Around the Bay start line

This photo by John Chou was taken just before the start of the Around the Bay 30K. I love the look on Joseph Nderitu's face (#3).

Joggler in Around the Bay Road Race video

This photo was taken by Cathie Coward from the Hamilton Spectator. I have a funny look on my face because I think I was singing "Run Lola Run" at the time. I sometimes sing while I joggle to help me relax, but it doesn't make for very good facial expressions in photos. Here's the link to the story on the Spec's website.

In this video of the Around the Bay Road Race from the Spectator, you can see The Joggler at the start. I'm wearing yellow and running at the front in the bottom right. It's really hard to tell that I'm juggling. I had to watch it a few times to be sure it was me, and then pinched myself to make sure that that this whole joggling thing wasn't just a dream.

I will try to write a race report shortly. Thanks to everyone who cheered along the course. And thanks especially to Dianne for bringing the kids out to watch their eccentric dad joggle into the history books (not sure which history books yet – perhaps The Complete History of Endurance Joggling?).

Run, Joggler, Run!

Today's joggling mileage: 23 miles (one espresso stop and one stop to visit parental units)

A few years ago, before I started joggling, I used to keep track in my training log of the number of times someone said to me: "Run, Forrest, run!" If there are any non-runners reading this, please never, ever say these words to a runner. We have all heard it at least 6,000 times and it wasn't even funny the first time.

Looking back at my training log, there were some days when I got three or four Run, Forrest, Runs over the course of a single 10-miler. Maybe there was something about me that attracted more Run, Forrest, Runs than other runners -- all I know is that I got really sick of it really fast.
Much to my sheer delight, when I morphed into The Joggler, the Run, Forrest, Runs came to an abrupt and merciful end. Now I get a much wider variety of comments from pedestrians and drivers.

As The Joggler, I do still occasionally have to contend with jokes about balls. Note to any non-jugglers reading this: DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, TRY TO CRACK JOKES ABOUT BALLS TO A JUGGLER OR A JOGGLER. They are just as weary of this as runners are to the dreaded Run, Forrest, Runs.

Today's training run was a killer. Twenty-three miles of joggling is never easy and today I maintained a pretty good pace – most of it at about 6:30/mile and the last two miles with a tailwind at 5:20/mile.

And I remembered to wash my hat.