He's been spotted again! During the Hollywood Half Marathon on Saturday April 7th 2012, Tron John ran his second half marathon in full light up costume. Well, version two I should say. I had to remove some segments that were damaged in my debut at the 2011 Disneyland Half Marathon, and this one was modified for cold weather with full fingered gloves and a light up beanie. Of course the light up Tron Disc on my back also returned. It was cool to hear the comments from racers and spectators as I ran by.
The race suffered from some first time planning issues, but overall was a great experience with a great start and very challenging finish; over a mile of hillwork right at the end of it. Our program members (www.vcgalloway.com) all completed successfully, many in AWESOME costumes. The race director promises some changes for next year's race, including possibly removing the hill. In any case I'm sure I will be running it again. I now have to maintain my "legacy" runners status since I've completed the inaugural race. :-)
I was supposed to run this race with a coworker that has become a running partner and friend over the past few months, however we missed each other at the start. Luckily, around mile 5 I found Kevin and we completed the race together. Once again, Jeff Galloway's methods worked giving Kevin a great race experience based on a pretty limited training schedule. He's already giving me his ideas on how he could improve his next race effort. Looks like we have to find another goal race quick!
It's already been quite an eventful year, but my personal training is just about to start. I now have to ramp up for my return to Grandma's Marathon, where I will attempt to shave off at least 15 minutes, and continue adding distance for the 51k around Area 51 in August. Vera just registered both of us for "Goofy's Challenge" in January of 2013, which is a half marathon one day and a full marathon the next! Whew.. I kind of feel like asking "can I really do this" but.. I already know the answer to that. It's just a matter of the right planning, work, and patience.
I also wanted to give a quick shout out to my nephew, who was the youngest runner in this years Oakland Marathon (GO JON GO!), and had this very insightful article written about his experience for the Pleasanton Weekly. Congratulations to his Step Dad Chris and Jon on a huge personal and family accomplishment! Enjoy getting your wheels back Jon!
Happy Running Everyone!
