Three Weeks and Counting!

In retrospect, the training period has disappeared into the mists much more quickly than it seemed it would 15 long weeks ago. Three weeks from today all of the training, the taper, and the race itself will be history. Hard to believe!

Saturday I did my last ‘long run,’ a 20 mile power walk, and at a pace that very much pleased me. Best of all, although I was understandably tired at the end, I felt quite good. Now the daily and weekly miles will diminish until that magic day, April 18, in Hopkinton. My body will have a chance to heal if it needs to do so, I doubtless will be a little more relaxed since I don’t have to look forward to hours at a time on the pavement, and I can turn my attention to being sure that I have everything I need to take with me to Boston. The bib pick-up card and information arrived in the mail last week, a sure sign that the race is getting close.

Weather has been a continuing challenge this year. A week ago, for the first time all year, I was out in garb close to what I hope to wear for Boston – shorts, a tech shirt (long-sleeved, although a short-sleeved one would have sufficed), and my visor. Didn’t need the tights both top and bottom, a headband to keep my ears warm, gloves, or a light jacket that have been almost constant necessities on virtually every other training run this year. Not with temperatures in the high 50’s. But Saturday (26^th), for the 20-miler, it was back to full winter gear to cope with temperatures in the low to mid 20’s for most of the session with a wind that at times was quite brisk. I guess the good news is that, if Boston weather is really nasty, it won’t be the first time I have had to cope with it!

That’s the good news. But March 4 brought news that is a real bummer. Kenzie that day, after a couple of months of seeing a doctor, doing physiotherapy, and trying to do whatever she could to overcome continuing pain in her ankle, was put in a ‘boot’ for a stress fracture in the ankle. She has provided much more information on her blog at http://kenziesheadedforbostontoo.blogspot.com/ What that means, of course, is that we will not be side by side for 26.2 miles – a tremendous disappointment to both of us, as she won’t be able to do the marathon. My long run the next day was one of the most difficult that I have done; I hadn’t realized just how important the mental component is in long distance running, and of course I couldn’t shake the disappointment of the previous day. Not that the disappointment has diminished now, but I have overcome that initial shock and now look forward to whatever we are able to do together as Dana-Farber teammates. She (and Steve) will be in Boston, pick up her bib, visit the runners’ expo, check in as a Dana-Farber Team member, attend the pasta party on Sunday, and, I hope, be able to ride the busses to join the Team before the race at the parish house in Hopkinton and be there for the Team photo. Then she will meet up with Steve and Jule to watch me on the course a few times. Her goal now (and all is subject to how quickly she heals) is to be able to run me in the last mile or so. If that doesn’t work, we will figure out something else for the end of the marathon so she will have a chance to experience at least some of the tremendous thrills and excitement of the event.

To her credit, Kenzie hasn’t slacked off at all on her efforts to raise funds for the Barr Program for Innovative Cancer Research. As she says, her ankle will heal, but those battling cancer don’t always have the same certitude. She started out on this adventure to support what she considered to be a very important cause, and that hasn’t changed. What has changed are some of the personal things that we were both looking forward to experiencing, but in the larger scheme of life those are of very minor importance. We will still have experiences that we will remember for years to come, and I suspect that there will be some unexpected surprises of one kind or another along the way too.

We are both working to garner a lot more support, as our fundraising efforts have not been nearly as fruitful as we had hoped, and expected. Three weeks to go, and we will be putting on a push to generate contributions. It is easily done on the web on our joint site at http://www.runDFMC.org/2011/cameron If you haven’t already done so, won’t you please consider supporting our efforts to help those who really need to be able to benefit from the results of research supported by the Barr Program? What the D-F Marathon Challenge Team does really does make a difference, one of which we all can be proud. Thanks so much!