Poster Complete!

Wow, where has the time gone since my last post???  Between regular work, running and fundraising, the days have flown by and here we are a week out from Christmas.

First, I am very pleased to report that my fundraising poster has been completed!  All 42 squares are now filled thanks to the generosity of my donors.  The final design is being completed, and as soon as it is ready, it will be uploaded to this site, and 200 copies will be printed and distributed.  My fundraising total is now $11,350, with more funds to come in the early part of the New Year. The goal of $12,000 should be reached by mid-January.

Second, my training for the marathon is going well!  It is 23 weeks until the race, and I am well ahead of schedule, since I have maintained the half-marathon distance that I built up for the Detroit Half Marathon in October.  I am still contemplating training plans, and am leaning towards the Hal Higdon Personal Best plan, which is suggested for those trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  I am planning to put together a training schedule using this plan over the weekend.

I will have to decide how far to run this coming Sunday - probably another 22km.  Last weekend, I ran 22km, and 20km the week before.  The weather has been strange for December.  It is supposed to rain this Sunday, and those aren't very pleasant conditions for a 2 hour run.  However, I've always believed you have to train in any conditions since you never know what the weather is going to be like on race day.  This is a picture of me after the 20km run 2 weeks ago.  It was pouring rain the entire time.  My feet were wet within 2km, but I made it!

I am finding that the more I do the long runs, the better and more conditioned I feel to the distance.  I've felt great after my last 3 long runs - I wasn't sore all day like I was in October-November when just getting up to the 20km distances.  That is a benefit to having so much time to get ready for a May marathon - I can increase my distances slowly and be less prone to injury and fatigue.

I've also been incorporating yoga into my training on my rest days, which has greatly helped my soreness.  I've also been seeing a chiropractor once a week (one of my poster sponsors, Dr. Deb Stanley in Stouffville) to help with some imbalance in my hips that have caused me some pain.  After a few weeks of treatments, I had my best running week - fast times and little soreness.

Thanks, as always, for reading and if you haven't already done so, please make a donation to my campaign by clicking here! Jack's Team Diabetes Donation Page

Jack