Hopefully throughout the process of training for, and running the marathon, I made it painfully obvious that I was raising money for a charity that is very important to my family. I feel that it is important to express my gratitude to all donors in how this effort panned out (though it still isn't over...donation page will be open until Dec. 1). I couldn't be more touched, and proud of all my friends and family that helped contribute over $3,000 to organ donation research. Whether you donated $5 or over $100, believe me, you helped drastically improve, if not save, someone's life. As I look over the list of donors, I'm amazed at the amount of people I barely speak to, don't really know, or know are struggling financially, yet still donated to this cause. Over the 4-1/2 hours it took to run 26.2 miles this past Sunday, I thought about this quite a bit. I still haven't figured out how, but I will find a way to individually thank all of you (in as personal a way as I can). I thank you, my family thanks you, and whether they know families that receive organ donations thank you as well. This effort was more important than the marathon itself, and because of all of your generosity, was also more successful.
As I said in my previous post, many people have been asking, "when's the next one". While I'm not sure whether I'll do another marathon, and therefore can't answer that question, I do happen to know what's next. As a somewhat quirky way to celebrate my 30th birthday, I will (along with a handful of close friends) be participating in the Tough Mudder. The course looks brutal (probably more grueling than the marathon), but if I don't have these types of events to look forward to, I spend exponentially more time on the couch than the treadmill, and while I say I put on "winter weight", I actually just get fat. Because I've got another event on deck, I'll be jumping back in the gym next week, and I'll also continue to peck away at these blog posts. Considering the events in the Tough Mudder, there will be more of a blend of cardio and weight training, and considering I don't like lifting, hopefully more entertaining posts.
To wrap up the two part Aftermath, here's some random thoughts that popped up from pre-race to recovery:
-My family came to watch the race. It had been a long time since they've been to Philly, so my dad ordered a TripTik from AAA, printed a MapQuest, and also happens to have a Garmin in the car. Say what you will about the older generation, but they are nothing if not prepared.
-My mom took over 150 pictures in 24 hours down in Philadelphia. Including quite a few at the Liberty Bell. Because she wanted a bunch of different pictures of the family in front of the bell, we have every possibly combination of family members with the historic monument, yet no clear picture of the crack itself. Good times...
-For ladies, a port-a-potty with no toilet paper is like eating a burrito without access to napkins.
-For 48 hours after running a marathon, you want to make it clear to everyone what you just accomplished. Not for the accolades, but to explain why you are walking the way you are.
-I've never hated living on the top floor of my building more than I did Sunday when I got home (only 3 floors, but no elevator...stairs sucked bad).
-The marathon diet did lots of good things for me, however it ruined my normal rest stop combo on rides home (doritos, slim jims, root beer and a coffee).
-When I arrived home, I was very excited that my parents didn't have any technological tasks they needed completed, however they picked a hell of a time to ask to move around the patio furniture. (fear not...it took a day, but apparently the homepage needs to be changed from google to yahoo, so it looks like I'll be busy for the next 26 seconds).
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy your families, the weekend, and travel safe.
Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi
Friday, November 25, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
The Aftermath - Part 1
A little before noon, on this past Sunday, I never felt so relieved. It was a bit of a surreal experience, as I was coming into Center City Philadelphia I saw one of my best friends (thanks for coming out Bobbo and Kristina) and my family. I can truly say the rush of seeing them provided me with a little extra boost for the last dash across the finish line of the Philadelphia Marathon. As my buddy Andy and I crossed the line, arms raised, we let out a deep breath, gave each other a big man hug, then tried our best to rehydrate and fuel up before all the soreness set in.
It didn't take long...within 10 minutes my legs started to lock up, my swollen feet got achier by the minute, and since my heart was still beating like crazy my body temperature was getting all out of whack. We decided to skip the post race nap, thinking that lying down would just make the pain and stiffness worse. Two weeks ago, I very much looked forward to Sunday night. I wanted to eat a bunch of fried fatty food, drink more beers than I should, and get about 10 hours of sleep. I got to pick at some nachos, and have a couple beers, however sleep was interrupted by a fever, and it actually took a couple days before everything other than my legs felt back to normal.
A lot of people have asked me over the past couple of days, "when's the next one?". As of now, I'm still saying that this past Sunday I ran my one and only marathon, however I'm still going to give it another week, get back into the gym, then make a decision whether I want to try another one at some point next year. In my immediate plans are lots of food, Magic Hat Winter Ale, and some late nights with longtime friends, as I'm chilling out back in Rochester for Thanksgiving.
Part 2 coming tomorrow: A new venture, donation round up, and some random thoughts over recovery week...
It didn't take long...within 10 minutes my legs started to lock up, my swollen feet got achier by the minute, and since my heart was still beating like crazy my body temperature was getting all out of whack. We decided to skip the post race nap, thinking that lying down would just make the pain and stiffness worse. Two weeks ago, I very much looked forward to Sunday night. I wanted to eat a bunch of fried fatty food, drink more beers than I should, and get about 10 hours of sleep. I got to pick at some nachos, and have a couple beers, however sleep was interrupted by a fever, and it actually took a couple days before everything other than my legs felt back to normal.
A lot of people have asked me over the past couple of days, "when's the next one?". As of now, I'm still saying that this past Sunday I ran my one and only marathon, however I'm still going to give it another week, get back into the gym, then make a decision whether I want to try another one at some point next year. In my immediate plans are lots of food, Magic Hat Winter Ale, and some late nights with longtime friends, as I'm chilling out back in Rochester for Thanksgiving.
Part 2 coming tomorrow: A new venture, donation round up, and some random thoughts over recovery week...
Saturday, November 19, 2011
The Final Countdown
Well I'm writing this bad boy from my hotel room, and it's gonna be snappy, because I have to wake up quite early tomorrow. I felt I needed to do a last check-in however to discuss how the last couple days have been leading up to tomorrow's marathon. Let's put it this way, so far this could have gone considerably more smoothly.
For starter, Andrew's flight got in over 3 hours late (at 2:00am), which sort of jacked up the sleep schedule for the weekend. Then my windshield got broken on the drive down, got stuck in traffic, check-in was fine, got stuck in traffic again on the way to the hotel. Got to the hotel to find out there are two Crowne Plaza's in Philly, and we're staying at the one that isn't near the start (add cab-fare on the weekend bill), and also our room wasn't ready. (Note to hotels, I appreciate the steps you take to fancy up the room, but I don't need the fancy folds in the toilet paper if it means I will get in my room a little quicker).
All that said though, I had a nice day hanging with my family and Andrew. We hit the Liberty Bell (meaning visited, not trying to cause new cracks), the first Supreme Court, Assembly Hall and had a nice italian/carb load dinner.
Now we're back at the hotel drinking a bunch of water and getting ready to wake up at 4:30am to make sure we can eat before what will be a somewhat chilly and no doubt grueling endeavor. Thank you again to everyone for the support over the past months. I'll be posting over the next week, as I won't have anything else to do considering I probably won't be able to move.
G'night,
Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi
For starter, Andrew's flight got in over 3 hours late (at 2:00am), which sort of jacked up the sleep schedule for the weekend. Then my windshield got broken on the drive down, got stuck in traffic, check-in was fine, got stuck in traffic again on the way to the hotel. Got to the hotel to find out there are two Crowne Plaza's in Philly, and we're staying at the one that isn't near the start (add cab-fare on the weekend bill), and also our room wasn't ready. (Note to hotels, I appreciate the steps you take to fancy up the room, but I don't need the fancy folds in the toilet paper if it means I will get in my room a little quicker).
All that said though, I had a nice day hanging with my family and Andrew. We hit the Liberty Bell (meaning visited, not trying to cause new cracks), the first Supreme Court, Assembly Hall and had a nice italian/carb load dinner.
Now we're back at the hotel drinking a bunch of water and getting ready to wake up at 4:30am to make sure we can eat before what will be a somewhat chilly and no doubt grueling endeavor. Thank you again to everyone for the support over the past months. I'll be posting over the next week, as I won't have anything else to do considering I probably won't be able to move.
G'night,
Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi
Sunday, November 13, 2011
One week away...and other stuff too.
I'm now in the midst of what is called "tapering down". Basically my focus for the next week is going to be staying loose and healthy, eat well, drink tons of water, and try not to think of the atrocity that has become the Buffalo Bills season. I've seen the Bills play some impressively crappy football over the past decade or so, but I've never seen a more disappointing two week stretch for a team that looked like it had so much promise. I can't say I didn't see this coming at some point, but it's still a bummer. On the plus side, after next Sunday, at least I'll be able to cry in my beer.
I hope anyone who's been following this little adventure is aware of the fundraising effort that I coupled with the marathon. I am unbelievably happy and proud to say that the goal of $2,620 has been achieved. There is still time to donate, and I'd love to his $3,000 if I could, however I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has donated. The generosity has been unbelievable...college students have chipped in money they can barely spare, new parents have donated what they can, other friends have been tremendously generous with some impressive sums, and even friends between jobs found the means to throw their Friday bar money towards an important cause. So once again, thank you to each and every one of you. Every penny you donated will go to saving someones life, I promise you.
Exactly one week from today (and this moment), I will likely be exactly where I am right now...in bed. However I will be sore, uncomfortable, and most likely a little tipsy, as I haven't had a drink in four weeks (five by next week) and will certainly be heading out for some post race celebration. The difference is, tomorrow I'll be hopping out of bed bright and early for a conference call, whereas a week from tomorrow I won't be able to move.
***This is a good place to check out if you don't want to read thoughts on the Penn St. scandal***
By now, everyone is obviously familiar with the sex abuse scandal involving the Penn St. coaching staff. As disgusted as I was with the events and lack of proactivity and reactivity on the part of the Penn St. coaching staff, I was even more flummoxed (always wanted to use that word) with the wide range of reactions I heard through conversation and saw on facebook and twitter. When details started emerging, I imagined the most reactions would range from "fire everyone" to "throw them all in jail" with the occasional "burn 'em at the stake" and one or two jokes that illicit a response of "too soon". I probably expected a few super zealous fans to be in support of Paterno too. What I didn't expect was such defiance as more details emerged, and an unwillingness to hold people in authoritative positions accountable. The Paterno defenders will quickly point a finger at a grand jury report, which absolves Paterno of criminal responsibility regarding a 2002 incident. What they completely ignore is his complacence to the matter, and how his lack of control on his own facilities allowed this perverted monster to continue to use the schools athletic facilities, and have children on campus as well. At best Paterno had to be held accountable for this and relieved of his duties.
Perhaps what equally surprised me in this matter is the criticism at which some had for people's expression of their opinions. Basically twitter and facebook are forums where you can share and discuss opinions (sometimes more maturely than others), so if you don't want to hear opinions on issues, we're left with "Just went to the grocery store" and "Good morning". Not exactly rich and exciting stuff there. While some people are more well spoken and agreeable than others, this is why both of these forums have subscribe and follow features...and believe it or not, you don't even have to log on and look to begin with. So if your opinion is "keep it to yourself" you may actually be the one sharing your voice in the wrong forum.
Stepping off the soapbox and headed to bed.
Night,
Matt
I hope anyone who's been following this little adventure is aware of the fundraising effort that I coupled with the marathon. I am unbelievably happy and proud to say that the goal of $2,620 has been achieved. There is still time to donate, and I'd love to his $3,000 if I could, however I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has donated. The generosity has been unbelievable...college students have chipped in money they can barely spare, new parents have donated what they can, other friends have been tremendously generous with some impressive sums, and even friends between jobs found the means to throw their Friday bar money towards an important cause. So once again, thank you to each and every one of you. Every penny you donated will go to saving someones life, I promise you.
Exactly one week from today (and this moment), I will likely be exactly where I am right now...in bed. However I will be sore, uncomfortable, and most likely a little tipsy, as I haven't had a drink in four weeks (five by next week) and will certainly be heading out for some post race celebration. The difference is, tomorrow I'll be hopping out of bed bright and early for a conference call, whereas a week from tomorrow I won't be able to move.
***This is a good place to check out if you don't want to read thoughts on the Penn St. scandal***
By now, everyone is obviously familiar with the sex abuse scandal involving the Penn St. coaching staff. As disgusted as I was with the events and lack of proactivity and reactivity on the part of the Penn St. coaching staff, I was even more flummoxed (always wanted to use that word) with the wide range of reactions I heard through conversation and saw on facebook and twitter. When details started emerging, I imagined the most reactions would range from "fire everyone" to "throw them all in jail" with the occasional "burn 'em at the stake" and one or two jokes that illicit a response of "too soon". I probably expected a few super zealous fans to be in support of Paterno too. What I didn't expect was such defiance as more details emerged, and an unwillingness to hold people in authoritative positions accountable. The Paterno defenders will quickly point a finger at a grand jury report, which absolves Paterno of criminal responsibility regarding a 2002 incident. What they completely ignore is his complacence to the matter, and how his lack of control on his own facilities allowed this perverted monster to continue to use the schools athletic facilities, and have children on campus as well. At best Paterno had to be held accountable for this and relieved of his duties.
Perhaps what equally surprised me in this matter is the criticism at which some had for people's expression of their opinions. Basically twitter and facebook are forums where you can share and discuss opinions (sometimes more maturely than others), so if you don't want to hear opinions on issues, we're left with "Just went to the grocery store" and "Good morning". Not exactly rich and exciting stuff there. While some people are more well spoken and agreeable than others, this is why both of these forums have subscribe and follow features...and believe it or not, you don't even have to log on and look to begin with. So if your opinion is "keep it to yourself" you may actually be the one sharing your voice in the wrong forum.
Stepping off the soapbox and headed to bed.
Night,
Matt
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