My New Route Planning Process

Spin a pen.

Yes, that's my scientific new way to plan out my running routes.

Yesterday evening, bereft of inspiration on where to run, I simply spun a pen and plotted out my run in the direction it pointed.

Genius... or something like that.

It worked out well - 15km took, by my timing, 63 minutes. Meanwhile, Garmin's less accurate timing said 67 minutes. To cap it off, it was warm enough to run in shorts.

---

Today we had insane winds in Toronto, gusting up to 100km/h, and wind chill of -20 celcius so I ran indoors. It was only a 10km run so it wasn't too bad. 44:21 for 10km.

Tomorrow could be tough. I'm scheduled for 15km but I have a work event in the evening. Hopefully I'll be able to run afterwards; if not, I may have to either skip the mileage or make it up later.

15k - Entertainment District/Dovercourt Road/Davenport Road Loop

A simple loop around Toronto's centre and west end. No significant hills, but one long gentle climb.

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TTC Info: This route starts near both Wellesley and College subway stations, and passes the Queen's Park, St. Patrick, Osgoode and St. Andrew stations.

Boston Training - 'Week Seven' Write-Up And 'Week Eight' Look-Ahead

First week back from injury, and a fairly solid set of runs. Lots of treadmill running, which I hope will be a short-term thing.

Running Log: Week Seven

Day	Scheduled Run	Actual Run
Sunday	28km comfortable (injured)	Injured
Monday	10km recovery	10km
Tuesday	18km comfortable	18km
Wednesday	Rest	Rest
Thursday	15km c/t	15km c/t
Friday	Rest	14km steady
Saturday	15km recovery	21km
Total	86km 58km week	78km week

The coming week was already scheduled to be a quieter one, but it will be even more so now that I've already done the long run scheduled for tomorrow.

Training Program: Week Eight

Day	Scheduled Run
Sunday	Rest
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	15km comfortable
Wednesday	10km recovery
Thursday	15km comfortable
Friday	Rest
Saturday	10km recovery
Total	50km week

Yikes! Busy

What a crazy week! Lots of things going on, so I'm a little behind on my run write-ups. I've run three times since my last one so I have a bit of catching up to do!

This has been a tough week. After the injury took me out of commission last week, launching back into full mileage this week was a challenge.

Thursday's run included the first speed work I've done this year, which I ran with the Runners' Shop running group. After a five-kilometre warm-up, we did five kilometres at tempo pace followed by a five-kilometre cool-down at the end.

Sounds reasonable enough, right? Not when the tempo pace is about 15km/h. We did slow down while running hard up a steep hill, but in general it was a hard tempo run.

I did a couple of not-so-fun treadmill runs this week. I've been trying out a gym near home, which I may join, so I wanted to get a sense of what it's like. On Friday morning I ran 14km on the treadmill at the gym. Not a lot of fun, especially after Thursday night's speed work. I was scheduled for a rest day, but I'm out of town this weekend so I re-shuffled my runs.

To put the icing on the cake, I did another 21km this morning. It was pretty tough after two hard days beforehand and my legs were very stiff this afternoon.

Rest day tomorrow and Monday so no more running until Tuesday. It's a good thing, too - my legs feel like lead.

21k - North Toronto/North York Loop

A very simple, flat route through Toronto's north end.

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TTC Info: This run starts and ends close to Davisville subway station, but also passes by the Eglinton, Eglinton West, Lawrence and Lawrence West stations.

15k - Rosedale/Forest Hill Tempo Route

A simple route loop through Toronto's Rosedale and Forest Hill neighbourhoods.

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TTC Info: This run starts and ends near both St. George and Bay subway stations. The route also passes by Rosedale station.

18km. One Treadmill. No Moving Air.

Scheduled Run: 18km
Actual Run: 18km

That was not a fun run.

More bad weather in Toronto today, so I ran indoors again.

One problem with the Goodlife gym near where I live: there are no fans near the cardio equipment.

Ten minutes in, I felt like I was in a sauna.

80 minutes in... you get the picture.

Back At It!

No route map today, no witty insights (did I ever have them?) and no on-the-road recordings. Just good news.

Not wanting to get caught 5km from home if my back went again, I ran indoors today. I did a comfortable 44-minute 10km on the treadmill with no pain whatsoever.

Phew!

I can feel a tiny bit of stiffness now, so I'll see how it feels tomorrow before I decide whether to do my scheduled 18km or not.

For now, my overwhelming feeling is of relief - I was starting to get pretty antsy without my daily stress blow-off.

Boston Training - 'Week Six' Write-Up And 'Week Seven' Look-Ahead

This week didn't go as planned. A minor niggle the other week developed into a major pain in the ass back this week, which kept me home from work one day and away from running the rest of the week.

In the big picture this is more of a minor irritation than a major mishap. I should be back at it in the next couple of days. My back still feels stiff so I'll give it until tomorrow then I'll be back givin'er.

The injury has forced one upcoming change - I had planned on racing the Robbie Burns 8k on January 27. I don't think that's a good idea right now, so I'm replacing that in my schedule with a 22km steady run next Sunday instead. That may change (depending on how I feel in the next few days), but for now that's my plan.

Running Log: Week Six

Day	Scheduled Run	Actual Run
Sunday	25km comfortable	24km comfortable
Monday	Rest	Rest
Tuesday	18km comfortable	18km comfortable
Wednesday	10km recovery	Injured
Thursday	15km c/t	Injured
Friday	Rest	Rest
Saturday	12km recovery	Injured
Total	80km week	42km week

Training Program: Week Seven

Day	Scheduled Run
Sunday	28km comfortable (injured)
Monday	10km recovery
Tuesday	18km comfortable
Wednesday	Rest
Thursday	15km c/t
Friday	Rest
Saturday	15km recovery
Total	86km 58km week

Injured...

...but only short term.

Scheduled Run: 15km
Actual Run: 0km

In case you didn't get this from my last post (!), I hurt my back during my run on Tuesday. It hurt enough that I stayed home and worked from the couch yesterday, and still hurts today.

I don't plan on rushing back before this works its way out of my system.

Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day, so my next potential run is Saturday. I'll see how I feel at that time before deciding whether to run. I'll use that to decide whether to do my long run on Sunday, take it off or do a reduced run.

Owowowowowowowow

Scheduled Run: 18km
Actual Run: 18km

I'm in pain.

A few days ago my back started hurting after one of my runs. The next day, though, it was fine.

I don't know what I did to myself today, but about 6.5km into my 18km run this evening my back started hurting.

A lot.

At first I thought I'd have to stop running, but it seemed to loosen up after a while and I made it through to the end of the run.

Almost instantly, it started hurting like crazy. Getting changed after the run was very uncomfortable.

Right now I'm popping all the painkillers I can find (which isn't much... where the hell are they all?!). I'm almost certainly skipping tomorrow's run, unless I undergo a miraculous recovery overnight.

---

I'm writing this from my new laptop - the brand spanking new Dell Inspiron 1525, which arrived today.

First impressions: pretty good.

It looks good, it's cheap and it comes with good hardware specs (though I did upgrade them from the standard model).

However, it's crashed several times this evening, it took me a couple of hours to get it to recognize my GPS watch and the pre-installed software was a nightmare to uninstall.

Still, I seem to have overcome the main problems now, so I'm back to being a happy (but in-pain) chappy with my new toy.

18k - Lakeshore/Beach/Riverdale Loop

A simple, fairly flat loop from Yonge & Grosvenor east along Toronto's lakeshore, returning through the Riverdale neighbourhood.

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TTC Info: This route starts and finishes near both College and Wellesley subway stations.

Back To It

Scheduled Run: 25km
Actual Run: 24km

Today's run went really well - I felt much better than yesterday and didn't have any of the problems that experienced on that run.

A little more reflection on yesterday's nightmare - a heart rate like this can't be a good thing:

The graph is kinda small here so I've drawn in two lines - 190 beats per minute and 200bpm (click on the image or here for a larger version). My heart should NOT go that high (Caralin's forcing me to go to the doctor tomorrow). For an idea of horizontal scale, the first big peak is at about 37mins; the run ends at 56mins.

Ok, enough about that disaster.

Today's run was fun! Unfortunately, I had to call into work this morning which meant I couldn't run with the group like I normally do on Sundays. So, I decided to head north on my own.

The route itself was fairly hilly and perhaps not the most interesting with the exception of two trails that I followed through parks in the city's north end. Those parks were great though... and almost deserted, which made them even better.

Oh... I just found out that we have to be on the other side of the city in half an hour... so I guess that's all for now!

24k - Mid/North Toronto Loop

A fairly hilly 24km loop from Davisville Village, heading north-east to Sheppard Avenue then back south via Toronto's park system.

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TTC Info: This run starts and finishes about 15 minutes walk from Davisville subway station, but passes close by Bayview and Leslie stations on the Sheppard Line, which are alternative start points.

Boston Training - 'Week Five' Write-Up And 'Week Six' Look-Ahead

This week was a little easier than the past few - my schedule called for a couple of long runs but more 'recovery' runs than I've had previously. I appreciated them - I'm starting to get the perpetual tiredness that comes with intensive training.

The only real low-point this week was today's run - see my previous post.

Running Log: Week Five

Day	Scheduled Run	Actual Run
Sunday	25km steady	25km steady
Monday	Rest	Rest
Tuesday	18km recovery	19km recovery
Wednesday	10km recovery	10km recovery
Thursday	15km comfortable	15km steady
Friday	Rest	Rest
Saturday	10km recovery	11km recovery
Total	78km week	80.5km week

The coming week looks similar to last week with a couple of changes:

• The long run is slower
• Tuesday's 18km is faster
• The Saturday recovery run is longer
• I'm doing speed work for the first time

Thursday's run is 'comfortable/tempo' in my schedule. That calls for a 15km run with 5-7km of tempo in the middle.

Day	Scheduled Run
Sunday	25km comfortable
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	18km comfortable
Wednesday	10km recovery
Thursday	15km c/t
Friday	Rest
Saturday	12km recovery
Total	80km week

A Fast Run... And A Scary Run

Two write-ups for the price of one!

The Good:

Scheduled Run: 15km
Actual Run: 15km

Thursday night's run was good... and fast. Not fast in a 'ouch, that hurts' kind of way, but in a 'this is neat, I could run like this for ages' way. Very cool.

The run was pretty steady - around 4:30/km pace generally. For some reason, though, I didn't find it as hard as I have in previous weeks. I'd put it down to the training, but I don't think that much changes in a week. I think this week was mental - I put myself at the front of the group, and felt good about setting the pace.

I need to think about this more - if running at the front (as opposed to just off the shoulder of the front-runner) has this effect on me regularly, I may do it more often.

The Bad:

Scheduled Run: 10km
Actual Run: 11km

Today's run was a complete contrast to Thursday. About 8km in, I suddenly found myself out of breath, feeling weak and with tightness in my throat. I checked my watch and my heart rate read over 210bpm.

I'd normally write that off as a technical blip, but it persisted for a while. In fact, for the rest of the run my heart rate stayed above 175. For a good part of the remainder it was over 200. Bear in mind that this was a flat, easy recovery run and that my average heart rate when running is usually in the high 140s or low 150s.

I made it to the end of the run, but had to stop every few hundred metres to rest - my legs felt completely empty. I haven't felt that tired for a while.

Very scary. I'm taking it easy for the rest of today.

The Ugly:

 
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

11k - Davisville Village/North Toronto/Lawrence Park/Leaside Loop

An easy loop in north Toronto. Few hills, and generally quiet roads.

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TTC Info: This run starts and ends about 15 minutes walk east from Davisville subway station.

15k - Rosedale/Moore Park/Davisville Village/Eglinton/Forest Hill Loop

A similar route to several recent runs, but crossing a footbridge over Moore Park Ravine instead of detouring around it.

View Larger Map

TTC Info: This run starts and finishes close to both St. George and Bay subway stations. The route also passes by the Davisville, Eglinton and Rosedale stations.

Hurricane!

Scheduled Run: 10km
Actual Run: 10km

Wow, it was windy out there tonight! Toronto got battered by 100km/h+ winds today, which made my run just lovely... "a breeze" if you will!

The wind blew from the west, so I made sure that as much of my run as possible was north-south so I avoided the worst of it.

Highlight of the run: Heading south just north of Yonge & St. Clair I saw a guy running towards me with his dog. On closer inspection, I realized his dog had a Blockbuster DVD in its mouth! Very cute.

Also, I guess someone important was in town today - as I approached Yonge & Bloor a bunch of police cars raced towards me and blocked the road as a big diplomatic (I'm guessing) convoy drove past. Very exciting (for me, anyway - I'm a small town boy).

[Note: While I've been spending hours writing up the routes that I run so as to provide a useful resource for visiting runners, I realized today that you can get the routes just as easily (if not more so) from the maps. So, along with the transit info, that's all I'm posting for the routes from now on. Any complaints?]

10k - Forest Hill/Lonsdale Road/Yonge Street Loop

An easy 10k loop in downtown and mid-town Toronto. Some hill climbing in the first half; the second half is almost entirely downhill.

Here's the route map:

View Larger Map

TTC Info: This run starts and finishes near both Wellesley and College subway stations. The route also passes by Queen's Park, St. George, St. Clair, Summerhill, Rosedale and Yonge/Bloor stations - these are alternative starting points.

Boston Training - 'Week Four' Write-Up And 'Week Five' Look-Ahead

Last week was a good week overall.

I plowed through the mileage relatively smoothly, although I ran Saturday's recovery run far too late in the day which left me stiff for my long run this Sunday. Lesson learned.

I did switch Tuesday and Wednesday's runs around due to a snow dump on Tuesday. In hindsight it was a mistake - the roads turned out to be reasonable, and back-to-back 16km steady runs wasn't fun.

On the plus side, I kept myself closer to the schedule than the previous week. While my legs feel like concrete blocks at the moment, it's a healthy feeling, not a worrying one.

I'm starting to notice the positive effects of the training. While Sunday's run was tough, I breezed through 19km today feeling pretty fresh. Very satisfying.

Running Log: Week Four

Day	Scheduled Run	Actual Run
Sunday	22km comfortable	22km comfortable
Monday	Rest	Rest
Tuesday	15km comfortable	10.5km
Wednesday	10km recovery	16km steady
Thursday	15km steady	16km steady
Friday	Rest	Rest
Saturday	12km recovery	14km recovery
Total	74km week	78.5km week

This week is already half-way done, but here's the schedule anyway. Just a small increase in mileage this week, and a few more gentle recovery runs to ease those tired legs:

Training Program: Week Five

Day	Scheduled Run
Sunday	25km steady
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	18km recovery
Wednesday	10km recovery
Thursday	15km comfortable
Friday	Rest
Saturday	10km recovery
Total	78km week

Rainy Recovery Run

Scheduled Run: 18km
Actual Run: 19km

I'm not exactly sure how 18km (19, as it turned out) counts as a recovery run, but that's what Coach Elaine had me down for tonight.

Great run overall, with one problem - about 30 minutes into the run, as I ran along the windy lakeshore, it started pouring rain.

Naturally I was prepared for this... not. Wearing shorts and a thin long-sleeved shirt, I was not a happy camper for the next 15 minutes or so.

Apart from that, the run was great. I took it very easy (as planned) - just under 5 minutes per km - so I felt very fresh at the end, and actually had to consciously hold myself back a bit. Very satisfying to finish with gas still in the tank for a change.

I recorded this audio clip just after it started raining, when I realized I had no-where to hide from the elements. You'll notice the audio quality isn't great (an understatement), but it makes up for it with raw emotion.

Ok, fine, I'm just too lazy to re-record it.

19k - Queen's Park/Lakeshore/Runnymede/South Annex Loop

A fairly flat, easy loop around downtown and west-end Toronto. Starts and ends at the Metro Toronto YMCA at Yonge & Grosvenor.

• From Yonge Street & Grosvenor Street, head west to Queen's Park Crescent then south to Queen's Quay
• Turn right (west) onto Queen's Quay and follow the Martin Goodman Trail west past the CNE and Ontario Place
• Follow the trail up the hill by Jameson Avenue, and continue down the other side. Shortly afterwards, cross the bridge across Lake Shore Blvd West and the Gardiner Expressway
• Head north up Roncesvalles Avenue. Continue north as the road merges with Dundas Street West
• Cross over Bloor Street West and continue north
• About 500m north of Bloor, cross the bridge east over the railway line and head east on Wallace Avenue
• When you reach Dufferin Street, turn right (south) then left (east) on Shanly Street
• Turn right (south) on Delaware Avenue then left (east) on Bloor Street West
• Turn right (south) on Ossington Avenue. Head south to Harbord Street, and turn left (east)
• Head east on Harbord Street to Queen's Park Crescent (via Hoskin Avenue)
• Cross Queen's Park Crescent and continue east on Wellesley Street West
• Turn right (south) onto Bay Street, then left on Grosvenor Street and return to the start/finish at Yonge & Grosvenor.

Here are the stats from my run and the route map:

View Larger Map

TTC Info: This run starts and finishes near both Wellesley and College subway stations.

Reflections

As if I didn't do enough techy geeky stuff with my runs already, I'm now producing content while I'm out on the trails!

I recently bought a tiny little MP3 player that I can carry with me on my runs. The audio quality is questionable (ok, it's horrible), but the player allows me to record my thoughts while I'm out there.

I'm not sure if I'll post the original recordings or flesh them out more when I get back to the house and then post them. For now, here's a thought I had the other day about running in shorts in cold weather.

Oh, and today's run - long, tiring and hard. I spent most of the day in bed. This one was not good to me.

25k - Davisville Village/Forest Hill/Rosedale Loop

A long, fairly hilly, loop starting in Davisville Village and heading down to the Runners' Shop before heading up through Forest Hill and North Toronto before heading down through Mount Pleasant Cemetary, Moore Park and Rosedale, ending back at the Runners' Shop.

Run is divided into two parts: a 6km run from Davisville Village to the Runners' Shop and a 19km loop starting and ending at the Runners' Shop.

6km point-to-point run:

• From the intersection of Mount Pleasant and Merton Street, head south on Mount Pleasant
• Turn right (west) onto Heath Street
• Turn left (south) onto Rose Park Crescent, then right (south) onto Inglewood Drive
• Turn right (west) onto St. Clair Avenue East
• Turn left (south) onto Yonge Street
• Head south on Yonge Street, passing St. Clair, Summerhill and Rosedale subway stations (alternative starting points)
• Turn right (west) onto Belmont Street. When Belmont ends, filter right onto Davenport Road
• Turn left (south) onto Bedford Street, then left again (east) onto Bloor Street West and head over to the Runners' Shop at Bloor & Avenue

19km loop:

• From Bloor and Avenue, head west to Bedford Road, and follow Bedford north up to Dupont
• Shimmy one block left (west) along Dupont, and head north along Davenport (which almost immediately bends left - head straight instead on Boulton Drive)
• Continue up the hill as Boulton Dr becomes Russell Hill Road
• Continue north past St. Clair Avenue West. Turn left (west) onto Kilbarry Road
• Head west as Kilbarry Road becomes Burton Road then Strathearn Road. Shortly afterwards, turn right (north) onto Glencedar Road
• At Eglinton Avenue West, continue straight onto Old Park Road
• Turn right (east) onto Elm Ridge Drive. Head east to Yonge Street via Roselawn Avenue
• Turn right and head south on Yonge Street to Merton Street
• Head west through Mount Pleasant Cemetary to Bayview Avenue. Turn right (south) onto Bayview
• Continue straight along Bayview Heights Drive when Bayview Avenue bends left (just after Moore Park)
• Turn right (west) onto Heath Street East. Head west along Heath Street, crossing over the footbridge
• Turn left (south) onto Welland Avenue. Turn right (west) at the end of the road, then left (south) onto MacLennan Avenue
• Cross over the foot bridge, then turn left onto Summerhill Avenue
• Turn right (south) onto Glen Road. At the end of the road, turn right (west) onto South Drive
• Turn right (west) onto Crescent Road. Follow Crescent through to Yonge Street
• Cross Yonge Street and head through Ramsden Park, up to Avenue Road
• Turn left (south) onto Avenue Road and head south to the finish at Bloor & Avenue.

Here are the stats from my run and the route map:

View Larger Map

TTC Info: This run starts near Davisville Station and ends near both Bay and St. George Stations. Alternative starting points: St. Clair, Summerhill, Rosedale, Eglinton Stations.

12k - Forest Hill Figure-Eight

An easy figure-eight loop through the affluent Forest Hill neighbourhood. Some hills, but nothing killer.

• From Yonge & Davisville, head west on Chaplin Crescent
• Turn left (south) opposite Colin Avenue, onto a path across Oriole Park
• Once you have crossed the park, continue straight along Lascelles Boulevard
• Take the first right (west) onto Kilbarry Road
• Continue straight as the road becomes Burton Road then Strathearn Road
• Turn left (south) onto Glencedar road, then take the steps to the left of the footbridge, down into Cedarvale Park
• Turn right (north) onto the path through Cedarvale, and continue through to the end of the park at Ava Road
• Turn left onto Ava Road, then left at the end, onto Winona Drive
• Head south to Vaughan Road
• Follow Vaughan road down to St. Clair Avenue West. Turn left onto St. Clair then left again (north) onto Bathurst Street
• Head north on Bathurst up to Eglinton. Continue further north to Castlefield Avenue
• Turn right (east) onto Castlefield Avenue, then right again onto Chaplin Crescent
• Follow Chaplin Crescent back to the finish at Yonge & Davisville.

Here are the stats from my run and the map (ignore the extra bit east of Yonge):

View Larger Map

Tired Legs And A Fast Run

You wouldn't know it from the average speed of my run tonight with my Runners' Shop friends, but we pushed the pace for most of the route.

After taking the first couple of kilometres really slow, we ran most of the rest of the route at 4:20-4:30/km pace, dropping to around 4:00 for the last few kilometres.

Ha! And I thought my legs were tired from yesterday. That's nothing compared to how they feel now.

The run itself was nice. It was largely similar to a route we've run previously but we took a detour around a particularly icy hill climb. We also added in an extra hill for good measure. Both of these changes helped make for a good workout.

Pretty cold out, though. The air temparature wasn't too bad, but with the wind chill factored in it was below -11.

Nice :)

16k - Rosedale/Bayview/Eglinton/Forest Hill Loop

A 16km loop similar to one posted in December 2007, but more suitable for cold weather as it bypasses a hill on Bayview Avenue that can get very icy.

• From Bloor and Avenue, head over to Bedford Road then north up to Davenport Road
• Head east to Avenue Road, then north one street to Pears Avenue
• Turn right (east) onto Pears, then cut through the park over to Yonge Street
• Cross Yonge Street and continue along Crescent Road
• Turn left onto South Drive then left onto Glen Road
• Turn left (west) onto Summerhill Avenue
• Cross over the bridge over the railway, then head north up MacLennan Avenue
• Turn right (east) onto Rosedale Heights Drive, then left (north) onto Errington Avenue
• At the end of Errington Avenue, turn right (east) onto Inglewood Drive
• Turn left (north) onto Hudson Drive, then left (west) onto St. Clair Avenue East
• Turn right (north) onto Welland Avenue. At the end of Welland Ave, turn right (east) onto Moore Avenue
• At the lights, turn left (north) onto Bayview Avenue. Head north to Eglinton Avenue East
• Turn left (west) onto Eglinton Avenue East. Follow Eglinton Avenue along to Russell Hill Road
• Turn left (south) onto Russell Hill Road. Follow it south across St. Clair Avenue, continue south then turn right onto Boulton Drive
• Continue south onto Davenport Road; follow that as it bends left, then turn right onto Bedford Road
• Follow Bedford Road south, back to Bloor Street West.

Here are the stats from my run, and here's the route map:

View Larger Map

Brrrrrr

Scheduled run: 10km recovery
Actual Run: 16.06km steady (indoors)

It's freezing out there today... it's -18 degrees with the wind chill as I write. Add to that the thick layer of ice blanketing Toronto's sidewalks and I had a valid reason for running indoors.

Unfortunately, I'd swapped today's scheduled 10km run with yesterday's 15km run to avoid running too much in the slush last night. That meant I had to do another longer run indoors.

Booooring.

Yawn.

My 2008 Goals

I've been thinking a lot about the year ahead and what I'd like to accomplish running-wise.

Here's what I've come up with.

Target Times:

• 5km: 18:30 (15 seconds off my personal best)
• 10km: 40:00 (never run a 10km race before)
• Half-Marathon: 1:27:00 (4 minutes off my personal best)
• Marathon: 3:00:00 (8 minutes off my personal best)

General Goals:

• Enjoy running the Boston Marathon (my reward for hard work qualifying); run it easy and finish around 3:30:00
• Run at least one trail race in 2008
• Try a tri
• Above all, enjoy running

I'm going to hold myself accountable for these. As you'll see, I've added them to the left-hand bar on this site. I'll cross them off as I complete them.

What are your running goals for 2008?

More Slushy, Slippery Snow

Scheduled Run: 15km
Actual Run: 10.5km

Toronto got hit by another snow storm today (although not as bad as the last one). Still, it was enough for me to tone back my mileage from a planned 15km to about 10km.

As expected, the run was wet and cold. For some reason, though, I didn't care for once! Maybe it's something to do with it being New Year's Day... or maybe I was just glad to get out there and run. Either way, I felt relaxed and fresh throughout.

As much as I don't usually enjoy running during the winter, I do enjoy the looks other people give me as I run by in my geeky running tights and bright-coloured jacket. Oh yes, I'm stylish.

(For once, the photos here are mine - these are from outside my house today)

Happy New Year!

10km - Forest Hill/Davisville Village Loop

A 10km loop in mid-town Toronto. A few hills in the middle of the run but the start and finish are mostly downhill.

• From Yonge Street & Davisville, head east on Davisville
• Turn right (south) onto Mount Pleasant Road, then right (west) onto Merton Street
• Turn left (south) onto Yonge Street and head south past St. Clair Avenue
• After passing under the railway bridge, turn right (west) onto Marlborough Avenue
• Turn right (north) onto Avenue Road
• Turn left (west) onto St. Clair Avenue West
• Turn right (north) onto Spadina Road
• Head north on Spadina Road to Eglinton Avenue West, then turn right (east)
• Take the first right (Chaplin Road) and follow it back to Yonge & Davisville.

My GPS data got messed up during this run; here's the map via another site.