"Here I go again"- David Coverdale, Whitesnake

Got some great news last week. I will be running(or attempting to run) the 2011 Boston Marathon for the Alzheimer's Associations. They only have a limited number of race numbers so they go through a screening process(everything but peeing in a cup) and determine the best candidates. Really a great group of people. At our first meeting you had to share your story which was a bit tough. Everyone had a pretty sad one which made me think maybe that's why they chose us. Hell, in hindsight, I would rather have a happier story and no number but that's not an option.

Looking forward to running with these guys. Some of us met up for a ten mile run which was cool. Ankle felt great on the run but sore the next day, man I hate my Peroneal Tendon and apparently the feeling is mutual.

As my dad's disease starts to take away some of his memories I hope that the memories of these short shorts are the first to go.

Here is a picture of my dad from 1981. Amazing, the guy looked old back then and as a result he doesn't look that different thirty years later(see the earlier picture in the blog). His hair was jet white by the age of thirty, perhaps having something to do with having 6 kids(5 in 5 years), ahh the Irish Catholics. Come to think of it, maybe he wasn't just running but running from us.

Dressed like Johnny Cash I get thru 13.1 and yes I am too cheap to actually purchase the race photo.

Ok so I have been kind of lame with my posts but I am coming back strong. Ran the Chilly(should be called Hilly) Half Marathon on sunday and it could not have gone better(well actually it would have been better if I won the thing but that wasn't going to happen). I trained for this using the FIRST train method which is training for people who don't dig running. You only run three times a week and then cross train two(which I used hockey for, not sure that Ryan Hall would approve hockey as cross training). I thought it was worth a test and maybe a way to avoid injury. I kind of blew off some runs (that thing called work got in the way) but still ended up hitting my goal of running at my full marathon pace (8mm at 1:45). Felt great and wasn't tired at all, actually could have pushed myself much harder but didn't want to risk it. The ankle is a bit sore a couple days after but I feel like that was a good start to my marathon training. The NikeFrees still rock but I think it's more mental than anything.