MAY RUNNING

This month was mostly about recovery. After my attempt at 26.2 at Big Sur I wanted to have a better recovery than my first marathon. I was MUCH smarter this time around. So here's the month that was for "May Gray" (a southern California thing).

Total Miles Run - 107.63 (according to mapmyrun)
Days of Running - 18
Longest Run - 11.12 miles
Approx. calories burned - 14,138

Year to Date Miles: 590.46

FROM MILE 12 ...

On Monday morning a group of people – organized by Team World Vision – got together somewhere around mile 12 of the L.A. Marathon. This was the first time I have actually watched a marathon in-person so it was a fairly unique experience.

My observations from the 2009 L.A. Marathon:

* Elite runners were cruising. It was unreal to see that in-person.
* The weather really cooperated (low 60’s and cloudy). The fears of a hot sunny day were unfounded.
* People wear really unique outfits to run in.
* The lady who gave me a hug and thanked me for the support was really sweaty!
* It was one of the fastest four hour time slots in my life.
* I will run a marathon apart of Team World Vision.
* Running must be something that really “moves me” because my voice was gone after cheering people on.
* Giving runners a ‘high 5’ instead of cheering loudly = good idea but be sure to wash your hands really hard with really warm water afterwards.
* You could really tell those who were properly trained and those who weren’t.
* Runners really did appreciate being called by name. Be sure to place name somewhere on your bib or running shirt!

"THAT" SCENE FROM JERRY MAGUIRE

For the last few weeks this particular scene from Jerry Maguire has been playing in my head. It happens almost the exact same time each day. I’m walking out of my apartment in the morning heading toward Caltech and like clockwork, there it is. Jerry Maguire and Rod Tidwell having a conversation about, well, life shall we say. They are both frustrated at each other for a variety of reasons and then Jerry Maguire breaks out this to Rod Tidwell …

“… here's why you don't have your ten million yet. Right now, you are a paycheck player. You play with your head, not your heart. In your personal life - (points to chest) Heart. But when you get on that field -- it's all about what you didn't get, who's to blame, who under threw the pass, who's got the contract you don't, who's not giving you your love. Well, that is not what inspires people. That's not what inspires people. Shut up. Play the game. Play it from your heart. And you know what? I will show you the "kwan." I'm sorry, but that's the truth. Can you handle it? Just a question Rod. Between friends. YOU KNOW?”

Not sure where to take that quote from here but, for whatever this two minute scene is played out in my head on a seemingly daily basis. Maybe I’m “playing” life right now for the wrong reasons? Maybe I just like the idea of influencing well? Maybe I should just go watch Jerry Maguire? Who knows for sure but this scene is floating around in my head.

ONE WORD

I haven’t posted anything that is some what “meaningful” in a while. Not that this post will be much different mind you, but these are some things that have been on my mind lately and here’s my one word response to each of them. The ABC’s of me lately -

CHP - Zealous
Credit Card – Paid!
Friends – Thankful
Homeless - Involvement
Money Balance – Tightwad
Mosaic – Enjoyable
Obama – Satisfier
Running – Conflicted
Sleep – More!
Steroid in Baseball – Embarrassing
Student Loans – Oops!
Tithe – Where?
Vacation – Calm
Work – Odd
Yankees – Finally!

This blog post - Done

WENDY AND LUCY

Not sure why so many critics liked this movie.

Fortunately it was quick (75 minutes). Really, it wasn't that great. Of course maybe the critics got my hopes and expectations way high for this independent type film but it was overrated in my opinion. If you like dogs (or animals in general) you'll enjoy this movie but otherwise not so much.

ABRAHAM

For those of us who grew-up in Sunday School we had to sing that classic song “Father Abraham” and that oh so popular line “many sons had father Abraham.” This book shocked me with how many people Abraham has “fathered” over the last few thousand years. His lineage surely is more than the stars in the sky.

For the past few weeks I’ve been journeying through Bruce Feiler’s “Abraham” and it is has been a very enlightening journey. This book is filled with great imagery as you feel like you are actually seeing everything that the author is seeing as he tries to unwrap the mysteries of Abraham.

The first portion of the book was a little dull and filled with some information that was “old hat” to me but once Feiler really started unwrapping the layers of Abraham’s life it was amazing. What was most eye-opening was how Abraham is such a central figure in three different spiritual communities. I never realized how vitally important Abraham was to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Feiler speaks with different scholars and experts on each of these three different faiths and it mind blowing how similar they tell the story of Abraham even though you’d think these three faiths are different from one another. Certainly there are key differences but for the most part these three faiths hold Abraham in very high regard.

The format of the book makes for a quick read but don’t move to quickly because there are some really amazing facts about this man’s life that can be missed when reading. It is such a good read that flows extremely well. Feiler, himself a Jew, makes the book personal and that in turn makes the reader become more personal with Abraham.

HIGHLY recommend!!

SUGAR

If you are a fan of baseball this is definitely a must see movie. It follows baseball prospect Miguel “Sugar” Santos from the everyday rigors of a baseball training academy in the Dominican Republic to his journey in the United States.

As a former minor league baseball employee, this movie opened my eyes even more to how hard Spanish speaking and non-U.S. born baseball players struggle during their first U.S. experience. This movie also had me reminiscing about finding housing for Latino players and getting them rides to the ballpark. Those were interesting memories.

It is truly amazing how hard it is for a Dominican baseball player to make it through the baseball training and then to a Minor League roster let along making it all the way to the Major League level. The film really captures that effort and sacrifice.

Much of the movie is in subtitles so be prepared to read the bottom of the screen during 65% of the movie. But, by no means, does that take away from the film. In fact, in some ways having the subtitles makes you appreciate the film even more.

From a purely baseball perspective the ending of the movie was kind of frustrating. However, when taking the complete movie into account it makes a lot of sense.

Unfortunately the film got a limited release so if you didn’t see it in the theater (or are now just hearing about it) just rent it or get it on Netflix.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

RETHINK CHURCH

I was flipping through the most recent issue of Newsweek and this full page advertisement got my attention. Anyone else seen this? Website

THE "REAL" BIG SUR RECAP

(OK, this is my final coping mechanism)

Why do I do this to myself? Run marathon(s) you ask? While that is part of it, the other part comes in with the post race beating I put myself through. My experience on the Big Sur course was, shall we say, less than satisfying. Well, actually it was pretty poor. Freakin’ nine days later, I am still thinking about this marathon all the time.

I was felt SO ready for this race. Seriously, I felt ready. I was feeling great mentally and almost as great physically. However, in the afternoon before the race I starting feeling really nervous about the race. Scared even. In a manner of a few hours my thought process went from “this is going to be great” to “what in the world have I gotten myself into.” Suddenly the hills I was less than a day from running seemed REALLY big and my confidence was not so high.

However, that night I slept fairly well with all the anxious feeling I had. Getting up at 3:15 was no fun but oh well. I knew that was coming. There are buses that take the runners to start line in the dark of the early morning hours. The buses, of course, drive us to the start line on the actually marathon route. My confidence is continually sliding as I feel the roller coaster of hills we are ascending and descending on a school bus at 4:45 a.m.

We get to the start line and for whatever a big sense of calm comes over me in the VERY frigid early Sunday morning hours. I get close to a generator that is letting off something resembling heat. It was like high 30’s and there was still 75 minutes to the start. Small conversations start here and there among the anxious (and COLD) runners while waiting. With about 10 minutes to the start, I feel really good. My confidence is back and I think that running a 3:45-4:00 time is within me. The first few miles breeze by and then at mile six the woods open up to the ocean. The woods also open up to two things that become my VERY hated foe for the next three hours – strong winds and hills.

I adjust just fine to the hills and even the wind for the next handful of miles THEN my marathon experience starts to suck. The wind is not at my back, the sky is still overcast and there are still 10 hills in front of me. And, oh yeah, I was still cold wearing my non-technical long sleeve black shirt. Why didn’t I pack a technical long sleeve? Why?!?!?! My mind was playing dirty tricks on me and I was giving in. All things considered I felt fairly good physically but my mental state of mind was piss poor at best.

The last third of the course was about as miserable as I have felt in a while. Mind you I am doing ok physically but I am just angry. Once again, the harsh reality of not having a strong mental state of mind hits hard. Why can’t I have my mind think of happy thoughts when I want to be angry? Whatever happened to thoughts of pretty butterflies on a summer day, baseball on a warm July night or good looking women on Huntington Beach? Where were those thoughts at mile 17?!?!? Huh, where were you?!?! AH!!!!!

You train four 16 weeks four a little window of time. Just a brief little time block that in the grand scheme of things is less than half an eye blink when you take your whole life into perspective. A grain of sand on the beach. But this little bit of time is what running a marathon is all about. You invest countless hours and sacrifice an inordinate amount of thing for one morning on a road.

There is one VERY big bright spot in all this – my wonderful friends who were there at the finish line. Without them, this whole experience would have been a whole lot harder to swallow. They were amazing!



So here’s what I am doing with this experience so I can get better next time:

1) Take two weeks off from running in early June. For the average person this would be a blessing, yet this is not going to be fun for me. This will be a time to improve my swimming stroke.

My times are getting slower and it is probably because I need rest. When I started training for Big Sur, I knew that I would be losing a lot of my speed work that I had built up over the last two years. Sacrificing my per mile pace was something that was just fine for me however, I didn’t expect to perform as poorly as I did on the course. I went from a sub-7:00 pace in a personal best 10K effort 18 months ago and third place age group finish in my half-marathon to what I am at now. So not only am I slower after four months of training but I performed very poorly. Back to the drawing board for speed work because right now I feel like a child who learning to ride bike and is still using training wheels. This feeling pretty much blows.

2) My mental side of mind HAS TO improve. I have no clue at this point how this will happen but it will happen.

3) See a physical therapist in mid-June. I’d like to run for a long time and I better start seeing what an expert has to say.

4) I am running Big Sur again. Is this a hard course? Most certainly but it is a demon that I will conquer next time because it will not conquer me again. There’s no doubt this course has tested the most veteran of runners but it is a test that I am going to pass next time.

5) No more apathy about this race …

ONE YEAR AGO TODAY ...

AH, Good Memories -- Masters Degree!