Brock Skywalker

2008 vs. 2009 Totals · 31 December 09

I track my workouts at www.workoutlog.com and these are my yearly totals for 2008 and 2009. I am posting my totals here partially so I have one place I can refer to, but also ‘cause I like to show off… hee hee.

For the most part my totals went down due to spending 17+ weeks in a huge cast, splint, brace or just plain healing my messed up wrist. I am happy to see that my cycling distance went way up – I plan to keep it that way for 2010. I also plan to get my swimming up to 2008 levels again this year.

2009 Races:
St. Patricks Day 10k Run – Mar 15
BMO Vancouver Half Marathon – May 3
Dash’n for Compassion Half Marathon – May 9
San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon – May 31
Edm Canada Day 15k Road Race – July 1
St.Albert Starrt Triathlon (sprint) – July 26
Edmonton Intact Marathon – Aug 16
Younglife Ironbike (Jasper to Lake Louise) – Sept 12
Royal Victoria Marathon – Oct 11

2010 Races:
Maui Oceanfront Marathon – Jan 24th
Edmonton Hypothermic Half Marathon – Feb 28th
San Diego Rock & Roll Half Marathon – June 6th
Seattle Rock & Roll Marathon – June 26th
New York ING Marathon – Nov 7th

I am certain there will be more races added as the year goes on. I hope to do one Olympic Distance Tri this year… depending on how the wrist heals. Here’s to good healing!

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I Ran Royally · 12 October 09

Not too bad really, considering I had been on vacation for 3 weeks before the race, eating and drinking to my Spanish and Moroccan contentment. Not a personal best (still held by RVM 08 at 4:13:10)… but not bad.

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8.2 million reason to be proud · 10 June 09

I am sorry this is late in coming, I have no excuse other than my life being busy… but life should never be too busy to share good news with the people who will read the stuff I write.

As you may already know (or remember), on May 31st I ran in the San Diego Marathon as part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma’s “Team in Training” and, thanks to many of you, I was able to contribute $7335.07 to the funds raised to help find a cure for blood cancer. There were ~2200 of us running in the race from “Team in Training” and together we raised over $8.2 million dollars (net) that goes directly to research and patient care. Woohoo!

The race itself was amazing too. I had a little trouble with some cramping behind my knees and ended up not making my goal finishing time but due to the slow down I was able to relax, take it easy and really enjoy the race. There were bands playing at every mile, cheerleaders from local schools doing personalized cheers, themed water stations (my favourite being the “Back to the 80’s” one where they actually had a DeLorean) and tons of kids that wanted high-fives! It was great I tell you! GREAT!

So, once again I want to thank all of you who donated – $8.2 million is an amazing amount, and that is just for the one race. If we keep this up, how can they not find a cure?!?

PS. I am planning on doing this all again in the new year… so if you missed out this time, there is always next time!

>> More info about Team in Training

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Dash'n for Compassion '09 · 10 May 09

All I ever seem to blog about these days are races… it must be spring!

I ran the Dash’n for Compassion race last year (in 1:55:36) and had an absolute blast (and consumed my body weight in brunch afterwards). This year it was a too soon after the Vancouver Marathon and too close before the San Diego Marathon to race it seriously but I wanted to support the cause, get the shirt and eat the brunch so I signed up anyway.

It was the San Diego portion of the Team in Training ‘s “peak training day” so a lot of us planned to do the race together and treat it as we would any Saturday run (we even headed out for a nice 5km run before the race started). I planned to do the official 21.1km in 2:20 and I ended up doing in it 2:19:38 (I should be a freakin’ pace bunny!).

The race was fun, hilly and quite challenging. The brunch was big, bacony and delicious. The shirt is classy, comfortable and really good quality. What more could we ask for? It was a hoot of a morning and I am sure I will be back next year! WOO!

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Vanathon (Maracouver?) · 5 May 09

So, aside from some problems on a hill in Stanley Park (damn you Prospect Point) I had a lovely 21.1km run on Sunday (May 3rd – Vancouver Half-Marathon).

My time was 1:54:05 (a pace of 5:25/km) which I think is not too bad. Beat my time from last July in Calgary (Alberta Jeep Dealer’s Half-Marathon – 1:55:02) by a minute and my time from last May in Edmonton (Dashin’ for Compassion – 1:55:36) by a minute and a half. Not bad. Was hoping for better but… damn you Prospect Point!

Everyone from Team in Training did awsomely well during the race. James Kercher kicked my butt at 1:49:51. Best of all, the 200 runners from Team in Training that participated at the marathon, raised nearly $1 Million for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! WOO!

Here is the only photo I have of the race. Thanks to my cousin Craig for snapping it with his Blackberry as I approached the chute.

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67 / 329 · 16 March 09

Perfectly adequate. Especially considering the snow, the ice, the number of people jammed on those narrow trails and, of course, my fractured left wrist.

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My totals for 2008 · 31 December 08

I track my workouts at www.workoutlog.com and these are my totals for the year 2008. I am posting my totals here partially so I have one place I can refer to, but also ‘cause I like to show off… hee hee.

I didn’t manage to reach my (late) goal of running 2008 km in the year 2008, BUT if you add up all my mileage I did 2264.88 km. WOO!

Next year: 2009 running kilometres! Starting tomorrow… or the next day.

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Personal Bests · 14 October 08

WOO! I set another personal best! I did the RVM in 4:13:10. That is 22 minutes shorter than I did the sun-baked Quebec Marathon back in August! WOO! If I keep improving at this rate I will be qualifying for Boston in 4 years… and will be in a higher age group by then too… sigh…

Let me recap (as much for my benefit of keeping track as for the benefit of showing off):

• Oct 7 – Royal Victoria Marathon ’07 – 4:50:51
• May 10 – Dash’n for Compassion Half Marathon – 1:55:36
• July 5 – Alberta Jeep Dealers Half Marathon – 1:55:02
• Aug 24 – Marathon des Deux Rives – 4:35:53
• Sept 1 – St.Albert Starrt Triathlon (sprint) – 1:42:08
• Oct 12 – Royal Victoria Marathon ’08 – 4:13:10

Now it is time to concentrate on hockey, swimming and building some upper body strength. I also need to give my Achilles Tendinitis time to heal before I begin some late winter training for the Vancouver Marathon that I missed last year due to some frozen ears and frost bitten belly.

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2 days, 16 hrs, 15 min until... · 9 October 08

The Royal Victoria Marathon. Here I go again! WOO!

I am flying standby tonight to Vancouver and then driving over to Victoria with my cousin bright and early on Saturday to grab all the free stuff I can at the Race Expo. Then I will try to get a good night’s sleep before getting up Sunday morning to run 42.2km in what I hope will be less than I ran it in August at the Québec City Marathon (4:35:53).

Wish me luck, good pace, good weather… and lots of extra complex carbs!

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St.Albert Starrt Triathlon (sprint) · 5 September 08

8 days after the Quebec City Marathon I participated in the St.Albert Starrt Triathlon. “Sprint” is the fancy way of saying it was a half triathlon. 750 metres of swimming, 20 km of cycling and 5 km of running. Sounds like fun right? Well, YES it certainly was!

I took 1:42:08 to do all that (including the transitions). My goal was to finish in under 2 hours so I really exceeded my expectations! WOO! Plus, when I crossed the finish line, my first words to Ellie (after “I need some water” (I dropped my Gatorade about halfway through the cycling portion)) were “That was awesome!”.

I can’t wait to do it again and there has even been some chatter about me and my cousin training for the 2010 Ironman in Penticton. Now that would be something! We’ll see…

Anywho, it was a great time and I thank Dave and Bill for getting me on board. Dave bailed on the race itself but Bill kicked my ass with a time of 1:24:59. Next year Bill… next year!

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