One day

Still packing. It takes a long time to pack when you're travelling with two toddlers. It'll be their first airplane ride.

Wish me luck, or split a beanbag or something.

Joggler feels the weight of Canadian pop culture on his shoulders

Today's planned joggle: 6 miles (home from work)

My legs and shoulders are both feeling pulverized today after yesterday's 24-mile joggling jaunt. Today's joggle will be a very easy recovery run.

Unfortunately, my backpack will be heavier than usual because I bought a few clothes at lunchtime that I need to cart home, and I also need to take home my book – JPod by Douglas Coupland – so I can read it on the subway tomorrow. So far, JPod is good, but even the paperback version is a little above the weight limit for a joggler's backpack.

Since I began running home from work, I've chosen both my wardrobe and reading materials based on weight. Heavy jackets and pants are out, as are thick-soled shoes. Vikram Seth, Wally Lamb and Tolstoy will never find their way into my knapsack.

I started up a discussion on Running Mania about runners who commute on two legs, so I know I'm not alone here.

Joggling beanbags seek out muddy puddles

Today's joggling mileage: 24 miles

It's hard to joggle for 24 miles. It's even harder when you've enjoyed one too many tumblers of Scotch (Lagavulin 16-year-old) with your brother-in-law the night before. Despite these challlenges, I managed to drag my sorry Bloggling Joggler butt out the door.

The Sunday long joggle began slowly and tentatively, but eventually progressed into 6:30/mile race pace.

For some reason, I was all thumbs today; I must have had about 30 drops. Some of them were caused by me trying to do various juggilng tricks, but many of them were just careless. And it seemed like every time I dropped a ball, it would roll into a dirty puddle. The route was mostly clear, but there were some puddles left by melting ice. My beanbags enjoyed baths in most of these.

My plan to reclaim the marathon joggling title

Today's joggling plan: Rest and drink some beer (Mill St. Tankhouse Ale)

At last September's Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, I set a new Guinness World Record for joggling in a time of 2 hours, 57 minutes and 44 seconds. Two months later, Zach Warren, who seems to be making a habit out of this, smashed my young record with a sizzling 2:52:15.

So the question is: How does this Bloggling Joggler plan to shave 5 1/2 minutes off his previous time? Here is the plan:

1) Pray to the wind gods for a less gusty marathon day.
2) Switch to smaller, lighter beanbags – harder to catch but easier on the arms.
3) Use Zach to help pace me to a faster time.
4) Train harder – so far, so good.
5) Improve my juggling skills.
6) Avoid losing 2 minutes at the end of the race by frantically scrambling to pick up dropped beanbags while trying to joggle through a dark underpass (this happened in Toronto).

That should do it.

Thanks to USA Today's sports blog for mentioning The Bloggling Joggler today:

"Our apologies for not getting to the "bloggling joggler" today, but best of luck in your marathon showdown. Multitasking is getting out of hand these days. It's hard to keep focused on your wow what a goal for Barcelona new publishing system takes permalinks apple juice."

Bloggling on Google

Today's planned joggle: 6 miles (home from work)

A recent Googling of the word "bloggling" puts The Bloggling Joggler's blog at No. 2, just behind a site for people with mental illness (somehow fitting). This is somehow very exciting to me. There are very few jogglers in the world, and there are even fewer blogglers, but I'm going to keep joggling, juggling, joggling and bloggling until my arms, legs, fingers and brain ache.

Now, I'm off for my commute, a 10K "easy" joggle home from work – or as easy as it gets running through downtown Toronto while juggling and wearing a backpack.

Guinness World Records assessing The Joggler's 10K claim

It's great to see that The Bloggling Joggler has some readers (or skimmers, at least), including some from Europe and China. I will do my best to keep you entertained and informed about the world of competitive joggling. If you find me boring and pedantic, then you can always go visit the world's only other joggling blog: Just Your Average Joggler.

I heard back from Guinness World Records about my 10K joggling world record claim, and they were hoping a had video footage of the whole race. Because the Longboat Island Race is on a narrow footpath, this wasn't practical, so I relied on independent witnesses to certify the record. The Guinness rep told me he will continue to assess my claim without video. I hope the record gets certified because that race really hurt and I don't want to go through that again.

Today is sunny and the streets look clear, so a nice 8-mile joggle is in order.