Officially 200!!

I now weigh 200 lbs...down from 218 when I started this journey in May. The best part is that I haven't really cut back on anything...I guess that's what 25 to 38 miles per week will give you. Next up is getting down to 190 for the marathon. I gonna "try" and cut out simple sugars except for one cheat day a week. I'll let you know how that goes as simple sugars are my kryptonite.

20.8 miles today/38.3 miles for the week.

Hello all. Was supposed to run 20 but the run with the NY Flyers ended up being 20.8 miles...all in all, it was a good run. 8:55/mile so I was on the pace that I wanted to run. Total mileage was 38.3 miles for the week. It is officially the most I have ever run in one week.

Now I have to figure out my long runs over the next couple of weeks. The weekend of September 26th, I'll be in London, so I doubt I can run a 20 miler that weekend. I guess I'll see how I feel. Maybe I'll run another 20 next weekend. Then drop down to 15 in London and then do a 22 miler when I get back. We'll see what happens. Feeling pretty good right now.

Have a good one.

Tim

More Inspiration.

Hello all.

My parents did a great thing last week. They made copies of the Daily News article and sent it off to all of their friends with a self addressed envelope to my address. They also attached a note to their friends about this website and my raising money for MJFF. I've already received a number of donations from their friends. Thank you everyone. Some came with checks, some came with checks and nice notes attached. I am sincerely moved my all of the generosity.

Here's one especially moving letter sent to me.

"Tim:
As I hear of your running in the New York City Marathon, I am reminded of one of my hospice patients, John Kaufman. He's a 60 year old man and has a picture of himself in his nursing home room maybe 10 years ago running a marathon. He was a well-to-do business executive with a nice wife, house, children. Now, he cannot do anything for himself: talk, walk or feed himself due to his illness. He lost his executive position and his family lost their nice home, etc. As a Hospice Chaplain, I try to visit at mealtime so that I can help him get fed while it is still warm.

And then there is Charles Soergel, an 80 year old gentleman with advanced Parkinson's disease and another one of my patients in a nursing home. The pictures in his room indicted that he was a good, loved and loving husband, father and grandfather. Now he cannot do anything for himself. His wife would come to the nursing home twice a day to feed him lunch and dinner.

I spend time with each of these gentlemen, read to them...commend their lives past and present.

I support your running of the marathon for The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease. I support you in the name of John Kaufman and the memory of Charles Soergel

--Dick Roos"

Then he had the following quote "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize" then he hand wrote "the prize is a cure for Parkinson's".

I am going to keep pushing for the "prize"

Thanks for reading, Tim

Always Looking Up!!

I seem to have great timing.

I've been waiting to read Michael J Fox's latest book, Always Looking Up, for a couple reasons.
1). I've been very busy working, running and fundraising.
2). I thought it would help to motivate me even more during the last hard month of training. and...I was certainly right about this...

The best part about his books are that they are such an easy read (no Mom, I am not listening to the book on tape and there are no pop-up pictures...sheesh...gimme some credit here). My parents were English teachers at different points in their lives and I think that it just amazes them that I am actually reading books lately. The thing is that when I am motivated by something, I will read.

The most motivating thing is that Michael J Fox could have just accepted Parkinsons, hid it for a number of years, retired and lived off of his money well earned. Instead, he is out there everyday trying to help to find a cure. The one thing that I think about is that I have been extremely active throughout my life. I'm not saying I was in shape all of the time but I've run 3 marathons (working on a 4th if you haven't heard), played ice hockey, basketball, baseball and other miscellanous sports. I can't imagine having a disease that robs me of my ability to have control of my body. The mind is still able but the body has a mind of it's own when afflicted by Parkinson's disease. I now think about this everytime I run and I will be thinking about this for the entire 26.2 miles of the NYC Marathon on November 1st.

Thanks again for the support.
Tim

Will the real Tim Reid please stand up...please stand up!!

It seems as though some websites that picked up on the Daily News article are linking it to Tim Reid the actor. Most recognizable from the hilarious sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati from the 80's. Here's a photo of the cast. I've circled Tim Reid the actor in red. He played the night DJ Venus Flytrap in the series. Also starred Loni Anderson, Howard Hessman amongst others.

Now, I am sure that Mr Reid is in quite great shape but come on!!! The guy is now 65 years old...not that it means he couldn't run under 3:50:22 but seriously...give me some credit here!!

Here's a recent picture of Tim Reid

Maybe I should change my name. If anyone has any good ideas for a name change for me, please let me know in the comment section. Thanks

722 people have viewed beatingryanreynolds.com

So far, so good!!! As I mentioned, not all of my donations are showing up on my Team Fox page yet. On the page, it shows $8,600. In actuality, I have over $11,000 in donations with my $1300 from the Harbor Casino event plus Macy's company matches. The company matches take a little bit of time to hit the page.

Since my article ran in the Daily News on August 14th, nearly 500 new people have checked out the site and total donations went from $6,500 to where it is now.

I hope that we can get a ton of people to come to the event next Wednesday, September 16th (6PM to 9PM) It's at Southern Hospitality on the Upper East Side. The specials are $3.00 domestic beers, $4.00 imports and microbrews and $6.00 mixed drinks.

Thanks, Tim

I LOVE SEPTEMBER!!!

After all of those July and August runs in the 90s with crazy humidity, today was PERFECT!! About 70 degrees with very low humidity. Great run. 16 miles in 2:19:19 or 8:42/mile. Should be ready for my first 20 miler next Sunday. I'm going to run 6 miles on Tuesday, 6 miles on Thursday, 4 on Saturday and then 20 on Sunday. That's 36 miles or over 5700 calories burned!!

I wore my beatingryanreynolds.com t-shirt and had a couple runners stop and tell me how much they love the website. Great motivation.

My photo shop skills are very rudimentary but I am getting pumped for this race!!

Really about 4 to 5 weeks of real training before the taper. Marathon fast approaching!