Friday August 18th

As the first post of this blog, let me say I am excited to be running thus year's marathon! I have not run a marathon since 1999, so I feel like I am starting over from scratch, even though this will be my 9th marathon. I figured I didn't have the time to spend training anymore with two grade schoolers in the house, a steel trading business to run and a host of other commitments. However, I have found the time to run in the early mornings and have enjoyed the renewed energy the longer runs have given me. It also gives me more time to ponder life's ups and downs as I run, so I'll share some with you.

The Team for Kids group schedules a weekend group run and this weekend we'll run 14 miles in Rockefeller Park in Westchester. I have not run there before and am looking forward to it. It is supposed to be a hilly course, which is good! I don't seem to mind running hills much, and they really help increase your fitness level if done regularly. At the conclusion of the Sunday 14 miler, I will have run about 40 miles this week. I am feeling pretty good at this point of my training.

For inspiration this week, check out the following... about a father and son who compete together.

Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.

For the past twenty five years or more Dick, who is 65, has pushed and pulled his son across the country and over hundreds of finish lines. When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is in a small but heavy, firmly stabilized boat being pulled by Dick.

At Rick’s birth in 1962 the umbilical cord coiled around his neck and cut off oxygen to his brain. Dick and his wife, Judy, were told that there would be no hope for their child’s development.

There is a link to a video of this dynamic duo on the right side of this page.



I hope this helps keep you strong!

Peers