QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home! "

~Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836

To all my virtual friends

FROM MY HOUSE TO YOURS "MERRY CHRISTMAS AND BEST WISHES FOR A HEALTHY AND HAPPY 2008'

MAY YOU ALL EXPERIENCE THE PEACE OF THE SEASON

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I no longer have bad days. I have good days and I have great days". Lance Armstrong

This week was an awesome training week -- the distances were similar to last week but the times were less and the elevation climb more. Also I was able to get in more strength circuits and finally for the first time since the accident I was able to do pure core work today......So I am definitely feeling stronger and a touch faster -- it will be interesting to see the results in the Resolution 5K next Sunday morning.

WEEK 2 - NAGANO MARATHON TRAINING

WALK = 67KM

BIKE = 133KM

STRENGTH = 1:45

CALORIES BURNED = 14,182

FEET CLIMBED = 12,514

WEIGHT LOSS = 0.35KG

Yup! Hills are our friends

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Hills are our friends!!! Hills are just intervals in disguise"

(me -- every time I do hill training alone or with my clinics)

Week 2 - Nagano Marathon Training - "Creative Goal Setting"

Well, I had some time to think about goal setting for the new year and after some awesome workouts early this week, I came up with my latest self motivating goal -- I want to push myself with hills therefore elevation training mostly for Nagano but also over the next year -- so here is my crazy idea to motivate myself --- I want to climb Mt Everest 6 times over the next year -- by use of the treadmill and stairmaster -- all workouts on an incline -- Everest is 29,029 feet high -- so that means approximately 15,000 feet per month or 3,750 per week. Add pictures on my training /change room wall in my home of Mt Everest with the height marked off in 500 ft increments I can monitor my progress on a daily basis.

May sound crazy but I hope it works -- visualization once again is the key!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare."

-- Dale Carnegie

What a terrific week this has been -- when I look back at the poster I put on my blog on Monday it sure says volumes about how the rest of the week went -- I posted that not knowing or have any inclination of how the events of the week were to eventually unfold.

The Running Room is opening a brand new store near Square One in Mississauga Ontario Canada -- the site of the store happens to be only a 3 km walk from my front door -- The Running Room has offered and I have accepted the position of Manager of this store -- the Grand Opening being March 26/08 but I will be doing some work out of the Commerce Court store prior to that. This is so exciting and I am thrilled with the opportunity.

And, not only that but I had probably my best week of training in a year -- I am pumped and I don't ever want this feeling to go away!!

Weekly Results

for Week 2 of "off to Nagano" Training

Walk - 65km

Run - 153km

Strength - 1:30

vertical feet climbed - 11,100

Calories burned - 12,570

Net weight loss - minus 1.04kg

QUOTE OF THE DAY

A MANTRA FOR THE WALKERS(COMPETORS OR COMPLETERS )

"IT TAKES A STRONG MAN/WOMAN TO SWIM AGAINST THE CURRENT --- MANY DEAD FISH FLOAT WITH IT"

Prior to doing my year in review I wanted to say that the absolute best thing about this past year was meeting, working with, learning from, becoming friends with and chatting with some awesome people in this great sport and this forum. There are a few I would like to take the opportunity to thank publicly -- there are so many I will probably forget some but here goes ---- Sarah(racewalker) thanks for all you have done here in the forum, and helping at my clinics; Running Room managers, Paul Shields in Oakville, Hayley Cockerton ex of Rosedale now area manager in Edmonton, Kim Wade at Commerce Court; Brenda Barron; The big fella(Mark), Louis, Sue, Mischa, Glen and Lin in Mississauga, Nancy in Oakville, and Ginny in Brampton and my special virtual friends Stephen in California and Tammy in Utah....YOU ALL TAUGHT ME ALOT and helped make my year a good one -- I thank you and am humbled by your support and Encouragement!! MY YEAR IN REVIEW: I waited till today as it was exactly one year ago today that I completed my first Marathon in Las Vegas in 5:17(including 14 minutes in various porta potties -- Now it is "if you want to make it to the podium take immodium ) --- Since Vegas I have completed one more full marathon and 5 halves plus a couple of 5kms. The Mississauga Marathon was almost a DNF after suffering severe and I do mean severe back spasms and resulting bleeding blisters for the 30km mark in --- I was 9 minutes off my PB However This became a benchmark race for me as I consider finishing it a personal victory( some called it courage - in retrospect I probably call it foolhearty!!--the pain of finishing and all that ) Early in the year I was 2nd in the mens division at the Chili Half after setting a then PB of 2:23:59 -- that mark was eclipsed at the Suwako Half in Japan in October by a minute+ Sandwhiched in between those two halves were 1st place overall finishes at the new Brampton and the new Whitby Half Marathons and a 2nd overall at the Port Perry half where I was thrilled to beat my last years 2nd place finish time by 5 minutes -- Port Pery you can only compare to Port Perry -- there is no other race like it for hills and rugged country roads...---- and also a Master's 1st place in the OTMH 5K with a PB of 33:19 and I also had a PB 1ok time this year of 1:07:32 ----so race wise the year was phenomenal for me with tons learned and more places to go!! Throw in teaching 3 half and 3 full marathon clinics and It was a busy year highlighted as well, clinic wise, with John Stanton Okaying and supporting a first ever Personal Best Walking Clinic beginning in January 2008 -- what great way to start the New Year Sorry for being so long winded -- thank you all

Only 25 days till the New Year -- HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF YOUR NEW GOALS

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"This is not Disneyland, or Hollywood. I'll give you an example: I've read that I flew up the hills and mountains of France. But you don't fly up a hill. You struggle slowly and painfully up a hill, and maybe, if you work very hard, you get to the top ahead of everybody else."

- Lance Armstrong

It has been a difficult week -- the aftermath of the car accident hit me hard at the start of the week -- shoulder and rib pain -- the ribs were excruciatingly sore -- went for xrays on Monday and the good thing is there are no breaks however the bruising is quite extensive....I have returned to work although I may have wished I listened to the DR and taken another week but if I don't work I don't get paid -- sucks, but it is reality and at Christmas time not getting paid is not a viable option.

Have had a few days of cardio -- will get my 100+kms combined mileage in this week with taking every other day off to heal and then this weekend will start Week 1 of the preparation for Nagano --- HAVE TO HAVE A GOAL ---- HAVE TO HAVE A DREAM ----it gets me out of bed in the morning ....

Only a little over 3 weeks till the New Year --- Have you thought of your Dreams and Goals for next year????????????

Stephen/Tammy Welcome to my world

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."

Lou Holtz, Football Coach

What you see in the picture above is what I drove home from work in this morning at 3am and what we are dealing with as we wake up this morning................Actually, the temp is fine and I went and did 5km outside today even though it is my off day............A little disconcerting this morning though when I was shovelling snow -- agonizing pain in my lower right rib cage -- I have had some discomfort there since the accident but today it hurt like H---!! So tomorrow off to the DR's to get it checked out -- I am hoping they did not miss anything crucial at the hospital emerg on Monday after the accident -- they seemed more concerned with getting people out that anything else but then again I guess I could have spoken up but at the time I was more concerned about my back and neck then anything else and didn't really feel the ribs.....Fortunately it does not impact walking or cycling but will impact weight training - especially the core and upper body -- I hope I can still do leg presses, extensions and curls -- I just love those as you can feel the difference after every workout................Stay Tuned

Next Sunday is the official first day of my training program for Nagano - what I have done till now has been maintenance -- so TIME TO GET SERIOUS -- hence the motivation behind putting Lou Holtz's quote up today -- It is so true -- Time for motivation AND attitude to show their colors.

Speaking of Motivation and Attitude CUDOs to my friend Stephen G from California who, despite a sometimes debilitating lung condition has committed to and begun training for the Rome Marathon in 2008 --- As I have said before Stephen, you are what this sport is all about!! Just a little history on the Rome Marathon -- one of my friends who took two of my clinics, Julie V., has Petite Mal Epileptic Seizures, and finished the Rome Marathon in 2007 as her first ever Marathon -- she too is an example for those of us who forget what the sport is all about and like me, whine over a few lost seconds!!! Oh well, I may never learn but I will never forget Stephen and Julie

THANK YOU STEPHEN

THANK YOU JULIE

FROM ALL OF US!!!