New shoes!

I had a meeting in Bay City yesterday, so I stopped on my way home and picked up a new pair of running shoes at the local running store. After going through three pairs of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7 shoes I decided to go wild and bought a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8. Crazy, eh? The desire to try something new always flairs up amongst the racks of pretty new running shoes, but I haven't had any knee problems with these shoes so I'm not going to switch now. I do like the new colors though.

On the subject of shoes, I highly recommend the Crocs Scutes for after a run. Nice squishy insole and openness to let tired feet breath. Elliott gave me some for Father's Day and they even say "Dad" in jibbitz. Don't know what a jibbitz is? They are the little decorations on Crocs (I had to look it up too).

Good week, bad week

My once a week blogging schedule has fallen a bit to the wayside. Unfortunately, my running has similarly been irregular. Two weeks ago was one of my best weeks to date. I put in a total of 70 miles that week with a long run of 35 miles. I couldn't quite stick to my plan of waking up at 4:00 AM for my long run, but I was out the door at 5:00 AM and did enjoy another sunrise on the road. The weather warmed up quickly so I stopped at a gas station for a Starbucks Doubleshot, a small bag of potato chips, and a Gatorade refill. I believe that, over my 6 and a half hour run, I consumed about 100 ounces of Gatorade, 2 Doubleshots, most of a small bag of regular potato chips, and 2 energy bars. The run was pleasantly uneventful with no blisters, pulls, strains, or inflammation and I felt pretty well recovered the next day, although I was mentally a bit burned out on running.

Unfortunately, that mental burnout, a busy schedule, and some interstate travel left me with less than 30 miles on the books last week. I guess I'll just chalk it up to a recovery week. Next weekend is the Carrolton Marathon, which I'm thinking about adding 14 miles onto so that I can get a good 40 mile training run in. No excuses this week!

<60 days to 100 miles

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has donated so far! We've just started and, as of this posting, we already have raised $1,170! That's great!

Training has been going pretty well. Feeling inspired by officially starting the fundraising, I pulled myself out of bed at 5:00 AM and ran 30 miles. The weather was pleasantly cool and it was one of the best runs that I have had in a long time. While I don't tend to think of myself as a morning person, it was worth it to watch the sun rise. This topped off a 55 mile week that I feel pretty solid about.

I was on schedule until last weekend when travel prevented me from getting my long run in over the weekend. Still, I had this strange 11 mile run on Thursday that had me doing about 6 miles at 7:00 to 7:30 minute miles (with one breaks in between). That isn't bad for someone who tends to average 9-10 minute miles. It was just one of those runs when it felt good to go fast. I should note that I wasn't pushing the ole' jogging stroller so that may have made a difference too. In the end, I only put in 30 miles last week. I'll just chalk it up to a recovery week and look forward to shooting for a 35 mile long run this weekend. I might try and drag myself out of bed at 4:00 Am to help prepare for the sleep deprivation of the race.

On a side note, be sure to check out the blog of Yassine Diboun, my fellow fundraising ultrarunner. He's also running a 100 miler this year and has done some great fundraising for the Lupus Foundation. By the way he cruised through a recent 50 miler, he is more than ready for his race. I'll be happy to just finish mine. :)

Finally, an update!

Well, my training has been going well even if I have been remiss in my blogging. I've had 45 to 55 mile weeks for the last month including three 20 mile long runs and one 25 mile long run. I'm scheduled for a 30 mile long run this week so I'm pretty much right on schedule. The heat is getting a little intense, but I'm generally happy with the schedule I've set out. It's still a little hit and miss. Yesterday, Elliott was particularly sleepy so my 10 mile run turned into a 14 mile run. Today, the little guy didn't feel like napping and decided he wanted to go home after only two miles (it was really hot out so I didn't fight it). Still, its evening out for the most part. Importantly, my knee is doing fine and, other than being slowed down by the heat, I'm feeling pretty solid.

Okay, I'd like to officially announce that we are taking donations. If you have been paying attention to this blog, you've noticed the "Donate here!" box to the right. It's time to ante up. Most of you know that I, along with a very dedicated group of family and friends, raised $5,000 for the Lupus Foundation of America as part of my 50 mile run last year. Well, they didn't cure lupus so we gotta do it again. I'm willing to up the ante and run 100 miles this time around. It's time for you all to step up too and donate. We going to raise $10,000 this time. Really. We raised $5,000 last year and I know that we can do it again. We're going to do it slightly differently too. I've been contacted by several people who either know someone with lupus or have lupus themselves and are runners. We've decided to join together to raise money as part of a group we are calling the Lupus Runners.

Do you want to help? Enter your email address in the box to the top right. That makes you a Lupus Runner too. Sign up for a race, a walk, a stroll, or anything. Call your friends, family, co-workers, hell suck it up and call people you don't like, and ask them to donate to here: http://www.firstgiving.com/lupusrunners. All the money goes to fight a disease that afflicts around 2 million Americans. 90% of people with lupus are women and it disproportionately impacts Asian and African-American populations. This is a problem that too few people know about. I do take it personally as my mother-in-law has lupus and that puts both my wife and son at increased risk to develop it in the future.

Yassine Diboun has stepped up and is a Lupus Runner from New York who will be running a 100 mile run in 2008. Bill Buress is a Lupus Runner running his first marathon in 2008. We're all raising money here http://www.firstgiving.com/lupusrunners to further the cause. We need your help to reach our goal.

P.S. We already have 31 people who have joined our group of Lupus Runners on Facebook. Spread the word to everyone that you know!

Carrollton Marathon

So, I was looking up the races I was planning on doing this summer to make sure they fit into everything else going on in life and decided to do the Carrollton Marathon again. It is a small, but very friendly, race only a few miles from SVSU. I remembered it was in July so I looked up their website to put the exact date into my calendar. As I'm checking out the date and time of the race, I notice that the guy pictured wore the same kind of knee brace I used last year. Gosh, and he carried a water bottle too. Really, it took me about 5 minutes to realize that I'm the one in pictured there. I don't really look like I'm at the top of my game in the photo. That grimace is likely from the iliotibial band inflammation that bothered me so much in 2007 and led to a less than spectacular finishing time at Carrollton last year. No problems yet this year so keep your fingers crossed!