Training Log Archive: Bash

In Florida today, Gene Dykes of Pennsylvania, age 70, broke Ed Whitlock's marathon world record for the age 70-74 category by 25 seconds. Ed was 73 when he ran 2:54:48 in 2004. Two weekends ago, Gene ran a trail 50K on Saturday and a marathon on Sunday. Ed would have been impressed.
https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a25593341/70-yea...

'Bent, BazingaDog, AdventureDog and I went for a family run at Glen Haffy in icy conditions. We mostly ran on trails but did some cross-country exploring where an old trail used to be. "Family" activities sometimes sound better in theory than they are in practice, and this was definitely one of those days. Unless BazingaDog is in a skijoring harness, it can be stressful running with him because he's energetic and has had too many major escapes.

'Bent tried using the "long line" with BazingaDog for half an hour, which added excitement since the line tried to trip me a bunch of times when it wasn't flinging small rocks and logs into the air. After 90 minutes, he slowed down a little and was content on a leash. (By "he", I mean both 'Bent and the dog.)

But the unexpected star of the Bad Dog show was AdventureDog, normally the most obedient, timid, trustworthy dog around. For the first time in almost 4 years with us, he took off after a deer and didn't return when we called - and called and called and called. My GPS says he was only gone for 4 minutes but it always feels much longer. It's the first time he's ever done that, and he ignored us again a few minutes later. Let's hope it's not a new trend. He has always been the perfect running dog.

If anyone is looking for Christmas ideas, here is some fashionable (!!) orienteering clothing.
https://www.zazzle.com/orienteering_leggings_map-2...

Intervals while watching an interview with Ian Adamson about getting obstacle racing into the Olympics.

Hard Core Live with Caron

I'm counting this as a win. The stupid building permit / contractor / deck project crisis took up a lot of my day again, put me way behind on other things and had me tearing my hair out and ready to scream. My natural inclination is to reward myself for surviving a bad day by eating chocolate or drinking a glass of wine. In this case, I did both of those things AND went to Core/Yoga class. It did make me feel better.

C3 Yoga - After awhile, I realized that two mats to my right was Aaron Hoag, formerly of the Terranauts AR team. I did the Appalachian Extreme expedition adventure race with him years ago, attended his wedding to Kelly and sat at the same banquet table with them last month. They've just moved home after living in Australia and the U.S. for the past decade so we haven't seen each other much recently but it's still kinda crazy that I didn't recognize him for 40 minutes. Apparently, I don't look closely at strange men in fitness classes, which 'Bent should be pleased to hear. Turns out the guy on the mat behind him was another old friend who didn't recognize him either. He hasn't changed at all; he was just out of context.

'Bent and I went to Toronto to see "Come From Away", the musical about 9/11. Dinner was great and the show was excellent but I felt like a country bumpkin on the streets of Canada's biggest city. I used to work there every day but I think Palgrave has turned me into a fragile snowflake, lol!

Another day largely devoted to contractor issues - reading building codes and manufacturer specs, making phone calls and feeling frustrated. Turns out the issue with this project (fireplace at ABC) can be resolved more easily than expected.

The issues with our tiny, professionally built deck at home - an ongoing drama for more than a year - continue. Short version: I paid the contractor to handle the permit process. He honestly thought he had a permit for what he built but he didn’t. The Town doesn’t like it and they’re threatening fines/charges - against me as the homeowner, of course, not the contractor who screwed up.

It’s been years since I worked in structural engineering but I’ve been using my education a lot this year. Unfortunately it has mostly been to no avail since Caledon’s building department isn’t managed by engineers so I can’t really have those conversations.

This is relevant to my training log because (a) it’s been one of the huge, unexpected time sucks of 2018, and (b) it turns out I’m not inspired to train when I’m angry, worried or frustrated.