Contribution from Bob

Have to step away from the usual “training report” which is overdue, and tell you about something special which happened yesterday. Opened my email to find a contribution to my TNT account from Robert Raleigh! To help you understand what a big deal that is, at this time last year Bob was moving from Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis to the rehabilitation center, where he was learning to walk again. We were all delighted with his progress, but also wondered whether he was ever going to be able to return to work as a trial attorney, his dog Charley, and all the other joys of his life.

HE’S BAAACK! June 2, 2010 we had dinner at Trattoria Marcella, with Bob walking across Pernod Street into the restaurant with the lovely Noelle on his arm. No walker, no cane, just a pretty girl. What a wonderful change from less than a year before, when on July 8, 2009 he got his first “real meal” from Trattoria Marcella which I carried into Barnes Hospital for him. As you can tell from the photo, he and Noelle had a wonderful evening, and were truly a joy to watch. No offense to Bob, but she's vivacious and pretty enough to be fun for any man to watch!

Now, about that training report. Let me assure you the heat and humidity of Washington, DC and Saint Louis, MO are essentially equal. And neither makes training more pleasant. One must search for small bright spots in the process, such as this scene along the Mt. Vernon Trail near our home in Alexandria. By the same token, last Saturday morning on the W&OD trail near Vienna, VA was so hot we actually cut our routine a bit short. Scheduled for 10 miles, we stopped after 8 with temp above 90 and humidity close behind the sun became too much to tolerate. That was at 9:00am! My training times are on target, but my heart rate was above 150 for virtually all the 8th mile, and it just was not worth the risk to continue for two more miles of training. Did get back out on Sunday for a couple of miles.

Our projected schedule of fall events is changing a bit due to my scheduled cataract surgery for the right eye, which will be done September 9 by my god friend and fine surgeon Frank Catanzaro in St. Louis. That means we'll miss the Wilson Bridge Inaugural Half Marathon as competitors, serving as volunteers instead. While it might be OK for me to do the 1/2, it seems a bit risky signing up for that level of exertion only 10 days after eye surgery. BTW, the left eye is working just great after the February cataract operation, so I'm really looking forward to having clear vision in both eyes again.

Naomi is not training with the racewalking team this year, instead is off on her bicycle each Saturday as she trains for the “Seagull Century”, a 100 mile bike ride in Salisbury, Maryland on October 9. The month of October is going to be very busy for the two of us - 10/9 is Seagull Century, 10/17 in San Francisco for Nike Women’s ½ Marathon, 10/24 Naomi does the Army 10 Miler, 10/31 I’m doing 26.2 miles of Marine Corps Marathon while she does the MCM 10K. We don’t expect to be very active the first week of November.