My Family Fan Club

I just wanted to journal about the people that have made this marathon training so enjoyable for me. I can’t say that I’m one of those folks that have a marathon as one of those things that I have to do “once in my lifetime”… (Maybe I’ll feel that way after the race!!!!). I love to run, and it helps me with so many things in my life. But I think for some people who train for a marathon, it is just so much of a hassle to make the time to train for the race, with all the other responsibilities of work, family and friends who don’t support them in their goals, etc. For me, I don’t have that problem. I know some runners say that their spouses give them a hard time about running, and that they always feel discouraged because so many people are telling them it’s such a “stupid” thing to do. I am so lucky that my # 1 fan is my wife and best friend, Kerry. She gives me so much support and encouragement, and pushes me to always fulfill any dream that I have. Honestly, I personally think she would rather me not run the marathon, more for safety concerns….like when she heard that the marathoner in Chicago suddenly died on the course, and an elite marathoner died a few months ago in the Olympic Trials in New York…those things didn’t sit to well with her. She didn’t tell me not to run, she just expressed her concern that she didn’t want to lose me… But every single time that I come back from a run, she is usually waking up, and she always tells me how proud she is of my dedication to making myself so much fitter and healthier over the past 1 ½ years. Telling someone one or two times is enough of a compliment, but imagine… every single time!!!! You want to hear something else? After every long run on the weekend, she makes me an omelet to help in refueling me…by time I shower up and come out to the kitchen…. The plate is ready… Unbelievable!!! It’s not like she is a runner …. She just loves me so much, and realizes how much this means to me, that she is willing to do anything to help me become better and more successful at anything I strive to do…in other words, she is the perfect wife, my best friend, and my biggest supporter. Before my first 5k about 2 years ago, she said to me, “Babe, do you think you can win it?” I think I placed 2,000th or so…. but that is what she thinks of me… she always thinks I can be the best at everything, and she helps my confidence so much……aside from the Jesus Christ, she is the biggest reason for helping me achieve all of my goals…including attempting to complete the Disney Marathon. Kerry, I love you so much… you just don’t even know how much I love you, and I swear that when I see you on the course on Sunday, I don’t care how focused I am on running, I will stop and smack a big kiss on you!!! My sweet little girl, Adryana, is a fan just like her mommy…every morning, if I am at home, she says, “Daddy, you going to run today?” And if she is outside in the yard, she will say to me, “Daddy, watch me run like you!!”, and she will proceed to run, just to make her daddy proud. My son is too young to understand what is going on, but he has helped me get through a few of my runs… if any of you know Arjay, you know that he loves comfort ( he had colic as a baby, and I think he has residual effects of it) If I ever put him in our jogging stroller, he will not make a sound…seriously I have run up to 1 ½ hours with him, without a peep from him… he enjoys it as much as I do!!! I think this Thursday, which will be my last run before the race; I will jog with him in the stroller. If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you’ll see me make comments about my dad. My dad is in fantastic shape…but he decided to take his fitness to the next level, by increasing his time running (from 2-3 miles to 5 miles), and over the last 4 months, he has now lost close to 20 lbs, and his cholesterol levels have dropped significantly. Yesterday, he calls me up and says “Son, this week I am attributing my running to you. I am going to run 26.2 miles in 4 days (which is more than he has ever done), and he said that if my son can attempt to run 26.2 miles in 4 hours, I can run that over 4 days…. If he can do it, I can do it!! That was so awesome!!!!! Dad, I appreciate your support for me and I love you. My mom is the nutrition expert. I can’t tell you her weight, (because I know that is a no no with women, but if you ever see her, you would think she is 15-20 years younger than she actually is... (I’m not telling you her age either!) She always gives me encouragement over the last 4 months of my training, and has helped me so much with getting my nutrition on point. She also has set it up for her, my dad and my younger brother to be at the race this Sunday. They don’t live in Tampa…they are in Miami and they are driving up Saturday to watch me race. I just feel so blessed to have such a supportive family that wants to celebrate this very important day with me. I just wanted to let my peeps know how much they mean to me!!! BTW, I ran some easy intervals this morning, hopefully to help keep my speed up, but I was only out there for about 40 minutes…… 5 days left!!!!!

Words of Wisdom

Sorry I have not been diligent in my blogging this week. Although there have been some runs that I have done, I have had a busier than usual week at work for a few reasons... 1. I have to catch up with everything after going out of town last week
2. One of our therapist took off some time, so I had to fill in some hours at our other clinic. I also must admit that my previous blog was pretty important, and I wanted that to be the center focus for the week, so I wasn't feeling to rushed to write about running, as I feel as though that situation is a lot more pressing. If you don't know what I'm talking about just click here.
So let's get caught up....
I ran very hard on Tuesday and did intervals. 6 1/2 mile intervals with only a 45 second rest break in between each one. It was tough, but I loved it... very challenging. At the end of my final interval, I was exhausted... but I ran an extra mile home, and I tried to run it at the pace that I plan on running the marathon at. It was challenging, but I was doing this to play a few mental games with myself. I wanted to challenge myself to run at that pace when I was tired. I'm trying to get my body to not want to stop, no matter how tired I am...maybe it will work, maybe not. Great way for me to get 2008 started!!!!

On Thursday, I worked at our South Tampa clinic, and one of the neat things about working down there is Bayshore!!!!! Well, for a runner that is... because it is about the best place to run in the Tampa Bay area, and I'm so blessed to get work down there every once in a while...I will never pass up an opportunity to run on Bayshore.... so many people running and the view is great!!! The other thing is when I run on Bayshore, I always call up my former patient/mentor/coach/friend, Shane Asbury. This guy is the best!!!! He is such a huge reason on why I am doing this race, and he has pretty much given me tons of tips, coaching, training, mentorship and encouragement throughout the past 4-5 months. If he is in town, and I am working in South Tampa, he meets me at the clinic when I'm finished, and we run Bayshore. I knew this would probably be the last time I saw him before the marathon, so I would pick his brain about things I should do to finalize everything and get ready for the big day. So once we got onto Bayshore, we started to run (at a conversational pace) and he was giving me a bunch of tips.... we were supposed to start running harder after 2 miles, but the info he was giving me was so good, that we ended up running easy for another mile before we got into the hard stuff. So this is basically what he told me.
1. Don't get too excited in the beginning... pace yourself properly
2. Write on your forearm 3 goals...make sure one of the goals is to finish, no matter what!!!
3. Don't force something if its not there... If its sweltering heat, don't try to push it... it could get ugly...real ugly
4. Count down the miles after mile 13...he said treat it like New Year's Eve... he said when you count down, you see the end in sight!!!
5. The halfway point is not at mile 13......it's at mile 20. Treat it as a 20 mile warm up and a 10km race... the physically fit people win the first 20, the mentally strong people win the last 10 km.
6. No matter how good or bad it goes, remember the real reasons why you are doing this... fitness, health, personal goals.
7. It's your first marathon...enjoy it!!!

He also brought my goals down a bit... he said I should be ecstatic if I finish in under 4 hours, but don't expect it to definitely happen. He told me about a time, when with 3 miles left he was at 3 hours, and things went so bad over the last 3 miles that he finished 2 hours later. I have to be honest with you... he scared the daylights out of me after I talked with him.... but it has put everything into perspective.... this is no joke!!! I need to respect the marathon distance!!!
But I'm ready to take this on.... Tomorrow morning I will run 8 miles, and then just a few 2-3 mile runs next week and that's it!! Let's do this!!!!!

This one's for Zack!!!

I hope everyone has had a fantastic Holiday season!!!! Besides training for this marathon, there are a lot of more important things that have happened over the past few months that I feel very grateful for. I thank God everyday for my family, friends and that I am able to be in a profession that I have passion for.
I would like to take a few moments and tell you about a little buddy of mine that is my next door neighbor. His name is Zack, and he is truly a special person to me and my family. Since we moved to our house in 2003, we have known Zack and his family, and he and my daughter Adryana, have become very good friends!!! They have literally grown up with each other. Every Christmas, it has become tradition that Adryana and Zack trade off gifts and open them in front of each other.

About 6 months ago, in the heat of late June, I remember seeing Tina (Zack's mom) in SuperTarget, and her saying to me, "Greg, you are nuts!!! I saw you running around 5 pm yesterday in the sweltering heat!!! You're nuts!" I laughed, and we chatted for a little longer, while Zack and Adryana played and talked with each other in the store, and we went on our way.

That was the last time I saw Zack, Tina and Rob before their lives changed forever. Apparently Zack came down with a chest cold over the next few days, but it wasn't getting any better. Tina took Zack to the MD, who intially said it was just a chest cold. It wouldn't go away and Tina took Zack back to the MD. They decided to do a chest X-ray, and suprisingly they found a mass in little Zack's chest. They did a CT scan to confirm that Zack had ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia).

About a week later, my family was notified of all the happenings with Zack. It was a shocker!!! My wife and I knew that the most important thing we could do for them is pray and ask God to put his hand on Zack and their family during this very trying time.

Thank God, Zack is actually coming off of steroids today, but he will be starting another round of chemotherapy (which will be 4 days/week) starting January 7th.

Many people run marathons in memory of a loved one, or for some important cause. Since Tina said back in June, I was nuts for running in the sweltering heat, I figured that I should use my insaneness (is that a word?) for good, and tell you all about his story. Please click here to learn more about Zack (in the area where it says "visit a caring bridge website" put in zackaryrozmeski [all in lower case letters]), and to follow his course of battling this condition. There is also a place on this website where you can make a donation in honor of Zack for families that are dealing with very ill children, and are having financial difficulties for continuing to get appropriate treatment for their loved ones. (Tina told me that their copays for medication were over $800 for one week!!!)

For those that are able to donate any amount to caringbridge, please put your name on Zack's website and notify me by e-mail (Use the comments section at the end of this journal entry or e-mail greg@therafit4you.com). I will extend out a complimentary video running analysis at Renewal Rehab (1 hour) for anyone that is able to donate to this wonderful cause. For the non-runners, I will give out a 30 minute consultation for Therafit Services to assist those who are trying to get fit for the New Year.

2 weeks away...

Wow... I guess time flies when you're having fun.... Only 2 weeks away till the Disney Marathon. Feel good, but my body is a little achy from my run this morning. I ran 13 miles around my old neighborhood and I tried to run pretty hard, but I had a few obstacles along the way. First of all, I had to take a potty break at mile 5-6(luckily I knew that area very well, and I went into a fitness center I used to work at...could have been a problem if there was no bathroom around!!!) It was extremely hot also (at least it seemed to be) and after my bathroom break and the sun coming up, I just couldn't push it as much as I wanted to. But it's all good... at this point I'm just happy that my (R) ankle is feeling pretty good. Chris told me he ran this morning also, and did 10 miles at pretty strong pace (8:30/mile). It seems like he is peaking at the right time!!! Since I've been down here, it looks like I have recruited a few more people in my family to start runnning....let's see how that goes... I'm excited for them, and will try to help them in any way possible!!!
Okay we will chat later!!!!

On the shelf....for now...

The day after Christmas, I decided to play tennis with my brother and dad....which as I said in my previous entry was probably something that I shouldn't do. Well, not using very sound judgement, I went ahead and played with them, and it aggravated my (R) ankle even more. So, now I decided to take off a day of running yesterday, and go to my brother's gym and do a spinning class. A good workout, but not the same as going out there and running. I have been training for the Disney Marathon for 4 months, and this is the first time that I have missed a workout throughout the whole program. But it's all good... because I don't want to jeopardize anything that would screw up my ability to run the race. I've put in good training, and I'm tapering now, so I'm not too concerned about it. My (R) ankle already feels much better, and I hardly feel anything there.
So guess what? As I told you earlier, I played tennis with my dad, brother, and a friend of my father. His name is John, and his wife is a marathoner. She runs them like crazy!!!! She is doing two of them in February....whoa!!!! She invited me to come run with her running group this Saturday morning on the 17th St. Causeway (which is by Ft. Lauderdale beach). I was like "Yeah!!!! Just tell me what time?" She said they start running at 3 am!!!! I just told her, "Let me think about it" Man, that's early!!! So, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet...but I'm definitely going to run at least 10 miles tomorrow morning...just not sure what time I will be doing it....

Since I've been down here in Ft. Lauderdale, I was able to set up my cousin (Edmund) and his wife (Sarah) on the Therafit program that I have been doing for the past year in Tampa. One of my other cousins (John) is a personal trainer, so he sat in on my instructional session with Edmund and Sarah. They love the program, and John wants to try to implement the program with some of his clients that he currently has. So this pleasure trip has now turned into a little business, as we might have Therafit start in the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area. Yeah!!!!

Ok, I'll keep you posted on my run tomorrow...

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone. I have never been so happy to be sleeping on an airbed mattress, as I drove down to Ft. Lauderdale after work yesterday so my family and I could spend Christmas with my parents and extended family. Holiday time is so sweet when you can spend time with your family and friends. I didn't skip out on my workouts this morning as I woke up and got running around 7:30 am, and did 3 x 1 mile intervals around my old neighborhood.


As I finished and came back to my parent's house, my dad was putting on his Garmin watch and getting ready to do his morning jog. He invited me to come, and even though I was pretty beat from doing intervals, I was excited about running with him and chatting about stuff. While running he reported to me that his cholesterol has gone down to 141, from 260 (approx. 10 weeks ago), he has lost 17 pounds in 10 weeks, and it has been primarily due to running 4-5 miles/day, 4 days per week, cutting down portion sizes and eliminating late eating. It was really cool having some father/son time, and just talking about all types of stuff. I must say that I am suffering in my (R) ankle from doing all that running today, as I totaled close to 10 miles this morning. But I couldn't pass up running with my dad, so I'll just deal with it. Tomorrow morning he (my dad) wants to play tennis with my brother and I, and maybe I might have to pass if the ankle is still misbehaving. I guess we'll see. Anyways, Merry Christmas to all, and Happy Birthday Jesus!!

It's Taper Time!!!

Today was the last big training test for our marathon training. 22 miles starting at 5:30 am at the Downtown YMCA with the Blue Sharks. I must say that it didn't get off to a roaring start this morning, as Chris's watch and Ipod weren't charged, d/t something not working properly with his USB ports on his computer. He was not a happy camper. I offered him my watch to use, but he declined (I didn't really want to give it to him anyway, but it was the right thing to do... I know Chris will get a kick out of this when he reads this entry!!!) Anyways from that bad start, everything else went fantastic. I was especially happy for Chris, as he absolutely had his best training run by far, since he started training for the Disney Marathon. Actually at the end of the run (the last 2 miles) he was able to pick up the pace, which I was able to maintain, until the last 1/2 mile, where some switch went on in his brain, and he started flying... he was running the last 1/2 mile under 7:45/mile... at mile 21!!! I couldn't keep up with him. So, good for him....I guess he has better luck not using the watch!!! The first 11 miles of the run was done on Davis Island with the other Blue Shark runners, and was nice. We initially were planning to do the Davis Island loop again, but we decided to go on Bayshore and finish up the final 11 miles. The Bay was very dry and there was a bunch of marsh or something real ugly washed up close to the sidewalk, so it was not the typical beauty of Bayshore Blvd. that we are used to seeing. But the run was very nostalgic, as it brought us back to our first runs...close to 2 years ago now, when we were out of shape, out of breath after the 1/4 mile mark. And when we reached the point where we would usually start running, when we worked at our other clinic, we had already gotten to 14 miles in our run....we both got quiet when we realized it, and I think in Chris's head (and I know it was going on in mine) we gave ourselves a high five and a pat on the back for progressing our health and fitness to where we currently are today. A few seconds later, Chris said, "Would you ever think at that time, that you would be training for a marathon?" I quickly said, "No", and then we started talking and joking about other stuff again. Would you believe that we didn't even use our Ipods...just talking, joking about everything was enough to get us through our run... and it was awesome!!
So now it's taper time. This week was the most amount of miles that I have ever run (approx. 36 miles), and now it is time to cut back on our running and let our muscles and joints recover in preparation for the marathon, which is in 3 weeks!!!
For the most part my body feels good, but it doesn't mean that we don't run at all over the next few weeks. We just have to gradually run less than what we are used to running. I think I will run around 24 miles this upcoming week, and 18-20 during the week before the race. Good stuff!!!! Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!!! Time to start my Christmas shopping!!! (Typical guy, huh?)