Lake path-1, Dave-0

OK, last Saturday I attended my first group run. 100+ people in about 16 different groups based on time. So about 7 or 8 people in each time group, right... wrong. My group had 2 people, I'm one of them. At first I was a bit confused, but later it made sense S. and I just rock so much face that there isn't any awesome left for anyone else in our group. That makes me feel better.

So I learned a little lesson this week and I think it's important to share. No matter how comfy your work shoes are, they aren't designed for athletic purposes. Last week I decided to walk home one day. I didn't have my running shoes, but didn't think I needed them. Well after the 5 mile trek, I was right, I had a great walk and felt good. The next day....OUCH. I don't know if shin splints come in different sizes, but if they do, I just ordered some up in extra large. Since shin splints don't go away, they just hang out until they are bored, I still have them. Stinkin' work shoes (note: the blame is entirely on the shoes and in no way the responsibility of the dude who chose to be an idiot).

Back to my Saturday group run. I thought the shin splints went away and guess what: around mile 1 of 4, I realized they weren't gone and that I not only awoke the beast, but I angered it as well. I didn't deviate from our assigned pace (in fact S. and I killed it by about 2 min/mile) but it sure was not the pleasant experience I imagnined it would be. I'll have to rest up and do some bike riding this week and hopefully appease the god of shin.

This weekends long run is 5 miles. I think as long as I can shake my buddy (the shin splint) I should be able to survive.

Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier. Big props to Bones and the R. family for being the first to donate. Now there is no backing out of this thing. Great.

Baby steps to..

So training has officially started. Which means I have officially began a life of being sore. I had a strong start by missing our first group run this past Saturday. In all fairness to me, I was in Phoenix for B's wedding, but still not the best start. I should be an optimist here, and so I'll focus on Phoenix as being a great excuse for not running, and I do feel I'm pretty gifted in the area of making excuses. Go me.

I did a make-up run, 3 miles, and then used the Aids Marathon special formula to figure out what my time should be in December. Well based on my inability to read the instructions, I have two potential completion times, either 6hours and 59 minutes or 6 hours and 6 minutes. The winner last year won in something like 2 hours and 17 min. What a sucker. I am going to get much more bang for my buck than they are. Those Kenyans are going to travel all that way and pay all that money for only 2hrs. Not me, I'm going to make the most of the trip and really make the experience last. In fact, after I finish in 7hrs or so, I might turn around and do it in reverse (reversing the course, not running backwards)

I still need to purchase my initial equipment (first pair of shoes, water bottle and belt...) but I'm going to wait until I go to the group run this Saturday. I want to see what the cool kids are wearing, so I can match them and hope to be cool as well. I think Z Cavaricci or IOU have some new shoes out. That's still popular....right?

I also got my Fundraising Kit this week, so I'm brainstorming fundraising ideas. People, give me some feedback and ideas. I'm thinking of a few of the O-so-popular Bar parties at maybe the Dark Horse and some other local bar. My other big idea is a poker tournament or two with half going to the pot and half going to kick AIDS in the in the nads. I'm hoping work will match all of my funds as well, but I haven't started researching that yet. Give me some ideas.

Oh, gotta go and try to put a quick 3 mile speed walk on the way to the weekly card game.

A New Hope

OK so here we have it, my first ever marathon and my first ever blog. Both will have some hiccups at first, so this should be fun.

So yeah, I'm running a marathon. While my body type is not exactly (or even close) to what you typically see on the cover of Runner's World, I think with 6 months of prep time I should be able to show this marathon who is boss. Maybe not a Kenyan type of finish (about 2hrs 15 min) but I think I should be able to finish in less than 24 hrs.

Why, you may ask, am I running a marathon. Good question, I have asked myself that question about 30-40 times since I signed up, and here are the answers I came up with so far:

-I need to work out, but I find that training for something is much more enjoyable than just going to the health club.
-I have always wanted to run a marathon.
-It's one last big selfish goal that I can cross off the list before I get married and my goals become more couple/family oriented.
-Stupid Augie stole my lungs about 8 years ago and it's about time for me to take them back.
-AIDS has been doing a pretty good job of being a horrible disease and I would like to do my part in stopping that.
-The Honolulu marathon called me a name and I need an excuse to go to Hawaii and kicks it's butt.

So my thought is I'll use this blog as a way to update people on my progress in training for this marathon as well as a reminder that I need to raise some cold hard cash as well.

http://www.aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=CH-4072&EventCode=HN08

That's my AIDS Marathon page where you can make donations and see a few other cool things (like a picture of Homer running a marathon).

There were a number of different foundations that had similar programs, I checked them all out, and after some thought decided that AIDS ticks me off more than any other disease and if I was going to dedicate half of a year, training for an event and raising money, I wanted to to go towards ruining the day of AIDS and helping people with AIDS to keep chugging until a cure is found.

Day 1...0 miles logged toward the marathon.
Week 1 weight...250 lbs (yup, 1/8th of a ton)
Dollars raised....0

So I'm off..... I'll have my first run today. Keep checking up on my progress and I'll do what I can to keep it entertaining.