Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Frederick Report -- The Finale

(ORIGINALLY POSTED 5/6/08)

Two days later and I'm still on cloud nine. Sappy stuff coming next:

Hard to believe with all of the pain and suffering that I went through, from the ankle pains last summer and fall to the pains in the butt and lower back just three weeks ago that I ran essentially pain free. Great advice from my friend Terry and a few others to see a chiropractor. Dr. Lipman got me back on the road. Along with some new stretches that I did religiously, this was my biggest concern. Thank you, Howard.

Yesterday, the day after, I rode my bike to take the kids to school. How about that!

The Team in Training crew -- what an amazing and dedicated group of folks. Thank you for your leadership.

Bloggers -- my virtual friends -- you rock! (Not all virtual, of course, there's Katie and Dan whom I've run half marathon's with.) You encouraged and you cheered, you advised and you empathized. I hope to run with many of you some day.

My family, friends and co-workers encouraged me and kept me going and drove me crazy some times -- but in a good way. Couldn't let them down. Special thanks to mom and dad, Neil, UR and AD, Zach and Matty.

"Coach" Dave, my friend, I would not have taken this road without your friendship and encouragement in the first place. You are a mensch.

Deb -- my goodness -- you are my rock! You kicked me in the ass when I didn't want to run. You got me to stretch. You took care of the family when I went out for long runs. You cursed me when the alarm went off way too early and you couldn't fall back to sleep. You helped raise money for TNT. You did it all. I love you so!

In the end, with your help, I did what I thought I could not. I persevered and found success. But really, the success is in the training -- 417 miles over 18 weeks. The reward is in finish.

If it were not for support of the people in my life, this would have never happened. This former fat guy would probably still be on the couch eating french fries. For this, I am eternally grateful.

L'Chaim! L'Chaim!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The sky is the limit for you, Jeff. Congratulations, my (virtual) friend!

Daiquiri princess said...

Your welcome- what are friends for?

I am so very proud of you and I know somewhere in Heaven My Mom and Dad are smiling down on you too.

Chief Wahoo said...

WOW Jeff! You rocked that marathon!

Thanks again for inspiring us all to achieve more than we thought possible.

Andrew is getting fit said...

I was so pleased to see that you you made it! It's been thrilling and inspirational reading about all your training runs and then the big day. Your rock!

K80K said...

You do the same stuff for for all of us every day!

J~Mom said...

I love what you said about Deb because that is totally us with the alarm! I feel so bad when I wake up DH! This post made me smile! It's so great the cloud nine feeling!

Dave said...

We appreciate having the chance to join you on this ride....and the future holds nothing but a bigger bus and more finishes for you my friend!

We aren't going anywhere!

Pat said...

I just got around to reading your race report for your marathon. Great job. I'm sure that was a life changing day for you. Our times were about the same.