The Longest Run

All Downhill Now

I missed yesterday’s run on account of work. The team celebrated Mission Day, a day of recognition that coincides with the longest run of the season before the race. Team members share brief stories of why they’ve chosen to participate and who they are running or walking for. The Team Heroes came to support the team members during their up-to-five-hour runs by staffing water stations along the trail. I wish I could have been there and I missed the team as I laced up my shoes for the 20 mile run on the Highline Canal Trail this Sunday. The gravel path was strewn with dry fallen leaves, the earliest casualties of the season; the trees were still mostly be-leafed in green and gold. The canal, unusually, was filled with water today and pairs of mallards kept pace alongside. My goal today was to run successively faster segments up until race pace. I eased into things with a couple slower miles and then picked up the pace to within a minute of my goal pace. I could keep track of my mile splits with my watch and the help of markers posted along the trail. For the first 15 miles everything went to plan: 8:30, 8:10, 7:50, 7:40, 7:23. My legs felt fine and especially the first half went by before I realized. Now, I should have brought my running pack that holds a couple liters of water, but it was a warm day and I didn’t want the pack pressed against my back for the duration so I left it home. Instead I had a small waist-belt with only half a liter or so of water and a pouch to hold my keys and a few energy gels. As I continued the run and the miles got to around 16 or 17, my mouth became drier and my throat parched. It became harder to keep going and my times began to slip off my goal pace: back to 8:30, and 9:00. I kept going through it though. I thought of my teammates and how hard they’ve worked. I thought of how hard I’ve been working. I thought of my Dad and the reasons why I signed up for this. And I kept going. Even though I slowed down, I was determined to finish running. It was important to me. My timer hit the 20 mile mark just where I’d begun my out-and-back run and I stopped, panting for air, and a little shaky on tired legs. I pulled another water bottle out of the car and found a shady place in the grass to stretch a bit and rest. I felt good about what I’d accomplished but  disappointed that I didn’t run as planned. We’re heading into the final few weeks and from here on in will be tapering, lessening our distances and time running to give our bodies time to rest before the marathon. This is the last phase in our preparation and the coaches have warned us that this can be a difficult period, mentally and physically. I’m certainly anxious to have the event so close, but confident that I’ve prepared well. I’m not entirely sure what to expect, but glad it’s all downhill from here.

Spotlight Series

Heartbreak and Hope

Teresa is a Team Mentor for Team In Training. She helps new participants like me develop and implement fundraising strategies, and supports our running goals as well. Her enthusiasm for and commitment to Team In Training is contagious in the best way possible. I hope you get a sense of this from the following post.

Teresa Holladay (left) with Hero Russ Stevens (right) and family

Hi, I’m Teresa Holladay and I’ve been with Team in Training for three seasons, the whole last year! I go at my own pace, sometimes walking, sometimes running. I’ve finished one full marathon and a lot of half-marathons and will be participating in the Denver Marathon in a few weeks. Team in Training has really shown me that this is about how the tiniest thing you do will lift another person’s spirits. I run for some dear friends who have had not one, but TWO, children with leukemia. I never thought asking them if I could run for Scotty and Russ would be any big deal. I’d wear their name on a ribbon on my shirt, that’s all. But no. It has touched my friends, Jan and Doug, so deeply that they have given me a home-made, hand-written thank you card every week for a YEAR. Let me tell you why. Their first child, Scotty, was an adorable little guy who was diagnosed back in the days when there was absolutely nothing that could be done. He was a real character, an adorable child. His dad sat down with me one night and told me the whole story, from beginning to end, including how he felt strongly impressed to get his wife and get to the hospital at a certain moment and so they were able to be there with little seven-year-old Scotty when he kissed his mom, closed his eyes, and quietly said goodbye.  When I’m out on the trail, all by myself, and the going gets tough, I think of Doug telling me that story and of sweet Jan holding her little boy. It makes all the difference to get me going again. And then, just a couple of years ago, Scotty’s brother Russ got leukemia. It’s been 38 years since Scotty’s passing but the thought of losing another son… it just can’t happen.  Russ is a father, himself.  But treatments are better, now, thanks to research.  He received a bone marrow transplant from another brother (this is an amazing family, can you tell?).  The truth is, Russ’ health has never quite recovered. He’s cancer-free but just can’t get all the way better.  So we have a long ways to go. I could never have imagined how much my simple little Saturday training activities would mean to my friends. And, to be honest, I never would have guessed how much it would mean to me.  But when THEY think things are tough, they think about me out there on the trail on Saturdays, and when I think things are tough, I think about what they’re going through. I guess you could say, somehow, we keep each other going. I love Team in Training and everything they do for both our teammates and our honored patient heros. I hope to be able to walk and run to fight cancer until we have a cure. I heard a leading researcher say, “in our lifetime”, and I want to be there to see it.

Training With Tony

Coaching One-On-One

I headed out on the Highline trail this morning with the plan to run alone because their are few others on the team that have the same goals as i do. I passed a small group of teammates that I didn’t know; we’ve combined the Central Denver group of runners that I train with, and the South Denver group too. One of their coaches, Tony, asked if he could join me for the day and I was happy to pick up a partner for the 15 miles along the trail. Long-distance running must be one of the finest ways to get to know a person quickly. Our conversation ranged from the personal to the political as we ran along. And of course we talked about running. Tony recently moved to Colorado with his family from the Boston area where he’d grown up. He’s been running for years, has finished some twenty or so marathons and owned a running shop in a city near Boston. I asked him about strategies for running my marathon and how to qualify for Boston (a race he’s run several times). He gave me some tips on pacing and the mental side of running too. This is another benefit of being on the team. The day went by quickly and the run felt good. My knees that had been aching at various times in pat weeks felt fine today. I’m taking this as a sign that my muscles are strengthening in the right way to keep my posture as healthy as possible and limit the strain on my joints. I hope there’ll be more opportunity to run with Tony in the future.

Two-A-Day

Double Your Fun

I woke up this morning well before six to make it up to Red Rocks Amphitheater for my weekly stairs and conditioning session. The wind was quiet today and the end-of-the-year festival at the concert venue left the strong smell of stale booze on the air. Coach Rick did the workout with us and we huffed and puffed through tarzans, stair pushers, planter leaps, the squat-thrust relay, and ladders. It sounds like a lot, but Tuesday is considered a hard day and I still had some more running in the afternoon. I wanted to run fast so I decided to run only about 5 miles round-trip on the good ol’ Cherry Creek bike path. I finished in less than 40 minutes so it was pretty speedy; it’s nice to be at a point in my training that allows me to get in some miles without devoting too much time. With the race fast approaching I won’t do too many of these two-a-days, but it should enhance my gains before leading up to the final tapering period when workouts will be less strenuous.

Strength Workout

Confluence Park Circuit

I’ve never liked the gym. It’s usually stuffy, foul-smelling and brimming with ego. I had a workout to do today but I wanted to be outside. I jogged down to Confluence park for a  hill and strength workout today. After the 15 minute warm-up I ran under the 15th street bridge for some pull ups on the bike ramp. The circuit continued with a run across the bridge over the South Platte River to the main hill in the park where I did high knee and bounding exercises interspersed by sets of push ups on one of the flower planters along the path. Another run across the Cherry Creek bridge and back under 15th Street brought me to the main green where I did some side shuffles and grapevines. Now my heart was really pumping. Some step up knee lifts and more push ups followed by a run up another hill where I finished with some planks and push ups wrapped up the workout and left me with an easy run back to the house. These workouts will be more common over the next few weeks, the goal being to stabilize my core and add power to my legs. Finding a way to do this outside under the sun and sky makes it much more enjoyable.

Keeping It Cool

The Highline Canal Trail

Autumn Is Here

The morning was cool enough to pack a jacket. Lauren and I made the trip down to meet our temmates at the First Nazaren Church today to link into the Highline Canal and go. Coach Rick suggested I limit the run today to 15 miles so I don’t put too many miles on my legs for the week. I was glad for the cooler temperatures that were comfortable for exercising in, and ran along contented with the crisp air, the clear skies, and the dry leaves of fall dropping from the branches of the cottonwood trees that line the path. The workout went by quickly, my arrival at my turnaround point at the tunnel under University Avenue coming before I expected. As I headed back, I saw many other runners out on the trail, some of which were also preparing for the Marathon coming up. Some were running on their own, with their own sole focus, the experience a solitary one. Others were in groups, wearing team shirts and engaging with teammates in familiar ways. Running definitely offers anything one may be looking for, be it simplicity, challenge, dedication, friendship, meditation, or adventure. As I came within about six miles of the finish I saw a high-school cross-country team out for a weekend practice enter the trail ahead of me. I passed the girl’s team, running in one large, chattering group. One runner among them split off, caught up with me, and then passed right by. I had been encouraged to increase my pace near the end of the run and being passed by a high school girl helped motivate me to pick up the pace then and there! keeping up was manageable, but hard work. I finally came alongside her and asked what team she was on. She was a sophomore on the Cherry Creek Cross-Country Team and expected to do well that season. I ran with her for a bit, and then came to her turnaround point, where I continued straight. The visit reminded me of my days running on the Homestead High School team: the camaraderie of the team during long runs around the city, the cool fall mornings, the absolute quiet and palpable tension of hundreds of runners at the starting line, the firing snap of the starters pistol. Good times. I finished the last five miles at race pace and still felt fresh at the end. I’ll take this as a good sign that I’m preparing well and with only a couple weeks left of hard training, I hope that’s the case.

Wash Park Speedwork

Mile Repeats

I headed down to our typical Thursday evening meet-up at the South High School Track. My teammate Kelli was there, sitting in the grass above the track and observed that the JV football team was using the field below for a game, and their fans were using the track to watch. Guess we’ll need to change plans. Fortunately, Coach Greg knew a number of specific distances for the trails and carriage ways that cut through Washington Park, located just across the street from South High. Designed at the turn of the 20th century, “Wash Park” still retains much of the original design. Its 165 acres, dominated by Smith and Grasmere Lakes, features lawns, meadows, and groves of shade trees. Other designers, including Frederick Law Olmstead Jr., most famous for his work at Acadia and Yosemitie National Parks, added structures like the boat house in later years. Flower gardens are planted around the park including one that is an exact match to the one Martha Washington tended at Mt. Vernon while her husband was our first president. Wash Park is surrounded by an historic neighborhood composed of brick homes that were crafted between the turn of the century and World War II. It has become a popular place for residents and a beloved part of the city. My workout through the park consisted of 3 1-mile repeats run between 6:30 and 6:05. I started each lap feeling good and I enjoyed zipping around the carriage roads, passing by the other runners, joggers and walkers out for the evening. Near the end of each lap, I needed to focus on maintaining proper form, leaning slightly forward, as a plank, from the ankles and pushing back my arms instead of pulling them forward. In between, I had a short recovery. We finished with a few drills on the hills at the edge of the park. This space really is a tremendous asset for the City of Denver and especially for those of us preparing for the marathon, which will include a couple miles through Washington Park.

Spotlight Series

Allison, Another Team Hero, and Me

My Hero

I’m starting a weekly feature called the Spotlight Series to highlight some of the others I’m sharing this journey with. Every Team In Training group has a Team Hero to share inspiration and support when the going gets tough. 14-year-old Allison is my hero and I asked her Dad to share some of their story with you. He was gracious enough to compose the following message. By the way, he’s training for the marathon too!

Hello.  My name is Dr. Tom Bolan and I am the father of this year’s Team in Training Team Hero, Allison.  I would like to tell you a little bit about this most remarkable young lady.  Her “adventure” began at the age of 2 when she fell down the last few stairs at the house that we were living in at that time.  After a week of continued complaining, you realize at age two, this was not just a ‘sprained ankle’ as we were initially told by the first doctor we saw.  We took her to an orthopedic specialist and he concluded that “she is simply getting more attention this way, and has decided that she doesn’t want to walk”.  Now, in my heart I knew better, but there was nothing to do but give it a bit more time to allow her to heal.  After another week and continued complaining, I insisted that something was wrong, so I sent her in for some blood tests because even the x-rays that I had taken of her legs and ankles didn’t show any abnormality.  When the results came back, she didn’t even get to go home from the doctor’s office.  A parent’s worst fears were realized when the diagnosis came back blood cancer- Acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL for short.  The reason she would not walk, and fell in the first place was from the bone marrow growing at such an abnormal rate. It was stretching her bones from the inside out! An extremely painful condition to say the least.  Obviously, the “specialists” were embarrassed for not finding the problem, but more importantly we began the journey that would last two years and three months.  Daily visits to the clinic after her first 30 days in the hospital kept us pretty busy.  I have never seen such a trooper in my life!!  She never complained.  I had explained to her that we were going to “take an adventure together” over the next couple of years and that I would be with her every step of the way.  We were thrilled when she was cleared of the disease until eight months after her last treatment.  And then, the worst news yet… it had come back.  She relapsed and began the entire process over again at age five.  The only chance she was given at that point was a bone marrow transplant, and after serious research, we chose the Fred Hutchinson facility in Seattle, Washington since they specialized in children and transplants.  We moved to Seattle for 5 months and spent 110 straight days in the hospital.  Had it not been for groups like the Leukemia Society helping us every step of the way, we probably would have gone crazy as well as bankrupt from all the expense.  They shared information and their hearts with us and connected us with others who had experienced similar trials.  I am happy to report that after years of follow up and ongoing blood testing, I can report that by God’s grace and lots of prayer, Allison is cancer free for eight years now!!  What a thrill for her to be able to give back to those that have helped her so much by being this year’s Team Hero.  Thank you LLS and Team in Training for all that you have done and continue to do.  Now you know why I run and train with TNT: in order to support the mission, so eventually no other parents will have to endure watching their child fight the life and death battle on a daily basis.  Go Team!!

Cruising

Coal Creek Trail

Coal Creek Trail

The mountains of Colorado don’t have an exclusive on the valuable resources of the state. Though gold and silver must be plucked from the steeper precipices and tumultuous rivers of the high country, the plains of Eastern Colorado have value too. At the turn of the 20th century, the most valuable of those resources was coal. It powered the industrial revolution in the East and the locomotives that would bring civilization into the western frontier. The mining towns, like Superior and Louisville, were rough places with rowdy residents and frequent conflicts between rival companies that became violent at times. Today, a decidedly more peaceful vibe persists, one that CNN/Money Magazine recognized when it selected Louisville (pronounced Lewis-vill) as the Best Place to Live in 2007. A regional path meanders along the wooded banks of Coal Creek for 7.5 miles and passes by the suburban homes, golf courses, and open spaces that characterize the communities today. I set off from the old homestead-turned-park at the west end of the trail and made quick time over the ten miles I set out to run today. I encountered only one short hill on an upland to the east of the Creek that rose above the trees and presented a great view of the Flatirons above Boulder where the Rockies begin. My goal today, based on Coach Rick’s recommendation, was to speed up the cadence of my stride. Most champion long-distance runners take about 180 steps each minute. My natural gait sets me at about 160. A quicker cadence (and shorter stride) is ultimately more efficient because it prevents a runner from bouncing up and down as much, making sure that all the energy is being put into forward momentum. It felt too fast at first, but I found the right cadence after a mile or so and never had a run this long feel so effortless. I’m convinced that this will make a long event like a marathon feel easier and keep me on pace longer. I’m grateful for the advice and commitment of my coaches in preparing me to complete my running goals and honor my Dad’s memory.

Rocky Mountain High

Labor Day Weekend

Four national parks lie within the state boundaries of Colorado and the flagship of those is Rocky Mountain National Park. Established by an act of congress in 1915, Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) preserves the glacier-carved valleys, sprawling tundra, unique wildlife, and cultural remnants of the Southern Rockies that have inspired Americans for generations. On this Labor Day weekend many of those Americans made time to visit and filled the parking lots and roads in the area to capacity. After not finding parking at our planned trailhead, my friend Ray and I went to the secret weapon. On the southeast side of the park, at an area far from the main entrance in Estes Park and the popular trails that lead into 14,259 -foot Long’s Peak, is a gravel road that sneaks into Wild Basin. It was still busy at the trailhead, but we found a spot to leave the car and take to the trails for a hike. We passed a number of families and couples as we followed the trail along St. Vrain Creek. The water beside us had started its trip from the continental divide not far from where we walked, within the boundaries of the park. By happenstance the rain drops that coalesced here in the creek dropped on the east side of the divide instead of the west where they would have drained to the Pacific Ocean. Instead, they would continue down St. Vrain Creek and out of the Park to  join the South Platte River on the edge of the Great Plains. The journey would be slow across the plains, a contrast to the rushing cascades we saw here as the river plunged out of the mountains. It would cross the expanse of Nebraska where it would converge with the Missouri River and bend south to join the Mississippi, eventually reaching the levees and dikes around New Orleans where it would ultimately pour into the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Quite a trip if it goes all the way. Certainly much of the water here would be diverted to meet our needs on the fields of our farmers and out of  the faucets of our families.

Ouzel Falls, Rocky Mountain National Park

We continued along the rocky dirt trail, steeping over the blasted rock steps and hewn timber bridges to a view of Calypso Cascade, one of the main attractions for hikers in this area of the Park. We stopped to enjoy the tumbling waters but paused only for a moment as we still had another mile to ascend to our turnaround point: Ouzel Falls. Far fewer hikers made the trip beyond Calypso and it was nice to have some of the trail to ourselves. Up at this elevation we could see the earliest glimpses of autumn coming to the mountains; some of the aspens were showing splashes of golden leaves among the blanket of evergreens that typically cloaks these valleys. At Ouzel Falls, we cooled off on a large rock that stood at the edge of the fall’s misty spray. “Ouzel” is another name for the American Dipper, a small gray bird that feeds in rocky streams and earned its title on account of a whole-body bobbing behavior it displays between feeding. Staying long enough to enjoy the reward of our efforts, we conversed in the crisp air and over the sound of the descending water crashing into the rocks before us. Not a bad way to spend a day of leisure. Here’s to “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” that Labor Day was established to recognize.