Once again with feeling

Simply put the workout last night which was the third workout in a 19 day plan to run sub 40 was disasterous. It was supposed to be 5 x 2K at 7:50. What it ended up as was 2K at 7:58 then 8:22, 8:25, 8:24, 8:18 - whoops. Not quite where I am supposed to be on the fitness scale to make the grade. At best with times like that I can look to a 42 minute 10 my next race. The plan will still be followed just to see if it makes a difference in the ultimate time but really I am not expecting much from the next race. On the upside my daughter’s training for her 1K is going well.

The election hasn’t been called in Canada yet but the Harper Conservatives are already running campaign ads extolling the virtues of the Harper approach to governance. Stephen Harper falls into that category of conservative who is a social conservative first and a fiscal conservative second. As someone who is essentially an objectivist socially (Libertarian is as close as you will get in political terms) and fiscally further to the right than Stephen Harper would ever consider going I find the Harper totalitarian approach to rule more than a little distasteful. I am a member of the Green Party of Canada because it is fundamentally about saving something in which we all should have a selfish interest: The preservation of the air we breathe, the water we drink and the earth in which we grow our food. Without the earth there isn’t much room to make a good living.

Things which I find distasteful about the current conservative platform: The push to have young offenders from the age of 14 automatically transferred to adult court for trial and sentencing. The push to lower the age which someone can be charged with a criminal act to 10. The conservatives have roundly criticized the current young offenders act as having too much focus on rehabilitation. There is much being made about youth crime in the television advertising despite the fact that youth crime is at a 20 year low - there’s nothing like drumming up a little fear to help motivate the electorate.

The other area where the Tories really scare me is of course the environment where some of the ideas are just stunningly stupid. The concept of a “hydrogen highway” for hydrogen fuel celled vehicles is as ludicrous as the technology of hydrogen fuel cells. We have clean energy now it is called electricity, the motors have been around for more than a century and the technology is proven. Hydrogen fuel cells are vaguely possible as a functional idea sometime in the next three decades. The only idea more wanting in intellectual rigor is that of ethanol based vehicles. Being to the right of the political spectrum (so called) the natural impulse when faced with something which might have a negative effect on members of parliament’s stock portfolios the government wants to give money to big business to help them clean up their act. Ultimately the entire “environmental platform” of the party is merely window dressing to try and green up the blue party.

For the most part I don’t like blogging about politics as it is essentially a fruitless task. People have their own ideas and opinions and if you are a conservative the idea of a 10 year old being charged under the criminal code probably won’t swing your vote. By the same token reaching agreements to give open access to Canada’s water resources to the USA probably won’t bother you either. So there really isn’t much to be gained by blogging about it other than to vent. The political reality at the moment is that the election probably will result in a parliament which looks pretty much the way it looks right now - a minority conservative government. That really makes me wonder why we are going to the polls again.

Well yesterday’s little run went ok so today I will endeavor to do a decent run and see how the road rash handles it. I have been doing some research and have discovered that I can reasonably expect to see new skin in about 12 days or so as long as no infection sets in to ruin the party. It’s going to be all about keeping the wounds clean and dressed properly. This is one thing that I will try to do with religious fervor since the Vaudreuil race is only 3 weeks away.

The doctor has ordered me to be less active than normal. She was very understanding but was also very firm about not cycling or running for the next 48 hours and I have to have some X-rays in the morning to check if there is a fracture around the eye socket or cheekbone. The whole mess looks worse now that the brusing has really gotten going. Oh well the real tragedy is that my rear derailleur looks like it will need to be replaced along with my helmet which is cracked.

Well if it is August it must be bike crash time. I was cruising along at 40 and worried about a 4×4 behind be as I rolled along Lakeshore near the Baie d’Urfe town hall. Along the site of the road is a concrete strip which in most spots is level with the road. I tried to roll from the pavement onto the concrete but the lip of the concrete snagged my front wheel and I went sliding along the sidewalk face first into a hedge. A neatly trimmed branch made a run at my eye but other than that, a skinned shoulder, hip, rib cage and as you can see lower leg I am not much the worse for wear. I have some swelling over the top of my right eye where I lost some skin but other than that it seems ok. Going to head over to the doctor for the requisite 8 hour wait to see the doctor for 35 seconds make sure the eye is good though.

Midweek is a strange time for a race but you have to race when the race is not when you want to race. Last night in DDO I went out too fast and paid for it in the back end of a 5K.

Why I’m dissatisfied with last night’s race actually has me confused. I ran hard and strong and while I didn’t plan it well and faded in the last kilometer I still bettered my last year’s time by 46 seconds.  So what gives? This year has been weird with good times again and again in races but dissatisfaction with my performance being the dominant theme after races. Sober second thought – looking back and comparing times in previous years, looking at placement etcetera all make me more rational about it.  Though oddly my AG placing is identical to last year despite the improved time.

Last year:

Overall Place: 170
Name: DENIS BERNICKY
Time: 20:59.5
Pace: 4:12
Age Group: Hommes 40 – 44
Age Group Place: 43/90
Gender Place: 148/309

This year:

Overall Place: 151
Name: DENIS BERNICKY
Time: 20:13.4
Pace: 4:03
Age Group: Hommes 40 – 49
Age Group Place: 43/94
Gender Place: 136/318

Somehow seeing it in black and white doesn’t help. Next month is the Vaudreuil race which is my target race for the year somehow between now and then I have to try and knock a minute and thirty seconds off of my time – all in all my goal of sub 40 in a 10K this year looks like it won’t be accomplished but I am still going to give it a shot.

Diving

Swim team

Synchronized swimming

Running

Football

No it’s not the Olympics it’s my daily schedule . Somewhere in there, there is also food prep and other sundry activities which keep the kids entertained and the household running. Next week is a return to work so some rest is in the future .

Tonight features one of the more unusual events on the Circuit Endurance race calendar the DDO 5 K race. Five kilometers is short and fast, well for me it is since it normally takes about 3 K to settle into any kind of a stride which means by the time I’ve settled the race is 3/5 ths over. I have been nursing my first injury since the spring for the past two days so we will see how things go tonight. There is another race coming up on Sunday morning so as much as I want to go, go, go on this one I also don’t want to do anything stupid - it is a fine line some times.
Our lives are such that my daughter’s synchro practice starts one hour before race time, my son’s football practice starts 45 minutes before race time, both practices will finish after the race so if things are timed right everyone can be dropped off and picked up and they will never know I was missing from the stands. Well that’s not really true because of course I do coordinate everything with the kids so they will know what I am up to and what to do if I am late but you get the idea.

Who thought it was a good idea to put a road race on a Wednesday evening?

My son seen here navigating a portion of the Arbraska course called Tabarouette. It is insanely difficult for a first timer but it was a lot of fun. Knowing that you can’t get really hurt beyond some scrapes and bruises helps keep you going on the course. How many courses are there? We aren’t really certain because we only managed to complete four of them in four hours in the trees.

We had a blast while we were there and will definitely be returning to play in the trees and ride down zip lines through the forest and across the meadows.  There are pictures in the gallery if you are interested but I couldn’t get many or very good ones we were always moving and it was hard to set up a shot. There are also some pictures in a gallery called Fungi which are of fungi I found while there - all the more reason to get a macro lens for our SLR (though I wasn’t using an SLR yesterday). My daughter and I share a passion for fungus and small forest flora.

One of the good things about keeping records of things is that you can look back with a cold eye. Yesterday’s result of 42:08 was disappointing - it felt slow and that it had made a mistake to start out at a slower than normal pace. While it was slower than my last two 10 K road races it wasn’t a disaster by any stretch - only one minute slower than the HBC and 8 seconds slower than Pierrefonds. With any luck the next two races, a 5 K in DDO and another trail race on the 17th should help get me ready for my target race this year Vaudreuil. The Vaudreuil race was my best race last year on a flat course and I hope to make it my best race this year though I will have to beat a couple of good times from the Baie D’Urfe race and the HBC run. If I don’t preform well there then I have two more races in the calendar to try and redeem myself the Cross des Couleurs which is a bear of a race much of which is in sand up to your ankles and the Parc Lafontaine which is reputed to be the fastest course on the circuit. Regardless of what happens though this has been a good year in racing terms.

With only a few more days until the Olympics get underway in the pollution laden venue chosen for this edition I have to confess to looking forward to some of the events. The badminton this year will be spectacular though with the coverage of the sport we get in Canada and the US I will have to wait for the games to show up on YouTube before I can see them. We should be luckier with Javelin since Canada and the US have competitors in almost all the track and field events.

Some events at the Olympics are beyond the natural chauvinism of the broadcast networks having broad enough appeal to be shown regardless of whether or not a Canadian or American has a chance. The 100 meter, the 4 x 100 relay, the marathon and the 1500 would be seen no matter who was running in them. Other events I will be looking forward to are the paddling (canoe and kayak - dragonboating is a demo sport this year), all the track and field - heptathlon, pentathlon and decathlon etcetera - bicycle races both on track and road, triathlon and mountain biking. As you can tell I am a big fan of the race, first across the line, highest jump, longest jump or throw; things that can be empirically measured. I’m not really a big fan of sports which require someone to judge them and award points. True there are rubrics for awarding points but there are too many fuzzy areas for my liking. The simplicity of first over the line does it for me.

One final note is that we are expecting to not come away with any gold medals this time around. It could be that I am one of the few people who really does believe: So what! Personally I have never supported the idea of sending only those athletes with a legitimate shot at the podium. We didn’t send marathoners to Greece because we didn’t have anyone who made the Canadian standard even though they had made the Olympic standard as a result Canada was the only country not to send a runner to the marathon when the host country had asked all nations to provide a marathoner for this event to commemorate the running of the first Olympic marathon. Those kinds of decisions are based on a sports marketing ideal where the only colour is gold and the rest of the field is meaningless. If that were true then really only 10 countries should compete in the Olympics anyway.

Genealogy is not my strong suit. My niece has done this research which is kind of cool and I am posting it here in case some other Bernicky is out there seeking info.

Augustin Berniquez married Ursule Sauve and had a son Alfred Bernique born on March 28, 1888 in St Eugene, Ontario and died 1973 he is buried in St Eugene Parish Cemetery.

Alfred Bernique married Margaret Jane (Maggie) Cousineau (daugther of Thomas Cousineau and Louise Quan or Guindon) born 1894, died 1978 and buried in St. Eugene Parish Cemetery.

Alfred (Fred) and Margaret (Maggie) had eight (8) children.

Sadie Bernicky (Born 1915, Died 1967) Married Jean Sauvey. Four children Ernie (Ernest?), Larry (Lawrence?), Debbie (Deborah?), Cynthia

Archie Peter Bernicky (Born 1917, Died 1997) married Cherie Doreen Aylen Feb 22, 1941. One daughter by birth Bonita (Bonnie) one son by adoption Denis. Bonnie married James DeLorey and they had one daughter Deborah (Debbie). Archie was a Sergeant in the Royal 22nd Vandoos who fought in WW2 and Korea.

Elsie Bernicky (Born 1919) married Arnold Clark. They have three children Glenda, Joan and Heather.

Leslie Bernicky (Born 1922, Died 1999) married Kathleen Aylen - no children. Mont Royal Fusiliers from 1940 to 1945. Taken prisoner on the Dieppe Raid 19th Aug. 1942. Please take the time to read http://www.cdnheroes.com/Vetstory04.htm

Lawrence Bernicky (Born 1926) married Pierette. Three children - Denis, Barbara Ann and Joanne.

Evelyn Bernicky (Born 1924) married Phylip Waldbaur. Two children Barbara Ann and Rodney.

Ella Bernicky (Born 1928) married Wesley Calvert three children - Billy (William?), Debbie, Cynthia

Robert (Bobby) Bernicky (Born 1930, Died 1967) married Jocelyn they had a son Robert but I am pretty sure there was more than one child but don’t have any more than that.