#18 Done - #19 Upcoming

Well, I took some much needed time away from work last week and headed east for a short runcation.  I went to Morris Plains, NJ and ran the Share the Care 5K to benefit Habitat for Humanity of Morris County NJ.

Morristown, NJ was a location where Gen. Washington and his Army wintered one year during the Revolutionary War, so I went to the Wright Mansion where Washington stayed and explored some of that area.

I also took a day to take the train in to New York City.  This was my fourth trip to NYC.  I saw a few of the sites that I've seen on previous trips, but also took the opportunity to see some things and go some places where I hadn't on my previous trips.

I went to the Empire State Building.  I will say that there is a lot of waiting involved in making it up to the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building.  It was also a little bit expensive.  It's one of those..."I can now say I've done it." moments, but for the money the view from Top of the Rock is just as good and costs less.  But, now I can say that I've visited the Empire State Building.  I also walked around Central Park, which I hadn't done in any of my previous visits.  It was an enjoyable visit to the city, and I was glad I went.  However, I will say that, not being one for crowds, the streets of NYC seem to be more and more crowded each time I go.  While I don't think I'd skip an opportunity to go back if I'm in the area again, I don't know that I'd go out of my way to plan a trip there in the future.

I'm back at work for a week, plus twelve hours of overtime and a doctors appointment this week, before heading to Virginia Beach for a few days and the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon.  That will be my 19th state to run a race and my second race for my IRun4 Sibling Hero Brett.

Upcoming Running 4

Some of you may have noticed on my Facebook that I'm involved in a group call IRun4.  I noticed a post about this group on a friend's facebook page and checked it out.  The IRun4 organization started by joining runners with people who are unable to run themselves.  Recently the group branched out and added an IRun4 Sibling group.  The idea behind the sibling group is to match runners with the siblings of kids who have disabilities.  Sometimes the siblings can miss out on things and are more supportive of their families than anyone their age should have to be at that point.  The siblings group allows the siblings to have their own runner, who focuses on supporting them and running for them.

I was matched a couple of weeks ago with a young man named Brett.  Brett's younger sister was diagnosed last year with mitochondrial disease and, according to his mother, has been the "rock of the family."  At 10 years old it amazes me that Brett could step in that role, a role that no 10 year old should have to step in to.  But in getting to know Brett and his family, it doesn't surprise me.  He's an amazing young man who has obviously been raised by two amazing parents.  I have to admit that I think I'm getting more out of this match than Brett is.  He and his family inspire me, and I hope to continue to get to know Brett and his family for many years to come.

Now I should say, that you don't have to be a runner to join this group.  If you are active in any way you can sign up to be matched.  There's no cost to join, no "registration fee" or "initial cost".  The only cost is a little bit of your time.  Taking the time to post updates to your buddy and getting to know him or her.  If you're interested please go to http://www.whoirun4.com to find out more.  Also, if you have a child who might benefit from being teamed up with a runner, check it out.

On a different topic, I'm finally getting a little bit more time off.  My last weekend off was the first part of July.  I was able to find a few days in the coming week when I could take some comp time and extend my weekend, so I'll be off work Mon-Fri this week.  The plan is to head out to Morris Plains, NJ where I'll run the Share the Care 5K on Thursday evening.  This will be state #18 in my quest to run a race in all 50 states.  Then, the following week I will run state #19 when I head to Virginia Beach for the Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.  I plan to do a little site-seeing both in the NJ area and the VA area while I'm there.

In the past I would set 3 goals every time I ran a half marathon.  During my run this morning I thought it might be a good time to start doing that again.  My running speed and endurance took a little hit this year, so in trying to get that back I thought I'd try and get back to the basics.

Goal #1 - Or my "I should be able to accomplish this" goal  is to finish with an 11::00 per mile pace, which would mean a final time of 2:24:12 or better.  That would be the slowest half marathon I've run in the last two years, but that's ok; like I said earlier...back to the basics.

Goal #2 - Or my "If I'm feeling good I might be able to hit this goal" would be to finish with a 10:20 per mile pace, which would give me a time of  2:15:27 or better.  I'm basing that pace on my long run this morning.  I was able to maintain that pace for almost 9 miles, so this is definitely doable.

Goal #3 - Or my "If the stars and planets align" goal would be to finish with a 10:00 per mile pace or better.  This would mean finishing in 2:11:00 or better.  I finished my last half marathon close to that time, but with the hit my speed and endurance have taken lately, I think this would only happen if everything goes just perfect.

I'm hoping that I will be able to bring back my goal of breaking the 2:00:00 mark sometime next year.  I accomplished it once and believe I can do it again, but it's going to take some time and training.

So, in addition to NJ and VA coming up this month, I've got a 5 Mile run scheduled here in Columbus in September, the Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Half Marathon in October, and the Big Sur Half Marathon in Monterey, CA and the Space Coast Half Marathon in Cocoa, FL scheduled for November.  After getting matched up with Brett I signed up to run the Publix Georgia Half Marathon in Atlanta come March.  I'll work on the remainder of the 2015 running schedule after vacation bids are done later this fall.