Week 12 - DOUBLE Bucket Challenge

Hello all,

It's been hot this week, so having to do the ice bucket challenge (more on that soon) was a nice break. 

Doing the #IceBucketChallenge for ALS and the American Cancer Society - so TWO buckets!

I hope you have been having a good week, as it's time to update everyone on how my training for the NYC marathon has been going.  For anyone who may be just joining us I'm training to run my 4th marathon and to try and raise $6,000 for the American Cancer Society in celebration of my wife battling breast cancer in 2013. 

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Health, and running (IN THE HEAT)

I'm still doing well. I finished up my ASTYM treatments at my physical therapist.  I had 4 treatments in two weeks, of having my legs rubbed with a thin plastic blade to break them down and make them more flexible.  All the running tends to tighten my legs up, and it was starting to hurt other parts.  I think I had some great doctors and therapists and I would highly recommend anyone in the Chicago area check them out.

I went to the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute.  They have a great new facility right off the Kennedy on the northwest side of the city.  It's awesome.  My podiatrist was Dr. Leahy, and the therapist I went to see for both some runners knee and my ASTYM treatment was Sarah Macias.  She's great.  She got me back to running within a couple of sessions. 

You can find them online at http://www.ibji.com/

As far as running goes, I ran 25 miles last week with my long run being 15 miles.  Wow was it hot that day.  I think it was in the low 90s and almost 100% humid.  I sweat so much my shorts were dripping.  That was NOT fun.  But at least I got it done.  All this hard work will pay off when I get to NYC for the marathon in November. 

I also swam a 3 times last week.  I only have another week left till the big outdoor pools close for the season.  After that I'll have to go find an indoor pool.  I tried one out this past week, but I didn't like it.  It was crowded, full of seniors doing aqua-robics, and just not very big.  It's not the pools fault, or the people that were there.   I applaud them all for getting up early to exercise.   I just need to find another pool where I can swim laps with others who are also swimming laps.

FUNDRAISING

You've probably by now seen the ALS ice bucket challenge.  I think it is a fantastic idea and I was hoping that somebody would nominate me, and they did.  I gladly accepted the challenge and donated $10 to ALSA.org.  If you haven't already done so, you should consider making a donation.  ALS is a scary, SCARY disease.  It's perhaps one of the most horrific ways to die.  I hope that all this attention and money being raised will help find a cure someday.   Here's a link to the video of my #IceBucketChallenge

I've learned that 2 in 100,000 people are affected by ALS, and thank G-d that number is so low!

Here's another scary thing.  In that same 100,000 people - odds are that 25,000 of them will be affected by cancer.  That scares me more than ALS. Here's a graph to help grasp how many people are affected by cancer. 

In 100,000 people, the number affected by ALS (2) vs cancer (25,000)

Should you donate to ALS?  YES, please do. 

Should you donate to the American Cancer Society?  YES, PLEASE!!   Statistically 1 in 4 Americans will be affected by cancer. 

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

When I did my ice bucket challenge, I doubled up my donation and made a matching $10 contribution to my fundraising campaign for The American Cancer Society.   And I would challenge you all to do the same. 

I'm proud to say that as part of the NYC marathon team DetermiNation we have raised over $450,000 so far for cancer treatment, research, and prevention.  That's amazing. 

Personally I have raised now $2,350.  I have to raise at least $3,400 so I'm only a thousand away from the minimum, but I really want to do more than that.  So I need your help.  If you are able to make a donation - any amount - PLEASE click the link below to donate.  I've fallen off the pace a bit, so I could really use a boost this week.  See the graph below to see how progress has gone so far.  I only got $20 in donations last week, $10 from my buddy Clint who I nominated for the ALS challenge and my $10.

I've got about 2 months till the marathon.  My running training is about to hit high gear.  I need your help, in any amount, to kick my fundraising into high gear as well.  So please, if you can, click on the link below to donate.  I would greatly and sincerely appreciate it. 

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Week 11 - The Hills are Alive!

The Hills (and my calves) are alive!

So it's time once again for the weekly update to my training as I get ready for the NYC marathon and try to raise $6,000 for the American Cancer Society.  Get ready....

Health

I'm feeling good.  No current injuries to speak of, and knock on wood that stays the case.  I've been going to physical therapy last week and this week for this ASTYM procedure that basically breaks up my leg muscles to try and make them a bit more flexible and less tight.  Hurts like hell sometimes, but I think it's working.  I just have to keep up my stretching.

Fundaising

Fundraising progress after 11 weeks.  The goal is $6,000

I am happy to say, that while the donation have slowed a bit, I'm still collecting them from lots of places.  This past week I got a couple donation from some of Brenda's coworkers which was awesome.  I am currently at $2,330, which is FANTASTIC.  Thank you everyone who has donated.  I'm a bit behind my ideal fundraising pace as the graph shows, but I'm hoping that things will pick up in the fall as my training and fundraising will start to peak.

If you are able to make a donation, I would GREATLY appreciate it.  Any amount helps!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Training (with HILLS)

Things are getting serious.  Last week I ran 6 miles on morning, 7 another morning, I swam 4 times, and I went out for a long run of 13.1 miles with a buddy of mine, Mike, and I think it went really well.  So what's with the picture of me as Maria?  Well we went to do this long run at "The Waterfall Glen" which is a forest preserve about 30 miles SW of Chicago in Dupage county.   Runners from all over go there, because it's one of the hillier trails to train on here in the great planes of the Midwest.  I understand that NYC is fairly hilly, especially the bridges that we run over.  So I wanted to get some good hill work in.  Mike is a lot faster than I am, so I always feel bad holding him back, but I always enjoy the company and he pushes me to go father and faster than I would running alone.  So I REALLY appreciate it.  With Mike's help I ran the entire 13.1 miles without stopping and I kept up a pretty decent pace.  I averaged 9:15 per mile, and if I can get that pace down a few seconds per mile for the entire 26.2 of the marathon I will be overjoyed!!

It was a tough run on the hills, my calves were sore the next day - but it's worth it.  All the hard work will pay off on November 2nd when I take to the starting line of the NYC marathon.

This week I'm going to try and keep up with running a couple times during the week, swim as much as I can since the big outdoor pools close at the end of the month, and I'm going to try and run 15 miles.  I may not be able to make it to the glen to do them, but I'll be back for more hillwork soon enough.



  

Week 10 - training at Wally World

Time once again for my weekly training update, thanks for reading along.

This week I’ll review:

A)   Fundraising status 
B)   Health status 
C)   An example of what “marathon training” means

A)   FUNDRAISING 

I am really proud to say that collectively Team DetermiNation has raised over $375,000 so far for the NYC marathon.  That is almost staggering to me.  I’m so grateful to all of you who have supported me as part of the Team.  Together we are going to bring more birthdays to those who are affected by this terrible disease. 

On a personal level, last week I got a couple of generous donations from my neighbor who’s family has been affected by cancer, as well as a friend and fellow endurance athlete Stephanie.  Stephanie takes to the open water as to raise money to fight cancer – I think I’ll stick to the land. 

I’m at $2,250 towards my goal of $6,000.  So I’m just over a third of the way there, with just under 3 months left to go. 

If you are able to make a donation, please CLICK HERE TO DONATE

B)   HEALTH 

So far so good.  I’m reasonably healthy and don’t have any major issues at this time, and I pray that I can complete my training in good health and run a good race.  If you wouldn’t mind saying a similar prayer for me I would surely appreciate it. 

I’ve been cross training as much as I can, mostly swimming.  There is only a few more weeks left until the outdoor pool that I go to will close until next summer.  It’s a shame that it’s closed for so much of the year. I suppose I will try the indoor pools until the marathon, but they aren’t as close, as big, or as convenient as the pool by our house. 

I’ve been able to run more and at a faster pace recently, so I’m thinking that is a good sign.  Today I started a new course of physical therapy called ASTYM.  It’s hard to describe, you could google it, but basically it’s a hard plastic edge that the therapist runs over my legs to break up the muscle and remove scar tissue with the idea that after a few treatments my legs will be a bit more flexible which should help me run better and with less chance of injury.  Wish me luck!

C)   THIS is marathon training!

So this past weekend my wife had her high school reunion up in Michigan, and as it turns out her cousins were going to be there as well for a camping trip.  So we thought it would be a great idea to join the family at the campsite and rent an RV to see them when we weren’t at the reunion.

My wife's family at the RV park.  Lots of cousins!

We got in on Friday afternoon, and after setting up the RV we hung out with the family.  There were a lot of them there, most I hadn’t seen in a couple of years.  Thing is, I was already a bit tired and as much as I wanted to stay up late with everyone else around the campfire I had to turn in at 9pm so I could get up early to run the next day.  No one said anything, and I think they all understood, but I did feel bad not being able to spend more time with them.

But that’s what marathon training is, it’s a sacrifice.  It’s physically demanding, mentally demanding, and it takes up a big chunk of your life.   I’ve already done 3 marathons so far, but this time – being part of the DetermiNation team and having everyone supporting me really helps me to take it seriously in a way I never did before.  I always had the motivation to get myself ready to run 26.2 miles, but this time I feel a responsibility to not let everyone else down.  It’s tough at times, but it feeds my inner fires when I’m not feeling up to a workout. 

Anyway, being at an RV park there weren’t really many options for my run.  It was dark when I got up and ready to run at 5am.  I wanted to run at least 11 miles.  I didn’t know the lay of the land, and the roads in the area were fairly narrow.  So I didn’t have many options. 

However, there was an amusement park directly across the street and it had a big empty parking lot at 5am.  One of the best things I ever bought was a running watch with a GPS tracker, so it could tell me exactly how far a loop around this parking lot was.  Turned out it was 1-1/2 miles around, so if I looped it about 8 times I’d get to my 11 mile goal.  It was pretty strange to run in an empty parking lot around and around.  But it beats a treadmill.  While I was running I kept thinking of Wally World from National Lampoon's Vacation.  I half expected John Candy to come on out and stop me telling me the park was closed. 

An empty amusement park parking lot makes for an excellent impromptu running track.  But it kind of reminded me of something I'd seen in a movie once....

Hmmm...empty parking lot at an amusement park...

After the run, which took me about an hour and forty five minutes, I got back to camp and showered, stretched, changed, and waited for everyone else to wake up. 

It was an interesting experience.  But that’s what it’s like to try and train for a marathon – you have to fit the runs in when and where you can. 

Speaking of “can” if you “can” donate to my page PLEASE do so, it’d be a really great thing to do.  

CLICK HERE TO DONATE 

Week 9 - I'm cancelling the pity party

Hello again everyone and thanks for reading along as I work towards my goal of running the NYC marathon and trying to raise $6,000 for the American Cancer Society.

Training update first (then fundraising)

Well it would appear that my recent foot troubles may be related to the equivalent of a "blow out" on one of my running shoes.  If you don't know, running shoes last usually about 300 miles, after that the cushioning starts to degrade.  I keep a log of how many miles I run on a particular pair of shoes, and after about 250 miles or so I get a new pair and start to break them in.

The current model shoe I wear is the Brooks Ghost.  I like it, it's worked well for me.  I've actually bought 4 pairs of them over the last 12 months, as I've run about 1,200 miles in that time.

However the latest pair I bought I have just never liked.  I had no idea why, as they are basically supposed to be all identical.

So this past week I took them to my local running store, I was there to see about some cushioned insoles as recommended by my podiatrist - more on that in a bit.  When the salesman looked at the shoes he turned them over an noticed that the seal on the right foot over the hole that they inject the cushioning gel into was torn.  He told me that when that happens the gel inside gets exposed to air and hardens, no longer cushioning the foot.  I hadn't yet told him about which foot hurt or where, so when he said this I believed him.

I'm no longer going to use that pair, even thou it only got 100 miles on it.  Instead I've called the previous pair into active duty for a bit.  They have 300 miles on them, but they will do for a couple weeks until I decide if I want to try a new style or just get another pair of Ghosts.  Some of that will depend on my upcoming therapy sessions - again more on that soon.

In the meantime it's nice to know what the potential reason was for why I was having the pain in my right foot.  Mentally that was a big relief.

What the doctor said last week:

"Have I told you that you have almost no fat on your feet?"

Yeah, having no fat sounds like a compliment, but when I heard that from my podiatrist my heart sank a bit.  I was actually pretty bummed.  See running is great, but it is hard on your body.  Especially your feet.  Having no fat on the bottoms of my feet means my body is subject to more of the forces when I run.  I had a stress fracture on my left foot a couple years ago.  As I just mentioned above when my shoe blew out, my right foot started feeling it.  It's possible that other runners may never have even felt that, but me - it sidelined me for a couple of weeks.

I looked it up on the internet to find out more.  NEVER DO THAT.  The internet is full of haters.  Turns out the medical term is "something something ATROPHY"

Great I'm thinking...ARTROPHY.  My body is wearing out I'm thinking.  It pissed me off.  I started thinking that running for me was over.  It made me think about that expression how youth is wasted on the young - and if only I knew in my 20s how lucky I was to still have some fat in my feet.

But then I went for a run.

I think the best part of running is how motivating it can be.  I was running along a popular trail and there were lots of runners out, some of whom were senior citizens and a couple were disabled.  It got me to thinking about how many aches and pains they must have, and how they'd probably look at me and if they heard me complain about not having enough fat under my toes they'd laugh.

As if that should be the worst thing in the world.

Even my own mother who went through a knee replacement surgery earlier this year would probably tell me to quit complaining.  Don't worry Mom, I know you still love me :-)

Anyway, it was enough to snap me out of my funk and rethink things.  Sure, I'm not getting any younger and things are going to get harder as my body ages, but that doesn't mean I give up.  I thought about all the disabled athletes in the world, especially the runners missing their feet or legs.   They still find a way to keep going.  Maybe it's hubris on my part, but while I may not be as fast or strong as some I don't think anyone is tougher than I am.  So if these other people are able to find a way to keep going, than so can I.

Back to what the doctor said and what's next:

So after my doctor mentioned the lack of fat, she did say I was okay to run and that I should consider some more Physical Therapy.  I have always enjoyed my PT, so I thought it was a good idea. I went back to the therapist I saw for my runners knee in May/June and she is going to try to work on my chronic tightness in my calves, hamstrings, and quads.  I can tell right now I'm pretty tight in my legs, so I really hope it helps my running.  She mentioned a treatment called ASTYM to try and break down the muscles a bit and try and improve the flexibility.  I'm kind of excited about it.  Stay tuned for more on that.

Here's a graph of the last 12 months of my running.  The 81 miles was in the month of April, which was the Illinois Marathon.  That was when my latest pain cycle started, of the runners knee then followed by the foot pain.  Now that I'm feeling pretty good I'm looking to ramp the mileage back up.  I've got 15 miles in August so far, and I'm ready for more.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE

Again, I'm so thankful to everyone who's been donating to my campaign.  Honestly, seeing those donations come in is the best part of my day and I get SUPER excited.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again - knowing I have all the support of my friends and family just pushes me to try harder.  For example this morning I woke up at 4:30am so I could go out and run for 5 miles, get home in time to help the kids get ready for school, then go to the pool at 7am and get in another 45 minutes of swimming before heading to work.

Its tough, but I know the hills and bridges along the NYC marathon course aren't too easy.  Everyone that has donated to me now feels like we are a team, and I'm gonna do everything I can not to let this team down.

Also, I heard on the news the other day about some exciting new research into cancer that's happening now.  I'm not able to understand all the medicine and science behind the research, but they reported that in 20 years the treatments we are using today - specifically chemo - could be a thing of the past.  That would be WONDERFUL.  It made me think about how people used to use leeches to cure their ailments.  Maybe one day people will look back at what "state of the art" medicine is like today and they will think about how far things have come.  I can only hope that the money we are raising now helps fund the research that will make that dream a reality.

 Weekly fundraising total

So here's where I am today.  After 9 weeks I've raised $2,175 and that is awesome!!  Below is a chart of my weekly fundraising progress, along with a trend line.  I'm really hoping to make it to $6,000, and the trendline shows I'm close.

But I need your help to keep going.

So please, if you are able, consider making a donation.  Anything and everything will help!  It will mean the world to me and to those who are affected by this terrible disease.

Thank you!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE