Fit Life Blog

Hey folks, Press of Atlantic City digital reporter Dan Good here. I completed a video of Kevin's Philadelphia Marathon experience, called "13 to Go." It was inspiring to see his performance -- and watch him reach his goal after months of training and some setbacks.

Kevin Clapp finished the Philadelphia Marathon! 03:56:59, for a pace of 9:02 minutes per mile. His legs cramped at mile 18 or 19, but he stretched them out and kept running.

Hey folks, Dan Good here. Kevin Clapp is on his way! I grabbed video of him before the race, flipping his Gatorade bottle back and forth between hands.

Just got out of the Team In Training pasta party/pre-race meeting. Just like my first TNT event 10 years ago, it was an emotional reminder of why the 117 of us who've raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society signed up in the first place.

Well, we're getting close now. Less than a day from now -- hopefully -- I'll have crossed the finish line. Of course, that's getting a bit ahead of myself.

It came to my personal e-mail account at 1:49 p.m.

Last week, we met Kristen Hallock-Waters, the Stockton professor who was preparing for her second New York City Marathon as a member of Team McGraw, which raises money to fight brain cancer. Her husband, Jeff, died of brain cancer in 2007.

As a runner, I crave consistency. I try to eat the same things before runs, do similar warmups, eat the same things at roughly the same time during the run.

Four weeks. Four weeks from today I'll be in Philly, getting ready for the culmination of more than six months of work.

Two weeks ago, I ran 20 miles. Check that. I tried to run 20 miles.

I feel like a Doublemint twin, 'cuz it's time to double your pleasure and double your fun with two blog posts in one. ...

This area may not have much in the way of hills. But it has its wind, and that makes up for it.

When I first got injured and stopped running, all I could think about was getting back at it. The prolonged layoff was hard to stomach.

The skies finally seem to be brightening up now, but this morning, drops pounding the pavement, was one of my favorite runs in a long while.

I used to run at night. I fell into that habit in high school and didn't shake it through college and beyond. I don't really remember when I began running in the morning, but I can't imagine going back to that old schedule.

Runs like these are why I wanted to call this blog Sucking Wind.

I'm at physical therapy and the staff is playing around with some of this funky tape that's supposed to be able to increase blood flow. You've seen it on basketball players, in their shoulders, and on U.S. Olympians like beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh. So they ask me if I want to try it out and say sure, because, hey, when you've already offered to write/blog/record your experience, what's a little guinea pig action?

Wrote Friday about the time to start testing the leg out, building back up after six lost weeks. Because there's 10 weeks until the marathon now; it's not around the corner, but time's still a-wastin'.

Time starts flyin' and before you know it five days have gone by. But don't think the lack of posts hasn't meant nothing's going on. Take a look:

The good news: I can still run.

Maybe you've noticed I haven't been posting as much lately. That's because I haven't been running much lately.

Running can be hard. It can be a grind. There are days I don't want to get out of bed and put on my running shoes. You might think, by watching the latest video on interval training, that it's easy.

One step.

Broke out a new gadget today: The heart rate monitor. Back when I first spoke with AtlantiCare exercise physiologist and fitness supervisor Rich Owens, he started preaching the benefits of training by heart rate versus pace.