Tuesday, December 30, 2014

FINALLY - The NYC recap!


My NYC marathon experience.

If all you want to read is race day, skip ahead.  I'll post a big heading that says "RACE DAY RECAP," but if you want to know about my whole trip experience then read on!

Prologue: I decided that I would finally run the NYC marathon after mulling it over for years back in January 2014 just after completing the Disneyworld Marathon.  I had such a great time traveling to run that race, and after my wife’s treatment for breast cancer in 2013 I thought what a great way to both run another major marathon AND raise money and awareness for cancer treatment and research. 

I left for NYC early, EARLY, on Saturday November 1, 2014.  I had a 6am flight out of Chicago since I wanted to be at home on Friday for Halloween in order to take my kids out for trick or treating.  I enjoy it too, so I didn’t want to miss it.  It was miserable on Friday thou, cold and it actually snowed.   It was so bad in fact that the flights out of Chicago to NY were cancelled.  So it turned out that having the Saturday morning flight was a good thing. 

On the plane ride there I flew Spirit.  I “upgraded” to an exit row for a little extra leg room.  I didn’t want to cramp up on the way there.  Next to me, just before we took off, a woman sat down in the seat right across the isle in the exit row.  It wasn’t her seat assignment, but the flight attendant didn’t have time to argue with her so after she agreed to help in an emergency off we went. 

Just as we began to taxi away from the gate, she started to rummage through her purse frantically.  She began swearing also.  I was afraid they were going to stop the flight if it got worse, I had a feeling she was looking for sedatives.  I did NOT want this flight to be delayed so I tried to talk her down a bit, and luckily she found them.  She took the pills, I kept her talking (which really wasn’t hard for this woman…..) and eventually she passed out from the medicine.   Yeah…she would have been a big help in an emergency. 

Once she was out another passenger asked if I was a doctor or something.  I said “no” and asked her why?  She said it was for the way I calmed the woman down.  Really, I told the passenger I just didn’t want to miss the marathon for this wacko.  Call me selfish, but after all that training and fund raising – nothing was gonna stop me if I could help it. 

I finally made it to NYC!! 

After the short flight to NYC, I took the bus and train to my hotel to check in.  It was a small room – very small, but since it was just me I could do for a couple of nights and it was very close to Central Park where I had to get the bus early Sunday to the race, and I could walk back to it after the race.  So Manhattan is expensive, but I wanted the convienience. 

Can you believe how small this room is?!  I'm sure that's not a standard length bed.  My feet were off the edge.  Welcome to Manhattan - I hate to tell you how much this room was a night. 
After the hotel I went to the expo at the Javits center.  It was HUGE.  Such a big crowd.  I was shoulder to shoulder with people almost the whole time.  Really I didn’t’ see anything about the expo that made it different than any other race expo, except for the size and the crowd.  I tried to get my packet and check in with the American Cancer Society (ACS) table and then get out as fast as possible.  I wanted to get off my feet and save my legs as much as I could for the race. 

At the expo, ready to get my New York On!
After going to the hotel to rest I made my way to the campus of NYU where the ACS team would have it’s team dinner and motivation night.  I had sent in some photos of my wife Brenda and myself, wrote a blurb about our story and why I was running.  They asked us to provide those things as motivation. It was great to finally meet some of the other team members.  There were some very touching stories of those who have overcome their battles with cancer, some still fighting, and sadly some that have lost their battles.    They gave out some awards to the top fundraisers, and while I wasn’t in the top 5 I did manage to break the top 10.  I raised over $7,600 for ACS and while donations are still coming in for everyone, as of this writing I was in 9th place out of about 300 team members. 

They asked for photos to show during the dinner of the reasons why we were running - my wife and kids we up on the big screen!
Carbo loading with the rest of the ACS team the night before the race
So a special thanks to everyone who donated! 

At my table were runners from NY, and some from LA.  The NYers were ready for the race, but the LA crowd was worried about the temps.  It was forecasted to be in the low 40s, but it might be overcast.  So while it is better to be cooler than warmer to run a marathon, upper 40s and sunny is WAY different than lower 40s and cloudy. 

After some last minute camaraderie and carbs, I went back to my hotel and tried to get to bed by 9pm.  I would set my alarm for 4am the next morning, but with daylight savings time that would mean I’d get a full 8 hours of sleep.  I felt rest anyway, but a little more would be good. 

I should probably stick to running and avoid the red carpet, but I felt like a superstar for being in the top ten fundraisers thanks to all your support.

"RACE DAY RECAP"

I woke up Sunday at 4am.  I set two alarms at 4am, then at 4:10, and I also had a wake up call for 4:15 just in case.  I was up and at’em with the first alarm.   It was finally RACE DAY!

After 10 months of training, of swimming, of running, of injuries, of rehab, of fundraising…it was finally time. 

I laid out all my clothes the night before.  I quickly got dressed for the race, had a little breakfast in my room, and did my final mental checks.  I had to catch a bus at 6am to the start line, but it was only 2 blocks from my hotel, so I watched some ESPN for a while to stay loose.  Just before I headed out to the bus I put on the “disposable” clothes I bought at goodwill in Chicago for before the race.  I had a hat, some gloves, a couple of fleece pull overs, a winter jacket, and some sweat pants.  None were really my size or style, so I didn’t think twice about knowing I’d be dumping them before the race. 

My race day inspiration.  Ready to get pinned onto my shirt.
I had to group the ribbons into packs, or they wouldn't have all fit on my shirt!
All ready to go.  Let's do this!
I walked over to the buses, and found the ACS team bus.  I saw a guy with an Illinois hat on, so being an Illini myself I sat next to him.   It was going to be his first marathon, and he was just about to turn 50.  So we talked a bit.  I gave him a little advice, and congratulated him on what would be his first marathon.  I thought it would be a quick ride to Staten Island.  Especially at 6am on a Sunday morning.  It was a 90 minute ride!  It took forever to get there. 

I kept thinking, I know this is the finish line that we started from….how far away are they driving us?!  I was going to be running back this way. 

So everyone raves about the NYC marathon and how great it is.  It is a great race, and if you’ve never done it, you should.  BUT….Chicago is better.  Why?  Here’s reason #1 why Chicago is better.

So after this 90 minute drive across the Verrazano-narrow’s bridge you wait.  And wait.  And wait some more.  Then you keep waiting.  Why?  Because everybody has to get across the bridge and THEN everybody runs back across.  Plus it’s 6 lanes wide, which is plenty wide for a bridge, but with 50,000 runners they have to stagger us.  So while I got to the start  at 7:30am, I didn’t start running until almost 10am.   Two and a half hours later.  

Plenty of time to stand around, and get COLD.  The ACS team had a tent, with some bagels and coffee/water, but I didn’t want to eat or drink too much before the race.  The tent was supposed to have sides, but the morning of the race had HIGH winds.  Really high.  
Waiting around in the ACS tent.  It was cold, but seeing signs like this made me feel not so bad.
Me and the rest of the ACS Team DetermiNation runner, just trying to stay warm for a couple hours.
There were sustained winds of about 20 mph for most of the race, and gusts over 40.  More on the wind later, but for the pre-race tent that meant that the sides had to come off or they were afraid the tent would blow over. 

Yay!  More cold wind directly on us.  I was glad to have the extra clothes, they kept me warm enough, but it still was terrible just waiting around.  The ACS team did a great job to try and keep our spirits up and minds distracted, but there was a quiet it felt like to me, as we all contemplated what lay ahead of us that day.  26.2 miles of really cold and windy road. 

As 9:30 rolled around I was told to make my way to the start.  They sent us off in waves, and my wave left around 10.  The next 30 minutes went pretty quick.  They heard you into lines, we got to the base of the bridge, they had large bins for the throw away clothes that would be donated back to goodwill (how’s that for recycling?) and I took off all the disposable clothes expect for a long sleeve fleece pull over.  I kept that on, it was still pretty cold and I didn’t know how long till I’d warm up enough from running. 

The Verrazano-narrow’s bridge behind me.  Funny, it doesn't look so windy from here :-)
So Reason #1 for why the Chicago marathon is better is you don’t have to wait as long to get started. 

Finally we started the race. 

If that seemed anti-climatic, it kinda was.  I’ll be honest.  Of all the races I’ve run, this one seemed to go off kinda bland.  Maybe I was too caught up in my head, maybe it’s grand because it’s NYC…but I don’t know.  Disney had fireworks for each and every wave of runners.  I’m just saying, it didn’t start with too much pizzazz.

Reason #2 why Chicago (or maybe any other marathon is better) is that in addition to just a lack of “wow” to the start there is no cheering for the first 4 or 5 miles of this run.  Why? Because only runners are allowed on the bridge – and the bridge is almost 3 miles long.  Then it takes a while after the bridge to get far enough into Brooklyn for there to be people.  And it’s not like there was a big crowd of people waiting for us.  There were seriously like two guys drinking coffee, saying in their NY accents “welcome to Brooklyn”

So while the crowd may have a bigger number of people, because it does get better as the race goes on, I think on average the crowd is WAY better in Chicago.

Back to the start of the race thou.  So the first mile, mile and a half, is uphill across the bridge.  I was on the lower portion of the bridge.  I don’t know if the wind was worse above of below, but it was bad.  Maybe the worst wind I’ve ever run in.  And it was pushing me all over the place.  I don’t think it was ever at my back.  At times I was literally pushed sideways a couple of feet.  I didn’t get knocked over, but I’m sure some people did.

In fact they shortened the course by three miles for the wheelchair athletes, starting them past the bridge, because they were afraid of the high winds knocking their  wheelchairs over.   It was that bad.

In fact my first mile was 12:32.  It would be my second slowest mile for the day.  For a frame of reference my goal time was 9:09 per mile.  There were a lot of reasons why the first mile was so slow.  There was the wind, the uphill, and the crowd.  You can only run as fast as the people in front of you.  And at mile 1 it is crowded.  In NYC mile 1 is VERY crowded. 

When I saw how fast, or rather slow, that first mile was – I got a little panicked.   I actually didn’t think it was that slow – I had felt pretty good considering the wind.  But to see the time was a different story.  But I did remember that the worst part of the marathon was at the very start, and that once we got a bit farther it was downhill. 

And downhill helped.  A lot.  Mile 2 came in at 7:47 which was my fastest mile.  Between the first two I was now 2 minutes “behind” my ideal pace goal of finishing this race under 4 hours – or 3:59:59 to be exact.

I ran the next 9 miles pretty strong.  I felt good.  I had a string of 6 miles just under 9 minutes per mile to make up some time.  The next 6 were also below goal pace by a second or two.  I was chipping away at the slow start.

The wind kept blowing, but it wasn’t as strong.  The hills were still there, but they weren’t as steep.  I knew the worst was behind me, but could I hold the pace?

Back to the end of the bridge just before mile 3.   After that crazy start the sun finally broke through the clouds, and the wind seemed to calm down just as we passed the bridge.  It was amazing how many runners just started stripping off clothes while running.  I joined in, taking off my fleece pull over, but rather than throw it away I tied it around my waist.  I didn’t know what would happen later in the day, and it turns out I’m glad I kept it.

At this point now I was in my race t-shirt which I decorated on the back with ribbons from my sponsors with the names of people in their lives affected by cancer.  I had about 50 of them pinned to my shirt.  I was afraid it would weigh the back down and choke me!  Lucky for me, I made up a sign of my name to pin to the front of the shirt so people would cheer for me along the way, and it balanced out the shirt like a sandwich board.  I also had a ribbon for Brenda on the front next to my heart for extra motivation as I ran. 

The name sign worked.  Tons of people, when there were people, called out “Go BEN” or “Run BEN Run!”  It all helped. 

What really helped I think was all the little kids trying to give high fives to the runners.  Whenever I saw some little ones out there waiting to get a high five I made my way to the side to give them one.  I thought of my own kids back at home, and it helped lift my spirits and energize me.   I think the parents somehow knew that, and would say “THANKS BEN!” as I ran past. 

At the half way mark, 13.1 miles in, I was at 1:58.  I was doing good!  Right on pace, but I could tell I was started to tire and wasn’t sure if I’d be able to hold that pace for the next 13.1 miles.

About a half hour later, around mile 16 I hit the wall.

Not great.  I had to stop.  Mile 16 was 12:37.  But if you are paying attention, and you caught that mile 1 was my 2nd slowest mile, you’ll know that I found a second wind.  I think I found a 3rd, 4th, 5th, and possibly 6th wind along the rest of the way as well.  It was a struggle. 

But a few things kept me going.  For one the crowds started getting bigger, and BIGGER.  Sometimes there would be a portion of the course that would be empty, usually another bridge, and when we got past it there would be a wall of people just screaming at you to keep going.  And for some reason it works! 

A couple times another ACS team member would see me and give me a pat on the back to keep going.  I would try to do the same.  I think it helps us both a little. 
Somewhere around mile 17, I forget exactly, I saw in the distance a giant Chicago flag waving.  It’s very iconic.  The white flag with two horizontal blue bars and 4 red, 6 pointed stars between them – you can’t miss it.  In fact I made my name plate up to match it.  I had a white background with two of the red 6-pointed stars on either side of my name in red letters. 

When I saw the flag I ran to over to that side, and yelled out “Hey Chicago” while pointing at my name and got a huge response from the group yelling “HEY BEN!!!” back at me.  

This kept me going fairly steadily until around mile 19.  At this point two things happened.  One I switched tactics from my “run-don’t stop- even if it’s slow” approach to a “run-then walk-then run” approach.  I would run for about 3 minutes, then walk for 2 minutes the rest of the way.  And it worked pretty well.  The rest of the miles were all about 10 or 11 minutes, but I kept going pretty steady.

This is when I came across another ACS team member, Doug. 

I didn’t know him, never even seen him before, but we had on the Team DetermiNation jerseys so we had something in common.  I still had a bit of steam left so as I passed him by I came up along side to give him some encouragement and then kept on going. 

It wasn’t too long after that that I really started to hit the wall.  I had to stop and walk again, and that’s when Doug comes up behind me and tells me to keep going! 

So I did.  I started running, passed Doug who was walking, had to stop, he passed me while running, and repeat.  We did this for another mile or so.  Then finally we decided to just run together. 

I kept the time, we’d run for a few minutes, walk for a few minutes.  For me this was so helpful.  Knowing that Doug was right there with me kept me pushing on during the run, and when the time came to stop walking to get running again.  I truly believe that if it weren’t for Doug I’d have walked a lot more those last 4 miles or so and probably finished about 20 to 30 minutes later. 

So thank you Doug!

It was actually kinda fun to get to know somebody along at the end of the race.  We got to know each other a bit, and with the wonder of social media are now connected on twitter.  I don’t know if we’ll ever see each other or run together again as he’s on the east coast– but who knows?    

As we approached central park and the got to the final mile or so of the race I had to leave Doug behind.  He was starting to hurt a bit and he told me to go on.  I wasn’t in much better shape, but I reached down deep as far as I could and gave it everything I had left.  That last mile winding through central park was MUCH different than I imagined it would be. 

In my mind while preparing for the race I pictured the throngs on people shouting encouragement, and being overcome with emotions about how my wife had gone through such a terrible year, and especially about all the people who supported me in my training symbolized by the 50-some ribbons I was wearing on my back with the names of their loved ones who’d battled cancer.

I’m not a crier, but at times in training I often felt that once I crossed the finish line I’d be overwhelmed with emotion and would start to cry. 

Nope.  Not even close.  Sorry.

At this point I was kinda hurting.  I had nothing left and I just wanted to stop running.  Due to security precautions Central Park was closed and only a relative few thousand people were allowed at the finish line.  Not much of a crowd.  Also the course at the end is kinda hilly and kinda winding.  It made it really hard to know how much further I had to go. 

I was tired, I was getting a bit cold, and in general just pissed off for no good reason.  So when I finally did cross the finish line 4 hours and 20 minutes later I felt an amazing amount of relief and satisfaction, but knowing I wasn’t able to finish in under 4 hours was a bit of a downer. 

I’ve come to terms with knowing that to run a sub 4 marathon for me would have taken the perfect conditions of a flat course, open roads, and perfect weather.  I had none of those things.  It’s hilly, crowded, and the wind that day was almost unbelievable.

FINISHED!  The sweet taste of achievement.
So all things considered, I actually kinda rocked this race.  It was still better than my Chicago Marathon time of 4:32 from 2006 and just a few seconds slower than my Disney Marathon time in January.   Plus I raised over $7,600 for charity and that’s the best thing about the whole race I think.  I feel like I made a difference.  It might be a drop in the bucket, but it’s something. 

So back to the finish line and Reason #3 why Chicago is better than NYC.  Remember when I said that Central Park was closed off for security reasons.  Well at the end of the race they made us walk, WALK!!! another mile plus out of the park which was insane!  There was only one exit out of the finish area and it was in the opposite direction of where my hotel was.  ARGGG!!  As you walked along the exit route they threw these big blue fleece lined ponchos over us to keep us warm, but it was weird seeing all these blue figures waddling down the road.  I thought it looked like some kind of weird zombie apocalypse. 

The Zombie Apocalypse - also known as the long slow walk out of Central Park after running a marathon
So annoying.  Chicago is much more open at the finish line.  They have recovery areas, and you can leave in almost any direction. 

After I cleared the exit path, and made it back to my hotel, I started my recovery routine.  I took and ice bath, drank a lot of Gatorade, ate some protein in the form of beef jerky, stretched a bit, and took a quick nap. 

I had planned to see a friend of mine from Chicago who’d moved out to NYC a couple months earlier, Kitty. 

Me and Kitty in Time Square after the race.
She was nice enough to come to my hotel, and we walked to a nearby bar to grab a drink and a bite.  I of course wore my medal.

That I will say was awesome.  To see all the other marathoners with their medals on was so cool.  It was like we were all in a club together.  I’d congratulate them, they’d do the same to me.  Even the locals who didn’t run were giving us all high fives as we walked down the street. 

When we got to the bar and asked for a table, they said it would be about a 15 minute wait.  I held up my medal and asked “is it REALLY 15 minutes?” in a sarcastic tone to be funny…and the hostess said “yes, but we’re gonna buy your first drink for being a marathoner!”

How cool was that? 

I had a couple of beers and a giant greasy burger.  Just what the doctor ordered. 

I had a blast catching up with Kitty, and then we walked over to Time Square.  It’s always a busy place.  Even at 10pm on a Sunday night the place is jumping.  There were some ‘characters’ looking to make a few bucks, and I took a cool photo with a Spiderman character.  That was fun.

Battling Spider-man.  Not too shabby for just running a marathon!
Kitty then got on a train home, and I walked back to the hotel.  I had a late flight on Monday so I could sleep in a bit. 

Monday morning I woke up, packed, checked out but left my bag at the hotel so I could kill some time sight seeing until my late night flight.  

Before going sight seeing I wanted to get my medal engraved with my name and time on it.   So I went back to Central Park where a they had a tent set up for this and waited in line for 2 hours!  Then I had to pay $25 for the engraving!  Welcome to NYC, it’s crowded and expensive.  I had a great time talking to the other runners in line with me, but sheesh!  Reason #4 why Chicago is better, they engrave the medals for free and it’s WAY faster. 

After getting the medal engraved I ate breakfast from a food truck, grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch (REASON #5 WHY CHICAGO IS BETTER) and just wandered Manhattan a bit. 

Enjoying a waffle and reading about the marathon in the NY Times, did you know they put the finishers names in the paper.  I found mine!  Very cool.
I made it a point to walk by the Freedom Tower and to visit the 9/11 memorial.  It’s a really moving place, and I think they did a good job to create a space to commemorate the events of that day.  I could only spend an hour or so there, but you could easily spend a whole day. 

At the 9/11 memorial
By now it was time to head home.  I made my way back to the hotel for my bag, got on the train to the airport, and eventually to the gate where my plane would be. 

I should say this about my training.  I spent a lot of time running on hills.  There aren’t many in Chicago so I had to drive 30 miles outside the city to find a forest preserve that had some hills to run.  I did this every weekend for months.  I think it paid off, because even thou I didn’t break the 4 hour barrier like I hoped, I felt really good the next day!  That was key since I had to walk down so many steps to get to the trains in NYC which are all underground. 

Wearing my NYC marathon medal through the airport I could see some others wearing theirs – though the number of runners was much smaller now. 

For some final thoughts on this experience I will say the following.

1) I am so grateful to all of you who donated to my fundraising campaign.  You not only made it possible for me to participate in the race, but you inspired me to achieve much more that I ever dreamed was possible.

2) I don’t think I will EVER run the NYC marathon again.  It’s amazing, it’s unlike any other race I’ve done, and I see no need to do it again!  It’s expensive.  Really expensive. 

3) This may be the last marathon I ever do.   I say that now, but I also said that in January when I ran the Disney marathon.  So who knows what the future will hold.  Lots of decision/factors go into running a marathon.  Especially when you have a family to consider.  Which leads to my next thought

4) I will not be running in or training for a marathon in 2015.  I ran more in 2014 that I ever have before.  With 3 marathons, 5 half marathons, a 10K, a 5K, and all the miscellaneous training runs  I covered over 1,200 miles.  That was a lot of time away from the family, and a lot of time Brenda had to take care of the kids on her own.  I promised I’d take a break from these endurance events in 2015, and I think I need it.  I’m kinda looking forward to it. 

But don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll think of something interesting for 2015.

If you read this whole recap, THANK YOU.  I wrote it over the course of a couple months from my notes and photos, and didn’t post it until a couple months after the race.  I wanted to make sure I recapped the experience for myself, but I really appreciate those that read it.

THANK YOU!




Friday, October 31, 2014

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!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

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


Thursday, October 9, 2014

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

Monday, September 15, 2014

Week 15 recap - challenge week results

Hello everyone!

First I am gonna say THANK YOU for everyone who donated and for those that answered the call to my "challenge week."  The results were amazing.  More on that in a bit.

THANK YOU for all your support! 

If you didn't get a chance to donate yet, and would like to be part of the excitement the link to donate is here:

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

So for a quick recap on the training from last week:

Health
Continues to be good (knock on wood) though I do need to keep up with my stretching!  Hard to find the time to do everything.

Training
I ran 3 times this past week
1) a 5 mile run at a 9:32 pace as I was recovering from the half marathon last Sunday
2) a 9 mile run at an 8:17 pace, as I was feeling good and wanted to push the speed
3) a HILLY 19 mile run at the Waterfall Glen Forest preserve in Dupage where Chicago runners go to train on hills since I want to be ready for NYC which I hear is hilly.  It's tough.  My pace was 11:24, mostly walking the last 4 miles.  Ugg....

I also swam twice last week, including a new personal distance record of 2,100 yards on day, 900 the second day, and I found a little time for my PT exercises a couple times.  I hope this week goes as well.

Fundraising
So the big news is the challenge week as a HUGE success!  I may all my daily goals for the first part of the week, and just tons of support at the end of the week.  Together we raised over $3,000 last week, and I'm now just hundreds short of my goal of raising $6,000 dollars for the American Cancer Society.

Just amazing, THANK YOU ALL!  

I actually made a little video to thank all of my supporters so far, it's about 17 minutes long, check it out if you have the time.  I hope I didn't forget anyone.



If you can't watch the video, here's the quick recap:

I love graphs, so here's a snapshot of my total fundraising amount by week.

Challenge Week raised over $3,000!  That's amazing!!!

I'm not done yet though, there are still 48 days till the marathon and I want to raise as much as I possibly can - so I still need your help.

Marathon training is hard.   It's physically demanding, mentally challenging, and it takes a lot of time.  For my 19 mile run on Sunday I had to drive 30 miles out to the course, then warmup, run, cooldown and stretch, drive back home, shower, etc.  It was almost the full day.  I can't continue to take that much time away from my family.

This may be the last marathon I run, and it may be the only time I raise money for a charity.  Fundraising is hard - everyone has been so supportive but I can't expect everyone to keep giving me money.

So this may be the one and only time I do this.  So I want it to be EPIC!

Be epic with me!  Let's kick cancer's ass together!

If you are willing and able, please consider making a donation.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Friday, September 12, 2014

Challenge day 5 - let's finish strong!

First off, I have to give out a GIANT thank you to everyone who has donated to the American Cancer Society this week as part of my fundraising campaign for the NYC marathon.  I've truly inspired by everyone's support and generosity.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

On Wednesday I went to the pool early and swam the longest distance I've ever done - 2100 yards or about 1.2 miles in just over an hour!  Then on Thursday I got up at 4am to get a long run in and ran 9 miles faster than I have in months.  I'm feeling good and am trying to stay healthy. 

Fundraising is tough.  It's actually hard for me to ask friends, family, even strangers I meet for money.  I know there are lots of other worthy causes people donate to, or that people may be unable to donate at all.   That's why whenever I get a donation I'm always so excited and honored. 

This week was about trying to kick the fundraising up a notch, and it's worked.  But I'm not done.  Cancer isn't quitting so neither am I.
 You want to know the hardest part of running the 26.2 miles of a marathon.  It's the last .2 miles.   About 1,000 feet.

You've already been on your feet running like crazy for hours, and you are so close to the end.  Sometimes you can even see the finish line in the distance. 

But you aren't there yet.  You have to keep going! 

That's where you have to dig down deep, and give it everything you've got left, and finish strong.

Here I am fighting to the finish line with a 15 year old at a neighborhood race.  I was giving it my all.


At the finish line of the Disney Marathon earlier this year.  After everything Brenda went through the year before and all the training I did I jumped for joy at the finish line.  So high that I practically jumped out of the picture.

Because what's the point of holding back at the end?

And that is where we are today, the end of my challenge week.

So if you've been holding back, now is the time to get in those donations!  Let's push that fundraising thermometer so far up cancer's ass it cries mercy!  AND WE WON'T SHOW IT ANY!!

Together we can beat cancer.  But I need your help. 

If you are able to, please consider making a donation today.  As I've said before and will say again, no donation is too big but more importantly no donation is too small!!  Whatever you can spare will go to an extremely worthy cause. 

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE
 


Thursday, September 11, 2014

Day 4 - Remembering 9/11

You know when I originally thought to do this "challenge week" I was waiting till after school started so I'd have a bit more time to blog about it.

I didn't think about today being the anniversary of 9/11.  It's been 13 years already.

I don't want to take away from the memory of the events that transpired on that day.  In fact, as I was thinking about it on my run this morning I decided what I could do.

I remembered how the nation rallied together to support those affected, and one of the things was the donation of blood.  It's been a while since I have donated, and I've got enough time to recover before the marathon - so why not donate. 

I'm glad I did.