This Run's for You, Cassy

He Still Has a Pulse

2009-12-10T20:40:00.004-05:00

This is a start. I have updated my races for the year and will post about them when I have a bit of time. Perhaps over the Christmas holiday, or sooner, should time come available. Some really sad and really great things have transpired since my last post and all well-worthing sharing so... until then... enjoy this season that is Christmas. Blessings...
Rick

Brief Update

2009-04-06T10:34:00.004-04:00

Thanks to the prompting of Karen from Mom on the Run, I felt I should do a quick update to the ole blog, which has been neglected of late. I just kinda feel like writing about the running stuff gets boring after a while and who really cares, but I guess there are a few of you out there in cyber space that do so... here goes.

Tammy and I have been doing pretty well in our half marathon training. She missed about 5 days or so about a week and a half ago due to the hospitalization of her mom up in Saginaw, MI. Long story short, her mom and dad were up at their cabin in Glennie, MI when her mom had a respiratory emergency, was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Tawas, MI about 40 minutes away (closest place to the middle of nowhere where the cabin is located). They could not care for her properly there due to her need for dialysis, so she was transported by ambulance down to ICU in Saginaw. She was in for 6 days, the first several of which Tammy was there. So, she lost maybe 2 or 3 days of running, but got right back into the swing on her return.

She has been nursing a sore right quad and I continue to walk a fine line with my right lower leg. We're both doing fairly well though and consistently getting in around 20 - 25 miles per week. We completed our longest long run to date in our half marathon training and Tammy's longest run ever this past Saturday going 9 miles in about 1:33:33. Tammy is doing AWESOME. She is like a machine and just keeps plugging right along on our long runs. I have no doubt she will do quite well in our half at Bayshore in Traverse City on the 23rd of May. She has amazing stamina and I often have to curb her desire to speed up during our runs.

We are not going to be running any of the Glass City Marathon races coming up on April 26th, but will be volunteering in some capacity for the Toledo Road Runners at the races. Not sure yet what our assignments are as yet though as we have not heard back from the race organizers. We are registering for a 5K in Bowling Green, Ohio, the Couch Potato 5K, on the day before, Saturday the 25th of April, and youngest daughter, Lindsey, will be joining us in that race. There are a couple of guys from RunningAHEAD that will be in that race as well, so hopefully we'll be able to hook up with them for a bit. It's kind of a race challenge for these two fellas. Should be fun.

Other than that, life has been good. I went with Chelsea last week as she registered for a summer college class and her fall semester classes for her freshman year of college. Sigh. She is doing well in her final trimester of high school while working diligently at her job. I am very proud of how responsible she has been this year. We have also started with preparations for Chelsea's graduation and open house. Lindsey has begun softball, although with the snow outside today, it is hard to believe softball season is upon us. We are attending a banquet tonight honoring all-A students at the junior high, which she has acheived for the second year in a row. So, there you have it, running and life in a nutshell of late in the Velich household.

Oh, couple things before I go for now. I am really trying to prepare my heart this week for Good Friday and the amazingly loving sacrifice that Jesus made that day for me and on behalf of ALL mankind to atone for all of OUR sins and to bridge the gap between our flawed humaness and a perfect God. It is my prayer for you that you would also take time to reflect on just how incredible this sacrificial gift of grace was for YOU and then rejoice in the risen Lord of Easter Sunday, Jesus Christ, that came to this world as Emmanuel, God with us, not to be served, but to serve ALL of mankind. For those of you who may be rolling your eyes about me speaking out about my faith and this Easter season, I am sorry, but as Penn Gillette, an avowed atheist, of Penn and Teller has said, "How much do you have to hate somebody (as a professed Christian) not to proselytize to them." I hate no one, though I do confess I struggle with my attitude toward some sects of our global society, but I would wish eternal damnation to hell on no one and seek to grow a loving heart to all as Jesus had and modeled for me.

One final thing... GO STATE!!

Churchill's Half Marathon

2009-03-16T08:54:00.005-04:00

We didn't run this race, but Tammy and I showed up in sleepy, little Monclova, Ohio yesterday afternoon after a great message by Pastor Dean on Restoring at church in the morning. It was the most beautiful day of 2009 to date as far as the weather went. It was brisk in the morning and by the time we left church around 10:30 a.m., it was warming nicely by the full blown sunshine on the eastern horizon. The sunrise was spectacular! We didn't have to be to the race till noon so, on our way down, we treated ourselves to a rare breakfast out together at IHop ~ Come hungry ~ Leave happy ~ We did.

We made our way south to Monclova and got to the race just before noon. There was some confusion early on with the coordination of the volunteers and water stations, but we soon had our assignment to man the first water station that would be hit twice due to a turn around in the course. We were paired with two other woman, Mary and Allison, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had worked with Mary a number of years ago at a local insurance agency she worked for till she and her husband relocated to South Carolina to live on a sailboat. She said they returned about 10 years ago and lived in the area again and she had recently joined the Toledo Roadrunner's just as we had.

The four of us headed to our water station post and were becoming quite anxious as it was about 12:25 and no one had delivered our table, water jugs, and cups yet and the race was beginning at 12:30 and we were less than a couple miles out from the start. Finally, one of the race administrators dropped off our supplies. As I said, it was a glorious day as far as the weather went. My face actually got sunburned!

I had a great time catching up with Mary and meeting and getting to know new fellow Roadrunners, Allison, and Rob, who eventually joined us to assist at our station as well. I also had the pleasure of seeing online running friend and one of my many marathon saving graces, Phil Mishka, at the finish of the race and catch up with him a bit. And, it is always a blessing to me to spend time with Tammy. I get whistful when I see how quickly our girls are growing up and in the knowledge that, all too soon, both of them will be off on their own, but I am also selfishly enjoying the alone time that I get to share more frequently with my beautiful wife. The race was awesome. Serving was awesome. Catching up with Mary and getting to know new running friends was awesome. Spending most of the beautiful day with Tammy was awesome.

Long Train Runnin'

2009-03-14T16:01:00.002-04:00

This post has absolutely nothing to do with The Doobie Brothers, though I do love their stuff. Tammy and I did what was kind of our first long training run in preparation for the Bayshore Half Marathon we are running Memorial Day Weekend up in Traverse City, MI. I say kind of because we had done a run of just under 7 miles a couple of weeks ago. This morning, on a beautiful, crisp, sunny morning, Tammy and I headed out with the intentions of doing 7 or 8 miles. I had run the past 2 days and she a longish 6 miles yesterday, so I didn't know how our bodies would be feeling today.

Both of us felt pretty good so we did end up stretching this mornings run to 8 miles. This is her second longest run that I am aware of and my longest run since the grueling disaster that was my first marathon almost a year ago. I thought for sure I would have some leg pain, but had none! Yeah! She felt really good. We averaged about 10:13/mile, which was right in the ballpark of where I wanted us to be. It was a glorious, sunshiny, brisk morning, perfect for a long run. When I reflect on the longer runs I did last year in preparation for the marathon, I am really thankful to be running them now with Tammy. The run seemed to go by so much more quickly than they did last year. She's doing great too. Her stride and gait are so smooth and easy and she has great stamina. Most of the time I am pulling in the reigns on her to keep her from pushing the pace! I am so looking forward to running this half marathon with her.

Tomorrow we are volunteering at the Churchill's Half Marathon. Have some giving back to do. I think that will be possibly more fun than running the race. Looking forward to serving at the race.

Wearing of the Green 7K

2009-03-09T15:21:00.003-04:00

I participated in the 55th Wearing of the Green 7K race yesterday sponsored by the Toledo Roadrunner's Club out at Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon, Ohio. The weather conditions were very reminiscent of those I experienced in the last half of the Glass City Marathon last April with temps in the mid-30s and a wind driven rain. The race was 4.2 miles, but my Garmin logged it as 4.32. I was shooting for an 8 minute/mile pace, but was not able to maintain that. My splits were 8:09, 8:17, 8:21, and then 8:34 in the last full mile. The final .32 mile was at a dismal 9:06 pace. The cold coupled with the wind driven rain just sapped me in the final mile and a third of that race and the last half mile was along the open lakeshore of Lake Erie into the wind driven rain along the flooded asphalt path littered with floating goose poop that permeated ones nostrils like Vick's Vaporub. Was not a good finish to the race. My Garmin time for the race was 36:16, but I did not get an "official" race time yet. Should be very close to that. It was a lot of fun despite the lack of feeling in my legs at the end of the race and the TRRC does a very nice job on their race organization. Now if they could only do something about the weather on their selected race dates! When am I going to break down and invest in a good pair of running tights and rain proof pullover?!? Oh, and I was about the only one that dressed in green! What the heck? All in all, it was a ton of fun though and I am enjoying the challenge of racing on a regular basis. Next up will likely be a rematch with the Glass City Marathon, though as part of a 5 person relay team.

Get Luckey Revisited

2009-02-28T08:10:00.003-05:00

Hey, I just checked out the Toledo Roadrunner's results for the Get Luckey 5K that Tammy and I ran two weeks ago and I DID get a PR by a second! Yep, that's right, I said one, 1, uno, second! Hey, a PR's a PR. My lungs were on fire and my heart about to burst at the end of that first mile so, I'll take it! Woot!

We're going to head down to Ottawa Park in Toledo to do a longish run this morning. It's chilly, probably about 20, and snowflurrying right now with moderate winds. Should make for a nice longish run around 6 to 7 miles. We are tired of running the same route up and down Lewis Avenue here. Change of scenary. Have a great weekend.

What's Been Happening

2009-02-23T12:35:00.005-05:00

A week ago Monday after the Get Luckey 5K, Tammy and I ran an easy long run of about 7 miles together. Both of us felt really good during and after the run. We both did a shorter run the following day and both of us had some leg pain. Given that, coupled with event filled days for the remainder of the week and weekend, we did not get any more runs in. We both got out this morning independently, I had some work to finish up before I could get out and she had to get her day going, and both felt ok as far as the leg pain went. We had yet another snowfall over the weekend so, the running was not easy and the shoulders of the road narrow. One thing that I learned very quickly as a new runner is that traffic is not accomodating whatsoever to pedestrians or bicyclists. Traffic laws must have changed in the couple of decades or so since I got my license. I know courtesies certainly have. I signed up for a 7K race (4.2 miles) on March 8th at Maumee Bay State Park. It's the "Wearin' of the Green 7K" put on by the Toledo Road Runners. Tammy cannot make that race as she will be working the Bedford Business Association Trade Fair so, I will be runnin' solo that morning. Have a blessed week.

Get Luckey 5K

2009-02-15T16:56:00.002-05:00

Tammy and I headed down to Luckey, Ohio yesterday morning in some freshly fallen and falling snow for the "Get Luckey 5k" put on by the Toledo Roadrunners Club, which we just joined last month as a family. A friend just pointed out to me that every time I do a race there seems to be less than ideal weather. It really wasn't bad at all though. Though we didn't have a lot of miles built up prior to this race, I was fairly confident I could beat my 25:03 pr (personal record). This was the second year for this race and it was Valentine's Day themed with the women getting a 3 minute head start and men and women finishing in the same age group categories then with the first 8 finishers in each age group receiving a wine glass. We got really cute t-shirts (which I will photo and display on here in a later post) and cute ribbons.

It was about 30 degrees with light falling snow and light winds when the race started. Tammy was off first. Three minutes later, I was off. I went out entirely too fast with the crowd of very fast men and my first mile split was 7:36. I didn't even know I could run a seven and a half minute mile! When my Garmin beeped to let me know I had my first mile split and I looked, I knew I would be struggling in the next couple miles left. My plan was to have gone out at 8:00 minute pace and try to pick up at the end. I gased myself that first mile and tried to hang on into the second mile, but actually had to walk for about 30 seconds to catch my breath. I'm sure if I had my heart rate monitor on, my heart rate would have been red-lining around 180 - 190 bpm! Oops. Second mile split was 8:38 or something like that. I picked up in my last mile, caught up to Tammy with about a half mile left in the race and was shouting encouragement to her as I approached. I had a hard time catching her and was still trying to hold on to my pace.

We approached the last turn to the last quarter mile or so shortly after I passed her. I checked my Garmin and saw I was somewhere around 23:40 and was shooting for under 25:00 for the race. I starting picking up my pace till I heard a guy say 100 meters to the finish at which point I started sprinting with all I had left. I ended up finishing in 25:07, 8 seconds off my goal and 5 seconds off a pr. Tammy held off other runners and ended up finishing right behind me in 28:06, a 49 second pr for her! She had an awesome race and looked really good in the final leg as I approached her. I am so proud of her! We hung out for a bit post race, got some food, Tammy won some running socks as a door prize, and listened to the different catergory and age group winners and headed home. It was a great way to spend the morning, running a fun and good race, and an awesome way to spend the early part of my Valentine's Day with the woman that means more to me than anything! Thanks, Honey!

Rain Run

2009-02-11T18:28:00.002-05:00

It was supposed to get super-duper windy this afternoon so, I cut out of working for a bit early around 9:30 to get a 5 miler in before the gales arrived. It was rainy and slightly windy, but nothing what they had been forecasting yet. I've been doing ok, I still have discomfort in my right lower leg when I run at times, but it isn't getting worse or disabling me like after the marathon. Tammy got out this evening when she got home from work and it had been pouring! I wish I woulda got a pic of her. We're slowly building miles and will start increasing long runs on the weekends. This weekend will be 6 miles, probably on Sunday since we have a 5K race on Saturday - The Get Luckey 5K in Luckey, Ohio. So appropriate for Valentine's Day, running a race with my honey. She (all the women in the race) gets a 3 minute head start so, I will have to see if I can catch up to her. Oh, the best part about todays run... it was 52 degrees!! Woot!!

Above Freezing!

2009-02-06T16:34:00.003-05:00

Given we've been experiencing actual temperatures dipping down into the negatives overnight with highs during the day in the single or low double digits, today's sunshine and 32 degree temps were a welcomed sign of things to come and, the first above freezing run I have had in about 2 1/2 months. It's been a bear of a winter with the brutal temperatures and excessive amount of snowfall - second snowiest January on record just below January of 1978 - aka "The Blizzard of '78".

I will get 4 runs in this week, which is the most consistency I have had in several weeks. Tamm and I are working on that so we can start building up our mileage. For those of you that do not know, we will be running our first half marathons together on May 23rd in Traverse City, The Bayshore Half Marathon. There are a number of people from RunningAHEAD, the online running community and log I utilize, that will be participating in either the half or full marathons as well so, we will get the opportunity to meet a number of them and hang out. It should be a great time hanging out with a bunch of sadistic, mental folks like ourselves. :D

Lindsey got to play in her first basketball games of the season this week. She had been injured for the first 4 or so. She's done well so far and is playing with greated assertiveness and confidence this year. Her team only has 1 loss so far this season. They went undefeated last year, so they were a little disappointed, but they will still end up having a great season. They're so fun to watch. Have a great weekend everyone and, if you are in the midwest area, enjoy the reprieve on the winter weather we are supposed to have in the coming week!

10 Degrees + 25 mph Wind Gusts + Driving Snow =

2009-01-17T14:11:00.004-05:00

quite the fun 5 mile run. It really wasn't all that bad. Well, at least when I was running with the wind and not against the wind driven snow. That had a tendency to make visibility a bit difficult as the sleet-like snow was pelting my eyeballs and freezing my eyelashes together. I really was never cold though, other than my bum when I was running half of the route with the wind. I am just glad to be getting out. The pic is post run when I got inside. All the liquid on me was ice when I was outside. I was getting some strange looks from traffic passing by... when I could actually see them that is. :)

Running Stuff

2009-01-13T08:02:00.003-05:00

Well, I have been lightly getting back into training, as you can see by my training log on the right side of my blog, though my leg would think otherwise of the "lightly" bit. It's giving me some grief, so I am trying to keep mileage, pace, and goals modest. I signed our family up with The Toledo Roadrunners, a local running organization that puts on a bunch of local races, including the Glass City Marathon that I ran last year. Going to try and get more shorter distance races in this year. I also signed Tammy and I up for her first half marathon, the Bayshore Half Marathon, in Traverse City on May 23rd. This will actually be my first half marathon as well. I will run it with her, and me, to finish her first half marathon. There are a bunch of folks from my online running community, RunningAHEAD, who will also be there for the race that weekend so, we will be able to meet up with some of them and hang out, which I am really looking forward to as well. I just found out that one of them will be Phil Mishka, the guy on the bike that helped me get through to the finish of my marathon last year. That is awesome! I'm really excited about that! Kirsten, my online running buddy from RunningAHEAD and the blog, Zoomylicious, will also be there to lead the social charge. Tammy and I will be running our first Toledo Roadrunners race in February, on Valentine's Day, the "Get Luckey 5K" in Luckey, Ohio. The women get a 3 minute head start in the race and men and women placement are in the combined age groups for the finish. Should be a lot of fun. That's about it for now. Gotta head out for a run before the temps dump out like they are supposed to today. Going from about 34 right now down to a low of 2! Ugh. Gotta love Michigan winters! Have a wonderful day and week everyone!

More on Resolutions and Responsiveness

2009-01-03T13:44:00.009-05:00

I had an experience with a homeless individual down in Columbus a couple of weeks ago that left me both happy and heart-broken with myself. I resolved several years ago to not be a let down any longer. Let me explain.

A few years ago just before Christmas, I was at a nearby gas station fueling my car when an older Hispanic couple pulled up to the pump on the other side of me. I could clearly see that they could use a financial boost and was prompted, for me it was by the spirit, to pay for their gas, a whole tank. I failed to do so, coveting my families' money since it was the holidays and we obviously needed one more present under the tree and had bills to pay and blah, blah, blah. I had several opportunities to help this couple, who obviously had 3 of their grandkids in the back seat of their well-traveled, beat up, 1987 maroon Chevy Impala, but battled, reasoned, and justified in my mind why I needed the 30 to 40 bucks it would take to bless this family with a tank of flippin' gas more than they did!

Anyway, long story (which mine usually are) shorter, I failed to help this family, selfishly hanging on to my money cause Lord knows, it would have spun us into bankruptcy if I were to have been obedient to what the spirit was telling me to do! To make things worse, I had witnessed the couple digging into the front seats of their car for change and also noted that they had pumped a whopping $2.07 of gas into their car, which maybe got them to the Toledo, Ohio line 3 miles down the road. I drove away from that incident sobbing, praying for forgiveness, and for the Lord to give me a second chance to do the right thing when the opportunity arose again. I prayed for the discernment in the future to be more sensitive and responsive to when I am being called to help someone that sincerely needs the help. Fast forward.

I walk into a McDonald's on the west side of Columbus in not so nice a neighborhood to use the restroom and, ironically enough, to buy another coffee to continue the cycle. As I enter the restroom I note there is one person in there with his back to me just to the right of the hand dryer on the wall in front of me in a very soiled cartoon character coat with the hood up, in baggy jeans, wearing well worn work boats with no laces and no socks, as the horrible stench of excrement, like in someone's pants not from someone relieving themselves in the toilet, punches me in the nostrils like a right jab from Mohammed Ali. I walk past and go to the urinal to do my business. I hear the guy fumbling with some change behind me and think to myself, "here we go" as the guy asks me if I have any change. The hastiness and harshness of that thought quickly fades though as I get this clear leading in my heart that I am, in some way, supposed to help this guy.

So, I listen as he tells me he needs just a little more change to buy a coffee or something to eat. As I had left Toledo early that morning it had been snowing and freezing rain. It was a treacherous drive down to Columbus, but as I got closer, the snow and ice had changed to a cold, hard rain. He tells me he had slept out in the rain last night and could use something warm to drink or eat. The leading within me grows stronger. I tell the "guy", as I'm washing my hands, my back still to "him" and not yet having seen "him", to let me finish up and we'd go get him something to eat. He says he could use a couple of bucks for the bus to get across town as well. I turn to dry my hands on the wall before me, the pungent odor of excrement now fresh in my nostrils again, and see "him" for the first time. He's a younger guy, around 20 I'm guessin', with a long narrow, bearded face, blonde wirey hair, tall, and thin, but with bright, blue eyes. It bothers me that I only know "him" as "him" so, I look him directly in the face and ask, "What's your name." He tells me it's Jesse. I tell him my name is Rick and that it is nice to meet him and tell him, come on, let's go get you some food.

We step up to the counter and I tell him to go ahead and order whatever it is that he would like. He orders a meal and drink, I my coffee. I order the stuff to go. It comes to about 6 bucks and I give the woman at the counter a 10. She gives me my change back and I hand it over to Jesse. She brings our orders to us and I look Jesse in the eyes again and place my hand on his left shoulder telling him I have to move on with my day, but to "be well". Kinda trite and, I'm not sure what he thought of that, but in my head I was thinking for him to do his best to survive and praying in my head for him for the Lord to somehow bless his life. I exit McDonald's and get into my car and look up back into the restaurant to see Jesse sitting down in a booth by himself to eat.

I drive away back towards the entrance to the highway to head on to my next stop second guessing my actions, or the possible lack thereof. Did I do enough for him? Should I have sat and talked with him as he ate? Was there something else I was called to do for him in those moments that I had missed? Was there another need I could have taken care of? I take solice in the fact that I at least had done something for him, not the least of which was to offer him some dignity, which I wholeheartedly tried to do, and Jesus's words, "whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for me" come to my mind. Yet, I still weep. I weep wondering if I should have taken a few more moments of my time, which I consider so precious, to get to know more about Jesse than just his name. I drive away crying, more for myself than Jesse, both happy and heart-broken with myself.

Please don't take this post as my boasting. It is far from that. I am as failed as they come, but humble and smart enough to admit it. What I am seeking to do in my own life is to have a greater awareness and sensitivity of those needs surrounding me in every day life and not to be passive about them. To stop and take the time to do something, whatever that may be, for someone in need, where I am able. If we all tried to do so, to be more sensitive to what is going on around us and actually care enough to intervene, when and were we are able, what a difference we could make for humanity. I pray I don't miss out on the opportunities I feel the Lord presents me with to make a difference in that fashion.

This is a great song by Brandon Heath, one of my current favorites, that really is at the heart of how I feel about myself and what prompted this post. I don't want to "keep missing". I pray you'll take the time to click on the link below to watch and listen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTsYAZvHsEQ

Reservations on Resolutions

2009-01-02T19:10:00.010-05:00

Do you make New Year's Resolutions? I'd have to say I don't really. I have goals in mind for the new year, but I find making "resolutions" just sets myself up for failure and disappointment in myself, which I don't need any more of. I was listening to a book on cd today in the car while working called, "The Life You've Always Wanted", by John Ortberg. One of the things the book brought up in bettering your life is to slow down and not be in such a hurry to get done whatever it is that you are doing in any given moment in order that you can be in the moment more. I'm always thinking of what I have to do next, or where I have to go next, or what's due next, instead of truly being in the moment that I am in. Running was much the same for me last year at times when I just "had to get a run in after work" to keep up with my training program and, instead of just enjoying the run in the moment, I was just running it to accomplish it and move on to the next thing or think about the next training run. So, I'm going to try and slow down my actions and thought process and appreciate and be more sensitive to the moment I'm in now more this year. I think I might find I've been missing out on a lot.

I have ran the past two days. Not feeling great, but part of that is from inactivity. There still is something going on with my right lower leg, but I'm just going to have to take it easy starting back this time. Tammy and I may be shooting for the Bayshore Half Marathon this spring. It would be both of our first half marathons the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend up in Traverse City. There are many of my online running community friends from RunningAhead registering for the half and full marathon races so we would be able to perhaps make some new friendships as well. We need to decide soon though as registration the races fill up fast and they are limited it is limited to like 1,500 runners. Problem is, that weekend is typically a camping weekend for us with friends from church and we have already made those reservations. Decisions, decisions.

Have a great weekend and again, Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T11:11:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year! I haven't finished out 2008 very strong on my blog, but will try to update at least once a week in the New Year. No promises though. I have no idea what 2009 will hold for me with respect to my running, but I am going to try to get some consistancy with that as well and through a few races on the calendar, body permitting. I would love to be able to run a half with my beautiful wife, Tammy, and run some more races with the girls as well.

May you all have a most blessed New Year and thank you to all of you who took the time to look into the window of my world here and leave inspiring or encouraging comments, especially as I prepared for the running of my first marathon this past year. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

So Worth It

2008-12-31T11:01:00.004-05:00

I received these photos in the mail last week from my Aunt Denise and Cassy. Cassy, you were my inspiration for that race and will always be one of my biggest inspirations in life! Keep blessing those around you with your smiles and laughter. I love you girl!

Your ugly cousin,
Rick

Two Big Games Today

2008-11-22T06:08:00.009-05:00

Today is an exciting day if you are a Michigan State University Spartan, which I am an alumni of, or a University of Michigan Wolverine fan. MSU has a shot at the Big Ten Conference championship if it knocks off the heavily favored Penn State Nittany Lions today at 3:30. This would be the first time in many years for this to occur, and perhaps even, not since I had gone there, oh... four or five years ago. *cough* So.... "GO GREEN!"... "GO WHITE!" Since it snowed yesterday, won't have to pick up

leaves in the yard and can maybe watch football all day. :)

The U of M Wolverines have their work cut out for them today in one of the most heated and long-standing rivalries in college football history as they face the Ohio State University Buckeyes today at 12:30. Michigan has had a dismal season under a new head coach, certainly one of the worst in the school's history. This one game could make up for the lackluster of the entire rest of the season if they can pull off an upset against their detested football foes, the Buckeyes. It's a long shot, but anything can happen in a rivalry like this. I, being a good Michigander, am obligated to root against OSU so... "GO BLUE!"

Today is a Michigan college football lovers dream day, hopefully one that will not end in a nightmare. Go State! and Go Blue!

For Best Cell Phone Service in Northern Michigan and Other Unnecessary Information

2008-11-21T21:35:00.010-05:00

Why, you stand on top of your garage roof, of course! Works even better if you have a wire hanger in your back pocket as well. My in-laws' cabin is nestled in the heart of the Huron National Forest in Glennie, Michigan which is in Northeastern Michigan and it is not a populated mecca - the exception being the first week of November every year for the rifle hunting deer season opening - without cell phone towers on every block corner, hence the need for ingenuity in the cell phone usage arena up there. I've found calling cards to be quite handy as well. The neighbor, Ken, found it just as handy to shimmy up the tv tower to the rooftop of their garage for good service. To each his own. We had a great time at deer camp, our's being the cabin above, though between the two cabins and 8 hunters hunting, only one deer, a 6 point buck, was taken on opening morning. For those of you keeping score at home, that's Deer - 7, Humans - 1. I actually did manage to shoot a deer in the wild, it just happened to be with my digital camera and not 30-06 rifle. Pretty good shot too as I got her while bounding away. Doesn't make for a very good roast or sausage though.Since I had a while I didn't have to shave while bow and rifle hunting, I thought I would give growing my first beard ever a try. See, as a firefighter we aren't allowed to wear a beard as it interferes with the seal of our face masks for our breathing apparatus for firefighting so, I have never tried to grow one. Well, what do you think? Dork-city or what? I felt deer-hunteresque. Back to normal tonight though. Gotta get back to making some fire calls before we head down to Virginia next week for Thanksgiving at my sister and brother in law's home. I know, it's barely noticeable.

It was quite the festive holiday scene as I arrived back into my hometown this evening with quite a bit of snow falling and the lovely Temperance holiday lights adorning the sides of Lewis Avenue through downtown. All kidding aside though, it really was kinda neat and warmed my heart as I arrived back in town from a long day on the road for work. Even got me a little excited in anticipation of Christmas. In fact, I am looking forward to going and cutting our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving. Are you getting in the spirit yet? Have a great weekend.

I'll Leave You With This

2008-11-12T22:17:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I haven't carried through on the "blogging with some regularity" or some such statement I made a post or two ago. Truth is, I honestly have not had the time to do so or had any focused thoughts to do so. Right now I should be packing, or working, or paying bills, or something other than typing on this blog. I haven't been able to try and get any runs in either so, I'm failing miserably in that aspect of my life as well for the time being. I've often said I really wouldn't mind going back to a simpler time, like when we were settling the west, you know, like Little House on the Prairie-esque days. I know life was harder and, I'd likely be dead already at this age (just turning 42 yesterday), but I think people appreciated their days more because I think their lives were richer in relationships with one another and taking the time to slow down and have meals together or visit with a neighbor. Nowadays we're all too busy scurrying about, going from this to that, changing hats several times a day to fulfill the roles we have allowed to consume our lives. There's a blessing in solitude, in fact, I think that's what I most appreciate about running and why most of the time I run alone and out in the countryside and not in a park... simply for the solitude of it. I had a chance to have some solitude in the woods up north last weekend on a bow hunting trip to my in-laws cabin with my dear friend, Jeremy and will do so again this weekend at my father-in-law's annual deer camp for the opening of gun hunting season. This time I have the pleasure of going with my Dad and my father-in-law. I don't slow down enough to take the time to visit with either of them anymore and life, it seems, just keeps going on by at warp-speed so, I cherish times like this to share with them. My life mimics the Cats in the Cradle song so much at this point in my life, it is scary. Anyway, I'll be back next week about mid-week and will try to get a blurb in here. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this pic from my trip up north last weekend. I hope you find it as breath-taking as I do. Try to enjoy some solitude this week some time or simply connect with someone you've been meaning to, like a family member or dear friend that have been on your mind. Thanks for the note, Bob. I hope you find the Truman Show worth checking in on every once in a while and, know that you and your family are in my prayers daily. I look in on the Truman Show as well, even if I don't interject in it. ;)

Psalm 46:10

Did I Mention in the Last Post...

2008-11-03T20:51:00.006-05:00

that I start jury duty tomorrow in District Court? I don't think I did. I really don't mind and think that if I do sit on some juries for cases over the next couple of months (I have to serve November and December) that it will be really interesting. I'm all about civic duty and being a good citizen and American and all that. This cetainly isn't good timing with me having to skip down to Columbus at least one day a week right now and with hunting and the holidays coming up, but it'll all work out. As Dad always says, quoting my Grandmother, "It'll all come out in the wash."

Speaking of civic duties, if you registered, please don't forget to vote tomorrow. It's your right and privilege for which so many have sacrificed for you to be able to do. I'm gonna try and get up and out on a run at 6 tomorrow morning, go vote when the polls open at 7, and then up to court in Monroe by 8:30. We'll see how my tentative plans work out.

God bless America! :)

Still Around

2008-11-02T20:44:00.012-05:00

For anyone still checking, I am still around. Lots has transpired since my last post, like Chelsea's Senior Homecoming (pic above), the wrapping up of Lindsey's XC season, many trips for me to Columbus (with many more to come), a come back in running, followed by a crash another self-benching, a few online RA and blogger-running friend's completing marathons, a trip to East Lansing with Chels to a Michgan State football game, Halloween, and probably much more than I can recall. There's much to be said for keeping up with things, like blogging, which I have not been able to do lately. Early in October, following the Komen 5K Race for the Cure, I picked up running again with some consistency. I did start slowly and was progressing quite well without any pain or complications, other than being out of shape... again. I started thinking that I could still make my 1,000 mile goal by the end of the year if I ran roughly 5 miles per day for the rest of the year. I forced a run in on a Friday at the end of my highest mileage week (around 25) since training for the marathon I ran and stressed my leg too much reinjuring myself slightly. I tried going out for a run with Tammy the Saturday morning after and got to the end of our street and could not go on, the pain was too bad. That was October 11th and I hadn't run since then until yesterday when I nervously went out with Tammy and did get in 4 easy miles. So, gonna give it a go again, but much more easily than the last time I tried to start up again.

I've been wanting to do something with Chels, just the two of us, for quite some time. We've kinda lost a connection over the years and I have been wanting to try and bridge that gap so, I got it in my mind to take her to a college football game a few weeks ago because she has really been getting into football this year (she loves the Dallas Cowboys, well, Tony Romo anyway). When I had the thought, the Ohio State Buckeyes were going to be playing my Michigan State Spartans at my alma mater in East Lansing and looked to be what should be one of the best Big Ten matchups of the season. I

thought the game would be sold out, but to my pleasant surprise, it wasn't. A quick call to Tammy garnered the approval I needed to make the date for the two of us and purchase tickets online. We had a beautiful day heading up to East Lansing and I was thankful for the opportunity to chat about her future after graduation and to be able to tell her some things that were on my heart about how I felt about her, how proud I am of here, and how much I love and care for her, and always will. The game didn't pan out so well as Michigan State got battered, 45 - 7, but I wouldn't have traded the time spent with Chelsea for anything, not even a Spartan win.

Like I noted in my last post, my online running pal, Kirsten, aka Zoom Zoom, did complete her first marathon, The Milwaukee Lakefront, on October 5th! Congratulations, Kirsten! I am so stinkin' proud of you! You have been such an inspiration to me since I began forum stalking on RunningAHEAD for over a year now. I also had two other friends, Mike, Q from RA, and fellow running blogger, Karen, who blogs at Mom on the Run, complete the Grand Rapids Marathon on October 19th. It was Mike's first, which he completed in 4:04:38 and Karen was just in front of him at 4:04:04! To my knowledge, they don't even know each other. How crazy is that? Zoom Zoom was on hand as a spectator, along with her son, Dane, and Mike's wife Rebecca, to cheer them on along the course. I so wanted to be there (running actually, which was my plan at the beginning of the year) to cheer for them as well, but was not able to. Congratulations to both Mike, on his awesome first marathon finish, and Karen, seen above in the pink top, waiting to receive a hand off of fuel from her adorable eldest daughter who came to the race to cheer her running mommy on along with Karen's husband!

I have been traveling a lot for work this fall as the Columbus-area has been added to my territory of inspections. We've been somewhat slow with new business in Michigan so, I had Columbus added as part of my inspection territory. So, what I have been doing lately is leaving very early on Monday mornings, like 4:30 or 5:00 a.m., to head down to Columbus to make my property inspections for the day, usually between 25 and 40 of them, and come back home either when I am done or when it gets dark, whichever comes first. It's a long day, but this way I don't have to stay over night down there and be away from my family more than I have to be. I usually get back home around 7:30 or 8:00 at night and can salvage the evening with them. This is part of the reason I haven't been blogging, I simply haven't had the available free time to do so, nor the energy or enthusiasm to do so when I did. I'll try to put some consistent blurbs up here though from now on, if not for my own therapy. Heh!

We had a great weekend with friends on Halloween and again last night with several couples from our church at a fall bonfire. I feel so blessed by the people the Lord has put in my life, even those of you reading who I only know through here. Tammy and I went to our friend's, the Evans, for Halloween to pass out candy in their neighborhood and hang out with them. I haven't dressed up for Halloween in years and thought to add to the spirit of the evening that I would for a change. Lindsey and her friends all dressed up in like prom gowns with tiaras and such, over-done makeup, and Converse basketball shoes. I dressed up like a geek... I know... that was a stretch, but I somehow managed to pull it off. Actually, Troy Evans brother said to me, "So, I see you decided not to dress up this year." C'est la vie. Here's a pic. Hope you are all well and enjoying this great fall that we have had so far. Blessings.

GO! Zoomy GO!

2008-10-04T22:21:00.004-04:00

Just a shout out to my RA and running blogging buddy, Zoomy, aka Kirsten, aka Zoom Zoom, who is a fellow Michigander from the pristine west side of the state, not far from my beloved Ludington, and who is running her first marathon tomorrow morning in her home state of Wisconsin in the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. Just want you to know that I've been thinking about you all weekend, I have butterflies for you, though I know you will fair well due to your flawless training and preparation, and will be thinking about and praying for you tomorrow morning. Enjoy your race my friend, but most of all... enjoy your finish! Tomorrow... I call you a marathoner! You can check out her race at her blog, Zoomylicious, here.

Race for the Cure

2008-09-28T12:22:00.003-04:00

I ran the race with Tammy and girls this morning in downtown Toledo with 17,500 of our closest friends. It was a great morning for the race, cool and clear. There were 17,500 registered runners and walkers. Started out about a 9:00 min/mile pace with Tammy and Lindsey. Chelsea took off from the start once we got across the timing mat. I wanted to hang with Tammy to help pace her to a PR and not over-do myself and end up regretting it by stressing my leg too much. Lindsey ended up leaving us about 3/4 mile into the race too. Went out a little too hard for Tammy at 9:11 first mile, she was able to maintain and, in fact, speed up a bit the next mile, which was 8:59 and phenomenal for her! She struggled a bit in the final mile of the race. I tried to get her to walk through a water stop, get a good drink, and catch her breath, but she wouldn't listen. We ended up walking a little bit later for just 20 or 30 seconds because she was having a pain in her right side. I was trying to pull her along and encourage her as best I could without pushing her too hard. We ended up the last mile at 9:23 and finished the race in 28:55 by my Garmin (running GPS), which was a PR (personal record) for her by almost a minute and about a 9:10 min/mile average pace! Her prior PR was a 29:49! WOOT! The girls smoked us both. The almost as neat thing as pacing Tammy to a huge PR is, I felt as though I could have busted one in this race as well. Patience, Grasshopper... patience. And... we got over $200.00 in donations for the cause! Thanks to all who contributed to our team!

We got some of the post race food and took a stroll around the inside of 5/3 Field and got some goodies to bring home. It was so cool being able to run a race with my whole family. Very cool. I'll post all our official results when they have them up on the internet.

Back to Columbus this afternoon to assist with the high volume of claims they had from the severe winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ike on September 14. I should be back either Thursday night or Friday afternoon and, that should wrap up that tour of duty.

Home Away From Home

2008-09-23T20:01:00.002-04:00

I'm down in Columbus this week for work. I had planned to come down to do some inspection work for my regular job this week, but central and southern Ohio were hit very badly with the remnants of Hurricane Ike last week and there is widespread wind damage down here so my department has been enlisted by our claims department to help out with scoping the damages of our customers down here in the Columbus and Cincinnati areas. I will be going home for the weekend as Lindsey has a CC invitational and family picnic following on Saturday and we are all running the 5K Race for the Cure on Sunday. Thank you to everyone that has donated to our family's team fundraising goal for the race. We truly appreciate it and you! I'll come back down to Columbus Sunday afternoon to work in the area again if needed.

I got a 6.5 mile run in last evening, heading from my hotel to Blacklick Metro Park, which is about 1.25 miles from my hotel, and then did a 4.1 mile loop through the park. It was a really nice run and the park part of it was awesome. I was a bit sore today and also had work to do so, I didn't go out today. I'll try and get a run in tomorrow evening. If not, the rest will do me good too.

Great Morning Run

2008-09-20T09:50:00.006-04:00

I had an awesome morning run this morning, 5.1 miles, my furthest since the marathon back on 4/13/08! Yea! The morning was perfect, partly sunny, cool around 54F, light breeze, quiet back roads, and mist lifting off the fields and golf course. The only way it could have been any better is if Tammy had been with me spitting on herself during the course of the run! BAH! She's not a very accomplished spitter. Sorry, Honey, but it's the truth.

Our local highschool won their football game last night 33 - 7 against a school they were supposed to get buried by. This is quite exciting as Bedford has a losing history in football. When I say history, I mean they have had like 5 winning seasons in the past 50 years. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much. Lindsey (and her 8th grade band-mates) got to play with the marching band during the half time program. She thought it was going to be *lame*, but I think ended up having a good time with it.

Our church is having its annual (12th, I think?) Classic Car and Motorcycle Show tomorrow. It's our biggest event of the year and we usually draw about 300 vehicles to the show. Cars, motorcycles, music (our worship band is doing a set at 1:00 with tunes from Brown-Eyed Girl and Pretty Woman to Huey Lewis, Chicago, and the Doobie Brothers), food, friends, and fun. If you're in the area, stop by and check it out. It doesn't cost anything, unless you want to eat, then it's only $9.00 for a home made bbq chicken or pulled pork dinner. If you have a strong stomach, you can hear me singing and playing with the band at 1:00.

Have a great weekend and... GO STATE!

Randomness

2008-09-18T17:01:00.005-04:00

Below is just a shot I took of the twilight sky on my way back to rehearsal at church Tuesday evening from our Bedford Running Club meeting at the school. I just thought it was very beautiful, as many of the past few days and evenings have been. Of course, the photos never do the *real thing* justice. Don't tell my boss I'm taking pictures while driving either! Shhhhhhhh.

Lindsey's XC team competed at Michigan State University last Friday and placed first as a team! It's a very large invitational, so that's awesome. She's been dealing with shin splints, so is off her best game right now and, realistically, probably for the rest of the season, but she keeps plugging away. Below she's running in their first league jamboree (multi-school XC meet), at Saline last evening at Mill Pond Park. Very nice venue for a race. Again, her team placed first in the league meet out of 6 teams and Lindsey was right in that 16 - 17 minute range, placing 46th out of a field of over 100, even with her sore legs! She's doing great as far as I'm concerned and, of course I am proud of her regardless. I was amazed she even finished at MSU, she looked to be in such misery during her race.

I can't forget Chels in giving props either. She got an 82 on her first Anatomy quiz/test and is taking a dual enrollment English class at the community college for which she receives college credits this semester. Keep up the good work, Chels! I'm proud of how hard you are working so far this year.

On the running front, I took yesterday off, didn't want to, but my leg was sore from my tempo run the other day, which I won't attempt for awhile again, and went for a 4 miler this morning and felt much better. Hopefully I'll be able to go out tomorrow morning with Tammy for an early run. Our 5K Race for the Cure is a week from Sunday. In case I haven't mentioned it *cough*, we are fundraising for this race for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. If you would like to donate/pledge via our team, you may do so by clicking on this link. We've raised $150.00 of our $400.00 goal, so any contributions would be most appreciated toward this very worthy cause. Each of us are running on behalf of someone we know that has battled, or is battling, breast cancer. Thanks!

Whaaaa?

2008-09-17T08:36:00.003-04:00

So I'm driving home from my inspection rounds on Monday and I'm behind THIS car. Fortunately she didn't decide to pursue her passion while she was in front of me. Note the "Rest Area" sign on the upcoming overpass! How ironic. Anyway, I found this quite funny and, hopefully you got a chuckle out of it as well.

Lindsey has a league XC meet in Saline this afternoon that Tam and I and my folks will be heading up to. She didn't do real well at MSU last Friday (and my camera was being obstinate, so I didn't get any pictures) as her shins and a calf were bothering her. She still was only like 8 seconds off her slowest race and was still in eight and a half minute per mile pace range, which is pretty darn good running with pain. She was actually in tears early on in that race and I was amazed she even finished.

I cut short my intended 5 mile run yesterday as my right leg was sore. I did just under 3.5 and am not sure if I should try today or not. Actually, I DO know that I should not, but the morning is so beautiful. Best to err on the side of caution though. I've been getting in some pretty consistent running being conservative and I don't want to ruin that. Besides, I'm sure I'll be running around the XC course this afternoon cheering on the kids.

Make it a great day everyone.

Tempo Run

2008-09-15T22:18:00.002-04:00

I actually ran a 4 mile tempo run this morning just to see how I would tolerate it. A tempo run is a sustained faster-paced run, slightly under a race pace, which is done to increase speed and stamina. In my case, I was just kind of "testing the waters" with how my leg would stand up to a faster-paced run. I ran 8:35 min/mile average pace for the 4 mile run and felt pretty good, though somewhat winded at times, which I should have been. My leg feels fine tonight, no pain. Hopefully that will continue tomorrow.

Extreme Makeover, Home Edition

2008-09-15T21:35:00.008-04:00

Extreme Makeover, Home Edition was in town last week to do a build for a Toledo, Ohio family. The couple have 11 children, 3 of which are their own and the rest are adopted. The husband is a paramedic with the Toledo Fire Department. The show and goings on, about 7 miles or so from my house, literally captivated and constricted the area for the past week. They had the reveal shooting yesterday and the family took possession of the home today. Chelsea went down to the build site on Saturday afternoon with a friend, Tony, in the pic below, to join in the excitement and festivities. Below is a pic of the two of them with newer designer Didi. And one of her personal favorites below, Rib.
Then there is of course, the star of the show, Ty Pennington.

Below Toledo Firefighters are moving in the furnishings in the finished home.

Below, the crew, Ty, Paulie, Didi, & Rib rev up the crowd for the furniture move in.

"The Bus."

The family's finished home below. They were in a 3 bedroom ranch with 1 bathroom prior.

This episode will air sometime in late November I had heard. So, if you happen to catch this episode and have seen this, you'll already know what to expect and that it was very close to where I live. In fact, my friend, Frank Johnston, the guy who went fishing with me in Ludington and to Florida last spring for spring break vacation, works with the husband of the family and has known him for quite some time. A very deserving fellow from what he says. Kinda neat, but it was crazy around here for the past week or so. We went to a Sanctus Real concert a week ago Sunday which benefitted the family so, some of our money went towards this family. : )

Saturday Morning Soaker

2008-09-13T11:49:00.006-04:00

Actually, the last two mornings now, Tammy and I have headed out the door in the rain for a lovely rain run. We did 4.1 miles yesterday in a light rain, with near perfect running conditions, and 3.1 this morning in a soaking rain, which was just an absolute blast. Looks like we'll need to get used to it too because the forecast for the next week is for rain. This was my highest mileage week since getting back to running at 19.4 miles. I can't express how happy I am to be getting back out there. I am really looking forward to running the Komen 5K Race for the Cure with my whole family at the end of this month! Did you know you can contribute/donate to the cause by pledging us in our race through our family's fundraising page?

Tammy's aunt saw us running by this morning and came out on her porch to editorialize on our *passion* for running given the monsoon conditions we were running in this morning. Something like "Ok, your exercising has truly gone over the top now." Apparently she hasn't read about my first marathon race experience? Compared to that, this mornings run was divine! Have a great balance of your weekend!

Karen, thank you for the very kind comment on my last post. I really appreciate it. It's an honor and a blessing to be able to serve in that capacity.

I Will Never Forget

2008-09-11T08:20:00.006-04:00

Seven years ago today I came very close to leaving for NYC following the attacks on the World Trade Center. Ironically enough, as a firefighter/EMT, I was responding to a call in my own community from work at home when my assistant chief told me that a plane had flown into the first WTC building. We had no idea what was going on at that time and just thought it was an accident. Our call was cancelled and we started watching the news coverage of the event as it unfolded. I returned home in time to see the second plane collide with the second tower. I watched as flames and smoke bellowed out of the giant structures and as emergency teams responded to the scene thinking, "Ok, this is big, but FDNY is trained for stuff like this and, they'll get a handle on it, it's just going to take some time." As I watched the situation unfold and the commentary by the media speculating as to what had just happened, the first tower collapsed. My mind just could not process what just happened. Then, a while later, the second tower collapsed. Again, I could not believe what I was seeing and just wept knowing that there were a lot of civilians in those buildings and firefighters and others coming to help. I was so moved by what I was seeing, I emotionally considered driving out there at that moment to do anything, whatever I could, to help. When I was able to think rationally, I knew that I would just be adding to the problems if I, and so many others in the country that were likely feeling the same way, were to act on those feelings. I stayed at home, prayed, and wept, like most of the rest of the country, and hugged and kissed my wife and daughters when they got home thanking God for His provision of our safety. I see jet airplanes in a different light now and, as much as I pray about it and try to be forgiving, I know in the deep recess of my heart, I have a disdain for a radical culture of people that were at the heart of the evil actions of that day. May He work through this black spot on my heart. I pray the Lord gives comfort and peace to the families of all 2,974 victims in the attacks that day, 343 of which were firefighters, including one chaplain. May God rest their souls and continue to bring healing to the hearts of our country, mine included. I will never forget.

I'll Take Potpourri for $1,000, Alex...

2008-09-08T19:59:00.014-04:00

I haven't been real good about updating, a lot of which simply has to do with the lack of time, so I thought I'd just touch on some of several happenings in the past week, or several. Since I haven't posted anything about my running lately, primarily since there hadn't been any, I thought I'd start there. I am actually into my third week of doing some consistent running. Yeah!! You can follow my workouts on the right sidebar below, but basically, I started out with some easy 5K jogs about 3 weeks ago. I have purposely not taken a watch or my Garmin, just simply gone out and ran/jogged easily without regard to time or pace. I have progressed up to 4.1 miles a run and have been going out 4 or 5 days a week, and could do more, but won't as I want to build my mileage slowly and not aggravate my right lower leg (RLL), which so far has not given me too much grief over my re-introduction to running. I have had some post run pain in my RLL, usually the following day or two, which is my sign not to run on those days. So far, so good.

I even picked up a new pair of running shoes pictured below, Saucony ProGrid Guide, which I found at Dick's on sale for $69.99 and I had a $10.00 coupon so, I got them for $64.04 after tax! I just love getting good shoes for a good price. I've like them very well so far. We had gotten Lindsey the same pair in women's at Dave's for her cross country season, which I didn't realize when I got mine. We have very similar feet, though she has a much flatter arch than I.
I've ran with Tammy and Lindsey on more than a few occassions which has been awesome. It keeps me from going at too fast a pace and it's just nice running with people you adore and love being with. Ask me who spits the worst out of the 3 of us. Heh! I'm trying to get Lindsey to perfect the snot-rocket, but she won't have anything to do with it. Her loss. So, with all of us running, I thought I would sign us up as a family for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K at the end of this month and have done so. Chelsea's in as well so, Team Velich will be running the 5K Race for the Cure on September 28th in downtown Toledo. How cool is that!?! I am so excited! We're each running on behalf of someone that is battling or has battled breast cancer. I am running in honor of my friend's mother, Helen Deal; Tammy is running in honor of her Aunt Katie Hiller; Chelsea is running in honor of her best friend's grandma, Sixta Contreras, and Lindsey is running in honor of my parents' old neighbor, Kathy Feik. We know so many more people that this cancer has affected, like our former pastor's wife, Mary Cryderman, and you all will be on our hearts in that race. We do have a fund raising goal for the Komen Race for the Cure foundation of $400.00 as a family. If you would like to donate to this awesome cause through our family team, you can do so via the internet or a printable donation page at our family's team website by clicking HERE.

As I posted previously about our annual Ludington trip, my dad was not able to make the trip, which has typically been a father and son camping and fishing gig since the late 70's and early 80's, and I really missed having him and his neighbor, Walt, another stalwart crew member, there with us when we went with the Johnstons last month. So, we booked a charter last week on Catchin', with Captain Myron Gilbert, who also charters for walleye earlier in the summer out of my dad's marina, Luna Pier Harbor Club. I also asked my friend, Vicki's (who's mother I am running on behalf of in the Race for the Cure) husband, Rob, if he would like to join us since I knew of his love of fishing and just being out on the water. We zipped up to Ludington last Wednesday afternoon and headed out on our charter with Captain Myron Thursday morning at 5:15 a.m. As I was assisting the captain in setting the second line out of 14 after reaching our starting destination about a mile north of Big Point Sable, I inquisitively asked him if he ever had a fish take a line while it was being set. He had barely finished his affirmative answer when a fish hit the line I was putting out. That was the start to a fishing melee that lasted about 2 hours, during which time I don't think we even got all 14 lines out. It was an absolute blast and some of the best fishing we have ever enjoyed. Below are pics of my dad with a couple of the largest fish we caught that morning, the largest being 20 pounds, and then our entire limit catch of 15 fish, most of which were between 15 and 20 pounds!

Rob and I with our fantastic catch. I don't think I stopped grinning that whole day! We had such a blast!
Lindsey had her first cross country invitational this past Saturday. It was in Tiffin, Ohio, the Tiffin Carnival, and is one of the largest, if not the largest, cross country invitationals in the Midwest, if not the country, boasting 553 junior high and high school teams from the Midwest and 6,585 runners! Lindsey ran in the Junior High open race, finishing 78th out of a field of 332 in her race and her team placed 6th out of 26! She ran a personal record (PR) of 15:47 for the two mile cross country course, nearly a full minute faster than her previous race! Great job, Linds! She's pictured below just after the 1 mile mark of the race attacking one of the several hills on the 2 mile course. Notice the sea of runners behind her!

The girls are in their first full week back to school. Chelsea is a senior this year and was accepted to dual-enroll, which means she gets to take a college course through the local community college, for which she receives college credit and the school district pays for the course. She is taking an english class this first semester. This will be a good taste of what is to come if she chooses to go on to college next year and, she'll already have some credits under her belt!

We had a massive structure fire this past weekend at a local golf course where the clubhouse caught fire. The building was completely involved in fire before we were even dispatched to the scene so, we were behind the eight ball from the start on this fire. You can see a clip on the fire from a local news station here. Unfortunatley, I don't have any video or photos to direct you to of the fire as it was when we approached the scene. If I do get one, I'll post it as it was a pretty wicked sight. One of the largest structure fires I have been on scene on in my nearly 15 years on the department. We were dispatched about 11:40 p.m. on Saturday night and I didn't get home from the call and to bed until 9:45 a.m. Sunday. Um, I missed church... sorry Pastor Dean. I didn't think he would appreciate someone snoring in the middle of his message, no matter how compelling his sermon.

Off to Tiffin, Ohio

2008-09-06T11:03:00.004-04:00

There's a new runner in the making this year in the Velich household, and her name is Lindsey! Lindsey decided to pass on volleyball tryouts at Bedford and run XC this year, her 8th grade year. She is a very natural looking runner so, I think she will be quite good in no time. Below is a pic from her first race, a *scrimmage* about a week and a half ago in Sylvania, Ohio. The junior high XC course is 2 miles and she had a time of 16:37. Not bad for a first race. She'll get much better as she figures out pacing and racing and what it should feel like. Today we are headed down to Tiffin, Ohio for the Tiffin Carnival XC races. It is one of the largest XC events in the Midwest with 553 school teams, middle school and high school, represented there and 6,585 runners this year. There are typically 200 - 300 runners in each race and teams from schools all over the Midwest. Tammy and I have been going to it for 4 years now since Chelsea has ran in it since her 8th grade year. Sadly though, she is passing on running XC her senior year of high school. It would have been cool to have seen them both running at the same event. Gotta get ready to hit the road. Have a great weekend! I'll post how Lindsey did and some pics later.

Happy Birthday, Chelsea!

2008-09-03T11:28:00.007-04:00

Just wanted to give a shout-out to my, now 17 year old, oldest daughter, Chelsea on her birthday! Happy Birthday, Chels! I love you and pray you have an awesome Senior year of high school!

You get more beautiful with each passing year, but no more so to me than your first.

Love,

Dad

Long Week

2008-09-02T20:49:00.016-04:00

From the prior post that is. Ok, so I enjoyed the remainder of my summer without much regard for my blog, so sue me. I probably shouldn't say that in this day and age as someone just might, though I don't think they would have much of a case as NOT having my blog to read probably actually relieves a lot of pain and suffering on your part!

As you might guess, a lot has transpired since my last post. I'm not going to detail everything, but I would like to share some things, such as some of the awesome pics I got while we vacationed in Ludington. That place is my personal utopia and combined with being there to share it with my lovely wife, Tammy, and dear friends, Frank and Dianna Johnston, and life just doesn't get any better. The first picture is of the sunrise the first morning Frank and I were out on Lake Michigan fishing. We'd get up at 4:00 a.m. and get out on the water and set up about 5:00 a.m. (I'll get up early to fish, but I won't get up that early to run!) so we were able to take in some incredible sunrises above the shoreline. Out of the 5 days that we fished, this was as wavy as the lake got in this picture. It was amazing!

The first couple of mornings we were out there were intermittent fog banks that would roll in and out across the water giving a surreal look to the lake like the next couple of pics, the second of which is the lighthouse on Big Point Sable, which is about 10 miles north up the shoreline from the Ludington harbor that we put in at.

The following pic is shortly after the one above was taken after the sun had risen above the horizon of the shoreline and started burning some of the fog off of Lake Michigan.

Lines set and ready for action before sun-up and the spoils of our efforts.

The mornings while we were out fishing, the girls would run or bike and explore new areas around the campground, like Hamlin Lake, then in the afternoons we would all go do something together like hang out at the beach, take the boat to Hamlin Lake, and explore the town of Pentwater, which is absolutely beautiful as well.

Thursday evening, our last night there, we all took a walk down to the beach to catch our last sunset of the week.

I was trying to get the sunset behind us, but didn't have any success.

But, just like a beautiful summer day on Lake Michigan in Ludington, all good things must come to an end. Or, do they... the moon rising that same evening and then setting on the west side of the lake Friday morning, our last morning out fishing.

Ludington is an amazing, magical place to me and I hope you were able to enjoy some of its beauty that I tried to capture.

Off For a Week

2008-08-09T22:40:00.007-04:00

Tammy and I and our friends, the Johnstons, are heading to Lundington, MI for the week to camp, fish, boat, recreate, and relax. It's one of my favorite places ever (that I have been to anyway) and always a welcomed trip in August, though for me it means the winding down of summer too, which is sad. Been taking this salmon fishing pilgrimage to Ludington every year since about 1990 with my dad, but he won't be on this trip as they are currently in Nova Scotia with Lindsey. Talked to her this morning, she is loving the trip, especially the food ~ squirts had like 3 or 4 lobster dinners already ~ and really liked seeing Anne of Green Gables and seeing the actual town the author lived and learning about her life. They'll be returning a day or two after we do.

Hoping for good weather and lake conditions since I am taking our boat vs. my dad's, which is significantly bigger. Lake Michigan is usually pretty navigable for most medium on up sized craft though, whereas Lake Erie can rough up in a hurry.

Have a wonderful week to anyone reading this and, with any luck with the weather and fishing conditions, I'll have some cool pics to post when we return. Here's a couple of pics from last year.

Frank and I after a mornings catch

A Coast Guard helicopter on manuevers near the Ludington pier. How I captured this shot I will never know as it was flying by when I got it. I do know actually... luck. :)

Dad and I with some lunkers.

The Johnstons heading out onto the pier to enjoy a beautiful sunset on Lake Michigan. I framed this shot for them for Christmas last year.

Jeremy, I will be thinking about you and your family and praying for you all. Love you man!

This Caught My Eye

2008-08-06T06:30:00.004-04:00

While out working yesterday morning this scene caught my eye. Like a lot of other places in the country right now, it's been very humid here so mornings are very dewey and damp. The dampness coupled with the rising sun highlighted this spider web adjacent to a home I was inspecting. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.

On another note... I just love summer and hate to see it quickly slipping away. Last night on my way back home I stopped at Smith's Farm Market and picked up some locally home grown sweet corn to go along with the pork chop/steaks that Tammy had pulled out for dinner. We then went over to my mom and dad's, who are currently vacationing/sight-seeing in Canada/PEI/Nova Scotia with out youngest daughter, Lindsey, and hit their garden for some fresh vegies - tomatoes, green beans, and zucchini. I grilled the zucchini along with the pork chops and Tammy boiled the sweet corn. It was a deliciously fresh dinner.

So, summer's quickly slipping away. We spent a lovely long weekend up at the cabin in Glennie, MI and floated the beautiful AuSable River last weekend. Next week we'll be in Ludington, MI for my annual salmon fishing trip on Lake Michigan with my dad except, my dad won't be there this year. He had to go and throw this big Canadian trip right into our normal fishing itinerary buggering up MY summer! Sheesh, the nerve of the guy!?! So, you'll be missed dad, but I'm goin' anyway. I may get to visit with some RA (RunningAhead - an online running forum/community/logging site I use) folks over on that side of the state like Zoomy. That'd be cool.

Surprises

2008-08-05T06:36:00.004-04:00

Don'tcha just love most surprises. I had a couple of pleasant ones yesterday when we got back from up north from the in-laws' cabin in Glennie. The first was the certificate above from the Toledo Road Runners for my Glass City Marathon finish (that was a long 6 - 8 weeks!) and the second was the comment below left on my blog from my Aunt Denise. Anyway, both made me smile... and cry a little too. I know... I'm such a wuss.

"Rick,

I love he pictures. It looks like you guys had a great time. I want to apologize for not getting back to you about Cassy's surprise package. We both cried and laughed. She was soo excited about the picture and medal, I thought she was going to jump out of her wheelchair. Wish you had of been here to see it. She has something to send you, but I am not blog savvy, and have not figured how to send it to you via your blog, so I will get it to you by regular mail and then you can post it on the blog. Cassy and I both want you to know how very honored and happy we were about you running the marathon in her honor. It really meant a lot to both of us, and we don't ever want you to feel bad that she has not been able to run on her own. She runs in her heart, and all of ours. And one day Cassy will run with us all in heaven. She has accomplished and experienced much for someone that has never taken a step on her own in her life. Cassy has no regrets about the cerebral palsey, and as you know, she has never let it stop her from anything she has truly wanted to do. She was very upset when I told her about your stress fracture and all the pain you had to endure.I need to stop now, as I am getting teary eyed. I will try hard to visit your blog more often. Tell Tammy and Chelsea hello, and all of our love to all of you. Wish we could get together and spend time together more often.From your favorite aunt, love and kisses. I am very proud of you!

Love, Denise
Fri Aug 01, 12:34:00 AM EDT "

Thanks for the note, Aunt Denise. I love you too.

I Remember...

2008-07-30T22:17:00.011-04:00

as if it were yesterday, bringing this beautiful young woman home as a baby from Parkview Hospital in Toledo, Ohio, which no longer even exists and being scared to death having an infant in the car that I was now responsible for. Now look what she's gone and done, she's all grown up. Here's some of the proofs of Chelsea's senior pics recently taken by the wonderfully talented, Emily Smith, of Smith Gallery Photography. You can see more of her amazing work there and see some more of Chelsea's senior pic proofs on the Smith Gallery Blog here. Chelsea, you're a beautiful young woman. Emily, you did an amazing job capturing her beauty. I'm stunned. I can't wait to see the rest of the proofs. Any boys viewing this/her... HANDS OFF! :)
Dad

My Dad, Mom, and Lindsey embarked on their Prince Edward Island camping/travel adventure this past Saturday and both Dad and Linds have been blogging their trip. You can check out Dad's blog here at DickandBrigitteontheRoad or Lindsey's at Lindsissweet. They have some great pics from their trip so far as well.

For My Best Friend...

2008-07-28T11:32:00.006-04:00

Jeremy, I know how heavy your heart is right now, and mine aches along for you and with you and your family. I don't know what else to do for you right now other than to let you know how much I love you, how deeply sad I am for you now, and that I will do anything you need of me during this difficult and uncertain time. Your dad, your family, and you have been, and will remain, in my prayers.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."
2 Corinthians 3 - 5

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
John 15: 12 & 13

We've been through and experienced so much together in the last 10 years. You've been there through my worst of times and still loved me through it. I am blessed beyond description by your friendship and would lay down my life for you my friend. I wish I could ease your heartache and pain. I love you my brother.

I've Been Meaning To Do This For Awhile...

2008-07-25T15:46:00.005-04:00

A little parody on my online running pal, Marion's, post first marathon celebratory pic following her Myrtle Beach Marathon finish back in February. When she first posted this on her blog, Shut it and Run, I KNEW I just had to parody it. However, I don't pull off the pose with quite the poise/sultriness that she does. In fact, I just look like a big ole doofus! Not bad for a 41 year old doofus that ran a marathon with a broken leg in frozen tundra/monsoon conditions though. Heck, my car's not even as cool as her's! Sheesh! (going off to the corner to sulk in my doofiness)

Trial Walk/Jog This Evening

2008-07-21T23:22:00.003-04:00

I'm down in Columbus this week for work and in my down time, though there will not be a lot by my choice, I decided to bring my running shoes and clothes. When I got done working today, I got back to my hotel, turned on my Garmin to lock in while I changed clothes and laced up, and headed out for my first walk/jog since the marathon on April 13th. I went 6.25 miles, 3.5 of which I jogged, but not all in succession. I'm happy to report that I felt pretty well, other than being out of shape. No pain in the injury area at all. When I started out, I was feeling this fatigued sensation in my right shin above where my injury was which wigged me out a bit, but it went away. You can read about my first walk/jog back here from my log if you'd like.

I'm pretty stoked right now... and thankful.

Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive and encouraging during the last few months.

Live Like You Were Dyin'

2008-07-16T11:28:00.003-04:00

My online running and blogging friend, Jim, has a great post on his blog about a book he and his wife and some neighbors are reading, "One Month to Live". You can read about it on his blog here.

I thought it was an awesome, eye-opening post. I've been contemplating a lot in the last year or so about living life with a sense of urgency. For me, that means investing more of myself... my love, my time, my compassion... in the lives of those I love and letting them know unequivocally how much I care for them and how important they are in my life. Investing in those relationships that God has so graciously, and abundantly, blessed me with. Making the phone call to a friend to see how they are doing when it's not convenient, putting off cutting the grass to get to the campground to enjoy some time with your family, not rushing off after completing an elderly woman's chores because they are checked off the list for the week now and I have *other things to do* because she cares more about the company and conversation afterwards than having her chores completed whether she would admit it or not, showing a hurting friend that you care for them and their sick parents, or not blowing off the neighbors coming to chat because you have *other things to do* and they're burning your daylight. For me, it's about being more intentional in the relationships that I have been blessed with. Perhaps that is why you've seen less blogging from me as well, though you all are important to me too and, as strange as it may be for some to believe, I have developed some pretty solid friendships through this medium.

You can read my response to Jim's post in the above link as well so, I'm not going to re-hash it here. Unfortunately, life is busy and getting busier. I pray that I never pass on a moment to tell a family member or friend how much I appreciate them and love them, have a conversation with a neighbor even when it's not convenient because I have *other things to do*, or come alongside a hurting friend any time they need because their parent is dying, because I would be missing out on a blessing for myself and squandering the most valuable asset the Lord has blessed me with... relationships.

So, I challenge you, as I have myself, to invest more in your relationships than your own selfish ambitions and try and live like you were dying...

Roughing It

2008-07-16T11:01:00.009-04:00

So, when I mention on here that we will be camping, it's not really *roughing it* style camping. We have a lovely home on wheels that we are blessed to camp in. This week Tammy, the girls and I are taking a *working vacation*. We're camping out at Totem Pole Park, which is in Petersburg, MI, just 13 miles from our home. We'll go about the business of our lives during the day and convene at the campground in the afternoon/evening. The fire department I serve on will have a family picnic out there on Saturday at a swimming-friendly pond-side pavilion. Friends and family will be stopping by during the week too to visit or have dinner together. This morning I rode my bike back home to get my inspections in order for tomorrow and cut the grass at home, then I'll ride back to the campground. Twenty six miles round trip, ironically enough. Tammy drove back to work and drop Lindsey off at summer band this morning, then they'll come back this afternoon.

Here's our comfy home away from home at the campground last evening after getting set up.

And another shot from the other side.

Carsen making himself at home in our home away from home. Hey! Wait a minute! That's our bed! Bad dog! Tammy, waiting for me to quit playing camera-guy to go for a walk in the campground last evening before the girls came out and dinner. The mosquitoes are horrible, btw. Bummer.

The ever-lovely and talented, TLV, whipping up some camping viddles for the fam.

Chelsea had to work last night till 8 and Lindsey had basketball drills so, the two of them drove out after Chels got off work and cleaned up. Tammy and Chels playing *Speed* and Linds lovin' on Carsen. Not sure what the score was between the two of them. Tammy's pretty good at *Speed*. After that we started teaching the girls Euchre.

We hit the sack around 11 - 11:30. The girls were laughing it up in their bunk and shakin' the trailer, and being silly. I thought about telling them to knock it off, settle down, and get quiet so their mother could get to sleep, but the truth of the matter was... I wasn't annoyed by their carrying on whatsoever. It was nice to hear them goofing off together, laughing, and just being silly together as sisters. Thanks for that moment Lord. :)

Off to cut the grass now...

Injury Update

2008-07-10T22:58:00.003-04:00

I went back to the doctor this past Tuesday, the 8th. He feels I am well enough to be out of the cam-walker - the sporty support boot I previously described - and am ok to do some cross-training type activities like biking, eliptical, and then gradually work myself into walking, walk jogging, and run walking, and eventually back to running as I feel I am able to progress through each. He felt confident that I would be able to do a shorter distance race in September, but not for a PR. If you read below, I did do some significant hiking in the mountains which I tolerated very well with no pain and little fatigue or ache in the evenings following. Last Sunday we were visiting with my long time friend, Greg, and his family in from Arkansas, at his parents' lake home and was being chased around the yard by his 3 nephews with water balloons. I did feel some pain in that running around so, I know that I am not yet ready for any kind of running. A couple of evenings ago I went out for a 10 mile bike ride, fairly strenuously (for me and my clunky Huffy *mountain bike*), which took about 45 minutes, and while my bum is calling me everything thing but a white man, the rest of my body has felt pretty good. I feel like I'm about 80% or better healed. I have some major psych-games going on in my head though in that, every tinge of anything I feel in my leg, I think my leg is hurt, but I don't think it really is that much anymore. Anyhow, there you have it... some significant progress. Yea!

My Summer Vacation - With Pics :)

2008-07-08T19:00:00.026-04:00

Well, it wasn't *my* summer vacation, but *our* summer vacation and 3rd annual one with the Gamble family. I had a great time last week on our trip down to the Gatlinburg, TN area and the Great Smoky Mountains and I think the rest of the family did as well.

We had a bizarre happening on the drive down, we're driving along I-75 south in Southern Ohio, about 3 hours into our journey, when this big ole Jethro-stye Dodge extended-super-extended-king-extended cab pickup truck pulls up alongside of us a honkin' and honkin' away with the occupants a hootin' and a hollerin' away at us and makin all kinds of ruckus! I thought we done run over their pet 'possum or sumptin' with all the fuss they was a makin'! I look over at the passenger in the frontof the "I'm a Man's Man pickup truck" and it's no other than our friend Tami Sue Evans and the rest of the Evans clan, big-daddyTroy Boy, Ben Bob, and Brandon Bob!

They were on their way down to Nashville for Ben Bob to go to a Christian *I'm A Rock Star* music camp so he could teach the pros a thing or two on a drum set. We ended up hookin' up with the Evans family, along with our co-vacationing friends, the Gamble family, and stopping at a Sonic in Georgetown, KY cause none of us had ever been to one. We see commercials for them ALL the time and all of us have wanted to go there, but oddly enough, we don't have a one of 'em anywheres near us! So the below pic is of all the giddy Michiganders at their first visit to a Sonic restaurant. Hey, we Michiganders get excited about simple things after a long, cold, snowy, hard winter! I loved the Cherry Limeade and the Black Raspberry Sprite. It was definitely a hit with the whole crew.
Below is a pic of our condo accomodations in Servierville, TN. The 3 bedroom and 2 bath condo was more than comfortable and served our 2 families well for the week.
It didn't take too long into our vacation before Tammy was doing her *Party Boy* dance on the coffee table in the living room of the condo. She was loose and ready for a good time. Editor's note: the editor joined her as well on the table for a rousing dance to Baby Bash featuring T-Pain's *Cyclone*, but the editor regrets he is unable to master the ability to dance on a coffee table with his hot wife and take pictures at the same. Notice the look that 8 year-old Rachel is giving the, *ahem*, mature dancers.

Monday we spent exploring Cade's Cove in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Below is a pic of a grassy meadow and the mountains in the background. I just loved the natural beauty that surrounded us as you'll see more of below.

We were very fortunate to have seen several black bear while in the park that week and below is a pic of the first one that we saw in Cade's Cove. I was about 150 yards away from the bear. It was mulling around a lone, big oak tree in the middle of a grassy meadow when I got the pic. It had just been standing on it's rear legs looking up the tree right before I took the pic below. Not quick enough on the shutter button. The last bear we saw, which I was not able to get a pic of because I was driving, was a sow and her two cubs! How cool!

After exploring Cade's Cove on foot and by car, we went for a horseback ride through the mountains. It was awesome.

The pic below is of $5.00, or... 5 bucks. I know... lame. But hey, that's what they are. I was amazed by the number of deer we saw in the park, especially the number of bucks. Their antlers/horns - I forget which is which - were still in velvet. I bet Elvis would be jealous of the bucks in velvet.

Our second time around Cade's Cove we stopped at the trail to Abram Falls and I suckered everyone, including awesome 8 year-old Rachel, into taking the 5 mile round-trip trek back to the falls. This was no easy hike either as the terrain was tough, some steep, rocky inclines and declines, poor footing - just ask Kim and the flats she was wearing on her feet - and quite a distance. I felt it was well worth it for a view of the falls below.

Tammy, the girls, and I kicked around Gatlinburg for a day enjoying the tram to Ober Gatlinburg, riding the alpine slide, and browsing all the shops in town, and of course dining at Bennett's Barbeque. Below are pics of Tammy and I - sporting the ever-trendy plaid shorts that my loving family got me for Father's Day in the ever vain effort to keep me *hip*, Tammy and the girls, and the girls and I, on a bridge over a mountain stream in town.

Recognize Tammy's shirt below, Zoomy?

Beauties... with the beast.

Below is the lovely view of the mountains we had from our balcony.

What vacation would be complete without total restaurant gluttony? I, of course, speak for myself. The kids had a wonderful dinner at Corky's Barbeque one evening. I say the kids because the parents had eaten too late - and too much - a lunch at the Apple Barn Restaurant earlier that afternoon to eat an actual dinner that evening as well. Though we did have some sides and barbequed shrimp. Below Lindsey is enjoying a taste from her small rack of ribs.

And, how dare I take a pic of Chels while she's eating... or ever for that matter. Getting the evil parent eye from my beautiful daughter below. I love her anyway. She doesn't think so, she thinks I was just put here to ruin her life, but I really do love her... a lot! Even if I am *stupid*

Below is more natural beauty from the National Park. The picture below reminds me of some of the settings in "The Lord of the Rings" movies.

A mountain stream in the Greenbriar area of the park below.

A small mountain-side runoff flowing eventually to a mountain stream in the Roaring Fork trail area below.

I don't know what these flowers are, but found them to be very pretty nestled amongst all the surrounding greenery of the mountain-side.

We even saw some reptilian natural beauty. We were checking out some old homestead cabins and outbuildings along the Twin Creeks Trail when near 11 year-old Emily said she saw a snake move near some rocks. I went over and didn't see the snake she said she saw, but did discover this Copperhead snake on a rock above the area of Emily's spied snake - which I did see when I returned to the site a little later, it was an Eastern Rat snake which slithered quickly back under the rock it had re-emerged from.

We really had a wonderful time on vacation and also spent some great times swimming and hanging out by the pool and in the hot tub, playing ping pong and pool in the game room, riding go-carts, shopping, and eating... and eating, and eating... But, as well all know, all good things must come to an end. One last stunning mountain sunset view from our balcony.

On Vacation For A Week

2008-06-27T23:10:00.005-04:00

We're heading out tomorrow morning for Sevierville, TN with the Gamble family for a week of R&R in the Smokie Mountains. I'll post about our trip with some pics when we get back. Have a great week everyone and a happy and safe 4th of July holiday! Take time to reflect on how truly fortunate we are to live in these United States of America and, regardless of your political position on our military action, please pray for our troops abroad who are selflessly serving, and served, our country so that we may enjoy the freedoms we have.

Meeting the Fox Family and Have You Tried This Yet?

2008-06-25T10:03:00.009-04:00

Lindsey, Tammy, and I went to Meijer in Toledo last Friday evening and were shopping and kind of hanging out waiting for my blogging and running *dotcomrade*, Mike Fox, and his family to stop by in Toledo to hook up and meet with us for some McIceCream on their way up to visit their family in Michigan from their home in Maryland. I forgot to get a picture of our families together that evening so, I had to pirate one from their family website - hope you don't mind, Mike or Sherry. We had a lovely, albeit short, visit with the Fox family, Mike, Sherry, and their boys, Doron (6), and Matan (3), at the McD's on Alexis Road near I-75. Mike and Sherry are a wonderful couple and I'm so glad they took the time out of their long drive to stop and meet us. Their boys are adorable... very smart, active, and hilarious, as young kids oftentimes are... especially two over-tired, wound up, well traveled boys! Doron was prompt to introduce himself to me as I approached their family van, "Hi... I'm his son," he tells me after Mike got out and introduced himself. Then Mike proceeded to tell me that Matan was recently making the conversion to big boy pants to which Matan began singing the "Na, Na, Na-Na... Goodbye" song. What a hoot! So adorable! You have a wonderful family Mike, Sherry is lovely, as I figured she would be, and the boys are simply entertainingly adorable and very bright! Thanks so much for taking the time out of your long trip to stop in and visit with us! I really enjoyed our visit and look forward to more in the future.

After the Fox family left to finish their journey to their Michigan destination, Tammy had a hankering for one of the new Taco Bell Frutista Freeze drinks. We swung by the nearest Taco Bell and she and Lindsey ran in and each got one. There are two flavors, Strawberry and Mango Strawberry. Our family really loves mangos so, the girls both opted for the Mango Strawberry flavored drink. THEY ARE FANTASTIC! They are so flavorfull and taste just like drinking a blended up fresh frozen mango! Yum! You'll have to give one of these a spin if you haven't tried one yet. I don't think they're too terrible for you either, 230 - 240 calories, no fat, carbs and sugar of course, but other than that, not bad. Here's the specific nutritional info on them for the diet conscious. They're refreshingly delicious! I have to give props to our friend, Tami-Sue Evans, for putting us on to these delightful drinks. She's currently in a 12-step recovery program from her addiction to them, but we hear she has weaned herself down to 1 a day! Great job, Tami-Sue!

Bedford's Community Days Parade

2008-06-21T12:36:00.009-04:00

Today was Bedford's "Community Days" parade which happened to pass right by the end of our street and, since my in-laws live right on the corner, Tammy and I hung out in their yard for the parade. We live in a medium sized community of 30,000+ people, but it still has a small town atmosphere to it like it did when I was growing up, which I am grateful for. The parade consisted mostly of police and fire apparatus, the high school marching band, and politicians handing out leaflets and shaking hands requesting our vote, but it was still fun. We did get lots of candy! I really love the small town atmosphere of Bedford... my hometown. Here's some pics:State Police vehicle leading the start of the parade (I'm surprised the State of Michigan has enough money left in the budget to put gas in the police vehicles!)
The pride of Bedford High School (my alma mater): the Kicking Mules Marching Band! Seriously, our school's mascot is the Kicking Mules... you can pick yourself up off the floor now from your gut-retching laughter now... really... come on now... this is my alma mater you're laughing at! Stop it... seriously.

Our Township Fire Chief's vehicle - that's Tammy's Uncle Joe yelling out the window at my MIL and Aunt Rose, his sisters. He's one of our Township battalion chiefs. At one time, two of Tammy's uncles, her dad, and myself were all on the fire department. I told you it was small community. Really, you're laughter at our West Virginia-type community is starting to get on my nerves. We know we're poh-dunk and... proud of it!

The library had a Volkswagen Bug in the parade with a "Catch the Reading Bug" sign on it and the cutest little boy/girl (not sure which) in a bug outfit in the backseat who was contantly pulling on the bug visor of the lady in the front seat.

This is my station's 75' Pierce aerial ladder truck. The first time I climbed this truck fully extended was in February, many years ago. It was mind-numbingly cold that night at drill and, I don't know if my legs were shaking because I was freezing to death, even with my turn-out gear on, or because I was nervous.

This is my station's brush truck. It resonds to all outdoor/wildland-type fires we get.

This is my stations rescue unit, Bravo 1. This is our most-utilitized apparatus in the station and responds to about 1,600 rescue/medical/auto accident calls a year. I didn't get any pictures of the politicians or their *people* in their convertibles... I figured they all look the same regardless of what community you live in.

So, there you have it... a typical summer community parade in the *Smallsville* of Bedford Township, Michigan. I'm gonna go eat some of our parade candy now.

What a Difference 3 Months Make

2008-06-20T21:28:00.008-04:00

The first pics in the series were taken this evening following a walk with Tammy and the dogs. The second ones were just 3 scant months ago in March, one of our last snowfalls. Ironically enough, I am fairly certain the last snowfall was the blustery day of my marathon, April 13th. June 2008:

March 2008
June 2008

March 2008

I like this evening's pics better. I'm just not much of a fan of Michigan winters much anymore. I'm so thankful summer is here.

Tomorrow evening Tammy and I are meeting fellow blogger, Mike Fox, his wife and sons on their way from their home in Maryland to visit their family in Michigan. I'm really looking forward to meeting Mike. He's a recent first time marathoner as well having completed the Frederick Marathon back on May 4th.

Tiger Velich

2008-06-20T06:40:00.006-04:00

A very dear friend of mine, author and speaker, business man and entrepeneur, great husband and father, an all-around good guy that I have a ton of respect for, Jim Lange, really humbled me the other day when he included me in this post on Tiger Woods quietly fighting through his physical adversities this past weekend to win the U.S. Open Championship. I was even more humbled being in the same company in that post as the man, Buck, he mentions, who is one of the most awesome men that I know. Jim's blog is an awesome read if none of you have ever taken a look at it. He always has something challenging, yet encouraging, and uplifting to say that will bless your life. Give it a look sometime. He's listed in my Blog Haunts in my right side bar down the page a bit.

Thanks again, Jim, I was truly humbled, yet moved, by your mention of me in your blog. Keep up the great stuff on your blog. I love you, brother.

Isn't She Lovely

2008-06-18T10:05:00.004-04:00

The above picture of Tammy, on the right, and our friend, Dianna, was recently given to me by our friend, Cindy Floyd, from a wine tasting party Tammy and I had gone to at her home a few months ago. I thought it was a very good picture of Tammy and it just struck me at how truly lovely my wife is. When we were camping over the Memorial Day Weekend one of the wives was kind of playing a game and asked the question - to which you had to give a snap answer - "In one word, how would you describe your wife?" My answer: Lovely. Tammy's response about me: Broken. ROFL! I love you, honey and am constantly reminded of how truly lovely you are to me.

Happy Father's Day Dads

2008-06-15T12:27:00.005-04:00

From a father's perspective, I have been so very blessed. I was blessed with two beautiful, healthy girls, whom I have loved and adored from their first days with Tammy and I. Like a lot of people, I have regrets, many of which stem from my fathering, or lack thereof, during the early years of my daughters' lives as I was an immature, selfish, young father, too wrapped up in my own activities, pleasure-pursuits, and just continuing to be a child myself, all while saddling Tammy with the majority of the burdens of raising and caring for two baby girls. While they may not even have any recollection of the man I used to be, I know their mother does and... I do. I can't get back any of that time, but I can apologize for how I was and, more importantly, I can continue to allow the Lord to change my heart to the loving and compassionate father that He has been to me. I am so thankful for the blessing of my daughters, even in the not-so-great times, and look forward to our days ahead as they continue to grow and mature into beautiful young women. Thank you Lord for entrusting them to me. May I be as loving with them as you are with me. "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love." Psalm 103, verse 8.Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there that frequent my blog like Alan, Jeremy, Jim, Mike, and Tim, and all you others. May we never take the blessing of fatherhood for granted.

Happy Father's Day, Dad

2008-06-15T11:37:00.005-04:00

The above picture is of my Dad hugging me following the completion of my first marathon back on April 13th - after waiting out in the snow, sleet, ice, wind and rain for hours with the rest of my family and friends that so lovingly supported me that day. To follow is what he wrote about my accomplishment in my Race Report post here on my blog. I'm sure he won't mind me sharing, though he is one of the most humble men I know:

"You know I am not a man of many words (that's why I married mom) but your posting yesterday was quite moving. I know we felt a lot of your pain waiting at the finish line for you. You are truely an insperation to all. You have so much faith, hope and love and it show on Sunday. I am truely proud you are my son. Love, Dad"

I can't even begin to express how meaningful his words were to me because, he's right, he's not a man of many words. But, even more importantly, I was so moved by what he had to say about me because of the utmost respect I have for him as a father, and always have, as a man of integrity, strength, and character.

In the Bible, Proverbs chapter 20, verse 7 says, "The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him." I would have to say I am surely blessed, and I pray my girls will be also someday in being able to speak the same of me in having come to live a life of integrity.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. You've been an awesome example of what it means to be a father of character, quiet strength, humility, and integrity to me. I love you!

Your grateful son,

Richard, Jr.

For my friend, Joe, who just lost his father Thursday, I am so very sorry for your loss and my heart aches along with you.

The Boys are Back in Town

2008-06-12T22:13:00.012-04:00

I was in Dundee for a couple of inspections this afternoon, the town of which is right near the intersection of Michigan Highway 50 (M-50) and US-23 (there's a Cabela's store here for those of you reading not familiar with this area). M-50 happens to run up toward the the little town of Brooklyn, Michigan, which is home to Michigan International Speedway - MIS. They are having their first NASCAR race of the season there this weekend and several of the driver's car haulers were stopped in Dundee. The above trucks are Petty Enterprises.

Now, I'm not a NASCAR nut, but I will watch some races over the course of the season and will pay some attention as to who is leading in the point standings and stuff, but I couldn't tell you every driver, their car number, sponsor, yadda, yadda, yadda. I have however, ALWAYS loved the above car. I couldn't have even told you who drove it now if not for asking my dad earlier this evening... I just love the M&M logo/sponsorship! :) I did know that it is the 38 car and that it used to be driven by Elliot Sadler - who had a horrific crash in it several years ago - that I actually saw, rolling it about 14 times or something crazy like that. I am told that it is now driven by Kyle Bush. Whatever... just give me the M&M's.
Even though I am not a NASCAR nut, I am NOT a fan of the driver of the car in the truck on the left in the above photo. Even the photo of his car hauling truck was a pain in the rear to load onto this post. I don't have a favorite driver, but I do have a non-favorite. Anyway, I thought some of you NASCAR nuts out there in blog land would appreciate these pics.

When I was a kid, my best friend's parents had a cottage on Dewey Lake (they're retired there now), which is about 2 - 3 miles from MIS and we could always here them racing during time trials and races on race weekends while up at the lake on race weekends. Ahhh... memories. Oh, Lindsey (DYD) is going to the time trials tomorrow. Perhaps she'll have some cool pics to post on her blog, Lindsissweet.

The Boys are Back in Town.

Storms, Storms, Storms

2008-06-12T21:57:00.003-04:00

We, like a lot of other midwesterner folks of late - Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio - have been battered with some pretty severe storms of late. We had some doozies Friday evening, Saturday evening, and then again, Monday evening of this week. The above pic is of when I was returning home from work on Monday evening. As many of you know, I've been quite busy with work so I was getting back late on Monday, around 7:45 p.m. and as I got further south on I-75 nearing Toledo the darker and more ominous the sky got. I was actually getting frightened with the skies I was seeing. The above picture does not do it justice as the dark clouds stretched west to east as far as I could see and they were the type that looked as if a tornado would pop out down of them at any moment. I was about 10 minutes away from home when I took the above pic. The full verocity of this storm struck about 5 minutes later as I was stopped for a train at a railroad crossing wondering where I would go should one of the trees on the south side of the road that were showering me with limbs should fall toward me in my car. Then, the skies opened up and the rain let loose. I could barely make my way toward home the visibility was so poor.

I actually didn't make it home as our station had already been dispatched to several calls so, I headed to the station to assist with what I could (I'm technically on light-duty there). We ended up responding to 17 incidents for the remainder of the evening and I didn't get home till about 11:45 p.m. Long day considering I had left the house at 7:00 a.m. Traveling around southeast Michigan in the past week, I've seen a lot of damage and a lot of trees and limbs down. They had 87,000 people out of power in Southeast Michigan for several over 72 hours. I'm SO thankful I do not work in claims any longer! Although, it is job security for those folks that are.

Quick Update

2008-06-08T21:33:00.002-04:00

Last week was pretty busy for me. I got home from Columbus Tuesday evening after working most of the day down there. Went to a birthday get together that evening at friends', the Dillinghams, for Amy's 29th birthday. Wednesday I was in all day entering the inspections I had completed down in Columbus. Wednesday evening I went up to Oakland University with friends, Jeremy, Cindy, and Frank, to see James Taylor in concert. He, and his band, were awesome! I know to many, myself included prior to seeing him in concert, would think of him as a simple, folk-singer type, with easy-going ballads that put you at ease, but he is a VERY talented musician and vocalist. I was amazed by his voice and control over it. It was a great concert and I'm so glad I went because I was contemplating not going in order to catch up on work. The girls' last day of school was Friday. They had a half day and then both of them were off to Cedar Point - a large amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio for those of you that are unfamiliar with it. If you like rides, especially coasters, this is a must visit park for you sometime. It was blazingly hot and humid on Friday, in the mid to upper 90's, so some storm activity rolled in later in the night after Tammy and I got back from Lowe's. We were getting some stuff to do some landscaping projects this weekend around the house. Saturday I trimmed bushes and shrubs in prep for our landscape work and then we had a couple of graduation parties to go to. Sunday after church - which we were blessed to have our new pastor speak at today (he is not officially starting till August and, completed his first marathon two weeks ago at the age of 41 also! Woot, Pastor Dean!) - Tammy and I worked in the yard all day, again it was excruciatingly hot, reworking the front and side of our home. We got most of what we wanted to complete done and then the weather turned ugly again. So, there you have it, my week in a nutshell. I know, big, wordy, nutshell.

Have a blessed week everyone!

WOW! A New Post!

2008-06-02T19:00:00.009-04:00

For those of you that check my blog with any regularity, my apologies for the slothiness (word?) of the blog in the recent past. We went camping at Pokagon State Park in northeast Indiana over the Memorial Day weekend holiday and then when we got home Memorial Day on Monday, I backed the trailer into its resting spot at home, unpacked, Tammy got some laundry done, I re-packed, and then headed down to Columbus, Ohio for work Memorial Day evening. Whew! The pic is of the south side of the City of Columbus taken from the balcony of my company's apartment building I have been staying in for the last week+. I had to come down to help out our Ohio staff because business down this way has been much busier than up my way in the Detroit-area. I still get all of my assigned work up there while I am down here though so, I am, and will be hopping for a while playing catch up. It's been great though as I love coming down to Columbus! It's a wonderful city and, our office (pictured below) is in the heart of the "Brewery District" in the "German Village" area of the City of Columbus. It's a very vibrant part of the city and lots of neat things to see and do, though I haven't had much time to partake in any entertainment-type activities.

So, I have been down here for one week exactly today. I have been putting in a lot of hours, but was able to entertain Tammy (DW = Dear Wife) and Lindsey (DYD = Dear Youngest Daughter) this past weekend as they both came down to join me for the weekend. We were able to get in lots of fun together dining out at Hoggy's barbeque and then ice cream at Graeter's in Westerville on Friday night, then a trip to the Columbus Zoo (a very nice zoo to enjoy for any of you who may ever come here with *littles* or any person of any age really) and Easton Towne Center - a large outdoor shopping mall northeast of the city, on Saturday, followed by dinner at Kobé Japanese Steakhouse that evening. Both DW and DYD had never eaten at a Japenese steakhouse and both of them enjoy shushi so, that was a neat treat I was able to have them partake in. Lindsey has some really great posts with pictures over at her blog, Lindsissweet, about our camping weekend and her trip down to Columbus to visit DOD (Dear Old Dad). :) I was really greatful for them to have come down as it does get lonely in the *down times* of not working when out of town. I know... waaaa, waaaa, waaaa. I was so melancholy yesterday when they left following breakfast, I worked from the time they left until 2:00 a.m. this morning with just a quick dinner break in the evening. So, that is what I've been up to for the past 10 days or so and... that's my story... and I'm sticking to it. :)

On the running front... no running. For those of you who haven't followed my blog religiously and aren't aware, first of all - SHAME ON YOU! Just kidding... I have had a suspected stress fracture in my right lower leg (distal, medial tibia for your anatomically-knowledgeably gifted or medical-types) which I *somewhat knowingly* ran my first marathon with (which this blog was created to chronicle) with, which surprisingly did NOT make it better. So, I have been on the bench/D.L. since that date and have recently seen a sports med doc who put me in this fashionable bootie-type splint to take the weight bearing off my right lower leg to allow it to heal. Unfortunately, the nature of my work is such that I must do a lot of driving and walking - neither of which I can do whilst doning this oh so fashionable boot. But alas, I have been wearing it in my down time and I believe it is doing some good in helping my leg to heal. It is still sore in the suspected fracture site, but not like it was when, if touched, I would go through the roof like Charlie and Willy Wonka in the glass elevator of the Chocolate Factory. So, if you have been, please continue to pray for the continued healing of my leg to full restoration and that I don't do anything stupid (who me?!?) to bugger it up. If you haven't been, please do. If you aren't prone to praying that's ok too, I totally accept healing thoughts and vibes as well. ;-)

So, there you have it... Jack has been a very dull boy over the past week+ as, all work and no play - well, other than when DW and DYD visited over the weekend - make Jack a dull boy. Now, Jack has 60+ inspections to upload that he saw last Friday and today so, off to the fun stuff... I need to stop monkeying around with this blogging stuff and get back to work!

I pray you all are well! Thanks for caring enough to check in on me!

XOXO~
Ricky Joe

Tami Sue... you still readin'?

p.s. - I miss you Tammy, Chelsea, and Lindsey ;-)

Final Day

2008-05-22T09:20:00.004-04:00

I had my final day of this school year with my good friend, Vicki's, fourth grade class yesterday. They had a lovely volunteer appreciation breakfast in the morning before I spent my last morning with her classroom. She had such a GREAT group of kids this year and they were a blast to work with! I'll miss my weekly visits with her kids, but look forward to a new crop to screw up next year. She got some pics of me with the kids I worked with most of the school year and, provided she gets permission from their parents/guardians, I will post the pics here at a later time.

Vicki and I are like siblings that actually get along and have a great friendship. We serve together on the worship team at CrossRoads and are a great support and encouragement to one another on the parenting-front as we both have teenage daughters of about the same ages with much the same challenges. She was also one of my greatest supporters in my marathon effort and... endured the exposure sufferings of that miserable race day with many other of my awesome family and friends. Below is a pic of her, on the left, along with Tammy in the middle, and friend, Dianna Johnston, following the marathon. Vicki... the Lord had truly blessed me the day he put you into my life and began to grow our friendship! I am so very thankful for having you in my life!

Doctor Says I'm Broken

2008-05-19T21:48:00.003-04:00

I had two doctors at the sports care facility in Toledo examine me today and they are fairly certain from the x-rays, MRI I had done, and from their physical exam of my leg that I have a stress fracture of approximately 3 cm on my distal, medial tibia (lower, inside part of my leg). They put me in a splint-type boot to wear to take the weight bearing off my lower leg bones when I am up and about, and I have some exercises to do. I will go back to see Dr. Ragan again when I get back from a tour of duty for work down in Columbus I have to do until June 6th. I leave for Columbus on Memorial Day night. If the boot has not helped with my healing, Dr. Ragan will do some more diagnostic testing, but he is fairly certain we are treating my injury appropriately now.

The bummer thing about the boot is that I can't wear it driving and my job entails a lot, like 200+ miles/day, of driving and I'm in and out of the car and do a lot of walking around. So, I will wear the boot as much as I can. I'm also restricted to light duties with the fire department. I have to use the boot 4 - 6 weeks. I can use the stationary or regular bike for cardio work as long as I don't stress the leg in higher gears or do any "spinning" type classes (no worries there - hehe).

So, there you have it. I'm out of running commission for a little while longer. Pretty wicked to think I ran (mostly) 26.2 miles with a fractured leg in snow squals, sleet, driving rain, and in freezing temperatures. No wonder I don't remember much of the end of the race.

Thank you so much everyone for your concern, your thoughts, and your prayers. I really do sincerely appreciate them, and you, all. : )

Sports Med Appointment

2008-05-16T14:56:00.005-04:00

I have an appointment on Monday with a sports med doc at Sports Care at Wildwood in Toledo. Just got off the phone with one of the receptionists who called to confirm my appointment and she also advised she had located all of my radiology and MRI reports and would be sure the doctor (Dr. Reagan, though not spelled that way) gets all the info prior to my appointment. I'm anxious to be looked at by another physician that will hopefully be able to diagnose what is wrong with my leg and get me on a road to recovery. It really feels no better and aches constantly. I tried to go to sleep night before last without taking any ibuprofen and could not as it was aching so much that I could not get to sleep.

I got Cassy's shadow box out in the mail today. Should be there within a week. I can't wait till she and Aunt Denise get it.

We'll be at Lindsey's school softball team's final tournament in Monroe for most of the day tomorrow, then I have rehearsal at church later in the afternoon for Sunday's services. I'm singing on the worship team and also doing a tune by Matthew West, "You are Everything", in the services.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Why We Drill on Ladders

2008-05-14T22:02:00.003-04:00

Just got back from drill at the fire station and training tower. Drill was on ground and aerial ladder usage. Seems like we do this a lot during the course of the year and it seems like they would be a simple enough tool to use, but refreshing our usage is always good.
Case in point... here is how NOT to properly foot a ladder: Click here.

Shadow Box

2008-05-14T18:38:00.004-04:00

I made this shadow box of my race bib number, a photo at the finish, and my finisher's medal for the marathon I ran on Cassy's behalf. It will be going out in the mail to her in San Antonio with a letter. Cassy and my Aunt Denise have persevered with so much more than I ever will in training for and running a race and are such an inspiration to me. They deserve it so much more than me.

Negative Findings on MRI

2008-05-09T09:25:00.007-04:00

No surprise here. My "doctor", who shall remain nameless, called me yesterday while I was on the road. He didn't even remember getting my history, examing me, what he said to me, what he ordered... blah, blah, blah, until I filled in all the holes in his worse-than-mine memory. Anyway, he said the MRI was negative for a stress fracture. No surprise there since I already had that information from another source.

So, I say, "So, what's next?". Doc replies, "I was going to ask you the same thing." I say "Orthopedic consult?". He says, "I wouldn't go to an orthopedic surgeon yet." I say, "Bone scan?". He says nothing. Ultimately decided to refer my care over to a sports doc that their office is affiliated with. I think - but don't say - "Thank goodness, you quack!". So, my next step is a consultation with a sports doctor. Hopefully a significantly better physician than the "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on t.v." doctor that I started with. : )

Leg - still killing me - I couldn't get to sleep last night cause it was aching so badly. : (

Blog - will keep as is with some tweaking when I get the time. Thanks everyone that chimed in on that prior post. It's nice to know that people are actually reading this - other than me. Q - I don't know what Seely means?!?

We're (Tammy and friend, Dianna Johnston) heading up to Grand Rapids this afternoon for the Fifth Third River Bank Run. Tammy is going to run the 5K race at 8:10 tomorrow morning and Dianna is running the 25K race. I was to have run/ran (whatever) the 25K race with Dianna had I been up to it, but am definitely not so... I have broke out the cheerleader skirt, sweater, and pom-poms for the races. There will also be several RA (RunningAHEAD) people there that I will have the opportunity to meet up with before the race so, that will be really cool!

Good luck to fellow blogger Sherry (Stiffy Leg Blues) who is in her first triathalon race this weekend in Orlando, FL. Swim, bike, run yer booty off, Sherry!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Rick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there!

Cost of a Mother's Day card: $4.23

Cost of Mother's Day flowers: $3.19 (you have to know where to go for them)

Cost of a Mother's Day dinner out for a family of four: $80.00 (roughly depending on where you go)

Value of what all you mothers mean in our lives: PRICELESS

Thanks moms for all the thankless things you do everyday that we children and husbands all too often take for granted.

Love,
A thankful son and husband

No MRI Results Yet

2008-05-07T17:50:00.004-04:00

For those of you who have been wondering, I have not gotten the results from my MRI yet. I stopped in my doctor's office yesterday morning following a run I had with the fire department which had me going to the hospital ER right around the corner from my doc's office and they didn't have time for anyone to get to me about the results and said to call.

So, I called later in the afternoon yesterday, got a nurse who promptly asked me for a number a doc could call me back at to give me the results. I gave her my cell phone number as they have my home number on file, but I have not heard anything. So, I don't even know if they have the radiologist's report on the MRI at the doctor's office of not yet or if the doc has signed off on it for anyone else to be able to relate the information to me. I am in the dark as much as any of you.

What I do know is my leg pain is like a roller coaster. Yesterday afternoon/evening it was killing me, it is like a dull, hard, constant ache with definite "hot spots" to the touch on the bone. Today the dull ache is not there, but the "hot spots" are the same. Although, I feel as though if I needed to run I could manage it.... Just kidding.

MTA (05-08-08): I put a note in the comments about more info I got yesterday regarding the MRI and what will likely happen next for those of you that like to know further.

For My Daughters

2008-05-02T12:40:00.006-04:00

Most of you know that I have two teenage daughters, Chelsea, age 16, and Lindsey, age 13. For a father of two girls, this is a difficult period in my life. Neither one of them are any longer "my little girl", though in my mind, they both will always be. Chelsea has matured into a beautiful young woman, vivacious, fun-spirited, and full of life and Lindsey is just entering into that stage in her life where she is "coming into her own" and maturing into a beautiful young lady as well with a heart to match.

Anyway, every day has it's new horizons or new bridges to cross when it comes to raising two young women and, I confess, I don't always know the "right" way to proceed or react in every new situation that arises. I have strived to be a Godly father modeling for them the man I hope they would ultimately seek - loving, caring, selfless, honest, with integrity - but fall short on a daily basis, which isn't a self-criticism, but rather a reality. My heart has always been, and always will be, for the best for them, to protect them and that they never experience any hardship or heartbreak, which I know is not humanly possible... even as their dad.

I know relationships with young men are inevitable and we've already entered into those phases of their young lives. That doesn't make it any easier for a loving, caring, and protective father to let go. What I do know is that had either my or Tammy's parents interfered with our relationship when we first starting seeing each other when she was only 16 and I 17, they could have potentially thwarted something that God had planned way before we ever knew each other. I try to be mindful of this with every new boy that steps across the threshold of our front door and to not be judgmental or formulate opinions based on first impressions. It is not my plan, but God's, in who He intends to pair my daughters up with ultimately and I don't ever want to get in the way of that.

While I would like to selectively hand pick my daughters' future husbands - after hours of grueling, under the microscope and flood lamp interviews - I know this simply isn't realistic. But, I do pray. I pray for the man that will honor and cherish them for the beautiful and lovely young women that they are... that God has created them to be. I pray that he cares for, respects, and adores them as I and our heavenly Father cares for, respects, and adores them.

So, when I when I came across the following passage from Kenna's blog (Pastor Mark's awesome youngest daughter, Lindsey's age, that I adore as if my own), it got me thinking about the man that my daughters will eventually make a life with and I pray, he is something like this:

Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot ,
who calls you back when you hang up on him,
who will stay awake just to watch you sleep.

Wait for the guy who kisses your forehead,
who wants to show you off to the world when you are in your sweats,
who holds your hand in front of his friends.

Wait for the one who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares about you and how lucky he is to have you.

Wait for the one who turns to his friends and says, ...'that's her!'

Chelsea and Lindsey, it's not easy trying to mature as a father along with you both and, slowly letting go. I love you both so much... perhaps more than you will ever know, but... I hope not.

Love,
Dad

Where Do I Go From Here?

2008-05-01T20:46:00.005-04:00

Well, I essentially have completed the task I set out to for which this blog was created. There are a few loose strings relative to this blog, one of which will involve Cassy yet, that I have to wrap up, but really, there's nothing more in direct relationship to this blog title. So, it appears I am at a crossroads with what to do with this blog site as my friend, Sara, was with her's following the completion of her first marathon, The St. Louis Marathon. Now, I know what baseball legend Yogi Berra would do at this point as he once said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." I'm not sure what I should do about the fork in this blog road though.

I guess there are basically three choices: 1. Keep blogging under the same title as all my runs are with Cassy in mind anyway - once I am able to run again - and it's not like this blog has been strictly about running anyway, but more of a snapshot of my life 2. Re-title the blog and keep blogging generally, really no different than what it is now with its current title and, I would have to come up with a snappy new blog title, which I really am not good at, or 3. Quit blogging (a chorus of cheers ring out across the land).

I won't do anything with this blog until I have fully completed the few loose ends that I have yet and post on them. Once that is completed, I am open to any suggestions. I hope that this blog hase been somewhat entertaining, for all 2 or 3 of you that read it (me included, and I've found myself to have flashes of brilliance at moments and downright PIMP - peeing in my pants - witty at times), enlightening, and encouraging. So, feel free to chime in on if you think I should take the fork in the road or not. And, if so, which one... or another?

Perhaps I'll take up competitive Bridge playing and blog about that? May be one of my viable alternatives if I can't run for awhile...

I think I can take these fellas... even WITH a bum leg! ;-)

Non-Running Update

2008-04-30T21:51:00.007-04:00

I had my MRI last evening, no report will be forthcoming for a few days though. The images have to be read by a radiologist and then their findings reported to my family doc (who is new to our family and I don't have a lot of confidence in), who will then get ahold of me to let me know if they found anything. I had asked the MRI tech before the test if she would tell me if she noted anything out of the ordinary on my MRI and she agreed to do so, but said she did not see anything abnormal in the imaging following the MRI. That cerainly isn't conclusive though and, is why the radiologists get the big bucks and the techs don't. I will note the findings here as soon as I know, which should be 3 - 5 business days, so sometime early next week I would think.

On another note, Lindsey and her Lady Bronco softball teamates got pummeled last Friday afternoon (Tammy and I were in Amish country so, did not witness - no pun intended with the Amish reference - the devastation) by a very good St. Mary Catholic Central team with a very good pitcher although, she had a couple of hits and runs batted in. This evening, the Lady Broncos took on Saline at Saline in a double-header and won both games handily. Lindsey had a home run to right center field in her second at bat in the second game and did a solid job in the field at first base! Great job girls!

Lindsey poised to take her home run swing.

Waiting to receive a throw at first.

In other daughter news, Chelsea proudly reported to me yesterday that she has a 94% so far for the semester in her Algebra II class, which is awesome since she has always struggled with mathematics! Great job Chels! Keep up the good work!

Congratulations Marion and Kathy!

2008-04-27T23:22:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to my friends, Marion and Kathy, on their awesome half marathon runs this past weekend. Marion, pictured below, shattered her half marathon PR in a new personal record time of 1:49:53 at the Greer Earth Day Half Marathon in Greenville, SC (I think). Congratulations, Mar! I knew you were going to be below 1:50:00! Amazing!

And, my good friend and fellow firefighter, Kathy Bankowski - who was responsible for getting me to run my first mile a couple years back starting me on my road to my first marathon - ran her first half marathon in Nashville, TN this past weekend at the Country Music Marathon, along with 30,000+ other half and full marathoners, her daugther, Lindi, being one of the other full marathoners, who finished in 4:11:41 in her first marathon! Kathy came in at 2:02:08 and was in the top 5% of her age and gender group for her race! I would have posted a pic of her as well, but the ones I have aren't good of her and, she is soooooo stinkin' humble she would have beat me had I posted one of her anyway. Congratulations, Kathy! I'm so proud of you!

No Runs, an MRI Scheduled, and an Amish Weekend

2008-04-27T22:42:00.007-04:00

That pretty much caps this past week. I had a great time in Columbus, Ohio (Shhh... don't tell anyone, but that city has really grown on me since my job change to Grange, which is headquartered there... Michigan-folk ain't supposed to be cozyin' up to Columbus, but I just can't help myself). I was there for a "professional development" Presentation Skills seminar in which I had to write and give 5 presentations on various topics, the last of which was a Power Point presentation. After each presentation, the presenters were critiqued by the instructor and the rest of the class. There were 17 of us in the class. It was a blast and I had a great time with it and learned a great deal. The thing I learned the most is that I say "um" an awful lot!

The weather really began turning last week to the nicer side of spring and all of the flowering trees have been in full bloom. It's truly been beautiful. I just love this short-lived time of year, especially the Magnolia trees. I wish they kept their blooms longer though. I did capture these below in my work travels last week. I, well Tammy, got my leg MRI scheduled for this Tuesday evening at 5:30. I've not run since my marathon and my leg is still aching pretty severely at times. I can tell when the ibuprofen wears off. I think it will be quite some time before I am able to run again, depending on what is wrong with it. I'm hoping they are able to see something clear on the MRI and can be told what to do about it. Needless to say, I will not be running a planned 25K in Grand Rapids on May 10th as previously tentatively scheduled. I won't even be joining Tammy for the 10K or 5K race that she will be running that weekend. Oh well, I make a pretty darn good cheerleader as well. I'm going to start doing some cross-training this week though.

Tammy and I traveled down to Amish country in Berlin, Ohio this past weekend with our friends, Wayne and Kim. We originally were booked in a B&B that didn't turn out as it looked on the internet (you couldn't see the steady stream of ants parading about the units in the internet photos or see the holes in the floor or feel the heat of the rooms without any HVAC operating) so, we made other arrangements for both Friday and Saturday nights. We still had a blast. We visited an actual Amish farm and were able to tour the whole thing and get a horse-drawn buggy ride. The tour of the barn included seeing all of their pregnant animals - seriously, I think every female animal they had in the barn was pregnant! - and a new litter of beagle puppies that I am surprised we didn't end up having one find its way home with us.We had an awesome time sightseeing, shopping, and partaking in some wonderful meals, fresh bakery items, cheese factories, chocolate shops, and the best home made ice cream (mint chocolate chip) that I have ever had! It was the creamiest ice cream I have ever tasted. Incredible! I really need to start running again soon! I think I've gained 10 pounds since the marathon. The scenary was stunning as well every where we went. The countryside down there is so beautiful.

The Amish are such a delightful and joy-filled people and I really enjoyed chatting with them on the farm we toured. It sometimes makes me whistful when I consider their lives and to be able to live a more simple life. Sigh. I think in all our hustling about, doing this and that, going from here to there, we really miss out on a lot of simpler blessings in life... like spending a quiet weekend with your spouse and dear friends in a beautiful countryside. Did you know you can convert to the Amish lifestyle? Eli told me so. Just sayin'...

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Out for a Few Days

2008-04-20T20:29:00.008-04:00

I have to head to my corporate offices in Columbus, OH for the next several days so, I won't be blogging for a little while. I'm still trying to heal, but my right leg is still pretty painful. I am clear to arrange an appointment for an MRI, but due to my schedule next week, I won't likely be able to get it scheduled till the following week at the earliest. Then, it depends on when the imaging/diagnostic facitility can get me in. Tammy and I were thinking tonight at dinner that it's hard to believe it has been a week since the race! Time flies. Too bad healing doesn't. LOL

On another couple of notes, Lindsey had her first softball games this past week. A double header in which she did not play in the first game and they lost, 15 - 6. She played in the second game and they won, 13 - 6. She had a 3 run home run in her first game! The pic below is her home run swing! She also had several unassisted outs at first base in the field. Way to go Linds!Lindsey was also accepted and inducted into the National Junior Honor Society with a candlelighting induction ceremony last Thursday. I smell Academic All-American in her future! Seriously though, we are extremely proud of her dedication, hard work, and discipline. Great job Linds!Friday night we had a belated 40th Birthday Party for my honey with about 30 - 40 of our friends and family at the house to celebrate the life of a wonderful woman that makes everybody's life better that she is a part of. I love you and will miss you honey! Then today, I had a great talk with a beautiful young woman that I take for granted too often because she is fiercely independent and I don't mention enough how proud I am of her or how much I love her, my oldest daughter, Chelsea. She was my earliest inspiration to start running so, I suppose ulitmately I have her to thank for me becoming a marathoner. Thanks, Chels. I am so very proud of how responsible you have become with your first job, driving, taking care of your expenses, and still doing your best in school, and as a beautiful young woman. You rock! I'm sorry I don't tell you this enough. I love you will all my heart!

It's been a very good week!

Have a blessed week to come! Be back soon...

The Aftermath

2008-04-17T13:08:00.008-04:00

There's a couple of pics that I left out of my report when I wrote it because I was so tired when I was wrapping up the report and wanted to get to bed, so I lost some of my enthusiasm in keeping up with the pics along with the text, which was obvious. So, this one is the second to the last turn coming into the finish where I had my awesome support posse all running along with me into the finish. I was so wasted at this point, without the picture, I couldn't have even told you who was around me other than Tammy.This next one is my last turn going into the finish chute. Whew!This next one is with my medal, the wind shirt pullover given for the race, and the awesome picture frame that Tammy, Chelsea, and Lindsey got me as a gift. If you are unable to read it, the frame says, "All things are possible for those who believe." Very cool. This week has gone by very quickly. I was surprised to have no aches and pains, other than my right lower leg and knees a bit on Monday. I could barely walk on Monday because of the pain in my leg. That got slightly better Tuesday and Wednesday, and today I am walking with only a slight limp. I went to our interim family doc yesterday afternoon. He had a series of x-rays done on my leg of which he saw nothing, though they had not been read by a radiologist yet. He was referring me for an MRI, to rule out a stress fracture, which has to get cleared through my insurance first.

Again, other than the pain in my right lower leg, I have felt pretty good. Of course, I think I walked much of the last 10k so, how much stress can that be on one's body? LOL When I do get the MRI scheduled, I'll certainly post the results here. There are several people who seem to think it is strictly a soft-tissue injury flare up, which I would be happy with. In fact, the massage therapist I have a certificate to go see seems to think he can work most of it out with deep tissue massage. That may be so, but it ain't gonna feel good during the massage!

Today was my volunteering morning in Mrs. Holme's (the Vicki I wrote about in my report) class. We had a party in celebration of my race finish. The kids (4th graders) made me a nice Congratluations card and all signed it and gave me several plants which were purchased to benefit Easter Seals in honor of Cassy. Mrs. Holmes and her students are SUCH a blessing to me and have given me back more than I could ever hope to give them in tutoring.

The kids had lots of good questions about the race and my preparation for it (Though no potty questions came up! I must say I was surprised. LOL) and then I told them that they can do anything they set there hearts and minds to. I told them to not let any nay-sayers keep them from their dreams and if they worked hard, found great friends like Mrs. Holmes to come alongside them in support and encouragement, and stay on the path to get there, they could achieve virtually anything they dreamed. We then talked about some of their dreams, goals, and aspirations. They a great group of kids and I am privileged to get to work with them.

Finally, I just want to take a very sincere, heartfelt, and grateful moment to thank everyone that was so vital in me accomplishing my goal... for your love and support, either in person, or through thoughts and prayers, thank you Tammy and my girls, Chelsea and Lindsey. I know it doesn't seem so, but other than for the Lord, I live and exist primarily for you. You all bring me more joy than I can ever express. Jeremy and Cindy for the flowers and prayer support, Mom and Dad, Carol, Matt and Amy, Tim Dawes, Dianna, Kallie and the rest of the Johnstons, Wayne and Kim and kids, Leo and Vicki, Amelia, Emily, Maggie, and Brandon... I could not have finished without all of your support in the cold and snow and wet during the race! Eric and Phil... but a couple of the many RunningAHEAD supporters that I had that were in the right place at the right time for me as well. You were truly both a blessing in seeing me through to the finish of that race, and afterwards.

For all the people from my church that I know were thinking and praying for me - my mens' group, Jim, Joe, Jeremy, the worship team, Karen, Andrew, Emily, et al, my chiropractors, Drs. Daryl and Reyna and their staff, Rose Mary, Angela, and Mary Jo, the Evans family, my friends and family, my RA family - Marion, Sara, Zoomy, Q, BadDawg, Joni, Eryn, Bonkin, Modal, Jennifer, Alan, Marcus, and so, so many others. For new blogging buddies, Jim, Mike, Karen, Sherry, Tim, and Mrs. Holme's entire 4th grade class, and again, so many others. If there is anyone I am missing by name, I apologize, truly. You were all so very encouraging and vital in seeing me through this wonderful experience. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart! God's blessings on you all.

Glass City Marathon Race Report

2008-04-14T19:46:00.024-04:00

It is customary on RunningAHEAD (RA), the website that I began logging my running on about this time last year and running forum community of runners from all over the world, to write up a race report once one has finished a race, of any distance or size or perceived importance to oneself. It was the run reports of folks like (user-names) BadDawg, Bonkin, Zoom-Zoom, PowerofQ, SHoltsman and the stories of running triumphs, like those of JLynnBob and TrishieRunner, and tragedies, like Kooky2003, and personal transformations from potato chip eating couch potato to leaner and race running machines like Zoomy, PowerofQ, JustMarion, and so, so, many others, that inspired me to set a marathon goal, train for, and complete it.

In October of last year, I determined to do just that and selected the Glass City Marathon, in Toledo, Ohio on 04/13/2008 as my first marathon goal and that I would run this marathon in honor of my 35 year old cousin, Cassy, who has severe cerebral palsy and has never been able to take a step in her life. I chose this race for three reasons: 1. It is virtually in my backyard, so I was fairly certain that I would have some great personal fan support which I knew I would need and, would not have to travel. 2. It is a small race in terms of the number of runners, and, 3. It is not a well-supported fan race so, though I thought I would have good fan support, the race would be more about me and the marathon, if that makes sense.

I chose the Hal Higdon Intermediate II marathon training plan as for my training plan as it seemed to suit my present conditioning and needs for this race. I wasn't wanting to make this really technical from a training aspect and this plan just seemed to sensibly build mileage, strategically toughening you up at its peak of 50 miles per week 3 times during the course of the 18 week plan.

As many of you know, I began experiencing excruciating right lower leg pain in the inside aspect of my shin about 3 inches above the inside of my ankle following Week 11 of my training plan, my first 50 mile week. The pain I would relate to feeling like someone had struck me full-force in the leg with a sledge-hammer without shattering my leg. I took a week off, and rested, iced, elevated, and ibuprofened to see if I was able to get back at it. It worked to the extent that I was able to pick up my training runs, but I knew that I would have to be very conservative in the balance of my training for the remaining 6 weeks of training prior to the race. I cut out some of the longer runs and basically just did what I could without aggravating my leg too much so that I could continue training. With lots of babying, ice, ibuprofen (I know, Trent, not good for me), and prayer, I was able to get myself to the starting line.

I had the cool pleasure of meeting up with JakeKnight (aka Eric), a fellow RA user, who came up from Nashville to run the race as well. I first met up with him and his fiance, Kelly, with my wife, Tammy, at the running "expo", if one can call a few tables with some stuff and some t-shirts an expo, in Toledo on Saturday afternoon.Tammy and my "shoe lady", Liz, from Dave's Running Shop, who has been just wonderful in working with us on getting proper shoes, was also at the expo manning a table for the shop and would be running the second half of the marathon on race day as part of a two-person team.

Eric and I planned on meeting in the lobby of the host hotel the next morning on race day to head to the start line. Tammy and I went home and went out to dinner Saturday night with our friends, Frank and Dianna Johnston. We drove! If you've read my blog you know that we drove down to Florida with the Johnstons who had issues with their van on 2 separate occasions. I had sesame seared ahi tuna with a wasabi and soy sauce, with a salad, baked potato, and mixed vegies for dinner that night. I had loaded up with some fettucini Friday night. We soaked in the Johnston's hot tub for about a half hour before heading home for the night and I got my stuff together and laid out for the morning.

I didn't get to bed till about 11:30, but was soon fast asleep and slept well for the remainder of the night and woke up with the alarm at 5:30 race morning. I was really never nervous pre-race. I got coffee going and took a quick shower to wake and refresh myself, and had a bowl of plain oatmeal with honey and a banana along with a few sips of my coffee and a glass of water. Tammy got our girls up, both of whom had friends stay the night that would be going with us to the race to cheer me on, and we all loaded up and went to pick up one more of Lindsey's friends for the drive to downtown Toledo. Chelsea, my oldest was driving her and her friend over to Dianna Johnston's who was meeting us downtown. This is from left to right, Maggie, Emily, Lindsey, and Brandon, all part of my cheering posse for the day. They were awesome!

Tammy and I in the lobby and also Eric and I before heading out to the starting line.

Eric and I headed out to the starting line about 7:50 for the 8:00 start. I met up with friends, Leo and Vicki, out at the starting line. It was bitterly cold and windy, but there was no precipitation at this point.

My family and friends circled up and my daughter, Lindsey, prayed for me for the race. I was about in tears. The National Anthem was sang, Eric and I moved up closer to the starting line and the gun went off. Eric took off having told me if I came across him later on the course dying to just leave him. I was off and trying to just keep the reigns pulled in so I didn't go out too fast. I was actually looking to settle in to a 9:45 to 10:00 pace early on in the race, and if I felt good much later, try and pick up my pace.

We headed west out of downtown along the north side of the Maumee River and then made a left to head up over the High-Level Bridge, pictured above. I was just trying to soak everything in and keep from running too fast this first mile. I came upon a pair of girls running together up the bridge and asked if they were with the 2:40 pace group, cause the 2:30 pace group was too fast for me. They laughed. It was quite windy, I later learned the winds were 20 - 25 mph and it began snowing as we made our way up and over the bridge. I ended up running over the bridge with someone I knew from our church, Marianne, who was running the first leg of the 5 person relay. We parted at mile 2 when she stopped for a water break and I sipped as I ran through the water stop.

I was now on the south side of the river heading west through the city of Rossford toward Perrysburg. The next several miles were pretty uneventful. The wind and icy snow was coming from my right rear so, it really wasn't bothersome during most of the first half of the race at all. I took some more water at mile 4 and sometime between mile 4 and 6 my right lower leg started hurting me progressively more. Normally, on my longer runs in the past, the pain would start out badly and would actually subside to more tolerable levels the further into my runs. This would not be the case this day. I came upon Leo and Vicki around the 5 mile relay exchange mark and they were cheering me on and encouraging me. My posse, now all loaded up in Dianna's van with the addition of my oldest daughter, Chelsea, and her friend, Amelia, caught up with my around mile 6. If you look at the girls' signs, each would yell what was on them, "Go!", "Dad!", "Exclamation Point!". They were a riot!

The posse van pulled up alongside of me shortly after and Tammy was telling me I looked great and was doing great and asked how I was doing and I told her ominously that my leg was already beginning to hurt. I told her that I was on about a 9:30 pace though and felt good otherwise. They continued on ahead and I ran on taking in the scenery of the homes along the river and the whacked fisherman in their boats on the river in the driving snow.

The posse caught up with me again at mile 8 and this was about the last time that I would see them until around mile 16 or 17. I was still maintaining about a 9:40 average pace and felt good other than my right leg, which hurt, but was holding its own for the time being. I saw Leo and Vicki again around mile 10 in Perrysburg, just before making a sweeping right hand turn to head north up the Conant Street bridge and back across to the north side of the Maumee River. They asked me how I was doing and I replied that I was feeling a bit fatigued and that my leg was hurting me. They cheered me on and I began heading across the bridge. As soon as I headed north onto the bridge, the wind driven icy-snow was pelting me from the right front. The winds got worse the further toward the middle of the bridge I got and the bridge was a long, slow, uphill grade.

I was pretty sapped by the time I got back across to the north side of the river and made an immediate left turn on the first sidestreet, then west a couple blocks, north one, and then west again heading down a residential street that turns into the entrance to Sidecut Metro Park in Maumee, Ohio. I was pretty tired from the bridge and the exposure and grasping in my head for something to pick me up knowing that I wasn't even half way through the race. A guy on his bike on the sidewalk to my left yelled out my name. I looked up and, after a second, realized it was Phil Mishka, another fellow runner from RA! He got the next pic of me about mile 11.5 and then rode alongside of me for about a mile and a quarter as we chit-chatted. It totally took my mind off of how I had been feeling and I was rejuvenated heading further into Sidecut Metro Park for the about 2.5 mile out and back portion of the race. Phil was a God-send at this part of the race!

The out and back was a very difficult section of the race mentally as it was pretty much on your own. There was a water station at mile 12.5 on the way out and I had pretty much hit all of the aid stations along the way to that point and would continue to do so until the very end of the race. The wind and snow were not too bothersome at this point since I was heading west again. I got to the the half point, 13.1 miles and the man calling out the split times there said I was at 2:05:00 for my half. I was quite happy with that news and continued on to the turn-around at mile 14.5 trying simply to maintain my pace. As soon as I made the turn-around, the wind and icy-snow blasted me directly in the face. This is what we would all face for the remainder of the race from mile 14.5 on.

There was an aid station just after the turn-around and I took some Gatorade. I chatted with a woman for about a half mile while along this stretch trying to preoccupy myself with something other than the miserable conditions we were running in and how progressively sorer my leg was becoming. I thought about Cassy and the fact that I was running this because I could, and she could not. I thought about all my friends, family, and blogging and RA running friends that were thinking about and praying for me, and I tried to maintain my pace into the driving wind. I got to the aid station at mile 16 still remarkably maintaining around a 9:30 pace and saw a couple of Chelsea's XC teamates and their mom, Kate, Erinn, and Mrs. Calhoun, manning the aid station there and cheering for me. It was good to see some familiar faces and to have them cheering me on! After all, I've been doing it for them for years now!

Finally, I was coming up the hill that took me out of Sidecut Metro Park! It seemed like I was down in there forever! I was now back in the city of Maumee and now heading up Dudley Road toward River Road around mile 17 to head back into downtown Toledo. My leg was really starting to hurt me and I lost a lot of wind in my sails from my journey into and out of Sidecut, but I was still maintaining a 9:45 pace. Phil got this next photo of me as well and, I barely even remember him taking it, although I must have known he was because I was faking it and, giving him a thumbs up. Hehe.

Somewhere around mile 16 - 17 the snow changed to a cold, wind driven rain which we were running directly into. My posse, which had now grown to include the Gamble family van - Kim, Wayne, Brandon, Emily, and Racel, along with Kallie Johnston - were around mile 17.5 cheering their heads off for me. It was definitely a lift and they were so awesome, but my leg pain was beginning to unravel me physically. Wayne ran alongside of me for a bit and was telling me how awesome I was doing, that I was on a 9:40 race pace, and that I was looking strong and great.
At mile 18, my right leg became excruciatingly painful. It felt as though with every foot strike, whether heel or forefoot (an RA joke), that someone was whacking me as hard as they could with a sledgehammer. I was still able to run, but was now favoring my right leg severely. Mile 18 I was able to muster a 9:43 pace. Mile 19 I had declined to a 9:55 pace. Both Leo and Vicki and the Gamble van passed me here and asked if there was anything they could do. I asked if I could borrow a pair of legs. Notta. I was pretty well delirious with pain at this point. The Johnston van posse had headed up the road and were apparently on their way to the finish about the time I got to mile 20. Gambles were riding alongside me and somewhere into mile 20, my right hamstring seized fully in cramp and I stopped dead in my tracks. Wayne and Kim asked if I was alright and I told them I had a major cramp in my right hamstring. I was lightly stretching it out and shaking it out to get the cramping to stop and it subsided.

I walked on, for the first time in the race, to make sure that it didn't cramp up right away again, knowing that my ability to run the rest of the race through was done. My head was racing thinking of what I could do, of reading someone's Columbus Marathon report that this happened to as well in the latter stages of the race and not being able to do anything about it. Gambles must have called the Johnston posse van, because they had turned around and come back and were at an intersection ahead of me when Tammy got out of the ran and ran up the sidewalk to me. There was such a look of concern on her face for me that it overwhelmed me. She was nearly in tears telling me I was gonna be fine, that I could do this, that I would finish. I began jogging again hobbled by my right leg pain and the cramp and she jogged along with me on my right telling me how proud she was of me. I was in tears and looked over at her and just said, "I love you soooo much." She cried and again, encouraged me and told me how proud she was of me.

She asked if I was going to be ok and I said I would be fine. She said they were going to go on ahead to the finish and that she'd see me at the finish. I said, "Ok, I'll see you at the finish." The Johnston van posse headed off to the finish and I continued on as best I could with Gambles next to me. They drove on up ahead a bit and Leo and Vicki pulled up by me. Vicki asked if there was anything they could do and I again jokingly asked for a fresh paid of unbroken legs. They laughed. My fleece gloved hands were soaked and frozen to the bone as were my feet and Leo said he had a pair of Gortex mittens in the car and Vicki said she also had a pair of Gortex gloves and asked if I would like them. I was all over that! Vicki swapped me the gloves and immediately my hands felt better which made me feel slightly better as well. They went on ahead.

The next few miles were mostly walking with some lame joggin, in a literal sense due to the pain in my right leg, until I would have another cramp, which were now playing no favorites and gladly moved to my left leg as well to "balance things out" and "keep things fair" with my right leg. Friend, Tim Dawes, had now shown up on the course and was cheering me along as well. Fellow firefighter and friend, Matt Menchaca, and his wife, Amy, were also along this horrible stretch of race to encourage me onward. Gambles kept with me as well. I did the best I could to jog when I could.

It was the darkest period/stretch of running that I have ever been through. I was still more than 4 miles out and thought about bagging the race at this point and hopping in Gamble's van and taking a DNF for the race. I was hurting so very badly and just wanted to get out of the weather and warmed. I thought about Cassy. I thought about the miles and miles I had run over the winter in snow and ice and wind and rain and sleet. I thought about all the people that were pulling for and praying for me, many of you who are reading this right now. I determined not to quit. I had come too far and this race was not just for me, but for Cassy, my family who have put up with all my training and complaining, and all of you as well that came alongside of me to support me and encourage me in this endeavor. I plodded on remembering a saying related to me in my mens' group from church a few years ago... "forward is forward." It made a great deal of sense to me at that point.

Gambles left me at just under 4 miles to go stating they were heading to the finish. I continued on entirely on my own alternating walking as fast as I could and jogging when I felt my body would hold up to it. Race participants in front of and behind me were doing the same... just doing what they could at that moment to press on to the finish. At one of the next major intersections, there was a cop tying one of the runner's shoes because he was either too sore to bend over and do it himself, or his hands were too cold that he could not do it for himself. I got inside mile 24 I think and was feeling quite lonely and desperate to be done and out of the weather. That is when I looked up and saw Phil on his bike at an upcoming intersection!

I was stunned and overjoyed! He ended up rolling along on his bike next to me as I either (mostly) walked or jogged chatting about our running, our families, our work, our injuries, our goals. Before I knew it he was telling me I was coming to the sidewalk to make a right onto which would lead down to the riverside sidewalk to make a left onto and down toward the finish. We headed down the sidewalk toward the river, he said Tammy was up ahead at the corner of where the sidewalks meet. I was so delirious, I didn't really even realize who was there. Phil said that he was going to leave me now with my family and friends and I thanked him as he departed toward the finish on his bike. He was most certainly an angel on two wheels for me that day in addition to all of my other friends and family that were out there.

I met Tammy at the corner of the sidewalks, I think she asked me if I was ok, I think I said that I was and was ready to jog in. I had about a quarter of a mile left to the finish. She began jogging with me and as we got up the riverwalk a ways, my whole posse out along the race course that day joined with me telling me I could do it, they were so proud of me, handing me a "This Runs for You Cassy" sign and, as I turned the last corner heading away from the river toward the finish chute, I could hear the race announcer saying, "and here comes first time marathoner, Rick Velich, 41, from Temperance and, this run's for you, Cassy!"

I made a right turn up the walk and jogged into the finish chute in around 4:38:00. The race volunteers tore off my race bib info, gave me my medals and a mylar blanket, and I came out of the chute to the congratulatory hugs of my family and friends, and my new friend, Eric, who had graciously hung around after finishing his own race nearly an hour earlier. I think he was still hypothermic as was I after finishing my first marathon. Eric and my friends encouraged me to get inside the hotel and get some food in me, which I gladly did because it was warm and dry and I was exhausted and couldn't stop my uncontrollable shivering. I was now a marathoner. It was a very good day.

Edited 04/15/08 (Happy Tax Filing Deadline Day everyone!) to add the link to my running log notes and race splits times here for anyone interested in seeing the crash and burn finish "on paper". :)

The official race results are also here on this link.

I FINISHED!

2008-04-13T14:03:00.003-04:00

Time was 4:38:**. I'll post more later. I'm freezing and can't stop shivering. Conditions were pretty brutal... just ask JK from RA. He'll confirm. He finished in like 3:43:**. Getting in a hot bath now.

More to come...

Locked and Loaded... Bring It On!

2008-04-12T11:35:00.004-04:00

I slept till almost 9:00 a.m. this morning after having gone to bed last night around 11:30 after the news! I suppose I was making up for the night before when I didn't fall asleep until about 3:00 a.m. and getting up at 6:30. Lots of stuff running through my head night before last.

Had a cup of coffee with Tammy when I got up and asked if she would go with me on my final run. She accepted. We changed and headed out around 10:00. Here's my notes from my training log for my final pre-race run before the marathon tomorrow:

Final training run before the marathon tomorrow. Very easy 3.25 with Tammy, who I was SO glad to run with this morning. It seemed only fitting since she has been so supportive of my efforts throughout this whole crazy training period. Me bursting in the door at the end of a workday and blurting out, "I'm going for my run", and she so lovingly and patiently working around my running with dinners, shuttling Lindsey to practices, and what not. She has been the BEST! So, I am so very thankful to have done this final run before the race with her. Thank you, Honey, for YOUR perseverance throughout the last 6 1/2 months! I love you! So, the run felt really good. It was 43 and lightly raining, with light to moderate winds out of the west, which is the way tomorrow is likely to be, but a bit cooler to start and a chance of snow early. How fitting is that?!? I had shorts on, a t, and a long sleeved t, and was quite comfortable by the end of our run. I felt physically as good as I think I could feel and mentally, I am ready. Locked and loaded and ready to go tomorrow. No splits, I left Garmin to sleep in this morning cause she has to get up early tomorrow and go to work. :) Next run notes will be from my first marathon.

There's really not much more to say. I pray that I feel as well and calm tomorrow morning as I do this morning and the Lord sees me through the race tomorrow. Oh, I do want to thank Jeremy and Cindy Floyd for the beautiful flowers they sent me yesterday (I'll post pics later), and Wayne Gamble for all his logistical efforts in mapping spectator sites along the race course for my family and friends and making signs at his print shop for me, and ALL of you who have followed this blog and my journey to the starting line tomorrow. Thank you for your encouragement, support, love, and prayers along the way, and tomorrow. I have a lump in my throat thinking about how blessed I am by you ALL. Thank you especially to my family... Lindsey, Chelsea, and Tammy, the Lord has blessed me so much with each one of you. I love each of you from the bottom of my heart! Thank you for your love and support!

I have put in 859.8 miles in training runs over the past 6 1/2 months. I am ready! Put your sneakers on Cass... we have a race to run tomorrow!

On The Running Front - Sorry Tami-Sue

2008-04-10T23:41:00.006-04:00

My final taper week. Man! It is hard to believe I have only a couple of days till the race. I only had 3 runs remaining this week before my race on Sunday. Tuesday I did 3 miles and Wednesday I did 4 miles, both of which went well and I probably ran too fast. One final 2 mile run will be completed on Saturday morning. In keeping with "tapering wisdom" that I have read, these final runs in this last week, though I ran too fast (for me), were still quite sluggish-feeling in that my legs felt heavy, I felt heavy, I didn't feel as though I was getting good, quick foot turnover. This didn't trouble me too much though because I have been expecting this feeling.

As mentioned in the last post as well, I have also been on an emotional roller-coaster this week (sorry family). I'm euphoric one moment and, the next, utterly dark and desperate. I've expected this as well from what I have read. I think my nature, as a pretty emotionally unguarded person, plays right into this as well.

I am so excited for this race, for running it in Cassy's honor, for facing this giant, for overcoming my injury-adversity, that I cannot wait to get to the starting line! I've still had my moments of self-doubt though. That heading off into the unknown, uncharted territory, those last never before run 5.2 miles that may not bring to it the kind of ending I have prepared, prayed, and hoped for come Sunday. Those nagging little "what if's". They don't last long and haven't had a strong impact on me, but they are still present. That is why your comments, your encouragement, those signs made by Mrs. Holmes's (I'm not sure about the whole s - non-plural possessive thingy so, if I am incorrect in what I have been typing, please forgive me. Besides, it's my blog and I can type how I want to. Hmm, sounds like there might be a song in there?!?) students, and your offers of prayer and support mean the world to me at this point. Your confidence builds mine. "You raise me upppppppp, so I can climb a mountain..." Sorry, another song came to mind.

But seriously, for all of you that have come along for the ride, that have taken the time to share in this journey of mine, to offer kind words of love and support, please know how truly thankful I am for you. When I reflect back on this journey and beginning my training back in October, it just seems surreal. All those training runs beginning in heat and humidity, in driving winds and rain, squeezing a 9 mile run in after work on a Friday night in the dark and cold, and long runs on loner Saturday mornings in the dead of a Michigan winter, through snow storms, ice, and freezing cold temps and wind chills to where my eyelids would freeze shut, from runs where I felt like I could run forever, to runs where I was hobbling so badly and my leg hurt so badly that I was literally crying out to God to take away the pain and allow me to get through my training.

The training runs almost seem as though they were high school... you know, like you were there, but now feels like you were never there at all. It all comes to a head Sunday though. Thank you to all of you - my family especially, my friends, my new online running "dot-comrades" - who have found your way to this point with me and helped me get to the starting line. Without your encouragement, I could not have gotten this far. Thank you for helping me get to where Cassy cannot. I pray the Lord blesses my efforts on her behalf this Sunday and that, in some way, through me, she is able to feel the wind on her face, her legs and feet moving beneath her, and her arms pumping ever closer toward that finish line with every step.

Thank you again everyone, from the bottom of my heart. My race bib number for Sunday.

"I can do all things, through Christ who strenghtens me."
Phillipians 4:13

It Was A Very Good Day - Another Long Post - Sorry

2008-04-10T22:07:00.012-04:00

I would take 10 bad Mondays for 1 incredible day, as the day I had today. I woke up to the realization that it was my most lovely and beloved bride's 40th birthday and that she has been a blessing in my life now for 24 years! As I sipped my first cup of coffee and went to our front picture window to survey the weather outside I noticed a bunch of black, round objects in our front yard that I mistook for wild-turkeys for a brief moment. Come on, cut me some slack, it was not quite light yet! They were balloons our friends, the Gambles, had lovingly put in the lawn as a reminder of Tammy's right of passage into a new decade of existence.

I finished up my work for the day after posting about Tammy's birthday and kissing the girls goodbye as they left for school. I had a toasted raisin cinnamon bagel and coffee with my morning devotional, which was on Biblical references to listening and very applicable to me and my life. I always strive to be an active and attentive listener, and not interject, but don't always get it right. It's a Giesel trait inherited from my Grandfather and my mother.

I was running a tad late getting into my dear friend, Mrs. Holmes's 4th grade class. I vounteer in her class once a week with some of her students at Longfellow Elementary in Toledo. I've been pretty emotional this week and was so thinking and reflecting about so many things as I drove from my home to Longfellow. As I entered her classroom I was greeted by a sea of signs her students had made to wish me well and encourage me in my upcoming marathon on Sunday. I was overwhelmed by their gesture. This, unfortunately, is but a sample of the signs from the kids as there is no way I could get them all into one picture.
These are primarily from the students that I work with from week to week, but the whole classroom - 30ish of them - had made signs for me. I was moved beyond words, but not beyond tears. You kids are awesome, incredible, thoughtful, and I cannot express to you all enough how much this meant to me and encourages me to do my very best in this race! So... A HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MRS. HOLMES AND HER 4TH GRADE STUDENTS!!! YOU ALL ROCK!!! Thank you all so very much for your support.

I left the Longfellow building in tears feeling totally blessed and headed off to Target to pick up some Powerbar Gels, my running fuel of choice, as they do not carry them at Dave's Running Shop, when I picked up my race packet last night, along with a new pair of SmartWool socks for the race. I found my gels, picked them up, a birthday card for Tammy, and stumbled upon some pretty good deals on running shorts and a long sleeved top, so I splurged and picked them up for myself as well. I then headed to my favorite floral shop, Aldi (for those of you not familiar with Aldi, it is a no-frills grocery store chain that is very inexpensive with high-quality foods and products, including cut flowers), to pick up some flowers for Tammy for her birthday.

I got my flowers and headed off to my next appointment at my chiropractor, Dr. Daryl Lajiness, D.C., at Lifestyle Chiropractic - the best chiropractic office in Bedford Township and the greater Toledo-area. I got the bonus pleasure of seeing Dr. Reyna, Dr. Daryl's lovely wife, who isn't in the office much anymore, and explained to her that I was getting a tune up before my first marathon on Sunday. She wished me well and said they would be praying for me. Dr. Daryl tuned me up and took great care with me and also provided me with a spray bottle of Bio-Freeze for my leg and joints for the race, knowing that I have been babying my right lower leg through the last third of my training. Then, as I was scheduling my next appointment and Angela had overhead that our friend Carol (she's like my non-maternal mother), who was in the office when I came in, say to Dr. Daryl that she had gotten me a massage gift certificate for after my race. The massage therapist is someone who Dr. Daryl's office deals with so Angela provided me with another certificate for a massage! I was again, overwhelmed by kindness and thoughtfulness.

I headed on home around noon and, to my pleasant surprise, Tammy was already home from work. I gave her a kiss, and her flowers, and showed her my purchases and signs from the kids at Longfellow, after regaining my composure from crying... again. We were having her parents over for supper and she was trying a new shrimp and pasta dish and needed to pick up some items for that so, we headed off to Kroger together. I just love being with her. We stopped at our local fruit/vegetable market on the way home and picked up a few needed items there as well and made our way home.

After getting everything put away and dinner stuff ready to go, we had about 40 minutes before the girls got home from school so, we spent some "quality time together" . I want to keep my blog on the PG side so, that is all that I will say about that. :)

Anywhoo... the girls got home from school, Tammy prepared dinner (I know, I know! Shame on me for not cooking for her on her birthday, but she came up with the dish and I am taking her out on Saturday to our favorite restaurant so, again, cut me some slack!) while I cleaned up my office and got some odds and ends done that I have been putting off.

Mom and Dad (her's, but still Mom and Dad to me, too) came over about 5:30, and yes, at this time I was helping Tammy with the finishing touches on dinner. We had a wonderful dinner, my Mom and Dad, who just migrated home earlier this week from their winter-Texan habitat, joined us at 7:00 for birthday pie (Tammy's preference), and she opened her gifts. She got an iPod Nano from the girls and I, an accessory carrier, two pair of Cabela's shorts for summer, an iTunes giftcard from Chelsea, along with a very beautiful and thoughtful card, a dozen yellow roses from Lindsey, along with a cute card, flowers from me, and from my Dad.
It was a very good day. I am so blessed.

Happy 40th Birthday, Honey!

2008-04-10T07:30:00.003-04:00

It was 24 years ago on this very date that I first began to fall in love with you, Honey. LeAnn inviting me to your 16th birthday "party" was one of the best things that could have ever happened in my life. Of course, little did she know that you and I would end up together and not her and I. All those hang up phone calls... ah, the memories.

I was so obsessed with you back then and continue to be to this day. You are my heart's desire. You amaze me everyday in all you accomplish, your heart for your family, your care for your family, giving selflessly of yourself in all that you do while rarely complaining and never asking for yourself, while growing more in beauty inside and out every day.

I will never be able to express my gratitude for the Lord having put you in my life to stay 24 years ago. You've persevered with me through very difficult, trying, and ugly times. You've been as forgiving as only Christ himself could forgive. You've been an awesome example of a loving wife and mother to our daughters and you inspire me by the example of your own life daily. You are to me, in a word... amazing, and truly a gift from God!

You are a blessing to everyone who has the privilege of having you in their life... especially me! I love you more now than I ever have and I thank God for you. Happy 40th Birthday, my love!

Shout Out To The Running Lawyer

2008-04-08T08:34:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to take a moment, and a teensie bit of cyber-space, to give a shout out and mad props, and whatever else the kids are giving out these days as celebratory things - provided they don't result in an STD! - to my online running inspiration and pal, Sara, who completed her first marathon this past Sunday in St. Louis!! WOOT - WOOT! She's a runner, of many, I have met through RunningAHEAD, my online running log site and running forum, that has been such an inspiration to me in my own running. I emplore you to read her marathon race report on her blog as it is amazing! I would expect nothing less being the amazing young woman that she is. ;-)

Congratulations, Sara! I'm proud of you! You, my runnin' friend, are a MARATHONER!

Less Than A Week!

2008-04-07T08:24:00.006-04:00

With less than a week to go, I'll admit that I am getting a bit jittery at times, but overall, still at peace about the race. Our weekend was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and highs of 61 and 60 Saturday and Sunday. I got in a final mid-long run Sunday of 8 miles. I felt pretty well, same knagging leg pain, but again it subsides a bit as I get into my runs around mile 5. My knees and hips were protesting a bit and my leg muscles, mostly quads, got a bit fatigued, which is unusual. I think this is just the reduction in my consistent higher mileage running. All things considered, it was good run on a glorious day and I was pleased with it and being able to run in shorts and a t-shirt!

All that I have remaining training-wise this week are a 3 mile run on Tuesday, a 4 mile run on Wednesday, a 2 mile run on Saturday, and then the marathon on Sunday. They have early registration packet pick-up, where you get your race number bib and race goodies, at Dave's Performance Footgear, the local running shop where Tammy and I got our last pair of shoes, this Wednesday and Thursday evenings. I think I'll head out there on Wednesday since Thursday is Tammy's birthday, her 40th, and we're having her parents over for dinner. I also need to pick up a box of Powerbar Gels and a low cut pair of Wright Sock running socks for the race. I ran yesterday in regular "no-show" footies cause my running socks were dirty and the bottom of my feet were sore.

I'll probably drive the course sometime this week as I meant to do that this past weekend, but ran out of time, to get an idea of "the lay of the land" of the course. Perhaps I'll do that later today. It's supposed to be beautiful again today with a possible high of 70! Forecast for race day as of now is starting time it should be in the low 30's with a high of 44 and a chance of rain. Sounds perfect to me provided the chance of rain remains just that. A light drizzle would be ok, but an all out rain would not. Not much I can do about that aspect of the race though.

I am really anxious to hear how Sara did yesterday at her St. Louis Marathon! I was thinking about and praying for her all weekend. So, come on Sara! Get that race report posted. The suspense is killing me!

Chillin'

2008-04-05T13:12:00.002-04:00

When I got home yesterday from work, this is how I found my DYD (dear youngest daughter) and DOG (dog). Again, dad does not condone the doggy use of the couch, but since he is on it more than I am, I guess I best get used to it. Glad you two had a relaxing afternoon following a hard day at school (for Linds) and a hard day laying around sleeping (for Carsen).

GAH!

2008-04-05T13:04:00.004-04:00

My running "dot-comrade", Marion, uses this term frequently on her blog I have noted. So, when I saw this license plate yesterday up in Harrison Township while out conducting inspections for work, I busted out laughing and just had to get a pic of it. Perhaps she could get a customized South Carolina plate for her Explorer MommyMobile? It apparently is already taken here in Michigan though. Ironically enough, I saw this and took this pic at a McDonald's! BAH! Hey, a guy's gotta "go" somewhere while out on the road all day. Then, like an idiot, I buy another coffee because I feel guilty about just using their facilities. Then I get the whole catch 22 thing goin' there.

A Little Over a Week To Go

2008-04-04T21:30:00.004-04:00

After all this time, it's hard to believe that this Goliath is as close in front of me as it is now. It's strange, I've been at peace about the impending marathon even though I am not 100% physically. I am confident I will get through the race. I won't do as well as I was hoping to and preparing for given the state of my leg, but I'm ok with that. I am really looking forward to getting to the starting line. I just pray there is decent weather. Tonight's would be nice, overcast, 41 degrees, and mild winds out of the north, though east or west will be better for the race.

I did 5.25 miles this evening and it went pretty well. Here are the notes and splits from my log (I know Tami Sue, you don't like to read about running):

Felt very good despite the continued leg pain which remains about a 4-5/10 during my recent runs. Slight left achilles knagging as well, this is like the second or third consecutive run for that. Nothing horrible though and, other than those couple of issues I felt really good and very strong, and feel like I am ready to "pull the trigger." I just wish my leg were agreeing with the rest of me. I'm wondering if my heart rate readings were erroneous because I was not exerting myself badly at all and felt "normal", if there is such a thing for me. It usually averages in the mid-150's though when I do an easy. Max of 178 I normally have when I have kicked and I didn't do anything near that type of exertion. So, this heart rate thing is puzzling to me. I know I haven't run consistently in a couple of weeks, but it shouldn't be that far off what it was running. I did tighten the strap up a bit before my run, maybe that caused a skewed reading. Dunno. Splits:

1: 9:21
2: 9:22
3: 9:38
4: 9:35
5: 9:31
Last 1/4: 9:22

I'll be doing my final medium long run of 8 miles sometime this weekend, provided my leg tolerates it ok, if not I won't proceed with it, and then low mileage for the rest of next week leading up to the race.

McDonald's Me No More

2008-04-03T18:31:00.005-04:00

(EDIT) - This post will no longer make sense since I removed the original picture I posted with it, which was thoroughly distasteful, of a faceless, very large man lugging around his big, obese belly in a wheelbarrel with the Golden Arches of McDonald's in the background and a parody of their catch phrase "I'm lovin' it" changed to, "I'm luggin' it". Just so you know I haven't completely lost my mind. At least my description of the picture, which was truly McNasty, will give you an idea of what the heck I'm talking about below. (END EDIT)

Like my new figure? Heh! Just kidding. This is about how I feel right now given I've only run once in the past week, a measly 4 miles yesterday that went OK, coupled with lunch at McDonald's today (Quarter Pounder with cheese and extra grease, a cheeseburger, and a large fry, split three ways) and I feel like the dude in the picture. "I'm luggin' it."

Yesterday's run went ok, I was sore, and today I'm tight and a little sore. I was going to go again today, but my leg is still slightly troublesome so, I figure I best not push my luck. I'll give 'er a go again tomorrow. It was beautiful today, too. Poo! It was 50 and sunny! Woohoo!

Instead, I went grocery shopping with Tammy after tormenting the kids I volunteer with from my pal, Mrs. Holmes, 4th grade classroom at Longfellow Elementary, then the superbly tasty and nutritional lunch at McNasty's (as the girls call it), then on to Target for household stuff. Tam and I took her Mom along so she could get out of the house. Dad went up north to the cabin for a bit.

Now I'm off to pick up my good friend, Jeremy, to head over to Tim Horton's for coffee and men's group. It may just be two mens tonight, but two is better than one.

p.s. - sorry for the nasty photo and... even sorrier (word/no word?) if that is you.

Mondays or... Taper-Madness?

2008-03-31T17:15:00.003-04:00

Today was not the best of days. I finished up getting some inspections uploaded on the computer when I got up this morning and was having coffee. I printed off my inspections for the day to go out for today's physical inspections. I get all my stuff in order, grab a granola bar, my travel cup of coffee, clipboard, paperwork, camera, and "Norma", my GPS, and go to head out the front door.

As I open the storm door, a wind gust catches the door like a spinnaker sail on a sail boat and rips the door out of my right hand, which in turn makes me drop everything in my left hand - clipboard, with camera, GPS, and coffee balanced atop. So I pick up Norma and my coffee mug, which is now broken, go in the house, pour the remaining coffee into another travel mug and rinse out the broken cup - don't ask me why since it was garbage at that point - and head back out to the car. I put in my first stop into my GPS, look about me in the car to make sure I have everything and, drive off to my first inspection about 30 miles away.

I arrive at my first destination and begin to diagram the home from the car and go to get my camera before I get out of the car and... whoalla! No camera! Grumble, grumble, grumble.... brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm... nothing. I have to drive back to my house to retrieve my camera, which I figured I left somewhere in the vicinity of our front porch and forgot to pick up after my little debackle trying to leave earlier. Sure enough, I get home and there it is in front of one of the middle bushes on the other side of where all my other items had landed.

So, camera retrieved, equipment check again, I head back to my first inspection. I get that one completed and then have to travel to Grosse Ile, an island in the Detroit River downriver from Detroit, for my next inspection. As I pull up to the next place, I note it is a newly constructed home as I had expected given I had a bit of difficulty in tracking down the address on my mapping program. Being a new home and springtime in Michigan with a recent heavy snow thaw, there was a vast supply of mud around the property. The homeowner happens to be there and I explain that I have to get photos and measurements of the exterior of the property to which he replies, "good luck with that".

I get the home measured and diagramed and my boots are just caked with mud to the point that each foot feels as though it weighs 10 pounds. Fortunately enough, there is a new, small drainage ditch with running water in it just in front of this property so I grab my snow brush from the car and go to the ditch and start scrubbing off and washing my boots as best I can to get the worst of the caked on mud off. This is working quite spledidly until, I bend over to get my right boot a little more and my camera falls out of my right coat pocket and into the water in the ditch. Anyone ever told you electronics and water don't mix? Well, they don't.

Back in the car, I try and dry out and blow out the water from the camera as best I can and fire her up to see what we have. The viewing screen came on momentarily, flickered three times and then, fade to black. I drive back home, two inspections completed in 3 hours and, 21 more to go.

I'm just trying to figure out if this is part of my "tapering madness" related to the race or, just a bad Monday? Bob (my boss), if you read this... sorry bout the camera and unproductive day.

Tomorrow will most definitely be better as I am attending the spring agency meetings at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, which will be very entertaining, followed by a tasty lunch. Then on to the 21 inspections I botched today. :)

Catching Up - Warning: This Is A Long Post

2008-03-29T22:21:00.028-04:00

Oh my gosh! I just looked at my little countdown tickermadoodle and I only have 14 days remaining till the marathon! Two weeks folks! It'll be here before I know it. I get squirrely thinking about how close it is. I wish I were in better physical shape than I presently am for it, but I kinda have to take things as they are. I've been reflecting on my less than perfect physical condition for running this race in relation to Cassy, who I am running this marathon in honor of. I've been wondering if it wasn't meant to be this way as just a small taste of what she has had to endure her whole life and, she's in her mid-30's now. I don't want sound as though I am diminishing her condition to my mere 6 1/2 months of running and a 26.2 mile race with some leg pain or in any way thinking what I am doing is comparative to what she's endured at all. She's always amazed me with her joyful spirit despite her circumstances. I wish I could be more like her.

Anyway, I didn't run either Friday or today on the heels of that miserable 8+ miles I did on Thursday. I'm a bit damaged right now so, I want to heal up as best I can again for now. I'm supposed to have two additional longish runs left in my training plan, the first 12 miles this weekend, and the last an 8 miler next weekend, however, I am very much playing things my ear in terms of what I think my body is, or is not as is the case, to do. I hate to keep speaking of it, but my leg is pretty sore today, even two days after my last run and much icing. So, there may not be any more long runs in my future before this race.

Well, I had a friend (who shall remain nameless, Tami Sue) tell me the other evening that I needed to update my blog, to which I replied, I have updated it twice. To which she responded, "yea, but that was just running stuff... I don't wanna read about that." So, in the interest of my friendship with Tami Sue...

We had a great time on our vacation in Pompano Beach, FL last week. We went with our friends, the Johnstons, Frank and Dianna (one of my running heros), and their daughter, Kallie, and friend Aloiya, along with our girls, Chelsea and Lindsey. We stayed in a two bedroom, two bath hotel-style condo, with a kitchen, dining area, living room, and laundry at the Wyndham Palm-Aire Resort pictured here. It was fabulous. It had 4 pools, 4 hot tubs, mini golf, work out room, golf course (though none of us golfed), and more amenities that I probably don't even know of. The resort was located about 5 miles west of the beach however, Wyndham had several other condo properties along the oceanfront that, as guests, we were able to make use of as well for access to the beach and could also use any of their facilities as well. I did manage to get 28 miles in or so in 5 runs while down there as well.

We had a bit of a hiccup on our trip down (we drove, as did Johnstons) in that when we arrived at our overnight hotel destination in northern Florida after driving for about 16 hours, the transmission went out in Johnston's van. That got taken care of, I got Johnstons and Aloiya over to where the van was fixed on Friday, came back to the hotel area and picked up Tammy and the girls at a local shopping center and we headed on down the rest of the way.

Saturday and Sunday we spent at the beach doing a lot of this type of stuff:

And a little of this as well:

On Monday, our family headed across Alligator Alley to the other side of the state to visit with my Aunt Heidi and Grandma in Cape Coral. Grandma moved down from Michigan to live with Heidi last October and is just loving it down there.

We had a nice visit and lunch with Grandma and Heidi on her beautiful enclosed patio with screened pool enclosure and then on our way back met up with the Johnstons in the Everglades for an airboat ride/tour. We were fortunate enough to see an alligator in the wild during the day, and Lindsey made a new friend:

Monday and Tuesday it was 89 degrees and beautiful. We hung out at the local beaches again on Tuesday and then on Wednesday we headed down the coast about a half hour to Miami and Miami Beach.

Our family gets a kick out of the show Miami Ink on TLC so, we swung by the shop, which recently moved up the block a few store-fronts and were surprised to see Yoji hanging out outside the shop. He graciously allowed us to get a few pics with him. Tammy was going to get a tattoo there, but she asked inside how much a small one would run - she considered a small palm tree the size of a half-dollar - and they said it would cost $250 - $300. Um... no thanks. I'll tat her up with a Sharpee myself. I've got art skilz... Gosh! Am I a TOTAL tourist in that pic or what?!?

We had a couple more incidents while at Miami Beach. The first while we were on South Beach. Frank is a firefighter in Toledo and an avid t-shirt trader wherever he travels so, in his quest for a Miami Beach Ocean Rescue (a division of their fire department) shirt we found ourselves up at the Ocean Rescue headquarters early in the afternoon to snag a couple of t-shirts. After conversing with a lieutenant in the office for awhile and getting our shirts, we thought we should stop at the public restroom on the side of the headquarters building before returning to our families down on the beach and packing it in for the day. Frank was barefoot so, I went in first cause the floors were, um, lets just say wet, and then when I came out he borrowed my flip flops and went in.

While I was waiting outside on the sidewalk, I heard what I first thought was a gunshot around the corner of the building about 50 feet away from me toward the steet side of the building away from the beach. I second-guessed myself and thought it must have been a firecracker or a cap gun or something of the sort. Moments later, an older man with a backpack jumps the railing on the outside of the sidewalk just to my right and runs into the bathroom saying only, "firecracker" as he passes by me. I mentally pat myself on the back thinking, "See, you were right. It was just a firecracker."

Frank comes out of the bathroom, he gives me my flip flops back as I ask him if he heard what I thought first sounded like a gunshot and he said he hadn't heard anything. Then, suddenly the dude that rushed by me with the backpack on emerges from the bathroom, without the backpack, and pushes past Frank on the sidewalk to which Frank says, "Excuse me sir", being the polite dude that he is. We don't think anything of this and start heading back to the cut into the beach.

When we get to the beach side of the cut, we hear and see several squad cars and Ocean Rescue vehicles busting butt north up the beach towards us converging on where we had just come from at the headquarters public bathrooms. We look at each other, wonder to ourselves what's up and, being the curious boys that we are, head back to the headquarters building about 300 feet away. Police and rescue units close in on the area and a black officer with weapon drawn is now on the sidewalk by the bathroom where I was just standing not 3 minutes earlier!

Come to find out, there was an argument between 4 homeless men across the street from the Ocean Rescue headquarters and, the dude that ran past me into the bathroom and then brushed past Frank on the sidewalk had just shot another man in the head! Whoa! We head back down the beach to tell the story to our waiting families and as we do, 5 news helicopters converge on the area above not 10 minutes post shooting. Talk about flys on, well, you know. Here is one of the news stories on it with a picture of the dude that ran past me and then again by Frank and I. Here is also one of the tv newscasts on the incident as well. The black officer you see in the newscast is the one Frank and I saw outside the bathroom with his gun drawn. Such excitement!

The other excitement was that we drove to Key Biscayne and then were on our way back to Miami Beach all in Johnston's van, with the nice new 3 year warrantied transmission, when Frank notices the battery light is on and that the voltage is dropping on the gauge. We parked around the corner from Miami Ink, left the van running thinking we might have enough time to see the shop/people/get pictures and get back to the van and high-tail it to the nearest auto service shop when the van pukes. Alternator.

We find out from the guys outside Miami Ink where the closest auto service place is, Frank starts hoofing it there, we get our pictures, buy some jumper cables at a hardware store across the steet, I get a kind Cuban dude to jump the van for a while in an effort to get it to the shop Frank is headed to, we all jump in, I take off, get about a block away around a corner and it pukes again. We ended up getting it towed back to Pompano Beach, Frank and I going with the tow driver, and the wives staying behind in Miami Beach with the girls at a pizza shop for dinner. We drop the van at a Sears Auto Center in Pompano, the tow driver drops us at the condo, I grab our car and drive the 37 miles back down to Miami Beach to cram all the ladies into the car for a cramped ride back to Pompano. More excitement than should be allowed in one day!

Thursday we hung around the condo pools and spas, with one last evening visit to the beach, before heading out Friday morning, after much prayer over our vehicles, for the ride back to Michigan.

So, that was our glorious, eventful, exciting, but very relaxing, awesome week of vacation in Florida with our great friends, the Johnstons who, incidentally, now have a VERY well-running van! ;-)

p.s. - Tami Sue - you better have read and enjoyed this ENTIRE post. I will have a quiz prepared for you the next time I see you sister! ;-)

Painful 8.75 Miles

2008-03-27T16:08:00.003-04:00

I'm not gonna sugar-coat it, this run just hurt. Bad. I almost turned around after the first 1/4 mile I was hobbling so badly, but, me being the intelligent, stubborn, man that I am... didn't just run the 8 I was scheduled, but did an extra 3/4 of a mile as well. Duh. I'm feeling ok now, I iced right away after getting back and, as typical with prior runs, the pain does subside the longer into my run I go. It just started out worse than it has (about as worse as it has been) and didn't subside as much as it has recently. I do think I'll be ok and am fairly sure I should be able to complete the marathon, it's just not going to be pretty for the first 5 miles or so, or the end of the race. I am determined to get through it though. I know some runners will think I'm a knucklehead for proceeding (which would be true as I've always been a knucklehead), but I've put too much into this to not see it through and, I truly feel I can manage myself without damaging myself too badly. So here's the recap, and for those of you who like to check, you can see my log and comments here. Sorry for the drama. It's really not my style.

Recap:

Miles: 8.75
Time: 1:23:07
Average Pace: 9:30/mile
Calories Burned: 1123

Hope everyone's having a splendid week.

Today's 5.25 Mile Run

2008-03-26T10:18:00.002-04:00

Just a quick recap, my notes and splits are on my log entry here.

Miles: 5.25
Time: 47:02
Average pace: 8:58 min/mile
Calories burned: 720

The Stretch to the Finish

2008-03-25T00:45:00.005-04:00

I was able to get a total of 28.6 miles over 5 runs while on vacation last week in sunny Florida. The weather was awesome, hanging out at the beach was awesome, the lack of agendas was awesome, the time with the family and dear friends was awesome, and the relaxation was awesome. I'll post some pics and adventures we had when I have more time. Hmm... I'm posting this at 12:50 a.m. because I just finished up getting household stuff nearly caught up and work itineraries lined up for the week... when the heck do I think I'm going to have more time?

Anyway, back to running. I have now entered week 16 of 18 in my training program which is now the "taper" phase of my training where my mileage systematically decreases till the marathon. To kick off my tapering period I ran a solid 21 mile long run yesterday morning (Monday) which is the last of the long, long runs I have to do. You can read the recap of my run and see my split times on my running log here. I wanted to be sure that I could solidly do a long, long run yet. Mission accomplished and, I don't feel too terribly bad physically and yesterday's run did wonders for my confidence and mental state toward the upcoming marathon. I must confess that I was thinking of Cassy a lot yesterday during my run and what she endures on a daily basis in terms or discomfort and pain which really pulled me through some of the more difficult periods of this long run. In fact, I started wondering that since I was running this race on her behalf that if the pain I have had isn't to be but a taste of what she has gone through for the majority of her life brought on through no activity of her own, unlike mine. Anyway Cass... we kicked some major butt yesterday and... I feel like we're now ready for this race, bum leg or not. So, bring it! ;-)

Off to bed now. I will try my best to get some vacation stuff up. We had such a wonderful time and the weather was splendid! Till we got home and had 9" of newly fallen snow. As Earl's step-daughter so brilliantly observed... we had a green Christmas and a white Easter.

Good night everyone...

Bad News, Worse News, Good News, and Bad News?

2008-03-13T00:09:00.009-04:00

Bad News:

I haven't run in 3 days and my leg is still bothering me post hefty-patient lift on Monday on an EMS (emergency medical service) call with the fire department. Combined with a lack of time and "stuff" cropping up, I just haven't been able to attempt one either in all honesty.

Worse News:

It's been an eventful couple of days with work, the wrapping up of Lindsey's basketball season, her fast pitch softball tryouts, Chelsea's ACT and Michigan Merit testing, and preparation to head down to Florida over the girls' spring break for vacation. I planned on getting up early this morning, wrapping up work by uploading my latest inspections for the first few hours of what is now yesterday, going for a run, and then preparing and packing for our trip with all the odds and ends errands that must be done and whatnot.

I sat at my office desk before my computer this morning at 6:00 a.m. and began uploading my inspections. My pager went off for an EMS/rescue call shortly after I started working. I pledged to remain at my desk to diligently finish my work and then would respond to any calls the remainder of the day once my work was done during the course of packing and whatnot. My pager went off a second time shortly thereafter for a second EMS/rescue call and I again held off bolting out the door as I normally would as I really needed to get my work done for my "real" job.

I had gotten about 3 - 5 inspections uploaded when my pager goes off for the third consecutive time within about 30 minutes now for a VERY familiar address. It was my in-law's house. I shoot out from behind my desk and tear into our bedroom where Tammy is getting ready to dress after showering and drying her hair. I advise her that the call is on her mom who has C.O.P.D. (emphysema), that she needs to stay calm, we dress and make haste out the door and run down to her parents' home two houses down from us. Mom is really struggling to breath and needs transported via ambulance to the ER. I ride in with her in the back of the ambulance and we spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon in the hospital while the staff works on getting her stabilized. She's stabilized and they move her up to the ICU floor for observation. Many prayers answered.

Good News:

Lindsey's basketball team won their game at Lincoln on Tuesday by a handy margin of something like 25 - 13 and then Wednesday knocked off Adrian 17 - 2 to go undefeated on the season with a 12 - 0 record! Congratulations Lindsey and Lady Bronco teamates on a spectacular season!

Following her final basketball game, Linds had the second day of her fast pitch softball tryouts and made the team. She'll be starting those practices when we return from spring break vacation.

Bad News:

Well, some of you may consider this good news. I will be taking a break from blogging while vacationing in Pompano Beach, Florida, with our friends, the Johnston's. Not looking forward to the drive right now, but am really looking forward to the rest and relaxation and... running on the beach! Thanks Floyds for taking Carsen into your home for us while we're gone. We really appreciate it and love you guys dearly!

I'll get back with y'all after Easter Sunday. I pray you have a most blessed Easter with your families and, for those of you who believe, rejoice in the sacrifice that was made for all mankind. "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift." 2 Corinthians 9:15

Happy Easter.

Oh Yea... Running...

2008-03-09T22:11:00.006-04:00

I'm pleased to say that I slowly was building my mileage back up this past week. Most of my runs start out painful, but ease up the further into them I get. I ran a wicked 6.25 miles Saturday in an effort to attempt my long run for the week which I was hoping to do 12 - 14. Alas, the driving wind and snow out of the north at 20 mph did me in. I could not see and my eyelids kept freezing shut on my way northward on Lewis Avenue so, I cut it short to the 6.25 miles. That was a crazy run in my sole-screwed winter trainers!

Today I went out in the morning for a long run. Again I had my sights set on 12 - 14 miles, but would shorten if necessary due to any increasing pain I may have experienced in my right leg. I started the run out with Tammy for about the first 1 1/2 miles. My leg hurt somewhat badly, but quickly subsided and, by the time I left her, it wasn't bothering me at all. The muscles in my legs were fatigued through the run, but I think that was primarily due to the prior day's run. I ended up doing 14 miles in 2:15:11 for an overall pace of 9:40/mile. Here's the link to my training log if you'd like to read it. I had a most wonderful note in the snow from Tammy when I got back to the place I dropped my water bottle for pick up later in my run at about mile 8 that said simply, "I love you!". That note really lifted my spirits and helped me through the rest of my run. I love that woman! I am feeling much better about my running and today's run was a great confidence boost to me.

Anyway, my leg post-run had been doing quite well and I had very little residual pain, even after not getting to ice it right away after the run and standing on it all day at the Bedford Business Association's Annual Trade Fair in the fire department's booth (pictured below with my Station Head Officer on my left and a brother from our District 2 station on my right - I'm stationed at District 1) until lifting a patient that went about 350 pounds on the stretcher to get ready to wheel her out to the ambulance on a call later in the day. GAH! That hurt! I told myself not to do it too, to let one of the other firefighters on scene lift her, but then I thought, "ahh, I'll be fine!". Not so much. Back to the frozen vegetable bag.

Other Random Pics

2008-03-09T21:26:00.008-04:00

This is simply a railroad bridge over the Huron River in South Rockwood, Michigan. I thought it was quant.These are some of the beautiful old homes in some of the better old neighborhoods of downtown Detroit. It really isn't all ghetto-type neighborhoods as most people would probably conjure images of unfamiliar to this city. Not that they don't exist as well, as I've been in many of them - I think that is another reason I took up running! I just thought it would be cool for some of you, who would have negative images or impressions of Detroit, to see some of the beauty that is the City of Detroit. And then there is the, "Ya just don't see this everyday" pic of a dude towing a boat in Michigan the day after a winter storm?!? He's gonna waste all of his fishing time cutting a whole in the ice big enough to get his boat in!

The Best Snowman Ever!

2008-03-09T21:19:00.003-04:00

I came across this most awesome snowman in my travels last Friday. I think it was in Shelby Township, Michigan. The kids/family that made this snowman deserve a blue ribbon! It had to have been around 7' tall and so perfectly round and cheerful-looking. It was the best snowman that I have ever seen!

Another 5.5 Miles and Another Bronco Victory

2008-03-06T22:22:00.002-05:00

I got another 5.5 miles in this afternoon, which went about the same as yesterday's run. I'm taking tomorrow off and then plan on doing a 12 - 14 mile long run on Saturday. That run will be a telltale run for the rest of my training I kind of think. Leg feels ok tonight, residual pain, but nothing bad.

The Lady Broncos squeaked out a victory this afternoon at home against a very well-prepared, and much improved, Dexter team, 10 - 8. The girls couldn't get the offense going and again, had a lot of shots that just wouldn't fall for them. Thank goodness for their smothering defense, which salvaged the victory for them this afternoon. I think only one team this season has scored in the double digits against the Broncos ravenous defense.

The Lady Broncos are now 10 and 0 and gunning for a perfect season with only 2 games remaining next week! Good luck girls!

5.5 Miles

2008-03-05T18:44:00.003-05:00

I got back just a bit ago from a 5.5 mile run. It was ok. Quite painful starting out, but again, the pain subsides to tolerable the further I get into my run. I did run on the opposite side of the road to see if the pitch of the road was having any affect on my leg given the shoe wear issue Liz noted at Dave's Performance Footgear last Sunday. I felt ok post run, some pain, but bearable. I stretched and have been icing it till I go to our monthly fire department business meeting in a few minutes (I'm going smelly too!).

Here's the note and splits I put in my running log if you're interested. I'm going to try and do another 5ish miles tomorrow morning before heading into my friend, Vicki's, classroom to screw up her 4th graders. Hehehe.

On a side note, cause I don't feel like creating a separate post, The 7th Grade Lady Broncos are now 9 and 0 defeating Saline yesterday by a score of 24 - 5!! It really was much closer than the score would indicate as they went into the final period up only 6 - 5, but their stellar and stifling defense created a plethora of turnovers in the final period which catapulted the Broncos to the awesome victory! Am I full of it or what? Now, Mar, how many misspellings do I have in there with some of dem werds? I can haz speil cheque?

Have a lovely night everyone!

"I Got a Pretzel In My Head"

2008-03-05T16:46:00.003-05:00

That quote is from the Cal Naughton Jr. character in Talladega Nights when Ricky Bobby - the Will Ferrell character - is making a comeback racing against his former teamate, Cal, following a bad crash. Cal's trying to psyche Ricky out using psychology and thinks that Ricky is using reverse psychology back on him and gets himself all confused to the extent that he says his mind's all twisted up like a pretzel and he says, "I got a pretzel in my head!"

Well, that's kinda how I feel about this marathon race at this point. I have totally lost confidence in myself and my body, I don't want to go out and do my run right now because I fear that I will just make my injuries worse again to the point that I can't run and won't be able to in the marathon and, am just generally psyching myself out. Every little ache and pain I feel now I think, "Oh my gosh! I'm not going to be able to make it to this race!" I was doing so well in my preparation for this race and now I feel as though I will just be going through the motions with the balance of training that I think I can do, which is NOT what the training plan I was following called for, and that it will not suffice. GAH!

So, thanks for reading/listening. I just needed to vent and rant for a bit. I have faith that my head will come around. I just need a few good runs without serious pain or better yet, diminishing pain, that will bolster my confidence. I just felt today that the week I took off to try and heal up a bit has totally gotten me off track and derailed my marathon now. That remains to be seen though so, I shouldn't count myself out before I even get to the starting line, which is the goal at this point.

On a lighter note, this is my favorite scene from that movie... a little language, youthful attitude, and sexual innuendo so, don't open it if there are kids around. This scene cracks me up! Levity needed!

It May Be March, But...

2008-03-05T10:36:00.009-05:00

... winter is far from over here in Michigan. Two days ago it was 62 degrees. This morning, this was the view outside my home office window. It is quite beautiful and I love the way the snow is whisping over the edge of the roof outside my window. A new layered blanket of ice, snow, sleet, and then snow from yesterday afternoon and overnight. When I went to pick up Linds from school last evening returning for their away basketball game, the snowflakes were about the size of Rhode Island! School was cancelled today so, the girls will have to make up 1 school day in June at the end of the school year as of today. There is always the potential for more, even into April, as I recall them having a snow day in April just a few years ago.

It is quite beautiful out today so, I took a few pics for those of you who may not be tired of snow. Like my mom and dad who winter in the Rio Grande Valley of exteme southern Texas and like to tell us about the 90 degree temps they are having and how much time they are spending in the pool doing water aerobics and playing water volleyball. To that I say... every dog has it's day and even a blind squirrel finds a nut once and again. This blind squirrel will find his when we travel down to Pompano Beach, Florida a week from tomorrow. Yippee!

A pic of Chelsea's Barney-mobile blanketed in freshly fallen snow and ice.

Our humble snow-covered chalet from the east side. Tahoe tracks leaving the garage from Tammy going to work this morning.

Our humble snow-covered chalet from the west side. It looks as if someone frosted the roof of our house like a cake. Neat. The second window from the left is my office as seen looking out in the pic above. See what you're missing mom and dad. It is quite beautiful and very pristene. I wanted to get a picture of it before the snow was shoveled or tracked in. It's so clean and crisp looking. I do love it and would miss it were we to move to a warm yearly climate. Too bad you must have freezing temperatures in order to have snow.

Game On... For Now

2008-03-03T13:01:00.002-05:00

This is the post I put on a thread on RA about my run this morning. So far, so good as far as how I'm feeling right now. I'm just going to take things nice and easy from here on out. Here's the post:

So, I got out this morning for an easy 4.5 miles after taking a full week off. My right lower leg still hurt, especially early in the run, but the pain eased up to discomfort further into the run beginning like at 1.25 miles. I ran at our local school track because it is flat and also has a rubberized surface. That was about 3 hours ago now and when I got home, I stretched and Saran-wrapped an ice bag to my lower leg for about 15 minutes, and I'm not having any pain to speak of while I walk around now. I'm going to taper back my training plan to 3 midweek runs of shorter lengths and then 1 long run on Saturday and try and coast into the marathon on April 13. I now have no time goal and will be looking to just finish the race upright provided my tapered back training can continue.

I'm thinkin' this likely is not a stress fracture either because I do not believe that the pain would lessen further into a run. More likely soft-tissue, like tendons inflamed from over use, which would make more sense. So, perhaps an easier running schedule at easier paces will see me through. Time will tell.

Testing the Waters

2008-03-03T07:30:00.005-05:00

This turtle of a runner will be testing the waters today after a week off of no, none, notta, zip running. I must say, I am anxious. See, thing is I've already put in 695.10 miles which translates into 107 hours, 6 minutes, and 3 seconds out on the roads running in heat, rain, wind, sleet, ice, bitterly cold temps, and snow. That's quite an investment and, if my leg won't allow me to continue training for this April marathon and I have to take an extended period of time off to rehab it... I will have to start training all over again from square one for a fall or later marathon.

Again, don't get me wrong, if I can't do this race, I can't and I'll be ok with that. It's just that it would be a big disappointment to have come this far not to have all those runs and training time culminate into a successful first marathon. I am astonished at what I have accomplished in my training alone to date and very proud of myself for that, not to mention some of the conditions that I have accomplished some of these runs in this winter. A couple of years ago I would not have envisioned myself running a 10 mile race, let alone doing a 16 mile run in post snowstorm conditions!

If this morning's easy run goes ok, I will be cutting back on the days of running and miles in my training program to try and endure the rest of the plan enough to allow me to complete this race. Only time will tell however. I did go to our local running shop yesterday after church and consulted with Liz, who I found out yesterday attends our church with her family and I didn't even know it (we have a rather large congregation - around 2,000) at Dave's Performance Footgear. She re-evaluated my feet, foot strike and reviewed my situation. We did determine that I, and Tammy, need to change up our running routes more due to the camber/pitch of the roads we run on which may be contibuting to our leg issues. She suggested I do my long runs in my ASICS vs. the Mizunos since they are wearing better and more of a stability shoe where the Mizunos are neutral. No new shoes needed, which was good because we have to discretionary money to spend right now.

I'm going to Bedford's (our local school) track this morning to do my test-run, 4 or 5 miles depending on how I feel, because it is flat and also has a rubberized surface which will be less impact on my legs than running on the roads and shoulders around here. I'll let you know how things go...