Well, the end of my time in Vancouver is almost here. Tomorrow week will be my last day in work and we hit the road three days later. First stop is Banff, for a week’s riding at Lake Louise then we drop Jacqui off in Calgary for her flight to Toronto on Dec. 5th, while we continue down to Fernie. Fernie opens on Dec. 8th, so I’ll get a couple of days riding in there before flying back to Ireland for Christmas.

Nathan has been diligently checking the weather forecasts for weeks now and was getting a bit worried that there wasn’t enough snowfall, but things are looking up this week. Ange, Marksy and Floody are out in Fernie already and have sorted a house for us, and Ange posted photos to Facebook today of the first major snowfall in town. It’s looking good, and is slowly starting to sink in that I’ll be back snowboarding in less than two weeks. The excitement is building!

The headphones which came with my iPod started giving up the ghost a while back, with the rubber earpieces starting to fray and a couple of weird noises showing up occasionally, so I started looking around for a replacement pair.

I listen to music almost all day, wearing my iPod to work and usually while in work too, so I wanted decent headphones. I liked the sound quality of the Apple ones, but they let way to much noise in from the surrounding environment, which meant the volume on the iPod had to increase to compensate, so I leant towards in-ear headphones which slot right into your ear canal.

Our local one-stop-shop, London Drugs, had a pair of Shure E2Cs on special back in August, so I bought a pair but didn’t like them. The sound wan’t bad, but I couldn’t get them to fit my ears and, as a result, they were really uncomfortable. Luckily, London Drugs took them back with no questions asked and refunded my cash. Then, when Tom headed back to Ireland, I noticed he had a pair of Shure E3Cs which he’d left behind, so I tried them out for a few days. They were a much better fit for my ears, but a good bit more expensive than what I was prepared to spend, so they were out too.

EarphoneSolutions.com in Florida have a good range of in-ear headphones, with decent comparisons of the different models available, and I’d been checking out their site to see what my options were. After failing with the E2Cs, I’d emailed them to ask for some advice, and they’d recommend both the E3Cs and the Westone UM1s as being suitable for smaller ears, while still maintaining great quality. Since the E3Cs were out on expense grounds, I ordered the UM1s.

They finally arrived last week and I love them. The cable is nice and light, and the earpieces themselves are extremely comfortable so it’s easy to forget you’re wearing them. Sound quality is fantastic and they block out almost all environmental noise. I can walk beside a busy road without having to turn up the volume and, sitting here at my desk in work, I’ve got the volume on my iPod at less than 10% of max. In short, wearing them is like having a personal soundtrack to your life.

The main reason I booked an appointment with Dr. Case was to get a biomechanical analysis done, while at the same time getting him to treat my shin splints. Being relatively new to running, and still in the process of making changes to my running style, I’d been thinking of getting this done for a while, to make sure I didn’t have any fundamental flaws which would lead to regular injuries. I’d been impressed by the injury prevention seminar he gave to our running clinic, and since he’s a pretty decent runner as well, I figured he’d know what he’s talking about.

The procedure is quite straightforward: he videos me running away from and towards the camera, then running past the camera in both directions, after which he analyses the footage at home, and we reconvene a few days later to discuss his findings. He also provides a DVD of the video he took and a worksheet of exercises specific to any flaws he encounters.

The good news for me is that I have a biomechanically sound gait, so continuing to run as I am will not lead to injury in the long term. I still have a couple of minor flaws to work on, along with increased flexibility around my hips, which will make my stride more efficient. I suppose I’ll have to stop being so lazy when it comes to stretching properly after a run in future!

Singapore has legalised oral and anal sex between consenting, heterosexual adults, but if you’re gay, tough shit. Apart from the absurdity of a government trying to legislate what happens in the bedroom, I found this bit quite interesting…

Other amendments included a ban on necrophilia…

So, let me get this right. Up until yesterday, it was OK to fuck dead people, but not OK to get a blow job from your wife?? That’s priceless!

Last Wednesday week saw me meet up with my running group for dinner and drinks to mark the end of our clinic. I ended up winning a prize. Not an award or anything, just a raffle prize, but the catch was that I had to come for a run this Wednesday to collect it.

Wednesday evening came around and it was pissing rain, but the lure of a freebie was too strong so I went along anyway. It turns out that the 10K clinic after us are at the stage where they have to do a 4km time trial, the same one I did about 10 weeks ago. This wasn’t what I wanted, as I think I have shin splints again, so didn’t want to run fast. However, while listening to the clinic’s pre-run seminar I decided I’d go for it and see if my shins held up.

We had a slow walk out to the start line – just enough time to realise that the rain was very heavy and it was pitch black. Just as well I’d done the route a few times before and knew there weren’t any serious obstacles to trip over. I took off and settled in to a reasonably quick pace. I didn’t have my HR monitor on, so I was going by feel. Once I got warmed up I realised that, between the rain, the dark, and my breath steaming them up, my glasses were useless, so I took them off and put them in my pocket. I was still worried that I was going to run into someone, or something, and take a nosedive but it never happened.

It was 2km out and back, and since I knew roughly where the 1km marker was as well, I decided to run steady until 3km and then build the pace (if I still could) to the finish. It worked out pretty well, and when I got past the rowing club it was a sprint for the line, which I crossed in 18:10. Ten weeks ago I did 20:29, and only 5 of those 10 weeks were decent quality training, so I was delighted to see that I’d dropped by pace by 35sec/km, or, to look at it another way, raised my speed by 1.5km/h!

I’m keen to continue running now until we leave Vancouver in five weeks, but I’ve got an appointment tomorrow morning with a doctor who specialises in running injuries, so I’ll wait to see what his verdict is on my self-diagnosed shin splints and take it from there.

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Apple has submitted a planning application for an Apple Store on King St.

Apple’s secretive plans for an official retail store in Sydney – understood to be the first in the southern hemisphere – have been revealed in council documents, which suggest it’s unlikely the store will open for business before mid-2008.

How thoughtful. It’s just in time for me to get back from Canada and upgrade my laptop!

Yesterday was the day of reckoning at the end of my 10K Clinic, with those who completed the course taking part in the Turkey Trot 10K race. I’d managed to get injured half-way through, from doing too much too soon, and my effort had therefore tailed off towards the end of the course, so while I had originally looked like I’d go under 50mins, it was unlikely to happen yesterday.

I met up with the rest of my running group to hang out before the start, trying to stay warm in the early morning chill. After stripping down to my running gear I really noticed the cold, so once the race started I made the second of my two fatal mistakes by starting off too fast. The first mistake was to have All Bran for breakfast… I can hear you chuckling now as you think you know what I’m about to say next, but I can assure you there was no sharting! The All Bran took ages to digest, so it was still sitting in my stomach when the race started, leading to stitches within a couple of kms.

I realised before the halfway mark that my overly quick start, combined with the stitches, meant that there was no way I could sustain my current sub-50 pace, so I resolved to continue unabated through to the 5K mark and then try and walk it off. I passed 5K in 24:42 which was respectable as the first half contained the only hill on the course, then adopted a run/walk strategy for the rest of the race, trying to find a pace which didn’t give me a stitch. I crossed the finish line in 51:08, giving me 26:26 for the second half, which wasn’t too bad, and since it was my first, proper¹ stand alone 10K I was happy enough with that.

Overall it’s a good course and there was a great atmosphere for the race, with many smiling faces crossing the line with a visible sense of achievement. However, while I would like to have run a bit faster, I learned three important things:

• All Bran is not an ideal pre-race breakfast
• Don’t get injured 4 weeks before the race
• Stick to your intended starting pace

There’s another 10K, the Fall Classic, in about six weeks, so I may consider entering that. I’ll make the decision in a couple of weeks, depending on whether I’m still running in the rapidly deteriorating weather!

Myself, Nathan and Brett went up to Whistler on Saturday morning for our round at Nicklaus North, leaving Vancouver in the pouring rain. Thankfully it wasn’t actually raining when we arrived and it remained dry for the whole round, which was a relief as I didn’t want to get soaked.

Playing at a Jack Nicklaus signature course is a whole different ball game (pardon the pun) from what we’re used to. You pull of to the door and someone gets your clubs out of the boot, takes them out back and sets up a cart for you. If you want to hit a few warm-up balls, you’re driven down to the range, where there’s balls waiting for you, then picked up in time to start your round. At the first tee, two ladies hand you divot repairers, a yardage book and explain today’s pin placements, and when you’re finished your round, a guy takes your clubs off to be cleaned while you retire to the bar! I could get used to this ;-)

Seeing as how Brett can actually play golf, we made him play off the championship tees, whereas myself and Nath played off the whites as usual. I stepped up an fired my first shot out of bounds left, then my tee shot of the second went in to water, but I settled down a bit after that and turned at 50, which is about normal for me. Nath got off to a great start, parring the first three holes, and of course Brett was in a different league.

I fared a bit better on the back nine, hitting some nice shots, but I still managed to find any water available from the tee box! My chipping was pretty good, as was my putting, so that saved me. I came back in 49, to give me a total of 99, which is the first time I’ve beaten 100, though with 6 penalties there’s plenty of room for improvement. After turning in 44, Nath had a shocker on the back 9, finishing in 103, and Brett was on course for par before dropping a shot on the final hole, to record a two-over 73! In the end, he managed to beat us by almost 30 shots, despite playing almost 1000 extra yards. I guess that’s why he’s a PGA Pro and we’re weekend hackers.

The verdict? It’s a nice course, and the setting is spectacular, nestled below Whistler and Blackcomb, fringed by Green Lake. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. The fairways are reasonably generous, but if you miss them by much your ball is gone and you’re a shot down. Also, the bunkers are deeper than I’m used to, and, with wet, heavy sand at this time of year, it was hard to get the ball out on occasion. Finally, one or two of the par 3s were long, particularly the 17th at 188yds, though I did hit a nice tee shot which landed in the greenside bunker. Had it landed about 3 yards right it would almost certainly have bounced on to the green and ended up with a decent chance at a birdie, so it was about 3 yards from being awesome.

At $165 for a round it’s a bit steep for regular play, but well worth a one off visit. Although Brett’s far too modest to claim that he’s anything special, for me, getting a chance to play with a pro and see up close how it’s supposed to be done was a treat too, so it was a good day all ’round.

Marion Jones has finally admitted what most people have suspected ever since the BALCO story was unearthed: she was on the juice.

Citing a letter Jones sent to close family and friends, which was “read to the Washington Post by a person who had been given a copy of it,” Jones plans to plead guilty on Friday in New York to two counts of lying to federal agents about her drug use and an unrelated financial matter.

The Post reported that in the letter, Jones said she took the steroid produced by the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) known as “the clear” for two years beginning in 1999. Jones, 31, won five medals, including three gold, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Both myself and Jacqui are using our frequent flyer points to get free¹ flights back to Australia, so after Jacqui went to book her flights and discovered she could only fly back via the U.S., I decided I should get organised and try booking mine.

Since I refuse to fly to, through² or over the U.S. due to their bullshit immigration requirements, I really wanted to fly via Asia. I had a three week window to work with, so I wasn’t too concerned when my preferred London – Sydney direct wasn’t available. Half an hour spent searching through Qantas’s Frequent Flyer booking site got me London – Tokyo with BA, an 8-hour stopover and then Tokyo – Sydney with Qantas.

The combined flight time is no longer than the traditional Bangkok/Singapore stopover route, the Qantas leg is on one of their new Airbus A330s which look flash, and I’ve never been to Japan. Jacqui seems to think that I’ll be able to wander around Tokyo for a few hours, which would be cool.

Anyway, the end result is that I return to Australia as a fully-fledged resident on the morning of Friday, February 22nd. See you then!

¹ ‘free’ as in you still pay almost $300 in taxes.

² You still have to go through immigration even if you’re just in transit.