Unfortunate Marathon News

I am sad to report today that I will be unable to participate in this year's Fox Cities Marathon on September 19th, 2010. While playing softball this past Thursday, I fell awkwardly while trying to beat out a throw to first base. The scrapes and bruises are healing fine, but ended up with a muscle tear in my chest. Among other daily tasks, running is painful. I tried a few times this week, but it was labored and painful. I have stopped training.

Even if I do heal up and I am able to run in a week or so, I was already on the edge of being ready by the 19th. This delay makes it impossible for me to be ready. I have contemplated trying the half marathon if I feel better, or perhaps I will run the 5K on Saturday with Christa.

I was really excited to run the marathon, and I know I will do one in the future. I appreciate everyone's support and encouragement as I was getting ready.

Some Fitness Updates

I wanted to share a few fitness-related items with everyone today:

• I got my replacement pedometer in the mail today. I am now able to log steps and earn rewards again. While doing the laundry two weeks ago, I heard a strange clunking in the dryer. Try as I might, I was unable to figure out what the clunking was. I found my pedometer when I was taking out the clothes. It "worked", but I could not download steps. So, I ordered a new one.
• I ran 12 miles last week on Friday. I am still behind on my training for the marathon. I don't want to push my body too much, but my long runs will need to get longer a little quicker than I would like. If anything, I need to see if it's reasonable to still think I can do this. Being in Naperville for school for three weeks made running difficult.
• Tonight is the second week of playoffs for our church softball team. We have a game at 7:00PM against the one team that beat us during the regular season. If we beat them, we play in the championship at 9:00PM!

Kicking It Up a Notch

This morning, I completed a 10 mile run. Now that I have sat down in front of the computer to get some internet-related work done, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get up! :-) I am definitely sore, but not as tired as I have been for some of my longer runs.

If I were training for the half marathon, I would max out at a 10 mile run in anticipation for the 13.1 mile race. What made this morning's run a little bit more difficult is that this run is no longer an end...it is just the beginning.

I have decided to run the Fox Cities Marathon!

So, as the weeks go by, my "long" run will be getting longer and longer. It will go up by one mile each week until two weeks before the race. This means that starting next week, training runs will be breaking new ground.

I am excited for the next three weeks, I will get to do some running in a completely new environment as I will be in Naperville, IL.

I have wanted to run a marathon since I was in high school. I hope to accomplish this goal. Along the this goal, I appreciate the health benefits, as I have lost weight and feel better about myself.

Fox Cities Half Marathon

While I was out for my morning run yesterday, I realized that it had been some time since I have ran a race. I have run three half marathons while I was living in Oshkosh. I ran the Oshkosh Half Marathon twice and the Fox Cities Half Marathon one time. Yesterday I decided that I would like to even up the number of races that I have run.


On September 19, 2010 at 7:00AM, I will be participating in the Fox Cities Half Marathon. Over the last three weeks, the warmer weather beckoned me outside to start running again. This morning, I completed a six mile run and it felt great! I know that I can be ready for it by September. It is my hope in 2011 to finally run the marathon that I have always wanted to run...but, not yet.



As Weaver gets older and actually allows us to get up at my "normal" time of 6:00AM, and with Christa no longer teaching, I have the opportunity to get up in the morning and run again. I appreciate the peace and tranquility that comes in a morning run. There aren't too many distractions, except for some beautiful country landscapes.

Running clears my mind from distractions and gives me an opportunity to prayer, to ponder a difficult situation or come up with some new ministrey ideas. Between that and some strength training, I look to get to good racing shape by September!