Fourth Week of November in Shorts!

This weather is amazing. I don't recall running in shorts this late in past years and enjoyed 3.33 miles (in 34 minutes). I took it easy the first two miles with 21 minutes evenly paced, speeding up a bit for the last stretch. The sun and mild temperatures really made it enjoyable. It's hard to believe that it was much colder five weeks ago when I ran the Toronto half marathon. Today seems like perfect weather for a race in fact, but I wouldn't count on it in the average year.

All the Leaves are Brown...

Actually they are more "down" than "brown" but, either way, the skies are not grey. It continues to be mild and sunny and I was too hot this morning when the group went out for an easy three miles. It was my first exercise since Tuesday and I felt fine. I took it easy with an engrossing conversation the whole way, and came in at 31 minutes. We then sat outside for our coffee. In November! I had my "Movember" moustache until yesterday when I shaved it off in advance of my appearing at the CPCCA hearings on Monday. I will report on that afterwards.

Two Toronto Marathons: The Controversy Continues

A full op ed piece in today's Toronto Star by Bob Ramsay. The piece is titled "Two Marathons are not better than one" and concludes:

The city needs to stop thinking that getting one race to move to the spring and one to stay in the fall is going to solve anything in the long run. Also, it's much better to settle on the courthouse steps. So maybe the race organizers can come up with their own solution before the city decides for them.

I do know that once Toronto has one marathon everyone can get behind, that race has every chance of growing to be one of the biggest and most prestigious in North America. And with that growth will come more visitors, more economic benefits and more prestige – all running up to the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Looks like this is one hot issue!

Taking it Easy

I got in to work early and had a training session booked for 9am that I thought I was too tired/fried to make. But I jog on over (and back, for 1.5 miles) and did an hour leg and abs workout with lunges, squats and various abdominal moves while in a push up position. Not bad for thinking I would take the day off. It wasn't a two hour run but I hope it will keep the body in a good maintenance mode.

Three Miles While Hung Over

It wasn't a long run but it was good to get in the regular coffee run even if much later than normal. I kept a normal accelerating pace for a 30 minute run and feel a lot better for having done it. Not a full antidote to too much wine and rich food, but definitely helpful!

Photos from Last Night

Since I now print this blog each year on Blog2Print, and I want the photos from last night to appear, here are some from last night. The description from Mrs. MM:

While it is still fresh in mind, I thought I would describe the evening to you:
The limo picked us up at 5 and we drove to Foreign Affair, a winery in Vineland. We arrived there at 6:35p.m. We made an appointment there ahead of time and we enjoyed a wine tasting and a talk about the wines. We arrived at Mark Picone's studio/ house at about 7:10. We started with hors d'ouevres which Mark was assembling: house cured salmon on whole wheat cakes and minced lamb on whole wheat cakes. The flavours were exquisite. I liked the balsamic infused shallots on the lamb. While Mark works he tells you about the salts he uses and he showed us pretty yellow radishes with pink centres which are locally grown. He also cut up slices of a unique apple for us to try. There are only 2 apple trees of this kind in Canada, because it is very hard to grow here. He also told us that he has a dishwasher which takes only 75 seconds to run. It is incredible. I watched him complete a load in this time frame.

His dining room is so elegant. The table looked beautiful. His cabinetry is locally made and he also has some wood inlaid pieces which were hand carved in France.

We started with either caesar salad or a vegetable cake with a slice of pork belly on top of it. Mark had the Caesar salad. The dressing was very pungent. It had a sharp mustard flavour and he had pomegranates with it which was an interesting combination. I didn't really loved (but others did) the pork belly: fatty and rich. But I really liked the vegetable cake. The Tuscan vegetable soup was terrific but by the end of it I was getting a bit full. My duck was tender and delicious. Mark's chicken was excellent but it was chicken so not as memorable but the cranberry sauce was amazingly tangy. The mushroom risotto with the duck was delicious. Mark's potatoes were perfect. Of course the dessert was a work of art: a dense chocolate souffle with a homemade raspberry sorbet on espresso beans with a wave of coulis and a spoonful of creme fraiche for decoration.

It was a memorable evening!!!!!

Moustache is part of Movember fundraising efforts to fight prostate cancer. (Please may December come soon.)

Hung over-heading out now for three...I hope.

Three Miles Before a Blowout Dinner

We went for our anniversary in July to the Mark Picone Culinary Studio for a memorable dinner for two. We enjoyed the view as well as the incredible view of the vineyards that was as nice as Tuscany. Tonight the view won't be the same, as it isn't summer and it will be dark, but we will be a group of eight and are going by limo, so it should be spectacular! I believe we're stopping en route at Foreign Affair Winery which was one of the ones we checked out in July. We enjoyed their Pinot Noir at dinner and will probably pick up some more today (although I saw that our local LCBO carries it now as well, at the same price).

I had this all in mind as I plodded through three miles this morning. Maybe "plodded" is the wrong word, as after a slow first mile I picked up the pace and ran it in 30 minutes (10:55, 9:45 and 9:20). I'm still on some meds and in fact have to take some antibiotics for a couple of weeks to try to kill off a bug that I can't seem to shake. I've been advised to take it easy in terms of exercise for a couple of weeks and, in fact, once I switch to a different type of antibiotic on Monday, to walk instead of run for a full two weeks. I'm not thrilled about it but an enforced lay off probably isn't a bad thing. I used to take one week off every three months and that might not be a bad thing in terms of maximizing the likelihood of running without injury for the long term. But that does mean no half marathon at the end of the month and also that I've been saying "no" to invites to do weekend long runs with running friends. Too bad-but probably wise.

The menu from the summer (below) is making me look forward to tonight's selections! I was fine with the "safe" option of caesar salad and rosemary infused chicken breast-others chose pork belly and duck-the full report to follow tomorrow!

In other news, my Road Warrior 5K rating at the end of the season is now 27:41. If I again do the Egg Nog Jog on December 13th, the hilly course will make for a slow time, but my rating already includes the time on that route from last year. If I actually end up not doing it, the time from last year will cease to be included, and my rating will go up just by doing nothing! (Last year's 5K adjusted rating for that route was 29:41 and it has been averaged in to my race results for the last 12 months.)

Three More in the Morning Sun

It's cooled down a bit but is still glorious running weather. I got in three at a fairly steady state and a time of 29:33. But I had to stop a couple of times to stretch out my shins-not sure what's up there, as I haven't had that problem for a couple of years. Sometimes it seems that fewer miles means more aches and pains. We shall see how this one develops.

All Time Perfect November Day

Shorts in November! The weather was perfect to be outside and if I hadn't had my flu shots yesterday I would have done a long run. But seeing as how I did have them and I had achy arms and generally felt a bit achy, I went for the gentle three miles and an outdoor coffee at the end. I did an accelerating three as per usual. Now the question is whether it is an afternoon to walk around outside in shorts! No doubt in two weeks we will have a massive snowstorm, so days like this are to be savoured.

Enjoying a Glorious November Day

It's nice to get in such a nice bright run in November. I opted against the race, even though it didn't seem to me to be all that windy out here (yet apparently it in fact is qutie windy there). It was more that it's a long way to go for an 8K, plus I don't feel like I'm in PB shape. Yes, I said that before the Toronto half as well, and that day exceeded expectations. I may do a half at the end of the month. If not, the Egg Nog Jog is five weeks awaits. Until then, mainly 5K to 10K runs. It's the off season!