The Time Is Now!

Thank you so much for your generosity! Blood cancer research is a worthy cause and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation does a great job in giving people hope for relief and a cure from this disease. Thank you very much for supporting me through 5 months of training. Thank you for your interest and curiosity and your questions about what it takes to prepare for a marathon. I am not sure yet because this is my first one but I have been running faithfully for 5 months increasing my mileage and pace. This experience has been the best time of my life. It has been fantastic to see results from my dedication and hard work. Now comes the true test and what all of this work is intended to accomplish. It will be a privilege to run on November 7. I am very anxious. I want to do my best. I want to finish. I will be running for all of my supporters, friends, and family. I promise you I will leave everything I have on the streets of New York. I will give my best effort on Sunday.
I will remember to pace myself slowly enough in the beginning to make sure I have enough to get past the wall and turn in the best performance possible. I will remember to hydrate along the way at every re-fueling station. Lots of Gatorade!
Please come to the Race on Sunday. It will be a lot of fun. Hundreds of thousands of spectators will be there to see 40,000 runners do their best in covering 26.2 miles through the 5 boroughs of New York.
Team Sears will do this!

Approaching Zero Hour

Today the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation 2010 ING NYC Marathon Team ran the final 10 miles of the official course in preparation for the race on November 7. The weather today was absolutely perfect! The sun was shining and thousands of tourists flooded New York City. The city was electric with hundreds of runners from all different teams out on the streets preparing for race day. The final leg of the race heads through the Upper East Side of Manhattan into the Bronx and back down through Central Park. There are many hills and inclines.
Coach Tom Holland was there to offer his knowledge and experience of marathon training and top performance on race day. I will be eating lots of salt and carbohydrates in the next 2 weeks.
I still have a good distance to go before meeting my fund raising goal and requirement. Thank you so much for your donation in my name. Please donate if you have not done so. It is very easy. There is not a better cause. I am working so hard to realize my goal!

10/13/10 - 16 miles starting in Summit through New Providence, Berkeley Heights & Gillette & back via Long Trail Road and River Road.

10/17/10 - 20 Miles starting in Bryant Park in Summit and climbed the hills up Mount View Road to Summit Ave to Morris Ave and then the standard 16 described above. This was a very difficult run as blisters became painful around mile 10. This won't happen again as I am back to my regular Asics running shoes.

2010 Staten Island Half Marathon

Thank you to all who have donated to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation in my name! Blood cancer research is a great cause. I am having a fantastic experience training for the NYC Marathon on November 7! My ability to run this race is only because of you.

Thousands of runners took over Staten Island today on a perfect day for running!
The race started at Richmond County Stadium across the Hudson River from Manhattan where the Staten Island Yankees play. With New York City as the backdrop the race started at 8:30 am w/ conditions of 47 degrees and sunny. The field pace was noticeably faster than the Bronx Half Marathon in August. It was evident many people had trained over the summer and cooler weather made a huge difference. The race was organized by the New York Road Runners club which did a great job as always. Many people lined the streets and were totally encouraging of the runners. The atmosphere was totally positive. I ran an excellent race prompted by the great competition. I finished in 1:37:59 and ran 7:29 per mile for 13.1 miles. I had only the typical discomfort that comes from running the distance at pace. I am very thankful to be injury free at this point in my training for the big race on November 7.
I have another long training run next Saturday. Until November 7 it's more pasta and miles and rest and stretching. The Staten Island race was a great experience. It is always fun to run a new course especially w/ runners committed to doing their best.

10/2 - 16 Miles through Summit, New Providence, Berkley Heights & Gillette.
10/6 - 8 Miles in Montclair, NJ