KRAC Blog

A cross-training weekend for me. The City Honors 9th Grade Bike Trip was an overnight to Niagara Falls, and although my City Honors student had other commitments EGA came along. The round trip was probably a bit in excess of 50 miles, longer on the first day than on the second. Over the Peace Bridge and along the Niagara River Parkway, out to the Whirlpool Park for a hike down the gorge. It was the first time I've stayed at a hostel-- I can see the appeal, and can imagine planning a longer trip. The Niagara Falls Hostel is said to have once been a brothel, and that added a touch of the illicit to the stay.

We had a pleasant group, two other adults and eight kids. This may have been my most sustained exposure to 14 year old boys since I was one-- they are interesting, in a William Golding kind of way. We returned across Grand Island and along the Riverwalk, and although I'd have liked a few more miles, it was good to shower and have a beer. The organizer of the trip runs a program called Teen Treks, which sounds pretty terrific. He's leading a group around Europe in a couple of weeks, and he has groups going cross-country, from New York to Montreal, and some other trips, all of which sound simultaneously exciting and wearying. He is the sort of person who gets along well with kids-- a quality I do not possess, but admire in others. His programs are exclusively for kids-- he says adults have expectations of luxury that are more difficult to manage. I don't know about luxury, but a glass of wine with dinner would be part of my program if I were ever able to get A and LCA on a bike.

I'm training to ruin a marathon.

I haven't seen as much of the Euro Cup as I'd like, but what I have seen has been pretty great. Sweden winning over Greece, Croatia over Germany, and the crafty Dutch maneuvering through the Group of Death by beating France and Italy-- all pretty great.

For a sport you can do in your underwear, there are still a lot of tech-y things about running. I want a heartrate monitor, sort of. I like Nancy's iPod toy, although I'm not really into listening to music when I run. It sounds like the new iPhone with its GPS functionality may be something I want to look into.

But mostly it's all about the shoes. When I was a schoolboy the technology was still rudimentary. Nylon was the latest high-tech material. I remember my first pair of spikes-- and how cool it was to use the little spike wrench to swap out the longer spikes used on cinder tracks for the shorter pin spikes used on synthetic tracks.

I want a pair of these rice husk shoes sooo bad.

I'm pretty sure the Ridge is tougher than the Half. I'm also positive that I need to book some quality miles this month. At least yesterday gave me something to build on.