North Face KC Marathon

North Face Kansas City Marathon 26.22 mi 04:42 10:45 pace

RACE REPORT - Well, got up at 4 to eat some breakfast and ended up eating too much (waffle egg sandwiches and yogurt). Kind of didn't feel so well as I tried to take a nap before I had to leave. At 6, loaded up the bike and headed out. A little nippy that time of the morning in the dark. Had to use the porta-john right before the race.

Kind of a strange start, no gun or horn, just everyone started moving after the 50k runners left. The course really did give out of town runners a wonderful overview of the city with some great views. After the first couple of miles my time was too fast but it felt like I was running as slow as I could. Tried to start with the 4:45 pace group but I was out in front too far. Had to pee really bad at Roanoke Park and thank goodness I found a good rock wall to hide behind. The profile provided was totally wrong and the mile markers were not in the right places which both of which is pretty strange in this age of GPS. Had a great view of the rivers as we ran behind the Liberty Memorial.

One of the greatest things about today was an old work buddy from years ago met me at 4 or 5 places and the finish line to cheer me on. He said every 1st time marathoner should have someone cheering him on. Thank you so much Jason. Years ago I missed out on a chance to run the Chicago Marathon with Jason, his dad and sister because of injury.

I really felt sorry for the fast half marathon & 10k leaders who had to weave their way through us marathoners. But after they split off, the rest of us thinned out a lot. Had to negotiate the stairs down to the bike path along the Missouri River, but it was a wonderful run. Had one more porta-john stop. I carried my fig bars in the side pockets but hardly ate any, only 4 for the whole race. I did take advantage of the Nuun where they had it but was hoping I didn't have to pee again.

Cliff Drive was wonderful but very chilly as the whole thing is in shade. When we reached mile 18, I knew this was the home stretch. But after we ran back to downtown KC and turned south, the headwinds got pretty strong. After mile 22, I finally had to do some power walking up the steep hill on Guilam near Crown Center. It was so painful trying to run again I knew I couldn't stop running or I'd have to walk the rest of the way.

The 4:45 pacers blazed past me even though I was on schedule. Guess because no one was running with them, they didn't have to follow the pace schedule. I tried to thank every policeman who worked to keep us safe even though there were were some pretty mad drivers out.

Finally hit mile 25 and it was all downhill from there. Caught up to Amy, from Ohio doing her 20th marathon. She said it was a comfort to hear the steady pitter-patter of my footsteps behind her. Another out of towner, Evan from Texas, slowed for us as he had run almost the whole race with Amy. We sped up and all crossed the finish line together. I was so relieved, I forgot to hit the stop button on my watch. But I did get my medal.

Can't believe it but I actually had a negative split even though had to walk up a steep hill in the second half. Happy with 18 out 24 for my age group.

Jason congratulated me at the finish. Later, met up with Amy and Evan, as we all got something to eat. A beautiful day. SMILE

Now, the only thing I hadn't put much thought into was riding home. Not recommended, at all. Slowly creeped down the Trolly Trail to home which would have been kind of comical if it didn't hurt so much. Got home safe and sound and after getting cleaned up, took a much deserved nap! SMILE

First400Words.blogspot.com

First400Words.blogspot.com

There is a wealth of information on the internet but sometimes, when you want something very simple, it just isn't there.

My name is Jim and for the last 4 years I have been a volunteer English teacher in Mongolia. I found an old book called "First 400 Words" that had old poorly hand-drawn pictures with a word list that was in serious need of an update (the book included things like "hand grenade" and "rocket launcher"). It was really a great idea but it needed a lot of work to create something new. And, I would like to announce, that we now have that along with an online picture dictionary at First400Words.blogspot.com

I have worked to make the website simple for children, or even adults with few computer skills. No ads and no distractions. Just wonderful pictures that not only inform but entertain. But this is just not a site for students both young and old wanting to begin their journey of learning English. We have things here for parents and teachers too.

For students:
Every day there is a new word to learn on the home page. Along with picture, and text, there is also an audio recording (courtesy of Google) so that the student can hear and see the language to make learning fun and long lasting. Or they can click on any letter to see all the words, pictures and audio.

For parents:
I believe that language learning is a personal journey, one involving communication between people. Because of that, there are also versions of the online dictionary to download electronic versions (PDF & iPad versions) perfect for any PC, laptop or tablet. It is formatted in landscape so it's perfect for any monitor. I haven't included any audio because I really want the interaction between parent and child or teacher and student. And the great thing is that it is free, no strings attached, no password needed, nothing to sign up for. Just download and it's yours.

For teachers:
I know first hand how hard it is to get quality materials for my classes at no cost in either time or money. For that reason, all the photographs that I have compiled for this book and online picture dictionary are available to download too. They are all from Flickr.com and used at "First 400 Words" under a Creative Commons license, meaning that all the photographers ask is attribution and that you don't sell their work. I have literally looked at tens of thousands of pictures so you don't have to, so you can spend your precious time using these pictures in your own projects.

For English as a 2nd language:
While the website is in English, the downloads right now come in two versions; English only, and English-Mongolian. It is my hope that others teaching English as a second language might help me create more picture dictionaries combining English with many more languages, expanding to other countries and cultures. If you like that idea, please contact me so we can help even more children, and adults, start their first steps to learning English in the right direction.

Pass the word:
To really make all this worthwhile, the information needs to get to the people who need it, who can use it, who want it - students, parents and teachers all over the world. Please pass this on to anyone you think might find First400Words.blogspot.com useful or who might know of others or even organizations that could use this material to help others learn English.

Final word:
It is my hope in the future to find sponsors to help print these books to distribute to children free of cost. Your enthusiasm for what we have put together so far, will help me move closer to that dream. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact me. I would be so happy to hear from you. And thank you again for your time.

PS. And remember to pass this on. Thank you.

Jim "bagsh"
ESL Teacher
First400Words.blogspot.com