Guest Blogger

by

My guest post on a great blog!

I have been blogging for over a year now.

I have had a few posts that people have really liked and have a lot of great followers who I really appreciate.

About 6 weeks ago I wrote a post about the freedom that running gives me and, for me, went viral.  I got about 10 times the number of views on that one post compared to my average.

One person whom I follow and who follows me, wrote and asked if he could post that post on his blog.  His name is Bruce Matson and he recently published an awesome book about health, running and his journey to Christianity.  The way I found out about Bruce was my running buddy @BigBigGeek bought me an audio copy of his book to listen to as TJ and I drove up to Pennsylvania to run our first (and so far, only) marathon.

Bruce asked that I add a few references on the spiritual side for the post which I was glad to do.  I honestly don’t post much about spiritual things on my blog, not because I am afraid to post about them (see my Faith tab above), but I set out to write a running blog and though I give God all the credit for all that I have accomplished, I’m sure He understands this is a running blog and is not offended. 🙂

Okay… First I want to say thank you to Bruce for posting my edited post on his blog…

Go here: http://bhmatson.com/2014/03/14/faith-running-freedom/

Second I encourage you to read his blog and look into purchasing his book.  It is very well written and is close to paralleling my journey from 278 to … soon Boston… maybe.  It is almost uncanny how closely our journeys have paralleled each other.

Lastly, thank you @BigBigGeek for introducing me to Bruce.

You know, it is really cool that I started this blog with just a few people following me and now I have hundreds and I have a post on Bruce’ blog – an author.

I am grateful to Bruce for the post and all of you who read my blog… even when I have to only write about walking. 🙂

Tom

by

5K and marathon training – Doing both at the same time

To begin with, a word of thanks to my big brother for the post yesterday.  I was really blessed with what he said (and I think he is a great writer :))  It means a lot that my journey affects others in some way.  The path I am going on isn’t easy.  It is hard work and requires a lot of sacrifice from my family, so when I read what big brother wrote yesterday, it really encourage me.  THANKS!

Now, on to a dilemma of sorts.  I guess it isn’t a dilemma, but a choice that has made some of my training more difficult.

I really want (as you all know by now) to qualify for the Boston Marathon in September.  I read more and more articles saying that huge number of people are hoping to run it because of what happened there this year.  Totally understandable.  For me, I set my goal months before the race. I have a long way to go to get to the point of qualifying by September.

I also love running 5Ks with TJ and RS.  We ran five 5Ks our first year of running and had a blast.  The first one we ran was the Spring Scramble about a month after we started running and so we wanted to run the same race this year.

Here is the issue.  I am trying to train for the 5K, with the knowledge I only have 5 months to prepare for the Lehigh Valley Marathon (link).  I chose this marathon because it occurs just before Boston registration and 25% of those who run it qualify for Boston.

I don’t know if my training is at cross purposes or not.  I really want to run the 5K in 20 minutes if possible, but I also really want to begin increasing my mileage so that I have a chance in September.

Yesterday was a half mile repeat day of training.  TJ says these repeats are great for getting speed up for the 5K.  It was rough.  I don’t know why, but I tend to do better running 3 miles straight than running 1/2 mile and a minute rest and then repeating the process.  I did okay, but not near my goal of under 7:00 per mile for 6 repeats.  In fact I only made 2.5 repeats and had to stop and just run some recovery miles.  On top of that, I got a rock in my sole of my shoe that was in so deep I could feel it on my foot and had to stop to dig it out.  Crazy.  I only made 6 miles total even though I was trying for 7.  Some days you just need to cut your losses and go home.

Today is another day.  Just a regular run.  I am really going to try to slow it down.  I think I have been pushing the speed a bit much lately.

So to sum up, Boston Marathon /  Spring Scramble.  I would have never thought I would be pushing for these goals just a few months ago.

I love running!

by

Honored to be the First Guest Blogger!

First let me say that I am honored to be the first guest blogger for 278toBoston. Tom’s story is an inspiring one especially since I have been honored to be such a huge part of it. And no, I’m not trying to take credit for his amazing accomplishments. My involvement has strictly been as a spectator for over 50 years, for you see, I’m Tom’s oldest brother.

So let me tell you how Tom’s story has inspired me. I have a long running history having completed 12 marathons between 1988 and 2001. Then life took over, and I didn’t run a step for 10 years. Of course as you can imagine, the lack of exercise along with creeping old age had me also well on the way to obesity, (morbid by some standards).

One day, on one of our weekly telephone conversations, Tom mentioned that he had decided that being old, fat, and tired was no longer going to be an option in his life. While we had all heard this many times before, this time seemed different, and we all know the story from here …. 100 pounds lighter and well on his way to the Boston.

Now why has Tom been such an inspiration to me and hopefully many others?  Well you see if Tom could do it, I figured why couldn’t I. Since Tom started his journey, I’ve lost 50 pounds and am running 4 to 5 times a week. While another marathon may not be in my future, (been there done that), there is one that I will be attending. It’s in Boston, and I won’t even have to qualify. You see I plan to be at the finish line when 278toBoston crosses and completes the first leg of this amazing journey.

Good luck and God’s speed baby brother!