Happy Vomit-days

Aaah the holidays. I spent a lot of mine in a dark room with a fever accompanied by a nasty stomach bug and left it in day-after Christmas stockings for all to enjoy. Sorry to everyone who contracted my nasty bug.

Up until I got that bug, my Christmas was going great. Amanda and I visited her folks, then we visited my folks on Christmas day. I had planned on getting back to Bristol on Sunday evening to take care of a few things on my Monday day off, one of which included a nice trail run.

With the weather being cold and snowy, not many people are heading out to the local city park to make use of the trails, which means that I can run them and have them all to myself. Just me and the sound of the snow and sticks crunching under each stride. I think it's also more about motivation. Most people just aren't motivated to get out in the cold and do anything. Sure it's cold, and if you're a runner or cyclist or hiker, it will be cold for the first few minutes, then you warm up, I guarantee it! Rule of thumb is that, when doing outdoor exercise in the Winter, dress as if it's 10 degrees warmer than it actually is. This accommodates for you increase in body temperature and will keep you from overheating.

Another issue of motivation comes around this time of year, which comes in the form of resolutions. Everyone at some point has made one, and more often than not, broken one. I know I have. Resolutions are good in that you've set a goal for yourself, but most of us don't take into consideration what motivates us to accomplish these goals.

I can use this blog and my marathon as an example. I've always wanted to run a marathon, or attempt to finish one, but never really had the motivation to do so. So, a good motivational idea was to use it as a way to raise money for a charitable donation. Not only do I get to run the marathon, but I can use it to do some good at the same time. Your goal doesn't have to be big, nor does it have to be really all that important. Just as long as you do it for the right reasons and have the proper motivation to see it through. We all know that "will power" isn't exactly what we make it out to be.

It's the most wonderful run....

Ten days since my last post and it has been a busy ten days. I've had lots of work to do before the new year approaches which means that my blogging has been lacking. I have been running though!

I've come to the realization that running trails is much more fun than running on the roads. This makes sense to me since I'd rather be riding my mountain bike than my road bike if plan to ride. The trails offer a nicer cushion to land on when I'm running which means that my plantar fasciitis doesn't flame up nearly as early in my run.

During my last run there was still quite a bit of snow in some areas of the park, especially the trails. I ran part of the cross country course out there, but added a little more trail to the loop and ran part of it in reverse. When I was running the reverse section, I had to run up a hill, not a big hill, but a hill and it reminded me of that scene in Rocky IV where Rocky ditches the Russians following him in the car by ducking off the road, then he runs up the mountain and yells 'DRAGOOO!!!" a bunch of times. Well, my ascent to the top of the hill wasn't that dramatic, but I thought about it anyway.

I'm going to start planning running routes at Sugar Hollow Park on the trails since I can create lots of options. Running trails also keeps me off the roads and away from crazy drivers, especially this time of year when everyone is out shopping and hating other people.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Snow, snow...and oh...snow.

Old Man Winter is trying to make an old man out of me, I'm certain of it. It's tough to get motivated to do anything when the weather doesn't cooperate. I've spent the entire day at the house with my wife and we both worked on our own little projects and watched a couple of movies.

Hopefully I can get out and about tomorrow, maybe even run on the dreaded treadmill at the YMCA. I did get to go for a short run last week, mainly to test my foot's pain threshold. It held up really well and I felt good the entire run. As much as I'm not a runner and don't really like to run, I'm eager to start putting in some miles again.

I'll take suggestions. What do you do when it's too nasty to get outside to run or ride?

Cross training

It has been a few since I last posted on ye olde blog and I do apologize. I've been trying to catch up on everything after being gone for Thanksgiving.

I haven't done much running since my foot had been bothering me after my last run  in sunny Florida, so I've started using my first love as a cross-training method to keep me somewhat in shape. I've been doing some mountain biking since it doesn't hurt my foot and I sure as heck don't mind riding! They say cross training is important, but riding doesn't really feel like training to me, however, running does. It does feel nice to switch it up a little though.

I'm going to run today, probably at the YMCA on a treadmill since the weather is extremely cold lately and it's only getting colder and darker by the time I get off work. I generally hate running on treadmills, but they do have TVs in front of them...maybe I'll catch Oprah or something. Is her show still on?

I do want to take this moment to congratulate my running mate's mate, Joy, for completing her first marathon this past weekend in Memphis. She ran the St. Jude's marathon to raise money for St. Jude's and finished under five hours. Way to go Joy!

I will return with a regularly scheduled program, I promise. Thanks for keeping up!

Non-turkey trottin'

As I sit here on this Thanksgiving evening, I'm reading about what everyone is thankful for. I will add to that by saying that I'm thankful to all of my marathon contributors, my ability to go out for a run today and for organizations like Livestrong and St. Jude's for all they do for cancer patients and their families. It has been a while since I have posted and do have updates. Seems my foot problem was some pretty severe plantar fasciitis. I exited the doctor's office with a nice pair of crutches to help me get around. He told me to rest, which I did probably a little too well. I wasn't able to ride a bike or run for more than a week, well, until today. Today was my first run since the half marathon. I ran a little more than three miles and it wasn't pretty. Between my stack of French toast this morning & my gluttony during my injury time, it became a tough run. Top that with the humidity and heat here in Florida. You heard me, Florida. My parents are snowbirds so this year Thanksgiving is in sunny Florida. It's nice to have sunny and warm weather, but the humidity is tough. My foot did hurt near the end of my run, but I didn't push it. With some ice, rest and my Naproxen, I should be good for my Saturday Santos ride in Ocala. I hope all of my readers have had a great Thanksgiving and if you're traveling, that you have safe trips!

Mustache Love

Saturday's half marathon was a little disappointing for me. I didn't finish under two hours, I hurt my foot and I had to walk for two miles. Needless to say, my spirits were a little low for most of the run. I did find a little source of inspiration during, what I have dubbed, the 'Walking Miles'.

For the month of November, I have been growing a mustache for Movember. Most people make fun of the 'stache or just flat out hate it, but I don't mind, it's for a good cause. I had been walking for a little more than a mile and as I was limping along with my head down, I noticed something shiny in the road. As I got closer I noticed it was a pin lying face down. I picked it up and flipped it over and immediately felt a smile on my face.

That's right, mustache love. It gave me a boost of confidence and really reminded me of why I was out there. It also made me feel a little worse too knowing that I may have had to give up the half and not finish. I clipped the pin onto my number on my chest and continued walking and I could hear it jingle with every step. Now it will forever be pinned to my wool Retrotec cycling cap with my other pins. So to all you Movember participants, love your mustache.

Mile marker one

I've had a lot of people text me and send me facebook messages asking me how my half marathon went yesterday. I had planned on waiting until tomorrow to post, but thought I'd give a weekend edition.

As my core followers know, I have been battling a nagging foot injury for a couple of weeks now, but with a few exercises and some Naproxen it wasn't bothering me nearly as bad. So Saturday, I took extra special care to do the necessary stretches and take my medication before the run. I got there a bit early to register and make sure my legs were warmed up.

As we lined up the start line I couldn't have felt better. My foot was hurting a little bit, but not enough to bother my stride or my times. I was stuck in some traffic for the first mile, but as the herd thinned down I found myself in a good pace and started to chip away at the ten minute first mile I had just run. As the first few miles ticked off, I noticed that I was right on pace for my sub two hour run. Mile one, ten minutes, mile two, eight-ish minutes, mile three nine minutes. This went on until the turn around point at mile five. As I approached the turnaround point my foot started to aggravate me a bit. So, just before mile six marker I got this feeling like someone had just driven a stake into my heel with a hammer. The pain when I would land on my right foot was almost unbearable. I didn't want to do it, but I had no choice but to walk the next two miles, killing my sub two hour goal.

The way the course was laid out, at around mile eight, you were right at the finish line if you turned left, if you turned right, you made the final five mile loop to finish the run. I thought very seriously about stopping and not finishing the run. As a matter of fact, when I got there I had already decided I was finished, but some unknown force pulled me right and I started to lightly jog to the top of the hill to the eight mile marker. The thought of not finishing really devastated me. I had a goal of finishing in two hours, I didn't want to NOT finish. So I ran the next five miles in some of the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my entire life. There were several hills to run up and down and at the next mile marker I noticed that I had just run a 14 minute mile. The last few were very slow going to say the least. As I got to the top of the last hill I could see the finish line and the marker that read '13'. As I saw the marker, I also saw Amanda. She had to work Saturday morning so she wasn't there for the start, but other than the time keepers, she was the only one standing at the finish line. Seeing her there was just as sweet as finishing. As I crossed the finish line, I noticed I had beat the cutoff time by five minutes, finishing in 2hrs 55 mins. Then I collapsed in pain. For the next few minutes my foot throbbed and stabbed.

Today I wake up and I can't walk on my right foot. I am now hopping on my left foot everywhere I go. As I sit here writing this post, I am planning a trip to the weekend after-hours clinic to have them look at it. Although I'm glad I finished the race, I now think it may have been a bit foolish. Ah well, I have  until April to heal up.

Preparation. Underrated.

Tomorrow is THE day, the first big milestone in this adventure, the BAE half marathon. This week hasn't really gone the way I wanted it to. With a HUGE project due at work in a ridiculously short amount of time, I've spent several days working well into the night. On top of that I've had this nagging heel problem and yesterday it was almost unbearable.

I'm not one to take medication, I'll usually deal with something until it doesn't go away and have no choice but to take some pills. Last night was one of those times. For the past two weeks I have been dealing with what seems to be Plantar Fasciitis. Since it's an inflammation issue, icing seemed to be a viable cure for it, but after researching it a little more it looks like it takes about a year to get rid of it. Yep, that's right, a year. Most doctors recommend ice, an anti-inflammatory and some Ibuprofen for around nine months before any other treatment (steroid shots or surgery in the most severe cases) is considered. So given my aversion to taking pills, Amanda and I have several bottles of Naproxen lying around and last night I took one and let me tell you it was wonderful! In about ten minutes I had no pain in my heel and I could walk normally. Sweet relief. I have some that are lower dosage that I will take regularly, but the more potent ones, I'll save for big run days. I can deal with a little nagging pain, but trust me, this thing gets bad.

But enough whining about my injuries because I do have other things to share. First one is a news story I ran across yesterday and shared on facebook. Some of you may have seen it, but for those of you who aren't on my list of friends, I will share it here as well. I follow Lance Armstrong on Twitter and he tweets a lot of Livestrong stuff and yesterday he posted a story about a kid in high school who has a cancerous brain tumor and is playing in his last high school football game. I won't go into the entire story so you can read it for yourself.

Another thing I wanted to share is a shopping tip. There are lots of companies out there who do stuff to bring awareness and raise money for cancer research, treatment, etc. Of course you have to buy their product to do it, but they're doing their part I guess. First one is Yoplait yogurt. Amanda has been saving her Yoplait lids for breast cancer where for every lid you return, Yoplait donates $.10 to breast cancer research. You can find out how much money they have raised and more here.

Another one that I just found out about is a coffee company. I'm pretty sure the company I saw was Caribou. I bought this coffee because with every purchase of a bag, they will donate $.50 of your purchase to help treat and prevent cervical cancer in women in coffee growing communities around the world. Most of these communities are very low on resources and access to treatment. You can find out more about this organization at groundsforhealth.org.

I'll be back on Monday morning with a post about my first ever half marathon. If you're a runner and have tomorrow free, come on out to run with me. I'm not fast.

Feet, don't fail me now

This weekend is the BAE Half Marathon in Kingsport. My plan for this week was to get in a couple of short runs just to keep my legs loose, however, that has yet to happen. It has been busy at work and I got to enjoy a 16 hour workday yesterday and probably a 10+ hour day today. So, needless to say, I won't be running today either.

This busy week has given me the opportunity to rest my right foot. For the past couple of weeks my heel has been hurting pretty bad, so after some online research, all of my symptoms point to plantar fasciitis. I noticed that I fell into just about every category of causes for it as well, including running in worn out shoes, having tight calf muscles, increasing your running distance too fast, etc. So for the past several days I have been icing it and it's feeling much better. There were days that I woke up in the morning and I couldn't stand on my right foot because the pain was so intense. I certainly hope it goes away completely before Saturday.

Speaking of worn out shoes, I have gotten two solid runs in on my new Asics Nimbus shoes and they are super sweet! Way more comfortable than my old worn out Nikes I was running in. I got about 6.5 miles in with Chris on Thursday before we saw Race Across the Sky and then about 4.5 on Saturday morning on my way to the Bristol Health Challenge.

Hopefully I'll have a better update for you later in the week as we get closer to my first big running event.

I got sole!

Where has the time gone? The BAE Half Marathon is next weekend and I have had a couple of items to take care of before then.

First, to be able to run 13.1 miles and I'm almost there. Chris and I ran 6.3 on Tuesday and it was rough. After racing on Saturday and not doing anything active on Sunday or Monday, my legs were feeling it. If you want some specific details of Tuesday's run, you can find it here since Chris has a nice Garmin to run with. He gives me great data after runs!

Second item to take care of...shoes. I've been wanting to get a new pair of running shoes and my knees have been begging me to get a new pair of running shoes, so last night I got a new pair of running shoes. A generous donor to this adventure opted to buy my first pair of shoes, so I researched what I needed and headed out to the shoe store. It ended up being between a pair of Nikes and a pair of Asics. In the end, the gel sole of the Asics just felt better than Nike's air sole.

I do want to remind all of the guys out there that it is Movember. So donate your face and grow a mustache! I'll post pics of mine soon!

Can't be beat

So, it has been a while since I last posted. Last I left you I was preparing for a 12 hour mountain bike race. Well, the race went pretty well, our team got third in our class. But, my brother had a crash that cut his head so my concern for that far outweighed the podium finish. I skipped the ceremonies to go hang with my brother at Oak Ridge Methodist while he waited for a stitch job. He is doing much better and will hopefully not have too bad of a scar on his forehead. I won't go into details about the race, but if you want to know more, there is another blog you can read that will have a more in depth analysis of the competition and debauchery that took place. So check that in a few days for some fun stories.

Today is my birthday and of course I do have a run planned. Chris and I will be meeting up after work to hit the pavement for a few miles. Amanda got me some sweet new cold weather running gear for my birthday so if it gets nippy out, I'll be toasty. I probably won't be going for long distance today, or even a fast time for that matter. My legs just won't feel up to it after Saturday's race.

I have also decided on a charity to give all of your donations to. Several days after beginning this venture, I was thinking about how this money would be best served. I was thinking that there are a lot of cancer research facilities, but not all of them have programs to help folks pay for the expensive treatment. I've had extended stays in hospitals before and can tell you first hand that they are not cheap, and if you don't have insurance, there can be a LOT of zeroes attached to a bill. So I wanted your donations to go to help people who probably can't afford to pay for the treatment that could save their lives. I couldn't really find an organization that did only that, but I found a couple that were close to the mark.

Several years ago I learned that a girl I graduate high school with has a son who was diagnosed with cancer as an infant. She and her family spent lots of time at the St. Jude's Hospital and, from what I can tell, had only great things to say about it. St. Jude's not only treats children with cancer, but also finds ways to make the treatment as affordable as possible, so that is where your donations will go.

If you would like more information on St. Jude's, visit their website, and if you know someone who has first hand experiences with them, ask them about it.

This excerpt is pulled straight from their website:

St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family’s inability to pay.

You can't beat that.

It's gettin' busy.

The date for the BAE Half Marathon looms for me. It's only three weeks away and I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep the pace I need for the sub two hour finish. I went out for a run on Sunday and had big plans for it. Amanda and I live about four miles from Sugar Hollow Park where there happens to be a nice cross country 5k course. My plan was to run to Sugar Hollow and maybe do the 5k course and run back. I got to the first intersection for the Target shopping center, which was about a quarter to half mile from the park, and decided that was a good place to turn around and head back home.

My entire run was on Highway 11, which most days is a pretty busy road, but late Sunday mornings, it's a ghost town. There were some cars on the road, but not anywhere near the volume that you regularly see. The route was good in that the first part of the run is mostly downhill, with one downhill being about a half mile, so coming back was very challenging. I felt like I stayed on my 8-9 minute per mile mark, but I could tell I slowed on the hills.

The whole trip was around 7.5 miles and I ran it in 56:47, which I don't consider a bad time at all. I figure that my early miles were fairly quick-paced. Again, I felt pretty good after my run, but do I think I could run for another 6 miles? I'm not sure. I didn't feel THAT good after Sunday's run, but if the half were that day, I would've done it. Probably not under two hours though.

This weekend is the 12th Annual 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth mountain bike race in Knoxville. Every year some friends and I take a team to this race, Granny's Rotten Teeth. We do pretty good every year, finishing mid-pack to somewhere near the top. Last year's weather was terrible so the lack of attendance and our aversion to quitting put us in the top spot. Needless to say, a couple of my running days will be substituted for some riding days this week. Which also means that the first blog for next week will either be about the bike race or will wait until I get to run again.

One of the nice guys

Today's post will deviate a bit from my usual banter about the condition of my legs or my progress with training. Instead I want to dedicate today's post to Bill Collie, a fellow cyclist who passed away last week while riding.

I didn't know Bill extremely well, in fact, he knew my older brother much better having grown up going to the same schools and graduating together. I would talk to Bill at random rides and bike races where I would see him at the beginning and end, while he rode away from me during. He was quiet and soft spoken off the bike, but on the bike, he was an animal. Dropping most, if not all, of the competition despite his not-so-noticeable setbacks with his heart condition. Regardless of how soft spoken he was or how angry he made you while trying to keep his wheel, you couldn't help but like the guy. And, judging from last night's services in Wise, there were possibly thousands more that felt the same way.

When I arrived at the church, the line to get into the doors stretched down to the end of the block. After an hour of standing, I made my way into the church. When I came out I saw the line had grown to stretch to the end of the block, down the next sidewalk, across the road and almost reached the intersection of Main St. and Birchfield Rd.

To be such a quiet and soft spoken guy, seems Bill had a profound effect on so many people. One of the truly nice guys in the world and he will be missed, no matter how well you knew him.

Running with Dogs

For those of you who are familiar with my circle of mountain bike pals and their blogs, the title of this blog may look familiar, but I couldn't think of any better post titles. So after reading my post, head on over to a similarly named blog for some mountain bike talk.

There isn't much to write about since my weekend consisted of mountain biking instead of running. I did get out for a run on Monday though. Amanda texted me while I was at work asking if I wanted to go to Sugar Hollow Park. The park is only about five minutes from our house and has lots of nice trails, a dog park and a paved walking path. Amanda has been walking the path recently and is doing really well with her distance. She is having some shoe problems too, so we may have a Foot RX date soon so we can get some shoes for our ailing feets.

So Amanda and I loaded up the dogs and headed out to the park after work. We decided that since Pacino (the older dog of the two) is a little more docile and way less A.D.D than Sofie (the younger one) that I would run with Sofie and she would walk with Pacino. It worked out pretty well and Sofie did an excellent job running with me. Early in our run she had a tendency to run across my path to greet other dogs or people, and once almost sent me face first into the dirt. Once she got in the groove of the run, we had fun.

She was there with me to witness my one minute crushing of my fastest 5k time on the cross country course out there. I've never been able to run it faster than 28:09, but Monday I ran it in 27:01. It's not distance related, but it is a good indicator that I'm getting some nice running legs. So that time puts me at nine minutes per mile, and if I can do that for 13.1 miles I will be below my self-imposed two hour time limit with three minutes to spare. I even felt good enough after the run to run back down to the dog park where Amanda and Pacino were hanging out with about 30 other dogs. I had a feeling that Sofie wouldn't be much for playing or running since we just blasted a 5k, but she had buckets of energy left.

I did find that I got into a good groove earlier in Monday's run than I have in previous runs. I felt like my stride and pace was the most comfortable it had been since I started. Yep, I'm getting the hang of it!

#BeatCancer

Since my last post, I haven't been running much. Heck, I hadn't ran at all since then! I skipped out on running for the weekend for some bike riding. I have a bike race around the bend, so I need to keep my riding skills honed in for it. Twelve hours at Haw Ridge demands some attention!

Despite my lack of running over the weekend, I do plan to get a couple of running days in this week so I can stay on track. I'm hoping that by the end of the month I can be at or close to running ten miles. I think I'm on track for that.

That's about all the news I have for now. I do want to remind all you tweeters out there that Paypal is donating $0.05 to Livestrong for every #BeatCancer you tweet. So tweet now and tweet often to make it a big paycheck for cancer research!

Piney Flats...not very flat.

I realize it has been a few days since I've written, but fear not my friends, I have not left. I normally write before work, but for the past several days, the hustle and bustle of work have slid into my normal blog time, besides, I have two runs under my belt since my last post.

Monday I ventured out another run by myself. I wanted to get at least 40 minutes of runtime in, regardless of the distance of that 40 minutes, so I set out on run around the great city of Bristol, Tennessee. I started a block away from my office and found a nice loop that I can one day add to. It was much easier to find my stride and pace on Monday. I think I'm really getting the hang of this running thing. When I started, I felt like I had run for hours ten minutes in, but now, after ten minutes, I feel like I've just warmed up. That's a pretty good feeling considering I don't like running all that much.

I managed to only get about 35 minutes of running in on Monday. When I finished, I was curious as to how far I had run, so when I got back to my car I decided to re-trace my route. Turns out, in my 35 minute run I had managed to cover four miles. Not too bad and right at my usual pace for a 5k. It was nice knowing that I kept that pace for an extra mile.

Yesterday, Chris and I met up at Piney Flats Bike Shop for a run. We started from there because I had to pick up a part for my ailing bike. After some route discussion with Eric Davis, one of the shop employees (I use the word employee loosely here), pointed us in the direction of a route that was right at five miles with a few hills. So Chris and I tied our shoes tight, started our timers and headed out on our newfound route.

Eric wasn't kidding, the route had several hills. A couple of them were very gradual and the rest were like climbing stairs. It was a tough run. We managed to run five very hilly miles in 47 minutes. A time I don't consider too bad considering the terrain.

I can say that since I've started running, I haven't run the same route twice. Not sure how that has happened, but it has and believe me, it wasn't intentional. Maybe that's why it's becoming so easy to get started...new scenery. When I'm on the bike, whether it's the mountain bike or the road bike, I rarely find myself in unfamiliar territory. But after yesterday's run in Piney Flats, I will go back to run that route again. It was challenging, but fun.

Running solo

Since I've started running I've tried to keep some company with me. I've gone with the dogs, Ironman Chris Dillow, but on Saturday I went by myself. My plan was to go to Sugar Hollow to run the cross country course a couple of times. The course is very hilly and about 5k, mostly on grass and sidewalk. It was kinda hot, but not muggy so I thought I could get 10k in easily. Being by myself, my pace was probably a little faster than it should have been so I wore down pretty quickly.

I've realized that I run a lot better when I have someone to run with. Chris and I ran about six miles last week and I didn't really have much trouble with it. The last bit hurt, but I got through it much better than running by myself. I need to find a good pace to run so I'll be enlisting some running partners to help pace me, plus it's nice to have some conversation to pass the time. I've seen people run with iPods, but I can't do it. I like to hear my feet hit the ground. Today, I'll be by myself again, hopefully finding my pace on my own.

Not running in place

So I'm having trouble getting the blog to link to the facebook fan page. It would be nice if I could have it automatically post to facebook via internet magic, but I always get the dreaded, "Something went wrong. We're working to fix it" message. Bullocks!

Yesterday was a bit of a milestone...I ran six miles. Yep, I'm around halfway to a half marathon and six miles is the longest distance I have ever run...without stopping. Chris and I ran at a leisurely pace that consisted of discussion topics ranging from vacations in Colombia to that old Mantracker show that came on one of the Discovery channels. Turns out we have great show ideas we will be pitching in the near future. Chris can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think our time for the entire run was 45ish minutes. It seemed like it went faster. I did feel pretty good after the run as well as during the run. I think I may be getting the hang of it, finally.

I have come to the realization that the shoes I am running with need to be replaced with shoes that I should be running with. My right arch felt like it was going to split in two when we finished. I am expecting to stop by the FootRX or Fleet Feet, whichever one I happen to be in the vicinity of when I remember my shoe problem, to get matched to a proper running shoe. I ran track for a bit in my earlier days of high school and wore a pair of Avia's. From what I recall, they were very comfortable shoes, so maybe that is my shoe match? I'll let the experts decide I guess.

It's getting much colder now which means that I will be tempted to do some training indoors on boring treadmills. I enjoy the outdoors, so I may have to suck it up, throw on the micro-fleece and run outside anyway. Really cold weather hurts my chest, but running inside is lame-o.

Calm before the storm

I guess I should report on my weekend with training and all. I will say that I did not get to do any research on charities over the weekend, but I did officially decide that I will be doing the Nashville Marathon in April. I hear that it's a good one, plus I have friends in Nashville that I haven't seen for a while.

The first phase of my training is to be able to run a half marathon. The whole enchilada is too much to think about this early in the training process, so my short-term goal is to be able to run 13.1 miles, preferably in two hours. If I can get a half down to two hours or less, then I think I can do 26.2 at or under four hours.

Chris Dillow and I did get to run for a bit on Saturday at the MSG Cyclocross race. I didn't really go for distance so much as I just wanted to work the soreness out of my legs from Day 1. For most of the weekend I've had a very sore and tight right calf, but it does feel much better today...just in time to start my first full week of training. Since I was able to run about four miles last Thursday, I'm going to do the same tomorrow, then try to add a mile or so to it on the next day I run. If I plan it right, I should be around 13ish miles by the time the BAE Half Marathon rolls around on November 13. Maybe I'll run some of it soon and invite all of my readers, so you can all see just how poorly I run!

Thanks for the support and keep those donations coming!

"Not My..." fans

Yesterday was my first official day of running. My plan was to meet "Ironman" Dillow at Steele Creek to run the Lakeside Trail which is about four miles. I got a text around 3 p.m. that said he wouldn't be making it, so I grabbed the next best running partners...my dogs. They have been staying inside quite a bit lately since the rain has moved in, so I thought it would be nice to get them out for some exercise.

The original plan with the dogs was to go to Sugar Hollow Park which is about five minutes from my house, but when wI pulled into the park, I noticed some John Battle Cross Country meet signs. So running there in the midst of hundreds of high school kids with two unruly dogs was out of the question. So, the dogs and I stuck to my original plan and went to Steele Creek instead.

It had rained earlier which cooled things down quite a bit, so I wore a long sleeve that I shed about halfway through my run. The run, however, was a nice assessment of my physical ability to run a marathon and I realized that I have a long way to go to make it 26.2 miles. Part of my training includes running a half marathon in November. Nate tells me that since I have some experience with endurance mountain bike racing and that I'm in pretty good shape already, that I should be able to train minimally for the half and complete it no problem. Here's to hoping he is right.

I did get to look up a few charities this morning with my breakfast and coffee. I still haven't decided which one to go to just yet, but I have some ideas. My facebook fan page is also getting some fans, which during my run yesterday I decided to dub them the "Not My..." fans. Thought it was catchy so I'm using it. So all of the Not My fans, please share my blog with your friends to help me with this endeavor.

Unexpected Day 1 Training

So, my training plan was to start fresh on Monday. Take the rest of the week to ride bikes and hang out...the usual stuff. Greg has a night ride planned at Warrior's Path tonight, but it looks like rain for most of the day and wet roots and rocks really aren't much fun. So training is starting early. I decided to text one of my running partners, Chris "Ironman" Dillow for a possible run after work. Of course he said he would! He asked me what kind of distance I wanted to do. Now that's a heckuva question. I gave it some thought and decided that somewhere around four miles was a good start. I have run a couple of 5k's in the past few years, so that's probably my max. I was talking to Chris's wife on facebook yesterday after she read my first entry and she has been training for a marathon too and said that she usually runs a specific distance and adds 12 minutes. So by that training standard, 5k (3ish miles) is my current max, plus a few extra minutes should be around four miles. I'll give that a shot.

On a related note, I went to my cousin's funeral last night. It's tough to have someone so young go through what she did. She was only six months or so younger than me. But, it was good to see a lot of my family that I don't normally get to see and to have a lot of them meet my better half for the first time. I just hate that we had to see each other under those circumstances.

Also, I may have found a marathon to run. I hear the Nashville event is a good one!

Why "Not My Marathon"?

I have never really "trained" for any athletic event. My participation in anything competitive is to see where I stand amongst the serious racer-type folks. In my opinion, training sucks all the fun out of fun stuff.

I have done some races and have done well in some of them, but my lack of training enthusiasm keeps me a mid-pack (sometimes back-of-the-pack) finisher.

This time it's different. Over the next several months I will be training to run a marathon. I'm no runner, in fact, I've never run more than 8k in one sitting! But, for several years now I've had this idea that I have put off many times, mainly due to my laziness and lack of enthusiasm for training, and running a marathon requires training...there is no way around it.

The idea goes like this.

Several years ago, I had an aneurysm in my spine that left me mostly paralyzed. Since then I have mostly recovered and have taken up cycling, hiking and occasionally, running. Many of my doctors tell me that they never expected me to walk again without the assistance of a walker and I've always thought that there are bigger reasons for my recovery besides the human body's natural ability to heal itself. Since this life-changing event six years ago, there have been many people in my life that have not had my same fortune.

My wife, Amanda, since my spinal problems, has had two uncles pass away as a result of cancer and one aunt living with the disease. One of my college friends passed away from cancer several years ago and another friend whose wife passed from cancer only six months after they were married. The father of one of my co-workers is currently undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer diagnosis. I have an uncle who is living with the disease, and most recently (this past Monday), a cousin who passed away from cancer, she was only 30 years old.

That's quite a list and unfortunately, I have probably left someone out, and as I grow older, that list will grow.

The plan.

As I said, I'm not a runner, I'm a cyclist...a lazy cyclist, but nonetheless. So, I have created a PayPal account and a training plan for running a marathon. My PayPal account is for sponsorship donations. When I finish my marathon, I will donate all of the money to a cancer research fund or some other worthwhile cancer initiative. I haven't decided which organization I am donating to just yet, but over the next several weeks, I will be researching my best options and if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section.

This blog will be my public journal for my marathon training so all of the donors and curious folks can track my progress with me. Running 26.2 miles is no easy task, but nothing in life worth doing is.

Before I end this entry, I want to thank Nate Stalnaker and Chris Dillow for being my coaches and running partners for my training. I am also going to pre-thank my wife Amanda for putting up with my absences while I am running.

If you would like to donate, please click the donate button below. I am asking for donations in the increments of $13.10 and $26.20 or multiples of (13.1 being a half marathon distance and 26.2 full distance).