Fahrenheit 451---But What's That In Celsius?

   Well, it's about 233C, if you really wanna know....damn hot either way!
   It's coming on winter in these parts and as the temps begin to drop it's almost inevitable that we spend more time checking them---if for no other reason then to figure out what to wear to work in the morning.
   I am of the generation which grew up on Fahrenheit as a temp measurement scale and was really only familiar with Celsius (Centigrade) as it applied to physics in high school. I can remember doing the math in trying to figure out how one related to the other and thinking never gonna need this! Well, I was wrong.

In case you wanted to have a bit of an idea

   As an adult living in Canada, I then found myself dealing with our country's switch over from Fahrenheit to Celsius and a few other nasty little things such as miles to kilometers and pounds to kilos. 
   This was all to bring us in line with almost the whole rest of the world, minus the United States, stubborn as they are. In time, I got used to it. I knew that 32F and 0C were the same thing and I kind of went from there. If the weather was up in the twenties, then it was pretty nice out!
   Somehow or other, though, my weather app stuff has now converted back to Fahrenheit and this is kind of cool because I only really know what temperature it is if it's in Fahrenheit.
   Oddly enough, though, there is enough of an age gap between Doralyn and myself (almost 15 years) that if I tell her what the temp is in Fahrenheit she has no idea what I'm talking about. A couple of days ago I told her it was going to be a warm day (for this time of year) because it was going up to 56 degrees. She had no clue what that meant. And I couldn't tell her what it meant because I had no clue what it was in Celsius! (it's about 13 degrees).
 I find myself referencing the temperature reasonably often over on my running blog, Ragged Cap Runner. I do this so other people might know what I either do or don't suffer through while I'm out running. I generally will mention the temp in Celsius and then remember that I have a handful of readers in the States and I find myself needing to refer to my Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion app just to let them know exactly how much I was suffering (or enjoying myself.) 
    

Sort of what you look like after a -40C and F run....

   Okay, while I'm on the subject, I've got something very cool to tell you about. Very cool. With all the vagaries of the two systems of temperature measurement, I had reason a couple of winters ago to discover one very interesting fact---forty below in Fahrenheit is the same temperature as 40 below in Celsius. I only discovered this because I was set to run in a race wherein the temperature, with the windchill, was going to reach -40C. In an effort to describe to my Amurrican friends just how cold this was, I discovered the aforementioned fact. Now how cool is that?! Well, too freakin' cold to run in, for one thing.....

A Sad Week In Running

   Last week was a sad one if you were a runner. Twice, the running world was shocked and saddened to hear of the deaths of Meg Menzies earlier in the week and then James Callaghan, a few days later.
   Both died while doing something they loved...running.
   Meg died as the result of being struck by an alleged intoxicated driver. James' death is still under investigation but it is believed he was struck twice by vehicles as he lay on a road in dense fog. There is speculation that he may either have been on the road due to a hit-and-run or possibly due to a medical emergency.
   Regardless of who you are and what you do, the death of these two people, long before their time, is sad and unspeakable. If you are a runner, their deaths carry an extra sting.

Meg

   Were I not a runner, it's quite possible that I may not even have known about these sad events. Runners tend to be absorbed by what they do, however, and because we spend as much time as we do following runners and running bloggers the sad news spread quickly.
   While out running Saturday morning, I thought of Meg and James quite a bit. Actually, runners from all over the world were being asked to run in Meg's honour that day and I understand that over 90,000 runners did just that. We are a unified bunch!
   I am still trying to figure out, though, why such a response.
   I think there is a visceral response every time a young mother dies. Not to diminish the role of a father but you start off your life inside your mother and it is through her that most of your needs are met as a child. Whenever a mother is taken too soon, you center in on her kids. And you remember that you were once a kid and the pain then becomes almost palpable.
   For a variety of sad reasons, we lose young mothers all the time and not too many of those losses invoke 90, 000 heartfelt responses, as they did in Meg's case.
   So the running aspect of her death comes into play. Not only was she a runner who died, she died running!
   Probably only once in a blue moon, as I'm lacing up before a run, do I think about the inherent danger in what I am about to do. From the beginning, I followed all the suggested safety tips around traffic, visibility, weather and the odd wacko out there but then that became pretty routine. For the most part, I am able to stay on sidewalks or find places to run where there is no vehicular traffic. Cars are sometimes a nuisance but my experience so far is that they do their best to steer clear.
   In no small way, though, this has now changed. For me and I suspect a lot of runners, the reality of what can happen has hit home, like a hammer to the heart. The vast majority of us will continue to run but I suspect we may somehow run differently, without taking the act as much for granted as we used to.
   As a life activity, a love of running can sometimes be difficult to explain to someone who doesn't run. With most other life activities, at the end there's generally something to show for it---a painting, a knitted  scarf, a carving or sculpture, perhaps a piece of writing. At the end of a run you have...nothing. Well, nothing that can be seen. What's more, along the way you likely suffered some level of pain or discomfort for all your effort. In this way, it's difficult to justify the activity to the uninitiated.


James

   My point is that I think there's something special about running and that we as runners experience it but, at the same time, are both a little mystified by and also somewhat in awe of it. And because it takes on an almost spiritual aspect, when one of us is affected in such a drastic way as Meg and James were this week, then by a strange ripple effect we are all both shaken and moved. Our response is to do that which binds us all together. Run.
   By all accounts, Meg and James were wonderful people with wonderful families. In a world where bad things seem to happen to good people, we are all left, once again, trying to make sense of it all. James was a loving father of four whose death has received less of a public response but his passing hits a little closer to me, a middle-aged man. As mentioned above, there is some speculation that he may have ended up on the road as the result of a medical emergency before he was even struck by vehicles there in the dense fog. I personally am in good health but am also at that age where the risk of a stroke or heart attack, particularly during strenuous activity, lingers in the back of my mind and in the recesses of my chest cavity. For this reason, I was also running for James Callaghan on Saturday.
   One can only hope that if there might be some lasting legacy from a very sad week that perhaps it will be that we will all be just a little more mindful as we run and cautious as we drive. Two people are dead but some motorists' lives have been horribly altered, and possibly destroyed, as well. One of my biggest fears is that, as a driver, some brief moment of inattention on my part might result in the death of an innocent person. I'm not sure that I could live with myself if that happened and perhaps Meg and James will forever remind me that it can happen.
   Not surprisingly, their respective communities have risen up in an attempt to support both James' and Meg's grieving families. Below are two links you can access if you wish to help out. The first one is to aid Meg Menzies' family and the second is a link to the Facebook page of a running group that James Callaghan belonged to. It was a link I found in a local newspaper article about his passing and it was suggested that people could donate through this group. When I went to the link, however, I could find no way to actually donate. To date, I'm awaiting a response from the writer of the article to see if she is aware of any way to donate. When and if I receive more info on this, I will pass it on.

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/meg-cross-Menzies

https://www.facebook.com/groups/164401273668020/

  
  
  
  
    
  

Yearn-to-Run: Part Two

   Well, I have finished my first road race! This morning I ran in my running group's target race, the Gobbler Gallop. I ran the 3K distance, as did most of us, and came in with a time of 23:33. I am told this is not bad but, at the same time, I was pretty near the back of the pack. More or less, this was kind of what I was expecting.


Our Learn-to-Run group. L-R Kathryn(fearless leader), little Nick, Mary, big Nick, Catherine, Kelcey, Peter, Pauline and myself

   It was a good day for running, dry and cool, and a great place to run, through Springbank Park. Springbank is such a popular place for runners that, unless you were wearing a race bib, it was hard to tell who was racing and who was just out for their regular run.
   Nothing much about the course surprised me, the first half is essentially flat but the second half has a couple of hills, one going down and one coming back up. Fortunately the longer and steeper of the two was the one going down but the second one, going back up, was a demoralizer. I walked it, only because I knew by the time I got to the top of it I would be near the homestretch and I really wanted to have enough left to kick it up a notch. I was able to kick it up a little and passed three or four people in the process. What I wasn't expecting however was the slight little incline up to the castle at Storybook Gardens. This began only about a hundred yards away from the finish line and I almost had to walk it as well, right in front of family and friends. Did manage to finish it, running, but Doralyn managed to get a picture of me as I was crossing the finish line and it wasn't pretty.


The "unpretty" picture I was telling you about...

   So the Learn-to-Run clinic and the target race is done and under my belt. I've more or less decided to keep on running on some kind of regular basis but likely will not join the 5K clinic, although I am under some pressure to do so by the people in the rest of my group.
   I must admit that running in a group has its advantages, there were a few Saturday mornings when, if I'd been all by my lonesome, that I might have just packed it in early. There's something to be said for peer pressure and I hope I don't miss it by running on my own.

   My main motivation at this point is that I feel better since I started running three times a week and I wouldn't want to miss that feeling. I will try and keep this up and perhaps even increase it.

   Tomorrow they're calling for an extensive frost. Winter is around the corner so I guess it's time to bring out the layers and the long johns and the toques. I've never run in the winter before and I'm thinking I might just try and find an indoor track somewhere...