Message From Coach Jim

Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008

Hello All!!!!!
We did it! WOW.
Hooooray!!!
To God be the glory.

Savor the soreness.R.I.C.E. (as in rest, ice, compression, elevation)Baths are good.Jetted baths are very good.Sleep heals.Finishing IS winning.We survived it. We can savor that we all overcame the elements! Blessed are the overcomers!

Highlights…

First of all: Abbey – Happy Birthday. You motivated all of us with your kind letter of encouragement. You were with us in spirit on your birthday. We miss you and hope you enjoy much success and continue running in Chi-town/Naperville.

Sherry – Thank you so much for the words of encouragement for your teammates in NP Endurance Project. Your determination to continue as an endurance athlete is awesome. Much success in your second consecutive Breast Cancer 3-Day (60 miles) in a couple weeks.

Jacki – Also Thank you for your positive thoughts and encouragement to all of us. You want to do your best in everything and we appreciate you.

Jada – Our teammate who’s quest in this began as a "I might like to do a triathlon some day." SO proud of you. Jada is endurance. HALF MARATHON FINISHER! Really, the legs will feel normal again. You kept the course and finished the race. YOU DID IT! Savor the soreness, let it remind you of your success. New challenges will come, but for now all of your teammates are so happy that you stayed in it all the way.

Cindy – You’re steady, persistent, determined, unwavering, and many more positive adjectives. It was awesome the way you battled through the training and finished the race! Having your husband Tony along during many of our training sessions was a great joy and added a lot of additional fun to our team of exercise enthusiasts.

Linda – Overcomer, not going to give up, get me to the church on time! (race started and finished at Hope church) The spirit of the modern-day runner, staying in shape, knowing the responsibilities will resume when "run break" is over, enjoying the music and enjoying the scenery along the way. Half marathon finisher!

Tess – Spectacular, Totally in your element, and thriving on the day. Total success in your goals. Your performance was awesome. You have some friends here that love to run and train with you. Your race was pure joy. Savor the ice!

Kim – Coach, motivator, artist, music-lover, host, jewelry maker, pasta-provider! Your spirit of the marathon is a driving force for this program. Your vision for creating the logo and doing the embroidery on our uniforms helped us feel like a team. Oh and did we mention you continue to improve as a runner? You are probably in the rarest percentage of runners – first completing an entire marathon, before completing a half marathon. Bring on the next challenge!

Michelle – Wow. You are a total athlete. Endurance training is something that rocks team-sport athletes and coaches out of bounds. You stayed in and scored. Never giving up is the point. You made that point. You persevered. You had never run anything beyond a 2-miler 12-weeks ago. Now you’re a half-marathon finisher.

Ed Morgan – Another steady, steady, steady performance. Overcoming the heat of the day and the quadriceps injury and the flu. Plus being our driver of the RV team headquarters. Thank you to Joan Morgan also a runner who has been a great source of encouragement and friendship. The pouring-rain lightning bolt-jolting training run and RV breakfast at the State Park is a most-memorable training run of this project. Ed you are meeting your goal of staying in training to complete the NY City marathon in a couple weeks. You are a total runner.

Frank – You made a tough and great decision to keep your eyes on the prize today. Your dedication and determination represents endurance. You are always on the go, and you provide so much motivation to us by the life you live. Fitness is a lifestyle and pleasure. You are awesome.

Josephine – Phenomenal. You are poetry in motion. Any distance, anywhere, anytime. You are an amazing athlete, and wonderful teammate. Your scintillating performance in winning the senior grandmaster provides us all with a feeling of victory! You should feel victorious for also, 12-weeks ago, having not run a race longer than 10k. Add 20k and Half marathon to that list… Now science will wonder, does a nice wine every night provide an additional benefit to some athletes? Works for you!

Bob – We have a new monster in our midst. Bob, there isn’t a sport you suck at. And by giving "running a try" is something that will serve you well for years to come. You were our team’s top finisher and you are purely gifted as a runner. It was sheer joy for all of us to watch your natural ability emerge through the 12-weeks of training. Let the legs rest. They can heal before your next challenge of the full marathon. Downtime is vital to gaining strength for endurance. You are a great friend, you lift the team and lead us.

Coach Bethany – With us all the way. Our guru, leader, no-nonsense coach. See Bethany. See Bethany Run. We are all better runners because of you. You motivate us with your leadership, grace and determination. And by example. Especially by example.

Jim – Thank you, everyone. You are so special a group. I am so happy with how well WE all did.

As an event, we all know that the half-marathon race would be improved if started an hour earlier, during the cooler part of the day. That one issue had an influence on performance, body temp, heart rate, hydration requirements, etc. Remember, the roads and trails will wait for you. Your body needs some down time. Let your next several runs be very light. Very easy. Enjoy your success.

Josephine, Frank – do great in Arizona on the Steps!

Ed, stay down and get well. You will do better in New York by giving yourself some additional recovery days right now.

Let’s remember to run from a position of strength. If you’re sore, the soreness will subside. When it does, ease back in with some very light running. Continue to regain strength.

Some of you will want to know right now about our NEXT GOAL???? We will likely resume a Full-marathon preparation a little over one-month from now, beginning early December. We’ll have time to condition ourselves for a full marathon. The target goal will be the Sarasota Marathon Grouper Run on February 15, 2009. We’ll have a 10-week group training phase to the Full. In the interim, let yourself enjoy a "month" of very easy cross-training and some occasional shorter-distance running. Some 5ks coming up. Don’t worry about holding onto the 13-mile long run base, we’ll build it back up and beyond starting in December. We did it! WOW. Hooooray!!!To God be the glory. Savor the soreness.R.I.C.E. (as in rest, ice, compression, elevation) Baths are good. Jetted baths are very good. Sleep heals. Finishing IS winning.

Your Coaches, Jim, Bethany and Kim