All Done!

Phew!

I'm happy to report that I finished the Green Bay marathon this Sunday with a personal best! My time was 4:10.09, which is my best marathon time by quite a bit. Besides battling with some very sore quads, I couldn't be happier about it. My fellow runners did amazing-- Gara got her personal best on the half as well, coming in at 2:07, and my bro-in-law Brandon finished the marathon in 3:55!

Here's a recap of race weekend.

Gara, Julie (our self-proclaimed professional spectator), and I headed up to Green Bay on Saturday afternoon, arriving just in time to grab our race packets and partake in the race's official spaghetti dinner. As I've mentioned, this was my first trip to Lambeau Field, so I forced Julie and Gara to walk around the stadium and take many pictures.






Then we settled into the huge spaghetti buffet. We hadn't anticipated that race preparation in Green Bay involved beer drinking, so we were thrown off when we each received multiple beverage tickets for the marathon-specific brew "26.2." Recognizing that Gara and I weren't able to appreciate the 26.2 that night, Julie stepped up to the plate.

After Julie finished all of our beers and Gara and I finished many pasta plates and cookies, we hit the hay early for our 5:45 wake-up on Sunday morning. Luckily our hotel was across the street from the starting line outside Lambeau Field, so we pretty much rolled out of bed, smiled for a picture, and were at the starting line.

We had a gorgeous sunny morning for the run! It was about 55 and cloudless when we started, so Gara and I started out the first 4 miles at a quick 9-minute pace. After mile 4, Gara and I parted ways, but not before she handed me some inspiration.

At about mile 1, Gara told me just how much easier running has become for her since she set her goal to run 1,000 miles for AHCF. That even though she might not feel like running 3 or 4 miles every day, what she feels like doing isn't relevant because it's not for her--it's for Del, her family, and everyone affected by AHC. And that after taking herself out of equation, all those little excuses to avoid running have simply gone away. She was so nonchalant describing the immense effort her goal requires that she'll probably be surprised that I was struck by her comment. It had never been clearer to me how deeply she cares about her family and this cause.

Invigorated by Gara, I did my best to keep up the pace, and it felt great! I'd been training at about a 9:30 to 9:45 pace, so I knew I might be pushing it, but I wanted to see what I could accomplish. I thought it would be a lonely 22 miles, but between Julie and Gara, my sister Lisa and her boyfriend Trey, and my sister Katie and her kids Olivia and Sammy, I always had someone pushing me along. And for those few lonely miles, I had the Proclaimers singing "500 miles" on repeat (a little shoutout for the HIMYM fans). Here are some pics of our fans. Thanks for the support guys!

Julie prepping for over 4 hours of serious spectating.





Lisa high-fiving me at mile 20.

Katie, Olivia, and Sammy cheering me on!

Admittedly, I hated everything in the world between miles 22 and 24, causing me to slow down. I decided at about mile 16 that I should be able to finish at around a 4:10, and at mile 24 I was getting very close to losing that time. Luckily, once Lambeau Field was in sight, I got a second wind (or third, or tenth, I'd lost count). The race ended by looping through the field and into the parking lot, where a huge tailgate was waiting, and the crowd pushed me to finish strong.

Thanks again to everyone who's donated, checked out Gara's blog, and took the time to learn about AHC.

A special thanks this week to:

Margo Bendewald (Uncle LEO!!)

Gara!

Jordan Ginsberg

Adam Herzog

Stephanie Koenig

In total, we've raised over $1,400 for AHC throughout my training! I might be done with the marathon, but AHC still needs attention. If you'd like to donate to this cause, check out Gara's website at http://www.runningfordel.com/, or the AHC website where you can donate online or through the mail. Gara will be continuing to update on her progress to 1,000 miles on her blog. So check her out!

Only 26 Miles to Go!

Almost there! The marathon is this Sunday, so it's time to taper my runs and rest. I've been doing my daily maintenance runs of 3.5-5 miles. I completed an 8 miler this weekend, and I've been happily taking it easy lately. Unfortunately I've been battling an annoying cold for the past two weeks, but I'm pretty sure I've kicked the cold out of me with plenty of sleep and some comfort food. It REALLY helped that I got a care package from Del's mama Katrina. She sent me Vermont's finest pancake mix and maple syrup, which I immediately whipped up. Thank you so much Katrina, it was so sweet of you to think of me!

Since this is my last entry before the run, I wanted to thank some folks. One of the more annoying aspects of my training is that at certain points, my running is ALL I talk about. And it's not interesting. At all.

For instance, my family has been wonderful about listening to me yammering about my increase in glucosamine intake. I'm guessing they'd also like to SEE me without being recruited to RUN with me.

And I find it improbable that my work colleagues actually care that my leg doesn't hurt QUITE as much this week as last. I've had more than one or two conversations with these patient people where I analyzed my relative levels of leg pain, and talked lovingly about my foam roller that helped my IT band issues.

Finally, I'm sure my friends liked me a lot more when I was willing to have a drink or three, eat a normal meal on a Friday night instead of requiring pasta, and discuss something other than what clothes are best to avoid chafing (although, I did recently learn about a product for men that helps with nipple chafing if anyone is interested!).

Despite my inability to talk like a normal person, EVERYONE has indulged me with an incredible amount of support since I've started training in February. Even though I sound like a broken record when I describe my runs, I LOVE chatting about my progress and it feels so much more rewarding when I can share it with you guys. So thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that I live, work, and socialize with. I PROMISE that I'll be a much more interesting and pleasant person a week from now!

I'm very pleased to report that there's been a lot of action these past few weeks! Thank you so much to everyone that's donated to the AHCF lately:

Gary & Ursula Sliwka
Karen Sinz
Megan Bemis
Lynette & Gray Walter
Sara Rozansky
Melonie Gross
Julie Dombrosky

This week's donations have put me at $1085. I'm SO happy with this result, and would love it if we could get even closer to my $2,000 goal by this Sunday. Every little bit helps!

Gara, our cheerleader Julie, and I are heading up to Green Bay on Saturday afternoon. We'll be sure to take plenty of pics sporting our runningfordel.com t-shirts! I'll check in after the marathon to fill everyone in on the race and how much we've raised for the AHCF.

Thanks again!!!

Last Long Run!

I'm almost there! This weekend's 20 miler marks the last of my long runs, and it couldn't have gone better. The weather was fantastic--sunny with a little breeze--so I was thrilled to be out there for a little over 3 hours. I'm not so happy with my lobster-like complexion today, but I know better than to complain about a sunny day.

The 20 felt a little daunting during the week, so I enlisted some friends to meet up with along the way. My friend Kerry lives along the north part of my route, so she let me wake her up early to run about 4 miles. Usually my least favorite part of my run is the first 1.5 hours going north through some neighborhoods that can be a little sketchy, so having her join me for my toughest part of the run was a life-saver. Thanks Kerry!

After dodging a parade and cutting off some traffic on lakeshore drive, my roommate Denise and her boyfriend Edgar joined in the fun. They met up with me for the last four miles, going north from the loop. I was definitely a bit tired when I we met up, but I put on my tough face and they entertained me enough to forget about the two hours I'd already run. And Edgar, being about a foot taller than me and a guy, was a lot faster, which pushed me to speed up at the end. I'm not sure how, but we sprinted the final few blocks, leaving me with an average of around a 9:30 pace. And then Edgar treated Denise and I to Starbucks and brunch afterwards. FYI Edgar, you're welcome in Chicago any time :)

So I guess this is it folks! Next weekend I have a maintenance run of 10 miles, then Gara and I are off to Green Bay, WI for the May 16 race.



I've mentioned that Gara will be doing the half marathon portion of the marathon, so there'll be two ladies running for AHCF that day. I'm not sure how thrilled Gara (a Michigan native) is about entering Packerland, but I'm pretty darn excited. Seeing as we get to run through the field itself, and this race will be my first trip to Lambeau after 28 years of Cheeseheadedness, Gara may have to hold me back from doing a Lambeau Leep at the end of the race. Assuming I can still stand, that is!

As usual, thanks to everyone for their continued support! A special thanks to:

Martha & Nathan Linsley
Jake Babcock & Emily Detroy
Noel Collins
Mark Blocker

This week's donations put me just about halfway to my $2,000 goal. Let's make this happen!!!