Published: 07/31/2014
I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks on my running progress. Even though I only ran a race in two consecutive weeks, it has felt odd not racing the last couple. It has made a big difference in my long Sunday runs, making them faster and easier to complete.
I have noticed something funny when looking at the mile splits for my long runs recently, an anomaly I call The Feeling Bad for Myself Mile. I thought at first that it was just because I was overworking myself with races the day before long runs, but it’s continued even without races. The run over the weekend was a great example. Twelve miles, averaging 9:09 overall, with the slowest mile checking in at 9:18…
Except for The Feeling Bad for Myself Mile. 10:12 for that one.
I was grumpy, I was hot, and all the fun has gone out of running. Each week, right smack in the middle, there’s a mile that is horribly off the pace. Just awful. Bad bad bad, and that ain’t good.
I’m not sure if I should be alarmed by this or not. I seem to come back strong after The Feeling Bad for Myself Mile; before it I averaged 9:09, right on pace, but after it, I averaged 8:56 and felt good. Guess I’ll just have to watch out for it in the future, and get over it.
Going racing again this weekend at the Hospice of Guernsey’s Flamingo Run in Cambridge, and then a 14-mile long run on Sunday, just for fun. Don’t forget that I’m raising money for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Tell all your friends. You can give at http://10t.co/brockcm14 or by downloading a donation form and mailing it in.
Published: 05/31/2014
So, I’m officially signed up now for my first marathon, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon. October 19th, 2014.
When I was considering signing up, I did some Googling and came across a quote attributed to Susan Sidoriak: “I dare you to train for a marathon, and not have it change your life.” That’s the type of quote that you come back to at 3:28 AM, or at least I did. My eyes popped open, and I was suddenly, fully, and completely awake.
I’m going to do this.
One of the really cool things about the Columbus Marathon is that the primary beneficiary is the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a partnership that began just two years/marathons ago. Since then more that $2 Million has been raised for the hospital.
Along the route, Children’s patients are staked out; 24 of the miles have a Miracle Mile Patient from the hospital to offer encouragement, 1 Encore Mile for past Miracle Mile Patients, and 1 Angel Mile to, as their website puts it, “honor, remember and celebrate the angels of Nationwide Children’s who have already finished their race.”
That’s also the kind of thing you come back to at 3:28 AM.
After signing up, I found out that they have these things called “Children’s Champions,” in short, a way for Columbus Marathon participants to help raise money for the hospital by collection donations.
Yea, I’m doing that, too.
So, here we go. 140 days left in the countdown, and I want to raise $1,000 for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and I need help doing it. If giving a donation is something that you can do, even if it’s just a couple bucks, it would be amazing. The link is right down there.
I’m not sure it’s enough to just get the chance to change me; I want to try to help change someone else’s life, too. The donations go directly to the hospital, and they go there now, months before the actual marathon, to help those who need it.
See you out there.
Donate to Nationwide Children’s Hospital
