I've been contacted by Justin Guild, a graduate research assistant working with Dr. Jeong-Nam Kim (http://www.cla.purdue.edu/communication/people/jnkim.shtml) at Purdue University on a health communication study. Their research explores how information sharing behavior through online communities influences coping strategies among people with chronic conditions including cancer, diabetes, lupus, etc.
They would like to invite readers and other visitors to this blog to participate. The survey is purely academic in nature and takes no longer than 5-7 minutes to complete.
The web survey can be found by clicking on this link:
http://www.createsurvey.com/c/70237-Os3LDl/
In the survey, we use the term “blog” to refer to any online activity where you might read or share information in communities such as personal web logs, internet forums, and discussion boards. The findings of this study could lead to better management capacities of chronic diseases as well as an increase in funding for research related to online communities.
If you have any questions, or would like additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact Justin at jguild@purdue.edu.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
In the news
I sent out a slew of press releases a couple days ago. No responses so far, except for our NBC station, channel 25. You can check out the story here: http://www.nbc25online.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=181481. Someone already commented too!
On a side note, here's a conversation I had with a colleague today.
Colleague: How's the running going?
Me: Good, I'm getting ready to do 100 miles in, let's see, 9 days.
Colleague: Oh, are you training for a marathon.
Me: Uh, well, it's an ultramarathon.
Colleague: Wait, you're going to run 100 miles in one day? I thought you were running like 100 miles over 9 days. Didn't some local guy just die doing a marathon? Isn't that like 24 miles?
Training for ultramarathons has really given me a distorted sense of distance. :)
On a side note, here's a conversation I had with a colleague today.
Colleague: How's the running going?
Me: Good, I'm getting ready to do 100 miles in, let's see, 9 days.
Colleague: Oh, are you training for a marathon.
Me: Uh, well, it's an ultramarathon.
Colleague: Wait, you're going to run 100 miles in one day? I thought you were running like 100 miles over 9 days. Didn't some local guy just die doing a marathon? Isn't that like 24 miles?
Training for ultramarathons has really given me a distorted sense of distance. :)
Monday, August 25, 2008
T-shirts are ordered!
I stopped by the print shop today and placed the order for our shirts. I ordered a few extra if anyone out there is still interested. I decided to get the logo printed on the back because I'm so fast that I figure more people will see it that way. Just kidding--I figured that since most people wear their race numbers on the front of their shirts it just made sense. I placed the order a bit within their "10 business day window" so they might not be ready before my race (uh, am I really running 100 miles in less than 10 business days?). However, they should be ready in plenty of time for me to ship them out before everyone else's races. Keep up the great work getting donations!
Welcome to Melissa and Nate!
There are now six of us raising money for the Lupus Foundation of America this year. I would like to welcome Melissa and Nate to our group. Nate is preparing for his first 50 miler this year and will also be running Detroit with Mae. Melissa recently suffered the loss of her mother-in-law to Lupus and will be running the Columbus Marathon in her honor. Melissa, our thoughts go out to you and your family. As of today, here's the official list of Lupus Runners.
Brian Thomas, who is running the Haliburton Forest 100 mile run on September 6th.
(http://www.lupusrunner.org)
Yassine Diboun, who is running the Iroquois Trail 100 mile run on September 20th.
(http://runforyourlife-yassine.blogspot.com/)
Bill Burress, who is running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 8th.
(http://www.lupusrunners.org)
Mae K. M., who is running the Detroit Free-Press Half Marathon, October 19th.
Nate Luzon, who is running the Detroit Free-Press Half Marathon, October 19th.
(http://www.nateluzod.com/running/)
Melissa Kandel, who is running the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon, October 19.
Brian Thomas, who is running the Haliburton Forest 100 mile run on September 6th.
(http://www.lupusrunner.org)
Yassine Diboun, who is running the Iroquois Trail 100 mile run on September 20th.
(http://runforyourlife-yassine.blogspot.com/)
Bill Burress, who is running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 8th.
(http://www.lupusrunners.org)
Mae K. M., who is running the Detroit Free-Press Half Marathon, October 19th.
Nate Luzon, who is running the Detroit Free-Press Half Marathon, October 19th.
(http://www.nateluzod.com/running/)
Melissa Kandel, who is running the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon, October 19.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
T-shirts are coming
Nate and Mae tracked down some beautiful artwork by Sidney Eileen and she is willing to let us use it as part of our logo! Thank you so much Sidney! It is a picture of a wolf and lupus is Latin for wolf. I like the image because, in addition to just being a cool wolf running, I think it is assertive without being aggressive. I think this is an appropriate testament to the perseverance of people with lupus.
Nate put his graphic design skills to work and, among other changes, made the logo purple since this is the color that the Lupus Foundation of America uses to represent itself. Voala! Excellent work Nate! I'm so jealous of people with artistic skills.
Anyway, t-shirts are on their way. If you want one, let me know your size ASAP. I'll let people have them for what they cost to be printed (should be $9 or $10 each). I want to print them before my race so I'll likely be finalizing the first round of printing with the shop soon. Oh yeah, these will be technical t-shirts appropriate for running in.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Taper, finally
First of all, I would like to congratulate Alyn and Matthew who got married this weekend! It was a great ceremony and I wish you both the best in the future.
I would also like to congratulate Sandi and Andre, who got married earlier this summer, but held a reception for their North American friends and family over the weekend. I'm sure it was a great time and I wish I could have been there.
Okay, now to the running. I did, in fact, follow through with my commitment to get a final 50 mile run in last week. After chickening out of an all-night run on Tuesday night, I headed out the door at 4:00 PM on Wednesday with a goal of testing my race equipment and completing a confidence building 50 mile training run. Just short of 2:00 AM, I walked through the door of my house with the full training run under my belt.
I decided to simulate the race by doing approximately 10 out and back runs near my house. Since the race has aid stations about every 5 miles, I thought that made sense. I decided to keep my liquid/nutrition regime pretty simple with constant Gatorade and alternating between a package of Sharkies and protein energy bars consumed every hour or so. I polished off the regime with a few Starbucks doubleshots. I also took electrolyte caps every 30 minutes to 1 hour. I had some minor bouts of nausea, but nothing severe and I think I may have been eating a little too much as it went away after I stopped eating so much.
Here are some highlights:
-My 3 led headlamp was comfortable and provided ample illumination, even in unlit areas. With my hand held flashlight I should be okay on the trails.
-I set the timer on my watch to go off every 10 minutes so that I could walk one minute (I got this idea off of Dirt Dawg at the North Country Trail Run). After mile 30 or so this turned into two minute walks. I liked this strategy as it meant I didn't have to keep track of how long I had been running and it reminded me to eat and drink regularly. I might start with a 10 run/2 walk pace at the start to keep things slow for the race.
-Running at night is tough, but largely mental. Miles 20-30 seemed to fly by even though it was getting dark. Miles 30-40 were pretty discouraging and the idea of covering 100 miles (or even 50) felt a little far fetched. However, somewhere around mile 43 I reminded myself that my body felt pretty good (albeit with some definite aches and pains) and I was just mentally exhausted. Apparently, I was pretty convincing to myself and cruised through the final miles in a relatively good mood.
Well, planning for the school year is kicking off and I still have projects from the summer to close out. Sounds like a good time to taper off the running and ramp up the work life.
One more thing. I was up until 2:00 AM running last week. If I can do that, you can bring in some more donations! So get going all of you!
I would also like to congratulate Sandi and Andre, who got married earlier this summer, but held a reception for their North American friends and family over the weekend. I'm sure it was a great time and I wish I could have been there.
Okay, now to the running. I did, in fact, follow through with my commitment to get a final 50 mile run in last week. After chickening out of an all-night run on Tuesday night, I headed out the door at 4:00 PM on Wednesday with a goal of testing my race equipment and completing a confidence building 50 mile training run. Just short of 2:00 AM, I walked through the door of my house with the full training run under my belt.
I decided to simulate the race by doing approximately 10 out and back runs near my house. Since the race has aid stations about every 5 miles, I thought that made sense. I decided to keep my liquid/nutrition regime pretty simple with constant Gatorade and alternating between a package of Sharkies and protein energy bars consumed every hour or so. I polished off the regime with a few Starbucks doubleshots. I also took electrolyte caps every 30 minutes to 1 hour. I had some minor bouts of nausea, but nothing severe and I think I may have been eating a little too much as it went away after I stopped eating so much.
Here are some highlights:
-My 3 led headlamp was comfortable and provided ample illumination, even in unlit areas. With my hand held flashlight I should be okay on the trails.
-I set the timer on my watch to go off every 10 minutes so that I could walk one minute (I got this idea off of Dirt Dawg at the North Country Trail Run). After mile 30 or so this turned into two minute walks. I liked this strategy as it meant I didn't have to keep track of how long I had been running and it reminded me to eat and drink regularly. I might start with a 10 run/2 walk pace at the start to keep things slow for the race.
-Running at night is tough, but largely mental. Miles 20-30 seemed to fly by even though it was getting dark. Miles 30-40 were pretty discouraging and the idea of covering 100 miles (or even 50) felt a little far fetched. However, somewhere around mile 43 I reminded myself that my body felt pretty good (albeit with some definite aches and pains) and I was just mentally exhausted. Apparently, I was pretty convincing to myself and cruised through the final miles in a relatively good mood.
Well, planning for the school year is kicking off and I still have projects from the summer to close out. Sounds like a good time to taper off the running and ramp up the work life.
One more thing. I was up until 2:00 AM running last week. If I can do that, you can bring in some more donations! So get going all of you!
Monday, August 11, 2008
What? Less than one month!?!?
Well, I go back and forth between feeling really prepared and feeling totally overwhelmed by the idea of running 100 miles. I was surfing Kevin Sayers' UltRunR Web Site and I think my long runs should have me more prepared than many people on their first 100 attempt (at least those hoping to finish). On the other hand, I noticed that the 2007 completion rate at Haliburton was only 51%. Ug. I dunno. Let's assume a worst case scenario. I run the first 50 miles in 10 hours (not unreasonable since that is a little slower than I ran the North Country Trail Run). If I completely fall apart, I'll really only need to crawl along at 24 minutes/mile for the remaining 50 miles to finish under the 30 hour cut off.
I think that running through the night causes me the greatest anxiety. I won't have time to check out the course before the race so I'll have to cover some unfamiliar territory in the dark. The race is two out-and-back 50 mile runs so I'll have gone through once during the day, but I still expect to slow down significantly at night. This week, I'm going to do a final 50 mile run--this time at night so that I can test my equipment and get a taste of what an all night run is like. We'll see how wasted I am at work the next morning--should be interesting.
Anyway, Holli and I are already starting to plan out the logistics (i.e. when will she see me on the course, when are we leaving for the race, when will we be ready to make the 8 hour drive back home, etc.) After my long run this week, I'll officially call it taper time.
Now we just need more donations! So if you haven't donated yet, get to it!
I think that running through the night causes me the greatest anxiety. I won't have time to check out the course before the race so I'll have to cover some unfamiliar territory in the dark. The race is two out-and-back 50 mile runs so I'll have gone through once during the day, but I still expect to slow down significantly at night. This week, I'm going to do a final 50 mile run--this time at night so that I can test my equipment and get a taste of what an all night run is like. We'll see how wasted I am at work the next morning--should be interesting.
Anyway, Holli and I are already starting to plan out the logistics (i.e. when will she see me on the course, when are we leaving for the race, when will we be ready to make the 8 hour drive back home, etc.) After my long run this week, I'll officially call it taper time.
Now we just need more donations! So if you haven't donated yet, get to it!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Welcome to Mae!
First of all, I would like to welcome Mae K. M., who has joined the ranks of the Lupus Runners and is helping us raise money for the Lupus Foundation of America while training for the Detroit Free-Press Half Marathon, October 19th. Thanks to her efforts, we are now past $2,000! That should be motivation to all of you readers out there who either haven't donated or haven't asked at least one friend or family member to donate. Go now! Seriously. Stop reading. Go donate or ask someone new to donate. I'll wait here.
...
Okay, now that you have fulfilled your duty as a regular reader of my blog, I would like to encourage you to check out Mae's blog at www.maeko.org. This is her first half-marathon and we're all rooting for her!
I've had another hit and miss week. I went from 71 miles during the marathon week to 39 miles. That isn't great, but I'll take it. Since I was too late to register for the Wild West 100k, I'm planning one last 50 mile training run before I start tapering. Little Elliott is going to be at Grandma camp the week of the 11th, so I think I'll do my last long run that week. I've had some anxiety about night running so I think I might make this last run an all-nighter to make sure I'm up to the task. Classes are starting soon (not to mention the fact that the race is coming up soon) so I need to get those final long runs in while I can.
...
Okay, now that you have fulfilled your duty as a regular reader of my blog, I would like to encourage you to check out Mae's blog at www.maeko.org. This is her first half-marathon and we're all rooting for her!
I've had another hit and miss week. I went from 71 miles during the marathon week to 39 miles. That isn't great, but I'll take it. Since I was too late to register for the Wild West 100k, I'm planning one last 50 mile training run before I start tapering. Little Elliott is going to be at Grandma camp the week of the 11th, so I think I'll do my last long run that week. I've had some anxiety about night running so I think I might make this last run an all-nighter to make sure I'm up to the task. Classes are starting soon (not to mention the fact that the race is coming up soon) so I need to get those final long runs in while I can.
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