Lest We Forget

It's been 3 months since I last posted. I will get back to posting soon. My running, on the other hand, has continued uninterrupted.

However, today I am going off topic to post something for this special day - November 11 - Remembrance Day in Canada.

There seems to be a bit of a focus on World War I (aka The Great War) in the media this year. I lost a great uncle in that horrible conflagration.

There was an excellent 8-part series on PBS 20 years ago called "The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century". I am so glad I taped it back then as it does not appear to have ever come out on DVD. One of the individuals covered in that series was Wilfred Owen - a noted poet that would not survive the war. He was killed in action 1 week before the end of the war. Below is one of his more famous pieces.

Anthem for Doomed Youth

by Wilfred Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

      — Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

      Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; 

      Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

      And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

      Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.

      The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

War is hell. Will we never learn?

On Monday I conducted some client meetings with a colleague who also runs - not marathons, but runs - and, I think, she is probably about 20 years or more younger than me. I was asking her how her daughter's running was going and we talked a bit about my progress.

I mentioned how I have this habit of counting my steps during my run intervals to keep myself motivated in that I only have so many steps left in a run interval and I can then look forward to a rest (walk) for a minute or so. It has always been my intention to let go of this habit once I get running more and further. She suggested I just stop now and focus on listening to my music.

So, Tuesday being my next Run I did that. HOLY CRAP! I cut a full 2 minutes off my time! That said, I was getting exhausted towards the end of my last couple of run intervals. (I have been careful to avoid having that happen - up until now.) My next Run is tomorrow morning. I will need to somehow adjust my pace without the benefit of "counting" and see how I do. I want a full 45 minutes of activity (minimum) including my warm-up walk. But, I do not believe I am ready to extend my distance based on my Run yesterday. Not just yet, anyway.

 BTW - Does the colour of your home's front door match your car? After my wife's recent house painting, ours does! Or, at least it matches my wife's car. I guess my car matches our roof!


Today's Walk - 5:55am; 5.3kms; 53mins; 18c; clear

Yesterday's Run - 6:05am; 6.0kms; 43.5mins (wow!); 17c; clear

Monday's Walk - 6:05am; 5.3kms; 52.5mins; 12c (birr!); partly cloudy

My Run on Thursday went fine. I woke up with a bit of a sore back, but I did my Run and I have been fine since. Didn't even hurt my back re-installing the toilet!

So, the painting is done - for now. We have a newly painted main bathroom, front hall entrance and a bright yellow front door! It matches my wife's car! Oh, well. You have to have some fun in life!



Thursday's Run - 6:05am; 6kms; 46mins; 17c, clear

Friday's Walk - 6:00am; 5.3kms; 53.5mins; 17c; clear

Yesterday's Run - 6:10am; 6kms; 45.5mins; 16c; clear

Today's Walk (off day, casual walk) - 7:20am; 5.3kms; 53.5mins; 17c; clear

I have been having trouble keeping up with posting on this blog - obviously.

Anyway ...

So, I stretched my Run on Saturday as I intended - moving from 60 seconds run/90 seconds walk to 75 seconds run /75 seconds walk. So, I both increased my run interval and decreased my walk interval at the same time. Boy, that was a tough Run. But, I made it!

Because I wanted to make sure I am active for at least 45 minutes, on Sunday I went for a walk to measure out some slight changes to my route. And, I did the same on Monday with my usual Walk day.

Meanwhile, my lovely wife is taking this week off from work for "vacation" time. And, of course, she has decided to start to repaint the inside of our house - starting with the upstairs (main) bathroom. This necessitates removing the toilet so she can properly paint behind it. Well, removing the toilet and putting it into the bathtub out of the way caused me to strain a muscle in my back - lifting and twisting without thinking, of course.

Tuesday morning, I woke to a sore back. It was supposed to be a Run day, but I wasn't sure how it would go - especially with my newly extended run intervals. Amazingly, it went fine!

This morning I woke up fine. But, as soon as I went to get dressed my back went and I could hardly move. I still went for my Walk, but I wasn't sure how far I'd get. (I had visions of phoning my wife to come and get me in her car.) Well, I made it. But, as you can see by my time, it is one of the worst paces I have had in a long time, although most of the slow part was the first half.

Geez ... I must be getting old!


Friday's Walk - 6:05am; 5.3kms; 52mins; 17c; cloudy

Saturdays' Run - 6:05am; 5.9kms; 44mins; 18c; clear

Sunday's Walk (off day, casual walk) - 5:55am; 6kms; 59.5mins; 18c; clear

Monday's Walk - 6:00am; 5.3kms; 53.5mins; 17c; partly cloudy

Yesterday's Run - 6:10am; 6kms; 46mins; 16c; clear

Today's Walk - 6:10am; 5.3kms; 57mins; 16c; clear

I just haven't known what to write about lately - the Presidential race in the US? Attacks in France? The oil spill (I believe it's actually "dilbit" [diluted bitumen - from the tar sands - that will sink to the bottom ... and then what - reference the Kalamazoo spill in Michigan], but nobody wants to use the word) into the North Saskatchewan river? Turkey?

Well, maybe I'll just talk about me again. After all, this blog is supposed to be about my transforming my life at 60. It's a slow transformation. For now, it's focussed primarily in getting active, after more than 3 decades of not. So ...

Because of my disappointment in the Mpow wireless (Bluetooth) headphones I purchased a set of Philips ActionFit earphones. They have an over-ear loop that keeps them in place. Oh - and, they're wired, not wireless. That's not really important to me. They work fine but the sound is a bit disappointing. It's a bit tinny.

So, I thought I'd compare the sound to the Mpow set. And, I discovered that, if I change the earphone caps to a smaller size (a real effort) the pounding when I walk disappears. So, my apologies to Mpow. However, I found that when I wasn't being distracted by the constant thud-thud-thud when I ran or walked I noticed that they just didn't feel comfortable.

So, sound quality better with Mpow (best with the iPhone ear-buds, but they just keep falling out when running) but comfort better with Philips ActionFit. I'm sure that there are better earphones overall that would meet my needs. But, at this time, I'm not prepared to spend $100+. Both of these were less than $30 each.

Today I wanted to see if I was ready to run longer intervals than the current 60seconds run/90 seconds walk. It's been a while since I pushed a bit harder. So, I just arbitrarily added 10-12 steps to my run interval which increased my run time but, also then reduced my walk interval, by about 8 seconds. It seemed to go okay. My overall time was less, as you can see.

I may more formally increase my run time intervals starting Saturday/Sunday. It's time to push on to the next level. I may have to increase my distance though which means a slight change to my route again.

Today's Run - 6:00am; 5.9kms; 45mins; 21c, humid and cloudy

Yesterday's Walk - 6:05am; 5.3kms; 52.5mins; 17c; clear

Tuesday's Run - 5:55am; 5.9kms; 46mins; 20c; partly cloudy

Sorry, I haven't had an opportunity to write much lately. Tomorrow I will be a bit more prolific.


Saturday - day off but did a casual 45 minute walk in 32C weather.

Yesterday's Run - 6:05am; 5.9kms; 46mins; 15c; clear

Today's Walk - 7:30am (late due to thunderstorms); 5.4kms; 52mins; 24c and very humid; cloudy

Yesterday's Run - 6:00am; 5.8kms; 45.5mins; 14c; clear

Today's Walk - 6:05am; 5.3kms; 52.5mins; 22c and very humid, clear; I sweated extremely this morning. Very, very humid.