University of St. Thomas Article

Mike Johnson '90 Goes the Distance (314.4 miles) Running 12 Marathons in 12 Months - Newsroom

August Update

Seven months have passed us already in 2012.  I have to say that 12 months is a long time to keep up the enthusiasm of a marathon challenge.  Especially when it is hot and sticky outside.  

I have been quite for several months as is normal for me when things are not going the way I want them to.  I have 4 marathons down, one of them I was very happy about, one was okay and two were brutal.  The good one was in January, it is so far away that it seems like a couple years ago.

Now I am getting ready for another next weekend in Hurley, Wisconsin, the 44th running of the Paavo Nurmi Marathon.  I have not trained very well but I expect to run easy, walk when I feel like it and finish in the 4th hour.  If everything goes well I will finish in 3:45 but I don't expect to keep that pace for 26 miles. 

 

I have found it hard to train, increase my fitness capacity when I am recovering from injury, recovering from a marathon or tapering for the next marathon. So I am starting to train more like the fellow I met along the way in the Med City Marathon in Rochester.  He was a young guy, late 20's - early 30s, and was wearing a 50 Marathons in 50 States shirt.  I struck up a conversation with him and he shared with me that he was from Minneapolis and was about to finish his first round of 50 states challenge.  He had run 90 events or so and 27 last year.

I did the quick math and he was doing more than 2 marathons a month.  I thought I was crazy doing 1 a month.  I asked him what kind of training he did between events and he said, "whatever I feel like doing.  If I don't want to run I don't.  If I want to run 3 miles, that is what I do.  If I want to do 6 that is what I do."

That has helped me cope with getting ready for the next event without worrying about how much I am able to increase my fitness.  That being said, it has also helped me lower the expectations for how I will feel on marathon day and how fast I will finish.

That is about all I have to say about that...

What makes you shine?

Last year in April I had an opportunity to travel to China to follow the Lutheran Missionary Trail from Shanghai through Wuhan and Xinyang up to Beijing.  Here are a few pictures from that trip. 

These people live in a small village at the base of Jingongshang (Roster Mountain) where Lutheran Missionaries worked from the 1890 until the communists took over in the late 1940's. 

This is a standard set up for lunch.  This happens to be at a tea plantation near Xinyang.  The name in English is "5 Sacred Mountains."

Here are the missionary descendants that were on our trip.  We were standing in front of the American School (A.S.K.) that was built by the missionaries up on Roster Mountain.  Paul Martinson, (far right in black) was a student at this school while his parents were missionaries.

This is me with a group of grade school kids near Xinyang.  I gave them a hacky sack and it was my favorite part of the trip. 

Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camp helps China Service Venture staff and program a summer camp in the Xinyang area for local Chinese youth.  It is awesome Camp Wapo is able to have an impact on youth in Central China.  It has also opened the door for other opportunities.

Today I had the privilege to meet with David Woo from the Henan Province of China, along with John Peterson and our Executive Director, Loren Teig.  They were all out at Camp Wapo.  We had a tour of Camp Wapo and then went to lunch in Downtown Amery, WI.  David is a chemistry teacher at the vo-tech school in Xinyang, Henan, China.  He is working with Bemidji State and the University of Minnesota to share ideas, faculty and students.  A big piece is for David to help put a high quality nursing program in central China.

Afterwards we visited Albert and Anna Olson.  Albert and Anna are strong Norwegians that live in Amery Wisconsin and Albert is 94 years old.  His body kind of looks it but his mind is extremely sharp.

Albert grew up in Central China and went to the same school that we visited in the picture above, A.S.K., not far from Xinyang.  Albert is a retired pastor that was a missionary in China and Taiwan and he is fluent in Mandarin.  We brought David Woo to visit with them and it was wonderful to see Albert light up when he was able to speak with David.

And this is my message today, find what "Lights you up," and try to fill your days with as much of that as you can.  For me, running does that.  I get energized by the exercise and friendships from running.

What is it for you?  Share that in our comments area below.

P.S. - This marathon challenge is partly to raise money to help more kids get to camp.  If you are so moved to financially support our ministry, you can do so at www.campwapo.org and follow the "Donate" button on the top.  Thank you for your consideration.

A month off

I haven't been the best with my running blog so here is an update and a resolution to have a post each week.

Last month I had a great time in Houston, Texas to watch the Olympic Trials for both the men's and women's marathon, and then run the next day in the Chevron Houston Marathon.

I ended up with a very good time for me. It was my best marathon time, 3:19:45. It was a Boston Qualifier (3:25:00) and I was very happy to get that out of the way before the heavy toll of 12 marathons in 12 months.

February is a month that I do not have a race. The next event is the Trailbreaker in Waukesha, Wisconsin the last day of March. I will have 5 Marathons in less than 90 days. That is what happens when you take February off.

The 5 races are:

March 31 Trailbreaker Marathon, Waukesha, Wisconsin
April 28 Northern Lake Marathon, Brainerd, Minnesota
May 12 Brookings Marathon, Brookings, South Dakota
May 27 Med City Marathon, Rochester, Minnesota
June 16 Grandma's Marathon, Duluth, Minnesota

Training is going along but I don't feel real motivated. I am struggling in my mind if I am still in recovery mode from my last marathon or am I in build up mode for my next marathon.

So I find myself in the first few miles of my run negotiating with myself about how much to push more miles or less miles.

Ideally, I would like to be running 60-70 miles a week with Monday's off during the 3 build up weeks. But I am more like 40-50 with 2 days off.

Overall my body is healthy but it is tired. To get it moving a bit I did a 7 mile run yesterday and during the first half I incorporated a telephone pole fartlek. (sprint from one telephone pole to the next, then rest jog for a pole, then sprint again and repeat to the end of the road.) Then finished easy.

Today I had a nice run with Bob Timmons. It felt good.

Until next time,

Mike

This effort is to raise money to get more kids to camp. Last year Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camp, Inc awarded over $160,000 in scholarships to help kids get to camp. If you would like to help, please go to http://www.campwapo.org/ and hit the donate button on the top of the page. Thank you!

Which 12 Marathons?

I have had quite a few people ask me about the races I have in mind so I thought I would share them with you now.

They are not written in stone so they can change, but here is the current list of races for 2012:

January 15 – Chevron Houston Marathon, Houston, TX

March 31 – Trail Breaker Marathon, Waukesha, WI

April 28 – Run for the Lakes Marathon, Nisswa, MN

May 12 – Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon, St. Joseph, MN

May 27 – Stillwater Marathon, Stillwater, MN

June 16 – Grandma’s Marathon, Duluth, MN

July 14 – Half Voyagers Trail Marathon, Duluth, MN

August 11 – Paavo Nurmi Marathon, Hurley, WI

September 15 – Walker North Country Marathon, Walker, MN

October 7 – Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Chicago, IL

October 20 – Mankato Marathon, Mankato, MN

November 4 – New York City Marathon, New York, NY

So I have planned a marathon in January, March, April, two in May, June, July, August, September, two in October and November. 

I started this plan over a year ago and it really took shape after helping at the start line for the Twin Cities Marathon in 2010.  I was very inspiried by the event and wanted to be a part of it in 2011.

I will share more about my preperation in another post.

Join Me for 12 Marathons in 2012

Dear Friends,

On this fun numbers day, November 11, 2011 (11/11/11) I want to invite you to join me for a challenge of 12 in 12.  I will be attempting to run 12 marathons next year. 

This blog is open to your following and I would like to ask if you are interested to sign up to be updated when a new post comes in.

I am hoping it will be intersting for both runners and non-runners and I will look forward to your comments.

The main idea behind this is to raise money for Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camp for scholarships to bring more kids to camp.  It also is a big, scary goal that keeps me putting on the running shoes and getting out the door each day.

There will be special gifts and treats for those that finanically support this cause but everyone is welcome to follow along.

The first event will be in January in Houston, Texas.