Welcome to the official training blog of ulcerative colitis survivor Tom Meersman!
The purpose of this blog is to keep you informed of my progress training to run a half-marathon for ulcerative colitis on July 20, 2008 in Napa, California. You gave money to help me get there, you deserve to know how I'm doing!
On January 16, 2008 I had my ileostomy taken down allowing me to go to the bathroom like a normal person again. I weighed 140.5 lbs. and had the energy of a tortoise. This is my progress since then.
Sunday July 20, 2008
RACE DAY!
This was the day that I had been working up to for the past 4+ months. I had been waiting for this day. The farthest I had ever pushed myself was 8.7 miles. I had never come within 4 miles of what I was about to attempt today.
I woke up at 4:10 a.m. I went down and had a boxed breakfast that they served us, took some team pictures, and got on the bus at 5:15 to head to the start line.
The start line was in Napa, which was about 45 minutes from the hotel. It was freezing in the morning. It was about 50 degrees. A lot of people were in their tank tops only, but not me, I had a sweatshirt on.
I drank a bottle of Gatorade before the start, and held another in my hand as I waited for the race to begin. There were 2500 people in the race, so it was a crowded start line.
Once the race started there was immediately a huge hill. It was tough to get up and difficult to run because we weren't yet spaced out. I had to walk some of it, not because I was tired, but because I couldn't stride out a run because of the mass amount of humanity that surrounded me. The pack thinned out after the hill and made it much easier to run at your own pace.
After sucking down a Gatorade before hand, and sipping on another during the race, I needed to go to the bathroom by mile 2. I stopped at the porta-potty, and waited in the huge line. It was at least a 5 minute wait before I was able to take care of my 20 second business.
As I started out after my bathroom break, I noticed people coming out from the trees after going to the bathroom. This was my first race and I didn't know that going to the bathroom in the trees was acceptable etiquette during races. If I would've known I could've finished the race with at least a time that was 4 minutes and 30 seconds better than what I did.
It was tough running and I counted the miles as I went passed them.
"Mile 3, 10 to go. Mile 4, 9 to go. Mile 5, 8 to go." And so on.
Once I got to mile 10 it was starting to get tougher and tougher. I had never gone this distance, but I was determined to keep motoring along.
Once I got to mile 12 I started becoming a little emotional because that's when it really sunk in that I was going to be able to finish the race. I had waited to cross this finish line since I first found out about the race in January as I laid in a hospital bed. I was thrilled at what I was about to accomplish.
I got to mile 13 and after I turned a corner I saw the finish line. My eyes lit up and I started to sprint towards the end. As I crossed the finish line my excitement was large. I really felt proud of myself. The previous October I had my colon removed and I was absolutely devastated for months until I had my ileostomy taken down. I did nothing but sit on a couch. I was 140 pounds of pure scrawniness and was not a happy person. I was able to overcome all that and train and finish at half marathon.
I finished at 2 hours 31 minutes 5 seconds. As I crossed the finish line I notice my mom and sister and went over to give my mom a hug. I didn't really know how to act once I crossed the finish line. There was definitely an euphoria that was indescribable. I was happy, exhausted, proud, relieved, excited, a whole heap of emotions wrapped together.
I got a wine glass when I crossed the finish line and filled it up with wine. I don't like wine, I hate it really, but I forced myself to drink it because it was part of the experience.
The whole trip and the excitement of finishing the marathon was worth the hard work that I put into it. It is nice to once again officially consider myself a normal, healthy member of society. Colitis can't hold me down. Colitis held me back, but eventually I was able to run past colitis. I'm a better man today for it.
Thanks to everyone that donated. I appreciate all the support I got. You are all amazing.
Saturday July 19, 2008
There was a team run that we could attend at 7 in the morning, but I opted to skip it. I thought my time would be more well served sleeping. I was right. I didn't need the run. I hadn't run since the previous Sunday and wasn't about to start the day before the half-marathon.
We didn't have anything to do on this day until 4 p.m. when we had a team meeting where we would go over last minute race info.
We decided to head out to
Armstrong Redwood Forest to see
the big Redwood trees.
These were some big mama trees. Like 300 feet tall big. They're pretty sweet. I was hoping to see them and they are really big powerful beings. I can't believe stuff in nature can grow to be that big. But they are that big and they are 300 feet of cool.
Later that evening, after the team meeting, we had the pasta dinner for the race. It was a chance for me to load up on some carbs before the race. I didn't really eat anything there. I was hoping for some lasagna or spaghetti or something. But it was kind of ghetto pasta. The whole evening was very nice though. It was a very nice set-up that they had. There were speakers at the dinner and it was put together very well. It was a pleasant evening.
Friday July 18, 2008
After about a 3 hour nap or so, I woke up at 2:15 in the morning in order to do some last minute packing and to be ready to leave the house by 2:45 a.m. We had a 3:30 bus to catch into O'hare for our 7 a.m. flight.
When we got to the flight there was some girl sitting in my seat. I said, "I think you're in my seat."
She said to me, "Are you by yourself?"
"Yeah."
She replied, "Well, do you mind if we sit here and you sit in my brother's seat?"
Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be a problem since I wasn't sitting with my mom and sister. If it would've been a fair trade I would've had no problem, but she wanted me to give up my aisle seat for a middle seat. Planes are squished enough as it is, there's no way that I'm giving up the aisle to be pressed in between two strangers' bodies.
"I'm sorry, I kind of don't want to sit in the middle," I told her. She said that was fine and scooted over one seat while her brother got up from her seat that he was occupying and moved to his middle seat.
We got to San Francisco, went to up to the Hertz rental counter to see the fat deal that my brother Joe got us on our rental car. He got us 40% off and we upgraded to a GPS. The GPS came in handy. Real handy. Like we would've been doomed without it handy.
We got in the car, played with the
GPS and the first thing I looked up was how far we were from AT&T Park, the home
of the San Francisco Giants. It wasn't far, so our first stop was to
proceed to the ballpark.
We walked around McCovey Cove and the park. It really was a beautiful park and a beautiful setting. I went into the team shop and bought myself an Aaron Rowand jersey shirt. I'm still a big Aaron fan for everything he did to bring a World Series Championship to the South Side of Chicago.
Once we got back in the car, I decided that I really do love baseball parks. So, I punched in how to get to McAfee Coliseum, the home of the Oakland A's & Raiders, and we went there.
This place was not nice. In
fact it was a dump. The
dumpiest
place I've seen in my whole life actually. I was happy I saw it because,
as I mentioned I like stadiums, but it was a complete dump. It's no wonder
the A's only draw 4 fans a game.
After we left Oakland we decided to drive to our hotel, the Double Tree in Rohnert Park, CA. This was about an hour away or so, but it took much longer because the traffic was terrible. It seemed like there was two highways merging together every mile or so.
Once we got to the hotel I picked up a treater bag and my race uniform and packet. I got to meet Carly, the National Team leader, and other members of the team. My mom and I also had a nice talk with the President of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. It was amazing that we were able to get through Secret Service like we were, but we chatted for 20 minutes or so and it was very pleasant.
Thursday July 17, 2008 - Part II
10:45 p.m.
We are leaving the house at 2:45 a.m. to take a bus to the airport. Our flight out of Chicago is at 7 a.m. and we'll be arriving in San Fran around 9 a.m. I still have yet to really pack. I'm not too worried about it, all I need are my shoes and a bottle of Gatorade and I'll be able to finish the race.
I would like to keep the blog updated from California, but the hotel website says it's $15/day for wireless internet in your room. That's not going to happen. We'll see if the lobby is free for access or whatnot. I know everyone is dying to know how everything is going, so I hope to keep you updated.
I ate lasagna tonight for dinner. I have been craving lasagna for literally months. Now I've had it and it was delicious.
I will fly safe! Best of luck to everyone cheering me on!
Thursday July 17, 2008
Weight: Don't know.
I haven't ran since my big run on Sunday. My knee was a little swollen and I didn't like it one bit. I had to ice it, so I have decided to rest myself up before the big race.
Speaking of the big race, that is this weekend. We leave tomorrow at 7 a.m. for our flight out to San Francisco. From there we drive to our hotel that is in a town I have never heard of which is like 45 minutes from Napa. I'm looking forward to getting this done. I feel great, I feel well rested and am ready to WIN.
I'll try to keep everyone updated.
Sunday July 13, 2008
Weight: 177.5 pounds. I hope I can get up to the 180 pound mark again after this race. I'm just running so fast that I lost weight.
I thought last Sunday was going to be my final long run before the race, but I decided to make that day today. I went all the way from my house to the river and back. If you guys don't know how far that is, I will tell you. It's about 8.7 miles. I did it in 1 hour 35 minutes and 52 seconds.
It was my farthest run and it felt great really. I feel good after doing it and I feel like I'm getting better at running. I guess you could say it's about time since it is a week before the race. I felt like I could run further and harder than I had been able to in the past. Made me feel a little bit more excited about the prospect of doing this race. Plus I can still be a walking machine even if I can't run.
7 days now to the race. It's getting exciting. I want to see it over and done with. I wish I could provide live race day coverage, but I'll be running and my mom doesn't know anything on a computer other than Letter Linker and Mahjong.
We leave for Cali on Friday and return Monday. The race is on Sunday. I wish I had some time for some fun out there, but it seems like it'll mostly be race-related activities. Not race-related in the Martin Luther King, Jr. sense, but race-related in the half-marathon sense of the word. I don't know how much resting I'm going to have to do in the days before the race. I don't want to do stuff on Saturday if it means that I'm going to be pooped come 7 am for the race on Sunday.
Wednesday July 9, 2008
Weight: 178.5 pounds.
Did some running today. Solid like 3.6 miles or something like that. I wish this race would come. It's a week and a half away. I did my run in 35 minutes 56.4 seconds.
I rediscovered during this run that Baby Driver is my favorite Simon and Garfunkel song. It's just so good. So good. Take a listen.
White Sox game is on, so I need to watch that now. Vote JD for the All-Star Game.
Running Climax will soon take place.
Sunday July 6, 2008
Weight: 177.5 pounds. Losing weight.
On Friday I said that I would do my longest run to date and I continued to be a man of my word. I ran outside today and then I ran and ran and ran. I ran to the tune of 8.5 miles in 1 hour 32 minutes 51 seconds.
I probably could've done more but by the time I was at the 1 hour 32 minute 51 second mark I had already circled all the way back to home. I didn't want to run past the house and keep going and have to come back, so I called it quits. I felt good about it and I feel good about my chances finishing the half-marathon which is only two weeks away!
I think I actually feel better the longer I go. I think it takes me a loooooong time to get loose and when I finally do I start doing much better. I feel really good today after this long run. If it weren't so time consuming to run that long it might be something I could do regularly. But seriously, an hour and a half out of my day, come on! That's just too much. It made me miss almost the entire White Sox game. Weak.
Two weeks until game time. I'm probably going to coast from here. We'll see how it goes.
Friday July 4, 2008
Weight: 1776.
Happy 232nd birthday America. It's good to roll that calendar over one more time.
I went outside today and did some early afternoon running on my day off. Not sure of the mileage, but I ran for 38 minutes and 3 seconds. It was decent. I'm going to do a big run on Sunday. At least that's the plan right now. This hopefully will be my longest run to date and the last real long run before the race. They say you should give your body a couple weeks of rest before the race and I agree. Mostly because that's an excuse for me not to run. So I hope to do a big one then, and after that probably just what I've been doing really
Happy 4th!
Thursday July 3, 2008
Weight: Not sure.
Went to Cardinal ran a nice easy mile and a half. Not much to talk about.
Tuesday July 1, 2008
Weight: Not sure.
Well we are in the final month now of training. The half-marathon is less than three weeks away and I'm looking forward to getting it over and done with. I am tired of running. I am tired of tried to find time to run. I am tired of being tired from running. It will be nice to put this accomplishment in the past.
Today I went to Cardinal Fitness and ran 3.05 miles in 30 minutes. Nice little run. About 10 miles less than I have to do in Napa.