| Location: Garson - Sudbury,ON,Canada Member Since: Apr 20, 2013 Gender: Male Goal Type: Other Running Accomplishments: I ran my first marathon in 1998: "The Friendly Marathon" in Massey, Ontario. I was 32. I had never raced in a shorter event, and I trained really poorly - ended up running it in 4:00:30. After that, I gave up running for the most part for 6 years. I got into karate a bit more seriously, until I got my knee kicked out and had ACL surgery. Then I became a 'fair weather runner' and started to run half marathons every so often. As a priest, entering weekend races always meant having to book a holiday, so it just didn't happen much. My holidays were primarily focussed on various canoe and kayak trips.
At some point, I started training more consistently, and started to think of myself as a runner. I guess doing that in your 40's is better than never doing it at all. I even started to wonder if I had it in me to qualify for Boston. Well, I did. First time didn't count, I suppose, since I didn't make the "cut". But the second time was a charm, and on my sixth Marathon, run in Chicago in 2015, I beat my BQ by almost 6 minutes. And now, running a BQ is routine for me, not that I have any desire to run Boston again.
Through it all, I've made tons of mistakes - and have had lots of injuries to show for it. Hopefully, now that I'm in my 60's, I'm a bit wiser and can use that to my advantage to continue running for a very long time.
My PRs:
5k (12 run): Guelph, ON. October 10, 2016 (50 yrs.) 20:10
10k (10 run): Collingwood October 5, 2013 (47 yrs.) 43:37
Half Marathon (26 run): Cleveland May 18, 2014 (48 yrs) 1:33:08
Marathon (12 run): Ste-Jerome, QC October 3, 2021 (55 yrs.) 3:22:10
Ultras (10 run):
Run for the Toad 50k Trail September 30, 2017 (51 yrs.) 5:31:23
Niagara Falls 100k June 17, 2018 (52 yrs.) 12:26:30
That Dam Hill 24 hours September 15-16, 2018 Completed 100 Miles in 23:20:44
Sulphur Springs 50 mile Trail May 25, 2019 (53 yrs) 10:37:27
Haliburton Forest 100 mile Trail September 7-8, 2019 26:46:27
Sulphur Springs 50 mile Trail May 25, 2024 (58 yrs) 9:21:26
Limberlost 35 Mile Trail July 6, 2024 (58 yrs) 8:12:57
Haliburton Forest 100 mile Trail September 7-8, 2024 DNF after 65 miles/16 hours
Pick Your Poison 50K Trail April 26, 2025 (59yrs) 6:29:53
Coach D's Backyard May 17-18. 2025 15 Laps - 100 km
Pacing my sister in her 1st Half Marathon. Short-Term Running Goals: Now that I'm 60, I'm going to run just for the fun of it this year. I have no races planned. I think I'm done with Ultras, but am open to running more Marathons at some point in the future. Long-Term Running Goals: Run until this old body of mine won't let me run any more. I was inspired in the Spring of 2016, watching the start of the Ottawa Marathon. Near the back of the pack was an 'old man', running with his walker. I loved it! I thought ... there's me in 20 years. Maybe.  Personal: I am a Roman Catholic priest of 32 years, ministering in the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. I spent 8 years ministering in the small town of Wawa (where I helped establish the annual Blackfly Run) and 9 years in Sault Ste. Marie. I have been in the Sudbury region now for 15 years. Currently I Pastor 2 small Parishes: St. John the Evangelist in Garson, and St. Bernardine of Siena in Skead, covering the area just Northeast of the city, surrounding the Sudbury Airport. |
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 77.00 | Hoka Bondi 9 Miles: 6.25 | Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 73.00 |
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| | Heavy freezing fog this morning. At times, visibility was near zero. 9:13 pace. Skied the 10km trail yesterday. The conditions were absolutely perfect.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Heavy, blowing snow, but at least it was fluffy. Was not too bad running in the tire tracks. 9:38 pace.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Another frigid morning, at around -24C/-11F. Snowed all day yesterday, so the roads were packed snow from the traffic. Snowplough passed me twice, so had to switch sides to let him go. 9:11 pace.
Had a massage yesterday - first time in over 3 months. I really needed it; worked out a lot of aches. Will get back to doing those monthly.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Warmed up quite a bit to -12C/10F. 9:10 pace.
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| | 9:24 pace for this early morning run. Lots of snow coming down, so tried to run in the tire tracks.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Cold, especially with the North wind. -23C/-10F with a wind chill of -34C/-29F. 6 miles was plenty enough in that. 9:27 pace.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Last day of cold, as a warming trend is coming today. It looks like more 'normal' temperatures for at least the next 2 weeks. A friend of mine is training for a May marathon here in Sudbury and ran 9 miles yesterday in that arctic freeze. When the Celcius scale and the Fahrenheit scale match at -40, you just KNOW it's cold. A zippy 9:03 pace today.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Big storm. School buses all cancelled. Lots of snow, but not much wind. Still, very poor visibility. Fortunately, a lot warmer than it has been at -10C/14F. 9:34 pace.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Tough running this morning. It warmed up to -5C/22F, and the roads have not yet been plowed after yesterday's dump of snow. So it was mushy. That, and a stiff North wind made it an extra challenge. 9:48 pace.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Treadmill; 10:00/mile pace.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Thermometer said -19C/-2F, but for some reason it felt a lot colder than that; 9:34 pace.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Hit the treadmill this morning, as the dump of snow from yesterday has not yet been cleared. Kept it at a 10:00/mile pace.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 8.00 |
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| | Tough run. It's mild - just below freezing, and the snow covered road is like running through a combination of soft beach sand and mashed potatoes. Very tired legs at the end. 9:23 pace.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Freezing fog. Extremely poor visibility. I ran in the middle of road as much as possible, as that was the only place where there wasn't mushy snow. Then I had to really watch for traffic, and step off into the deep mush whenever someone drove by. Heavy legs yesterday and today. 9:36 pace.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Much better running today. Yesterday was the warmest day of winter to date, going up to 4C/40F. That left the side roads mainly clear today. And, with the morning temperature back down to -11C/13F, the sections that were still snow covered were solid snow/ice and easy to run on. Much easier on the legs. 9:07 pace.
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Treadmill at a 10:00/mile pace. Went to bed with a bit of a sore throat and inflamed nasal cavity. Worse this morning. Yuck.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Treadmill; 10:00 pace.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Back on the treadmill; 10:00 pace.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | 10:00 pace on the treadmill. Developed a cold, so my head is stuffed up and I woke up with a bit of a cough. Blah.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Very cold. -29C/-21C with a windchill of -38C/-36F. Treadmill run at 10:00 pace.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Snowed all night. There is a LOT of snow on the ground this year. Nasal congestion is better - I slept most of the night. Back to the treadmill; 10:00 pace.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 6.25 |
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| | Treadmill; 10:00 pace.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 6.25 |
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| | Treadmill; 10:00 pace. First night in over a week that I slept straight through. Felt great.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 6.25 |
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| | Tried some speedwork on the treadmill, just to see. It has been a while.
8 x 400 @ 8:00 pace with 400 recoveries. I'll aim for this to be a weekly workout, and should be able to increase the pace. This pace felt easy.
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| Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 7.25 |
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| Brooks Ghost 14 Miles: 77.00 | Hoka Bondi 9 Miles: 6.25 | Saucony Triumph 22 Miles: 73.00 |
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