Major Development

There’s been a lot of action since my last post – sorry it took so long. My second week of training culminated with a 9.4 mile run last Saturday. I was only supposed to do 9, but it’s 4.7 to the end of Miller’s Lane, and it seemed more complete to go all the way to River Road before turning back.

I discovered more trails, too and confused Kim in the process. After finishing her morning lessons, she decided to take a drive to check on my progress and make sure I wasn’t lying in a ditch somewhere. So she drove all the way to River Road and… No Bruce!

She found me, though. On the way back. I heard the diesel coming up behind me and recognized its sound. Didn’t hear it on her way out, though. There’s a nice section of trail about 600 yards long through a horse pasture with a line of heavy junipers between the trail and the road. It’s a yummy soft downhill coming north. I must have been on that trail when she went by the first time. Listening to Eat A Peach.

I get a kick out of her driving out to check on my training runs. She brings me Diet Coke, too.

I go hot and cold with running music. In the past I haven’t bothered mainly because the music I like never seems to harmonize right with my running. Ran the Monument Avenue 10K last year listening to The Ultimate Santana the whole way and that worked out ok. Training for the Ultra calls for a slower pace, so music seems worth a try. Eat a Peach is just a big long bluesy jam so the tempo and timing matched that 9.4 miler pretty well.

Today I ran five miles listening to a new Steven King audio book. 11-22-63, it’s called. That's the title, 11-22-63. Never ran listening to a book before. It could create a whole new paradigm. Got so into the story I didn’t want to stop running. I’ll let you know how that goes. Both the story and the listening.

I've digressed. Here’s the Major Development: We've dedicated my running this year to the Semper Fi Fund for injured Marines.

I was introduced to this fund by Captain Mosi Smith, USMC while investigating the JFK 50 Mile. Mosi’s a Naval Academy grad, triathlete and elite ultra-marathoner. His mission is to raise $1 million for  The Semper Fi Fund. Our goal is much more modest -- $10,000 by the end of 2012. We will need your help.

Another big development is the race schedule starts to take shape:

• Irish Sprint 10K – Marine Corps Base, Quantico, VA March 17^th – this is the race that gets me into the Marine Corps Marathon.
• Monument Ave 10K – Richmond, March 31^st – This is my only non-Semper Fi Fund race. We’ll be promoting the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation for this race as we did in 2011. It’s a great organization dedicated to finding new homes for retired racehorses and saving them from the one-way box car ride to a Mexican slaughterhouse.
•  New Jersey Marathon at the Shore – Long Branch, NJ May 6^th – Hey everybody, we’re coming back to Jersey for the weekend! We expect lots of friends and family to come out and cheer us on.
• Marine Corps Marathon – Arlington, VA October 26^th – The People’s Marathon it's called because it’s the biggest marathon in the world that doesn't offer prize money. My final long training run before the JFK 50 Mile Ultra.
• JFK 50 Mile – Boonsboro, MD November 17^th 2012. This will be the 50^th running of this race. Finishing is the ultimate goal.  

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for information on how you can help support us as we support the Semper Fi Fund.