Well I’ve registered for some races and am very excited. Jingle Santa 5k Race and Hyannis Port Marathon in December 12th and February 28th.

Well I think I have decided on my Boston Qualifier. I’m not ready to train for Disney (would have had to start a couple weeks ago) for the 18 week progression and would like to do something closer to home. Well New England it is, Hyannisport Massachusetts to be specific. Seeing as I want to Qualify for Boston, why not do it close by. The Hyannis Marathon is in February which will be perfect. I need 3:15 to qualify for Boston so this will be it.

Well a new Canadian Marathon Record was set yesterday, Kenneth Mungara of Kenya ran the marathon in 2:08:31.9 which broke his old record.  Amane Gobena of Ethiopia also set a new course record with a time of 2:28:31. Was awesome to watch as I’m not often a spectator, I usually participate in races but have since found just attending and watching is also great fun.
Here are some pics I took….

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Well raced around the entire marathon route on my rollerblades being a spectator for the first time. Had a great time today chasing Marie-Josée and Isabelle around the marathon route. One wipeout with MJ and Martin looking on. It was an absolute workout and after having run a half marathon on the weekend it was very tirring. Anyhow there are some great pictures and I got to really see Montréal…

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Well this year is going to be the year! Today I start my 18 week progression training for the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon which I have to finish in 3:15 or less to qualify for Boston. I’m going to be doing Hal Higdon’s Intermediate level I training program. I’ve really got to be deciplined. Need to work on diet, stretching, speed work. This is going to be the most intense 18 weeks to date. I have said I will run Boston by the time I’m 40 and well this is it. That is only a year and a half away and to do that I need to qualify NOW. The next Boston marathon is Monday, April 19, 2010 at which point I will be 39 years old. To run that one I need to qualify this year. Either here or another one before the cut off date but if I don’t qualify I would end up running at 40 years old. I would like to run it before I turn forty.

These are the photos from my 2009 Disney Marathon from ASI orders.

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Well I’m setting my goals for the running season and I think I’m going to be a bit drastic this year. I seem to be recovering very well from the Disney Marathon so I’m setting my goals on Around the Bay (this one is undecided), the Ottawa ING Marathon (May 24th), the Oasis Montreal Marathon (September 13th) and the Road2Hope Half marathon (November 1st).  I know this seems a bit aggressive but I’m not going to run them all hard. I’m only going to pick one of the races to run at race pace, the rest I will take it easy. I will decide race day. As for the Around the Bay, that one regardless will be at a reduced pace, it’s only because I would have a long run that day anyhow of about 4 km less so why not have some fun instead of a boring long run day.

Well the photos are already online from ASI Orders. I’m quite impressed. Wow they work fast. Anyhow I’m going to order the CD and the quality will be much improved so for now enjoy.

Well this was my Personal Best for the 26.2. I have suffered injuries in my last races and was just hoping to break 4 hrs. I spend the week having my share of beer and skydiving so I’m quite impressed. Next goal is 3:30. For the first 16 miles I stayed with the 3:20 pace bunny but bonked. I think I would have been save had I just started and stuck with the 3:30 pace bunny. Some hard work over the next few months and well see what kind of a challenge I can mount.

Well this week was supposed to be a 14 mile run for my long run day but figured I would run a half marathon again, .9 missing from long run day but what I lacked there I would make up in quality, specificaly “speed work”.
Anyhow it was a great race, fun course and lots of fans along the way cheering. I started out this run far stronger that I normally would. I ran 6.5 minute miles for the first 3 miles and that really took it’s tole but also showed me I can. The downhill wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and also helped me get some strength back, which I would need as the last four miles were on a slight incline and into a very strong wind off the lake. Anyhow I just missed a personal best (PB) by 14 seconds. I placed 99th out of 843 (84th out of 367 men) and 12th out of 48 in my class (the 35-39 year old men). My time was 1:36:49 and my average pace was 4:36per KM (7:23 minute miles). Anyhow I’m quite proud of the run and ready for another week of running.