Mind, Motion & Matter

Running, Essentially . . .

Category Archives: Masters Running


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Run to the lake and back and back again

Footbridge at Palace Pier

The early Saturday drizzle was not the best set up for a longer run without company.  I got a lot done while in procrastination mode, tidying up, gardening.  My husband offered to run five miles with me however this involved a loop back to the house, and the idea of getting close to home with many miles still to run, seemed mentally challenging.  But once I got bunch of chores done, the mood to run long finally arrived and out the door I ran ready to relax into a two hours or more solo run.

View from Coronation Park foot path

The marathoner in me triumphed as I enjoyed a steady pace through High Park, out to the Palace Pier bridge, then back east along the lake, heavily clothed in fog to just south of the Rogers Centre.  From there I ran northwest, home through the city.

Saturday run by mileage markers

It was our anniversary weekend but different commitments including a party for soon-to-be-parents made it difficult to get away.  Our solution was to travel very close to home and that somewhere was on one of my regular running routes.  A place by the lake of course!

Radisson by the Lake

The only expectation I had of the Radisson Hotel on the lake, just west of Queen’s Quay was that there would be a view.  It was a surprise to find our room nattily attired to a standard one might expect in a NYC boutique hotel.  And then with a little something you might not expect at a NYC boutique hotel, a high powered telescope. Which seemed a bit funny given that the easterly view of our corner room was a wall of condos.

Room with a . . . . telescope!

Coincidentally, the Toronto Goodlife Marathon route passed in front of our hotel, affording the chance to provide a bit of crowd support where none existed. I hope the strong tailwind made up for the drudgery and discomfort of the rain.  It was painful to watch runners slog by, both eastward and westward.  Go, marathoners!  I was impressed at how our cheers, lit up the faces of some.  I’m not sure if I could manage a smile in those conditions.

Brendan Kenny, Toronto Marathon Winner

As for our run, we did a route that took us to the Esplanade, a never run route for us.  This also gave us a chance to see the eventual winner speed by half-marathoners who had started out an hour earlier.

Tourist in Toronto

After our run, we walked over to Terminal Quay for breakfast at the Watermark Pub and an enjoyable browse through the Tilley store. Exiting the hotel parking lot proved easy, in spite of the ongoing stream of marathoners we were delayed barely a minute or so.

All's well that ends with Eggs Benedict

Ah, life by the lake.  I found myself wondering how much space and garden I would be willing to give up to trade in our too-big-for-us fixer upper for a lake view.


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Champagne & Chocolate, the Morning After

Making an Impression

My husband and I were not feeling too cheery this morning after what for us was a wild party night.  He had three beers and I had two piccolos of sparkling wine, which is about the most either of us ever drink at one time.  The kicker was that when we got home we gorged ourselves on chocolate.  This is very unlike us.  Chalk it up to post-event-organizing decompression.

Nonetheless, one of our first morning conversations was to ask him to carry some large  bricks to the front yard.  Over the past few days I’ve been shoring up the front garden with a makeshift cement block wall.  I got to work on reconciling some financial stuff for the gala and before I knew it, there was not much time left to run before work. I ran three easy miles. I weighed myself for the first time in a couple of weeks and was surprised to find myself down a pound to 109.  This is a not-too-skinny weight for someone who is 5 foot 1 inch tall.  It was it bit surprising, given I have really cut back on the miles in the past few weeks but it may be due to loss of muscle mass.

Pat's Pile

Lynn's Pile

CHOCOLATE DECOMPRESSION

The usual group of Saturday runners are injured, out-of-town, preparing to go out-of-town and MIA.  It will be tough to get myself out the door tomorrow morning.  Sigh . . . pass the chocolate honey.



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Metro Morning – Toronto Running with John Chipman

Clifton & Lynn, wired to run with John Chipman.

Well here it is . . . the very short piece about running with one of my many friends at refugee shelter in central Toronto.   CLICK HERE to hear the interview.

Heading south through Trinity-Bellwoods Park to see the lake.


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Don’t stop moving!

In actuality the idea that the pace of my life has slowed is an illusion.   I am now facing an extremely long list of things to do which I call the post-gala list and that does not include all the post-event follow-up, financials and on and on.

Mixed in with high season for gardening, I’m feeling swamped again.  One item that needs to get moved to top three status for the spring and summer is house repair and painting.  At the moment the top three for the month are training for the NYC marathon, garden work and home maintenance including cleaning.

Bleeding Hearts . . . exquisite!

I’m planning to run 3-5 miles but number one task is to plant the Mountain Bluets that were given to me by a neighbour.  They are not that readily available in Toronto garden stores but are long-blooming and tolerate shade nicely.  Our neighbour has the most lovely garden and I learned a lot about gardening from seeing it.  He offered to pick up some dahlia bulbs for us at St. Lawrence Market.

A beautiful gift from a neighbour.

Better get planting . . . have a wonderful day.

Forget-me-not running rampant, but still loved.


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CBC Morning – Run to the Tower

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Mountain Equipment to outfit a young man, with running shoes courtesy of MEC. Generously, they also provided him with microfibre warm-up pants, this in preparation for an interview with John Chipman of CBC Radio Morning, the Running Show, to be conducted while running.

When the time came for the run, my friend did not appear and a while later we got a call that he would be another hour. Thankfully, I was able to recruit Clifton to take his place.  In the end, running with Clifton proved more in line with the theme of the interview, that being how running is a great activity to acquaint newcomers to the city.  Although barely a mile from the lake, Clifton was not aware of the lake’s proximity having arrived from Africa barely a month ago.  As well, he had never been very close to the CN Tower.  When asked whether had had seen much of the city, he cited a trip to St. Clair and Yonge.

The show will air this Tuesday, May 10th around 7:20 a.m. and will run for about two minutes.

CLICK HERE for details about John Chipman and running in Toronto.

CLICK HERE  to connect to CBC Radio online.

Spirited sight-seeing

Thanks MEC!


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I’m back!

I’ve learned that you cannot blog daily while organizing a gala, running and working.  Training for NYC starts Monday.  For now, I’m taking it easy and focusing on Monday as the day to step into a six-month marathon training plan.

As for the Gala, we sold out, are already planning for next year and met our net revenue goals.  We’ve got that loving feeling.  And it’s growing, growing, growing . . .

The happy but exhausted co-chairs of People4Kids Gala.


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Running & Cycling Around Town

I had my bike tuned up last week and rode my bike to work for the very first time on Monday.  How marvelous to get to work in 6 minutes, rather than 15.  A great development given my current time crunch.  My life now is all about lists, lists and more lists.

This morning I realized that I had forgotten to get a document signed, that had to be sent to the ROM for noon today.  So I ran to the signatory’s home and back for about 4 miles with a stopover at Walmart to pick up a number of much needed stationary supplies.  Very convenient that they open at 9 a.m. for a busy person who often starts work at 10 a.m.  I was able to scratch a slough of things off one list.

I took a bean salad to work for a farewell lunch that coincided with the nicest weather of the day, allowing us to eat cake and drink coffee in our backyard patio.  Lovely people, lovely weather.  Most of the meal was prepared by a Columbian couple and it was very tasty.  I left work a bit early to dash to the UPS store at King and Bathurst which is printing the Gala program booklet.  Getting there 30 minutes early means that they will be able to have it ready for late-afternoon tomorrow.  They did an amazing job, the prices are very competitive  and the staff and owner are  friendly.

From there I stopped at Sanko Japanese Foods where I picked up some obscure items for a complicated Japanese rice dish that I usually only make for very special occasions.  I confess, that there is a bit of vanity involved in this time consuming choice as we are going to a pot luck party at the home of the first Asian Canadian woman to be a judge.  Sanko is opposite Starbuck’s so I stopped for a coffee break and made lists and more lists, sent emails on my Blackberry and was able to cross off more “to do’s”.

I stopped by the Paper Place but they were closed and I headed west on Queen street to Woolfit’s Art Supply store.  I picked up a number of items including a 32″ by 40″ piece of black foamcore on which to display the Silent Auction results.  The clerk wrapped this item in plastic and I asked her to make a handle out of tape.  Thankfully there is little wind today and I was able cycle home with one hand on the handlebars and the other holding this potential sail.

And now, I’m home eating leftover pizza and ready to work.  Tomorrow afternoon I will part of an interview conducted by John Chipman of CBC radio.  The young man I ran with on the weekend, John Chipman and I will go for a 5 mile run and some of the chit chat will form part of a 2-3 minute radio segment.  He is not able to tell me when it will be aired but I’ll post the date when I find out.

In a week I’ll be able to tackle my growing list of Post-gala, things to do.

Adios!


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How did I get so busy?

My husband is threatening to unsubscribe from my blog.  He tells me it has been a week since my last post and he teasingly says that he no longer knows what I am  up to.   One week to gala day.  We had our last pre-gala committee meeting at our house and had a nice time of it.  I estimate that I spent about 60 hours over the past two weeks on the eight page program booklet with Silent Auction catalogue.  Finally, this morning I sent it to print.

Is a picture worth a week of bloglessness?

Does this photo explain a week of blog-less-ness?

I took a day off from running yesterday. It is just not the time to push too hard but I did do 4 x 7 minutes hard today and had a good weekend of running with 13 miles on Saturday and 7 miles on Sunday. On Sunday I ran with a 19 year old from Namibia who told me that he doesn’t really run long distances. We ran through High Park up and down some of the steepest hills and his breathing never changed from that of someone walking. Well, he is after all 36 years younger than me but still. I expect more of myself and he certainly led me to expect less.

I look forward to having the time to blog and take photos.

Sweet dreams.


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Bad Weather, Running Boycott

Today, I did not run because I am super-busy and fed up with this prolonged wintery spring weather.  I don’t remember ever having come to this!  But, heck . . . where is spring?

People4Kids gala, a “labour of love” for my husband and I has already been proclaimed a success.  Joy Kogawa, renowned Canadian writer and friend, David Walsh , recipient of the Jane Jacobs award are two of our special guests.  Joy will read a poem, chosen by me, about children.  The gala will benefit an orphan sponsorship program in Ethiopia for children who lost their parents to AIDS.

Highlights of the past few days:

  • I sat beside our City Counsellor at lunch on Monday.  He seemed like a very genuine person.
  • I went on a day trip to Buffalo with my sister and bought a dress on sale for $8.98.
  • We have received donations from many of my favourite businesses, like Dufflets, Whole Foods, The Queen Mother Cafe, LUSH, Starbuck’s, Auberge du Pommier.
  • And of course . . . NEW BALANCE TORONTO!

Tomorrow is another busy day.  After work, I will go with a young man to outfit him with a pair of running shoes, courtesy of Mountain Equipment Coop.  Then to meet my mom for dinner and to the Toronto to Japan fundraiser for the Japan Red Cross.

I’ve been sitting in front of a computer for far too long today.  Life is very full and interesting and there is much to write about but no time.  Bon soir!


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Boston Marathon

Lucky Boston marathoners.  Conditions were fine with a tailwind and without the heat that often accompanies a Boston tailwind.  What a fine, fine feeling that must have been.  Congrats to all finishers.  Unbelievable times from the elite runners.

My day was busy with a lunch meeting and no time to have a peek at the action via the web.  I can’t believe that I missed five days of blogging!  But with 14 days to go for the gala I am working at light-speed.  I have been running.  I haven’t missed any running days although the Saturday longer run was shorter than usual due to the dismal conditions of very cold rain.  I ran about 9.5 miles on Saturday, then 5 miles on Sunday during which time the cake I had in the oven got a bit overdone.  Today, I had a very satisfying workout at U of T.  I had suggested that I should run 6 x 500 meters but my coach said I should do at least 8.  So I did eight and kept a consistent pace with the last two run run hard and faster than the previous ones.

I looked at the results from Boston for my category and boy are the women in my age category getting fast.  It will take a lot of hard work to place in the top five next year.  I’ve run Boston five times and all those times were into a headwind.  At least I never had to run it on one of the super hot days.  That would do me in.  I’ll take a headwind any day.

I look forward to more blogging after May 3rd.  Ciao!