As I conclude Week 12 (of 18) of my marathon training for this years TCS New York City Marathon, I want to give you a recap of the past few weeks:
Week 9 - Tough week. Only got in 2 out of 3 mid week runs but didn't miss 10 miler on the weekend. Also, we brought home a 5 yr. old Boxer rescue named Bella (she's with me in the pic above supporting St. Jude!)
Week 10 - I did get all my runs in, but boy was it hot and humid this first week of September. My long run, 15 miles, on the weekend, started out good, but the back 7.5 miles was extremely difficult due to heat and humidity.
Week 11 - I have been experiencing some different knee pain than what I have ever had in my training runs. I chose to bypass the 8 miler I had scheduled and decided to ride the recumbent exercise bike as well as hit up the elliptical. On my 16 mile run on Saturday, Sept. 13th, I felt good and the weather was nice...55 at the start and 65 at the completion, about 3 hours later.
Week 12 - Fall is starting to show up a bit. Had good temps this week and especially on the weekend 12 miles (step-back week) where the temps were 48 at the start and 54 at the conclusion 2 hours later. Paced good on the miles all week.
As we enter into week 13, I have and 18 miler to complete over the weekend of the 26th as well as my midweek runs. It's getting close....41 days from today (9/21) is Nov. 1st. I told my wife, Chris, last night that it is amazing how my quest for this year is almost here and over. Which brings me to the picture above: September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and most of you know that I'm running the NYC Marathon as a St. Jude Hero for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital....raising money and awareness (to help support, go to http://heroes.stjude.org/timpeterson). Did you know that 1 in 11 families with a child diagnosed with cancer files for bankruptcy? At St. Jude families do not pay for treatment, travel, lodging and food because they believe all a family should worry about is their child. That is why I'm running this marathon to cap off my BEST YEAR YET. That is why I get up early or run late....so that families do not have to be concerned about how they are going to pay for on going treatment for their child and they can concentrate on getting them better.
Will you #SHOWYOURGOLD ? See you next week for a Week 13 recap!
