With Richmond coming up in sixteen days, I am all of a sudden uncertain whether or not this will be #7 or if that honor will go to Pittsburgh in May. A few things have happened that put this five hour drive south into jeopardy.
As you have already read, our greyhound Vee passed away last Tuesday. The very next day we found out our other greyhound Sam still had a very highly contagious infection that made us question whether or not we wanted to board him with other dogs. It wouldn't be fair. So discussion surrounding a possible cancellation ensued. Not to mention our fear that we had another dog who had an infection that given the worst possible scenario, could kill him.
Fast forward to Friday, we got a bit of good news. Sam's infection is improving, and although he still has it he's not as contagious and shouldn't be a problem boarding with other dogs. Relief settled over us that he's getting better and Richmond was back on.
Until Monday night. That's when I was working my 1,496th career hockey game and was hit on the inside of my left foot. Normally, when you get hit on the foot it's a glancing blow and the stun goes away in a few minutes. This was more solid. It buckled me. And the pain didn't go away. I struggled to skate through 2 1/2 more periods and by the time I hit the locker room and took my skate off, the swelling was there. And yesterday the pain continued with a noticeable limp.
Although I feel better today, my running is "on hold". I want to make sure I don't run on the foot until it's absolutely healed and I have no idea how long that will take. I pray I'll know by Sunday when I'm scheduled to skate again. I pray I can run again by Sunday but I have to establish a drop dead date of next Wednesday to decide whether or not I'm going to Virginia. I hate to cancel, but I also don't want to run a marathon after not running for two weeks. I've got to be able to run at least 3 or 4 more times (lightly). If I can't hit the roads and do it comfortably by next Wednesday (one week from today), I'm out.
In the back of my mind, I feel like someone is trying to tell me something.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
So Long Sweet Vee
Just five months ago I was writing about losing Tera, our longest tenured greyhound in our house. She spent seven and a half years with us. One year before losing Tera we got Ventura, affectionately known as Vee. It would be the first time since we started rescuing these spectacular animals that we had two females. It was risky but it ended up being a great arrangement. They loved each other and got along so well. A year together was hardly enough. When Tera passed away in May we never imagined that Vee would go so soon, but yesterday she died in our living room. Becky was home with her when it happened and it is believed she had a heart attack or an aneurysm that killed her in less than 30 minutes. Fortunately she didn't suffer and went quickly. At six years of age, she went far too quickly for us. It is never easy saying goodbye to these dogs. This was no exception. Vee was special in her own way and will be sorely missed. There is another void in our house that won't go away anytime soon. It is the way it is. It is the catch-22 of rescuing greyhounds. You save their life, and in our case each time it was for so little time. But we take solace in the fact that we are saving these animals even if it is for a little while. And today I can't help but think that Vee has reunited with Tera and the two of them are together once again. Godspeed ladies....you were both very special girls. We miss you dearly.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
I Must Be Crazy
After refereeing a college hockey game last night and having some pizza and wings with the boys, I got to bed around 11:30, falling asleep watching the Red Sox game. With a 12:15 p.m. youth game to work today I had to be out on the road no later than 8:00 a.m. or so to get my 20-miler in today. Even though I woke up feeling a bit groggy and sore, I managed to push myself out the door and did my 10-mile loop twice to squeeze in my twent-miler. That left me just enough time to shower up and head to my game.
Despite this absolute craziness, I feel pretty good and am amazed with the ability my body has shown recovering from running a marathon (and a tough one for me) just two weeks ago. With 26 days to go until my next marathon I am feeling pretty confident and will taper now, taking an extra week to prepare my body for the damage I will inflict upon it in Richmond.
I suffered today and finished off a pretty good week. Although I'm sore, I'm in fairly good shape. I've got two hockey games to work tomorrow night and found that today's hockey after the run actually helped loosen me up a bit. I can only hope that tomorrow night does more of the same.
Despite this absolute craziness, I feel pretty good and am amazed with the ability my body has shown recovering from running a marathon (and a tough one for me) just two weeks ago. With 26 days to go until my next marathon I am feeling pretty confident and will taper now, taking an extra week to prepare my body for the damage I will inflict upon it in Richmond.
I suffered today and finished off a pretty good week. Although I'm sore, I'm in fairly good shape. I've got two hockey games to work tomorrow night and found that today's hockey after the run actually helped loosen me up a bit. I can only hope that tomorrow night does more of the same.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
More Suffering
Got my copy of Spirit of the Marathon and watched it over the weekend. It got me thinking a lot about where I am, where I've been and where I'm going. Got me thinking about a lot of things. What I have come up with is pretty simple, and I can't say for sure that the movie had anything to do with anything other than getting me thinking.
This is what I've come up with. I'm not suffering enough. Oh, I've suffered each of the past two marathons. And what I believe is although my training is going well it's almost going too well. Perhaps I'm not suffering like I used to when I first got started. My training runs are sometimes tough, but perhaps they could be tougher. Maybe I've become stagnant and forgotten what it took to get to where I was just before I ran in Philadelphia.
With just under 5 weeks remaining before I go to Richmond to run I've got a little time left to prepare myself properly both physically and mentally. Of that I have no doubt. But one thing is also for certain. I can do better. I can suffer more during training so that my suffering on the day of these events and days after are not as bad. You pay one way or another. It's best to pay up front and that's the approach I'll take. I went hard this morning and gave myself a good start toward what it's going to take to get back to where I need to be. Obviously, I haven't paid enough of a price for Boston. As the mornings get darker and fall slowly creeps up on winter, I'll pay that price. On the roads, in the gym and wherever else I need to pay. Boston is earned and earned hard. Perhaps after Philly I thought it would be easy. Well, it's not. It's the furthest thing from easy in the world. And that's what's going to make it so sweet when I finally get there.
This is what I've come up with. I'm not suffering enough. Oh, I've suffered each of the past two marathons. And what I believe is although my training is going well it's almost going too well. Perhaps I'm not suffering like I used to when I first got started. My training runs are sometimes tough, but perhaps they could be tougher. Maybe I've become stagnant and forgotten what it took to get to where I was just before I ran in Philadelphia.
With just under 5 weeks remaining before I go to Richmond to run I've got a little time left to prepare myself properly both physically and mentally. Of that I have no doubt. But one thing is also for certain. I can do better. I can suffer more during training so that my suffering on the day of these events and days after are not as bad. You pay one way or another. It's best to pay up front and that's the approach I'll take. I went hard this morning and gave myself a good start toward what it's going to take to get back to where I need to be. Obviously, I haven't paid enough of a price for Boston. As the mornings get darker and fall slowly creeps up on winter, I'll pay that price. On the roads, in the gym and wherever else I need to pay. Boston is earned and earned hard. Perhaps after Philly I thought it would be easy. Well, it's not. It's the furthest thing from easy in the world. And that's what's going to make it so sweet when I finally get there.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Some Post-Johnstown Wrap Up
Figured I'd post some Johnstown photos as I wait for the pain in my legs to subside enough to start running again. And posting...
This was the "group" photo taken prior to the start at the top of the Inclined Plane. Judging from the finishers I don't think everyone was present for said photo.
And we're off!
26.199 miles later, I barely had enough energy to raise my arms. About a second later I cross in 3:33:05. The fog had burned off and to my dismay, the sun had obviously come out; around mile 17. 
Pictured are my race finisher's medal, race bib and my 3rd place age group award. The age group award totally shocked me. I still don't look at 3 1/2 hours as being anywhere near fast. BUt I suppose on this day it was.
This was the "group" photo taken prior to the start at the top of the Inclined Plane. Judging from the finishers I don't think everyone was present for said photo.
And we're off!26.199 miles later, I barely had enough energy to raise my arms. About a second later I cross in 3:33:05. The fog had burned off and to my dismay, the sun had obviously come out; around mile 17. 
A final photo before heading home for the day. Small irony in that I finished in Point Stadium and although the home run record stands at 73, it stood forever at 61.....my race bib.
Pictured are my race finisher's medal, race bib and my 3rd place age group award. The age group award totally shocked me. I still don't look at 3 1/2 hours as being anywhere near fast. BUt I suppose on this day it was.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Behind Every Man...
Of course, the saying I'm talking about is "behind every great man is an even better woman". I hesitated to title this post "Behind Every Great Man" because although I'm am attempting to be a great person I've still got a long way to go and do not think I'm great. But what I can say for sure is that the second part of that saying cannot be more true.
My wife is someone I don't often give enough credit to. With all of my extracurricular activies and the small amount of time I spend at home (mostly in the winter because of school and hockey), it is a wonder she still puts up with me.
And even better yet, she supports me in no matter what adventure or crazy idea I might come home with. I truly don't feel as though I deserve someone as good as her. But I sure am glad that she is my wife.
Today I ran the Johnstown Marathon. I didn't have a countdown clock, I didn't broadcast it very loudly, telling very few people. My concept behind doing it was to see if I could somehow qualify for Boston on my home course. Being that I'm scheduled to run Richmond, VA in six weeks this was intended to be a test more than anything. I figured I'd go out and see how I felt. Since I needed a long training run anyway, I would go as far as I could holding a BQ time and if it fell apart, I'd pull back and simply use it as a training run.
My uncertified time is 3:33:05. I still await the official results, but it won't be that far off of that time. Today was my sixth marathon. Today was my third worst time, but my third best time. I held onto BQ for about 17 1/2 miles and despite doing so, I felt as though I had some heavy legs last night and that haunted me all day.
But this post is more about my wife than about me. Today she got up with me around 6:45 and made me my normal marathon day breakfast of one and a half bagels with peanut butter and jelly (if available). Since I was at home, it was nice having a toasted bagel and yes, we had jelly. Despite having her own things to do today it didn't stop there. She rode to the starting line with me and took my traditional pre-race picture. But she also went out ahead of me, meeting me at mile 5, mile 10, shortly after mile 16 and again at mile 22. She provided me with opened Powergels, and had water and Gatorade ready for me. She was there for me, helping me do what I wanted to do. Running a marathon and trying to qualify for Boston. She supported me; just like she always supports me and for that I love her dearly. We're definitely an odd couple. We have lots in common, but we also are different in so many ways. She goes far beyond what she should for me.
I should have called this post, and Ode to a Great Woman.
My wife is someone I don't often give enough credit to. With all of my extracurricular activies and the small amount of time I spend at home (mostly in the winter because of school and hockey), it is a wonder she still puts up with me.
And even better yet, she supports me in no matter what adventure or crazy idea I might come home with. I truly don't feel as though I deserve someone as good as her. But I sure am glad that she is my wife.
Today I ran the Johnstown Marathon. I didn't have a countdown clock, I didn't broadcast it very loudly, telling very few people. My concept behind doing it was to see if I could somehow qualify for Boston on my home course. Being that I'm scheduled to run Richmond, VA in six weeks this was intended to be a test more than anything. I figured I'd go out and see how I felt. Since I needed a long training run anyway, I would go as far as I could holding a BQ time and if it fell apart, I'd pull back and simply use it as a training run.
My uncertified time is 3:33:05. I still await the official results, but it won't be that far off of that time. Today was my sixth marathon. Today was my third worst time, but my third best time. I held onto BQ for about 17 1/2 miles and despite doing so, I felt as though I had some heavy legs last night and that haunted me all day.
But this post is more about my wife than about me. Today she got up with me around 6:45 and made me my normal marathon day breakfast of one and a half bagels with peanut butter and jelly (if available). Since I was at home, it was nice having a toasted bagel and yes, we had jelly. Despite having her own things to do today it didn't stop there. She rode to the starting line with me and took my traditional pre-race picture. But she also went out ahead of me, meeting me at mile 5, mile 10, shortly after mile 16 and again at mile 22. She provided me with opened Powergels, and had water and Gatorade ready for me. She was there for me, helping me do what I wanted to do. Running a marathon and trying to qualify for Boston. She supported me; just like she always supports me and for that I love her dearly. We're definitely an odd couple. We have lots in common, but we also are different in so many ways. She goes far beyond what she should for me.
I should have called this post, and Ode to a Great Woman.
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