| 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 late 50'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 (8 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 10:37:27
May 25, 2024 9:21:26
Limberlost 35 Mile Trail July 6, 2024 8:12:57
Haliburton Forest 100 mile Trail September 7-8, 2019 26:46:27
September 7-8, 2024 DNF after 65 miles/16 hours
Pacing my sister in her 1st Half Marathon. Short-Term Running Goals: I really want to take on the Haliburton 100 again, after it kicked my butt in 2024, but I'm going to wait until 2026 to take it on again, when I'm 60 years old.
For 2025, I want to try running a Backyard Ultra, just to see how far I can run.
So, a couple of fun runs: 30K Around the Bay in March, and Pick Your Poison 50K in April, followed by Coach D's Backyard in May. That one only runs for 24 hours, so I'm using it to see how I handle the format, in view of running my goal race for 2025: The Bush Bitches Backyard, here in my hometown of Sudbury, in October. Let the training begin! 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 31 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 14 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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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 92.00 | Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 132.00 | Brooks Glycerin 14 Miles: 32.00 | Saucony ISO Triumph 2 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Sunny, but cold. -12C/11F, but with just a gentle (mostly) wind. It's not supposed to be this cold in April! And not much room on the road to run after that weekend dump of snow - had to navigate around some pretty rough surfaces.
Radar Base Route; averaged 8:30/mile.
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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 14.00 |
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| | 8:10 pace on the Goodwill Drive Route.
Tried to slow it down, but my body seemed to just want to GO today.
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| Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Major snow storm - high winds, cold, and the white stuff just keeps coming. So, treadmill. I just set it at 9:00/mile and ran for 90 minutes.
Something tells me that when I run my 62 miler in June, I'll be longing for these cold days. Maybe.
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| Brooks Glycerin 14 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | 8:58 pace; pretty even splits. A few seconds/mile faster on the second half. 2:41:25 on the Radar Road Route. This was a late morning/early afternoon run. I didn't have time to get it in before my morning Mass today.
MAJOR hit of snow on Wednesday. Between Tuesday night and Wednesday night, we got dumped on with 39 cm - that's over 15 inches. Not nice.
I feared the worse for the roads today, but they were a bit better than I expected. The bigger challenge was the snow falling (again) - made for low visibility on the second half.
I'll round out this week's back to back with a 20 miler tomorrow.
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| Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 18.00 |
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| | Exactly 3 hours at a pace of 9:00/mile. Pretty even splits, although I struggled through a few of the later miles.
It snowed another 3 inches yesterday which, apparently, is not enough to call out the snowplows. Messy, is the word of the run.
Cold too, although the sun was out and that made it all worth while. It was -11C/12F to start, and was -7C/20F at the finish.
I ran the Radar Road Route. The Arcands (friends) were working on their property - clearing the lot for the house they will be buiding - so I stopped for a bit to talk and wish them a Happy Easter in person. That was at mile 12, so a good time for a little break anyway.
I think this is the most miles I have ever run in a week.
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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 20.00 |
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| | Sometimes the body just wants to move fast.
Like most of my training runs, this was supposed to be a 12 mile easy run. But I had to fight to slow down, and hit the 6 mile mark with an average pace of 8:25, and still fighting to slow it down.
I let it go a bit in the second half, and ran a negative split average pace of 7:55 for the last 6 miles, giving me an average overall of 8:10 and a running time of 1 hour, 38 minutes. Ah well.
Radar Road Route under very nice conditions: -6C/22F with very little wind and just enough sunshine to make you go "ahhh".
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| Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Goodwill Route. Same 8:10 pace as yesterday, for a run time of 49 minutes. Clear skies as the sun came up; crisp running temperature of -6C/20F.
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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Some faster running on the treadmill; 7 x 800 at a 6:58 pace, for 3.5 miles of speedwork.
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| Brooks Glycerin 14 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | 8:20 pace on the Radar Road Route. Another dump of snow yesterday; the good side of it is, the trees were coated and were gorgeous, especially down in the airport area.
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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 10.00 |
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| | 8:25 pace on the Radar Road Route. Icy, bitter wind. Yuck. I really had to fight to finish parts of this one.
Edit: Just looked it up - wind is up to 26mph, and with that factored in, the temperature is -17C/1F. Not nice.
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| Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 16.00 |
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| | No choice but to hit the treadmill today. Massive snow/ice storm across the whole Province, and the city is pretty much shut down. I'm not going outside - hard even to drive.
So, I just set the pace at 9:00/mile and went slow and steady for 108 minutes.
Then I watched the Boston Marathon - what a race! I loved that they wrote off the Japanese runner when he took off like a shot in the first miles, and then he won. Wow! Good efforts all around in miserable conditions.
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| Brooks Glycerin 14 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Despite the ice, I took it outside this morning on the Goodwill Route. 8:20 pace. There is fresh snow over the ice, so I managed to find a way to run on something not so slick.
The trees are completely coated in ice - very attractive. Won't last long, as we will finally get our Spring weather by the end of the week - going up into double digits (low to mid 50s). Woo Hoo!
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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Some speedwork on the treadmill.
7 x 800 @ 6:58/mile pace.
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| Saucony ISO Triumph 2 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | 105 minutes at a pace of 8:45 on Radar Road.
Actually felt a bit like spring today: the sun is shining and the snow is melting. 2C/35F with a slight breeze. Nice.
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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Big run down the Radar Road Route. Gorgeous day - ran with just a vest over a running shirt, sleeves rolled up, and I took off the gloves at mile 12. The second half had the sun shining in my face - it was awesome! Starting off, it was 1C/33F, and when I finished 3:37:24 later, it was 8C/46F.
9:03 pace average, but I slowed down after mile 15. Was running 8:52 at the 12 mile mark. Heavy legs.
A bit of an animal adventure began at mile 17, when a dog ran out to join me. At first I thought it was a wolf, and I took out my pepper spray because it ran right at me. But then I could see that it was a Huskey, and that it just wanted to run with me. Well, it did - for the next 7 miles.
Show off. It would zip ahead, then turn around to wait for me, then it would duck into the woods and run in there, and through the swamps and whatever other water it could find, then back to the road with me. Every so often, it nearly decided to follow someone else - a man on a bike, then some kids on their bikes, but I guess I was more interesting, and so it always came back to me. Heavy traffic on the highway - I was just waiting for it to run in front of a car, but it was fine.
At mile 21 and a bit, a car turned around and parked ahead of me. A pretty woman got out and asked if it was my dog. Telling her 'no', I said it started following me around the airport. She said it must be Diesal, and the owner would be looking for it, so she got down on her knees and called to it. Well, Diesal would have none of that. I ran past her on the right, and Diesal took the left.
So, for the next 2 miles and a bit, I had Diesal running right beside me, and this woman following closely in her car on the other side of the highway. That was kinda weird. I picked up the pace at that point - not sure if it was because a pretty woman was watching me, or because I was getting competitive with Diesal. However, Diesal was fading big time, so a bit of a victory there. He was struggling to keep up with me.
When my street came up, Diesal had ducked down a bush road and didn't see me make the turn. The woman at that point went down the bush road - I presume to see if she could corral the dog. A good friend to the owner to do what she did.
Anyway, I spotted 3 different motorcycles on the highway in that run - a good sign! And I have a really goofy looking suntan over my eyes where my toque curved over them. Sigh. My people will love that at Church this weekend.
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| Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 24.00 |
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| | In Sault Ste. Marie for work; 8:33 pace on country roads.
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| Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | In Sault Ste. Marie for work; 8:46 on the Hub Trail - Canal.
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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Final work day in Sault Ste. Marie; Hub Trail-Canal-Fort Creek.
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| Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Radar Road Route at a pace of 8:14. Picked it up in the second half, and ran the final 5 in:
8:01 8:03 7:56 8:03 and 7:28 Run time of 2:28:12.
Perfect running weather, at 3C/37F and little wind. Even the sun poked out for a while.
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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 18.00 |
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| | Yucky, windy, snowy, slushy run. But I did it!
-5C/23F with a wind blowing and gusting to 31mph, making a windchill factor of -13C/9F.
The first third of the run was directly into the wind, the second 3rd sideways to it, and the final stretch had it at my back (nice!).
Everything was covered with fresh snow, which meant a few inches in some places, slush in others, and slick ice in others. It was pretty slippery in many places, plus I finished with both feet soaked through with cold water.
Running time of 3:03:05; average pace of 8:19. I was pretty even paced at around 8:27 for the first 16 miles, and then picked it up with the wind at my back. The final 3 miles were 8:00 8:03 and 7:35.
So that was my longest back to back at 40 miles. Just 7 weeks to race day.
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| Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 22.00 |
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| | Radar Road Route. Run time of 1:36:07; average pace of 8:00/mile, with a zippy second half:
7:52 8:01 7:53 7:32 7:40 and 7:00
I didn't plan on going that fast, but it just felt SO good today. Bright sun, no wind, and warm ... 13C/55F. First run in shorts. First of many, I hope!
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| Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 12.00 |
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| Saucony ISO Triumph Miles: 92.00 | Brooks Ghost 7 Miles: 132.00 | Brooks Glycerin 14 Miles: 32.00 | Saucony ISO Triumph 2 Miles: 10.00 |
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