What is a PR? What about 3 new PRS??

Hello, I know it has been awhile since my last entry, but it seems that life gets in the way some times of allowing time to write an entry. A lot has happened since my last posting. So I will try to recap all these events here.

First, I would like to recount my trip to San Antonio, Texas. It was an exciting time because I went with the training group,FIT, to do the inaugural Rock and Roll Marathon. Yes, I did do 26.2 miles, and I started to question like around mile 19 , why do I subject myself to this, when I could have gotten a nice medal with just doing 13.1 miles. The trip was good, I traveled with my friend, Barbara and Dennis met us there. Barbara after all her injuries was recovered enough to complete the half marathon and Dennis, just a year after his surgery was able to complete the full marathon. I was happy and proud to have been able to share both of these accomplishments with them. More about the marathon later, but I wanted to say a few words about the expo. It was such and exciting time. I got to meet one of my heroes, John, the penguin, Bingham. I met Frank Shorter and David Beardsley. Coach Jenny was there and suggested that after the marathon , best thing was to soak your legs for 10 minutes in ice water, and to use salt packets before and during race.
So I did the full marathon. It was cold at the start in the 30's and after using the salt packet, started the race with Barb T, along side me. We had been training together and this was her first full marathon. We met Steve along the way, from San Antonio, and walked most of the way with him too. We passed the Alamo, the missions and a lot of boring places, but we finished. At the finish line , the penguin was there to shake my hand, and as I looked at the time, I realized that I had done it in 7 minutes faster then Disney.....wow I had a new PR. PR is a personal record. I went to the hotel , and as my friends went to the pool, I went to my tub , sat in cold water and poured ice into the bath. It was cold , but I sat there for 10 minutes and I am happy to say that my legs felt better. The rest of the time I did sightseeing trips, even went to the caverns north of the city and climbed over 380 steps.
I move ahead to Thanksgiving Day. I had signed up for the turkey trot in Miami's Tropical Park. I was there by myself, after the race I was headed over to the west coast to celebrate with my family. I started the race, it was a 5K, and started running along with having some walk breaks. I came to mile one, and I was lower then 13 minutes. By the end of the race I had done it in 42 minutes and my pace was a 13:01 minutes per mile. I was excited, another PR for a 5K for me.
And I finish with yesterday, it was the Half Marathon of Palm Beach. I was there again with FIT. Barbara was there and my training partner from the weekdays, Nancy and her sister,Alex. Nancy and I were going to try to break the 3 hour mark for the half marathon. It was cool and foggy to start. We were doing good, but not good enough. I played it too conservative because I kept thinking I still have the Goofy in a month. We finished in 3 hours 1 minute. Well we will try again, but it was a PR for both of us. I thank Nancy for her commitment to train and follow sometimes my foolish actions. So that was the third PR. I know that if I continue to train I will achieve better times for each race. But the best part is that I enjoy when I am out there. I never thought it would be me finishing those races. Barbara and Alex did well yesterday too, and I look forward to other races where we can challenge each other. Enjoy each day, and walk a little bit more closer to your goals.

It's been a long time...a long road ahead.....

Yes, it has been a long time and a lot of things have happened in my world and in the whole world. Too many things to dwell on , but I want to update and tell you that next Sunday November 16 , I go for my second marathon. I will travel to San Antonio and hope to have a great time, since 30,000 people have signed up for it. I will be traveling with my friend, Barbara, who after many trails and tribulations seems to be ready to tackle the 1/2 marathon there. Dennis who will be trying to do his first marathon and about 40 -50 folks from my training group, FIT.

I have been training and am doing well. I started to incorporate some running in there and on my birthday did a PR for myself. Yesterday on Nancy's birthday eve, we did another PR for each of us. I think we are well on track to do a PR at the Palm Beach 1/2 Marathon. And good luck , Nancy on the 13.1 race next Sunday too.

I have trained and I have traveled. I went to see fall in the smokies with mom and Barbara. It was a beautiful time and the picture is from the road I trained while I was there. I also did the Everest Challenge where I was not only inspired by Jamie Clarke, but also had a very good time doing the race , obstacle course and scavenger hunt.

I have done almost 800 miles in training since this season started only a few shorts months ago, I have lost over 20 pounds and I look forward to each days challenges since I now consider myself an adventurer.

Wish us luck, and heehaw y'all.

I revisited the yellow brick road again today.

I am not sure if when I started to write my blog, I mentioned that one of my mantras to get me going on my long miles and through the marathon experience was to think of The Wizard of Oz and the whole yellow brick road experience. Well as I walked along I would think about the different things that I encountered and I would associate it with different things from the movie. My companions were three friends from church so the logically became the scarecrow, the lion and the tin man. These were Dennis, Barbara and Erick. Well about a year ago today, I went out with the three of them and did an incredible race with lightning before and after and a lot of rain in between.. It was great fun and something I will never forget. Today the race happened again, it is the Haulover 5K. Although I was by myself today, I felt their presence. You know it is funny how lives change and we might walk in different paths but we are still connected somehow.

The race was great, beautiful day this time and a breeze coming off the ocean. I did a PR during the race, so this year again it was a memorable day.


You know I mentioned that I had gone to a Jeff Galloway running school last week. I had done it before but I guess last year I just heard him. This year I not only heard him but I have put some of his suggestions into action. He not only revitalized my training, he has helped me improve my workouts and time.

Things are going well with the weekly training. SM (perfect specimen man) is back to running in the mornings. A funny line from one of the guys we bump into each morning was in reply to asking him how many miles he was doing....he said " 4 or 5 miles depends on how strong I make the coffee in the morning'.

This week I did a total of close to 30 miles and I FINNALY lost a little weight.
Have a great week and enjoy each day of it.

It has been awhile, but all things start anew....

Ok, it has been awhile, and I have missed communicating and telling you about my life , especially as it concerns my training for the races. I think allot of it spills over to my life and changes and affects the path that I am on.

Since it has been a couple of months since my last entry, don't worry I won't bore you with many details of those days. It goes without saying that we have dodge the bullet with about four tropical storms or hurricanes in our area. I have done a couple of small races 5K's specifically and I went to Los Angeles to do the Disneyland Half Marathon. The trip out there was fun, I went with my friend , Barbara. Thank you for showing me the sights out there. The race was spectacular it went through both Disneyland and California Adventure. It was fun , and I not only got the Disneyland," The Happiest Race " castle medal, I also got a medal for doing the full marathon in Disney World and going cross country to do the half marathon in Disneyland. This was the first year that was being done. Although, I enjoyed the trip southern California is not a place I will soon return to.

The weekly training has been going well, although it got disrupted with my trip and then the approaching Ike. I miss going out early in the morning but hopefully the routine will soon be in place again. Nothing really exciting to report on that front, all the players, Nancy, Rita, and all cast of characters,Kevin, 6, clapper guy , etc are all doing well.

Yesterday in our training we did 16 miles. By the time we were heading back I kept thinking I can't do another 10 miles to do a full marathon. Well the heat and humidity must have gotten the best of me , because I know that I can and I will do it. I have done it before. In the afternoon , I was fortunate to be able to attend a running school held by Jeff Galloway. He is my hero and because of him and his books had I attempted to train last year. He was such an inspiration and I learned allot of new information that I could use in my training. I COULD LOSE WEIGHT DURING TRAINING. I WOULD NOT HURT MYSELF IF I INCLUDED SOME RUNNING WITH MY WALKING. And he gave me some insight on how to do prepare for the Goofy Challenge in January.

It was a great time spent with someone I have looked up to for awhile now. The training is going well though. Steady , if not exciting. Now I plan to make it exciting too. I am working on a new training schedule for the coming weeks. I have not lost any weight during this period, and I have walked an average of 20-30 miles per week. The grand total of miles done is 579.34. I hope to be in contact soon again. The picture of the sunrise was take before the Fireman's Challenge 5K in Hollywood last weekend. It reminded me that all things can and sometime do start all over again.

Peace.

A great week has just ended...

I had a great week this past week. My training was on target with 15 miles during the week. Yesterday our weekly long training session was 12 miles. It was a challenge because we were starting a new sign up session for winter and one of our assistant coaches was gone. So we started and went out for 4 miles, came back to the park and picked up the half marathoners and did 8 more miles. To the top of the 17th Street causeway bridge and back. Then we met some of the new guys that were starting their training yesterday. The miles were really without much consequence nor interesting stories to tell, but it was good that we were able to finish with the high temperatures and humidity. Cat walked with us and told us about her joining the 50 state/50 marathon club. One one thing that happened was that Barbara was out doing 6 miles. Her speed is improving and she is excited about getting back into training. Disneyland will be so much fun with her walking the course with me.

As I have mentioned before, I am training amongst other things for the Goofy Challenge in January. A half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon the next day, Sunday. Today I started to train a bit more specific for that. I did 4 miles instead of taking today off, Sunday. I feel good. When I woke up this morning it was raining so I thought good excuse I can skip. But something deep inside said don't skip today or else it will be easy to skip every day. I went to my apartment gym and did 4 miles on the thread mill. Not as good as outside, but I got the miles in.

This week I did over 31 miles in training. I lost a little over 2 pounds. i feel good and I hope to keep the momentum going. I thank you all for your support and I can feel the difference. Have a great week and continue on.

Sometimes you have to challenge yourself......

I know I just wrote yesterday a long blog, but today was a monumental day in training. Because of family commitments this week, I could not train on Tuesday so decided to train this morning. Nancy decided to go out with me and so to challenge ourselves and make thins a little different, I chose a different course then our usual walk from CVS to Yankee Clipper and back. Today we started on the south side in front of Runner's Depot on 17th Street. We started off and what was right in front of us but the 17th St Causeway bridge. It loomed in front, and we started up its side. Team in Training calls it the beast, and I can see why. We went up and down then continued north on A1A to the overpass of Beach Place. Then it was time to head back, we went through Harbor Island and had to face the bridge again , but now slightly more tired. After some huffing and puffing we made it and were back in to our cars.

It was a great walk, a great training and we maintained a relatively fast pace of 4 mile per hour. We did 5.29 miles. Burned over 620 calories. It will be something we do again, not in the near future. But certainly when we want to be challenged again.

Where do I start after such a long hiatus?????

After trying week after week to log on to my blog, it has been impossible until a few minutes ago to do this. So much has happened and so many experiences have occurred since my last blog, that I find it difficult to summarize the adventures in a single blog. For my loyal friends who have missed my communications here, I thank you for your persistence in urging me to get into the site. Thank you, Barbara for the link.

I start off recounting the unfortunate trials of training, those associated with injury. As my friends fell to injuries in these last months , it made me think of the importance of training and not over training to avoid this. At the least amount of discomfort I stop, and wait for it to pass. My friends are healing and God willing will be training and racing with the group in the near future.

My work as an assistant coach at Friends in Training, has been challenging as well as frustrating at times. Sometimes I think that maybe it was just better to pay the membership fee and not have to deal with the bureaucratic stuff that comes with the role. But then when I seem to help someone finish a training session or walk with a person having a hard time, it seems to be worth it.

I still go out and train at least three times a week with Nancy, Rita, now Melanie and Cathy. Each day we do a little over 5 miles and what makes it interesting is not only the company of these wonderful ladies but the people we meet in the early hours of the morning. There is bus guy( who we now know to be called Kevin), we see him every day and say hi. Just before 4th of July we didn't see him and wondered where he was. Well we are headed back and the bus pulls up to us in the middle of A1A, the door opens and Kevin is there to wish us a good holiday ....that made all of our day. There is the kernel and his boot camp rookie, SM ( Nancy's name because the guy has a perfect body), crew cut guy, #8 or USA guy, and the others we see but not on a regular basis. See these people who walk into our lives if just for a moment keep us going each day, and I know that somehow our simple hello touches them too.

The FIT group is growing too. And now as we start the winter season I hope to have more people that will share our time during training. Nancy puts up with my stupid chatter, Marilyn has new running skirts and we got to see Marilyn over the inter coastal last week. I miss Barbara in our sessions and I am glad Dennis is back into training.

I am sorry that I just seem to ramble on but it is over two months of information here. To end I would like to mention that we did the first annual St Gregory's Bible Camp 5K this morning and it was not only fun but a success. Babette, a wonderful women who crossed paths with me from FIT died last month and we will honor her with a 5K next month. During the last two months I have walked over 240 miles, unfortunately I have not lost that much weight, still at about 10 pounds from when I started. I will continue to write, and I will continue to train. Continue to strive for your best and enjoy the journey.

Another week, and all is well...

What a great week it has been. Training i going well. I did 22.12 miles in 5:52 hours. With a total of over 180 miles since I started at the beginning of March. FIT, the training group I belong, had its second recruitment weekend. That went very well. We have Barbara,Dennis, Kathy, and Marta joining us from St Gregory's. All are excited about training and I look forward to sharing my time with them. Went 2 mornings to walk on the beach this past week. It is so great to be finished with training and do over 5 miles by like 6:15 am. I have talked to the friends I gather with, and we have decided to do it 3 times per week for the next few weeks to see how it works out. I worked with the FIT schedule for June, we do longer miles on Saturdays; and they give us a schedule to follow the rest of week. I calculated the miles by dividing the times by a 15 minute/mile pace. I cam up with week1: 10.67 miles, week2: 12 miles, week3: 13.33 miles and week4: 14 miles. If you recall from last week, I had mentioned that I wanted to keep a 20 mile base during this part of my training. So adding another morning to the beach training I cam up with for week1: 22 miles, week2: 23 miles, week3: 13.33 miles, and week4: 14 miles. I still will take Mondays and Fridays off or for some cross training, like bike riding. I am excited about this schedule, and others are too. Nothing is written in stone though, so as changes occur, I will post them here.

This morning, I did the Daniella's Journey by the Sea 5K. She was an inspirational young lady who's family coordinates this race in her honor. It was fun at John Lloyd's. Beautiful morning, about 1000 entries for runners and walkers. I did well kept a 14:19 minute per mile pace. And the picture at the top is what greeted Barbara and I as we prepared for the race.

I wish Barbara a quick recovery and for all of you that are out there training and sweating continue, you are doing great.

Life sometimes gets in the way...

Good day, it has been about 2 weeks since my last entry. Well like I said in my title, life sometimes throws you for a loop and your direction gets off keel for a bit. But I am back. Two weeks to catch up, but no worries I will edit most of it out. In the last 2 weeks I have done a total of 49 miles in a little over 12 hours. in one week I worked out 5 out of 7 days and the next week I worked out 4 of the 7 days. And I have lost a total of 13.6 pounds. Good considering I had a very rough week. Last Sunday a group of friends from Friends in Training went up to Orlando to do the last Minnie Marathon. It is a 15K or 9.3 miles course designed for women. There were 2,800 women doing it and 250some guys. It was a fun time , we went from Animal Kingdom to Wide World of Sports, through the movies studios, the yacht and boardwalk into Epcot and finished right outside of Epcot. We all got the medal and finished way below the 15 minute pace required by the race director. Yesterday we started the new season of FIT, which is the training group I get together with every Saturday. It was great being back. I am now an assistant coach for the walking group, helping them to reach the goal of finishing a marathon this year. So I continue to evolve and grow. I know it will be an exciting year. I added a picture from last week's event, I was clean by then , but I got to meet my favorite gal there at Disney and show her my medal. Have a great week, guys.

Florida Aids Walk...

What an incredible day it has been. Went to the Florida Aids walk in Ft Lauderdale. It was a 10K route going from downtown, east on broward to 14th Avenue , to Las Olas, east to the beach and back ending up on the river walk. It was a beautiful course going through the quaint neighborhoods and Las Olas. Seeing the boats, and the beach and then heading back. There were several thousands people. A cross section of Americana. Gays, straights and in between.

The exciting part of the day was that it was the inaugural walk for a bunch of people from our church, St Gregory's. My friend, Barbara, organized a bunch of us to walk together. We had t-shirts and she had a medal for each of us at the finish line. Everyone had a great time and I think we set some on fire to want to continue to train and do future races. There were 14 of us that came together and walked for a great cause. Overcoming our prejudices and uniting for a cause that affects all, even the ones that aren't infected. At the end of the race a photographer from Sun-Sentinel took our picture and its posted here. Hopefully next year we will have a bigger group. We are already planning our next race and get together.

It has been a great week.....

What a great week it has been. The weather has been great and life is good. Training has been going well this week.I did 18.87 miles in 4:67 hours. I was out 5 days, but one day as I started and was only about half mile out, it started to rain. So I turned back. I don't like rain, don't like the feeling of getting wet. Well during my training last year, I got wet several times. I even did 18 miles of training in the rain. I should be used to it by now, but I figured so early in my training, it was just not worth it. I hate the feeling of being wet, getting blisters and having to dry my shoes afterwards.

On saturday had a great training session unofficially with my FIT group. There were about 15 of us, including Shari, our coach. It was great being all together, old friends and new friends. I look forward to the official training starting on May 10th. We did six miles, walked from the park past the Yankee Clipper and back. What a great feeling to get it done and it was below the 15 mile pace we will have to keep for the Minnie marathon next week. More about that in the coming week. So we keep at it. Slowly but surely getting stronger and fastr as the weeks go on. Concerning the weight loss, I have lost 12 pounds, so I am on a good start there too.
Continue to enjoy life my friends....

Quiet week means a good week...

Good day, all. Its a little late , but better late then never. This past week was a great week in my training. I was able to get out there 5 days, and walked a total of 20.24 miles in 5:10 hours. The saturday walk was for 8 miles, we traveled from the park to Las Olas, crossed the bridge, went into Idlewild community back to A1A to the light past the Yankee Clipper and back. We avearged a pace of less then 15 minutes per mile. It was a good training experience because there were no challenging moments throughout the period.

There was not much to report this week. Things went well at work. Life was quiet, life is good. Until next time.....PEACE.

Anyone can be as complex as me.....

It has been a great week, this week. Things have been a little crazy at work, but I have been able to train and get out there several times during the week. This morning I got out at 5:00 am and went on a 10 mile training walk along the beach. So the totals for this week are 19.34 miles and it took me around 5:16 hours. Great start and I am excited about the progress.

Today it was an incredible walk. Nancy, Marilyn , Rita and I walked in a group. We did the usual FIT 10 mile route. We started at the park went to A1A, walked south to Las Olas then we crossed Las Olas bridge heading west to the end of the first canal, we headed backwards and came back to A1A and continued south. went through the like community of Harbor something or other and went over the 17Th Street causeway bridge to Eisenhower and back through the Yankee Clipper back to the park. It was an interesting walk, the girls talked and I listened. I learned a couple of things this morning. If you are walking on the beach early some mornings you might notice it a few degrees warmer then normal. I learned that it is because of Nancy's hot mule(well think of another word used for mule). Her water bottle gets really warm because it keeps rubbing up against it. I also learned that Rita loves Cuban food and Marilyn likes to keep quiet.

As we headed back, we came across this incredible sunrise. Of course I started to snap away capturing the image. My group kept on walking and then it was when a true revelation hit me. Here I was training my physical side, but I being a complex being also have a spiritual side. Today I trained my spiritual side also. I felt that God was telling me that in creating this beautiful sunrise for me I was really ignoring by taking a snapshot and racing on. So I sat there on the beach wall and contemplated the sunrise for awhile. If this would be the last sunrise I would see, how could I describe it? I finally got up and continued my walk but at a slower pace. I had to enjoy the morning that had been created for me. As I reached the park, my friends were alarmed because they thought something had happened to me. But I was fine, and felt better in my training because I felt I had exercised my whole being. So don't forget get out there and be active but also go inward and look and exercise your spiritual side too this week.

I took a break, but now I am back...

Good day, my friends. I took a small break with Easter and my niece's birthday happening during that time, but now I am back in full force. During this time I walked but not as much , so my body took a break too.During the two week period I walked 17.14 miles in a total of over 4 hours. I did the Celebrity 5K race, a beautiful race from Watson Island to the end of South Beach. I did better this year then last reducing my time by almost 2 minutes.

An exciting part of this 2 week period was the announcement by FIT (Friends in Training), the group that I train with, that the season would be starting on May 10. Also the marathon that we will training for is the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Antonio. This is an inaugural race, and one that I had signed up to do already with my friends, Barbara and Dennis. So now I get to go with a bunch of my friends from FIT too.

Yesterday I went on a 8 mile training walk with Nancy and Marilyn. We had plenty of water,and it was breezy on the beach. We kept a good pace of little over 15 minutes per mile. When we were getting almost to the end I get dry heaves, well it not only scared Nancy , but it was uncomfortable for me. What happened? I had plenty of water, but I did not drink it. Just a reminder that although the breeze did not let me feel the heat and humidity. I need to hydrate. At least it was early in the training for me to learn my lesson again. And there were not too many around to embarrass me too much.

I start this week with the resolve to train more. I miss going out, but my body is stronger because I allowed it to rest during this time. So I say to all of you. WALK ON.

Hey,it's the end of week 2, and I feel good...

Good day all. I am writing early this week because tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I might be traveling to my brother's. It was a busy week but I still was able to go out 4 days this week for my training. I did 13.59 miles in 3:58 hours of training. I always averaged well below 16 minutes per mile so I figured I am at a good pace for my overall training since I have not officially started yet and this is not really pushing myself at all.

I got the FIT newsletter this week. I am anxious to get started with them again. I miss the structure that it gives my life. Today I went on a 6 mile walk with Nancy and Barbara. It is such a treat to walk on the beach and see the dawn approach, as well as the comradaree of walking with them both. We saw some of the people we know on the journey. It is funny might not know their names, but we have speedo guy that is always at the Clipper parking lot, or the fireman going at race pace that we bump into as we leave Sunrise, and then the couple of drunks staggering from the beach. as time goes by and our miles increase I hope to have more stories of the people we meet on this journey.

As I told Nancy today, this is my blog;so I can make her as nice or as mean as I want to. Just kidding, I hope to be mostly truthful in the information I dissiminate on here. One thing that I neglected to mention before is that one of my goals is to drop some substantial weight during this year. So Barbara, no more Easter candy. I hope that you all will support on thsi, and help me along when you see me eating the wrong things.

I guess I have rambled on. Sorry, I sometimes do that sort of thing. Have a great week and for those of you celebrating....HAPPY EASTER.

First week down, 39 to go....

Well I made it through the first week. Although it was a tough week at work, my training went remarkably well. Out of the week I was out there 5 days, and I totaled 18.93 miles. I went out by myself 4 days, and on Saturday met with a bunch of my friends from FIT to do almost 9 miles on the beach. We were to start at 5:45am and as I got up and headed out the door at around 5:00 am , I kept questioning my sanity. We had about 8 walkers and Nancy our unofficial coach, suggested we go do the 17Th street causeway bridge, so we agreed and headed that way. Let me tell you, I hate that bridge , but I did it anyways. As we headed back , we saw the sunrise. At that moment I felt I was being given a gift from God , not only had I trained but here was this most spectacular sunrise. We came back to the park and back to reality, I had to head off to work.

Like I said, I made it through the first week. I signed up in the middle of the week for the New York Marathon lottery. If it is God's will I will be walking through the boroughs of New York come this November, let me tell you I knew of this marathon even when I thought it would be impossible for me to ever accomplish this feat. So I know that the day that I will complete it will be one of those memorable days in my life.

So I am about to start week 2. I am about to get my shorts , shirt and new balances on and trek out my door. Have a great week.

One foot ahead of the other...

Well here it is. 10 months to the beginning of the Goofy Challenge and the official day in my life to start training again. I realize that if I was pregnant today, I would deliver the baby before I would complete my training. Well I think that the training will be less painful then a delivery.

This morning I woke up and had several reasons why not to walk today. It was cloudy , it was too dark( the time change thing), I could wait until the evening , and I just didn't feel like it. I got down to the street level and as I waited for the Garmin to find its satelites, I kept praying for rain. Well I didn't get the rain and the watch started and I was off. One step in front of the other, until I completed 35 minutes and I was back home. Feeling good about my accomplishments and planning my training for the next few months.

I completed 2.27 miles in 35 minutes , at a pace of 15:42. I burned 294 calories amd my average pace was 15:25. As you cn see it was a slow easy pace. I have decided not to push myself so early in my training. And so I arrive at the specifics of my training now: 1) I want to walk 3-5 times a week, 2) I will do a longer walk once a week , preferably Saturday with my friends from FIT until that starts up again; 3) since I know with training I can do a marathon, I want to enjoy my training more this year and worry less; and 4) I will write and add to the blog at least once a week, most likely it will be during the weekend. So at least check back on Sunday to see how the week went.

Enjoy your day, enjoy the outdoors and be thankful for each day because it is truly a gift from God.

A look back

As I sit and write this, I hve to look back and see from where I came, so that you will understand better the journey I embark on again, although I am sure it will bring new challenges and adventures because each day is a new and different beginning.

At the start of 2007, I decided that I wanted to do something different for my 50th birthday. I thought and prayed about it , and I set my goal as the Disney Marathon of 2008. You might think well that is a good goal , or to me it was an almost unreachable goal, see I am not a runner nor a very good walker for that matter. But I signed up for the marathon anyways, it was to be on Januray 13, 2008. I really had no idea what I was to do, so I started asking away. Someone mentioned to me that his wife had done one, and she used the Galloway method. I found that this was a method perfected by Jeff Galloway, I read his books, I tried his method. I found out that I really didn't have to run , I could walk because I walked really faster then I ran and still train.

I spoke to everyone that I knew or any one that would listen about my training. I worked for a really negative company and there was a bet how quickly I would stop training and if I ever made it to the marathon that I would certainly not make it to the end. One of my Emmaus brothers, said he would train with me, and so a couple of weeks later we were doing a half marathon on A1A. Well we finished it, and it was rough but I made a group there called Friends in Training that were to become my friends and would train me for the next 9 months. My coach Shari, had all the faith that I could complete the marathon with the training I was doing. During the journey I have met some incrdible people, Nancy, Lynn and Marilyn. People that have inspired me and kept me focused on the end result, no matter how far it seemed.

One of my Emmaus sisters and best friends, Barbara comes into the picture about this time, she had heard about all my excitement in training and so decides that she wants to start some training too. During all this time she has been supportive and has never doubted that I would complete my goal. Well about this time I figure I need a mantra toget me through the long miles of training, and so I come across the concept of the Wizard of Oz. All of us become one of the characters , Dorothy, the scarecrow, the cowardly lion, the tin man. Even the ones fighting my progress have a play in there as the witch and flying monkeys.

I can't go into all the details of the past year. I should have done blogs all along, but I got to the marathon, and Barbara was at my side. She cheered me on through miles 4, 10 and to the finish. I never thought I would be able to complete it but through alot of prayers and not once remembering th yellow brick road, I made it to the finish line. It was 6:58:13 later but I still made it within the 7 hours they gave me. I had a very bad blister, I could hardly walk and I developed a really bad flu right after but I MADE IT. It was one of the greatest feelings I had ever felt knowing that I had pushed , I had trained and I had done it.

During the year I completed many 5K races, one 10K and one 13K, 4 half marathons, and one marathon. During my months of training from April 9 to just yesterday March 8 I completed 891.15 miles. I the day after the Disney marathon decided on my next challenge. The goal that I had reached convinced me that I not only could complete a marathon, but that my body could be trained and challenged for more. So I signed up for the Goofy Challenge. That is I will do half a marathon on Saturday and then a full marathon on Sunday. The date is January 9 and 10. So tomorrow it will be 10 months before the beginning of this challenge.

I hope to record on a regular basis my progress, my ups and downs on here. I invite you to come on the journey with me. If not in person , at least in spirit as I share my thoughts with you here.

Let the training begin.