We're getting close...

Kind of a random week this week for the run. The distance planned was 16 going into it. A little background for the crowd: We got our now great friend Dave Brewer to get on board and join us in doing the marathon months ago over some beers. We were drinking after watching the Pats win a playoff game, so it was easy. Dave's also a Pats fan. That is Dave's claim to fame by the way, that he is runnng a marathon bc I got him toasted and got him to agree to do the marathon. I can neither confirm nor deny...

So Dave has been training on his own for the last few months, just bc of his work schedule (he works nights), but this week he was going to run with us for the first time in awhile, and we were all stoked. Bon and I have been bummed bc we have not been able to run with him on Saturdays, huge bummer for Dave as well. But the good news is we were able to hook it up on Saturday. So we head out and the run is going great, the weather was awesome; overcast, 50's and cool.

Ten miles or so of our run in Anchorage is on a gravel trail, pretty interesting. It has been something that has been on all of our minds bc we have only been running on tracks and city streets up until now. So this run we were doing somewhat of a new course, and part of it was going to be on a gravel trail. This is good, we need to do this to get ourselves acclamated to running on this type of surface. At mile 5, we start running up this hilly street, and this hilly street will lead us into our "trail run". We run 1.5 uphill on the street, then 1.5 uphill in the park on the trail. So we end up doing 3 miles of straight uphill, ouch. Picture this hiking trail though, it's in this beautiful park with tall green trees everywhere. And the trail is big enough to let a car drive through it. Tons of people out running, walking and biking. On the trail, there are rocks pertruding through the ground, and when you run on it, it makes the ground very uneven. Not good on the feet or the knees.

As we are leaving the park, it's just Dave and I. Bonnie has already left us losers in the dust, again....mile 8, you could set a clock to her bursts. So we leave the trail we were running on, and we are running downhill on the street and Dave's knee pulls up lame. We are at the 9 mile mark, and we stop to see what the deal is with Dave's knee. Well he's all banged up and can't finish the run. I was so pissed. I mean, you come out for the first time in awhile and you cut my run short???

Dave, totally kidding bro. I am busting em on you. Dave felt so bad bc I decied to walk back with him, but I was so fine with calling it off. I could not have cared less, and in fact, as Dave knows, my knee was feeling tweaked as well from running on the trail, and the last thing I wanted was for either one of us to get hurt at this point in our training. I could not have been happier to call it a day after running 9, believe me. Bonnie went on to do her 16 miler, and she did it well she said. But she did say she was very ready to be done running at mile 16.

In hindsight, it was not all that interesting of a run really, so I figured I would take this opportunity to quickly answer a few of the most frequent questions people have been asking us about our training: How has our weight loss been going, and what do we do during the week?

People keep wondering about how much weight we have lost, and not as much as we thought we would. I have lost just under 10 lbs, which is fine by me. Although I was hoping to shed 15. Bon has lost around 4-5lbs, not fine with her. She still looks phenomenal though! Part of it is we are building muscle, and for me, part of it may be bc of my diet, as I have officially turned into the Hamburgler. I crave cheeseburgers all the time. The protein is good for you, the fast food is not.

People have also inquired about how much we train. During the week, it's hit or miss with us. We usually do a strength and endurance run on Wednesday nights with TNT. What we do is run 400 meters(1 lap)or 800 meters at a fast pace, just in betw a yog and a sprint. We stop for 2 mins, catch our breath and do it again for like 4 or 8 more times, depending. Bonnie and I also try to rip off at least 6 miles on our own as well, but even that has been hard lately.

The training has taken it's toll on us, as I am sure it does at some point with everyone training. For starters, we are constantly tired. I take siestas all the time. If I am in the car driving with Bonnie for more than 7 minutes, I am good for a siesta. The other day we were in the car for about a half hr, I took two. You just get to a point where you get tired of running long distances to train, partly bc you feel ready. And that's where we are at. We just want to run the marathon. We still have two long runs to go, and we have already run about 400 miles. And it is hard on the weekends bc your Friday nights are pretty much shot, and good luck doing anything normal on Satuday night. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining at all, just telling you how it can be. We love what we are doing and could not be happier doing this for my dad. Oh and we take ice baths after our long runs, so funny. We get a big bag of ice from the store on the way home each, and then fill the tub with cold water. Oh mama! Man is it cold, but it does wonders beyond belief for your legs. I mean I go from walking to the tub like Frankenstein, to bee-bopping around the house after 20 minutes in the artic ocean. We wear sweatshirts and sometime socks, and we always try to have a nice big glass of red wine on hand as well, along with the ipods and a magazine of course. And bring the phone, it's always fun to chat it up while your man jewels are disintegratring before your very eyes.

Anyways that's all I got this week kids. Oh and I have to say how cool it was for John Lester from the Sox to go ahead and throw a no hitter on the week of my dad's anniversary. For any of you who do not know, Lester went ahead and battled Lymphoma cancer and won. Not only did he successfully go through chemotherapy, he came back to pitch in the bigs and threw a no hitter. And he and my dad both had Lymphoma. And then on Ths, on my dad's actual anniversary date, the Sox hit 2 grandslams against the Royals to win. Same team Lester threw a no hitter against, thanks for playing Royals. Pretty cool bc Big Neil was a huge Sox fan, and thanks Lester and to the Sox. And before I sign off, a quick shout out from Brady and Jake to their favorite crew in SD, they miss you guys, as do I, Junior, Tessa, Seamus and Rosie. They can't wait to visit. Thanks for reading everyone, your support means the world.

Sean