Let The OUTRace Season Begin!

I have been busy lately.  Sometimes being retired is simply a cruel joke.  It allows you to take on way too much.  Maple syrup?  Sure!  If everything works according to plan, it won't be much more than 40 hours per week.  Might as well organize the OUTRace Spring Warm-up.  Throw in a week in Costa Rica, my eldest daughter having a baby girl, coordinating the OUTRace series and training for the Norm Patenaude and I'm sure I will have plenty of time for gardening, blogging, firewood and possibly eating a meal once every few days...

Speaking of cruel jokes, I'm beginning to fathom how other runners must feel when they decide to take on The Norm.  Start with a bang; 50K of ski hills at Pick Your Poison tomorrow.  Tomorrow?  Holy snapping left bananas captain, we're gonna need more dilithium crystals!  Today is my second day off running, as my knees need ample recovery (please don't mention Seaton - in 2 weeks) before a race.  I can't over-exert myself by chopping wood, raking, running, hiking or building a replica of Machu Picchu out of stone.  Here I am with more energy than normal, becoming more and more nervous as the race approaches, and I'm supposed to sit quietly?  Very cruel indeed.

I know, no one is forcing me...

Good news!  My daughter Brittany gave birth to baby girl Audrey Edith Burling.  Edith was my mother's name, which was quite sweet.  Audrey and her support crew (mother Brittany and father Kris) are doing well and adjusting to the freakish schedule of a new-born.  Lee Anne and I just got back from visiting Audrey (oh, and Brittany and Kris) in Sudbury.  Audrey has long black hair.  Seriously, she needs a hair cut.

Spring Warm-up

The evil Creemore weather gods threw yet another curve ball at us mere mortals who attended the Spring Warm-up.  Was it extremely cold?  Or horrible rainy weather?  No!  We had a bright sunny day with temperatures approaching 15C.  Oh yeah, we also had to stomp through a foot of drifted snow.  Yes, we were post holing on April 8!  Many were unprepared for the snow, showing up in shorts.  I asked good friend Stephan (in shorts) if his feet were cold.  His answer was no, he could no longer feel them.

One 13K loop of the course was enough (thank you very much) for most, although a few continued into their second and third loops.  Others opted for some quality hill work on the roads, as there is only one direction from the start/finish in Dunedin:  Up.  Sasha Bedjany from Baden, Ontario (home to Ron Gehl and Laurie McGrath) won the grand prize.  Good luck to Sasha in her running and Triathlon schedule this year!

Well, it is a fine day outside, so I will cut this post short, go outside and... do nothing.


Cheers!