Training troubles (week 6 and 7)

Week 6, my goal was to run 11.5 miles on Saturday. Destination: University Ave (about 2230 north) and up Provo Canyon. I didn't do too well. I completed it but I walked a mile of it. Difficulties I dealt with: weather. It was rainy/snowy and I had icicles hanging off of my mustache (for Mustache March). I didn't bring any water to hydrate myself so my legs and joints cramped and I experienced some knee pain. But I finished 2.5 hours later.

Week 7, my goal was to run 12 miles on Saturday. Destination: same as the previous week. Again, I didn't do too well. I actually only was able to complete 8 miles and I walked the last 2. Difficulties I dealt with: tight schedule with little time to run. Because I had to make it to my wife’s poetry reading in less than three hours, I wasn't sure how long 12 miles would take, since my previous week was unsuccessful. About 6.5 miles into my run, my right foot hurt really bad and I developed a huge blister on my heel. I guess I have to just buck up and buy some new running shoes. According to my wife's cousin, who runs a lot, he recommends buying new shoes at least every six months if you are into long-distance running. I have had my current shoes for eight years. Yeah. It’s about time. Man, I've got to get a less expensive hobby… What do you recommend?

My old shoes

History lesson on technology

What do you think when you see a peer among you using a CD walkman? How do you react when you see someone pull out their flip phone to answer a call?

Many years ago, before iPods and iPhones ruled the earth, there was a time when people had to listen to music on a device called a CD walkman or a cassette walkman.  I don’t have the luxury right now of owning one of these new innovative apple products and I can’t stand talk radio in Utah, so I have no other choice but to listen to books on tape/cd from the library. I just shake off all the comments from everyone else in the office at work like: How are the 90’s treating you?

I hate texting I am now at a place in life where I need it because that is the only way people communicate. I think my wife and I are the only people I know that still own flip phones because everyone uses iPhones. Our phone plan has expired and we are up for a renewal and are looking into possibly a new service and it seems like every phone service is encouraging smart phones, iPhones, and data plans. Do you have a phone plan that works for you and your family?   

As I look at the demographics around me, it seems like those who qualify as impoverished now own an iPhone and a car. I roll my eyes when I see a person using food stamps and surfing the net on their iPhone while waiting in the checkout line at Maceys. So I guess that because I don't own an iPhone, I am below the poverty line.

 I have been talking to all of the starving college students and starting families around me who claim to be so poor that they don’t even have a pot to piss in or window to throw it out of, and yet, they have iPhones, with all the current data that goes with it. I have discovered their secret: their parents! Why buckle down and pay for your own phone plan and your own phone now that you have moved out of the house? You have parents on a family plan! Let them pay for it! After all, God gave you parents and God gave them money! But I digress…

Instead of completely becoming the grumpy old Amish man who flips off modern technology, I have seen the extreme necessity of technology. I know an older associate of mine who has been out of work for a while now, desperately looking for a job but refuses to use the internet. Because our world has become so dependent on the internet, he is still looking for a job. That is why I am cognizant of the need of these annoying devices of social atrophy. So that is why I am asking, what phone plan works for you? And, can I join your parents' family plan?  

Revenge of the Mean Little Kid (week 4)

It was Thursday of week four in training and I was in the basement of the Orem Rec center trying to finish 5 miles on my weekly training schedule. I noticed as I passed the entry way stairwell that there was a little boy staring at me and grinning maniacally. As I passed by him three more times, I noticed that not only was he still staring at me but now he was getting ready to burn out in front of me. Luckily, the next lap was with my cool-down walking pace since I had reached my distance goal for the day. I noticed that this boy was standing in my track line waiting for me to come around again. I paid no attention to him and politely passed by him but now he was walking side-by-side by me. He spoke, “I remember you.” I looked at him and realized it was that same child from the soccer mom who I plowed over a few weeks earlier because he was being a jerk. I said, “Yeah and what of it?” He asked, “Do you want to race fat boy?“ I replied, “How the hell did you get out of the Rec center day care? Your mom is probably looking for you.” He laughed, I showed him how to count to one, and then I left the track.

This is how week four went... How would you guys handle an awkward situation like that?

Men are from Mars Women are from Venus

I recently finished a book that received a lot of hype back in the 90’s called Men are from Mars Women are from Venus. I mostly read it to laugh at it because most marriage relationship-building books I have read have been cliché, but there were some things that caught me by surprise like: men are like rubber bands emotionally and without reason we pull away from relationships, from intimacy to autonomy and then back to intimacy. Women must understand that it’s nothing personal or nothing against them or the relationship, we just have to pull back and when we return to the relationship we are just as fresh with the intimacy and psychologically we are back where we left off. This motion can freak out any woman in a relationship. The author, John Gray, goes on to say that if women try their best keep the man from pulling away the man will become irritable, uptight and short-fused.  It was interesting to see the author defending both sides of the relationship where most books tend to blame the man for failing relationships.

Another interesting thought is to never play the martyr. If you are always giving into to your spouse, doing what they want, giving them everything, and agreeing with what they say all the time (even if they are wrong, possibly) because you are more scared of them divorcing you, you are not in a healthy relationship. Either the man or the woman in this situation will fall into a bitter resentment a decade later.

Of course, Gray also went into respecting each other by embracing the differences in gender and communication which is also healthy for any newlyweds that may not understand that.

Have you ever read this book or seen the movie? I would love to hear your take on it, or recommend reading it if you have not.

Go Martians!

Training for a Half Marathon (week 2)

The following Saturday I had to run 6 miles. The weather was excellent and so I ran up Provo canyon. It’s such a pretty run and I really missed doing that from years past. I only made it to Bridal Veil Falls because the snow was up to my ankles there. I enjoyed this run so much that I didn't even feel the strain of running 6 miles nonstop. I completed that distance in 48 minutes. This is so much better than a track or a treadmill. 

Week 3 was pretty much the same as week 2 ending with a beautiful run up the canyon. I will let you know if anything unusual happens between now and the day of the race. Stay tuned!

Provo canyon running trail

What is your favorite sport or past time for the summer?

Training for a Half Marathon (week 1)

I am a sick freak: I love to run. Back in 2006, I was training for the Salt Lake City Marathon and because of health problems I had to drop out a week before the race. The best part of that story is that on the day of the race, the physician who checked me said that he changed his mind and that I actually could run the race after all. By then it was too late and I had already talked myself out of it mentally. When you’re running a race, it is 10% physical and 90% mental.

Now here I am in 2013 and the world has changed. Marathons, which used to be labeled insanely twisted by the public, are now embraced and trendy. Do you know how I feel about trends? Ask me sometime.

 

Biggest Loser Contestants

Two Seasons ago on The Biggest Loser the season finale included all the contestants running a marathon. Some contestants ran, some walked, but sooner or later they all finished. The message I received from that episode was that any fat slob can run a marathon. Now all of my old relatives and in-laws are running marathons and encouraging me to participate. With this in mind I hope you can understand why I am reluctant to train for another marathon.

Last October I participated in 5K. Now I am currently training for the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon. My wife keeps encouraging me and I figured while I was wrestling with indecision that it would be better to train and compete in a race and say it’s lame then to never do it. It makes my reviews on this blog more valid and personal. This is why I will most likely be doing a marathon after this race is completed in the near future.

Here is a copy of my training schedule for the half marathon:

 

 

Orem Rec Center Track

My equipment includes running shorts, Nike shoes, a stopwatch, and a pedometer to track my distance. I train at the Orem Rec Center; most of the time I am down on their basement track, sometimes--if I feel like it--I use their tread mills.

 

 

 Now I am into my third week of training this is how week one went:

Three Saturdays ago while running 5 miles on the track I started off at a slow pace and then thanks to some fellow patrons I sped up.

Let me categorize the patrons I run with:

The soccer mom

The soccer mom: complete with her huge number of children with bad behavior that surround her.

The burnout runner

The burnout runner: the person who sits and waits at the rest stop for a few laps and then darts out in front of you, running as fast as they can to make them feel like they are beating you.



The confused geriatric

The confused geriatric: the one that looks like they are about 90 years old and are walking in the opposite direction in the running lane and have a look on their face like this is the worst hotel they have ever stayed at.



The kumbayas

The kumbayas: the ones who travel in groups of 5-7 friends and love to mosey around the track holding hands and blocking every lane of traffic. 

       

About three miles into training I had encountered the above mentioned patrons several times. It was very crowded that Saturday morning and I had just dodged another kumbaya group. A little boy from a soccer mom thought it would be funny to block my path and keep jumping into my evasive maneuvers. This was my turning point, I got angry. I looked and waited until his mom wasn’t looking and then I plowed the little darling over. After I turned the corner I encountered another burnout runner who attempted to cut me off. Now my temper flaring and adrenaline pumping I outran her and she never caught up the rest of the morning. I finally felt the runner's eye of the tiger. Who knew the key to it would be anger?
I will tell you how week two went later

Do you think any fat slob can run a marathon? What's your opinion?

Finally Christians who get it

Last week we had the opportunity to climb the mountain in the Huntsville, Utah wilderness to visit a monastery. The monastery is called Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity. My family has had the chance to visit this place twice in the past decade and we love to go and hear the monks chant and sing praises to God. We also love to buy some of the delicious honey that the monks make to sell at their gift shop. Yes, they have beehives and they are bee-keeping monks. How interesting is that?

Recent visit to the monastery

Every time we visit this monastery the place seems to get smaller and everything produced by them seems to decrease. This last visit we noticed that their roof to the chapel now leaks. We visited their gift shop and noticed that their delicious honey was gone. We asked Fr. Pat, the monk over the gift shop, where the honey was and he said, “You are about eight months late for that. We couldn't make it any more. We have plenty of bees, but not enough monks anymore.” We bought some jam instead. As I looked around their gift shop I made some interesting observations.

Fr. Pat

1. They had merchandise pictures on sale of the late Pope John Paul II, but not of the current living Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Why do you think that is?

2. Out of all the non-LDS Christian book stores and gift shops I have visited through the world it seems like every one of them had anti-Mormon literature and media you could buy as well… Except for this place, if  anything, they welcome us and respect our differences. I even saw a pamphlet sold there entitled “Monks for Mormons: How to explain our beliefs and customs to our friends the Mormons .“ Finally I have met Christians who get it.

I have a lot of respect for these old monks who have devoted their entire lives to serving the Lord. I can see how this commitment is so great that not a lot of people can make that decision, which is why they are dying off and becoming so few. I love listening to them sing praises to God through prayers, and chants and despite what most Christian denominations may say about one another, I know that God hears their prayers.

I always feel enlightened every time I visit this place.