APRIL RUNNING

Well, this was the month that brings rain showers (except in southern California):

Total Miles Run - 112.77 (according to mapmyrun)
Days of Running - 14
Longest Run - 26.2 miles
Approx. calories burned - 14,965

Total Miles in 2009: 482.83

TWITTER THIS!!

BIG SUR MARATHON RECAP

You train.

You run for 4+ hours.

You learn ... a lot.

There will be other attempts at 26.2 for me. Hopefully many others but this one was not ideal.

BIG SUR MARATHON

So here was go …

… This is usually about the time I begin thinking, “this was a good idea when I signed-up, but what was I thinking!!” The only phrase I can think that sums up all the emotions is excitedly nervous. Big Sur Marathon here I come!

Training for this marathon was not easy in overcoming nagging injuries, waking up for early morning runs, getting sick and having to sacrifice social engagements. To sum it up, I worked hard and really went a good result. The weather looks to be good and I am very blessed to have friends coming up to support me. With all that in mind I have set my time goals as followed:

3:30 – Like Winning a Gold Medal
3:40 – Very Happy (thrilled)
3:45 - I'll take it
4:00 - Frustrating

The other day I did a YouTube search of the phrase “motivation running” and it gave me this as one of the search results:



Never thought that a little girl would provide some good natured motivation. I can do it!

AMERICA'S HEALTH

On the soapbox …

Remember in high school when each student was required to do the Presidential Fitness test? I don’t remember the entire regiment of tasks to complete but I remember it involving a certain number of push-ups, sit-ups and a two-mile run among other things.

I bring all this up because I just read an interesting blog post by ultra-marathoner Dean Karnazes (here). In it, he talks about how is worried about the healthcare of America but not excited about how the U.S. government is going about “fixing it.” He sights the fact that 65% of Americans are listed as obese.

Granted that table used to discern the obese against the non-obese is not totally accurate but a simple walk around any mall in American will tell you this country has a serious health issue. And, as Karnazes says, Americans health will get worse before it gets better unless something really changes. So what does this have to do with the Presidential Fitness test in high school? While I hated it as a teenager, as an adult I’m starting to understand its purpose a little more.

Will that fitness test get American more healthy? Not by itself but it’s a start. You know what else would be another good starting point to get America healthy again? Getting rid of all this stupid diet pills. There is one tried and true way to get healthy – exercise. Diet doesn’t hurt either. Hey America, remember those things? How about those two things to fixed the healthcare system?

I have lost a substantial amount of weight in my lifetime and I exercise regularly. As a person who was once considered obese, I can not truly describe how much healthier I feel not only physically but mentally. I didn’t become “non-obese” because of a new government health plan, but rather because I knew there was a problem and fixed it. It’s about time Americans put down the tub of ice cream, the bars of chocolate and fourth helping at the buffet and laced up a pair of shoes and went to the gym.

… off the soapbox

MARATHON REQUEST

Five days til Big Sur (yes, I'm counting) ...

I was looking for a two things and I'm curious if anyone out there can help:

1) Anyone have any good nutrition tips? I know all about carbo-loading (spaghetti, noddles) but I'm more interested specific good "snack type foods" to eat in between meals. Cliff Bars? Fruit? Etc.

2) Got any good songs for prerace prep? Please good song suggestions only! This was a list from my first marathon - here.

Please, let me know some good choices - e-mail (hinkmons@yahoo.com), leave a comment or whatever.

RADFORD TENNIS

In the fall of 1997 I tried out for the Radford tennis team. While I never played one match as an official member of the Radford tennis team, I take a lot of pride in knowing that Coach Anderson allowed me to make the team after the try out.

But some stupid rule created by the NCAA kept me from actually participating on the team. You see, the NCAA took your SAT score and if it wasn't high enough, you weren't allowed to compete as a freshman. In some ways not playing college tennis was a good thing but in other ways, it was frustrating.

Anyway, I digress ... Coach Anderson, now in his 14th year as head coach, ALWAYS made me feel apart of the team while I was a student at Radford and still makes me feel apart of the squad as an alum. I say all this because on Sunday the Highlanders won their third straight Big South Conference championship! Once again, I am a proud alum!

They will, once again, participate in the NCAA Tournament. Here's to hoping they can pull of an upset!

BEST SPORTING ENVIRONMENTS

With the opening of the New Yankee Stadium on Thursday afternoon, an interesting question an interesting question was posed on ESPN radio – what is the best sports environment you have ever been a part of?

Taking all things into considering with the fan excitement, the tension in the game, the pre-game hype, etc., etc.Having been to countless sporting events over the years, here’s a list of my top five sporting environments:

1) 1997 Calder Cup Finals Game 2 – Hershey Bears vs. Hamilton Bulldogs

OK, maybe an odd selection but let me tell you the “old barn” (i.e. Hersheypark Arena) was jumping that evening. Based on a per fan average, the loudest sports environment I’ve been a part of. The 8,000 or so fans were just out of control loud and it’s the only time I remember doing the wave at a non-baseball game. Everyone was doing the wave because there was so much energy in the building we had to release it somehow.

The Bears were down 4-2 in the third period before scoring three goals in just over two minutes to take the lead late in the game. However, Hamilton scored a goal with 56 seconds left to force OT but Mike McHugh scored his third goal of the game less than a minute in overtime and the placed erupted!

2) Notre Dame vs. USC – 2005

The “Bush Push” game. Need I say more?

3) Virginia Tech vs. Miami – 2001

Miami was looking to complete an undefeated season and play for the national title. The Hokies were very much over-matched on paper during this Saturday afternoon contest in Blacksburg but VT hung with them and gave themselves a chance for a upset with a huge block punt and TD return in fourth quarter that had the stadium out of control and loud. However, it wasn’t enough as Miami hung on the win.

4) 2008 NLDS Game 3 - L.A. Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs

People tailgating? The Stadium almost completely full prior to first-pitch? At Dodger Stadium? The place was a buzz of actively prior to, during and after the game. People waving their white playoff towels. A whole lot of fun/excitement in the air as the Dodgers swept the Cubs.

5) Radford vs. JMU -

HUH? That’s right! The Highlanders and Dukes battle it out in a regional TV game at the Dedmon Center with my beloved Radford pulling out a 62-60 win with a last second put-back. Two days earlier Radford beat cross-county rival Virginia Tech and that got the campus fan base into a big ball of excitement then this game against in-state foe JMU was back-and-forth to the end. Tons of energy inside the bubble that afternoon! I can still remember so many specific (seemingly insignificant) moments from that entire day.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

The debate was swirling through my head most of the day on Thursday. To go or not to go? Part of me said – I’ve recently seen him, tickets could be hard to find and I don’t want to put up with the traffic. The other part of me said – it was a really good show when you saw him last time, you know tickets won’t be that hard to come by and just deal with the traffic.

Bottom line – Bruce Springsteen is worth it. I paid well below face value for my ticket and the traffic really wasn’t. Plus, I really didn’t get back to my apartment that late in the evening.

"We're here with a mighty purpose in mind! We're gonna rock the house! But we're not only going to rock the house, we're going to build a house. We're going to take fear and build a house of love; we're going to take sadness and build a house of joy; we're going to take doubt and build a house of faith; we're going to take despair and build a house of hope."

And with those words, here’s how that house was rocked and built:

Badlands
Candy's Room
Outlaw Pete
No Surrender
Adam Raised A Cain
Working On A Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
Youngstown
Raise Your Hand
Proud Mary
Growin' Up
Hungry Heart
Promised Land
The Wrestler
Backstreets
Bad Luck (with Mike Ness of Social Distortion)
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born To Run
(Encore)
Hard Times
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Land Of Hope And Dreams
American Land
Glory Days

I don’t know how he does it at 59 years old but his first song out the gate is as energetic as what most bands final song(s) would be. The minutes the lights go up on a Springsteen show it’s like getting shot out of a canon and that adrenaline rush doesn’t stop. On Thursday night that adrenaline rush lasted for 26 song, 2 .5-plus hour set! In fact, I was kind of tired by the end of the show and it wasn’t because I was out later than I normally would be.

There were so many highlights of the show. The first three songs were perfect in back-to-back-back form! The Wrestler was a perfect ballet then to play into Backstreets in the middle of the show was great! Born to Run again was awesome and to close with Glory Days was perfection!

What made the song just a little more amazing was I believe Springsteen was sick. His voice was a little more horse (raspy if you will) plus he blew about five “snot rockets” during the performance. Regardless of any sickness he still had enough energy to perform at Springsteen worthy level!

1,000!

The big 1,000! I still remember talking to former Silver Hawks intern Bob Shriner when I started this blog in early August, 2005. I had no idea what I was doing then and I still don’t have any idea what I’m doing now! This blog has no vision. It’s just random ramblings.

So much has happened since I started this thing:

* Changed jobs
* Changed living location
* Completed a Masters Degree
* etc., etc., etc.

There have been attempts to do a weekly “Top Five” and “Blog of the Week” but those quickly faded away. There have been some fun posts and some “what was I thinking posts.” Sometimes I think about getting rid of the blog but then I decide against that.

Who knows how long I’ll keep doing this thing. It’s very doubtful that I’ll make it to 2,000 posts because sometimes I don’t believe I’ll make it post 1,001.

For all those who have checked in … Thanks! I’ll try to stay some what interesting.

JACKIE ROBINSON

Today is Jackie Robinson across the MLB. Too bad that April 15th is remembered more for tax day then Robinson breaking the color barrier in major league baseball.

This morning I was watching a little segment ESPN and I was struck, once again, on how he was able to find a sense of peace among all the rage and anger that surrounded him. It just seems that his situation is truly unfathomable. In his situation he somehow found this perfect intersection of grace, leadership and humility.

How many times must he have wanted to fight back against all the players who didn’t want him in the same league? What about his reaction to all the fans who sent him life threatening letters?

Not sure how he did it but he did. Because of people like him, we are once again reminded how one person can change stereotypes and make the world a little bit better for everyone. He truly was a great humanitarian.

HARRY KALAS

I don't ever recall really cheering for the Phillies. Sure I grew-up less than two hours from Philadelphia but just couldn't cheer for them on game-in, game-out basis. They weren't my team and I just didn't enjoy regularly cheering for them.

I did, however, enjoy listening to Harry Kalas. He was such a joy to listen to while watching a game. For whatever reason, I recall on many occasions listening to Harry Kalas as I fell asleep on a lazy Sunday afternoon "watching" the game. He was amazing. Sometimes the voice behind the team was more recognizable then the actually team. If you heard Harry, you knew you were watching a Phillies game.

It didn't matter if the Phillies were awful (which they were most of my time living in Pennsylvania) or a World Series contender it was great listening Harry.

BREAST FEEDING

Mothers – if you baby is hungry and needs fed, please make your “feeding time” a private matter. Please!

Twice in recent memory I have been peacefully doing my thing (reading at Barnes/Noble, eating lunch) when all of sudden not more than 10 feet away from me some mother decides to start breast feeding. Just untucks her shirt and lets the child do "their thing." What in the world? In a public place, seriously? I don’t understand it. Don’t want to understand it.

I have nothing against breast feeding as I am sure it is a wonderful thing. I will clearly never find out. But please, for the love of humanity, women if you must breast feed please do it privately.

Thank You.

QUOTABLE

"The strongest trees in the forest can resist the strongest winds"

ANATOMY OF A 20-MILER

Anyone who has run a marathon knows that if you are going to have a "level of success" on raceday you have to have at least one 20 mile training run.

In my mind, here at the two main objectives of a 20-miler (in order):
1) Give you confidence mentally and put you in the right state of mind come raceday
2) Prepare your body for raceday

Now, these training runs can take anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on what your goal time is for the marathon. Imagine running with no crowd support, no traffic control, no one passing at gatorade, no nothing for 20 miles. Sounds like fun? It can be ... trust me!

Here's what my recent 20-miler looked like:

Wake-Up: 5:15 a.m. (still dark)
Eat, Stretch, Dress: till 5:45 a.m.
Start Moving the Feet: 5:45 a.m.
Water Fountain, PowerBar Chew Pack for Energy: 6:35 a.m.
Begin big 2-mile hill climb: 7:10 a.m.
Finish hill climb with LOTS of confidence: 7:30 a.m.
Water Fountain, PowerBar Chew Pack for Energy: 7:35 a.m.
Start Rose Bowl loop: 7:40 a.m.
Water Fountain, PowerBar Chew Pack: 8:15 a.m.
Final hill climb: 8:20 a.m.
Enjoy final down hill miles and finish: 8:35 a.m.

This is the fourth time I have gone on a 20 mile training run. The first three were not so good. Well, that's an understatement. They were fairly ugly. This one was about a beautiful as it could have been on so many levels and I needed it big time.

So now that I have a good 20 mile run under my belt, what about those last 6.2 miles. Well, that could get ugly but I have the confidence to run a marathon that certainly wasn't there during my first attempt. That, and the first attempt didn't exactly give me tons of confidence either. Confidence and the mental state-of-mind that will successfully get me to the finish line.

Big Sur Marathon ... 18 days and counting!

2009 MLB SEASON

And away we go!! What are the possibilities of making Opening Day of every MLB season a national holiday?!? … hmmm … Probably slim to none but one can dream, right?

Brings on the hot dogs, cracker jacks, home runs, jaw dropping catches and all that is right with the best game in the U.S.A.

AL EAST
NY Yankees, 98-64
Boston Red Sox, 93-69
Tampa Rays, 84-78
Baltimore O’s, 72-90
Toronto Blue Jays, 71-91

AL CENTRAL
Cleveland Indians, 92-70
Chicago White Sox, 90-72
Kansas City Royals, 82-80
Minnesota Twins, 81-81
Detroit Tigers, 79-83

AL WEST
LA Angels, 95-67
Oakland A’s, 88-75
Seattle Mariners, 80-82
Texas Rangers, 78-84

NL EAST
NY Mets, 93-69
Philadelphia Phillies, 91-73
Florida Marlins, 87-76
Atlanta Braves, 85-77
Washington Nationals, 62-100

NL Central
St. Louis Cardinals, 90-72
Chicago Cubs, 89-73
Cincinnati Reds, 83-79
Milwaukee Brewers, 78-84
Houston Astros, 70-92
Pittsburgh Pirates, 65-97

NL WEST
LA Dodgers, 87-75
Arizona D’Backs, 85-77
S.F. Giants, 84-78
Colorado Rockies, 81-81
San Diego, 66-96

NLDS – NY Mets over LA Dodgers 3-1, St. Louis Cardinals over Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2
ALDS – NY Yankees over Chicago White Sox 3-1, Boston Red Sox over LA Angels, 3-0

NLCS – Mets over Cardinals, 4-3
ALCS – Yankees over Red Sox, 4-2

World Series – Yankees over Mets 4-2

U2 @ THE ROSE BOWL

You pay a one-time $50 fee to sign-up for the U2 fan club for one year. There are a fair amount of fun and cool perks that come with that membership but none more important then being able to buy tickets to concert before the rest of the general public.


There is no place I'd rather be on Oct. 25, 2009 then the Rose Bowl. Just 3.5 miles from my apartment the best band in the world is playing what is sure to be an unforgettable concert. And you better believe I will be there.


Finally, I am going to see u2!! I will have one huge smile across my face from section 22!