Hmmmm....

Got an email that attributed these to Bill Gates at a High School Graduation. Don't know how true that is, but thought I'd share. Good stuff for parents with High School and College kids.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters . You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
Rule 12: Your career plan may not be realistic if it includes becoming: NBA Superstar, Rapper Millionaire, Movie Star, TV Personality, Super Model, Power Ball Winner, etc.

Here I am..No Running...just a long post

Yep, still alive and kicking, but man it's has been a hectic week or so. Not bad, just hectic.

Friday night and Saturday morning I wrapped up working on the RV. One of these days I'll post a pic of it if Jina will let me. Despite fresh paint, she still calls it ugly. It's a 1974 Dodge, it runs strong (strong enough to get pulled over for speeding, thanks officer for issuing the warning), the essentials; fridge, stove, sinks, shower, toilet (I did say essentials) work. I've got less than $1000 invested, with the taxes/tags, replacement window, and a retrofitted A/C unit being my biggest expenses. It has chewed up a ton of free time this spring, but the kids love it.

Anyway, I went from that project to cleaning the boat up. Jina likes the boat better, but then it's only 5 yrs old and we're still in debt for it. Jina worked on the landscaping. Then I moved into cutting the yard. This put us right up against time to leave to go to a company function Saturday night. Sunday morning we slept in and then began packing for our camping trip. Sunday was spent with Mom and Dad at their farm land. Monday came and after a walk in the woods and a quick Bible story (Kind of a camping tradition with us, since we typically wind up missing church), Mom and Dad and my brother arrived. Seems the weather forecast had changed and they were calling for rain. Dad had a little bit of hay on the ground, and since swapping out implements was a prolonged ordeal, we raked up the cut hay into wind rows by hand. Wasn't that much and we had 4 of us working on it.

While we hoped against hope for a couple of hours of sun to dry out the remaining green hay, I started chopping on a Cherry tree that ants and woodpeckers had damaged to the point of threatening the barn roof. Yes we had a chain saw, but I thought it would be good exercise. Well, despite tugs and pulls with Dad's smallest tractor (circa 1930's Farmall Cub), the tree fell the wrong way. While my brother and I wrestled to keep it of the barn, Jina and Dad and the boys started to gather up some of the dry hay to store loose in the barn. Then the rain came, we gave up on the tree and hustled to try to get another wagon load of hay in the barn. With that accomplished, back to the tree. With tractor and atv and chain saw and axe, we got it on the ground with out damaging the barn roof...yeahhhh!

Lunch at around two, then Dad pulls another surprise. He'd bought a chain to repair the old go cart. Wrestle with it to cut to the correct length, get it installed, engine won't stay running. Adjust carb, get it running, my oldest doesn't want to ride. Couple of "you're gonna do it and like it" fatherly comments from me and he gives it a try, and then another, and another. Finally the day comes to an end, we pack up and head home. 6:30 pm. Kids got a shower before leaving so the two little ones fall asleep quickly. Making good time, until I get pulled over for speeding, thought I'd slowed down, but guess I didn't. Cop has a pop up camper so we talk camping, he was actually impressed with the condition of the camper, Jina's still not impressed.

At home, Jina packs up the kids and the left over groceries. I clean up the camper so it is good to go next time. Jina irons and packs me up for my trip (I love this woman), oh yeah, forgot to mention that I have to be up at 4:30 to catch a flight to New Orleans. It's 9:45 when we sit down to watch TV and cut up the strawberries we picked at the farm. In bed shortly after 11.

It's 11:20 p.m. eastern time as I type this, didn't leave the New Orleans office until after 9 eastern time and still need to knock out some emails so I'm not pressed for time tomorrow. 2 days of interviews, a flight home and then vacation. I hope.

I haven't ran much in recent weeks, but still have managed to get in a few miles. In all liklihood it will be after vacation before I pick back up with some training routine. A friend expressed an interest in running marathon, so that may be my motivation.

Anyway I'm alive and well. I'm blessed in more ways than I can count. Things are a bit hectic, I'll be short on sleep in no time, but I honestly have no reason to complain. It's funny how the job I hated month's ago is more tolerable, if not perfect, when I stopped looking at it as a trial, and instead started appreciating what God has blessed me with. Thank you God!

I'm a thief

Thanks to Bev, for finding the cool visitor tracking maps. I keep lifting them from her blog, slowtexas...(see my sidebar).

Thought I should give credit where it was due.

Thanks Bev.

Cool Run

Ok, summer is here. How can I tell? My days are crammed and I love it. Didn't run much this weekend. Probably a good thing, I could use the rest. Now to figure out how to make myself get more sleep.

Around the house, the old RV is almost ready of an overnighter this weekend. I finished painting on it Sunday night, and my wife is a little happier about being seen in it. Installed the clothesline she wanted and got the grass cut. Throw in a little league T-ball game, and voila! Great Weekend.

The reason for my post title is because when I got my room for Nashville, I wound up at a Marriott right next to Vanderbilt's football stadium. After late nights all weekend, I slept in on Monday before heading out to Nashville and opted to run after I checked in to a room Monday night.

As I was headed out around 8:30 last night, a guy on the elevator told me about a 2 mile loop around Centennial Park right across from the hotel and about a track about a 1/4 mile in the opposite direction. Since every school and university around my house keeps their tracks locked up tight, I thought, that'll be cool. Off I went expecting to find a recreational/intramural track for the college kids. I was wrong. It was Vandy's track and field facility, complete with a synthetic track, and it was open for the public to use.

I ran 400 meter repeats and then headed back to the hotel's gym for some weights. This morning I went back, and at 5 am there was only 3 of us out on the track. Ran a 7:30 first mile and then backed off the pace quite a bit. My legs were still feeling the repeats. Anyway, it was cool to run on a D1 universities track. I'd love to have access to one to run repeats once a week, but running around in circles everyday would get old.

Now back to hammering out some quick emails so I can get on the road around noon central time. Ball game tonight, can't let the kiddos down.

Bits and Pieces

Not much to write.

Life - travel, Little League Parade, yard work, work on our old beater R/V (this was a fun project I wanted to do), and Mother's Day w/ an Ambulance run mixed in (luckily mom didn't need to be transported, just a good scare...silly woman wanting extra attention on Mother's day...I'm kidding, no nasty responses ladies), travel

Running - see above, not much lately. No long run this weekend

Gas Prices - victim # 1 will likely be a cancelled trip to South Bend, IN at the end of the month. I was (and still) comtemplating running the Sunburst Marathon. Mainly for laughs and to say I did it. However, graduation trip to Memphis the week before + ($75 entry fee + gas+room)+trip to Holiday World with the kids while on vacation the next week = a lot of money. So I doubt I'm going.

My fall marathon plans are likely going to be screwed up. The industry conference doesn't fall on that weekend, but a PGA event in Louisville that our company is staffing will likely put all corporate hands on deck to help. So Air Force Marathon may be out yet again, which means I'll likely do the Louisville Marathon in October.

Anyway, back to work here in the "Big Easy", treadmill was cruddy in the hotel, so I'll hit the streets in the morning.

God Bless and take care everyone.

A painful confession

When I started this blog, it was, and continues to be my hope that through recording my thoughts and experiences and opinions, that someone else might be able to draw a pearl of wisdom and perhaps avoid my pain or experience my joy.

It is with trepidation that I humble myself to share this, but perhaps others will avoid what may be a huge mistake for me. While I offer no excuses, I do realize that given my extensive travel schedule and time spent away from home, there are some who will say it was bound to happen. Honestly, I didn't think it would.

I travelled to Columbia, SC yesterday after nearly 2 and a half weeks working from my office. This morning I discovered I'd forgotten some things and after Googling, found a running store near downtown, or so I thought.

The 1 mile walk was more like 1 3/4 miles, and I walked it in a dress shirt, sport coat, and carrying my Swiss brand laptop backpack and assorted documents. Temps were around 80. I arrived at the running store, which turned out to be in Five Points, an entertainment district next to the University of South Carolina's campus and housing area. Five Points has been the ruin of many of USC's football players in recent years. A good place for bad things to happen.

Anyway I met my new "friend" at the store. I made my purchase and asked the clerk what restaurant he would recommend in the area. I headed out with my "friend" in tow and walked down the street to the restaurant. I allowed this "friend" to accompany me and although feeling a bit uncomfortable I shared the same bench in a booth during dinner. Now it was time for the long hike back to downtown Columbia and my hotel. You guessed it, I brought my "friend" along, feeling awkward and troubled by the new relationship, but also curious. My current relationship had grown comfortable and predictable, like an old pair of shoes.

As we walked back through the quiet streets, even the setting began to put me at ease and conjure up old feelings. Those of you with roots down south can at least appreciate what I'm saying when I tell you that I was greeted at nearly every turn by the smell of blooming honeysuckle vines, decaying magnolia leaves, mossy earth, and that unique smell associated with venerable old homes with hard wood floors and peaceful front porches. Surrounded by these sites, sounds, and familiar aromas, I began to rationalize my decision. I'm far away from home. I have a need. Other's have done it. I was on a slippery slope.

Needless to say, we met at a running store, and back at my room I had exercise clothes, so it was decided we'd use my membership to hit the YMCA next to the hotel and workout together. Back at my room I discovered that I had left my credit card at the restaurant. A call confirmed they had it and so I changed clothes and together we ran back to get the card. At this point I was doomed.

The empty student housing conjured up that feeling I remembered as a school boy on the last day of school. All the promise held by a new summer. Unknown and exciting. The few remaining students enjoying the live entertainment in the Five Points, couples spending time together seemed rather poignant to me. The combined effort to conquer the steep hill climb back up into the USC area brought us closer and the uneasiness I felt earlier seemed to fall away. The setting sun on a warm southern evening was too perfect a setting and served to further melt away my inhibitions. We were back at the hotel, and in we both went.

I won't go any further at this point, believe me when I say that at this point I accepted the inevitable and attempted to make peace with my decision to turn my back on a relationship that had seen me through some stormy times, some cold nights, and heaven knows, many ups and downs. No doubt that at this point you know where this story is going and don't need the details of the entire evening.

All this angst because I forgot to pack my running shoes. The store didn't carry New Balance 768's and in my hour of need, I caved and purchased a pair of Asics GT-2130s. I only hope I haven't destroyed what has been a long and supportive relationship. I turned my back on the shoe that has carried me on every mile save a few ran on a free pair of another brand. A shoe that has seen me set my 5K pr, complete 2 1/2 marathons, and supported me as I slogged my way up daunting hills in 2 marathons. Don't make the same mistake, pack your shoes. Perhaps with time and counseling.....

Lesson From the Marathon #3-Mostly Rhetoric

Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Whether it is life, your walk with Christ, or a road course marathon, you're going to travel a varied terrain. Tall hills, short hills, small hills, long hills (Sounds like a Dr. Seuss book) and flat stretches that seem too few and far between.
We've become conditioned to dread the up hill climbs, to despise the effort required. I learned something during this marathon that I think will a) help me in the next marathon and b)give me a different perspective on my life and faith.
Keeping it short and sweet. The up hill climbs require a lot of effort, and can tax us, but we can keep our eyes focused on the top and know there is an end in sight. There is a reward for the effort. Flat stretches are a nice chance to recover, it's the down hills that stink.
I used to think descents were the reward for the stressful ascents, but in truth they are the worst thing to experience. No longer are you climbing towards a goal, your headed into a depth, and guess what, God willing, you'll have to climb out again. What I discovered was that my legs were pretty well conditioned for the climbs, it was the downhills that shredded them.
Somewhere around mile 18 it felt like both of my quads, just above the knee cap, exploded. The rolling hills that began somewhere around mile 14 or 15 had taken there toll. There were no major hills at this point in the race, small ups and downs, but the effects of the downhills on the front of my legs was anything but small. By race end, I found I was actually preferring the uphill climbs. It was the downhills I began to hate.
So no more hill work on the treadmill, from now on I'll practice not just running up hill, but also down.

True Champions

Saw this on Sports Center while at the gym this morning. Thought it was a story that should be shared.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?columnist=hays_graham&id=3372631&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1



Luke 10:27, 36-37
27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[c]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[d]" ...36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."