September 2014 – Nike+ Summary

147 miles for this month.

As the month ends my Wife and I are less than three weeks away from the Baltimore Marathon. Most of this month was taken up with the peak of our marathon training. We got quite a number of long runs in over the weekends and various other available times. The end is in sight and the race will be the reward.

This month we ran the Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon for another year. Although it wasn’t our best performance together it was by no means terrible. We put our performance down to fatigue from the marathon training and the surprising heat and humidity on the day which seemed to have impacted a few other folks too. It was a fun day though and also an opportunity for my Father-in-law to join us in an event as he ran his longest distance in many years on that day. That weekend also provided me the opportunity to meet up with some of my Mickey Milers team mates who came in for the race. It was a great weekend all around.

With my Wife and Father-in-law

Post-race with the Mickey Milers (Janee, Brittany and Joe)

The last weekend of the month was the time for my last 20 mile run of this current marathon training plan. The fact that I was attending my future Brother-in-law’s bachelor weekend notwithstanding, I got up early after about 3 hours sleep and headed out the door for what was planned to be 20 miles. It was strange walking through a casino in Atlantic City, NJ in my running gear knowing that most of the folks on the floor still had not gone to bed from the night before. I started out on the Boardwalk and went up and back a couple of times and ultimately ran through 4 towns (Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate and Longport….and back) and certainly earned my breakfast buffet at the casino. I ran a couple of miles longer than planned (22 vs 20) but the weather was fantastic and the terrain was flat and so I felt I could do a little more. I timed my run perfectly, arriving back in the room as everyone was still getting ready, hopped in the shower and was down for breakfast within 30 minutes…I almost ate all the calories back that I had just burned. Needless to say I had little else to eat for the rest of the weekend.

Wlaking through Harrahs Casino in Atlantic City, NJ at 4:30am not quite fully awake yet

Atlantic Ocean sunrise – Mile 7

Lucy the Elephant in Margate, NJ – Mile 9

At the end of the road in Longport, NJ – Mile 11

Atlantic City Boardwalk – Mile 19

Happy to be done – Mile 22

As the month ended we started thinking about next year’s running events. I had wanted to run the Pittsburgh Marathon for the last two years and it clashed with the New Jersey Marathon in 2013 and the Broad Street Run in 2014. Entry for the 2015 race (held May 3^rd) opened up on September 30^th and so I coaxed my wife into the idea of visiting her old university town for perhaps the Half Marathon and she actually agreed to sign up with me for the Full. So there you have it, next May we are running the 2015 Pittsburgh Marathon together 🙂

There is a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks/months. In addition to the Baltimore Marathon on October 18^th we have a family wedding in November as well as family vacation with my folks who are coming in from England for the wedding. This means that I will be down in Florida for Thanksgiving and will need to hunt down a new Turkey Trot this year. Then shortly after in January we have the Goofy Challenge where we are running for Autism Speaks.

Our fundraising is now kicking into high gear. I recently achieved my fundraising target so now I am working hard to help fundraise for my Wife. The good news is that the charity is allowing us to pool our fundraising together so whatever extra funds I am able to raise over and above my initial target will count towards my Wife’s goal. If you would like to help, please use this link to reach my fundraising page. Thank you.

Also, don’t forget that October (I extended the date by a month) is the last month to sign up and run for one of the virtual races to help raise funds for Autism Awareness and this counts towards my fundraising goals for the year. There are still some great prizes out there to be won as well as some awesome looking medals (although I am slightly biased). Click HERE for the link to the ‘Going Goofy’ 5k and HERE for the ‘Secret Agent 005K’ event.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to next month’s recap as well as a review of the upcoming Baltimore Marathon.