Cesar's Blog

A well known runner in Calgary "Ed Bickley" who was turning 60 on July 3rd 2018 decided to set up a challenge to motivate people to stay active and at the same time do something different for his summer runs... The challenge was to run for 60 consecutive days at least 1 mile in under 6 minutes... Well, not everyone can run a mile in under 6 minutes (this would be a 3:43 min pace per km for those that are more familiar with the metric system). Anyway, as a supporter of many sporting activities I decided to join the challenge and hammer some fast miles along with Ed and few other friends, in a competitive and some times not so competitive atmosphere, but surrounded with camaraderie and enthusiasm. The challenge officially started July 3rd 2018 (Ed's birthday), I started on July 1st since I thought it will be easier to keep track on the days... I was on a camping trip in USA for 10 days that week and managed to log some sub-six min miles in three diff...

With a conference to go to in Las Vegas (for work) and a boss/friends that enjoy riding as much as I do, it was easy to make the decision to go for an adventure motorcycle trip of 4,500 kms !! Going through 1 Province and 5 States (Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada). The gang, Peter, Darcy, Ian and me. Day 1, we met at Pete's house at 8:00am Saturday and without wasting any time we hit the road south. Stopped for fuel and breakfast in Nanton and discussed the plan, route and next stops. I rode a BMW R1200GS, Darcy and Pete had the K1300R and Ian a Honda Shadow 750 (with a smaller engine and gas tank Ian was forced to make a few more stops, but that was fine as riding for more that 2 hours straight is tough anyway..) First day we rode around 760kms all the way from Calgary to Butte Montana, after checking in the hotel we went for food and beers. Day 2 started with a 6k run at 7:00 am with Pete around Butte. I wanted to run...

Without specific training to complete this marathon in a competitive time I decided last minute to just join as a "bandit" inspired by a few friends from MITO Canada. Blaine Penny wanted to break 3 hours for the marathon pushing his son Evan who is in a wheel chair !! So, he recruited a few fast friends to help him on the endeavor and I came alone to experience first hand how a group of 8 super fast runner would do that ! Ciaran, Jody, Kevin, Jeremy, Richard, Tristan were the main crew, I knew that 4:05 was fast for me, so I didn't officially signed up for the race... hopping I could join for the first half and go home. They started super fast at around 3:45 min pace and I was pushing hard to stay in the group, I got dropped at around 7k and could only see them ahead of me for the remaining of the race... Since I was already there, I was just focusing on catching them, was hypnotized by the ocean blue color of MITO's t-shirts and all I could think of was t...

The Calgary Police Half wasn't my best race, however I think I left everything I had there... Supper windy day and hilly course, and the fact that my lower back was bad for the prior 5 days certainly didn't help. I went into the race with some preparation, but with a few days having tight hamstrings and lower back pain... My stride was a bit off and confidence to push in the hills was down. I signed up Maria for the 10k, which started just 15min after the half. So, my plan was to try catch her in the last 1k or 2 (which I did). Ed Bickley was there along with Rick McDonalds and Jeff Nielson. We warmed up for about 5 minutes and the race was on ! I decided not to race this time with my drinks and since it was a cold day, I figured I wouldn't need much. I tried drinking on a few aid stations, but need more practice with the cups to be able to drink without splashing my self all over ! With a downhill start with around 2k and a tail wind I was feeling pretty good and...