Monday, April 23, 2012

Lansing Marathon Report

Yesterday was the big day for my daughter. I paced her for Lansing's inaugural marathon. The weather was chilly but made MORE chilly by the sometimes 20 mile an hour head winds along the longest straightaway of the course. Nevertheless Lansing's first marathon was a great success. Owen Anderson (Race Director) and Blue Cross Blue Shield (Primary Sponsor) are to be commended for making Lansing into a cooler community by having a signature event like this marathon. The course was great but not without it's challenges. The weather was daunting at times with those northern headwinds. But in the end my 14 year old daughter plowed through 26 miles of pavement to make the distance her own in 6 hours. Without too many miles under her belt, other than her sheer desire to finish the thing, she prevailed. So it goes without saying, I'm proud of her achievement but even more so, I'm humbled by the fact that she would choose to do such a thing in the first place. Daughters are really cool. And for what its worth I cracked 180 this morning: 179.7. Life is good!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Lansing Preps For Inaugural Marathon






Runners, volunteers and organizers are busy preparing for this Sunday's first ever Lansing Marathon.
Posted: 1:49 PM Apr 17, 2012
Reporter: Lindsay Veremis 
Email Address: lindsay.veremis@wilx.com

 Lansing Preps For Inaugural Marathon 


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     The Capital City will be chock-full of runners this weekend, all in town for the first ever Lansing Marathon. 2,000 people are expected to run the full 26.2 mile course, thousands more will participate in the half marathon, 5K and Saturday kids race.
     Richard Helder of East Lansing is one of the determined competitors. Helder has raced in many marathons, but says this one is a bit different. For the first time he'll be running with his 14-year-old daughter Katie and it's the first time he'll be running at home.

"Finally someone decided to have a Lansing Marathon," Helder said emphatically. 
"Driving to Detroit is nice, driving to Grand Rapids is nice, Chicago of course is a blast but now I can just wake up in my own house and go to it."
The pair is eager for the challenge of the course, which starts and ends at the State Capitol.

"They will encounter a varied course, a very interesting course," Race Director Owen Anderson said. "It's not just a flat course through the city, it does have urban elements, but it also goes out into the country."
     The Sunday race will pass through Lansing, East Lansing, even the Potter Park Zoo. Helder is excited for the home turf. Runners are equally pleased with the cool forecast. Lansing's weekend weather should be a far cry from Monday's Boston scorcher. Thousands dropped out of the famed marathon because of the blistering heat.

"A 40-50 degree day is a perfect day to run and we anticipate we'll have temperatures right around there," Pam Jacoby with the marathon said.
Organizers say the course will be open for seven hours to allow as many runners and walkers to finish as possible.

"I don't talk about times, I just want her to complete it and enjoy doing it," Helder said of his daughter's first run, in Lansing's first marathon.

     Race organizers say the marathon should eventually pump $3-7 million into the local economy. The full marathon begins Sunday at 8 a.m. The marathon is still looking for course marshalls. Those volunteers will help keep runners on track and keep cars and bikes off the course.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Cracking 180

Yesterday morning I got on my Tanita (the Weight Watchers version pictured) digital weight scale, which is a super cool scale for getting your BMI which is great...and other measurements I don't really care about. Maybe as IMWI gets closer I may start to care about bone density etc. I doubt it though. Anyway...I can't seem to crack 180. My weight dropped to 185-184 range from 203-200 lbs range over a period of about four months but now even though my wieght is going down I have yet to see any 170 range numbers.
Maybe if I get the Ironman version of the Tanita my weight will continue to get to my goal weight of 175. Well I'm not going to sweat it (mentally anyway). Mostly I'm happy to be feeling more in shape than I have for years. Now I need to start toning up the less porcine mid-section of mine. It just never stops. Maybe that's what I like about all this.