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.