Sunday, November 15, 2009

Back at it

Can you believe it?
And I didn't even get a chance to have 2nd thoughts about bowing out. There goes my streak after running this race for the last 10 years.

But at least my Plan B was already in the works and I'd registered for Big Sur a few weeks ago, just to be sure to get in. They have a 4500 runner limit for the marathon and are already near the 50% mark. I already know my bib number of 1981 which is a number I should be able to remember for certain personal reasons.
"If we were told that we could run only one marathon in our lifetime, Big Sur would have to be it." Bart Yasso, Runner's World

I've had a nice little holiday from running and blogging over the last several weeks as I had been out of communication while on a research survey aboard a chartered boat. We worked the waters of the Bay of Fundy for 2 weeks, doing tows with fine mesh nets for just hatched herring larvae as well as the other plankton in the water. Here's a shot of the boat safely tied to a dock but we spent more time bouncing around on the water with little opportunity to run. There was also very little inclination to do so because when I did hit the land it was harder than normal walking a straight line with my 'sealegs' not coverting to 'landlegs' very readily.
I couldn't resist throwing in this shot of a purse seine fishing boat passing by on a not so nice evening which made for a pretty picture at least.Anyway, I'm now back on land for the better part of a week and have put in a couple of short 4-5 mile runs in preparation for today's longer run with Andrew. We did the Boyden Lake loop today for a total of 13 miles and it was really nice to get back into action with my good friend. It was a nice day for a run despite the steady rain with temperature around 12C.


Andrew is now touting a new (conservative!) running plan that will only do base-building work through the winter and then morph into race preparation in the early spring once he decides on a target race. Myself, I'll be along for the ride on Sundays as we do the long runs together. Today's run went surprisingly well for me and we even tossed in some (5 or 6) 20-30sec striders over the last 3 miles. I told Andrew it was good for his fast twitch muscles and he went along with me or at least humoured me and jogged along as I tried to run fast.

That's it! Have a nice week and stay healthy out there!

5 comments:

Andrew said...

Great run. Good to have you back on land!

DawnB said...

Its hard to believe Boston filled up so fast, I just hope its not a sign they will make qualify harder, well not until I at least qualify first :) . Sorry about you streak, Big Sur looks like its going to be a remarkable marathon.

Thomas said...

I can't quite believe the Boston news. Last year was early when it sold out in January, this year it's unreal.

Do you think they might tighten up the BQ times?

Arcane said...

Amazing about Boston this year. I'm doing Big Sur too next year, maybe I'll see you. I'll be looking for the CDN flag!

Ewen said...

Yes Mike, I heard about that! A heads-up to register on the day registrations open. Big Sur sounds like the perfect alternative.

Good to hear you have your land legs back. Enjoy the nice warm rain, and don't forget to pass on Andrew's better chicken jokes.