10-10-10 well on its way

Thanks for the awesome people who have supported the Running for Laptops so far! I am now past halfway in meeting my overall fundraising goal but I hope to blow past it in the upcoming month.

My short-term goal is to get 10 people to donate $5-$10 by February 10th.

Thus "10-10-10"

If you can help, click here.

Here's a story from one of the amazing students you could possibly be supporting. I've edited it a little to avoid specifics.

I have been in foster care for the past five years.......My favorite activities include going to school for criminal justice which is my major and psychology which is my minor.....My chosen career is to either be a detective or to work in a treatment facility for adolescents. The reason I chose these careers are.... I see the effects have on kids and I want to help. I know how they feel and I want to give them opportunities I never had. The kids in the facilities are just that, kids. They see the drugs/alcohol solve their parent's problems, and so they believe that they will also solve their problems. I want to put them on the right track. When I was placed into foster care it was the best thing that has and could have happened in my circumstances, but not everyone is that lucky. This is my time to pay it forward. I want to show them there is a light at the end of the tunnel of darkness. I want to show them that they can also make a difference if they believe in their dreams. I hope you select me for a laptop, because yes I have access at school to a computer but not when I need to do work at home. I want to make a difference and you can help.

Sponsor Update and 10-10-10

Beth and I updated her website to reflect her 2012 sponsors as she begins her professional career as a triathlete. Pretty exciting stuff.

Speaking of sponsors, as I head into February, I'm looking for some awesome people to help support me through the charity Running for Laptops that I'm working with for the Pittsburgh Marathon. The organization's goal is to raise funds to purchase laptops to give children as they age out of the foster care system in the Pittsburgh area.

Here's my goal: 10-10-10

10 people to give $5 - $10 by February 10th (Notice the "10" theme?). I'm not asking for the moon....but, hey, if you can give more than $10 that's great, too.

CAN YOU BE ONE OF THESE AWESOME PEOPLE TO STEP UP?

If so, click here.

Thank you in advance for your generosity!

The Weekend

Here's an "exciting" timeline since Friday:

*Leave track practice
*Meet Beth at Qdoba for $5 Friday Burritos
*Go home and clean the upstairs
*Beth goes for her 2nd swim of the day while I catch up on Hawaii 5-0
*Go to bed around 10pm

*Wake up around 5:45
*Walk dog
*4 mile run
*Get ready and leave for track meet in Edinboro a little before 8am
*Make the trek up I-79 to Edinboro...a couple of inches of snow north of I-80



*A quick stop at Tim Horton's for some Timbits to consume later in the day



*Set up camera and computer timing system before 11am
*Start meet and record times with DP from USC until a little after 8pm (thank goodness for the 3000m and the longer relays to give us time to eat a little and quick pitstops)



*Make the trek home with a stop at the Sheetz in Grove City for dinner around 9:30 (turkey sub and smoothie....at least it was kind of healthy)
*Get home before 11pm

*Wake up around 5:45
*Fuel with a bagel & PB for the long run
*Walk dog
*20-mile run
*Go with Beth to the JCC to swim/lift (Our lucky day - free day for "outsiders")
*Lunch at Brueggers
*Drive to REI Robinson for PTC clinic (where Beth and Chad were speaking)
*PTC Clinic



*Dinner and grocery shopping at Market District (Pizza = yum!)
*Drive home
*Talk to parents

Whew! Okay, time to get ready for the next week.

I'm pumped because we're going to be heading to HHI on Friday. I'll be there for the weekend. Beth will be there for a few weeks for a winter training camp.

16

This post is 16 words long. 16 equals the hours I spent at today's indoor meet.

55...then 35

This morning's 12-miler was done in 55-degree weather when it started. There was a little rain, but it was GREAT running in shorts and a longsleeve in January. Memo to other people I saw out running - check the temperature before leaving the house. I counted a handful of people with long pants, multiple layers, hats, and gloves.

But, today was one of those days when the high was at midnight and the temperature just dropped throughout the day. Now, it's 35 and continuing to drop.

Tomorrow's the trip up north to Edinboro for our hs track meet. Looking forward to the many athletes in all the different events.

In other news, the Pirates had 4 players ranked in MLB.com's top 100 prospect rankings. It included RHP Jameson Taillon (#8), RHP Gerrit Cole (#11), OF Starling Marte (#40), and OF Josh Bell (#69). It's exciting to see 4 in the top 70. If you figure there are 30 teams, you would expect only 2 or 3 from a team in the top 70. Also, the pitching is coming. I've said it before, but I can't wait to see Cole and Taillon in Altoona this summer. Marte's knocking on the door in AAA. I can't wait to follow Bell in his debut summer.

Groundbreaking and Unveiling

At school, we had our groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming renovations. These have been a few years in the making, so it is exciting to see the project starting.

I saw on the web that the Pittsburgh Marathon has unveiled its revised course:



The reason for needing a revised course is that the Pirates are playing home games that weekend. The Pirates organization petitioned MLB to have away games that weekend, but they denied their request. Funny, Boston seems to get their request of a home game every Patriots' Day. Anyway, due to that, the race can't have it's highly efficient and logistical dream of finishing on the North Shore between PNC Park and Heinz Field. So, it's going to finish downtown near the point like the Great Race. I'll be excited to see the mile markers go up and to start getting out on the course.

As far as the training. Week 1 was 53 miles, week 2 was 56 miles. Week 3 was 58 miles. And I'm on pace, assuming the long run goes well, for breaking the 60 mile barrier this week. I had my first "speed" workout since before the Harrisburg Marathon, so that was exciting. I did 7x1000 with a minute rest (was supposed to do 8, but was running out of time to be able to get into the school and shower before homeroom). They were supposed to be in 3:45 (6:00 pace). The first one was ugly and was right around 4:00. Ugh! But, the rest went well: 3:46, 3:44, 3:44, 3:41, 3:42, and 3:37 on the last one.

We have our first high school indoor track meet. Looking like the snow's going to cooperate. Excited to see all the athlete's hard work pay off.

Back-to-Back "Late" Shifts

...well, at least late for me. And this is the reason the blog to continue my streak is the equivalent to Cal Ripken pinch-hitting in the 8th inning of a game during his streak (which he he probably did less times in his 2,632 consecutive games than I have had "cheap" blogs during this 27-day blog streak).

Tuesday night...up at 4:30 for a morning run, school, and practice, I had a planning meeting with the Etown alumni group. Not home until 10pm (usually in bed by then)

Wednesday night...up at 4:30 to drop off the car for service, then run to the school as part of my warmup for 1000's on the track, school, practice, jog back to pick up the car, dinner at Subway, and then back to high school for our district's annual curriculum night from 6-9pm (where parents come in and ask about what classes their students should select for the next school year).

So, I'm home. I've written a weak blog. Now I'm going to bed. Off day for workouts tomorrow so a 'relative' sleep in. Yippee!