New Year, New Goals, New Hopes

If you think about how many different ways humans try to mark the passage of time it's fascinating. We relish a sense of completion in the end of a day, race, holiday, week, birthday, semester, graduation, and year (just to name a few). The end doesn't so much hold the allure; it's what follows the end. With each ending comes a beginning and hopes that maybe what is to follow will be better.

"Hope is to the human spirit what breath is to the physical body--the very fuel that animates our being."--Rev. John Claypool

With a nod to progress in 2008, I can say without a doubt that I am very excited about 2009. This time last year I had a marathon in my sights. While I would like to be able to do a marathon in 2009, my main goal will be a half Ironman race in Augusta, GA this September (you can still register if you want to join us). I've got a lot of work to do to be able to complete the 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. J. will be preparing to do twice that distance in the Ironman Florida race in November.

For us, 2009 will be the year of the Ironman (and half Ironman ;). Training schedules start next week! So--a little inspiration for you J.



Whatever your hopes or goals are, I wish you the best. And have a Happy New Year!

Life is Good...Trail Running 101

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm registered to run the Mountain Mist 50k in late January. http://www.huntsvilletrackclub.org/HTC_Races/MM07WEB/index.html This race is billed as the "Toughest Trail Run in Alabama," full of steep climbs and descents across 31 miles of rocky single track terrain.

Since I've only done one trail run in my life, I decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to get some practice today at Oak Mountain State Park. William and Colin agreed to join me on this adventure. We decided to start at the North Trailhead and run the blue trail up to Peavine Falls and the white trail back to the car. Sounds easy, right? Well, not so much.

William's brother in law, Bo, an accomplished and fast trailer runner, joined us. It was comforting to have someone who had a clue with us.

Upon arrival we only chatted for a couple minutes before we were off and running. Everyone but me has a house full of kids, so time is always precious and not to be wasted. The first mile of the blue trail was straight uphill. I reached the top gasping for air. It didn't get much better after that. Bo moved along with ease up front, while I struggled in the back, falling at least three times. The course was all singletrack, filled with rocks and branches.

None of us seemed to have packed enough water. About three miles in Bo refilled his water bottle from a stream, popping an iodine tablet into his bottle to cleanse the water. One thought entered my mind, "Holy S@*!, this sport is more extreme than I thought.

After a painful 6.5 miles we reached the halfway point at Peavine. I was considering bailing and having them send a car for me. Fortunately Bo and William didn't stop to chat and Colin and I were forced to continue the pursuit of our superior running partners.

We finished the 13 miles in 2.5 hours, about 45 minutes slower than we would have run it on a flat road.

At the car I realized that everything hurt...toes, feet, calves, quads, shoulder blades, wrist. I asked Bo, a four time Mountain Mist finisher, about my upcoming race. "Much harder terrain than we covered today for the entire 31 miles", he said. Not very reassuring.

I know that I'll survive and finish the race, though it may be slower than my 6 hour goal. As I've said before, "I'm stupider than I am smart", which seems to benefit me.

I'm thankful that I have a great wife and friends to train and race with. They are what truly make all these crazy weekend adventures fun.

2008 has been a blast with all of you and we're gonna kick ass in 2009.

May the upcoming year bring more races and longer distances.

JG

Life is Good...Rocket City Marathon

That's me at the half way point on the outside in the blue hat and grey shorts

Registration for the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, AL occurred after weeks of wondering if I'm capable of running a marathon two weeks in a row. Although it was pretty painful and not much fun, I now know that lots of rest before a marathon is nice, but not necessary.

Friday night we attended a Christmas party with Katie's co-workers. Since most of these good, hard working folks have either been laid off or have resigned, the party was a great way for everyone to get together one last time, drink a little more than usual, and talk about how much everyone loves each other and hates Time Warner, the dreaded former employer.

I left about half way through the party to go see Colin's band, Tonal Vision, play at a local bar called Marty's. All of our friends from the Jewish Community Center were in attendance and Wess even made an appearance. The band and company were great, but not being able to drink was a bummer.

I left Marty's around 10:15 and went back to the company Christmas party, which was still going strong.

We didn't get to bed until midnight, eight hours before the start of the race in Huntsville, 109 miles from our house.

When the alarm went off at 4:30 I seriously considered skipping the race. I was exhausted and not in the best emotional state after spending much of the week with my granddad at St. Vincent's Hospital.

There weren't any familiar faces in Huntsville or any pace groups. I ran the whole race without uttering a word to anyone. I really missed my usual race friends. Running alone is terrible. The race course was not very scenic but the fan support was nice. I ran the first mile in about 8:40. and miles 2-9 between 8:00 and 8:20. I started listening to my ipod at mile 10. Miles 10-11 were run at a 7:45 pace, which was way too fast. At this point I decided that sub 3:40 was possible. I ran the first half in 1:47:30. The pain set in quickly at mile 14. I was able to maintain an 8:30 pace until mile 23. Just like last week, after running 21 miles that were flat as a pancake, the last 5 miles were mostly uphill. At mile 23, I just needed to run an 8:50 pace for 3.2 miles to break 3:40. This did not occur. I gave in and walked mile 23.5 to mile 24. Walking hurt more than running, so I jogged the last 2.2 at an 11 minute pace. I felt no relief or sense of accomplishment at the finish, just pain and confusion. I stumbled and almost fell, crossing the finish line in 3:46:17, and couldn't figure out what was going on when some kid was trying to give me my medal and finisher's hat. Amazingly this was about 2:45 better than last week I was in pretty intense pain for about 15 minutes and am still more sore than I've ever been.

I don't know if I'll run back to back marathons again, but its good to know I can if I want to.
The Huntsville half and full marathon courses are much easier than Mercedes, Memphis, or Nashville. So while this race doesn't really offer much, its well run and a good place to try and set a PR.

After partying pretty hard Friday night, Katie got up and made the trip with me. Thank goodness she was there to drive me home.

Looking forward to not racing for a few weeks. The Mountain Mist 50k (31 miles) is on Jan 24. Its a trail run, which should be cool.

http://www.martysbar.com/

http://www.huntsvilletrackclub.org/HTC_Races/MM07WEB/index.html

It is Curious

"It is curious-curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare." --Mark Twain

Since late October I lived in fear that the company didn't need me. When they decided they did need me--I decided I didn't need them. (well--technically I do need the income--but hey, I'll figure it out)

Why?

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

I look forward to being able to pursue more fully a profession in which ethics, character, and integrity still matter.

So here's to change--a long time coming . . .

"No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has cost us. Our integrity is never worth so much as when we have parted with our all to keep it." --Ovid

Life is Good...St. Jude Memphis Marathon

We had a great time participating in the St. Jude Memphis marathon this weekend.

The race exists to raise money for St Jude Children's Research Hospital, where children fighting cancer and other serious diseases are treated regardless of their family's ability to pay. Its a shame that all hospitals aren't like this and disappointing that we live in a country where many of our citizens, young and old, don't have access to the best medical care available because its unaffordable. I'm hopeful that the Obama administration will take steps to improve this issue that has been ignored by the current president for the last 8 years.

Back to the race.

Katie, Brad, and I left around 1:00 Friday. This was my first trip to Memphis since Corridor X has been in place, which makes the drive much faster and smoother.

We arrived at our hotel around 5:30, and after making the mistake of turning the wrong way down a one way, we found a great parking place on the street that kept us from having to pay the hotel's $14 daily parking fee.

The sun was down and it was bitter cold. We quickly slid into the hotel lobby and there were runners everywhere After checking in we braved the elements and walked 10 blocks to pick up our race packet. We ran into Julie, a member of our Saturday morning running group, and her husband Charlie, and the focus quickly became dinner.

After several failed attempts to find food, we were finally seated at Automatic Slims. We gorged ourselves with pasta. For some reason dinner took about two hours, so it was pretty close to bedtime when we got back to the hotel.

We awoke on race day and quickly turned on the news for a weather report. 28 and cloudy, whoa!!! We met Brad in the lobby and started out into the freezing cold in search of the starting line.

Katie and Brad were running the half marathon and Julie and I were planning on going the full 26.2. Standing in the cold, 13.1 seemed like a much better idea.

Brad, Julie, Al (a fellow Vulcan Triathlete), and I all started out running together. This was Katie's first real test since the stress fracture and tendon damage suffered in Chicago, so she opted to start off at a slightly slower pace.

The first half of the marathon was a lot of fun. It warmed up a bit and there were a lot of people around to talk to. The marathon and half marathon course separated somewhere between mile 12 and 13. At this point the number of runners thinned out pretty quickly. We ran back down Beale street and out of town. I think fatigue really started to set in around mile 18. We were trying to run the race in under 3 hours and 51 minutes because doing so would qualify Julie for the Boston Marathon.

We slowed down a little after mile 20. The last six miles seemed to be all up hill. About a half mile from the finish line we pulled up beside a man pushing his disabled adult son in a wheelchair. I was totally blown away. This guy had a smile on his face and a great attitude after 26 miles of running a marathon pushing at least 150 lbs. One of the great things about all races is that you always run into people doing things that are inspiring and amazing, people who have been given lemons and choose to make lemonade everyday in spite of tough odds. Examples like this always help me regain focus and perspective.

We came up over the last hill and entered Autozone Park where the Memphis Redbirds play. The finish was now visible. A quick run around the warning track and we crossed the line in 3 hours, 49 minutes, and 10 seconds.

I was glad we accomplished our goal, but my focus quickly shifted to getting a shower. It was 12:02 and we had to be out of the hotel at 12:30. I quickly said goodbye to Julie and waddled off in search of the exit. I ran into Brad out on the street. He told me that Katie had done well, which was a huge relief. I'd been worried about that bum foot of her's for most of the day. She ran great for 10 miles and had to slow down a little for the last three. All in all, it was a great run for her. Hopefully she'll post a race report. ; )

I met Katie back in the room. She had us all packed up. I showered quickly and we met Brad in the lobby, threw our stuff in the car, and were off to the world famous Rendezvous for a celebratory beer and ribs.

We were headed back to Birmingham by 2:00. The trip home was slowed a little by wrong turns and stops for lotto tickets, but nobody seemed to care. We listened to Alabama lose to Florida on the radio, which as an Alumnus, was a little disappointing to Brad.

All in all, we had a great time and Memphis puts on a great race. We'd definitely do this trip again.

JG

Can You Come Out to Play?

I'm safe. For now. Job is still in tact. The aftermath of this mess leaves only 9 out of 23 staff members that worked on our December issue. All that this chaos has taught me is how secondary work life must be to life.

I worked and work with numerous dedicated, talented, hard-working individuals. I'll miss them greatly and they deserve much better than this.

Maybe that's why I love running--hard work really does pay off. If you have talent it generally pays off too (although I don't know about that). There are no games--just hard work, fun, and a medal when you finish (no matter the time).

I saw this posted on the Birmingham Track Club's message board:

I have been cycling on and off again for about 3-4 years. I have gone from extreme riding ,100+ miles and camping across North Carolina to not touching my bike for months. Recently, I decided that I would really like to start running. My boyfriend (who also cycles) runs pretty routinely while I stay asleep in the bed. This has done nothing but provide me with an additional 40 minutes of sleep and about 10 extra lbs =) which I chalk up to womanly curves. denial.

I suppose it's not that I have a question (yet) in regards to starting to be a runner. I have been a flakey runner for a while now. What I am needing most is someone's testimony to how joining the BTC and developing a running routine has impacted their life. Cheesy I know but I am looking to better myself, my health, my spirit, etc and don't just want to think this is cool because I see half of Homewood doing it on Wed nights and Sat mornings.

Some geniune feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Sincere Thanks.


Sort of an odd request on a message board, but who am I to judge. This response caught my eye:

If you want to run, why don't you? You've mentioned no physical reason you can't that going to bed an hour earlier or running at another time of day wouldn't solve.

If you don't want to run, no marathon course to Damascus story of transformation will make you like it. Anything someone else says can only reinforce your desires, not instill them. Besides, someone who has done some serious biking won't have the same revelatory encounter with running as someone who has been mostly sedentary.

Many trees have been sacrificed to writers rhapsodizing how running is a spiritual experience and how pounding the blacktop has helped them see Buddha in every leaf. Nothing like that has happened to me, though while laboring up a hill one hot July morning I'm pretty sure I saw Elvis. A fair number of people start running, then drift away from it, so maybe running doesn't reliably deliver major spiritual change.

There are health reasons, of course. Whitecoats have cranked out enough data to satisfy the biggest numbers geek. But whatever the benefits -- better heart and lung function, longer life -- none of them make blankets any less comfortable. Nobody slaps off the alarm and thinks, "Oh boy, I can't wait to improve my lactate threshold!"

So the main reason to run is because it's fun. Running is a sport and sports are what grown-ups call it when they play outside. When you get an email asking if you're going to be at the Wednesday run, someone is asking if you can come out to play.

Sports, unlike some forms of exercise, have climaxes, events to anticipate: A century, a 10K, a trip to Vail -- cherries in the fruit cocktail of our lives. People form social groups around sports and build websites and talk animatedly about skiing and biking and running. There are no groups of elliptical trainer enthusiasts.

People may begin activities for carefully considered and logical reasons, but their passions are intensely irrational. I've seen darkness every Saturday morning since July so I can fly to another state, run 13 miles, then turn around and run back.

Irrational? Sure, but I'm as excited as a 15-year-old on his way to sex camp.

That's OK. It's the irrational stuff that makes life worthwhile. People don't run or get married or adopt puppies or do anything they love through sheer power of reason.

You know this already. You're an athlete, even if you're in temporary hibernation. You know the delights of stories about tough races and mysterious calf twinges, of how talk about Gatorade flavors segue into talk about each other's lives and how exercise is sometimes just the backdrop to conversation. You know the weird and often hilarious things people talk about when they're physically exhausted. You love how the road allows you time alone when you want it without anyone worrying that you're brooding or endlessly asking, "What's wrong?" You remember the fierce joy when you were the boss, your body the servant.--Kenyanot

There are different rules in this running world. It's not about teams--and picking or choosing. All are welcome. All are encouraged. Success is defined by how you, not others, feel about your performance. And it's fun. I mean truly, deeply, play-in-the-sprinklers-like-a-kid fun.

There are good people out there. Humanity has bright spots (although I doubt it frequently). Have a little faith, run like a kid, and just keep moving.

Can you come out and play?

On the Eights

So. On the Eights . . . Here goes:

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1. The Office. Who wouldn't want Michael Scott for a boss?
2. Ugly Betty. I relate on a professional level.
3. Grey's Anatomy. No, I don't know if it's "Gray's" or "Grey's" and I'm not going to waste time googling it.
4. Rachel Maddow Show. Liberal newsie show on MSNBC.
5. Countdown with Keith Olberman (sp?). Another liberal newsie show on MSNBC. Think anti Bill O.
6. Operation Repo. This stuff is real-life Jerry Springer. Cops meets Credit Crisis of Today.
7. Barefoot Contessa. I don't have time, but I like to think I might someday.
8. Local News. Who knows what will be going on in the 'Ham now that our mayor is in the pokey.

8 Things that Happened Today:
1. Drank coffee this morning without cream--we're out.
2. Drank another cup of coffee without cream--took two to get going today.
3. Had leftover turkey for lunch.
4. Got excited for a co-worker who found out she is preggo.
5. Anticipated the "you're fired" meeting all day long at work.
6. Found out those meetings had been postponed until tomorrow. Great.
7. Got a massage by a physical therapist.
8. Have a burned spot on my leg from the electric current they used to "stimulate" my foot muscles. Running is still worth it.

8 Favorite Places to Eat:
1. Los Arcos!
2. Yankee Pizza
3. New York Pizza (sense a theme yet?)
4. Chez Fon Fon
5. Chez Lulu
6. Outback
7. Surin
8. My house--when I have time to cook
(very refined, no?)

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1. Running again
2. Some time off at home
3. Decorating for Christmas
4. Dog baths this weekend
5. Turning in my last paper for this semester
6. New Year's--maybe 09 will be better than 08
7. Friday
8. My sis being back in town this spring!

8 Things on my Wish List:
1. Stability
2. Gratitude for a job well done
3. Any of Obama's books
4. Running gear. Work gear is overrated.
5. More time
6. Healthcare for those who need it
7. A home for all lonely pups
8. Lottery winnings--so my friends and family wouldn't have to worry anymore.

8 People I Tag:

Anyone interested. I'm a little lax on this part of the game so pass along to anyone else you think may be interested or bored.