Running back-to-back 24 mile runs on Saturday and Sunday had me commenting, to myself, that I had forgotten how much it hurts to train like that. To be fair, it was really only the Sunday run that hurt. That's typical. Saturday seems like a normal, if slightly slower run. Sundays can be a bit painful.
Of course, that thought came to mind about 24 hours too late. Much of the day, Saturday, people were asking me why I would think about running 50 miles in memory of someone. Or run 50 miles in one shot, regardless of the reason.
As I thought about it on Sunday, it only makes sense, to me. And it's the same answer. Because we forget.
I ran 50 miles, last October. After that run, I hurt in ways I had never hurt, before. But I forgot the pain. I ran 40 miles in September and hundreds of miles in training weekends. But that was last year. I forgot how much it can hurt.
When I do this run in honor of Ron, I will keep in mind that the pain I'll experience is temporary. I'll forget about it and move on to the next event. I'll also keep in mind that the pain his wife and daughter are going through will not be forgotten. It will last far longer than anything I'll face. And the pain of loosing a loved one like this is far worse than the pain I'll endure.
In the end, I can always stop. If it gets too bad, I can stop running. I can call for a ride home. I can hop into a hot tub, get a massage, take a nap, or do countless other things to make the pain go away.
Ron's wife and daughter have to face their pain. Time will make it easier. The pain will be dulled. But it will never truly go away.
So, for one day, I'll endure the pain of a race and hope it can, in some small measure, help to ease the pain of Ron's family.
If you'd like to help, follow the link below. When making a donation, enter "Ultraman" in the "Note to Seller." They will know that your contribution is a part of the Run for Ron Ultramarathon Challenge.
Ron wasn't someone with whom I had a great deal in common in high school. He was in different cliques, played different sports, and was involved in different activities. In fact, I was more familiar with his older brother than I was with him.
More than 20 years later, it seems we have far more in common and I can very much relate to the life he lived. He was a father who loved spending time with his young daughter. Today, I saw pictures of him sharing his love of the outdoors with her, seemingly from the day of her birth. He was a hard worker who did what was required to provide for his family, including leaving his home town to travel to the east coast. He was a marathoner with a wife who marveled at his accomplishments.
Ron's wife shared with me that he dreamed of completing Goofy's Marathon and a half at Disney World in Florida. That's one more thing we had in common.
Today, I saw the wife and daughter Ron loved dealing with pain nobody would wish upon another. Nothing I or anybody else can do can take that pain away. The love of their family will help with some of the emotional pain. As friends, we hope to help with some of the financial pain.
As mentioned before, I will do a run in Ron's honor. Just how far I run will be, in part, up to everyone who reads this blog, along with other friends and family from other venues. My goal is to help raise $1000 for the family through the Ron Smead Charitable Foundation. While there are many ways to contribute locally, I believe in the power of the Internet.
On the sidebar, and in all posts for the next few weeks, you will see a PayPal donation button (just under my profile pic). That is a direct link to the donation page for the charitable foundation set up by Ron's friends. This allows a separation between donors and myself. Any donations will be visible to the foundation administrators, and only total dollar amounts will be provided to me for the purposes of tracking the challenge.
If you feel moved to contribute to help this family, simply click the "Donate" button. Donations can be made with a PayPal account, or with a credit card. After completing the donation information, there is a link for "Notes to Seller." If you click that link and add the comment "Ultraman," they will know it is a donation for the ultramarathon challenge. I will find some convenient way of tracking those totals on this site.
For starters, we already have a total of $25.00 in donations, and hope to see that increase quickly as fellow students and others spread the news. Several people have already expressed their support and offered to add their donations.
As always, I know how many solicitations we all receive. I hope you will see the benefit of helping a family and need, and appreciate your support.
 One of the things people grow accustom to as they get older is the loss, through death, of friends from school. Sadly, we sometimes have to face that harsh reality far too early in life. Such was the case, this week, when another classmate was lost to cancer. Specifically, renal cell carcinoma. Few of you reading this know Ron. His family maintained a blog of his battle, here. A close friend established a memorial page, which is likely to grow in time. (Picture courtesy of Sam Nail)
Obviously, any battle with cancer is a painful situation. That pain is shared by the family and friends of the patient. In this case, Ron is survived by a wife and daughter, Vickie and Brooke. In addition to picking up the pieces of a shattered life, Vickie must deal with the burden of medical bills from this battle.
Ron's friends will be hosting a variety of charitable events to help the family. I, too, will be throwing myself into the effort. And the best way I know to do that is to run. As indicated on the Training and Racing page, I have the Green Bay Marathon on the horizon. It is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the life of Ron, and try to raise money to help ease the financial burden his family now faces.
To that end, I am turning to the Tri Blog Community. Obviously, I know we all receive dozens (hundreds?) of solicitations each month. Most of those, however, don't come with the opportunity to truly test someone's mettle. In this case, the someone is me. The mettle? An ultramarathon.
I have contacted Ron's friends in pursuit of donation information. They have established a memorial for the collection of funds, and that will be posted here as soon as it is available.
Ron spent the last four months in the fight of his life. Nothing I experience in a race, whether 26.2, 40, or 50 miles can compare to the challenges he faced in that battle. But I will use this race to honor his efforts, and to try to help his family.
There are two things I will need from you, my friends and family. First, I will need your help in raising those funds. Second, I need your input on how this "deal" will work. My first thought was $10/mile, 50 mile limit. Something inside me says that's a pretty low bar. My second thought was $20/mile, which seems perhaps a bit high.
My third thought is a bit complex. For everything up to $300 contributed, I will run the marathon in Ron's honor. If that amount is exceeded, I will run a 40-mile ultramarathon. And if $1000 is raised, I will make it a full 50-mile ultramarathon (attempt).
Let me be brutally honest, here. I am ill-trained for a 50-mile ultra. My training for the next several weeks just got interesting, on the chance that I will tackle such a race in three weeks. So any contributions over the agreed amount will force me to truly share in a small portion of the pain experienced by Ron and his family.
Nothing can take away from the anguish of Ron's wife, daughter, family and friends. What we can do is try to honor his battle and minimize the ongoing pain felt by his passing.
Update: I received a note from one of Ron's very good friends with a view interesting comments. He pointed out that Ron was an avid runner, and was well on his way to completing 1000 miles in 2008 when he was diagnosed with cancer. I'll try to find out just how short he was of that goal, and take that into consideration when planning this run.
 After four years of triathlons, my Tri Fox racing jersey gave up the ghost. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say it became a ghost of its former self. While we have changed the layout a bit, the jersey on the right used to be nearly identical to the jersey on the left. Of course, the front of the old jersey is much closer in appearance to the new one. When my son was looking at them, he told me the old one was inside out. When he realized that wasn't the case, he wanted to know why it was so faded.
It's a good advertisement for sun block. The same forces that completely washed out my jersey were at work on my skin, as well.
I wonder if I could use that as an explanation for my bald spot. "No, really, the hair is there, it's just faded away to nothing because of the sun." Or, perhaps, "You've heard of 'beach blonde." Well, I'm beach bald."
I wore the new jersey for my 22 mile training run, last Saturday, and all is good. The old jersey was from Sugoi, whose products I love. Most of my gear is from them. The new jersey is from Louis Garneau. It's really comfortable, and time will tell how it holds up to the abuse I'll give it.
My one immediate "dislike" is the back pocket. On the Sugoi jersey, there are two small pockets, one on each side of the back. They are fairly tight, so I'm always confident my gels are staying put. On the LG jersey, it is one big pocket in the center of the back. While it does have elastic to help keep it closed, I'm far less confident things will stay put. The upcoming Green Bay marathon will be the first test. I'll carry one gel in that pocket to see how it goes. The rest will go in my Race Ready shorts.
 If a new jersey is right, the picture outside, this morning is just wrong. April 21st (Happy Birthday to my brother and sister, twins born five years apart), and it's snowing outside. Not only is it snowing, it's accumulating. That's about a half-inch of slushy snow on the windows of my cars. There was snow covering my grill in the back, and it's starting to stick to the grass.
The only positive spin is that we need the precipitation. But why snow? Rain would do the trick, just as well. Last Friday, I took the bike out for a 21 mile ride. Saturday morning I ran 22 miles, starting at 5 a.m., wearing shorts and that new tri jersey. And Monday and Tuesday bring snow.
I have a marathon in less than four weeks. This snow stuff needs to end.
 I'll sandwich that "wrong" between two "rights." And this one is super-cool. This picture shows both my kids out biking. My daughter finally put away her tricycle and moved to the "big girl bike." She's getting pretty good, and has even overcome her concern of crashing because of sharp turns (she sometimes fails to take into account the training wheels).
Just as exciting is that my son is on two wheels. One of the other boys in the neighborhood has the training wheels off his bike, and my son was quick to follow. He didn't care that the other boy is nearly 18 months older. I was amazed at how quickly he moved from two wheel novice to expert, and how little adult help it took. He spent one day with different adults helping him balance. Four days later, with no additional help, he was zooming around like a pro. He's even mastered the uphill sections of the driveways, 180 degree turns on the sidewalk, and avoiding his sister when she gets in the way.
We're going to start looking for a slightly bigger bike, which should make his next triathlon loads of fun. Last year, he had the training wheels. This year, he'll be on two wheels and (hopefully) a bigger bike.
*Sniff* They're growing up so fast!
Over a dozen half-marathons. Approaching 10 full marathons. Preparing for my fourth half-Ironman. One Ironman and two ultramarathons. So far, none of them has brought me to my knees and required me to concede defeat for the day.
So why is it so hard to hit the dentist's office and let them work on my teeth?
I went in to have a filling repaired. They have me now, and have no intention of letting me off easy.
I'd rather do another Ironman. It's easier.
But they WERE flip-turns. And no, this isn't an April Fools' Post.
1800 yards with flip turns at the deep end. I'm holding off on the shallow end until I'm more comfortable in the deep end, and a time when there are fewer people in the pool.
I figured that someone capable of completing and Ironman and ultramarathon should be able to handle somersaults in the pool. It does appear I'll have to show some restraint on the push-off (I had issues with one ear plug early in the swim), but it's not too much different than pushing off during an open turn.
The biggest challenge? Keeping track of my distances as I can't check my watch like I can when I touch the wall in an open turn.
|
RSS Feed