First post of 2006

Great start to 2006. On New Year's Day, I ran 10+ km. Yesterday, I did 5+ km and today 6+ km, outside in the cold. That was very stupid. I am so eager to use my Garmin that I will run outside whether I have the right gear or not. I had planned to do a treadmill run after work, so I didn't bring my outdoor gear with me. Instead, I ran out the door at 4:00 in my spandex pants and long-sleeved wicking shirt, over the muddy/icy gravel pathway and into Downsview park. After I had run out about 3 km, it started raining. It was such gentle and light rain that I wouldn't have even noticed it, had my clothes been waterproof. Suddenly, I felt very cold. I headed back towards work, picking up the pace as I went along. By the time I got back (47 min), I felt the cold in my bones. Brrr.


Tony found some great, free software to go with my Garmin. It's called SportTracks. The program does a little better than the program that comes with the Garmin. It draws your run on a satellite image which you can export to Google Earth. Then you can get cool images like this one :)

The +'s after my running distances are because I've decided to try running slightly longer than my target mileage. If I plan to run 5 km on a given day, I'll run for a minute or two after I reach 5 km, just to push myself a bit further and boost my total mileage a bit.

My race lineup for 2006 so far is:

March 5, 2006 -- Chilly half marathon, Burlington
April 23, 2006 -- Sun Run (10km), Vancouver
May 14, 2006 -- Mississauga marathon, Mississauga

I'll probably do another 10km or half in the fall...it will depend on how my summer goes. Actually, I will have to do another 10km if I want to set a new PR, because I don't plan to run hard in the Sun Run.