When the sun starts to set, and its minus 20 out there, the spit is my wilderness, my solitude, my happy place.

And so it was tonight, when I ran for the first time in at least five years. It was a 20-minute workout, walk about 7, run maybe 3, twice. Not much, but a milestone nevertheless.

My spit is the stretch of beach and dirt road between Lake Ontario and Frenchman's Bay here in Pickering, Ontario. It's 15-minute walk from one end to other, so it might be close to one mile long. From where I park the car, my workout lap is walk 5, run 3 and walk 2. I'll stick to that short course for the first while, as I aim slowly to bring my running time up and my walking time down.

If I can get to run 4 and walk 1, I'll consider increasing the initial 10-minute to 30 minutes maybe twice a week, and start going longer one day a week.

If I can get to that, one hour once a week and a half-hour twice, I'll take a look at the walk/run marathon training plan in Marathoning for Mortals, the book that JB sent me. He's urging me to enter the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon at the end of September which he hopes to run. (I made the mistake of mentioning that I'm looking for motivation to get back into running and better shape.)

JB, a long-time friend, has been running 36 years but has never tried the marathon distance, preferring to hammer it hard for shorter periods of time. Now that he's turning 50, running long and slow starts to sound more appealing.

Baseline data follows:

I'm in my 62nd year, having carried 242 to 246 pounds on my 6'1-1/2" frame for last five years or more. My high-school weight was 176, so I could drop 50 pounds plus, if I could. I'm on diltiazem to lower blood pressure, amiodarone to prevent the return of arrhythmia, and an Aspirin a day to keep the blood flowing.

Site see:

http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/
11:15:11 PM