Update - Overdue

Back by popular demand...

Choose the answer that does not accurately describe a development in my life since the last time I posted, 1.6 years ago.

A. I ran a marathon
B. I finished my internship
C. My father passed away
D. I got married
E. I graduated
F. I got a job
G. I was abducted by aliens

I will leave you to figure out which is not true.

Glad to back.

Jon (and Katie)

Where does the time go?

It's amazing to me how quickly two months have gone by. I just had a two week spell of sickness durring which I didn't run. Monday I did some backcountry, so today or tomorrow will have to be a run. Gotta get back into it.

Gearing up to go

I'm on the mend and feeling like Saturday will be a good day to start the training runs. Also, last night Matt, my roommate on my team, and I went to Wasatch Running Company for their team night and geared up for the training. The service there was great and they got into the cancer research battle by giving us a nice discount. We got new shoes and some running tights. Don't worry ladies, I'll still wear shorts over the tights.

Bump in the road.

Wouldn't you know it? I got sick just as I started the serious training. Lovely. Hopefully I'll be feeling a bit better on Saturday for the first group training run.

Gentlemen, start your training!

On Thanksgiving morning, I ran the Orem City International Thanksgiving Day 4k to officially begin my training. It was a fun experience. I started out way too fast for me (6:43 for the first mile) and then settled down to a comfortable pace. I must have settled way down, because I ended up with a 7:32 average for the race. Official results can be seen here. Granted, that's less than a sixth of the marathon, but for just beginning my training, I'm happy with the results. Today, I did a 4.5 mile training run with a nice long hill in the middle. Thus begins the training. Also, I've had some very generous early donars to the cause. Check out the fundraising page here: http://www.active.com/donate/huntsman07/jcox116.

Dig Deep for Doug

In mid-August, my Father was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer: carcinoma of unknown primary. He has been receiving treatment at the Huntsman Cancer satellite office in Provo since then. As a family, we have seen many people rally around him to offer support and faith. I have decided to run the SLC Marathon and raise money for Huntsman Cancer Research in honor of him and his marathon against cancer. I have set a goal to raise $1,000 for cancer research. I would like to invite you to be a part of this effort by contributing to Huntsman Cancer research. If you would like to contribute, I suggest just one dollar for every mile of the marathon ($26.20), but feel free to contribute however much you are able. Just go to the fundraising page: http://www.active.com/donate/huntsman07/jcox116 and contribute however much you would like.

Also, I will be tracking my training here on my blog, and you are welcome to visit any time to see how it is going, or check back on the fundraising page for updates on the progress of the fundraising efforts.

Thank you for your support and friendship.

Ready, set.....

Don't blind yourselves. :)

rumors

The rumors are true. I shaved my head. By popular demand (one person is popular enough :) I will begin updating my blog again. Unfortunately my new narsissistic roommate messed up our wireless connection at the apartment and won't admit it. I'm forced to use the public library's connection, which is slow, and means I have to go to the library instead of updating from my apartment. So until that gets fixed, I can't post pics of my head, but hopefully it will be fixed soon. Till then, you can immagine what I look like. One person at work said I looked like Ghandi. Ciao.

Great day for adventure

Practiced setting protection on a climb up Little Cottonwood. Ran/hiked up Cascade Saddle and back. The trail was a lot steeper than I remembered, and the last half mile was in snow at a fifty degree angle, which slowed me down quite a bit since running shoes don't do too well cutting steps. It felt good. 5,800 ft. to 9,500 in five miles and two hours. It really would have taken probably 1.5 hours if the snow wasn't there. I even found a stick to use as an ice ax for the traverses across the snow and the glissades down. It only took 40-something minutes to run down. Why do I enjoy this so much? I enjoy pushing myself, challenging myself, and seeing what I can do.