#78 Magical Mystery Tour

So I watched the Olympic closing ceremony and I'll admit, I am very sad to see the end of London 2012. For two weeks, I was simply mesmerized and captivated with every and all disciplines of sporting excellence and achievement (the horse stuff being the rare exception). Sure, I think the Olympic ideals are crap (It`s about athletics, NOT world peace and social justice) and the IOC is corrupt as hell, but the sports and athletes are a class act and I love to watch the highs and lows of competing at the highest level. Bolt and the Jamaican sprinters were sensational. Phelps and Lochte in the pool were fantastic. Ennis in the Heptathlon, Eaton in the Decathlon. The 5000m and the 10,000m with Magic Mo, Rupp, and Canada's Cam Levins. The women's soccer bitter-sweet loss to the Americans... And bronze, bronze and more bronze for Canada! Loved every minute. Thank you London 2012. Can't wait for Rio. Olympic withdrawal starts tomorrow.

And what a great conclusion today with the men's marathon. A massive surprise was the Ugandan gold medallist, Steven Kiprotich ahead of the Kenyans (and where the hell were the Ethiopians?!). But best of all were our very own Canadians doing us all so proud. To Reid, Eric and Dylan (Team RED 2012 Forever!), congrats guys on running your Olympic dream and sharing your journey with us all. You've done so much for our sport in this country and your legacy will continue for years to come. All the best moving forward.

Way to go guys. CND kayaker AVK, 3 marathon men and Levins at the closing ceremony in London. 

In other news, NYC 2012 training continues. Back here in Toronto, the Toronto 10-miler & 5k was today in which I and many of my LB brethren ran extremely well despite less than ideal conditions. The sun was out and the humidity rose over the Distillery district just in time for the 8:30am start. The wind was swirling and put up a fight at times but that didn't stop many of us from posting PBs and great results. A huge congrats to Doyle, Dave C, Darren, Chris Chapman, Bellamy, Kevin G, Sharlene (6th women overall!), Conrad, Julie, Rob Kay, Tara, Dana, Richard, Melinda, Jimmy, and all other LBRs. Another fine showing from the flying feathers. Thanks for all the LB support on route as well.

My race was less than ideal and I wasn't overly enthused with my time (57:15; 3:33/k) but given the conditions, I think it was the best I could have done. It was also a slight (6sec) PB over the Good Friday 10-miler (57:21) I ran way back in April. I ran by feel but felt flat and just couldn't kick it into a higher gear. I simply couldn't get my pace under 3:30/k but ran consistently and was happy with my overall placing (19/634). I ran entirely alone from about 4k which is getting really boring and I would really prefer some company (hint hint guys). I guess I need to get a whole lot better in order to hang with the sub-elites or else just take up triathlon and get my ass handed to me in the pool and on the bike and try to craw back time on the run. All in all though, it was a great day as is any day I get to chill with my LB crew.

So like most weeks of training, there is nothing particularly exciting to report. Week 2 of NYC training saw another solid week of miles and workouts. 126k for the week and 6 days of running. The Friday (03 August) was the infamous LB 'Mile on the Track' which took place at the beautiful Varsity Stadium at U of T. I/we used this opportunity to run a 4x1600m workout (sorry Bert) and then ran a tempo run for the remainder of the hour in which Doyle and I hit about 10miles in those 60min. Saturday was a day off and Sunday the first of our 32k runs which went okay but was hot and humid and my body is still far from familiar with that length of run at one time. Lots of work still to do.

Week 3 concluded today with the 10-miler. I only hit 110k for the week as I opted to take the day off yesterday to 'taper.' However, the week saw 4 consecutive 10+ milers as aerobic runs including a tough hill workout and some up-tempo pace. The real training is still to come as the mileage will continue to climb as well as the introduction of double days. The next race is in 2 weeks as I head home to Ingersoll for the Harvest Run (10k) in which I hope to claim the title in my home-town event. Until then, plenty of running and some tough workouts to come. At least it seems the weather will cooperate and the worst of the summer heat and humidity seems to be behind us. 12 weeks to go to NYC.

In completely other news, I am set to defend my MSc (Exercise Sciences) thesis at the end of the month which will end a trying but tremendously influential chapter of my life. My thesis is titled: "In it for the long run: An ethnography of the psychological and social rewards of recreational running and club culture." Surprise, surprise, I found that running provides a number of significant rewards that contribute to overall health and well-being. In time, I plan to highlight some of my findings and discussion in greater depth here on my blog and share them with you (the only people who might actually care). Stayed tuned for more.

That's all from me for now. Keep running folks.