Weeks 48 through 52: Goal completed! Happy New Years!

I have completed my 2012 running resolution. Since last posting, I ran 38.6 km during week 48, 50.4 km during week 49, 50.2 km during week 50 and 62.8 km during week 51. My final run of the year was on December 22, when I completed 16 km to bring my total for the year to 2012.17.


I have been keeping track of my progress in a spreadsheet, that allows me to share some statistics about my running. In 2012:

• There were 198 days that I ran, all but one of which was outside.
• Total time spent running in 2012 was approximately 162.5 hours, or about six hours short of a week.
• My average pace for the year was 4 minutes and 50 seconds per kilometre, or just shy of 12.5 km/hour. 
• Highest kilometres in a week was 62.8 km in week 51 and in a month was 218.3 km in October.
• Lowest was 0 km in weeks 23, 28 and 29 and 68.0 km in July.
• Fastest run was on September 26 (in Toronto) when I completed 14.68 km at an average pace of 4:04 minute/km.
• Slowest run was a 4 km cool-down at 5:35 minute/km after my race on July 7; slowest actual run was on February 21, 13.1 km at 5:21 minute/km (I think that was a cold one).

If I can figure out how, I will also post a shot of some of running tracks. Unfortunately, the watch only had so much storage and I was lax about uploading it to the computer, so I only have the last month or so.

Although not really the point of the goal, I also lost some weight. I used the Wii Fit to record my starting and final weight. I went from 71.8 kg (158 lbs.) on January 8 to 63.4 kg (139.5 lbs.) on December 22. As I've been taking a break from running in the intervening period and eating Christmas treats, I have no doubt gained back a few pounds, but that's okay too.

I will not be setting a similar running goal in 2013. This doesn't mean that I'm going to stop running, but just that I'm going to approach it in a more reasonable manner, so that I don't feel obliged to run when it's -45° C outside. I'm hoping to do three runs per week, including one hill or interval workout and one longer run, but if I miss some, I'm not going to sweat it too much.

Thank you for all those who have supported me in the course of this goal. It's been hard going at times, and I really miss having people to run with, but there are few crazy people in Iqaluit (well, at least the right sort of crazy) willing to run outside year round.

On to other subjects:
We've enjoyed a very nice Christmas here. My aunt Eileen has been here visiting, it's really nice having family with us for the holidays. Alexa had a good Christmas, and received far too many presents. I realize it's been some time since I've been in touch with many of my friends scattered around the country, and will make an effort to rectify that in the New Year. Happy New Year everyone!

Oops! Weeks 41 through 47

It has been a bit since I posted last. What can I say? Work, family and running have kept me busy; updating my blog isn't as high of a priority.

Today, at long last, I have zeroed the balance of kilometres to make up from the summer. I currently have run 1,810 km in 2012, and have 202 to go to complete my goal. With five weeks and two days remaining in the year, that should be achievable; I might even try to complete that my December 21, just in case the world ends that day :P.

Winter is well upon us here in Iqaluit. It's getting dark by 2:30 now, and we've had snow on the ground for more than a month. This makes my runs a bit more challenging, but I still get out most days.

One week from today Alexa turns one year old. It's pretty exciting, and quite the accomplishment for Christine and I: we've managed to keep her alive for a whole year, without breaking her! She took her first unassisted steps a little while ago, and frequently stands unassisted, but only when she doesn't notice what she's doing. Usually this is when Alexa's distracted by a toy she is holding. It's sort of a case of cartoon physics: the Road Runner is fine when he runs off the climb until he notices that there isn't any ground under him.

Alexa also has been talking more. This morning I was feeding her breakfast, including some blueberries. She asked, "[What is] This?". I told her "It's a blueberry." A few minutes later, when feeding her another berry, she said, "This...blue...", and I responded, "That's right! It's a blueberry!" She then continued, "...ber." I love my little girl.

Hope all those I know with little ones, such as Lee and Michelle with their new arrival, and Maryanne and Chris who have one on the way, are well. Those without little ones, too.

Weeks 38 through 40: Visit from Grandma, Toronto and Back Home

I haven't had a chance to post recently, so I need to catch up on the last few weeks.

The balance of my mom's visit went well, and the weather even cooperated for the day and a half I took off at the end of her trip. We took a couple of nice walks out to Sylvia Grennell park and to Apex, which she really enjoyed. She left Wednesday at noon, and then we had Thursday to get things wrapped up before leaving for Toronto on Friday. Alexa was pretty good on the flight to Ottawa, and somewhat less good on the flight to Toronto; however, it was past her bedtime, so it's understandable if she was a bit grumpy. Unfortunately when we arrived in Toronto we discovered that one of our bags (which included all of my clothing and my running gear) had been delayed. It arrived late in the day on Saturday, but not soon enough to get a run in.

My running suffered a bit that week, as I only got in three runs for a total of 28.4 km, and adding another 10 km to my deficit.

The remainder of our stay in Toronto was really nice. We bought the Toronto City Pass, which includes admission to the museum, science centre, CN Tower, Casa Loma and the zoo. The funny thing was is that we ran into another couple we know from Iqaluit who was vacationing with their 2 or 3 year old daughter - they stayed at the same hotel, roughly the same dates, and were doing essentially the same things. It's a small world. Alexa really enjoyed herself; she got to spend lots of quality time with mom and dad, she liked the full length mirror in our hotel room (she played "peek a boo" with her reflection) and was excited to see the animals at the zoo. Another neat moment was when we were riding on the subway; Alexa looked around, saw all the people holding on to hand rails, and grabbed hold of one herself.

While we were there, we saw our friends Ryan and Karolina, who had moved down from Iqaluit the year previous, and Christine re-connected with a friend from journalism school, Chelsey (sp?).

I managed three good runs during our stay in Toronto, each between 12 and 14.7 km, averaging about 4:15 minute/km. The last run was particularly good, 14.68 km at an average pace of 4:04 minute/km, and I did the first 10 km in just under 40 minutes. I'm going to miss running in warm weather.

On Thursday we flew to Ottawa to spend a couple of days with Christine's aunt and uncle before returning to Iqaluit. We took Alexa to a playground close by, and put her in an infant swing to see how she'd like. It was a big hit. I got in one additional run in Ottawa, 10 km at 4:24 min./km pace, so that was all right. On Saturday we flew back to Iqaluit, giving us Sunday to get organized.

I'm acting manager at work these days (until Friday!), so it's been pretty busy. I'm looking forward to handing the reigns over to my co-worker, who will be acting until mid-December when it becomes my turn again. Yay. I managed five runs on this first week back, and I am reminded how little I enjoy running in the dark. Iqaluit does not sufficient street lights everywhere, which has forced me to really slow down so I can be sure of my footing. The runs were 10 km each, give or take a couple hundred metres, and averaged 4:36 km. This brings my total for the year to 1476 km, with a deficit of 64 km still to make up. I've been knocking the total down by about 10-12 km per week, so I'm hopeful I can be caught by up mid-November.

I'm not sure where this fits in the chronology, but I have a cute story about Alexa to share. Sometimes when she's crawling around, I'll get down on all fours as well. Often she'll get a big smile on her face and come roaring toward me, and then we (gently) bonk heads. Every time this happens I saw "bonk", and recently she learned how to say it as well. So, we get down, bonk heads, and both say "bonk". I love my little girl.

Weeks 36 and 37: Very wet

So, once again it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. The weather has been pretty miserable for the last week and a half. There has been lots of rain, and as a result, poor road conditions for running. It's definitely getting cooler here, most days it's 3 or 4° C, and the winds have begun picking up. The sun is setting now at 7 p.m., so my runs during the week are all in the dark. These factors combined have not made running much fun of late. I am also in the process of turning our sealift crate into a shed, and the rain and wind have not helped that any.

Week 36 I only got for four runs, as I skipped Sunday due to rain. That was the Labour day weekend, so I did get out for a good run on Monday. All the runs that week were 12 km or more; in all I did 48.75 km at an average pace of 4:32 minutes/km.

Week 37 I did five runs, but due to the weather two were close to my minimum (about 8 km each) and my pace was generally slower. I did 48.70 km at an average pace of 4:46 minutes/km, putting me at 1,347.4 km so far for the year, and a deficit of 77 km. I've been able to trim 10 km+ off the backlog each of the last three weeks, so if I keep up that pace I hope to be caught up in another eight weeks or so.

My mother is in town visiting this week, so that's been nice. Alexa has really been enjoying hanging out with her grandmother. She leaves on Wednesday, and then we leave for Toronto on Friday for a week vacation. It looks quite a bit warmer there, so I'll try to get some good runs in while I'm down south.

Weeks 34 and 35: Getting back into routine

So, clearly I'm out of practice with the whole "one post per week" thing.

Week 34: I ran on Sunday, and then was scheduled to leave for Sanikiluaq bright and early on Monday. Arriving at the hangar shortly after 6:00 a.m., we were told there were mechanical problems with the plane. The call was finally made that we wouldn't be leaving that day, so I went into the office. The trip was shifted by a day. I didn't make it out for a run on Monday, between the early start and the need to go to bed early to prepare for the early start on Tuesday.

Tuesday we got away pretty well as scheduled, and arrived safely in Sanikiluaq. I did not get out for a run, but did get out early Wednesday morning (recorded using a handheld GPS, since I had forgot my GPS watch at home). Sanikiluaq is pretty quiet before 7 in the morning! We returned to Iqaluit that day, although didn't leave until 8:00 p.m., getting home around 11:00. I did another run Thursday, and my fourth for the week on Saturday. Although there was a trip scheduled to look at carving stone sites on the weekend, that ended up being cancelled, which means my travel for work is now done until January!

My total for that week was 39.10 km at an average pace of 4:37 minute/km. Although it didn't make much of a dent into my backlog, I also didn't lose further ground.

Week 35: I got five runs in this week, completing 50.2 km at an average pace of 4:38 minutes/km. This puts my total at 1250, with a deficit of 97.6 km still to make up.

Alexa is currently working on her next three teeth, poor thing. She continues to develop quick; today she made it up all the stairs in our unit (perhaps 20) by herself (with Daddy following closely behind). We also took a video this week of Daddy reading a book called "Peek a who?" to her - she loves the part at the end that says "Peek a you!", which has a mirror. The cute part is that she kisses the baby in the mirror.

My mom is going to be coming for a visit in less than two weeks, so we're all looking forward to that. And shortly thereafter we'll be leaving for our trip to Toronto to see our friends Ryan and Karolina, among other things (like the zoo!).

Weeks 28 - 33: Catch-up

It's been a bit since I've found the time to update. Since I last posted I've spent:
Two weeks on the Hall Peninsula
3 days back in Iqaluit
Two weeks traveling in the Kitikmeot
and have now been home for about a week and a half.

I did not run at all during my time on the Hall Peninsula (weeks 28 and 29), and only got in one 12 km run during week 30. Week 31 actually wasn't bad - I did three runs in Yellowknife, but all were relatively short owing to how hot it was there. I'm not used to temperatures in the high twenties anymore. I also got one run in that week at one of the exploration sites I was visiting. Week 32 was not so hot, I only managed one 9 km that week. This past week was better; I did five runs ranging from 8.6 km up to 13 km, for a total of 53.05 km, averaging 4:34 min./km. However, this still leaves me with 110 km to make up over the next 19 weeks. My total for the year as of yesterday is 1,160 km.

I'm not sure how much running I'll get in this week, either. I did get out for 11 km early this morning, but I'll be traveling to Sanikiluaq tomorrow, returning Wednesday, and then will also be out of town on Saturday and Sunday of the next week. So, I'll do what I can, but if I can meet my minimum weekly goal, I'll be happy. However, after Sunday, I don't expect to be doing any more traveling for work until 2013.

The last six weeks have been busy. I saw some interesting things (one of the neatest was seeing two pods of whales, either narwhal or beluga, from a helicopter) and met some interesting people, but I also really missed my daughter. Alexa changes so much when I'm gone for two weeks. She is now crawling, and pulling herself into a standing position. She wants desperately to be able to walk, and she won't be happy until she does. She now has four teeth, and the teething hasn't helped matters.

Alexa is so happy when I come from my travels. My boss was really nice and suggested I take a couple of days off after my Kitikmeot trip, which I did. I had a nice long weekend with my little family, and we took Alexa swimming twice during it, and had a belated celebration of my birthday.

I have more to say about the last while, but it will have to wait until next week or the week after. Hope all of you have been having a nice summer!

Week 27: Second place!

I ran in the Atii Fitness 10 km today. The weather was a bit overcast, and on the cool side, but overall things went well. I finished in a time of 40:57, and came in 2nd out of the eight male runners in my category, and 2nd out of eleven overall. The first place runner came in around 39:30. I was pleased with my time, it's more than two minutes faster than when I ran the race in 2010, but according to the GPS watch both I and the first place runner were wearing, the course was a little short, perhaps 100 or 150 m. With that in mind, my actual 10 km time would have been closer to 41:30. Christine, Alexa and our friend Alia came out to watch and cheer me on. Including the warm-up before the race and cool-down after, I did 18.87 km today, and 47.4 km for the week. This puts my total for the year at 1,055.73, and my surplus at 16.23.

I leave tomorrow for two weeks of field mapping about 130 km northeast of Iqaluit. I will not be running at all during this time, and then will only be back in Iqaluit for a few days before heading out on another two to two and a half week trip. I'm hoping to get a few runs in during my time back in the city, and on the nights I spend in Yellowknife, so that my deficit won't be too bad.

Exciting news in Alexa's world this week is that she got up on all fours on her own, and even started rocking in place, which I'm told is often a precursor to crawling. She may be more mobile by the time I'm back. I'm going to miss that little girl.

This may be the last post for a bit - I won't update this blog next week, and possibly not for two or three weeks after that, just depending how busy I am and whether I have internet access.