the audacity to lope

Odds and Ends

Just 2 miles shy of 300 since I started training in October.

Longest run to date is 11 miles, with a pace of 9:00/mile. I’d like to get it down to 8:45/mile for the Hyannis Half Marathon in February.

$4,455 raised towards my goal of $10,000. I’d love to hit the $5,000 mark soon. Need to get another email campaign going.

I’ve got a free PT Consultation tomorrow morning thanks to the folks at Joint Ventures in Boston/Cambridge. Hopefully we can figure out what’s going on! I may also try acupuncture, as it’s now been recommended to me by 2 separate people.

The schedule calls for 8 miles tonight, which corresponds to about 1 hour and 15 minutes on the Arc Trainer. Boring, but necessary.

12 miler scheduled for Saturday at 8am.

Thanks for all the support, my friends.

Who's With Me?

Seems like a good day to buy a pair of FiveFingers and go for a run. I’m guessing that injuries aren’t a big concern when you can’t feel your face…

A Comedy of Ailments

I’ve had quite a few people ask recently how running has been going. They’ve also mentioned that I’ve been delinquent in updating my blog. So, to answer the running question and also provide some insight into why I haven’t written in a while, here’s a visual depiction of how things have been going:

Many of you who know me well are familiar with my general lack of skills and propensity to get injured. Amazingly enough, about the only thing I haven’t managed to hurt yet are my knees - both of which have had extensive surgical repair (including torn ACLs and cartilage). In spite of all this, I’ve still managed to log over 250 miles since mid October. Some of those miles were accomplished on the Cybex Arc Trainer, which is about the best running “replacement” workout you can get. However, the vast majority have come on pavement. There’s been some wincing, and a lot of discomfort, but for the most part I’ve been getting through. Nobody said that this was going to be easy.

I wanted to stay positive and optimistic in my blog, so it has been tough to write; I don’t want anyone to think I’m having second thoughts or being a whiner. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Now, on to the fun stuff. Last Thursday night for our weekly Crossroads Pub run, we ran “The Hills”. For this run, we took the Green (D) Line to Woodland Station, which just so happens to be around the 16 mile mark of the Boston Marathon route. Then we ran the marathon route, through the Newton Hills, all the way to the Crossroads. Basically, we ran the last 9 miles of the Boston Marathon. Pretty cool. Heartbreak hill isn’t so bad when you’ve only run 2 miles before you get to it!

Provided that my current ailments (foot & hip) aren’t too bad, I’ll be running between 11-12 miles this Saturday for my long run of the week. I feel very confident that I can manage the distance and keep a good pace, as my conditioning is really good right now. Just need the old body to hold up…

It's Update Time

First things first, I’d like to thank all of my sponsors for helping me raise $3,280 to date, which is about 1/3 of the way to my goal of $10,000. I’m very grateful that you all have been so charitable during the holiday season. It absolutely motivates me to run on these snowy and cold days when I’d rather stay inside under the blankets!

From a training perspective, I’m about 2 months into the 6 month training schedule I began in October. Since that first week, my weekly mileage has steadily increased to my biggest weekly output last week of 24 miles. Last week also marked another small milestone in this journey; my 8 mile run on Saturday morning was the longest run I’ve ever done. From here on out, every Saturday run will be my “longest ever” until the tapering begins 2 weeks before the marathon. Wow. I never thought I’d run 8 miles, let alone 26.

Training has gone remarkably well, aside from some arch pain I’ve been experiencing for the last week or so. I’m being careful to ice, stretch, and take it easy on days where I feel a little off. My worst fear is to develop an injury that is so serious that I need to take a couple weeks off from running. Given that I started this training with no base (i.e. I had not been running at ALL), missing two+ weeks would be devastating. Needless to say, I’m trying to be as cautious and mindful of aches and pains as possible without obsessing about them.

Finally, I want to thank the teammates who I’ve gotten to run with these last few weeks. I never realized how much better it is to run with people, particularly when we all are driven by a similar goal. So: Amanda A., Amanda B., Brian, Courtney, Jeff, Lauren, Mel, and anyone else I’ve forgotten - Thank you. See you soon! And for those of you reading, check out their blogs too - the links are on the left!

A Personal Letter to Family, Friends and Colleagues

If you’re at this webpage, you probably received a version of the letter below. I figured I’d post it here in case anyone else stumbled upon my blog and wondered what the heck I was doing here. So here goes:
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Happy holidays, and I hope this message finds you well. You might have heard that I’m running the 2010 Boston Marathon as a member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC). You may also know that I’m not really a runner, so you should probably be questioning my sanity. With that in mind, this letter is to explain why I’m running my first marathon next April, and to ask for your support.

As you may know, my Mother lost her battle with a rare form of uterine cancer this past April. She was 67 years old, full of life and had much left to give. I’m still deeply affected by what happened to my Mom, and I struggle to understand how the healthiest and most energetic person I knew could be gone. However, I refuse to allow this tragedy define my experience with this terrible disease. For every story like mine, I know that there are many other stories of hope, recovery and survival. So I’m doing what I can to enable more of those positive outcomes by supporting the efforts of the scientists on the front lines of the war against cancer.

The DFMC raises funds for the Claudia Adams Barr Program, which supports the work of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s best young scientists in a variety of basic research disciplines. In my career, I’ve had the opportunity to gain a unique perspective into the hard work and dedication of the scientists and researchers behind every innovation. What I’ve learned is that the younger and less established scientists often have the most trouble securing funding. Every penny that I raise goes directly to these researchers. These funds are particularly crucial because they go towards the cutting-edge research that is often ignored by traditional grant organizations because it is so experimental. In my mind, this is the work that will lead to the revolutionary – not evolutionary – discoveries. I truly believe that the knowledge and innovation resulting from this research will one day lead to improved treatments, better cure rates, and perhaps even a real cure.

The 2010 Boston Marathon takes place on April 19, which is exactly one year to the day from my Mother’s death in 2009. Running my first marathon on this particular day will be something for me and my family to celebrate; not only because I ran the marathon, but also (and more importantly) for reaching my personal fundraising goal of $10,000. I am not alone in choosing the DFMC as a way to turn my personal experience with cancer into a call to action. Over 500 like-minded teammates will join me in the DFMC – each of us training through the bitter winter to run the marathon in April and collectively raise $5 million dollars for this critical cause.

I ask that you join me by contributing to this effort in any way that you can. To sponsor me, please visit my personal fundraising page at www.rundfmc.org/2010/markl where you can make an electronic donation with a credit or debit card. If you prefer to write a check, please make it out to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge and send it to my address: 286 River St, Unit 1, Cambridge, MA 02139. You can also contribute to my efforts by sharing your own story for my motivation and support. I’m keeping track of this journey on my blog – www.markloranger.com – and would love to hear from you. Comments are enabled above each post that I make. If you’re not comfortable with public disclosure but would still like to share your personal thoughts, please send an email that I will keep private. We’ve all experienced cancer in one way or another and each person has a story to tell. With your help, more and more of these stories will be of survival and healing, and one day we will reach the ultimate goal of the DFMC: a world without cancer.

Thank you!
Mark Loranger
603.799.2234

100 Miles!

Just a quick note - I passed 100 miles today in my training. This is just a small milestone, but it feels good to have hit it. I’m thankful that my health has stayed good and my legs have kept moving. According to my training schedule, I should hit 200 miles in early January. Fingers crossed!

Are we really born to run?

I’ve got a bunch to talk about this week including my group run last Thursday, a book review, my first “injury” and my upcoming letter to potential donors. So let’s get to it.

Thursday evening I ran with a few of my teammates from the DFMC - Courtney, Amanda and Melissa. They’re also bloggers, so be sure to check out their blogs on the links to your left. As mentioned in my last blog post, we did a loop around the Charles River that began and ended at the Crossroads Pub. It was the first time I’ve actually trained with other people, and it was really nice! The run flew by, and before I even realized I should be tired we were back at the pub with a pitcher of beer. One thing about running - you don’t feel as bad about having a couple beers on a weeknight if you’ve already run 5 miles. All in all, it was a really nice experience and I plan on getting to as many Thursday team runs as possible. I’m buying into this whole concept that running doesn’t have to be a solitary endeavor.

On Saturday morning, I woke up early (not on purpose) and decided to start reading a book that was given to me by an old friend I met for lunch last week. The book is called Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. I finished it on Saturday afternoon. Needless to say, i have trouble putting a good book down. It was a fantastic read - great characters, amazing and true story, plausible reseach and theories, and of course the timing is appropriate given my current activities. To say the very least, I was motivated and energized by this great piece of storytelling. Why stop at 26.2 miles when you can run 100?

One matter that’s addressed in the book is running technique. The author’s original motivation for writing the book was to find an answer to the question most runnners ask at some point in time: Why do I get hurt? Through his research, he’s able to make several suggestions about how to run “correctly” from a physiological perspective; imagine running barefoot and you’re in the right direction. In any case, rather than landing on your heels you should land on the front of your feet (toes pointed down when landing rather than up). So midway through the book on Saturday morning, I went for a run and tried to emulate the form he describes. It felt good for a while, but kills the calves. I’m sure they get strong quickly this way, but for now I’m in pain - the opposite outcome from what was supposed to happen. However, I’m not giving up. I’ll suffer from sore calves now in order to prevent some of the more damaging injuries down the road that could completely derail my training and perhaps even prevent me from running the marathon. The author of Born to Run managed to compete in a 50 mile race within a year of making similar changes to his form…

For those of you that haven’t stopped reading yet, my last comments are with regard to the letter I’ll be sending friends, family, colleagues, etc. asking for their donations. I plan on getting it out in the next week or two, so keep your eyes open. I’ve collected $1,250 already - but I’m only 1/8 of the way to my goal. Thanks to those who have already donated! For those of you that haven’t, there’s no time like the present!

First Group Run

I’m really looking forward to my run tonight because it’s the first time I’ll be running with my DFMC Teammates. When I signed up for this challenge, I had anticipated that my marathon training would be a solo endeavor - long runs alone, looking inwards for motivation, digging deep to get out of bed on cold days to freeze my butt off in the dark, etc. Well it turns out this is absolutely not the case. The DMFC organization and its runners have spent years setting up schedules, locations and opportunities to make every run a TEAM experience. I never thought of running as a team sport, but then again I never ran cross-country in high school.

Tonight, the plan is to meet at the Crossroads Pub in Boston, run for as long as you want, then drink beer and eat pizza. This happens every Thursday around 5:45. A bunch of the runners will be doing 8-9 mile runs, which is well ahead of my training schedule. I’m shooting for a 5 miler tonight, and at least one teammate has offered to stick with me. She’s basically doing charity work, as I read her blog and she’s already running half marathons at this point in her training. Maybe today is her “day off”. In any case, I certainly appreciate it!

My prediction for the night: I definitely won’t be the guy running the farthest, but I may battle for eating and drinking supremacy. May as well be good at something!

2010 Boston Marathon Entry Form

Almost official…

The feeling I got signing this form was oddly similar to what I felt signing the liability waivers when I went skydiving. I made it through that alive, so I’m hoping for a similar result here!