faster, higher, stronger: 07.08

Monday, July 14, 2008

Slower, Lower, Older

Well, much has happened since my last blog:
1.) My girlfriend Rachel and I moved into a new place
2.) The baseball team is in a 4-way tie for 1st place
3.) My running career has ended...

A quick overview of the 3 big changes:
1.) Rachel and I moved in to a nice 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1 car garage apartment in a development out off Nyes Road. The development has a gym (with Sauna) and a pool. It is a really nice area. My cousin Zach and his Fiance Michelle bought a house 2 blocks down from us...so that is kinda cool. Everything is moved in and we are still unpacking and organizing...fun fun!

2.) The legion team plays the final game of our season today. If we win, we will be 14-4 and in a 4-way tie for 1st place in the league heading into playoffs. If we lose, we drop to 4th place. Keep your fingers crossed....

3.) I've been writing of my knee problems for about a year now and I finally went to a Doctor to see if something was wrong with it.....The good news: my knee surgery is still strong and intact. The bad news: I have severe arthritis in my left knee. Doc said that nothing can be done, my running days are over. For right now, over-the-counter anti-inflammatory meds will work (Aleve and Tylenol). When they quit working, prescription meds will be used for pain and swelling. When they don't work anymore, Cortisone shots will work. When that is ineffective, I will have to get my knee replaced........that totally sucks, but that won't be happening for at least 20 more years.

So, I've been swimming 4 days a week and riding bike on weekends. Rachel is training for a half marathon and eventually a full marathon so I ride bike right next to her while she does the hard work of running many, many, many miles.

I'll find something to do cuz I can't just sit around and get fat........

I'll write again soon.

Thanks for reading!
SEE YOU ON THE HILL

Michael

SOME GOOD QUOTES

***"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinkingso that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously giveother people permission to do the same.As we are liberated from our fear,our presence automatically liberates others."-Marianne Williamson***"The only people for me are the mad ones ... the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.-Jack Kerouac*** "Citius, Altius, Fortius" A latin term, it means "Faster, Higher, Stronger." ***"Running, one might say, is an absurd passtime upon which to be exhausting ourselves....but if you can find meaning in the kind of running you have to do to stay on this team, chances are, you can find meaning in another absurd passtime....LIFE."-Bill Bowerman***"Be on fire for something."***"Anything you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon must, absolutely must come to pass."

What does "See ya on the hill" mean?

When I ran my first marathon (the LaSalle bank Marathon) in October of this past fall, I raised money for the foundation started by my favorite athlete (and childhood hero): Walter Payton. Walter Payton was (and still is) my idol because of the way he played the game of football. He was never the biggest guy, never the fastest guy, and never the strongest guy, yet he found ways to kick and scratch for every yard on every run. He never gave up easy, never just ran out of bounds, and never slid to avoid a hit. In the off-season, he would embark on this hellish training program that always included hill running. He would run hills until he could no longer walk, and then muster up the courage and strength to keep running. He would invite other football players to come and run hills with them and then laugh as they utterly destroyed themselves just trying to keep up with him...all the while he was just warming up. I think life is a lot like runninig hills. Running hills is hard. Running hills will really test you. There is no way to rest while running uphill. Hills, to me, are like those challenges we face in life: job challenges, financial challenges, personal challenges, relationship challenges, emotional challenges, etc. We can avoid'em and pretend they don't exist (at which point we'd be stuck standing at the bottom of the hill), or we can put our heads down and get running. That's not to say that if you just put your down and run, that you'll conquer every hill...sometimes the hill is just too steep. But to me, the analogy of the hill is more about your willingness to climb than it is how many hills you've conquered. Cuz we all know by now in our lives that once you've conquered one hill (or failed), there will surely be another hill ready for you. So I see this running as a hill for me, a challenge that tests me, and challenges me. That's why I finish my blogs with "SEE YA ON THE HILL," cuz I figure if I see you on the hill, that means you to, have accepted whatever challenge has been laid before you, as opposed to just standing at the bottom, unwilling to climb at all.

WHY RUN A MARATHON?

I have been asked that question many, many times since I started running 2 years ago. I can't honestly say that I've yet to come up with a viable, concrete, understandable answer to the question. I should admit here that I HAVE NEVER ENJOYED RUNNING, NOR HAVE I EVER BEEN ANY GOOD AT IT. I played soccer in high school and I was a fullback, so I did the minimal amount of running. Anyway, I started running cuz I was fat. In 2004 I was going through some life/relationship issues and I wanted to make some changes...I felt little control over what was going on in my life and I was searching for something I could control, my weight was something I could control. I started running a mile before I would do my lifting routine (I would go to a memeber of my family's home and workout in their basement-gym ((BIG shouts out and a big thanks to Karen and Steve)). Then I began running a mile before and then another one after lifting. At this point, I must admit, I was just excited when I finished my mile in under 10 minutes (now thats my super-easy pace). At some point in 2005, a friend of mine (BIG shouts out to OG) asked me to run in a 5k (3.2 miles) with him. He had already paid the entry fee for another runner who had cancelled on him and he didn't want his money to go to waste. So I ran it and finished in 25:41 (not bad). After that, I figured-what the hell-if I can run 3 miles today, I can do it again tomorrow and then the day after, and try to get rid of some of this fat I got goin' on. As the 3 miles became easier and easier, I bumped my runs up to 4 miles, then 5 miles, and so on all the way up to 8 miles before it finally got too cold to run outside and I packed it in for Christmas. I began to wonder what enjoyment I got out of doing the act of something I didn't actually enjoy. After much thought, I found that I enjoyed the challenge of going farther than I ran yesterday...knowing that with every step, I was now running 1 step farther than I had ever run before in my life. That Christmas, in need of something in my life to make me feel a lil'more worthwhile, something to take my mind off my struggles (still in the midst of personal/relationship issues), I set upon the goal of doing (what I felt at the time was) the impossible: run 26.2 miles. I looked forward to the training, the focus (cuz my focus would be on something other than what it had been focused on for the year prior) and the determination it was gonna take to get me to the finish line. I set my goal, I did it, and now I wanna go again and improve upon my first attempt. That's why I run. Those personal issues I had are now long gone and have been totally dealt with. Now I am left only with the challenge of being better than I was the last time out...of making myself a better man, a better citizen, a better human being. Come along for the ride! Encouragement is always welcome!

faster, higher, stronger

Monday, July 14, 2008

Slower, Lower, Older

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