Ian Does a Little Gardening

So I decided to plants a new little garden on the property. This one is beside the back deck. Its main purpose was to house a clematis plant which will hopefully cover the new trellis we installed on the deck last year. But since I was planting in this spot anyway, I thought I might take the time to make a proper garden in the space. So I built a nice wooden raised bed (or Victory Garden). This allowed me to add lots of great fresh soil for the plants to grow in. And since this is an area we don't look at much I thought I could plant some useful plants here which would serve us well over the summer months. To this end I added broccoli, thyme, dill and chives. No the experiment begins. Will these plants like this spot? Will they grow nice and big. If not, then next year I will try other plants. I suppose I could look at potentially something like a berry bush or rhubarb in this spot. Who knows.

Oh and the stain is of course incomplete at this point. The weather held up just long enough to put that much stain on the wood. Soon, I hope to at least get this whole side done, and all the spots where the clematis vine will grow.

Bluenose 10K Results Are In

Well what a race. 1903 people registered to run the 10K race at the Bluenose Marathon. I started as close to the front as possible to avoid all the squished slow start that was to befall the other racers. In fact I was one of the first couple of people across the line.

I tried to pace myself for the long run as this was my first real race. So I took it in stride (no pun) when people were passing me. And even though it was wet and cool I always grabbed the water or Gatorade from the feeding stations. The only incident I had was when a racer jumped in front of me to grab some water. I had to push off of him to avoid a pile up. Odd as there was no one else around so he could have easily avoided me.

Anyway the race was great. I hurt most of the way but held in for a pace that was faster than I had been practicing. I hoped to get under 50 minutes and I did with a 48:43.1 and finished 165th overall (pace of 4:53 km/minute). 32/181 in my category (men aged 30-39).

All in all a great weekend at the event, starting with a trade show, pasta village, after race food and friends, plus meeting all sorts of interesting people. Anyone not having been before and who may even think they would like to try the 5K should definitely give it a go.

Oh and congrats to my wife who did her first major sporting event with the 5K run. She bested her projected goal and came in under 35 minutes!!! Plus she only started running less than a year ago. Look out next year for her!

It is almost time for the Bluenose Marathon

Okay, so I am not actually running a marathon or even a half marathon. I am running a 10 KM race, but it is still part of the race day of the Bluenose in Halifax. I am really excited about this race.

Last weekend I did my final big training run of 8+km in 41 minutes. That should put me somewhere near my hopeful goal of 50 minutes or less for the 10 km run. And if that holds up then I might even get my other goal of a top 100 finish.

I will post about the weekend this coming Monday I hope. And hopefully will have good news.

Turns out this running thing can actually be fun.