Reasons To Run (Now with 10% Less Emo)

It was pretty warm yesterday - 31C according to the data I saw. I managed to run in the afternoon despite this. Specifically I ran 13 km.

Why 13km and not some more reasonable distance? I'm training for the Royal Victoria Half-Marathon in October, and that's near enough (<90 days from today) that I need to get started training now. I don't want it to be the failure that last year's was. Anyway, the reason I had to run 13 km because that's what the training schedule says I had to do. Thankfully today is a rest day because I am sore.

Sore today is better then half-way crippled, which is what I was last night. Times like that I regret that my house is split-level - those stairs were a killer.

So there I was running in the hottest part of the afternoon, for the longest distance I've done this year. Still I managed, with two breaks, to go the whole distance. It took me 92 minutes and it was a fairly slow plod along the river. Still, the riverbanks had some truly spectacular eye-candy.

And there was no easy part during any of the run. Every step included the thought "quit now". Instead I just took the Gattaca method of running all the way out, thus guaranteeing a long walk back (which is better then nothing) if I did have to quit.

I'm feeling happy for having done it, but I'm still bagged - mentally as well as physically - by the effort. It's a lot of effort for a nebulous gain. There was a time when I did this to become more attractive. While having a slim (HAR!) chance - rather then no chance - of romance, that really was a distant third in my reasons. For the record, the reasons are:

1. Don't end up like the old man - spending the last eight years of his life largely bed-ridden due to a severe paralyzing stroke.
   
2. Being in shape feels better then being out of shape. Every waking moment is simply easier, both physically and emotionally.
   
3. Being healthier means being more attractive. Who wouldn't want to be more attractive?

Health and well-being need to be my focus. Concentrating on #3 is a bad idea because it depends on other people for validation.

The rest of the training will be odd since I'll be traveling for two of the next three weeks. I guess that means I'll be doing a lot of running in Halifax, St. John's and Aelfheimsland.

Tonight, my reward will be cheap sushi.

Hail Season, or as the Locals Call it, Stampede Week

We just had a wrath-of-god prairie hailstorm blow across the work place (I work in Research Park, just north of the University). This makes me glad I work indoors and the car is in the garage.

I don't think this one was powerful enough to wreck my roof shingles (which happened to my folks 19 years ago) - the hail was only golf-ball sized and the duration was only ten minutes. Still, you wouldn't want to be caught in it.

A survey of the parking lot at work revealed nearly every car's roof was now dimpled with hail stone impacts, but all the windshields seem to have survived intact. At least one car alarm was triggered.

( Images of the hail in NW Calgary... )

(Crossposted to calgarians)