ALMOST THERE

With a twenty mile run/walk under her belt, accomplished yesterday beginning at 4:14 in the morning, I’m even more confident that my wife will accomplish another milestone when she takes on the challenge of running a 5K, half marathon and a full marathon in a span of three day. That’s 42.4 miles in three days for those who haven’t a clue the distances of marathons.

Unshaken by the challenge, she gained some personal confidence when she easily ran and walked the 20 mile training run, part of which was run in our mall’s parking lot and part in our neighborhood’s county park. 

Confidence supersedes anxieties.

Accompanying her on my road bike, I liked the county park half over the initial mall run. Sitting on the bike’s saddle for four and a half hours, at slow speeds, isn’t exactly exuberating in my book. Being able to open up the speed while in the park somewhat alleviated the agony of sitting on a small saddle for hours.

There remains one more training run of any significant distance before Disney, the intermediate distance ten-miler taking place next week. I’m looking forward to being her water boy and running/biking companion.

THE THREE CABALLEROS

No matter how much I try, and how necessary it is for me to ignore running events, I just can’t seem to stop myself from signing up. Today was another classic example.

After listening to The Amazing Race’s third place finisher tell the audience that you should never give up, I jumped up from the couch, told my wife that I’m signing up for Disney’s Three Caballeros 5K that takes place this coming January in Walt Disney World, and then I did just what I swore I would never again do – sign up to run/walk another running event.

Not only did I sign up myself to walk the 5K, I signed up my wife as well. We had discussed this possibility days ago that if I felt up to it, I might give the 6^th of January’s 5K a try seeing as though I am compelled to drop out of the subsequent Goofy Challenge, a double event that I’ve completed the past six years. 

Unable to run those distances because of knee and back issues, it’s time to pass the baton to my fabulous wife.

My courageous wife now has three running events in three days to conquer. I’ve no doubt that she has the fortitude to endure 42.4 miles in three days. And I have no doubt that she allowed me to sign her up to run the first day’s event just for me.

That’s the kind of person she is.

GOOFY’S RACE AND A HALF CHALLENGE TRAINING COMING TO A CLOSE

One more intermediate distance run and one more long distance run and then Janet’s Goofy’s Race & a Half Challenge training should be completed. And boy oh boy is she ever looking forward to her last long run/walk combination.

It’s not that she abhors the actual run and speed walk training. Standing on her feet 40 hours per week while working is the villain that extinguishes what joy she has for her chosen participation sport. The training part, that is!

Anyway, Janet courageously completed her next-to-last long run early last week and she has that last intermediate distance run coming up Wednesday the 14th.  

During that training run and all subsequent runs, I’ll be escorting her on my road bike from start to finish, joyfully carrying her Gatorade and water on my sleek road bike. Immediately afterward, however, I’ll be joining my cycling comrades for our classic bike rides to and from Weston’s Einstein’s Coffee Shoppe. It’s there that we guys and gals solve most of the world’s problems, if only in our demented minds.

Any thought of me signing up for Disney’s Three Caballeros 5K has been distinguished by reality. All I can envision is messing up my knees and back ever more and then not being able to walk normally while in Walt Disney World. With us having season passes to all of Disney’s theme parks, and Janet running both Saturday and Sunday, I need healthy legs and a strong back just to keep up with her.  I have vowed not to let her down!  

Besides, I must listen to my doctor’s advice.

Then again, it's only 3.1 miles...

HUMPTY DUMPTY

I admit to being somewhat negligent regarding my writing and blogging. But darn it all, sometime a man just doesn’t feel like sitting still at a computer conveying bits and pieces of his physical fitness sessions or lack of. I’ll try to do better!

What can I say other than I’ve continued to be active on my road bike but negligently inactive in the gym, and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

As we age, it is of the utmost importance to keep our bodies’ strong, if for no other reason just to keep from being needlessly injured should we take a fall. I’ve promised myself that as of this week, beginning today, I shall pick up the pace in the gym even at the expense of missing a bike ride or two. And I hate missing bike rides with my cycling buddies.

Semi depressed over not being able to race-walk or run any longer, I tried one last time to race-walk at an acceptable pace, and I did this test in Century Village way up in West Palm Beach while visiting my mother-in-law.

I wish I could report that all went well, especially since I’ve now completed all five lubricating knee injections. But the truth is, at mile 1.7 I had to end the test because of pain in the left knee. For once I listened to my body. The right knee was fine!

It is what it is and I’ve finally had closure on any thought of running or walking any type of running event, from 5K’s to full marathons. For now, that is! Should a divine miracle be granted, I would consider making an attempt at walking my tenth in a row ING Miami Half Marathon in latter February. Only time will tell!

Early last week when I was following my wife on my road bike while she was running and walking around the mall on their reprehensible sidewalks, she took a fall just as she began the transition from walking to running. Thanks to uneven sidewalks on the south side of Pembroke Lakes Mall, along with the sun that was shining directly into her eyes, she fell on the concrete injuring her right arm and shoulder, not to mention her pride. She did, however, manage to pick herself up from the ground after we assessed the extent of her injuries.

After significantly decreasing her pace the last mile and a half, she prided herself in finishing a run despite the embarrassing fall. My wife is one tough, determined lady.

However, never again will she run or race-walk on those bloody mall sidewalks.

SIXTEEN-MILE TRAINING WALK/RUN

I really have to give my wife a lot of credit. Even though I am no longer able to run or speed walk due to running-related injuries, she devotedly continues with her Goofy Challenge training. Determined to complete both the half marathon and the full marathon  this coming January in Walt Disney World, without me offering support by running and walking by her side as I've done the past six years, she faithfully laces up her running shoes and heads out the door for whatever distance run/walk is on her training schedule. Yesterday was a 16-mile training run.

Greeting us outdoors was near perfect running and biking weather.  After Janet laced up her running shoes and I secured my biking shoes with Velcro straps, we began the journey Monday morning at 4:49 a.m. 

Not able to run or walk because of run-related injuries, I was at least going to escort my wife on my Felt road bike the entire distance. Living in the city as we do, one never knows who or what lurks in the darkness of night. Or for that matter, who or what lurks in the light of day, especially in our neighborhood’s county park. Even decent neighborhoods such as ours have occasional drifters meander in and around parks and mall areas.

My wife began her usual routine of walking and running by starting out in our regional mall’s well-lit parking area. Our plan was to run/walk and bike in the mall’s secure parking area until day-break, at which time we would skedaddle across busy Flamingo Road into CB Smith Park. We did just that when my bike’s GPS indicated that I had ridden just under eleven miles. Jan was almost at mile marker six when we entered the massive county park.

Besides offering my wife added security, my job was to carry the Gatorade and water bottles on my road bike. Whenever she was in need of fluid, I'd ride close by and then hand her whichever drink she preferred at the time. After she would consume the amount that she wanted, I would then circle around her so that I could take the bottle from her hand. My wife likes the fact that she doesn’t have to tote a bottle and I like the fact that I can contribute towards her training.

Sitting in the bike’s saddle for nearly four hours, yesterday’s session was more of a buttocks workout for me than anything else. It doesn’t matter if I sat in a new Serfas cruiser saddle, four hours on any skinny bike seat will be rather uncomfortable.

Jan completed her walk/run routine in a conservative pace of 15.11 minutes per mile, or slightly slower than 4 mph. Her goal yesterday was to complete the training walk/run faster than what Disney allows, which is a pace of 16 minutes per mile. 

Mission accomplished!

Robert's GPS: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/446050

Janet’s GPS: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/128669663

MARATHON TRAINING

You know what? I do not miss marathon training in the least. Not one iota do I miss having to run/walk predetermined distances on predetermined days. I can tell you that in past years, going back to 1997, much of my every-day, time-line schedule used to be full of strict training schedules. I would live or die by those schedules.  Now I can say goodbye to restrictive training schedules and hello to impromptu bike rides. My time is now my own!

Don’t take me wrong, I’ll assuredly miss event days as I stand in the wings while others participate in fun, rewarding events such as Disney World half marathons and full marathons or the Country Music half or full marathons that precede fabulous country music concerts in downtown Nashville.

I’ll also miss the challenges and having flashy finisher medals draped around my neck after victoriously crossing the finish lines. I’ll miss the starting line anxieties and the camaraderie of fellow runners, but I won’t miss the never-ending training. And I won’t miss my knees seizing up after miles and miles of fast walking and running.

Now that I have ceased running and power walking,  there is no longer a need to set long-distance running and walking goals. Instead, my current goal is to simply walk normal. Bad knees, as you can imagine, do not allow normal walking. Bad knees forbid nearly everything that’s enjoyed in the great outdoors. There is no room in my life for bad knees or bad anything, and that includes my lower back, which has recently been diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis and Spondylosis, not to mention the arthritis.

But things are about to get much better.  

After having received my second of five Hyaluronan knee injections, I am now able to slowly walk to and from our fitness center without grimacing or complaining. That’s a total of one-mile over sidewalks and uneven grassy areas along the bank of the lake. I feel good about my progress. I’ll feel even better when I’m able to again make use of our Disney World season passes – without the thought of being placed in a wheel chair.

On second thought, doesn't the Disney folks place everyone who is disabled at the front of the lines?  

Adopt-A-Bike Ride

The Adopt-a-Bike and Special Needs Bike programs provide bikes and helmets to low income, disadvantaged and special needs children and adults who would not be able to own a bike otherwise. Started in 2002, it has grown each year and as of 2010, SBW has provided over 2000 bikes and helmets to various community groups within the tri-county area.

I’m pleased to announce that we had well over 250 cyclists during this past Sunday’s Adopt-a-Bike ride.

For those who wished to participate in the actual bike ride, they had several distance and speed choices to select from. Myself, I chose one of the slower groups to ride with.

With our group being the next to last to leave, we didn’t leave Markham Park until ten minutes after the first and fastest group departed. And because of our later start, we and the group behind us were the only groups of cyclists that ran into a moderately heavy rain storm.

Notwithstanding the danger of riding in the driving rain, I thought the drenching felt heavenly compared to this past summer’s relentless heat and humidity. One downside of the rain, however, was the wet roadways.

Riding directly behind the cyclist in front of you, their rear tire constantly threw road water into your face and chest. Seeing out of my sunglasses was next to impossible.

Anyway, the rain ended and we continued on with our Sunday journey wearing wet biking shorts and drenched jerseys.

The strong northerly wind was another factor, one that our leaders wisely conquered by changing the course. Instead of heading south in the beginning of the ride, which would have forced us to ride north into the wind during the second half of the ride, we started out riding northbound. Thank heavens for wise bike leaders. As it was, we glided along nearly effortlessly the second half of our 37 mile ride. Thank you Allan and Deanna!

Despite the inclement weather in the beginning of the ride, we still maintained a 16 mph pace throughout the entire 36.3 mile course.

Map and stats of ride   

To replenish some of those lost carbs and calories, after the ride the bike club had a nice layout of bagels, donuts and fruit. I enjoyed one of each and seconds on the donuts.