3 laps(!) and a story

Total Distance So Far: 9.2 mi

I thought it'd be fun to keep a running total (no pun intended) of the ground covered during my training. As of today (starting with my 5k last weekend), that amount is up to a little over 9 miles!

I did my 3 lap run of my work campus this morning. It went really well! I used the little "virtual running partner" feature of my Garmin, and set my VRP to a pace of 10:30 minute miles, and then I tried to stay with him. The Garmin tells you if you're ahead or behind your VRP running the pace you are trying to match. I was having a hard time sticking with my VRP tho. I'd get ahead of him, and then behind him... repeat ad infinum. He's a handy yardstick tho to know how you're doing all in all.

In the end, I think I did a decent job at keeping my goal pace thanks to my VRP. Here are the specs from this run:

lap 1) DISTANCE: 1.17mi TIME: 12:01 minutes PACE: 10:26 minute mile
lap 2) DISTANCE: 1.17mi TIME: 12:18 minutes PACE: 10:41 minute mile
lap 3) DISTANCE: 1.17mi TIME: 12:06 minutes PACE: 10:31 minute mile
TOTAL) DISTANCE: 3.5mi TIME: 36:25 minutes PACE: 10:35 minute mile

I think it was a decent pace for me. I definitely felt like I challenged myself, but it wasn't TOO much for me to handle. A good run overall, especially since this is my new "longest run ever done." I kinda figure I'm going to be saying that a lot over the next 5 months tho.

I read in the booklet we got for Team in Training that consistently paced miles is the key to running a marathon. If you can set a reasonable pace and keep it up mile after mile, you are more likely to have a successful run without hurting yourself. Something for me to continue working on.

Also, as promised, a little story.
My friend Gillian just reminded me of this yesterday when I emailed her asking about garage sale items. Gillian's mother died at the age of 51 of NonHodgkins Lymphoma. I remember when her mother was diagnosed! She needed a bone marrow transplant and none of the people on the national bone marrow registry were a match for her. I guess there are A LOT of bone marrow "types." A group of us who were friends with Gillian set out to get our own bone marrow types done to see if we were a match to her mom. The test, albeit easy (just a blood sample needed), is not a trivial amount of money (granted, I think part of the price was the "rush" we were putting on the processing). I think it was something like $75/person? Ineffect, we had a little fundraising effort to raise money to cover people's bone marrow typing tests, so we could increase our chances of finding a match for her mom. Gillian organized a bowl-a-thon where we each got sponsors who would give an amount based on our final bowling score. I did very badly (not a good bowler) but I think I raised a couple hundred dollars towards the effort nonetheless.

After all that work, none of us who were tested came back as a match for Gillian's mom, but as luck would have it a new stranger on the national registry was! Gillian's mother was able to get a bone marrow transplant, but the positive effect from it only allowed her to live long enough to see her first granddaughter once after little Helen was born. Gillian's mother died roughly a year after being diagnosed.

It's a sad story, and I now completely remember doing everything I could at the time to help. It's a grim reminder of how important the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's work is, and in some way helped me put a meaning and a heart behind my fundraising effort.

On Oct 7, I'll partly be running in honor of Gillian's mom -- a woman I never met, but tried to help.