The More Things Change
As faithful readers may remember, last year during the Phoenix Rock 'n' Roll marathon (January 2009), I was injured, so I volunteered to be the TNT "Pacer" for the first half of the marathon. This meant that I was supposed to walk at a 16:40 pace while carrying a balloon, and as long as people stayed in front of me, they would reach the halfway point before the cut-off, which meant that they would be able to complete the race (as opposed to being pulled off the course and bused to the finish. As it turned out, this was a very lonely and somewhat humbling experience. I was way behind everyone else, walking alone, being bonked on the head by a stupid balloon and showered by pity cheers as I plodded along, and, since I wasn't used to walking so much, developing pretty decent blisters on both my heels. Which brings us to this year. I was assigned a post between miles 7 and 10, which meant I had to get there before our fastest runners, which meant I would need to leave the starting area early in order to get there before our fastest runners. The race was scheduled to start at 7:40, so I took off at 7:15 and headed out on the course. Just like last year, I found myself traveling down the road all by myself. This time, though, instead of trailing 8,000 marathoners, I was actually in the lead. That's right, for the very first (and possibly last) time in my life, I was leading a race. And the best part of this was that quite a few people along the course actually thought I was in the lead - for real. "Way to go!" they shouted. "You're way ahead of everyone!" And I was. I'm not sure why they thought I - who was running 9ish-minute-miles - was actually leading this thing, but it was still a pretty cool feeling, so I just smiled and waved and continued on my merry way. Until about mile 6 or so, when I heard a commotion behind me - more specifically, a voice on a loudspeaker saying, "Please clear the course. Everyone must move to the sidewalks." And that was when the elite pack of runners whooshed by me like I was standing still (actually, I was standing still, because I had moved over to the sidewalk as directed). Thus ended my one and only "leading the race" experience.
A slob by any other name…"
Last week, I had an interview after school, so I dressed to kill by wearing Dockers, a collared, long-sleeved, buttoned shirt, and hiking shoes (as opposed to my usual t-shirt or untucked golf shirt and running shoes). When I left my bedroom and said goodbye to my children, Connor said, "Why are you wearing a suit today, Dad?" Then when I got to school, the kids said things like, "Why is your shirt tucked in?" and "Why are you so dressed up today?" and (my favorite) "Why are you dressed like a teacher today?" Hmm. What do you suppose they're trying to tell me?
Another Dr. Jekyll* Moment
There was an article in the newspaper the other day about the inaugural Mt. Lemmon Marathon, which will be held in October of this year. I'd heard a little bit about it before this, and I have to admit that something about it seemed strangely appealing to that deep, dark part of me that mulls over deep, dark things. So I went to the website yesterday and checked it out and found that, yes, it is a marathon that it starts at the base of Mt. Lemmon and ends at the top of Mt. Lemmon, which means the route follows the Mt. Lemmon Highway as it twists and turns, and most significantly climbs (6,000 feet in the 26.2 miles). And climbs. And climbs. I've ridden up the highway on a bike, and it's quite a haul, so running up it? Even so, while the sane and rational side of me said, "You'd have to be crazy to do that," the crazy part of me said, "That sounds really cool - plus you get two shirts and a medal at the finish," and since the crazy part of me was, for whatever reason, able to overpower the sane and rational side of me at that moment, I went ahead and signed up. Yikes. What have I gotten myself into?
*Please note the correct spelling of "Dr. Jekyll" in this posting. Apparently, I spelled it wrong in an earlier entry which some anonymous person pointed out in an anonymous comment - hey, I'm just glad somebody's paying attention.
That's all for now - it's cloudy and cool this afternoon, and I've got a five-mile run waiting to happen - so until next time, may your cloudy days be filled with sunshine, may your ties remain on their racks where they belong, and may your Dr. Jekyll moments fill your life with excitement and whimsy.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Excuses, Clunkers, and the Final Miles
Mea Culpa
As was pointed out pointedly by one of the many faithful readers of this thing-which-is-not-a-blog, I've already failed to hold up my end of the bargain when it comes to posting entries here, which I said I was going to do (and it's not even the end of January yet). I have absolutely no excuse, other than a new season of 24 started and they cram the first four hours into two days, which not only takes up that four hours, but also requires at least that long to recover some semblance of normalcy as my adrenaline level comes back down to normal. I should point out, though, that this isn't the only area where I've fallen behind. We still haven't gotten out all of our Xmas cards (they're on their way, though, I swear), and the Xmas lights are still hanging from the house. Somehow, I've become that person I always kind of sneered at as I drove through the neighborhood - the one with an old junky vehicle parked out front and Xmas lights up year-round. Oh well.
Speaking of junky vehicles…
And of getting things done after putting it off for way too long. Six months after purchasing our new vehicle, we finally sold the old one it was replacing. We dithered, we dallied, we procrastinated, and we made up excuses for week upon week, until finally Katie took the bull by the horns and placed an ad - although I do feel the need to point out that she told me, "This is a waste of time, nobody's going to want a '94 Dodge Caravan. We should just donate it to charity and get the tax write off." But I, being the the eternal optimist (and miserly miser) insisted that we give it a try. Lo and behold, we received a call from an interested buyer almost immediately, set up a meeting, took a quick test drive, and it was a done deal - for our original asking price (which was, admittedly, a bargain). And once the vehicle was sold, we continued to receive call after call (according to Katie somewhere around 120 of them). Which is kind of scary, when you think about it. Who knew '94 Caravans were in such demand? Here I was thinking it was a piece of junk, when all along it was a vintage vehicle. But I'm just glad it's no longer parked in my driveway.
In my defense
I have been fairly busy with work and helping my team get ready for the Phoenix Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, which was held this past weekend. 536 TNT volunteers from all over the country converged on Phoenix and we found out that as a group, we'd raised around $1.6 million for the fight against cancer. As always, I came away from the weekend feeling a huge sense of accomplishment as well as a renewed sense of purpose. There is nothing like running the last few miles of a marathon with people who are struggling to finish (and if you've ever run a marathon, you know that pretty much everyone is struggling to finish over the last few miles). Whether is was finishing with Katie, who was suffering from cramps, or jogging/walking with Jerry, who lost his 18-year-old daughter to cancer ten years ago and has been fighting against it ever since, or watching Elba cross the finish line with her arms held high as her family, the announcer, and the rest of the crowd cheered her on like she was the winner (and she was the winner, even though she finished long after the elites). There's nothing like watching them struggle to keep going when everything hurts and everything is tired, but there's no way they're going to give up. It's inspiring, it's humbling, and it's an honor to be allowed to be a part of it.
Next up
We've already started holding information meetings for our next season, which starts in just a couple of weeks, and we'll have a whole new group getting ready for San Diego and Seattle. In the meantime, I'm training for Boston in April and raising money for the Arizona Distance Classic in March. I decided to do a fundraiser with my students, so I put together a presentation and encouraged them to donate if they wanted to help out. In return, I told them I'd turn myself into a running billboard by writing the name of every person who donated on my arms and legs on the day of the event. I also promised to chip in a dollar for every person who donated. I gave the presentation on Thursday last week, and as of this morning, we've already raised over $700 (and it's cost me around $50 so far). It always amazes me how people stereotype middle-schoolers in such negative ways (the typical response I get when people find out I teach middle school is, "You must be so patient," which is so wrong, because I'm not a particularly patient person and I'm always thinking, "You know, if I had to deal with adults all day, I'd probably go crazy.").
That's all for this edition, so until next time, may your days be filled with 24 hours of reasonable, but not overwhelming excitement, may you complete all your chores in a timely manner, and may your driveways remain cleared of debris.
As was pointed out pointedly by one of the many faithful readers of this thing-which-is-not-a-blog, I've already failed to hold up my end of the bargain when it comes to posting entries here, which I said I was going to do (and it's not even the end of January yet). I have absolutely no excuse, other than a new season of 24 started and they cram the first four hours into two days, which not only takes up that four hours, but also requires at least that long to recover some semblance of normalcy as my adrenaline level comes back down to normal. I should point out, though, that this isn't the only area where I've fallen behind. We still haven't gotten out all of our Xmas cards (they're on their way, though, I swear), and the Xmas lights are still hanging from the house. Somehow, I've become that person I always kind of sneered at as I drove through the neighborhood - the one with an old junky vehicle parked out front and Xmas lights up year-round. Oh well.
Speaking of junky vehicles…
And of getting things done after putting it off for way too long. Six months after purchasing our new vehicle, we finally sold the old one it was replacing. We dithered, we dallied, we procrastinated, and we made up excuses for week upon week, until finally Katie took the bull by the horns and placed an ad - although I do feel the need to point out that she told me, "This is a waste of time, nobody's going to want a '94 Dodge Caravan. We should just donate it to charity and get the tax write off." But I, being the the eternal optimist (and miserly miser) insisted that we give it a try. Lo and behold, we received a call from an interested buyer almost immediately, set up a meeting, took a quick test drive, and it was a done deal - for our original asking price (which was, admittedly, a bargain). And once the vehicle was sold, we continued to receive call after call (according to Katie somewhere around 120 of them). Which is kind of scary, when you think about it. Who knew '94 Caravans were in such demand? Here I was thinking it was a piece of junk, when all along it was a vintage vehicle. But I'm just glad it's no longer parked in my driveway.
In my defense
I have been fairly busy with work and helping my team get ready for the Phoenix Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, which was held this past weekend. 536 TNT volunteers from all over the country converged on Phoenix and we found out that as a group, we'd raised around $1.6 million for the fight against cancer. As always, I came away from the weekend feeling a huge sense of accomplishment as well as a renewed sense of purpose. There is nothing like running the last few miles of a marathon with people who are struggling to finish (and if you've ever run a marathon, you know that pretty much everyone is struggling to finish over the last few miles). Whether is was finishing with Katie, who was suffering from cramps, or jogging/walking with Jerry, who lost his 18-year-old daughter to cancer ten years ago and has been fighting against it ever since, or watching Elba cross the finish line with her arms held high as her family, the announcer, and the rest of the crowd cheered her on like she was the winner (and she was the winner, even though she finished long after the elites). There's nothing like watching them struggle to keep going when everything hurts and everything is tired, but there's no way they're going to give up. It's inspiring, it's humbling, and it's an honor to be allowed to be a part of it.
Next up
We've already started holding information meetings for our next season, which starts in just a couple of weeks, and we'll have a whole new group getting ready for San Diego and Seattle. In the meantime, I'm training for Boston in April and raising money for the Arizona Distance Classic in March. I decided to do a fundraiser with my students, so I put together a presentation and encouraged them to donate if they wanted to help out. In return, I told them I'd turn myself into a running billboard by writing the name of every person who donated on my arms and legs on the day of the event. I also promised to chip in a dollar for every person who donated. I gave the presentation on Thursday last week, and as of this morning, we've already raised over $700 (and it's cost me around $50 so far). It always amazes me how people stereotype middle-schoolers in such negative ways (the typical response I get when people find out I teach middle school is, "You must be so patient," which is so wrong, because I'm not a particularly patient person and I'm always thinking, "You know, if I had to deal with adults all day, I'd probably go crazy.").
That's all for this edition, so until next time, may your days be filled with 24 hours of reasonable, but not overwhelming excitement, may you complete all your chores in a timely manner, and may your driveways remain cleared of debris.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Q & A
Here's a question to ponder: Why is it that when I have the most time available, I seem to get the least amount done? I just finished up with a two-week vacation for the winter holidays (what used to be known as "Christmas Vacation") and looking back, it seems like I didn't really do much of anything, other than watch several movies, read several books, and go on several long bike rides (to keep me sane since I couldn't run). One thing I didn't do was add to this website, which makes me feel kind of sluggish and lollygaggish, so I guess my New Year's resolution is to stick more to my once-a-week commitment with this thing, just in case anyone out there is actually reading it - which I think a couple of people are. Anyway, here we go…
The Lost Symbol
Here's another question to ponder: Why is it that so many authors who write really good books, then follow them up with really bad books. I mean, I really enjoyed The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, but then I read The Lost Symbol and it was more like The Lost Plot or The Story I Wish had been Lost on the way to the Publisher or The Story about a Guy I Wish I Could Drop off in the Woods Somewhere so He Would Be Lost Forever. If you haven't read it, let this serve as fair warning. The story is dumb, the hero, Robert Langdon, has really gotten irritating (was he always this smug, or did I only notice it on the third book), and all his friends are also really smug. And the villain is a tattooed steroid freak who somehow makes everyone think he's normal because he wears make-up to cover his tattoos - and nobody notices. How do you not notice that a person is wearing makeup when they're entire body (except for a tiny circle on the top of their head) is tattooed? Somehow, I just never believed that was possible. And then the big surprise in the book was a total dud. And the ending was a total dud. And Dan Brown really needs to kill off Robert Langdon (oh wait, he did, but then… well, I won't say in case any of you actually want to read this stupid book).
Avatar
On a more positive note, I really liked the movie Avatar and the only reason I even went was because Connor wanted to go. I was thinking it looked kind of dumb, but the story was actually pretty good - even if it was exactly the same story as Dances with Wolves which is the same story as A Man Called Horse which is the same story as… well, you get the picture. This didn't bother me, though, because I figure just about every story is derived from some other story, and I like looking for those kinds of patterns. So even though the big blue creatures were kind of strange at first, I'll give it two thumbs up.
Jeckyl and Hyde
On the running front, I'm once again up and running after a two-and-a-half-week hiatus, albeit more slowly than before my little incident with my calf. My new goal for this year is to be a smart runner rather than a fast runner. We'll have to see how that works out when the gun goes off and people start to pass me. That's usually when my alter-ego takes over and something inside me goes crazy and runs as fast as I can.
Random Bits
Carrie passed her driver's test (ironically, on the same day that she scraped the van on the side of the garage, then freaked out and hit the gas, ramming it into a table) so she'll soon be a licensed driver. Consider yourself warned. Caitlyn is ready to head back to college after a few weeks of family time. She's actually hung in there pretty well, all things considered (ahem - Connor - cough, cough). I read an article today that it's so cold in Florida that lizards are, literally, falling out of trees. They even had a picture of an frosty iguana lying on the side of the road.
That's all for now, so until next time, may your heroes be sufficiently humble, may your alter-egos suit the situation, and may your days remain toasty and warm.
Here's a question to ponder: Why is it that when I have the most time available, I seem to get the least amount done? I just finished up with a two-week vacation for the winter holidays (what used to be known as "Christmas Vacation") and looking back, it seems like I didn't really do much of anything, other than watch several movies, read several books, and go on several long bike rides (to keep me sane since I couldn't run). One thing I didn't do was add to this website, which makes me feel kind of sluggish and lollygaggish, so I guess my New Year's resolution is to stick more to my once-a-week commitment with this thing, just in case anyone out there is actually reading it - which I think a couple of people are. Anyway, here we go…
The Lost Symbol
Here's another question to ponder: Why is it that so many authors who write really good books, then follow them up with really bad books. I mean, I really enjoyed The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, but then I read The Lost Symbol and it was more like The Lost Plot or The Story I Wish had been Lost on the way to the Publisher or The Story about a Guy I Wish I Could Drop off in the Woods Somewhere so He Would Be Lost Forever. If you haven't read it, let this serve as fair warning. The story is dumb, the hero, Robert Langdon, has really gotten irritating (was he always this smug, or did I only notice it on the third book), and all his friends are also really smug. And the villain is a tattooed steroid freak who somehow makes everyone think he's normal because he wears make-up to cover his tattoos - and nobody notices. How do you not notice that a person is wearing makeup when they're entire body (except for a tiny circle on the top of their head) is tattooed? Somehow, I just never believed that was possible. And then the big surprise in the book was a total dud. And the ending was a total dud. And Dan Brown really needs to kill off Robert Langdon (oh wait, he did, but then… well, I won't say in case any of you actually want to read this stupid book).
Avatar
On a more positive note, I really liked the movie Avatar and the only reason I even went was because Connor wanted to go. I was thinking it looked kind of dumb, but the story was actually pretty good - even if it was exactly the same story as Dances with Wolves which is the same story as A Man Called Horse which is the same story as… well, you get the picture. This didn't bother me, though, because I figure just about every story is derived from some other story, and I like looking for those kinds of patterns. So even though the big blue creatures were kind of strange at first, I'll give it two thumbs up.
Jeckyl and Hyde
On the running front, I'm once again up and running after a two-and-a-half-week hiatus, albeit more slowly than before my little incident with my calf. My new goal for this year is to be a smart runner rather than a fast runner. We'll have to see how that works out when the gun goes off and people start to pass me. That's usually when my alter-ego takes over and something inside me goes crazy and runs as fast as I can.
Random Bits
Carrie passed her driver's test (ironically, on the same day that she scraped the van on the side of the garage, then freaked out and hit the gas, ramming it into a table) so she'll soon be a licensed driver. Consider yourself warned. Caitlyn is ready to head back to college after a few weeks of family time. She's actually hung in there pretty well, all things considered (ahem - Connor - cough, cough). I read an article today that it's so cold in Florida that lizards are, literally, falling out of trees. They even had a picture of an frosty iguana lying on the side of the road.
That's all for now, so until next time, may your heroes be sufficiently humble, may your alter-egos suit the situation, and may your days remain toasty and warm.
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