I'm going to give this thing one more shot. That's right, I'm joining the likes of Magic Johnson, Bjorn Borg and Muhammad Ali by coming out of retirement. Of course, all three of these sports heroes failed quite spectacularly in their comeback efforts.
Why will I be any different? Well, for one thing, I'm not Magic Johnson, Bjorn Borg or Muhammad Ali. I'm a joggler, which means the heights of my sports-stardom were about as lofty as the world champion of Tiddly Winks. I didn't rise high enough to fall. Secondly, my retirement lasted only 1.5 months, so I'm not too stale yet.
Yesterday, I told the good people at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon that I will be back in September to try and break Zach's 2:52:15 marathon joggling record. I don't plan to do any publicity this time around. I think the news media are getting a bit tired of joggling anyway - it's not a novelty anymore.
So here goes nothing...
Today, I got stuck on a hot, crowded subway and that convinced me that it's time I started riding my bike to work. This means I'll no longer be able to joggle home as part of my training, so I'll have to run late at night or very early in the morning.
The photo at the top of this post is the vehicle I'm drooling over right now. It's a pedal-powered velomobile available in Toronto through http://www.bluevelo.com/. The catch is that these things cost about $10,000. The $20 I've made so far through joggling won't go very far to cover this cost, but who knows what joggling endorsements await me around the corner now that I'm back in the game.
4 comments:
Good to see you're coming out of retirement! Home town course should be an advantage. Good luck!
Welcome back! (Not that you were really gone).
Glad to hear your "Back.". While I'm not much of a runner (having completed my first 5K just last weekend) I'm going to reitterate something I suggested on an earlier comment. I was REALLY surprised in your Salt Lake writeup that 19 Miles was the first time you took a hydro break. I would suggest contacting your Local College's Sports Training department and work with them on a hydration plan. It really would seem to me that earlier hydration, even at the cost of a few seconds of stopping might be worthwhile.They probably have the data and research to tell you if you are going to take limited breaks, where will they be most effective. Contact the scientists and get a team working for you!!
Thanks for the welcome! I was honestly planned to quit after Salt Lake if I broke the record or was far off from it. But 1:15 is too close to let it rest and fran and brian, you are both correct - hometown advantage and a less-stupid hydration plan will help for the next attempt.
I'm anxious to resume my backwards training, as well as the five-ball joggling, but they'll have to wait.
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