Posts
Spent the afternoon visiting the Carp "Diefenbunker" Museum with the family. Since I once worked in a bunker of sorts, I found this a pretty cool museum. I picked up a cool "One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day" t-shirt and a RADIAC Calculator from their gift shop.
In 1958, at the height of the Cold War, Carp was selected as the site for one of the Emergency Government Headquarters (also known as "Diefenbunkers") complexes being constructed across Canada. The Carp facility would be the largest of such facilities, and the only one in the immediate Ottawa area. Construction began in 1959 in an abandoned gravel pit outside Carp. The underground 4-storey bunker was capable of withstanding a near-hit from a nuclear explosion. It had massive blast doors at the surface, as well as extensive air filters to prevent radiation infiltration. Underground storage was built for food, fuel, fresh water, and other supplies for the facility which was capable of supporting more than 500 people for weeks. A vault was also constructed on the lowest level to hold the gold reserves of the Bank of Canada.
The bunker was decommissioned in 1994, the local municipality took control of the facility, and a group of
local volunteers, recognizing the heritage and tourism value of the
Carp Diefenbunker, undertook to open the facility as a cold war museum.
Ran a 6.77 km route around my neighbourhood in 39:49 (5:53/km). I had expected that today would be warm, somewhere around the freezing mark, but for this run it was -15C with a ~10km/h wind. It was a good solid run with most of the sidewalks cleared with compact snow.
I ran this one today wearing my brand spanking new Dryline Mitts from Running Room. I wasn't too impressed with the $40 price tag but these mitts were exactly what I was looking for and I was not able to find anything like them anywhere else. They preformed great on the run. They work well to keep the wind and water out and layer well with a pair of lighter running gloves.
Ran a total of 27.86 km this week, with all of these runs along the Rideau Canal. The canal is now open for skating and there are still plenty of folks running along and on the canal this time of year. I missed one run this week, on Wednesday, due to a snowstorm.
- Mon, 5 Jan 09 | 7 kms in 38:57 (5:33/km) during a light snow at -5C. First winter run along the Rideau Canal.
- Tue, 6 Jan 09 | 8.16 km in 46:01 (5:38/km)
- Thu, 8 Jan 09 | 5.82 km in 32:59 (5:40/km). First run with new YakTrax Pro traction assist slip-ons. They worked pretty well.
- Fri, 9 Jan 09 | 6.87 km in 39:10 (5:42/km). Coldest run of the week; -17C or nearly -30C with windchill.