Fisher House Update, Pre-Marathon Training Complete

Well, my Fisher House pledge drive is off to a great start. Many, many thanks to everyone that has stopped by and donated. After just a few days I'm already 38% there. Much better then I had expected.

A special thanks to my friend Kathi at Mail Call! Supporting the Troops. She has been actively spreading the word among the many military blogs in her network which has helped tremendously. Thanks Kathi!!!!

So, I finished up my "pre-marathon" training yesterday. I will say this, the extra 16 weeks of training due to our getting extended and my missing Lincoln have really been helpful. I guess you could say that is something positive from our extension.

Week 14 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 5/5 @ 8:55
Wednesday - 7/7 @ 8:45
Thursday - 5/5 @ 8:26
Friday - off
Saturday - 7/7 @ 8:37
Sunday - 12/12 @ 9:36
Total - 36/36 Right on schedule. Nothing unusual and a good week of running.

Week 15 (planned/actual):
Monday - off
Tuesday - 5/5.5 @ 8:55
Wednesday - 8/8 @ 9:07
Thursday - 5/5 @ 8:26
Friday - off
Saturday - 9/9.5 @ 9:22
Sunday - off
Total - 27/28 Memorial day was the BolderBoulder 10k, so I moved my long run to Saturday and took Sunday off so I would be somewhat fresh. Other then that had a good week.

Week 16 (planned/actual):
Monday - 6.2/6.2 @ 7:30
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - 8/8.1 @ 9:09
Thursday - 5/6 @ 9:06
Friday - off
Saturday - 8/7.7 @ 9:17
Sunday - 10/12 @ 9:34
Total - 37.2/40 My first 40 mile week! The 10k on Monday was great. I far exceed my expectations. As mentioned, I was looking for a sub 50:00 and thought I could maybe do a 48:xx. I ended up running a 46:40, which is a personal best by about 5 minutes. Can't beat that. I did a race report on Coolrunning.com, you can check it out here for the rest of the details if you are in to the sort of thing.

This week is week 1 of 18 for Chicago training. These extra 16 weeks have really helped, I went from an average of around 20 miles a week to an average of around 36 or so. My long run is up from 10 to 12, and the 12 doesn't bother me much as all. I don't have any nagging injuries. The biggest challenge will be staying disciplined when I get home, but that shouldn't be a problem. We got a bike trailer for the little man, so we can do family outings at the lake with momma and the mister on the bike and me out running. Also I have a jogging trailer that I never got to use before this deployment, so I may get some use out of that. Plus I've already paid my entry fee and I'm far too cheap to let that go. And of course I have the supporters of Team Sack to keep my going, so I'm confident that I'll keep after it. I'm excited to get out of the "pre" phase and start counting down the weeks.