One Month from this moment . . .

. . . and the marathon will have been run.   But for now our training continues and this week has been rough.  Close to a foot of snow has fallen since Monday plus Haney and I had to deal with colds and aching knees.  Fortunately Jim has been unscathed.  Perhaps it’s all because of his magic muffins?

Jim and his contribution to sports nutrition

Haney and I are more of your Gu chomping/Gatorade guzzling runners that tear off the ends of neat little foil packets to grab some nutrition on the longer runs.  However Jim makes his own muffins using a secret recipe of wheat flour, a sports powder and “a whole lot of hope that it turns out OK”.  Different approaches same destination.

I thought you might enjoy the following pictures I took during our run – which required me to catch up to the guys every so often.

This is what the streets have looked like on a good day this week.

We almost look like this at the end of some winter runs.

It was a little difficult  to find the entrance to the trail this morning. :)

Henry Ford's Fairlane Mansion:  We only run in the best of neighborhoods.

Deer were the only other runners we saw this morning.

Sunrise over the campus of Henry Ford Community College.

Jim and Haney on the campus of Henry Ford Community College.

Thanks to everyone for your continued help.  I’m glad that we are making this contribution together. 

44 Miles and a Motrin . . . or maybe a muffin

FIRST OF ALL:  If you have been able to donate prior to last week but haven't received a thank you card from me please let me know.  Almost everyone has been having trouble with the link UM provided.  Now back to our regularly scheduled blog.

Our first week of big mileage went well.  Most of the snow and ice has left southeast Michigan and the temperatures are fairly temperate – as in over 20 degrees.  It’s kind of nice to cruise our running routes without the fear of slipping, falling and what could result after that.  (I don’t worry about Jim in these conditions though.  The guy goes into gymnast mode and does a beautiful tumble on the rare occasions that he has fallen.)

This is not to say that Mother Nature still doesn’t provide us with a challenge or two.

Something the high winds left behind on Friday night

 Haney and I came upon this twig during our 20 miler yesterday.  I’d like to tell you that we leaped over it like gazelles . . . so that’s where I think I’ll leave it. 

There’s a very nice trail that runs through the campuses of UM-Dearborn and Henry Ford Community College which connects Michigan Avenue with Hines Park.  We use this trail for our longer runs because we need the miles plus the UM security building is open 24/7, has running water and the occasional aroma of White Castle burgers that one of the officers brings for breakfast.

The trail leading from Michigan Avenue into UM-D.

Leaving UM-D back up to Michigan Avenue.

One of two bridges over the Middle Rouge.

The security building at UM-D:  Our aid station

I suspect you might want to know about “. . . or maybe a muffin” but I’ll leave that for next time.

Grateful

I am very grateful as I put together this week’s update. 

First of all donations bumped up over the past week.  Thanks to all who have contributed.  I will be thanking you personally by mail very soon.  I also want to say that I appreciate all of the encouragement that I have received.  Running marathons are fun and hard work. 

Which brings me to the second reason I’m grateful:  The past seven days have been a low mileage week which I put to good use recovering from a cold.  I’m finding it kind of funny that the three of us have reached the point in our training where a 10 mile run is considered a rest.  J

But tomorrow we can no longer slack off and we’ll be clicking off a half marathon before going about our regular work day.  Well Jim and I will.  Haney decided that a day off made sense.  It’s good that one of us is thinking clearly.

Less than six weeks to go!

134.96 miles later . . .

 . . . and I realize that I haven’t updated this page in a long time.  This changes now.

First of all a huge THANK YOU to those of you who have been kind enough to help out.  I’ve been receiving lots of encouragement and the donations have begun to come in.  Much appreciated on both counts.

I think my lack of posting can be attributed to balancing training in winter weather and being busier at work (thankfully!).  I’ve run every winter since 2001 but this is the first time that I’ve actually trained for a marathon during the winter months.  I only run outside and it’s been a “bit” cold and snowy in SE Michigan during the past month.

My best friends for running (second to Jim and Haney, of course) are my new face mask and the cleats that I can attach to my shoes.  I don’t think I’d have any legs or lungs left without these tools.  The face mask combined with my running sweats kind of makes me look like a dumpy terrorist or bank robber but hey I’m getting my miles in. 

Besides my training rule for January was that as long as my miles were lower than the temperature but greater than the snowfall then I had nothing to complain about.  However our weekend runs now up to 19 miles and Mother Nature isn't cooperating in the temperature department.  So now I fall back on this quote

‎"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love..."

and then I tape my foot, lace my shoes and greet my friends who are waiting out front and hit the pavement.