Updates
Apparently I haven’t written on this blog for the better part of a month! Whoops! I’ve been absent from this space for 3 reasons—- work has been very busy recently, not a lot of interesting stuff has happened outside of work, and fundraising on the project has really slowed down. But I want to check back in because things are still going well—- I’ve recovered (almost entirely) from my sprained ankle and (fully) from pneumonia, I’m feeling increasingly confident about my fitness for the triathlon next week, and, with less than two months to go, most of the preparations are done for the trip. Here are some updates on all that in a little more detail:
My ankle still hurts, but it isn’t restricting my ability to run and, if anything, it usually feels better after I exercise on it for a few days. Now that the weather is really getting into Spring mode, I’ve been stepping my mileage back up and am approaching the level of fitness I was at prior to my broken foot back in October. I’m a lot more confident on that foot now, and a lot more confident that I can continue to push myself without reinjuring anything. So, hooray!
I’m about a week and half away from running my first ever (sprint) triathlon. Partly out of necessity after injuring my ankle and partly to train for the race, I’ve been doing a lot of biking over the last few weeks and I feel pretty good about the segment of the tri. I’ll be competing in the “fat tire” division since I don’t have a racing bike, but I’ve got my road bike in good shape mechanically and have built up a pretty good sense of how it feels racing on it, what gears to use on what kind of slope, etc. The swimming… well, swimming was always going to be my weakest leg of the triathlon. We joined the Y here in town as a family, and I’ve been trying to get in the pool as often as I can, but all I’m really going to try to accomplish in the swim is not die. If I can avoid exhausting myself on the swim it will be a victory, and then I’ll be able to concentrate on the bike and run. My biggest concern right now is that it is going to be a cool morning swimming in some cold water, but I’ve been cold before, I should be good to make it happen.
The trip is increasingly locked and loaded! If you’re new here, this July I’m going to be going on a month long roadtrip around the Northwest US, running half marathons in 5 states over 5 weeks. I’ve got my campsites booked for the whole roadtrip—- state parks in Missouri and Kansas on the way out, days spent in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Parks, Columbia River Gorge on the way back, etc. I’ve purchased most of the gear I’ll need, including a satellite communicator for when I’m out of service at the parks, and I’ve got AirBnBs booked for the race days so I’ll have a place to shower and leave Mason, my dog, during the races. It’s all happening!
The only bummer for me right now is that fundraising has basically stopped for about a month now. For those that don’t know, this project is a fundraiser for the National Diaper Bank Network. I’ve raised over a thousand dollars, but my goal is 5 grand and the last donation to the GoFundMe was back at the beginning of March. I think this is a really important and impactful charity to donate to because the benefits are so direct and tangible—- the money donated is used to buy diapers and other supplies, which are then given to families who need them where they serve and obvious need. If you can help out, please hit the Donate button at the top of this page or follow this link to the GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/manage/help-paul-and-mason-run-for-families-in-need Even small contributions help a lot. Thanks!
