tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203419952012-05-26T03:38:04.428-04:00A blog about a guy's running life in Toronto and Washington DC.yumkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326728444383668883noreply@blogger.comBlogger1158125Subscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesSubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with Yourminis.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20341995.post-10360821995556286452012-05-13T10:26:00.001-04:002012-05-13T10:55:36.981-04:002012-05-13T10:55:36.981-04:00

I've watched this race grow over the past 8 years into somewhat of a Toronto tradition. With essentially free entry (the Sporting Life guys gave gift cards for those who registered). But 20,000 plus runners? Wow. (Sporting Life 10K results here). Last week's marathon left my legs in pretty good shape, I ran a few times over the week and even as I was thinking about this race that starts at

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I've been training since January. The miles have been hard to come by, work's been busy and it's been hard to do the mileage I'm used to. Fear not, me thinks, you've gone through this marathon business many times before. My marathon at the end of the month is in Ottawa, where weather can do anything to the day. I was looking at my past long runs and saw I've logged enough 18 plus milers and two

yumkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326728444383668883noreply@blogger.com3http://yumkerun.blogspot.com/2012/05/unscheduled-toronto-goodlife-marathon.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20341995.post-81266789199542755092012-05-05T17:13:00.000-04:002012-05-05T17:13:24.639-04:002012-05-05T17:13:24.639-04:00

Reader Stan was asking for a Mississauga Marathon strategy guide and since we’re about 12 hours to go to the race, I thought I’d oblige with some quick thoughts. First, I’ve run the marathon there twice, and each time it was a different course at the end. It looks like this year is the same as 2009 when I ran it. Course in general: It is generally exposed, some hills in the beginning and

yumkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326728444383668883noreply@blogger.com3http://yumkerun.blogspot.com/2012/05/mississauga-marathon-race-strategy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20341995.post-16856051350234416562012-04-14T19:17:00.000-04:002012-04-14T19:17:00.043-04:002012-04-14T19:17:00.043-04:00

Last night, I ate mostly carbs, hydrated and tried (and failed) to get to bed at a reasonable hour. I woke up when it was still dark to have my pre-long run breakfast, and a few hours later, I started my three-hour run. Ah, Friday nights and Saturday mornings in the Yumke household. Twenty miles later, I continued on my weekend ritual, ending the morning in a state of exhaustion, but with

yumkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326728444383668883noreply@blogger.com0http://yumkerun.blogspot.com/2012/04/weekend-warrior-myth.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20341995.post-63562749395442643152012-04-01T23:22:00.000-04:002012-04-01T23:22:42.676-04:002012-04-01T23:22:42.676-04:00

We run a lot, and it requires a lot of energy. And we eat a fair amount, and it needs to be burned off. I was thinking about how us runners reconcile that push-pull. For me, they are two particular passions that work well together. For most, it's a simple declarative statement: "We run to eat." My own bookshelf reflects that sentiment -- a few dozen running books, a few dozen cookbooks.

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I have a certain ritual I like to go through the day before the race. Saturday was not that kind of day. In fact, Friday wasn't either. I had just spent two very long days helping cover a political event, and ended up the night before Around the Bay at the hotel, in my room, checking in on work, in an utter state of exhaustion. On the bright side, I had not run since Wednesday. So that was me

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So that was fun, started the race pretty exhausted from work, but found my pace, decided to leave the 2:30 pace group around 15K, then brought it home with a great second half. The hill, I barely noticed them. Totally ran this race by my own textbook, steady start, opened after the half, tackled the hills and hammered it home. And the negative split. Things are finally starting to turn around

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Last two days, we covered this race Tomorrow, I run a race Hopefully the first one didn't exhaust me too much, an interesting taper it's been

yumkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326728444383668883noreply@blogger.com1http://yumkerun.blogspot.com/2012/03/two-races.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20341995.post-15090295468109646222012-03-21T20:08:00.000-04:002012-03-21T22:25:20.631-04:002012-03-21T22:25:20.631-04:00

Some of the favourite keyword searches leading to my blog this month include such questions as "Is Around the Bay hard?", "Around the Bay strategy", "How to run Around the Bay Hills" and what colour is this year's shirt (I wish I knew, let me know when you find out) I've run this 30K 'oldest road race in North America' five times, and it's, for me, an annual ritual. The race starts in Hamilton

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I guess when you run enough races, you eventually get to see everything. Today when the starting gun went off at 8 a.m. I was nowhere near the start. I found myself in another type of holding pen: Inside a Metro station a kilometer from the start. Here's what it looked like as we were climbing up the escalator. Pretty insane. Via goldpeachdesu I guess I should've known. This was the first

yumkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326728444383668883noreply@blogger.com2Washington, DC 20009, USA38.9242836 -77.036296738.911930600000005 -77.05603769999999 38.9366366 -77.0165557http://yumkerun.blogspot.com/2012/03/race-report-dc-rock-n-roll-usa-half.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20341995.post-44021492944517679112012-03-15T22:50:00.000-04:002012-03-15T22:50:00.905-04:002012-03-15T22:50:00.905-04:00

It's funny to be on the other side. In my day job as a journalist, I've seen the power of a media brand, and fielded questions and assumptions on how mainstream media (MSM) works. How we often miss the mark. How we supposedly fail to connect. My running life, aside from all the reasons I love to write about, allows me to experience the other side. Our sport is portrayed in the oddest light in

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I used to make excuses. I used to have the line ready. "I have to get my run in." It's a full fledged addiction, I'd admit, to feel the urge to put in the training, spend hours on the road, rushing life along so I could get some me time and put in the miles. Today I was asked after an event whether I had time for drinks. Another day, I see an evening event. A friend wanted to schedule in

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Training continues as the miles pile up, first race of the year in a month, then my 30K in six weeks. Last week was a tough one to get the miles in. Here's a view of Montreal's downtown from my work office, the tallest skyscraper in the city (1000 de La Gauchetière). You can see the top of Mont-Royal where the lookout perches over the city. It's a 2.5K run from my hotel to the lookout, a nice

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Finally back on track, finally running consistently, again I'm feeling like I'm a few more long runs away from thinking seriously about what the spring running season holds. This year it looks like I'm due for a shakeup. I'm skipping two big races I rarely miss, the Harry's 8K and the Sporting Like 10K. Actually, I'm running the Sporting Life 10K, but not one run by the Canadian Running Series.

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On Saturday, I piled on the layers and ran 17K while it was -15C, -24C with wind chill. Chilled to the bone. Today, I wore my sleeveless jacket and did 10K with temperature of 8C. Yesterday, 5K in the rain. All told, I would have preferred the cold in some weird way. Give me winter before the spring thaw. In all the many winters I've trained through, this type of weather swing is something

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Two things I can say about tonight's run: That it was an epic milestone run and I almost broke my ankle trying to mark it. The Garmin and I have been through a lot, these past three-plus years. Garmie, as I have called him, has gone through countless stops and starts as I wait (not jog in place) at stop lights through the many cities I've passed through. He's outlasted at least 10 pairs of

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My new Garmin 610 is waiting at home for its new owner to take it out for a spin. I'm not ready to retire my good old Garmin, it's taken me through a good 15 marathons, and I'll let it get its lifetime metre up to 10,000 kilometres. Took it out the other day for a stroll, out here in Tobago, where I'm visiting with R's family (to visit their families). Running takes a little extra break. I'm not

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Guilt.That's what I imagine that they're thinking as I make a my way towards them in full speed in the dark. It's 7 p.m. on a weekday, the mild December weather makes the sidewalks just a tad busier than those snowblown days that are coming. On my arm is a new light strip that makes my left appendage glow in the dark, a rare source of light against my black tights, top and toque. That armband and

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Twenty five years ago, I stood at the side of the road, waiting. Now that I can appreciate the undulating hills of the major thoroughfare that cuts through my parents' neighbourhood, I can only now marvel at what it would have been like to roll through the hills of eastern Toronto. All those years and miles later, while the memory of those like Terry Fox harden in the Canadian consciousness as

yumkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326728444383668883noreply@blogger.com0http://yumkerun.blogspot.com/2011/11/perpetual-motion.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20341995.post-9840139177092821112011-11-16T21:17:00.001-05:002011-11-16T21:19:45.180-05:002011-11-16T21:19:45.180-05:00

And I'm happy to join the club... Nice!

yumkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326728444383668883noreply@blogger.com0http://yumkerun.blogspot.com/2011/11/131-miles-gets-you-this.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20341995.post-83674240860760741772011-11-10T19:44:00.001-05:002011-11-10T20:09:32.584-05:002011-11-10T20:09:32.584-05:00

It's pretty hard to impress me these days about what one can do while running a marathon. (Let alone that 26.2 miles/42.2 kilometres is still very impressive.) There's, of course, the woman who ran a marathon while very pregnant, those who juggle, carry flags, broadcast video or Tweet live. Me, Tweeting live Something that my buddy Lee sent me today, I would argue, kicks the ass of all of

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I'm exhausted just thinking about prepping for the MCM. Still one of my favourites, but the three in a month was a bit much. The weather, almost perfect if not three or four degrees cooler than I'd like. Still, compared with a hot day, not going to complain at all. I left R's place at 6 to catch the 6:20 train at a subway near by. Cutting it that close to the 8 a.m. start pretty much meant I

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Marine Corps Marathon, yes, my favourite, but yes it's a toughy, especially when it comes at the end of three marathons in four weeks. Would I advise that you try it? Sure, I did it last year, but you have to put aside some ambitions for speed in favour of making it out to the next race. This 36th MCM was my 18th, and man it was just as tough as the first. Targetted a 3:45 but the day handed me

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As I prep for the last 24 hours before the Marine Corps Marathon, snow is in the forecast. I've heard of marathons being cancelled over snow, but this ain't no other marathon. And yes, you heard me right. Snow. In DC. In October, or #snowtober, as others would call it. Tomorrow's marathon? Says Rick Nealis, MCM's Director: "Marines don't cancel. If it snows, the Marines might be out

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My last warmup runs a few days before Toronto Marathon left me feeling slightly confident. The soreness after Chicago was going away. My legs, which a week ago cramped up in the heat, felt a little sore, but I was more occupied by the wind. It was blowing strong, in an easterly direction. Not a pretty one given the out-and-back nature of the course. My pre race movie was Running the Sahara and

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