Tag Archives: running

Happy New year – 2015

BRC Resolution Run 2015Annual BRC New Years Day Resolution Run group photo

I decided to start the year with the Burlington Runners and their New Years Day Resolution Run.

Yes, it was cold and windy. No Amanda didn’t join me. However, I still got out and put in 5 miles (8 km) along the Northshore hills, on the first day of the year.  Tomorrow, I get to do the same route again with the start of the Around The Bay group runs.

Starting my running year off with a streak.

Here’s an essay I wrote back in 2003 on New Year’s resolutions and change…
“I Hereby Resolve“

Bad Races Are Best

What’s so memorable about running the perfect race? Sure you might set a personal best, but let’s face it, while you may have pulled off the best race of your life, it was pretty boring. You run at your aim pace or maybe a little better, you focus on your goal, focus on your form and execute. When the going gets tough you reach deep and keep going. You write the time on your bib or in your run journal and that’s it. Other than a celebratory meal or refreshment after, what’s to remember about that run? Nothing. It was boring, it went exactly as planned. Unless you are one of the front runners, your race was successful, but there is no gripping story to tell. The perfect race is a perfect bore.

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The 100 Mile Relay

I’ve been coaching “Learn to Run” clinics at work for a few years and while most participants never look beyond the five kilometres that I set as the goal of the two months training, there are a few that have used it as a stepping-stone to bigger events. A handful of my charges and running partners started training seriously in the fall of 2004 and on the Monday after the Bay, a few of them asked me what their next challenge was. Jokingly, I suggested the club’s eight person, one hundred mile relay as a group event. And darned if they didn’t jump at it too!

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Team Rocket: Running with Amanda

2006 London Forest City Marathon, London Ontario The Team, just seconds from the finish line.“Team Rocket” in the home stretch to the finish line at the
2006 London Ontario, Forest City Marathon.

Why do we do what we do? I guess I really should say, “Why I do what I do?” I can’t speak for Amanda and she can’t explain it to you in words.

First off, let me tell you a little bit about Amanda. She is our middle child and she was born in 1985 with cerebral palsy that affects her speech and muscle control. She is pretty much confined to her wheelchair and has to have constant care. Amanda is also developmentally challenged, but she seems to be unaware she’s handicapped and she behaves like a happy, mischievous little kid.

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