Otherwise Known As Kevin Miller (XI)

A post about "curling"?

I know I'm desperate to rack up those earnings per click on my spankin' new Adify account, but isn't this pushing things just a little?

Believe it or not, I do have some valid reasons for posting on this topic. First, I'm Canadian, and I don't care who you are, if you're a Canadian, you curl. You even enjoy watching the game. You just don't want to admit it.

BTW, in case someone out there doesn't know what curling is, think of shuffleboard played on ice using 40 pound granite rocks. It's more fun than it looks, and it takes strategy as well as skill.

But back to why I'm posting on this topic: It just so happens that a good friend of mine, Ken MacDonald, has coached his BC women's team into the finals of the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which is our national championships. The game takes place tomorrow night at 5:00 in Victoria, where BC will face off against last year's defending champions. The winner qualifies to go to the world championships in Korea.

So whether you're Canadian or you just want to know how it feels like to be Canadian, hopefully you can find a way to check out the game, because it's bound to be a close one.

Catching waves--and the reef

I didn't have a close encounter with a Great White. But I did get a nasty gash in my left foot after I wiped out and hit my foot on the reef. I've done lots of boogie boarding and body surfing. But this was my first time doing stand-up. And in no more than about five feet of water--at the deepest. Fun stuff. I almost made it up a couple of times. Now I'm just sore and sunburned.

Cracked 7 minutes at last!

For some reason, I've been hung up around the 7:12 mark on my quest for the four-minute mile. Finally, today -- on my birthday -- I broke through and did it in 6:57. And I still had some reserve in the tank. Next stop, 6:45.

Cool discovery of the month

The Jim Rome show. He's the Simon Cowell/Bruce Allen of the sports world. I started listening to Jim over the Christmas holidays as I tooled around town racking up the Visa. Insightful, opinionated, and always entertaining. Why am I listening to sports radio you ask? Clearly, I'm under way too much stress.

Progress!!

Despite being sick over the last couple of weeks, I've managed to whittle my mile down to 7:14 (that's minutes and seconds, by the way, not hours and minutes). Next stop, 6:59. And I've never felt better.

Others have done it, but can I?

Yes, I'm talking about the four-minute mile. It's been on my mind for the last several months to see how close I can get to making--and possibly breaking--the four minute mile barrier. I have no idea how well I"ll do. I haven't been a consistent runner since I trained for the 2000 meter race back in grade 12. I won the local competition, but that's only because most of the other runners did it in their jeans (and stopped to puke after the first lap). I was lapped at least once by the winner of the regional competition. But I stuck with it and was greeted by a roar of pity applause when I finally staggered across the finish line.

So far, after three nights of running this week, I'm doing a mile in about eight minutes. Not a bad start. But the day I started training, my friend Terry Barkman threw down the gauntlet at five minutes and twenty seconds. So I'm far from satisfied. I'll post another update once I crack the seven minute barrier.