Running the Marine Corps Marathon to raise money to help the homeless

As you are no doubt aware, I have registered to run this years Marine Corps. Marathon on the 27th of October.

Everyday, I am aware of how fortunate I am.  I have a wonderful job, a great family and a fantastic town house that I rent.  I am also aware that there are many people who do NOT have all of these things.  In order to change someone’s life – the first step to long-term change must be housing.

Homelessness affects people who started in all walks of life. With out a
place to lay your head, it can be hard to find a job, support a family
and even find healthy food to eat.



Volunteers of America Chesapeake helps fight homelessness in Virginia, Maryland and Washington  D.C..  From the Lighthouse Center in Virginia Beach, to the Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center in Northern Virginia, and the Transitional Housing programs in Baltimore – VOA Chesapeake is helping those that need it the most every single day.

Please consider donating to this wonderful cause, and help make a difference. Show that you were Called to Care!

If you would like to make a donation, please go to: http://www.hthwalks.org/goto/runningthemcm

If you are running the Marine Corps Marathon and would like to help me raise money for Volunteer’s of America Chesapeake’s homeless services programs, please contact me at onceandfuturerunner@gmail.com.

 

#Juneathon Day Something or Another - The Treadmill and Bowflex

So I had this thought.  Now it was partially born out of the fact that I didn't have clean running shorts, and my manpri pajama pants were awful comfy, but it was still a thought.

If impact levels make a difference to Plantar fasciitis (to be fair, I couldn't remember if they did or not), and a treadmill has more give than the sidewalk.... Would running on a treadmill hurt less?  See how well I rationalized not going outside?  So with this thought, I went downstairs to the dreadmill.  I set the speed at 7.6, figuring if I was going to torture myself with two miles on the dreadmill, I should at least do it at a sub-8 minute mile.  Then because I felt guilty being on a treadmill, I set the incline to 2.5.

#Juneathon Day 11 - A nice (short) run.

The inclusion of the word short in the title above, in no way represents any sort of insult or negative connotation toward short people.  For the record, some of my favorite people are short. I believe that a person's height has no bearing on their having reasons to live, or their honesty.  I enjoy having short people 'round here.

So my alarm went off at 5:30 am.  (It seems some idiot has set their alarm for this ungodly hour.)  I had planned better the night before, and knew right were all of my running gear was. 

#Juneathon Weekend 8,9 and 10

Seems three days is becoming my normal Juneathon blog...  I'm pretty sure that isn't how the "rules" read...

So what did I do?   Well on Saturday, I drove an hour (And a bit of change) out to Virginia (opposite side of DC from where I live) and picked up a Bowflex XLT for 75 bucks!

[caption id="attachment_2773" align="alignright" width="490"] see? it fit nicely in the car![/caption]

It was a pleasant enough drive, although a 5 buck toll on the road that goes to Dulles International Airport seemed a bit steep to me, especially since there was another 1 dollar toll to get OFF of the road! WTF?  But the drive was pleasant, and even with the addition of the cost of the tolls - the price was great..

#Juneathon Day 7 - Pending

So, my Plantar Fascia was a bit sore this morning.  To be clear, this wasn't suprising as I was hobbling yesterday - starting an hour or two after my run.  I don't know if it was from the run, or the walking around on concrete  - or most likely a combination of the 2..

Due to the down pouring rain - riding a bike is out.. So I am not sure what to do.  It has to be something that will go easy on my plantar fascia.. Any suggestions?

 

#Junathon - Day 5 and 6 -Stretching, and a return to my normal pace.

So, I am again combining two days into one posting.. I'm such a slacker.  To be fair, I did set the tone with my first posting that was 2 days late and ended up covering 3 days.

Yesterday morning, I was simply too tired to be able to find the motivation to get up and out of bed to run.  This meant a nice evening run was in store - but my wife had to go see the doctor about some knee issues.. That turned yesterday's workout into stretching and foam rolling!

[caption id="attachment_2759" align="aligncenter" width="490"] picture from gypsy-fit!
http://gypsy-fit.com/foam-roller-exercises/[/caption]

I really need to do more foam-rolling...  Very nice, but not to interesting to blog about.. .so we will move on to this morning, which involved running!

#Junathon Day 4 - further testing and improvement of plantar fasciitis

So, bright and early, my alarm went off at 5:30 for this morning's Juneathon run.  Before getting out of bed, I did some ankle rolls followed by some stretching of my foot.  I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of intense pain!  In fact, my foot felt better than it had the previous morning!  Now, I don't want to lead you astray into thinking I am pain-free.  That is definitely NOT the case.   I however, am not greedy.  I will take "less pain" and "able to run without a limp" and remain very happy!

Knowing that yesterday's 1.5 did have increasing levels of foot pain, I decided I would only jump up to 2 miles today.

[caption id="attachment_2752" align="aligncenter" width="490"] I actually started and stopped where the green dot is. I think I got gypped a tenth of a mile..[/caption]

Its time for #Junathon - Day 1, 2 and 3...

Well, I'm not off to a good start on the blogging portion, now am I?  Here I am, according to the "Rules" of Junathon - supposed to exercise and blog every day, yet I am already combining my blog-postings into one, instead of three!

That's ok though, because this weekend was awesome enough that NOT blogging simply has to be forgiven.    Coinciding with Junathon - my wife and I are doing an "almost no bad food" month.  (It would be a NO bad food month, but our anniversary is this month.. There is no way we aren't celebrating that!  9 years of marriage and no murder-charges? YES!)  So, in order to start this off right - we headed out to the Anne Arundel Farmers market.  I love farmer's markets.  The people selling things they grew/made, the people buying the local items.. Fresh Air.. Fresh Produce.. Whats not to love?

[caption id="attachment_2739" align="aligncenter" width="490"] Photo from the Anne Arundel Farmer's Market Facebook page.[/caption]

In fact, it is partially in thanks to that wonderful market that my day's food looks like: