Hello Amy! 

Happy New Year!  I work nights, so if I email at weird times sorry!  Speaking of email - vikingsi@yahoo is mine.  If you want to email that would be great!  If not no problem!  Just delete this when you get a chance.  I would like to email you more and not post big old posts that take up two pages!  I thought it would just to the 12days and not the rest!  I have lots of email friends.  I do enjoy your blogs!  They are very interesting.  I was praying about running  Boston marathon this year!  I have had to miss the last two years do to injury.:(  But God has his reasons!  I hope to hear from you! 

Take care, Johnny

Merry Christmas!

Jesus is the reason for the season!

I copied this from xina

The Twelve Pains of Running

Some of you asked what I’m planning to do now with my running. What, like running one marathon’s not enough now, I have to run another one?! Crazy people.

But yeah, I plan on running another one. Although I may have to coerce someone into being my pacer just in case I end up in a similar situation as Florence. The one race I am adamant about running someday is the Rome marathon. Not only is Rome a magnificent city, but it’s also the focus of my doctoral research so it means a lot to me. Not to mention the race starts and ends at the Colosseum. How freaking cool is that!

The Rome marathon takes place in March though and that’s just not going to be possible for me this coming year as I’ve got too much on my plate to train for it. Instead, I’m going to focus on shorter distance races in the spring and also try to squeeze a half marathon in there somewhere, probably either the one in Reading or Bath.

I’d love to run a marathon in the fall, but picking one is a bit of a problem since I don’t know where I’m going to be then. Most likely I’ll be in England, but there’s a chance I’ll be back in Rome. Then again I also might be in the US in September or early October. So yeah, I have no idea.

There are plenty of races to choose from though, so at least that’s not the problem. After watching Spirit of the Marathon, I’d love to run Chicago. It’s also especially convenient for me since my sister lives there and I can crash with her. One of our fellow RBFs told me they would be running the Dublin marathon in ’09, so that’s another great option. I’ve also considered Berlin and Venice. Eh, there’s no need to worry about it until I know my plans for the fall though. However, if you all have suggestions or preferences, let me know in the comments. I’m all about feedback.

Okay, enough of that. In honor of completing my first marathon and the fact that I haven’t run since, I present to you....


The 12 Pains of Running*

The first pain of running the marathon gave to me
A pair of decimated knees

The second pain of running the marathon gave to me
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The third pain of running the marathon gave to me
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The fourth pain of running the marathon gave to me
Severe shin splints
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The fifth pain of running the marathon gave to me
Hitting the famed Wall
Severe shin splints
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The sixth pain of running the marathon gave to me
Geriatric hips
Hitting the famed Wall
Severe shin splints
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The seventh pain of running the marathon gave to me
Plantar fasciitis
Geriatric hips
Hitting the famed Wall
Severe shin splints
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The eighth pain of running the marathon gave to me
Calf insurrection
Plantar fasciitis
Geriatric hips
Hitting the famed Wall
Severe shin splints
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The ninth pain of running the marathon gave to me
Finding the puke threshold
Calf insurrection
Plantar fasciitis
Geriatric hips
Hitting the famed Wall
Severe shin splints
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The tenth pain of running the marathon gave to me
Debilitating glute cramps
Finding the puke threshold
Calf insurrection
Plantar fasciitis
Geriatric hips
Hitting the famed Wall
Severe shin splints
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The eleventh pain of running the marathon gave to me
Battling runner’s runs
Debilitating glute cramps
Finding the puke threshold
Calf insurrection
Plantar fasciitis
Geriatric hips
Hitting the famed Wall
Severe shin splints
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees

The twelfth pain of running the marathon gave to me
Bloody bra chafing
Battling runner’s runs
Debilitating glute cramps
Finding the puke threshold
Calf insurrection
Plantar fasciitis
Geriatric hips
Hitting the famed Wall
Severe shin splints
Shredded quads
Two blood blisters
And a pair of decimated knees


Feel free to write your own version. I’d love to read it.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

*I actually suffered almost none of these during or after my marathon. Well, with the exception of sore quads and glutes and the possibility of losing at least one toenail.