2018 Trolley Run

Today is the 30th annual Trolley Run in Kansas City. This is one of the more popular races in the midwest - with about 7000 participants. It's supposed to be one of the fastest four-mile courses in the country. It starts at 75th and Wornall in Waldo, runs down Brookside Boulevard and finished at the Plaza. So, it's right in my neighborhood.

I've run it a couple of times - years ago. I signed up to run it this year before my knee started getting wonky on me. So, I actually won't be running it. I did, however, do pick up my race packet this morning.

I'm doing the Sweet 16 race series this year. It's four four-mile races - Westport St. Patrick's Day Run, Trolley Run, Four on the 4th and the Zoo Run. Fortunately, if you aren't able to run in one of the races you can do it virtually. Once you've done the run on your own you send in proof of your course (like from my Garmin watch) and your time. This are officially entered and show up in Atlinks. So, it counts as a real race time.

I need to do both the St. Pat's Run and the Trolley Run virtually. I hope by the time July 4 gets here I'll be running well enough to do it in person. The Zoo Run isn't until September.

So, I'm sitting here on my couch with my race bib and t-shirt on the table in front of me, so eager to get to the time when I can go out and run my four miles. For now, I'll cheer on the others.

Time to Get Over Myself

I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided it was time to get into the pool. I still can't run or bike, but there is nothing stopping me from swimming - except my own attitude.

We've just joined a new gym (although, we were members there the last time we lived in KC). It's not a fancy facility (it's connected to a hospital and does a lot of PT), but it has everything you need in a gym - including a great lap-swimming pool. Pools can be rarities in gyms and so I find it to be golden when you are able to join a gym that has one.

I've been swimming twice this week. Both times I swam 500 yards. The first time I stopped twice to catch my breath (although I think it was more mental than physical). The second time I swam without stopping and my time was 12:08. It's good to have a baseline to go off of as I build up my distance, endurance and fitness level.

On top of the swimming, I am still doing the 100 push-up challenge. I've had to restart it a few times, but I'm into week three and determined not to stop this time. I'm still doing modified push-ups using the arm of our couch, but I can tell I'm really using my muscles and getting some good strength training in there.

Finally, the PT for my knee (knees) has really ramped up. I'm supposed to do it twice a day (it takes about 25 minutes each time). However, I've only been doing it once a day this week because my legs and knees are so sore from the exercises. I can tell it's developed now into a real strength training routine and not just some easy PT exercises.

So, between PT, push-ups and swimming I have really been working my body this week. There isn't any noticeable change, but I can certainly feel a whole lot of my muscles groups being worked.

If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

...then how much is this video worth? To me, it's pretty priceless.

I put together this short video to share with my office in Columbia what I experienced during my time in Indonesia with the IBM Corporate Service Corps.

I hope you enjoy it.

IBM CSC Indo8 video