Rails to Trails in Dayton Ohio, Football season

With eleven weeks to go until my event, I am in Dayton Ohio this weekend. Joe is here to watch the three little guys while his son and DIL take a trip. After my long training session yesterday we went to Luke's 4th grade football game. Unfortunately the Bellbrook Eagles lost but the game had some real highlights. It appears that football is quite serious here in Ohio----there were cheerleaders by grade, the score was on the big lit scoreboard and there was an announcer calling the game over a load speakers---and this is 4th grade!!! Luke played middle linebacker this week.

My training took place on the Creekside Trail of an extensive Rails to Trail system around Dayton and in Ohio. The R-to-T Conservancy does terrific work nationally to convert old unused rail lines to multi-purpose running/walking/biking/rollerblading blacktopped trails. We've used them before and they are well marked and very well maintained. I've commented about road warrior safety here and on FB. These trails do cross roads ( as did the predecessor rail lines) but for the most part the people who use it are isolated from traffic and the resulting hazards. Check out Rails to Trails at www.railstotrails.org. Rails to Trails now has 15,000 miles of trails operational.

I can't comment about being in Dayton without mentioning Blake LaForce who is my honored hero this week. He played high school football in this area in Vidalia, OH. He died in early July from complications after a Bone Marrow Transplant. He died of toxoplasmosis. Many of us have been infected with this parasite but our healthy immune systems can get rid of it. Apparently, Blake had the parasite which brutilized him after his immune system was weakened during the process of the bone marrow transplant and chemo. He and now his parents blogged about his experience and their life after Blake through Caring Bridge, a site used by cancer victims to communicate about their experiences. His site has had greater than 140,000 visits since its inception. On 9-11-09 Blake's #41 football jersey was retired at the Vidalia-Butler football game. See picture of Blake above. On CaringBridge is a beautiful tribute to Blake written by one of his HS buddies who wrote a college essay about how his experience with Blake during his illness had changed his life. Blake's short life impacted a lot of people positively. His illness and death too continue to have a positive impact.

Bone Marrow Transplant facts: the research work behind BMTs was performed during the 1950's-1970's. The real breakthough was performed by Dr. E. Donnall Thomas at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, earning him a Nobel Prize in Medicine. The first BMT was performed by Dr. Robert A. Good at the University of Minnesota in 1968, eight years after my father died.

Something to be thankful for: that I am not doing this in Baghdad. Read the attached link:

http://well.blog.nytimes.com/2009/10/2/marathon-training-in-baghdad/

After reading this you can be thankful that I will not be whining any more. LOL ;-)