The Hazel Project

WOW, Thanks everyone, this is great!

I’m floored, I really am; and extremely thankful to you for your contributions to Aids Project Los
Angeles. They really do need the contributions. I know my friends and family who read Hazelproject are mostly from the South and that HIV is kept FAR from public view and discourse there. So you guys deserve big thanks. I say this because I know it’s difficult to put a face on this disease for many of you. It is for me as well. Just know you’re all helping a lot of people who need it.

You’re also enabling the continuation of my training for the L.A. Marathon; helping me meet a personal goal.

THIS WEEKS SHOUT OUTS:

A big shout out to Betty&Herb, T&Davak, The Flopster, Doug ‘rocknroll’ Bossi, Larry&Linda, and Dan&Peg for all of your encouragement and financial support.

Further, Larry and Linda have been very inspiring. They have increased their mileage considerably! Larry ran a half marathon yesterday and Linda has reached the 5 mile mark using the Galloway Method. I’m very excited about these achievements for these guys because it was Larry who got me into running in the first place.

Alright Betty and Herb you guys are next.

MY 12 MILE MARKER:

This past Saturday was my first 12 miles. I thought I was going to pass out. I’ll be honest, it was rough.

I’ve learned that this human body of mine is quite amazing. It lets me know really fast when I’m neglecting it. Poor sleep and eating habits catch up with me really fast. My body refuses to run a marathon on mexican food and 7 hours of sleep a night.

Plus, I skipped a week of training due to the fires. We missed our group run 2 weeks ago because of the air quality being so poor. Throw in the change of the weather, lots of cool damp fog in L.A. recently, and now I have myself a great little head cold.

When I woke up Saturday morning, I felt horrbile. I had a cough, scratchy, drainage in the throat and a groggy head. My biggest fear was that I’d develop pneumonia if I ran. But then decided that if it were race day, March 2nd 2008, I’d run with a head cold. Pneumonia is a different matter. Head Cold, I’m there!

Saturday during our 12 mile run, I wanted to be finished at mile 8.5. It was because of my excellent pace group, led by Bill & Ed, and our Designated Driver - Emily, that I found the inspiration to keep going. That, and Gene at every water stop calling us all Heroes.

When we finished, my legs were so numb everything hurt, there was no isolating a pain location. It was the whole body part. Our coach said that is how it will be from here on out. Hmmm, more pain.

I went home and put cold water on each leg for 5-7 minutes, and that made a world of difference.

I stayed close to home Saturday and was asleep by 11pm. I slept 10 hours.

This Saturday is the 14 mile run. I’ll keep you posted on how things progress, and do a little write up on Running Gels, and Blocks as food.

HOW TO SUPPORT ME:

For those who would like to make a donataion toward my $1500 goal. Follow these easy steps.

1. Copy this link and paste it in your url window:

http://www.aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?
runner=LA-3241&EventCode=LA08

2. This will take you to the LAPA website and there will be field that says, “Search By Participant or Team Number.” They want my Runner’s Number so type in 3241 and click GO.

3. Here you’ll find a form letter that I plan to edit in the near future. It does a good job talking about what the APLA is for and shamelessly asks for your monetary support. Click on the green Donate button and follow the prompts. Make sure it says at the top, “Donation Form for Stephen Thomas”

Thanks again everyone.

Stephen A. Thomas

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 10:04 pm and is filed under on the path, posts & stories . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.