I just finished a 20 mile run. They say that you should run at least on 20 mile run 3 weeks before the marathon. I was able to do that today in 3 hours and 38 minutes which is faster than I expected. I also completed the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K on Saturday in 56:44.(4108th place out of 7557). Overall, except for injuring my foot a couple months ago, the training has gone well. During the next 3 weeks leading up to the marathon we will be tapering down so that we can be fully recovered for the main event.

Remember, you can follow my training at DailyMile.com. Thanks to everyone for their support!

This Monday I will run my longest run -- 20 miles -- before I start tapering down so I'm fully recovered for the big race June 5th. I still need to raise at least $300 by next Wednesday. Please help support this cause by making a donation! Thanks to everyone who has already donated!

Three months ago I did something I never thought I would do -- sign up to run a marathon. Despite having suffered an injury to my foot that set me back a couple weeks, my training is progressing well thanks to my trainer Rose Ann. It's been hard work -- in the past week I've run 35 miles including 14.5 miles this morning. According to the Team In Training coaches and my trainer, I should run at least one 20-mile run three weeks before the marathon. I plan to work up to that and run 20 miles in 2 weeks.

While I still have 5 weeks to train for the marathon (although the weeks leading up to need to be easy), I have less to meet my fundraising goal. If you would like to support my run and the fight against Leukemia and Lymphoma, please do so now! See the Donate Button on the right column. Thanks to all those who have already donated!

-Alex

A month ago my best friend Deanna asked me if I wanted to run a marathon for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Without giving it a lot of thought (about 7 seconds), I agreed. I think if I thought about it longer I might have not signed on but I am happy to report that I am making good progress with the Team and Training program and have been following their workout plan to build my endurance.

A couple weeks ago I ran my first "official" race and even though we got to the start line too late to get an official time, I can say that I finished the 4 mile race with a 10 and a half minute mile. Saturday I ran 6 miles and walked an additonal 2 miles. When I say ran, I usually run/walk which is what I plan to do for the marathon -- my goal is to finish and not worry about speed! You can track my progress on dailymile.com.

But in order to participate, I must raise money! Every donation helps me reach my goal and helps the Society's mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. So please do your part and make a contribution. Click the Donate Now button on the right column to make a donation. Thank you for your support!

Not having been much of a runner, I sometimes ask myself if this was a good idea... But overall it is going great! It feels good to be exercising so much and the goal of completing a marathon really motivates me to work hard. It also motivates me when people support me with a financial donation, so if you haven't given yet... I think you know what to do.

I've been keeping track of my runs on my dailymile profile. Some of it's an estimate since I haven't yet gotten a fancy GPS watch to log my runs. So far I've run 32.52 miles -- obviously need to build more miles each week since the marathon is 26.2!