Revving to run It’s time to start training for this spring’s long distance races By Sharon Miki ith the twinkling lights and blurry morning-afters of the holidays all but behind us and the frost on the ground beginning to thaw, it’s time to lace up those sneakers and get back into shape. While long distance races can seem daunting to many novice runners, they are a great way to focus your cardiovascular training and accomplish a specific and significant fitness goal. Seeing as many training programs last between 12 and 15 weeks, January is a great time to select an appropriate distance goal and sign up for a run. For instance, people who are currently fairly sedentary could reasonably train for a five or eight kilometer run within a few months if they start running now. Those who already run or work out on a regular basis could set their sights on a larger goal, such as a half or full marathon. When it comes to the actual running, there are a lot of options to make training manageable. For those who prefer to train with others, groups like The Running Room offer running clinics. At Douglas College’s New West campus, the recreation department offers a weekly Sun Run (10k) training clinic on Tuesdays, starting January 25. For those who like to run alone, many smart phones and online programs offer convenient and low-cost applications that set progressive daily goals and track your progress. There is a number of long distance runs planned in the Vancouver area in the next few months. Here are a few that might pique your interest: Fort Langley Historic Half Marathon (Langley) Sunday February 20, 2011 5K/10K walk/run, half marathon Green Sock Half & Shamrock’n Race (Burnaby) Sunday March 13, 2011 7 mile, half marathon Vancouver Sun Run (Vancouver) Sunday April 17, 2011 10K BMO Vancouver Marathon (Vancouver) Sunday May 1, 2011 8K, half marathon, marathon Wol..Wol..Wol...Wolves!!! By Kevin Wong Ts quote, “nothing is impossible” is absolutely correct whether in our real life or in sports. “Surprising”, “disappointing™ and “exciting” are the three best words to describe the half season of the 2010-2011 English Premier League. The most surprising team should be the Wolves, which is an underdog team and was expected to be relegated by the end of May. Don’t be surprised if this team could survive in the premier league for another year. Before the game between Chelsea and Wolves, how many people expected the latter would come out on top? Did anyone really expect it to happen? Well, it did. Before the end of 2010, the “predator” had knocked two big clubs, Manchester City and Liverpool, off. No doubt the defensive play of the Wolves at their home field has impressed many of us. Surprisingly, Chelsea had only scored nine goals in their past ten matches. Time is flying; Liverpool will visit the Wolves on January 22 and try to gain a measure of revenge from their loss last time. Well, who is the most disappointing club so far this season? Liverpool is the winner (or loser) there. “The Red” was one of the traditional “Big Four” in the league, but this team is currently sitting at the 12th spot as I’m writing. Playing consistently on the road and having more secondary scoring are much needed for this club to bounce back. The EPL is continuing to be the most exciting soccer league in the planet. Will Manchester City, yes, Man City, win their first EPL title in many years? Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham would say not a chance, but it is a possibility. As I’m writing, Aston Villa, Wigan, West Ham, Wolves, Birmingham, Fulham, West Brom and Liverpool are also fighting extremely hard to prove that they belong to the top league and avoid to be relegated. The current rankings don’t guarantee any of those teams a reprieve from relegation because the standings are changed after each match. So we’d better pay more attention to those teams when they play against each other in the second half of the season. The winner will get three huge points after each game and the loser will absolutely drop to the lower spot. Finally, I’m sure most of the management groups among the 20 clubs are experiencing headaches right now because they are thinking how to keep their jobs and spend money wisely to sign or trade for the best players to Help their teams be the survivors. By Josh Martin, Sports Editor he Vancouver Canucks are as good as ever riding as the top team in the NHL through the first half of the season with a stifling 27-8-3-3 record and 60 points in 41 games. They’re coming off a recent eight game winning streak that was ended on Sunday night in a shootout against the Detroit Red Wings. One of the few losses that the Canucks have encountered in the past 21 games but hey, it was going to happen sooner or later, you can’t keep winning games without losing a few and if those few games are decided in the shootout, at least we get the extra point. On Sunday night the Canucks had their hands full, facing the second best team in the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings. It was an intense game to say the least that went right down to the wire in the shootout where Detroit came out with the win in a 2-1 battle between the top two teams in the league. It was a game filled with scoring chances and entertainment with back and forth action which carried out into overtime. Jimmy Howard stood on his head in goal for the Red Wings, absolutely robbing Daniel Sedin in the first period on his backhand point- blank shot and then doing the same to brother Henrik Sedin on a one-timer shot from the slot in the third period. Despite playing without five of their top players (Pavel Datsyuk, Brad Stuart, Chris Osgood, Dan Cleary, Valterri Filppula) Detroit still managed to get the job done and in competitive fashion. You have got to think too, once those five guys return from injuries they’re just going to be that much better. The Red Wings are right behind Vancouver in the standings with 59 points in 42 games. A strong team that the Canucks could end up facing in the playoffs at some point and finish what they’ ve started. Detroit holds the season series lead 2-1. The goaltending tandem in Vancouver has never been better with Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider winning games left and Ss. YoMTs. The No.1 team in the NHL right. Schneider has been relieving Luongo of his duties lately with the birth of his second child and whatnot, which has seemed to pay off for both goaltenders. Schneider has yet to lose in regulation this season with an impressive 8-0-2 record, a .925 SV% and a 2.31 GAA. Luongo on the other hand was awarded the second star for the month of December in the entire NHL for his solid efforts and currently holds a 19-8-4 record this season with a 921 SV% and a 2.33 GAA. With playing fewer games this season, hopefully he’ ll be a lot stronger come post-season than he has been in the past years, especially against the loved-to-be-hated Chicago Blackhawks if we do end up meeting them in the playoffs...heaven forbid. Ryan Kesler has 23 goals...wait say that again? Is this the same guy who used to always seem to shoot the puck off someone’s stick and out of play when he was trying to hit the net? Kesler is fifth in the league in scoring and second on the team behind only Daniel Sedin who has 25 on the year and 54 points. Daniel is tied for third in the NHL with his brother Henrik for the most points; Sidney Crosby holds the lead in that category with 66. The Canucks have now won 17 games in their last 21 and are 8-0-2 in their last 10. With the first half of the season over and done with we’ll see how long or if they can hold the number one position in the NHL for the remainder of the year.