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.
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.
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
* 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
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.
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.
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.
