You might have gotten the impression that I love fall.

There is something I don’t like about fall though.  While fall isn’t the only season guilty of this, it has the unfortunate job of making it all that more apparent.  I am talking, of course, about the decreasing daylight. It is now dark long into my morning runs.

With decreased daylight, there are different potential hazards.  One of the biggest hazards that we really have the power to avoid is, of course, traffic.  For better or for worse, I change my running habits in the fall to keep myself safe:

• It is no longer safe for me to run at the side of country roads; I am relegated instead to trying to find interesting routes in town, sticking to sidewalks as much as possible.

• I make myself visible.  Wearing reflective gear is a really good start.  If it is still too warm for your jacket with reflective strips, you can buy reflective vests, bands and strips anywhere that sells safety supplies.  These can attach with adhesive, Velcro, magnets, or even just snap around wrists or ankles.  Remember, however, that reflective gear relies on outside light sources to be visible.

• Another option to consider is gear that has a built-in light source.  This could be anything from bicycle blinkers to headlamps.  Headlamp bonus: not only can others see you, you can see what’s in your path, from potholes to puddles, to people and animals.

I am not endorsing any particular brand, however, if you visit the Fuel Belt website, you can get an idea of the types of options I am talking about.

As a runner who also happens to be a driver, I want to add that I am always very grateful to people who take measures to be visible.  To the people I have heard say they will look stupid, first I disagree, but secondly, “stupid” beats out “road pizza” any day!

So please, do your best to be seen.

I love fall.  I mean, I really love it.  It is one of my favourite times to run.  I think I say this about every season, but it isn’t just a season; it’s a whole mood, an atmosphere.

It really involves all of the senses:

The crisp air feels so good – it’s a nice change to actually feel cool skin, even when you’re warm on the inside.  It’s so refreshing!

The leaves provide those satisfying shuffle and crunch sounds.  I love to scuff my feet through piles of leaves, even if it means picking them out of my shoes and laces later.

Then there’s that wet-leafy smell.  You know the one – it is probably leaves rotting, but somehow it smells so nice when you just take a giant lungful.

The colours of the trees are beautiful.  When the sun hits them just right, they’re so vibrant.  The word “breathtaking” comes to mind.

If, like me, you can run past a bakery on your route, there’s the fresh bread and pumpkin pie.  I know that is really sense of smell again, but I can practically taste it!

I even love coming in after a fall run.  A steaming hot shower, a nice cup of coffee and a warm, toasted bagel are just all so wonderful.

Yes, I love running in the fall.  After stimulating all of those senses so satisfyingly, I can’t help but feel great about the world!

Hey, remember Sidney?

I just wanted to share that I bumped into him on Sunday!  We were all standing together in the starting corrals, and I was just looking around me, when a man just sort of shuffled into an empty space just behind me and to my right.  I recognized him instantly.

“Sidney?” I said, just to be sure (yes, I had spelled his name wrong all this time).

“Yeah,” he said, kind of looking at me.  I said “oh my goodness!  I remember you from last year!  Do you remember me?   We met at the pasta dinner, then we ran into each other during the race right around the time we both melted down!”  He thought for a moment.

“Yes!  Yes, I remember!  When that volunteer told us we needed to hustle to make it back before the roads opened!”

Yes, he really remembered.  He told me he had done a marathon the weekend previous.  I laughed as I told him I remembered he had done that last year as well.

We got separated pretty quickly, but I saw him twice more:  once when he passed me early in the race, and once where the course doubled back on itself.

It was just one of those things.  My meeting him was the inspiration for one of the very first posts I wrote for this blog, and I would think of him from time to time, but I never expected to see him again after last year. He was up from somewhere in the States. Yet, there we both were, in a start line crowd of nearly 10,000 people, and we just sort of bumped into each other.

Funny how that happens!

Every race teaches us something.  Most races teach me many things.

Yesterday, I learned what it is like to drop out of a marathon.

I am still processing everything that happened, and working out the lessons that can be gained.  So far:

• I learned that you can make a very smart decision for very good reasons and still regret the outcome.  You can then consider every other outcome that was possible on that day, and realize they’d all have been met with regret.

• I learned that I can put on a brave face and celebrate the successes of others.

• I learned that non-runners “get it” a lot more than I ever gave credit for. In fact, some of them get it better than some runners.

• I learned that the runners who have been through it came out stronger because of it – even if they don’t notice that side effect for themselves.  They are then quick to step up and say, “hey, I did that that.  I know it kinda sucks, but know you’ll be okay.”

I know that it is only really a big deal to me, and that soon, it won’t even matter.  I know that one day someone will drop out of a race, and I will be able to say, hey, you’re not alone, I’ve done that too.

Besides, if every race were a PB, it would be kind of predictable and boring, wouldn’t it?  As Tom Krause once said, “There are no failures – just experiences and your reactions to them.”

Well, the work week is over; my marathon weekend has begun!  I am excited, but I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it because it’s been an interesting week.  In reality, that’s probably just as well!  So now, I have to pack, and try to get a good night’s sleep tonight!

I’ll be heading to Toronto tomorrow morning in the hopes of catching the first shuttle bus from Nathan Phillips Square to the Expo.  After I pick up my kit, I have a small shopping list, and a few people I want to try to run into.

After that, the plan is to check into the hotel, and try and sit on my butt as much as possible.   Last year I had a blast walking all over Toronto visiting stores I don’t get to visit up here, seeing the sights, and meeting people at the bus station, but I really wore myself out!  That’s a pretty predictable outcome, of course, but I also had a strong hunch that I wouldn’t be walking all over Toronto AFTER the race.

Dinner will be something bland and predictable – no shocks to the system please!  I’ll probably set two alarms, or maybe request a wake up call, because I am a little paranoid that way – I won’t sleep well if I am worried about not waking up on time.  Then it’s early to bed, even though I know I won’t have a terrific sleep even with two alarms.

So that’s what I’m doing.  I guess there is no real point to this post beyond switching gears from week to weekend – race weekend that is!

5 more sleeps ’till my marathon!  This is, of course, assuming that I sleep the night before.  I’m amazed I haven’t started to freak out (too much) yet.

While preparing for a race sometime last year, I started a packing list.  I always have one of these when I go away, but this time I had the sense to save it on my computer rather than scrawl it on a giant Post-It Note.  So now, all I have to do is print off a copy and I am ready to get packing!  Of course, the list changes depending on the season and the weather, and I have added a few things over time that I wished I’d have thought of, but in general, it saves me some time and worry that I am forgetting things.

I thought I would share  my list with you, in case you’re packing too! Feel free to let me know if I’ve missed anything!

Running stuff:

¨       Running shoes         ¨       Hair elastic
¨       Socks                    ¨       Throw-away shirt (to stay warm at start line)
¨       Sports bra              ¨       Sunscreen
¨       Shorts/tights          ¨       Hat or visor
¨       Shirt                     ¨       Fuel belt and bottles
¨       Jacket                   ¨       Sports drink powder and measuring cup
¨       Garmin or watch      ¨       Gels
¨       Body Glide             ¨       Sunglasses
¨       Advil                     ¨       Chapstick
¨       Race Number belt   ¨       Nail clippers (to trim zip tie end)

Breakfast:

¨       Cereal                    ¨       Bowl and spoon
¨       Banana                   ¨       Milk (usually kept cold in ice bucket)

Other:

¨       Pyjamas                 ¨       Under garments
¨       Socks                     ¨       Comfy pants
¨       T-shirt                   ¨       Sweater
¨       Comfy shoes         ¨       Registration confirmation
¨       Applicable meds    ¨       Hotel confirmation

Toiletries:

¨       Toothbrush & paste ¨       Deodorant
¨       Brush                       ¨       Shampoo & conditioner

Someone asked me why I do it.

Why run for so many hours straight?  Surely at some point, a line is crossed where it isn’t fun anymore?  Why not just run for fun?

I tried to explain.

It is fun.  I mean not circus clown, helium balloon, ice cream cone, bouncy castle, giggle and laugh fun.  More like stretch limits, sweat hard, question sanity, reach exhaustion, ache after sort of fun.

That answer sure didn’t make sense.

Well sometimes there’s giggling-fun.  Like when you’re so tired that you’re a bit delirious, and the fact that you’ve named a dead skunk “Wayne” to make it less gross seems so hilarious that you laugh uncontrollably until you have to stop laughing so you can catch your breath so you don’t pass out sort of fun.

That still didn’t cut it.

Well then there’s the part afterward where you stretch, and debrief, and get cleaned up so you feel human again, and settle back with a coffee and a carb-protein snack to refuel.  That’s really fun.

While that made a little more sense, the question became, why run to exhaustion before you can enjoy coffee and a snack?

I gave up.

The truth is, if a person is asking these sorts of questions, there is no adequate answer.

It can’t be explained, it has to be experienced.

Apparently the whole Oprah running a marathon thing is a giant can of worms.

Most of the debate veers way off course and actually has little to do with Oprah at all.  This article, by Edward McClelland, as well as this one in Slate are just two of the articles claiming that Oprah, among others, ruined the marathon by making it more popular, and thus slowing the average finishing times.  Of course both articles are so full of assumptions, incorrect facts and flawed arguments that they can be torn apart and refuted paragraph by paragraph, but that’s been done.

But I do want to take a quick look at the overall concept that increased participation in the marathon, and the resulting slower average results, is somehow ruining the sport.  First, I want to acknowledge that this viewpoint really does seem to be from the ‘vocal minority’ – it has been my experience that most runners respect other runners regardless of ability.  Most runners are thrilled that others are embracing a sport that encourages an overall healthy lifestyle in a world that is becoming more sedentary.

I just don’t see how the increase in participation and resulting slower times have taken away from the accomplishments of elite and competitive athletes.  In the past, I have discussed that unlike in other sports, I can run in the same race as some of the best runners in the world, and I think that’s pretty cool.  But in no way do my results, or even my existence for that matter, impact the outcome of the race.  The slower average times do not hold back the winner.  And just like in other sports, they have elite competitions that most people do not get to participate in, such as the World Championships and the Olympics.  I won’t be going to either; but interestingly enough, neither will Mr. McClelland.

So why do these particular people feel so threatened by runners like me?  Are they truly worried about the integrity of the sport?  Because really, I don’t think that Haile Gebrselassie minds that I am out there, any more than Sidney Crosby feels that Timbits Hockey is somehow making the NHL less competitive.  In fact, I would argue that widespread interest in a sport can only benefit the future of the sport – the more of a market there is for it, the more support it will get.

So really, shouldn’t we be thanking Oprah for sparking, or at least contributing to the second running boom?

In The Runner’s Guide to the Meaning of Life,  Amby Burfoot tells the story of Oprah Winfrey’s marathon.  I had known that Oprah ran a marathon in the 1990s in a time of about 4:30, but beyond that I hadn’t given it much thought.

Sure, I had heard she stirred up quite a controversy.  I mean, it’s Oprah.  Love her or hate her, you have to know that for anything she does there will be critics who lament that it is ruined because it was touched by Oprah.  Did she have an easier time of it because she’s Oprah?  Of course not.  I mean sure, it crossed my mind that she likely had a full support-crew with her during the race, not to mention a trainer, nutritionist and chef who helped get her there.  But she’s not magic.  Let’s give the distance its full due:  to get through it, you must put in the work; if you don’t, none of those advantages will make a lick of difference.

Let’s look at this from the flip side: when Burfoot tells the story of running the marathon behind Oprah, he does so in his chapter on Courage.  He points out that she was surrounded by photographers from publications such as the National Enquirer the whole way.  They sure weren’t there to put her picture on the front page because she’d run a marathon.  There would be no headlines reading “Oprah finishes marathon, meets personal time goal!”  Nope, they were there waiting for her to screw up.  They were waiting for some colossal failure for the front page.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like some serious pressure to me.