It's A FestIvus Miracle!

We Survived! No Apocalypse! 

A short message from all of us here at NPS.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Festivus.

Before The World Ends...

I keep being informed that this may be the last day I have on Planet Earth. I have not heard of any plans to leave the planet before it explodes or what ever may happen. The thing that I find most peculiar is that not one person has any idea of what is going to happen to the people of earth. No astrodes have been detected coming in earths direction, there hasn't been an outbreak of the black plague or anything yet, so as it seems the most likely cause of the end of the earth is zombies from too many people taking bath salts. So I will take this time as I sit alone in my home to compile a list of things I am proud I accomplished in life.

1. Won a Race. I been blessed to have won a total of 6 races. 2 of which are highlights of my athletic career being the 1500m and XC titles at EOSSAA in my senior year of high school. The 3rd being when I raced my younger sister from couch to the tv remote so we could deicide what we were going to watch. The other 3 are of lesser importance.

2. Have sober conversations with 3 pretty girls and ask there names without it being creepy. The names of these ladies will be kept a secret but they will receive a personal message from me on the final day of life, the message will either be a confession of my love or simply a link to this blog.

3. This one is an extension of the number 2, learn that pretty girls like skinny guys. This knowledge I would have loved to have earlier in life therefore maybe increasing the amount of pretty girls that i have talked too.

4. Make friends with bonds that can never be broken. To a runner such as myself I am a strong believer in the amount of miles ran next to an individual can decide on how strong the friendship is. A great example is DC, I'd say we ran over 10'000km side by each, and if the world does end, lets set the WR for fastest people to climb the Stairway. (Don't worry there are lots of you that fit this category, and if we can't get the WR, I'd say we could get the win in the team challenge)

5. Made memories that will last forever.

good bye earth was nice living with you.

rj

Rj didn't actually live with earth because earth never lived, it's an inanimate object... just saying...

The end of the world is tomorrow and I mean even tho NASA predicted that the world wasn't going to end doesn't mean they're necessarily right, a 13 year old boy once proved NASA wrong so i'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket. So i've decided to make a compilations of things that i have accomplished in my life just like RJ so that one day, when humanity is gone, and aliens come strolling by with their ipods and pick up our wifi connection, they can maybe read this and idolize me or something. On that day my one true life goal and dream will be fulfilled because i'd have created a whole race of supreme runners.

1. I would love to put my ultimate life goal and dream, creating a whole race of supreme runners, as my first accomplishment, however, i'm not going to lie to you. The first and probably most important accomplishment in my life thus far will probably have to be the fact that I enjoy everything I do and that I do what I want, not influenced by others in to doing something I don't want to do. If i died tomorrow I would probably be content with how my life has turned out thus far with next to no regrets even tho i'd be pretty dissapointed that I didn't live to the certain day of me beating rj and dc in a race.

2. My second most prominent accomplishment would probably be all the sports i've managed to participate in. The things i do in life define me, all the races I've done, the endless hours of training i've completed, and all the friends i've made along the way!

3. My third biggest accomplishment would probably have to be passing kindergarten. Believe it or not i failed kindergarten, I have no idea how but they kept me back a year, i mean I never was good at coloring in the lines, and i wasn't very social, mean to other kids some may say but I don't think I was bad enough to fail! I wonder how they grade you in kindergarten because if i was graded on little kid swag and cutness i'd of skipped so many grades i'd of graduated already!

4. A fourth accomplishment would have to be all the great friends i've made through out my life. As i get older I'm starting to realize how important and how much best friends really mean to me

Well hope you die a quick painless death tomorrow!

-AP


First of all, click here to get a better appreciation for the gravity of this situation.

This is it friends. This is the end. The end of this post, the end of this blog, the end of the internet, the end of the modern world, The End. Following suit, I choke on sun.
And the days blur into one.
And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done.
I will list them here.

Premonitions of the future have assaulted my mind, no doubt from the aliens about to come to earth. Only 7 days from now, as we stand on the barren face of our planet, a fraction of our race remaining, the sun does not set, it does not rise, but constant twilight keeps time standing still.

I think to myself, " If this is it, I cannot lament my existence, for what bipedal humanoid would not be happy with having run a 58s 400m. I can die in peace."

The tremors increase in frequency and intensity, as we, bj, rj, ap, and sp stand in the center of a track. The erie orange glow of twilight accents the edges of the stadium stands as they crumble under the constant  unearthly tremors no doubt emanating from the numerous UFOs hovering thousands of feet above us, yet large enough to be visible in the pale red and yellow of the sky.

I think to myself, "If this is it, I can be happy with the way things turned out. For I once met 3 Olympian runners over the course of 3 weeks. I can die in peace."

A warm wind blows across the turf. As the the spaceships come close to us, we do not lament our impending doom and death, and as we are beamed slowly upwards, we slowly observe the final decay or the civilization of man, the grass black from the snow that lay on it only 7 days ago.

Floating high above the ground, I finally think to myself, "It's pretty cool I get to die with these dudes. Did everything else with them so it only makes sense. From the moment of RJ deciding him and I were going to run fast, to eventually becoming a group of 5, it's been a good run."

The beam finally brings us into the ships core,
The alien inside opens the ships door,
Close the door,
Get on the Floor,
Everyone walk the dinosaur.

DC, RJ, lmnAP

Once Upon A Time...

A real life encounter with the one they call Durr and a worthy rival Steve the Deer. I can't take credit for this one. A tale straight from the horses, well in this case Deers, mouth. A few things to notice: Age is nothing but a the current year subtracted by the year you were born.
And a life can range over 40 years even if a man is only 20 years old due to past lives, and even worse dreams.

Without further ado, I give you the story.

     It was a dark and stormy night in the early 70's. I had just taken a redeye flight in from Miami; back in San Francisco, and was in no mood to talk. As I left the tarmac though I was passed a folded up piece of paper from the attractive flight attendant. "The Hilton Lobby in 1 hour". Thinking I had stumbled into a date with a fetching young woman with little to no effort. My exhaustion was wiped away and the fact it was 2 a.m. seemed to be a thing of the past.

     Stopping only to grab a large coffee from a rundown diner and a paper from the kiosk, I made my way over to the hotel with haste. Seeing as the time was only 2:40 now, I sauntered over to the bar and ordered a Scotch on the Rocks. The room was almost empty, as only the real nighthawks were sticking out the rest of the night. After a quick stop to the restroom to splash some water on myself, I set up shop in the corner of the room, giving myself a good vantage point of the entire room.

     All of sudden someone I recognized stepped into the room; except this was no enchanting flight attendant. It was a man I hadn't seen in almost 7 years, and had no wish to see again for another 3. Memories of Rio came flooding back, and not exactly the pleasant "picnic with the family" type. The man was Dur, the most dangerous assassin west of Bangladash. With over 200 recorded killings under his belt and a vicious 3k PB, this was no man you wanted to mess with. Knocking back the remainder of my Scotch and steeling my nerves, I kicked back my chair and stood. Sensing my movement, he spun. A smirk formed on his normally cold expressionless face.

     A stare-down not seen since the days of the cowboy had been started, and I wasn't sure of if I would survive to tell the tale. He pulled out his Colt as I matched with my Smith & Wesson. It had been a while since I had fired it and I had no doubts that Dur's was still warm from it's last shot. Raising my gun, his smirk only grew bigger. He had no fear of me or any mortal. Sweat dripped down my face, and from the corner of my eye I saw the bartender slowly back out of the room. I was on my own against Dur. The thought about running crossed my mind, but there was no way I could ever outrun him. My finger tightened on the trigger. Suddenly time slowed to a crawl. He started to fire as I emptied my clip. Suddenly a bolt of pain ripped through my chest. I had been hit, and my only hope was that he had been too. I gasped for air, unable to locate Dur in the madness, but all I could do as I sunk into unconsciousness was hope that I had done enough...

     I woke up in the hospital several days later, my world nothing but hurt. As I leaned over my bedside table I saw another note. "CIS XC 2013". Damn. Durr was still out there; training, racing, winning.

A humble beware message to all those who go looking for this man.
Steve the Deer and rj.

P.S. She is back!

Getting back in to the swing of things

As the sun shines over the horizon, his first step lands on the cold hard ground, this is it, this is what he's been waiting for. He's been locked in a box of in activeness for 3 weeks and he's finally been set free. He takes off, no idea how fast he's going, the almost forgotten feeling of lactic acid building up in his legs once more. once more the feeling of the run. He continues his journey, running, running for the sake of him self, running  for the sake of his dreams, running for fun. Taking in every aspect of the almost forgotten experience the wind through his hair, the sweat dripping off his face the adrenaline pushing him on. Around the bend his adventure comes to an end along with the realization of how much fitness he's lost over his break, excited for the challenge of regaining it and improving, ready for anything.

Well it's around that time of year again where runners all over the country have to get off their lazy buts, stop getting fat and start running again, but I've been looking forward to it since the end of cross! That feeling of the wind through my eye lashes, the patter of my heart against my chest and the feeling of the cold hard ground beneath my feet, but there is one thing that I don't like about this wonderful time....The cold... To me there is nothing worse then the cold when running, it makes your face numb, your hands numb, your ears numb, in fact it makes almost everything numb! It seems to me that no matter how much you bundle up you still frezze your ass off, the only thing that keeps me going when running in the winter is the stereotype of runners being tough, I can't wait until i can start growing facial hair, because its going to make it much easier.

Anyway I always thought it was good to go over your goals at the start of the season and what you're going to do different, or the same, from last year to achieve them, so my goals this year are kind of time specific because I don't know if everyone heard about this but school sports are being canceled in Ontario, that's right no more cross country, no more nordic skiing , no more track! It's a tragedy! Regardless of there being no school related races, I still want to sub 9:00 in the 3000 and 4:10 in the 1500. I know they may seem a little far fetched but i like to keep my standards high.

Just like rj and dc mentioned in there posts earlier I think doing the little things such as stretching, doing abcs and strides after every run, icing frequently are all going to make it or break it this year, i figure that most kids my age aren't thinking about the little things so if I do them that's one thing I would have that they don't and most times those things are the most important.

Anyways I hope everyone has been buying advent calendars, because regardless of who you are, that should be a tradition. Until next time!

-AP

This One Is For The Kids.

     Its bound to happen sometime, you know, kids, after marriage and all that fancy stuff. Not right now, don't worry mom this is not me letting you know that there is a little rj running around. Be more worried about DC having little durrs than me. Either way once they are around and they are old enough to understand words and stuff I will probs share stories of when I was a kid, my successes, my failures. Now hopefully, I can get the lil tyke to love what I love; Running. If not I couldn't tell him/her over half my stories. Finally getting to the point, one of these stories happend the other day. And of course there is going to be some exaggeration in every story, and 20 years from now the exaggeration is going to feel like its the truth. So here we go.

Hard Work and Dedication.

     XC season just ended 3 weeks ago, and in Uni track season comes up fast, so this year the coach thought we should get right back into the thick of things. We started doing some easy tempo runs, and on the weekend we would hit the track. This saturday morning was a special one too, we met on the track at 6:00 am and were welcomed by a foot of snow on the track and it was a chilly minus 10. To think the week before we were running topless. Now the sun was barely cresting the horizon, we could see our breath and started the warm up. After warming up as we were stretching and what not, we were informed of the workout, 15x400m with 60 seconds rest. Now can you imagine trudging through a foot of snow? Nope, we couldn't either, we all spiked up to get better traction and averaged 70 seconds for the whole 15. with the fastest being 65 sec. Needless to say legs were toast after that.

If thats the exaggerated story 4 days after the workout, I can't imagine what it is gunna sound like 20 years from now.

Dont be silly...
you know the rest.

rj.

p.s. Exam time, cant decide weither to study or blog. Home in 6 days.

Take A Step Back, Jump Forward.

After a season there is always a short but extremely needed break where you allow the legs to recover and give the liver a lil' punishment. Jokes, gotta stop thinking bout booze all the time.. But during this short break what seems to go through my head is all the things I did wrong, or the things i didn't do, or the things I could/should have done. It's really quite a horrible stress on the mind. This year after CIS our guys team had a very somber meeting back on Bernies Farm. We all (the whole team not just the CIS squad) sat around in a circle and said how the race went, how the season went, what could be improved, what worked well. Both tears and laughs filled the room as we went around and shared. In the end we worked out a couple things.

1. focus on CIS
2. take workouts seriously
3. race less (if possible)
4. just like both DC and AP mentioned, do all the little things.

The little things, a term often used, but is it really understood?
what are the little things? From my understanding they are ABC's, strides, abs, sleep, and pool running if you are going to be hard core about it. So, thats what I am gunna do, the little things.

Now I would really like to share all the things that I did wrong and didn't do etc etc but the break ended and running again ensued and something weird happened... Something that has happened before but can only be described with one line:

 I'm not sure what to do with my hands....

Its weird. Hopefully it happens to more than just me.

rj

Winter is coming

Well we just had our first real snowfall over here, you know how sometimes you get those ones where it snows for 15 minutes and none of it stays, or it blizzards for a good 20 and it only stays for a day at most, but not this one. This one was a solid full day of flurries, the weather man says that it should be similar every day this week ( I think it would be a stressful job being the weatherman, if you get it wrong everyone would have their hate on for you)  anyway snow always puts everybody in the Christmas spirit. Went for a yog this afternoon and noticed how many people were putting their Christmas lights and  Christmas trees up which led me to remember that rj and dc are coming home in like less then a month, that's crazy, so excited to see them, it also led me to think about eggnog, damn that stuff is good... I guess where I was going with this is ski season is almost here! I've been waiting for snow since the minute after Ofsaa cross and now it's finally come! There's going to be nothing like getting those skis all waxed up and hitting the trails or in dc's case getting those shoes that would be in the form of some racket on and hittin' the trails.

Well the off season is over, started going for 3 or 4 jaunts a week, doing a lot of strengthening and leg power work I think it's paying off because man does it ever feel good, my legs feel fresh but my stride feels super awkward, it's almost like I've forgotten how to run, I'm debating whether it's just all the power work i've been doing without running over the off season or if it's just the fact that I haven't been running either way I'm guessing that'l fix itself after a few strides, abc's and miles.

Anyway I'd like to wish rj a happy belated birthday because I don't think I ever got around it so umm happy 19 years and one month birthday! oh yeah and dc to happy 19 years 2 months and 2 days birthday!
-AP

They Are So Hot Right Now

All Tied Up

I guess I'll start things off with a pre race story, the team went to the mall on thursday night cause the girls wanted to go shopping. All in all had a great time, bought a fancy vest and sweater, solid trip to the mall. Now what made it fun was the time I spent with BT, him and I have the same ideas in malls, get in, get what ya need, get out. From my understanding this is how must men operate in malls, unless they have one of those girlfriends to worry about. And just my luck, my shopping buddy BT has one of those girlfriends. So we found ourselves in a jewellery store for days trying to find(hopefully she doesn't read this) earrings that dont make peoples ears black. Needless to say after about hours of looking at earrings and flirting with the lady helping us and calling his girlfriends friends we finally buy the pair that I picked out after being in the store for 5 minutes.

Once I had picked out the earrings I thought he should buy her I went over to the wedding rings and started checking em out, figured eventually I'd need to do this, so starting looking at ones I'd like.

This brought me to thinking about the famous AD 4 YEAR PLAN.

Year 1: find a girl
Year 2: date the girl
Year 3: move in with the girl
Year 4: Marry the girl.

Anyways, week off is coming to an end, gotta start being fit and stuff. All the little things are going to matter this time around.

rj

WELCOME TO CIS

Im only showing this picture because this was the only good thing to come out of the weekend in London, as well as some good stories, but those will be shared another time. Time to be depressed for a week, and try to enjoy the week of sin.

enjoy.

rj

p.s. it was empty in the morning.

Between Seasons, We Reminisce

Well unfortunately the cross country season is over, but oh man was it a good time! With a summer full of miles, wine chugs and dinner for two followed by a season of hard workouts, even harder races and loads of hardware, I really enjoyed myself! So I decided I'd make a list of the most memorable moments of the season.

Movie Monday!

Movie Monday was probably the day that I most looked to forward  in the week, there was never anything better then going for a good ol' yog, meeting up with the jets,  grabbing a few brew and enjoying whatever film we have chosen to watch said evening, for example LOTR extended edition, Batman, The Men who Stare at Goats, the list goes on! It was on these days that plans were made, songs were sung and chirps were well, chirped! The only other event that I looked forward to as much as movie Monday was.....

Settlers 

Yes Settlers! Well at least some may know this game as settlers while others know it as "The game that destroys friendships". Every so often through out the summer, someone from the jets would blow the conch, the conch of the Facebook machine to unite us all for a heated match of settlers. These moments were taken so seriously that we managed to turn planned nights of fun, crochet and beach olympic events at Benabus's cottage to heated battle in a matter of minutes. Anyway DC kept track of the total wins on his mobile device and I think Benabus is in the lead but not for long if I can help it!

Beach Olympics

This summer the jets had their first annual beach Olympics, except for first annual doesn't really apply here because it's not quite annual yet so it would be more like the first to be annual beach Olympics, anyways the events this year included the men's individual crochet, won by rj with an astounding lead over the rest of the field, The men's team ladder toss event, won by rj and I and finally the men's team Bocce Ball in which Benabus and I proceeded to win. I had loads of fun!

The beach Olympics definitely deserves a spot on the best memories of the season list, this one will have to become a tradition.

Dinner for two

Dinner for two marks the best workout I have ever had in my life, a perfect mixture of hills, tempo, fartleck and speed. Rj's fast pace killed me but I never felt so good after a workout as this one here. During our very needed cooldown rj and I decided to visit sm at boston pizza. There was only one problem with our visit... We didn't have any money but we proceed to be seated none the less. That evening we had a dinner for two, a dinner of 2 tall, thirst quenching glasses of water. We ended up finishing our meal by giving a tip of mints that we received from the front desk. It was a memorable night!

"That Night''

Anyone who has participated in ''That Night'' won't need an explanation but for all those who didn't have the chance to participate... let's just say there was a whole lot of wine, ping pong, just dance 3 and sign changing. Nuff said...

Anyway these were some of the most memorable moments of the summer and now that the season is over all I can do is go stir crazy from the lack of running and reminisce on all the good workouts and fun I had. Between seasons we reminisce.

-AP

Contenders NOT Pretenders.

A cool breeze flows through the crowd of people, every one stripping down to there respective school colours and myself wearing the blue and white and the big block X. It was a long journey to get to this starting line and getting here is not the end, for there is 10 more kilometres. This race is the beginning, the beginning of something amazing. To my left and right are the boys that mean everything to me, and I would sacrifice myself for them, for the team. Its race day, its cool, crisp, the sun is trying to break through the clouds but the rain is winning.  "LETS GO BOYS!" We chant. "GO X GO" We scream. Nothing but pure adrenaline flows through my veins, and then there was silence, a calm creeped over the entire field, nothing stirred. We leaned over the line and then a BANG. A stampede ensued and the silence was broken to thousands of screams of which none can be made out for the noise hits you like a tidal wave. The race is on.

WE ARE CONTENDERS NOT PRETENDERS,

Look out.

rj

So Young, So Perfect

Now don't misinterpret the title, I'm not some crazy child loving runner, just a runner who happens to be crazy. Today, the morning after Ofsaa cross, my mother woke me up early and asked me if I could walk my little 8 year old sister to her soccer practise, begrudgingly I agreed. With stiff legs filled with lactic acid from the probable lack of cool down from the previous day I walked her to where she needed to be. So there I sat, on the side of the gym cheering my sister on like Will Farrow in the movie kicking and screaming when I realized she had phenomenal heel lift, absolutely no heel strike and a beautiful lean from her ankles. Now I've been told running was in my blood but never thought that you could be born with a perfect stride! So I decided I'd examine the strides of every other 8 year old child playing soccer at the time, and turns out I got the same results! So young, so perfect! Every single one of them chasing the ball without a care in the world, just running for fun, unknowing of what a good or bad stride is not caring whether or not they were heel striking or if their cadence were quick enough, just running. What made it so that people these days can't run so innocent, so perfect. Is it that we've been tainted with the large heel of our shoes or is it that we just don't run enough anymore. I think a little carelessness is just what we need, we need to just get outside for the sake of running, let our bodies take us for a ride and enjoy it, just have fun. Maybe for once, we should learn a lesson from those we try so hard to mold and teach and let them teach us to feel innocent and perfect once again.

By the way congrats to the panet lads for the Ofsaa gold and remember ''Any run can be an adventure'' (quoted from rj previously on NPS)

-AP

All Alone In The Moonlight, I Remember.

Just recently I realized that certain songs remind me of certain events that happened in my life. It's the strangest thing, but I've talked to others about this and they said it occurs with them too. Either way, I created a small list of songs and the stories associated with them. I must say the list consists of some pretty good tunes ranging from boys bands to folk.

Where to start though is the question...

High School. Paradise by the Dashboard Light - Meatloaf. This one is a one liner, barely seventeen and barely dressed.

Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicine Show. Grade 12 winter, every time DC, SM, and I would drive down to O-town for some indoor meets we would blast this tune as we flew down the highway. One time we went down in a blizzard and we came home with 13 second pb's. Myself and DC ran 4:07 that day. Twas a blast minus the fact that we drove 60km/hour the whole way there and the race was 40min late. Oh, and we ran 400m too that day, ran a 59. Please don't laugh.

If Ya Gettin' Down - 5ive. Benabus Jonses showed me this one, I think it was on much dance '95... Yeah he owned that album! Craziness. Either way the night he showed us this tune we were on our way to Pizza Hut with LS for the family fun feast for 6. This meal is huge too, it consists of one monster salad, one monster bowl of pasta, 4 garlic breads with cheese, and 2 large pizzas. We had one rule, no vomiting. We did it and were the first 3some to ever complete the task.

Who's That Chick - David Guetta ft Rihanna. OFSAA 2011. Its was DC and my's first track OFSAA, we just got to the track, and boom we hear it, we feel the beat, we start grooving and swaying. I'm telling you, it was the coolest entrance ever (next to maybe..... this one), got so jacked up!

Electrolove - Kuba Oms. Can sum it up with one name, Freddy. And one letter, X. And one word, Frosh. Basically every party at the slampiece (XC guys home) that song was played at least 6 times. Thanks Fred.

Finally the main event. Good Day - Nappy Roots. Over the weekend we were in Halifax for the AUS XC Championships, it was wild! Race went well. Did what I had to do. Now its time to gear up for the formal. Not the point though, The girls raced first, and was it ever a nail biter, I think X won by maybe 5 points. Then the guys were off (thats me) and we killed it as expected, but still. Now where the song comes into play, after the race before the cool down we were all just chilling and being happy and stuff and we start walking and then we start grooving, then we are having a dance party in the middle of the road. Wild! Side note, turned old last week, so once back at X we celebrated a tad, and danced the night away.

Two weeks till the formal.
see ya'll there
rj

Can You Smell That Smell?

Anybody that knows me personally know that I am not the biggest fan of soap and products that deal with keeping someone clean. I have my reasons, I'm not crazy or anything, I do not believe that the government puts cameras and microphones in shampoo bottles. And it's not as if I do not clean myself! I do. Alright, my reasons, shampoo makes my hair look weird, body wash just gets washed off. Being 100% honest there was a time where soap was just not part of my life, but now, now it is. It's on a pretty strict schedule and the soaps used are carefully picked out. Herbal Essence shampoo and goat milk soap.

Now to what I really wanna talk about is choosing your smell. It's a tough thing to do. I spent like 30 minutes today trying to pick a new deodorant, I've used the same kind for about 18 months so I figured it is time to switch it up. But when choosing a smell you always want the smell to encompass your lifestyle, personality, your youness. I wanted something a tad stronger than the last stuff, maybe meaning I got intense or something. Either way, I got a new scent.

I guess some running news would be nice, did a pretty fun workout on saturday. Might be the first time I have ever talked workouts on here, might be a workout wednesday kinda thing happening. Either way, 6x1mile-400m rest on the track. last 2 in spikes. They started at 5:00, probs the hardest one to be honest ran the first lap in 78, really had to work the last 800m. Then they went 4:52, 4:56, 4:52, 4:53. And as always the last one is balls out. Too bad it was windy, I think I could have broke my mile pb of 4:40 set last year in a 5x1mile repeats, ran 4:43. So it seems like I am kinda fit hopefully it all comes together this weekend. AUS on saturday.

X gunna give it to ya!

rj

Volvo

Seems like as soon as boys, sorry men** hit puberty they make reasons to grow their facial hair. Some examples being Movember and Decembeard. Another good one is the evolution of the hockey playoff mullet or mohawk to the playoff beard. But as a fairly cleanly society for the most part, minus the homeless and the people who dont like soap society makes us create reasons for our facial hair, like how Movember is for testicle cancer, I'm not saying I have a problem with the events purpose, but why can't we just grow beards for the sake of growing beards. Brings me to my next point.

November is awful chilly when you are in nothing but shorts and a small shirt (pinny/jersey), and I don't think it's legal to race in a mask (balaclava). So what do we do? We stand up! We fight! WE GROW CROSS BEARDS! Sadly though this does fall under the category of society making us create a reason for our beards. None the less, mine is in full swing and nothing is stopping this one. Not even a lady!

So I thought I would create my general rules for a XC beard.

1. beard starts either the day oh the first race, or the 1st day of training camp.
2. no shaving it untill after CIS, NCAA,OFSAA, PEISSAA.
3. allowed to trim it into a stache for movember if you want.
4. its allowed to be nasty.

May the beard be with you.

rj

For So Long It's Not True.

I'm going through some mad writers block right now, I can't type more than a couple sentences without having to start over. But now after about an hour of sitting here staring at this bright screen and not studying for my mid term tomorrow I realize what has my mind all up in tangles. This weekend we are headed to UNB for an annual (other than last year) race against all the Quebec schools. I don't know what scares me more the fact that they are french or that they are kinda fast.

that's all I got right now.

rj

My World It Smiles, We Run The Miles.

Thanksgiving was this past weekend, and I found myself far away from home, I was all the way down in Yarmouth Nova Scotia. The most southern point in the little province and was it ever the prettiest little town I have ever seen. Went down south with a couple buddies to one of their homes for some turkey and fun, and did we ever have a ton of fun! Missed the family a lot though, missed the Turkey Trot (5km race in my town), winner gets a turkey. I guess I'll cut right to the chase, things I am thankful for this year.

All the guys on the team, they are just the best of folks. We have such a strong sense of team pride due to the fact that we are one of the forgotten treasures of X athletics. Another great thing about our team is how close we all are, coaches are always saying that its all about good team dynamics. Our team has the weirdest team dynamics ever, all we do is chirp the s*** out of each other, no one is safe. The funniest part too is how against the girls team we are, it's actually sad how boring they are. But, I'm not going to complain, without the girls team it's just a bunch of guys running around naked.

That's a good into the next thing I'm thankful for, is the stories that occur on the run. Some that can be laughed about, cried over, and others never spoken of. One of the best ones this year must be chasing down Olympians, where I met Eric Gillis. Another that still haunts my dreams is a LSD on a sunday not to long ago where we were recovering from the race and beers from the day before when this guy comes running after us, at first we were happy to see runners out, but once the towel came off and his junk began to flop back and forth with every stride the team took off like rockets. About 4 minutes later he finally gave up either to exhaustion or because we were running up one of the busiest streets in the town and multiple cars would have seen his white a** chasing us.

Last but not least, my family, they are cool people! I miss them a ton.

rj

Beware Before You Wear.

Horrible rhyme. Actually might be the worst rhyme I have ever made. Either way, take the advice from the rhyme.

Today was wearing Maryland flag shorts (see picture)

And this guy comes up to me "I'm from Maryland too! What town are you from?"

"I'm not actually from Maryland."

"Oh wow.. This is embarrassing" he said as he walked away awkwardly.

I wonder if there are any Germans at X.
Hmm...
rj

So You're Running In a Best of Three.

I've been think for the past couple days what I wanna write about today, I've thought about doing another race recap, but the race didn't go so hot, and I've thought sharing the story of the night after the race, but its long and kinda boring.

Basically ran okay, got really drunk and ate pizza. End of story.

What came up next on my list of things to write about, was our (DC and RJ) first internet creation. A little site called MY LIFE IS RUN. Yeah, a spin off of MLIA, but for the runner instead of the average person. The site got really big in 3 weeks, but then slowly kinda died off. I guess people lost interest or advertising wasn't good enough. I dunno...

Either way without further ado, I give you my favorite posts from MLIR.  

Today I ran past some children playing in the snow. One asked, "aren't you cold?" Before I could answer, the other one said "no, because he is running faster than the air". I don't know what that means, but I guess I can run faster than air. MLIR

My self-worth is directly proportional to contents of my weekly log. MLIR.

My boyfriend broke up with me, so i walked out my door and just ran. Didn't even bring my watch. After I could smile again.

I ditched a party to go troll on Letsrun. MLIR.

Today as i was running someone yelled "run forest run!". i stopped looked him right in the eye and said, "i may not be a smart man, but at least i know what love is." MLIR

"I work through pain."-Batman I didn't know Batman's job was running cross country. MLIR

The other day I got kicked off my school's track team. I dropped out of school, moved to a cabin in the woods and started growing a beard, all so that I could run a 4 minute mile. MLIR

The thing that strokes my legs the most is a foam roller....MLIR

A side note for you, all these stories are actually true.
Thats all folks,

rj

 

Chasing Down Olympians.

Sunday morning as everyone is nursing their hangovers from a long night of beers, the St.FX xc team heads out on the road to tackle miles and miles of dirt road. From my understanding, it's the same dirt road that has been run on since the beginning of time. Anyways, some of us were also nursing headaches this early sunny sunday morning and as always the conversation of sundays LSD always goes to the night before, where you hear stories of hook ups, puking on windows, falling, beer pong, pub, etc etc.

But was not expected was crossing paths with an idol of the whole St.FX team. Everyone turned their heads as he gracefully floated by. Our stomachs were filled with butterflies, our hearts pumping, our legs running in the opposite direction?

I look right, I see AD, I look left I see SD. "umm... wanna...?"

Before I could finish that thought we were chasing down none other than Eric Gillis. It was amazing! It was the same feeling you get when you really like a girl and wanna tap her on the shoulder and say hello. So there we were, with no game plan just hamming after the legend that is Eric Gillis, minutes go by but it feels like hours as we try to catch up. Finally after 3 minutes there we are, on his shoulder speaking words to him.

Of course we forget to congratulate him on the Olympics and stuff. But the conversation was everything but dry, he asks us who we were, we chatted about school, running, the Time Trail, life events other than the Olympics. Hands down a once or twice in a life time experience. He had to peel off and head home, so we casually said our good byes and continued our stroll.

next up Wykes...

rj

We Dont Do Mileage For the Sake of Mileage, But We Do Do Mileage.

Alright, I'll start from the begininning. Way too many early mornings and long car drives. But in the end, I ended up where I wanted to be. STFX. Some highlights of the adventure, climbed a mountain with my feet. the whole hotel thought I was crazy when I was asking where the trail was to go up to the top. Power hiked a solid portion that was un-run able. At this point of my running career thou I must say I'm not ready to tackle Leadville yet. Slowly working on it, but might havta spend a couple more years above sea level.

Speaking of sea level thou, I'm here now, I can smell the ocean and everyone can smell me. Both good and bad smells depending what time you catch me. What I'm saying is that training camp is in full swing, the boys are looking good, and the doubles are, well... they suck. I havent sleep much do to the amount of alcohol that has been consumed. The past week, has been a large binge. One of the biggest. I'm not positive but I might have drank my body weight...

Drink up me hardy's yo ho.

rj

p.s.

Running Stuff: basically, running doubles everyday. hoping for the mileage to be over 100km, then when s*** gets serious hopefully can run that amount plus more. But I mean the ideal situation would be to not go to school and train like a boss. lets be real though, stay in school.

One More Time, I Gonna Celebrate.

Last night with my partner in crime. Last night I see him till the end of time. Gonna celebrate, he may be broken and frail, but that ain't stopping tonight. We going out, out on the town, dont know when I'm gunna be back home, most likely past curfew, most likely gonna get in s*** by the folks, oh well, I'll respond will "durr". They will know what that means, they will also see the sad expression on my face, the tears in my eyes, but they wont see the fear, nope no way. You know why? Cause there is a little bitta durr in everyone.

The voyage will commence early sunday morning and we head south east to the White Mountains. I'll pick up a tad of altitude training while i'm there, 4000feet or something. I'm curious to see what affects it has on my body, too bad I'm only there for a day. Either way, should be a fantastic time. 

I'll let you know how it go.
Hey Cam grow the fro.

rj
sorry... needed a rhyme.

I brought a megaphone, To use inside your home.

The street I live on was fantastic growing up, there were always kids older than me that I would look up too, I also wanted to be just like these older kids too. I'd see them playing basket ball or road hockey and that stuff, so naturally me and my friends grow up playing basket ball and road hockey. So i'm bringing this up cause the other day I seen two young guys going out for a jog, these kids were no older than 12. Thinking about it, did these kids see me and decide that they wanted to be like me? I mean do the little kids on the street look up to me? Would be pretty freaking cool. But I truly do not wish these career choice upon anyone, (does that em make sense?) running sucks! Its freaking hard. So many ups and downs. But I love it! I love pushing my body to its limits, finding my breaking point. Little off topic here... What I'm trying to say, if you kids were truly inspired by me, please go after it! Running is very good for the body and the mind. Its a lot of work but its so worth it in the end. But how can I say such things.. I havent yet made it too the end. Speaking of not at the end, I'll talk about the start. The start of XC season is very soon. To make it better, I retired from work! Got a week off then off to the real maine for some relaxation and solid training. Then the next stop after that is X.

LETS GO
LETS GO
LETS GO

rj

First I limp to the side like my leg was broken, Shakin' and twicthin' kinda like I was smokin'

Three things on tap for today, Chest Flow, Evan Jager and One Direction. I dont really know how to make this 3 topics blend well, but I'll try. Here we go. Imma start with swag. I know it's not on the list but its kinda a link between these 3 topics.

Now thats a picture of Evan Jager. And he has swag. So I'm kinda hoping that most of the readers are runners and can understand some of the runner slag, but I'll try to dumb it down for the non-runner readers. He has hair, lots of it to be exact. most of it is on his head. I think he shaves he legs (pretty bada**). This dude might be one of my favorite runners born in 1989. Now the explantation of why I am talking about him.

Number One: Hair
Number Two: White
Number Three: Steeplechase
Number Four: His Swag, the guy has the biggest bounce and shoulder shrug mid run.

Now speaking of his swag it looks like he doesn't have hair on his chest. Maybe he shaves that too. Either way, I have have chest flow. I do admit that it gets shaved or trimmed every once and a while but currently its pretty lengthy. Now heres my problem its summer, it's hot, and the bugs are out. Now I don't think I have ran in a shirt in about 4 months due to the heat, it doesn't help to much its hot out. And with the heat comes the sweat. So...

Heat + Hairy Chest + Bugs = Sweaty Chest Full Of Dead Bugs.

Its actually a fantastic feeling! Actually I'm lying it sucks, its gross.

Now finally the 3rd topic, The Olympics. Canada did extremely well bringing home 18 medals. More importantly we had all 3 marathoners cross the finish line unlike the USA. Congrats guys! Atta be Coolsaet, Gillis, and Wykes. . 

from right to left: rando guy, Wykes, Coolsaet, Gillis, Cam MF Levins.

They look so pumped! It must be cause they just seen ONE DIRECTION at the closing ceremonies or they are just really drunk. The second option seems more true. Either way Olympics are over.

Like MC Hammer On Crack!

rj

You're hot then you're cold. You're yes you're no.

Basically my life is being turned upside down. Very confusing last couple weeks. As you may have read I was considering becoming a Rally Car driver. This dream of mine has been put on the back burner for now, for the most part I have bigger things ahead of me before i get behind the wheel of a ker. I guess we will start from the beginning and say my attempt to go to Jr Nationals are over... Well they were over a couple weeks ago, just didn't wanna face it. It tears me apart that I won't be beside my main man DC next weekend, but it is all for the best I guess. I guess I'll bore you will the greasy details of my early retirement. Basically was, and still am, working 40 hours a week on a farm, and trying to run over 100km a week, as well as do huge workouts, and last but not least have a social life. Not the best way to train properly. Oh well, lesson learned. So the plan was to either quit my job, give up my friends, or hang up the spikes for good. All of which I wasn't super keen on doing. So I compromised by doing a bit of all three. Lowered my hours at work, lowered the mileage to a tolerable volume, kept the workouts pretty intense but with the lower mileage its easier to handle, as for my social life, well.... I'll tell more on this if you keep reading.

Alright so after my decision to not head over to Winnipeg for Jr Nats, took a couple days off, recuperate a bit, fix up all the little tweaks, and then jumped back into the training. But whats summer training without summer racing? And now without further ado, the first official race report NPS has ever given...

The Grind 2nd Annual 1/2 MARATHON

This year is the 2nd year for the event, the 1st year was last year. Wow, that was kinda awkward sounding, I don't know how to make it sound less weird and still make the point I'm trying to make... Anyways, Myself and DC raced it last year with SM, not the point though, the first 15km were in 63 minutes, and last 6km were in 21minutes. Overall a 1:24, not to shabby considering the 1st 3/4 was pretty pedestrian, and for our first 1/2 ever.

This year the plan was slightly different from last year, as last year we jogged the first 15km. Now we had a time goal. One hour twenty minutes. Pretty reasonable, but all we had was DC who would only pace us for 15km as a long tempo to prepare for Jr Nats and Benabus a nordic skier who kinda runs... Finally there was me, not very fit white guy, well kinda fit, just a tad burnt for the above reasons. either way, we took off like rockets. Literally! 2:55 first kilometer. Actually I'm just f***ing with you. It was probably a 4min kilometer. Either pretty slow start again as we needed 3:48's or something. But I mean it was plus 40 (kinda hot)! So seen my pops out on the course watching, yelled at him asking to become the pace car and give us water in between water stops, which turned out to be super clutch! Now 15km in DC drops back. Lets me go solo as we dropped Benabus on the Heartbreak Hill of this half. Solo for 6km. I can do this. But wait... Am I on pace. I have no idea, I dont wear a watch. I just cant stand watches (future post). So all I can do is push on and hope I'm rolling. And then... it hits me. I need to find a place to drop the kids off at the pool (if you catch my drift). I then remembered a similar situation happened to someone... Reid Coolsaet. Yepp, in the biggest race of his career he hasta take a pit spot.

Funny story about Reid, I met him once. Well it was kinda funny. So here we are at CIS, the StFX XC team chilling in this fancy hotel lobby, next thing we know there he is! All of us are s***y our pants, I mean to us he is cooler than Robert Pattinson or Tom Cruise. Basically we just starred. It was weird. But we then got up and went to dinner. Then of course the main event "The Dance" aka the race. Then the after event. Was being my drunk loner self walking around this hotel and then boom. I see him. And boom, there is my buddy GQ, perfect now I have a wingman. Lets go. Walked right up to him shook him on the hand, Gave him a beer and played flip cup with him. BAD ASS! That might be the first time i have used language that foul on this blog without staring it out.

Back to the race, looked for a porta-potty for about a kilometer then noticed I was entering a area with homes and stuff... S*** S***... Quickly seen this driveway without a home on it, went up the driveway, grabbed a leaf, took care of business and back on the road, only took 25 seconds. Pretty pumped about the success of my trip i didn't notice that Benabus caught up. Looked at him and said "dude i just took a s***". Then surged away. Now 4 kilometers later, flying down the home stretch not knowing if I broke 1:20, I see the director he looks at me and said you are breaking the course record by 7 minutes! I was soo pumped but had another 200m to go, so I enjoyed every minute of the win and crossed the line at 1:17. BOOM!

Pretty long... sorry.
anyways, I pulled a Reid Coolsaet.

rj

You Can't Trust The System, Man!

Never thought I'd post this one, but I'm not saving it for a rainy day. Yes, it's Part 1 of my List of Dirty Secrets and Things I Think About While Running.

1. Every time I run past road kill, I just gotta hold my breath. I'm convinced that the disease brewing inside the dead animal could somehow infect me if I breath it in.

2. At every culvert that I pass, I wonder to myself whether I fit inside it, which inevitably leads to wondering if I could live in it for several days if I needed to hide from the police. But what if the cops had dogs to sniff you out? I'd stuff each end with road kill.

3. It's possible that I speed up a tiny amount when I run past someone on the street.

4. I feel bad doing a workout on the track when the guy in the wheelchair is there...


More to come!

Cheap Zoo

Today was a kinda interesting day. Not any less exciting than a normal day, if anything, more exciting. The details are the most important part.

1. Ker. Or as normal people say car.

2. Parents Debit card. Free money for life!

Pretty much all you need for a good time. Once in possession of said items, the next thought was... What am I to do with all these items. Could do anything. I could be writing this from a plane over China right now. I'm not. But I could be.

Now for what I actually did. Firstly filled the ker up with gas. It aint cheap either, $1.20 per litre. Thats crazy! I remember when gas was 80 cents! Aww... The good ol'days. Moving on. once the tank was filled my mission started. It was to go fast. Go fast and not get caught. Yeah, thats right, I was driving 10 over the speed limit. Ended up at the Cheap Zoo.

Looked at all the Lizards and snakes, the rabbits and ferrets, then finally ended up at the fish! Oh boy oh boy, I love looking at the fish in the Cheap Zoo. I was later informed that I was not at a Cheap Zoo, that it was a pet store. And that the animals were all for sale! Great news!

Three new family members were brought back to the rj residence. Fred, Pip and Bee. 3 beautiful gold fish.

What all this hasta do with running... dunno. Just a exciting part of my life.

rj

Give It Up?

Close your eyes, here my voice, go to the place the words take you...

Oh s***. This blog doesn't talk out loud. Too bad. Lets see now how good my describing skills are, I'll try to give you an image of what is going on, not sure how this is gunna work.

Sitting on the start line, your partner next to you, the engine roars as your foot eases onto the gas pedal. Waiting patiently for the green light so you can tear down the dirt road...

You are in it now, in it to win it, the car pushes around corners with ease, flies over humps. Your partner looks over at you and says, "it gets a bit tricky up here, sharp corners up ahead". The course has a S shape bend followed by a jump that leads into a sharp left. You slam the pedal to the floor, drifted around the first half of the S, ease up on the gas a bit to gain control just to slam it down again to get around the other half. You come out of the S with a little to much speed, hit the jump, and over shot the corner. BOOM! Car ended up in the trees.

Story over.

Was out driving the other night, just fooling around a bit, taking some fast sharp corners and stuff, being foolish being the young boy that I am. and it kinda got me thinking, Give it up? give up jogging for Rally Car racing... Sounds pretty fun. Then as I kept thinking about it, I realized that DEATH is a big part of that sport. I mean sure its fun to go fast, and stuff, but I think I can get the same satisfaction from my two feet than 4 wheels. When I'm driving, I don't feel in control, think about it, all the get in the gas and the steering. everything else is pre determined gas, road, weight, etc, etc. But when running, everything is under your control, think about it, your gas tank isn't 60L it doesn't run off a fuel that will run out, your gas tank runs on guts. You know like that Pre quote. And as for a road? there doesn't need to be one, every run could be an adventure, one where you find yourself on top of a mountain, or along side the ocean where the waves get your feet wet every step. Amazing things the human body. So much more than metal, plastic, and rubber. I'm not telling anybody to run or to stop driving or whatever, just think about how amazing you every day vehicle is.

all you need is legs.

rj


 

13:22.8

It was the fastest time he ever ran for 5000m, and today it wouldn't even qualify him for the Olympics, but for some reason he is the pinnacle of distance running. Everyone looks up to him, everyone wants to be him, well maybe not everyone, I mean, non runners dont even know his name, or that he ever existed. Lets try this again, runners look up to him, runners wanna be him, and its not without reason, I mean, at the time he was the greatest runner in the USA. For a while I wondered what it would be like to feel like he did in a race, one where he pushed the pace, one where he looked to the infield to see the time on the scoreboard on the other side of Hayward Field or if he was looking back to see where his competitors were. But, I have never been in that position ever in a race.

This kinda changed the other day, it wasn't a race though, was just a workout, 15x400m. Just myself and DC rolling like we owned the place, but that was the crazy thing, I felt like we owned the place, when I lead the lap, I could feel a crowd, I could picture the scoreboard, it felt as if we broke away from the pack, and were all alone. I'd lead, and come around the far corner look over my left shoulder, looking for the scoreboard, looking for DC, looking for the chase pack behind us. It felt very PRE like. I dont know how else to explain it. It's like being on cloud nine. Amazing.

Speaking of looking over the shoulder though, I cant run and look over my right, I lose balance and almost fell over. I really hope SD doesn't have this problem the guy can barely run a straight line normally without falling over, I shouldn't that though, cause I think I have the record for falls this year at X... 5 or 6 big ones that I have scars from.

Free Advice:
Got a letter from my program director for school, turns out I needed a 65% average to continue in my program, and my average was WAY less than that. So upon receiving said letter I was expecting the worse. But the news was far from bad, I was accepted to continue my program. YIPPEE. So my free advice is:
A) Don't sleep with the teacher (only works in high school).
B) Sit front row and talk to the professor lots.
C) Dont fall asleep in class.

Stay in School.
rj

Take That Nature!

Basically...

DC-1, Nature-3

Scared away a racoon today whilst frolicking through some corn fields. Hopefully that coon tells his animal friends that we are no longer scared!

BOOM!
rj.

Definition Of Cool.

My baller self was out for a stroll wearing nothing but the sunflower short shorts that seem to be more like skin considering how much I wear them, next thing I know, a family jogs by all wearing quilts. Now that's SWAG.

SWAG on my friends,

RJ.

Oh Brothers Lets Go Down, Lets go Down, Come On Down.

“You can’t flirt with the track, you must marry it.” – Bill Easton

I've seen this quote 1000 times. Its one of the few Bill Easton quotes that I am memorized actually, to be honest, its the only Bill Easton quote I know. Just googled him, turns out he was the coach of the legendary Billy Mills, maybe related to Scally, who knows.

I've been trying to break this quote down for a while now, figure out what it means, how to "marry" the track, I mean can't wear it on my finger, its kinda too big for that... It just seems like every time I have been on one for the last year and a bit it just hasn't been my friend, I dont what to do any more. I live and breathe jogging, have lost friends, lovers, family due to this obsession. I need help! I need to walk off the track one day feeling great... And lately this has not been happening.

Marry... Marry... Maybe thats my problem, I cant settle down, I have commitment issues?

For as long as I can remember the XC course has been my baby, and it has treating me well, I love her to death! Just wish her sister would feel the same way about me. I need a game plan! I need to figure out what the difference is between the two and make the necessary changes. Lets see here...

XC
ruff.
beard.
man.
hill.
ugly.
muddy.

TRACK
smooth.
shaved legs.
lady.
flat.
pretty.
clean.

Alright... Lets see here. I need to make a lot of changes.
Firstly, a sex change.

Lets put these rough days behind me.
RJ

Switching Things Up A Bit Here.

I asked a person very dear to my heart to help us switch it up, his humor maybe not be as dry as ours, and he seems to be excited and serious all the time, it's a good mix. So here from the front lines I give you all a taste of AD.

To all those Russians out there!!! Its a beautiful day out here and Antigonish NS, going for a run right after this post. I recently just injured my foot and only been putting in a few runs because a bone in my foot is really messed up, but that can't hold me back for to long and THAT TIME IS NOW!!! As you all know it is summer time and every student needs one of this summer jobs and so i chose for the second summer in a row, TREE PLANTING! I get to walk over 12km a day and as soon as I'm able to run everyday ill be putting in so much mileage and become so sore, that gets me so excited. but no matter how many trees I plant it does not make up for the team runs that i really miss, not havin the full team around is kinda killing me, i miss the boys and can't wait to get some runs in when school starts up again, the hole in my heart will be full once again.

He didn't give me anything to end with... I'm going to havta make one up...

The message he sent me with this post in it ended with 2 words, i think they might suit here...

YOU'RE HOT.
rj and AD

JORTS

For the past 3 weeks now, it seems as if it is the middle of july, the weather is extraordinary warm for this time of the year. And no I'm not just gunna talk about the weather for 10 minutes of your time, it'll get better. Come on, I'm not 60 years old, I don't sit around and talk about the wonderful or awful weather we  are experiencing. You ever notice that though? When I was away at school my grandparents would call me to catch up and stuff, but the first question asked was always, "so whats the weather like?".  I mean sure the weather is clearly different from where I am and where they are, but still. But weather seems to the elderly happy, I'm not gunna argue though, I'm sure someday that will be me.

What I'm trying to get at here is, it's been hot! really hot! (And sunny) Extremely sunny, have already started half of the beach bod. Because the beach body has 2 parts. The tan and the bod. Both parts are equally important and over the past couple days I have been working on tan part of my beach bod. Only problem is I'm part ginger. So tanning doesn't work out well for me,  turn red and orange and get all these weird freckles... Its slightly disgusting. I keep telling my mom I have malignant melanoma, but she doesn't care, I'm not bleeding out of my ears. Bummer having a nurse as a mother (that'll be a story for another time). So went out to Benabas Jonesus' cottage over the weekend got part one of the beach bod outa the way, but maybe a bit too much. I'm crispy. Now step two, one that also helps with jogging the bod, guess i'll havta start doing abs and push ups.

I'll end it here.
RJ

p.s.
The flop survived a haircut.

The Supermen Lovers.

Wow... it's been a while. Not because of lack of material, just lack of time. Had a one week gig, made some cash. All is good.

So went to the movies theatres for the first time in so long. Watched The Avengers. Pretty cool flick I must say, but there was one problem... I didn't see any of the movies about the super heros in it. Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye are the superheros (just in case you didn't know). So in the days after seeing the flick I watched all the movies leading up to The Avengers and know I know what's going on. But the only thing I noticed is every superhero has some sort of tragic childhood.

Iron Man: Bad relationship with his father.
Captain America: Skinny a** kid with asthma, couldn't go to WWII because of it.
Hulk: Not such a bad one...
Thor: His Dad kicked him off their home planet and took away his power.
Don't know anything about the other two...

Now thinking about it, I can't ever be a superhero. I had a wicked childhood. Such a bummer!

Oh well, at least I'm still living the dream.
RJ

Once A Skier

Although it seems RJ is into romance books, I suggest something with more substance. Most serious athletes have read this book already, but in case you haven't, here is a quick summary of the classic, Once A Skier.

Benabas Jonesus is an elite collegiate cross country skier at the largest university in Canada, Lakehead University. He is a long distance sprinter specializing in the popular 50km event, with blood so thick with red red cells and hemoglobin, Benabas Jonesus rarely needs to breath. After writing a petition for the benefit of his team mates to allow the use of hoodie-vests and spandex in competition, Benabus is suspended from the university and so finds his solace in even higher than the 10,000m Lakehead campus - the great Russian Alps. Under the strenuous training of his coach, 1924 gold freestyle ski gold medalist Ivan Oleg Bernachov, Benabas Jonesus prepares for the Lakehead annual invitational 50km race. But because he is banned from the meet, his ingenious coach prepares for him a fake beard and sunglasses to disguise him as a Finnish skier competing from a nonexistent Finnish university.

Jonesus, who has always dreamed of skiing a sub 4 hour 50k, finishes his last workout before the race - 60 laps of a mountain at race pace. Combined with his steady intake of protein and iced tea, Jonesus finally believes he is ready to sub 4 hours. The night before the big race, Benabas hikes around the mountain one last time chanting uncontrollably and summoning orbs that will hold his demons during the race and allow him to race through the pain.

After spending more than 6 hours warming up, Jonesus is finally ready to unleash the inner beast. He ends up beating his old rival, Waltonian in a record time of 3:52.00.00.

This really is a cult classic, if you haven't read it yet, be sure to add it to your summer list.

Play it Cool,
DC

Living The Dream.

First week home was wild yo, had people to see places to go, and all that jazz you know?
Second week home was chill, had no thrill, ran up a couple hill.

Now, entering the third week, I am starting to realize that I am living the dream. My currently situation, no job, big bed, unlimited selection of Daniel Steel novels, I have nothing but time to hammer as many miles as my body can handle! It's time to get rolling!

Im serious though when I say unlimited selection of Daniel Steel novels, my mom has been reading these books since she was born it seems! And the Daniel Steel seems to pump one out every week, giving my mom something new to read every week. So I'll break it down, 52 weeks in a year= 52 books in a year, and lets say she has been reading them for 20 years... carry the eight, divide by the square root of negative pi, multiple it by the inverse log of 17... umm 1'040 books. I kid you not, unless she sold them all, they are still here. I have seen the boxes, it worries me that she has so many. I mean do you know how to write a romance novel? I do, well google told me.

Two people meet and become friends, then over time they encounter and overcome obstacles and then start to date. They fall in love and complications occur along the way. Then it is up to the author to decide whether or not they can sort things out or if it's not going to end in "...and they lived happily ever after".
That's it, thats all it takes! I could be a author.

Little bit of topic there, time to get rolling... umm, that pretty well sums it up. Nothing interesting to say, other than DC and my 4 hour sit down discussing summer running plans. It was intense and we really didn't get anything done. TYPICAL.

Stay Golden,
RJ

Help Me Make Sense Of It All.

Well, I don't know if that actually makes sense.  But, to be honest, this guy might be my idol.
  Don't be afraid to get erect, if you know what I mean. RJ

A Couple More Examples Of Bad Technique Over The Water Pit.

Enjoy.
RJ.

Looking Forward, Not Really...

So, I guess before we look ahead we havta take some time to look back. You know what, the past is gone.The first post kinda sums it up. Whats ahead is all that matters. From here on out its nothing but high mileage and hard liquor, with more emphasis on the high mileage and less on hard liquor, lets be serious, we drink beers. Wow, imma alcoholic. Either way it seems like our plan is to head to Winnipeg. So if anyone is in need of a ride out there, please let us know, we got 4 wheels and need a 3rd person. But we also might not head out west for we might try to defend our Limberlost title. Two options... Both would be extremely satisfying. Only time will tell.

Alright so i've been home for 2 or 3 weeks now. I really have no idea, time is just a blur. On the bright side I have found 4 things to keep me busy while I wait employment. I noticed I make too many lists on here, it's just my writing style, deal with it! Anyways, being unemployed is weird, can't decide if its great or terrible, I mean I have no cash flow... Super s***y. I'm not in a buying stuff mood anyways.

One of the coolest things about being home though is my little sister, is she ever becoming the jogger! She is so qwik! Has a faster 400m than me. One problem though, she doesn't have a head. So I take pride in giving her big brother advice (cause i'm such a great runner myself, pfft!). The kid is so fast though! I hope she reads this and realizes that she actually is super fast! Little grade nine grils, they have much to learn.

Oh the 4 things:
Ping Pong.
Cooking.
Movie Watching.
Sleeping In.

Another thing I find really exciting DC and I are treated like Kings when we jog with our club CdeB. I mean our last year of high school we ran kinda fast, but I mean these young guys are all gunna out do us by there grade 12 year. Gosh, gotta love where you started growing, I sure wouldn't be here without that group.

Anyways, I'll pull a DC.
Keep it real.

RJ

Welcome Home??

Back in my home town, back to my old life,
Glad to see some old faces, sad too leave all the new ones.

Home is weird, doesn't feel like I belong here, only 4 months till I'm back at X, until then onward with the  Summer Of Love. I reunited with half of "Benny and the Jets", BJ and SM, both greeted me with huge hugs. Now we all await for one more to join our party, Durr. He is the other half of NPS and makes his first appearance this friday. Can't wait.

As I try to write this, I realized why I loved being 17 hours away so much, there was no family problems to deal with. But, dont wanna get into that, not worth the rant.

So as stated by DC it looks like we will have three men in the Olympic Marathon, it's even more exciting because we havent had any since '96. Go Canada! Now we wait for a few other Canadians to make there attempts for the standard giving them a ticket to London. Before I forget, I mean, how can I forget, CAM LEVINS. Punched a ticket to London last Saturday night, ran 13:18 for 5km with a last quarter in 55 seconds out kicking the indoor NCAA record holder Lawi Lalang. What a run by the young Canadian.

Back to reality, feeling kinda sluggish the last two days, dont know whats up... lack of sleep I'd say. I can deal. Next problem is wether or not to race on saturday... I'll figure it out later.

Gahh... This whole thing is out of whack, there is no order. I'm going mad! I need to get back to X!

Alright, common theme of every post, I can always share a good story about drinking, seems to be the only thing that I do. Last night at X my Pops decides to buy me 42 beers... I'll tell you again if you missed it, he bought me 42 beers. The only thing I said was, "you know I'm a light weight right?" Anyways, finished my last exam and cracked open the first one. felt sooo good. Went over to a get together with a bunch of XC guys and gals, dropped the brews upon the floor and said "my father came in the form of Santa Claus, enjoy." I think I made about 4 new friends that night. Got into the pub for free and didn't have to wait in line, gosh you have to love the older girls on the team. Danced the night away, said my good byes left the pub almost in tears... Nope, just kidding Imma man, and men don't cry. Had a pit stop on my way back to my room, said good bye to a few more people. Then finally ended up passing out at around 4am. Solid night, until i had to get up at 7am to drive 17 hours back to my home. DEATH!!

Either way I made it. Much catching up to do with all my friends back at home. Looks like I'll be telling the same stories back to back for a couple weeks.

Umm.. I'll end it there cause I feel like I have said to much BS and no real quality. It'll be better next week I promise.

RJ

Better Worry If You're Not Worried

You never have to start worrying until you stop worrying. These are the words of the day my friends, and they apply to all aspects of performance - racing, exam preparation, when there's not enough time to grow a proper race beard - you get the idea. The very idea that I am blogging amidst acceptable academic standard-threatening exams causes me to worry. Which is a good thing... I think.

On the note of studying, I came up with a cool idea. It's like physics, only better. I call it... "The Fundamental Knowledge Osmosis and Physical Factual Absorption Theorem". The proportion of knowledge that seeps out of your books and into your head is directly proportional to the distance the book is away from your pillow when you go to sleep at night. I know all about Freudian psychology but I've never cracked the text. Good thing I don't have an exam on that...

Ok, my break is over, time to get back at 'er. Big shout out to the main man Wykes, crazy finish photo from Rotterdam below. Also, Rob Watson setting a huge pb in a painful finish.

DC

The Sun Always Comes Up And The Birds Will Always Chirp.

Well, Imma go MIA for a couple days, maybe like 13 or 14. Gotta get studying for finals, should be fun... Actually not at all, any little idea that pops into my head turns into at least 30 minutes of wasting time. What I would do for a motivation pill is beyond comprehension. But, I'm not going to bore you with talk about studying.

I wish I could spare every detail of the last 4 days of my life, pretty much the most fun I have ever had. Two big drinking nights back to back, all I talk about is drinking, couple amazing jogs and well... maybe a amazing gal. First night drinking, last class bash, and yes it was on a tuesday, and yes more than half of campus was drinking. It's soo cool when that happens you feel like you belong everywhere cause everyone shares one thing in common with you. That one thing.... RAGE. Day 2 in the pre exam binge was Athlete Banquet, kinda long, but so wicked! All the athletes are such great people, when we all get together its always a blast, starts off as the XC team hanging around our own kind but slowly as we all get more into the brews and spirits or whatever you be drinking we become a huge family! X is truly 13 sports 1 team. I love it here!

Was kinda drunk.

Something our coach has said a couple times this year: "If you can be a man at night, you better be a man in the morning."

Luckily practice was in the afternoon both days.

Jogging though this week has been a blast, this year has been nicknamed the Year of the Trails. Been running for a almost 2 months now and still havent touched pavement. Yesterday, suppose to be an off/easy day, myself and AD went out for what we thought would be an easy 40min, we ended up gone for 100 minutes. Found some wicked trails, huge climbs, fast downhills, and some views that would take your breathe away! I'm serious, I'm going to bring a camera out here at take some pictures one day. Free facebook cover photos for all!

Now finally the part everyone wants to hear about... I dunno where to start. Amazing. OH S***. She just knocked.

Enjoy,
RJ

Oh, best be cheering for Rob Watson tomorrow as he attempts to make the Canadian Olympic team. This guy is a beast! Have watched him race a couple times, Ballsy as f***! Onward to Rotterdam. 

Summer of Love

The nickname I have given the this up coming summer. Other than working it should live up to its name. Lots of fun events planned and such but I'll talk about them when they become relevant. Just going to point this out there but, DC MISSED HIS WEEKEND POST. Oh well, he is now slightly humiliated.

Thought I'd change it up this week and give a little jogging up date. About a month in, feeing absolutely fantastic. Had a rough time this indoor track, couldn't find any speed, and training on a paved road for a lot of it. Now though, with spring in the air, and the snow pretty much all melted I can go back to basics. For the last 3 weeks I have maybe spent 3 hours on paved roads, I have been on the trails like they are going outa style. Building up some mileage too, dont need the 100mile weeks yet, saving those for later. Moving pretty slow, like I said back to basics. Strides and Drills. All Day, Every Day.

Also hitting up a little race action first weekend back from X, hopefully I've been doing something right. A 10km in O-town, the wiener gets some hefty prize money which could get myself and DC to Oly Trails, COUGH Jr Nats COUGH.

I guess the Beer Mile would count as jogging. Haha. Didn't get the result i was hoping for, but did quite respectable, sub 9 minutes. 25 minutes after it hit me. I'll end the story there. Long night. Very long night.

Now back to a world that isn't so boring, what is new in my life... Well, actually this is kinda boring. For the next 3 weeks I'm going to lock myself in a room and study my heart out, my balls off, etc etc.

EXAMS!!

Yepp, I'm home the 22nd or 23rd depends if my father wants to stop in QC and hit up the bars or not. Hopefully my mom doesn't read this. S*** I told her about this blog today... Guess I'll be home the 22nd. Damn the 18hours I'll be sitting in a car.

Anyways, sorry for being boring.
RJ

One exciting thing, trimmed the leg and chest hair. I'm hoping timeless time comes soon.

Side note: Took me like an hour to type this whole thing out, got lost listening to one of the most legendary rock bands of all time, Pink Floyd. Their 1st album, which came out during The Summer of Love. 1967.

Importer/Exporter of Latex.

First I'll start with my life:

Marine Biologist

Hand Model

Wanna be Architect

I'm not sure if anyone understands yet...

I might be George Costanza.

Gahh! Imma be bald!

A small realization that DC made today.


It'll be...

THE SUMMER OF GEORGE!

One month till it starts too.

I'm getting excited.


So across most of Canada last week for 3-4 days we experienced Summer weather. Highs reaching 25 or warmer. Which is unheard of in March. Those 3 days at X were spent outside for nobody went to class. On Thursday we got a blow up pool and bought all the couches outside.We played soccer like it was going outa style. Ran topless like it was summer. I burnt my nose. But all good things must come to an end for it is winter again and a nice layer of snow covers the surface of our praised soccer field.

Sorry, this post doesn't really have a theme, just random thoughts that keep popping into my head, and then I lay them down.


I got kinda sick because my heater turned off after the hot streak we had. So I've been mixing Tylenol, Benadryl, Halls and Vitamin C pills into my Tea. And boy does it ever help. 


And what is the rush to get better? Beer Mile. The best part is I might have a chance to get the W for the guys team. Crazy to think that the smallest guy on the team out drinking and jogging everyone... Time will tell, wish me luck. 


Hopefully though, I dont end up like this guy.


Oh, a good tune I have been listening to fairly often will make it's NPS debut today. I'd say about 1000 of those views are from me.

Enjoy some Seinfeld humour, SM puking and a good tune.
RJ


By the way, AD had a birthday yesterday, the kid is 21. I guess he ain't no kid anymore. Either way, a hopeful for the 2016 Oly Marathon. All the best to him.

Sorry for the big spaces between thoughts, Blogger is being weird tonight.
I try to make them smaller buit they keep getting bigger! ahh!