It's been about 3 weeks since my last entry. In that time I've run 46 miles and ridden 163 miles. This includes a grueling 52.5 mile ride into the hills NW of where I live:
I had about 2,000 feet of climbing to do on that day. The climbing is fairly similar to that which we will do on the third day of the trek. In fact, the first 10 miles is the exact same first 10 miles of day 3. Not bad, if I do say so myself. There is less than 2 weeks left until we begin. This week, I need to really focus on putting in some miles on the bike and raising some more money. I'm going to call around to a few businesses/institutions in the area that might be interested and then spend some time next weekend knocking on doors. We'll see how it goes. Speaking of the trek, someone submitted the route to mapmyride. The elevation seems to be a little weird/off, but other than that, you can check to see if we'll be riding close to you by clicking on the map below:
Oh, and a small pic of what our Jersey will look like this year:
I feel as if that's what I am always playing. Anyway...I have been working out. AND, I have actually managed to keep my training log on mapmyride/run updated. I just haven't managed to post the maps here. So...to catch up:
After my 7 mile run on June 7th, I had a week filled with 3 4.5 mile runs and a 38 mile ride. That brings me to this past week. It was a busy one:
- 2 mile run on Tuesday - bike commute (33 miles total - 24 one way and 9 back) on Wednesday - 6 mile run on Thurs - 2 mile run on Friday (I was flying for my current fitness level: 13:54) - I did a short, 25 minute easy spin on my bike on Saturday - And then...today...I ran in the 29th Annual Branford Road Race. Here's the route and my time:
I was pretty happy with my time: 39:42. That's about a 7:40 average over 5 miles. I can deal with that. This October, though, when I take on the Festival City 10k in Stratford, Ontario, I will not be happy with anything above a 7 min/mile average. I have a long way to go until then, though. Right now I'm just hoping for some sun, so I can spend more time in the saddle.
On Friday I had a 5 mile tempo run scheduled. I decided to squeeze it in before work, so I could pick up my bike from REI on the way home. The run felt great. 5 miles at 8:30 average. Taking my warm-up mile into consideration, I'd guess that my average over the other four was around 8:00/mile. Still pretty slow when compared to the times I was posting 2 1/2 years ago (before injuring my foot), but I'm definitely happy about it right now:
I was really happy to have my bike back; it looked great. The bike mechanic cleaned the entire drivetrain, got rid of some corrosion on my bottom bracket, lectured me about keeping my bike cleaner, and replaced some brake pads/parts. I was so happy to have my bike back and clean that I set my alarm for 7 this morning (actually crawled out of bed on the weekend while the kids were still sleeping) and headed out for a ride on the coast (most of it was in town, actually, but there was a bit of coastal riding):
I have to admit: I'm a little upset with how my gears were shifting. My chain slipped out of gear a couple of times and, once or twice, it didn't immediately switch when I was asking it to. I'm wondering if it just needs a bit more lube (I used it incredibly sparingly). If the problem persists I'll have to run back up to Hartford to get the bike techs at REI to tweek it a bit...ugh.
Coming up: tomorrow I'll do a 7 mile run early in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, I'm going to head on down to the New Haven green and set up my bike trainer and a table filled with info about the trek/donating. Hopefully I won't get kicked of the green and it'll bring in some cash for ALS TDI.
After officially announcing Lou Gehrig's retirement from baseball on June 21, 1939, the Yankees celebrated his career on July 4th 1939. (he would die less than two years later - at 10:10pm on June 2, 1941 - of complications resulting from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). The Iron Horse had played in 2,130 games straight before benching himself in Detroit on May 2 of that year. At just 35, Gehrig's play had diminished drastically, and suddenly. So much so, in fact, that sports writer James Kahn noted:
"I have watched him closely and this is what I have seen: I have seen him time a ball perfectly, swing on it as hard as he can, meet it squarely - and drive a soft, looping fly over the infield.... He is meeting the ball, time after time, and it isn't going anywhere."
The festivities on July 4th, 1939, took place on the diamond in front of over 60,000 fans at Yankee stadium. Members of the 1927 Yankees World Championship team, aka "Murderers' Row" returned, the Yankees retired his number, and Babe Ruth famously bear-hugged his estranged friend. After remarks by Ruth, Lou Gehrig took to the podium to deliver his farewell speech (video excerpt and full text below).
This coming July 4th will mark the 70th anniversary of the day. To commemorate this event, Major League Baseball has joined with ALS TDI and three other major non-profit organizations to raise money and awareness to help find a cure for ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Please help MLB, ALS TDI, the Tristatetrek, and me work towards a cure/treatments for ALS by joining my ride and contributing money to ALS TDI!
"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy?
"Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something.
"When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.
"So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you."
So yeah...it's their fault that I haven't posted. They've been incredibly sick...so sick, in fact, that my three-year-old son took his second nap in about a year and a half. I did, however, manage to sneak out of the house for a ride Wednesday morning:
a 5 mile (3 of which were a tempo run) run on Thursday:
and today I finished the most enjoyable run that I've done in about 2 1/2 years. It was a slow 6 miler that I did on some mountain bike trails in West Rock Ridge State Park. It was fantastic. Up and down. Over fallen trees. Across planks and bridges. Over/through mud puddles. From rock to rock. It's why/how I originally fell in love with running and it was brilliant. Anyway...enough of my raving. I couldn't put together a map on map-my-run, because the trails are under too dense of tree cover, but if you check the trail map, you can follow my route south from the beginning of the red trail. I took the white trail when it broke off to the west from the red. When the white rejoins the red, I turned back and retraced my steps. Again...awsome.
Reminder: if you haven't joined my ride...please do. Let's help ALS TDI get some real work done on ALS this year!
Minicards, that is. I just ordered some to pass out for fundraising purposes. Image (thanks to doodleandhoob!):
On the back it says:
Become a part of my ride by donating: http://www.active.com/donate/Trek2009/PGavin More information on ALS TDI and the Tri-State Trek: http://www.als.net/ http://www.tristatetrek.com/ Follow my training:
http://bikemeback.blogspot.com
Pretty snazzy, in my opinion. Now I just need to get out and hand them to people who are interested in helping.
I'm a dad; a husband; a son; a brother; a friend; a humanities librarian at a medium-sized, liberal arts university in Connecticut (Until the end of July, that is); (soon to be) a student again; a cyclist; a wannabe runner; sometimes, a bike commuter; etc., etc.
The Tri-State Trek is a 3 day (July 24-26), 270 mile bike ride from Boston to New York to raise awareness and money with the hope of finding viable treatments or a cure for ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). By registering for the ride, I have committed myself to raising $1800.00 for ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI), the leading research institution on ALS. A remarkable 85% of every dollar donated goes directly into the lab towards research.
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