April 2008 Archives

Monday - 26.2 miles running, Boston marathon - 2:59:06, 6:50 pace
Tuesday - day off
Wednesday - 30 minutes weight training
Thursday - Bike to work and back (38 miles)
Friday - day off
Saturday - 30 minutes weights, 30 minutes swimming, 3 hours cycling

The day after the marathon, Heather and I had the privilege of speaking to Whitinsville Christian School, where Kent Koeman arranged for us to speak to the 7th and 8th grade classes. It went very well, as many kids were interested in becoming an iJoiner and helping us raise funds and awareness for the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa through the CRWRC. We gave away another 100 Join the Race cards, and saw many kids sign up that day! We felt so blessed to be used by God to empower and encourage others to join this cause to wipe out the pandemic of AIDS in Africa.

On Sunday, we were blessed with the opportunity to speak at New England Chapel, a church of around 1500 members in Franklin, MA. Jodi Koeman helped coordinate the day, and we were grateful for her introduction and support of the Embrace AIDS program and Join the Race ministry.

Pastor Chris Mitchell had a wonderful message, and we were blessed to close out the service speaking about Embrace AIDS and our Join the Race ministry. We also got to speak to the KidZone, and get some of the younger kids interested in becoming an iJoiner . We had a very welcomed, warm response, and much interest in the ministry. Several people committed to signing up as an iJoiner! Our experience at NEC and the response we got from the members helped confirm the Lord's working in this ministry.

Special thanks to the pastoral staff and everyone at NEC who helped make our visit a memorable and enjoyable experience. To God be the Glory!!

When we got to Boston, we were blessed to be placed in the wonderful home of Dave and Debbie Thomas. Jodi Koeman, from New England Chapel, had made these arrangements for us. We were to speak at NEC on Sunday, and requested a home stay for the marathon. The Thomas's obliged, and we were most grateful.

The Thomas's lived about an hour southwest of Boston. They were only 20 minutes from Hopkinton, the start of the Boston Marathon, so that was good.

We ate dinner out and got to the Thomas house around 9:00 p.m. They were wonderful hosts! They also had Dave's brother, Jim, as a guest.

God's hand was in this placement as well. It turns out that Dave Thomas is a materials engineer and the head of R&D at Bose, with around 450 engineers in his group. What a blessing to spend some time with him. He confirmed many of my philosophies on management of engineers, which gave me encouragement with the direction I was leading our group at Nova-Tech. Furthermore, his brother Jim had a PhD in Industrial Psychology and works at a large consulting firm in New York (DDI), helping companies measure and determine employee engagement, identifying and equipping leaders in organizations, and providing tools for leaders and executives. It was another blessing by God at this stage of my life to be placed in this home!

We had a wonderful stay at the Thomas house and felt blessed with their hospitality.

Off to Boston! Heather and I were rather excited to be going away for the weekend alone! We were tired, though, in making the final details to depart. Also, we were so grateful for our wonderful babysitters - Grandma Gail (Heather's mom), and Papa Denny and Grandma Sheri (my mom and dad). They are awesome!

I had some mixed feelings going to Boston. I wasn't feeling that great physically, and I was a bit anxious as to whether God would bless our efforts to encourage others to Join the Race. The people in Boston didn't know me, so why would they get excited about this ministry? I was hopeful they would, but we just didn't know.

Our flight left at 1:00 p.m. It was a full flight, and had Heather and I seated in an aisle and a middle seat, with another gentleman in the window seat. We slept for part of the flight. As we approached Boston, Heather nudged me and said "I think that guy might be a Christian", referring to the gentleman sitting next to her. She noted that he was reading a book that I liked very much, The Language of God, by Francis Collins, head of the human genome project, and a Christian who presents a case for the creation of mankind through a God-guided evolutionary process.

As we got to talking, I asked him how he liked the book. He stated that he agreed with much of it, but also had some disagreements with Dr. Collins. He went on to say that he has sat on some panels with Dr. Collins, leading me to ask him his field of study. I inquired whether he was in the medical field, and he informed me he was. When I asked him his name, Heather nearly fell off her chair! "Richard Swenson," he replied. "The" Dr. Richard Swenson, one of my favorite authors and speakers?!!! Richard Swenson had shaped much of my thought with his ground-breaking books "Margin" and "Overload Syndrome", inspiring me to use his materials in many talks in churches and schools and young adult groups, and also reshape the way I live my life, trying to carve more "margin" into the busyness of life. He also wrote "More than Meets the Eye", another book I've used extensively in my creation talks. And here he was on his way to Boston, sitting next to us! I cherished the next 30 minutes as we talked about my career, frustrations with the current "system", my thoughts on consulting and speaking, his wisdom and advice, our Join the Race efforts, kids, etc - whatever we could cram into 30 minutes! It was great.

As our plane landed, we knew we were off to a great start to Boston. Heather and I got our picture taken with Dr. Swenson, and gave him a Join the Race shirt. I hope he signs up!

If the rest of the trip is anything like our flight to Boston, we were in for a treat.

Well, the weeks leading up to the Boston Marathon were met with a bit of frustration. Three weeks prior to the race, I was feeling fantastic. My heart rate was feeling better, and the chest pains I had been experiencing (possibly from WPW), were minimized. I had a few great training runs during this timeframe, including a 20-miler at the YMCA track (indoors) at around a 7:01 pace, and another 20-miler around Green Lake at a 7:18 pace. I was feeling somewhat prepared, although my miles were much less than I would have liked. I peaked at about 53 miles in one week, but most of my other training weeks were under 35 miles, with several in the 20's. Not what I'd like for Boston, but I was taking it easy given my past months of issues with my heart.

Well, like I said, 3 weeks before the race I was feeling really good, and had some good training runs. However, in the next couple of weeks, I was starting to feel some more chest pains and difficulty breathing. Plus, the week before the race, my right hamstring was really causing some pain and problems. It was extremely tight, and painful to run. I wasn't sure what to expect going into the marathon.

I set 3 time goals, and one overall goal.

Time Goals: My "dream" goal was to run a sub-3-hour marathon at Boston. I had run a PR 2:55 at Dallas in December 2006, but Boston is a more difficult course and I didn't have a real good training base due to my heart concerns over the past several months. So, while sub-3 was a dream goal, it wasn't a primary goal - it was more a goal that was achievable only if God really chose to bless me that day for whatever reason. My primary goal was to run 3:15 or less. This is about a 7:28/mile pace, and I felt that was achievable on a good day. A 3:15 or less would qualify me for Boston again, so that would be cool. My "C" goal was to finish in under 3:30, which was in case my hamstring was hurting and my heart was acting up. Realistically, I would be in the 3:15 - 3:20 area, having to push to get in with my primary goal of 3:15.

Overall Goal: The main goal of the Boston trip was to give glory to God, and to testify to the gospel of his grace (Acts 20:24) by spreading the word about our "Join the Race" campaign to raise $500,000 for the CRWRC's efforts to fight AIDS/HIV in Africa. Ultimately, my time goals meant nothing if I wasn't able to do that.

I was blessed to have my wonderful wife, Heather, accompany me to Boston. See the next page for the report of the days leading up to the race.