| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Total | |
| Chris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Rich | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Yeah, yeah... we were supposed to run 17-22 this week. Is anyone else starting to worry if we're going to actually be able to DO this thing?!
So the good news about my brother Ken is that he finished the Traverse City State Bank Bayshore Marathon this weekend. The bad news is that he ran about 30 miles instead of 26.2.
No, he didn't get lost and he didn't run past the finish line. His running partner, Karen, was injured mid-race and they had a pact to run the race together. As he put it, "At mile 16 she told me to go on ahead and finish the run, as she knew our pace had been strong and I had a chance at finishing under 4 hours. I continued my pace and ran from mile 16 to 19 without her and then realized that it was more important to make sure she was okay and to try and finish together than to finish on my own."
So he turned around and ran back two miles to try and find her (I told you he was a nice guy) and then he had to make up those two miles again, obviously. Needless to say, adding four or so miles makes it tough to reach your personal best time. "The next 5 miles were painful and not a lot of fun as I was worried about what had happened to Karen, knew my chance at bettering my marathon time was shot, and when my watch showed my I had already done 26.2 miles, mentally it was tough to continue."
He did continue, of course - he's not a quitter - and he finished. Afterwards, in a conversation with him, he said he was reconsidering his interest in ultra marathons. However, like having children, he'll probably forget the pain after a while and do it anyway!
Congratulations on finishing your second marathon, Ken! It may not have been your personal best but it was an impressive feat nonetheless.
Maybe we'll get you to join us for your third in Ireland. :-) (And to Karen, who was attempting to finish her fourth (!!) marathon, we hope you recover soon and can surpass that personal best time, next time.)
2 comments:
Thanks Chris! Only Ken could take what could have been an awful situation and make it completely hilarious. We've been laughing all weekend! With a little rehab I'll be back to finish what I started. As for you....try some smaller runs. You're actually ahead of the game so relax. You're going to have so much fun!
Ken didn't say that the day after the 30 miler he climbed Sleeping Bear Dunes - a 450 foot climb at a 45 degree angle- just for the fun of it! In SAND. Do that every day and you don't need a long run. Take Karen't advice and just enjoy what you ARE doing. Relax and have fun together.
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