Thanks for the many nice messages I got after announcing completion of my first marathon. It is a big deal, and I know that stat about less than 1% of Americans can say the same.

I feel fortunate in that I had only minor soreness in the thighs for one day afterward, and feel great now. In fact, the whole run is seemingly a blur and I am sure I am forgetting how horrible miles 22-25 were.

Since then, I;ve not run- the advice from Coach Dave was resting a day for each mile run, so that’s time off til early February, and then from there decided what to do– Valley of the Sun Half Marathon in March??

On Sunday, I enjoyed a fairly strenuous hike down and out of Fossil Creek Canyon, 8 miles total and at least 1000, maybe 1500 feet of elevation change.

Did you know... Former professional ballet dancer Zippora Karz was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 21 (from The Diabetic Athlete)
See more diabetic facts...

Cross this one of my life list. I completed a full marathon. It was not heroic, fast, not really “fun”. The final time was 5:26:01 just withing my secret, unblogged goal of 5:30. I came in 5264th place! That New Zealander in first place could have lapped me (he finished in something like 2:15, how do people do that?).

I want to send a big thanks to everyone who encouraged me, a double thanks for my sponsors, the folks who responded to my twitter messages. A big extra thanks go to Eric and family for showing up near mile 10, and a huge thanks to Travis and Britt for cheering me through mile 25. That was awesome.

All in all, the first half was great and second… not great.

The day was perfect, a total contrast to the 2007 FreezeFest. I knew it would get hot, so started in my shorts and singlet. I saw people shedding all kinds of sweats, garbage bags, gloves as soon as the sun came out. I got downtown in plenty of time, we had our Team-D meetup/photo, and I was primed:

All in all, I likely went out a bit too fast, as I started to fade past the halfway point. Here’s the splits which show a sliding pace…

1. 10:40
2. 10:42
3. 10.53
4. 11:27
5. 10:15
6. 11:07
7. 11:00
8. 15:00 (bathroom break, sent twitter message via phone)
9. 10:33
10. 11:47 (stopped briefly to greet friends)
11. 10:47
12. 11:06
13. 10:54
14. 11:50
15. 11:31
16. 12:02 (uh-oh starting to slow)
17. 12:19
18. 13:47 (yes, getting tired)
19. 13:12
20. 14:46 (started walk intervals, sent twitter message, to tired to spell)
21. 14:20
22. 13:22
23. 17:55 (ugh!mostly walked)
24. 14:31
25. 13:51 (picked up a bit more slow running)
26. 13:38

He’s Smiling; Is It Real?

Some favorite t-shirts seen today (there was a lot, but my memory got fuzzy)

• “The only easy day is yesterday”
• “Marathon Virgin” (2 of em)
• “Another LSD* Marathon” (Long Slow Duration)

All I can say is.. .I Am DONE! and the name of this blog stays as it is.

Marathon Gear

Originally uploaded by cogdogblog.

It’s time to try and get some restful sleep before that alarm is chirping at 4:30 am. All my marathon gear is ready, fresh songs on the mp3 player. I am hoping to set out in just the singlet, mid morning today was pretty toasty warm.

The gloves I’ll toss in the gear bacg; I have some old tube socks if I need some cheap gloves.

Okay, what am I forgetting?

Oh well…. Next blog entry should be the big recap of hopefully a completed 26.2 day on the streets

Got Gear?

Coach Dave and Julie from ADA

Geeez, such a tall Coach! Thanks Dave

Just got back from our Team Diabetes Carbo Loading pasta dinner, our last gathering before the marathon Sunday. I was proud to be among the 53 who made it through the 22 week training season, and we all remarked how quickly the time went. In reviewing the history, our local Team Diabetes is the only one left in the US after it was dropped by the ADA as a national program in 2003. There are active teams in Canada and Australia.

This year we raised nearly $75,000 for the ADA and over $500,000 over the 5 years of the program. Still, more and more people are being diagnose every year. Maybe of more people ran marathons….

I’d like to acknowledge my former colleague Gaye for being convinced to try to train for this effort, and being successful at it, and wish her well on her 1/2 marathon walk.

And ditto for everyone else on the Team, and regrets I was gone so much this year to hardly get to know many of you. Let;s make those red shirts fly on Sunday! Go Team D!

Oh, and a big thank for my Canadian friends who just stepped up with some generous pledges, thanks! Cannot wait to thank you in person in February.

So time to rest, drink lots of water, and not get too anxious about TWENTY SIX POINT TWO FREAKIN MILES!

Today was a full on workday, with no slots at all that worked well for a run, so I waited until 8pm to head out to Chaparral Lake to get in my 30 minute taper run. It was a very pleasant temp out, and I cannot even think of anything remarkable about the run. It just was.

Strangely enough, I am not even thinking much about the run on Sunday. I guess being out running then for 5+ hours will provide plenty of contemplative time to solve major problems, create new ideas, and do anything but think about not liking running.

It’s the week, no a few days before the marathon, and our schedule has us really tapering down to two mid week runs of 30 minutes and a really relaxed on Saturday. It sounded counter-intuitive when I heard this on my first 1/2 marathon prep two years ago, but it works.

All the moving parts are feeling good, even my sore ribs. I’m trying to remember to drink extra, extra amounts of water this week (instead of diet soda) to superhydrate. I could do better to get more sleep! I know Saturday night will have me feeling rather wired.

The best part is that the weather for Sunday looks gorgeous! Hard to believe a year ago before sunrise it was in the mid 20s in Phoenix.

So today’s run was nostalgia- it was a loop around the neighborhood I first ran 2 years ago to even test whether I was up to running. I still remember the feeling, “This is not exactly fun, but I can do this!”

And I’ve been encouraged by folks like Catherine who has been emailing best wishes for Sunday (no, I will be far from the 4:15 pace group! Have fun hanging with Jerry!).

Taper, taper, taaaaaaaaper goes the training. New Years day I did a fun alternative activity- hiked halfway down Fossil Springs Trail with some friends, 3 llamas, and our yoga instructor for some exercise and stretching on the trail. It was a gorgeous blue sky Arizona typical day, though the trail was still very icy in spots.

Sometime on the ride out there, I was leaning over the front seat of the truck triying to get something from the back and jammed my rub cage really hard on the corner of the seat. It’s felt slightly bruised for the last 2 days, getting better, but I gave it some rest (did some Yoga last night).

Today was busy working, but I found some time before dinner and sunset to run a short loop- a littler under 2.5 miles, but my pace was stronger than its been in a while, even up the short steep hills.

All is good. We’ll see what this rainy weekend brings.