The Countdown Is On!

Less than 2 weeks from now, I will be in Alaska, and my journey up north couldn't have come at a better time!  I have a feeling mother nature has been mad at Toronto for a while, because she has been trying to set the city ablaze.  Today was 38 degrees!  No, not Fahrenheit... CELSIUS!  That's over 100 Fahrenheit, and with humidity included, it felt like 49 degrees.  Not a typo there folks, 49 degrees!  120 Fahrenheit!  I am so happy I didn't have a run planned today, or at all this week.  The past few days have all been north of 30 degrees without the humidity included, making it a perfect week to stay inside and turn on the air conditi...oh wait.  Broken A/C, that's right.  And to make matters worse, our car A/C broke a few days ago.  Yes, so I'm left to spend as much time as possible in the basement where it is marginally cooler, where I can be jealous of all the people living in Anchorage today.  It's about 20 degrees up there, and I hope it stays that way for at least a few more weeks.  But apart from the weather, I'm getting pumped for Alaska, and maybe a little nervous, but mostly pumped.  I'm sure it's going to be a wild couple of days, weeks, possibly even months in Anchorage getting all the new stuff sorted out, but I can't wait.  New country.  New state.  New city cities (good band).  New school.  New teachers.  New classes.  New friends.  New team.  New coaches.  New home.  Everything will be a little different living on my own, and while I may end up burning a couple of meals and forgetting to do laundry a couple of times, I'll get the hang of things.  Eventually.  

By the way, since I've been spending so much time inside, I figured I might as well be productive, so I taught myself how to use Photoshop to design a new blog layout.  Anything to stay out of the sun.  If we get any more of these heatwave days, I may just have to start up a whole new blog to complain about the weather!

Let's make this post a little bit running-related by saying that there is one heckuva track meet going on in Monaco later today, with guys like Bolt, Solinsky, Farah, Rupp, Bekele, Lagat, Tegenkamp, Wheating, Centrowitz, Armstrong, Rudisha, Symmonds, Uceny, and a whole bunch of studs competing at the Louis II Stadium.  Going to be awesome!  Just for the record, I'm calling Solinsky.

I think the following is a pretty appropriate and relevant song from the New Cities.  

Mediocrity at it's finest!

Another mediocre performance in the books, and I'm just trying to break the mold.  I was 4:02.97, and even though it was meant as a tune-up for next week, I thought I had a good shot at going sub-4.  The upsides of Saturday were that I ran in lane 2 most of the race, and finished 6 seconds faster than I did at the same meet last year, the week before I broke through with my 3:58.  I'll be running the same meet this year, and I'm ready for a new PB.  I mean, 3:58 is so last year!  And so is 8:42, but let's just take things one step at a time.
I had a great idea last week, allow me to elaborate.  With the summer heat upon us, 30+ degree days are soon to become the norm.  Last year, mother nature got the best of me, and running went way downhill by the beginning of July.  I closed my season out prematurely last year, after running 4:10 and a 2:07 800m relay split.  But this year, I'm prepared.  No matter how hot the weather gets, and no matter how bad I feel on my runs, I will have the upper hand this year.  Mother nature gave me a taste of what she had in store for this summer a few days back, and I shrugged it off like when a ladybug lands on your shirt and you frantically scream and swat at it to get it off.  I found a secret river deep in the North York Jungle (Sunnybrook Park), that will now be my primary method of defense against the heat.  How, you ask?  Well, this week I went on a run with a buddy from school in 32 degree heat, leaving us pretty gassed by the halfway mark (or at least I was).  We continued to sweat our brains out for a few more miles until we hit the jackpot.  An operating water fountain (very rare in Toronto), and a river!  We drank a gallon at the water fountain, and went for a swim in the river.  It was actually cold enough to give me goosebumps, thus defeating the heat (Like the Mavs)!  I plan on spending many of my summer days cooling down in this river post-run, so bring it on mother nature!