Zander is Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm training to participate in the San Diego Rock n Roll Half Marathon ( THAT IS 13.1 MILES) as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. My race day is May 31st.

All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

My Honoree�"s for this race are.

George R. Sprague 3 time Cancer survior

Lucy Sprague 7/13/66 -12/9/96 Murder victim

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!

Zander :)

Week of February 2nd

Hey All,

Well I have officially started my training. I have been running for the last 4 months, so right now I am not doing any more mileage than I had been. Looking at my training schedule, I will quickly start to increase it. TNT (Team in Training) tells me that I will be more than ready for May 31st.

I am excited about the whole experience, and so far have met great people. My Mentor Megan is AWWWSOOOOME. She had answered a ton of questions from me so far. I will keep you all informed of my progress and post pictures when I can.

I did want to share a little story with you about my running. I started to run about 4 months ago and most of my runs during the week are at 5AM. So, about 2 weeks into my new running life, I am running through my neighborhood, and as I come around a slight bend in the road, all of a sudden there is a HUGE buck (deer) bolting from my right to left about 5 feet in front of me. Needless to say, I screamed like a girl n a horror film. Talk about getting an adrenalin rush from running. I composed myself and continued on my run. I have not seen any more deer since, but I am always on guard when I pass that house.

I do have to say that the deer are not my biggest fear on my run. We have a bunch of wild turkeys in my neighborhood and surprising one of them could be dangerous. When scared, wild Turkey can jump into the air and lash out with very sharp talons on their feet. That can cause a very bad cut and if it were in your abdomen, eviscerate you. The time I am most likely to meet up with them is at the end of my run, when my whole body is really going, that could mean I would be bleeding a lot faster than normal. I just hope that I am making enough noise to scare any turkeys or deer off.

My wife got me a Road ID for Christmas, just in case I am attacked by the wildlife.

I hope you all do not think that I am being morbid here; I am just letting you into my little running world.

Week of February 9th

Training really kicked in this week and we had our first Tuesday night training with Coach Tim. We started with a running form clinic and then a warm up lap of the track. (It is a -mile loop) or so I thought. We got done 1 lap and coach Tim says DO ANOTHER �Swarm up� lap. I was not ready for the bait and switch so soon, but I did my lap.

After some stretching, ( more like bend and tear) it was time to do our base run; this is a 1-mile run for time that we will repeat in 7 weeks to see our improvement. I ran the mile in 10:35. Not too bad in my opinion. I am hoping to improve that to somewhere in the 9 minute range.

The training I have done on my own has been going well. I am looking at how to extend my current routs in the neighborhood. It has been cold and rainy here all week, but I will not melt in the rain so I am out there.

I am learning a lot about running and nutrition, and am most excited about the fact that I can add cereal back into my diet on running days. Oh, how I have missed you my old friend. I have been experimenting with the various goo�"s and gel�"s that I will want to eat during my runs. I have not found a favorite yet.

Our big run is in Tilden Park tomorrow. 4 miles. I have even been proactive enough to hook up with the Chattanooga, TN chapter so that when I am there the week of March 2-8 I can get my long run in with them.

More next week.

Week of February 16th

Well the run in Tilden Park was good. It was very cold to start off, but once I got running it was fine. The out and back course was undulating and the hills were not too big. Unfortunately, Bonnie from my team did not make it so I really did not have anyone to run with. (This is a big part of why I joined TNT, to be able to run with folks.) Never the less, I ran for brief periods with some folks. Running with someone else helps you keep track of your pace.

Our Tuesday night strength training with Coach Tim was canceled due to heavy rain, track closure and lightning. I had to do the workout on my own and it was KILLER. I can only imagine what the live version will be like. (MUCH TOUGHER)

The big issue of the week was that my left big toe got numb on my big run. It was a surreal. Verdict on why, Shoes not wide enough. Since I had bought my shoes at Road Runner Sports, I was able to return them. I got my new shoes on Tuesday. They are 12 4E!! I had to get to the super wide ones. I have talking to the Coast Guard and Navy about what it will take to run in these Gunboats. The FAA also wants me to file a flight plan. They are SO huge they have their own navigation lights so I can see where my toes are in the dark.

We are off for a mentor led run tomorrow. 4 miles easy pace.

More next week.

Week of March 09

To all my readers, I am so sorry I was not able to update you last week on my progress. I was in Chattanooga, TN for work. I was there for 6 days, so I had the opportunity to run a lot while there. Let me tell you a few things that I learned while in Chattanooga.

1.There is nothing they won’t put cheese on or in ( Cheddar and bacon stuffed Filet of beef)

2.Sweet tea will give you cavities on the first sip.

3.Pork is an condiment in Tennessee

4.There does not seem to be anyone living in the city. We did not see more than 3 people at a time on the streets.

5.I went to the International Towing and Recovery Museum. It is the only museum for tow trucks in the world.

I did do a 6-mile run with TNT Chattanooga. They were very nice, but I can say that I really appreciate my own Diablo Valley TNT, so organized, so friendly, great mentors, and so many great stories.

So, we had another strength training workout on Tuesday. I felt so winded and tired, probably due to jet lag and the fact that I did not drink enough water on Monday or Tuesday. The warm up lap was killer and that was at easy pace. I made it through the workout and was not too sore on Wednesday. Thursday morning run at 5 AM was beautiful, as I was running under a full moon. Speaking of the full moon, Tuesday during the workout we were treated to the full moon rising and it was spectacular.

We have a 7 miler tomorrow, and then a group of us are running a 5 K on Sunday. Should be a great test of my body’s recovery and strength. I will let you all know how it goes.

Have a great day