10 more weeks

The Boston Marathon is 10 weeks from today. Yesterday was a 16-mile training run with my new running buddy - Tim Martin. It was cold but sunny and no wind - perfect conditions for a 6 am start for a 2.5 hour run!!

January finished up with 130 total running miles and the beginning of swim training for the Ironman in June. This month will see more swimming and the beginning base of the bike training. With nine weeks between the Boston Marathon and the Ironman there will be duel training for a while.

Denise signed up to run the Boston 5k the day before the marathon and it finishes at the same finish line as the marathon. She is very excited.

Only ran one race in January and it was the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon on the 22nd. It was 38 degrees with 20 mph winds and rain - worst conditions ever for a half marathon but my second best time ever at 1:42:45 (7:50 pace). No races this month - but two weeks of training in sunny and warm Mexico - and only one for March -- the Shamrock Run 15k in Portland.

More updates soon.

Winter is Here!!

The first real threat of snow is in the forecast and with the cold we are also getting that dreaded east wind. Wednesday night ran 400 meter repeats with my friend, Paul Bate, at a local track and the first turn was into a 20+ mph headwind! We ran 12 of these at a 5:48 per mile pace with 75 seconds between each one. What a workout!

Although I generally like to run alone - running with a partner is fun every now and again. Last night was back to running alone again for a six miler around Cascade Park area. Cold and windy. Thank goodness for a good running hat, wool socks, two long sleeve shirts and running vest, gloves, long running tights with insulated running drawers underneath. Can't wait to run in Mexico next month.

The Vancouver Lake Half Marathon is a week from this Sunday and I am starting to taper my training for that event and then will take a week or so of recovery and then begin full-time training for Boston. In early March will also begin to get more serious with swimming and riding in preparation for the Ironman in June. Total miles for the first 12 days this month - 66.

Happy New Year!!

Well here it is 4 days into 2012 and I am finally getting around to my first post. First a recap of 2011 - 1558 total miles running; 1437 miles biking and 41 miles swimming. Got to run in Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Illinois, Florida and British Columbia.

Events for 2011 were the Resolution Run 10k; Vancouver Lake Half-Marathon; Ride Around Clark County (65 miles); Eugene Marathon; Vancouver USA Marathon; Seattle to Portland Bike Ride; Girlfriends and Dudes Sprint Triathlon; Amica Midsummer Olympic Triathlon; Hood to Coast and the Grand Columbian Iron-Distance Triathlon. A pretty full year.

2012 will be scaled back a bit (maybe) with current events planned: Vancouver Lake Half Marathon; Shamrock Run 15k; Boston Marathon; Ironman Couer d'Alene; Hood to Coast and wrapping it up with the New York Marathon (hopefully).

Outside of these endeavors we had some great family and individual times as well hiking, travelling to Disney and LegoLand - Florida with Denise - Seattle for the boy's first Mariners Game; drove race cars for the first time and more. God is good and we are very blessed.

116 Days to Boston

116 days until the Boston Marathon. It seems like it was just a few weeks ago since completing the Grand Columbian Iron-Distance Triathlon (my last race) but it has been more than three months. Told Denise I was itching for a race but it is still five weeks until the Lake Vancouver Half Marathon. Maybe I will have to do a 10k resolution run or something on New Year's Day.

This morning's 7-mile run put me over 1,500 miles for the year at 1,505 and tomorrow's will put me over 100 for the month for the 17th month in a row! God is good and I am blessed to have been able to run healthy for this period of time.

Yesterday was able to set the new Team Neely fundraising page up and got the first few donations/pledges up. Also have started running with my new Cancer Warrior Jersey which has 19 names already - nine that have died of cancer; six survivors; and 4 fighting the battle now. If there is someone you want me to add please let me know.

Boston 2012!!

I just received the announcement that I was chosen as one of ten runners for Team Neely – representing The Cam Neely Foundation in the 2012 Boston Marathon on April 16, 2012!!

My nephew Dustin Dorsett would have turned 5 two days prior to the race if cancer had not claimed his life about a week ago. In his memory I will be raising support for cancer care with a personal goal of $26,200 ($1,000 for each mile of the race). As in previous marathons I will be creating a Cancer Warrior training shirt where I will write the names of those that have lost the battle as well as those currently fighting. Please let me know if you can help me towards my fundraising goal and/or if there is someone’s name you would like added to my training shirt.

I have to update this more often!

Yesterday was the Vancouver USA Marathon and Half-Marathon. Ran a 3:45:36 for a new Personal Best by over 14 minutes! The course was great, the runners were fun to be with and so many friends were out there. Denise set a new personal best in the 13.1 at 2:08 too!

Prior to this event I participated in:

• Eugene Marathon on May 1, 2011 and ran my first sub-four hour marathon at 3:59:57 which at the time was my personal best by about 3 1/2 minutes over the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon.


• Vancouver Lake Half Marathon on January 23, 2011 and set a personal best at that distance of 1:39:52.


• Resolution Run in Battle Ground on a very frigid New Years Day and ran the 10k in 45:52 for a 7:23 pace per mile.


• Hot Buttered Run 12K on November 28, 2010 at Fort Vancouver in 56:02 and finished 3rd in my age group.


• Portland Marathon on October 10, 2010 in 4:04:07 on an absolutely awful day - rain, wind, cold, etc.


• Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run) in 6:46:52 with a great swim, a good bike and a struggle of a run on a 90+ degree day!

The rest of this summer has a lot of different events as well including the Seattle to Portland 204 mile bike ride, the Hood to Coast relays (197 miles for 12 member team) and a full Ironman distance triathlon (140.6 miles). Get out and as the Vancouver USA Marathon motto goes: Live, Work, Run!

Where have 10 months gone?

A friend of mine commented that I haven't made a post here in quite a while and asked if I was still running. Funny that some are still interested. So here is a brief (really!) update:

On August 15 I will be participating in the Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 triathlon event. For those interested you can follow my progress that day starting around 7 am at www.ironman.com and searching by name.

On October 10 I will be running in the Portland Marathon for the second time (2002 was the first).

Last weekend Denise ran in her second triathlon in six days at Blue Lake Park. The first was the previous Sunday when she, Zach and Andrew all competed in their first triathlon and I in my third and second of 2010.

For 2010 I have recorded 674 miles running; 879 miles biking and 21 miles of swimming for a total of 1574 miles.

My list of events this year include the Vancouver Lake Half Marathon (1:45:08 Personal Best) in Janaury; Shamrock Run 15k (1:16:02 Personal Best) in March; Blue Lake Olympic Triathlon (2:52:43 first time at this distance) in June ; and the Girlfriends and Dudes Sprint Triathlon (1:16:12 Personal Best by 13 minutes).

Injuries this year included the month of February with tendinitis in the knee and they also discovered arthritis and Condromalacia Patella. Took the whole month off (ran 8 miles after 141 in January) and was back to normal by mid-March. Currently dealing with a strained big toe on my right side and back pain on my left side (I guess this balances it out).

Will post again after the Ironman.