1st F.I.R.S.T.

This is my first post in about ten days (a PR I am not proud of). Work has been busy and we have had a lot of company and the 4th of July weekend - but now I am back to typing and the running has been consistent all along.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I will be using the marathon training program from Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) which is a 16-week program. Today was run number one and consisted of 2 miles easy, 2 miles at a 7:14 pace and 2 miles easy as a cooldown. I actually ran 2.25 miles, then two at 7:12 and 7:07 followed by the 2 mile cooldown. 1 workout down and 47 more to go. Denise is also using FIRST but with an 18-week program. She had to run 2 easy for warmup then three at tempo followed by a 1-mile cooldown. She ran negative splits on each of the three tempo legs (this means each mile was progressively faster)! Great runs.

Since the last post I ran 17 miles on the 4th of July and Denise ran 9. Also did 4.25 on the 1st and 5.1 on the 2nd with another five on 6/30. Total milage since signing up for the marathon is now 389.3 for Michael and I will post Denise's in the next post. Congratulations to Phil Hopkins for a first in age group at the Summer Solstice 6 miler and to Walt Warren for 3rd in his age group!

We received a generous $250 contribution to MarriageTeam over the weekend and the pledges are growing slowly but we hope pick up steam as the training does and we get closer to the event.

Denise's grandfather was recently diagonsed with cancer so we are adding him to the training shirt - Peter Penner - and he is 96 years old. My mother in law also asked that we add the daughter and grandaughter of one of her close friends. Both are currently in the recovery stages of their cancer battles - Jackie Milchuck and Candace Milchuck. Please let us know who else we should add to the shirt.