Additional Father's Day Pictures

Marathon Training Begins... Wii

So this is the first week of formal marathon according to the training schedule provided by our team coach. I will try to share the training schedule as soon as I figure out how to copy and paste a PDF document to this blog. In any case the training program includes hill and speed work and at least one day off every week. It is also provides for one or two of cross training. It is of cross training (XT) that I want to talk about. I really don't know what to do for those XT training days. Originally I thought well on XT days I'll just run really slow. I have sought advice from other runners about it. Some tell me that they swim on XT days. Others get on their bike and do a couple of loops around the park. There are a few roller bladders among them. The problem for me with those choices is that I can swim but don't have access to a pool; I don't have a bike and roller blading is only an option if I intend to spend most of my time working on developing techniques on how to bounce of the pavement. So I decided that on my XT days I will spend some time using my Nintendo Wii and the Wii Fit. The Hoola-Hoop workout on the Wii will be the key to my success this November.

First Fred's Team Meeting...

Last night was the kick-off meeting/reception for the 2008 NYC Marathon Fred's Team. It was held at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Center. I was a little late (wanted to get started on a load of laundry before the meeting). A generously sized room was packed with individuals committed to running the marathon and raising funds for Cancer research. I was impressed by how large the group is. I really excited about training with and getting to know the people in my team.

Father's Day Race... Bloody Mess...

Today on Father's Day I decided to partly celebrate by running the Father's Day Fight Against Prostate Cancer 5 Mile race in Central Park. Conditions at race time 8:30 AM were warm and humid (very nasty). It was so nasty that we were warned several times to make sure not to push ourselves to hard and if we felt ill to stop and seek medical attention from one of the many emergency personnel along the race route. I have to admit that this being only the third race of my comeback the repeated warnings made me doubt that I could have a strong race. So the race started and I pushed hard and I was able to perform better than I expected. I survived with a time of 32:33 for a 6:31 minute pace. However I was a bloody mess at the end (see pics above). The red on the white section of my bib and shirt is not shirt dye.

I am on the Marathon...

It became official yesterday, I will be running the 2008 New York City Marathon. Well at least my entry to the race has been formally accepted. Of course it is contingent on staying healthy until the race and I have to do the training. The most important contingency is that I have to raise the $3000 I pledged to join Team Fred and have a spot to run the Marathon. So in the next few weeks and months I will be increasing my training and my request for support, so if you are reading my blog please check my Team Fred fundraising site by clicking on the link on this page.

Injury Free Running...

Speaking about staying injury free. I hate to stretch before a run. I hate to stretch after a run. I hate to stretch at any time. Despite my hate of stretching I have stayed injury free during the few thousand miles I have logged since I first put on the sneaks to run along the East River of NYC eleven years ago. That time is coming to an end. A couple nights ago, while running in Central Park and making some mile splits reminiscent of those of my peak running era, I felt a sharp pain on my left thigh near the groin area. I kept running since it was no time to stop in the creepiness of the dark park. I had pulled my groin on that side. I was fortunate that two days of rest was all it took, but lesson learned. I shall not run in the park when its creepy out just in case I get injured. Seriously I will start to do some stretching.