Self-Pity...and other news.

Recently I was feeling pretty down, as happens from time to time and I couldn’t help but remember a poem that I had heard just weeks before. I couldn’t remember the specifics of the poem, or even where I had heard it. I thought that perhaps that maybe I just dreamed that I had heard it.

After a series of Google searches, I was able to find the poem. It doesn’t rhyme but I still like it.

Self-Pity – by DH Lawrence

I never saw a wild thing

Sorry for itself

A small bird will drop frozen from a bough

Without ever having felt sorry for itself

I had heard this while watching G.I. Jane on TV one Saturday. I really like this poem because I believe that humans are the only one of Gods creations that feels self-pity and yet we probably are the only ones that don’t deserve to feel such a way.

A week or so ago I wrote my annual “State of Jeff Report” in which I recapped the year 2010 and the joys and pains that I experienced. I also outlined some of my hopes and dreams for the coming year. While over the past week or so I have focused mainly on the pains of the past year and feared the pains of the coming year, I have decided to stop the self-pity. There is only so much that is in my control and so I am striving to focus on those things.

In reading the “State of Jeff Report” you will know that one of my favorite quotes I recently learned was about being the person you believe you were meant to be. I have worked hard over the past few weeks to try to figure out who that person is, who the person I believe I was meant to be. I have struggled with that because I wanted so much to get it right the first time.

I am reminded of a time in high school when in a class we were instructed to write an essay about what we wanted to become after high school and how we were going to accomplish this. Up until that time, which was probably late Junior or early Senior year, I hadn’t thought much about what I was going to do after high school. I was enjoying the high school experience as best as I could and didn’t think about the future or what I wanted to become until that point. I pondered it for a while and then decided I was going to become a lawyer. I knew I couldn’t get into a university with my grades but I found a community college that had an excellent paralegal program as well as a transfer program with Cal. The plan was to take general education and pre-law classes there, get good enough grades that I could transfer and then finish at Cal.

Over the course of the next few years my plans changed and I ended up becoming a CPA, which is a better fit for me. Although I didn’t become what I planned in high school I became something better for me. The important thing is that I began with taking the first steps, I started by going to college. I don’t know what person I ultimately will become but I need to take the first steps. I won’t get anywhere if I just stand here trying to figure out which way I want to go. There is no wrong way, I just need to chose a path.

In related news…I have an announcement.

In my 2010 “State of Jeff Report” I indicated that one of my crowning achievements in 2010 was completing the SF Half-marathon in July and that I had a goal to complete a full marathon in 2011. I decided that it would be important for me to complete this goal and so I began to research and plan.

I reviewed upcoming marathons and weighed the options. Although it is difficult for me to plan my year out because I hope there will be several changes, I decided that I needed to plan. The factors I considered were time of year so that I would have adequate training time, location of the marathon, and degree of difficulty of the marathon course.

I have decided on a marathon. I have decided I will run the 2011 Utah Valley Marathon on June 11, 2011. I chose this marathon for a few reasons. The timing of the event will allow me plenty of time to train, even through what will be a very busy spring. In addition the route of the marathon is through the Provo Canyon, which from my experiences of driving and hiking there I can say is very lovely. Also, the marathon is suppose to be a fairly fast course and is mainly all downhill with a location close to Arizona. Another thing I like about this marathon is that all the funds are used for charities that I feel are worthy, they are aimed at helping children both in Utah Valley and throughout the world.

Although I have not yet officially signed up for the event, it is on my calendar and I have created a training schedule. Over the next 23 weeks, I will provide you with updates of my progress. There are many purposes I feel would be important for me to fulfill this goal. For one, it will give me a healthy goal to work towards. I have found running to be an excellent form of stress management and at this point in my life I could use all the stress management I can get. In addition, I find that there is a form of self discovery or self examination that comes from pushing ourselves to our limits both physically and mentally. A marathon is not only about the physical challenge of running 26.2 miles but also about the mental challenge of pushing yourself to run that far. I need to challenge myself mentally, to conquer the voices in my head that say I can’t do it.

I look forward to the challenge.

State of Jeff Report

Normally I wouldn’t prepare my “State of Jeff” speech until January however I felt I needed to do it a little earlier this year. January is looking like it will be an extremely busy time for me and I will have little time to reflect on the past as I will be focusing all of my efforts on the future.

I think that Charles Dickens summed up my year pretty well when he penned the phrase “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.

The year 2010 was both a great year and a bad year. At the beginning of the year, during my 2009 State of Jeff, I set some goals. Some of those goals were realized while others were not.

The Patterson Push-Up challenge was one of those goals that were not sustained. After about a month the challenge was aborted and the dream of large biceps faded. I also had planned to run at least 26 miles during the year. I am very pleased to announce that I achieved that goal ten times over. During 2010 I have run over 300 miles, including running 13.1 miles during the San Francisco Half-Marathon in which I finished right in the middle of the pack.

Completing the SF half-marathon was one of the highlights to my year. It was more than just completing a race, it was completing a goal and achieving something that in past years I would not have even considered.

I also set out to write a book or blog more during 2010, which I feel I was able to do. Although my blog posts have not always been consistent, I have logged over 30 posts this year. My endeavors have not stopped there. With some support and encouragement of loyal blog followers I have began the manuscript of a book. I am hoping that my book will be ready for publication sometime during the year 2011 but I don’t see that being on the New York Times bestseller list anytime during the year.

The year 2010 was filled with economic struggles which carried over from 2009 but I am confident that this coming year will provide change to that situation. I mentioned before that during January my time will be occupied working on the future. As I am still working on the specifics so let me be vague, I am hoping that during the coming year that I will be able to enjoy more freedom in my time while increasing my earnings. I will be providing more information on that as plans become more concrete.

In addition to my running the half-marathon in San Francisco, I also participated in several other local races, mostly 5K runs, during the year. I am hoping that in 2011 I will continue to run and be able to participate in many more races. I am hoping to run another half-marathon and perhaps even attempt a full marathon at some point during the year.

Other exciting things have happened to me during 2010 in addition to running. I have made significant progress on my road to self discovery and happiness. I mentioned before that it has been both good and bad this year. As a result of the struggles from the year, mainly in the area of personal and family relations, I have been able to utilize the lessons and experiences learned to assist me in coming closer to living happily. I continue to look within myself to discover the person I feel that I was meant to be.

My favorite quote I learned this year is “Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.” – George Sheehan.

I have made great strides in determining who the person I believe I was meant to be is and in 2011 I will find success. I will become that person.

My goals for the coming year are to continue to run in races as I am able. I also plan to donate my time to worthy causes and have already begun the process to use my accounting knowledge to help those in need. I also plan to achieve economic success during the year which I have already begun to lay the groundwork for as well.

There are many other things that I would love to see occur in the coming year but many of them are things I can not directly control. The best I can do, and will do, is to live my life in a way to set me up for success, of becoming the person I believe I was meant to be, and the rest should then take care of itself.

I hope the coming year will be a wonderful year, for me and for all of you.

I thank you for your friendship and for your support.

I Will Run.

Typically I am not a reader. I enjoying watching a movie or a show more then reading, I find it to be more efficient and less work. However, I broke my rule when I learned of a book that was of interest to me. I was reading an article in Runners World Magazine which was an excerpt from a book. It was enough to get me hooked, I wanted to read more, in fact I wanted to read the whole book.

I wasn’t about to go out and actually “buy” a book, so I called the local library to see if they had a copy. They told me they could move the book from one branch to my local branch and keep it on hold for me. I soon dusted off the library card and went and picked up the book.

The book was called “The Long Run, A New York City Firefighter’s Triumphant Comeback from Cash Victim to Elite Athlete” by Matt Long.

The book was of interest to me for several reasons. Mainly because this guy, Matt, was a marathon runner and Ironman athlete. Also, he was a NYC firefighter and his firehouse was just a few blocks from where I had once lived.

His story is amazing, even without the tragic event that took place in his life, I think Matt would be an inspiration to many, after all he was in the NYC firefighter. He was also a successful entrepreneur and owns several bars in Manhattan with one of his brothers. He was among those that responded to Ground Zero on 9/11 just moments before the second tower collapsed and helped search through the debris to find what few survivors made it. He helped fight many fires, and saved lives. He ran marathons and qualified for the Boston Marathon and also competed in the grueling Ironman. Without tragedy, he was someone who most people could admire.

His story didn’t stop there though, it went much further. Just about six weeks after finishing the NYC Marathon and a few weeks before he began his training for Boston, we was riding his bike to work, where he trained new recruits for the fire department. He was riding his bike because the City transit workers were on strike (illegally) and he had no other method to get there. As he was riding, he was struck by a charter bus that was making an illegal turn. The bus literally ran him over and when police and medics arrived on scene, Matt was trapped under the bus, with his bike piercing through him and into the bus. At the time they gave Matt a 5% chance of living.

The book chronicles his journey from being a marathon runner, to being literally torn apart and unable to do anything, even sit up. It took Matt three years of hard work and determination before he finally ran the NYC marathon again when it took him more than twice as long to finish. He also went on to complete an Ironman.

Endurance sports such as a marathon or Ironman are as much mental as they are physical. The ability to run 26.2 miles is no doubt physically challenging but to stay positive the entire run and to continue to run is just as much a part of the sport. After going through what he had gone through, Matt would need this same mental toughness just to get through the day-to-day living in a new condition.

His story is amazing because he decided one day that he wasn’t going to live a sad and depressed life but he was going to do what had always made him happy. He was going to run. He was determined, he was motivated and he was successful. I took away a lot from this book, not just about running but about life. We all have adversity, some more than others, some different from others. We can chose to let it stop us from living the life we want, or we can chose run.

I have never experienced the physical pain that Matt had to go through and I hope I never have to. I think it would be fair to say though, that I have felt my share of discouragement, of adversity and of trials, just like most people. In the past I have felt like I was a victim, that circumstances were out of my control and I felt helpless. I don’t feel that way anymore. Sure there are trials I have to go through but I know I can either feel sorry for myself or I can chose to overcome it and live the way I want to live. I can be happy, if I chose to be happy. Just like it was not easy for Matt to run again, it won’t always be easy for me.

This book moved me in many ways. His story is an inspiration. It made me want to train to run a marathon myself. To push myself both to my physical and mental limits. I never thought I could run 13.1 miles but I did. I pushed myself and I did it. Now I believe I can run the other half, the whole 26.2 miles. My goal, complete a marathon before my next birthday. Which one? I don’t know but I know it’s going to happen. I won’t qualify for Boston and that’s OK with me. I will finish, I will run.

Beautiful Storms

Sometimes when I am in the mood, it's always nice to write down what I feel inside. I wouldn't say that I am a song writer or a poem writer, though I do jot something down from time to time as a way to express what is inside. Just like life, sometimes that are good things, sometime they are bad.

I wrote the poem below one night as I was sitting and thinking about how I have been able to learn and grow from my trials. I became appreciative of the struggles I have and am experiencing because it forces me to grow. I thought of how I loved hiking the mountains in Colorado and how often times we would have to deal with snow (even in the summer) and lightning but because of those storms the beauty of what we were able to experience was created. We couldn't have a forest without rain and we couldn't know joy if we didn't know pain.

I am not saying the poem is any good, I just thought I would share.

Beautiful Storms

Have you ever laid beneath a shade tree
and dreamed a peaceful dream?
Have you listened to a bird's song
or heard the rushing stream?
Have you laid upon the green grass
and gazed up at the sky?
Have you ever felt your soul at peace
and stopped to question why?

Have you ever walked a mile
while rain fell from up high?
Have you ever felt the cold wind blow
as you loudly cursed the sky?
Have you ever felt a burden
you thought too much to take?
Have you ever longed for something
that it caused your heart to ache?

The shade tree couldn't grow
if it never felt the rain.
And your soul would never grow
if it never felt some pain.
So next time you feel the storm
And you see the sky turn gray,
know that after every storm
there's a sunny day.

Champions!

Well it's been some time since my last post but I have to put something down today. I have been a Giants fan since I was just a young boy, many, many years ago. Last night for the first time in my life, I could say my team is the World Champions.

You would think that being born just miles from Oakland, during the World Series in which the A's would win, that I would grow up to be an A's fan. For some reason, I fell in love with the city across the bay. I loved going to see a game in Candlestick.

Of course having the Giants win the World Series comes with a price for me, quite literally. In Spring Training, Jared and I were getting some autographs when after getting Bruce Bochy's signature, another fan wished Bruce good luck in the World Series. I chuckled to myself, what a silly thing to say in Spring Training, to a Giants manager. There and then Jared made a bet with me that the Giants would win the World Series. If they did, he gets an Xbox, if they don't, I get $10. Seemed pretty good to me. In fact a couple weeks later I was up at a conference in Laughlin, NV and I could have placed a bet on the Giants winning it all. I figured if I placed $10 on that back then and they won, I could get two Xbox's, either way I wouldn't lose. I decided not and just keep my ten bucks.

After the final out last night, both Jared and I were jumping up down like we were the ones on the field. For me it was finally over, the years I spend wishing they would just win it all, for Jared I think it was more about him winning his Xbox.

I have only had a couple of chances to see my team even make it to the World Series. I will never forget the Series in '89 when they got swept by the A's. Of course I blame it all on the earthquake. I will never forget that one.

Then in 2002 it looked like they would get it done. With a juiced up slugger they were looking pretty good but then choked it away to the Angels.

Somehow this was there year. It was meant to be. I mean waiting to the last day of the season to win the NL West, then getting hot just at the right time. What an awesome year it was, I can't wait till next spring when you will find me once again at Scottsdale Stadium cheering them and getting an autograph or two. (By the way, I was pitched in Scottsdale Stadium...it was kickball but still it was cool).

Inner Peace

I haven't much time but I wanted to get a post in this morning before my busy and long day. I got about a nine hour workday plus a four hour drive ahead of me. I really am looking forward to it.

I read a quote this morning "Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived"

I love this quote because it really encompasses two of the things that I am working on right now. Running and finding inner peace. I love running because when I am out there running it is only me. I am not one of these people that want to run with a group, not because I am anti-social but because I enjoy my alone time. I am at peace with everything when I am running. It seems weird that I could go run seven miles and be at peace but I am. Nothing else matters for that time that I am running, everything is about what I want it to be about. It's my 'happy place' so to speak.

I am working on finding inner peace in life. I think I have to go through life thinking like I do when I run. I have to not sweat the small stuff, focus on what really matters and try to control the only things I can. When I run I can control my pace, my route and my thoughts that is really about it. The rest just happens, stuff like the weather, the traffic and other things I just can't control but I don't worry about it.

There are so many things in my life that I try to control but can't because they just are what they are. There are so many things I worry about that there is nothing I can do about them, so then why worry about it. I am working on letting things be that I can't control. I am starting to think to myself, 'is there anything I can do about it' or 'does it need to be fixed?' There are so many things I think should be different or changed that in reality don't need be changed. There are things that I think are 'problems' that really aren't problem but in fact my be opportunities.

Yesterday I went running up here in Gallup NM at 5:30 in the morning. It was about 40 degrees and I had planned a three mile route near the hotel. As I went running it was cold and half-way through my route there was a train passing through the middle of town. I had to quickly improvise a route which ordinarily would throw me for a huge loop. I was I to know how many miles I was at? I didn't worry about it. I went another way just running and figured the rest out later. I was at peace while I was running. What if I could run through life the same way? When I became faced with obstacles instead of freaking out about, what if I just kept running? What if I kept doing what I was meant to do, what I wanted to do?

My goal is to live a life of inner peace. To not let the past pull me down, to not let the uncertain future throw me off, but to just live my life the way I want to live and the way I was meant to live.

Who am I?

So over the past week or so I have been pondering more on my new favorite quote that I included in my past post. The real question for me is “Who do I believe I am meant to be?”

I have thought a lot about this and I realize that what I was meant to be was deeper that what I was meant to do for a living but on a more meaningful level what type of person I was meant to be. Somewhere in the many classes and courses I have taken over the years, there was the concept presented that you should write down what you want people to say about you when you die.

I use to really not care what people said when I died. I always thought when I die they could just dig a hole, throw me in and cover me up, I didn’t need a funeral or tombstone. A lot of this thinking was just my immature self thinking that I was not important and that people wouldn’t care when I died. I now realize that people would be sad if I passed on and there probably would be a funeral.

So the question is now what would I like people to say about me, not only when I pass on but as I am alive. No one will care so much that I graduated with an undergraduate and graduate degree, or that I was a CPA. What really matters is what type of person I was, not how I made a living but how I made my life.

What I determined is that I have often judged myself based on a belief that my worth was somehow tied to how much money I made or what professional level I achieved. Accordingly as I have struggled to make ends meet from day one, I have judged myself harshly and felt I wasn’t a good father or husband. What I now realize is that I have been judging myself against the wrong standard, what I should have been looking at was my character. What type of person am I?

So to come full circle, to be successful means that I need to live to be the person that I believe I am and that belief should be based on my character and nothing else.

It reminds me of Jean Valjean from Les Miserables. Javert believed that Valjean was a criminal because he stole a loaf of bread to feed a starving child. By his act he was labeled a criminal but his character spoke of who he truly was. Once he was able to change his identity people knew him for what he truly was, a kind and just man. However, Javert could never see that because he looked at only his one past action.

We can’t be defined by an action we once took or a label that was given to us regardless of if that label was justly given or not. The choice is now mine to determine what person I want to be and to become that person.

A New View

Well I made it back from Navajo Nation where I spent the past four days. I must say it's nice to be back in town. It was a long week and I felt like I was in another country. My cell phone barely worked, my internet was slow, and my TV channels were limited. But with the limited availability of technology came some good.

Most of you probably know that I have another blog that I started that chronicles the life lessons I have learned as a result of my running endevours. Normally when thinking of ideas for that blog, I think of my running and apply aspects of that to life. This week the opposite happened for me. I was thinking about life and applied it to my running. I guess the net effect is the same, I was able to better understand a life lesson by using practical examples.

As many of you know, I have been going through a difficult time in my life, or should I say another difficult time. Normally I would tend to be very vague and not get too far into what I am going through but seeing as that has always been part of my problem, I am going to go ahead and tell it like it is. A few weeks ago I moved out of the house and am currently living with my parents. Of course the first thing people want to know is who is to blame. The answer really is no one. We just felt it would be best if we each took a little space and worked on ourselves so that we could then work on our relationship. There is no ill will, there is no fighting, there is just a need for space.

I think my biggest problem is that I have always been "emotionally immature". I have always pretended like everything is cool and pushed my true feelings deep inside and bottled them up. The problem is that in doing that I have caused myself a lot of pain and unhappiness which in turn has hurt those around me. So I have decided it is time to uncork the bottle and let it all out. That is part of why I am writing this, I don't pretend that hundreds of people read my blog and I really don't write because I want to touch others. I write because it is the best way for me to get it all out. So this blog may become a lot more serious than it always has been, I am going to say what I have to say. In doing so, maybe it will touch someone else who feels like I do, maybe it won't. All I know is that I feel like I have a story to tell and I am going to tell it.

Back to my life lesson, I was pondering on how life always seemed to suck for me and how I always seem to be going through a difficult time. I have grown frustrated with life in general and wished life would just get easy. Then I applied my running.

When I first started to run, I could barely jog for three minutes before I had to walk. It was painful and difficult but I kept going, I kept training. There were a lot of times when I thought about giving up. I would say it was too hard and that I shouldn't do this...I couldn't do this. I had no plans of running any races, I just wanted to run.

Now months later, I have run a half-marathon when before I couldn't run for three minutes, I now consider three miles to be my "easy" run. I have gotten to this point in running because I pushed through the pain, I kept going and never gave up.

That's when it really hit me. Life is the same way. I have gotten to where I am because I have pushed through the pain and never gave up. I could easily just give up on life right now but I don't...I can't. All of this stuff that I have gone through and that I am going through is simply like a training run. It is making me stronger. I don't know where I am going but I know where I have been. I know that I am becoming a better person because I have struggled and pushed through it. Maybe this doesn't make sense to anyone but when I realized all this I gave thanks to God for the life I have been given. It was probably the first time that I could look at all the past and have gratitude for it. In the past I have always questioned God for "giving" me the life that I had, problems and all. Now I thank God for what He has given me because I have learned so much and continue to learn from it all.

I believe that there is a purpose behind everything that has happened to me. I had a nice talk with God yesterday and asked for His help. I asked Him to tell me what my purpose is or what I should be doing. I know there is more to life than just being a CPA, as awesome as that is. I get a daily quote from RunnersWorld.com to help my motivation and this morning as I checked my Email I recieved my quote. This mornings quote was deep and was timely considering my conversation with God.

"Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be." -George Sheehan

I have never really thought before that I was meant to be anything special or important. That is where my thought process is going to change. I am going to find out what person I was meant to be and I am going to become that person. I know I have the determination, the will and the courage to do it.

Maybe that is the direction this blog is going to take. Perhaps the posts to follow will chronicle my journey to that discovery and achievement. I know that it will happen because for the first time in my life I believe it can...I really believe. I also know that my past will help me, not hinder me, from becoming this person.

It was a good week for me, it's been a good life. I look forward to whatever comes next, because I know it will be great, it will be a success.

Here comes the fall

Well, I guess fall is officially here. Of course in Arizona that doesn't really mean that much. It's not like when I lived in NY and the leaves would turn all sorts of lovely colors and fall off the trees. The air would turn crisp and cool. I actually do recall Central Park in fall.

I am looking forward to cooler weather, even if that means the 90's. It seems that there are about to be all sorts of changes coming. Hopefully they will be good ones.

Sometimes I wish that life came with a rewind button or a do-over button. This is life though for whatever that means. I have been doing a lot of thinking and pondering lately. Sometimes that is a difficult thing to do but I think it is much needed. Sometimes you don't want to pull that band-aid off but you just got to do it. In my pondering I started a new blog. I decided to mix things up a little bit and use Wordpress for that. No real reason why, just mixing it up. The link is: http://running2enlightenment.wordpress.com

It's intended to be a little more focused on the life lessons that I have learned thus far in my running endevours. I started to make a list and it grew and grew so I thought that maybe I could create a blog and update every week or so with a new piece of wisdom.

You can check it out and let me know what you think. That's about it from me. I've been up in Lake Havasu working. It's hotter here than in Phoenix but it's nice being near the lake. Next week I will be in Prescott then another client the week after that. Work is getting busy and I am actually kind of glad about that. It keeps me busy.

Well, until next time, I wish you all the very best.

September Morn

Well it has been a couple of weeks since my last post. The roller-coaster of life continues. I may have sounded a little pessimistic or depressed in my last post or two. Without getting into details lets just say I have some good days and some bad days probably like most of us. I remember when I was young and I thought life was hard. I thought that when I was a grown up life would be easier. My kids think life is tough because they have to go to school and then come home and do homework. They have a bedtime and can't eat ice cream for breakfast. Life is hard as a kid, I can't deny that but life doesn't get any easier.

Maybe in another thirty years it will be easier, after I have had a stroke and I am in nursing home. Maybe a little Alzheimer so I can't remember who I am. I guess you will have to tune in thirty years from now and see what happens.

Enough of all that nonsense. Today is going to be one of those good days. Jared has a football game which will be fun even though it is 50 miles away. It is only suppose to be 100 degrees today so that should not be too bad. I just have to remember to cake on the sunscreen. After all, I am part Scottish and part Idahoan. I get a sunburn from watching Bay Watch on TV.

Tonight is the new iCarly show which we are all excited about. For those of you who haven't seen iCarly you are missing out on probably the best kid show on TV. I am glad that my children have moved past Dora the Explorer and Barney and are now watching shows I can enjoy.

You may have noticed I haven't blogged too much about running lately. That's because I haven't run a lot. Part of it has been my lack of motivation coupled with a slight case of depression and a side of Phoenix summer weather. It has been hard getting back into it after taking some much needed time off to rehab that calf injury. I am pretty much good to go and have been running short distances on occasion. I also have been cross training with my Biggest Loser sculpting DVD. My plan is to get in good enough shape so that next summer I can run around town with no shirt on. I can't really do that right now. Next summer though I should have the upper body I had in high school. Then all I will need is a spray-tan and a chest wax. (TMI?)

I do planning on resuming my training next Monday. I have devised a training schedule in hopes of running the PF Chang's half-marathon in January. I have not officially signed up yet as my home is need of an economic bailout. I have appealed to the democrats but haven't gotten any stimulus money yet. Hopefully I can raise the cash needed for an entrance fee before it's too late. I am thinking about having a bake sale or something to raise money. Maybe I can do one of those things were if people want to donate they can send a text. I could look into setting myself up as a non-profit charity and if anyone needs a tax break they can donate money. Regardless, for now I am starting to train as though I am going to run it.

I decided not to do the full marathon as I was originally thinking about doing. I just feel that since I took so much time off to recover from SF, that I wouldn't be able to put a full effort into it. I am looking forward though to doing the half and setting a new PR (that's personal record for all you not hip to running lingo). I hope to run it quite a bit faster than SF as in PHX the course is mostly all flat. My goal is to run it in 2:05:00. That would be about 19-20 minutes faster than my SF time. I have about 18 weeks to train for it.

Before I go I just want to put in a moment of silence in remembrance of 9/11 and also take a moment to thank those fighting to keep us free, especially my bro Mike. I don't want to get all political or anything right here. It's just one of those days that always hits home. Having lived in NY for a couple of years watching the events nine years ago really hit home as I am sure it did for every American. And having a brother serving in Iraq, I really appreciate the sacrifice made by our military. I don't want to get into the politics of war right now, I just want to say thank you. We live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns. Whose going to do it? (A little Few Good Men right there)

Well I better get a move on my day. I still have to play equipment manager and put Jared's pads from his practice pants into his game pants. Peace out my loyal followers, may the force be with you.

The End of Summer

So here goes another post, possibly the last one in August. The weather is cooling off, we had about four days now in a row of sub-100 degrees (about 98-99). On Saturday we got a nice storm blow through so of course I went outside with the girls to check it out. There is nothing quite like when it is in the 90's and raining hard. We got some hail which is when Ethan came outside wearing only his shorts and his bicycle helmet. It was the funniest thing to see him standing in the street (which had turned into a river) in a helmet and shorts.

Of course he was the smart one because when I got pelted in the head with some hail I was wishing I was wearing my helmet.

With the kids back in school, cooler temps and what seems to be the start of another busy season at work that can only mean one thing, summer is over. It's sad really, I will miss it. I won't miss the 110 degree days and the 90 degree nights but it was a fairly nice summer. Sure I would have liked to take more vacation time and gone to far away places but that didn't happen. We did make it to the Grand Canyon which was a lot of fun. I made it out to San Francisco which was great. I can only hope next summer brings more family fun.

That is about it for this post. Obviously some other things happened this week but nothing to write about on this forum. Some things are best left to my dear diary.

Just an update

For those of you who keep up on my blog (if anyone does) you may have noticed I have not written lately. Yes, I am still alive. I have been able to build back up to running a few miles although not very fast. I am really unsure about my running future. I just have not felt real motivated lately to run. I guess it's because I have too much weighing me down right now.

Often times I try to compare real life experiences to life in general. Parables I guess you could call it. I don't know but let me explain. Years ago when I was much younger and living in Colorado, a friend of mine and I would go hiking in the summer. We would hike 14K foot mountains which are a plenty in the Rocky Mountain State. Hiking a mountain that is over 14,000 ft is not an easy task. Often times the trail was long and once you reach tree-line the air becomes very thin and breathing is not as easy as I would like. We often had to deal with snow (in the summertime) and lighting. It was not easy but the views were often amazing and there is nothing quite like standing on the summit of a mountain and looking at nothing but other mountains all around.

I often thought life was a similar journey. Difficult and trying but filled with great views and feelings of triumph when standing on top of the mountain. There was more than just reaching the top of the mountain in our hikes. Reaching the top only meant we were half way there. We also had to come back down the mountain. Coming down the mountain was usually a quicker trip, the air became more breatheable and the views again were nice. However, coming down was not easy. When we got back down it was back to the car, a drive home and back to the grind of daily life.

Perhaps that is where the real parallel lies. After every high point comes the journey back down. Back to reality, back to the grind and the daily struggle. Perhaps all we really have in this life is a few moments to stand on the peak, look over the valleys, and then head back down into it.

The question becomes then is the climb really worth it? Is all the pain and struggle worth a few moments of total peace and happiness. Maybe knowing what it feels like to be so high makes being so low worse. Perhaps it would be better to just sit on the sideline of life.

I hope my ramblings here haven't depressed anyone. It's just been a bad couple of weeks, for many reasons. I want to gear up and climb another mountain (so to speak) but I don't really know how many more steps I can take.

Rest and Recovery Continues...

Well, I missed my blog update last week but not too much happened anyways. I have been sidelined with a leg injury so I haven't been able to run. Trust me, I tried. According to my Dr. (WebMD) I have a level 1 micro tear in my calf muscle. I confirmed this opinion with several other doctors (all online of course). Really it just means I pulled a muscle in my calf and I need to rest it a couple of weeks. I don't know if it was a direct result of the 11 miles I ran before it started to hurt, or the 2.1 miles I ran after it started to hurt, but I am sure that the hills had something to do with it. Nevertheless, I am feeling a bit better and should be able to run my 5K race on Sunday. Hopefully, I can get a run or two in before that.

Unlike some of my fellow Half-Marathon (and perhaps some of the full marathon) runners in San Francisco, I did not run with a camera or a phone, or phone that is also a camera. I didn't run with an Apple I-anything and so I did not take pictures along the course. I was able to manage to find one photo taken of me by the official race photographer which I will include below.

I also used a few of my favorite photos that were snapped by said fellow runners or local newspaper professionals.

Here we are running from the start line. It was a really cool place to start (literally and figuratively) close to the Bay Bridge.

At the start we made our way down Embarcadero past the Ferry Terminal.

After a while we made it across the Golden Gate Bridge. As we approached the North side of the bridge, it was cold enough to see your breath. So that's not all fog, it's about 20,000 runners panting to make it.

Finally, here is a picture of me, to prove that I was actually there. It is not a very good picture however. This picture was taken while we were running in Golden Gate Park which means it was taken around mile 13. I would have preferred a picture of me within the first five miles or so because I am sure I looked a little better than this. The first big hill was around mile 5 up to the bridge which wasn't all that bad. Then around mile 9 we hit nothing but up hill and down hill for the rest of the race. So if you think I look like I am about to die in this picture, you are right.

I did also get a finishers medal which I will probably post a picture of on FB one of these days. I am also suppose to get a finishers certificate but I am not sure when that will be available. It was an awesome experience I am looking forward to going out again next year to do it again. I am still in the debate of if I want to try a full marathon, but I am definitely going to be doing some more half-marathons. First I just need to recover.

Mission Accomplished

San Francisco Half-Marathon - Complete

Well, I am back in the Valley of the Sun, or as I like to call it...Satan's winter home, and my trip to San Francisco was awesome.

I first want to give a big thanks to Cheri and Dave for providing me with transportation, lodging and food. All of which was gratefully appreciated. Sorry about the chair, I really have been trying to lose weight, I guess I have a few more pounds to go. I love you guys and again...thank you. I don't care what anybody says Cheri, you are awesome and I love you like a sister.

I want to thank everyone who wished me well and supported me during my training. Knowing that so many people were supporting me and would be asking me how I did made me train and run that much harder. Accountability can be a good motivator.

I especially want to thank Theresa for her support over the past several months. Listening to me talk about my training and running all the time can be tiring I know. I appreciate the support, the encouragement and the love. Without you, this wouldn't have happened. Many people think I am a pessimist, I always thought of myself as a realist. You helped me to see that reality is what you make it, and that a dream, with work can become reality. You complete me.

Enough with the Grammy acceptance speech, let's get on to what took place on Sunday. I won't bore you too much with Friday or Saturdays itinerary. Suffice it to say I flew to SF on Friday and Saturday attended the Expo where I picked up my shirt, my bib and countless free samples of health snacks and juices.

So Sunday started about 4:00am. I woke up and started drinking water, took a shower (so I would smell nice at the starting line) and off I went. Cheri and Dave provided me with a morning "To Go" bag consisting of some bananas, water, and homemade granola. I ate the bananas and granola as I made the drive up to start line. They had told us that the Embarcadero Center would have parking available for only $10, so after a few mis-turns, I found myself a place to park. I had left early enough that I would be able to find parking and make a bathroom break before I needed to report to the start line. As I emerged from the underground parking garage at 5:30 in the morning, I realized something...it was cold. I made my way to the starting area and found what seemed like hundreds of port-o-potties for which I needed one. The problem, so did thousands of other runners. After waiting in line for almost a half hour, I got my chance. I made it to the starting line in time, and for some reason we were delayed so I was good to go.

I did a little stretching and warming up and took in the experience. It was still dark, cool and some low fog. The kind were it was just above most the buildings, although you couldn't see the top of the Transamerica Building. Behind us at the start the Bay Bridge stood close and just in front of us was the Ferry Terminal. After several minutes of waiting, it was my waves turn to make our way to the start line. As we made our way towards the start line we passed the medical tent for the full marathon finish. There was literally stacks of crutches sitting there, in plain sight. Thanks for the boost of confidence. I reminded myself that this was it, this is what I had trained for, what I got up early in the mornings for, what I ran in 90 degree heat for. I was ready.

When I first made plans to run this race my goal was to complete it in about 2 hours and 25 minutes, just over an 11 minute mile pace. Over the past few weeks I thought about changing my goal to a quicker pace by maybe 15 or 30 seconds but since I hadn't been able to do as many long runs because of the heat and I knew there was some rough hills toward the end, I left my goal at 11.

The race started and we were off. Running down the Embarcadero, right along the Bay. It was a little congested at the beginning but I tried to find my pace and enjoy the views. I watched as the fog was just over Coit Tower when I hit the first mile marker, it was 11:15 on my watch, slower than I wanted. I then picked up the pace which was easier as things started to thin out. We passed Pier 39, Boudin Sourdough Company (which smelt delicious at 6:30 in the morning) and Fisherman's Wharf. It was about then that I hit mile marker two, just under 22 minutes, I had made up my time and was feeling good.

Just after that was the first hill. It was short but steep and led us through Fort Mason. Looking to my right I could see Alcatraz sitting in the Bay. Just ahead was the Golden Gate Bridge, the upper half of the towers covered in fog. We made our way through Crissy Field were the next hill was visible. A long climb that led toward the bridge. In front of me was a sea of runners, almost like a line of ants climbing up the hill. I started my climb trying to be as optimistic as possible, thinking soon I would be on the bridge. Sure enough I made it up, and I was on the Golden Gate Bridge.

By this point we had already logged 5 miles and I was now about a minute or so ahead of schedule. The bridge was congested which made it difficult to find the right pace. They had one lane of runners going North and one lane of runners going South, a buffer lane, and then the traffic. I had lost a couple minutes by the time I got off the bridge but it opened up as we made our way to the vista point parking lot. I was able to make up some time and get in front of slower traffic as some stopped for drinks and/or to use the restroom. (The half hour standing in line was well worth the wait...all along the course people were waiting in lines to use port-o-potties at the water stations). Going back across the bridge was pretty congested as well but opened up again as we made our way off. Getting off the bridge led to a small decline as we entered the Presidio, at which point we were past 9 miles. The problem was, it was all hills from there on.

After a rather small decline, a very long steep hill was waiting. It seemed that this hill went on forever and even though it was scenic, it was rough. On the way up the hill I grabbed a drink at another water station and continued to climb. Near the top of the hill the Pacific Ocean became visible. After the top came a long run down the other side. Running down was not exactly easy but it was nice to be going down. The only bad part was the rolling hills that stood between were I was and the finish line. At mile 11 was another drink station and since I didn't have to even slow down at this one, I took some water and kept going. I had reached 11 miles and I was almost perfect with my pace time.

I would have liked to say that at mile 11 I was feeling great but I think I started to hit a wall. My left calf muscle started to feel tight, my math skills were becoming depleted and in my mind I cursed this hills before me. At mile 11 we were now in neighborhood streets, going up a little and down a little. Over and over again. At mile 12, Golden Gate Park was in sight and a new sense of hope overcame me. I thought, "only a little more than a mile, that is just four laps around the track". I have learned from running, the last mile is always the longest.

We made our way to the park and as we took a right turn we encountered another uphill battle. The sides of the road were covered with people cheering us on and I knew the end was near. As we continued up the hill we reached the split off point, full marathon runners go right, half-marathoners to the left. I was glad to go left, I couldn't imagine being just at half-way. A little further and I had reached to top of the hill, and I knew it was all down hill from there...literally. We came around a bend and there it was, a big white banner across the street that let us know the finish line was close. A quick glance at my watch and I knew I would be right about my goal. At some point, in some way, I dug down deep and gave my everything to run across the line. I don't know if I was really running all that fast but it felt like I was sprinting. I crossed at 2:24:14. That was 46 seconds under my goal time.

I had done it, I made it...mission accomplished. My left calf was killing me but other than that I felt fine. After the finish line they handed us some water, then just past a filled medical tent they gave us our medals and a heat blanket. I took some time to walk around a little bit to try and stretch out my calf but to no avail so I made my way to the food line. After grabbing some tasty treats and a drink and feeling fine, I recycled my heat blanket and made my way to the line for the shuttle back to the start. In hind sight I should have kept my heat blanket, I had to wait in line for a good half-hour or more for a shuttle and it was pretty darn cold.

When I finally did get on the bus I was so happy to be sitting down...that was until I tried to get back up. Now more of my muscles were sore, especially that pesky left calf. I hobbled my way back to the car (thanks again Cheri for the use of your sweet ride) and off I went. I had done it, and it was awesome. I was able to snap so many mental pictures of that day. It was an experience I will not soon forget. Not just for the sights that I saw or even the experience but for what I did. I dared to dream, I worked and sacrificed, and I achieved. I saw it through from the idea of "what if I could" to crossing the finish line.

When I was on the bus back to the start line I was talking to the lady sitting next me. We were talking about the race, about how we felt, that kind of stuff. It was her second half-marathon and I told her that it was my first. She asked the question of "what's next?" Would I do another half or a full. Originally I never thought I would do a half and I did. Then I thought perhaps I would do a full but in that moment on the bus, after the experience I was unsure. Physically it would be twice as hard but mentally it would be twice as rewarding. I think I will wait a few days for the pain to go away before I decide what's next. I have another 5K coming up in a couple weeks, then I may try my hand at a 10K. Beyond that, we will see.

One more week

SF UPDATE: 8 days 22 hours and counting.

Another week has come and gone. Now we are getting to the end of July and things are really heating up...literally. Yesterday it was a lovely 115 here in Phoenix. Of course it's a dry heat and so that is suppose to make it more bearable. All I know is...it's HOT. No worries, in a few months it will start cooling off and all will be well.

I was up in Prescott for most of this week which was really nice. Day temps were in the 90's but it cooled down at night. (In Phoenix overnight lows are now mid 90's). Prescott also has lots of green trees and hills so my morning runs were just lovely. Cool and scenic and challenging hills which is much needed. I hear that SF has some hills so the fact that I could walk out my hotel room and run hills was nice. At home I have to drive across town to find moderate hills to run on.

I got my racing shirt last week as well which I am really excited about. Now I could have waited to the Marathon Expo and picked up my regular shirt and bib and worn that for the race but this race shirt has my bib printed directly on to it with a personalized message. This means I don't have to worry about pinning my bib onto my shirt and makes it easier for me to use my shirt for a sweat rag as I run.

You'll have to reference my FB album to see a photo of the shirt. I can't access the picture right now so I can't add it here. The personalized message I chose was from a great mentor of mine. He was a Master Jedi (he passed away long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away). His name was Yoda and he once said "Do or do not...there is no try". That is what I put on the shirt because I felt that it was very fitting for what I was doing.

This race in SF is about me choosing to do or do not. It's about proving to myself that I can "do" something instead of just thinking about trying to do something. Now as I am running, if I feel discouraged and think about giving up, I can look down and read the words of Master Yoda and remember I can either do it or not do it, it's my choice.

Well I have one more week to go until I go out to California. I am excited for the run, to cooler temps and a chance to hang out with my older sister. I will most likely blog again before I leave and for sure I will blog about my run as soon as I can. I don't know what the heck I will blog about after next week but I am sure I will think of something. It seems as though running has consumed my life the last few months which is a good thing. I use to really look forward to sitting on the couch and watching TV and though I still love some TV time, I really enjoy running. Yesterday morning I got up early in Prescott and went and ran six miles of hills and loved every moment of it. It was so nice to be outside enjoying to weather and it felt good. I hope to keep it up and maybe, just maybe there will be a marathon in my future.

Four days of freedom.

SF Half-Marathon Update: 18 days, 16 hours

The Independence Day weekend is over, and what a nice weekend it was. Four days off sure was nice, I wouldn't mind four day weekends every week, but every once in a while will have to do. A special shout out to all those who are working to preserve our freedom.

Friday not a whole lot happened. Honestly, I don't know what I did other than play some video games and watch TV. I did go for a run in the morning but of course I slept in a little so I got out of the house a little late. As a result, my four mile run turned into a three mile run due to the heat.

Saturday Ethan and I headed over to Home Depot for some Kid's Club action. He made a periscope this month and did totally awesome. He's got his hammering skills down to an art. He can start the nails and finish all on his own. (Yeah, no smashed fingers...mine or his) He's got some mad building skills.

Sunday was the Fourth, so I woke up at 4:30Am and headed across the valley for a race. It was a four miler and even though with slightly cooler temps (104) and a 6:30AM start, it was warm. My time was not quite what I wanted (36:23) but considering the heat I wasn't too disappointed. The course was really nice as well, it went along what would be a river bed (if there was water in it) and had some ups and downs, which was good practice. After the race they hooked us up with some hot dogs and hamburgers in addition to the normal snacks but after the run I could only eat about half. I did do some research about the effects of heat on running because I also noticed that even my 3 mile training runs were a bit slower than they have been before early morning temperatures hit the 80's. Luckily I was encouraged to find out that a 20 degree increase can increase times by 10%. I also learned that ideal long distance running temperature is 54 degrees, which is right about the starting temp for the SF Marathon. So I should be good to go with that. Sunday night, Ethan and I ended up home alone so we ended up watching some TV together. It was a nice night just hanging out with him.

Monday was Ethan's birthday, all the girls got up early to go catch the Eclipse movie with Grandma. The boys and I caught up with them over at G'Ma & G'Pa's house for some swimming and tacos. It was a great day and a good way to end my four days of freedom. Now it's back to work for four days before another break.

This coming Sunday I am scheduled to run 13 miles but I may have to cut that down a mile or two depending on what the weather is suppose to do. (Should only be a high of 102 but a low of 79). I will just have to wait and see, I would be OK to only run 11 miles this weekend. I am going out of town next Monday so I will get to do some running in cooler weather.

Half Way!

Wow...it's July already. This whole year is just flying by. According to my planner today is day 182 and there are 183 left. That means we are half way through 2010. I guess that makes today "hump day", the Wednesday of the calendar year.

So I was checking out the weather forecast for the weekend, after all I am taking a four day weekend and have a race Sunday. I noticed that the National Weather Service has extended the "excessive heat warning" for our area. I really don't know why that don't just issue it a standard one from June to October instead of issuing one, then extending it over and over. So anyways, I actually took a moment to read the warning and it was quite funny. It said things like "stay in the shade as much as possible" and "drink abundant amounts of water". My favorite line was "spend more time in air-conditioned or well-ventilated places". I like how they feel it necessary to point out that you should spend time in air-conditioned places. For me, it's an easy choice.

It is suppose to cool down a little this weekend, to the low 100's which should be really nice.

SF Half-marathon countdown: 23 days 20 hours remaining.

I did order my half-marathon shirt yesterday that will have my number printed on it (so I don't have to use safety pins to hold my number on it) and will have my personalized message. The voter turnout was pretty good percentage wise, but number wise pretty low for what message to put on it. Once I receive it, I will reveal the message so stay tuned.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Fourth of July weekend, stay safe and for those of you within the excessive heat warning area...spend time in air-conditioned places. This coming week will be a busy but fun week. Tomorrow, I got nothing to do all day, followed by Saturday which will take Ethan and I to Home Depot for the Kid's Clinic. Sunday is a race day followed by some type of Fourth of July celebration with the kids. Monday it will be over to Mom & Dad's for some food and swimming and is also Ethan's birthday.

Crazy Thoughts

SF update: 25 days 16 hours and counting till I am off and running. (Schedule wave start time July 25th at 6:22am)

Well another weekend has come and gone. I am really looking forward to this coming weekend. Since our Independence Day is on a Sunday, the accounting world will take Monday off. Additionally, I will be taking Friday off so it's a four day weekend for me. Should be a lot of fun. Sunday I have a four mile race I'll be participating in, then Monday it's over to La Casa de Mama & Papa for some family, food and fun.

So last Sunday was another "long" run for me. I completed 11 miles in 2hours and 28 seconds, which is the pace I was going for. It was another 4am start to the run and I was looking forward to getting out of the house as I heard there was some kind of lunar eclipse. I didn't notice anything unusual about the moon at 4am but it was full, bright and quite lovely. In fact it was so full that I was a little nervous as a ran next to some orange orchards. The thought of a vampire or something jumping out to get me made me nervous. It is quite dark still at 4am (which is the point of running then, no sun equals less heat). Maybe that is why I was able to keep a good pace, the fear of vampires or serial killers kept me moving.

I did have a slight injury related incident in which I am a little embarrassed to blog about but let's just say I had a little Andy Bernard situation. For those of you who know the "Nard Dog" you will remember what happened to him when he ran the "Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin, Scranton, Meredith Palmer celebrity rabies awareness fun run pro-am race for the cure". A similar situation, though less extensive occurred.

I don't know if the running and exercising is causing me to go slightly crazy but I am having some crazy thoughts. Though I thought that running a half-marathon would be the pinnacle for me, I have started having thoughts about running a marathon. In January there is the PF Chang's - Phoenix Marathon that I may just give a go. Then the thoughts even went crazier to attempting what is called the "California Dreaming" series. Which is a series of three marathons (SF, Long Beach, Surf City) that if done within a two year span, yields a nice jacket and a special medal. I better just take things one step at a time for now though. First comes the half-marathon then we will see where it goes.

I am really looking forward to SF in just a few weeks. It will be awesome to put all this training, hard work, and self-belief to the test. I just need to remember the words of Yoda... "Do or do not, there is no try". I will do this. Then we will see what I will do next.

Welcome to Summer

Well it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. Not a whole lot has happened, at least that I can remember. Last week was Father's Day, which was nice. I got up at 3:30 in the morning to get ready for my long run. I started running at about 4:15am and it was great. The sky was full of stars and the weather was nice. I did my 9 miles in 1:38:03 which is a pace just under 11 minutes. My goal for San Francisco is about 11:25 so the fact that I did 9 miles at under 11:00 made me feel pretty good. Sunday was good as well because as always, Theresa and the kids did a great job hooking me up. I got a really cool Yoda doll that goes well with my 30+ year old Chewbacca doll. Of course Ethan also really likes my Yoda doll and already tried to steal it. I also got a book I loved as a child "Ticki Ticki Tembo" (not sure if I spelled it right). It was great to read it again.

Well we had a super fantastic fall, winter and even a nice spring, however, summer is back in Phoenix. On days like today when it is 112 degrees, I try to remember how nice the winters are here but it hard to do. That's another reason I got up at 3:30am to do my long run. The lows now are in the mid to upper 70's which is really nice running weather, but the low occurs around 4 or 5am. I did a little research and the expected temperature for the SF Half-Marathon is to be in the 50's to 60's. Today I noticed the record high for July 25th in SF was somewhere in the 80's. So I am pretty confident that my training temperature will be significantly higher than when I run. It does make me nervous because I have three more races this summer, the next being a four mile run on July 4th. The races don't start until 6:30am so it should be pretty toasty. Of course I knew all this going into it so I guess I can't complain.

Last Friday our firm had a Community Service day and as part of my work team is located in our Flagstaff office some of us went up there to work in a food bank. First we packed and stacked boxes of food for a few hours, then we went outside and stacked wood for a couple of hours. Being as I am a white person of Idaho descent, I got a little burnt. I also got a little sore but it was all for a good cause. I learned a long time ago that performing service is like wetting your pants. Everyone sees the results but only you get that warm feeling.

As some of you may know, I am somewhat lacking in top hair, and as I have learned in the past, a sunburn on the top of your head is not fun, especially when you go run 9 miles and your head is sweating the whole time. I pushed through and made it and my head now has a new layer of fresh skin just waiting to get burnt this weekend.

A Grand Week

Well this week has been a "Grand" one for me. Last Friday, Theresa and I took the kids up to the Grand Canyon. We figured that since we have lived in Arizona for the past five years, it was time to check out this natural wonder of the world. So on Friday we drove up early in the morning and went straight to the park. We found our parking spot and made a quick stop at one of the visitor centers there at the park. We then made the short walk and took in the sights. I must say it was pretty amazing. You can check out my Facebook page for the photos. I always enjoy taking in the amazing nature of the earth.

I have been lucky to see some pretty awesome nature in my lifetime. The redwood forest of California, I have seen the mighty Rocky Mountains from atop several 14,000 ft peaks, the arches in Utah, and I recall Central Park in fall. The Grand Canyon is definitely up on that list. We enjoyed walking/hiking along the rim for the afternoon and visiting the various visitor locations. We even got see some California Condors fly over. At the end of the day, we were pretty tired but as soon as we checked into the hotel, the kids got their swimsuits on and were ready to hit the indoor pool.

So we went swimming, after about half hour of that, I was dead tired but the kids kept it going for a couple of hours and we finally had to lure them out with dinner. We hit the local Wendy's and the kids got some toys to keep them busy. Ethan was lucky enough to get "mini-twister" which is played with your pointer finger and thumb. It's a lot harder than it looks but is a lot of fun. The next morning it was back to Canyon and we hiked for a short distance down into the Canyon using one of the trails. It was a lot fun and sure was a great weekend with the family. The kids are looking forward to going back and want to camp next time. They also want to hike further down into the Canyon.

It has been pretty hot this week in Phoenix. I guess summer finally caught up to us. I have still been running and getting ready for SF in July. Last Sunday I was going to run eight miles but I elected to sleep in. By the time I got started running it was already mid-80's and after about 7 miles, I called it. I guess on days when it is going to be 110, I have to get up early and run. Today I had race 2 of my summer series. It was another 5K race that went well. I had forgotten my watch at home so I wasn't able to figure my pace as I went and I thought I was doing worse than my previous race. I did the first race in 26:37 and my goal was to get under 26 minutes. I was happy to finish with a time of 25:11. I am just glad to see some improvement in my time. The next race is a four mile race on the Fourth of July. Hopefully, I can cut my pace time even further.

I am really looking forward to my first half-marathon and have just six more weeks to go. This weekend I got my plane tickets.

That's it for this week, it sure was a good one. I hope this coming week will be even better, or at least as good.

Memorial Day Weekend

So Friday night was the big dance recital. Megan was in about four dances, including one solo that she did. I may be a biased Dad, but she was totally awesome. It was so much fun to watch her perform, she looked so beautiful and so happy. Her solo performance was amazing and having now been a dancer myself, I understand how hard she worked to put that together.

The Dad's Dance went about as well as we expected. Luckily the bar was set pretty low and I think we barely got over it. I haven't heard that we got signed to any other gigs yet, but we'll see how that turns out. Even if I don't become a professional dancer, it was a lot of fun. It was really about showing the girls that we support their dancing and we now know how hard it really is.

On Saturday I ran a 5K race in Tempe. It is part of the summer series that I signed up for, so it was the first of five races over the next couple of months. I did well, about what I expected. My official time was 26:37, I was hoping to get under 26 minutes. The race didn't start until about 7:45am, which it was getting warm by then. They also didn't have mile markers so I couldn't keep track of my pace as I was running. It was an out and back race so I knew when I was about half-way but that is all. Also with that, the path was pretty crowded and made for some tough going but was not nearly as crowded as Pat's Run.

So I got a SF Marathon Newsletter and there was an article about a company that creates running shirts with your bib printed right on it. That way you don't have to pin your bib onto your shirt while you run. Along with your number, they also can print either your name or a message on the shirt. I was thinking I would get one but I am not sure about what message to put on the shirt. I don't really want to put my name on it because I already know my name, and anyway, I think that would look wierd. So they had some suggestions and I have narrowed it down. I was thinking about letting everyone vote but the turnout may be a little low. I will list the finalist though and if you would like to let me know which you prefer, it would be appreciated. In no particular order:

1. Believe
2. Do or do not....there is no try
3. To believe is to achieve

I kind of liked those three choices but I will also take write in votes if anyone has a better suggestion.

So Memorial Day weekend was great, dancing, running, BBQ & swimming with family. I even watched some baseball and got a nap in. I appreciate all those who have served or are serving our country. (Shout out to Mike, in Iraq...what up Bro?)

Well that is all for now. BTW (that's by the way for you non-hip people), sorry if last week you got several of my post notification things on your FB. I believe there was a technical issue in trying to update FB with my post but since I am technologically inept, I may have overdone it. I will try not to be annoying, I am just trying to be helpful in letting everyone know that my blog had been updated.

London Bridge

Well overall the past week went pretty well. I was working out of town this week and my worry was that it would be hard for me to stay both motivated to running in the morning and to eating somewhat healthy. The running part went great and I think I did OK with the food. I even went so far as to stock up on bananas and water at the store instead of the typical junk food I would get when staying in a hotel.

Running this week was good. I had to map out a few routes but they were nice. I was staying in Lake Havasu and our hotel was close to the lake. I didn't get a chance Monday to do anything, so Monday night I used the hotel gym and went at it. It was nice because I was the only down there and so I just watched the basketball game and rode about 20 miles on a bike.

Tuesday I had a nice jog along the banks of the lake. The trail was not what I was use to but was very scenic. It included a lot of up and down and had some real sandy parts. It was a nice workout.

The next couple of days I took another route that led me across the London Bridge. For those of you who are unfamilar with Lake Havasu (which I would be if I weren't a professional Arizona traveler), some guy bought the London Bridge from London, took it apart piece by piece, shipped it to Laka Havasu, Arizona, and put it back together. It goes from the main land to a small island. It is not a very big bridge when compared to others I have seen but it is a very nice looking bridge. The island it leads to is fairly small, in fact yesterday as part of my six mile run, I ran around the entire island. The bridge is lined with alternating American and British flags and I noticed for some reason when I passed by other people on one side of the bridge I would say "Good morning" and while on the other I would say "Top of the morning to ya". It was the strangest thing. It was as if the bridge transported my to England and back.

I must say though, it was a nice change of scenery from the Mesa canal I usually run along. As I was running across the scenic London Bridge, I couldn't help but think that in two months, I will be running across the much larger Golden Gate Bridge. It's going to be awesome.

I was very excited to be able to come home from Lake Havasu a day early and I was able to make our final dance practice. Tonight is our big performance. Our dance is coming along, however, I still think we could use a few more practices. So tonight is the performance and then tomorrow I have my first official 5K in many, many years. I ran a 5k with Megan a few years back but that was just as her "shadow runner", it wasn't about me. Not too mention I did run that wearing a pink boa. (The things I do to support Megan is amazing...running with a pink boa, dancing...what's next??)

Well, I will try to write tomorrow to let you know how the dance went, as well as the run. It should be a pretty fun weekend.

Another Long Day.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

It's Official

So for my loyal followers, or should I say follower, I have officially signed up for the San Francisco Half Marathon in July.

I was happy that I was able to get a spot in the first, and more scenic, half of the marathon. I would have added a count down on my blog page but in my limited goofing off time, I can't figure it out.

My blog is evolving from the ramblings of an auditor to the ramblings of a running CPA. I am sure that over the next 10 weeks, my blogs will focus on my training for this event. Hopefully in ten weeks I will have a good bit of information on my blog that I can use in my autobiography. (If I don't make it though, I give my family permission to use all blog posts for monetary gain.) I am still working on the title of my autobiography, and rightfully so. I still have many chapters to go. Maybe I will call it "Jeff Patterson, A Book With Many Chapters". It would seem appropriate since my life changes from time to time. Perhaps this chapter would be titled "A Nerd on the Run".

Enough about the book, you'll hear about in a few years when I am on the lecture circuit. Training this week has gone fairly well, however, today was rough. I went to the Giants game (I guess technically it was a D-backs game) and didn't get home till very late. Yet I still woke up at 5:15 and put on my running shoes and headed out the door. Today was a three mile "easy" run. (My training table uses the work easy, not me.) It went OK but I am glad that tomorrow is a rest day. Sunday is another 7 miler, so hopefully I will see some improvement.

Next week will be interesting because I will be out of town the whole week. I am expecting to get back in town Friday in time for dance, then Saturday morning I have a 5K run. So next week, I have to stay focused and on track. The thing that worries me the most is that when out of town, the company pays for meals and it sure is easy to eat a lot. It will be a challange to me to not only eat modestly, but to eat healthy. I am still trying to slim down and hope that running about 20 miles a week will help shed the pounds.

Because it's there.

Well I know it has been a bit of time since my last riveting post and so much as has happened. Well, maybe not. I am glad to report that the Giants finally got a win against the Padres, that was getting a bit insane.

Dance rehearsal went well last week, our dance is finally coming together. I am a little worried about the uncertainty of our next and final practice before the show on the 28th. Hopefully, we can pull it together, I think we are going to bring down the house.

The biggest news is that it has been a few months and I am still running. Sure I am not up to Forest Gump milage just yet, but I am getting there.

As I was tracking my milage on "Runnersworld.Com" I saw an ad for the San Francisco Marathon. Though I have never had the desire to train for or run a marathon, I clicked on the link and began to look at the website. I noticed that not only did they have a marathon, but they have two half-marathons and a 5K run. I knew I could do the 5K but I couldn't see myself going out to SF just to run a little 5K race. Then the possibility of running a half-marathon entered my mind. I was planning on running the one here in Phoenix next January/February, but I love SF and I would love to run one there. I looked at the course which runs along the Embarcadero, past Fisherman's Wharf, across the Golden Gate Bridge and back, then ends in Golden Gate Park. To me that seemed cool, but was it possible?

Normally, I would only entertain this notion for a minute or two and then my mind would tell me all the reasons that this idea is not only crazy, but is stupid. My mind would tell me things like how I can't run that far, how it would be too expensive, how I would finish in like 12,000th place, so what's the point?

Something else happened instead. I dared for a moment to dream, to think what if. I let myself think instead of what can be done and to think for a moment of what I wanted barring all obstacles. For me, this is a huge break through. To stop thinking of what I can't do and think about what I want to do and what I could do. So I decided, all things aside, I want to run a half-marathon is San Francisco on July 25, 2010.

My next step was to think about how I was going to accomplish this, not about what was standing in my way, but how I was going to overcome obstacles in order to do what I wanted to do.

My first concern was my physical ability to complete the course. In order to complete the 13 miles, you have to run in under about 3 hrs or they start reopening the streets. You can still keep running, but watch out for cars. So I decided to see if I could run 13 miles in under 3 hours. I devised a training program (with some expert help, of course) and on Sunday I did my first "long" run of 7 miles. I accomplished the 7 miles by jogging the entire time and ending in just under an hour and twenty minutes. So I determined that if I could currently run 7 miles in under an hour and half, that in 11 weeks, I could build up to run 13 miles in under 3 hours no problem. (I am planning on running it under 2:30)

The next obstacle is of course funding. It cost money to enter, it cost money to get there but I was determined that a way would surface. In somewhat of a surprise manner, I recieved a bonus from work, enough that I could fund my endevour.

So I allowed myself to dream and things are coming together. I am under no illusion that I will win the half-marathon but it's not about that. It's not about competing against others, it is about competing against myself. It is about proving to myself that I can accomplish the things I set out to do. It's about showing the self-doubting half of myself that I can do things I never before would allow myself the opportunity to dream about. When Sir Edmund Hillary was asked why he climbed Mt. Everest his response was "Because it was there". People may ask why I want to travel 700 miles from home to run a 13 mile race knowing that I won't win a medal, I won't get my name in the paper and won't get glory. To that I respond: Because it is there, and I add: because I CAN!

I know it will be difficult training over the next few months, it will come at a price but then again the great things in my life haven't come easy. It has always been through hard work and sacrafice that great things have happened to me. Everytime I wake up at 5:00 to go jogging and ask myself why I am doing this, I will think of that finish line. Everytime my muscles ache, I will think of that finish line. I know my goal and I will keep that in mind over the next ten weeks or so. I dream of crossing that finish line in Golden Gate Park. To me that will be the blow that finally tears down the "wall" in my mind that separates what I believe I can do and what I actually can do. It's time for the wall to come down.

Off and running

OK, so as most of you know, I am involved with a flailing flag football team, (it's like I play for the Raiders...we just can't win) and a dance company, but last week I also gave a shot at running. Yes, in the late 80's I was something of a cross county phenom. I did get my varsity letter as a freshmen, but there has been over 20 years of couch sitting since then.

I decided for some reason to run in the Pat Tillman race. For those of you who don't know about Pat Tillman, he was an ASU football player, that went pro. Then in 2001 he left the NFL and joined the Army. He died a couple of years later in Afganistan. The race is a 4.2 miler and my hopes of just finishing were realized. I made a spectacular sprint across the field in Sun Devil stadium to finish the race with my head held high. My six weeks or so of training (less a week to recover from my rib injury) did me well. Not only did I finish but I was able to finish in less time than I had hoped. I was no way near the front but managed a time of 43:02. I came in 8 thousand and something place but there were over 20 thousand people running.

I enjoyed it so much, I plan on continuing my training and I am going to run at least five more races this summer. If I do well, look for me at the Olympics. Otherwise, you will find me on the couch.

In other news...I won't even mention football, although we did make the playoffs. Of course, every team made the playoffs so that is not much to be excited about.

Dance is going well. I think our instructor finally learned that we are a bunch of dads and decided to scale down her expectation of what we can do. I think we need to practice daily but the every few weeks apart practices are going to have to do. I don't think you will see me on a dancing reality shows anytime soon.

John Conner...Please Read!

I have learned many things from watching TV. For instance, because of "Man vs Wild" I could survive in almost any situation. Also, because of "Mantracker" I have learned how to avoid being captured by a guy on a horse. But the most important lesson I have learned has come from both the movie "Oceans Eleven" and was seen again on "24". The lesson is something I think John Conner should know.

An EMP will destroy or disrupt electronics. Get one now, before the war vs the machines starts. It will save us all a lot of trouble. We can avoid the whole war.

On a side note, I bought some new shoestrings for my brown shoes today. The look way good with my new strings which makes me look good. I am feeling good now. Look out world, here I come.

I didn't want to get political but ...

The recent development in Washington DC is not only alarming because it removes our rights by requiring we have insurance or pay a fine, but it also is going to destroy our economy. Now I know some of you may be happy that this bill passed, but if it stays the way it is, in a few years you won’t be.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this will cost $940 billion over the next ten years, and where do you think that is coming from? Yes taxes, not just taxes on the rich but on every working American. In addition, every working American will be required to have insurance or pay a fine and companies will be required to provide insurance or pay a fine, even for part-time employees. Who do you think will pay for the extra costs companies incur to provide insurance? The consumers will, can you imagine Taco Bell having to provide insurance for all their part-time employees? So long dollar menu.

So now if you are a working adult, your taxes went up, the cost of food and services has gone up, you are now paying for insurance, if you want it or not, which will go up because insurance companies won’t be able to have different rates for those who use the system more. I don’t know about you but that will probably cause me to become depressed, which will bring on illnesses and then I will have to go to the doctor. Of course I will never be able to get into to see the doctor because as it took me weeks to get an appointment before health care reform, now there are an additional 32 million people who also figure if they have to have insurance they may as well use it. So now I have no money, I am getting chest pains and the doctor says come on in two months from now. Well, next thing I know I am laying in coffin and my wife has to go find a job but because it has once again become cheaper to outsource labor to a country that actually is proud to be communist, all the jobs went there.

For those of you who are concerned with recent developments regarding our governments invasion into yet another business sector and feel that the our country is becoming Communist, I say to you…Don’t be silly, we’ve been communist for years. Some of you may not be familiar with the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto, I am sure if you did you would realize that we as a nation went down this path long ago. Here they are:

1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes.

Americans do these with actions such as the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management (Zoning laws are the first step to government property ownership) Think what happens if you don’t pay property tax!

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

Americans know this as misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State "income" taxes. We call it "paying your fair share".

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

Americans call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

Americans call it government seizures, tax liens, Public "law" 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; or the IRS confiscation of property without due process. Asset forfeiture laws are used by DEA, IRS, ATF etc...).

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

Americans call it the Federal Reserve which is a privately-owned credit/debt system allowed by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) another privately-owned corporation.

6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State.

Americans call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver's licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

Americans call it corporate capacity, The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture… This is easily seen in these as well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.

8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

Americans call it Minimum Wage. We see it in practice via the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country.

Americans call it the Planning Reorganization act of 1949 , zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public "law" 89-136.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

Americans are being taxed to support what we call 'public' schools, but are actually "government force-tax-funded schools " Even private schools are government regulated.

So to our military serving around the globe to “protect” our freedom I say thank you, but maybe it’s too late. Or maybe, the real threat to our freedom is not in the mountains and deserts of far away lands but actually in our own front yard. Maybe our troops need to be redeployed to Washington DC, because as I see it, that is where our freedom was, and continues to be, taken.

By the way, has anyone in NYC seen a black-box? It seems the government has lost a couple.

God bless us...we need it.