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Only 0 days left until Peter Tadros runs the 2008 Long Island Marathon for the Littlest Lamb.
Update: Pete finishes in top 20 at a time of 3:06 qualifying him for the Boston Marathon!
In 2008, Peter Tadros from Long Island has teamed up with the Littlest Lamb to help our cause. Peter will be running the Long Island Marathon (26.2 miles) on May 4th, 2008 (that's only 0 days away!). To make this experience more interactive, you the donators will have the opportunity to choose the hairstyle he will run with. If our goal of $10,000 is reached, Peter will wear this hairstyle for two (2) weeks following the race.
This will be Peter's 2nd Marathon. On his first attempt in Harrisburg, PA, he did not realize how challenging this race can be on his mind and body, but nevertheless finished with a time of 3:57:05. Peter is looking to improve on that to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2009. He must run it in under 3:11:00 to achieve that goal. Let's help motivate him!!
Peter is currently attending SUNY Stony Brook and working towards his clinical doctorate in physical therapy degree. When he is not working toward his degree or training for the marathon, Peter enjoys playing basketball, being an active member of his church, and spending time with his friends.
By running this marathon, Peter hopes to help the Littlest Lamb spread awareness to others on the increasing need to build a healthy and safe environment for impoverished orphans in Egypt and HELP BREAK THE CYCLE OF POVERTY! However, this effort cannot be reached without your help. Please support us in our cause.
Peter would like for others to join the cause with him as we try to spread awareness all over the country. Peter is targeting the three (3) major marathons in the United States (Chicago, Boston, New York City) after completing the Long Island marathon. If you are interested in running to support our cause please e-mail info@littlestlamb.org.
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Every $10 is worth 1 vote. $100 gets you 11 votes!
Update: $10,165 raised so far (100% of goal!!)
Thank you for helping Pete reach his goal and for supporting the cause!
Feel free to continue to support us in our mission to provide a house and home for Egypt's most impoverished orphans.
Thank you!
Peter's Blog on his Marathon Training
The Final Blog
(Posted Friday, May 9, 2008)
You guys are all amazing for your support throughout the last 3-4 months. This marathon experience was unbelievable and made it worthwhile. We made it to over $10,000 so I am currently wearing this duo for 2 weeks now. In those two weeks, I am going to 2 bachelor parties (this is probably why they were hesitant to donate), school, work, and basketball games to mention a few places. I mean who wants someone to show up to his or her parties with a reddish Mohawk.
Leading up to the Marathon, I honestly didn’t think we were going to make either of the fundraising goals. However, you all amazed me once again with your generosity. The last week of training consisted of running for an hour and half at a good pace (got close to 12 miles) then instead of running again I played basketball on Thursday which I think helped to get a different form of cardio and muscles activated. Finally on Saturday, I ran for 25 minutes just to keep myself loose and get one last good stretch in. I felt really good going in despite this thing in the back of my knee that hasn’t entirely gone away yet.
The Marathon is a huge deal for more than just the runners. It gives the Island a sense of recognition, businesses a chance to market, organizations a chance to spread awareness, and fans a chance to cheer on loved ones. It’s really what our community should be like year round yet seems to come together only during huge events. There were so many instances during the race where people were saying “I love your Mohawk”, “Let’s go Mohawk”, and at one point during the race there was a guy playing with his guitar singing and all of a sudden he changed his lyrics to throw the word “Mohawk” in there. It was truly a special day.
The whole week it was expected to Thunderstorm on the morning of the Marathon and the race would run rain or shine so I was bummed out. The weather that morning couldn’t be further from what was expected. It was perfect; exactly what I thought was ideal - Low 50’s, Cloudy, and no wind. This lead many to think they could run their ‘PR’ (personal record). After doing the morning warm-up and stretch, all we were waiting for was the gun to go off. Then it did…
I started 26 seconds behind the starting line because I followed the rules but if I could do it again, I wouldn’t because many runners didn’t. Again, people were suppose to line up according to their expected pace but people who ran 7 ½ minute paces lined up with the 5 minute/mile pace. It angered me but didn’t realize this until the end of the race. The first mile seemed difficult to get around people and thought this mile would be very slow since I had people running 10 min paces in front of me but when I looked down at my watch only 7:10 passed by. Then I said to myself I’m running way too fast, I’m going to give out quick. Then the next mile passed and I finished it in 6:50 and I’m like I’m no good at this pacing thing. From that point on, I just tried to stay at a 7 min/mile pace for as long as I could.
The pack of people started to open up around mile 4 where I saw the first familiar faces of the race which were Jen’s parents (I had been training with Ryan and Jen for the last 3 months as well). I don’t think they recognized me initially so I waved at them then they realized who I was. It was great, they jumped and screamed and I felt good. Then we ran through the streets of Nassau that wasn’t that bad but my right leg started to feel weird and it moved awkwardly for a mile or two. I thought I was going to stop at this point but I fought through it and it got better just before I got onto the Wantagh Parkway.
The Wantagh Parkway, the dreaded stretch of the race that started much earlier than I realized. More than half the race was run on this road, I knew this is where I needed you the most. Going into the race, I was expecting people at certain points as we had talked all week where they would be located. The first stop there was nobody there, I was disappointed (b/c I wanted some Gatorade). Then I got down to Hempstead Turnpike, which was great – Jen’s parents made it there again and were videotaping and I saw my friends Dennis, Maureen, and Frank a quarter mile later (with some Gatorade). I felt strong at that point – the 20K mark. Next I headed down toward the Loring Rd overpass where I saw Ryan’s parents and they gave me a huge lift (again had Gatorade). I was more than halfway done at this point and then the mental toughness is where I did most of the battling from this point forward.
I knew that I wouldn’t see people again for a while to keep my spirits high and I was approaching mile 17 within the next 30 minutes. Mile 17 is where I faded in the last marathon but my body felt different this time around, the training was much more extensive so I felt ready for mile 17. As I got down to that mile my spirits were once again lifted as I saw my friends Rory and Karen there cheering me on. I didn’t see them initially and neither did they see me but once we realized what was going on Rory tried to catch up to me to hand me some Gatorade. I told him to get me on the way back. He and Karen were near the turnaround point anyway so 2 minutes later we got the exchange and they pumped me up to start my way back up the Wantagh as I got through mile 17 without problems.
Now, I had been in a place I haven’t been before doing a 7 min/pace for this long. I got back to Loring Rd and saw Ryan’s parents again with some Gatorade. Then a quarter mile later I saw The Littlest Lamb people (Christine, Mira, Mia) along with my cousin and her husband (Marlyn and Chris). Mira was doing a photo shoot the entire time as I heard click click click for the entire time I ran by. They gave me the biggest burst of speed as I passed a runner there that I have been near the entire race. Then not even a mile longer I saw Dennis, Frank, and Maureen again along with Jen’s parents. I was just past 20 miles and no signs of slowing down still going strong at 7 min/mile pace.
Then after all the adrenaline and emotional highs of familiar faces at this point, little did I know that this was the last time I would see someone until the finish. This is also where I started to fade. I looked at my watch after I finished mile 22 and it confirmed what I had already known - I was slowing down. Then I did some quick Math in my head (I was at 2:35:00), I said to myself ‘your goal is to get to Boston’. I had 35 minutes to finish 4.2 miles, this is well over an 8 min/mile pace. I could do this.
Then as each mile finished, I realized the pace I needed to qualify for Boston increased (meaning I could go slower). I was excited, then it got down to the last mile and change – I had 12 minutes. I knew I was going to Boston, it was just now finishing my first two goals – stay injury free and run the entire distance without stopping. I came around the final corner and heard ‘Pete’ but I thought this was for the guy ahead of me – his name was Pete also. Sylvia and Lauren later called me out for not realizing those cheers were for me. Then as there was little distance left in the race I hear my name being called out “From Levittown, 24 years old – Top 15 finisher.. Peter Tadros”. I threw my arms in the air in excitement as I finished under 3 hours and 7 minutes. The entire 3-4 months of training was summed up in just over 3 hours. I was going to Boston.
Then after the race I saw people afterwards for pictures, a massage, and some more Gatorade. It was exciting as I heard Ryan and Jen finish under their goals of 3 ½ hours, which included Jen being the 7th overall female to finish earning her an award for her accomplishment. Congratulations to them both. We all celebrated later in the day with some burgers, hot dogs, steak, ice cream and even a beer. All things we stayed away from practically for the last 3-4 months. It was exciting to say we did it, its over now let’s enjoy ourselves and not feel guilty about it.
This experience was amazing and even more so by the money that was raised to help build the orphanage in Egypt. I am gladly wearing this Mohawk for two weeks to honor the fundraising goal and hope you can all enjoy see it in person. There are some pictures on my Facebook page in addition to the ones I’m sure you’ve seen on the Homepage of the Littlest Lamb website. Thanks once again for all your support throughout, see you in Boston!
Much Love,
Pete
The Results
(Posted Saturday, May 3, 2008)
The people have spoken... The Pink Mohawk will be represented tomorrow. The Mohawk is a little on the red side though from dying it. It looks more like a 'frohawk also. I think my hair may have been too dark to start with to go to pink. Anyway, I hope you all can come tomorrow to support and check out what your donations have decided. Rain or shine, the race will go on.
Thank you all for your continued support throughout, we did it. We made our goal and now I will be wearing this for two weeks. I will post later in the week to let you know how the marathon went. Thanks again.
Much Love,
Pete
It’s the FINAL countdown (Last week!)
(Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2008)
% of fundraising goal reached: 70%
Hairstyle currently leading: AFRO
It.. is.. almost.. over! Oh Yeah! I’m so excited to end training and compete on Sunday. I just want to see if I have what it takes to qualify for Boston now. As of now I give myself a 50/50 shot of qualifying. It’s a tremendous speed to maintain for 26.2 miles (7:15/mile). However, I want to be celebrating this day with you all. I hope you all can make it. There are numerous locations along the course where fans can stand. I can’t even tell you how much fan encouragement helps the runners. If you do decide to come out, the marathon starts at 8am from Nassau Coliseum. After running through towns such as Uniondale, Westbury, and East Meadow, we make our way onto the Wantagh Parkway after mile 10. From here it’s a straight shot down from Old Country Road to Sunrise Highway and back onto the other side (finishing mile 23). This is where the roads are very empty and runners need you the most. We end up by running in East Meadow again and finishing at Eisenhower Park. A more detailed map can be found on the internet at www.thelimarathon.com.
If you are interested in coming that would be awesome. As I previously mentioned the place where the runners need you the most are along the Wantagh Parkway. The places where most water stops will be are near the exits of the Parkway. They are Old Country Rd., Hempstead Turnpike, and Sunrise Highway. They are far between each other. That is why I am going to write down some other places where you can get onto the parkway. There are 2 overpasses I could recall off the top of my head that have a walking path along the parkway. The first is on the corner of Carman Ave. and Stewart Ave (in East Meadow) and the second is on Old Jerusalem Rd. and Loring Rd. (in Levittown). There is a third way to get onto the parkway near Wantagh High School (Jersualem Rd. & Holiday Park Dr. in Wantagh) but am unfamiliar with it. Once again, this is where runners need support the most. If you are a late sleeper, the finish is also a great spot to be at which is at Eisenhower Park. The first place guy should finish near 10:30am (definitely not me).
Now let’s take a look back at the top. That is how close this vote is! Forget Clinton v. Obama, the real debate is Afro v. Mohawk. Each has its special style with it. The vice president of these hairstyles is what makes the choices so spectacular and tough for donators to choose. Afro along with it’s vice Mr. ‘stache makes for an incredible combo and packs an old school punch with a strong history and proven past. While the relative newcomer on the scene Mohawk along with its edgy vice Ms. Pink dye gives more of a ‘now’ feeling and really pulling in the younger crowd stating its time for a change. This debate will not go until November however. The last votes will be decided by Friday at 9pm. This doesn’t mean that donations end at this time though! Donations will be added to the goal up until Midnight of May 5th (you have all of May 4th to keep the hairdo alive!). As of now, it’s just less than $2,000 to keep it around for an extra week, keep this final drive going. We can get there together.
I thought I would be excited to stop training but I should probably reconsider that. Considering what has occurred in the last month, I should probably continue to run and start training for distances over 50 miles. Seriously, can you believe gas is almost at $4/gallon for regular?! I don’t think my 27 cent per hour cost of living raise I recently got is covering all that. Damn you gas! You are more expensive than Lattes at Starbucks – they are now considered a bargain. I can’t believe it and it’s not even summer yet when prices are the highest. So if anybody wants to hang out, let me know a week in advance so I can start traveling by foot.
So how did my last week of hard training go? It consisted of 4 days running totaling 46 miles. This week didn’t go as scheduled. My friend recently discovered that most people run their longest distance 3 weeks prior to the Marathon. We on the other hand planned to run the 20-miler 8 days before the race. We quickly advanced our 20 mile run to that night (on Tuesday – 12 days to go). That run took just over 2 hours and 45 minutes without any water. Yeah, just like what you’re thinking – our bodies felt weak, tired, and like jello. This is when I said I finally need to take an Aleve for the first time after running. I’ve always seen the commercials and thinking that is some corny crap but I couldn’t hold back, I needed it (especially since the ice maker doesn’t work in my house). I know the ice maker is a weak excuse but I was too lazy to grab some frozen vegetable to put around my knees. My right knee is the one that hurt more and is currently giving me a strange feeling but luckily it’s pain-free. It was tested out by running throughout the week and felt a little better each time. I should be good to go but I don’t know exactly what it is. I’m just hoping to get through Sunday injury free. Throughout this training process, my right leg has bothered me all at different points. First it was my foot during the beginning then my hip midway and now my knee at the end. I can’t wait to rest, watch House and have a nice juicy burger with no guilt coming from it.
So this is it, the last week. I am pretty much set. Friday is the fitness expo where I will be picking up my number and attending the pasta party later that night. I got to carb-load and be ready. Saturday will be a relaxing day (hopefully) to just get everything together and stay off my feet. Sunday is the big day, get there around 7:15am, run stretch and be ready to go at 8am. As of now, the forecast is changing everyday so I will pay attention to it on Friday. I’m hoping for low-to-mid 50’s, cloudy, and no wind. Those are my ideal weather conditions. My goals for this Marathon are simple: 1. To finish injury free 2. To never stop, run 26.2 straight – no walking and 3. To qualify for Boston. Well that’s it, I will post on Saturday which hairstyle won so you all are informed before the race. I will put my time and place as soon as I can afterwards. Then a few days later, I will post pictures from the Marathon and some of facial pics of my beard growing process. It’s been a long 5 weeks for that beard. Also, if you come to the Marathon bring a squirt bottle filled with Gatorade in it so I can get some energy as I go by, Please! I will be greatly appreciative of you.
Thank you all for following along with me this long and I just want to let you know you have all made a special impact on me but more importantly on those children in Egypt. Stay posted for updates, take care and God Bless.
Much Love,
Pete
Crunch Time (3 & 2 to Go!)
(Posted Sunday, April 20, 2008)
% of fundraising goal reached: 59%
Hairstyle currently leading: Mohawk
Hey Ya’ll, what’s good? Let me tell you that I am very excited that this Marathon will be over in 2 weeks time. All of the preparation for this has been taxing on the mind and body but the experience is definitely worth it. I have a feeling that once this is over, I can say to myself “Self that was difficult but I bet there are not too many other things in life that will seem as difficult in the future now.” So now I’m down to 157lbs which is the lowest I’ve been since high school. It’s quite noticeable too especially when my Mom tells me to put some meat on my bones and people at work teasing me to have some protein. Even though my tone might seem negative, I am really excited to run in two weeks to try and achieve my personal goal of qualifying for Boston. I feel much more prepared for this Marathon as opposed to the one in November. Now its time to see if I can do this -- 26.2 miles of Long Island roads under 3 hours 11 minutes.
The donations have been coming in strong over the last two weeks and I greatly appreciate it. Our goal seemed unreachable just two weeks ago but a strong push has changed that thought quickly to see if a comeback can be made. The donations will be throughout the Marathon and after but at 8pm on May 2nd is when the tally for the hairstyle will be over. I need to start the dying the hair or shaving the facial hair at that time. As of now, I have not shaved since March 30th and am currently documenting with photos of how my facial hair has grown week to week. The facial hair is very patchy right now (I think 12 year olds can out grow me) but if it grew in I think I would really like it and keep it. Luckily, my boss at work is tolerable of it and understands it’s for charity. I ask my teacher if I could present my research project with a pink Mohawk if it comes to it and she just gave a look that said “That’s horrific, please don’t”. However, you the people will speak to it. If it gets to $9,000 I will wear it the hairstyle for a week, $10,000 for two weeks. So spread the word and tell all your friends, family, co-workers everything. I will try and document the entire week or weeks with the hairstyle so I can share the experience with you all. I need to find a perfect website for all of you to see the pictures if you so choose. I will work with the littlest lamb to put this on the website after the marathon.
So I’ve put together my best week followed by a good week over the last 2 weeks. This included 85 miles over those two weeks (50 followed by 35). It included 2 runs over 2 hours so I reached my goal of being at Sunken Meadow for a while. Those runs were 16 and 18 miles long respectively. I need to go on two more this week and I’ll be good to go for the May 4th. I thought I’ve seen it all while running but yet I had another experience that never happened to me before. I was running at Sunken Meadow on Wed. and went into a trail, while on this trail I hear some noise that sounds like other people running perpendicular to me. All of a sudden, 20 feet in front of me I see two deer cross my path and continue up the hill which made me stop in my tracks to see if more were coming. Those deer started going up towards the way I was headed next so I was like this is not good, they have four legs I have two, there is no way I’m going to out run them. Then I was thinking maybe I would play dead and they would pass but I remembered that works for bears so I was like crap I just hope I don’t see them again. I made the turn and started running uphill none the less so my chances of keeping the distance between them and I greatly diminished. This story had a happy ending though as I ended up being just fine as I never saw them again. I started to tell people this and they said the deer are actually scared of you; I’m still in doubt of that statement. Anyway, I’ll probably run at Sunken Meadow one more time and hopefully no crazy adventures will occur.
Well now it’s official, I am definitely playing in a Volleyball league this summer when it doesn’t conflict with basketball. I have no idea how to play but I’m hoping neither do any of the other teams so it will be ok. But I hear we are in a very competitive division since we didn’t get to pick fast enough. That’s just great; I’ll be eating volleyball this summer which isn’t my idea of fun. I still want to be in a dance crew as wiggles, someone start a crew already.
Ok so I went to the store to look for Pink dye. This is a hard find, at least in Wal-mart. I started looking around and asked the workers there for help. I told them I wanted pink dye because I couldn’t find it. They obviously were confused and thrown off by the question; they have never expected to come from an unshaven fairly tan curly haired man. I know she wanted to say the razors are in aisle 8 but she held back. Then we searched together and all they had was pink dye for highlights. They said I could just not use the highlighter pen and end up dying my whole head. They didn’t know this was for me because everything they asked what I was looking for I would say “Let’s say I wanted to dye my hair for example, where can I get pink dye? I’m getting it for a friend.” I think they started to pick up it was for me when I asked way too many questions about hair dye. Apparently they have a number scale where the higher the number the lighter the color and vice versa. I double checked with them to see if that’s how it worked. What can I say; I need to know what’s going into my head? I will purchase this dye sometime this week just in case it is victorious.
Anyway, I’m out but I want to thank you all again for your contributions and to spread the word. Only two weeks left and I hope that you can make it to the Marathon even for a small part of it. The best place to be is on the Wantagh Parkway where you can just park your beach chair and catch some sun. This is where the runners will need your support the most including myself as there isn’t much sign of human life throughout that stretch. Thanks again, take care everyone.
Much Love,
Pete
Back to Reality (5 & 4 to Go!)
(Posted Saturday, April 12, 2008)
% of fundraising goal reached: 26%
Hairstyle currently leading: Mohawk
Hey guys, Remember me? Sorry it’s been so long, life has been very stressful over the last two weeks so let me fill you in up to last Sunday. Spring break was too good to be true and realized this when I went back to school. I went back to having difficulty getting enough rest and yes, you were right I did not run at 5:30am. This compares as how I am always late to all affairs (my friends always tell me we are meeting at 8 if we really are meeting at 8:30 so I’m just on time), basically was there any doubt you’d expect anything different? Sorry if you don’t follow along, basically it was a lock from the beginning.
So the NCAA Tournament ended Monday night with an instant classic of a game. Unfortunately my picks from January didn’t work out as UCLA got crushed but I think the best team won the championship. I still don’t know why college football is opposed to having playoff games? It would be incredible to see a true, not debated, champion be crowned.
Back to March 30th, I ended up running the Scotland Run 10K in Central Park. It was awesome running around the entire loop of Central Park and this race marked the beginning of Scotland week in NYC (according to the public announcer). As I suspected, there are so many great runners that show up to these races as the elite use them as tune-ups for the NYC Marathon in November. Why wouldn’t you? If anything, it’s an excuse to just be in the city even if you don’t care about your time, just to enjoy the atmosphere. This is what happened as people in kilts played music with their bagpipers for at least an hour leading up to the start and afterwards as well. It wasn’t the warmest of weather either but they had the Scotland spirit with them. Overall, there was 6,928 runners (some of whom wore kilts and/or painted the Scotland flag on their face) in this race and I finished 227th with a time of 40:46. I was stunned on how fast it went by and was easily my best time ever so this Marathon training is definitely working. The most difficult part of the race was the beginning were it was so crowded and runners didn’t follow the recommendations of lining up in expected mile pace time. After the race I learned that they are changing these standards by having your number represent your time. I know that sounds confusing so for example numbers 1-500 put their pace under 6 minutes per mile on the application and so on. Either way it was exciting and I am looking forward to running lots of short, shorter, shortest, much much shorter (you get it – a break from a marathon) races starting in June. Come join me, if for anything it’s an excuse to be in the city.
Afterwards we went back to our car (which had a parking ticket on it – very expensive, over $100) we decided to go to the Car Show. It was the last day and the crowds were enormous. This is probably why people told me to go during the week to beat all the crowds. Three things I learned that day: 1) it’s entirely too much to see/remember in one day 2) Don’t park in the city and 3) Don’t bring your kids who just sit in the cars and honk the horn for minutes on end. Watch your kids’ people! – Its not cute that little Billy is sitting in a big car and can’t see over the wheel so he decides to hold down the only thing he can reach for two minutes, it’s annoying. Ok back to the car show real quick, my favorite car was the Nissan GT-R and was impressed by the entire Nissan line along with Mercedes (which I usually frown upon but I understand why they are so coveted). I was disappointed with the BMW, Audi, and all American made cars as a set. They each had one or two very exciting cars but after that I wasn’t impressed. So I’m marking this event again for next year as I’m ready to enjoy it during the week.
So back to running, school does work in my favor sometimes and this is one of those times. Fortunately, I have 3 Wednesdays in a row that one of my classmates and I team up to treat a child in a school. Where is this school you ask? About 5 minutes away from Sunken Meadow, its fate I tell you. On those Wednesdays I had planned to attempt running for 2 to 2:30 hours to really stimulate marathon distance. The speed will be a bit slower but the pain I’m sure will be there saying hello and overstaying its welcome for a couple of days after. 2 of these days have already happened, on the first one I couldn’t go because we had a softball game later that day so I went all the way back to Stony to play (which we won of course) and the 2nd Wednesday I made it there but only got an hour in before my body started to give out. I don’t think I planned correctly for that day by carb loading or the weather because I fatigued much earlier than had planned but I still have one more left to make good on running for over 2 hours there.
I’m really excited to get away from Marathon training after May 4th and just start playing my number one passion, Basketball. It’s going to be much more relaxed than running all those miles and hope that my body recovers because as of now the first game is later that night at 8pm. I shouldn’t play that day because most people take the week off to recover. Also just as important, 2 days after Harrisburg I played basketball and ended up spraining my ankle so it’s probably good advice to just rest. I am also going to participate in a Volleyball league this summer (at this point at least). I want to see if this will be something I might enjoy for years to come, my friend did this a couple of years back and it looks like a good hour to meet up with people and play. Again, I’m lookin for reasons to go places so this is an excuse to just be at the beach. Now the weather has to comply.
However, the next new phase I’m currently on is to be a part of a dance crew. I just saw Step Up 2 and I love how people can move in the movie. I don’t think it was special effects either, it looked like talent. Since speaking of this to others, people have told me to watch the MTV show ‘…Dance Crew’ but I haven’t sat down to watch it. I’m sure the moves are very good and they all seem to enjoy putting on a show for people. I know I would at least. I’m hoping someone knows how to dance like that and they could teach me because I would be in. I am currently trying to come up with a cool nickname for myself but all I could come up is spinzz, turner, shakez, or wiggles. It all depends on what move I could do. The spin on head is my favorite move, I’m always amazed how they can maintain their balance and how their head doesn’t hurt (I’ve tried to just sit on my head… yeah, not possible).
So about my marathon training, isn’t that the reason you look at this? My mileage has significantly decreased over the last two weeks as everything else has been hectic, including another semi-burnout phase. This one more mentally than physically, as I only ran 60 miles over a two week span which isn’t acceptable for marathon standards. I am going to make these last 3-4 weeks very important and make sure I get enough long runs (over 2 hours – planning for 4). So far the longest I’ve ran in one day is 19 (but ran twice that day 8 and 11 separately) and the most in one shot 15 (all on treadmill – actually not as fun as it once use to be) so now I’m going to get out there and go hard to make sure I don’t hit this wall again – I’m going through it.
Once again, I’m sorry for the late post of this blog. I decided to mentally extend my spring break. Next week, I will tell you about the Pink Dye – I looked. Like every other week, I appreciate all the donations that have come thus far and please continue to spread awareness to others. Time is starting to run out as the Marathon will be here so soon and our goal is yet to be achieved. Let’s make a strong push together! Take care.
Much Love,
Pete
Madness (6 to Go!)
(Posted Friday, March 28, 2008)
% of fundraising goal reached: 21.5%
Hairstyle currently leading: Mohawk
Hey guys, I’m back… much later than usual. The truth is that I was enjoying spring break so much last week that it carried over into much of this week as well. That week was great in that I didn’t have to commute 45 minutes each way to school and I got to sleep in. My days consisted of waking up near 10am, watching a sports talk show for till noon while making myself breakfast and having coffee (I was on a caffeine high everyday), then I ran on the treadmill while blasting music, and just relaxed and avoided school work as much as possible. However, this present week the avoidance has caught up and is now hurting me… oh well, I guess you have to take the good with the bad.
This was also a great time because it’s one of my favorite sport times of the year: March Madness. I was glad I got to watch a lot of games on Thursday and Friday. From January, I picked UCLA over Kansas in the final and so far that looks like a possibility. So the time off from school helped me to put in the best week thus far in terms of miles. I ran four days this week for a total of 49 miles. This is definitely a big jump and probably will not happen often due to time management which is one of the biggest struggles I go through while training. All I want to do when I get home is nap and I’ve done this twice this week and find it more difficult to run as the day goes on. My solution is to try running early in the morning before class to see if it’s possible. That would require me to wake up around 5:30 so I can run for a half-hour. I’m thinking the same thing you are… It’s not happening.
So what has running done for me? In terms of being in shape, I feel the best since leaving high school. From a numbers standpoint, I have lost 24 lbs. in one year’s time. I was 185 around Spring Break last year and now I’m closing in on my target weight for the Marathon – 160lbs. That’s about the only plus from it. As I’ve stated in the past, it’s been a lifestyle change in that I’ve limited myself away from certain foods, happy hour/partying, and now even the gym. I enjoy those things in moderation but even that is difficult to do now. Also, a downside is the dull aches and pain that come with it. Who knew running can be bad for you? If some is good then more is better, well not in this case.
Ok so this Sunday (the 30th), I’m going to do my first NYRR race in Central Park. I haven’t been there in so long so when I looked at the course for the race I couldn’t believe how large the park is. It’s about 50 blocks north to south (from 60th to 110th), I’m used to taking the subway for that distance. I’m just hoping for good weather and it will be an enjoyable 45 minutes of running. Another thing about this race is that people come from all over the world to run this race. I looked at the results from last year and I was amazed at why? It could be perhaps that these races have cash prizes to winners and some can win trips to Edinburgh, Scotland and Glasgow, Scotland to participate in races there. It’s great to enjoy that excitement. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky.
However, what is exciting me more is to go to the Car show on Sunday. I’ve never been and neither has my roommate/Dad who has wanted to go since living in NY (25 years). He knows a lot about cars and somehow that knowledge has not been passed down. I’m still learning the basics and there’s a yellow light on in my car that I’ve been driving with for as long as I can remember. As you can imagine for myself, if the car can start and go from point A to point B then I’m good. Heck that car is a mess anyway – I’ve been stuck on the 85,766 miles for 3 years now, passenger side window doesn’t go back up if opened, and my automatic button doesn’t work. So my earlier rationalization works for me.
Once again, I’m sorry for the late post of this blog. I decided to mentally extend my spring break. Like every other week, I appreciate all the donations that have come thus far and please continue to spread awareness to others. Take care.
Much Love,
Pete
PS. – Still have to see if Pink hair dye is sold, someone let me know if they find it
Recovering (7 to Go!)
(Posted Thursday, March 20, 2008)
% of fundraising goal reached: 21%
Hairstyle currently leading: Mohawk
Hey everyone, so the big nasty marathon is quickly approaching and starting with six weeks to go I have to do some very long runs to prepare. However, as I stated last week I was completely burnt out from everything so Spring Break from school couldn’t have come at a better time to just completely take some much needed time off. This past week again consisted of running a lot in a short amount of days. I ran twice on both Friday and Saturday totaling 26 miles between those two days and 33 for the week so I am starting to climb out of the low 30’s again and hopefully get near 50 by the time of the marathon.
By the time Sunday came around, my body said ‘What are you doing? You’re killing me!’ That’s the first time I decided to think long term about this Marathon stuff. I heard of people having knee replacements and chronic aches and pains by consistently doing this stuff. For this reason, I decided that I am going to push back the Chicago Marathon I wanted to do in October. If I did that I would have done 3 Marathons in 11 months with an intense basketball season coming this summer so I definitely need to take time off to completely recover and hopefully start training for Boston in April 2009. It all depends if I could get under 3:11:00. That’s going to be tough to average 7:15/mile for 26.2 miles worth but it’s a test of endurance and what I’m working towards leading up to May 4th.
So now, it looks as if the Mohawk is leading and starting to pull away again. I am going to have to look through the stores this week to see if they even sell Pink. I’m sure they do but I’ve only seen that color on TV so I’m a little skeptical. If there is no Pink, I guess I will have to go with the beach blonde but I hope it doesn’t come to that. That would be like false advertising by asking for your much needed donations and then pulling a fast one on you. By the way, I’m going to need help with dying my hair the day before. Anyone knows how to do that? Please let me know, I’ll probably end up dying my eyebrows too if I try to do it myself. I’m a spazz when it comes to that.
I’m not sure if I mentioned this in previous blogs but there is a better way to calculate my runs now when I’m out on the streets. It’s a website called mapmyrun.com, it helps you draw connecting lines of where you’ve just run and it will do the math for you. Of course you have to remember your course but it’s an alternative than taking your car out and measuring by driving around. Sometimes we figure out paths before starting to run now if we want to go an exact distance. Our runs have taken us over the past weeks in towns such as Farmingdale, Bethpage, Merrick, Bellmore, Hicksville, East Meadow to name a few so it’s been a change of scenery to make the runs more tolerable.
I don’t know if it’s just me but I have a difficult time running alone around the streets. If there is nobody to push me, I’ll just choose to run on the treadmill or I have to go to a State Park to do trail running. This is why I enjoying running at Sunken Meadow Park so much. So if it’s difficult for you to go running alone I totally understand, I don’t enjoy it myself. Get out there and grab a friend to go with you. I mean, it’s now springtime even though the weather isn’t behaving exactly like it.
Once again, I’m sorry for the late post of this blog. I’ve been enjoying my Spring Break too much. I appreciate all the donations that have come thus far and please continue to spread awareness to others. Take care.
Much Love,
Pete
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