A New Beginning ... perhaps

Nearly 6 months has gone by since my last post here ... hardly what you could call a prolific writer, by any standard! The fact that no-one seems to have noticed is only slightly demoralizing - I sometimes wonder if anyone other than me has even read this thing! It seems to me, though, that when I first started writing this blog, I chose first and foremost to do it for myself. I have been feeling the "pull" of writing here for some time now, tho ... perhaps after tonight, I'll stick with it. As they say, only time will tell...

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has read this blog to know that I have been running (gasp! really - it's true!) a fair bit. I've logged just over 1000 km since my last post, not to mention just over 46 km swimming, too! I'm seeing results, tho ... my aerobic fitness has improved quite a bit, probably thanks to the swimming more than anything else. I'm starting to see some results on the road, too. I recently ran the Esquimalt 5K "Fun Run", and won the event, setting a PR in the process. It was a new experience for me - I've never led a race before, so I got to be the guy chasing around the police motorcycle at the front! The course was rather hilly, too, so I was doubly excited to set a PR. There is a results page here. Unfortunately, this was not an "official" event, so there wasn't an "official" time. In any event, I finished the event almost a minute faster than my next-fastest time, so I can't complain.

One of my long-standing goals, from a running perspective, is to break the 40-minute barrier in a 10K event prior to turning 40 years of age. So far, I've come close - 40:35 last July in the HBC run for Canada - so I'm still working on it. My next attempt is coming up pretty soon - the 2008 Times Colonist 10K, here in Victoria. This year, for the first time, in addition to training for the event myself, I volunteered to work as a run leader for one of the 10K Training Clinics. We've been faithfully meeting Monday nights since January 21st. I would have to say that I've gotten the most satisfaction out of working with the clinic participants. I wish them all the best of luck in this year's event! No matter what time they cross the finish line with, I'll be proud of them all for coming out and completing the event.

So that's it for now ... I'd love to promise more frequent posts, but I don't like making promises that I might not keep. So I'll say "So Long" for now, and hopefully it won't be "so long" before I post again. Cheers!