Happy To Be Home Alone

My wife , daughter Marie and her friends Jinkie and Michael just left the house 10 seconds ago to go shopping at the Markville Mall, Markham, about a 10 minute drive from our place. Finally, I am the king of the house for a couple of hours at least and I can do whatever I want without somebody telling me, " please get off the computer, I have to pay the bills" (what about the computer upstairs), or "what is this grain of rice doing on the floor?" or "can't you brush your teeth without staining the bathroom mirror?". Sometimes, like this time, I just wanna have a break, and be home alone. Are wives all the same?

An hour ago, Jinkie and her boyfriend Michael (who both I am very fond of and are like my own children) arrived here, the latter proudly showing me his finisher medal for the Angus Glen 10 Miler. Both of them are new runners, and it was Michael's first 10 miler. He only started running in June last year and he loves the sport so much he's done 5ks,10ks and signed up for the Ottawa half marathon in May.They were at the finish line to congratulate me when I did the Around the Bay 30k last Sunday. He was not too happy about his finishing time, like most new runners who expect too much early in their running career. I assured him that he did just fine considering that's his first 10 miler and encouraged him just to continue training and the speed would come to him in time( why didn't it come to me?, LOL). The Angus Glen race was run along the golf cart paths of the famed Angus Glen Golf Course (site of the 2006 Canadian Open), which is a short 5 minutes drive from our house. The course is very scenic but challenging because it is hilly.

Early in the morning at around 8:30, I went and joined my full marathon clinic group at the Markham Runningroom for our LSD Sunday run. I counted about 25 of us more or less. Our clinic is divided into 2 groups of runners. One group is scheduled to run the Mississauga marathon on May 10. They would be running 23k. The other group are the ones running the Ottawa marathon on May 24, they would be running 29k. The running route was entirely the same most of the time until the 21st k when the group doing 29 k would have to go west along Carlton, while the other group woud have to turn left to Kennedy Road towards home base. A small sub-group of 4 runners, all Boston bound, do their own thing. We only see them at the start of the run and then, they're gone like bullets.

Initially I thought I would do 29 k. The day was bright and sunny, except for the cool temperature of about plus 2 Celsius and the cold air blowing from the north. All 25 of us went off running along Bullock Drive, as I joined a group of runners doing around a 6:30- 6:45 pace led by Tony. I felt good and strong the first 17 kilometers, enjoyed the Markham scenery of new housing development, farmlands, woods with trees bare of leaves, but started feeling tired after a short washroom break at Tim Horton's at the corner of Major Mckenzie Rd. and Hi-way 48. I ended up running at the back of the pack with my marathon clinic coach Ray who was just recovering from an illness but would be running a marathon in Kansas this coming Saturday. I parted ways with Ray at 19k because he was to do only 21k, and I continued along Manhattan going westward. Then my quads and hamstrings started to get tight again, so, in the end I had to cut my run to 23k instead of the 29k.

I completed a total of 23.15 k in a slow time of 2:53:15 hours . Next Sundays' LSD run is for 32 ks..

Now I have to eat my ice cream, play poker on the internet (just play money), and do anything to my heart's delight before the bad guys arrive, ha ha ha.