| Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon Newsletter Sponsored by Sportwax 17 September 2009 |
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REALLY HOT! Yeah, that's what it was like in Costa Rica last weekend at the Tamarindo Beach Marathon. Plus about 100% humidity. I was pretty freakin' slow. But I found a guy named Verny who was running his first marathon. We hooked up at the turn (13.1 miles out) and started running together. For 5K, we talked and worked through the course as the clouds cleared and the sun baked us. Michigan summer never prepared me for this one. He pulled ahead, but I suspected I'd catch him. With about 11K to go, I reeled him in. His wife Maggie had joined him at that point to run in with him, but I could tell he was struggling. Instead of going ahead, I stayed to help. We worked the kilometers, counting down. I pulled ahead a bit, but kept him in sight. 3K. 2K. 1K. The finish line! I finished only a minute before he did, and met him with water & Powerade. We shared the joy of his first marathon finish. I remembered mine. It was amazing. It's only one month until many of you will do your first marathon right here in Grand Rapids. Can't wait to share that moment with YOU too! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VOLUNTEERS NEEDED This is from Lynne Oosterhouse, our beautiful and talented Volunteer Coordinator: Hi there! Can you please send out a note in your weekly email asking for volunteers? So there you go Lynne. Should I also tell them that they can volunteer by clicking this link? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THIS WEEKEND RUNNING And, from Dr. Rick Ganzi, the Pace Team Guy-- Sunday, 8AM, meet at the Y - we'll run the new course for 20 miles (we'll cut off 6 miles on the other side of the bridge). That's right, you too can run with the first American finisher at this year's Comrades Marathon! He's got some great stories to share. Sounds like Kathy Haase, our Race Packet Pickup Czarina plans to run Sunday at 7:00 and do the half-marathon course at a relatively slow pace. So there's another option for you! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BAGEL BEANERY GRAND RAPIDS KIDS MARATHON Wednesday, September 23 at 5:00, bring the kids to John Ball Park for a special ONE MILE TRAINING RUN! Ringling Bros And Barnum & Bailey Circus clowns will be there. We'll have circus passes, maybe a couple of goodies, and LOTS OF FUN!!
If your kids aren't signed up, DO IT NOW at www.grandrapidsmarathon.com/kids.aspx and get their little legs out on the road. After they log 10 miles, you can go to Gazelle Sports for half-off on a new pair of running shoes! Pretty cool, eh? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SHIRTS, HATS, OTHER STUFF Still have a bunch of hats. They're ten bucks. You want one, click on the link below. Same thing with the old shirts. Help me clear my house out before they deliver the new stuff. The YMCA Service Club sponsors a great little tune-up race on Saturday, October 10th. It's the 39th (I think) annual Run Thru the Rapids 5K and 10K. It's a great event--you can run the downtown river walk trails up and down the Grand River, past some great Art Prize pieces along the way. Sign up at http://runthrutherapids.com All proceeds go to support YMCA Camp Manitou-Lin EVERY STRIDE 5K & 10K Every Stride 5K & 10K is the week after the marathon. It's also the Nike Human Race. It's cool. The 5K is mostly on the golf course. The 10K is mostly on road. It's the best of both worlds! Go to www.mirunning.com for more info. Plus, wear your marathon stuff--shirt, hat, socks, whatever, and get into a free drawing for one of two free entries to our 2010 marathon! |
| Marathon Minute - On the Radio Citadel Broadcasting has teamed up with the Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon. You can hear the Marathon Minute on your friendly Citadel stations! From this week's spot (brought to you by RW Baird Investments): There's an attitude among marathon runners that affects other areas of life. My friend Dan was part of a big lay off at a local company. And you know that "layoff" isn't temporary like it used to imply. It really means, "You're Fired."
Dan was the father of two young children. He talked with me that night about his new opportunity. It was his time. Dan was pretty good with computers. He printed up some postcards and some business cards. He walked around office buildings handing them out. He mailed out 100 cards a week to businesses. He offered to come in and fix computers, install software, troubleshoot, whatever. People responded. Dan was in business.
It was Dan's Marathon Minute, when he realized that he had to do is GO FOR IT! Dan reacted to an opportunity and it changed his life.
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| But it's an Honest Sweat! by Michael Selman I've never made a secret of the fact that I'm not an avid reader, and when I do read, it's usually for self-discovery, and not for entertainment. Most often, when I pick up a book, it is with a desire to learn how to improve some element of me, or to acquire tools which allow me to see things more clearly, or with the intent of learning to understand other people or myself in a different, more positive light.
Mostly, I read for inspiration, and last night was no exception. With my own writing in a dormant stage lately, I picked up an older book I hadn't looked at in a long time, with the hope of becoming once again inspired to write. When I opened it, the first thing I noticed was how discolored the pages had become since I had last picked it up. But though the pages had yellowed, the words were still as timeless and appropriate as when they were first written, and they danced off the aged pages as I read. The book was "Running and Being" and the author was George Sheehan.
I wasn't even half way through the forward before I realized that today was going to be a writing day for me. When I read about how, in is own opinion, Sheehan the writer and Sheehan the runner were inseparable and one would likely not exist without the other, I acquiesced, remembering how I used to feel the same way about myself.
Sheehan was not my first inspiration as a runner, but he was my first inspiration as a writer. Through him, I learned how to unite my two passions, creating a compound word "runnerwriter" which I define as the "path to the purest form of revelation and honesty." Sheehan chose to write immediately after his run, opting to towel off instead of showering because "Honest sweat has no odor." But if you look deeper, there's much more to it than that.
Running sweat is as honest as sweat can get. The activity of running breaks through the falsehoods and the colored filters, and reveals the truths about ones self, others, and life in a way that no other activity parallels, at least to the runner. It is the unique and seemingly antagonistic combination of acute awareness and complete serenity in the same instant that makes running sacred. Many refer to that feeling as "Runner's High." I think of it as "Runner's Truth" revealed overtly as honest sweat. Why should we be in such a hurry to rinse it away?
As I mentioned earlier, I have been experiencing another in a continuing series of bouts with writer's block. It's not that the ideas haven't been there. Running has been as enlightening as ever, and I've been learning more about the sport I love, the things I love, the people I love, and the person I am becoming than ever before. But somewhere between the run and the write, it has all been washed away time and time again. After being reminded again last night of how George did it, I'm confident that I'm back in the groove.
Sheehan knew better than to shower off the residue of the run before he captured his thoughts on paper. He simply ran, toweled off, and then wrote what the run revealed, while the thoughts were still fresh and honesty was still oozing out of his every pore. It resulted in primitive truths, written in modern words that will hold true for as long as the human species continues running and being.
So this morning I ran, accumulating new truths with every step. I delighted in feeling the salty truth serum dripping over my eyes, down my neck, squishing in my shoes, and saturating my singlet and shorts. Then, I toweled off, and sat down to write, still feeling the fresh film of sweat of the previous 3 hours through the equestrain trails of lovely Asheville North Carolina.
Ah. But it's an honest sweat.
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I thought this was amusing... It's the road signs, 'Beware of lions.'
Kip Lagat, Kenyan distance runner, during the Sydney Olympics, explaining why his country produces so many great runners I was trying to come up with something clever about being in Michigan and our Lions. But it was just making me depressed so I'm giving up on that one.
Runing This Weekend-- Go up to the first article and check out on the running stuff for this weekend. If nothing else, the Grand Rapids Running Club is always at John Ball Zoo at 8:00 on Saturdays and Sundays for various distances if you don't want to run alone. Meanwhile, the lovely Francine and I are off to Fox Cities Marathon in Appleton, Wisconsin to join my good friend Dean Peterson for his 100th marathon. 20 MILE TRAINING RUN
and the adventure continues....
Don Kern Race Director, Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon P.S. If you want to respond to this newsletter, change the subject line so I don't just end up thinking it's a bounce notice or something. Thanks! |
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| This newsletter sponsored by: |
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| TRAINING |
| And now...a word from our SPONSORS! Pepsi Bottling of West Michigan |
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| The Schedule September 26th 20 Mile Training Run hosted by Gazelle Sports October 17th 9 - 6 Health & Fitness Expo and Packet Pickup at the David D Hunting YMCA October 17th Bagel Beanery Kids Marathon Final 1.2 miles at 1:00 pm October 18th Sixth Annual Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon, Half Marathon, and Relay October 24th Every Stride 5K/10K, and Metro Health Marathon Post-Race Celebration at Candlestone Golf & Resort |
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| LIFETIME RUNNER |
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Enter Once, Run Forever!
You can enter the Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon for LIFE. For $725, you get to enter the full or the half marathon for as long as we're still in business! You'll get a permanent number, some extra swag, and the adoration of your fellow runners. If you've already registered for this year but would like to upgrade, we can make that work too--just email me and we'll get it figured out. |
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