Realization

What got my butt off the comfortable bed and into shoes and shorts for an additional run this afternoon?
— I will share that with you in a moment.
First, I would like to take care of some general housekeeping.

Most of you following my 26.2 Gulp blog know its history spans almost four years with hundreds of training miles and three fund raising 26.2 with Donna Marathons. You also know a lot about why I run and even more importantly how incredible my shared experience has been with thousands of people throughout the country united in this truly unique effort. What you don’t know is the number of excuses I have made for myself over the past two years that have kept me from actually fulfilling my own potential. That’s correct, I said the dirty word and now it’s time to fess up.
The best way for me to explain myself is to simply state— instead of running toward my potential I seem to find it easier to run away. A fairly cliché statement however, I never imagined looking at my life through this kind of paradox. I have always been the guy that never wanted to be straddled by a harness of normalcy. When a dream or vision would present itself and the chance to make it a reality was provided I never hesitated to go after it with 100% of my being.
Lately I have found “normalcy” to be a comfortable place for me. Of course this is a very relative view of where I am at in my life however, I can point to a definite shift in attitude that has been slowly creeping over me for some time. Is it boredom? Is it age? Is it laziness? Is it fear? I’m not sure — it might be all of those things. What I DO know is that I seem to be drinking more and I don’t seem to be as happy. Before I go on with the all the self loathing please understand this has nothing to do with my family. I cherish my wife and girls and we are in one of the best periods of our twenty five years together.
Funny thing is I know how fortunate I am. My creative talent is an incredible blessing and there always seems to be an opportunity to be useful. Why is it then that I don’t remain in a better state of appreciation for what I have? Maybe that’s why I got my butt off the bed and into running shoes.
I had already run 3.5 miles in the morning, updated a web site for a friend and spent 3hrs at the office preparing items for Monday (so you might say that was a “filled" Sunday). By 1:30 I was at home and by 3:30 the afternoon showers were coming down hard and the television was tuned on the Prefontaine Classic (if you don’t know anything about “Pre” please do some Google research). The athletes were incredible. It was inspiring. But do you know what really got my attention? After every event each of the top finishers gave credit to God. Wow! There it was —the most important piece of the puzzle. I did not spend any time with God today. In fact, I have not allowed God the kind of entrance he deserves. Over time and for whatever reasons I have slowly pushed God in to the background. That’s what I have to change. And that’s what I will change.
So, I ran three miles and thanked God when I sat down to write this blog. I will run another 3.5 miles in order to get home. I can say with certainty that when I arrive at my front door my attitude will be 180 degrees adjusted from when I left.

I look forward to sharing weekly updates with you. The style and content might vary from the previous years but I promise to keep it interesting, informative and hopefully motivating.

What would you attempt to do if you knew you wouldn't fail?

This is some inspirational stuff...

A Good Spirit Moves Us

February 15 will be here before we know it.

It's been waywayway too long (6 weeks) since I last posted anything regarding training.
Chris Twiggs called the site "stale".
Needless to say the shame forced me to try and run on my broken foot only to end up back in the hospital.
Now the doctors are uncertain if I will ever fully recover.
Oh well, I'll just run vicariously through everyone else.

Here's the last training session I will be able to participate in.
Next week I'll be out of town.





Just messing with you Chris.
The foot will eventually be 100%
(That's what you get for waking up late on Saturday)

New Year Post

My family has been celebrating the New Year with neighbors for nearly a decade. A lot can happen in ten years. Children become adults. Loved ones pass. Relationships change. In all of this you understand we are always blessed by those who stay close. A sample of how we pull it together.

New Year

Dew Point, Laces and Lessons Learned

Tough run on Saturday.
I injured my left foot and spent almost 4 hours at the hospital waiting on a boot and some crutches. On a positive note I can still say I'm learning.

twenty on the trail

The Baldwin Rail Trail is a gem in the rough.
This is a location designed for long training workouts.
We had a great time running twenty miles.

Chasing The Sun

Continuing my Thanksgiving theme...

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Cold Roads — Warm Souls

This was only a six mile run however,
I got some really good stuff.

18 Miles

I was back with "The Fasties" on Saturday. We started with light rain falling on us for the first five miles. The entire distance took us three hours.

Running Shoe Symphony

You might want to grab a bag of popcorn or something...
...this video is about 5 minutes.

Hat Trick

Three opportunities that required expert timing.
We call that a "Hat Trick"

A Good Turn

It's time to meet our 26.2 running friends.

"Regular Joe Six Mile"

That's right.
Six miles is a short distance when you know you're running 14 miles in less than a week.

Gravity

Some afternoon cross training

12 miles in Fernandina

I've run in the dark before but never in pitch black.
We had a great time in Fernandina beach Saturday morning, September 27.
Thanks for hosting us Chris.

26.2 with Donna — Training Run & Magic Mile

Dr. John Video Tribute

Hello friends,
I've combined a couple posts.
Training cranked up several weeks ago for the February '09 26.2 with Donna.
It's been hard trying to get myself inspired this year with the training blog however Friday, September 5, I learned that a very special individual to the marathon group passed away.
So I determined to commit this years blog to Dr. John. The video is rough and I'm not sure about load times on individual computers but I hope you get a chance to watch.
The second post seems appropriate even though it's images that were shot several weeks ago after an early morning beach run.
I hope you find the video and images inspiring.