Time for Donations

Anyone, friends, family, countrymen – the time for giving is nigh. Mae and I have teamed up with Brian Thomas as Lupus Runners, and we’re officially raising funding for the Lupus Foundation of America.

We’ll be running the Detroit ½ Marathon this October – and 13.1 miles is no small feat for someone suffering from chronic joint pain. It was hard enough for me to do my first one with a few extra pounds around the waist, so for her to attempt this is quite something.

Our goal is $10,000 for the year, and we’re only at around 30% at the moment. Whatever you can offer is appreciated (not to mention tax-deductible), so please don’t be shy.

Photos from Grand Island

As promised, they’re mostly uploaded now. I’m testing a program called Plogger as an alternative to Flickr. For one, it’s free and for two you can customize it and ideally expand on it. For now, I’ve just uploaded a few things and began tinkering with the stylesheet. But I digress – back to running.

Here are the photos.

Back from Grand Island

Sunrise over Lake Superior, as seen from Grand Island

We’re back from the U.P. and everything went very well. Mae enjoyed her first 10k trail and actually thought it was ‘easy.’ Her sights are now set on the Detroit ½ Marathon in October. I’ve promised to run it with her, though I promised myself to never do a street race again after running it last year – I’ve got to be supportive.

The Grand Island marathon was, as you could expect, ridiculously beautiful. At too many points, you can peek off the trail and look straight down 200+ feet sandstone cliffs with the waves of Lake Superior crashing into them. Latter portions of the trail were lined with giant ferns that gave the place a sort of pre-historic feel, and other parts were right along the water. Not a single part of the race was visually un-entertaining; particularly the part at mile 19 where I saw a black bear watching me from about 50 feet away. My heart dropped as I realized I was eating a Clif Bar, and I casually ate it faster than I could chew, walked past him and kept eye contact (as I’ve read you’re supposed to). He stayed put, and all was well.

Though the course wasn’t technical or too challenging, I found myself taking way too long. At times, just relaxing and actually sitting on the side of the course, absorbing the scenery. Around mile 24, not caring about my chip-time, I slowed it down to a walk to soak it all in, not wanting it to end. I know I could have pushed harder, as I felt absolutely fine the next day.

All-in-all, it was the best trip we’ve had in some time. That’s due, in no small part, to the hospitality Tim Looney and his friends showed us after the race. Great conversations, dandelion wine and a U.P. cover band doing songs from The Zombies and Santana were a perfect cap on an absolutely gorgeous day.

Pictures to follow. Life’s full-speed at the moment.