Monday, August 27, 2007

The hills are alive (with the sound of gasping)

So I'm back from several days in Maine, and following a cruise to Bermuda in early August...great to getaway, but difficult to maintain regular training schedule...a few sporadic runs, including an interesting one on a treadmill on the ship's 11th deck (while docked in St. George, Bermuda) and another CLIMB on some hilly roads in Maine - an exhausting 4-miler last Friday.

Today, back at work, I tackled "Grossman's Hill" in Wellesley on my lunch break -- it's on the Boston Marathon route, but in the reverse direction. A short (5-mile) run with some great hills. It was sunny and hot -- as it should be in August -- and reminded me that I should really try to get out earlier in the day!!

More to come in the weeks ahead...less than 9 weeks to go before Marine Corps run! I expect to hit Heartbreak and Hopkinton with increasing frequency as my long runs should climb from 15 miles to 22 over the next 5 weeks.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Corps competence?

It's been 4 months since my last blog update. For those of you receiving e-mail updates..."hi!"

In fact, after my mediocre performance in the Boston Marathon last April, I was quick to apply for my next marathon -- although my application for the NY Marathon was rejected, I will be running in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC on Sunday October 28th. Let me know if you'll be there with a big ol' sign and shouts of encouragement!

Training, yet again, has been sporadic, but now that I'm within 10.5 weeks, I'll be stepping it up, so to speak. I have been pretty consistently running at a 8.5-9 minute mile pace, and have taken a couple of 10+ milers up Heartbreak Hill and back from work. But I haven't been logging many miles yet on a consistent basis, and look forward to getting back into a groove in the coming weeks.

My goal for DC is to finish below 4 hours, so check back often, let me know you're checking back often, and keep me honest - especially as the weather gets colder!

Oh, and, by the way, I'll be running my 3rd consecutive Boston Marathon next year, and look forward to continuing to raise awareness and funds to fight homelessness and hunger. I will be re-joining the Pine Street Inn team in 2008, so please consider joining the fight by contributing to my 2008 Boston Marathon effort at http://www.firstgiving.com/pjoseph2008

Or, if you’d prefer to make a donation to support the Greater Boston food Bank, please go to: http://www.gbfb.org/marathon/ and select my name from the ‘drop-down’ list of team members, when prompted for "Designation."

Be well, and thanks for your interest and support.

Paul
PS – Congratulations to my cousin, Elaine C., winner of the pair of tickets to see Wicked in October. And thank you to her for generously re-donating them to another pair of my donors!