The power of three

With my third marathon just a week away, the taper in full swing and a little more free time on my hands, I figured it was time for a blog entry :-)

The French have a saying, "Jamais deux sans trois", it tends which has a negative connotation to it, and could be loosely translated to "bad luck (stuff) comes in threes", if I were to look at things from a negative perspective,  this could be applied to my marathon history.  In my first marathon I suffered some nutritional issues at around 30K and finished well over my goal time of 4:30:00.  In my second marathon, I had some IT band issues and although I bettered my first marathon result, I was still well over my goal time.  I've worked out my nutrition plan over the last year and a half, and with the help of solefit orthotics and my RMT, I've sorted out the IT band issues.  So this being the third marathon, a negative person might dwell on what new obstacle would prevent me from achieving my goal.

However, there's a more positive way of looking at this for me "Third time's a charm".  With the lessons learned from my first two marathons, the proper shoe, a tested nutrition plan and a number of other races under my belt, I am hopeful that this will be the race where I finally break that 4:30:00 goal.

I don't know if the taper for this race is any indication, but it has been very different from any taper I've been through so far.  I have not experienced the nervous anxiety I normally do as the length and intensity of the workouts decrease. I have not had the hypochondriac thoughts that every twinge, cough, or slight ache might be the one that takes me out of this race or running altogether...and  my pace has been getting faster rather than slower during this taper in spite of the fact that I've been running based on PE and not watching the Garmin (with the exception of this weekend's long run where I thought it best to closely monitor my pace).

I've decided to focus on the positive, to trust the training plan that has got me here injury free and the nutrition plan that has worked in both the half and 30K distances...I've decided that everything that my coach, my training partners and I have done in the off season and throughout this racing season, have prepared me to run the best race that I can next Sunday and that's the goal that I'm going to focus on when the gun goes off.

Now to turn that French saying around...I've had two Personal Bests this year...so the way I choose to look at it is that the Marine Corps Marathon could very well be my third PB this year, "Jamais deux sans trois" INDEED!!

Here I go again...This time I'm Going Goofy for a Cure!

Last year I challenged all of you to dig deep and sponsor me in my efforts to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada as I trained to run my first marathon in honour of Derek’s fight with cancer.

You met that challenge head on and helped me crush not only my first fundraising goal of $5000, but 2 subsequent goal changes to raise a total of over $7500 to help fund research into blood cancers and provide support for patients diagnosed with these types of cancers.

Your support, encouragement and generosity has inspired me to take on another endurance event challenge. I felt that I needed to raise the bar to acknowledge just how much I appreciated all that you did and so I have joined Team in Training again, this time I will be competing in the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge. A 39.3-mile (63.24-km) adventure held over two days, where I will run the Half Marathon (13.2-miles/21.1-km) on Saturday, followed by the full Marathon (26.2-miles/42.2-km) on Sunday. It is a daunting task, but one I know that I can accomplish with your help. I am asking you to help me reach my fundraising goal of $7500 in honour of Derek by the end of December.

Derek’s Story:

On March 4, 2009 one of my best friends was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The good news was, “it's highly curable”. The bad news was, he had Stage IV, the most advanced form of the disease

He has officially been in remission since October 1, 2009. Congrats DT, we knew you could do it!!

Derek remained positive throughout his entire treatment. He may have lost his hair, but he never lost his sense of humour in spite of difficult procedures and side effects. Anytime I start feeling like I’m having a rough day of training or racing, I think of Derek’s fight and it’s easy to push on through.

So how can you help?

1. Sponsor me (a.k.a. show me the money)

a) The easiest way is to make a secure online donation at http://www.tinyurl.com/Going-Goofy using Credit Card or PayPal

b) You can also by donate by completing and mailing a donation form, touch base and I'll send you the form

c) Check with your employer to see if they will match your donation, many do.

2. Forward this message to everyone you know. Don’t assume that if we know the same person that I have their e-mail or have sent to them, I know you may get this e-mail 12-20 times, but really it’s a small price to pay IMHO.

3. Help me find corporate sponsors; drop me an e-mail and I’ll let you know what’s involved.

4. Volunteer to help me with my fundraising activities and events, I need ideas and people to help with selling tickets, creating posters, etc…

5. Attend one of my events or purchase one of my fundraising items, bike safety lights, entertainment books, etc…

6. All of the above!!

If you’re interested in following my progress, I will be documenting my training and fundraising progress on my blog http://shmittysrunningblog.blogspot.com/ and there’s a direct RSS feed to my Facebook Notes, so if you’re a friend on FB you can just check there or follow me on Twitter (Shmitty67).

If you want to know more about my fundraising or if you want to help in some way I haven’t thought of, simply reply to this e-mail, call me, follow me on Twitter, comment on my FB Wall, Notes, or status, write a comment on my fundraising page, or comment on my blog.

Together we can help find a cure!

Thank you all!!

Brent

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…actually it was Taper time…

First of all, for those of you who do not know, tapering is the practice of reducing the volume and or intensity of your workouts before a key race. The goal of any tapering program (and there are a few variations), is to ensure that you are fully recovered from previous workouts and at the same time, completely rested for the big event.

The reaction to tapering is different for each person, but usually falls into one of two categories, it is either dreaded or embraced…personally, I have always enjoyed the taper, looking at it as an opportunity to relax, refuel and bank some energy for my goal race.

This time around, my experience has been a little of both, at times relaxing and a welcome break from the long distances and time consuming workouts, and at times…unsettling and downright bothersome!

I’m used to that antsy feeling from last year’s DU season and the multiple races and tapers, but this experience has been quite different. Maybe it has to do with the reduced race schedule, maybe because training for the marathon has been going on for so long, or maybe because this is such a public goal with so many people supporting me in so many ways over the last few months as I have been training and fundraising.

Whatever the cause the effects have been odd, the runs I am doing have felt good, but times have been much slower, odd aches and pains have been noticed and I ALWAYS feel like I have ate too much, in spite of reducing the amount I’m eating and paying close attention to what exactly I am taking in. I’m getting 8+ hours of sleep per night (more than usual), but still wake up feeling I could sleep another 2-4.

I have been doing some reading and I know that none of this is uncommon, but it is still one of the more challenging aspects so far. I’ve been trying to focus on the race plan, and all the logistics for the race (race kit, meeting places, TNT commitments, etc) to keep my mind off of the more worrisome aspects, hence this blog entry…the good news I guess is that we’re less than a week from race day, and I’ll have to trust that all these months of preparation and all of the great folks who have and continue to be so supportive, will get me through this and that come race day…all I’ll have to do is just show up and run…maybe that’s the thing…focus on the KISS principle and forget all the other outside influences.

One thing for sure…this preparation, taper period and no doubt the marathon itself…have been like no other I have experienced so far.

Looking forward to seeing many of you on race day…and hopefully hearing you too.