Wordabble which is a word game that Jason Lancaster and Adam Douglass released a year ago for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. I've played every day and enjoyed the 300 word games almost as much as the games when there are fewer than 100 words to find in the 5x5 grid. There is one mystery I discovered today that I have been waiting for quite some time and that is, what happens when you find all the words. Today was my chance when there were only 19 words to find. I can say with a smile that it was worth waiting 365 days to see what was behind the magic curtain. Over the past year, I have earned281,268 points with an average score of 771 points per game and in theory played for 56 hours which I think underestimates the actual time. I close by thanking Jason and Adam for a year of challenging fun.

Almost Wordabble's first birthday

In 15 days or so Wordabble with celebrate its first anniversary of operation. It is hard to believe that 349 days ago Jason sent me an email at 11:30 pm to say that he and Adam's game was available for sale on the iTunes Appstore. With 30 minutes to go it would be a hard challenge to beat either Adam's or Jason's score for the day. I can say with a smile on my face, that I have enjoyed all the games that I have played. I've enjoyed the 300 words games as much as the frustrating ones where you have to find under 50 words (Argh!). Over the year, I have learned many news words and probably used the familar ones too often. I've also used Wordabble as a way of testing my mental acuity each day. There is still one challenge that I have to overcome and that is to discover what happens when you locate all the words. I know that something mysterious or magical happening but I'll have to keep playing to find out. I'll close out this blog by thanking Jason and Adam for almost a year's worth of daily challenges.

Hiking Old Rag

Here is a link to my recent hike of Old Rag.

http://www.christophermoule.com/2009/07/hiking-old-rag/

Lindy500 -- Baltimore

In a week's time I'll be heading to Baltimore. Charm City Swing has organized a weekend which showcases some of the premiere Lindy Hop swing dance instructors in the US. Lindy500 will have three nights of live bands and two days of intensive swing dance lessons focusing on the Lindy Hop and Charleston swing dance moves. I'm excited to be able to head to Baltimore as I will be able to learn more Lindy Hop, spend some time with Jason and Emily, hike Old Rag, possibly help Jason on a home renovation project and hopefully much more.

Wordabble -- 200K

Today I experienced something that I had predicted might happen soon, that is, my high score in Wordabble went over 200,000 points. Over the past little while I have been inching towards this goal. It was a great milestone to surpass. A quick shout out to Jason and Adam for me one of my daily challenges. I openly wonder which will come next wordabble's first anniversary or reaching a high score of 500,000 points.

A quick trip to Washington and Baltimore

It was been a little while since I blogged last and I wanted to capture my thoughts on a recent adventure. Last week, I was at the SAS Global Forum conference in National Harbor/Oxon Hill, Maryland. The conference was held at the new Gaylord conference centre which offered an amazing very of the Potomac River. The conference talks were good and I learned about many of the new software products that will be released later this year. I opted to stay in Oxon Hill giving me ready access to Safeway and Starbucks but at the expense of brief commute to the conference centre in the morning. I enjoyed the twice daily walks and was happy to see a flocks of deer, geese on the pond, and bamboo trees growing next to the road. I was able to find a couple of geocaches hidden along a bike path which I did a workout on a couple of days later. The bus trip to Georgetown took us by many famous sites and I would like to vacation in Washington, DC in the future.

On Wednesday, I started my journey north to Baltimore a little earlier than expected. The airport shuttle was suppose to pick me up at 7:15 am but met me at 6:30 am. I was packed by this point but skipped breakfast to save some time. Jason and I had arranged to meet at 10:00 am and I was at the airport for 7:30 am. Ouch! What to do? I had often wondered what it was like to take the light rail from the airport. For $1.60 the light rail will take you from the airport to downtown. I got off at the convention center where they were having an Emergency Medical Technician conference and they had a van whose side was a flat screen display running commercials for the LifePak 15 debrillator and heart rate monitor. Jason met me and we headed back to the Daily Grind in Fells Point. The jolt of coffee felt good. We headed back to Jason's place for lunch. It was the first time I had seen his place finished and he and Emily have down an awesome job. It looked really good. It was bright and warm. After lunch Jason gave me some help with my Macbook which was really great. He pointed out some vulnerability which scared me but we were able to fix them quickly. One of things I really liked is he showed me how to link iCal to Google Calendar to the calendar in my iPhone. This rocked. Thanks Jason. Jason, Emily and I head north to the Druid Hill park area for a dinner at restaurant that looked like a converted warehouse. The location and the meal were great. I can't remember the name of the place but I would highly recommend it.

On Thursday, we headed north to REI where I bought a smaller version of the REI Muir Wood jacket. I had bought the XL earlier this year but found it too large but it would better fit my father. We spent much of afternoon hiking along the Gunpowder in area west of where we have hiked before. We did a circular loop with help of a GPS and Google maps in the iPhone. Afterwards we headed up to EarthTreks for some bouldering. Before heading out to dinner we stopped by the Teavana store and I loaded up on some new teas. We had dinner at PF Chang's before heading back down to Canton. On Friday morning, I headed back to Ottawa. Thanks, Jason for this brief adventure and I hope we can do a couple of more adventures this year.

Wordabble at six month

Today is a special day for folks that play Wordabble. Wordabble is an iPhone/iPod Touch game from the folks at Fusion Bay and today it celebrates its first six month of offering challenging daily word puzzles. When you look at the rankings page, five of the top 20 regular players have over 200,000 points. Congratulation and thanks to Jason and Adam for six month of fun and daily challenges.

Whole Foods rocks

Today, while doing some Christmas shopping with my folks we stopped in at Whole Foods in Oakville. I was going to pop in and buy some Pomegranate tea that I spied last time I was at the Baltimore Whole Foods store. This would be my third visit to Whole Foods. Jason and I went their in the fall and I grabbed some lunch when he was returning some things.

My folks were really impressed with the place and asked if we could go back after Christmas. My mother bought a wide variety of cheeses that she hasn't seen in years. As we were walking by the bakery we picked up a fresh baguette for dinner. I stocked up on some of the exotic black teas that looked yummy. We went up and down every aisle and enjoyed taking in the Whole Foods experience. Since it was close to lunch time had paninis for lunch. Jason thanks for taking me to Whole Foods in the fall, as a trip their is the easiest way of having really stoked parents.

Wordabble -- 100,000 points

This morning, I passed a landmark that has been looming for a while and that is have found 100,000 points in the Fusion Bay's iPhone/iPod Touch game Wordabble. Earlier in the month, I achieved another milestone and that was to have played my first 100 games. As I think about these two milestones, I wonder what other milestones I can achieve by playing wordabble. I'll close this entry by thanking Jason and Adam for developing wordabble. 100,000 points later and 100 games later I still get my daily mental gymnastics through Wordabble. Thanks guys!

100th Wordabble game

Today I played my 100th game of Wordabble. Each day has been a lot of challenging and rewarding fun. I can say with certainty that my vocabulary has increased as I continue to learn more and more obscure words. When Jason and Adam introduced the finger-dragging with auto-entry option I found I could play the game faster. Another feature that has become more valuable over time is being able see what words I have missed at the stroke of midnight as I use it as a way to increase my vocabulary. I would like to take a moment to talk about a couple of the more entertaining days. In one of them I was able to make use of most of the urology terms I had learned a couple of years ago. In the other game, I was using my knowledge of the various components of the heart and lungs. I can say that I have enjoyed each days whether it had 200+ words or less than 100 words. In the high value games it was frustrating to find 50% of the words. When there were fewer than 100 words I would scratch my head and wonder if that four letter jumble of letters was indeed a word. In most cases it would be a new obscure word that I would park away for future reference. I'll close off this entry by thanking Jason and Adam for my first 100 days of fun playing wordabble.

Urban Jetboiling 2

One of the dangers with your iPhone/iPod Touch is that you will write less than you should. I'll try to make up for this fault.

I was impressed by how quickly the Jetboil heated the water. The Mac N Cheese tasted good but it would have tasted better after a long day of hiking and camping. I think it would awesome with tuna or salmon. There was a little problem with portions. If this was an outback adeventure I would have had to cook two packages. This may vary depending on the meal. I think my next meal will be Ginger Pasta which when served with salmon is awesome. Jason, Em and I had this meal when we hiked in the Shenandoahs last year and it rocked.

Urban Jetboiling

Tonight I did something I had planned to do last weekend but got rained out. This is cooking with my Jetboil. I loaded up my backpack with my utensils, flashlight, Nalgene bottle, fuel canister, the Jetboil stove and packaged dinner. My destination was the bike path that runs along the Ottawa River. The idea was to test out the stove in a familiar setting before putting it to test in the foul elements. I assembled the stove as dusk was setting in. I reached a point of indecision, should I light the stove before or after mounting the pot. I opted to light the stove first. The stove lit on it's first try. In the meantime I started to prepare the grub. Before I knew there was a geyser of steam coming out of the stove's portal. I poured the steaming water in the Mary Jane Mac N Cheese and waited patiently. A little while later I was eating my first Jetboil assisted meal. A quick thanks goes out to Jason for the stove.

2008 Baltimore half-marathon

Short version – finishing time 1:34
60 second improvement of 2007
pace per mile 7:10
pace per km 4:27,
position 142/6245

Long version –

This past weekend I headed down to Maryland for my forth Baltimore half-marathon. My friend Jason met me at the airport and we headed over to the race expo to pick up my race kit. Registration was well organized and was able to get my gear quickly. One innovation this year is that they had disposable timing chips that look like a loop of tape. He headed back to Jason's place and had a pasta/BBQ dinner with his girlfriend. I came dressed for Ottawa weather and very quickly had to start peeling off the layers. Mid-evening, I checked into a nearby hotel as I would have to start race preparations early. I awoke at 5:30 AM and started my feeding. Over the next little while, I ate half-a-box of Vector cereal. I caught the 7:00 AM hotel shuttle over to the race start and was able to watch the start of the marathon. For the next while, I chilled before eating a Clif bar at about an hour before my start. After multiple bathroom breaks I did a long warmup along the edge of the Inner Harbor. I was seeded in the first corral and had a great start. It would take me a while before I finally reached my race pace. The first four miles are a gradual uphill reaching the steepest part at the six mile mark. Along the way I enjoyed running along Patterson Park, and Clifton Park. One of the highlights of the race is running around Lake Montebello. Your start at the south-east corner and come out at the south-west corner having knocked off two miles. We next headed over to John Hopkins University at which point we start the downhill section of the course. My energy was starting to wane a bit so I pushed back a gel. I was pleased as my mile pace was a consistent 7:10 despite the rolling hills. The final hill takes you over the very colourful the MLK (Martin-Luther-King) parkway. The hill comes at a bad time as you still have three miles left to run. I finished off my gel and appreciated the sugar surge and caffeine jolt (15 mg). Ever so gradually the view of Camden Yards (home of the Orioles) became closer and closer. At this point, I pulled away from a pack of runners that I had been working off as they detoured to a water stop. I increased the pace a bit and imagined that I was doing my last 2.5 km/1.553 mile interval along the Rideau Canal. I was in a fair amount of discomfort but knew that I still had more left in the tank. I was really pleased to find that I had finished the race a minute faster than last year.

Awesome weekend in Baltimore

I spent last weekend having an incredible great time in Baltimore. I arrived on Friday afternoon and Jason met me at the airport. We headed over to Whole Foods for a late lunch as I was famished. After lunch we headed back to Jason’s place to chip away at a layer of cement in his bathroom as earlier in the week the bathroom tiles didn’t set properly. Having two hammers and chisels beaver away at the floor allowed us to nearly get the floor free of cement debris 1 2 . In the evening we headed south to Glen Echo, which is south-west of Washington for some swing dancing. Jam Cellar and Sac au Lait were hosting an outdoor dance in the old bummer car pavilion. It was a great venue and the music was good.

On Saturday, we headed back to Jason’s house and spent much of the morning scouring the bathroom floor of cement so that Em could lay the tiles in the afternoon. In the afternoon Jason grouting another bathroom and I was cool to act as a support person doing chores for Jason and Em. In the evening we headed over to Camden Yards to take in an Orioles game. It game started late as the “O’s” were playing a double-header. We had great seats and we watched a good game despite the fact that “O’s” lost.

We started off Sunday with a large breakfast (home-made waffles) at Jason’s parents place. Jason gave me some tips on how to get my Yahoo Mail on my iPhone/iPod Touch which was really good. Afterwards, we headed to REI as I had an order that needed to be picked up. I was able to buy two BPA free Nalgene bottles which was sweet. We next headed in a North-Western direction to the Catochin Mountains close to Thurmont, MD. Much of the day was spent hiking and doing some light climbing. I was happy to watch Jason scale some steep rock faces. (Note to self – I should have brought my climbing shoes and harness.) (Wolf Rock n39 38.042 w077 26.258) There was a little exciting when we were at Wolf Rock. I found a crevasse in the some rocks which allowed me to lay back and to take and get in some R&R. Once Jason had climbed Wolf Rock he set his eyes on a more ambitious goal of seeing his could climb through a rock face underneath me. He got very close to the surface only to find he couldn’t get his chest through a small crevasse. What to do? The only solution was to head back down the way he came. It was a hot day and the rocks were slippery. As he was heading down Jason lost his grips and fell 15 feet bouncing from one rock to another. It was a WOW moment. A little later we headed south back to Em’s place for an awesome lasagna dinner with family friends.

http://picasaweb.google.ca/moulec/Baltimore_Sept_2008#

On Monday, Scott, Jason and I headed over to Home Depot to get some Hardi-backer flooring boards. I had estimated that we would need 14 boards by measuring the area and adding in an error factor (15%). After lunch we laid down the cement, Hardi-backer boards, and screwed in 850 screws. Having three people working on the task meant that we always had a ready-supply of cement, some putting in the screws while someone else was measuring the next board. In the evening we headed to the Austin Grill for some swing dancing. I head a great time dancing while many folks that I had danced with before. We close out the evening doing something quite memorable and that is playing wordabble on our ipod Touch/iPhone.

On Tuesday, we had a leisurely morning which was great. We exchanged gifts and I’m pleased with my JetBoil. For lunch we headed to Rosina’s which is a sort of tradition. In the early afternoon I headed back to Ottawa by way of Philadelphia.

Apple – WWDC – iPhone coming to Canada

On Monday, I received some much expected news from the Apple WWDC conference. Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone 3G would go on sale in Canada on Friday July 11. This was exciting news. During the day I had been infrequently been following his keynote speech through posting on macworld.com blog. Jason and I talked about the WWDC but it would take until the evening before I had a chance to listen to the keynote speech. I was stoked when I found out that my cellular phone carrier will be selling the iPhone. I am hoping that they will release the contract details in a couple of days. There is one thing I am eager to explore and that is, the GPS capabilities of the iPhone which was only very briefly demonstrated during the speech. It would be sweet to be able to use it when geocaching.

One of the applications that they featured is me.com that is described as “Microsoft Exchange for everyone else.” It is a subscription-based website that allows you to keep your mail, contacts, pictures and documents in sync not matter what device you are using. I have read the web pages describing the product but still not sure if I would ever need the functionality that it offers. I’m curious what others think of the product.

Hmm, only 30 more days before the iPhone arrives…

10 days to go before my next winter adventure

Tonight, we had our planning meeting for the uOttawa Adirondacks winter camping, snowshoeing and mountain climbing meeting. Steph, one of the guides, walked us through our gear list and hammered home the fact that we will need two sets of clothes, our day outfit that will get wet during the day and our night set which will keep us warm, dry and toasty overnight. During these meetings he likes to put the fear into the foreign-exchange students so that they take him seriously when he says to pack warm clothing. This year he toned it down a bit. I think this will be the fifth trip that I have taken with Steph and they are always fun and interesting. We talked about peaks and will likely climb Algonquin Peak or maybe Phelps mountain this year on Saturday. The weather-of-the-day will determine which peak we attempt to summit. I talked to Steph about changing the trip date in 2009 to the April 3-4 weekend so that it does not conflict with the Boston Tea Party. It would be awesome if Jason could come on the trip in 2009. With Easter coming up rather quickly, I'll be visiting MEC a couple of times over the next couple of days to load up on provisions.

Swing dancing--Solomon Doulglas Swingtet

The Ottawa swing dancing scene will have a special guest on Friday night the Solomon Douglas swingtet. I bought my ticket a couple of weeks ago as when we have a live band the tickets always sell out. I wasn't too sure who these performers were so I decided to check out their website and found a really useful and helpful nugget. It is a play list of songs that Solomon uses for teaching the Lindy Hop. It was a sweet find.

I had an incredible past couple of days in Baltimore swing dancing and taking in dancing workshop at John Hopkins University. Charm City Swing(CCS) organized the event had a beginner/intermediate tract as well as an advanced. I took the beginner tract and was able to develop a basic grounding in the lindy hop which I can now start building on. I really liked the depth that the instructors took to making sure we understood the basics. For example, at the end of the first triple step your body should be at a 90 degree angle from where you started the move, and at the end the first step it should be 135 degrees relative to your starting position and the final triple step is completed 180 degrees from where you started the move. It is details like this that allowed me to visualize and remember where my body needs to be at a certain point in time. The dancing weekend closed out with an hour long blues dancing lessons which was a lot of fun and quite intimate. I learned an enormous amount about swing dancing and how I can improve on the main things I already know. I would like to thank Jason and all the folks at CCS and the many local and imported teachers for a great weekend.

I'm in the midst of drafting a blog of the weekend and will post it later in the week.