Toronto pedestrian deaths

The first three pedestrians killed were shocking enough. But 14? In three weeks? Toronto streets are getting mean.
While there is no easy answer to why these deaths have occurred in such quick succession, my feeling is that if we are being mindful at all these days, it's only in yoga class. Even there, we are being mindful only of ourselves.
Our mindfulness needs to extend beyond our own chakras. We are all drivers, we are all walkers - we are all traffic. Maybe, no matter what the signs say, we just simply need to watch out for each other.

Beside the Bow River

According to Google maps, it is a 3212 kilometre, 25 day, 23 hour walk from my house to that of my brother, a proud Mountie, who is now stationed in Calgary, Alberta.

Twenty-five days and 23 hours to walk from Toronto to Calgary is an astonishing recommendation.

I have used Google maps when I am visiting a city to determine how long it will take me to get from the hotel to, say, a coffee shop or an art gallery. It is usually accurate within 10 minutes. Of course, for this purpose, I need neither pee breaks nor fuelling and hydration stops.

When I plunk in my address and that of my brother's, I assume Google is just relaying how many hours it would take to walk that distance without any breaks. Still, I am left with untold questions. Will I be walking on highways? Will I be walking on gravel shoulders? Is there any way to determine where I can get food? Where I can sleep? Most importantly, is this an accurate time prediction? Can a Google program that accurately predicts a 10 minute city-walk really estimate a cross country trek?

I feel a project coming on!

In any case, on Saturday, Air Canada helped me avoid the high risk of blistering and frostbite that such a walk surely would entail in winter. I flew to Calgary where I walked a mere 22 kilometres of the Bow River Trail (and visited aforementioned brother) in just under 3 hours - including a pee break under a bridge, a short detour near the Calgary Zoo to avoid ice, and a walk up the stairs beside Prince's Island Park to catch a glimpse of distant Rocky Mountains on the horizon.

I liked my walk. You can understand from the photos above - the first taken at the beginning as I headed east along the south side of the Bow River toward downtown and the second taken at the end after I had walked along the south trail out past Inglewood and returned back via the north trail, crossing again to the south side over one of many pedestrian-friendly bridges.

I haven't ruled out the long, scenic route to Calgary but for now this taste of Canada's Stampede town was magical.

It's all in the group

Nine days into January and the walking is superb. Cold but superb. Today tested our Canadian character with temperatures at our 7am class starting at -25 Celsius (-13 Fahrenheit). Predictably, with these cold temperatures comes SUN. Sun is good.

Class was filled with dedicated walkers who never complain about such a small inconvenience as having to wear 10 layers topped by Vaseline! These are veteran walkers who know that to walk a good event in February, March, or April cold weather training must happen. And it is true that misery loves company - oops - or should I say everything is better with friends.

Equally enthusiastic this morning was the group of Level 1 participants which met for the first class this morning at 10am. Those who arrived ready to walk may not fully understand the meaning of layering yet, and someone did mention that they thought they had signed up for a power talking class, but we had an impressive turnout for the first of winter.

Yes, the talking does help the walking. While we coaches often have to be the talk cops by reinforcing the "no talking" rule during interval training, there is a camaraderie of the group walking class that simply can not compare to solo training walks.

For more interesting info on why group exercise works check out Alex Hutchinson's excellent posting on www.sweatscience.com where you can find his Globe and Mail column from January 7 on the benefits of group exercise.

Because we always think of group exercise being indoors, here's a good place to share your insights on walking outdoors with a group.

New Year's Walk

Did you get out walking to see the Blue Moon last night? It was there - the faintest reverse shadow shining through hazy clouds. Now, I admit I was walking only from the restaurant to the car when I caught a glimpse but what a way to say goodbye to 2009.

This morning, walking along the lake with my IBBH (Infinitely Better Better Half - a much better description than "partner", don't you think?) was a different but entirely perfect welcome to 2010.

A blustery wind from the north was sideswiping snowflakes at our faces. Like a good slap that wakes you out of a faint, it brought us out of the semi-coma of holiday overindulgence.

Research undoubtedly supports my view that a brisk one hour walk in fresh air can undo a lot of damage caused by consumption of copious amounts of cheese and crackers, mashed potato and turkey stuffing, chocolate bark and chocolate truffles, Bordeaux and Merlot, shortbread and almond snowballs. To name a few of my favourite holiday things.

Since it is a holiday I am not going to seek out the academic citation that supports this belief although I'm standing by it from personal experience and the anecdotal evidence of the many cheery "Happy New Year's" greetings of other walkers out on the lakeside path this morning. I don't know if they had all overindulged in like manner but there was no question we were all much better for being outside.

What a week for WoW Power Walkers

The Olympic torch and the Boston Marathon had a way of making our hearts swell this past week.

WoW Power Walker Jeff Guthrie brought his Olympic torch to our annual Winter Solstice Coffee and Muffin walk. Here we are snuggling close to feel a little Olympic love.

Jeff ran (gasp!) 300m of the torch in Kingston last Tuesday even though we suspect he was chosen for this honour as word has spread of his great walking feats.

All torch bearers wear the official white workout suit you see above, including the white beanie and red mittens. Dropped off at his designated exchange location, he was told to stand with the torch in his right hand crossed over toward his left shoulder. A small Canadian flag on the torch would then be located over his heart. O Canada!

After completing his 300m portion of the route, the torch was immediately dismantled so that it can never be used again. He gets to keep it - just keep it flameless.

Jeff says he really has no words to describe the emotions of being part of the Olympic dream. I understand. Watching the torch being passed from Olympian Adam VanKoeverden to Olympian John Woods last Saturday, I found my heart growing large. No matter how cynical we get about drug doping, politics, and overspending in difficult times - there should always be a place and a time in our lives to aspire to excellence. At its core that is the essence of the Olympics.

Jeff is no stranger to working hard at his own athletic pursuits of personal excellence. Never considering himself an athlete prior to power walking, he has worked consistently every year since his first marathon in Niagara Falls in 2002 to improve his form and his speed. Last year he walked a 50k ultramarathon in Niagara - winning the walking division in the blink-of-an-eye-time of 5:51:49.

Speaking of excellence - what about Boston? Walking the Boston Marathon is usually thought to be impossible for walkers since the qualification times are virtually impossible to achieve when walking - even for the fastest walkers.

Defying all odds in their quest for marathon walking excellence, WoW coach Jill and her husband Jay - both of whom started their walking journey with us in 2005, training for the Honolulu Marthon - have been given two coveted walking spots in the 2010 Boston Marathon!! Jill, who won the walking division of the Ottawa Marathon last year and who has finished a couple of marathons under 5 hours and her husband Jay (who is closing the gap to five hours) will be heading down to the famed race in April. Just like Jeff with the Olympic torch, we're at a loss for words. You've done us all proud Jill and Jay!

Please post any words of excitement for all of this walking excellence!

Rockin Las Vegas Marathon

We missed Cher!!!

I know it's churlish to complain about the one thing I missed on Sunday....but really...when one has been awake since 4am, eaten breakfast at 4:45, and been ready and waiting in the start area since 5:40 only to discover that Cher has come and gone - singing the national anthem while the speakers were malfunctioning - is just so very disappointing.

Surrounded by a thousand imitation Elvi, we had one of the real queens of Vegas singing for us, and we didn't catch even a glimpse of her on the mother of all jumbo screens outside of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. A search of the Internet proved fruitless - not one photo of her at the start platform - although I did learn that Celine Dion sang America the Beautiful before Cher took the stage!

I'm not sure I believe any of it happened. In a city of copycat Eiffel Towers, pyramids, and Italian cities and palazzos, not to mention thousands of copycat Elvi, there really is no real here.

Mind you, all the fakery does add up to some effective distraction. If a person suffers from any sort of attention disorder, Vegas is the half marathon to enter.

I have included some of the pics here and more on facebook.

P.S. I walked only the half marathon with Team Prevention so can't speak to the full marathon route but my first instinct is that the half marathon offers the best of Vegas - covering the Strip from beginning to end.

I know there were several WoW Power Walkers out on the course and it would be great if you would post some of your thoughts on the race.

Vegas does it zany

I love, love, love the wonderful and zany marathons I have walked over the past decade as a power walking coach - wine in Bordeaux (!), gladiators in Rome (!), pigs in Cincinnati (!). I fully expected Vegas to take zaniness to heretofore uncharted territory. Thankfully, it has exceedeed my expectations and I haven't yet made it to the start line. When the entrance to the Rodeo Cowboy Show is barely two walking lunges from the race expo, I figure we're in for some fun. The indoor plaza/casino/food concourse is feeding tens of thousands of people (and I'm not exaggerating the numbers) into one of these two doors - one for cowboys and one for marathoners. I have seen some marathoners enter the cowboy show but I have yet to witness one cowboy brave the marathon expo.

Personally, I'd like to see more cowboys take up marathoning. I think they could teach us a thing about good hats.

More on the marahon itself after the race tomorrow!