Gonna Fly Now!!!

If you read my last blog (all 3 of you) you will know I have been working hard to run the Laguna Beach Memorial Day 5K. My last blog was all about my training and my playlist on my iPod that was going to bring me home.

Well......Today was the day. The day started rainy, but by race time had stopped. I had on a fleece jacket, which I should have taken off before race time, but it was pretty cold up until the race began.

My goal was under 30 minutes. I have been training by running a 10:00 minute mile (at times a little faster) but I was hoping to run in under 30 minutes. I thought that would be pretty good for my first time out.

After making sure my iPod was not on shuffle (that would have been disastrous) I took my place at the race start.

My Playlist:

1.) Eye of the Tiger
2.) Summer Song by Joe Satriani

Both of these songs get me out of the gate fast. I was not sure of how my pace was at first, but when I hit mile 1 during "Summer Song" I knew I was well under my goal time.

3.) "Let Love In" by the Goo Goo Dolls
4.) "Ready to Go" by Replubica

The Goo Goo Dolls' song was perfect to put me into a steady pace. I wanted to make sure I had high gear at the end, so I didn't want to burn out. By this time, I knew the fleece was a bad idea. I was hot!!! but just when I thought "I am getting a little tired." "Ready to Go" hit my iPod and I was indeed.........ready to go......go on in the race that is. It was during this song I hit the Mile 2 marker. I heard the man at the marker yell out times....

"17 and something minutes" is what I heard

"Yes.....I am really running well." I thought

Well, shortly after that, we hit a pretty good hill.........

5.) "It's Never Too Late" by Journey

Nice hyped up song helped me hit the hill hard (Fleece still a bad idea......even worse at this point) Well, I pushed up the hill and then Neil Shcon (guitar player of Journey) took a ripping solo.......thank you Neil.......I figured "If Neil can shred....I can run" I reached the top of the hill and there was this nice long downhill. I didn't want to get excited and take off down the hill too fast. I knew I was getting close......

......and then I saw it in the distance....

MILE 3

and then......

THE ROCKY THEME SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took off, ironically (if you read my last blog) the mile 3 marker was at a turn.

I took off a fast I could, perhaps I had more, but I gave what I had. I turn the corner and I see a large group of people........

THE FINISH LINE

I ran faster at this point, I was in full sprint down the stretch (very Seabiscuit) and ran over the finish line.

My goal was under 30 minutes, about a 10:00 minute mile

my time

25:29!!!!!

that's an 8:13 mile average for the race.

So I did it. I accomplished what I set out to do.

Even better, I finished 9th in my class.....................

35 - 39 year old...............................women.

Yep, just like the Autism 5k I walk/ran with my wife, my bib had be marked as.....

Sex : F

Who cares though......I am not in it for the awards.....I'm in it for the free t-shirt.

Heather was unable to run (she had to come home for family reasons) so it wasn't as much fun without her there (We had scheduled to stay the night in Irvine and make a weekend out of it.)

but our friends the Mathis' and the Basts' helped make the weekend as fun as it could be without my wife. I have very good friends......

......perhaps that should be my next blog.

either that or "How create a delicious dinner when all you have in the cupboard is mustard, Peanut Butter, and a piece of lettuce."

we shall see.


I am not a runner.
Check that
I am not a "long distance" runner.

I can run with the best of them. Folks say I am pretty darn quick. I can get down the line (*the first base line that is) and go 1st to 3rd licketty split.

But I have never been a long distance guy. It has always made my ankles, feet, and knees hurt. And when I say hurt...I mean HURT!!!!!!!!!! Plus I have always found other ways to stay in shape. Swimming, biking, playing center field, mowing the lawn, etc.

So a few months ago, I ran/walk a 5k with my wife (She's done a half-marathon........yeah, no thanks. But I am proud of her for accomplishment. Mighty big.) Well, I thought, "why don't I get a few braces for my ankles and knees and see what I can do.

My goal.........finish in under 30 minutes.....with no pain!!! (In my knees and ankles that is)

So I set about to see if I could run 3 miles in 30 minutes.
Goal accomplished.

Wow, maybe I could go faster. Maybe I could finish more quickly??

So, here was the plan. Get my ipod, set up a playlist of 6 songs that gets me home in 28 minutes. I tested it tonight.

So I start on my treadmill.........1st song......."Eye of The Tiger"

A good start, I am feeling good.......my pace is 6.2 mph...and it's good

I go 20 minutes, 4 songs, at 6.2 mph and get a little over 2 miles.

Now my goal on race day is to get to 2.5 miles, then hit song 6 of the playlist, hit that final turn, and let Seabiscuit GO.....

"The Rocky Theme Song"........Gonna Fly Now...................

So tonight I hit that song (after 20 minutes at 6.2)......and I hit 9.0 MPH for half a mile.....and it was a nice and easy 9.0 mph. I think I had 10.0 in me.....I could have gone close to full speed burst at the end.

So I am excited!!!!!! Because If I can do this race day, I will hit mile 2 at 20 minutes or faster and then let the legs go, round third, and come on home.........
"GO SEABISCUIT, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm excited!!!!!!

That's all.
Just wanted to share.


The following was mostly written 9 years ago just after the release of "The Phantom Menace"

9 years ago.......(yep, 9 years ago).........I was talking to my wife about how in Star Wars movies (Original Trilogy) no one ever seems to sleep. (Not sure how interested she was, but she acted that way at the time, which is one of the reasons why I love her so much....but anyway)......in Star Wars movies no ever seems to sleep, except in Jabba's Palace and when Yoda laid down for a long nap, there are never any scenes of people sleeping.........

............and this got me to thinking...........(A dangerous pastime, I know)........

......and I thought of LUKE'S NEVER ENDING DAY....................

So you think you have a lot to do in a day. Well consider the day of Luke Skywalker..........

It started off bad enough. The night before his brand new droid, R2-D2, runs away from home. It was too late to go after him because of all the "sand-people". So he a his other new droid C-3PO have to wait until morning. Boy that little droid is going to cause him a lot of trouble (Oh, he excels at that!) So the day begins and he goes out early to find his little droid. (He had better get back by mid-day or there'll be hell to pay.) When they find R2 they realize there are Sandpeople present. Luke shortly there-after gets hit over the head and left for dead as Sandpeople raid his landspeeder.
All of sudden this old guy in a robe (Obi-Wan.......or Ben....... I mean...he hasn't been called Obi-Wan in a long time........a long time) shows up, saves them, and they all (Luke, Ben, Two Droids) go back to Ben's house. Luke finds out about the force and that his dad was a Jedi Knight and killed by Darth Vader (a pupil of Ben's until he turned to evil.) He plays with a lightsaber and gets asked by Ben to join him on a trip to Alderaan.

Question............Has he had breakfast yet????

O.K.......Let's get back to the day. From here they decide to take Ben to where he needs to go and on the way they run into a bunch of burnt and beaten Jawa's (not killed by sandpeople mind you, the blast points are too accurate for them) NO, These were Imperial Stormtroopers!! (the tracks were side by side. Sandpeople always walk in single file........Silly Troopers)

Where was I?????

Oh yes, Luke figures the troopers will go after his aunt and uncle so he hops in the landspeeder and gets home quick. He sees they are killed so he decides to be a Jedi (Why not.....nothing else to do.) They go to Mos Eisley Space Port (You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy...I sure hope they are cautious) and Luke almost gets killed by a big ugly monster (so much for being cautious......thank goodness for lightsabers.) And They meet a couple of new friends
(Luke has made three new friends today already, How many have you made?)

Anyway

They almost get shot by troopers (accuracy what??) and then almost get blown out of the sky by a Star Destroyer (not the local bulk cruisers mind you)
Luckily they go to light speed.........

When is it time for breakfast???????

...........Back to the day.....Luke begins to learn how to use the force and fight with a lightsaber, finds out a planet has been destroyed, and gets sucked into the belly of a really large killing machine. He hides in a smuggling compartment (Han never thought he'd be smuggling himself) kills a couple of guards and hides in a communication tower. Here is where he says goodbye to Ben (what have they known each other now for???? About 3 hours???? Talk about your short relationships)

He and his two other new friends decide to rescue a princess, sneak into the prison, get shot at again, first by prison guards, then by Stormtroopers (Question, where is this Famed "Trooper Accuracy" anyway?? They haven't hit anything yet.)

He frees the princess (A New Friend!!!!! That's 4 now!!!!) and gets thrown down a trash pit, sucked under water by a big snake-like-thing, and then almost gets crushed by a trash compactor.

Re-count:
That's about what...... 7 brushes with death now?!?!?! and forget breakfast now, it's about time for lunch???

How long ago exactly did he leave his house to get R2???

Back to the day

They escape getting crushed, promptly run into a garrison of troopers, get shot at (Troopers miss again) left on the edge of an unfinished bridge, shot at again (miss, miss, miss, miss) fly across the bottomless pit on a piece of string, and escape to the ship.

Here he sees his new friend Ben get hacked down (hey, isn't that who killed my dad???) Gets shot at again by troopers (maybe try aiming at the target), escapes into the Falcon, has to blow up Tie Fighters while learning how to use the belly gun of the Millennium Falcon, and escapes into hyper-space once again......

Re-Count:
4 new friends (3 alive, 1 dead) like a dozen near death experiences, Jedi training, find out who your father was, see you aunt and uncle burned, sell you car, etc. etc. etc. and can someone get this guy a sandwich???????

Cut to the chase.....

.............Arrive on a planet that is going to be destroyed by a big ball, meet lots of new friends, say goodbye to 2 of his new friends, and take off in another space ship to battle The Empire. almost blown up 3 or 4 times during space battle, watch droid that got him into this whole mess get shot, welcome back friend you thought had left but didn't (Woohooo) hear another of your friends in your head (use the Force Luke.....let go Luke) and blow up an evil space station that was going to blow up a bunch of planets and enslave the universe..............

Luke has saved the galaxy from evil......................

Ummmmm, question...........correct me if I'm wrong, but........

HASN'T ALL OF THIS HAPPENED IN THE SAME DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He hasn't slept......no one has slept................It's the same day he left to go find R2-D2!!!!!!!

You know, there are days I get up an wonder "What will I do today???" Looking back on The Day of Luke Skywalker, I think, forget that stupid medal ceremony..........

........Get that guy a T.V Dinner and a pillow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU

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