Part 2:
After the South County Triathlon I piddled around with my running and biking, entering several other races, sometimes as a team. I never ran more than 5k either in training or in races but I got into much better shape, losing about 15 pounds. On vacations, I enjoyed running on the beach nearly every morning at sunrise but I never really considered doing much else until Matthew ran the Chicago Marathon and completed the Lake Placid Ironman. I was hooked!
In 2005 I decided it was time for me to run a marathon. I bought a marathon training book and began to study. Every morning at 5:30 I hit the street with only my iPod for company. I ran for 5 minutes, walked for 1. One Saturday morning I was scheduled to run 12 miles, but as I approached six miles I developed serious knee pain and had to call Susan for a ride home. A trip to a sports doctor showed that my knees were in great shape and the problem appeared to be my IT band. I started a stretching program but got very little improvement. The Lewis & Clark marathon was about a month before Chicago. I was scheduled for an 18 mile training run so I registered for L&C not realizing that at 18 miles you are as far away from the finish line as possible. My IT band was hurting before the half way mark. I can remember that I limped not 25 feet from the car as I went by. At mile 18 I got some Advil from the aid tent which helped a bit. I limped along deciding that I would try to finish within the time limit then I would know if I could complete Chicago. Oddly, things seemed to improve after L&C. I could not train nearly as much as I should have but I spent endless boring hours in the pool water running. When the race started I was off and running without a hitch. I had joined a 5:45 pace group and had no trouble staying with them. I felt well enough at mile 18 to pick up the pace……I should have waited until mile 20 or 22 because I really hit the wall at mile 24. I finished at 5:3XXX…what a feeling!
Once again, I just piddled with my running until March 15th, 2007. On that day, just one day before my 10th anniversary of being cancer free my urologist informed me that I wasn’t. There was no question that the cancer had returned. Because of constant monitoring and follow up the cancer was isolated in the region where the prostate had been, it had not spread. Radiation was the only option so I was scheduled for 39 treatments, five days a week for 8 weeks. I drove home and immediately registered for the Chicago Marathon. A few days later, I was holding our brand new granddaughter, Sally and made a deal with her. If she wanted to run we would run the Chicago Marathon together when she was 18. She immediately passed gas so the deal was sealed. I will be 77 years old when that day comes and I fully intend to keep my end of the bargain!
Soon, I learned about a training program at Velocity Sports, “Need for Speed” and knowing that I would probably need some help in my training I signed up. Every day at 3:30 I would have my treatment, head home, change clothes and run as far as I was able. Some days that wasn’t very far. The training course helped tremendously, I began to get into better shape and my running improved. My doctors could not believe that I was actually running further and faster as the treatments progressed. Susan was very patient; between working, radiation, and running I wasn’t able to do much else. During the Need for Speed course I met Kristen, a coach from Fleet Feet and learned that they had a marathon training course in progress. I joined the group on their 3rd Saturday run, 10 miles on the Katy Trail. By the 8th mile I had fallen back from the group by about ½ mile. Kristen stayed with me and encouraged me. Suddenly I looked up and here came the entire team looping back and falling in behind me, what a feeling of support and encouragement, it brought tears to my eyes. At that point no one except Kristen knew what I was going and one confided in me later that some wondered what this ‘old’ guy was doing in their pace group.
One very hot, humid and breeze-less Saturday we ran 16 miles on Grant’s Trail. I drank water but took in no electrolytes and became severely dehydrated. An ambulance ride to the ER, scans to be sure I hadn’t had a stroke and lots of Glucose later I came out of the ER to find nearly half the team waiting to be sure I was okay. Some weeks I would fall back to a slower pace group but as the weeks went by I began to be able to keep up with the pace and at the end I could finish in the front of the group. Our graduation run was doing the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon, then going back out for an additional 9 miles. I finished the half in 2:04, downed some carbs and electrolytes and finished the 22 miles. It was great getting the cheers, many of the spectators thought I had done a “fast” marathon!
A few weeks later I was in the starting corral for the Chicago Marathon. Once again it was hot it was humid and there was no breeze. I felt that I had an advantage having trained in the hot conditions all summer. With a surge of over-confidence I was off at too fast a pace. I carried my fluids for the first half, wanting to avoid the waits at the water stops. My strategy worked fine until I got to the half way mark and they had run out of their fluids, the tables were empty! I could really feel the heat building up and slowed my pace considerably adjusting my goal from a fast run to “let’s match my previous time”. About mile 16 or 18 I again adjusted my goal from trying to match my previous time to let’s survive. It was about that time that I began to hear that the race had been cancelled and that we could continue but it was just a “fun run”. At mile 19 I knew they were lying…..this was not a “fun” at all! At mile 21 they had the course blocked and a policeman asked that I board a bus to be returned to the finish. I protested but he insisted saying that the course was closed and there would be no support for the final 5.2 miles. Looking back, while disappointed I was grateful, I was in pretty bad shape and my judgment was impaired, going further would have been dangerous.
After the South County Triathlon I piddled around with my running and biking, entering several other races, sometimes as a team. I never ran more than 5k either in training or in races but I got into much better shape, losing about 15 pounds. On vacations, I enjoyed running on the beach nearly every morning at sunrise but I never really considered doing much else until Matthew ran the Chicago Marathon and completed the Lake Placid Ironman. I was hooked!
In 2005 I decided it was time for me to run a marathon. I bought a marathon training book and began to study. Every morning at 5:30 I hit the street with only my iPod for company. I ran for 5 minutes, walked for 1. One Saturday morning I was scheduled to run 12 miles, but as I approached six miles I developed serious knee pain and had to call Susan for a ride home. A trip to a sports doctor showed that my knees were in great shape and the problem appeared to be my IT band. I started a stretching program but got very little improvement. The Lewis & Clark marathon was about a month before Chicago. I was scheduled for an 18 mile training run so I registered for L&C not realizing that at 18 miles you are as far away from the finish line as possible. My IT band was hurting before the half way mark. I can remember that I limped not 25 feet from the car as I went by. At mile 18 I got some Advil from the aid tent which helped a bit. I limped along deciding that I would try to finish within the time limit then I would know if I could complete Chicago. Oddly, things seemed to improve after L&C. I could not train nearly as much as I should have but I spent endless boring hours in the pool water running. When the race started I was off and running without a hitch. I had joined a 5:45 pace group and had no trouble staying with them. I felt well enough at mile 18 to pick up the pace……I should have waited until mile 20 or 22 because I really hit the wall at mile 24. I finished at 5:3XXX…what a feeling!
Once again, I just piddled with my running until March 15th, 2007. On that day, just one day before my 10th anniversary of being cancer free my urologist informed me that I wasn’t. There was no question that the cancer had returned. Because of constant monitoring and follow up the cancer was isolated in the region where the prostate had been, it had not spread. Radiation was the only option so I was scheduled for 39 treatments, five days a week for 8 weeks. I drove home and immediately registered for the Chicago Marathon. A few days later, I was holding our brand new granddaughter, Sally and made a deal with her. If she wanted to run we would run the Chicago Marathon together when she was 18. She immediately passed gas so the deal was sealed. I will be 77 years old when that day comes and I fully intend to keep my end of the bargain!
Soon, I learned about a training program at Velocity Sports, “Need for Speed” and knowing that I would probably need some help in my training I signed up. Every day at 3:30 I would have my treatment, head home, change clothes and run as far as I was able. Some days that wasn’t very far. The training course helped tremendously, I began to get into better shape and my running improved. My doctors could not believe that I was actually running further and faster as the treatments progressed. Susan was very patient; between working, radiation, and running I wasn’t able to do much else. During the Need for Speed course I met Kristen, a coach from Fleet Feet and learned that they had a marathon training course in progress. I joined the group on their 3rd Saturday run, 10 miles on the Katy Trail. By the 8th mile I had fallen back from the group by about ½ mile. Kristen stayed with me and encouraged me. Suddenly I looked up and here came the entire team looping back and falling in behind me, what a feeling of support and encouragement, it brought tears to my eyes. At that point no one except Kristen knew what I was going and one confided in me later that some wondered what this ‘old’ guy was doing in their pace group.
One very hot, humid and breeze-less Saturday we ran 16 miles on Grant’s Trail. I drank water but took in no electrolytes and became severely dehydrated. An ambulance ride to the ER, scans to be sure I hadn’t had a stroke and lots of Glucose later I came out of the ER to find nearly half the team waiting to be sure I was okay. Some weeks I would fall back to a slower pace group but as the weeks went by I began to be able to keep up with the pace and at the end I could finish in the front of the group. Our graduation run was doing the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon, then going back out for an additional 9 miles. I finished the half in 2:04, downed some carbs and electrolytes and finished the 22 miles. It was great getting the cheers, many of the spectators thought I had done a “fast” marathon!
A few weeks later I was in the starting corral for the Chicago Marathon. Once again it was hot it was humid and there was no breeze. I felt that I had an advantage having trained in the hot conditions all summer. With a surge of over-confidence I was off at too fast a pace. I carried my fluids for the first half, wanting to avoid the waits at the water stops. My strategy worked fine until I got to the half way mark and they had run out of their fluids, the tables were empty! I could really feel the heat building up and slowed my pace considerably adjusting my goal from a fast run to “let’s match my previous time”. About mile 16 or 18 I again adjusted my goal from trying to match my previous time to let’s survive. It was about that time that I began to hear that the race had been cancelled and that we could continue but it was just a “fun run”. At mile 19 I knew they were lying…..this was not a “fun” at all! At mile 21 they had the course blocked and a policeman asked that I board a bus to be returned to the finish. I protested but he insisted saying that the course was closed and there would be no support for the final 5.2 miles. Looking back, while disappointed I was grateful, I was in pretty bad shape and my judgment was impaired, going further would have been dangerous.
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