Gum-chewing, joggling day nears

I just found out that this Sunday is officially World Gum-Chewing Day. Is that perfect or what? I don't think there's a World Joggling Day, but I'm going to declare September 30, World Gum-Chewing While Joggling Day.

The Reebok joggling display at the marathon race expo joggled my mind. Imagine coming face-to-face with a life-sized version of yourself joggling. Freaky. Anyway, kudos to Reebok for recognizing the fun of the sport.

Joggler slideshow on CBC.ca

Peter Hadzipetros, who writes an excellent running and fitness blog called 'Back of the Pack,' put together a joggling slideshow that appeared on the main page of cbc.ca/news today. It's just over four minutes long. To view it, click HERE.

CBC.ca also just launched their marathon page HERE.

Last night I did a final test joggle at marathon goal pace of 4:00/km. Everything appears to be in working order. I did pull some muscles in my hand a couple of days ago while trying to open a stubborn wine bottle cap (Coyote's Run Pinot Noir 2004, Niagara - delicious!), but that seems to have healed.

Tomorrow, I have a crazy day of appearances and interviews.

The Reebok booth at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon expo will reportedly have a giant picture of me, which is exciting and kind of scary. I'll be doing some joggling demonstrations at the booth at 11 am and 5:30 pm.

Joggler famous for an hour

Yesterday I got a taste of what it's like to be famous.

The Scotiabank MarathonKIDS program invited me, along with elite runners Danny Kassap and Ryan Day, to an event at a grade school in the north end of Toronto.

About 120 kids were busy training every week until they reached a total of 37 km. They'll run the final 5 km of the marathon distance at the 5K of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront races on Sunday.

These kids were so full of enthusiasm. When I got there, I was immediately swarmed and bombarded with questions about joggling. I must have signed all 120 T-shirts.

Now I'm fully motivated to break the record on Sunday.

Niagara Velomobile Happening

Here's some great video from this weekend's Niagara Velomobile Happening, hosted by Reg Rodaro at his farm near Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Ray from Bluevelo was kind enough to take our Mango up there for us, along with several other models. What an experience it was to ride in a peleton of velos.

In this video you can see me in the Mango driving behind a WAW and Ray shooting the video from a Quest.

I did some final marathon test pacing, so now I just need to stay healthy and rest up for the big joggle.

The Reebok 'Joggler' ad

Setting the world record for joggling a marathon is not easy, but I do think joggling fits in well with Reebok's Run Easy campaign. My joggling training is mostly at an easy pace and I'm always having fun doing it.

Running Room talk

Here's a short clip of the Mango velomobile in action. It's an ideal vehicle for the city, being compact, manoeuvrable, bright yellow and lightweight.

I gave a talk to the marathon clinic at the Yonge-Eglinton Running Room store last night. Many of the runners were in taper mode for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront or Chicago, so there was a good feeling of pre-race excitement in the room. Reebok even left me a box full of goodies to give out after the talk.

Reebok placed a full-page ad in the current Running Room magazine featuring ... me! I was dumbfounded to see myself in it. To go from being that 11-year-old kid reading the Guinness Book to seeing yourself in the full-page Reebok ad is unbelievable. I'm glad I came out of retirement.

Velomobile gets pulled over

So there I was, happily cruising through downtown Toronto in the new Mango velomobile, when what do I see in the mirror but the flashing lights of a police car.

I pulled over near King and Sherbourne and climbed out of the vehicle. The police officer came out and said to me: "What is this?"

"It's a velomobile, a pedal-powered recumbent trike." I said. "It's legal."

"I don't think you can be allowed on the road with this, you're driving a motor vehicle. It's not safe."

"There is no motor, just pedals."

"But you were going so fast. There has to be a motor."

"Nope, no motor, take a look."

"I need to go check this out. What is this called again."

"A velomobile. V-E-L-O-M-O-B-I-L-E."

The police officer then went back into his cruiser to make a call. About 10 minutes later he reappeared and said it was legal and to have a good ride, so off I went.