My daughter Kari recently had a baby girl, and she and her husband named her Payton. I guess that makes me a grandpa! That is so weird. I just don’t think that I’m old enough yet, but then again, I am 55. She is a cutie too. Her mom though is going to be a very, very protective mom. Any little cough or sniffle is going to drive her crazy. That’s okay though. She is going ot be a great mom.
Speaking of grandpa’s, I recently found out that my grandpa died from MS. He passed away before I was born, and I never knew what he died of. My dad told me that he suffered from MS pretty bad and went to some clinic in Ohio to try and get better. But he was pretty much confined to a wheelchair, and then eventually bedridden. I’ve always been told that MS is not hereditary, but now I wonder.
And once again, it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything, but hey, it’s quality not quantity. Right?
I’m losing patience with Sirius Radio. It’s great if you want to hear songs all the time, but there are times when I want to hear news, or listen to talk radio. But if you want that, you have to listen to a barrage of commercials every 15 minutes. I can’t stand it! But then, if you pay attention, you will be happy, healthy, and wise! There’s commercials for beating the stock market, curing prostrate cancer, and of course one for E.D. They even call it Prolixus!
My daughter, Kari, had a baby girl recently and her name is Payton. It is totally unbelievable that my little girl had a baby. 26 years ago, Kari was born at 1lb 12 oz. Her odds were 2% that she would even live. Totally unfreakin believable.
Only 7 more weeks until the Denver Marathon. This past weekend was tough on me. I had to do a 20 mile run, and my group did a very hilly trail run. Number one, I hate trail runs. and number two, it was hilly. Hence the hilly trail run. I think I walked 3 miles out of the 20, and 2 days later, my shins are pretty sore. It’s a good thing this is a recovery week.
There is a magazine that just came out with a “bucket list” for runners. Included were some pretty impressive running events and triathlons like The Boston Marathon, Leadville 100K Run, and so on. Well I’m doing the opposite and doing the “f***” It List. Things that I do not want to do (unless I was under duress or drunk)
1) Pikes Peak Marathon – Are you kidding me? Run up the mountain, and then as a reward, you get to run back down. No thanks
2)Any Ultra Marathon - I have a hard enough time doing a regular marathon.
3) Runnin’ of the Green – Denver – this run sucks. Any schlub can get to the front and block everybody from going around him. Don’t get me started on the whole stroller issue. The only thing good about it is the beer afterwords. It’s an endless supply of Killians. So I think next year, I will be volunteering at the Runners Roost exhibit just so I can still partake in the afterglow that is beer.
4) An Ironman Triathlon – I’d like to do a tri, but I’ll settle for those little ones that they have. Run a 5K, bike 5 miles, swim 40 or 50 feet.
5) Run any marathon in a costume – Unless your entered in the Dress up like Elvis Marathon, just wear running clothes.
6) Any trail run longer than a 10K – trail runs were developed by people that have been legally declared incompetent.
7) Enter in a “woman’s run” There are certain races that are designed just for women like The Zooma Half Marathon, or the Nike San Fransisco Marathon that guys can enter, but really, don’t be a dick.
Wear running tights. The only way I will do that is if I wear regular shorts over the tights. I like the compression, but I don’t like showing off Mr. Winke.
9) Wear Croc’s. Never.
10) Pay $1,000 for a bike. Some of these guys that do tri’s, pay $1,000 or more for a freaking bicycle. I won’t even pay $500. I’ll take my $79 Huffy special.
That’s all I can think of for now. What are yours?
It’s official. I am running my next marathon and it is the inaugural Rock N Roll Denver Marathon. It’s pretty much the same as the old Denver Marathon, but they have new owners, and of course a higher entry fee. I actually didn’t want to do this one, but I got a free entry which saved me $90, and it’s the inaugural Rock N Roll!
So I’m starting to ramp up my training and the big question is, do I do speed work this time? The reason that I’m hesitant is that every time I do speed work with a group, I injure myself. I don’t know if it’s because I’m too competitive and I push myself harder with other people around or what? So do I do it, but back it down a bit, or just do it on my own? Aaacckk.
I did a nice little race last weekend called the Stadium Stampede 5K. Towards the end, you run through Invesco Field which is where the Bronco’s play and see yourself on the big screen. I did the race with Diane’s 13 year old niece Colleen, and it was the farthest she has ever run. She did awesome and I hope that we can run again soon. I took 2nd in my age group with a 24:32 time. I thought maybe I would be in the top 10, but definitely not 2nd. I actually miss 1st by 5 seconds and if I would have know that I was so close, I would have kicked it into another gear.
Ashley Kumlien from MS Run the US came into Denver last week, and now she is on her way to Nebraska. I got the pleasure of meeting her last week when she came to The Irish Snug and ran with me. I was blown away by the fact that she is only 26 years old, and she is doing what she’s doing. She is dedicating her life to finding a cure for MS and has formed her own non profit company and that is now her life. Last Saturday we ran 12 miles together along the Clear Creek Trail in Golden. Since she started her run in San Francisco, she has gone to many places and met with many people that either have MS or know someone close to them that has MS. So she has some great stories to tell, and she’s not even half way. By the way, somewhere out east in Colorado IS half way. That’s hard to believe. I think of Colorado, and Denver in particular, as being in the west.
Last Wednesday we had a fundraiser at the Snug for MS and it turned out quite well. We raised $2500 that night and met some great people.
Today I ran again with Ashley and we did 12 1/2 miles in the rain. Actually wasn’t too bad. It was more of a drizzle and at least it wasn’t too cold. After wards we sat around in her RV for a little bit before it was time to say goodbye. I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again, but I’m sure I’ll be following her all the way, and of course cheering for her.
In less than a week now, Ashley Kumlien from MS Run The US, will be in Denver. I know for sure that I will be running with her one of the days that she’s here, and possibly one other time. While she is here, we are going to do a fundraiser to help find a cure for MS at The Irish Snug. There will be a silent auction and I think that we are going to have some great items to bid on.
Tomorrow is the famous Bolder Boulder 10K where it’s really a big party with some running involved, but I won’t be running it. I’m not sure why either. I think part of is is we had planned to take a “party bus” from the Snug to Boulder and back, but I couldn’t get enough people to sign up for it. Another part is that my son Jason isn’t coming out to run it either. He has run it with me the last two years, and because he got married and went to Mexico for his honeymoon, he couldn’t make it this year.
I did sign up for my next marathon though. It’s the Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon on October 17th. I’ve run the Denver Marathon before, but it got bought out by the Rock ‘n’ Roll people this year and so I wanted to run the “inaugural” run.
There are not many people that I know well, that know I have MS, and of course they don’t know I have this blog. I’m not sure why that is. I’m not ashamed to say I have MS because it’s nothing to be ashamed about. But in the beginning when I said to people that I have MS, I could sense that they felt sorry for me and that I’ll probably be a cripple soon. That still could happen, but I just don’t want people to feel sorry for me. Come to think of it, my daughter doesn’t even know I have this blog. She knows I have MS, but not this. I need to fix that. I need also to share with people that I have this disease. I look at Ashley Kumlein who is running across the United States and shouting as loud as she can that her mother has MS and that she will raise money to help find a cure for it. I think there’s only a handful of people that I run with that know I have MS. And their first reaction is “oh, I’m so sorry”. I guess I just don’t want that, but what do I expect them to say? “Hang in there man. You could be hit by a bus tomorrow, so don’t worry about it”?
I still have that guilty feeling too that I am doing well and that others are not. The local chapter of MS has these get togethers all the time for people with MS, and I have absolutely no desire to go. I’ll get the feeling that they will look at me and say “what is HE doing here”? I’ve thought about going, and then walking in the room with a slight limp just to give me some street cred, but I know I would mess it up and limp on a different leg after awhile. I could say though that the MS jumps from one leg to another with no reason. I know, I’m just not right.
Ok, I know I suck because I haven’t written in like forever. For some reason, I don’t feel creative anymore, and it is tough to get motivated to write more that a couple of sentences. I’ll try harder though.
I ran the Platte River Half Marathon last month, just 3 weeks after my marathon. I was recovered from the marathon, but not close to being trained for the half. I ended up at 1:56:07, which wasn’t all that bad. I did take a few walk breaks because my knee started hurting. I was 15th out of 43 in my age group, and if I was a chick, I would have come in 2nd in my age group!
My next run was the Cherry Creek Sneak, which I had previously vowed never to run because there are sooooo many people. I mainly ran it because it was promoted by Runners Roost, of which I am on the race team for. There is a 1 mile run, a 5K run, and a 5 mile run. I did the 5 miler. Leading up to this race was the fact that I had been sick again. Diane thinks I have allergies,of which I have never had before. I believe she is correct! When I got to the race, I hooked up with other Runners Roost race team members, and we decided to take off for a “warm up run”. Yeah right. Their warm up pace was faster than my race pace! After a little while, I faked the fact that I had to tie my shoes, so they took off without me. Thank goodness! So I lined up with the many other million runners at the start, shoulder to shoulder. My mistake here was I was about in the middle of the pack, and when we started, it was like an episode of the Keystone cops. Everybody was running every which way and it was hard to maneuver around. I weaved in and out for about a mile and a half, and I was exhausted. I was running at the pace I wanted to be at the start, but all the bobbing and weaving left me with no energy. The last 3 miles were not pretty! I ended up at 42:35, which was 26th out of 103 in my age group, but it was 3 minutes slower than I should have been. Oh well.
Next weekend my son Jason is getting married in North Carolina. This makes it all 3 kids that are married now. My daughter Kari is expecting her first child in August, and she already knows it’s a girl. Micheal has his 1 year anniversary this month. It seems like yesterday they were all just kids themselves playing football in the front yard. Time surely does fly.
Leading up to my marathon, I came down with a lingering cold.Number 1, I never get a cold, and Number 2, this one lasted on and off for 2 weeks.In that time, I got in a few good runs, but always felt like crap afterwards.Finally on the day of the race, I felt good again, but I felt very weak, like I was drained or something.I didn’t have my usual jumpiness, or anxiety, or whatever you want to call it, like I normally do for a race.I felt almost nonchalant I guess.
The marathon was starting at 8:00, and I wonder why that was since most of the ones I’ve run are at 7:00.They were predicting the weather to be sunny and in the mid 70’s which is not good for a long run.Some runners like the warm weather, and have no problem with it.I do not like running in the hot weather, and I think that is due mainly to my MS.
We (my brother Mark and I), got to the start line about an hour before the race.It was already in the mid fifty’s at 7 in the morning!After a little while, I took off on a warm up jog for 15 minutes, and felt pretty good.Maybe my cold won’t have any lingering effects.One thing that I thought was strange at the beginning of the race, was that I didn’t recognize anybody.At every marathon that I’ve run, I at least knew somebody that I could talk to or run with, but this day I didn’t
We started off and I was in the pack of people that were following the 3 hour and 50 minute pacer.I knew I wasn’t going to keep up with them at the beginning since they do the same pace the whole marathon, and I start out slowly, and then build up to that pace.At around the 5 mile mark, I caught up with the 4 hour pace group, and I thought I might just settle in with them.But I was feeling good, so I pushed it a little bit more so I could catch up with the 3:50 group.I think I finally caught up with them around mile 9, and settled it to that pace.One nice thing about the run was going through Camp Pendleton and seeing all the soldiers out there cheering us on and giving everyone a high five!That was pretty awesome.
At mile 16, we head out away from the ocean and onto a stretch of road that is all asphalt, and there is no breeze.At that point it felt like someone turned a switch off and I had no energy and no desire to even finish the race.I could turn back now and it would only be 3 miles to the end, or keep going for another 10 miles!Of course I choose to go on, but it was tough.I did some walking and some running, and a lot of people were doing the same as me.More than any that I’ve ever seen at a marathon before.
So I kept plodding along and around mile 20, I saw this guy with a shirt that said “100th Marathon Club”.He looked a little older than me and I commented to him about his shirt, and he said, “Oh, this is my 141st.I ran my 140th yesterday”.Wow!He ran a marathon the day before this one.Unbelievable.It was then that we were back near the water, and you could instantly feel the cool air.It felt like someone had opened a door and let the air from the air conditioner out.What a relief.I’m still walking and running, but at least now I feel better.
The last mile I ran the whole way as best as I could.I could see the finish line and I couldn’t have been happier!The only problem was, the finish line never seemed to get any closer.But it did, and so it was over.
Thanks to my brother Mark for being there the whole time.Well not exactly.He was there until the finish.He missed me crossing the finish line, and he kept waiting and waiting for me.I finished, got my SWAG, drank 4 beers, and finally decided to head back to his truck hoping that maybe he is waiting there.Mark was hanging on to my cell phone for me and I tried calling it with some one else’s cell phone that I met, but he didn’t answer that.I walked back towards the finish line and there he is, looking out at the people that are still coming in, waiting for me to appear.Since I had crossed the finish line 2 ½ hours earlier, I was stunned to see him still standing there.It wouldn’t have surprised me if he didn’t know at all where I was out on the course, but he was actually following me around for most of it on his bike and taking pictures.At least he tried.
Two weeks from today is my next attempt at a marathon. The Virginia Beach Shamrock Marathon. The last one (San Antonio) didn’t go too well mainly because I strained my abductor muscle a few weeks before, and they lied about having food at the start. The one before that (Phoenix) didn’t go well because of my torn meniscus. I still ran the full, but because I had missed a lot of training, I knew I would be hurting to do the whole thing. But I knew that going in so I wasn’t the slightest bit disappointed. This time, I am not convinced that I am ready, but really it’s all in my head. I should be ready, but part of me isn’t sure. It’s a lack of confidence in myself that I need to get over. How can I do it? Is there a formula, or a pill that I can take that will give me a mind boost? I know that there are actually running psychologists that specialize in this type of thing. Maybe it’s worth it to talk to one of them? Has anybody out there done that? I talk to other runners that I run with, and the successful ones all say that the first time that you get those negative thoughts out of your head, you will be fine after that. And the only way that they did it was to battle within themselves when those thoughts would start to creep in. They say that because you’ve done the training, you should be able to this. Sure your legs are going to hurt. They are going to hurt whether you keep running or whether you stop, so might as well keep running.
Wear running tights. The only way I will do that is if I wear regular shorts over the tights. I like the compression, but I don’t like showing off Mr. Winke.
