I can't believe I'm typing this. If you've been here before you know the story.  It started with a Triathlon at Seward Park in Seattle, it has become an obsession, and truly a passion.  Today I spoke with the Team in Training staff and I will once again be a mentor for the San Diego and Anchorage Marathon team.  This means that I will be a fundraising coach, as well as a marathon participant once again.  At the end of last season I really thought I was done with this for a while, but a conversation with Tina made me feel that I could keep going.  And a conversation at a relatives funeral brought it all back home again.  I will train in honor of a friend (actually the father of a high school friend) who is valiantly battling leukemia in Shelton.  I hate this disease, it is so unfair.  So, I wear my triple crown, having completed a triathlon (2003 Chicago, 2004 Maui), a marathon (2005 Anchorage) and a Century Bicycle Ride (2006 Lake Tahoe -100 miles, 2006 Seattle to Portland -204 miles).  Check back and keep me honest, if I'm not updating, send me an email and remind me.  I don't do well if I'm not held accountable.  That's why I make this so public!  still wanna read 2004's blog? click here still wanna read 2005's blog? click here still wanna read 2006's blog? click here
May 24, 2007 - WOW!  I checked the mail today.  A large donation puts me over the top.  Emotions are hard.  Humility that my mileage could cause such a surge of support.  Empathy for a family going through a difficult time.  Joy knowing that your support and my tired legs are going to make a difference.  Thank you for your support.  It is with great joy that I will leave for San Diego next Friday with over 25 names on my back of people you've asked me to honor.  That, my friends, is an honor in and of itself.  Thank you for the opportunity!
May 19, 2007 - I got a card from Rod's daughter Kristen yesterday.  Rod had a heart attack about a month ago, and is at home with a hospice nurse.  We dedicated our run to Rod today.  It was awesome to have a whole team, full of people with their own stories of struggle and survival, bonding together to support one great cause.  My prayers are with Rod and his family, and like Skip, I'm a firm believer in miracles.  God, can you send one to Spencer Lake!
May 12, 2007 - Youch!  180 minutes of running.  17 miles +.  Then onto a party in Olympia.  I have the best wife in the world.  She drove, I slept.  Three weeks to San Diego.  Oy VAY!!!
May 5, 2007 - I'll call this picnic at the beach.  We had a great run, because we were all trying to get back because Skip had a fundraising breakfast!  Skip has CML, and is a firm believer in miracles!  Skip is awesome, and so was the French toast!
April 28, 2007 - A long run at Redhook today.  I'm too tired to write.
April 21 2007 - You people are amazing.  Donations still pouring in.  Rod's friends and family are shocking me, most of them have no idea who I am, but they know, love and respect Rod and his valiant fight!  The goal is in view, I'm over 6k.  Ran in Tacoma today.  That's a long way to go just to kick yourself in the fanny.  It hurt, but the turn around was a beautiful view of the water in Tacoma.  I guess going to Tacoma is shorter than going to San Diego:)
April 14, 2007 - The crud has hit the Valley house.  Haven't been able to get out and run because everyone is sick.  This timing is better than the timing of my stress fracture two years ago.  Get through this and charge to the finish!  Got an article in the Shelton Mason County journal this week!  Steve Patch rocks!
March 31, 2007 - Rod Olsen, my reason for staying with Team in Training this year had his retirement party in Shelton today, so I drove down and went to the party with Dad and Lorena.  Rod looks good.  I told him I ran 11 miles for him today.  He seemed happy with that.  It was fun to see Rod and the family.  The party was great!  Sending another batch of letters soon, Carolyn (Rod's wife) has given me the list of people invited to Rod's party.
March 24, 2007 - Back to Discovery Park today.  The hills were a little better, the rain stopped halfway through the first lap, and I did well in Rock and Roll trivia!!!  Team building is fun, running with new people, getting to know the ones I run with a lot.  I'm having a great time.  Pictures.
March 17, 2007 - Gave myself a mohawk yesterday for Crazy Hair Day... Decided it would be a little more interesting to keep it for the team run.  People think I'm nuts.  Let's see.  I've done how many tri's?  How many miles have I run?  How many miles have I biked.  I guess I've confirmed their suspicions.  The run was fun.  90 minutes, 8.5 miles with a water stop?  I can handle that.
March 10, 2007 - Oy vay!  My achin' back.  I sat in a chair from 8:30 Saturday morning, until 10 o'clock Saturday night announcing a drum line and color guard competition in Vancouver.  I left Brier Friday night and returned home Sunday.  I grabbed my running stuff... but forgot my shoes!!!  Doh!  I missed the team nutrition clinic... based on my last entry, I prob'ly shoulda gone.
March 3, 2007 - Who's that fat guy in my running shoes???  Oh, ya, that's me.  Every time I begin to feel fat again I start to think, which of course makes me hungry, so I eat, but I realize, ya, I'm fat, I'm bigger than I was when I ran the Mayor's Marathon in 2005, but let's be honest, I'm never gonna win the race, even if I am skinny, and I'm out there, every week with people half my age - ok, 60 percent my age, and I'm not here to look good, I'm here to make a difference.  Your support is showing me that I am making a difference, can you believe that I'm over $4,000 already!  You people are amazing!!!  I think I'm gonna get a candy bar to celebrate your generosity - Don't tell Tina I wrote that.  We ran at Discovery Park today.  I like Discover Park.  I'd LOVE Discovery Park if it was the same trails only flat.  Pictures are here.
February 28, 2007 - Ok, remember how I said I'd get outta the funk?  Well, as Extreme said on their 1990 Album, Pornografitti, "GET THE FUNK OUT!" (ya we got some calls about that song at KUGR).  I went for a run today, and actually enjoyed it.  Forty minutes around Green Lake in the snow!!!  Wow, that's insane.  I truly hope I'm able to reach my goal of $8,000 this year, because I'm freezin, but lovin' it.  It's hard to see in the picture because it was so dark, but the snow is falling on Jane and me.  More pictures here.
February 24, 2007 - Dang, it's cold and wet and that just ain't no good.  But, it's still better than chemo.  We departed from Matthews Beach today, and I felt like perhaps I could have stayed drier had I run into the lake.  It was a miserable day on the course.  I felt okay for the running part, but it was just cold and wet.  I'll get outta this funk, and into a rhythm soon, right?  Pictures?
February 17, 2007 - Now this feels like a real run.  About six miles from Gasworks Park north through the UW, past the UW Medical Center.  We're still figuring this team thing out so it's kind of run with a few people for a while, then run alone, then find someone you can hang with for a little bit again.  I ran with Sam.  Her mom died of Leukemia so we had that bonding.  She ran San Diego last year, and is a mentor this time.  We kind of chuckled about running with just mentors... it'll shake itself out.
February 10, 2007 - Shoe clinic and a good run in the sunshine today from Run 26.  It was a rough week.  Tina was in El Paso Monday through Wednesday, and Caroline was sick.  I stayed home all three days with her and tried to make her feel comfortable.  Thinking about how I dealt with Caroline's strep throat, just gave me more compassion for Stephanie Good and her son Patrick.  Caroline was uncomfortable, she had a temp of 104.7, but I knew that she would get better.  Stephanie prayed that Patrick would get better and he did, but it kept coming back, and finally took her son.  I cannot imagine watching a child battle this vicious disease.  To take them to the doctor for blood counts, and chemotherapy.  I want to make sure that no child ever has to deal with this again, we're not there yet, and that's why we need your support.  If you're reading this and you haven't made a donation, please consider doing so now.  Click on the donate now link at the top of this page!  Thank you!
February 3, 2007 - Our first team training was today.  There is something powerful about seeing almost 100 people shuffling down the Burke Gilman Trail, all out to fight blood cancer and to make a difference in someone else's life as well as their own.  All of our Honored Teammates spoke about how Leukemia had affected their life, and how Team in Training has and can make a difference.
January 27, 2007 - We had our kickoff for the 2007 Summer Season today.  It was very exciting to meet a few of the people I'll be working with this season.  I have two insane "mentees" who will be earning their triple crown in the span of four months.  The triple crown means they will complete a Triathlon, Cycle Century, and a Marathon.  I am a triple crown winner, one of my proudest athletic accomplishments, but it took me four years!They're going to do it in FOUR MONTHS!  Very impressive.  Stephanie Good was the speaker today.  I rode with Stephanie last year in training for Lake Tahoe, and then around Lake Tahoe in June.  She is so dang cool.  But her talk today was brutal.  She lost her son Patrick last January to Leukemia.  She spoke of Patrick's fight, his strength and his love of life.  Knowing Stephanie, it's easy to see where Patrick got these traits.  Seeing the videos and hearing her tell the story, it was incredibly inspiring.