2013 New Marathon Book

My second book is coming out on Amazon in the next few weeks.

It outlines my experiences in planning and training for my first Disney Marathon in 2005 and the follow up Goofy Challenge in 2006.

It's not a technical book full of training splits, pace charts and plans, but more of a hopefully informational and inspirational story.

If you're interested, let me know here and I'll email you the link when it's released!

No Wonder it Hurts

I started using those cool looking Vibram shows a back in March and had some good runs. Until it started to hurt... and now I know why. I've always known my foot was a little different than most others', as my 'Big Toe' isn't all that big. I always thought it was just the toe itself. WRONG

X-Ray of my foot

After having a summer of not being able to walk barefoot, and not be able to run more than around 2 miles before the pain forced me to stop, I went to a podiatrist.  As it turns out, the phalanges behind my right 'big' toe is what's short. As a result, rather than having the pressure from my foot strikes distributed evenly across my foot, it's mostly focused on the center two toes.  And that's what's causing the pain.

Needless to say, it's very frustrating.

Starting off Right

It's not exactly a New Year's Resolution, but I did finally commit to my next Marathon, the Alaska Marathon in June (http://www.mayorsmarathon.com). This, and my other Marathon, getting out of Debt, are going to be the focus' of this blog.

So, today, in addition to getting in a quick 2.4 mile run and enjoying some time off, I have almost finished reading Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover". I've been listening to his podcast for a few months, after realizing we needed to get out of debt NOW! Well, actually back in May is when it finally hit me and we started our Debt snowball.

I'll be tracking both the progress of both Marathons, AK and Debt, in this blog. I'll get into specific number of mileage, but keep it kinda vague on the debt side :)

In the past I've tried to get my wife involved in the marathon training, but I've come to realize it's not for everyone. However, I need to get her and my family on board with the Debt Marathon. We didn't get this far overnight, so we're not going to get out of it overnight either.

More later...

Slow Recovery

It's been 6 days since the Arctic Blast we called "2007 Shamrock Marathon".
Well, it felt like an Arctic Blast. Started around 34 degrees, but had 10-15mph headwinds from about mile 7 thru 16 or so.

Brrr....

It's been a slow recovery. I finished the race in a little over 5 hours, drove home, showered and headed to the airport for my flight back to Chicago.
(Now THAT has been arctic). Probably not the best recovery plan, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Been dragging all week. Ran a quick mile
yesterday, just to try to get moving. Wasn't too bad, but this morning I'm still really tired.

Yeah, it's a bummer getting old.

Baby, it's cold outside...

I live in Va Beach, where the weather is usually not too bad. But, today was a little different.  It was about 30 and windy,  that makes a big difference, even with the ColdGear.  The dog wasn’t very happy L

 

Looking forward to a warmer run on Saturday.  Only 3 weeks ‘til the marathon!!!

16 Miles

Saturday was a great day for a run.  It was clear, a little windy, but overall not too bad.  I was running with some other folks, which really helps.  Theoretically, we all run the same pace, but, well, what's a minute per mile faster?

 

A LOT, that's what :-)  We ran the first 5 miles at about a 9 to 9 1/2 minute pace. The idea on long runs, is to go a little SLOWER than normal, not faster.  So, after the 2nd water stop, I was really sucking wind.  We slowed down a bit after that.

 

I tell ya, running along the boardwalk on a nice day is great.  Sunny, nice breeze.. hmm.. hmm... great.  There were a few wind tunnels to deal with, but for bit they were at our back!! Even better.

 

Thanks to Chris for running with me and keeping me going.  "Just one more mile"... "just 5 more minutes"....

 

The nice thing was being able to sprint the last 100 yards or so.  Of course, after 16 miles, my idea of sprinting may be a little different than other peoples...

 

Joe

 

TNT http://www.active.com/donations/fundraise_public.cfm?key=tntvaJFoley

Blog: http://tanstaafl1963.blogspot.com/

 

Finally, a Saturday Run!

I finally made it!  Our Team In Training group has a group run on Saturday mornings, and I've never made one. I'm not much for getting up early on a weekend.  This time, I thought I would need the encouragement to make it through the 14 mile run.

 

It was great!  A H*U*G*E difference with running with a group of people than by myself.  It was cold, around 34 or 35, when we started, but it warmed up nicely by the time I was done.  One of the people I ran with told us about a Cancer Memorial on 47th Street by the ocean, (I'm in Virginia Beach).  We took a little detour and looked at it.  Very nice. A little walkway, with some bricks with names on them. Also, some nice border bricks/slabs with writing about the victims of cancer.  A nice memorial and a reminder about why the Team In Training is doing this.

 

I made it back by myself. My running group was doing 20miles, so I turned around and had an escort up until about 5 miles to go. I'm very glad for the support of these coaches.  They have sports drink, gels, and words of encouragements throughout the training run.  I had a little twinge in my left foot at about mile 7 and again around 13. So, I did a little hobble back from 13 on.  Coach Bob suggested the ice routine, which helped out quite a bit.

 

It's hard to believe there's only 5 weeks left until the marathon!

 

Joe

 

TNT http://www.active.com/donations/fundraise_public.cfm?key=tntvaJFoley

Blog: http://tanstaafl1963.blogspot.com/

 

updates

It's been a bit busy over the past few daze.  One kid or another (or me) is suffering from allergies, sinus', etc.  The move to Va Beach and the change in climate/seasons is really kicking us hard.  I've noticed more of my problems have been coming after running outside.  So, after trying to get better over Turkey day,  I rested up and did my long run on a dreadmill. 

 

Yuck.  2 hrs on a tread mill is NOT much fun. I've gotta talk to the folks at the Y.  The machine says it's capable of being programmed to run a 5k or a 10k.  So, since Sunday was my 12 mile run, I thought I'd use the 10k.  The problem here is that the machines cut off after 30 minutes. I'm NOT running that fast.  So, I wound up having 4  3 mile runs.  Tedious.

 

Other than the legs being sore, the long run didn't bother me.  Sinus' were OK.  So, I'll try the dreadmill for my next scheduled 8 mile run and see how that goes.

 

Fund raising has slowed down a lot.  I've still got to raise some money for the TNT.  If anyone reads this, check out the link below and please consider donating.

 

BTW,

 My niece from Richmond was down for Thanksgiving and she told me that it's not legal to eat Turkey in the country of Turkey.  "They just don't do it". :)

 

http://www.active.com/donations/fundraise_public.cfm?key=tntvaJFoley

Wednesday 11/23

Today was a so-so day.  I was schedule for the 4 miles and once again couldn’t get up early enough to do it.  So between that and the rain in the evening, I went to the Y and got on the Dreadmill.  This was the kinda good part.

I’d thought I’d been doing about 10 minute miles, but when I set the ‘mill to a comfortable pace, it claimed I was going 9:00/mile!  Every once in a while I’d pick  it up the about 8:30 or so and then drop it back.

 

The bad part was that I started coughing and the sinus problems haven’t let up.  Since I’m allergic to mold and pollen, the dropped leaves and wet days can’t be helping me too much.  I hate the Dreadmill, but I may have to do more of that until the frost kills the mold outside.

 

Felt worse right before bed, ….. I hope I’m not coming down with something (again).  The 10K Turkey Trot is on for Thursday and I want to run in it!

 

 

Sunday 11/21

Today was a 10 mile run.  Nice weather, just a little cool and the dog kept pace.  I dropped her off after mile 5 and took some water and kept going.  Made the mistake of not watering enough, so there was a fair amount of walking from miles 4 onward.  I tried to keep it to only 30 seconds or so, but miles 9 & 10 were tough.  Can’t make that mistake again.

 

I still have the problems of getting up early in the morning for these long runs.  Maybe need to try Paul Harvey’s “Theragesic” for my stiff back.  That’s one of the things that slows me down.

 

Felt a little sinus drainage today, that didn’t help much either. 

 

Thursday

Yesterday's 7 mile plan went off without a hitch.   No late night Emergency Room visits! And the dog made the run with me.  I cut her loose after 5 miles, she was a little slow tonight.  So I dropped her home and went back out to finish up.

 

It was a little odd.  My legs felt a little heavy after around 4 miles.  It must have been the relatively lateness of the run.  5pm after a full day at work.  It's just such a problem getting up in the morning to run.  Of course, I'll need to do that for the marathon (yikes!  only 2 months left!)

 

The next short term goal is gettin up for the 7:30am TNT group run on Saturday.  Since we have to gather at 3am in Orlando, I guess I need to get ready for early mornings!  It's funny, 20 years ago, I'd just be getting to sleep at 3am :(

 

 

Todays' Run

Today was kinda off.  I'd the best of intentions to run my 5 miles last night, but as they say "Life is what happens when you're making plans".  At around 5:30, my wife started having some pretty severe upper gastro problems and some back pains.  Given that this is one of the symptoms of heart problems in women, and her family has had heart disease history, AND that her mother had these same type of symptoms about 5 weeks ago and wound up with a double by-pass, we thought it a good idea to get it checked out.

 

After a visit to the GP, he prescribed some Zantac and Vicodin for pain and if there was problems to go into the ER and have them check her out.  That visit killed my run, but well worth the time.

 

So, at 2am I'm awoken and she's still having problems and they are getting worse. So, we're off to the ER.  Chest Xrays', blood and lab work, and 4 hrs later, we go home.  No heart problems, no bypass, no sleep :(

 

No real diagnosis either.. Other than Reflux.  Which isn't too bad... unless it's 2am and you want to sleep...

 

So, I wound up getting the 5 miles in today and my 4-legged training partner made it all the way through.  I tried to work it so that the wind would be to my back on the way in, but it shifted.  Not a big deal, it just encouraged me not to stop :)

 

 

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Catching up

It's been a busy weekend. I did my long run on Saturday. It was scheduled to be 8 miles, but I wound up going about 8 1/2. Not a big difference, but it felt good :)

My 4 legged training partner only made it about 4 miles. She's not upto the longer distances, so I dropped her home and went back out. The 2nd half I started heading out into the wind, but the chill got to me so I turned around and headed back. I still got my last 3 miles in well, and without the wind! My time was 1:22 for the 8.5 miles. I stretched for a few minutes after dropping the dog off, so that time should knock a few minutes off.

Sunday I made the mistake of not moving enough. I drove 3 hrs each way to take my daughter to visit George Mason campus. Very nice place, a decent amount of walking. Unfortunately, the 6 hrs in the car made getting up this morning really tough. So I skipped the 5 mile run. I plan on getting that in tonight.

Starting Out

Welcome to my blog site. It's a brand new thing for me.

I'm set up to run in the Disney 2005 Marathon in January for Team In Training. It's a very worthy cause, so please visit my site http://www.active.com/donations/fundraise_public.cfm?key=tntvaJFoley and think about donating.