Alright so here's the deal. I'm back into the swing of things training wise. I'm also working close to 40 hours a week on the graveyard shift. This means I go into work at 11pm-730am, come home and run, sleep for 6 hours, run again, and then do it all over again. I want to run 27 minutes on the track for 10k...haha yeah right. Ok, I want to run fast and get the most out of my training given the circumstances of these Canadian winter days. I've got until the end of May to figure this running thing out, while working hard with my good ol' pal Clint Smith. That kid is faster than me so he keeps me in check. The dude is injured at the present time but when he fixes his legs we're gonna go haywire. I'll be bloggin' up my weekly training so ya'll can check my progress. Monday Jan 14
AM: 2mi w-up. 4x(2x200m,1x400) 2mi cooldown
Clint and I did this on the track at Thompson arena. Clint rocked 5 sets while I pulled the plug after 4. I need start building a better relationship with running fast around the oval. Reps: 30-34" 200s. 68-70" 400s
PM: 30 minutes easy.
Tuesday
AM: 11 miles with Brandon Laan. Real solid dude, Brandon is co-founder of Runnersfeed.com, president of Race Roster, Race Director for Rock the Road 10k, and a 2:20 marathoner. Check out his website and sign up for his race this August! PM: Planned a 40 minute run in the afternoon that never ended up happening. Wednesday PM: 2.5 mile w-up (5x1 mile with 1' rest between intervals) 2 mile c-down. Rocked this workout with Clint on the roads in his neighbourhood. It was real windy and we were looking to keep it honest at 5:20ish/mile. We got a little to excited. Splits were 5:05, 5:01, 5:03, 4:57, 4:47 PM: 35 minutes easy. Thursday AM: 26 minutes easy. 6 strides PM: 58 minutes. Started easy and worked it down to 6' pace. Friday AM: 29 minutes easy. PM: With Clint. 2.5 mile w-up, 2' hard, 1' jog, 1' hard, 30" jog, 30" hard, 30" jog. Then we would repeat that set until we hit 8km. 2 mile c-down. Hard efforts were done at 5'/mile pace. Saturday PM: 44 minutes easy. Tweaked my right hip flexor after the Friday workout. It's tight as hell and doesn't feel the greatest right now. Hoping I can open that sucker up before it gets any worse. Sunday AM: I had to scrap the long run due to how shitty my right hip flexor has been feeling. Ended up running for 56 minutes easy. PM: 77 minutes easy. Decided to head back out and see how things felt. Managed to get in 18 miles for the day. Week Total: 87 Miles There were a lot of highs and lows during this first week back. That Monday workout was demoralizing. I wanted to puke all over the track. After we killed the mile repeats on Wednesday, I was back on top of my high horse. Friday's fartlek was pretty "meh" and the whole bunged up hip-flexor ordeal is getting pretty lame. Week 1 is in the books, I'm hungry for more!
I've spent almost 10 minutes thinking of a title for this and all I've done is drawn blanks. Sort of like how I've been with the whole blog thing over the past little while. I'm almost scared and hesitant to come back on here and write up a post; let's face it, I'm a boring dude with not much to share. By the end of this rant I hope to come up with a title of relevance. Like any good book, article, movie, magazine, Brazzers clip etc., the title must catch the reader/viewers attention. Django Unchained was a very relevant title. Once our boy Django was in fact unchained, he showed a level of beastmode, dominance and animosity which his other compadres lacked, ultimately making the title correspond directly with the actions about to unfold in the thick of things.
A few things have happened in the last little while.
I. Moved in with a couple bro-dudes at the start of December. I go way back with said bro-dudes to the early stages of life as we know it. Best buddies Spencer and Nick S. are my roommates right now and it's been quite the eye-opener thus far. Nick is allergic to Mayonnaise so we like to taunt and use this weakness against him. One morning a few of us were playing credit card roulette to see who would be buying the first couple cases of beer for the afternoon. Luckily my card was picked first because the darn thing was maxed out at the time due to some regretful and questionable purchases. Over the course of the afternoon and a few soda-pop's deep, we plotted a Mayo attack while our friend was at work. The plan involved dumping half a jar of Hellman's into a bowl and putting it under his bed (we thought this tactic would make his room smell musty, raunchy and have a sour, mayoey rank). Then we put the jar in his pillow case. NS woke up with a sore neck and a level of pistification that tipped 8 on the 10 level pistified scale. When I asked him what was wrong, he explained that some jackass put an industrial sized Mayonnaise bottle in his bed and a bowl of shit, under it. He would't investigate the remnants of the dish. We are such dicks. Spencer is quite the dude too. Don't let the amount of video games played in our house fool you, we're a bunch of athletes when we want to be. If I ever need a good laugh I just watch Spenny play xbox live. He puts the headset on and and gets very hostile with his opponents. Sometimes he even gets inches away from the TV whilst yelling at the top of his lungs, it always has me on the edge of my seat. We live in a great location. Minutes away from the bars, UWO and St. Josephs Hospital. Running in this neighbourhood is friggen' sweet too. I like running the streets of Old North because there's some pretty ballin' houses to look at. I like looking at these houses of ballin'-ness because one day I'm going to live in one.
II. I've decided to grow my hair out. I've always kept the noggin freshly shaven but I'm going for a trendier, more sophisticated, and all around hip appearance. I was also told by this chick that she liked this luscious new me. I'm using a nice gluey like wax to keep the flow groomed appropriately for any type of situation. The product is called Alberto European: Extreme Style, which has been appropriately named for a guy like me. The plan is to keep this hair growing until I can wrap it up like a Samurai warrior for some races in the near future. If I can mishmash that look with some eye paint and that thing Tarzan wears around his package, the intimidation factor would be through the roof. Or I could distinguish myself on the line of races as a pirate with long hair and a bandana, hair flapping graciously in the wind like some sort of exotic animal. A mix between a gazelle and a zebra, thats the look I'm going for.
III. Christmas came and Christmas went. Christmas was a majestic time of year until that asshole Matthew L. ruined it for me in grade 4 during a pizza lunch at school. I didn't like young Matthew to begin with because he would read novels at an incredible rate. Then he told me Santa Clause was a bust and my hatred for that douche grew immensely. Matthew is probably playing video games right now and yelling into the television, but he's far from an athlete like best buddy Spencer. The holidays were good though, saw some family, drank some beer, drank a lot of beer, ate way to much and just ran a lot. I love my entire family to death. Dad's side, Mom's side, damnit you're all beautiful human beings. Then New Years eve came and that's all I'll say about that. Glad to make it into 2013 though, those Mayan activists look like a bunch of big fat phonies now, don't they? Seriously though, If something jaw dropping did happen, I would survive no doubt about it. My good pal George has a woodsmen mentality. He puts that lame "Overly Manly Man" dude on Twitter to shame. He's got swords and bows and crazy objects that would have us fit for a hunter gatherers type of lifestyle. The dude fights for a living and was born in the jungle, you can throw an alien or solar flare at us Mr. Mayan, we will kill both of you.
IV. Running has been boring for the last 6 weeks. There has been a lot of running but there hasn't been any substance to it. Just rolling my ass out of bed at 6am, heading out for a 5mile jaunt, then putting in another 10-12 miles later in the afternoons. I'm trying to mirror the life of an elite distance runner right now, while having the god given ability of an amateur. My days go something like this. Wake up, coffee, run. Come home, eat. Head to the gym. Go home to eat and nap. Awake from (normally a shitty) nap and run for longer. Then I'll cook up some dinner which usually consists of peanut butter and banana on toast with a side of raisin bran. Depending if I'm feeling bold or not, I'll head to the gym for a second time. I'm bold more often than not.
If I'm running on the treadmill at the gym, I'll usually get the look from several on-lookers around the facility. I'll get the "Why is that kid running hes already 120 pounds, go lift a weight" look. The "Why is that kid running so fast, he's only gonna last two minutes at that pace" look. The "Holy frig, that dude on the treadmill keeps ripping loud farts, how hasn't he shit himself" look. And finally, the "He's wearing half-tights and has shaved legs, dude is definitely a queer" look. In the time I'm not eating, performing physical activity, or sleeping, I generally mix in a couple teeth brushings, a poop, a couple pee's, a whole lot of twittering, and some good laughs with my idiot best friends.
In these 6 weeks I've been working up the base mileage and callousing these young legs to get strong and prepared for the training around the corner. Like any young and stupid runner, I've grown fascinated with 23 year-old Canadian stud, Cam Levins. Levins runs about 180 miles a week, which is close to 300km. So I tried running 200km a few weeks ago and that shit flat out sucked. There is simply not enough time in the day to even drive this far let alone get out the door and run it. I backed off that insane bogus and have been putting in 100mile weeks which is still a very aggressive move. These runs are nothing special and there hasn't been any type of workouts involved in them, but I think my body is responding well to the volume and I'm looking forward to my first workout on the track this coming Monday. The big race will be near the end of May. It's 10,000m around the track at TD Waterhouse Stadium. Other than that, I'm gonna get back to the doll house town of Burlington on March 3rd and try and dip under 70 minutes for the half-marathon. Along the way I'm gonna jump in some short road races and the odd track race. I want to get my ass kicked so bad on the track because a good reality check is just the thing I need.
V. My dad proposed an offer to take me on a trip of a lifetime. When he said China, I thought what the hell. I am a big advocate of Asian cuisine, and the Great Wall would definitely be a boner-worthy experience. I took Papa Lu up on his once in a lifetime offer, and we're trekking all over that place at the end of April. Before departing, I will likely have to brush up on some skills. My chop-stick game is horrendous and most likely sinful in the eyes of Chinese locals. Every time I'm grubbing out at some Asian joint I can see fire in the eyes of the waiters when I ask for North American cutlery. I don't know a lic of Cantonese, Taiwanese or Mandarin. I'm bankin' on my little friend Cheuk Leung to teach me the swear words, you need to know the swear words. I think I can use some transferrable skills while I'm over there, however. I like to spend money on toys and I hear toys are dirt cheap over there. I know Tae Kwon Do, so I can defend myself in the event of a Triad related ambush. I know Gangnam Style when I'm drunk. I can take good Instagram photo's of Shanghai and Bangkok. I'm going to become cultural and diverse. I'm going to conquer that wall.
VI. I've removed myself from the college scene. It was a good go coming back in the fall to race another season and win a Canadian college cross country championship. The motivation however came to an end after we locked that thing up and I wanted to finish off the semester and do other things. I will most likely pick it back up in the fall, but until then I'm content with making some money and running like hell. Since I'm not back at the college, I'm making the most of my money making ability (sort of) and training. I'm trying to become a god damn specimen and freak. I'm trying to re-invent myself in every way possible, from cleaning the dishes with precision and finesse, to taking out the garbage in a timely fashion, with a smile on my face. I'm upping my cooking game from cereal at every meal to the odd chicken on a sauce pan grilled with veg and spices. I'm getting good core strength lately and I'm looking to achieve a 12 pack ab ensemble because I think girls like abs and I want more abs then the normal ab sporting male. Abs are such a lame thing to talk about but runner's need those things.
VII. We are still figuring out who won man of the year for 2012. Theres so many strong candidates and it's making the final decision a very tough one. There is Frito Lay delivery guru, Nick Russell, mentioned on here before for his uncanny behaviour and ability to drink, dance, and destroy anything that doesn't belong to him. Corey Gutjahr, whose actions must be kept to ourselves. Dane Moffatt, the banker, mechanic, and general piece of work. And finally, Nick Spitters. Bloody hell I think the whole city likes the kid and he can talk to anyone. All our buddies are fairly close-minded when it comes to meeting new souls, yet Nick has the ability to make best friends with any crack head on the street. Mayo allergy or not, he's got my vote. And he tops it all off with a hair-doo that accurately resembles Ace Ventura in this memorable clip:
I'll stop there cause I don't know any more Roman numerals and I don't want to cheat by using google. A couple days ago I was a mile into a run when I passed by a long lost buddy at a bus stop. I didn't notice him until he yelled and I thought it was another jackass with the words run forest run about to come out of his mouth. I looked back and there was old buddy Delo. Hadn't see this dude in a while so it was cool seeing him there all hipster-esque waiting for the bus. So we said a couple things and I went back about my business. Yesterday I'm playing some xbox with our intense gamer buddy Spence and Delo walks in the door with M.O.T.Y. Candidate Corey G. It was the weirdest thing ever cause I went from not seeing him in years, to seeing him twice in two days, and now hes in my house. This story is really dumb but I'm mentioning young Delo because I know hes gonna be reading this and he put perspective into my eyes yesterday. He is pretty grown up now, wearing nice clothes, not having hair like Kraemer from Seinfeld anymore, sporting some Ralph Lauren spec's (which I think are for show) and an all around professional demeanor to the guy. The kid is more focused and intelligent than most people I know, surprising after he was the one encouraging me to funnel that bottle of red wine (*see post below about Campanle Basement Massacre) back in the day. Delo told me that when I ran by it was a thing of beauty, like a horse galloping 60km an hour and that he couldn't stop watching. He told me that I am a "get shit done" type of dude and that what I do is what 99% of people living cannot. In hindsight, Delo was pumping my tires to the fullest extent and told me to get after what I want. He explained that If I applied my work ethic in running to every facet of life, I would be a successful person, without a doubt. Delo is moving out to Calgary in May to start making some real dough and get his shit together. Delo: you best be knowing that I'm visiting your punk ass in Calgary and Pinnacle Peak when you're down in Arizona. Get after it kid.
I ran with my mom this morning and followed it up with a coffee at Starbucks. I can really get into this routine because I like my mom, early mornings, and coffee. Today she encouraged me to travel and go work in various places. After my 10,000 on the track, that's just what I'm gonna do.
Yesterday was Sunday and I woke up with the nastiest hangover I've had in a while. Making this hangover even worse was an 8+ hour bus ride from Montreal back to London ahead of me. Today is Monday and I woke up with a pounding headache. Busses and hangovers suck a lot, and so do Monday migraines. One may argue that these two days should be erased and forgotten about. But for me, these two days have rocked so far. I should probably be in class right now getting caught up on everything I've put on hold for the past 2 months, but I think I'll log some computer time and get this blog up. I do it for my fans...
I would love to see the facial expressions of the people pooping next to my stall at the Stop-And-Go yesterday afternoon. Not because I was ripping stinky toots or playing battle shits with those poor confused bastards, but because of my violent vomiting and cursing in that unfortunate stall. What did that toilet do to deserve that sort of punishment? I think I cracked the porcelain. We had a pretty nifty celebration Saturday night and I was paying the price big time. My good pal George says it best; A man at night is a man in the morning. I wasn't a man in either situation. I went from a drunken school girl to a walking puddle in a matter of hours. I was green. I had the mouth-sweats. I was a bag of hammers.
The benefits of being a runner, or any athlete involved in a vigorous training regimen, is that they generally become a very cheap drunk. I remember in highschool I could demolish 26 ounces of poisonous rum, shotgun 15 cans of beer in a 90 minute window (Fubar style), funnel bottles of wine, etc. At 5 foot 7, 132 pounds, I am now lucky enough to start achieving the funny affects after 2-3 beers...running lots of miles has definitely made me a huge lightweight but my wallet is quite content. Before I became a runner I was a very immature person and now I don't have an ounce of immaturity in my body. In my grade 10 rebel days I went to my 8am welding exam with a bottle of red wine in my backpack. The plan after the exam was to go celebrate the start of summer and the shenanigans that were about to unfold on that soon-to-be horrific day. At approximately 11am, I had that bottle of red wine poured into a funnel and pointed to my throat, with a circle of cheering imbeciles chanting for me to conquer the alcohol. I opened my valve, released my thumb, cheers'd to the sky and started chugging. What a great idea at the time! I felt like an unstoppable machine with my buddies baseball medals on, marker all over my face, dancing gracefully for these laughing fools. That ended up being the worst afternoon of my life and Lisa and Sam Campanale's basement walls took a beating when my guts layered them in what would be known as the Campanale Basement Massacre. My past was pretty pathetic. Present day Josh is much more mature than that.
This blog has gotten a decent number of pageviews which gives me a lot of confidence. All the confidence I can get is very important because my lackluster appearance doesn't provide me with this quality. I like to think that these pageviews come from a population of many different and interested blog inquirers, but in hindsight, it's probably just the same 4 people who read it a thousand times over again. If you are reading this, chances are you're a friend of mine, runner, drinking partner, family member, or a coach and know what happened to me at the end of my 2011 cross country season. If you're one of the people that have reached my blog from Singapore, Germany, UK, Tasmania or anything else like that, I'll fill ya in.
In 2010 our men's team was compiled from a bunch of fast rookies, a couple seasoned vets, a kid that showed up to first tryout and ran in jeans, myself, and some optimistic coaches. The women were expected to win National gold again, and that's exactly what they did. Us dudes were expected to do well, but winning National gold was a pretty big shock for us to pull off and that's exactly what we did. After we won Nats there in New Brunswick, 110 pound Daniel Bright was brought back to the hotel at 3am by two lesbian body builders after he was found intoxicated in an alley. Brilliant. At the start of 2011, we lost a couple of bodies including the entire women's team. Us dudes were back to repeat and things were looking very good going into Nationals out in BC. It was literally our race to lose and I lost it for my team, my coaches, and everyone that invested their time into me. At 5k into the race, I started going blank, dizzy, breathing started fading, lost feeling in my legs, and chaos was happening. With 200m to go and another team gold medal in my sights, I collapsed and was unable to get back to my feet and help my team to another title. As I laid there in goose shit, listening to the drama and echoing unfolding around me, my world felt like it was coming to an end. I was held back in hospital for 3 days with Coach Ron while everyone else went back with questions and disappointment. In between all the bloodwork, tests they did on my heart, sexy nurses, and McDonald's meals from Ron; I did a lot of thinking in that hospital bed. I asked myself if I wanted to call it quits after that experience or keep at it and put that tragedy behind me. All the testing that was done on me came back negative and Ron and I went for a Keg dinner to help me feel a little better. Then we saw a mountain goat perched in his habitat, it was just sitting there all majestic and such. Ron was fascinated. Back in London I saw a cardiologist where more tests were done, yet nothing came of it. I started running about a week later and 2012 was going to become a harbour of excellence, perserverance and hope, while the gongshow of 2011 would be my motivation.
I graduated from my program and was ready to take on the real world, run for myself, make some money, chip away at some marathons and just figure things out. A couple blogposts ago I talked about ditching the New York City Marathon to go back to Fanshawe and run Cross Country for one last time. Let me tell you how great that decision was. Remember that hurricane that came to the eastern seaboard and effed shit up? They cancelled the marathon two days before the race was supposed to happen. I would have been in the Big Apple when they broke the news and I would have absolutely snapped, knowing I trained and travelled there to run and then could have ran for Fanshawe instead. I wanted to go back to Fanshawe to redeem myself after last year and help finish what we started. I went back to better my education and complete another program also. There is a good chance that I may even be back next year and the year after that. I figure I could just become the next Van Wilder and take every program that the school has to offer until I figure out what I like. I'll be a jack of all trades and drive around in my own golf cart around campus. Girls like guys with good skills, I need more skills. The theme of this season was very clear and everyone knew that nothing less than 1st place in the country this year would be accepted. There was this really cute girl that showed up to tryout in September that also altered my brain to make the decision to come back. Amazing how she had that affect on me:) When coach John unveiled the new Falcon shirts it put goosebumps on my scrawny little arms. It says "UNFINISHED BUSINESS" on the back of them and that was the motto for the entire season.
I'm just rambling on right now and I know I've lost the readers interest so I'll put this as simplistic as possible. We dominated Provincial Championships, putting 6 of us in the top 13 on October 20th. This probably scared the shit out of the rest of the country. On Saturday morning I woke up with redemption on my mind. You could see it in everyone's eyes man, we weren't going to let anyone get in the way of us this time. Coach John delivered his speech, we went to the course, the women raced their hearts out and it was time for us to go out there and get the job done. We had a lot of support which was awesome, All eyes were on us. Fanshawe Alumni came just to watch, along with parents and friends. Everyone had their battles and strategy. We figured if we put together 6 solid races on Saturday, no one would touch us. I put Trev and Ally's initials on my hand, something I've done all season. I warmed up, drills and strides, made sure I knew where the St. Foy Frenchies were and then toed the line. Predator Clint did his thing up front there despite running 25:41 for the 3rd straight Nationals. He is cursed in terms of running that same friggen' time, but he isn't complaining because he came 2nd in the race individually for the second straight year- he's legit people. My plan was to roll with DB for a few KM then start beasting my way up the pack and take as many scalps as I could. The start of the race was pretty crazy and there were bodies everywhere (the first 400 was probably dropped under 60 seconds) and I found myself in front of DB the entire way. I ran super smart and and just floated along nicely, reeling in bodies like a beast would. The thought of my incident in 2011 entered my mind a hundred times during the race and I kept blocking that demon out with things like: I can't wait to party after the race, damn it's nice having John Mason yelling at me right now, I hope I looked good coming up that hill in the picture you just took mom, revenge is a meal best served cold, this is for you Tbarts and Ally, this is for you boys and coaches, there will be absolutely no ambulances this year, I hope I don't shit myself, I might puke my way out of the finishing chute after the race, I'm gonna drink gin like an animal tonight, quick go catch that St. Foy kid, cursing back and forth with that idiot in the back section of the 3k loop, did he actually just call me slim shady, so-long gay boy, suck on these chinese balls, that kenyan dude is gonna crash hard, how bad do you want this, we're gonna do this, keep digging buddy you're almost there, 200m and I'm feeling better than last time, god damnit Sean Sweeny just out kicked me by a second.
I rolled through the line and flashed my Fanshawe singlet for the cameras. I finished in 10th place with a time of 26:18. I looked back and there was DB, Rick, Mckellar, and BG. It was exhilarating to see our whole squad finish in the top 26. My emotions just started pouring out and I was fist pumping and yelling like a crazy bastard. I ran great and I knew redemption just happened. Business was finished. That was one of the best moments of my life so far; just jumping around with a permanent smile, hugging everyone and celebrating..I'm getting so happy thinking about it- I want to start screaming in the computer lab I'm in right now and break dance for everyone in here. After the race, Clint and I helped pace Kyle and Mike in the community/coaches 5k race. We had to live up to our nicknames as Predator and Beast so pacing those boys to a fast and strong 5k was the right thing to do.
It was so nice to show that you can do great things if you want it bad enough. I could have been wallowing with my head down or I could have came back to re-live another season with my family and teammates. I got to meet a super cool chick, help my boys win National College Cross Country Gold, further my education, and tell you all about my amazing experience this season. This season was a message from god that everything in fact does happen for a reason. Dreams do not work unless you do. Champions are made when no one is watching. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. When life hits you hard you gotta get up and keep grinding man. Whatever it is that interests you, work hard and be the best at it. Do what makes you happy and live life abundantly.
Thanks to everyone that has supported me and the team this year. This was a year in the making and I can finally breathe and relax a little now. This is definitely a bittersweet moment for me because I am ending my running career at Fanshawe as a champion but I'm gonna miss these experiences like crazy. I can't thank my coaches enough for investing the time into me and making me something I never thought I'd become. The relationships I've made in this sport will last a lifetime.
I said I'd take a week off completely from running. I'm going to party like a rock star for a couple weeks now but I don't think I'll get passed day 3 of no running. In about a week from now I'm gonna start logging some sexy base mileage for the winter. I'm thinking like 100miles a week and then just work my way up from there. Cam Levins reportedly just signed with Speed River and is working with Dave Scott-Thomas but will be training in Utah still. He also ran 190 miles last week. Most people I know don't drive 100 miles a week, so I'll just start there. I also want to get a Beer Mile organized soon, so I'll keep you running people up to date with that. This Saturday, November 17th I will be hosting a party at my mothers pad to celebrate 3 months of sobriety and a fairy tale ending to an amazing season running with my Falcons. Alcohol and food, runners and non-runners, pin the tail on the Dane Moffatt, hugs, high fives, sky punches, fist pumps, beer pong, no bongs, good looking and ugly people, dogs, ratchets, music and winning will be a few things on display, so come check it out.
Bonjour and welcome back to the BlogSpot. Some fairly hot topics boiling over right now so let's get going here shall we. My last post I mentioned that I would be scribbling ideas down in my idea bank journal, however I've been knee deep in school work, running, and a new hobby in Tae Kwon Do over the past couple of weeks. Needless to say, the idea bank has been neglected for good grades, a sexy looking running log, and some decent race results. Back when I was a tyke I was entered into a karate class. The instructor wasn't cool at all though, nor was he Chinese. There was something about a bald white guy teaching me lame maneuvers on the exercise mats that didn't seem right. I wanted Bruce Lee and I wanted violence. When I order my food, it's very important to me that the person serving the food is of the same ethnicity of the stuff I'm about to eat. Same goes for my karate lessons. He explained karate was about self defence and respect. With total disregard to me and the rest of my peers, Sensei Karl diminished our dreams of snapping necks and round house kicks with his croc of shit theories on this so called respect methodology. After never graduating beyond a white belt in my days as a minor, I developed this wussy mantra approach to everything I worked towards. Looking back, my background in karate, or lack there of, was the product of me becoming a terrible lacrosse player and a very good artist. If you haven't put the pieces of the puzzle together (my friends have), I am a pretty weird dude. Some of the weirdest individuals roaming the planet at this very moment are of the following breed of human being:
Ice Hockey Goalie
Artist
Gin Enthusiast
Runner
Guy With Bleached Hair
Guy With Blog That Wastes Your Time
I could catch a hockey puck like you wouldn't believe man. I was a young Felix Potvin back in the Jr. Knights days, and I was a very talented drawer. The artistic qualities I possessed back then could have taken me all the way to the top, but there was nothing sexy about a drawing goalie that always won the art award. Now if I was Leonardo Di Caprio in Titanic drawing naked women that lay in front of me, that would be a different story. The only problem with that is there would never be any work done and my career would crumble worse than Chad Johnson's. Now I love my mom to death, and I understand she was doing things in the best interest for me as a young gaffer, but she contributed to my pansy lifestyle when she would always give me a combover before school. Now that I've graduated from hockey, art, and combovers, Dane Moffatt has reinvented himself to become the guy with the pansy haircut. He is 22 years old and started gelling his hair off to the side. What....A....Doorknob. Since the entire blog thus far has been nothing in relation to "familiar territory", I'll transition over to that topic soon. I will let you know that my sudden interest in Tae Kwon Do has re-kindled the fire and drive to become successful in achieving daily excellence. Finding this inner chi has given me the strength to become magnificent at everything I am doing at that moment in time. If it comes to washing the dishes, Tae Kwon Do has taught me to be the best damn plate cleaner I can be. Backing my car out of the driveway? I'll honk to alert people that the beast is now pulling out of his parking space. Packing a suitcase? I'll pack that Samsonite 2 hours earlier than I normally would, with precision folding and efficiency. Studying for a test? I'll get Starbucks like everyone else who studies and study the shit out of those notes. You get the idea, Tae Kwon Do gives me perspective, drive and clarity.
Running. Let's talk running. In case you didn't read my last post, I pulled the plug on New York City and the whole marathon thing. I'm back at the Funshawe striving for academic and athletic excellence. There is this theory that if you want good grades, fast times, and enough sleep; you can only pick two. With that being said, I have totally abandoned my 7 hour sleeps and generally wake up before 6am every morning to get the friggen' job done. Early bird gets the worm man. Sure wake up call sucks ass at that hour, but there isn't enough time in the day anymore to be successful without jeopardizing some sleep. I love when people complain about Mondays and being up at 9am. Having to walk up stairs when the elevators broke down. They tweet about their #FirstWorldProblems, wishing their phone chargers would reach their beds and that they don't have a bathroom on every floor of their homes. These are not problems, these are lazy people. The same soft people who complain about snow and rain while I'm out running 2 hours at a time in it. Sorry for the rant, that was a little offside. Point is, if you want to sleep, forget about being successful. If you want you're drinking water a couple degrees colder, hit up my sister and ask her about the project she's working on down there in Kenya.
Running. Let's talk running. In case you didn't read my last post,.....damnit. We're back in familiar territory ladies and gentlemen. This passed weekend we travelled to the great blue collar city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario for OCAA Provincial Championships. The ladies came into the race taking 2nd place in every exhibition race this season, while the dudes have been undefeated this fall. Falcon men have won 3 straight OCAA's and we grabbed our 4th straight on Saturday, putting 6 guys in the top 13! That's basically a sexy guy in a red singlet, every other runner- pure domination. The ladies were edged out of a third place finish by a small margin, but we're stoked as hell for them and all that they've accomplished this year! Last year we were hurting for numbers on the ladies side, and this year we're back to rebuilding them and they have been running well, and looking cute! I want to say I'm super proud of everyone thus far, just wicked results and a lot of fun we're having right now. Definitely taking care of business along the way as we make our final decent down into Quebec for Nats on November 10th. Clint Smith proved he is the real deal yet again, Finally getting that OCAA individual gold that he's deserved. Past 2 years he's won silver, and he finally grew the balls to become a champion, good job Clinty boy! There is no doubt in my mind that Clint "If You're Not First, You're Last" Smith, is the top collegiate runner in the country. He obliterated the field on Saturday and even shocked himself a little. Other shoutouts go to my Mother, who continues to drop her times with age, running another personal best at the Columbus Half-Marathon in a blazing time of 1:47. Just amazing man. Shoutouts continue on with Doug Berk, father of 2012 Westen Mustang OUA Golf Champ Spencer, for running his first Marathon in Toronto last Sunday. Dougie is by far one of the most inspiring people I know. Growing up in the Berk household, I quickly became better friends with Doug than I was with his bad influence-of-a-son Spencer. Mr. B became like a father to me, and a funny one at that. This man is so legendary, that he was in a McDonald's drive thru once with a car full of hockey kids, and their order was taking forever. Doug said enough of this child's play and he walked into the McDonalds, walked behind the counter, and started serving the vehicle full of kids on his own. Doug became very ill a while back and he fought back and overcame the cancer he was diagnosed with. Heart of a Lion. Since becoming healthy, Douglar now competes in Triathalon and road races. Although he is a back-of-the-pack runner, he never quits and it is these inspiring acts that motivate people like me to continue to dream, and run for people like Doug. Spence, be more like your dad and less like Nick Spitters. Another dude I would like to mention is John Mason....because it's John Mason. JWM is a gnarly, hard working, boot wearing, mustache sporting, cow farming, joke telling dude that built Fanshawe Cross Country to what she is today. After laying the foundation for us newbies, he graduated on to run for the great SpeedRiver Track and Field Club in Guelph, where all those fast people that produce Canada's Olympians (minus Dylan Wykes and Rob Watson) train. He recently ran the Vic Matthews XC Open there in Guelph, where he hyped it up so much that he actually lost his shoe 30 meteres into the race. Like a total goon, JWM continued to run with only 1 shoe, while the smarter decision would have been to put that sucker back on and work his way back up. John learned from his mistake, and he's going to go beastmode on the 10k down in Springbank park this coming Sunday. That's where we'll be too. The Falcons will be down their racing the 5k. Come and watch us.
Fun Facts:
I lost my iPod for the 3rd time this weekend. I actually left it in my hotel room in the Soo, along with my Chuck Taylors. Damn my head was in a haze of confusion that morning.
Congrats to Brother Russell and his girlfriend Laura on moving into a home on Colbourne. Beaut of a place, love ya guys.
Forever in our thoughts, Trevor Barton and Ally Miletic. R.I.P
Hot damn we have a lot to cover! Im just sitting here in my blog laboratory, sipping on a fine blend of berry concoction I blitzed up in my new Magic Bullet. I'm really starting to suck at staying on top of this blog writing, so I've purchased a journal that will be an important component in the b-lab's daily operations. This journal will be my idea bank, where day-to-day misfortunes, experiences, and activities can be noted. Anything super cool should be jotted down, but not limited to: How do ants cary sticks, stones and 18 other injured ants on their shoulders? That is like humans carrying cars. Imagine you were in a situation where the city tore up major roads every summer and made us all late for work; shit, if London, Ontario just rang a bell, then you can relate to this situation. Now put yourself in the ants shoes, or -0.0000475 size feet if you will. Ants are pioneers, they are a tough species and have it pretty hard if you ask me. Pre-pubescent boys find pleasure in burning entire colonies with magnifying glasses, ravage them by the thousands with hockey sticks and cans of Raid, flood their trenches with alcohol and light a match, etc. Well now these little marching bastards are getting very strong and versatile like I witnessed the other day. There was an ant walking sideways up a wall, with a chunk of a bell pepper on his back, and he was bringing it to his brothers and sisters. I was fascinated that a creature the size of a dot could not only walk sideways up a wall, but put the team on his back by possessing powers humans could only dream of- carry something 30x your size. So sitting in traffic one day, admiring the construction workers smoke their cigarettes and give all of us assholes the middle finger, I began to think that we need to become like ants. Instead of feeling miserable, honking, swearing, and remaining in the same spot for 30 minutes, I imagined beasting out of my vehicle and tossing the Honda Civic right there on my shoulder. As the car sit there on my shoulder, I would walk around smiling at these construction workers, saying, "How do ya like me now, ya leatherfaced bastard?" Then I would just weave in and out of these late, miserable people and plop my car down where the coast was clear. That is just an example of something you would find in my idea bank journal. I can also use different techniques such as brainstorming and bouncing ideas off each other to make the blog more interesting and insightful for smart people. If you are a University or College student and find yourself here when you should be studying or wrtiting a "paper", as they call it these days, then the least I can offer you is some insightful reading material about ants and construction workers. If you don't gain any knowledge from the blog, then you should go back to reading formulas and the cut and dry language found in your calculus textbook. So now that we have most of the the rubbish flushed from my medulla oblongata, Let's reflect on the fireworks that exploded not to long ago. The last time I was on here I gave a pretty lame race recap on a very sub par 10km race I had ran. The next race on the schedule would be the Springbank Half-Marathon which went down on September 9th. I started to buckle down after that 10k to get ready for the half and I went into the race on a big mileage week, big mileage for me being 90miles with 2 tough workouts on the monday and thursday prior. On the monday, I ran a 10mile tempo in 54;30 and the thursday was 8x 1km (2;54-3;08) on the track. Long story short, I was going to run this half marathon with legs that could barely climb a flight of stairs. I had a lot of family come watch me, and big thanks to Josh Robinson and Clint Smith who were down on the route with my bottle (even though I barely took a drink with my stomach all jacked up). It was also nice to have Coach Loney and his boys out there yelling at me at the 10k mark. Before the race I put the initials of Ally and Trevor on my hand as well as my race bib. I think it's something I will continue to do in my races this season and dedicate the work I do for them. So the gun went off and there was a pack of about 5 or 6 of us for the first 7ish kilometers. At that point Adam Stacey and I thought it was necessary to start pulling away from the pack and it was the two of us until 10k. The first 10k was a little slow (34:40) and Adam put a gap on me and I didn't feel like making a move yet. I could see him the entire way but was never able close in on him enough to make it a race. He ended up winning, I finished second with a 7 second PB of 1:12:24. I was happy with my result because this course was a lot tougher than Burlington, where I ran my previous personal best. Just wanted to say thanks to my cousin Rob who attempted running me into the finish with 200m to go, he definitely got me sprinting when I saw him. He tore his ACL like twice or something crazy and he was still out there running around and popping out of bushes to cheer me on with his wife Tracy and their kids! So I think I nailed this race in terms of where I wanted to be with my training for the New York City Marathon. This is where I started to question what I wanted to do with my running, work, school, etc, however. I started showing up to the Fanshawe cross country workouts because I can't get enough of it. The atmosphere of fall cross country season, the coaches, the team and the culture of it all..I just needed to be there. I had my eyes set on NYC and nothing was going to change my plans to run that marathon. On the eve of the last day to register for classes at Fanshawe, I was laying in bed thinking of every positive and negative outcome of me coming back to school. The positives definitely outweighed the negatives and I texted Coach, and Clint telling them NYC was irrelevant at this point and we had unfinished business to take care of. Pulling the plug on NYC was a really tough (and expensive) decision but I was relieved at the same time. I don't see any marathons within the next 5 years for this guy, need to have that footspeed and the marathon will come later. So I'm back as a student athlete running for the Falcons, and we're working hard to be 1 spot better than we were last year. Here's a link to last saturday's Fanshawe Invitational and my first race back since Nationals last season. http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/09/falcons-soar-at-invitational/ Over and Out
Damnit I sucked on Sunday. With Joesphat, Thomas and Terence in the race I knew I had to forget about top 3 and just friggen' run. Even though I sucked, the event certainly did not. The route was awesome, Brandon Laan and his crew did an outstanding job, the beer tent was glorious and very rewarding, the bands and volunteers were stellar until I drowned them out after 5k, and overall it seemed like a big success for Runnersfeed. I'll definitely make this a yearly race and I can see it getting very big and competitive in the coming years. So ya the race. Like I said in my previous post, I had no idea how well I'd run on Sunday. I ended my week with 85 miles and then ran the race on some pretty shitty legs. My legs are so shitty right now, just rubbery shitty appendages that hang from my torso and don't want anything to do with me or with anything remotely fast. The plan was to train through this race and run it as a solid tempo in prep for the Springbank Half-Marathon on September 9th. I got out to a slow start and never really got into any type of rhythm- it was such a cock block not being able to catch 4th and 5th (they were about 50m ahead of me from 6k till the finish). The amount of miles at marathon pace and lack of miles at usain bolt pace is making me one slow bastard right now but thats what you gotta compromise while training for 26.2. I rolled through the line in 6th- 33:19 was my time. Running very mediocre times aren't fun, but they certainly fuel the rest of your training. I need to get on my horse man, balls to the wall from here on out! Less than 10 weeks until NYC. Let's go!
