I consider myself a fairly sensitive, in-touch-with-his-emotions kind of guy, but for whatever reason, I rarely cry. I don’t chalk it up to my upbringing, because I wasn’t raised by a macho dad or parents who taught that expressing any sad or tender emotions was a sign of weakness in a man. I got the normal dose of that kind of thinking from my cultural surroundings, but consciously at least, I don’t withhold tears out of a sense of shame. When I do cry, it’s much more likely to be the slightly leaky watery-eyed kind than the hyperventilating snotty kind. And while I feel deeply emotional about the big joys and sorrows of my life, it doesn’t usually come out in tears. My tears are more likely to be triggered by the stereotypical “safe” things for men to cry about, like watching Rudy or Brian’s Song, than by sad or joyous things that happen to me directly.
When I was in the operating room with Kate to welcome our daughters into the world (by c-section), it was one of the most profoundly emotional experiences of my life. It was mostly joyous emotions flowing through me, but there was some fear mixed in, too. I knew tears in the delivery room are common, and I made no conscious effort to suppress them, but even there, I didn’t cry.
In the NICU, we’re allowed to hold our babies twice a day - once during day shift and once during night shift. (Both shifts last 12 hours.) Because the babies are still spitting up and overstimulation can lead to more of that, it’s recommended that we arrive for holding a half hour before feeding, so we can hold them on an empty stomach and put them back in their isolettes when it’s feeding time. Claire’s feeding schedule is a half hour ahead of Brooke’s, so if we’re a little late and it cuts into holding time, it’s always Claire who gets stiffed.
Kate was discharged yesterday, and the doctor recommended not returning to the hospital for a visit on discharge day, so I returned in the evening for a solo visit, intending to hold both of our daughters. I was there right on time, maybe even a few minutes early, but the nurse assigned to our girls was busy with something and didn’t come over for at least 10-15 minutes after I got there. I assume (or at least hope) she was busy with something important, because when she finally did come over and I said I was ready to hold Claire, she told me it was too close to feeding now so I wouldn’t get to hold Claire tonight.
I cried a little.
Workout: 25 min, easy run; The Yard
For the rest of the day after my marathon, I could barely stand and could only move around at a slow hobble, so I spent most of that day in bed, while Kat was kind enough to pamper me. My feet improved quickly after draining what remained of the blisters and coating them in neosporin, but I was still pretty achy for the next couple of days and looked like someone who only recently learned to walk. By the following weekend, I was feeling close to normal again. I wasn’t up for any long-distance walking, but I was recovered enough to join my honored teammate, Reilly, in a charity walk of his own. |inline
When I signed up to do the New Jersey Marathon with Team in Training, the date of the marathon seemed very far away, but sure enough, the big day finally arrived last Sunday. I had an amazingly successful fundraising campaign, and am deeply grateful to my many sponsors for helping me raise over $5000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Even without setting foot on the course, that was enough to make my Team in Training experience very worthwhile. I did, however, set feet on the course - many, many times - and that’s what the account that follows is about. It’s on the long side, I know, but hey, so was the marathon. |inline
At this point in my marathon training, I’ve done about everything I can do to prepare for the main event, which is now only a week a way. After months of adding more miles every week, I’ve been tapering for almost two weeks now. Tapering means I’ve reduced the intensity and duration of training, to allow the body to recuperate and be in peak condition for the marathon. Tapering is a time for rest, relaxation… and annoying anxieties about the upcoming event. |inline
11.5 miles, team walk
With the marathon only two weeks away (!), my marathon training is in the “tapering” stage, which means the mileage and intensity of training is reduced to allow the body to recover and be in peak condition on race day. Given the mileage of my my last few long walks, 11.5 miles felt refreshingly short, and I’m a big fan of this tapering thing so far. I had some shin pain again at the start, but it didn’t take as long to go away today. I think I re-aggravated last week’s blisters, but they weren’t as bad as last week. My breakfast of greasy ribs and leftover chili was probably a bad idea…nah, I’m kidding. I ate bland stuff yesterday and didn’t have any intestinal discomfort this time. Those are pretty much the highlights of my walk this week, and Alison didn’t do anything notably goofy, so instead of describing the walk, I want to talk about fundraising.
The training goal of Team in Training is to prepare for and complete an endurance event. It’s a nationwide program and year-round, thousands of TnT coaches, mentors, and participants like me are training for and participating in various marathons, triathlons, and century bike rides (i.e., 100+ miles). The bigger goal - the reason people are involved with Team in Training instead of just training on their own or with some other group - is to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. At least 75% of the funds raised go toward research, patient services, and advocacy, with the remainder going toward operating costs. Individual fundraising goals depend on which events participants choose, because the further away the event, the more it costs to arrange travel and accommodations for them. I chose a local event, the 2007 New Jersey Marathon, so my fundraising goal is a relatively modest $2000.
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3/31: 16 miles, team walk at Ridgewood “Duck Pond”;
4/7: 20 miles, another team walk at Ridgewood
Of all the team runs and walks I’ve been too since I began training with Team in Training, probably half have been at the site we call the “Duck Pond”. It’s so-called because there’s a duck pond in the part of the park where we meet and start from, but the route we take is a 6-mile path through the [Saddle River County Park][1]. Besides being easy on the eye, a nice perk of walking or running there is that it’s a park path, so there is no car traffic to contend with - just pedestrians, runners, bikers, occasional in-line skaters, and once in a blue moon, a guy on some [weirdly oscillating scooter thing][2]. Perhaps the most important perk is that the path has mileage markers every tenth of a mile, which comes in very handy for people like us marathoners (cough) who are persnickety about keeping track of exact mileage. |inline
14 miles, team walk
As expected, it was a small turnout for yesterday’s walk, because most of the women on the team were walking the MORE Half Marathon in Central Park today. Besides Coach Alison, it was me, “Rocket” Roger, and Maureen. Roger (who’s 58, I found out) zoomed ahead of us as usual after getting warmed up. Maureen lives in the area and had already walked for about an hour before the rest of us got there, so she walked a few miles with me and Alison and then went home. Alison has proven to be a very enjoyable walking companion, because: 1) She laughs at my jokes (always a way to get on my good side); and 2) She always does or says something that gives me material for my blog - map spinning, falling on ice, learning to play golf… What?! Yeah, that was my thought. |inline
~10 miles, team walk at Morristown National Historical Park
Snow and ice led to the cancellation of the walk scheduled for last Saturday, but on Sunday, Coach Alison led a walk at Morristown National Historical Park. It wasn’t one of the usual sites for team walks, but after I ended up there by accident a few weeks ago and [wrote about it][1], she decided to give it a try. I had visions of walking in snow and worrying about wet feet, because I was thinking about the trails again and there was fresh, wet snow from the preceding couple of days, but Alison was smarter than me and I think planned to walk the park roads all along. Before the other walkers got there, she showed up early to drive a loop through the roads that measured out at a little over three miles, so we just repeated that loop. |inline
15 miles; team walk
I nearly missed out on the team walk again due to incomplete info about the meeting place. The meeting place this time was by a Dunkin’ Donuts, and people who have met there before knew that really meant behind the Dunkin Donuts. That detail wasn’t in the e-mailed directions, though, so when I arrived five minutes early to the main parking lot in front and no one else was there five minutes later, I was muttering under my breath and about ready to chalk it up to another miscommunication about where to meet and drive home. Fortunately, another first-timer arrived just before I was ready to give up, and she had something I lacked the foresight to bring: one of the coach’s cell phone number. A quick phone call and a couple minutes later, and we were joined up with the main group in the back. |inline
As my training buddy, Brooke, pointed out in a recent comment, I have been remiss in providing updates about my training. To my three or four regular readers…sorry ‘bout that. My training for the April 29 New Jersey Marathon continues, but since “runner’s knee” prompted me to change my training focus from running to walking, the training hasn’t been as intense or as frequent, so I’ve had less to write about.
