Perspective

So... to make a LONG absence of posting and story short....

1) I finished the Boston Marathon last spring in 4 hrs 0 min and 58 seconds (though, stopped for a Pine Street photo op and hugs for the family, so I'll live with that 58 seconds knowing I coulda run in under 4 hrs! ;-)

2) As I train for the Maine Marathon in 2 weeks (Sunday Oct 5th), I was out running over a week ago...doing one of my final 'long' runs before tapering for Maine, and I ran for a while with a 42 yr old father of a teenager with inoperable brain cancer. He was training for an Iron Man triatholon, and was kind enough to share with me some fueling and training techniques for my 26.2 miles in Maine.

I share this story because I am constantly amazed by the running community, the kindness of strangers, but mostly the inspriation of folks like "Duffy" -- I can't imagine what he and his son and his family have had to bear over the past couple of years, yet this father and combat veteren was out there talking to me like I was a hero...inspiring and encouraging me as we shared the road for about 7-8 miles. I wish him well and I admire his courage and ability to teach his dying son two important lessons -- about appreciating what he has had in this life and about setting a goal and working harder than you'd ever thought possible to achieve it (or, survive it).

As I get ready for my next 26.2, I remain in awe of New England autumns and everyday heroes whose names we haven't yet learned. I am also humbled by my family, friends, and acquaintances who've so readily supported my charitable runs over the past few years. Thank you, and I hope to post more as I get ready to 'hit the road' in a couple of weeks.

Happy Marathon Eve!

It's about 10:30 p.m. and I should be in bed, but forgot I had to update a few folks on location-specific ETA's for the marathon tomorrow. I leave the Start Line between 10:30 and 10:40, depending on the crowd at the start of the race -- that pansy, Lance Armstrong, needs a headstart with the rest of the so-called 'Elite' runners, so they'll be leaving at 10:00 a.m.

I'm hoping for a PR of under 3:52:00, so, I need to maintain well under a 9 min/mile pace for the first half of marathon, as I inevitably get slower throughout the race (if you track my 'split' times, this is painfully obvious!) So, ETAs are as follows:

Speen St. and Rte. 135: Between 11:30 and 11:50

Downtown Natick: Between 11:50 and 12:10

Wellesley College (yeah, the girls go wild for us wheezy, balding, late thirtysomething fellas!): Between 12:10 and 12:25

Downtown Wellesley: Between 12:15 and 12:35

Wellesley Lower Falls: Between 12:40 and 12:55

Rte 16 and Rte 30 (Firehouse, near Deploy/Kronos): Between 12:50 and 1:10

Heartbreak Hill: God only knows! seriously, about 1:20 - 1:40

Pine Street Team cheering section (1043-45 Beacon St): About 2:00-2:15

Wish me luck!! The way the Bruins and Sox have been rallying all weekend, I'm getting excited!

Thanks again, Paul

3 days and 2 hours to go (but who's counting?!)

I "toe the line" in a few more days, and am excited about the fact that, despite possibility of rain showers, there's no 'wrath of God' type of weather in the forecast like last year! Also, I'm breathing a bit more clearly today, so the trend is a good sign. Hope the congestion is completely gone by Monday, but I'll settle for an ugly, drippy nose over the chest tightness I've had over past few days!

A quick update for those watching at home:

1) if you'd like to get an e-mail or SMS/text message during my run, please send me an e-mail no later than by 6 p.m. Sunday night. I'm re-forming the e-mail list "wherespaulnow@googlegroups.com" and can add you to the list if you'd like 'event time' updates on Monday morning (if the little blip on the radar screen stops moving, I've either passed out or ditched my tracking chip and jumped on a train!) just kidding...no 'blips', just text and e-mail updates available.

2) My bib # is 23498 if you want to go to BAA.org to figure out how to follow me from there.

3) IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE WATCHING LIVE, on the route -- PLEASE e-mail me to let me know where you'll be standing...will do best to see you and wave/wheeze in your general direction :-) I'll post one more update here with my projected arrival times at key milestones so you can watch for me on race day -- I'll be in navy shorts, white (or dark blue, still TBD) short sleeve shirt with golden (almost orange) tank top with Team Pine Street printed on it -- will add my name in bold black lettering -- will also go with my 'lucky' red Red Sox hat which I wore in DC Marathon the day the Sox clinched the World Series last fall.

Finally, and I can't stress this enough, THANK YOU. Thanks to Lena, Noah, and Ali for your ongoing patience, love and support (including all the 'rescue' rides!!). And thanks to my donors and morale boosters -- this winter/spring has been CRAZY with schedule and erratic ability to train, so I am grateful for the good vibes I've received from my family and friends.

For all of you thinking about doing this...DO it! It is impossible to explain how this great energy arrives from the whole experience, but each year I have become even more humbled and thrilled by the Boston Marathon in particular, and the crazy notion that what started for me as a 'way to lose weight and keep myself honest about running' has also generated more than $15,000 to fight hunger and homelessness over the past 3 years. Wow.

So, take a minute on Monday to say a prayer/think good thoughts for me -- tailwind, healthy run, etc. but then take 2 minutes to be mindful and grateful for what you've got and remember those many of our neighbors and other people that might be struggling to hold on to what they have or that may be fighting to survive every single day with little to no support at all.

Gotta run! Thanks, Paul

Less than a week... and me with a hacking cough!

So, as the fates would have it, there IS payback for the Red Sox taking 2 out of 3 games against the Yankees this weekend! I've been up half the night (last night) with a horrible cough, and am feeling pretty run-down today. Am hopeful that some timely, time release cough medicine will keep this at bay (and hoping it's only allergies, not a real cold!!)

Anyway, overall, been a good weekend for running. Got a decent 7 miler in on Sunday and another, 8.5 min/mile paced 7.5 miler on Friday. So, pace seems OK, now, just need another 10-12 miler 'tune-up' on Wed or Thursday and, of course, sleep and good lung capacity between now and next Monday! Weather is a wildcard at this stage, but temperature predictions seem perfect, so keep fingers crossed (at least there's no Nor'Easter this year!)

I hope to connect with a few folks to reinvigorate the donations in this 'stretch run' leading up to the Marathon. I'm over $3500 now, and doing pretty well on the fundraising front.

Will next send out e-mail to see whether anyone wants to track me with 'live' unpdates via e-mail on raceday. If you're interested, send me an e-mail and I'll add you to the list. My bib # is 23498 and you can reach me at: paul.joseph@babson.edu.

Thanks, Paul

14 days, 75 miles and $1200 to go

It's Monday April 7th, and I cannot believe that I'll be toeing the line in exactly 2 weeks. Well, with Bib #23498, I won't exactly be lining up with the Elite, Lance Armstrong, or even those Red Sox wives that somehow seem to have the time and money to compete each year...hmmm. Go figure.

But the good news is that I have gotten in one (if not 2) more long run, having completed 18.6 of my planned 22 miles on Saturday, before yielding to a migraine that I had masked with Advil before heading out the door. The body feels capable, now it's mostly up to the brain (and, well, the body on race day, among other factors). I maintained a respectable 9.2 minute per mile pace last weekend, going from my house out to Heartbreak Hill and almost back. That keeps me in the running (get it?!) to achieve my target personal record of less than 3 hrs 52 min (an 8.85 min per mile pace on race day)-- adrenaline and weather, don't fail me!

Thanks, once again, to my "rescue crew" and continuing support - Lena -- who continues to be a rock for me, despite (I'm sure) her urge to just throw rocks at me for not getting to other things on my omnipresent 'to do' list. I really do value her digs at me -- "did you run today?" when she comes home to see me hunched over the PC and clearly not having moved much since she left for work hours before. I'll take it as tough love and leave it at that. :-)

I'm sure I won't be seeing much of her this spring and summer as she trains for the "Pan-Mass Challenge" bike race in support of raising money for cancer research. Maybe she'll include me on a couple of training rides, but my guess is that we'll just hear here 'burning rubber' in the driveway beginning the day after the Marathon! Go Lena!!

So, it's down to 2 weeks...about 75 mile worth of tune-up runs and 'tapering'... and hopefully raising another $1,200 in my support of the Pine Street Inn. Thanks again to all of you that have already contributed generously to the cause, and if you haven't yet done so and are able to do so, any contribution is most appreciated. (www.firstgiving.com/pjoseph2008) Thank you. Sincerely, Paul

It's a sprint, not a marathon

As I type this at 4:30 a.m., my body is screaming "go back to bed" and my brain is screaming "get some work done." It's a miracle that I can concentrate and type with all that screaming going on!

So I'm back from China, can't say I'm fully adjusted yet to east coast time, but will do my best to shock myself back into a running routine for the remaining few weeks. As I look ahead, there's the need to accomplish 2 short-term ("sprint") goals: (1) stamina and (2) strength.

Now, you'd think I'd have both of those under my belt by now, but given the travel to China and my recent work in local town political effort (that's another story altogether), I'm probably 6 weeks behind a 'real' training schedule. The benefit of having done this marathon thing a few times now is that I do honestly believe that I can make up for some of this lost time; however, I'm also smart enough to know that the body will only take so much abuse at once. So, I'll be back targeting 4-5 runs per week from here on out, with a long run of about 22 miles planned for sometime in the next couple of weeks...will likely 'taper' with 2 weeks to go rather than the traditional 3, and will likely do some 'stairs' at the local high school stadium to get the legs a bit stronger in the short-term.

As of yesterday, I cleared a big fundraising hurdle for the Pine Street Inn, surpassing the $3,000 mark. Thanks to all of you who've contributed to date. I'm still about $1,500 short of my goal, but am hopeful to cross this important 'finish line' in April, as well. Thank you again to my family and friends for your support. Sincerely, Paul

Greetings from Shanghai!

So, I never thought I'd be in China just a few weeks away from the Marathon, but life has a funny way of mirroring the running experience that way...sometimes it's more fun to take a new road and enjoy the change of scenery! Anyway, my first run in the PRC was on a treadmill (not exactly my favorite way to go), but am hopeful to get an evening run in (outside, pollution and weather permitting) on Friday night. The funny part about running on the treadmill was the ambiguous label on the speed/distance numbers -- here I am thinking that somehow flying for 20 hours and getting erratic sleep and consuming new foods turned me into this supercharged, running dynamo stud...turns out, the distance and speed metrics were km, not miles and so, not so ironically, my speed was about exactly where I left off in Natick (slow, giving way to partly slower over time)! Oh well, in my mind, I could hear that funny noise from the Six Million Dollar Man. BTW, Shanghai is a great city. Am enjoying the experience so far, and look forward to working with some colleagues here over the Easter weekend...hey, it's still Communist China (don't let the huge church outside my hotel window fool ya!)

Heading to Shanghai!

So, as if my erratic training hasn't already got me wound-up (I've been embracing the 1-2x per week extreme training runs...18 mile, 14, 13, 17, you get the idea), I'm also about to fly to Shanghai for a week! Nothing says "disrupted training regimen" like a trip half way around the world!. More about China some other time, this blog's about running (well, lately it's been about my utter lack of running)

So over the past few weeks, as I train for Boston, I've run at long distances, followed by long periods of NOT running...don't try this at home!!! I'm quietly starting to freak out about the Marathon and my ability to actually finish this one. What's funny is the reaction I get from real runners about how illogical it is that I can actually run like this...here's my secret...I stop when I'm too tired or in too much pain, and I listen to the aches and pains and, above all, I respect the course...hopefully that will be enough to get me through on April 21st!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Greetings from the wee-hours of February 1, 2008! Yikes. February 1st!

I'm happy to report "all systems go" for the 2008 Boston Marathon! My application was officially confirmed by the BAA yesterday and I'm a proud member of a small band of runners playing for the Pine Street Inn (3 of us, to date).

What better way to remind me of why fighting homelessness is important than by taking a run on a dark, lonely and bitter 22 degree morning!...I hope the groundhog has some good news for us tomorrow a.m.! I'm also hopeful that my focus and determination to improve on past performance will help the great people working at Pine Street Inn and especially their guests by raising critical funds and awareness about the challenges faced by a (sadly) increasing number of people in Boston and around the country.

So, I'm about to get out and get moving again. A brief 7 mile run to shake the rust from the pipes and step away from the virus that has plagued our household for the past few days :-(

Re-starting is never easy, especially with only 81 days to go (thanks to Leap Year!). Between starting up on an interesting new career journey (since November) and stepping knee-deep into our town's political happenings to help save our kids' school from closing (since December), getting through the holidays, and general “malais-iness,” I've been neglecting the basics...moving and breathing! Only a few sporadic runs in January, including a great 10 miler with my neighbor, John (thanks!), but now it's time to get serious...again.

In the weeks ahead, I'll be blogging to keep me honest about jogging. And as the rhythm, health, and joy of the process will inevitably return to me (hopefully soon!)...I'm sure I'll be wondering what took me so long to get back into this!

Thanks for checking in...gotta run!