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.
