9/10/08 Update: Belated August Report

I wrote this August update a week ago and then forgot to post it! Someone emailed me and asked when I was going to update the blog, and while I was thinking “I just did last week”, I checked and realized that I hadn’t.

Here you go:

I have taken to doing a portion of my mileage on machines at the Valpo Athletic Club near my house. Jumping back and forth between the elliptical machine and the treadmill has allowed me to sustain my mileage without some of the pounding that wore me down in July. I am one week shy of forty, and I have to admit that there are days when I feel every bit of that. The machines have kept me moving toward the goal of 1000, though, and now when I mix in two or three road runs a week I feel much better.

My routine now that regular classes have started looks something like this:
5:00am Wake Up / shower / breakfast
6:30am Team Training
9:00 – 2:00pm Office
2:30 – 4:30pm Workout / run
4:45pm Pick up the little boss at school
5:30pm – 9:00pm Family time at home / dinner / recruiting calls
9:30pm Fall asleep with Alex to the cartoon / book of his choice

Game days or travel may throw a wrench in that schedule, but it does seem to work pretty well for now. My second favorite part of the day is with the team in training, so I am always excited to get up and get going. My least favorite part of the day is in the office, so just when that starts to drag, I sneak out and hit the road or the club for a sweat.

My absolute favorite part of the day is the end when I have my son draped on top of me as we watch a video or read a book before I pass out. I inevitably fall asleep faster than he does, and he tries a few times to wake me before he finally lets me go and falls asleep himself. I usually get tired of him snoring in my ear and wake up an hour or so later to get him situated in bed before I mumble a few good nights to Carin and turn in for good.

That’s it – the glamorous life of the family with two D1 head coaches and a soon-to-be five year old son. If Carin and I didn’t work down the hall from one another, I am not sure we could pull this off. Her team practices in the late afternoon and mine goes in the early morning so we can trade off with A-Rod. The ability to see each other in the copy room or grab lunch together at least keeps us connected – she doesn’t like the mornings and I am not much for conversation later at night. It is a life the “normal” families of the community don’t quite get, but we love it and are thankful for the chance to each pursue our passions in coaching. If our version of “date night” is a Jimmy John’s sandwich at an athletic department meeting we have to attend, so be it.

As for the running, August came and went with a grand total of 219.8 miles.

Here was the August breakdown:
8/1 6
8/2 10
8/3 off
8/4 7
8/5 6
8/6 6
8/7 7
8/8 7
8/9 10
8/10 13.1 donation from Misty Knestrict
8/11 6
8/12 6
8/13 41.7 donation from VU MSO players
8/14 4
8/15 6
8/16 6
8/17 6
8/18 4
8/19 off
8/20 6
8/21 12
8/22 4
8/23 5
8/24 off
8/25 6
8/26 6
8/27 6
8/28 6
8/29 6
8/30 8
8/31 3

So, here we are… after three months we have reached 626.30 miles and are tantalizingly close to the goal of 1000 miles by November 2, 2008.

It gets harder now, though.

The season, as you know, is in full swing. We spend a lot of hours in the bus, and my routine gets thrown out of whack. Time seems even more precious now with the pressure of matches and results. The good news is that I need the running now more than ever, if for no other reason than to relieve stress.

I’ve got September and October, plus two days in November, to knock out 373.8 miles. That is about 6 miles per day for 63 days. Barring injury or some other speed bump, I am confident we’ll make it.

Much of that confidence has to do with some big mileage donations I know will be coming my way. The Chicago Marathon could be a big day for us, as are some of the training runs many of you are putting in now to prepare for that race.

It is also time to make a final push for pledges. We have had a very generous showing of support so far, and I think we can still do even more. Who do we know that may want to get involved that we haven’t asked yet? I will start drumming up support from my end, and I hope that you do the same. In a campaign like this one, a little bit goes a long, long way. Can you find someone to commit to a penny a mile? If we get one hundred people more committed at that level, we’ve added another 1,000 dollars to our efforts. The accumulation of little things is no longer a little thing. In our environment here, every dollar will find a use that helps us to continue to affect positive changes. We’ve come a long way already with this program, but we still have a ways to go.

I look forward to keeping you updated through the remaining two months. Your support means so much to us, and we talk about it as a team all the time. We realize we are playing now for a network of fans, family, alumni, and friends that are all turning Valparaiso Soccer into something very special.

Thank you.

I can’t be late for the bus for Evansville… gotta run.

Mike