Today was a Deifenbooker Practice Run We go in the opposite direction of the actual "real run" and today was six and ones. The actual "real" run takes you through the Blast Tunnel of the Diefenbunker but that is not available until race day ...... I mean run day . They group is down to 35 or so runners. I can certainly boast that I am part of the Top 35!

I run at the back of the pack, and the more experienced runners now really get a jump on we laggards. The story for me started just after my Red River Cereal breakfast. I was also set to take my morning dose of pills which include a beta-blocker and a 81 mg ASA. I was so ecstatic about the Red River Cereal my wife had made (banana, pecans, dried apricots, and dried cranberries) that I forgot to take my pills. (but it took me a while to figure that out .. read on)

I arrived early at the meet point in the Carp Fair Grounds and was surprised to see the parking lot so full. Ahhh - The Gun Show was on (this is the Ottawa Valley After All) I joked that the pace runners (who wore bunny ears) were at risk. Someone said that wearing antlers would have been worse.

Anyway, we hit the trail and , even though I was at the back of the pack, we all did well. About half way through I saw two little poodles walking with their masters. "I can catch you little dog , and your master too" I thought in my best Wicked Witch of the West thought wave. And I did catch up and pass both little dogs, although one of them wagged his tail at me mockingly. The last hill is up Fall Down Lane, but I did run the hill and not fall down

I was ignoring the heart monitor but when I looked down I was hitting 160 bpm at the top of the hill and this was with me being hot, sweaty, and conductive. And then the big YIKES. I was running without meds!

Since I am writing this a few hours later and M. Night Shyamalan is nowhere to be seen I am thinking that I am likely in the land of the living. I will have to ask the cardiologist about this . SO note to self : Don't forget the pills, no matter how good the Red River

Well I am back to heart monitor and watch for running. Jessica the Exercise Coordinator at my clinic really thinks that cardiac guys should run with a monitor so I dusted it off and ran with it a couple of runs. Not sure if it needs a battery change ; today after a minute of running I was at 160 beats per minute and no way I was doing that. After I got a bit of a sweat on, the thing hovered in the 103 to 117 range which is in the okay field for me.

Since I am signed up for 5K of Diefenbooker I have decided to follow their running schedule sort of - this week we should be running six and ones in tomorrow's five kilometer run, but my wife inspired me to do ten and ones this week. I am sure that she would not want to take the credit but it is her doing.

I feel strangely serene when I run except when I run up a hill and then vomiting crosses my mind. (it has been my experience that vomiting and serenity are often mutually exclusive) Bur then I feel like a soaring beagle and sniff myself ahead.
And for the record (and the benefit of my wife) I do know that nausea is a cardiac danger side and my refernece to vomiting is factious. I do struggle in hill running, but runners do say the "hill is your friend", and at times I do believe them.

When my wife reads that she inspired the ten and ones she will act bewildered and I will giggle hysterically, which I often do when I am , er, what is the word - am lying. It was my idea, inspired by the good weather to run those ten and ones. But I love my wife a great deal and want to be around for her so I can receive her love and give her mine. So it really was her fault and that is no lie.