Run to Win

Do you use Twitter? Or Facebook?

Did you know that you can find me on both of them?

Here are my pages:
http://twitter.com/RunToWin
http://www.facebook.com/RunToWin

For about a year and a half now, I’ve been putting up a quote of the day that is related to running, or motivating yourself to run, or giving you another reason to laugh about running.

If you have been following me for any length of time, then almost every weekday that isn’t a holiday you’ll have seen the quotes.

If you think back to last March (2009), you may recall a coaching session that I did with Mike Brooks.

It is not yet available for sale, but I am going to be giving away copies of the coaching session in conjunction with the 1 More Mile for Sunshine Challenge! Thanks to Mike, I am raising money for Camp Sunshine, so it seemed fitting to give away our coaching session.

In order to win one of the 5 digital copies, all you need to do is go to this article and leave a comment:

http://www.1moremileforsunshine.com/79/you-can-win-a-free-coaching-cd

If you want an extra chance to win the physical CD (I’ll even pay for the shipping costs) then in your comment you just need to leave a guess as to how many quotes you think I’ve offered up in 2008 and 2009. (My cut off date for counting them was on January 1st!)

Even if you don’t want to make a guess in order to win the physical CD, any comment is eligible for the digital versions. I’m closing the comments on this page since you need to leave your comments over at the 1 More Mile for Sunshine Challenge website in order to be eligible to win.

And while you are over there, take a look around and check on my progress. I’m now 6 days into the challenge…only 25 left to go!

Eddie Izzard is a British comedian that is better known for his lifestyle choices (as a transvestite) and for his acting and stand up routines than he is for his sporting activities.

This Summer, though, he decided to raise money for “Sport Relief” by going for a few runs. In the course of 7 weeks, he ran 43 marathons throughout the UK. “I might as well say that I’ve just eaten a car,” he said in response to how people have taken the news.

Saying he ran 43 marathons is actually a bit of an estimate; most of his runs were at least 27 miles in length and some were as long as 31 miles. Before this promotion, Eddie had never run further than 5 miles at a time.

“I feel really good. My legs hurt, my body hurts, I’m very tired. I lost my toenails, had blisters and stuff, but to finish – it’s kind of like science fiction in a way.”

He managed to raise over £200,000 (about $330,000.) It’s an amazing feat, and Eddie is to be commended for it.

He says that plans to keep running, but not quite as much. Which is understandable, since he’s about to start a 44-date tour for his stand up comedy routine. No rest for the weary…

(More Info: Sport Relief – EddieIzzard.com – Mirror.co.uk – Guardian)

This morning I have a dual update.

Since I was out of town this weekend I wasn’t able to get Mike’s update from his final day up on the site, and he has also left a second update from after the race with his final numbers and some details about his car accident.

I’ve included Denise’s email updates with each audio update, and I just want to say congratulations to Mike for running 491 miles over the past week and a half and I hope his back recovers quickly.

Congratulations also for raising at least $9500 and probably reaching the $10,000 goal. I’ll have my $100 donation in later today now that your final numbers are in.

Saturday (Day 10) At About 9:00 AM

Mike called me at 9 this AM He is currently at 485 miles–His back is still quite painful so he’s sure he won’t do much more than 1 or 2 miles by noon.

He’s disappointed that he won’t reach is goal of 500 miles but feels good about the 485 that he did get done.

He says that physically he feels better than he did at the end of the 6 day race in 2006–except for his back. After that 6 day race he “hurt all over” this time it is just his back and feet. Mentally he fees “good” He actually slept most of the night last night except for a couple of times that he would get up and attempt a mile but the pain just wouldn’t let him do it.

Once the race ends he is headed to Connecticut to stay with a friend and then will head back to Maine tomorrow.

On the 11:00 news last night Tory Ryden mentioned throwing him a party when he gets back–If this happens I hope to see you all there!!!

Denise

Sunday Update After the Race

This update includes not only Mike’s post-race wrap-up but also some details about the winners of the race.

491 miles–He got a “second wind” this morning and some encouragement from some friends to do another 6 miles after I talked to him.

Denise

Mike Brooks has now been running for 9 days and has gone 469 miles.

I’ll let Denise provide today’s text update:

Mike has now completed 469 miles 31 to go . He’s having a lot of back pain which is making it difficult for him to walk at all right now. He is getting a massage and is expecting a chiropractor to be there this afternoon so is hopeful this will help. I tried talking him into taking it easy for a few hours rather than a few minutes–because if he sits still for a few minutes the pain improves but then he goes right back at it.

We’ll see how this goes–He’s so close and is hoping that the back pain doesn’t keep him from his goal.

Denise

You can listen to Mike’s update here, although the wind drowned him out a little bit in a few points:

Mike may be checking in early enough for me to get an update on the site tomorrow, or he may not.

Mike Brooks checked in and he’s now run for 8 days.

He’s been enjoying the weather for the past few days. He’s now run 427 miles, keeping pretty close to his average of 50 miles per day with 49 miles in the past 24 hours.

He’s looking forward to getting to the 500 mile mark soon but nothing is guaranteed.

Mike is now having to wear a back brace. Him and a few other guys are suffering from runner’s lean from going on such a short loop in the same direction so many times with the road pitched that one way.

Update:
I got an email from Denise (Mike’s wife) and thought I’d put it here:

I spoke to Mike around noon today. he has completed 427 miles. He is sounding discouraged and kinda beat up today. (This is the first I’ve heard this in his voice this week.)

He is having a lot of back pain and has “runner’s lean” (He’s leaning off to one side.)

I think that something that would help him is e-mails of encouragement and reminders of Camp Sunshine and his reason for his lofty goal!!!!

You can send him an e-mail by going to the following link and clicking on “virtual cheer crowd”
http://www.srichinmoyraces.org/us/ultras/6-10-day-race/6-10-day-race-2009/index_html/

Denise

You can listen to the entire update here:

Mike is up to about $7000 in donations, so if you’d like to help out then you can make a donation to Camp Sunshine through his website, TenDaysForSunshine.org or you can mail a donation directly to: Camp Sunshine, 35 Acadia RD., Casco, ME 04015.

Mike Brooks has now been running for 7 days, and he’s definitely looking forward to the end of the next 3 days.

Today he claims that he’s run 178 miles, so my guess is that he has run 378 miles which would have given him another 44 miles in the past 23 hours (he checked in about an hour early today.)

The heat wave has finally broken; a cold front came through overnight and brought some showers with it, so today’s temperatures are in the 50s rather than the 90s.

You can listen to the entire update here:

Mike is up to about $7000 in donations, so if you’d like to help out then you can make a donation to Camp Sunshine through his website, TenDaysForSunshine.org or you can mail a donation directly to: Camp Sunshine, 35 Acadia RD., Casco, ME 04015.

Mike Brooks has now set a 6-day PR after going 334 miles over the past 120 hours, going 50 miles in the past 24 hours. That’s 14 miles further than he ran when he did the 6-day version of the race in the past.

Mike’s friend Andy has agreed to donate $500 if Mike makes it 500 miles, but won’t donate if Mike doesn’t make it so Mike will have that much more of an incentive to make it the full distance.

Mike is still dealing with temperatures in the 90s, this is the 4^th day in a row, and his feet are really hurting. Every step feels as though he’s walking through nails.

You can listen to the update here:

If you are interested in helping Mike out, he really likes getting the “per mile” donations so that he’ll have that much more of an incentive to keep going. You can make a donation to Camp Sunshine through his website, TenDaysForSunshine.org or you can mail a donation directly to: Camp Sunshine, 35 Acadia RD., Casco, ME 04015.

Mike Brooks has now been going for 120 hours and has covered 284 miles, 48 of them in the past 24 hours (as of noon today.) He had a little company yesterday as his brother, Walter, came down to visit:

“Its incredible because he really got into marathoning at a late age. He amazes me, an old guy like him suddenly picking up a sport.” Walter Brooks is Mike’s older brother and has come down for the day from his home in Massachusetts to support him. Of Mike he says, “he is tough as nails.” I ask him why he thinks Mike has taken on perhaps the toughest race in the world. Walter says, “It just shows his dedication for the families he is running for. It is not about ego, it is about raising money for the families.”

The 6 day race has now started, and Mike is amused by how fast everybody started out and how much they slowed down once the sun went down and the middle of the night came around.

You can listen to the full audio update below:

Mike is up to about $6000 that he has received in donations so far (I’ve pledged an additional 20 cents per mile.)

If you are interested in helping Mike out, then you can make a donation to Camp Sunshine through his website, TenDaysForSunshine.org or you can mail a donation directly to: Camp Sunshine, 35 Acadia RD., Casco, ME 04015.