Walking Tom is a BAD BLOGGER

Oh my goodness, my face should be very red about my failure to post to my own blog. Been having too much fun commenting on other people's blogs, posting on Facebook and other stuff. So now it's over a year later and time for catching up. Going to do this in sort of a chronological outline just to cover all the ground. Please - any questions or comments either post here or drop me a note. 
 
May 15, 2011 Marine Corps Marathon Relay - 6.55 mile in 1:36.06 (2d leg including "Hospital Hill")
 
June 4, 2011 Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon – 3:22.17 (Course included 2.5+ miles of unannounced gravel, not a good surface for racing flats.)
 
June 19, 2011 Dash 4 Dad - 4 miler with a stop to tie a necktie - 58:07.2
 
September 10, 2011 Arlington 9-11 Memorial 5K  - 42:51.3
 
September 24- October 1, 2011  Marathon di Tuscany, including short events in Florence, Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Prato. WONDERFUL trip. Lots of photos for later. Twisted knee on mountain trail last day, will tell you more about the results.
 
October 16, 2011 - Nike Women's Marathon - Half Marathon in San Francisco, CA. Finished slower than hoped but finished. Right knee a bit sore but no big deal.
 
We were scheduled to do Marine Corps 10K two weeks after Nike but after picking up bibs and shirts it was pretty clear my knee was not doing well so decided to skip the 10K.
 
Had been spending a lot of time with Naomi and the TNT bike team, started looking at possibly buying a new bicycle. Mentioned it to Ed Cosgrove, one of the bike coaches and he offered to loan me a bike. So, bought some special shoes & pedals (the shoes clip onto the pedals, but for reasons lost to me are called "clipless pedals"). Tried Ed's bike for a couple of weeks and it worked very nicely. End result was early Christmas present from Naomi - she paid for 1/2 of my new bike. Aluminum frame Felt Z85, Shimano 105 deraiullers & brakes, compact cassette. Decided the extra cost of carbon fiber was a waste of money until I lose 30 pounds.  

During the Marathon di Tuscany we had met great folks who were living in Geneva, Switzerland (Jeff & Michelle Kinzbach with their charming daughter Katie) while Jeff worked as a Nestle brand manager. They invited us to come stay with them and ride the Cyclotour du Leman (in English - bicycle tour around Lake Geneva). A once in a lifetime offer which we gleefully accepted. OK, how to get my 1945 model boby ready for this 120 mile ride? Team in Training was starting training for their "Summer Season"in January, so we arranged to join the Team even though we were not planning to ride with them (they were training for Lake Tahoe or Fletcher Flyer rides in May).

All was progressing nicely - had worked up to a 62 mile training ride but then only nine miles into the ride my right knee said NOOO! ! Made arrangements to see an orthopaedic surgeon. That "twisted knee" from Tuscany turned out to be "torn lateral meniscus" - repairable with arthroscopic surgery but not going away without help.

Good news is the surgery was done May 22, it is now September 3 a nd the cycling and racewalking are going fine. Knee hurts a little but after several weeks of physical therapy it functions just fine. Have now done 53 miles in training and based on Dr. Branche's orders am NOT going to ride Moab Century this year, but will do Seagull Metric Century. Too many hills at Moab so will save it for another time.

Naomi is doing the Moab Century ride on 9/22 so I'll be going along, only doing the flat and easy 40 mile "River Portal Cruise". Then 10/6 for the Seagull Metric Century in Salisbury, MD, followed on 10/14 by San Francisco's Nike Women's Marathon Half Marathon, capped off with Marine Corps Marathon 10K on 10/28.

Time to end this "catch up session". Will come back and fill in more details but this makes me feel less guilty about directing people to my blog.