Thunderbolt

It's New Year's Eve and we're all kind of veggin' until heading over to Budd and Karyn's tonight. Last night, Jules and I went out for Sushi to celebrate our 12th Anniversary. Lame ass Scott forgot to get a card. Julie got me 2. Hopefully, the roses I bought today will make up for moi's lameness. I can't say that I've been a great trainer. It's been pouring rain today, so my plans to even go for a walk were put aside. The knee's feeling creaky with all of the moisture in the air. Still, I feel confident that come race time, I will have enough enthusiasm and nervous energy to get through the race. That, and a lot of Advil. At year's end, we have raised $4000. I feel great about that. $5000 is definitely achievable. That's still a lot of money. And whatever Beth brings in will give Team Jacob a huge boost. So, that's all for 2005. Hope everyone has a safe New Year (whoever you are that are out there reading this. Aloha

The end of the year is upon us and I am feeling better. No, I'm not running again. I have begun riding my bike regularly in the morning just to keep my legs happy. I'm also walking a couple of mornings (and taking the stairs at work). Not really sure how much this will keep me ready for the race in a couple of weeks, but I'm not giving up yet. So far, we have raised over $3000 this year. I was unsure whether we would be able to generate the $10K we did the past two years. I began the fundraising much later. And with the two major disasters that struck the world in the past year, I was concerned that folks would not have as much to donate. Still, that $3000 is pretty darn good, all things considered. Oh, there's still time. I have to write a follow up letter to send out early next week. And then I just concentrate on the race. I received a wonderful letter of support from my friend, Phil Sprague. Phil and I go back to high school (and for a while, people woul...

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I am not sure what I am going to do come January 15th. Whatever it is going on inside my knee is pretty much inhibiting me from being able to run. I woke up this morning, motivated to go out and run for four miles. But I didn't get 50 yards before I knew that it wasn't going to happen. Not today; maybe never again. This is the biggest let down I've had. To not be able to go through with it... it's not an option. I have to run this thing. I made a commitment that other people for which other people are sponsoring me. To not run it would make me feel like a fraud. And yet, there is also a sense of relief. For weeks I have questioned whether I would be able to run. And now it seems the decision has been made for me. My only other option is to cross train the next month and hope that I retain whatever muscle memory I have to gut it out in January. Oh, I know I'll be able to run the 13 miles. It's not an issue of endurance. It's just the pain, man. ...

So here I am again. I've returned. It's been a depressing couple of weeks. My right knee has really been troubling me and I was very discouraged about being able to run the half marathon. Add to the mix some of my own personal dramas and you can see why I haven't been to the blog in awhile. But I'm back to finish what I started. The half marathon is a month away and even if I can't complete my training in full, I WILL run that race in January. I put in too much effort, and too many people have stood behind me and supported me. The last long run I had was two weeks ago and I was quite happy with the results. 10 miles in just over 2 hours. Not bad. But the rest of the day was painful. My knee was in a lot of pain all day, pain that carried through to Tuesday. No Advil could take away the pain. I took the next week off and I just ran for the first time this morning. It was only 25 minutes, but I felt strong. That is, until I got to work and the pain flare...