All right. It took a fundraising event to get me to actually do something fitness-related in public. I'm doing the March of Dimes WalkAmerica (http://www.walkamerica.org/disneydad) on April 30. It's a 3-miler.

Now that I've actually committed to doing it, it's got me thinking of doing the Kidney Walk (http://www.kidneywalk.org) in June (the web site doesn't say how long the walk is, though, so I need to find that out), and the GHI Workforce Team Challenge (http://www.ghiwtc.com) in May (it's a 3.5-miler, not a fundraiser per se, competitive run, I'd be walking). If this thing snowballs, I just may try to sign up for the Half at WDW in January 2007. It scares the crap out of me. One at a time, though.

Mark...kudos for doing the March of Dimes walk!

Thanks. It's a cause near and dear to my heart.

Awesome! I might do the WDW 1/2 in 2007 too. I need to ask my mom if she wants to commit for sure before we register.

I got an email at work about the March of Dimes walk. I think there's a group walking, or some people are volunteering.

So come join us, Steph! It's at The Crossing, not too far from your old place. (You know, I'm not sure where your new place is.)

Yea, Mark!

Your right walking to help raise money for others is good motivation to get moving. I'm going to be walking in the relay for life for the american cancer society, on mothers day weekend. It's a 24 hr walk so I'm figuring it will be good practice. I believe there going on all over the country. There is information on there web site on joining a team or registering your own team. Good luck with yours.

Thanks, mousedreamer.

I'm thinking that maybe I don't want to do the Kidney Walk this year so that I don't seem like I'm asking friends and family to donate to two things right on top of each other when I haven't done anything before. Maybe next year.

I'm still still thinking about the GHI event. My office hasn't had the organizational meeting yet, so I'm not going to worry about it until then.

Good luck with your event!

Yay, Mark, you go!

OK, so I already reported on the March of Dimes walk in a park update.

Today was the GHI race (http://www.ghiwtc.com). My goal was a 16-minute mile pace. At the end of the first mile, my adjusted time (1:40 to get to the starting line after the air horn) was in the 17-minute range. By the second mile checkpoint, I was just a hair over a 16-minute pace. At mile 3, I was about half a minute below 16. Down the final hill, I just let it all go and sprinted with everything I had left. Yes, fat guys can sprint after almost 3.5 miles. However, the finish line was not at the beginning of the overpass (about 200 yards) but actually at the end of the museum (300 yards), so I had to slow down to a jog for a while, then ran though the end.

55:30 elapsed time, 53:50 actual time. 15:23 pace. I don't know that I can convince myself to target the WDW Half in 2007 yet, but I'm thinking about the 10K in October. 6.2 miles seems a lot more doable than 13.1 miles. But hell, it's a start! :D

But hell, it's a start!

Awesome, Mark G.!

Congratulations Mark!! You should be patting yourself on the back all week!

As far as the 2007 half is concerned...13.1 miles is daunting - but it's just a mile at a time! While I was training for last years 1/2 marathon I always found the first 2 miles of any training run the most difficult to get through. More often than not I'd start out on my run and think to myself "this is not my day - I'm turning back". I never actually did turn back - but I felt like it at the beginning of most runs...to tell you the truth I still do!

You must have really been moving at the end!! Great Job!!:D

Congratulations Mark!! You should be patting yourself on the back all week!
I think that, hard as it is, I can actually let myself feel proud about this.

As far as the 2007 half is concerned...13.1 miles is daunting - but it's just a mile at a time! While I was training for last years 1/2 marathon I always found the first 2 miles of any training run the most difficult to get through. More often than not I'd start out on my run and think to myself "this is not my day - I'm turning back". I never actually did turn back - but I felt like it at the beginning of most runs...to tell you the truth I still do!
It's hard getting my confidence up. I think that if I can find some way to fit it into the budget, I'm going to target the 10K. Unfortunately, the budget is losing elasticity, so I don't know if it'll work out.

You must have really been moving at the end!! Great Job!!:D
I probably looked like a rampaging water buffalo, but was a great feeling to have enough to sprint it. Of course, when I ran out of gas before the finish line, it lost a little, but it was still cool to go sprinting past all of those tired folks walking in. (Especially since most of 'em were not nearly as fat as I am!) :D