Sometimes I need to run

I ran when my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's
I ran the day we had to put my Dad in a home because of Alzheimer's
I ran the day my dad died of Alzheimer's.

Running could put every therapist out of business

So this week we had to put my dad in a home, total low point. It not only reminded me why I am doing this but also in return helped me get thru the entire process. Because over the last week the running was the best thing for me. Now I get why he ran all those years, it was therapy before there was therapy. Or again, maybe with 6 kids at home he was just running from us, either way it helped him get thru anything he was facing and it did the same for me this week. In fact my fastest tempo run so far in training came hours before we brought him to the home, I basically took out my anger on the road and it felt awesome.


In moving some of his stuff into the home we discovered some pretty sweet artifacts. I thought this one was really cool. It's an article from our local paper in CT about two people in town planning to run New York. This was the mid 80s(just before his 7th New York) and the marathon thing was only for the crazies. Fast Eddy, as they used to call him, was one of those crazies. 3:25, not a bad time for a guy in his fifties who only started running in his late 30s, which happens to be the same age I started running, odd how things work out.

NYC Here I come

So I had the itch and I had scratch it. I am going run the NYC marathon in November. I hooked up with the NY Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and will be running with the team.  It means a lot to me, it was the only Marathon my dad ever ran(although he did it a bunch of times). So my plan is to go get him a medal. He may not remember being a runner but he always will be one.


19 weeks out and I am well into my training, just banged out a 12miler today and felt pretty good. Scary thing is I am actually starting to enjoy running.  I'm approaching this one a bit differently, I ran Boston but I'm racing New York.