Apparently I'm too obscure.

The previous post referenced this song:

 

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Marathon Man - 16 Miles and what do you get.

Yesterday was a 16 miler. In horrible heat. Did ok for (what I think) was the first 12 and then got into slog mode; but I finished. I'm still a little wiped as I write this. And, we all picked up the schedule for next month.  Three 18 mile runs! Oh, and a marathon on Oct. 4.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

If you're just joining us, this is all about me running the CowTown Marathon this October as a fund raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Details can be found here.  You can make donations here.

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Marathon Man - Special Report

A couple of things.

First off, the donations continue to come in. I think that's terrific and I want thank the folks that are contributing. It's really great.

The second thing has to do with motivation. I truly feel like I'm running for the people who will benefit from the research and support that your donations enable. And that focus really helps. 

Tonight I started training with a two-bottle water belt. That's one more bottle than I had been running with, but it might as well have been another gallon. Picture Luke running around with Yoda on his back. It was just a five mile run, but I want to get used to the setup, because I'll need it for the 16 miler coming up on Saturday. Anyway, I'm a mile in and I'm whining to myself about the damn belt and it's slipping and blah blah blah. 

Then I thought of the first wife's nephew. Andy (or Drew as we called him then) as a two year old was the ring bearer at our wedding. A cuter blonde, tousled-haired  boy you could not find. Great kid. Time passes, folks drift and I don't seem him again until a few years ago at his cousin's wedding. Good lord, the two year old was a man. And charming and great to re-meet. Sadly we saw each other again over the past year, as his grandparents passed away. Not the best circumstances, but still a pleasure to see him and his brothers.

Andy was diagnosed with Leukemia a week or so ago. Today he had a spinal tap as part of the diagnosis and treatment for said Leukemia. So, Andy, the first mile tonight was on me, and you got me through the last four. Running five miles in a cool delta breeze as the sun sets, on your behalf, is a privilege. Thanks.

Frankly, I could do with a little less motivation.

If you're just joining us, this is all about me running the CowTown Marathon this October as a fund raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Details can be found here.  You can make donations here.

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Marathon Man - Practically took the week off

I only ran 15 miles this week - I spent four days out of town and I chose to drive down for each day's activities rather than setup shop in the Bay Area. That left me too tired to run most nights, although I got in 5 miles Tuesday night.

I got 10 miles in yesterday and 6 this morning, so I seem no worse for (lack of) the wear, which is good because next Saturday is a 16 miler.

The Cowtown Marathon is in 6 weeks; holy cow.

If you're just joining us, this is all about me running the CowTown Marathon this October as a fund raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Details can be found here.  You can make donations here.

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First Class!

My aunt flew my sister from San Francisco to Chicago FIRST CLASS! The sis will get to visit with my aunt and a few cousins over the next couple of days.

 I have a great family.

 My sister is having a full week.

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The Marathon Man - wherein we contemplate the season

...he went away from the basement and left this note on his terminal: "I'm going to a commune in Vermont and will deal with no unit of time shorter than a season." -- From Tracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine

The poor fellow was a computer engineer trying to understand what was happening in a computer every billionth of a second. The idea of dealing with no unit of time shorter than a season resonated with me this week. 

This Wednesday was our second assessment run - the only timed runs, so far. We ran 3 miles and recorded the time. I was five minutes quicker than the first one, and that was with a fair amount of distraction during the run. (There was a fire or rescue or something in the area with a lot of fire department activity.) After the run, the cloud cover made it seem like an early sunset and that started the rumination about seasons.  I started with Team in Training about six weeks before the summer solstice. You notice things like sunrise and sunset when you spend so much time running outdoors. 

This marathon training season will run just shy of 5 months. I'll have started in Spring and I will run the marathon this Fall. For someone with the patience of a 12 year old, that's a pretty amazing commitment. And it helps reinforce the value of thinking longer term. Not today, or this week, but in seasons and years.

Consider that two years ago this month I bought a bike and decided that was going to be my road to exercise salvation. I was in such poor shape that I had to walk it over a hill that's between my house and the grocery store. Today, I rode to the store and handled the the hill with no problem. It's good to take the long view.

The Saturday run, 14 miles, is just a way point towards a bigger goal. By the end of the month, it won't even stand as my longest run anymore. In six weeks, I'm running a marathon.

If you're just joining us, this is all about me running the CowTown Marathon this October as a fund raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Details can be found here.  You can make donations here.

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Marathon Man - the goal was 36 minutes

Three mile calibration run last night. Just made it. :-)

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Marathon Man - Bloody Hill

The countdown is now at eight weeks until the Cowtown Marathon. Plenty of time!

The high point of last weeks training was a hill run we did Wednesday night. First we ran about a mile and a half to get to the hill and then we did six 600 meter hill repeats. That's running up hill for a third of a mile. Six times.  I ran all of 2 of the 6 and ran/walked the other four. But, I did all 6, thank you very much. For the locals, the run was up Pennsylvania Ave to Magnolia, in Fair Oaks.

The Saturday run was a manageable 10 miles along the American River Parkway. Next Saturday is a half-marathon (13-14 miles) in El Dorado Hills. I'm curious what that route will look like.

If you're just joining us, this is all about me running the CowTown Marathon this October as a fund raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Details can be found here.  You can make donations here.

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Marathon Man - Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold (I'll take my peas frozen, please)

Hola Amigos!

This week was another milestone week. On Saturday I slogged through 12 miles of the western edge of UC Davis. Ran by sheep barns and an avian research facility.  Maybe their slogan should be "Better Students Today! Better Chickens Tomorrow!" Or maybe I should stick to running. 12 miles is a new distance record

Just as we were starting we got to see five hot air balloons taking off. That was fun to watch.

After that run my plantar faciitis reared its ugly head. I had a problem with this many years ago and treated it by ignoring it, which was a huge mistake. This time I jumped on it, making sure I did my stretches and I picked up a pound of frozen peas to ice my foot down. Basically, Saturday was painful, Sunday was annoying and today I was able to run again. I can tell something is going on, but it's not debilitating.

In case you had a childhood different than mine, the origins of today's title

If you're just joining us, this is all about me running the CowTown Marathon this October as a fund raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Details can be found here.  You can make donations here.

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