Boston Strong

Let me begin by saying this is not the post marathon blog I had envisioned writing after completing the 117^th Boston Marathon. I am happy to say that my family and I are all safe but still processing the events that happened that day.   Due to the horrible events, I was stopped at mile 25.8 which will forever be documented in Sports Illustrated (see page 12 in the April 22 issue).  My family was at mile 26 almost directly across from the second blast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The race up until that point had been a fabulous run.  It was a perfect day for a marathon, sunny but not hot with a slight breeze.  I had mentally broken the race into 4 segments and had been executing on that plan.  Segment one was from the beginning of the race until mile 9 when I would meet my family for the first time.  As I approached my family in the chaos of the crowds all I could see was their exuberant smiles.  I stopped for a few hugs and kisses then moved on to the second segment which was from that point to the hills of Newton.  The highlight of this segment was the “scream mile” of Wellesley College, women that cannot adequately be described!  The third segment was the dreaded hills of Newton.  Through them I felt strong and after the last hill I knew I was going to finish the race.  The final segment was from the hills to the finish which I had planned on taking mile by mile and hopefully enjoying the moment.  During this segment I ran through Boston College which was by far the loudest part of the course with students on both sides of the street, then on to mile 25 which is where DFMC has a cheering section.  After that I had planned on seeing my family close to the finish line and having my son run the final distance with me and get our medal.  The last part was delayed due to tragic events but I did take my son with me to receive my medal the day after the marathon which I think helped both of us heal a little.

Running the Boston marathon for DFMC was one of the greatest challenges I have ever taken on and I am proud to say that I not only finished the race but raised over $10,000 for the Barr Program.  I am still roughly $500 short of my goal amount and hope a few more donations will trickle in to push me over my goal of $13,100.  Those of you who have donated and cheered me on in spirit and in person I humbly thank you.  While it is not a sure thing, look for me to run the Boston Marathon again next year for DFMC. 

Again thank you for everything and keep running!

Ray

 

 

Running update

So I am not so good at this blogging thing! I can blame work or kids and say I don’t have time, all of which would be true but honestly I just have not MADE the time! Slight nuance but for me an important distinction, as I am a big believer of we make time for things we want to make time for.  I am less than 3 weeks away from running the Boston Marathon and I have not updated this blog since December!  I guess that means I have a lot to bring everyone up to date on.

First let me say thank you for all of those that have donated.  While I was willing to pony up the $4000 you need to fundraise to run for the DFMC myself it’s very nice that I will not have too and I have raised over double my original goal.  That said you can still make donations here and remember every last dollar goes to fund cutting edge research.

http://www.runDFMC.org/2013/rayf

So what has happened in the last 3 months?  I have run more miles then I have ever run before in my life and loved every moment of it!  I only started running in November of 2011 so to voluntarily run a marathon 17 months later, well is in line with my never quit and never a challenge too big attitude! Although others including my wife just call it plan crazy, which is slightly true.  If I had to do it again I would because setting such a high goal has kept me motivated.  My training has gone pretty uneventful except for the last week or so but we will get to that.  Since December I have logged around 300 miles which is probably the total distance I had run in my entire life up to then.  I have been trying to run 2 to 3 times during the week keeping my mileage below 20 miles or so with a long run on the weekends never peaking about 40 miles for a week.  I tried a few weeks to run closer to 30 during the week and found my long runs suffered or my body made it be known that it did not appreciate the abuse.  I have successfully upped my long runs from 5 miles to 18 miles and did one competitive half marathon finishing in 1 hour 59 min (which I should say was done in February in Boston during a N’orestern).  I have run the actual course more times than I can count and have run heart break hill enough times not to be afraid of it.   Then came the big finale this weekend, a 22 mile run with 17 miles under your belt as you hit the Newton flats (only in Boston could you call a 4 mile stretch which includes heart break hill as “the flats”).  Roads were barricaded in certain spots since there were over 2000 runners on the course for their final long run.  It was supposed to be a celebratory weekend marking the beginning of the end.  For me it was the worst run I had since I began training.

I had been told to expect at least one run during my training to be bad but since things had been going so good I thought I had dodged that bullet.  I mean come on I ran my 18 miler is less time than my 16 miler and felt great what could go wrong.  Well just about everything!  The morning started poorly.  I had forgotten to go to the store to pick up my normal breakfast for the morning of the long run, couldn’t get out of the house on time and had to go back because I forgot my GPS and had only logged about 4 hours of sleep the night before.  It was also the only week I had logged less than 10 mile during the week due to a variety of reason and not carefully laid out all my running cloths the night before.  The run was off to a bad start before I even took one step!  Then I took bunch of steps and it didn’t get better.  I usually warm up and find my zone by mile 3.  My body adjusts to the weather (the cold) and I maintain a good temperature throughout the run usually resulting in me taking off my gloves and hat.  On this run I had dressed inappropriately and missed my mark by about 10 degrees and was constantly cold.  Then I made the equally stupid mistake of running the same pace as I had the week before.  I knew this was dumb and told myself this as I set off but let my ego get the better of me.  All was OK through mile 10.  Then this was my point of no return.  It was a decision point. I could head back, settle for 20 instead of 22 or push it.  The ego won and I pushed it and immediately realized I made the wrong choice.  I started to have some intense right foot pain which led to left hip pain.  This lasted until mile 14 at which point I should have just headed in but I didn’t. My pace had dropped to between 13-14 min/mile pace almost 5 min slower than my normal long pace.  I tried to keep going telling myself I could just run through it.  Then my body just stopped leaving me a mile to walk before I could ask for a ride back to my car. 

Well, all I can say is that I am glad to get that out of my system and am looking forward to my 14 miler this weekend! 

 

 

A Race a Surgery and a Recovery

OK its been awhile since I last posted but hey I have been busy!  So this post will try to bring everyone up to speed if any is following me!  On November 18th I ran my last race of the year.  It was the Spartan Sprint in Fenway.  What a great race for a number of reasons! My son ran the one mile kid obstacle race and went off with the elite kid group which I still have no idea how he managed to do.  He did a great job and finished very quick but more importantly had FUN!  Then there was my race.  This was the first race that I ran as part of a team.  I highly recommend it to anyone!  It is a totally unique and different experience then running a Spartan race solo.  I also found it much more rewarding.

I had been training hard for this race pushing the mileage and getting up to 15 miles or so.  Why would I do this for a 3 mile race.  Well you can never over train for a Spartan and I also new that a little over a week later I was having surgery and would be sidelined for 3-4 weeks.  I wanted to build the best base I could to speed recovery from surgery and also hopefully jump start my training once I was cleared to resume.  SO why did I need surgery?  In July while training for the another Spartan I developed a fairly large incisional hernia.  Nothing painful but very annoying and disgusting.  I also knew long term it was only going to get worse.  I schedule surgery to coincide with what I thought my down period was going to be or could be as I did not know I was going to be accepted for the DFMC, hell at the time I schedule the thing I never even thought I would run a marathon.  Well luckily surgery went well and I am not a little over 3 weeks post-op and feel fantastic.  Well as fantastic as once can feel after surgery.  I have not run since surgery but my body is craving the feeling and I know I will be running this week again.  Until then happy running and I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season!

Base Camp

I haven't posted much the past few days due for time. Time seems to be my enemy these days and not having enough of it! I am sure that I am not alone in this but I thought I would write about it anyway. 

I have been running and working out a lot and it finally caught up to me.  My body finally said enough!  It started slow with the thighs taking a half mile then a mile and then two miles to warm up to “feel good”.  This is when I decided to pull back and go back to base camp or in other word spend time with my family. 

 

Why do I call my family base camp?  Great question!  I am a firm believer in the Hal Higdon idea (at least that’s where I traced it back to!) that a marathon is a horizontal Everest.  When you climb Everest there are a series of small climbs and then returns to a base camp to re-acclimate and recover.  Well in all of vigor to run Boston I forgot the importance of rest and recovery, not only physically but also mentally.

I have found I love to run because it is my time alone with my own thought and most of the time nothingness.  I am a runner that usually has a blank mind and tries to put thinking aside when I run.  Sure sometimes I will think of a great idea like baby tic tacs (most babies have horrible breathe!) or Under Armour should have an exchange program for people that lose weight wearing their products but most of the time I am blank!  Lately though lots of thoughts had begun to creep into my runs about all the things I wasn’t doing because I was running.  Top on that list was all the general “honey do” items I needed to get done before the impending winter and how I hadn’t spent a fun morning with my kids in a long time.  So finally last week I decided that I need to return to my base camp.  So this weekend I woke up late if you call 6 or 7 am late, got 90% of the “honey do” list done and spent wonderful mornings with my family. 

A return to base camp though does not mean a complete void in exercise.  It means thinking about exercise differently!  I fit in some yoga, which will be another post just for comic relief, a little cross training in the form or yard work and a lot of walking some with a 50 pound person on my back.  While for most this would not have been a refreshing weekend I think it’s exactly what my batteries needed.  Now on to the next base camp and getting a little further up the mountain!

 

First DFMC Team Meeting

Yesterday was my first team meeting for the DFMC and I have to say I was impressed with the organization and leadership of the team but more impressed with my fellow teammates.  It was amazing seeing close to 100-150 people out of the 500 or so on the team in one room.  The excitement and energy was tangible.  I was relieved to see so many newcomers like myself who were not only running for DFMC for the first time but also in their first marathons.  The best part of the night was going to Boston Beer Works for a few pints after the meeting.  It was great to hear all the stories and reasons why people are running as well from people that had been part of the team before.  I can’t wait to go on the long team runs and hopefully can make some of the Thursday night runs as well.

Some quotes that I think resonated with me from last night are:

·         You thought you signed up for a race but you really signed up to fundraise.

·         The marathon is a celebration not a final exam!

·         Anyone’s goal should be to finish anything else is just bonus.

·         A marathon is a horizontal Everest

Why I am Running for DFMC Part II

Well the simple answer is that my dad also passed from cancer.  Like my mothers his was preventable if he had taken care of himself and gotten yearly check ups.  My father passed away in November 2004 of metastatic colon cancer.  His cancer was discovered when it ruptured his intestines.  He recovered from this but lived the rest of his life with a colostomy bag.  Please if your reading this and are of the age to get a colonoscopy please do so.  I am of firm belief if my father had gotten annual exams and colonoscopies beginning at age 40 he would still be here.  Its hard because in some sense I blame him for his own death.  His older brother died of the same disease early in his life and his father had been treated for polyps. 

I will say for the good majority of my life all I can remember him doing is taking care of my mother.  She was in a steady state of need support and he was always there for her.  He was an incredible father and husband always putting himself last and our needs first.  It wasn't until I was much older that the full impact, financially and emotionally of my mothers sickness came to light.  

Being an only child and a namesake male brings a lot of pressure both from the world and what you put on yourself.  My father was the one who taught me to ignore pressure from the outside and to be yourself.  He was a great teacher and an even better friend.  He also taught me that with a family came responsibility.  He was very much responsible for looking out for not only my mother and I but his parents.  It was not until after his death I realized how much responsibility he carried.

During my mothers battle with cancer he diagnosed and fought hard.  He never lost hope and in fact was recovering well.  I don't think his golf game had been better in years!  I know he took my mothers passing very hard and it was tough for me to leave and go back to my life knowing he was alone.  After my mom passed Janet and I went on a vacation that had been planned for over a year to  celebrate my graduation.  It was a long two weeks for me not being in daily contact with him.

When we got back I resumed my daily calls.  We decided that since I was coming home for Thanksgiving that I wouldn't visit.  This in retrospect is something I regret as I had wanted to see my dad the weekend before he passed away but he had convinced me to wait.  

Getting the call from my aunt is something that I will never forget and to this day thinking of it makes me cry.  It sucked and was totally unexpected.  It was the longest 8 hour drive of my life.  I feel like in those 8 hours I went from being a boy to a man.  I was forced to make a decision about donating my fathers organs, which I did.  His eyes were the only organ I could donate though due to the cancer. I had to begin planing his funeral.  I also somehow seemed to become the patriarch of my entire family extended family filling the role my father had just left.  I made decisions that I don't think anyone as young as I was (28) should ever have to make. Needless to say having 2 parents die 2 months apart did not do good things for my weight!

So when did I know I was going to be OK,  I guess always know the support my wife and her family provided but there was a clear moment for me.  It was when I got the call from the vet that was neutering my parents dog so that I could take him back to live with us.  It was mandatory in my apartment complex that all dogs be spayed or neutered so it was one of the last things I did before going back to Maryland.  I was sitting in the lawyers office finalizing things when the call came in.  I am not sure why I answered as it was totally inappropriate at the time.  I am glad I did as Brutus, my parents dog had literally dropped dead.  I kid you not nothing had beed done to the dog but he just up and died!  Why is it at this moment I knew I was going to be OK, mostly because all I could do was laugh and think are you f'ing kidding me.

Raymond I Forslund Jr.
08/15/1945-11/11/2004

Why I am running for DFMC

All pictures were taken at my wedding Oct. 21, 2000.  They are not great but its all I have of the three of us.  Both my parent hated being in photos.  I alway wished there was more picture of the three of us together but I always thought there would be plenty of time and many more memories to be made.  It might be why that I try to take so many pictures of my family and the time that we spend together.

The story starts in 2003 when my parents told me my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer.  This in itself was not surprising given that both my parents had smoked since they were 16 or so.  Since my grandmother died of lung cancer in 1992 I had been on my parents to stop but never successful.  Add to the fact that my mother had open heart surgery in 1997 and had numerous heart attacks and bypasses I had always waited for the night time call to come but it never did, she was a true fighter.

My mother battled hard and I was with her on her first day of chemo.  Being a chemist she wanted me to be there to explain things to her and try to make sense out of everything that was happening.    Over the next few month she fought through things and started to win her battle with cancer.  

Right about this time I got a call on Aug 14, 2004 (yes day of the famous east coast blackout!) that my dad became suddenly and deathly ill and I need to get home to see him.  My wife and I drove from Chicago and got there the next day.  When I arrived he was in the ICU.  Miraculously he recovered fully and to this day no one knows exactly what he had.  From this time on both my parents got better and started to live their lives again.  I went back to Chicago to finish my PhD and life went on.  Unfortunately the story does not end there.

From that day on I called my parents everyday.  Then one day in November I noticed my mother was slurring her words.  I told her she needed to see her doctor.  In my mind I knew what had happened but  no one really spoke of it. We (Janet, my wife we'll get to her) went home for Christmas and pretend like everything was fine.  We celebrated my graduation and new job and my parents promised me they would take my mom to see a doctor for her speech.

In February I got the call that I had subconsciously been preparing myself for, the cancer had spread to he brain.  The rest of that year Janet and I drove to see her every Thursday and left on Sunday.  I should mention that the drive was from DC to Albany!  She fought until September 4, 2004.  I feel lucky that I was there when she passed and got to be part of one of her most lucid moments in weeks.  Some people say that there is a last awaking before one passes and I witnessed my mothers.  I will save my fathers story for another post.

Pamela Forslund
11/20/1950-9/4/2004