The Frozen Charles

I don't need the calendar to tell me that it's winter in the Northeast. This last week's been full of chills (but luckily no spills) as I inched another week closer in my run for Dana-Farber and the 2010 Boston Marathon. So here are my top 10 thoughts for the last week of running.

1. It's a lot easier to film people than be filmed, but a short video of Why I run is now on the Dana-Farber web site.

2. And if I needed more inspiration, there's this great post from two fellow DFMC runners, Amanda and Courtney. It's an incredibly heartbreaking and inspiring story. View it here.

3. If it wasn't so cold this morning, I would have stopped and taken a picture of the Charles. It was amazingly beautiful. The river was covered with snow; the early morning sun reflected off the Cambridge-side buildings and then re-reflected off the frozen river.

4. Sure, I looked ridiculous, but I was warm.

5. Where did everyone go? Two weeks ago, I couldn't go a couple hundred yards without someone passing me (in either direction). And then, the temperature fell into the 20s and I saw maybe a dozen or so runners. And this morning, less than that.

6. Four weeks is a short time. Within four weeks, my long run will be 18 miles. In five weeks, that will be 20 miles.

7. Training at age 47 is surprisingly more difficult than it was when I was 40. Muscles are a little sorer; joints are a little sorer.

8. Ibuprofen and ice are my friends. Why? See #6.

9. Treadmills suck. As long as the temperature stays above zero (and the wind chill's not ridiculous), I'm running outside.

10. Thanks once again to all of those who have supported me both financially and otherwise. I'm now just about a third of the way to my fundraising goal and with your help, I'll get there. To contribute, please visit my fundraising page.

Let the training begin

Although I've been training for the Boston Marathon for a good 2 months now, it's all just warm up to the official training schedule. Now my run for Dana-Farber begins in earnest. So here are my top 10 observations from the last week of running:

1. I'm glad I have boys. Otherwise, I'd be sitting here with a Powder Puff ice pack instead of a Spidey ice pack.
2. As Jack Fultz says, "when in doubt, less is more."
3. And the corollary is: "rest before you think you need it, not when you know you need it." So rather than push it when my calf was feeling a little tight, I made it a recovery week. And then on my first run out, in three days ran a 6-mile hill run at sub-8s.
4. And to think, three weeks ago, I "pushed it" just to hit 8:00 even for 4 miles.
5. Running with a friend vs. Running with an iPod? No contest. Thanks Greg.
6. The security guard at Dana-Farber made my day this morning when I walked by her this morning and she asked, "No run this morning?" Don't know why, but that just made my day.
7. Running hills is more psychological than physiological -- at least for me.
8. My second shout out to Rhode Runner -- just stocked up on the last of my winter running gear and they're extremely knowledgeable, helpful and not the least bit pushy.
9. Power Gel vs. Gu? Gu, gu, gu! The vanilla bean is like eating a Dunkin Donuts vanilla coolata.
10. I continue to be amazed at the level of support so far, from near and far. Almost a third of the way to my $10,000 goal. Thank you to all my generous friends and colleagues. To contribute, please visit my fundraising page.

--michael

How one person changed a life

I always find it hard to articulate why I'm running for Dana-Farber. The story behind this video is one inspiration. It's a heartwarming story about how one woman's actions had a profound affect on this cancer patient's life.

For me, if I can raise some money and some awareness for the great work being done at Dana-Farber and have even a fraction of the impact that this woman had, I'd be happy.

Full Moons and Frozen Puddles

One of the fringe benefits of running for Dana-Farber is the training. Seriously. At least that's how I feel this morning on my first run after a relatively restful week.

It was cold this morning, which seemed right for the first day of December -- cold enough that I finally caved and put on the long pants, hat and gloves for the first time all season. It was dark, too, at 6:30 this morning, with the full moon still hanging on in the sky, and a thin sheet of ice on puddles left over from Monday's rain.

But the cold and dark didn't bother me. About a mile or two into the run, the sun came up and took a little of the chill off what turned out to be a beautiful, brisk day for a run along the Charles, and through the Common and the Public Garden. And about that time, I couldn't help but think how lucky I was to be able to be doing this -- the run this morning, to be training for the marathon in general, and to be raising money for a cause as great as Dana-Farber.

Can't wait to get back out there tomorrow.

Making Progress

It's been a good three weeks -- not for posting to this blog, but for running. I've tackled two nine-milers, and have gradually increased the mileage up to the mid 30s, and one of those was a hilly run. And I've been increasing the speed a bit -- not breaking any land speed records but pushing it a little. Now I'm in a recovery week, where I'm only doing about 16-18 miles. Just writing that makes me realize the progress that I've made. When I committed to training 6-8 weeks ago, a 4-5 mile run was LONG. Now that's a fun little jaunt.

But the down week is actually a good thing as I'm fighting off a cold that seems to be infecting everyone in my house and beyond. I've actually had two days in a row with no running and it feels like a week since I've last run.

In a couple weeks I'll be on the full 18-week training program so I'm eager to get back out there tomorrow and try a short tempo run. Also eager to lace up my new shoes which I picked up at my new favorite running store, Rhode Runner in Providence. (http://www.rhoderunner.net/) If you're anywhere NEAR Rhode Island and need running gear, go here. They're friendly, knowledgeable and have a great selection of products. In 15 minutes, they watched my natural walk, put some shoes on, put me on the treadmill, changed me to a different shoe for a slight right foot pronation, and had me in the most comfortable fitting New Balance shoes I've had in a long time.

Random running thoughts

Some random thoughts about training.

• Having done about 26 miles this week, and feeling good about it, it strikes me that I'll need to do this consecutively one morning in about 5+ months.
• It's a fine line between pushing through aches, and going easy because of injuries. Finding that line can make all the difference
• Corny as it sounds, knowing that people have donated their hard-earned money to my running efforts makes it easier for me to keep going.
• Don't think we're going to have too many more 60+ degree Sundays between now and April.
• The Cybex Arc trainer may be the closest thing to running, but it still isn't running.
• Then again, it is definitely a workout and my joints didn't even know they were running.
• Found out yesterday that a young patient (really a kid at 23) isn't doing well in his treatment. It's so incredibly sad. Makes me want to raise $10 million for Dana-Farber not $10 thousand so we can stop kids from dying from cancer.
• If I run 6 miles, does that mean I can raid the kids' Halloween candy with reckless abandon?
• No matter how good the music or the podcast, running with a friend is always better than running with an iPod.

Are we meant to run?

A really interesting article in the NY Times today about whether we were born to run.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/are-humans-meant-to-run-long-distances/