My daughter is working on me to do more. We have taken 5K to 8K walks so far, and I can hold a solid 19-20 (minutes per mile = 3MPH) on 5K. She has me in an 8K in June.
She ran the Shamrock marathon as a half-marathon this year and hopes to be running the full marathon next year. She says I can walk it as a runner as long as I finish in the time limit. If I can get my walking speed up to 18, I could do the 1/2 marathon in the 4-hour time limit. That is a steady 3.5MPH for 13.1 miles. I am sure I can do the distance, and hope I can build speed to do the time. If not, I'll do the 8K.
Just as a gauge for how fast I would need to walk, most average runners do an 8K at 12-13. I would have to walk it at 2/3 their running speed ... no slowing down allowed.
She also has us booked to run in "Wicked" which is a fun Halloween charity race where everyone wears some sort of superhero or other outfit. Last year the theme was unicorns and princesses.
My son, Chris, who passed away 11 years ago, did the Polar Plunge every year with all his buddies. He went by "Slu" to most folks who knew him. He called his crazy crew "Team
Freezy for Sheezy - Does it in the COLD!" (see pictures of him and his crew in the below video)
I made a deal with his son, Zeph, and Sister Tina (the ones above in the 5K photos) that if I ran their races, they had to join me for my 75th birthday craziness. I have them doing the Polar Plunge with me in Virginia Beach. It is held right after my birthday. Maybe I'll get up with his old gang and we can all do it with shirts with Chris' photo on them and "Chillin' with Slu" on the back.
Chris was on/in the water most of the time - surfing around the world, kayaking, fishing, diving, sailing, etc. He ran marathons, raced bikes, played adult dodgeball, climbed mountains, loved a
lot of women, bartended, played a mean guitar (couldn't read music but played many instruments and piano), wrote and sang deep songs, and always had FUN!
Take a few minutes with a beer, a glass of good wine, or a scotch ... and watch his memorial video. Watch it all, because it gets better as it goes. The last scene gets a tear from a lot of folks. This video was put together by a few of his closest friends
