It has been almost 10 months since my wife Betsy told me she wanted to run across America for MS. My first reaction was to see if she would take on a partial run or participate in a relay:) However, it quickly became clear to me that her mind was made up. Knowing what a strong, dedicated and fearless person she is, it did not take me long to get behind her on this challenge. I am grateful for the opportunity to pay her back for the immense support she has selflessly given me these past few years. What started as one woman's project to increase awareness of MS has morphed into a family venture with our daughters eagerly getting on board and offering tremendous help.
This week marks the launch of this website as well as TikTok and Instagram pages. It also marks the creation of this blog. The logistics of this adventure are daunting, but we are taking it in stride and enjoying the experiences and interactions it is presenting us with. My hope is that we are successful in sharing these experiences through this blog.
This past week I had a very insightful conversation with Don Muchow (https://t1determined.org). Don is a Type 1 Diabetic Ultra Endurance Athlete. His run across America finishing in 2021 included the first run from Disneyland to Disney World (Mouse 2 Mouse run). His website is an amazing source of information regarding endurance athletic events as well as an authoritative repository on transcontinental runs. Our conversation was extremely helpful and his website sheds a lot of light on some logistical questions. One gem of advice Don provided for Betsy on the run was to "eat like a horse and clean up and sleep as soon as you can". We look forward to future conversations with Don.
On the training side of things Betsy has been working hard. Her weekly mileage fluctuates but this week she ran 54 miles split between shorter and longer runs. Her longest run this week was 4 hours. Betsy was very fortunate to connect with running coach, author and neighbor, Matt Fitzgerald (https://mattfitzgerald.org/) early after her proclamation of this personal goal. Our interaction with Matt has since grown and we are very grateful that he and his wife Nataki have invited our family into the fold. One gem of knowledge I learned from Matt (and I am paraphrasing) is that when you set pie-in-the-sky goals it is often not only the goal that brings joy but the journey along the way.
Until next week...
Love this!!