Archives for the month of: September, 2009

Running Day ???:
So I haven’t run in a week. I put myself of injury leave and I’ve tried my best to rest my ankle. After a week(I think even a bit longer) my left ankle is still swollen and still stiff.
Since I stopped running I’ve put on a bit of weight and I feel very sluggish and unmotivated. Wonderful. This is a real shame because I was doing so well. I was running 4km under 25 minutes and doing it with ease. Now I know that coming back I’m going to suffer the same issue’s with my lungs and I’ll be starting fresh.

My other issue right now has to do with running shoes. I cannot afford a pair of 100$ running shoes and from the research I’ve been doing, I don’t know how much good running shoes will do. I’ve had ankle problems for almost my entire life and considering that a metal pin currently holds my left ankle together, I don’t think they’ll be going away anytime soon. So if I spend 100$ on a pair of good running shoes, what happens if they do nothing for me? At the same time, my pair of year old sneakers and lousy insoles must not be doing me too much good.
So what to do? I want to run really badly right now and I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to make it to any stores to find shoes. So Do I spend the evening warming up my ankles and then run tonight or do I tough it out a few more days and only run once I’ve got an OK pair of shoes? Or maybe I’ll suck it up and make a late night trip downtown. 4 hours worth of commuting for 10 minutes in a store doesn’t seem worth it.

Hello!

So it’s been awhile since I’ve posted some snapshots from my daily life. I’ve been out and about lately and I’m trying to capture as much of it as possible, so that being said, here goes:

1 – Coffee cup with a mustache guard from TWIGS Cafe.
2 – New straight razor, Wade & Butcher 6/8.
3 – Me before my failed attempt to shave with what I thought was a sharp razor.
4 – A spider that has been in the same spot in front of my house for two weeks, fighting a competitor.
5 – New handle bars on my bike. This bike is going to turn into my winter project.
6-8 – I’m back in Ile Perrot until November when I can find a place downtown. So until then, I’ve made my room as comfortable as possible.

Finished a photo shoot last week with Davis. I’m very happy with the results and I hope to be able to do a few more shoots in the same vein with a few more people up until the first snowfall.
You can see a few shots here: escapeisathand.com

I figured I should probably announce the fact that I have a new portfolio online. I’m no longer going to be posting pictures under “photography” on this site. You can visit:
ESCAPEISATHAND.COM
I needed something that looked a little more professional than a page inside a poorly written blog. I have a lot of projects coming up and big plans with my photography which I’ve been writing drafts about lately and will post here soon.

Running day 7/8:
I’ve now been running for just over two weeks. And I hit that mark with a bang and left it feeling a little worse for ware. Day 7 was amazing. I ran for 4km in 24 minutes and really did feel good. That hill that kicked my ass the first day of running, well, I ran up with no effort and no ill effects! I also followed a running path which I had not been able to get to a week earlier. Overall, breathing came much easier to me, my bones and muscles ached a lot less and I hated my life a lot less during the experience. I am also now running 6 minutes on with a 1 minute break.
Last night I decided to go for a very quick 2-3km run and it did not end well. I normally wouldn’t run two nights in a row but i’ll be home late enough tonight that I don’t think I’ll be in the mood to run. Everything started out well but near the last leg of my run my ankle cracked and I made the mistake of running through the pain. Now I’m going to be stuck with a painful limp all day. I need to research some pre-run warm-ups.

Another season came and went. This was probably the most unique season I’ve had. It was definitely the season with the most work although I did hate my life a lot less and we all had some really interesting adventures.
This year I tried doing two different things. For one I tried telling a story with my writing. I wanted something funnier and more descriptive, not the “on X we did Y” style of my previous years.
And secondly I wanted to really capture the emotions, people and lifestyle that lends itself to these summers. I took a lot of portraits and tried to have a camera on me(both film cameras) at all times.
I hope you enjoy the results: Click here to see pictures.

Running Day 4: The run last night went well. I had some tough times at first when I had to stop and kneel over in order to catch my breath but it picked up fairly quickly afterwards. I ran further than I have before and I ran faster.
I ran 3.68km, which I believe at least doubles my previous attempts. I ran for 23 minutes, kept up an average pace of 6.28 km/min and burned almost 300 calories doing so.
I know this because I downloaded the “RunKeeper” app for my iPhone and it tracked my movements using my phone’s GPS. Pretty neat, i’m not going to lie.
At one point last night I got to a point pretty close to my house(the 3km point) and turned around and ran for almost another 3/4 of a kilometer!
My goal is to be able to run 5km and hopefully do it in 30 minutes. And I won’t be blogging each run I do but i’ll update often and with updated stats.
All in all i’m very happy because not only am I starting to enjoy running but I look forward to it at almost any given point.

Here is a map of my run last night(click on it for more details):

Running Day 3: Well I took everyone’s advice two nights ago. I took a stopwatch(my iPod) with me and I ran for 5 minutes and walked for 1 minute. I stood straight up while running, I relaxed my arm’s and hand’s and I controlled my breathing. And even though my run lasted only 15 minutes, I felt a world of difference. The first 5 minutes were quite painful but the pain slowly eased and it felt, well, very natural. I’ve actually been very excited to run tonight. It’s all I thought about yesterday. I wanted to run last night but I wanted to let my muscles recover, although I did go for a 13km bike ride.
For tonights run I downloaded a program called “Run Keeper” It’s an application for your iPhone that acts as a pedometer and it tracks your progress. I feel like it’ll be a good motivator. And while my past runs have only lasted 15 minutes at the most, tonight I’m going to try for 25 minutes.

I do feel a lot better these days. I feel stronger and my lungs aren’t giving out as quickly as they used to. I can run up a flight of stairs without wanting to die. It doesn’t help when you’re an asthmatic ex-smoker. And unlike the various other times in my life where I’ve tried making a huge change in my diet and lifestyle, I feel motivated to keep going. I’ve set these little goals for myself such as biking from Ile Perrot to Downtown Montreal and back(80km all together) or being able to run for 30 minutes with little effort. This will be great until the first snowfall and then I can hopefully join a gym or figure out some type of indoor activity to keep me occupied.

It’s going to be a positive year. I’m going to be happy, i’m going back to school, i’m going to stay healthy and i’m going to take a lot of pictures. Yes sir. Positive.

And speaking of pictures, this summer I shot everything in film, both medium format and 35mm. Here is a sneak peak at the results:
flat tire yukon

So thanks to tree planting and herbicide spray this summer, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in. I must have lost at least 30 pounds this summer(although the terrible cooking from our terrible camp cook didn’t help) I’m not trying to talk myself up but this is all to say, I feel really good and I don’t want to let this go to waste like I do every year. So there are a few things I’m trying to stick with this year.
I love food, I love eating food and I love eating food that is bad for me. This is the biggest hurdle. So I’m trying to eat smaller portions more often and I’m trying my best to cut out any processed foods and white bread. On top of that I am drinking at least two smoothies a day instead of having a meal with soy milk, tofu, banana’s and a ton of fruit. I can’t afford a gym membership and I cannot get motivated to go to the gym so I am just doing as many pushup’s as humanly possible whenever I can.
I bike a lot, which is great but I don’t feel like I’m getting a good all around workout when I bike. So I’ve decided to start running.
I hate running. I hate running more than I hate small spiders, peanut butter and close talkers. Whenever I run I lose my breath in seconds, I feel like I’m going to puke and I’m almost instantly dry heaving.
So for motivations sake I’ve decided to document my experiment in running, the changes in my lungs and hopefully my body.

Running blog Day 1:
On a whim and after spending the entire day sitting at home watching movies, I went for a late night run. I started by going up a giant hill, making it to the top and deciding to give up. My lungs were hurting so badly and I slowly walked back to my house to get my bike. When I got to the bottom of the hill I felt a twinge as I pictured myself back in a clear cut jumping over logs and running from tree to tree. So I started running again, although this time away from the hill.
All together I ran about a mile and I felt like I was having a heart attack and a nose bleed at the same time. It felt awful and when I returned home my body was aching everywhere.

Running Day 2:
I was actually excited to run tonight. I know from experience that the deal with doing hard physical labor is that it’s always terrible the first week and as time goes by, it gets much easier. With this in mind, I ran tonight. I ran about a mile, and avoided the hill once again. The first 5 minutes were hell. My lungs hurt and my legs hurt but it quickly went away. After stopping for a minute or two I continued on and although breathing did not come easy, I forced myself to keep going. On day one I must have stopped and walked at least 6 or 7 times and tonight I only stopped 3 times.
I have high hopes for myself and I really hope that as time goes by this will get easier and i’ll actually start enjoying this sport. Or at the very least…I want to stop throwing up my lungs every time I run.


Bruce Springsteen – I’m On Fire