Did you know Apolo Ohno ran the New York City marathon in 2011? Not many people do. It certainly wasn’t as publicized as much as his run on Dancing With The Stars.
Is it getting hot in here or is that just me?
His sponsor, Subway, said they would donate $26,000 to the Special Olympics if Ohno could finish in under 4 hours. He finished with a time of 3 hours, 25 minutes and 14 seconds.
Is there anything this guy can’t do?
He lost a lot of leg muscle training for the marathon and his trainer joked that he couldn’t run on Ohno’s left side because Apolo would keep bumping into him. Which is funny because Catriona Le May Doan said something similar to me when she talked about how weird it was for her when she first started playing ringette again because she hadn’t skated right in 30 years. They had both spent their lives training for a specific sport and when they tried something new, how they trained for speed skating didn’t necessarily help them in their new endeavours.
The point of all this is that speed skating has really improved my running. My cardio has increased immensely from last September to now–I’m not half bad for a girl who’s staring down the barrel of 43.
For the past month I’ve been running longer distances to get ready for the 10k race tomorrow which isn’t so much a race as it is a goal for me to focus on otherwise I get distracted by shiny pennies. While I don’t especially like the running–it’s hard on my joints–the truth is, I like that it gets me out of the house for an hour and after the first 20 minutes of HATING IT, I get the whole endorphin thing going on and it’s not so bad. But while speed skating has helped me with my running, all of this running hasn’t really helped me with my speed skating.
Because I’ve been going longer distances, I haven’t been doing any sprints so after tomorrow I’m done with distance and, for the rest of the summer, I’ll be focusing on shorter distances.
It’s the summer of sprints.
And not just me running to the LCBO.
Pray for me.
I know that you will kick some serious butt tomorrow. I’ll be thinking about you, but I have to say that I’m gllad that it is you and not me. Seriously though, a 10k is awesome.
Thanks Brandee. It looks like it’s a super nice day for it.
Good luck tomorrow!
Thanks Kaari. No pain, no gain. Or something like that.
I can relate to the first 20 mins hate thing.my first 15 mins or so on the I e when I am skating is painful and I am whining like a baby inside, and want to sit down and get off the ice and pack it in.
And then I don’t.
And then the remainder of my time on the ice is fun and challenging and I enjoy myself. I guess the lesson is to go through the pain and discomfort – its the way to the reward.
Best to you tomorrow! 10k is awesome!
I find the mental hurdles are more difficult to get over than the physical ones. So if you ever want to quit tell me and I’ll come over and kick your ass.
run Forest run..er I mean Run Sharon Run!
Does this mean you’ll have a box of chocolates waiting for me after the race?
Best of luck with your race tomorrow! You’ll do great I’m sure
Thanks hon. Great means just finishing
Have a great race tomorrow. I’ll be praying for you and your sprinting. In the heat of summer. Can I have cheese and wine while I do it?
It’s how we shall reward ourselves afterwards.