Tuesday, April 24
Today Alex and I just had the great pleasure of meeting, and taking a few steps with, Brian Ellis. Brian is on Day 5 of his 2nd annual tip-to-tip Walk4Life. He left East Point on Saturday, April 21st and is planning on seeing the North Cape lighthouse Sunday, April 29th. Here is Brian, telling his story:
Welcome to My 2nd Annual Walk!
Monday April 16th 2007,
Hi;
My name is Brian Ellis. I have a long history of serious kidney disease. In 1998, shortly after moving to Prince Edward Island, my family doctor finally decided to end the mystery of my elevated blood pressure. My blood pressure had been uncontrollable since I was 18 years old.
Upon receiving a battery of tests at the PCH, including an ultrasound on my kidneys, it was determined that I had chronic kidney failure. To confirm his findings, my doctor sent me to Halifax. After seeing a number of doctors there, and going through more testing, they sadly told me that I was down to 25% function in both kidneys and my future held the certainty of dialysis.
The next few years of my life changed dramatically as my doctors and I worked together to prolong the inevitable through diet, fluid restrictions and medication. In 2005, I was told I could no longer work and that dialysis was needed to sustain my life. I was 45 years old.
After 5 months in Halifax, receiving dialysis treatment and preparing the life line in my left arm, I returned to Prince Edward Island. Here I underwent dialysis three days a week, 4 hours a day. BUT! There was a light at the end of the tunnel. Fortunately, I was a good candidate for a transplant because of my age and I had no other health complications. My sister was tested to see if she could be a donor but, to her dismay she was not able to be my donor. On the cadaver list I went.
To my surprise and overwhelming delight, I received the call on August 14th, 2006. I was to get to Halifax as soon as possible for they had a new kidney for me.
So, we scurried off. I received my transplant and it was a great success. I thank God, my doctors, the nurses, social workers, but most of all I thank my donor family. Without the gift I received from this family and their loved one, I don't know how much longer I would or could have waited to receive my special gift of life. I want to Thank-you from my heart and soul.
Please! Give The Gift Of Life!
"“It was like a part-time job that I had to go to and I hated it,” he explained.Add travel time to that (especially if you live in East Point or North Cape) and be very, very, glad that that is not *your* life.
Three times a week he headed out for about five hours of hemodialysis. Four hours on the machine and another half-hour each to get hooked and unhooked. Then the rest of the day feeling exhausted."
Unfortunately my camera was set to video when this picture was snapped.
Although I went into Charlottetown to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to give birth to Alex , we were back home, in our little hand built cabin in Glen Valley within 24 hours of his birth. (Photo to the left is Alex, one day old, home in the cabin)
Thursday, April 19
Rob Mackenzie (President, PEI RoadRunners Club) receives the
Your easy run training pace is: 5:53 min/kmWednesday Colin Moore give the presentation on Injury Prevention. He talk about the 5 main running injuries, how to prevent them and what to do if you have an injury. Talk about Biomechanic Assessments to find out if you joints are moving right and what to do if they are not.
Your tempo run training pace is: 4:54 min/km
Your maximum oxygen training pace is: 4:25 min/km
Your speed form training pace is: 4:06 min/km
Your long run training pace is: 5:53 - 6:38 min/km
Your Yasso 800s training pace is: 3:39 min/800Run UPEI
Tuesday April 17
By CASEY MCNERTHNEY
P-I REP
ORTER
Doctors didn't think Andrew Bryant would be able to read. His mom was told she probably shouldn't leave him alone, and that he might need help showering. When he was diagnosed with autism two decades ago, doctors didn't have high expectations.
Today, the mom who heard that painful diagnosis expects to watch her son complete the Boston Marathon.
As for Bryant, the 25-year-old expects to better the 3:08:20 time that qualified him to get there.
"I surprise people," said Bryant, who can read his high school diploma.
For years, Bryant's mom never envisioned her only son crossing a street, let alone a finish line.
She never left him, too afraid of him being alone. So the morning she and her husband registered for a 5-kilometer fun run, they dressed in jeans, expecting to walk the course with Bryant, who was then 13.
"Well, the gun went off and he took off like a bullet," his mom, Colleen Engle, said.
She sprinted after her son, but couldn't catch him. She yelled his name, hoping he'd come back. When he didn't, Engle was terrified.
She found him at the end, eating a PowerBar and exceeding everyone's expectations.
He slipped away again at age 17 -- this time from his stepfather in the Las Vegas half-marathon. When Bryant was finally found, his stepfather went to check his time, but couldn't find it among the hundreds listed.
He explained to Bryant -- a special education student who can have difficulty focusing -- that his time would only be recorded if he passed through the finishing chutes.
Only on second inspection of the results did Bryant's stepfather realize he had -- in fourth place for his age division.
A small box in his North Seattle home holds Bryant's medals -- some from high school and half-marathons. He's never lost 5,000- or 10,000-meter races in the Special Olympics, which has more than 7,000 Washington state competitors with intellectual disabilities.
Autism is a disorder affecting as many as 1 out of every 150 children, with a wide range of symptoms. Some adults become well-regarded professionals, while others have a vocabulary of a few dozen words.
"When you're autistic, it's your socialization skills that are a big handicap for you," said Engle, whose son is high-functioning.
Last year, she enrolled Bryant with a Seattle running group so he'd have partners in case of an emergency. Those runners have become extremely protective and fond of him, as are his co-workers at QFC.
"He doesn't surprise me," said Chuck Bartlett, a Boston Marathon alum and Bryant's coach. "If he finds someone he can run with who can lead him, I think he can definitely break three hours."
Bryant, who moved to Seattle in 2002, said his goal is to break 2:59:36 -- the time Lance Armstrong ran in the 2006 New York City Marathon. After finishing, the six-time Tour de France champion told the media the marathon "was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done."
"The winner of the Boston Marathon or any big marathon is in the 2-hour, 15-minute range," said John Borgognoni, sports and program director for Special Olympics Washington, under which Bryant has competed. "Special Olympic athletes are closing the gap quickly, and Andy is living proof of that."
Bryant has difficult moments, especially near the end of practice runs that have been up to 24 miles. But marathons aren't as hard for him as they are for others, Bryant said.
"That's my ability," he said. "And running fast, I get to be strong."
He was both in 1999, finishing his first marathon in 4:33:33. He dropped more than an hour when he ran the 2005 Portland Marathon, and his 2006 Portland time was nearly two minutes faster than Boston's qualifying time, putting him among the world's most elite runners.
More than 1,000 disabled people have competed in the wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon, with the visually and mobility-impaired division adding to the number of disabled athletes.
Engle is sure many of those families received a diagnosis similar to what Bryant got two decades ago. She remembers the tears that came after hearing doctors say her son would never be able to read, wouldn't hold a job, couldn't function socially and wouldn't have the intellectual ability to cross a street alone.
Today, she might cry for joy when Bryant crosses the Boston Marathon finish line.
Audio Slide Show:
Island Morning host (and runner) Karen Mair reports she will be interviewing Boston Marathoners Scott Clark, Kim Bailey & Mike Meacher this morning at 8:15 on CBC radio, 96.1 FM. It may be posted on their website as well at cbc.ca/islandmorning
What were some of the excuses they would make for not allowing women to take part?
"If a woman ran more than a mile and a half, she's going to get big hairy legs, her uterus is going to fall out, she's going to grow a mustache and turn into a guy and never have children. Or we're simply too fragile and something might happen to us - in the long term. That really was a bad one. It was inappropriate to run with men that's so stupid. People had bought into the three thousand years of myth about women's passivity and weakness."
What was your biggest influence?
"It was my parents, because they said I could do anything [....]
He [dad] didn't realize it, but he had given me all through my teen years this enormous sense of self-esteem and accomplishment that this skinny little frizzle-haired bespectacled little girl otherwise wouldn't have had. By the time I got to 19, I didn't buy into any of those myths that I was being handed, because I was disproving them every day running."
4/13/2007Full text: http://baa.org/News.asp?NewsID=234
Weather Alert - Advisory for Participants in the 2007 Boston Marathon
The Boston Athletic Association's medical team recommends the following precautions and advice for participants in Monday's Boston Marathon:
FORECAST:
The most up-to-date weather forecast calls for a predicted Spring storm on Monday, including heavy rains (potentially 3 to 5 inches), with the start temperatures in the mid to upper 30's. Wind will likely be East (in the face of the participants for most of the race) in the 20 to 25 mile per hour range, with gusts to as much as 50 miles per hour. This will produce a wind chill index of 25 to 30-degrees Fahrenheit.
RISKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RUNNERS PARTICIPATING IN COLD AND WET CONDITIONS:
Combined with the rain, we are concerned that predicted weather conditions will increase the runners' risks for a condition called hypothermia.
He began racing on Victoria Day in 1905 and in 1906 he had his first important win in Hamilton at the Around the Bay road race, beating the favoured English runner John Marsh with ease. He won a 15-mile road race in Toronto ten days later by a full three minutes. He went on to win the annual Christmas Day 10 Miler, beating the Canadian record by two and a half minutes.
Longboat was 19 years old (as Alex is this year) when he won the Boston Marathon on April 19, 1907, in 2:24:24, shattering John Caffrey's previous record by almost five minutes (4:59).
CBC has a nice article on Tom Longboat, Commemorating a Milestone
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/exercise_fitness/marathon-longboat.html
Thursday, April 12
Tuesday, April 10
(Start line & Finish line photos by Deborah Mutch)
It sunny and cloudy around 0 degrees not very windy. 197 runners enter the race. Janet work at the water stop at 5km mark. 23:20 splits at 1/2 mark of race. She fix shoe laces before water because they came untied. One big hill but mostly flat. Stan won almost beat the course record. I came in 48:06 in placing 73rd out of 197.
1st Place Winner Stanley Chaisson & Dairy Queen's Al Stewart
Alex Coffin was the overall winner of the spring tune up 10-kilometre run in Central Bedeque recently. CENTRAL BEDEQUE — In weather that was more conducive to pond hockey or skiing, 25 runners braved unfriendly conditions in the spring tune up 10-kilometre run here Saturday morning.
“It was unbelievable, cool and windy with a strong head wind,” said Shelley Simmons-MacLeod of Summerside, the top-placing female in 45 minutes 35 seconds (45:35). “The first 4K we had the wind against our back, which was great.”
Simmons-MacLeod, 34, finished sixth overall and Alex Coffin, 38, of Saint John was the overall race winner in 34:07. Scott Clark (38:11), Leo McCosham (39:04), Chuck Dixon (41:50) and Mike Irvine (44:26) rounded out the top five overall finishers.
Runners had to deal with a chilly 35-kilometre-an-hour north wind and The Weather Network listed the temperature as feeling like -12 degrees Celsius.
“The wind was on our back the first half and you wanted to take advantage of that,” said Coffin, who was the only participant wearing shorts and added that he was “very pleased” with his time. “I went out real fast and got ready to fight the wind the second half.”
Coffin added the runners went against the wind from the five-to-nine-kilometre mark, and there was a cross-wind for the final kilometre.
“It was a tough run but it was good to get out and see where we’re at,” added Simmons-MacLeod, who was pleased with her performance in her first 10-kilometre run in a year and a half.
“In my mind I was hoping to do 45 or 46 (minutes),” she said. “But in these conditions I thought it might be a bit slower, and I’m really pleased with my time.”
Coffin, along with other runners, used the race as preparation for the Boston Marathon on April 16.
“I’m running in Boston with Scott Clark and I wanted to get one fast last 10K in before the Marathon,” added Coffin, who has family connections to Summerside.
