Chicago Distance Classic - August 10, 2008

August 8th found Naomi and I traveling again for the Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon. The good news is we finished, earning ourselves another "Big Honkin' Penguin Medal" as race organizer John "The Penguin" Bingham calls them. Best news is that for all of us wondering if Naomi has recovered from her Kathmandu infection, the answer is a resounding YES.

Naomi set a new personal best, beating her old Half Marathon time by over five minutes (and me by about the same amount) while I also notched a personal record for the Half Marathon of 3:03:00. For comparison, that was seven minutes faster than my time at this same race last year, and is an average of 14:00 per mile. This was due in part to fabulous weather, with a start temperature of about 65, rising to mid-70's by the time we finished the lovely course along the Lake Michigan shore.

We flew up to Chicago on Friday, and after giving John Bingham a special shirt on Saturday morning we had made for him in Kathmandu, took off for another Chicago Architecture Association tour, this time by Segway. Very intriguing machines, and after a couple of hours we were both pretty comfortable driving them. Not quite as relaxing as sitting in a chair (legs tense, probably mostly due to nerves and inexperience) but less strenuous than walking.

The race finish line again featured John Bingham in the middle of the course just before the line to greet us by name, thanking us very publicly for the shirt.

Just to remind me and you of why we are doing this, on Saturday August 16th Peggy Goode and her husband Michael were at our morning TNT training session with great news. Peggy has responded so well to her new chemo-therapy treatments her doctors believe she will be in full remission soon. She thanked us, but the real thanks has to go to all those who contribute to TNT, since their money helps finance the research for these new and better treatments to keep the lovely lady pictured below gracing us with her presence.

Now it's back to training for the Nike Marathon in October. Just did 16 miles on Saturday (8/23) near DC with our TNT group. The temperature was reasonable, but oh my, the humidity. Lose a few pounds and it might be easier, we'll see how the diet works.Speaking of the Nike Marathon - if you have not yet contributed to my TNT fund-raising account (all funds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) you can contribute right now on my secure web site at http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/nikesf08/tfarnam .

My goal for this year is $7000 , and I still need your help getting there. For those who have already contributed, my heartfelt thanks.

For those wondering if it's time - YES it's time.

Want another reason to help? How about Caleb, who has been diagnosed with leukemia and is getting treatments at Johns Hopkins about once a week.