TRACK ME ON THE RUN

For those that want to track me along the run, my bib number is 35897 and you can go to the website:

http://liveresults.nyrr.org/e/NY2014

I'll also plan to tweet out some posts throughout the weekend to my twitter account @orangerunner if you want to follow me, or search for the hashtag #benrunsnyc14

Thanks again for following along with me during the journey. Buckle up, it's gonna be a fun ride to the finish line!

4 days till the NYC Marathon!!

It's almost time to run 26.2 miles!!

Actually it's less than that now.  As I write this email I'm within 96 hours of my start time for the NYC marathon!

It's hard to believe that the day is almost here!  I've been thinking about running this race for years, and been planning to run this race since January when I made the decision to commit to fundraising and training for what I hope will be my best marathon.

So let's catch up - I know it's been a few weeks since I posted last.

Let's talk:
1) health
2) training
3) fundraising

1) Health 

I am GOOD TO GO!  I feel healthy, strong, and pretty much injury free.  KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK on wood!!

2) Training 

I've completed my training to a level of satisfaction.  Will I EVER be completely satisified with my training?  Probably not.  I never seem to have enough time for all the strength training I want to do, the stretching, the cross training, etc.  Do I eat the best possible diet?  No.  But for the most part I'm satisfied with my training.   I ran a lot of hills, I did two 20 mile runs a few weeks ago, and I've been tapering down these last couple weeks to rest and recover.  I have been getting a weekly sports massage to work out some kinks as well.  The last few days I've been trying to sleep more and eat better - and along with the excitement of the race is probably why I feel super charged right now. 

LET'S DO THIS!

3) Fundraising

After 21 weeks of fundraising - I've already exceeded my goal!

What can I say?  I'm at $6,444 right now, and my goal was $6,000.  I didn't know if it'd make that...so I've already exceeded one of my goals for this race and I cannot thank you all enough for your support.  I literally would not be able to run this race without your generosity.

Thank you!

I'm going to be adding some ribbons to my race shirt in celebration and in memory of those that have been affected by cancer.  If you would like me to add a ribbon with someone's name on it, I would be honored to carry that person with be as I run through all 5 Burroughs and cover 26.2 miles of New York City.   Please let me know ASAP.

It's also not too late to donate!  If you haven't yet, and would like to donate - now is the time!!  No amount it too big, and no amount it too small! 

If you are able and would like to make a contribution to my campaign to bring more birthdays to the world:

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Weeks 16, 17, and 18 - BEN SMASH!!

First off, sorry everyone for the unintended break from blog posting these last couple of weeks. 

Rest assured that in that time I have been running/smashing hills to get stronger and faster, and I have been collecting more donations to smash my fundraising goal!

As I've said before, marathon training takes a lot of time and between training, work, family, and the Jewish Holidays I just didn't have enough energy to post.  But fear not...here's a quick recap of the last few weeks!  If you don't have time to read the whole post and just would like to make a donation:

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Ben Smash!!  Ben no like cancer or hills!!

Health
Knock on wood, so far so good!  I've had almost no injuries to mention and that is a good thing.  I haven't quite had enough time to do all the stretching and cross training I should, more on that under training, but it seems I'm doing enough to keep going.  I have started going back to my massage therapist Eden at the Portage Park Athletico.  She's great!  I go about once a week for 30 minutes and just let her do her thing on my calves, quads, and hamstrings.  I think it really makes a difference to keep the muscles loose and hopefully prevent injury.  

Training
There are just 23 days until the NYC marathon!  Holy cow is it coming up fast now.  I remember when I decided to finally do the NYC marathon back in January after just finishing the Disney World Marathon, and I remember launching this blog/fundraising campaign back in June.  It seemed like it would take forever to get here, and now I feel like the marathon is tomorrow!  I've got just another big run left and then it's time to taper down to get ready for NYC.  So let's talk a bit about that.

My running for the last few weeks has been about 30+ miles a week.  Not super high mileage, but I'm trying to make each run count.  I run a "short run" of about 5 miles as fast as I can go one day a week.  Then a couple days later I run about 10 miles at a moderate pace, and then on the weekends I've been driving 30 miles southwest of the city of Dupage County where they have a forest preserve known as the Waterfall Glen.  It is a trail loop of about 10 miles, and it's among the most hilly places around.  It kicks my butt every time I run there.  But I hear that NYC is a very hill course, so I want to make sure that I am ready.  I think it's been working.  On Sunday I ran a 5k (3 miles) at a personal best time of just under 22 minutes on a totally flat runway at O'Hare airport (very cool) and then today I ran some smaller hills as the forest preserve by my house at a 8:30 pace which is good for me!  I hope I can keep it up for the marathon.

As I was saying thou, just too much life stuff going on right now to cross train as much as I would like.  A few weeks ago I was swimming 3-4 times a week, these last two weeks I've gone once.  I hope to find some time to go tomorrow - I actually miss swimming.  It is a nice change of pace from the grind of running.

So as I was saying, tomorrow I'm going to go back to the Glen and run the 10 mile loop twice. It will be the 2nd time this training cycle that I'll run 20 miles.  I HOPE to complete it in as close to 3 hours as possible.  It's gonna be a challenge, so I'll do my best.  After that, the runs get shorter and shorter each week for the next 3 weeks until the big day on November 2nd when I take on the 5 Burroughs of NYC.

Fundraising
Okay - here's the exciting stuff!!

I MADE MY GOAL OF $6,000!!!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

I could not have done it without all of your support and I really and truly appreciate it.  I feel so honored that you have all put your faith and money into supporting me, and I know that I'm doing what I can to try and help get rid of this terrible, terrible disease.

Not only have I met my goal of $6,000 - but I have no exceeded it!  That's right, after the "challenge" week a couple weeks ago I didn't have time to really get the word out, but this past week I got some great donations from family and was able to find the time to ask for a few more.

I'd like to thank:

• My cousin Judy Kent for her donation and for getting her company to match!!
• A work associate Jim Mclean for his generous donation!
• My California Cousins Mark and Patti!  Love you guys!!
• A couple work associates Elvia and Rafael - both are amazing athletes who've done Ironman Triathalons!  You guys rock!!
• My cousins Beverly and Shelly Copeland - I'll be thinking of Susan Levin when I run
• My parents, Ellen and Shelly.  I love you both and really appreciate the support, not just now but always!
• and last but certainly not least - Brenda's medical oncologist during her treatment.  Dr. Virginia Kaklamani.  She was a rock for Brenda during her treatment and it was sad for us to hear that she's leaving Chicago in order to lead a department out of state.  While on the one hand I'm very excited for her, as this sounds like a tremendous opportunity for her professionally AND I'm certain she's now going to be able to help so many more women who are battling this terrible disease, on the other hand it is bittersweet to see her go.  We had a followup appointment today with her, on her last day in Chicago.  Just routine.  It's been 16 months since Brenda's last chemo session.   Everything was fine, and I asked if the American Cancer Society funded any of the research she is doing.  Apparently not her particular research, but Dr. Kaklamani did say that the ACS was a great organization and asked me about my fundraising campaign.  I gave her the info, and a couple hours later I saw she had made a donation.  How great is that? 

So want to see how all these recent donations look on the progress chart?  Take a look below.

After 18 weeks of fundraising I have made my goal of $6,000!!  Thank you!!

There are still a few weeks left to go until the marathon...think we can make it to $7,000??? I can with your help!  So if you haven't yet made a donation, and if you are able to do so, PLEASE consider making a donation to my campaign! 

CLICK HERE TO DONATE