by Dan | Nov 11, 2018 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Last week I wrote about my training partner and friend, Tom. This week it is time to talk about some other training partners/friends. It was a busy week this past week for several members of our run club. Erika and Jill went with Amanda to New York City where Amanda was registered to run the NYC Marathon! She was going to run as a representative for Team FARA…Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance. Many of us did the Twin Cities Marathon a year ago where 21 of us from Watertown were running for Team FARA. Several people have FA in Watertown, and were raising money for them. I have written several times on this in the past. But this time, Amanda was going to run alone.
Several of us were in Denver several weeks prior to that running the Rock n Roll Half Marathon representing Team FARA. It was a great time, and a great way to run a race together. But again, Amanda was going to run the marathon on her own.
Jill and Erika were helping her to get fired up for this. It is a challenge running a race, much less a marathon, on your own. There is no question it is great having people cheer along the way, but it gets tough keeping the concentration with running that far on your own. She was getting into it though!
She was running mainly to represent and raise money for Team FARA, and here she is posting her wish on the wall.
Here is a close-up. I have to laugh as well…of course she added world peace to her list as well! Keep the faith Amanda!
She not only did a great job raising money and awareness for Team FARA, but she also ran a personal record…on her own…and qualified for the Boston Marathon with her time of 3:31:17! For those of you who don’t know, the Boston Marathon is a goal all of us runners would dream of running in. You have to have a qualifying time to do this, meaning somewhere you had to run a marathon fast enough to achieve this. Personally, I have tried 16 times, and have not gotten a qualifying time. It takes a lot of work, dedication, concentration, and I think, incredible effort. Not only did she run this on her own, but qualified for Boston! I am still in awe Amanda! It is incredible beyond words. You accomplished your goal of representing Team FARA, and topped it off with your long term goal of being able to go to the Boston Marathon. You ran 18 minutes faster than your previous best marathon! Incredible! Our run club is a close group here. We were all cheering and following you from back here, besides Jill and Erika being in New York with you following, and waiting at the finish line for you!
Our run club had our signs up that morning cheering you on. But what sums up that concept I talked about last week about training partners…friends…was Jill waiting for her at the finish!
This one needs no words to describe! No words to describe the friendship that comes from our running group. We are all there for each other. A memory for a lifetime! Another member of our run club, Cory, ran the Twin Cities Marathon last month, on his own. We were all cheering from back here, and following along. He ran a personal best as well, and the rest of us could not have been happier for him! We all run together…train together…spend time together. The emotions that go along with all of this is hard to describe unless you are part of it. Anybody is always welcome to join us as well. Lifelong exercise…lifelong friends…lifelong memories! What are your goals? What memories do you want to make? It truly is up to you! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 4064
by Dan | Nov 4, 2018 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
There have been a lot of memories coming back these last few weeks, some bad, but mostly good. I also found as I was going through some of my things at home I ran across the newsletter that Prairie Lakes Hospital puts out, and this one was dated back in 2002. The article was “The Road to Boston” and it was about my training partner, and friend, Tom Beaudry. Reading that article brought a lot of happy things to mind of those days we were training to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon. It also brought up some issues in relation to running, and injuries. Tom and I were training together for Grandma’s Marathon, which was June of 2001. A week before the marathon, I tore my arch in my foot, the plantar fascia. Many of us may have had issues with pain in our arch, called plantar fasciitis, but that particularly year I actually tore mine. I tore it a week before Grandma’s marathon. I was devastated. Tom and I were both wanting to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Now I was hoping I was just going to be able to run. It was the 25th Anniversary of Grandma’s marathon, and I decided I was going regardless. Qualifying for Boston was no longer in the cards for me, but it was very much a reality for Tom. He did it! I still managed to come in at 3 hours and 48 minutes, but I was off by 28 minutes for a qualifying time. Tom came in at 3:24:36, and he needed a 3:25! This picture is us at the finish line. Tom looks great…I look half dead! But we were both there, and we both had trained, and we were their for each other. Now Tom had to train to keep going to run Boston by April of 2002! I have more pictures to share of Tom at Grandma’s, and then portions of the story that are in quotes came from the article about Tom in the PLH newsletter.
For Tom, it was a dream come true! This was his Road to Boston! “Unlike my past marathons, when only a handful of people would even know I was going to run one, this marathon had me receiving good wishes from friends, other runners, fellow employees, physicians, and many people in the community. The Watertown Public Opinion called and wanted to do an article before I left and KSDR wanted a live interview after my return. The support was incredible, many of the people would say they now know someone who is running the Boston Marathon, it made that person and me feel good. I knew with all the encouragement I was getting that this was bigger than I initially thought.”
“During my long-training runs at home, Dr. Dan Reiffenberger would join me at mile 11 and the route was planned so we would end up at the base of 14th Avenue below the Tree Farm hill at mile 16.5 and then do multiple repeats three to four times up and down, and then go on to finish out 22 miles. I also incorporated that hill into my tempo and race pace workouts two other times each week. The hill work paid off in a big way, as I got stronger as the race went on.”
“My back 13.1 miles were faster than the first half, and I ran my third-fastest marathon. I qualified at Grandma’s Marathon in June 2001 with a time of 3:24:36 (7:49 pace per mile). My chip time in Boston was 3:32:23 (8:06 pace per mile), which I was happy with as this was intended to be a celebration run.” A celebration run it was! I have never qualified for Boston yet. Some day, maybe. But I could not have been happier for my training partner to accomplish this feat! To say it takes a lot of hard work is an understatement. He had his license plate changed to this:
Perfect! What brought all of these memories to light now? Tom sent me a picture that he has hanging in his office. He is getting ready to retire at the end of this year, and it brought up memories for him as well as he starts to get things organized of what will have to be moved.
I gave Tom this picture a year after that Boston run. We did the Twin Cities Marathon together. We have had many long runs together over these many years. And yes, Boston was always the carrot that tried to motivate us, but the real adventure, the real benefit out of all of those runs together…we got to talk! We learned a lot about each other. We became good friends…friends that loved to run! That was what was important out of all of this. It was not the actual time, or where the event was at, at those were all over in under 4 hours. It was the months and months of training together before each one. I believe Tom has done somewhere around 10-12 marathons, and I did my 16th in January this year. Every one of them taught us something different. We were just in Denver a few weeks ago to do the Rock N Roll Half Marathon with a bunch of other friends from our run club. Tom was there, but he could not run as he was injured. He was out there in the crowd cheering us all on, but something was missing. I did not have my long time friend out there running with me. Once again, I have plantar fasciitis, but at least it was not torn this time. I ran just to run, and to be with our other friends that were out there. We were running for another cause, Team FARA this time. But the bottom line cause we were running was to be with our friends, and when one of them is missing who is supposed to be out there, something is definitely missing. Over the years all of us on the run club have had injuries, and have missed time, and there is always something missing when they are not around. The really important part about running is not there…the friendship, the memories! That is what is important.
Here I am at Denver coming over to the sideline just before the start as we heard Tom and Sue cheering us on. I had to go over and give my training partner a high five for luck! Sarah and Jill are in the middle of the picture as we get ready to start. The three of us ran together from start to finish, and now we have memories to build on. I can’t wait for Tom to get back and join us! We will have more races, and someday I may get to Boston, but I would not trade it for any of our training runs where we had time to talk, learn about each other, figure life out, and get through all of its up and downs. All of us have something to teach each other as well, and here Tom and I discuss things after one of our Sunday runs.
Boy, talk about a lot of running knowledge in this picture! We have both learned from each other, and we realize there is always something else to learn from somebody else as well. Races come and go, but friends are forever!
Thanks for all of the memories over the years Tom! I am confident that we have a lot more memories to make. Right now we both need to heal up, and then figure out what adventure we want to take on next. “Success is a Journey, not a Destination”…one of my favorite quotes! Keep moving everybody! Run on!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 4057
by Dan | Oct 28, 2018 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Heart Health, Holidays, Motivation, Wellness/Health
The annual Halloween Hustle put on by the Prairie Lakes Hospital Wellness Center took place on Saturday morning. Costumes are encouraged for this event, so it is a great way to truly go out and just have fun while getting some exercise. You could run or walk, and the distance was at most a 5K, 3.1 miles. We had several characters out there: Batman for me; Super Girl for Sarah; Buzz Lightyear for Jason; and the McElroy clan was Sleeping Beauty and 3 good fairies!
We had great weather, and the sun was shining. It was a great time to get out and either run, or walk. Who says you can’t have fun, and still exercise? The kids loved it, but so did the adults! They gave prizes away for the top male and female finishes in each category, but the main point of this one was to see you could be the most creative with their costumes…and still be able to run or walk in them. Try it next year. It is a great way to get some activity. Bring out that inner “child” in you for all you adults. And for the kids, well…just be yourself…just get your parents out there with you. It truly can be a family event. What are you waiting for? Keep moving everybody! And have fun along the way!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 4049
by Dan | Oct 25, 2018 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
This past weekend a group of us from the Watertown Area Run Club took an adventure out to Denver to do the Rock N Roll Half Marathon, and 5k. Amanda, Jill, Paula, Sarah, and I, and Tom, who originally was going to run, but could not due to injury, but was out there to help cheer us on. We originally had thought this would be a time to get away to some where different, and run a bigger race. A bigger race it definitely was, but it evolved into something bigger than even we imagined. As we were getting ready the week or 2 before this race, we decided that we should wear our Team FARA shirts, Friedereich’s Ataxia Research Alliance, the cause we were running for in the Twin Cities last year, and show our support in Colorado. We had so many people asking us during the 5K what FA was, and of course we told them! We decided we had not sweat enough in the 5K race that we should all wear them again the next day for the Half Marathon as well. We lost count how many people asked us during the Half Marathon what FA was! It was a great way to help spread the word. Again, FA is an autosomal recessive inherited disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system. It can lead to gait disturbance, scoliosis, heart conditions, and diabetes. It is progressive, and eventually a wheelchair is required for mobility. Its incidence in the general population is one in 50,000 people, and we had 4 in Watertown alone! There is no cure at this point, but research is working hard at trying to find that cure. Whether by raising money, or spreading the word, both help. Amanda will be running in New York in the Marathon next month raising money for the cure. When we got done, one individual, Paige McFarlane, came up behind us in her wheelchair to thank us for running for FA. She has FA, and was working the Half Marathon. She was so appreciative, and wanted to have her picture taken with us. That alone made the effort totally worthwhile! This is why we do this!
Even the day before the 5k on Saturday, this overall plan we were thinking of was evolving as the day went. Originally we were just going to wear the shirts in the 5k. But the response we got that first told us we had to wear them the next day too. After all, we are runners. We may sweat, but we don’t stink! Of course we were going to wear the shirts again!
Our rock n roll team was ready to take on anything. It also helped us complete the races. If we got tired, we just thought of those people with FA who cannot run, but wish they could. That was all the motivation we needed.
Sarah and I got to spend some time getting away as well, and yet were still working towards a good cause! I think our finish line photos of Jill, Sarah, and I coming in together pretty much summed up the weekend!
We were joining together for the cause, and we were going to finish together as well. It turned out that helping to spread awareness was really the reason for being there. That in and of itself made the weekend one to remember.
Together we will find a cure. We will help Danny and Ryanne here in Watertown, and Paige in Denver, and to all those other people afflicted with FA in the world. Keep raising money for research. Keep spreading the word so people are even aware of what this is. Keep running and moving because we can. Don’t ever take that for granted. We don’t know when that may change for us. Running races are fun…running for a cause is even more fun…regardless of our race times! Thanks for an amazing weekend Sarah, Jill, Paula, Amanda, Tom, Sue, Kristina, and Mike. Tom you will be running with us next time! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 4046
by Dan | Oct 18, 2018 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Last weekend Nick took me to a Vikings football game at the new US Bank Stadium for an early birthday present. It was the first time I had been inside their new stadium. We made a weekend out of it. It was a great weekend! Time to talk…about football, music, school, exercise…life in general! The football game is what brought the memory together, but it was not about football! There is no question that football, and in particular, the Vikings, has brought a lot of memories to our family over the years.
Even when Nick was little he was wearing his Vikings attire! We went to quite a few games when they were younger. All bringing back good memories.
We even had our Christmas card the one year with us all wearing our Vikings jerseys!
There is something about the atmosphere of being at the game…the fireworks going off at the beginning, all of he cheering, fans screaming!
I took a picture of Nick against one of their walls in the new stadium…
Honor the game! But more important, honor the memories that have come about from all of the times we have had over the years cheering them on. You develop a common bond that we have in common. It is not about football…but football brought those times together. That is what was fun. That is what will have a lifetime of memories. It was a great weekend to spend with Nick. Hopefully, we can do this more often…I can spring for the next game! Time really does go by fast. As you can see by the pictures, we have been having some kind of bond with the Vikings for years. If that is what helps bring us closer together at times, then so be it. Spend time with those who matter to you in your life. Have lasting memories to share forever. It has been fun over the years. I just keep telling myself…”It is not about football”…Have a great week coming. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 4040
