Well, I have been Naughty haven’t I, no update to the blog since December. There has been a big change in where I live. Aingeal and I now reside in Yellowknife Northwest Territories. For those unfamiliar with Yellowknife it sits on the shores of Great Slave Late at 62’ 27” north.

It holds a number of Canadian Weather records including the coldest city in Canada. Winter arrives early here in Yellowknife, with weather dropping below freezing just as fall is starting. The weather stays below zero well into April and May finally warming up by June. While summers I hear are great in this area they are short.

Another change of course aside from the –25 to –30C weather that is going on at the moment is the fact that the sun comes up at 10AM and goes down at 3AM for a whopping 5 hours of sunlight/twilight a day. Of course the opposite effect in the summer so we are looking forward to 19 hours of sunlight.

How you may ask does it affect running, well at the moment I am running on a treadmill. My best laid plans to run outside year round were set aside along with the Frostbite I received one frosty –33C degree morning. While everything is fine and my toes are finally healed with nice pink new skin. I am in no rush to go outside and run in those days where the temperature dips below –20C.

Now I know I wanted to run the goofy but with the change in venue it was not possible to run the event. Training outside for long runs were a logistical nightmare. This due to the cold weather and the fact that I would have to run long distances in the dark of the morning with little or no lights as once you get outside Yellowknife the road is pretty barren.

The good news is there are a couple of running groups up here and if the weather crawls back to under –20C I will run outside with them on Saturday. If not I will be using the treadmill. This Sunday the weather is suppose to creep back up to –14C which is really not that bad to run in.

I am very excited about the prospect of a couple of big runs this year. First and foremost is the ING Edmonton Marathon on August 10, 2008. I have already started ramping up slowly as I am recovering from Achilles tendonitis. So I am taking a slow build up to the mileage I need.

With a modified ½ program I am slowly building my base up. The emphasis for the next 14 weeks is to get my base up to 25 miles a week, but more importantly work on my core strength and stretching. Already I can see the difference with my stretching. I can actually now touch my toes again.

So on April 6th, 2008 I will switch over to a full marathon schedule and 18 weeks later the marathon. Secondary to that is I am now trying to work with the Team Diabetes program to transfer everything over so that I can do the New York City marathon, on November 2nd, 2008. If not I am going to enter the lottery and hope that I get a spot. If not maybe Chicago may be a good alternative.

Cheers to all for the New Year and most important keep on running
harry