I was on well on my way to setting a personal best, when at mile 21, I slipped on some wet paper cups, did a full summer salt, cut my finger open and tore a ligament in my knee. It took me almost 2 hours in excruciating pain to limp the last 5 miles of the race , but at least I finished. Jon Robertson my spotter ( bless his heart), bent the rules a little and stayed with me on the course right through the finish chute. In the end, despite the time I lost as a result of my little acrobatic maneuver, I still managed to finish the race 12 min faster than last year.

Hey, it wasn’t all bad. The spectators really out did themselves this year. Imagine experiencing this scene for 7 hours. My hands are raw from from having them high5′d so many times.

Thank you everyone for your support and well wishes. I’ll have a more complete race report up in a few days.

PS….Thank you Kerri, I just saw my Facebook Fan page. Naughty naughty..:-)

PPS…It was nice meeting you Chris and Laura!

So in just a few hours Bib# 21619 is off to the Boston area to take another stab at the mother of all foot races. Monday morning I will attempt to finish my 3rd Boston marathon in a row and my 8th full marathon since starting this incredible fitness journey 5 years ago.

May not sound like a big deal to walk a marathon,but put in perspective; only 1% of the population will ever walk or run a marathon in their lifetime, and most of those people will be totally healthy. The number of people who have completed 7 or more marathons is astronomically small. So, even if I don’t finish the race this year, I’m still ahead of the game.

Btw, Y’all know that the Boston marathon doesn’t actually start in Boston, right? It finishes in Boston, but it actually starts 26.2 miles away in a quaint little New England town called Hopkinton. For the last 115 years on Patriots day, the towns’ population explodes with tens of thousands of some of the fastest runners in the world as they gather at athletes village to make their way to Boston. Some will finish the 26.2 mile course in less than 2 and a quarter hours.

And then there’s me……..
In 2010 , I became the last official finisher to cross the finish line. Out of the 22,672 people who completed the race, I came in dead last! In other words, I finished up in 22,672nd place.
Don’t ya just love it!

But regardless of how the race turns out, I probably wouldn’t be here at all if weren’t for the help of some generous and caring individuals. So let me take this opportunity to thank in advance, the officials at the BAA and my support crew, affectionately known as Team Wheezy . Helping me out again this year are Tom of Caire Inc, plusJon and Chris from the BAA. Jon and Chris will be spotting for me on bike and Tom will be providing logistical support on the course as well as transportation to and from the event. As a disabled athlete, I’m also allowed to have someone accompany me on the course, but this year I will be doing the race alone.

I also wanna thank some of the folks that contributed behind the scenes…. The wonderful folks at the Runningwarehouse for providing me with the shoes I’ll be wearing during the race, the very generous people at Rabbitair for providing me with clean air in my home, so that I could stay healthy while trained for the race, the Sony corporation for providing me with a bunch of their portable music players, which came in handy during those long training walks, to and to Microlife for providing me with the state of the art peak flow meters. Last, but not least, my Pulmonologist and dear friend, Sally Wenzel for supporting my fitness endeavors, no matter how extreme they might me.

While in Boston for the marathon, I’m also going to be participating in a medical study for runners over the age of 40 who take statin drugs (statin drugs are used to treat high cholesterol). The study is titled “The effects of chronic statin therapy on markers of skeletal and cardiac muscle damage in Marathon runners”.
They’ll be drawing my blood before and after the race and then a 3rd time 24 hrs later. After the study is complete, they’ll send me a detailed report of my lab results, including Lipid Panel, Liver Function Test, Muscle Myoglobin, CK Isoenzymes, Hemoglobin and Hematocrit and Cardiac Troponins. It’s basically a bunch of tests I need done anyway, so might as well contribute to science and get paid at the same time ($100 if you complete the study):-)

As far as the lungs go, I’ll pre-medicate with the usual bronchodilators. I’ll also have my portable neb with me on the course, along with a couple of epipens and a pocketful of inhalers. The riskiest time for me is usually not during the race, but afterward. The symptoms I experience in the hours immediately preceding the race will dictate how severe the flare will be. There’s really no way for me to stop or prevent a flare from occurring after exerting myself to this extent, but to increase my chances of keeping the flare at manageable levels, I’ll up pred to 50 mg the day before the race and then rapidly taper.

Depending how the day goes, I’ll try to post or tweet. If you’re dying to know how I’m doing, you can follow my progress via the AT&T athlete program. My bib# is 21619 (Not sure it will work if you live outside the US)

Rather than rehash what Ive already been documenting on Dailymile for the last 4 months, I’ll just cut to the chase. I’ve successfully completed ALL of my training for my 3rd Boston marathon, BUT I’m not feeling very confident that I will actually finish the race this time.

While I’m definitely in much better shape (both physically and mentally) than I was 14 weeks ago and certainly capable of completing another marathon, my right foot is probably going to prevent that from happening this time around. I have a pretty nasty metatarsalgia in the ball of my right foot (inflammation of the 2nd metatarsal head), which has been bothering me a lot during my training walks. The pain generally kicks in after a few miles and gets gradually worse the farther I go. If the 21 miler I did a few weeks ago is any indication how my foot will hold up during a full marathon, it’s a sure bet I won’t finish the race.

Still, I have no plans to withdraw or cancel my trip to Boston. My lungs have been doing great the past week and I have way too much pain and sweat invested in this to back out before I even make it to the starting line. I may not be able to finish the entire race, but I plan to be there in Hopkinton with my friends on Patriots day and will complete as much of the 26.2 mile course as I can.
To increase my odds of success, I’ll be in total rest mode starting today until race day, which is 10 days from now. Who knows, maybe that will be enough time for my foot to at least partially heal.

Without even touching on the breathing or asthma implications in all this, training to run or walk a marathon is hard, and the older you get, the harder it becomes. This is a risky business and no matter how many precautions you take, s**t happens. The body wasn’t designed to withstand the constant and grueling pounding of pavement with an impact force of twice your body weight. Eventually it’s gonna catch up with you. When that happens, you can either give up and call it quits, or you can pick yourself up, make some adjustments, and continue on. I think the fact that I’ve come as far as I have, considering the obstacles I face, is because I believe in myself 100% and I’m truly passionate about everything I get involved in. I may not be a natural born athlete, but how many people do you know with severe lung disease that have completed 7 full marathons, including the Boston marathon, not once, but twice! And all within a 5 year span.

So yeah, I’m proud of myself for making it this far. If it turns out I finish the race…great! If not, no big deal.

That truly is one beautiful bridge

I knew that jumping into a marathon training regime on the heals of a methadone detox wasn’t gonna be easy, and boy was I right. These first few weeks have been really tough and I haven’t even gotten into the longer distances yet. It’s bad enough that Ive had to shorten my training schedule to accommodate my crappy lungs, but now I’m dealing with some GI problems which complicates matters ( more about that later).

This past Saturday I did my first 20 km (12.2 miles) training walk in a year. My lungs held up pretty good during the 3 hour workout with only some minimal delayed asthma flaring the following day, but somehow I managed to get myself majorly over-heated and dehydrated. My heart rate, which is normally in the 70′s after I finish this type of walk, was in the 130′s when I got home. And when I weighed myself, I was down 2.5 lbs just from fluid loss. How stupid can I get. I just wasn’t prepared for the warmer than expected temperatures in San Francisco that day ( 72 degree at the end of the walk). I was way over-dressed and didn’t carry enough water.

To add to the fun, about 15 km into the walk ,my Metatarsalgia starting kicking in big time and I was forced to walk on the outer edge of my foot for the last 5 kilometers. I had this same type foot pain last year, but back then it didn’t start bothering me until after 30kms, so this is not an encouraging sign.

But wait! It’s not all doom and gloom. I must be doing something right, because so far this training season, Ive had no knee, IT band, hip flexor, calf muscle or shoulder pain during or after any of my walks. That’s a huge improvement over last year and the only thing I can attribute it to is a healthier diet .

The bulk of my long distance training walks (which is the core of my endurance building and the most critical part of marathon preparation ), is still ahead of me and won’t occur until the end of this month and into March. That’s when I’ll have a better sense as to whether I’ll be able to finish all of the training and /or the actual race itself. If I’m not “feelin it” by mid March, I’d probably be better off withdrawing from the race. I get sick at the drop of a hat now, and if I push myself too much, that’s exactly what will happen.

In the meantime I have a bunch of medical appointments I have to work around, including an ultrasound of my abdomen tomorrow to figure out what’s going on with my gut and all the bloating Ive been having. I also have to figure out a way to prevent my foot pain from getting worse, while at the same time still being able to use it to walk on it. (Ahh.. the joys of training for a marathon) .

I leave you with a couple phone pics I took during my walk this weekend. I’m so lucky to have this place as my workout gym.

Not sure the title of this post applies, since Ive already succeeded at this two times already, but it has a nice positive ring to it and it puts me in a good mood. So after months of contemplation and a series of decent test walks , Ive decided to take a 3rd shot at the grand daddy of all races !

OK I admit it, I’m an adrenalin junkie. I like it all. I like the preparation, I like the anticipation, I like the crowds, I like the excitement, I like everything that goes along with doing a big marathon… (except of course the pain afterward). I like anything that takes me out of my crappy breathing/ self pity zone, even if for just a few hours. Working hard towards a goal like this gives me reason to get up in the morning.

I’m not kidding myself, this will not be an easy undertaking. My lung function and tolerance for long distance speed walking is at an all time low. I missed out on 2 races last year due to hospitalizations and my FEV1 is 5% lower at 36%. Finishing this race, or even making it to the starting line, will the be one of the biggest challenges Ive ever set for myself, but this something that I really want to shoot for.

Training for Boston is always harder than the other marathons, because doing a spring race means preparing during the winter. Thankfully we don’t get snow storms or blizzards here in the San Francisco bay area, but we get tons of fog, and our fair share of freezing temperatures and rainy days, all of which tend to have a really negative effect on my breathing. Still, I think this is what toughens you up for the big day. If nothing goes wrong ( yeah , right), I will train a total of 11 weeks or 55 training days.
This year, more will be less. I’m pretty good in the short distance already, so I’m reserving most of my energy and breath on the longer hauls.

Now I’m sure a few of my friends and family are going to think I’m totally insane for wanting to do another marathon, but they also know that it’s pretty much pointless to try and talk me out of it. The last few months have been incredibly difficult for me, and if dreaming big and getting a little reckless is what it takes to get past those bad times, then I think the cause is worthy. If I succeed in pulling this off, it will make my 8th full marathon and 3rd straight Boston in just 5 years. There aren’t too many people on the planet who can say that.

As in previous years, I’ll be in starting the race along side the other mobility impaired athletes in Hopkinton, Massachusetts at 9am on April 18th. I have the option of bringing a 2 person crew along with me on the course . I’m unable to pay for expenses, but if anyone out there is going to be in Boston on that day anyway, and would like to do the race with me, drop me a line. ( As of this posting, one of the positions as already been filled).

I’d also like to take time now to thank the kind folks at Runningwarehouse.com for their support in providing me with shoes and other racing apparel for the Boston marathon. If you’re looking for running shoes or specialty shoes, these guys are awesome. ( Use the link on my sidebar for a special discount).

[Someone held this sign up at last years race... I Love it!]

Just found out that my story is appearing in the RCB’s annual Newsletter…. “Breathing Matters”.

I’m always flattered when an organization or a person writes an article about my fitness walking achievements, but this one is special because it comes from the same government agency that regulates Respiratory Care in the State of California where I live, and who issued the very license I hold to practice Respiratory Therapy.

I’m certainly not the only asthmatic RCP out there, there are a lots us out there who know what it’s like to be on both ends of the stethoscope. I know this for a fact, because Ive worked with many of them over the years. Heck, some have actually taken care of ME as a patient in the hospital at one time or another (and Thank you by the way). Perhaps my story will inspire some of them to take up fitness walking or maybe tackle a marathon someday, or maybe even share my story with some of their rehab patients.

My message is simple, don’t let lung disease ruin your life. Fight it every step of the way and include exercise in your daily life.

Oh… and one last thing, Respiratory Therapists are very cool people!

Imagine the look of horror on my face when I went to the Boston marathon website a few weeks ago to register for next years race and saw this….

How could this be? How could they have sold out all 25,000 slots in 8 hours?

At first I thought… is this a spoof or something? How could the race sell out in one day?
But that’s exactly what happened. I confirmed it with the race director Dave Mc Kilvary. The Boston marathon sold out in 8 hours and 3 minutes…Incredible!

I think a lot of people , including myself, were caught off guard and not really worried about registering on opening day, because last years race didn’t sell out until mid February. But,I guess the growing popularity of this race, and marathon running in general,caught the promoters by surprise. Add to that the ability to rapidly spread word about opening day of registration though social media outlets, and Bam , you have a selling frenzy! But 8 hours? c’mon.

To put this into perspective, most popular marathons of this size often take several months to sell out, and some never sell out. What makes this even more astonishing, is that this is the only race in the world in which the entrants have to qualify in order to get in. If you think that’s easy, consider this… a 33 year old man would have to run a qualifying race in under 3 hours and 10 minutes in order to even register for Boston. But that’s not all; assuming that you were lucky enough to achieve a qualifying time, that qualifying time is only good for about 18 months. This means that some of the people who qualified for the 2011 race, but who didn’t get in, will have to re-qualify by doing yet another race in order to register for Boston 2012. That’s gonna piss off a lot of people.

And what about me? Am I screwed? Well, thankfully, I was able to get in contact with the head of registration, Barbara Sicuso, who is also in charge of the mobility impaired division. As an impaired athlete with a qualifying time from last year’s race, she was able to reserve a spot for me and will mail me a paper application.

So after all the fuss and worrying about not getting into the race, it dawned on me….do I even want to do the race ? I’m really not sure my body can handle the training required to do another marathon. Maybe Ive forgotten just how bad this last exacerbation was. How it was one of the worst Ive ever had, and how it’s taken a lot of out me. With my lung function the way it is and my body getting weaker, would I really be able to pull this off for a 3rd time? Do I really wanna put myself though this again? To be honest, I don’t know right now, but at least I have the luxury of knowing that if I wanna get into the race, I can….which is something I really needed to hear .

I hope to come to a decision in the next few weeks.

October has traditionally been a bad month for my asthma (and I’m sure I’m not alone on that), but this is the first time Ive been sick for most of September as well. No doubt about it… this has been a humdinger of a flare.

Ive been out of the hospital for an entire month now, and I still don’t feel like I’m any where near back to my old self. Frankly, I’m beginning to wonder if I ever will. This last exacerbation could very well have been the straw that broke the camels back. Maybe my luck has finally run out. Maybe this disease has finally caught up to me. We won’t go there just yet, but it’s a reality that I know I’m gonna have to face eventually.

Besides the physical discomfort of being constantly short of breath and just feeling worn out in general, lately I find myself getting emotionally upset over the silliest little things. It’s like all of my senses are on overload. I feel like I’m in a state of perpetual road-rage or something. I have no patience for anything or anyone. I lash out at the slightest provocation. This is not normal for me and I don’t like it.

At first I thought all this bitchiness was due to the steroids, but I haven’t been on high doses for a couple of weeks now. My doctor thinks I’m exhibiting the classic signs of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), probably caused from the intubation incident in the hospital. Whatever it is, I gotta get past it, because between my breathing problems and all this emotional turmoil, it’s making it doubly difficult for me to recover.

I just want all my friends to know that despite these difficult times, that I’m doing my best to maintain a positive outlook and that I’m trying to take things one day at a time. My blogging frequency might drop a little until I get a better handle on what’s going on with my health, but I’ll try to keep my sidebar updates current.

In the meantime, keep those Halloween guesses coming in. Only 10 days left until I announce the winner.

Oh, and Ive also been getting reports that this blog might be haunted. Has anyone seen anything peculiar on my blog lately? I think this whole Halloween thing is going to peoples heads.

Got my finishers certificate and the official results book for the 2010 Boston marathon in the mail today.

Out of the 23,177 people who started the race, only 22,721 actually finished it. And yours truly has the distinction of being the 22,721st person to cross the finish line. In other words…. I finished the race DEAD LAST! (Pretty cool eh?)
I mean if you’re gonna be slow at something, you might as well excel at it, right? But hey, last place or not, I still finished 15 minutes faster than last year. And who knows, maybe I’ll shave yet another 15 minutes off next years race.

( First place— Cheruiyot, Robert Kiprono 2:05:52)

( Last place— Stephen Gaudet 7:17;47)

And in case you’re curious to see what it looks like to come in dead last at the Boston marathon, here’s the last 6 and a half minutes of me doing just that.

Congrats to two of my favorite running people, Hansi and Francis, for completing the Boston to Big Sur Challenge this past Sunday. These 2 wonderfully nutty people, along with a couple hundred other crazy people, ran BOTH the Boston marathon in Massachusetts AND the Big Sur marathon in California just 6 days apart. Two tough marathons in less than a week on opposite sides of the country. Francis came all the way from Toronto Canada to do these races.

At Hansi’s Carmel home the day before the Big Sur marathon

To make the challenge even more rewarding, Hansi ended up taking 1st place at Big Sur. Francis had respectable finish times in both races as well. Heck, between the two of them, they’ve probably finished more than a hundred marathons in just about every country on the planet. My hat’s off to the both of them!

Read Frans 2010 Boston marathon race report. Lots of pics and vids too.

Ok, so I look really strong in some of my finish line photos, but believe me.. looks can be very very deceiving. I’m an expert at hiding what I feel inside (I think most asthmatics are, to some degree.) Behind those smiles were waves of excruciating pain shooting down my legs. My breathing was really labored at times and my calf muscles felt like they were going to explode, but I told myself at the start of this race that if I made it past mile 21, that no matter how bad my breathing was, or how much pain I might be in, that I would push on with positive thoughts in my head and a smile on my face….And that’s exactly what I did! And if for no other reason, that’s why I’m so proud of myself for finishing the race in style.

If you look really deep, you can see the pain starting to come through
(Finish line photos)

I don’t care how healthy you are, even if just walking a marathon, when you get to a certain distance in a race, your body starts to hurt really bad (I think that’s what they mean by “Hitting the WALL”). The problem is, you can’t really stop moving or you run the risk of your whole body cramping up. It’s happened to me before, and I’m telling ya..it ain’t a pretty scene. A full body cramp would end the race for you , right then and there. So after 20 miles, you do whatever you can to stretch out those muscles while you’re moving, but you never stop.

So what did it take to get this 55 year old severe asthmatic across the finish line at the Boston marathon?
Well, how about lot’s of training, lots of medications and a ton of determination and willpower! Having a good friend walking along side of you , who makes you laugh constantly, probably helps as well.. Thank goodness for Lizzy.

Here are couple photos I left out of the main photo set. I think you know why…

(Had to stop to sneek a neb treatment about every 7 miles along the course… this eats up a lot of time )

( Needed 3 neb treatments back to back after crossing the finish line. )

Here are a few other things you probably didn’t know

*To control my asthma during this 26.2 mile race, in addition to the neb treatments every 7 miles, I took appx 24 hits off my inhaler ( about 3 puffs per hour). On top of the inhaled drugs, I swallowed 10 mg of prednisone every hour , chased by an antacid to control the stomach burning that the prednisone causes in the first place . Thank You Jon ( our spotter who went and got me some TUMS in the middle of the race.

*To control the pain in my calve muscles and the metatarsalgia pain in my feet, I took 2 Motrins every 2 hours along the course, 6 in total.

*For energy and hydration , I consumed 2-4 oz of plain water every mile, alternating with Gatorade every other mile. I did this for the first 20 miles, then switched to a 50-50 blend of electrolytes and water (2 oz) every mile for the rest of the race. In addition, I swallowed one Powerbar gel ( tangerine with double caffeine) every 6 miles.

So as you can see, doing this race ( or any other for that matter) wasn’t as as easy for me as most people might think. I just make it look that way:-)

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/behind-that-finish-line-smile/feed/ 2 http://breathinstephen.com/more-images-from-the-2010-boston-marathon/ http://breathinstephen.com/more-images-from-the-2010-boston-marathon/#comments Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:38:23 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=12732

[JP-Facebook-Like]

During this trip I took close to 500 still photos and about 20 different video clips, which I still haven’t sorted completely.
I’ll be adding more photos to these albums as I get them.

______SOME SCENES BEFORE THE RACE______

______SCENES DURING THE RACE______

Rather than bore you with a mile-by-mile account of everything that happened during this entire 7 hour-17 minute very fun but challenging, and at times a excruciatingly painful journey, this year I decided only to post what I can consider to be the highlights. The experience was a little overwhelming and with so many pictures , videos and texts to prepare and post, I’m gonna have to dole them out little by little over the coming days.

But, first let me start by acknowledging some wonderful people who helped make this a truly special day for me.

My walking partner in the race, Mike Mc Bride.
Our super cool spotters, Jon and Chris from the BAA
Our fantastic crew, Pete from Apria Health Care, and Tom and Brett from Caire Medical and Brett’s wife Shay.
The wonderful folks at the University of Pittsburgh’s Asthma Institute
And finally, our special course guide, the one and only Lis Shepard , who drove the spectators wild and who stuck by me the entire distance just so she could cross the finish line with me. A pretty awesome lady I’d say!

Introducing
“TEAM WHEEZY”

(hey…where’s Lis at? )

( Oh that’s…right, she’s yacking it up with the Boston Globe reporter dude)

So here’s a collection of unedited short clips that I took with my phone camera. Sorry, the video quality isn’t too good, but I wanted to give you a sense of what it’s like to be the first AND last people out on the Boston course. This pandemonium goes on goes on for 7 FULL hours!! See if you can hear my name being shouted during the middle and end portions of the clip. Every time my spotter John would see I was having problems with my breathing or my legs, he’s get the crowd cheering for me. It was like a magic potion that kept me going.

26 miles and 7 hours later , watch how Lizzy works the crowd and helps me make it to the finish line 6 minutes later. Again, this clip is a little long, but I wanted give you an idea of just how many die hard spectators waited for us to finish and how much fun it was to have Liz along for the ride.

( read more)

Well, after all the training, all the planning, and all the hoping like crazy that my sore foot will somehow heal in time and that my lungs won’t act up too bad, for better or worse, to finish or not, the big daddy of race weekends is finally here!

Saturday night I catch the red eye out of San Francisco and should be in Boston bright and early Sunday morning. Mike was kind enough to pick up my Bib and Goodie-bag at the Expo today. This saves me from the hassle of having to go all the way into downtown on the subway after flying all night. The Boston marathon Expo is massive and a great place to buy race merchandise and get all psyched up about the race itself, but there’s nothing I really wanna buy this year and Ive already done the race once, so I’d just as soon skip the crowds and spend the day hanging around the hotel and resting up.The million dollar views of the Boston harbor and skyline from my hotel room are worth the trip alone.

My race top, courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh’s Asthma Institute and the best asthma doctor in the world, Sally Wenzel.
I figure that for every mile I walk, appx 10,000 people will see my shirt sleeves. My hope, is that my presence in this race will attract some much needed attention in the areas of severe asthma research, education and treatment.

Later on Sunday, Mike, myself and the crew are all gonna get together for an early dinner at a nice Italian restaurant. That’s probably where we’ll discuss the logistics of the race and who’s gonna to be doing what, when and where.The plan right now, is to arrive at the Athletes Village in Hopkinton around 7am. This will give us a couple hours to warm up and hopefully meet up with some of the other mobility impaired athletes, some of who’s stories are truly inspiring. The latest weather reports are forecasting intermittent scattered showers along the marathon course. Light, brief showers I can deal with, as long as it’s not too cold.

It’s weird, but I feel just as nervous and excited about this year’s trip, as I did last year. And even though I sorta know what to expect when I get there, it’s all still very much a big adventure for me. The only thing that will put a damper on the fun, is if I have to pull out of race because of my bad foot or my lungs. But no matter how the race turns out, I plan to have a kick-ass time in Boston!

So, that’s it. I’ll let you know how it all went next week after I return home.

To all the other runners out there who are doing Boston, good luck, have a blast, and keep an eye out for me!
To all my friends and readers, thanks so much for your continued support!

Oops…almost forgot, I know a lot of you who live in Canada and elsewhere might not be able to receive the Boston Marathon ATT athlete text alerts, so for those of you who are still interested on how we’re doing in the race, my friend Lis, has agreed to send out tweets throughout the day . Her twitter name is SFAUDIOGAL . I’m sure I’ll be updating on Facebook as well. Cheers!

This news came in after I posted……….

VIEW ALL NEWS HEADLINES

There might not be very many of us (only 26 this year) and we might not be as sleek as the other runners, but there are some pretty amazing athletes who compete in the Boston marathon’s mobility impaired division.

Take for example Keven Counihan. Kevin lost part of his right foot in an accident with a lawnmower. 15 years later, he was in a near-fatal car accident that caused extensive knee, arm, hip, chest, and shoulder damage. Despite all this, and after years of rehabilitation, Kevin focused on running again and set his sights on the marathon distance. In the 7 years since he started marathon running again, Kevin has finished 99 marathons, and hopes to complete his 100th at this years Boston marathon! Pretty amazing Id say. Check out this recent article and Video about Kevin.

Then there’s Kelly Luckett, another awesome athlete. This is her 6th consecutive Boston marathon. She’s also done 21 Ultrathons (50ks) and over 80 shorter races. Kelly came in at 3rd place in this division in lasts years race. Way to go Kelly!

Can’t forget this guy. He is absolutely amazing to watch. Richard Whitehead is a congenital double amputee from the UK and quite a celebrity there. He has broken several world’s records, including the 2009 Rome marathon. I was there when he became the first amputee athlete in history, to break the 3 hour mark in a marathon. Absolutely incredible!

Last but certainly not least, there’s my good friend, Mike Mc Bride, who climbs skyscrapers for fun. Mike will pull an 80lb oxygen cart behind him for 26.2 miles. The fact that he does what he does, given his type of lung disease, still blows me away. He may not be lightning fast, but he has more fortitude and guts than most healthy people half his age. Check out this recent article in the Boston Globe

So, how does it feel to stand next to these phenomenal athletes at the starting line in Hopkinton, Massachusetts? IT FEELS INCREDIBLE !!

As they say in the movie making business…That’s a Wrap!

Training for my 2nd Boston marathon (and my 7th full marathon to date), has officially come to an end. Ive trained and prepared the best I can what with little time Ive had. In total, I trained for 10 and half weeks in the rain and sun, racking up appx 250 miles in the process. This is about hundred miles less than I put into last years training for the same race. I hope it’s enough.

Every time I train for one of these things, I always seem to be hit by at least one over-use type of injury. Last year it was a plantar facsciitis , the year before that, it was persistent calf cramps and hamstring issues. This year it’s metatarsalgia ( ball of the foot pain). Probably brought on by old age ( arthritis) and over-pronation. How much this will impact me at Boston remains to be seen, but if yesterday’s 10 mile walk is any indication, I’m not feeling very confident. I can tolerate a lot of physical pain, but I don’t feel like limping my way through a marathon. I’m going to try to stay off my feet as much as possible between now and next week. Hopefully this will make a difference.

As far as my lungs go, they’ve held out surprisingly well during the actual workouts, but not so good afterwords. Even after some of the shorter walks (5-8 miles) I find myself getting tighter and more short of breath than in previous years. And after the really long walks ( 10+ miles), I’m experiencing more and more full blown flares (the whole delayed symptom onset pnenomina thingy). Fortunately, these mini exacerbations resolved on their own which allowed me to complete my training.

The big concern now is, how bad will I flare up after the race? That’s assuming of course, that I’m luck enough to actually finish the race given my foot problems. To try and stave off a potentially serious flare-up following the race, I’m going to prophylactically bolus myself with a one time dose of 40mg prednisone the morning of the race. Timing is going to be critical here, because if I take the drug too early in the morning, it could make me really nauseated, if I take it too late, it won’t have time to kick in. This is the first time Ive ever increased my pred during a race, so I have no idea what the effects will be. Hopefully it will keep me out of the slammer.

You might be surprised by how many people it takes to get 2 severely lung challenged athletes and an 80 lb oxygen cart across the finish line of the world’s most prestigious foot race.

Our spotters……………………………………Lizzy and Chuck

Not only I am privileged to participate again in this incredible race with my good friend Mike Mc Bride, but this year we have the pleasure of having Lizzy along for the ride. Liz will be Mikes official course guide and will also be helping me out by carrying some of my medications and other supplies. Also on the course with us again will be Chuck, our wonderful spotter from last year. Chuck will tail us on the course on his bicycle to make sure we don’t get trampled by the other runners or slowed down by over-zealous spectators as we pass by. We’re very lucky to get him again.

Our support team………………………..Tom………………………….Brett…………………………….Peter

Without the help of these wonderful people , it would be really difficult to pull this thing off. Thanks Guys (and Gals)! We really appreciate it.