The marathon approaches...

Last Sunday was the longest training run before the marathon: 29 km. Not only was this a long one, it was raining. Still, the near 2 and a half hour run went off without a hitch. I discovered that you can run from Verdun, across Île-des-Soeurs, across the ice bridge parallel to the Champlain bridge, then along a man-made road in the St-Lawrence until you arrive at Île-Notre-Dame. Doing this loop from home was a 28 km route, to which I added a kilometer at the end to make 29. On these long runs, you can really get around the city, and even off the island. The race is in 18 days, and training is on track.

This afternoon, I will head to Reine Marie for the first tryout session for my high school girls' basketball team. I am happy to see that of the 11 girls who are still at the school from my 2010-2011 team, ten have signed up for tryouts. The other coaches and I will decide who will coach which age group.

My race car has been parked as there have been no events in the past couple of weeks. I got a sweet deal on some used race tires and wheels, but I am still waiting for the parts I ordered to rebuild my 4th gear. I will be participating in the War Bonnet Enduro at Mosport on September 17th with Pascal, but we have yet to decide with which Civic, his or mine.

I have been driving the M3, despite the fact that the very intermittent suspension issue is not resolved. I will be taking the car to a specialist next week to try to find out what the problem is. The car is an absolute pleasure to drive when I can just forget about the small issues. It turns a lot of heads for an eight-year-old car that can be bought for the price of a new economy car. Also, the power delivery is silky smooth and the interior is a really nice place to spend time. Alex refuses to discuss any future cars we might own, as she plans to keep this M3 forever.

Speaking of Alex, her semester started yesterday. She will be teaching two classes this fall, and two more in the winter semester. She is still very much enjoying her new job, although she is also very busy.

Cool cars spotted:

Ferrari California

Ferrari F430

Ferrari 575

Dino 308 GT4

Lamborghini Gallardo

Aston Martin Vainquish S

Aston Martin Vantage

Porsche 997 Turbo

Porsche 993 Turbo

Porsche 944 Turbo

Nissan GTR

Datsun 510

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati GT

caged Toyota Celica AWD

Audi RS4

Audi R8

BMW Z8

BMW M6

BMW 633