Marathon Man - Just one regret

My last post was titled "How Many K?". I realized too late I should have called that one "Que K?" It doesn't mean the same thing, but how good is your Spanish anyway?

Two weeks since my last post. Thanks for waiting so patiently. No one bothered me wondering when the next one would show up. 

Last weekend I was back in Ohio for a high school reunion. From a running perspective, the high point was Saturday morning when I went out for a run with my friend Mark, who is an experienced runner, or at least a much better runner. (He did a 10K in the same time I ran my 5K).  Rain was threatening and about two miles in the rain was joined by thunder and lightening. We don't get much of that in Sacramento, and when I lived in Ohio, you'd lay low when lightening was nearby. Mark has more recent experience with that sort of weather and I asked him if he thought we were safe. He just laughed. As the rain picked up, Mark kicked it up and went back to get his car (at his pace, not mine) and he came back and rescued me. That is turning into a recurring theme this month.

July continues to kick my butt. My body continues to adjust, after a fashion, to the longer distances and the hot Sacramento summer. The mid-long runs (4-5 miles) are typically ok, but the 6-9 miles are tough. In fact today was supposed to be nine miles and ended up being 7 (and that was with a half hour break in the middle - that story is not going into print. Only in person. But it involved a car-based rescue.) I've yet to hit 8 or 9 miles. The next try will be Saturday. 9-10 miles...

On the business end, the point of this marathon is to raise money to fight cancer. Each participant is responsible for raising an amount of money. In my case, the target was $1,500. That goal was met a few weeks ago. That's very cool. And the money keeps coming in, which is also very cool, since cancer hasn't been cured. Thank you so very much for your support.

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.

Once more, on Palin.

In late August 2008 I identified the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate as the beginning of the end of his campaign.  Two months later I revisited the fallout from her selection.

And now, Sarah is stepping aside from electoral politics.   I won't add to the conjecture on why she is stepping down, as I can't afford a lawyer. 

There has been some conjecture on Twitter on Gov. Palin's new Twitter id once she is no longer governor. Her current 'handle' is 'AKGovSarahPalin'. My current favorite is a term that embodies her recent action while still honoring her native Alaska. It comes from @pourmecoffee, one of the droller political twits out there: "Iquitarod"

I wish I'd come up with that.

Marathon Man - How many K?

I mentioned last week that I was starting distance goals as opposed to the timed running goals I had before. So, now instead of going out for 40 minutes, I'm supposed to go out for four miles (or some such.) Wednesday was 6 miles, Tuesday and Thursday were 3-4 miles. Today's goal was 6 again.

So far it's kicking my butt. But (ahem) the good news is that I have the past two month's experience under my belt, so I know this too will pass. 

I ran a 10k today at an event which was part of the local July 4th celebrations. They had a much larger crowd was at  the 5K in Roseville, so I'm glad I went. I now have a better idea of how to avoid crowds. While I was last in my age group, I wasn't last over all. My streak continues.  Of course, after the run, I came home and slept for three hours. Go Team!

Finally, the point of all this running and blogging is to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). I mentioned my marathon goal to a couple that I saw at a party last night. I've known these folks for years. These days I only see them at a mutual friends annual July 4th party. This morning they put me over the top by making a donation to the LLS. Thanks Vern And Kathy (with a K!) for putting me over the top and thanks to all of you have supported the Society over the past two months.

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.

Marathon Man - Another day in the park.

Just wrapped up another week, with my longest run yet - 88 minutes.  I did three laps around William Land Park.   It's really amazing to me that I've come this far. Can I quit now?

A few weeks ago I ran a 5K in Granite Bay and I just signed up for a 10K on July 4th here in Elk Grove. Both runs were selected because they match the time/distance requirements of the day I ran. That is two weeks ago, I was supposed to run 40 minutes, which is about how long the 5K took. Next Saturday, I'm supposed to run 6 miles, which is just shy of 10k. That's as good a metric as any to show how much the training is picking up.

Starting Monday I run distance instead of time. Maybe that will be the incentive to pick up the tempo. I've been moving really slow, with my effort on maintaining consistency.

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.

Marathon Man - It's official, I'm a runner.

The week started with a  5K run in Granite Bay. I finished and I didn't come in last!  My goal for the run was to see how it all worked. As I've mentioned before, it's easy for me to lose my pace when I'm running with other people. I thought this would be a good test of that process. Also, I wanted to get a sense of the overhead of a group run. Checkin, etc. It was all easy. I started towards the back of the pack (and stayed there. :-) ) 

I ran a 5K, rather than a 10K because it fit my training schedule for that day. I'm glad I did it and I'll get some other organized runs in between now and October. By then it'll be second nature.

This was supposed to be a light week, but I just finished my longest run so far - 80 minutes or about 5 miles as the crow walks. It went well. I do fine as long as I keep to my snail's pace.

On Wednesday I had my first 'couldn't do it.' I was supposed to be out an hour, but only made 45 minutes. Not sure why. I'm happy to let it go and see if it becomes a pattern before I worry about.

As always, thanks for your support. On the fund raising side of things (this is, after all, a fund raiser) I'm doing ok. Only a couple of hundred dollars to go. 

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.