Only in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

My month goal was 240 miles.

I am at 211 miles. I have 3 days to get 29 miles to achieve the goal.

I am really exciting to be very close to reaching my goal, but I am going to have to work hard to hit the mileage. I need to make this happen. Any support that you can provide ( text, phone call, email, in person motivation) would be greatly appreciated.

Falling short of my goal isn't really an option that I am interested in taking.

After a great thanksgiving break with family and friends, I am reminded of a phrase that my dad would say to me and my brother if we were ever happy with almost accomplishing something.

"Almost doesn't count. Only in horseshoes and hand grenades"

Any support that you can provide in helping me hit my 240 miles for the month would be greatly appreciated.

Also, December is just around the corner so I hope you have begun your brainstorm of you December Resolution.

Take a Run to Be Thankful

Go running by yourself or run with a close friend during the next couple days. On the line challenge yourself to this task.

List 5 things that you are thankful for

However, I want you to be specific. I don't want you to just say blanket things like "I am thankful for my family". Challenge yourself to be specific (What or who are you thankful and identify a very specific reason that you are thankful for that person or thing)

I ran with a great friend today and we talked about some of the things we were thankful for and I shared some things that I was thankful for, but after we parted ways my brain really began to explore all of the things that I am thankful for.

I was thankful for my father who worked so hard his entire life to give me opportunities to figure out who I am and how I can help this world out a little bit.

I was thankful for all the people who I have met that have challenged me to become a better person, runner, friend, and teacher.

I was thankful for my mother who taught me how to cook, dance, smile alot, and to understand how important family should be.

I was thankful for my brother who taught me how to stand up for myself and always knew when to step in if I was ever having trouble standing up for myself.

I hope that anyone who reads this takes the opportunity to think of all the things that you should be thankful for. I hope that you take that opportunity while you are running so that you let all these amazing people and experiences that you have had to help fuel you on a run as we approach one of the best days of the year.

Check this out

If you are real running nut, then you will probably enjoy this blog of my friend who is working to run a Sub 15:00 5k.

http://sub15minutes.blogspot.com/

On a more personal note, I ran a solid 14 miler today. This rounds up my total for the month of November to 165 miles. I am 5 miles ahead of my pace for 24o for the month of November, but I may need to kick it up an additional notch just to be a little crazy.

Am I crazy?

I walked out passing a group of students crowded together in the vestibule. I received the familiar look that says “He is going to run in this weather? He must be a little bit crazy”. I loosened up my stride as I ran down Circuit Street. I was trying to be very aware of my mind and body on this very wet dark evening.

I checked in on my form right away. “Pockets and Potato Chips” (This was the phrase that I used to remind my athletes of their arms and hands as they ran. Were their hands gliding just off of their pockets? Were their hands held together in a relaxed manner so that they could hold a potato chip, but not break it?). My arms felt incredibly smooth and relaxed as I darted across the street. My mental typewriter was typing with the exact same cadence as my stride. I realized that this was going to be an incredible run and the my mind was going to meander through memories of the past, thoughts of the future, and brief snapshots of the present.

I made my way down Washington St, and then made a left making my way toward the Reggie Lewis Center. I realized that I had to pay a little bit more attention to the present then I would normally desire on a run like this, but that my magical “Stop Car” hand might not be effective on wet night, during rush hour in Boston. As I turned right onto Tremont Street making my way downtown, I noticed the rain in the street lights and smiled, thinking of a friend who would enjoy this wonderful sight on this wet dark evening. I continued down Tremont, trying to map out my route for the evening, but unable to be decisive I decided I would let a colder, wetter me make those decisions. I knew that I would end up back at my school. It made me think of all the journeys that people take in life. Sometimes we end up back where we started, but my hope would be that even though we know where we might end up that we can end up changed for the better based on how we go through our journey.

I realized that I was smiling a great deal. I wonder what the passing drivers were thinking as I waited at the traffic light doing something somewhere between a dance move and running in place. My smile grew as I thought of some of my best friends in the world and the way that putting one foot in front of the other for long periods of time made us connected in ways that many people could never understand.

As my mind floated back to the present, I realized I was approaching Boston Common and I was being blessed with one of my favorite sights. It was the sight of steam coming up from a sewer cap, and for some reason it just really makes me happy to live in a city.

I continued to assess my stride, “Pockets and Potato Chips”.

My journey around the park led me into Downtown Crossing. It was raining and it is still before Thanksgiving, but Downtown Crossing was filled with Big Stars lighting up the entire area with holiday joy. My mind began to echo with the crisp sound of Justin Bieber’s “Little Drummer Boy”. Somehow I emerged near City Hall and I found myself looping pass the TD Garden and into Beacon Hill. I was excited that my mental typewriter was still typing away and hoped that somehow by me doing something that I love on a daily basis and writing about it that it could make people happier and excited about all of the great things that we get to do on daily basis. As I made my way up and down the narrow streets of Beacon Hill, my mind transplanted itself into the plot of a generic Hugh Grant romantic comedy where, in classic Hugh form, he has some very climatic conversation about love in the rain in a park. I smiled as I made my way out of Beacon Hill wondering why enjoyed Hugh Grant films as much I do (Love Actually, 9 Months, and 4 Weddings and a Funeral are my top 3 if anyone is wondering).

I made my way along Commonwealth Ave wondering what kind of job does someone have that lives in these incredibly amazing homes.

This thought was very fleeting as I checked in on my stride again, “Pockets and Potato Chips”. My stride was still very smooth, but I came to a very harsh realization that the very wet conditions, and length of the run had led to some serious nipple chaffing.

(Your reaction to that last sentence of writing is probably going to be the biggest determinant of how many more times you read this blog. If you enjoyed it and it made you laugh and/or smile, then congrats you will probably be reading this blog until the day you die. If you were disgusted with it, then you probably didn’t even continue reading to this sentence)

I moved onto Mass Ave, fighting through a lot of pedestrian traffic and the sound of cars honking in frustration to the inevitable traffic that you would have on a wet night. I smiled realizing that I was having much more fun then anyone sitting in traffic.

I turned down Washington St and realized that my run was going to be over in about 10 minutes and how I was so happy that I got to spend some good quality time with myself. I then came to another realization, which was that I must have washed my pants with too much detergent because my soaked pants were beginning to foam up as I strode through Dudley.

I finished strong up to my school and thought back to my students in the vestibule. I wondered about myself, “Am I crazy?” I wasn’t sure about that, but I did know one thing; that this putting one leg in front of the other for a really long time really made me quite happy!

Thank you to anyone and everyone that I have shared a run with!

Mid November Reflections

Sunday is a great day to reflect on life and the path we create for ourselves. I hope that everyone who reads this would take a little bit of time to reflect on your day, week, month, and year.

I hope that in your reflection you come to the realization that you are an amazing person with many amazing qualities and that you use those qualities to make your life and the life of others around you more amazing.

I also hope that in your reflection that you think about what more could you do. Could you add a few more minutes on to each run of the week? Could you do 1 extra good thing each day that is going to help someone in your world?

I also hope that if you were inspired to create a November resolution (see my blog entry from about 2 weeks ago) that you are taking time to reflect on how you are doing with your goals.

Here is update on my progress to my 240 miles for November. It is currently 11/13 and I am 105 miles in for the month.

Also, you should probably listen and dance along to one of the two songs I have listed below ( They probably have nothing to do with your goals, but they are just so fun)

1. Donna Summer's "Last Dance"

2. "I Just Can't Wait to be King" from the Lion King.

Have a great week all!

Accidental 10 Miler

There is few things tat feel better than to do something that is good for the mind, body, and soul especially when the thing is done with such great ease and the final result only seems to be an accident.

I ran an accidental 10 miler today. My run started with a 30 minute run with one of the athletes on my team. She is an impressive super human that pushes the people around her to be great. The amazing fall weather was a catalyst to the enjoyment that I was getting from every stride.

We ran past our school and picked up one of my friends/coworkers to join us for some more running. We ran another casual 20 minutes. The conversation flowed smoothly from Halloween attire to our favorite Thanksgiving foods and many other little interest facts that make learning about the people we surround ourselves with very fun.

We dropped off our super human athlete and decided to go out for a little bit more. The "little more" turned into 40 minutes as we discussed travel, family, and friends. The moon was extra bright as we finished smoothly back to my starting point. When I looked down at my watch I realized that 90 minutes had passed by and that I was able to spend a good amount of my day doing one of my favorite things with amazing people.

I hope that everyone takes time after reading this post to invest energy in something or someone(s) that is important to you. The more time we invest in the positive things in our lives, the more likely we are to find ourselves doing things that are accidentally awesome.

1 Day, 3 States, A whole lot of running

Any day that begins with watching thousands of people run 26.2 miles is going to be an amazing day. If you ever have the opportunity to watch a major marathon, then I would like to offer you one suggestion. Look at the eyes and mouth of the runners that pass by. I believe if you do this you will be able to notice a twinkle in their eyes and often a slight smile, but a different smile that you don't get to see every day. Although I can't say for sure, but I believe this smile and twinkle is the result of a great joy that these runners are experiencing. It is the joy of months of hard work and effort being cashed in. It is the smile of the runners thinking about all the sacrifices they made to get them to that very moment. It is the smile of runners that are caught up in their amazing accomplishment and the fact that so many people had come to celebrate their amazing feat.

It was very easy for me to lace up and go for a 3 mile run this morning in Brooklyn with the excitement of this amazing event.

Here were some special highlights of the marathon from my perspective

1. My friend, Laura, ran her 1st marathon today. I 'm incredibly proud of her!

2. Two of my friends ran extremely impressive times of 2:41 and 2:43 for the marathon. Awesome Job Sal and Walsh!

3. Another friend was the personal running coach for and ran the marathon with Olympic Gold Medalist Speed Skater Apollo Anton Ohno

4. I was able to cheer for Ethan Zong, winner of Survivor Africa.

I was able to use the inspiration provided from this amazing event to motivate myself to go on another run with my friends when I dropped them off in Connecticut. The amazing fall weather and some beautiful trails reminded me of the thousands of miles that I had run on the same trails with the same friends. The beautiful sound of leaves crunching below my feet with every stride I took felt to be part of an amazing dream sequence.

I began to get a bit tired during the last hour of my drive from Connecticut to Boston. I dropped my bags as soon as I got to my apartment and laced up 1 more time. I wanted to set a new record for myself 1 day, 3 states with a run in each state of 3 miles or more.

I think it is now time for bed.

Choosing Adventure

As the work week moves to a close, I have spent a good amount of mental energy reflecting on the week and some of the things that I wrote this week.

I challenged people to set some New Month's Resolutions and to Move to Amazing, and I hope that everyone was able to be inspired by something that I wrote this week and you had a better week because of it. I hope that you pushed others around you to have an amazing week as well.

Yesterday morning my phone went off the deep end and began doing very crazy things. The inside screen ( Yes! I had an inside screen because I had a flip phone) of my phone started displaying everything upside down and backwards. I was quite concerned that this would be my last day with a phone that I loved from the day that we met. In honor of such an amazing life we shared together I continued to use my phone in the same way that I had used it for year. A friend texted me and I responded that I had to flip my phone upside and look in the mirror to read the text. She texted me a great compliment saying something like " You even know how to turn a broken phone into an adventure".

It made me smile, but as I went to the Verizon Store and purchased my new iPhone that I am a little bit scared of I was a bit sad. The store manager told me that they wouldn't be able to recover any of my numbers from my old phone. I was upset that I would have to go through the process of regaining all of the the numbers that I had stored. This was not going to be an adventure, but a mundane task of recovery.

A few friends suggested that I just send a big facebook message or make a facebook event to quickly regain many of my lost numbers, but then I realized that it is important to choose adventure. The loss of my phone is actually a chance to reconnect. It is not only an opportunity to regain numbers of family and friend, but a chance to reach out to friends that I have from all over the country and reconnect.

I like to think that I surround myself with amazing people that do amazing things and this is just an opportunity to hear about all of the cool stuff that people are doing while regaining their contact information.

Choose to make a boring task an adventure for yourself. Invite someone to join you on the adventure and see how it makes you feel.

If you are wondering how my 240 miles for the month of November is going here is what I have accumulated so far:

11/1- 8.5 miles

11/2- 8.5 miles

11/3- 7 miles

Move To Amazing

I think that many times people think of Amazing as a destination getaway. We get trapped in our daily routines and move about our days in a very regular manner. On occasion, we venture to do something Amazing. We go on an amazing trip, we have an amazing night out, we go on amazing run, we have an amazing day at work. However, the accomplishment of amazing is something that we find ourselves at on a rare basis. It is a destination getaway that we enjoy before we get back to the reality of the somewhere between so-so, not so bad, and alright.

My challenge to you is to Move to Amazing. Allow yourself to be in this fantastic place on all of your runs. Let every day of work be amazing. Realize that you probably surround yourself with amazing people a lot of the time. It might not be easy for you to pack up all of your things and Move to Amazing, but I think you will be quite happy once you can call Amazing home.

What does November have in store for you?

Today's entry is an effort to provide reader's with a little change to their frame of mind.

As Massachusetts pushed through it's first winter storm this weekend, my mind began to focus on the winter season ahead. I think the whole world knows that I love Christmas, but the holiday that I have a lot more trouble with is New Year's. I don't dislike the idea of fresh new beginnings or setting new resolutions for ourselves. In fact, I find both of those things very important.

My question is this : Why wait till January 1st? Why not set a goal for yourself for the month of November?

November is only 30 days. I am sure if you made a New Month's resolution you are more likely to be successful than a New Year's resolution.

My November Resolution is to run 240 miles for the month of November.

So as the weekend comes to a close I challenge you to not only think of the week ahead, but of the month ahead and ask yourself and others "What does November have in store for you".

Two Claps

I would like to give some Shout Outs to some amazing things that I support.

1. To the City on a Hill Cross Country Team that ran freaking amazing at their league championship. Two Claps!

2. To Foundation Running Camp. Two Claps.

and here is their website.

http://www.foundationxccamp.com/

3. To anyone that has set out to do something that they knew was going to be difficult from the start, but realized that what they were going to be doing was important. Two claps.

Set a Big Goal for yourself for something incredible that you want to do 6 months from now. Write it down and show it to someone in the next 24 hours. Then chase down that big goal.

Set the Week on Fire!

Be an inspiration to the people that you surround yourself with this week.

Be exceptional in as many ways that you can think of and encourage people to join you in that task.

Here are some steps for getting started.

1. Wake up and drink a glass of water.

2. Do 5 push ups to get the blood flowing.

3. Compliment someone during the 1st hour you are awake.

4. Read one of my old blog entries.

5. Eat something healthy

6. Set up a time to go for a run with friend.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Spread the Joy of Being Awesome!

I was pumped up to hear from a few friends today about some of the 4 things that they have accomplished.

One of my friends is drinking his water when he wakes up.

Another friend is drinking her water, but suggests that you add some lemon to the water to start the day off on an even better note.

Another one of my friends made a salad with veggies and chicken. He also walked to the gym in the rain.

Hearing little things like this get me pumped up!

I ran in the rain today and it was crazy fun! I also played the game Ninja and that was crazy fun too!

Have you done something today to get someone pumped up about something?

If so, then post a comment to this blog post with what you did. Spread the joy of being awesome!

Find Reasons. Not Excuses.

The weather forecast for Boston for tomorrow is 62 degrees with heavy rain.

As I was preparing my running bag to bring to school for tomorrow, I prepared accordingly. I started to think about the athletes that I coached and some of the struggles I would have with keeping these athlete motivated to do what they need to do when the weather was clearly going to be the reason athletes were going to make excuses about what they were capable of doing.

If you are looking to choose a day to start running, re-start your running, or to get yourself extra fired up about the running that your are doing then I would suggest using a day like tomorrow to give you that extra boost. Here is why:

We so often search for excuses as to why we can't do something "It's raining" is one of the simple ones and there are a multitude of other excuses of why we can't do something. Once we open the door to excuses they tend to creep into our lives much faster than we would expect. So I say that we shut the door on excuses and we find reasons to do the things that are important to us.

I ran today for 35 minutes with my XC team. It was great to check in with a lot of my athletes and see how they were feeling a week before our league championship.

I ran another 35 minutes this evening with a friend. It was a great chance to catch up with a friend while doing something we both enjoyed.

Tomorrow is going to rain. I'm going to run in the rain and make a big splash through a puddle like I used to do when I was a kid because that is super fun.

Excuses are everywhere, but so are Reasons!

4 suggestions for the next 24 hours

Here is a list of 4 things that you can do that will make the next 24 hours of your life better than if you didn't do these things.

1. Listen to "Highway to the Danger Zone". For Bonus Points: while listening to this song complete as many sets of 1o push ups and then 20 crunches as you possibly can. For Even More Bonus Points do all of this with Aviators sunglasses on.

2. Drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up in the morning. I tried it this morning and I think it helped start me off to a fantastic day.

3. Tell someone about something healthy that you want to do this week.

4. Listen to "All I want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. For Bonus Points: Invite at least 1 other person to listen to it with you ( It is a great song and it is not too early to listen to it).

Try adding any or all of these things into the next 24 hours of your life.

ENJOY!

Back in the High Life Again!

In life, we often know that something is good for us, but we end up for some reason avoiding that thing.

This post is an effort to bring back a good thing in my life. It is an opportunity to remind myself of the things that are important to me.

My hope is that by reading the post you have the opportunity to remind yourself what is important to you.

I get very inspired when I think of my blog and I think of all the things that have helped contribute to it.

The friends that I made because of this sport that I love

The co-workers who ran their 1st half-marathons

The places that I have seen because of this sport

These are just some of the flashbacks in my mind when I think back to the reason why I began writing this blog in the 1st place.

Yesterday, I ran about 5 miles with the Cross Country team that I coach and then I went on a 9 mile walk.

I ran about 10 miles this morning.

This weekend was a reminder to me that we ought to push ourselves consistently to do amazing things.

We should challenge ourselves to be amazing and ask others to join us in the adventure.

Thank you to everyone that has inspired me along the way and to those that encouraged me to get back on the blogging wagon.

Give Someone a High Five Right Now!

Respect

I remember training with a friend in Boulder during the summer of 2003. We were both in Boulder to get a summer of altitude training and dose of environmental activism (Hi! Do you have a second for Environment Colorado.... Most people didn't have a second).

However I do remember a lot of training runs that we did together and there was one piece of advice he provided me when running the hills in Chataqua. "Respect the mountain" was a phrase that had been stuck in my mind since that summer.

Today I got to thinking about the training that we do and the idea of respect. If we are training with a end result, goal, or purpose then respect should be an important aspect of day to day.

In order to achieve any particular result we must have our body prepared in such a way that it is reasonable for our body to perform the serious tasks that we have it set out to perform.

If you have serious desire to achieve your goals then you must respect the body. There is particular amounts of rest, water, and proper nutrition that go along with the training you do that is going to get you to where you need to be. You don't have to live like a monk, but you should be AWARE of what you are attempting to do and respect your body or it will not act like the vehicle that you so desire it to be.

Respect your goals by respecting the body and always respect the mountain.

Making things happen

I am not sure what the number is at so far, but I have a fair number of co-workers signed up to run their 1st half-marathon in the spring.

This gets me fired up. 13.1 miles is quite the accomplishment.

So I just wanted to give them a shout out.

I am sure that you have someone that you work with or associate with in some way on a daily basis that is setting out on some athletic endeavor or challenge. Provide them with some encouragement.

This will help keep them motivated and could help you stay motivated.

Also, yesterday was Groundhog's day. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies starring Bill Murray. The interesting thing is that he continues to relive the same day until he gets it right.

Think of the choices that you make so that when you go to bed at night you would be confident that if you had to relive any day in the same exact way for all eternity you would be able to smile.

Another Short Entry

I realize that my writing should be started earlier in the evening. When I attempt to write after 9pm I realize that I am basically writing garbage.

However, there are some important updates.

1. I have 2 days of lifting in this week and I sense that is going to become a consistent routine. This is particularly true because I really love the feeling of the swollen bicep the day after during curls. I think those guys on the Jersey Shore are on to something with their GTL routine.

2. I have decided that I won't be having any beer from now until May 1st.

Make a bold decision about your life today.

Short Entry

I think I will probably be spending more time on strands then I would on facebook.

It is highly addicting and I suggest everyone checks it out.

Here is another thing that you should check out.

http://marathonatrois.blogspot.com/

It is an amazingly funny blog.

Friends helping friends

There is nothing better then getting a mental slap in the face reminder to get yourself back in gear from a friend. I realized that the whole point of this blog was to write about the ups and downs of the journey that I was making back to competitive running. Although my training has been fairly strong over the last month. My focus on writing about all of this has drifted and I realized I haven't written in quite sometime. Today the writing starts again because a friend reminded me that I need to keep writing.

Another friend has helped me in a very important way. He told me to sign up for Strands.

I am very excited to have a really amazing way of tracking my training and having others track my training (there is no better tool to a comeback than public accountability).

This friend also ran a solid 14 miler with me this morning.

I am sorry for the gap in the blog.

Minor Setback

I am coming off of my first minor set back since beginning The Bay State Test. The setback being a crazy cold from hell. I went to work on Tuesday and left about halfway through the day. The cold kept me out of work yesterday and kept me off the roads for both days. I went to work today and struggled through the negative mood that had set in because of my weakened state. My only desires were to have my mom make me some soup and to watch another episode of the Price is Right. Today limped along just like I did after mile 22 of my first marathon. I did manage to get out for a run today. It was only an easy 3 miles and my lungs felt like they were working double time. However, my legs seemed to have the most spring that they have had in months.

So even a minor setback can somehow have very positive effects.

Starting the year off with good progress

The start of 2011 has been the strongest start to any New Year I have had in recent memory. Here are a few reasons why.

1. Some of you may have noticed that my postings had come to a halt on December 23rd. This was because I was starting my Winter Vacation. I used the vacation to get an abundant amount of rest and see a lot of friends and family in New York. I trained consistently and was able to run on old familiar routes with old familiar friends.

2. I made one significant change to the way I would celebrate the end of 2010 and the start of 2011. It was to be sleeping before mid-night. Some might consider this lame, but if you were aware of the awesome impromptu NYC burger tour ( a step away from the balanced diet I had been achieving recently) that I assembled the night before then you would not question my choice to sleep in on one night that is generally overrated. I spent the earlier part of the evening with my girlfriend and we took the time to actually reflect on all of the important things that happened in our lives during 2010. We then took the time to set some goals of things that we hoped to achieve for 2011. This felt like a more authentic celebration of what a New Year hopes to bring. I woke up New Year's day energized and ready to beat all possible traffic.

3. Another reason for the option of sleeping into the New Year was to get adequate rest for a 3k that I ran on the track this morning. It was going to be a test to see how much progress I had made since my season debut at BU on December 18 where I opened with a 10:06. Today I ran a 9:39, winning my heat, which gave me a strong boost of confidence in what I have been trying to do for myself physically, mentally, and spiritually over the last month.

This is why my 2011 appears to be off to a great start. I want to offer a suggestion to people who may have had a little bit too much fun on the night of New Years and have been suffering from the effects of New Years blues. Push through this week, then give yourself a true opportunity (over next weekend) to reflect on your 2010, and establish what an amazing 2011 will look like for yourself and those around you.

Happy 2011 to All!