2011 Year In Review

Well 2011 certainly didn't go down as I planned.  Although I was rather pleased with the results of my running races, the triathlon season was pretty much a write off because of a stress fracture from the Toronto Marathon.

The race season was supposed to be as followed:

Chilly Half Marathon
Around The Bay (30 km)
Sporting Life 10 km
Toronto Good Life Marathon
Muskoka Long Course
Peterborough Half Iron
Calgary 70.3
Muskoka 70.3

So how did the race season go?

Chilly Half Marathon
I missed a PB by seconds despite rolling my ankle three times during the race.

Around The Bay 
A race which is older than the Boston marathon and one I've wanted to run for a long time.  I've trained three times for this race but only run it once due to injuries.  Oh yeah and I beat John P.

Sporting Life 10 km
DNS

The Toronto marathon.
My first marathon.  It was a crappy day and rained a lot and I could barely walk after the race. As it turned out I got a stress fracture on my lower shin.  That pretty much eliminated most of the triathlon races for the summer.

Muskoka Long Course
DNS

Peterborough Half Iron
This race turned into an Aqua\Bike as I still couldn't run.  I decided to give everyone a 25 minute head start on the swim as I stood on the shore watching the athletes come out of the water for the end of the first lap.  Only then did it dawn on me that it was a mass start.  Doh.  Also, it was smoking hot and had nutrition issues on the bike.

Calgary 70.3
DNS.  Although I was in Calgary during the race, I could barely run.  My long run was up to about 5 km.  The race would have been painful to finish (literally and figuratively)

Muskoka 70.3
A major disappointment as I was one minute slower than last year.  I thought with riding my new tri bike and power tap all summer, I would have seen an improvement

Tammy did a couple of Duathlons.  Guelph and Orillia - Kids of Steel and -Duathlon.html. The kids did the Kids Of Steel triathlon and it was a lot of fun on the Saturday and Tammy did the Duathlon the next day.

Looking Ahead To 2012
Well first thing is to look for a new coach.  I need to make a decision rather soon while i am still training it will be time to ramp it up.  On Friday morning I rode for 2:45 using my new riding shorts I bought on Boxing Day.  Tammy had given me an action DVD so I watched the first two movies.  The first one was dumb as it was about a small town cop discovering evidence about the Kennedy assassination and cover up.  The next movie was with Dolph Lundgren which I've never heard of and for good reason.  It was just brutal but it helped kill the time.

With Ironman Mont Tremblant looming in only 231 days, 2012 will be filled with lots of hard and long days.

Happy New Year and all the best for 2012!

Boxing Day Score

Once upon a time ago, I used to go Boxing Day shopping (the day after Christmas and everything is on sale) with my brothers.  We would spend hours and hours at various malls around the city shopping for clothes and electronics.  We had it down to a fine art.  Leave the house by 6:00 am and hit several stores by 7:00 am.  Sometimes we'd be done by 11:00 am when the malls where getting crazily busy, other times we'd push on through and fight the crowds and come home late afternoon.  We'd usually spent lots of money and come home with tons of stuff.

Fast forward to this year.  I had zero desire to go out although I did browse on Best Buy's website for the Boxing Day sale which started Dec 25th at 8:00 pm.  I was mulling over getting a plasma TV for the bedroom to replace the old but still working 20 inch TV.  I passed as the prices weren't cheap enough.  Something about "need" versus "want."  However, I did decide there were several things I "needed" at Running Free.  They had 25% off everything plus and additional 20% off if you spent more than $500.  We got the full 45% off everything.  We picked up three pairs of shoes, two for me and one for Tammy.  I changed my shoes after the Toronto Marathon in May and the shoes are completely destroyed.  Talk about a heel striker.  The heel is completely worn down on the right side.  We also purchased new riding shorts, gel, bathing suit, and a new foam roller

This one is a lot more expensive but different than the other foam rollers I've been buying.  This one has a hard plastic tube inside so it can't be crushed unlike the foam rollers which over time lose their shape and effectiveness.  Not this one.  They sell for $50 but with the sale, I got for 45% off.  We spent over $700 after the discount.  Ouch

Last week I went to a physio therapist downtown a the Toronto Athletic Club Clinic in one of the office towers.  Ryan had come highly recommended by Scobie and I was looking for someone to build a simple but effective workout schedule for strength training and that I could do in my basement with minimal weights (ie body weight).  I had not used any my physio coverage from my work benefits so this was perfect.  I saw him three days in a roll.  The Toronto Athletic Club is on the 36th floor of an office tower and is pretty high end.  It caters to all lot of the downtown executives.  I'm not sure what the monthly fee is but it can't be cheap however, if I worked downtown, it would be super convenient.

On the first visit, I went through a series of strength and balancing tests.  Overall I wasn't bad but came up with a failing grade with a score of 13/21.  Basically any score lower than 14 can lead the body to injuries and oddly enough, I get hurt every year.  The second and third visit were going over the program that Ryan built for me. Its a pretty basic program that focuses on the glutes and legs and can be done with minimal weights and within 30 minutes but Ryan assured me that's all I need to minimize the injuries.  This should be perfect as I thoroughly agree that I need a strength training program but could never get anyone to build me one.  We'll see how it goes

Touchdown!

Nothing else going on.  I ran on Christmas Day for 9.5 km and hit 181.2 pounds on the scale.  Oink oink

The Boston Marathon

Today a work colleague offered me the chance to run the Boston Marathon 2012 (without qualifying) via a special sponsorship/fundraising entry.

I thanked him but declined.  One of my brothers had run Boston several times to which he qualified each time.  I think my qualification time right now would be a 3:35 marathon to which I'm not even close.

Somehow, I felt that if I did accept, I didn't belong as I didn't "earn" my entry.  Odd.  I guess that would be sort of like going to Kona by winning the lottery.

David Wilson

David Wilson


 
DAVID WILSON It is with profound sadness we announce the passing of our family member, David Wilson on December 12, 2011. Loving son of George and Barbara Wilson, devoted husband to Anny-Sandra Hamel and proud father of Marissa Rose and Arianne. He will be greatly missed by his sisters Karen (Mike), Susan and Michelle and brother-in-law Jean-Sebastian (Nathalie). Loving uncle to Megan, Kaitlyn, Audrey and Catherine. Highly respected son-in-law to Jean Hamel and Carmen Guay. Cousin to Keith (Jayne), Chris (Cindy) and many other cousins. David had a wonderful "joie de vivre" - a positive, outgoing person who loved life. His girls were his greatest source of pride and family was of utmost importance. David was a successful investment advisor with Nesbitt Burns, loved his new cottage, and shared many wonderful adventures with friends and family
 
 
I haven't talked to Dave in a couple of years but I've know Dave since our rookie training class back in September 1997.  I saw him a couple of times when I went downtown and we'd have a beer or two and oddly enough, I was thinking about him a couple of weeks ago. 
 
I don't know what happened but I do know that Dave was a good guy and he had two young kids that were a little older than my kids. 
 
This is a tough time of year for many people. 
 
Rest In Peace Dave

Feeling Like a Loser This Holiday Season?

Here's How to Hire a Bigger Loser!

by: Jane Wells

Now this holiday season - you can hire a bigger nerd than you.

A friend forwarded me an ad on Craigslist which pitches the services of the greatest holiday must-have ever—a Criticism Deflector.

"Perhaps you're the least successful of a number of siblings and will be reminded of this bleak reality ad nauseam during the long weekend," the ad began in originally pitching the service for Thanksgiving. "If you're losing sleep over the possibility of yet another Power Point presentation on the reasons why calling your life a failure is too good for you; then I can help."

The ad offers the services of a man in Asheville, North Carolina, who's willing to come to dinner with you and appear to be an even bigger failure than you are. This would make you look better.

"Don't be the most piteous person in the room, have the satisfaction of watching your pathetic proxy wear out your source of negativity."

The seller charges by the hour and offers several different packages: Loser ex-boyfriend, roommate who can't get life together, and co-worker with obvious drug/mental problems.

Too bad Thanksgiving passed. I could've used this guy.

I reached out to the seller to see if his services are still available for Hanukkah and Christmas.

They are.

I also got the hilarious back story on how the listing came to be.

"I started a blog earlier this year that centered around Craigslist postings," wrote the seller, who prefers to go by the nom de plume of H.D. Wimbledon. Turns out, Mr. Wimbledon is a former cable news anchor and reporter in Asheville who lost that job and has been making ends meet working part time at a local community college. In February, he launched his first tongue-in-cheek Craigslist post offering free breakfast to anyone who could explain the TV show "Lost". "I HAVE seen every episode of Lost," the ad reads, "repeat I HAVE watched the entire series, I just can't tie it all together." The ad got enough buzz that one of the creators of the ABC hit show put it on his Twitter feed.

There then followed a series of other Craigslist offers, including my favorite, an offer of "free candy" with a photo of a seedy looking van. "Comes with complementary van ride." Wimbledon's blog got some attention, but literary agents have yet to ring the phone off the hook. So the aspiring writer continues to Tweet hilarious musings and occasionally add another listing "just for kicks and giggles." 

I don't know Wimbledon's real name, even his name on Twitter isn't completely accurate. I just know that he's a guy. I also know he likes cats, because in one email he notified me he'd be offline for a while. "I’ve got to take my cat to the vet. I’m sure you’re shocked to learn I’m a multiple cat owner."

That's funny.

As for the Thanksgiving ad, Wimbledon tells me he didn't get many bites, but he's hoping for something more substantial during Christmas. However, he's willing to be your loser companion year round "for wide variety of other occasions such as class reunions, office parties, poetry slams & winery tours."

Wow, to be the biggest loser at a poetry slam will take some work.

Now That's Got To Suck!

TOKYO—An outing of luxury sportscar enthusiasts in Japan ended in an expensive freeway pileup — smashing a stunning eight Ferraris, a Lamborghini and two Mercedes likely worth more than $1 million together.

Police say they believe the accident Sunday was touched off when the driver of one of the Ferraris tried to change lanes and hit the median barrier. He spun across the freeway, and the other cars collided while trying to avoid hitting his car.
Even a used Ferrari in Japan can fetch $100,000 or more, meaning the total damage may be $1 million or more.
Police declined to comment on the total amount of damage, but said some of the vehicles were beyond repair.

NTV quoted the driver of one of the tow trucks brought in to clear the scene as saying it was the most expensive crash site he had ever seen.
No one was seriously injured, but police in Yamaguchi prefecture said 10 people were treated for bruises and cuts. Police say 14 cars were involved altogether.
The luxury cars were all in one place because they were being driven by a group of automobile enthusiasts on their way to nearby Hiroshima.






On the training front, I rode on the trainer for two hours on Saturday.  In a word....UGH!  I began to bonk around the 1:30 mark and took a quick pee break but mentally it was tough.  One trick I did learn from reading Jordon Rapp's blog, is to count to 300 and then start over again and again.  That keeps the mental focus on the counting and not looking at the watch every 35 seconds wondering how I am going to finish the workout.

On the running front, I ran twice last week and my foot seemed ok.  The Planter fasciitis doesn't seem as bad as I've been strengthening and stretching my calves.  I admit that over the last several months, I haven't been stretching my calves after each workout.  No doubt, this is payback. I use a small wooden roller for the bottom and both sides of my feet.  Holy crap, did it ever hurt when I first started rolling but now its not too bad.  No John P, I didn't pay for this roller.  Someone gave it to me for free.



On the coaching front, I was supposed to meet with another triathlon coach who came highly recommended from a friend.  We exchanged emails and she wanted the usual info goals, expectation, experience etc.  She also wanted to know my race results from 2010 (I presumed she meant 2011).  Seriously, how hard is it to look up somebody's results by going to Sportstats?  Hmmm, that started me wondering but we were supposed to meet on Thursday at 3 pm but did not set a place.  I emailed her early Thursday morning but didn't hear back from her.  This is the second time I've sent a triathlon coach an email requesting a meeting and the second time I've received no response.  Maybe they a) looked up my results and decided I'm useless as an athlete and didn't want to coach me, b) don' t read emails although this last coach was sending emails from her iphone c) aren't looking to take on new athletes or d) not familiar with customer service.  Just like my last coach

CFL Reunion - 73 Year Old Start Brawling With A 74 Year Old!

Laughter turned to gasps when two former Canadian Football League rivals in their 70s exchanged vigorous punches on stage at an alumni luncheon in Vancouver this week.


In an online video that has quickly gone viral, former B.C. Lions quarterback Joe Kapp, 73, started the ruckus by offering former Hamilton Ticats defensive lineman Angelo Mosca, now 74, a sprig of flowers.

Kapp later said he was trying to end a feud that dates back to the 1963 Grey Cup game when Mosca injured Lions running back Willie Fleming with a hard tackle.

"I'm Angelo Mosca and someone starts waving a flower in my face," the former wrestler said later. "You think I'm gonna take that?"

Mosca, who was sitting down, lashed out with his cane. Then Kapp threw punched Mosca, knocking him off his chair.
"He hit me on the side of the head with a cane," Kapp said.

To which, Mosca replied, "When I went down, he kicked me."

CTV's Suneel Joshi said the fight was so bizarre, the crowd initially thought it was staged.

"People thought it was a joke -- until they saw the right hook from Joe Kapp."

When interviewed after the altercation, Mosca said he was simply defending himself.

"You take a shot at me, I'm gonna take a shot at you," he said.

Counting Calories - Fail

Someone brought in a large box of Peak Freen choclate cookies (one of my favorite cookies).  Everytime I walk by the kitchen, I grab two or three.  So much for counting calories.

Simply brutal

What Is Going On?

Just a quick update to let you know what is going on....nothing. 

A while ago, I bought a trainer tire and started using it when I rode my trainer (obviously).  Well it was a real PITA to put on but the next morning, it was flat so I struggled for another 30 minutes taking the tire off, changing the inner tube and putting the tire back on.  A couple of days ago, I got another flat so yesterday I took off the trainer tire and threw it in the corner.  I had an old tire from a couple of years ago and I'm just going to use that and ride it until there is no tread on it.

I'm using Saturday as my long ride and this week I really struggled to finish.  Normally I'll ride for about 90-100 minutes looking to burn about 1,200-1,500 calories however this Saturday, it took me 105 minutes to burn 1,000 calories.  It was a brutal ride.  I wasn't feeling all that great and probably a little tired from Friday's ride.  This morning, I rode for 65 minutes and burned 955 calories (I was pissed off).

On the running front....no runs.  My foot is still sore but I've been using a wooden roller on the bottom of my foot and it hurts like hell but its getting better.  I've started to stretch my calves more and started doing some calf raises and I think its helping.  I'll try and run this week and if it still hurts then I'll go see a doctor.

One the dieting front, just two words.....oink oink.  On Thursday morning, I hit my max weight, 180 pounds up from my race weight of 170 pounds.  I was going to buy some new suits (I wear one everyday) but a couple of years ago, I bought a new one on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas where everything is on sale) and by June it was too big.  I've also noticed my current suits are starting to get a little tight, so we are back to counting calories.  That means weighing, measuring and recording everything I eat (well almost).  The goal is to keep the calories down to about 1,800 per day while burning over 2,500 calories (including workouts).  The first thing I noticed is my serving size has gotten a lot bigger.  The plate seems much more empty when I measure everything.  The second thing I noticed is that I'M STARVING ALMOST ALL THE TIME!!!  What does it say if I finish eating a meal and I'm still hungry?

The goal is to get down to 175 the end of the month.  Yea that should be fun with all the holidays coming up.


 

IMAZ 2011 Finish - Pat Tillotson

Pat Tillotson - You Are An Ironman!!! - 17:00:00




Stolen from

http://iwannagetphysical.blogspot.com/2011/11/one-final-im-az-post-finish-line-video.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SteveInASpeedoGross+%28Steve+in+a+Speedo%3F%21+Gross%21%29

Minnesota Wild calls on 51-year-old beer league goalie

Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via GETTY IMAGES

Richard J. Brennan

Beer league goalie Paul Deutsch says it finally dawned on him that being called up by the Minnesota Wild wasn’t a dream when a valet parking attendant at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul opened his minivan door.

“Here they were valet parking my minivan. There is a Range Rover is in front of me and an Audi is behind and here I’ve got my four-cylinder minivan with the company logo on the side. The valet guys were dying (laughing),” Deutsch told the Toronto Star Thursday.

All the 51-year-old owner of an embroidery and screen sprint shop in the St. Paul’s area — called up by the Wild on Wednesday as an emergency backup goalie — says the only thing he can remember about the trip to the arena is being really scared and in a state of disbelief.

After all, his reason for making the trip is one of hockey legend, the kind of story that gives hope to pickup hockey players everywhere.

“I raced home and got my gear and started heading down to the arena . . . I don’t even remember how I got there. I was thinking to myself ‘I can’t go into this game … I don’t deserve to be there.’ I was very scared because what if …,” said the season’s ticket holder.

Earlier in they day he got the call from Bob Mason, the Wild’s goalie coach and golfing buddy, saying he had to sign a contract right away because he was needed immediately as an emergency backup to starter Josh Harding for Wednesday’s game against the Nashville Predators.

“I got called at 3 p.m. and I was probably at the arena by 4:30 p.m.,” said Deutsch, who joked that it did mean having to give up his regular Wednesday night game.

Because of NHL rules, the Wild weren’t allowed to sign a goaltender with professional experience. Deutsch’s amateur tryout contract fit within the rules.

Almost a year ago, a desperate Phoenix Coyote team in a game against the Rangers turned to Tom Fenton, a 26-year-old graduate student former goalie from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y. The Canadian-born Fenton too didn’t get into the game but has a story to tell his grandkids.

While Deutsch is no stranger to some of the Wild brass — he’s a good friend of former Wild assistant coach Mike Ramsey — and has been the practice goalie for a number of years for the team, this call was entirely different. He was one injury away from having the professional spotlight on him.

Deutsch, who didn’t even start playing goalie until he was 37, was signed after Niklas Backstrom was declared out for personal reasons. And it was unclear if the night before the U.S. Thanksgiving whether Matt Hackett, being recalled from Houston, could make it to the Twin Cities in time.

“I was very scared because here we were talking about Hackett coming from Houston on Thanksgiving eve. ‘Come on, how’s going to do that?’”

Deutsch’s improbable shot at playing in an NHL game ended almost as quickly as it started when Hackett arrived at the arena just before the 7 p.m. game time and Deutsch was scratched.

He did however get out on the ice for about a minute or so during the warm-ups and better yet, he gets to keep his jersey. Chuck Fletcher, the Wild general manager, has also promised a copy of his NHL contract.
“This is something that I didn’t even realize, on that ice for a warm-up there are 40 men out there, big guys … and there is nowhere to go. And I couldn’t get out of the way. I almost clipped (Minnesota Wild forward Brad) Staubitz with my stick. He came over and said ‘can you imagine if you cut me during warm-ups.’ I was just a buffoon out there,” Deutsch said.

After the warm-up was over he discovered that Hackett had arrived in time. Deutsch’s locker had already been cleaned out to make way for the NHLer.

“Reality hit in a hurry. I was just gone. And there was my little chair with towel on it sitting in the room off the locker room where the sewing machine is and the skate sharpener and that stuff,” Deutsch said.
Deutsch stuck around to sit in on Wild coach Mike Yeo’s pre-game team meeting before taking his equipment off and heading to a suite with members of his daughter’s under-14 girls hockey team, which he coaches. He watched his beloved Wild win their fifth straight game with Harding making 23 saves.

“The whole thing was pretty cool,” he told the Star, adding he hopes he doesn’t have to pay for the puck he threw into the crowd as a souvenir.

Pat Tillotson...You Are An Ironman!!

Ironman Arizona Nov 2011

In case you haven't seen it on other blogs, Patricia Tillotson (age 56) from Wilmington, DE finished Ironman Arizona in dramatic fashion:

Swim 1:38:20

Bike 8:06:09

Run 7:00:00

Finishing time 17:00:00


Ironman Announcer Mike Riley (white hat) is screaming encouragement

2011 IMAZ male winner Eneko Lianos (blue shirt) is clapping

2011 IMAZ female third place finisher: Meredtih Kesslar (blue jacket and black hat)

2011 IMAZ female second place finisher: Lindsey Corbin (grey jacket)

Wow!

The Kid Is Back

The World Triathlon Corporation

From the Toronto Star

In 2008, Providence bought the World Triathlon Corp., which at the time staged or licenced the rights to 53 Ironman and half-Ironman events a year.

Endurance competitions were booming in the U.S.

In 2007, 800,000 racers participated in triathlons, and despite its modest coverage in the mainstream media, its popularity was on the rise. World Triathlon in 2007 generated more than $500 million in royalty payments from companies to put its Ironman brand name on watches, sunglasses and other items.

By 2009, 1.2 million racers participated in triathlons, and while the sport appealed to many, it was a still considered a gruelling challenge. A 2009 survey reported only 17 per cent of triathletes had finished an Ironman race in the previous year.

So this year, in a move to broaden the sport’s appeal, World Triathlon announced a new 13-race series called 5150. Races in the series would feature a 1.5-km swim, a 40-km bike ride and a 10-km run. (A traditional Ironman triathlon is a 3.8-km swim, 180-km bike race, and a 42-km run.)

Within five years, World Triathlon chief executive Andrew Fertic told The SportsBusiness Journal, the series could have 50 events averaging 2,300 athletes and more than 100,000 total participants.

New Canadian $100 Bill



Rippppp

So Canada gets a new one hundred dollar bill that is supposed to be indestructible as its made from plastic. 

Oppps, I ripped one.  I did the same thing in Australia when I ripped one of their five dollar bills that is made from plastic as well




Protester Literally Thrown Out of Zuccotti Park

See ya! Toronto, you're next!

Nada

Nada is going on these days.  I have nothing to write about for training.

• I'm eating like a pig.  Halloween was deadly.  I took a whole bunch of candy to work and people got mad at me
• I'm still looking for a coach.  I've interviewed one and want to talk to more
• I think I have Plantar fasclitis so I have not been running all that much (once a week)
• I'm riding indoors three times a week.  Had a hell of a time putting on the trainer tire 
• This is the time of year I get SAD except I do not get sad, more like extremely irritable and angry
• Jake's arm is still broken and now he had a fever for the last several days 

That is pretty much what is going on in my life

Poor Jakey

Post Halloween

Clearly there are some very creative pumpkin carvers out there

Happy Halloween

Who Wants Broccoli?

OJ Comes To Toronto!!!

Stolen transport leads police on chase across Ontario

By John Miner, QMI Agency

LONDON, Ont. — Police are pursuing a stolen transport truck that hit a police cruiser earlier Monday morning.

The tractor-trailer was stolen at about 4 a.m. in the Niagara region.

With about a dozen cruisers following, the truck rolled down Hwy. 403 and onto Hwy. 401, passing through the Woodstock area.

The driver then got off the westbound lanes, turned around and headed back eastbound through the Kitchener-Waterloo area and toward Toronto.

At 11:30 a.m., police were still pursing the truck, which had exited 401 and moved onto the QEW.

The truck apparently had a passenger who bailed out earlier.

1:22 p.m. Flatbed has pulled off the road near the Burlington Skyway at 1:22 p.m.

1:27 p.m.  Reports that driver of flatbed is in custody. Trying to confirm those details

Ahh yes.  Life in the Big City.  Never boring

Let's Just Cut The Crap!!!

In a small town outside of Toronto, a radio station sponsered free tickets to see the NFL's Buffalo Bills play in Toronto.  The free tickets were buried in a pile of buffalo dung and the contestents had to dig through to find them.





On the training front, I still don't have a coach and I've gained nine pounds since Muskoka

No Record!

Guinness says no record for 100-year-old marathon runner


Published On Mon Oct 24 2011Email Print (5) Rss Article


A 100-year-old man who completed the Toronto Marathon has not made it into the Guinness World Records book after all.

Guinness spokesman Craig Glenday says his organization won’t accept the evidence provided by Fauja Singh that he is actually 100.

The Turbaned Tornado, as he’s nicknamed, thought he’d become the oldest marathoner ever on Oct. 16, but Glenday tells Toronto radio station AM640 that Singh can’t provide the necessary proof of his age.

Singh, who lives in east London, has a British passport that says he was born in 1911, but holds no birth certificate.

His trainer says officials in the part of India where Singh was born didn’t issue birth certificates, and Glenday says the man’s family might not have registered his birth.

It took Singh more than eight hours to cross the finish line of the gruelling 42.195-kilometre marathon — more than six hours after Kenya’s Kenneth Mungara won the event for the fourth straight year.

The five-foot-eight, 115-pound runner was also the last competitor to complete the course.

“Don’t get me wrong. We would love to credit this guy with his achievement,” Glenday told AM640.

“It’s a no-go for the record, I’m afraid, because if you can’t prove how old you are, you can’t be the world’s oldest anything.”

Guinness would accept marriage certificates, military draft details or records of surgery, but the organization didn’t see any of those types of documents, said Glenday.

He says passports only confirm a person’s nationality, not their date of birth.

And even the telegram sent by the Queen on Singh’s 100th birthday isn’t good enough for Guinness.

“The Queen doesn’t work for us,” said Glenday.
The race was Fauja Singh’s eighth marathon — he ran his first at the age of 89.

Singh began running roughly 20 years ago after losing his wife and child.

We'll Eat You For Lunch!

This was handed out to the protesters on Wall Street.  To be honest, I have no idea what they are protesting about.

We are Wall Street.  Its our job to make money.  Whether its a commodity, stock, bond or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn't matter.  We would trade baseball cards if it were profitable.  I didn't hear America complaining when the market was roaring to 14,000 and every one's 401k doubled every 3 years.  Just like gambling, its not a problem until you lose.  I've never heard of anyone going to Gamblers Anonymous because they won too much in Vegas.

Well now the market crapped out, and even though it has come back somewhat, the government and the average Joe's are still looking for a scapegoat.  God knows there has to be one for everything.  Well here we are.

Go ahead and continue to take us down, but you're only going to hurt yourselves.  What's going to happen when we can't find jobs on the Street anymore?  Guess what:  We're going to take yours. We get up 5 am work till 10 pm or later.  We're used to not getting up to pee when we have a position.  We don't take an hour or more for lunch break.  We don't demand a union.  We don't retire at 50 with a pension.  We eat what we kill and when the only thing left to eat is on your dinner plates, we'll eat that.

For years teachers and other unionized labor have had us fooled.  We were too busy working to notice.  Do you really think that we are incapable of teaching 3rd graders and doing landscaping?  We're going to take your cushy jobs with tenure and 4 months off a year and whine just like you that we are so-o-o-o underpaid for building the youth of America.  Say goodbye to your overtime and double time and a half.  I'll be hitting grounders to the high school $5k extra a summer, thank you very much.  So now that we're going to be making $85k a year without upside, Joe Mainstreet is going to have his revenge, right?  Guess what:  we're going to stop buying the new $80k car, we aren't going to leave the 35 percent tip at our business dinners anymore.  No more free rides on our backs.  We're going to landscape our own back yards, wash our cars with a garden hose in our driveways.  Our money was your money.  You spent it.  When our money dries up, so does yours.

The difference is, you lived off of it, we rejoiced in it.  The Obama administration and the Democratic National Committee might get their way and knock us off the top of the pyramid, but its really going to hurt like hell for them when our fat asses land directly on the middle class of America and knock them to the bottom.

We aren't dinosaurs.  We are smarter and more vicious than that, and we are going to survive.  The question is, now that Obama his administration are making Joe Mainstreet our food supply...will he? and will they?

Toronto 5150 Approved

Published On Tue Oct 25 2011

Council approves closure of DVP, Gardiner for July triathlon

Paul MoloneyUrban Affairs Reporter

The Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway will close for a triathlon July 22, city council has decided.

The expressways are needed to stage the 40-kilometre bike ride of the Ironman event, which also includes a 10-kilometre off-road run and 1.5-kilometre Lake Ontario swim.

About 1,000 athletes are expected to participate.

Council was told that 11,000 motorists will be affected because that’s the normal traffic level during the 10-hour period on Sunday, July 22.

Council voted 29-9 to accommodate the event.

Joey Quits

Clearly I have no training to blog about.......

A Sad Story

Kale Garner had everything going for him when he died running a half-marathon

The runners were streaming past, seemingly by the hundreds now, in a rampaging kaleidoscope of colours. Kelly Bowden’s focus flitted from one to another to another as she tried desperately to pick out her friend in the teal T-shirt.

She’d worn a bright florescent yellow jacket to make it easier for Kale Garner to find her, too, there among the throng of spectators near the finish line of Sunday’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. But they never connected.

Bowden was crestfallen. Her “very close” friend had been there for her when she completed her first marathon five years ago, and now she wanted to help Garner celebrate his first half-marathon finish.

Before departing, she met another acquaintance from the race, who said someone, a young-looking man, had collapsed about 300 metres from the finish line in the 21-kilometre event.

“I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s horrible,’ ” she recalls. “Then, when I was in the car on the way home, I instantly put on (news station AM) 680 because I wanted to hear what happened. That’s when I heard it was a 27-year-old male that had passed away.

“In the back of my head, I was thinking, 27-years-old . . . No, it couldn’t be Kale. There’s no way. When I got home, I looked online and searched his bib number and I saw he didn’t finish the race. My heart sank.

“I had tried to call him on the car ride home.”

Garner, fit and with no known underlying health problems, had already been pronounced dead at St. Michael’s hospital.

If living a life can be seen as analogous to any kind of race, then Kale Garner was constantly at full sprint.

“He loved life and lived life every second, every moment,” says David (Tobe) Day, a former housemate in Bradford before Garner moved into downtown Toronto recently to pursue his goal of becoming a financial planner.

“Just a fun, big-hearted, life-of-the-party guy, able to cheer up any room with a joke,” says Mike Marshall, who shared that house with his two pals.

The type of guy who, when given the chance to sing karaoke, might belt out Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic” because he thought it would be funny.

Or who, when working at an event for older women at the Cardinal Golf Club in Newmarket — where he was part of the hospitality department for more than a decade — would take off his a shirt and wear just a red tie, to get a rise out of them.

He was, according to his pals, a handsome charmer, “a lady’s man” who never lacked for female accompaniment. A guy who effortlessly excelled at any sport while still managing to be a ridiculously good student.

“He was the type of guy who would take the shrink wrap off his text book the night before an exam and still get 100 per cent,” says Jordan Mann, a friend since Grade 1. “He was just one of those naturally smart, genius people.”

Every life, of course, includes the stuff of record. Raised in Holland Landing, a political science major at Brock University followed by acing George Brown’s post-graduate financial planning program. There was the long-time employment at the Cardinal Golf Club followed by what the women there call his “big-boy” job as an assistant at Assante Wealth Management in Toronto’s west end. Not to mention all those games of hockey and golf, two of his greatest passions.

But it’s not the resume that his friends remember. Not when asked to recall the life of someone who should still be living it. To them, Garner was much more than an unidentified 27-year-old runner who died in a half-marathon.

But he was indeed a runner.

“When we’d visit him downtown, you’d go into his apartment and there’d be clothes soaked in the bathroom,” says Day. “He’d say, ‘I just ran 16 k or 12 k.’ He was really excited to do different marathons and training for them.

“He was so active. That’s why it was so mind-boggling that he collapsed like that. It really doesn’t make much sense.’

Young athletes have died suddenly and unexpectedly before. Highly-touted NHL prospect Alexei Cherepanov died during a game in Russia when he was just 18. Joe Kennedy, who had last pitched for the Blue Jays, was 28 when he died at his parents’ home. Marathoner Ryan Shay was also 28 when he died during Olympic trials. Denver Broncos running back Damien Nash was only 24 when he died after a charity basketball game.

In each of the recent marathons in Chicago and Montreal, a man in his 30s died. The percentage of deaths, however, is miniscule. There were, for example, about 22,000 runners in the various distances of the Toronto event.

Usually, those types of deaths are linked with a cardiac issue.

Dr. Andy Wielgosz, a spokesman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, says catastrophic heart problems leading to death among young athletes is actually quite rare and that makes it difficult to generalize about causes.

As possible causes he cites undetected conditions, such as cardiomyopathy or problems with the electrical system in the heart or cardiomyopathy.

Wielgosz notes that only two or three marathoners die during races every year amid the hundreds of thousands who participate. “There’s a lower risk among runners because they are fit and lead healthier lifestyles then general public at large.”

The evening before his race, Garner excitedly exchanged text messages with Angela Shryane, his office manager at Assante, where he’d been working for six months — and had taken up running seriously with his co-workers. He and Shryane were going to run together on Sunday. This would be Shryane’s eighth half-marathon, and she would help pace him during the race.

“We were running 10 and ones, which means we’d run for 10 minutes and walk for one,” recounts a distraught Shryane.

They thought they’d come in at around two hours and 15 minutes, a respectable but not really competitive time.

“He was running very, very strong . . . I was looking forward to his excitement about crossing the finish line. I couldn’t wait for that. He was healthy, he was fit.”

Shryane recalls Garner telling her at about the 10- or 12-kilometre mark about he felt “pretty good.” And nothing hinted at a deviation from that.

“There was no, ‘I’m going to push through this.’ Or ‘I’m feeling a pain in my chest.’ Nothing like that . . . There was nothing abnormal at all about our running that day.”

As the two runners turned north on Bay St. towards the finish line at King St., more than 20 kilometres into the race, Garner was just behind Shryane.

As they neared Wellington St., Shryane spotted her boyfriend in the crowd and turned back slightly to wave to him. That’s when she saw Garner on the ground.

Shryane said a race official came to the downed runner’s aid immediately. A doctor also quickly emerged from the spectators and began performing CPR. She recalls another two race officials appearing on the scene quickly, one wearing a red medic jacket, along with two police officers. Police say they received an emergency call at 11:15 from a cellphone saying a runner had collapsed.

“They pulled me away,” she recalls. “They said, ‘There’s a doctor with him right now.’ He came from the spectators.

“I went into shock. There were wonderful people, strangers from behind the barriers and they were hugging me. I was obviously very, very distressed. I kept saying, ‘Is he okay? Is he okay? Is he okay?’ ”

A paramedic team arrived, Shryane says, “very quickly.” According to race officials, Garner had no vital signs when he was taken from the course.

“They worked on him and then they took him away,” says Shryane, who with no choice because of how the runners are funneled, moved towards the finish line.

“I finished. I had to go and get my bag. I walked across the finish line.”

It’s still not clear what caused Garner’s death. When his family and friends gathered for a funeral on Friday, they were still waiting for a coroner’s report.

“We don’t know any answers, to be honest,” says Kale’s 29-year-old sister, Jill. “Just unknown causes. It’s still under investigation. He was a healthy guy who had been training. It’s just a shock.”

Garner spent Thanksgiving weekend with his two sisters and father — his mother passed away in car accident 10 years ago — at the family cottage near Minden, Ont. There was talk about future plans and, of course, the usual raucous game of Risk, a family tradition.

“(Kale) was in such a good place in his life,” says Jill. “He was so happy. He was really, really looking forward to running this race. He was excited for the experience.

“He was always giving himself challenges and goals and then striving to achieve those goals.”

The Red Hat Society women, the ones who enjoyed Garner’s shirtless, red-tie appearance a year and a half ago, are getting ready for the Red Hats Holiday Festival in early November. The ladies, all 50-plus and many divorced, widowed or single, had made a special request that the handsome young man return for the festivities.

So organizer Liz Carlisle had something special planned. She wasn’t going to let on that Garner, always willing to help out at the club, was there. Then, at the appropriate moment, he was going to bound out of a large gift box, ready to charm as he always did.

“It wasn’t a phony charm,” Carlisle says through tears. “He was just an all-around nice guy. He reminded them of their sons or grandchildren.

“I don’t think I’ll tell anyone he was going to be coming. It would be too upsetting.”