Morden, Salt Lake City, The PNE and 13 miles

So I'm getting emails - people actually read this fluff?

It feels like fall today (yuck)…however I did run 20.8 k's last night! 20.8 kilometers is equal to 12.92 miles (statute), or 'half ' a marathon.

The neighbours seem to stay in their front yards and count the laps.

With the Randy Bachman crew, we played Morden Manitoba on Friday and Salt Lake City Utah on Saturday.

Morden was fun - half the town are relatives of Colin Wiebe's, so the practical joke was set with posters etc spread all over town as we arrived, advertising Colin as the artist of all the Guess Who and BTO hits with Randy's mention in small print at the bottom with a picture of Randy that looked like a high school shot with his name spelled wrong. (…Also appearing Winnipeg Cover band, Randi Backman)

Then the announcer took the stage at the beginning of our set;
“Do you like The Guess Who?” Yay!!!!
“Do you like BTO?” yay
“DO YOU LIKE THE MUSIC OF COLIN ARTHUR WIEBE?” YAY!!!! - As more than a few 'We love you, Colin' signs were held up….

It was quite funny, and Randy was a great sport about it all night using it to our advantage - the show went splendidly.

Salt Lake City was beautiful, but of course, we're never really in one place long enough to really get to enjoy it. I did, however have a swim in the pool, trying desperately to stay awake through sound check. I was bushed from the early flights etc. from the night before.

Took an early morning flight (is there any other *sigh*) back to Vancouver just in time to play the PNE with 'Atlantic Crossing'. The show went extremely well. It is a lot of work though, as we do three acts (Elton, Rod and The Beatles) in succession with only 15 minutes in between to allow for costume changes.

Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time I finally got home...

No run today. Infra Red sauna and a bike ride are in order for these abused knees (they're really feeling it today)

Cheers…

Help? Who needs it?

So here I sit at the airport - my flight to Winnipeg delayed by two hours!!!! Well, at least I got some work done…'lemonade out of lemons'.

Rants:

Gratitude -

I heard the phrase once, “Live with an attitude of gratitude” said by some guy with more money than brains…or at least the brains to get money out of people by teaching them what they already inherently know…

Hey I've done seminars…don't get me wrong. I read self help books - but the more I read, the more I realize…. all these people do is publish books and go out on seminar 'tours' to sell their books, tapes, CD's…the way a musician does, and the effect is surprisingly the same.

You always love the 'show' so much; that you indeed buy the tape, DVD, cookware and electric dog polisher the great guru is chanting to you about. It's the same as a concert….
Then, if you like what you hear, you'll wait for the 'next' installment of what the 'great one' has to say, hoping it will be just as fulfilling an experience…or will it be just a variation of the same message, done in a slightly different skew, so that they can sell you even more 'stuff'?

Will it be like Tony Orlando's 'Knock Three Times' a catchy little re-write of 'Candida' his first hit, or will it be a major stretch into 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon' (which by the way was re-written as well to become 'Sweet Gypsy Rose')

Men's Health magazine is the topper though. Every month, they re-write the same articles over and over and they sell like hotcakes. If you were to do what just one of Men's Health's issue's has to offer in it's articles, you wouldn't have to buy another one.

I mean, how many ways can you show some chiseled dude doing sit-ups? Evidently a whole lot of times...they get bought, over and over again…why?

Packaging I would guess?

Maybe that's my point (I'm trying to decide if I really have one or if I've just that ticked about having a late flight. I worked very late last night and had to get up at 5 am to drive to the airport to find out the flight isn't leaving for hours…I was hoping to be sleeping on the plane by now…drooling all types of bodily liquids on the poor sap beside me…but - alas I sit in a lounge trying to make the best of my time…but I digress)

Oh yeah - my point…
Don't be lazy and you won't need any gurus or work out mags…

Now if I just wasn't so damn lazy....

By the way

I didn't run Wednesday to rest my legs, didn't run yesterday because I was doing paperwork all day (it wasn't supposed to take all day, but my computer program fizzled and I had to uninstall and reinstall starting from scratch and redo all of my records from this year…yay!) and I won't be running today because this !@#$! flight is late and I have no idea if I CAN run in Salt Lake City tomorrow…we'll see.

Cheers

Getting there one ache at a time....

Yeah - one more time last evening. 15.6 k's...

Actually when I was even younger than I am now ;-) I would run 11 MILES a day.
So I guess I'm getting close to that again (11 miles (statute) is equal to 17.70 kilometers.)
I felt every stride last night - but I made myself go through with it anyway.
However, I'm paying for it today, so I went for a bike ride to loosen up my cranky knees.

Trying to work my way up to a marathon ...I have to keep this in mind. A marathon is 26 miles. (26 miles (statute) is equal to 41.84 kilometers.)

So running 15.6 k's is getting close to a half marathon, which is what Colin's aforementioned sister had challenged us to try to accomplish by February I think it was.

Anyway, so far I'm way ahead of my own expectations and feeling pretty positive about it.

That's all for now

Wow a new record (for me)

Wow - 13ks last night (that's 5 times around for those keeping track) and I could've done more - but it was getting way too late (I started at 9 pm) for a guy to be running around near bushes and parks etc. You never know what lurks in the night.

I took Saturday off to rest my legs, and Sunday was just too busy a day to do anything like this...so I ended up with two days off.
Played the Pacific National Exhibition on Saturday and Sunday. The first day was with 'Cease and Desist' and the second day was with 'Atlantic Crossing' both engagements went very well and we were all quite pleased with ourselves after.

I'm trying to up my laps this week. For one thing, I won't be able to run on Friday because of the flights that day to Winnipeg and the driving after. Saturday is a flight to Salt Lake City to play, and I don't know what to expect there. Time to start with weight training as a 'cross training' effort. One doesn't get 'fit' from running alone - I am aware of that - however, by setting this 'running' goal and achieving it, it's inspiring me to do more...

It's Working....

I don't want to post what my weight was when I started this...it's embarrassing...BUT what I will do is post my weight when I get down to where I want to be, and if you're really interested (NOT!) you can add it all up backwards...

What I can tell you is, another 10.4 k's yesterday (I'm taking today off to give my legs a break) and I'm down 15 lbs. already!!!

It's a good start. I know a lot of it's water weight, but who cares?

Cheers...

Wow....and Dogs

Well - I did another 10.4 ks. I was really busy all day doing 'techie' stuff in my studio and didn't get around to my running until about 6:30 pm. The first lap was awful, the 2nd, pure hell, the 3rd eased up and the 4th was a breeze...

I wasn't until I ate at 8:00 pm that I realized, that was the first meal I had had all day...no wonder my first two laps were so hard.

My goal now is to increase my run to 6 laps by the end of next week (or the equivalent - I will be in Manitoba and Utah next weekend) and to 8 before I leave for Europe on the 4th. If I get really ambitious, I may try to do 16 laps one day, which would be that 'Virtual Marathon' I talked about earlier.

Dogs:

Interesting thing they are. Some people treat them as other people (guess what..? they aren't!)
Some people seem to have the biggest nastiest dogs they can.
It's not for protection - it's for the ego trip of being the 'master' of a potential 'killing machine'...like owning a Tiger without a special permit.
Don't give me the gears that you need it for protection. A nice big wonderful Golden Retriever will bark loud and nasty enough behind a closed door to keep intruders away - you don't need a Rottweiller or a Pitt bull.
You need a Rottweiller or a Pit Bull for two reasons:
1) The aforementioned 'ego trip' and
2) You have a 'shady business' (you don't need a dog - Karma will get you either way)

I believe these dogs should be registered and the owners screened like you would with a deadly weapon. They are seriously a potentially deadly weapon.
I witnessed a woman walking her 'docile' Rottweiller down a street in Ottawa last summer. My niece was walking her dog (poodle and chow cross - looks like the dog from 'Never Ending Story and extremely laid back as dogs like that can be) and they arrived at the corner (this is a busy city street - both dogs on leashes)

All of a sudden the Rottweiller attacked my niece's dog totally unprovoked. They struggled to pull the Rottweiller away with their leashes...the dog almost killed my niece's dog. The woman was crying that 'her dog had never reacted like that before'...same story you hear on the news from owners when their 'lovable little Pit Bull' rips the face off of a child...

Like I said, it should be against the law to have potentially deadly animals without a special permit.

What brought this up? You guessed it...I'm sick of having big dogs (and even those yappy little bastard dogs) chase me when I'm running or on my bike. It's not funny and, if I could, I would sue the asses off of the owners who have these dogs off leash...

My rant...

Have a great day...I'm going for another run...

He's a Running Machine...

Well well well - it's amazing how fast things can develop. Yesterday at 4:40 pm I ran 10.4 k's already - man... impressive! I plan on doing the same today. As long as my knees hold out...I do worry there sometimes, because I have had problems in the past.
I'm hoping to slowly increase my distance until I can run my 'track' 16 times. That would put me up to 25.85 MILES, which, for all intents and purposes would be like doing a marathon, however there's no hills to contend with.

I'll keep you posted on how I do today...this is kind of a great way to stay accountable to your goals...put it out there for potentially the world to see...

Cheers...

Everything WHY!!!!!

You know - something strikes me everytime I set out to do something that should be a 'cakewalk'. Why is it never a cakewalk? And what the H-E double hockeysticks is a 'cakewalk' anyway? Man this language is stupid sometimes...

I ran 7.8 k's yesterday afternoon in the blaring sun. This old lady yelled at me that I was crazy...so I yelled back,
'Yeah, but I'll out-live you!"

...guess it wasn't the right thing to say especially after my lovely post yesterday, but oh well...

I won't be running today. Being 'young in the running game', I have to watch my knees...

I use a lot of '...' in my writing I notice...guess it means I'm trying to think of where this particular comment is going...

I really have nothing to say, I'm just trying to get into the habit of doing this daily...I never kept a diary as a kid or a 'journal' as an adult. Bear with me - it could get better...

The Grand Opening

So – I’m gonna blog am I? It seems to be the going trend, and as a ‘somewhat trendy’ type of guy, I guess I have to be part of it. Besides, I keep pretty busy (sometimes stupidly so), but my ‘busy-ness’ will be on hold for a few weeks in the near future due to engagements in Europe etc. leaving me time to possibly share some of my thoughts and observations.

I leave for Poland on September 4th to play with Cease and Desist and continue on to Sweden and Denmark etc. when the Randy Bachman Band comes over on September 26th to tour. After that I go on to Toronto and play Air Canada Centre with Cease and Desist. We are playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs for a few nights (private parties and, I believe a game or two plus VIP tix for Paul McCartney on October 10th!!!) so I won’t return to Vancouver proper until October 12th. I guess my cat will die. The poor thing’s sacrificing her life so you can get some blogs. (God speed, Josie)

Some people may read these I would imagine, but for the most part, it will be an attempt by my ego to think that what I have to say is relatively important…ill fated, no doubt. Maybe some people will read the blogs hoping for an ‘inside scoop’ on thoughts and observations of some my contemporaries. Will they succeed in their quest for ‘inside knowledge’? Possibly - if I’m in a bitchy enough mood… I’ve been known to ‘spew’.

Some of these will be short – others will go on and on like some barbaric Sunday sermon because I’ll be caught on a plane with no one near me - like now. (Heh heh – don’t you love the luck of the draw…I’m not in first class this flight BUT I have all three seats – I feel like a land baron – heck I just woke up having stretched out nicely…. ah!!!!)

So as I start this I’m flying over Ontario and Manitoba on my way back from a couple of dates in Ontario playing with Randy and the band. The weather held fast for us on both nights (it was trying to rain on the outdoor shows we did in Port Elgin and Gananoque (my spell checker hates the word Gananoque, so you may see it mentioned a few times during this, just to mess with it’s head)

Both gigs went very well and Gananoque is quite a beautiful place – it was wild having big yachts pull up to watch us play (the stage was set up beside the shore of the 1000 Islands part of Lake Ontario - breathtaking). I also got to hang with my sister-in-law Mary Jane, which was pretty cool. I never get to see that side of the family.

One of the great things about playing with Randy Bachman is the dates I do across Canada and the USA. My family is so stretched out as of late; I’m probably one of the few family members who get to see the rest of the family on a fairly regular basis. It was to the point where it seemed funerals were the only things bringing us together, which really sucks. BUT travel is expensive. When it’s a necessary part of your ‘busy-ness’, it can be a real blessing, and in this case, it most certainly is. I adore my family – I’m a very, very lucky guy.

(Ahem) Gananoque

Port Elgin was a pleasant surprise. I ran for 52 minutes there by the way, which would be about 8 k (about 5 miles) at my snail’s pace, but, hey it’s something) It’s a beautiful little Lake Huron town, with extremely friendly people and some of the coolest, funkiest homes I’ve seen in a long time. I do miss that about Ontario. The old brick ‘last forever’ type buildings. It seems like BC (Vancouver in particular) wants to rebuild everything before it gets to the ‘cool’ point. Probably a good metaphor for the way our elderly get treated too.

(Ahem) Gananoque

I’ve had the opportunity to play for the Squamish nation a number of times. The Squamish Indian band is based mostly in North Vancouver, and my band ‘Cease and Desist’ has played their events a number of times. The way they treat their ‘elders’ is one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever experienced. It was actually humbling, because I felt myself getting swept up in the respect shown to these people, to the point of actually making a point to try and meet and greet them. I was caught up in the ‘minor celebrity’ treatment given them. It kind of made me think a bit. What if elderly people were treated like celebrities? What an amazing thing. Our celebrities are coddled to the point of ridiculousness - it would be nice to see some of that praise for people that really deserve it.

Colin Wiebe (Randy Bachman Band) and I have a friendly little competition going that he coined, ‘Svelte By Sveden’ (The band is playing Sweden starting September 26th) inspired in no small part by the fact that Colin’s sister just qualified for the Boston Marathon and is looking very good mostly due to her running/exercise commitments. She’s ‘challenged us’, and Colin being the ‘pro-active’ guy he is, designed a chart for all of his eating, exercise, moods…man it’s all there!
He sent me one of his charts at my request.
Will I use it?
I had a ‘Turtles Flavoured’ cheesecake for dessert in Port Elgin.
You figure it out.

(You guessed it…) Gananoque

I just edited about an hour’s worth of writing out of this because my political and religious opinions started to rear their ugly heads. I’ve saved you a lot of grief…(well some of you anyway *wink wink nudge nudge*) – you can all thank me later.

Gananoque - Gananoque - Gananoque


*Footnote*
Congratulations to my son Carman for his new birthday. You’re doing it boy, and I’m so proud of you.

Love, Dad