mental toughness must be greater than physical discomfort

Canadians Runnin the World

edit: fixed barcelona link

Why not get this blog rollin again?

So I was bored at work and there are a bunch of Canadians running abroad today so I put this little thang together.

Who	What	Where	When	LIVE!
Canadian Jr National Team	Pan Am Jrs	Miranmar, FL	All Day	http://bit.ly/pe6LEl
Link for times of athletes competing: http://bit.ly/qPLMIC
** Mens 1500m skipped the heats for a straight final Saturday (Proudfoot)
Dylan Armstrong	Shotput	Monaco Diamond League	1:50 EST	http://bit.ly/pd8alN
Kyle Boorsma	1500m	Barcelona	2:22 EST	http://bit.ly/jPkUB8
Rachel Aubry	800m	Barcelona	2:50 EST	http://bit.ly/jPkUB8
Alex Genest	3000m SC	Barcelona	3:15 EST	http://bit.ly/jPkUB8
Matt Hughes	3000m SC	Monaco Diamond League	3:48 EST	http://bit.ly/pd8alN
Hilary Stellingwerff and Malindi Elmore	1500m Pacers	Barcelona	4:05 EST	http://bit.ly/jPkUB8
Taylor Milne	1500m	Barcelona	4:35 EST	http://bit.ly/jPkUB8

i would open up the live streams a few mins before each race to make sure you dont miss it because of meets running ahead/behind.

#rollriverroll

8:24.87

Matt Hughes, you are a BAMF.



Letsrun user 'The Stache' sums up his performance in the most perfect way;

"That is a manly win with a manly time from a man with a manly stache and a NASTY mullet. Like Sampson and his magic locks, Matt Hughes' dirty porn stache and nasty ass redneck mullet gave him the power to stomp those little boys he was running against."

Amen brother.

Now if the live feed didn't only show the last 800m, I would be a little happier; I want to watch that race, many times.

ofsaa 2011

Stopping at a native smoke shop on the side of highway 69 and picking up bbq corn nuts and seasoned spitz halfway into our journey halfway up the province of ontario put into perspective ofsaa track 2011; cottage country edition. Time for competition for the class of 92' ended in london one year prior, the time for hanging out at the track, watching some races and shooting the shit with the province's best up-and-coming athletes was what we had in store. It was a little weird; nervousness, anticipation and mild sickness, feelings that were once as intertwined in the ofsaa experience as was lining up at the obnoxious nike tent, were absent from the ride up to sudbury, replaced with a feeling of frustration at the lack of decent radio stations in a 100 km radius of parry sound. Nonetheless, me and Proudfoot were excited to see firsthand which race would be the race referenced in threads on TnF for years to come.

Things have really changed since I first caught glimpse of bright blue track at ofsaa 2007 in ottawa. Sully once said that the next best thing to an olympic medal was an ofsaa medal, and although (i'm pretty sure) he was joking, it's starting to seem like the ofsaa organizing committee took his words as motivation. For instance, I watched my sister run her steeple heat. We were still on the 400. I tethered wifi from my phone to my macbook and watched a high school track meet. This boggles my mind (and scares me to look at my phone's data usage for june). OU's didn't have a live feed. CIS didn't have a live feed. Canadian Senior Nationals didn't have a live feed! ofsaa did. This fact alone demonstrates the prestige that ofsaa is held in the eyes of athletes and organizers alike, and the direction that it is headed in the years to come. In making ofsaa more accessible to people through runnerspace and social media (my sister got a retweet from @ofsaa), the meet is setting itself up to reach more people. I think it's a great thing for the sport. More people aware of track and field makes more people interested in track and field. The more professional the meet gets in its illustrious check-in procedures and strict athlete control centres the more exposure young athletes get into how meets at the national and international level are run; a definite possibility for many of the kids i witnessed run/jump/throw this weekend.

And run/jump/throw they did.

Of the many, varied types of events that occurred over the weekend, some highlights would definitely include:

• A midget boy from my old high school winning the triple jump on his last jump in what what one of the most precise displays of the slow clap i have ever seen a track audience execute
• King "winning" the 1500m, but only getting bronze. (4th race of the weekend and still managed make his way from right at the back of the pack to a medal position over the last 300m, kick of the week for sure and the real winner of the race in our eyes)
• Junior boys/girls sprinting records being smashed on an hourly basis
• Hearing the story of a dine-and-dash executed by an entire team on Wednesday night
• A ridiculous fartlyk session with Proudfoot on what was supposedly the nossa cross country course between the steeple and 15 finals on friday... there was at least a 50% gradient on "the wall" as well as at least a 50% chance of having our ankles turned during the workout
• The same midget boy from my alma matter trying to pick up our waitress at the Keg
• Learning and subsequently failing at one of the greatest (and only) things to come out of Sudbury, SlapCup
• Mcbride and King ensuring the victory lappers didn't get their victory laps
• The sheer girth of the lineup at the only food stand on Saturday afternoon

And many more that I am probably missing but will soon become apparent in the months of analysis on our favourite message board.

That is if they haven't already started the 2012 predictions yet.

That's it for now, off to go die in the heat.

Best day ever?

I feel compelled to share this video with as many people as possible.

Behold. Footage from the rarely contested 600m indoor steeplechase.
Run on the inside of a velodrome. With a built-in waterpit.
Commentated by outrageous british announcers. From the late 70s.
And some awesome beards.

It seems almost too good to be true, an event from the Silly Olympiad maybe, but no, it's real.

In lieu of the 2000m National Records being broken this past weekend, I feel compelled to make an attempt at the national record of another, some may say more prestigious, off-distance track event. I wonder if Moults can dig that one up.

Take a deep breathe, watch.



-chris

Mr.Rogers needs a talking to...

So it's 2:51am on Sunday morning and me and Proudfoot just got back from Windsor. Safe to say we're both pretty pumped about our races. More on that later. For now, entertain yourselves with a little video we put together as the interlude into the new season of Rollin with the River, premiering this week. I wanted to put this up earlier today, but our internet displayed abysmal upload speeds. Gonna get that taken care of tomorrow. A strongly worded letter should do the trick.

Trails - 1, Chris - 0

an addiction is an addiction...

I remember watching Winnie the Pooh as a kid and thinking that the Hundred Acre Wood was a really scary place. There was that one episode where Rabbit is having his birthday party and Pooh and Piglet get lost in the Scary Woods, a section of the Hundred Acre Wood where Piglet says that the Heffalumps and Woozles live and they have to sing a song to help them not get scared. Real shit.

Preservation Park in Guelph is very much like the Hundred Acre Wood.

They both have scared me deeply in my life.

So last week I was excited to run some miles on some different surfaces in Guelph. When looking for a place to live in the city some five months ago, I remember driving by what looked like the trailhead of some badass trails. Going home and Google Earthing the neighborhood, I found what looked like a large wooded area that connected to the trailhead I found, only 200m from the house we were about to sign for.

I was pumped.

I love that feeling of running in a new area and just going out and being able to explore. Trails are really a luxury; having run most of my off-days on the streets of Sauga in highschool, I was excited to have the sweet Guelph trail network at my disposal when coming to school here. Going out without a defined route but a number of minutes to fill up was always one of my favorite things about running when travelling, and to be able to do it right by the house I’d be living in for the next few years of my life got me excited.

So last week I trekked out to Preservation Park to run.

It kicked my ass.

I don’t want to say that the place wasn’t awesome. Because it was. Some of the softest and coolest trails that I’ve seen thus far in the city. Awesome wooden platforms that pushed the path through amazing scenery.  A great atmosphere that really made you feel secluded from the suburbs that surrounded it, perfect for the relaxed off-day run. Except I got so lost it wasn’t funny.

I tried following the trail markers and somehow ended up trying to get my boy scout’s orienteering badge. It was not fun. Logs across streams, muddy patches that stretched for K’s, bumblebees that scared the shit out of me… an uncomfortable affair to say the least. Worst of all, I didn’t know how to get out… and I lost how I got in. Ankles were really close to being turned, gashes were even closer to being produced and mental toughness was almost shot. Eventually I mountaineered my way out of the park and got back onto the good stuff, and the run continued, but yeah… it was really scary for a bit there.

Moral of the story; don’t follow the red spray-paint.

well said watson

- chris

Home Improvement?

Currently, I'm writing this blog as an asian couple accompanied with an older british man walk through our new house here in Guelph looking to purchase it.

great show, creepy neighbour still kinda scares me

Yeah... so we just moved in on May 1st and it turns out our landlord is seeking to sell the place. Although we are guaranteed the house for the length of our lease, it isn't exactly an ideal situation. It might turn out that an investor buys it and we're good to go with a new landlord for the next few years. It might turn out that the asian couple buys it and we're off to the cannon again in January. Regardless, one thing that's certain is the fact that the next couple of days will produce their fair share of awkward moments. And I'm excited for them to take place.

Oops, sorry, I didn't hear you come in, would you like me to put pants on?

etc...

Should be fun.

Beyond the household shenanigans that are bound to take place, a lot has been happening in Guelph that's worth mentioning.

As mentioned above, we moved in to our new house! And it's sweet! We have a fireplace... and a french door! We fancy huh? Yes, 163 Ironwood is shaping up to provide the setting for what can only be an epic second year. Our location is clutch, right on the 52 bus line and minutes away from Stone Rd Mall and other essential undergraduate services. Across the street from a public school that apparently houses an outdoor ice rink in the winter and down the road from the trailhead of what will provide some sweet untapped off-day adventures. Our build quality rivals any student house you could put it up against in the city. Built in 1984 and at 1085 square feet, the house is straight gangsta with a quality deck (with wooden awning) and barbecue that would make Rob Rainford jealous. Yeah, and the kids in the house are known to have fun too.

Outdoor track is finally upon us and if early season efforts are any indication, this year is going to be a memorial one. Last weekend saw action from Speed River in Hillsdale, Michigan at the Gina Relays, in Alto Palo, California at the Payton Jordan Invite and in Toronto at the Sporting Life 10k. All across North America Speed River made a statement that we're ready to compete with the best and that it's not just something in the water in Guelph that makes us run. Big shout out to papa Genest who threw down a great steeple at Stanford, running just shy of the World Champs B standard in 8:33.85, his fastest time on the track in almost 2 years. Watch the video below, you'll see for yourself that he's going to be doing big things this year.



I too ran a steeplechase this past weekend. 9:36 and change. It was not exactly what I wanted it to be but I did get a feel for the track again and the pace that I'm hoping to maintain for the entire race... not just the first 2k of it. The steeple is a tough race. I was reminded of that fact in what is truly the only way that you can be reminded of it, by running one. All in all, it was a stronger debut on the track than last year so I can see the positive from that, but there is still much work to do in order for me to visit Disneyland this coming July. However, with the success that my fellow steeplers, along with the other, inferior-event track people are having, I'm excited to put the work in.

So yeah, there's a lot going on here, and I'm excited to spend my summer immersed in it. Clerke has headed back to la belle province de la Colombie Britannique, Proudfoot is chilling with the likes of Bernard Lagat and Nick Willis in Flagstaff, Arizona and Geiser is living the life in Mississauga writing up a storm on his blog (check it out if you haven't) and preparing for his comeback, reportedly throwing down a 27' 200 yesterday at the track. Yeah, I was there, believe. (edit: it was a 26' after all; read about his outlook on running on his new post here. I'm rooting for ya man!)

So ya, expect more from the blog in the coming weeks as the summer brings with it more time and more excitement to write about.

Doha Diamond League just ended, sweet 3k over there.

10000 m Ontario Champs on Sunday, should have some studs throw down.

Speedy Manure this weekend, get ready for the shit show.


Excited for it all. Well maybe not that last one.

- Chris

Resuscitation

I'd say it's about time to clear the spider webs and start throwing some blogs up here... well atleast for the next two weeks well I'm bored as shit in Flagstaff Arizona. I have nothing against the place, It's actually pretty cool, but when your at altitude and only running 60-80 minutes a day with not too much else to do one tends to get restless. Restless enough to say, start up an old blog that's been dead for around two months. So far I've been up here three days, running some of the coolest trails I've came across in my 19 years on this planet. I've already come across a jackrabbit, groundhog, two squirrel-rabbity things, and a horny toad (which I almost stepped on), all without running close to a fraction of the little dirt trails right out the door. Anyways the reason I'm up here is for a National Center training camp so pretty soon I'll have to hit the track and actually do some workouts, but for now I'm pretty content with my little senic runs. The other guys here are all pretty big studs so it won't be all that terrible when I hit the track on Saturday with them. Thats really all there is to update the last two months, some exams and then Flagstaff with a crummy race thrown in there that doesn't need to be talked about.

Hopefully the other dudes will start bloggin aswell, seeing as they are much better writers and school is finally out.

Later.
- Ross

#winning

What's up what's up yall! Running Down a Dream here and we've got some great updates on the happenings of your favourite Guelph rookies to let you in on. With just over a month left as rookies at UoG it feels like time is flying by these days with school and running and girls and #winning occupying all of our time. Yeah, thats right, we've been #winning a lot lately.

Allow me to elaborate...

#winning

We want to thank everyone who helped out in liking our video on youtube, because WE WON! $500 is a sweet prize and we are definitely going to be spending it with the intention of increasing the party potential of our new house. Sound system, Tv, shamwows, enough said. Our house will be bomb.

Also, in keeping with our promise, anyone who liked our video on youtube is free to party with us next year/crash at our house for a few nights provided you have a signed screenshot of your 'like' on youtube. No exceptions. Yes, even you DST.

google images never fail; #winning

10000 is a lot. It's number of connections each neurone has to other neurones in the brain. It's the age of Charlie Sheen's brain according to him. It's the record Bekele holds in 26:17.53. It's the number of views RDAD has received since its launch on Nov. 23, 2010.

Holy crap guys. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what we're talking about, all the way down. That number, yeah, that's views. Yeah it's sweet. We all started this blog with the intentions of just throwing up some stupid stuff for our friends to see, with a little bit of running stuff inbetween, but we didn't think it would be so well received. I've got to admit, we were in it for the money at one point (see: "Click On The Ads" chant at XC Nat's Afterparty) but now that we're just writing for fun again, its cool to see people coming back to read what we're up to. We'll keep it going if people keep reading.

jealousy does not begin to describe it. proudfoot is #winning

In other news, Ross is in Spain. Prolly bro'ing out on the beach. Throwing disc and stuff. Breaking hearts of Spanish girls, the usual. He's also running World XC's, hoping to keep his stellar season going in what Bairu calls the Super Bowl of distance running. Good luck boys and girls, shout outs to Genest, D. Snides, Carise and Emily who also are gearing up to take on the world.

Closer to home, the hunger for speed and the taste of rubber brought us to St. James this week for some solid 400s to bookend our tempo sesh. Ripping it us (except not) on the track has really gotten us excited here for the outdoor season which is coming up fast. It's almost April, which is almost May which is almost June. Pan Am Jr's anyone? I really want to see that new Harry Potter Theme Park in Florida. Big motivator.

Other than that, we're just trying to get through school and avoid thinking of finals for at least another 3 weeks. At least that means we'll all be on likealittle again.

- chris

Guelph Summer Semester Video Contest

Hey everyone, so we here at Running Down a Dream are in a little contest at the University of Guelph and we need your help to help us win. Our video on Youtube needs the most 'likes' in order to win $500 which we will use to help us buy a TV and sound system for the Rookie boys' house next year!

Why does this concern you?

A) If you like our video, you are welcome to crash at our house whenever you're in town.

B) If you like our video, you will help to make parties at our house incredible, which you are all invited to.

C) If you like our video, you are promoting the arts in our increasingly arts deprived society.

So yeah, login with your youtube account(s), or make a (few) youtube account(s), and LIKE our video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQm3sJBKw_k

Thanks!

Edit: Video embedded below!

First the Americas, Now the World

Well done boys.

I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords

Greetings readers, we here at RDaD sincerely apologize for our lack of blogging over he past few weeks as we have all been occupied with consuming the souls/hearts of women midterms. Many midterms. But we are back, and are ready to pleasure you in ways that only three good looking, intelligent, athletic men can.

The interwebs have been blowing up this week with stories about the Robot Revolution that is soon to take over our gentle human species. First, it was the story of a supercomputer built by IBM that took to (in RDaD's opinion... well Chris' opinion) the greatest show on earth, Jeopardy!, and completely crushed its competition in a two day grudge match. The computer, named Watson (not to be confused with that other Watson that mercilessly destroys his competition), defeated Jeopardy! legends Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter and established its place as the leader of the impending Robot Resistance.

Seriously, the most exciting television you could have seen this week... right? Anyone?

However, it was not until news broke about the world's first robot marathon taking place in Japan on February 24th that we here at RDaD really began to fear for the future of our species.

"The Robot Marathon will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Feb. 24. Robots must cover 422 laps of a 100 m loop course inside the Trade Center within a time limit of four days and, apart from time off for battery changes and on-the-fly maintenance, will run nonstop."

They can take our Jeoprady!, they can take our freedom, but our running? Thats where we draw the line.

If anyone should be concerned, we at Running Down a Dream think it should be Rob Watson; they take your namesake then they challenge you in the marathon? We can only hope that the impending Robot uprising has not yet learned the ways of the FFTF, it's our only hope at this point. 

In other, more uplifting news, Athletics Canada has released more information on its Inaugural National Track League. The big news to come from AC is the pot of $300 000 up for grabs this summer to athletes competing in the league, an incentive that should bring about some good competition this summer on home soil. Prizing structure has yet to be announced but with the talk of a Diamond League-style points system in effect it should be interesting to see who will take advantage of densely scheduled league and who will set their sights on a more spread out season (or European season) in vying for a spot on this year's World Championship team. I for one am interested in the money available for the sparsely contested race-walking events as it has come to my attention that they are not that hard.

In the meantime, RDaD's own Ross Proudfoot is off to Trinidad & Tobago for the NACAC Cross County Championships as we speak, and has brought our beautiful HD camcorder along with him to document the journey. We expect big things from this guy and if his performances over the past few weeks are any indication, we could potentially see some hardware being brought back through customs in a few days. We'll be sure to throw up any videos he brings back as well as have the exclusive post-race interview with the ridiculous-looking sunburnt kid in the days to come.

Finally, as usual, heres a pic of Boorsma looking dumb, have a good day!

-Chris with a splash of Connor

A picture can say a thousand words

none of which are good

- Chris

via Trackie.ca

Anything Can Happen On A Snow Day!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have some wonderful news for you! Today everyone here at the University of Guelph awoke to an incredibley rewarding notice on the University's website stating that all classes will be cancelled due to snow... SNOW DAY!

Chris and I hopped out of our beds and jolted to Creelman where we devoured a chocolate drizzled and whip cream covered waffle, with enough sugar to keep us buzzing the entire day...perfect!

We've compiled a list of the top 10 things to do on a SNOW DAY!

10. Build an ice sculpture of Dear Leader Alastair Summerlee

9. Sun tan on Johnston Green

8. Book a treadmill in the AC for next years Snow Day

7. Rock out to "Icy" by Emcee Stevo.

6. Watch the movie "Snow Day"


5. Win over the girl of your dreams

4. Tobogganing on Lambton Hill.

3. Traybogganing on Lambton Hill.

2. Taboozing on Lambton Hill.

1. Trayboozing on Lambton Hill.

For those of you in Guelph, enjoy the snow day.

For those of you not haha.

-Chris & Connnor

Coach said to never Fade From The Front

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, viewers from all corners of the world (the world is actually round and thus, no corners, but I'm sure you get my point)....we are back! (This is when you smile and do a subtle fist pump in your basement where you're most likely reading this.)

(Orange Dino - Ross, Blue Dino - Chris, Green Dino - Connor, Little Girl riding Ross - Kyle Boorsma)

Yes, like Luca Geiser, we've been on down time for quite a while, 48 days to be exact, but we are back and have so many words and results and photos and thoughts ready to burst onto the page.

For those of you familiar with Rob Watson's race at the Cross Country Nationals way back in 2010 here in Guelph, you'll understand what we mean when we say, we have faded from the front with this blog. We were front-end loaded at the beginning, writing posts everyday and putting all our best jokes in to keep the viewers interested. Well, as time passed and we matured....neverming, that never happened; however, time did pass and our blogging faded...from the front.

But, just as the Destroyer learned, we will no longer be doing that. We are going to be equally if not more entertaining and we will continue to do so until....well, until we get bored.
Here's a picture Coach DST's daughters drew for our team a couple weeks ago in a lesson to teach us how NOT to FFTF (Fade From The Front). It shows Rob Watson collapsing at the finish line after his epic FFTF and then him sitting on his computer and blogging about it. Classic shot!

By the way, big shoutout to Speed River athlete Rob Watson who will be tearing up the streets of Houston, Texas in his debut marathon this weekend. Good luck!
ps. For those readers not familiar with Watson or his FFTF technique, here is the infamous blog that inspired the above photos. http://leblogdurob.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-13.html

I'm sure all you lovely readers have been wondering, "Where have my rookie boys been!?" Well, I say to you, we have been around...in many ways, but most importantly we are back with all kinds of good news.

1. Okay, so this is actually bad news, but everyone likes to hear the bad news first, right? One of the reasons (this is going to sound very selfish and arrogant) that our blog FFTF was because those idiots (sorry) at Google decided that the amount of clicks we were receiving on our ads was awfully suspicous and felt that we did not deserve the money we had rightfully earned and thus, they stole..yeah, STOLE our $160.00! Depression turned into anger and we decided that the best way to get back at Google would be to stop blogging... I think it worked....

2. Good news now. The rookie boys have got a house! Yes, Chris, Connor, Ross and Luca have signed a lease for a house next year. Fathers, hide your daughters, (we're across from an elementary school)!
We've got a stellar 3-story, 4-bedroom, 2-bath, huge kitchen/living room, backyard, patio house! Here's a picature.

So, here at the Running Down A Dream headquarters, we promise to continue moving forward with our blog and stay true to our readers. We've missed you!

-Admin