running on empty

I haven't gone running in five weeks. My main excuse has been that it's way too warm out; conditions were nice in April/May, but since then we've had some very hot days. So what could make more sense than to go for a run today, probably the hottest day of the year?

Yesterday I thought it would be nice to try running today, as it was projected to be a scorcher. After all, if I can run in this weather, I must be in rather fine mettle indeed.

I saw other people out running yesterday (almost as warm), and a brave friend of mine did as well, so I figured I better lace up too.

So around the hottest time of day I headed outdoors, ill-prepared...

• 35°C (humidex: feels like 46). Almost cool compared to Toronto/Hamilton...
• I recently spent a zillion dollars on my first ever pair of shades, but that's not helpful if I don't have them on me.
• long pants of course! but I did upgrade to a short-sleeve shirt (I felt so exposed!)
• I was just getting over a headache (which came back at around km 1)
• I don't carry liquids with me, although the only time I did so (the official 10K in May) I ran very well indeed. Coincidence?

Thanks to the above factors, I got as far as 2.5km and that was it. Talk about draining. As usual, I quit because of the lungs, not the limbs. I imagine dry air at 35 degrees might have felt harsher on the lungs, but this wasn't a whole lot better.

Interestingly, I've not lost all my conditioning from training in the spring. My pace is still on par with than just before the 10K race in May. Granted, today's run was a tad short.

random thought of the day

So here's a thought that occurred to me for no good reason. It's entirely possible that there is someone alive today who "met" someone born in the 1700s. (Are you considered to have met someone if they held you when you were a newborn?)

Is it so far-fetched? There are hundreds of people still alive who were born before around 1900. Perhaps one of them had a centenarian relative who got to coddle them when they were little. Olden-day babies needed coddling too!

There, that's two minutes of your life you'll never get back...

camping

We've spent one Canada Day in Ottawa in the nearly 4 years we've lived here, so we've at least done that. We do know what we're missing (besides royal visitors and all), and it's probably something we'll stick around for occasionally. But not this year!



We went camping at Sharbot Lake for four days. It's only about 1.5 hours out of town... quite convenient. There were 12 adults and 1 toddler over two sites... oh, and 7 vehicles! Having vehicles on-site is ridiculously expensive, and only a few people parked their cars off the grounds to save money. We'd have tried to carpool but most of us drive the tiniest automobiles known to man... not conducive to sharing rides.

I surprised myself by going for a wake-up swim every morning. This works only if our site is conveniently close to the lake and the weather is nice. Our site was in fact right on the lake, but I suffered the few-minute walk to the actual beach for a less rocky entry.

Of course dogs aren't allowed on the beach, so when the gang hung out at the beach during the day I would hang out with a bored dog at the campsite and eat/read/tan. Yep, I wore shorts!

One of us brought his kayak along. On one occasion two swimmers, a kayak and some other floaty thingy headed out to cross the great expanse. If you zoom in you might see Carrie swimming far far away. If that were me I'd be as far from the surface as from the shoreline... blub blub.


Really, who needs water when there's a road right by the site? (Whaddaya mean, people drive here?)


The tot in the group gets around all too well. We eventually made a fence of our 10 or so coolers to try and contain her... when she wasn't just chillin' beside a dog carcass.


You're lucky you're so cute!


Team effort. Tarps are a crucial part of camping, regardless of whether they're needed or not. They're just fun to hang. It did pour a few times throughout the otherwise hot sunny weekend, so they served a secondary purpose as well.



Our new bbq. It's a nice portable Weber, although the stand is kinda lousy. The dog is licking the greasy spatula... and I'm not sure I remembered to tell the guys to clean it before using the next morning... oops!


Nap time. This guy camped a couple days, then headed to Ottawa one evening to work a 12-hour overnight shift, then came back in the morning to grace with us with his presence yet again. What a trooper!


Actually, here's the actual trooper (or whatever rank he holds at Petawawa). Ain't hardly nuthin' funner'n swingin' an axe. Watch them toes, soldier!


All some people need for camping is a pipe and a good book. I can see him doing exactly this in 60 years.


All some other people need is a soothing noise to put them to sleep all weekend. Unfortunately the generator at the site across the road wasn't all that soothing. Its owners ran it 24/7, presumably to run their tent trailer's fridge or something. Ever hear of a cooler and ice, people? After some coaxing they would turn it off for a few hours, but it would be running again not long after. The park wardens said they didn't have a policy on generators, so short of sabotage there wasn't much we could do.

Anyway, the site half of us (including Carrie and myself) actually slept at (although nobody hung out there much) was far from generators and crying kids, so I had no complaints :).

Happy gross, Canada!