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Ok, so it's been awhile. I did manage to complete the PF Chang's Marathon. No doubt it was the most difficult physical challenge I've ever encountered. However, I did manage to finish. I can proudly say that I have completed a full marathon. Not a lot of people that can say that. My uncle emailed after it was over and offered this tidbit. "Train hard for 3/4 months and then get bragging rights forever!"
At first I didn't think I would do it again, but after my body healed, I decided I'd try it again. I did experience some cramping around mile 18 that really slowed me down. Turns out it was due to a lack of electrolytes. That is pretty easy to correct, so I know I can improve my time just with proper nutrition. Plus, I did manage to get some electrolytes (salt) around mile 22. Once I got that in me, I was able to finish the race relatively strong. Definitely will be trying it again. It is a challenge to me to try and beat my previous time. Time was around 5:30 or so.
After the marathon I ran a small 5K and another half-marathon. I've done 5 half-marathons now. Latest was Valley of the Sun. Nice, nice course. The race went through Las Sendas and the Salt River Rec area. Weather was great and it was a lot of fun. I ended up keeping a pretty strong pace throughout. Little slow towards the end, but overall it was a good race. Found a new website that allows you to track your races as well. This is a nice way to keep in touch with other runners: My race results and info
Besides racing I've been involved with my 30 year high school reunion. My job has been to help find people and handle invitations. We've managed to cover a good portion of our class. Out of about 130 people I have over 95 email addresses and even more physical addresses. It should be a fun reunion. We have always been a close knit class.
Just got done doing the Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon. This is a nice tuneup for doing the full marathon in January. The weather was good running weather. We caught a break from the rain just long enough to get the race in. Since I've been training with more miles, doing 13.1 miles was actually pretty easy. My pace was much faster than I had expected. I was able to keep that pace most of the race. I ended up finishing 10 minutes faster than my best time for a half. My previous best was 2 hours 17+ minutes. This time I did it in 2 hours and 7 minutes. The best part was that I felt great afterwards. I wasn't sore, achy or anything else.
Yesterday was the deadline to recommit for my fundraising with Team D. See here for more details on what recommitment is all about. This is standard practice when working with any charitable organization. They incur costs with these events and need to know that those costs will be covered. If you are not able to raise the specified funds, either you have to leave the team or make up the difference yourself. As you can see from my Thank You Page, I only have $215 in donations. The minimum is $1000. I didn't feel confident that I could raise $785 between now and January. I got kind of a late start and didn't pursue enough opportunities like I did last year.
I decided not to recommit to Team D. I'm not real pleased about that, but I can't really afford to commit to that amount. I still support Team D. In fact, if anybody has set aside any money for the cause, please contact me. I will see to it that the money gets to the right place.
Another personal milestone. I completed 16 miles this weekend. We were supposed to do 10 miles, but due to some scheduling changes we ended up doing 16. This coming weekend will be the 10 miles. It went better than I thought it would. The 14 mile run a few weeks ago was pretty tough. This one was easier. I was able to get through it all without any problems. I got just the right amount of slow-downs and water breaks to keep me feeling relatively fresh.
Next up is the Mesa Turkey Trot. I am doing the 10K, while the rest of the family will be doing a 2 mile fun run/walk. I'm pretty sure Suzie will be mostly walking, but the kids might do some running. This should be a lot of fun. It is on Thanksgiving Morning, so it will be just what we need to keep off the extra pounds from the big feast.
New Times 10K was a blast. The weather was perfect, the run was good. I even set a personal best time in the 10K of 57 minutes, 15 seconds. Suzie finished the walk just fine. A shout out to the sales girl at Runner's Den that set her up with some comfortable shoes. After the race was fun as well. We had our mini high-school reunion, along with co-worker and Team D members all hanging out at the Michelob Ultra beer garden.
A few photos from the race, click on any image for a larger view
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Nothing major to report. Have been running pretty regularly with the team, on my own and with co-workers. We put together a small group that runs after work on Wednesdays. My office is near Tempe so we run from there to Tempe Town Lake and back. We have been getting 3-4 miles in on any given session. It is nice to have a group to run with.
As I mentioned in my email, I just completed 14 miles last weekend. It was at South Mountain Park. Very beautiful run, heading back into the mountains. It was also a very hilly run, which made it pretty difficult. However, after it was all said and done it felt great. Very glad to have done it, despite the difficulty. In 2 weeks we will be doing 16 miles.
I'm also pleased to say that my wife is going to be participating in the New Times with me. We have 3 mutual high school friends that will be there as well. Jackie Russell, Liz Boyle and Mary Lara. It just makes it more fun having people that are close to me involved, especially having my wife participate. Suzie will be walking, not running, but still it is nice that she will be there. And this time of year the weather is usually wonderful for these events.
November is also recommitment month. With most charity-based running programs you commit to raising a set amount of money within a set time frame. The ADA program requires a $1000 dollar fund raising total by January 14th. The 14th is the day after the marathon. If we don’t raise that much money, we are required to make up the difference ourselves. If we haven’t raised the $1000 by the end of November we either drop off the team, or sign a recommitment form to allow them to charge our credit card for the difference. If you look at my Thank You page, you will see that I’m a little thin on donations. I’m probably going to recommit at the end of the month anyway, as I’ve gotten quite a few verbal commitments. I’m pretty sure as time goes on the total will go up. It could be worse. Team In Training, which does Luekemia requires $3500.
As a result of the article about me in my local HOA's newsletter, I was contacted by a small company that specializes in Diabetes Education in the East Valley. Barbara Malaj of Arizona Diabetes and Nutrition Education, LLC contacted me and left the following message:
I happen to own a SMALL business called Arizona Diabetes and Nutrition Education. I employ a Registered Nurse and a Registered Dietitian. They are both certified diabetes educators. We have been in busness for 2.5 years. We began the company when our jobs were cut with the closing of the Diabetes Education Program at Banner Desert Medical Center. We helped MANY people thru that program and knew that there was still a need for residents in the east valley.
We offer an AFFORDABLE program to those who have diabetes. Our goal is not to make a ton of money, but to be able to teach individuals how to manage their diabetes, and with so many insurance carriers not covering educational services, the only way we could accomplish this goal is by providing the program at a very minimal fee.
Here is the contact information if you ever need help with your diabetes care
Arizona Diabetes and Nutrition Education, LLC
Phone: 480-217-4861
Fax: 480-626-1551
Okay, not that famous, but I did get a write-up about me in our local HOA's monthly newsletter. I even made the cover! I had contacted the publisher about my Team D endeavor a month ago, and they agreed to do an article about me.
Thanks to my neighbor Joe for scanning the article. My scanner is too small, mostly for photos and 8x11 documents. Click on the photo to see the entire article. You may have to zoom in to read it.
Another minor milestone reached. We started into the double digits. Did a 10 mile run on the 6th. It went very, very well. In a previous post I mentioned that things were slowing down, then picking up. Well, the 10 mile run was perfect. On top of that, we did 8 miles, with hills the very next weekend. Hills are always a challenge when doing long distance. You are already a litle tired to begin with, then going up a hill can really take it out of you. No problem last weekend. We did our 8 miles through Dreamy Draw Park, starting at 32nd St & Shea. Ran through the park to the restaurant, Aunt Chilada's. No, we didn't stop for a margarita or Corona. They weren't open yet :)
This past weekend was a long weekend though, not a lot of sleep. After the run, did the usual yard work and household chores. Then it was on to Sun City West to see Chicago. Suzie & I got tickets to see them at the Maricopa County Events Center, formerly known as The Sundome. It was a great show, we really enjoyed it. It did make for a late night, though. We had to get up early on Sunday to do the aforementioned Susan G Komen race. That was a really great experience. The weather was spectacular, making for a very comfortable run and walk. Suzie and our oldest Katie did the walk. I did the run. Kimberlie, our youngest didn't make it. She slept in for the cure. From reports I've been reading they raised over 2 million dollars to help find a cure for breast cancer. I'm glad we could be a part of it.
Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, time to do the Susan G Komen Race the Cure. I will be doing the 5K run. My wife Suzie, daughters Katie & Kimberlie will be doing the 5K walk. We did this last year and really enjoyed it. It is a good cause. Suzie's grandmother is a 93 year old breast cancer survivor. She is still going strong. I know where Suzie gets it from :)
And something non-running related. Our oldest daughter Katie will be presenting her art work at the Chandler Art Walk this Wednesday, October 3rd from 5pm to 9pm. Here is a little taste of her work.
And finally, I contacted the publisher of our local HOA's newsletter. They are going to publish an article featuring me, telling about my running and Team Diabetes. I live in the Superstition Springs Homeowners Assocation. As soon as the article is published, I will post a link to it. They do keep on-line copies of past newsletters. I saw a proof of the article and it is pretty cool.
Running is a strange sport/activity. You can do a run and come away feeling miserable. Aches and pains, bad motivation, things going on at work, or even something as simple as catching a cold. At the same time, you can be having a bad day and force yourself to run, even though you aren't in the mood. Next thing you know, you end up having a great run. I think the joy is the fact that you can always take a bad run and flush it away by having one good run.
Case in point is the last few weeks. I did the run in Flagstaff, which was pretty difficult. I ended up feeling pretty sort after that one. I decided to take it easy and give my body a rest. Getting older will do that to you. You actually have enough sense to realize that if you are totally sore, you are not doing yourself any good by over doing it. After my rest the team was scheduled for an 8 mile run. Last year I did the same race, followed by an 8 mile run. Last year I felt great. The 8 mile run was the easiest one I had done, partly due to the fact that I wasn't at high altitude and I wasn't running up a mountain. This year the 8 miler was bad. I had no energy and barely got through it.
Turns out I was in the early stages of a cold. Hence the lack of energy. Fast forward to this past weekend. I was still feeling the effects of my cold. I figured my 6 mile run would be kind of slow. In fact it's been so long since I've had a cold, I don't think I've ever had one while I was running. Of course with all that, I ended up having a fantastic run. I felt great, moved faster than I have in the last few months, and felt like I got something out of. To me, that is the joy of running. You are only one run away from having a great run. No matter what the run before was like, you always know that the next one could be great.
Just finished the High Country Challenge Trail Run over the weekend. This is a 10K (6.2 miles) run up Mars Hill in Flagstaff. I did this run last year and it totally wiped me out. This year, I did a little better. It only partially wiped me out :-) I'm not sure about my time yet, as the official results haven't been posted. I know I felt a lot better during the run, though.
Overall it was a good weekend. Suzie and I drove up to Dewey (small town outside of Prescott) the day before. Her mother lives there, and we spent the night there. Sunday morning I got up semi-early and drove up to Flagstaff. Nice early morning drive. The weather for the run was perfect, roughly 70 degrees or so. Afterwards even got a chance to visit with my daughter Kristin. Her landlord put in a new stove and she decided it was a good time to bake some brownies. Left Flagstaff and headed back to Dewey later that afternoon.
It wasn't until the next day that it hit me. We ran a very, very steep incline up the mountain. I ended up feeling totally wiped out the next day, total muscle stiffness. The good thing about that is for a type 2 diabetic, muscle soreness means I am breaking down insulin resistance, which basically means I am fighting my diabetes while sitting in my chair. Also, the brutal effort of the run means that this Saturday when I have to do an 8 mile run, it will feel like a walk in the park. I can't wait for Saturday morning. We will be running in Glendale's Paseo Park at 6:30am. I plan on shredding that 8 mile course!
Another year, another race. For those that followed last year's journey, you may remember that I had set out to do a full marathon (26 miles). I ended up getting a common runner's injury, IT Band Syndrome, and was forced to pull back and do a half-marathon (13 miles). This year I am going to attempt the full marathon again.
After last year's race, I kept running. I completed 2 half-marathons and some shorter races. Around the month of May, I stopped running on purpose. I decided to give my body a rest and start doing other forms of exercise. I focused on indoor training, like exercise bikes, stair climbers and weight lifting. It all seems to have worked out.
We started our Team D training last month, and I did just fine. The running felt really good. And I did miss it. There is something special about being outside, with the wind in your face. Not that I run fast enough to make any real wind, but you get the idea. Speaking of speed, I think part of what hurt me last year was I was going faster than what my body was truly capable of. This year I am starting a little slower. I plan on picking up the pace as we go on, but for now I am doing it slow, but steady. The old cliche about it not being a sprint, but a marathon is literally true this time.
I plan on doing several races throughout the next few months. They are good for getting into shape, and just the overall atmosphere. I did this race High Country Challenge last year, and am signed up again this year. It is a very tough run, but takes you through some of the most beautiful scenery. The part about being outdoors and seeing such nice scenery is why a lot of us run.
Last years news