I found out today that I have a potential Little Brother match! I’ve applied to Big Brother Big Sisters (BBBS) to be a Big Brother to a child who has no father in the home. One of my contacts at BBBS called today to tell me about a potential match. She told me about the 10-year old boy and his family. Sounds like he’s a great kid. After some discussion, I gave the green light to move forward.

I say “potential” match because there’s one more step in the process before I would meet with my Little Brother. BBBS will now contact the Mother and Little Brother and tell them about me. They get to decide if they feel I would be a good match. Keep your fingers crossed.

If all goes well, I should get to meet the family next week.I can’t wait.

Stay tuned, more to come.

Wow! What a great day! Not the weather, but my legs felt great. The sky was overcast and threatening rain, which never came, and cool. Today was our longest training distance, and I walked it at my fastest pace yet! 11.6 miles in 2Hr 44Min, which is an average pace of 14:05 minutes a mile. At that pace, I would finish the half marathon in 3Hr 5Min – much faster than my goal of 3Hr 30Min. I guess I need to revise my goal 😉

Five weeks before the “race” on April 30 and I’m getting pumped. Today’s course was great – a few hills (1 long one) but mostly relatively flat. Much of the route was along the Harpeth River and through Crockett Park on wide paved “trails.” Each week, Team Rio provides a written description of the course, which was advertised as 11 miles today. At 5.75 miles, according to my trusty Garmin GPS, I was still not at the turn-around point.

So either I had gotten off course or the written map was wrong. I was meeting Mom at the bank at 10:45am, so I decided to turn around and head back to the starting point. It turns out that the route was actually 12 miles, not 11. A typo I guess. Either way, this was my longest walk and I felt damn good about it.

Wow — the weather was beautiful this morning and my pace was quicker than expected/planned. Last night I set a goal of averaging 15:45 minutes/mile for today’s 8 mile walk. That would put me faster than the pace needed to complete the half marathon in 3hr 30minutes, which is my goal. After the first 2 miles, I was averaging 15:06 minutes/mile. I could not believe it. This feels good.

I was experiencing shin splints the first three miles or so, but I kept going. By paying closer attention to my foot placement – heal, ball, push off with toes – the pain finally went away. The route today was primarily through residential areas so traffic was not much of an issue. A few hills – I do better going up the hills versus going down the hills. My knees don’t seem to like the downhill slope.

As I’ve said before, I’m walking in the Country Music half marathon to support Big Brothers Big Sisters. If you’d like to donate to Big Brothers Big Sisters and support me, please click here. Thanks for your support!

The sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day in Brentwood, TN!

Two of my colleagues with Autodesk will be running the full marathon at the Country Music Marathon here in Nashville, TN on April 30, 2011. .

Cathi from Atlanta will be running in her first full marathon. She has run several half marathons in the past few years. Cathi’s husband will be with her and he will be encouraging Cathi as he rides his bike!

Teresa, originally from middle Tennessee, will be flying in from California to run the full marathon. I’m not sure if this is her first full marathon or if she’s a veteran marathoner. Teresa will be staying with some friends on the north side of Nashville.

I’m walking the half marathon. I hope I get to the finish line before Teresa and Cathi do 🙂

We all plan to get together for a traditional pasta dinner on Friday night before the race. An early dinner – that’s Cathi’s only request. So she will be well rested for the big race on Saturday. Should be fun!

As I’ve said before, I’m walking to support Big Brothers Big Sisters. If you’d like to donate to Big Brothers Big Sisters and support me, please click here. Thanks for your support!