Well Hello

It's been a while, but I am back, and I am back running. This week I took my first steps back into running. I wanted to wait until my knee had at least five days without any pain or tweaking. My last three runs have been short and slow, but glad to be out there. 2, 2.5 and 3.1 mile runs. Clearly nothing too major, but when coming back from an injury you don't want to do anything to risk re-injury.

Today's run was the best of the three. I ran without a watch, and just ran. I enjoyed the run. It gave me time to take it easy, focus on my body while I ran, and didn't worry about my pace. The sun was out, but it was darned chilly out there. Yup....it sure isn't Summer.

So how am I set for marathon training? Being out of running for 3 weeks is a set back, but I also know I can't make it all up in a week. I will still be taking some time, and slowly building my miles and time.

In hindsight, I think I really got injured for doing back to back half marathons. The goal of 4 half marathons this year really needed to be spaced out better. I swear I don't know how people do long distance races so regularly. They must be blessed with amazing bodies.

For now...I'm back and running. Happy to be back.

Charlie

Recovering

I apologize for the lack of writing. My running has been non-existant since the half marathon, due to an injury. Ironically I didn't get injured at the race. It was later that evening at dinner. I got up out of a chair and twisted my knee a bit. It has been sore since.

I'm not a person who likes to stay inactive, but I realized my knee needs some time to heal. It is much better, but I am not quite ready run. Maybe in the next day or so. Once I do run, I will do my 5K for Marathon Kids. This is why you have not heard a report from me on that front.

I have been on vacation this week, so it's been a bit easier to not be doing things which might bother my knee. Of course with vacation comes more eating. I was in Wisconsin, land of cheese and beer. I am getting back into the groove though. Birthday is over, so no more parties.

Haven't decided on a Thanksgiving Day race. I'm not doing the Drumstick Dash this year. I may just run on my own. Might be a nice change of pace.

In the meantime, I hope all of you are well, and your running is going along smoothly.

Charlie

In My 50th Year

The countdown has finished, today I am 50.  Who knew that 50 years ago this little baby.....

would go on an incredible life journey. As I have talked about over the last few weeks, I have had incredible highs, and some horrible lows. I have had moments of pure happiness....

and I have moments where I didn't know if I would live. I have seen incredible things from Paris to Hong Kong, and all points in between. I have performed on the stage at Second City. I have known heartache, and I have known great love.

I have been lucky to have parents who loved me.....

And a sister who is a joy....

I have been an actor, a world traveler, a friend, a son, a brother, a loving partner, a runner and so much more, and that is just the first 50 years. I know I will have more adventures, more love, more ups and more downs. I don't know what the next 50 years will be like, but if they are like the first 50, then it will be quite a ride.

Charlie

The Weekend

Mark, Friday and I are in Wisconsin to celebrate year number 50! We got here Friday afternoon, and have spent a wonderful weekend with my cousins, my sister and youngest niece. Good times, good food, and one spoiled dog. Friday is loving all the attention of everyone.  I love spending time with family. I haven't been up here in a few years, so I am appreciating being with everyone.

Tonight is the big birthday dinner with most everyone. Tomorrow I will try to run my 5K. I have had a bad knee since last weekend, so no running. There is still tine to donate to my campaign for Marathon Kids.

http://www.crowdrise.com/CharliesTurning50

The goal is to raise $1000, but I may come up short.

Will detail the big day, my thoughts and the run tomorrow.

Charlie

Countdown to 50: Loss and Living

Today is a sad day in my family. On this day, fifteen years ago we lost my mom. Those who know me, and those who have read this blog regularly know what a painful loss that has been for me. You also know we lost my brother David in 1968. Loss and dealing with it change a family. Nothing is ever the same when you lose the people you love. How you cope is what defines you from that moment on.

In the case of my mom, I have thought back over and over again all the lessons she tried to teach me. Some of the lessons were involved incredible a ha moments. Others were more painful. Nancy Colpaert was an intelligent woman, full of grace and love. She was a determined woman who could have achieved things in life that few women had tried in her day.

She lived through the depression, which I believe gave her strength. She served her country. While she might not have talked much about her service, she served when women volunteered, and men were drafted. Through this I learned the value of service to others.

She and my dad traveled the world, and as I mentioned in another post, she taught me that this was my world, and I needed to discover it. She encouraged dreams. When I wanted to be an actor, she bucked conventional wisdom(a.k.a. Dad), and told me to pursue it. I learned the importance of being loyal through her.

I believe my love of coffee came from her. That woman could make a cup of coffee that would get up, walk over to you, slap you in the face and tell you to get your butt in gear. When she would come back from a trip, one of the criteria for whether a trip was a good one or not, was how good was the coffee. Sorry China - epic fail!

The death of my brother taught me different lessons. I learned that sometimes families don't know how to cope with loss. I learned when one is taken away at such a young age, there is a void which is never quite filled.  From David though, I learned about fun, joy, competition, and how you need to take the time to share things with children.

David died at 16. I was 5. At a point in his life when he could have pushed away a younger brother to spend time with friends, he made time for me. My best memories are of him putting me on his shoulders, and I would have to duck as we would go from room to room. David was over 6'5" tall.

His death changed my family in a negative way. Mom's death changed me for the better. Loss means we have to learn how to live with the change. It means we have to think about what we learned from our loved ones, and hopefully put the best lessons in place. It isn't easy. Death has a way to swallow people and consume them. That isn't what our loved ones want. They want us to thrive and live, not live in sadness.

Each time I run, I take a few moments to think about my mom and brother, and privately ask them to come along with me as I take my journey that day. I miss them every day, but I believe they are with me in some form with every step I take.

I love you mom and David.

Charlie

The Body is Ok

Usually after a race there is quite a bit of pain. Ironically the pain I am feel wasn't race related. Remember on race day my issue was the arthritis in my feet were bothering. The walk to the car was a long and painful walk. I did my usual Frankenstein walk. Ugh.

The pain I suffered happened later that night at dinner. I got up funny from a chair I was sitting in. I stood up too fast, and began to turn to the right quickly, and I tweaked my knee. Now that has been painful for a couple of days. The rest of my body - nothing.

In fact the day after the race the only thing hurting was that knee. This has confused me as normally I would have some pain somewhere. This time relatively pain free. I did wear compression socks the next day, but my legs and feet were already pretty good. So what happened?

I am thinking it was the intervals Bob and I did. I wonder if running 1 minute and walking 1 minute made less of an impact on my feet, thereby not causing as much pain? Anyone with more science knowledge want to weigh in on that?

Now I wait for me knee to heal. It is more stiff than painful this morning, and that's a good sign.

Charlie

Lessons Learned From The Monumental

As with any race there are lessons we take. The Monumental Weekend was no exception.

1) A kitchen timer helps. Bob and I agreed to varying intervals during the race, and he had a timer to let us know when to run and when to walk. I found that beep helped, and I looked at my watch less. I will have to look into getting one for future races.

2) Cold and wet weather means the arthritis bothers me in the feet. The rest of my body felt fine, but my feet hurt in the places where the Arthritis lives. Normally I am sore at the end, that kind of soreness kicked in much earlier, and got worse when the sleet came down.

3) It's tough to do back to back races in a month. How do these race everyday/week/month people do it?

4) No where near ready for a marathon.

5) I need more longer runs in my routine. In looking at the Garmin, my pace was spot on for the first 6-7 miles - typical of my average run. Now I need to develop more longer runs.

6) Again I enjoy the Monumental. Great support. Great course. No chicken broth, but happy for the Jimmy Johns at the end.

7) The value of friends. Getting to meet Bob after all these years was a joy. We met the day before the race, and had coffee(of course). I can only compare this to when pen pals meet. They are meeting, yet they have known each other. We talked off and on during our 13.1 mile journey, though not anywhere near as much as some people we encountered, and we got to know each other even better. One thing which touched me a great deal. On Friday Bob gave me an early birthday present. I wasn't expecting anything, but when I opened it I was touched. He gave me a copy of John Steinbeck's "Travels With Charley." I loved this book as a boy. It was one of my favorite reads. Bob's wife Martha had drawn a cute cartoon which made me smile. Never underestimate the value of your friendships. These are the people who see you through the good and the bad. Bob got me through 13.1 miles, and cemented a friendship all a the same time.

8) Use caution when getting up from the table. After the race, Mark and I had dinner with our friends Kris and Mike and their family. At one point I got up from the table, twisted my knee, and have been in a lot of pain since. Ironically the rest of my body doesn't hurt. This will take a few days to heal. I have done this before. It's a nasty pain, and people think I need a walker. I don't.

9) What's next? If my knee will allow it I will run my birthday 5K one week from today. As for half #4, I an reconsidering that. I will work on getting to that point, but not sure if my body can do another half in a month's time again. We'll see.

10) No real lesson here - I love running.

Charlie

Monumental Marathon: Running with Pennsy to Cheers of "Go Irish"

A cold cloudy morning greeted runners in Indianapolis at the Monumental Marathon and Half Marathon. The chilly temps hovered around 30 degrees at the start of the race. Today was a treat as I was joined by my friend Bob, or as he is known in the virtual world - Pennsy. I have known Bob for over a decade via The Motley Fool/Facebook, but we have never met. He lives down in Kentucky, not far. Still we have never met until this weekend.

Bob, Mark and I gathered pre-dawn and walked from the City Market to the start line. We did make a detour and got warm in a hotel lobby(Thank you Westin). After a couple of pictures taken, Bob and I headed to the start area.

There weren't any signs up to say where the pace corrals were. So we took our chances and picked what we thought was the middle. Truth be told, it was probably the 10:00-11:00 min/mile pace group. No worries. If people zipped past us it didn't matter.

The race started with little fanfare(lack of good sound equipment). We were off. Bob and I had a plan, and a timer. We would run 5 minutes and walk 1 minute. As the race got into the later stages we would make some changes. Not much talking at the start of the race - we were about the business of getting it done.

The race went well in these early stages. Timer would go off, we would run. Timer would go off we would walk. We were on pace for the first 4 miles for a 3:15 finish. We were loose and running easy. The chats we had were about what other people were wearing. There were running kilts, tutus, sequined skirts, and the women wore.....just kidding. There was also some guy wearing a Notre Dame shirt. Oddly enough this guy drew quite a bit of cheers from the crowd of, "Go Irish!"

As the race went on, Bob suggested we go to a 4/1 interval. I was fine with that as I was slowing down some. Bob was ahead by a bit, but on our walk breaks I would be up with him, and we chatted about life, running, and how cold we were. Bob had cold hands, even with gloves. I was gloveless and was fine until later in the race.

The cold was affecting my feet. I was stiff early in my ankles and feet. Arthritis is a nasty thing. Add insult to injury, the later the race went, a snowy rain started. Now my feet were really hurting. It affected how I ran. I made smaller steps, as the road felt slick. One guy from the crowd yelled I might be faster if I took larger steps. Bob pointed out he could probably run if he lost 200 lbs.

Around mile 7 or 8 the decision was made to go 1/1 intervals. I was happy with that. My feet were hurting, and the walking was better for me. Meanwhile, we were enjoying the city. Bob and I talked about the cool houses we were seeing, the interesting architecture, and the people out to cheer us on. There were lots of high school kids volunteering and cheering. They did a great job, and we let them know it.

At mile 12 all I wanted was the finish line. Bob was so good to keep me going. He was nothing but encouraging. The last few miles we were running with the marathoners. So it was great to see how they were doing.

As we neared about a 1/2 mile, I turned to Bob, and asked him if he was ready to finish this. He was, and we pushed on. The crowds were larger. The cheers of "Go Irish!" were more frequent, and very encouraging. Bob and I hung with each other every step of the way. As we rounded the final corner, we could see the finish line. Before crossing it, Bob reached his hand out, and we crossed the line together hands clasped. Mark was beaming when he met up with us. All was good.

Running with Bob was an absolute joy. When I needed encouragement, he was there. He didn't leave me in the dust. He said we would run together and we did. It may not have been the fastest race either of us every had, but it was a darned good time. Proud to have Bob as my friend, and I would run a race with him any time. I have been invited to Kentucky to run a race with him. I told him he would need to eliminate some hills in his area. Evidently that is not an easy thing to do.

The final time was 3:32:29. Not zippy, but with the pain I was in, I will take it. A good day in Indy!

Charlie

The Road to Virginia Beach Begins

Yesterday, November 1 was the beginning of my training for the Shamrock Marathon., my 2013 marathon.

http://www.shamrockmarathon.com

The start of training is always exciting, because you don't know what the adventure will be. Oh sure, you know the end result is 26.2 miles, but the exciting part is what are you going to learn about yourself, not only during the training, but through the whole experience.

I already know what needs to be done. I just need to do it. The challenge for me will be running through the winter. I am not a snow and ice guy, so this will be a bit tricky for me. Still I am confident I can get the miles in.

The race promises to be fun. Looks like a few of my Motley Fool friends will be running it as well. The Motley Fool has been part of my life for 12 years.

www.fool.com

Yes, it is a financial website, but it is such an amazing community of people. I learn something everyday from the people I encounter on that site. Disclosure....I am a former TMF employee.

So now the new journey starts. It began with a 4 mile run, will continue with two half marathons, and will end along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Let's get running!

Charlie

Monumental Weekend

The packet has been picked up. The last run has been done. Now all I do is run the race Saturday morning. Yes, it's time for the Monumental Half Marathon. This is half #3 this year. I feel pretty good, despite the lack of serious running since the Cowbell.

I am not alone in this race. Pennsy will be running with me. I have shared his story before. I am glad to finally meet my virtual friend this weekend. The race should be an adventure.

The plan....well the plan is to finish, and if I can do 3:15 I will be happy. The weather is forecast to be cold and a possible shower. Yippie! Rain, my running arch nemesis. We will see how it all plays out.

I have run this race previously. I have run the full marathon. Still one of my favorite races, and my marathon PR. The half I ran with Mark last year, but was not able to finish. This year I will finish.

Tomorrow people will come into the store for last minute items and advice. My best advice is dress in layers, prepare for the weather, and trust the training.

Charlie