Awesome Possum

Many of you know that my friend, Ed, featured here, moved to Australia with his fiance in late 2012. Ed now calls Brisbane his home, and is settling in to his new surroundings in the land down under.

 

A few weeks ago he found a possum hiding under his barbeque.

  

He either scared the possum, or woke it up (or both), and it high-tailed it out of there.

 

 

But not before it stopped to flex its muscles-- just to show Ed who's boss. Luckily Ed has phone with him, and was able to snap some photos of the possum in action.

I had no idea that possums would do this kind of thing-- they flex their muscles to demonstrate aggression or dominance. I loved it when Ed posted the photos on Facebook, and thought I would share them.

Thanks, Ed!

 

2:10:56

Me and my dad at the Scotiabank Marathon.

On Sunday I completed my second half marathon, another 21.1km!

I had high expectations for this race. I have been training five times a week for the last 18 weeks, and I have only missed three training runs during that time. Despite my rampant runners paranoia, when compared to last year, I felt much better after and during all of my runs. I had been training with a goal time of 2:05 in mind, and I felt certain I could beat that-- maybe even break the 2 hour mark!

As you can see, I finished my race with a respectable 2:10:56. Not nearly as speedy as I'd hoped, but still a personal best (last year's run was 2:13:14)!

I had to fight some disappointment as I felt my pace slowing over the course of the race. By the 12km mark, I knew I wouldn't be able to make up the time to meet my goal.

However, lesson learned! You never know how a race will turn out-- and personal best (even if it's not the one you are hoping for) is nothing to turn your nose up at!

To quote one of my co-workers, "Your personal best is where it's at!"

My training will continue in preparation for the SeaWheeze Half Marathon in Vancouver on August 10th! I'll be running this race with Ashley and Andrew, and I'm looking forward to trying out a new course.

Here are a couple shots that Ashley managed to snap of me while I was nearing the finish line on Sunday.

Thanks to my dad, Steve, Jeff, Billy, Ashley and Andy who came out to cheer me on!

Self Diagnosed

With one week until race day (my second official half marathon!), I have self diagnosed myself with what I have come to think of as "Runner's Paranoia."

Runner's Paranoia is probably not an uncommon conditions for runners in their final week before a race. Symptoms include (but are not limited to), possible sore throat ("Oh no! I'm getting a cold, better take Cold FX"), heel pain ("Dear God, I'm getting plantar fasciitis!"), burning in the shin area ("It has to be SHIN SPLINTS!") and sore knees ("Could this be illiotibial syndrome!?"). Basically, you think you have suddenly developed every malady a runner fears while training for a race. Throw in some blisters and some bruised toe-nails, and full-blown paranoia sets in.

Photo Credit 

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

At this point, I really do think I'm getting shin splints-- they occur when lower legs are overstressed, and small tears in the leg muscles where they attach to the shin. However, the pain is very minimal (1 on a scale of 1 to 10), and once this week is done, I can have some serious rest!

I am looking to break my half marathon time from last year 2:13:14-- and I don't anticipate any problems doing this. I'll be out Sunday morning, bright and early.

Think good thoughts for me!!