02. Train for and complete a 10k run

A while ago, I blogged about training for a 5k run. But this last summer, I actually ran a 10k race in the Ottawa race weekend (without cheating).

The first thing I needed for training was new shoes! My old ones were about 3 years old and falling apart, so this meant one thing - shopping! The shoes I bought have mesh on them so things are quite airy when a gust of wind comes my way.

Training for this was another story. I decided to use my lunch break at work to train, and methodically used googlemaps to plot out my training circuit (during non-work hours of course), which ended up being 4.8km on googlemaps (plus a nice hill/shortcut that google's system did not recognize). And, because my lunch is only 30 minutes (plus 15 mins since I get in early), I had plenty of motivation to get back on time (or get fired..).

Considering that a few years ago, 5k was hard for me, my training went pretty well, except for my first day. As I have blogged about many times before, I am HORRIBLE with directions. It was all going fine until I came to a road that I couldn't remember if I was supposed to go left or right at (as usual, in doubt, I went left). What saved me was good-ol OC transpo. I used one of their handy bus-stop maps to locate myself and get back to work after a solid 38 minute run.

The race weekend went much better for me, since I had over 10,000 running buddies to follow and didn't have to worry about directions (huge arrows mapping the route ) and the fact that I followed a lovely man dressed in a bunny outfit. I finished the race in 1:06.12 and am planning on getting to 1:00 next year!

Into the Heart of Africa

From Toronto Star,  February 24, 1990, F11

Take a close look at this advertisement. If you were to see this ad presented in conjunction with an exhibit entitled Into the Heart of Africa, you would probably think it was highlighting African art, culture and other traditions wouldn't you?

Wrong.

This is an exhibit about Canadian imperialists and how they collected African objects that eventually found their way into the Royal Ontario Museum...

29. Don't rack up fines on my library card for 1 year

I am notorious for forgetting to return library books. Luckily, as a Masters' student, I get to keep them for 4 full months per book, so I can put off returning my books for a long time without getting fines.

The solution to this problem, is to simply stop reading. And since I have no more time for leisurely reading, I won't be borrowing library books (except for academic ones, which as previously mentions, I can keep for 4 months), so I think that I can cross this one off my list!