Making Up for Lost Time!

It was inevitable.

Ladies n’ Gents, the oh-yea-I-said-I’d-keep-a-blog-about-training-for-the-marathon-and-then-did-very-little-with-it blog post!

Rather than lament my general malaise in the blogosphere, I figured I’d just hop right into some highlights of training so far.


If a Tree Falls in the Woods . . .

Or, if your iPod is really lame, and no one else can hear it, does it make you uncool?

In other words, a song from a Disney movie has picked me up mid-run on more than one occasion. But I do still have the ‘Chariots of Fire’ theme . . . that makes me cool, right? Right!?


Highs and Lows

Not in terms of altitude. In fact, Menlo Park is pretty flat. But, I’ve already had runs where I made up my mind that this would be my last marathon and runs that made me think I can’t wait to run another one after Chicago.

Low: Just this past Saturday I struggled through 4.5 miles at 10 minute/mile pace. In other words, I walked a lot.

I can’t blame any one factor—I overslept so I had to run during the hot afternoon, my diet the previous days was pretty shoddy, I hadn’t run in a few days, my lower back was bothering me, I went out too fast. . . in other words, I wasn’t training as smart as I’d set out to. It wasn’t until I had the moment of clarity with 0.5 mi to go that I realized it didn’t matter if I looked good doing it, but I just needed to finish my run. And I did.

High: The next day (today), I ran 13 miles at a faster pace than the previous day’s disappointing 4.5 miles.

I had one of those amazing runs where I just . . . went! I took a tour through downtown Palo Alto, Stanford, Menlo Park and spaces in between. I ran by a summer camp group playing ball games and laughed at memories of being 8-years-old, and by other runners and cyclists who returned my fist pump of encouragement. It was awesome, and there was so much at work beyond the muscles in my legs!


Buckle Up!

I never imagined needing one (mostly because training for the last marathon took place in the winter in NYC where hydration was only a street vendor and $2 away), but I finally picked-up a fuel/hydration belt. At first I thought I looked like a goon as I started my first run wearing it, but by mile 6, I was thankful for it . . . and convinced myself that wearing it made me look kind of legit!

So, now I buckle into my water bottle and a goo, and go go go!


I’ve Got . . . Miles . . . in Different Area Codes

So far I’ve run in California, Chicago, Boston and New Hampshire. Woo!


I Have a Website!

Now you can donate directly to my fundraising efforts for the GBS-CIDP Foundation International at http://www.gbs-cidp.org/andrewstingerfundraiser.html.

Oh, and don’t worry if you donate and the thermometer doesn’t rise up automatically. It’s updated at regular intervals, but not in real time. Thanks!

Until next time (which I promise will not be in the very distant future) – make good decisions!