A day of ups and downs

Today has truly been a day of ups and downs. I will not go into detail cause I am tired of crying. Just when you think yes it is a great day, BAM something out of the blue hits you and knock you back several steps. It is just like life. We all go through rough roads in life, learn from our mistakes and go forward with more knowledge and understanding.
I feel so bad knowing that my wife is lying in bed and I thought about leaving for a few minutes and running down to the expo for the ING that is in town. The marathon race is tomorrow not far from her. But that is when it hit me. My wife is running a marathon right now. She is going through her first one. She has been in training and pain for about 4 years now.she has gone through the starting line, hit the half-way mat and turned to go through the wall on the way to the promised finish line to collect that glorious finishers medal. But her race is not a typical race, it is a race to get back to a normal status that we all including myself take for granted.
If you are able to walk, run or even sit in a chair with no pain you should take the time and thank God how lucky you are to have that luxury. I know that I have taken it for granted but my eyes have been opened.
More to come but right now we are approaching a water and aid station. Time for refueling and some meds.

Have a wonderful week.

In the room

Well I have moved up in the world.I have left the waiting room to go meet Mandie in her room. She is in room 472 now. WOW as soon as I walked in I almost passes out. It was hot in there. She is still very woozy from the pain meds and talking crazy. Maybe I can find out something good while she is talking.

Good news: she has some feeling in her baby toe on her right foot. She has not had that in 4 1/2 years. I know that is nothing major but it is a small step foward. We hope to get mobile tonight. The doctors said they want her to start walking tonight.

Well it is back to the phone for now to return some calls.

Waiting

I just talked to the Dr. and he told me that everything went good during the surgery. She will now be on recovery for about 2 1/2 and then we will go to a room. This has truly been a long morning. I have been keeping a journal of times for Mandie so that when this is over she can look back at it. Thank you to all the phone call, texts and replies on facebook and MTRC page. I truly know where are when you need them the most.

At St. Joesph's hospital

Well today is the day. We have waited for nearly 4 and 1/2 years for this surgery. Days, weeks, months and years of pain and God willing it will be gone today. This has been a long road with many crossroads, turns and stand-still congestion.
We arrived at the waiting area this morning after staying at the motel next door. We got here at 05:15a.m. to wait in the waiting area until 05:45 and then it was off to the Pre-op area. Mandie then got a chance to change into some SEXY hospital clothes :-) and wait some more. At 06:40 we left the pre-op area and I kissed her goodbye.
It was around 0705 when the front lobby opened up and I was able to receive a pager to notify me of any incoming messages from the staff or friends/family. It is nice because you don't have to stay in one place the whole time. Everyone here is so friendly. I am trying to find the special pot of coffee that everyone is drinking out of so I can be a happy person too.
Well it is off to grab some breakfast and then sit back and wait for some great news. Until I know something, have a great Friday and God bless.

The night before

We are getting ready to settle in for the night. Emotions are rough right now while we are going over last minute details. Just got through with a great dinner at Olive Garden. We have to be at the hospital at 5:oo a.m. tomorrow for Mandie's surgery. I will keep everyone updated through this site. Until tomorrow, thank you for the prayers.

Track run

Well I made it back for a night at the track. I ran about 3 miles with the company of Steve and Troy while running intervals of 400's. I was not breaking any land speed records last night due to some nagging hip pains. Troy was released from the Dr's care and was told to run only 2 -3 laps. He told him he wanted to run about 2 - 3 miles and the doc said no. So he held back.

Last night was probably the last night for a while for running due to my wife having surgery this Friday. She is having spinal fusion at St. Joesph's Hospital in Atlanta. We have to be at the hospital at 5:00 in the morning. I am so glad they are going to put her to sleep cause they have seen her attitude in the morning :-) She so totally hates mornings.

I don't want to sound like I am using her surgery as a reason for not running. I have been blesses with a wonderful wife that follows me everywhere I go to run. If I am at a race, you better believe she is there with her camera. I want to be there for her. I want my coach to get back on her feet so that we can get on with a normal life and do things that a family can do together. This has been put off for nearly 4 1/2 years due to paperwork and legalities.

If you are reading this and know what it is like to see a loved one going through pain, please just take a few minutes and say a prayer for her. I know that prayer works and I have seen it truly make a difference. We will be going to the hospital tomorrow night and I will let everyone stay informed through this site.

Thank you for all your support through our battle and go run a mile for me.

A great day for a run

This weekend was great for running. I went Saturday morning and watched, yes watched not ran, the Cherry Blossom 5K/15K at Wesleyan College. First we got a chance to see some hot air balloons launch into the sea of pollen.

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Then it was time to watch and take some photos of my friends running the race. My friend Amy, from Amy's running life, ran a great race taking 1st place in her age group. Way to go Amy! The training has been paying off.

I took time to help Kenny and Stef at the finish line handing out finishers cards. The 5K course ran about .2 miles and the 15K ran nearly 1 mile long. So many people would finish the race and look at their watches and say "I knew it felt like this course was long".

I got a chance to run Sunday morning with my friends Kenny and Stef through the wonderful subdivisions of Macon. We are celebrating Cherry Blossom this week and the trees and in perfect bloom. It is playing havoc on our sinus problems. Everything is turning yellow with the fallen pollen. We had talked about going out for about 6 miles and I told them I hoped to be able to keep up with them. We ran up and down so many hills making jokes the whole time about Kenny and his super human hearing, Batman. As we finished near about mile 6, we decided to get in a 10K and then said we might as well get in 7 since we have to at least get back to the cars. And we did. Man this was my first run back since the Snickers run. And I could tell it. I was sore the next day in my hip and foot. But it was well worth it. I hope to be able and write back and tell you about my trip to the track workout tonight.

Until later, have a great week.

Getting back to running

I took this week off to recover from Snickers and I am ready to run now. I am still having some small issues with my foot but I need to run. I wanted to go today but the weather is going to keep me from going. Maybe tomorrow. I have but 7 months to prepare for my next marathon. I want the next one to be my next PR with a sub 5 time.

I know I posted some new expected times I want to break but unless I put them out in the open, it is kind of hard to push myself. I figured if I put it out in the open, then people could ask me how it is going so that I would have to train harder. And that is what is on my mind.

My wife is going to have back surgery next weekend and I am going to take some time off and help her recover and get back to a normal life again. If you can say anything I do is normal? LOL

I just got some more photos from Snickers and thought I would pass them along. Thanks to Peach Sports.com for taking them for me. I you need some great photographers for any work, give them a call.

Rainy Sundays

There is only 1 good thing about a rainy Sunday and that is to get caught up on things. I did not want to go run in the rain and possible worsen my ankle so I decided to get caught up on the computer.

I just got through putting my mileage in on Breaking the tape and then sending it in to Elizabeth Jones so that she can keep up with our yearly mileage. So far I am on track for my 800+ miles for this year. I am fixing to take so time off in 2 weeks when my wife has back surgery. Then I am coming back with fire.

I talked to a friend of mine and he said yes to helping me as a coach. I want to be able to break a 4:45 marathon, a 55 min 10K and a 26 5K. I am going to throw these goals at him and see if it is possible to make this happen before the end of the year. Well miracles happen every day. LOL

Well for now it is back to the ice on the foot and watching TV. I hope this week I can get some longer distance in and faster times.

Pics from Snickers

I found these pictures from the Marathon Maniac site and wanted to share them with yall. This a picture of me with the 5:00 pace group. Our pace leader was named Gabby, holding the sign. She was great. While running with us, she kept conversations with all the runners in our group. She gave us a pep talk before the race and during the race too. She kept everyone pumped and was trying to get all of us to do our best. This was the first time I had a chance to run with a pace group and I loved it. Each split was right on time. We started out a little slow but slowly got closer to pace speed. If you get a chance to run with a pace group during a long run, I highly recommend it. From now on, I will do it.

This is a picture with a group of Maniacs that ran Snickers with me. Center : Stef and next right Greg helped me to pace myself until mile 23. I was on pace for a 4:45 before I completely ran out of energy. Looking back I think I did not use enough supplements. I only took in 4 gummy gels and some electrolyte pills and I think I should have used some gels. Well that is how we learn from mistakes. It is all trial and error.

The week after

I have taken this week off from running so that I could have some time for rest from running Snickers. I have been having some problems with my right hip, knee and ankle. I have not had this happen after any marathons before in the past. I really sucks getting old :o)

The main thing started Tuesday with my hip popping when I moved in certain ways. It has made me start thinking of new ways of stretching and warming up before races. I have seen many runners complain of this problem and I hope I don't have this happen again.

Then the pain shifted to my ankle. There is a spot just above my ankle that is very tender. I think it might be some soreness from a tendon. I have been icing it down at night and it seems to be getting better.

Now the pain has gone to my right knee. It hit me this morning while I was sleeping. I had to get up this morning around 2:00 a.m. and ice it down and put a pillow under it. It seems like the pain is just moving around from one place to another. This is strange because just as soon as I start to rehab one thing, it moves. I just wonder if anyone else has had this problem.

I am going to start training a friend next week for an event. He asked me to help him run a 1.5 mile run in 12.40. I don't know what it is but I always like a challenge. I told him we would start Wed of next week. I am going to start him slow and then we will get moving. I figured it would help me in the process. You know, kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Well, until next week I am resting the legs and having fun getting caught up with the family affairs.

Recap of Snickers

I just found out that my new PR is now 5:05:12. I was able to shave off 4 minutes off of my last time. Looking back I know that there many times I probably messed up my time. I was on pace with the 5:00 pace team up to mile 5 and then went on with 2 others, Greg a Marathon Maniac and some other women that I cant remember her name. Sorry.I was now on a pace of a 4:45 at an 11:04 pace with them. I was feeling good until around mile 18 or so. I just felt as if I could not catch my breath no matter how hard I tried.

I then slowed back to my pace and that is when it hit me. I had only taken a couple of electrolyte pills and 2 gummy gels. No regular gels. I think this might have had something to do with it along with the lack of serious training.

At this time I started hearing sirens and I was praying I would not go around a corner and see someone I knew lying on the ground. But it was worse. When I came into one of the subdivision alleys I heard someone yell out my name. When I turned back I saw my friend Tommy holding his leg. I screamed at him "What are you doing here?" I was sort of emotional at that time. He said his hamstring was cramping up. He had trained so hard and so long for this race and now it was going downhill. I told him to run with me as my pace leader went by. Gabby, our leader, was encouraging us to try and keep up. She was awesome. Very energetic and some great eye candy too.

We ran together for about a mile and then Tommy told me to go on and try to beat my PR. I told him I came to run and not leave a friend behind and I meant it. He told me to go on and tell his girls that he would be a little late. So off I went after making sure Tommy was going to be OK. It is the paramedic in me to think of someone else before thinking of myself and the main fact that is the Godly thing to do with friends.

I was struggling to try and think about the 5:00 but it was not happening. I remember seeing the 20 mile clock and it said 3:51 and I thought I have 1:08 to run a 10K right now. Well that would have been great if I was feeling fresh but it was getting HOT. I was getting very hungry and wanting a cheeseburger with fries. I kept asking everyone at the stations and bystanders if they had one. It brought back memories of the scenes from Badwater.

As I approached mile 22 I saw a racing shirt like mine and I thought Terry was running the half and came back to get me. I was surprised to see him and he told me he was doing the full and craps were slowing him down. I told him to come on a lets run together and he said he could not cause of the cramps. I started thinking man when is it going to hit me. Now I was getting scared. I started cranking up the tones in the radio with both ears pieces in now. I kept trying to pump the fist and wishing I had Amy there to push me in like at Disney.

Then there was the mile 25 sign and I had about 9 minutes to a sub 5. Well I am not a Kenyan so I knew to concentrate and go for the PR. I kept looking at the hill and saying you are not going to beat me this year. Well it hurt because it was hitting me with everything it had. My left calf started to cramp up. I turned to see the camera waiting for us at the train depot and turned it on. Well we all do when we see the cameras.

I saw Tommy's girls and told them he was running a little late and he was coming. Now we are going through the depot with the finish line in sight. LEG CRAMPS NOW HURTING!!!!!! I stopped for a minute and saw the sign at mile 26 that said finish strong so I did. I put it out there and went in saying to myself "it is now over and once again you are a marathoner".

I will try and post my split time later and figure out just exactly what I did wrong.

Snickers marathon 2009

I can know add a new PR to my record to day from Snickers of about 5:04 I think. I will have to check the official results when they come in cause I messed up my watch and forgot to put it into interval mode and just regular time. I figured it out about 3 minutes into the race and had to restart it.

I knocked off about 4 minutes off my time but missed my big goal of a sub 5 by about 4 minutes. It was so HOT today. At the start, it was about 50 with allot of fog to keep us cool. At mile 13.1, BAM, the sun came out with an attitude. I was on track for a 4:45 up until mile 18 when I had to back down and let every else go on. I had a great day today and got a chance to meet allot of new friends from the MM group and see some new MM.

A more in depth report will come in a couple of days so that I have time to think about everything I am going to write about.

Until then, keep running for your dreams.

Ready to go

I am so ready for Snickers this year. Last year my goal was to finish my first marathon and I did. This time I am going out on a limb and I am going to try and predict my finishing time. I am shooting for a PR of 5:08, going to try and beat a sub 5 and maybe finish at _:__. I might be crazy for saying this but what the heck. I am going for it.

Last night I ran 6 miles with Amy and we finished somewhere in the 10:28 pace range. It felt great. I am going to try and work on my speed this summer.

I want to put a time out but I don't want to mess up by predicting a time. I am going to go CRAZY if I make the time I am shooting for. I will let everyone know what it is if I make it.

Until then, I want to say a special thank you to Amy for the story last night and the encouraging thoughts for Saturday.


Well I have to get everything ready and get to bed. The next post will be with a race recap.

Tapering

That is what I have done since Tuesday night. I have not run since. I felt so good after the track workout. I think I am ready and wanted to give my legs a break. I will try and get some miles in this week but just for fun. I spent this weekend just having daddy fun. Saturday night we went to the monster truck show and had a blast.

This was the first time my son has seen monster trucks. He is a big fan of Grave Digger and I had to tell him he had a flat tire and could not make it there. He was a little upset until the races started. Then it was nothing but smiles and cheers. Oh and Austin was having fun too o:).

Sunday was going to be a day of nothing but rest. We wore ourselves out at the show. I had planned on running about 6 miles today for my tapering but something else came down. SNOW!!!! in Georgia in March. Can you believe it? I could not.

This is a picture of my little buddy and myself after making a snow bunny. I totally forgot about running this weekend and maybe this week I might get in a few miles. I will be running the Snickers marathon this Saturday in Albany. I am ready and hope to keep the same attitude during the race. Have a great week.