GPS Never Tells the Whole Story

Good day all. I’m pleased to tell you all that my team walked away with what I consider the top prize at this year’s Quest for a Cure. No, I’m not talking about the lucrative entry to Primal Quest, but something far more important I think. Team Hyper-Active has won the Mark Johnson Memorial Courage Award! What is that exactly? Well, our team managed to raise the most funds of anyone for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Center Foundation. So to start what will likely be a long post, I’d like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me in this race! As you’ll soon find out, it wasn’t easy, but it was rewarding. SO with that, let’s embark on what will likely be great tale of more perseverance on our part! If you’d like to check out a few shots that we took before and after the race, click over to the flickr folder. You will probably also want to check out the GPS tracking maps that were created in real-time during the race.

(Tarnished) Gold Medal for ActiveSteve!

Howdy all! Welcome to another edition of my race result reports. This report will fill you in on all the gory details of my recent Kayak Triathlon, the Ottawa Riverkeeper Kayak Triathlon. This race consisted of a 5km paddle, followed by a 20km bike, topped off by a 5km run. I raced in this one last year, and got a nice second place finish, just behind Mike Caldwell. This year, I had a newer, faster boat, a newer, faster bike, and an even greater desire to be victorious. Also, Mike wasn’t going to be in this one. So, I was planning to give it my all and not accept anything less than a first place finish. And that’s just what I got, or at least initially. I got the medal, I got the prizes, but then found out later that I actually only came in second place… again! Read on for the whole story. You can also check out some pics that the lovely Jody took at the race.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hello everyone in Blog-land! As seems to be the trend lately, I’m about two weeks late getting a post put together to let you know what I’ve been up to. As usual, there really aren’t any really good excuses, I’ve just been traveling a bit for work lately, and doing lots of training, as well as hosting Jody’s parents for a week. However, I’ll fill you in a little bit on the latest happenings. The most significant news of late is of course that I’ve earned another candle on my cake of life. Yup, on May 31st I turned the ripe old age of 32. Or as Jody decided to put it on my birthday cake, I was celebrating my sweet 16 times two. To celebrate, we decided to have another little party at our place. Read on for a few more gory details of the evening in question. You can also check out some pics.

ActiveSteve Gets a New Toy!

Welcome back to another addition of “Just what the hell has Steve gone out an bought now?”. My co-workers are always commenting that I obviously don’t have any children, as coming back from a weekend, I’m always sharing stories of long days training, or hard nights drinking, or even on occasion of new toys purchased selfishly for myself. This post will be about just such a thing I suppose. True, having no children likely does afford me a certain amount of leeway in my purchases that others don’t have, but I’m okay with that 🙂 From a very young age, I was raised with the understanding that if I wanted something, I had to buy if for myself. I never got fancy gifts as a child, but was always encouraged to find ways to get the things I wanted. That’s never really left me, and here’s a little post about my latest acquisition that I’ve been lusting after for some time. Read on about my new UMPC!

A Great Day – A Great Race

Howdy sports fans. As I write this post, I’m hurtling along the train tracks between Ottawa and Montreal. I’ve been in Montreal on business most of the week, and am only now finally getting a chance to write up a posting about the National Capital race weekend. Good thing I have a new computer, isn’t it? Hee hee. That’s another post in itself, but suffice it to say my mobility has greatly improved. Hmm, does that make me a yuppie again, since I’m young and upwardly mobile now? But I digress, this post is to fill you all in on how I managed to run a great half marathon, last weekend, and have a fun time doing it! Read on friends.

As most of you are aware, I’m now on my fifth year of running. I originally started running just to improve my performances in adventure races, but found out that running is something you have to stick to, and do a lot of, in order to improve. Without having an endurance base, it can take several years of training to get to a good place in terms of endurance. Luckily, I think I’ve finally found that place, and am now intent on capitalizing on my new running ability. As such, I like to take part in the National Capital Race weekend each May. I’ve also heard it’s the number one tourist weekend in Ottawa now. Crazy.