Hi everyone... it has been a while, I know. I hope you have been well.
Things here have been moving right along, and despite some scheduling challenges, the miles have been adding up. I do have to admit that I enlisted the help of a friend this month, and the move turned out to be one of tactical genius for the coach - kind of like the striker who comes on late to score a golazo in his first touch of the game! I'll get to that story in a minute...
... but first, the mileage:
June 2: 7 miles
June 3: 7 miles
June 4: 6 miles
June 5: 7 miles
June 6: 6.5 miles
June 7: 10 miles
June 8: off
June 9: 7 miles
June 10: 3 miles
June 11: 6 miles
June 12: 7 miles
June 13: 7 miles
June 14: 8 miles
June 15: 3 miles
June 16: 3 miles
June 17: off
June 18: off
June 19: 8 miles
June 20: 3 miles
June 21: 20 miles * sub (Mark "Ironman" Johnson)
June 22: 6 miles
The total so far is 127.5 miles. Only 872.5 miles to go!
Remember, I have to hit about 200 miles per month to get this thing done. June is a short month, but I have 9 days to get 72.5 miles in, or about 8 miles per day. I have developed a little bit of a calf strain in my right leg, but I think we will be able to work through it. I still have one substitute left for the month of June (2 per month is the rule) and I will try to use that sub wisely.
Speaking of super subs - my first one turned out to be a huge boost to the effort. As I explained in my last update, June 16-18 were the dates of our first VIP camp for 2008. The camp is an important event for us in a lot of ways, and it takes a lot of time in planning and implementation - which means there was not a lot of time for running during those days. I had been pretty consistently hitting 6 or 7 miles a day with a longer Saturday run, but during the VIP I had to scale back. Sunday through Friday of that VIP week I only squeezed out 20 miles on the road, which meant that the weekend needed to be a BIG day.
Enter Mark Johnson.
Mark has no real connection to our program other than the fact that he lives two doors down from us here in Valparaiso.
Carin, Alex and I really hit the jackpot when we landed in the neighborhood we did here in Valparaiso. We live on a cul de sac in a sub-division near campus, and we couldn't ask for a nicer place to live. They say it takes a village to raise your family, and if true, Alex is in good hands because of the villagers we live by - including Mark and Barbie Johnson. Friendly, sharing, helpful people that take an interest in each other is a relative rarity today, but we have found it on Potato Creek Court.
A few times a week you will find the neighbors sitting out in a driveway, enjoying each other's company, a few adult beverages, and the beautiful summer weather. During one of these evenings, my running and the Extra Mile came up in conversation, and Mark told me immediately he'd like to be a substitute runner one day and donate some mileage. Late last week I told him I needed some help, and he said he'd be glad to hit the road for us on Saturday morning. Mark is an intense competitor and fitness fanatic that trains and competes in triathalons - I believe he has twice tackled the Ironman Triathalon - so I knew we'd be in good hands on Saturday. Little did I know....
Here is the email I got from Mark last night:
Hi Mike,
I am officially giving you 20 miles that I ran on Saturday. Hope you had a good weekend.
Mark
That was a great email, and a great donation! I should point out that Mark and his wife Barbie (Mark and I have one thing in common at least - we are both over-achievers in the marriage category) have also donated financially to our cause. I should also note that it was recently discovered that Mark has a tear in his rotator cuff - a chronic and painful shoulder injury likely stemming from his swimming, biking and lifting - and he will head into surgery on Wednesday. Just before going on the shelf for a while, he knocked out a really long run for our program. Thank you Mark!
I am inspired by Mark, and by the many others that have donated to our efforts. As a tribute, I am going to attempt my own "really long run" this afternoon. Not quite 20 miles, and very certainly not at the pace Mark can glide through them, I will still get up around 16-18 miles today as I run/walk from my home in Valparaiso to the beach in Porter County. Carin will be there playing volleyball (my wife plays professionally on the beach in the summers and trains in the afternoons near Lake Michigan) and she can then drag my sorry rear end home if I make it.
I did download one of my favorite books, "The Alchemist", for the trip today. The audio version is about three hours long, so hopefully I can see the shore before it ends. If you have not read this book - you should! It is a great tale about chasing your dreams.
That is all for now. I will update you again soon. Many miles to go before we rest, so gotta run...
Mike
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