So Tiger Woods has apparently proven to be as big of a slimeball as any other infamous athlete, politician or celebrity. Another shining star that's fallen so far. He joins rank with the likes of Kobe Bryant, Michael Vick, Bill Clinton, Barry Bonds, Rod Blagojevich, Roger Clemens, Jon Goselin, Brittany Spears, Sammy Sosa... The list goes on and on and on.
It's a shame. Not just in Tiger's case; that this golfer who had such a positive reputation is no longer the positive role model that he was. But that he's just the disgraced celebrity du jour. So many have fallen that now it's the remaining positive role models that are the exception, not the norm. Who's left for our kids to look up to? To be the star that they'd like to emulate?
Well, Peyton Manning's still there. Barack Obama. Derek Jeter, I suppose. Lance Armstrong. Oprah? I wonder, if I read this blog in 5 years will these people still stand tall?
It's a shame that there are so few of the relatively clean ones left. Is it really THAT hard to remain decent once you're in the public eye? Is it that hard to follow the law? Is it that hard to remain faithful? To say no to temptation?
Or maybe it's just that now everything is so easily turned into public knowledge. If it weren't for cell phones and texting, maybe we wouldn't all know about Tiger's indescretions. Everyone would still love him. Maybe my childhood heroes were just as faulty. Maybe Walter Payton wasn't really Sweetness. Who knows?
Whatever the case, our kids will probably be best served if they find their heroes closer to home. Police officers, firefighters, soldiers, aunts, uncles, big brothers or sisters. Parents. We may not hit home runs or score touchdowns, but maybe we can avoid at least some of the ugly mess to which our public idols seem to be prone.
Sure, Tiger, you're only human. We're all only human. Let's not use that as a cop out. Humans have choices. Humans make choices.
I heard a quote today from the movie Solaris that has stuck with me: There are no answers, only choices.
Choose wisely, my friends. Choose wisely.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
If Shakespeare Was an Aging Marathoner
Chronic knee problems recently led me to an orthopedic doctor's examining table. As you can see, the resulting diagnosis of a torn meniscus has left me in a quandary...
If Shakespear Was an Aging Marathoner
(Ronlet's Soliloquy)
To cut or not to cut: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The pangs and Ow! Ow!'s of outrageous torsion,
Or to take arms against a knee of troubles,
And by op’rating end them?
To cut: to scope;No more; and by a scope to say we end
The knee-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That joint is heir to, 'tis an inflammation
Of whose pain I'd be rid. To cut, to scope;
To jog: perchance to run: ay, there's the rub;
For in that slice of knife what runs may come
When we have suffered through arthritic toil,
Must give us pause: there's the prospect
To de-fray cartilage by so long knife;
For who would bear the pops and tweaks of mine,
Marathoner's gimp, the sore man's hobbled gait,
The pangs of patellar grate, the knee's decay,
The consequence of off-days and the spurns
Of fellow runners, ahead of me they wait,
When he himself might his knee wellness make
With an incision? Who would fartleks bear,
To grunt and sweat during a weary run,
But that the dread of something after knife,
The undiscover'd country from whose paths
Some runners return, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those aches we have
Than run with others that we know not of?
Thus new science does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of my meniscus
Tho’ sicklied o'er with the tear of running fraught,
And re-built knees of great strength and speed
With this regard their footfalls turn awry;
I choose the lame reaction.
If Shakespear Was an Aging Marathoner
(Ronlet's Soliloquy)
To cut or not to cut: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The pangs and Ow! Ow!'s of outrageous torsion,
Or to take arms against a knee of troubles,
And by op’rating end them?
To cut: to scope;No more; and by a scope to say we end
The knee-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That joint is heir to, 'tis an inflammation
Of whose pain I'd be rid. To cut, to scope;
To jog: perchance to run: ay, there's the rub;
For in that slice of knife what runs may come
When we have suffered through arthritic toil,
Must give us pause: there's the prospect
To de-fray cartilage by so long knife;
For who would bear the pops and tweaks of mine,
Marathoner's gimp, the sore man's hobbled gait,
The pangs of patellar grate, the knee's decay,
The consequence of off-days and the spurns
Of fellow runners, ahead of me they wait,
When he himself might his knee wellness make
With an incision? Who would fartleks bear,
To grunt and sweat during a weary run,
But that the dread of something after knife,
The undiscover'd country from whose paths
Some runners return, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those aches we have
Than run with others that we know not of?
Thus new science does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of my meniscus
Tho’ sicklied o'er with the tear of running fraught,
And re-built knees of great strength and speed
With this regard their footfalls turn awry;
I choose the lame reaction.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
One Costume to Rule Them All...
So Lincoln's off to school with his Lord Sauron costume (from Lord of the Rings) for their costume party today. Unfortunately, I think the school frowns on bringing realistic looking weapons to school, so the medieval mace that we've built and painted will have to stay home. But really, what's Lord Sauron without his bone-crushing mace? Just a guy with a ring.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
It's been about 25 years...
...since I ran my PR in the mile as a senior in high school. 6:13. Amongst track runners, cross country runners or soccer players, running over 6 minutes for a mile ain't much to write home about. I pretty much sucked at distance running back then (comparatively), and I really only ran the mile all out a few times. I remember always wanting to drop that mile time to below 6 minutes, but 6:13 was the best I could do. Over the years I've had breaking that PR on my mind, but have never been able to get there. Last summer I had the fitness, but a sprained ankle a week before the mile caused me to run just 6:37.
Tonight was the last night of the Frederick Steeplechasers Summer Decathlon. Tonight's event? You guessed it, the mile. Goal #1 - break 6:13 and PR. Goal #2 - Sub 6.
I ran in the fast heat and for the first lap I tried to key on a friend of mine who expected to run around 5:50. I was aiming for 1:30 laps to get me to 6 minutes. The first lap was smooth but perhaps a bit fast, I thought. Finishing the lap I hear 1:22, so yup, too fast. I eased up a little and let my friend get further ahead. Then I tried to stay steady. Lap 2 split - 3:00. Right on target, but I was concerned because that meant my 2nd lap was a 1:38. The third lap was tough and I remained steady. Another 1:38, meaning I'd have to rip off another 1:22 to get back to 6. I surged, then kept accelerating from about 300 yards out.
There are times in these races when you feel like you just want to stop. There's a fear that you will. With 300 yards to go I was beyond that, and kicking with everything I had. Although alone most of the way (behind all the fast runners that REALLY belong in the fast heat), I ran hard. I knew this was my shot at getting that PR and maybe sub 6.
Well, I cross the finish in 6:08. PR by 5 seconds! 1:30 for the 4th lap. Now 42 years old, I can run a mile faster now than when running track in high school!!! And so far this year I've PR'd in the mile, 10 mile, and marathon.
But honestly, I really still want to go sub 6.
Tonight was the last night of the Frederick Steeplechasers Summer Decathlon. Tonight's event? You guessed it, the mile. Goal #1 - break 6:13 and PR. Goal #2 - Sub 6.
I ran in the fast heat and for the first lap I tried to key on a friend of mine who expected to run around 5:50. I was aiming for 1:30 laps to get me to 6 minutes. The first lap was smooth but perhaps a bit fast, I thought. Finishing the lap I hear 1:22, so yup, too fast. I eased up a little and let my friend get further ahead. Then I tried to stay steady. Lap 2 split - 3:00. Right on target, but I was concerned because that meant my 2nd lap was a 1:38. The third lap was tough and I remained steady. Another 1:38, meaning I'd have to rip off another 1:22 to get back to 6. I surged, then kept accelerating from about 300 yards out.
There are times in these races when you feel like you just want to stop. There's a fear that you will. With 300 yards to go I was beyond that, and kicking with everything I had. Although alone most of the way (behind all the fast runners that REALLY belong in the fast heat), I ran hard. I knew this was my shot at getting that PR and maybe sub 6.
Well, I cross the finish in 6:08. PR by 5 seconds! 1:30 for the 4th lap. Now 42 years old, I can run a mile faster now than when running track in high school!!! And so far this year I've PR'd in the mile, 10 mile, and marathon.
But honestly, I really still want to go sub 6.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Autism Speaks 5K - July 4th, 2009
Okay, I just sat here for 3 minutes trying to figure where I should start with this post, and I still don't really know. The race and walk on the morning of the 4th was the culmination of so much activity that I don't really know where to begin.
But here's what I do know. I know we've been on the receiving end of some of the most wonderful support from family and friends that anyone could ever hope for. I know that we, Andrea, Raeann, Lincoln, Skylar and I, are so thankful for that support!
Andrea and I were forced to divide and conquer on Saturday morning: I drove to Frederick with Raeann and my long-time friend Brad (whose family stayed with us for the weekend) at 6am to meet up with her friend from the Frederick Chamber Singers, Timmy. The two of them, along with another friend, Lizzey, would later be singing the Star Spangled Banner before the race. From there we drove down to Potomac where we would meet up with Andrea, Tanya (Brad's wife) and all the kids.
In Potomac, we also met up with Lizzey and her family, the Frederick Steeplechaser contingent of Raeann's Runners, and numerous other friends, co-workers, and relatives. All told we had about 30 people there as part of Raeann's Runners!
Before a race, time moves VERY fast, especially when you're trying to find people, handing out t-shirts, and making sure you're kids have their bibs pinned on and timing chips strapped on their shoes. Before I knew it, the anthem was moments away!
Lizzey, Timmy, and Raeann did a wonderful job singing our national anthem! I only wish the microphone had been held not so close to Raeann, because her voice was much louder as a result, and it made it tough to hear Lizzey and Timmy.
Well, they finished and then we were all off for the starting line. I tried to get up front where I figured the other Steeps would be, but I didn't end up seeing anyone I knew during the race. Oh, well. It was an absolutely beautiful morning for a race, and I headed up the first hill not worrying too much about how the race would go. I went out comfortably fast, but not real sure how fast because one of the things that I'd forgotten on Saturday was to put on my runner's GPS watch.
I hit the Mile 1 mark at about 7:40. I figured that maybe it took me 10-15 seconds to get to the starting line once the race started, so that meant a 7:25 mile. Fine. At Mile 2 the clock read about 15:10, so that was a 7:30 mile. Fine. The last mile is a bit more hilly, and I was not quite able to maintain the same pace - dropping to something more like an 8:00 minute pace -- but the last 1/4 mile is a nice downhill and I finished with a 23:12, which is about a minute faster than I ran the race last year. So I was cool with that!
After a quick water bottle and pizza, I doubled back onto the course and soon found Lincoln joggin into the homestretch. I joined him and soon he was really kicking for the finish! His buddy, Ben, followed close behind, and several minutes behind them came Ben's brother, Josh! At 7 years young, he was finishing his first 5K in grand fashion!
Once again I doubled back, and about a 1/2 mile back I came upon the wave of violet that was Raeann's entourage! Raeann, Timmy, and Rae's cousin Lexi walked together, followed closely by Andrea pushing Skylar in the stroller, and then followed not as closely by Andrea's sister, Chris, and cousin Emma. The kids were having a great time, getting into the cheering as much as the vocal fans were! As we all approached the finish, the 14-year olds took off and ran to the finish! The 9th annual Autism Speaks 5K was in the books!
It was wonderful to meet so many people at the race: our dear friends Renee & Nenad and Brad & Tanya; Lizzey's family; my co-worker Ted and his girlfriend Jen (both of whom placed in their age groups, I think!); Raeann's Runners veteran from last year, Tony; all the Steeps (Tim, Rick, Brenda, Steve); Aunt Chris and cousins Lexi and Emma, Chris
For those that couldn't join us today or missed us there (so sorry, Kat!), we missed you and hope you can join us next year!
Thanks to you all for the help, emotional support, donations, good vibes, and friendship!
With Love,
Andrea, Ron, Raeann, Lincoln & Skylar
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Summer Decathlon in the Rain
I'm clocking in a little late here, but had a nice night at the track, despite a rain delay and much concern that the festivites would get canceled. First up were the little kiddies in the 200 M dash. That's a long way for a 3 yr old, but Skylar hung with the older kids great and finished the 200 in about 64 seconds! She was utterly adorable out there, running free, elbows straight like only a toddler knows how, and a huge smile on her face flanked by dimples!
Next up: Lincoln. Though he was tired from basketball camp today, he still brought home a 5 second PR by beating last summer's time. I think he finished in about 48 seconds.
I ran with the big dogs in the last, fast heat, though whether I really belonged there might have been iffy. With the rain and monitoring 2 kids, I didn't warm up completely as I might have liked. But I got off to nice, quick start anyway. By the straightaway, though, it was clear that a few of the young guys were too fast for too long. I finished 5th of 6 with a 28.88s. This beats last year's time by almost a second, and I think I could still improve it a little with some more focused training.
The "workout" session after the main event tonight was a predict-your-finish 5k. I didn't give it much thought and put down 23:00. I was rather surprised to find that I ran smoothly so soon after the 200. My pace was steady throughout and I had a nice dogfight with another guy over the last 3 laps. I took over in the last straightaway, though, and got him by a few seconds. 23:23 - and 3rd place in getting close to my prediction! But the real story was my son. He was beat from basketball, beat from the 200 sprint, but wanted to give the 5k a shot anyway. I figured he'd jog a couple laps and get tired a walk for a while before retiring. He'd never gone more than 2 miles before. I told him to just go for as long as he felt like it and not worry about doing the full distance. I knew he was beat.
I'll tell you what, that boy ran and ran and ran! We all started together, so I got to cheer him on a few times while lapping him. He just kept on going! Half way through I could tell he was psyched that he'd even done that much. With 2 laps to go I was screaming my fool head off for him! He was steady throughout and even finished with a kick to pass another kid. 34:15 PR for Lincoln!!!
Next up: Lincoln. Though he was tired from basketball camp today, he still brought home a 5 second PR by beating last summer's time. I think he finished in about 48 seconds.
I ran with the big dogs in the last, fast heat, though whether I really belonged there might have been iffy. With the rain and monitoring 2 kids, I didn't warm up completely as I might have liked. But I got off to nice, quick start anyway. By the straightaway, though, it was clear that a few of the young guys were too fast for too long. I finished 5th of 6 with a 28.88s. This beats last year's time by almost a second, and I think I could still improve it a little with some more focused training.
The "workout" session after the main event tonight was a predict-your-finish 5k. I didn't give it much thought and put down 23:00. I was rather surprised to find that I ran smoothly so soon after the 200. My pace was steady throughout and I had a nice dogfight with another guy over the last 3 laps. I took over in the last straightaway, though, and got him by a few seconds. 23:23 - and 3rd place in getting close to my prediction! But the real story was my son. He was beat from basketball, beat from the 200 sprint, but wanted to give the 5k a shot anyway. I figured he'd jog a couple laps and get tired a walk for a while before retiring. He'd never gone more than 2 miles before. I told him to just go for as long as he felt like it and not worry about doing the full distance. I knew he was beat.
I'll tell you what, that boy ran and ran and ran! We all started together, so I got to cheer him on a few times while lapping him. He just kept on going! Half way through I could tell he was psyched that he'd even done that much. With 2 laps to go I was screaming my fool head off for him! He was steady throughout and even finished with a kick to pass another kid. 34:15 PR for Lincoln!!!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Happy Fathers' Day!
I did an awesome trail run today with 15 other Fathers, Mothers and Others from the Steeplechasers. We tackled the Catoctin Mountain blue trail, which is the same trail that the Catoctin 50K is run on. Hilly, rocky, and on this morning VERY muddy! It was a blast! Most of us did 10 miles (a few others did 13), then we had a huge cookout at one of the runners' house (Mike O'Grady's) which was on the mountain about 50 feet from the nearest trailhead. What an awesome place to live! My wife and daughters came up for the cookout (brats, burgers, pasta salid, fruit salad, sweets, and plenty of beverages) and then we went on a short hike with all the kids to a nearby pond where the littlest ones got a kick out of tossing rocks into the water. Great morning, great run, great company, great food! It just doesn't get any better than this!
Happy Father's Day, my fellow fathers!
Happy Father's Day, my fellow fathers!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Bushwacker Adventure Run
After having run trails for several years, this morning I actually ran in my first trail run race, the Bushwacker Adventure Running Race, which is hosted by ex2.Adventures.com. The course is point to point, running from Hemlock Overlook Regional Park to Fountainhead Regional Park in northern Virginia. Most of the race can be run by following the Bull Run - Occoquan Trail (Blue Blazes) along the Occoquan Reservoir; however, what makes this special is one simple change: runners, feel free to choose your own path (ie., bushwack). All runners were supplied with a detailed, accurate and colorful topo map of the course, and we were encouraged to bring a compass.Put simply, THIS RACE WAS AWESOME!!! Our family met up with longtime friends Karen and Alan along with their kids at the start, and Al and I ran the race together (well, 90% of the way at least).
Although I'd spent some time reviewing the trail map online, and then studied the supplied map as much as possible, everything went haywire 20 seconds after the start! It was at that point that the other 100 or so runners suddenly started going in about 100 different directions! Everyone ditched the main path for some immediate off-trail running, and in no-time I had no idea where I really was, or worse, which way I needed to go! Runners were everywhere, hopping over fallen tree trunks and dipping under low-hanging limbs, dodging this way then that. Al and I roughly stayed together, and perhaps he had a better idea of what we were doing, but as far as I was concerned it was just a giant case of the blind leading the blind!
So that's how we start, and within about a quarter mile we have a tiny creek to cross -- easy to jump normally, but the banks were quite steep. And then there's the mud. Earlier in the week it rained. A lot. Like a few inches worth. Nicer weather in the last couple of days left me thinking that MAYBE it wouldn't be terribly muddy after all. But then, out of nowhere, from about 4am to 6am we get showers. So, everything's wet. And muddy.
So back to this stupid creek. Al carefully steps down the nearside bank, hop over, and scampers up the other side. No biggie. I follow suit. I start down the bank, and immediately both feet slide out from under me in the mud. My ass hits next, mud squishing its way up the legs of my shorts, and I'm off! I zoom right on down the bank, stopping only when my feet hit the next change in the topography, which is the 4" deep shoe-sucking mud and water. I curse under my breathe (I don't remember this, but I simply must have!), hop over the rest of the water and start up the other side. And my feet now slide out from under me going the other way! I'm quickly on my hands and knees, digging my fingernails into the side of the bank, to desperately cling my way out of this quagmire.
So that was the first 3 minutes of the race.
Eventually, I resume running, holding a map that is no longer particularly readable thanks to its protective coating of mud. I follow Al and in him I trust. I'm frazzled, slimey, and lost. And we run. After a few more minutes of chaos, we find our way onto an actual trail. I had no clue what trail, but Al thought it was the one we wanted, and, as it turned out, it was. Great. Another 1/4 mile up the trail is where we actually planned to start a bushwack to cut a corner. The Horseshoe Trail bent right, and we went left. Oh, boy. Here goes nothin'!
This would be the first of many optimistically-mileage-cutting bushwacks that we would attempt, and I would become rather amazed to find that by and large, they worked! The first bushwack cut out a nice chunk of trail. Soon we were back on the Blue path! Hey, this was fun!
From here the details get a little blurry. We cut tiny corners on the trails frequently; pretty much anytime you could see the trail bending up ahead, you'd be looking for a quicker way to get there. And occasionally we took calculated risks and bushwacked for real. We hit the first of 3 checkpoints (you had to check in at each, in order) quickly, and the pace for the first 3 miles must have been a good one. Pace while trail running is a relative thing, of course. I just know we ran it pretty fast.
One of the other bigger bushwacks came right after the 2nd checkpoint, and it was not intentional. We're running along the trail, and woman fan claps and encourages us as we go by her. A few seconds later and the trail we were on dumped us into a parking lot, with no real indication of where the blue trail is! We pick a direction and go. We're again running all over the place, no one else is with us, and eventually we hit another trail. We charge down it and it brings us back to blue!
The best bushwack came during the longest stage of the race, between the 2nd and 3rd checkpoints. The blue trail had mile markers on it, and we knew we wanted to ditch the trail at around mile 13.75. We get roughly there and turn left and downhill. Were zooming along in this fashion, again dodging low hanging branches and such, when suddenly we find ourselves crossing a marsh! There's standing water, a few inches deep, all around us and also some different vegetation, low-lying plants with huge leaves. We go charging right through and I impulsively start singing the Charlie Daniels Band's Legen of Wooley Swamp:
Well, if you ever go back into Wooley Swamp,
Well, you better not go at night.
There's things out there in the middle of them woods
That make a strong man die from fright.
Things that crawl and things that fly
And things that creep around on the ground.
And they say the ghost of Lucius Clay gets up and he walks
around.
Feet soaked, water splashing, everything stinking, and right there ahead of us running from right to left are a few relatively dry-footed racers! We storm our way out of the swamp and rejoin the runners! This was kicking butt!
Alas, we still had several miles to go, and the plentiful hills were taking their toll on me. A couple of weeks ago I was ready for this, but unfortunately in the mean time I'd had a bad cold and had a sore neck and then sore back. The net effect was that I hadn't run much in the last two weeks.
Oh, well, I knew this would probably happen. I started cutting back to a walk and many of the uphills. Al was kind enough to stick with me for quite a while, even though he felt fairly good. With about a mile to go, Al had gotten far enough ahead of me that he went ahead to the finish. My last mile was pretty strong still, but I did lose maybe another minute or so when I suddenly found myself not on the trail and without a clue as to how I lost it! Two guys followed me, and together we found our way back to the blue trail.
A little farther and we could hear music...that was the finish! I picked it up a little more for the end and soon we were punching our chips at the finish! I finished in 1:50:51, in 10th place in my age group (19 had pre-registered in my age group; so about 50th percentile). Al finished a few minutes ahead and in 8th in our age group. We reunited with family and enjoyed the feast laid out at the finish. Tons of pizza, drinks and snacks. They had so much extra that we ended up walking away with a complete sausage pizza!
They had plenty of giveaways, but neither of us happened to win. Overall, the race was well organized and the course was incredible! This was such a fun experience! It was challenging not only in terms of all the hills and all of the bushwacking, but also because the trail was all muddy. The center of the trail was mostly muck, and we'd run along the sides more. If at all possible, I'm sure we'll be returning next year -- and this time maybe Andrea will run it, too!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Inaugural Illinois Marathon - Race Report
Champaign/Urbana, Illinois
April 11, 2009
As I stood patiently, coldly (in shorts and a t-shirt on this 36-degree morning), listening to a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner sung by The Other Guys choral group, one thought dominated my mind. Now that I’m finally first in line for the porta-potty, do I go in and pee during our national anthem? Or do I wait and risk a late start to the race? Though I was leaning toward the latter anyway, my dilemma was thankfully resolved by my predecessor who took enough time that the song was finished before I had the chance to go in.
Ah, but I was not yet out of the woods! Seconds later I’m inside, half panicked that the race is about to start without me (which really doesn’t help the process, by the way), all ready to take care of business, and I hear through those thick blue-plastic walls around me, “Now please bow your heads as Father MacReynolds leads us in the benediction prayer.” Oh, no!!! It seemed to me that the potential desecration of the first act was exceeded only by the blasphemy of the second!
But I was alone in that potty. No one would know except me. And maybe God. The race was just seconds away. I’m sorry, dear Reader, but I must admit it. I peed through the benediction.
I finally stepped out and back into the cold, relieved to find that the Inaugural Illinois Marathon had not yet started. I wiggled my way onto the street and spied the 3:40 pace sign, and then glanced skyward nervously, waiting for the bolt of lightning to strike me down. To my right were the University of Illinois’ generically-named basketball and football stadiums, Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium. Ahead, spanning First Street in a huge arc, were the ladders from 2 fire trucks: one fire truck from Urbana on the east side of the street and one from Champaign on the west side of the street. In the middle where the ladders met was a huge American flag. Very cool start line!
My plan for the race was to start easy for the first mile or so and then find the 3:40 (8:23 per mile) pace group and try to hang with them for as long as possible, and if I was still with them and had something left with 5 miles to go, I’d pick it up then. This would be my 4th marathon, with my best previous time coming in last fall’s Wineglass Marathon (3:53:48). I knew that running a 3:40 was perhaps overly optimistic.
The first mile followed First Street north to Green Street and what’s considered Campustown at U of I. Just prior to reaching Green we passed by my niece, Tessa’s, apartment. My oldest brother, Gary, and his family had also come down for the weekend, and the whole group – Andrea and the kids plus Gary’s family – were outside to cheer me on at the Mile 1 mark. After high-fiving several of them I was gone and heading through Campustown.
Early on, though my forearms and fingers were going numb, the running was easy. I checked my pace after about a mile and a half, and I was cruising at around 8:10. Cool. I was sure the 3:40 group was probably behind me, so I eased up just a bit. I figured I’d take it easy until they caught me. Mile 2 brought us back through the heart of my alma mater’s campus. On the right: aged Altgeld Hall, home to the Math Department and a bell tower that I can still remember playing the theme to the Flintstones on Fridays when I was an undergrad. On the left, the major engineering buildings: huge brick and stone structures home to so many of the classes that I probably should have attended with better regularity. Then the Illini Union on the right; that’s where our team of five freshmen from my dorm won the all-campus bowling intramurals by blowing out the boisterously cocky frat champs. Ah, THOSE were my glory days! Mile 1- 8:11. Mile 2- 8:13.
But I digress. There’s a race to run! The course starts out flat for the first few miles and levels out after that. By about Mile 5 or so I’ve finally eased up long enough that the pace group catches up to me, and I merge with them. It’s neat to run with a pacer for a couple of reasons. First, I think it’s always fun to run in a large group of people. There’s plenty of conversation to provide distraction. The other benefit is that with the pacer carrying a “3:40 Pace” sign, the fans tend to really start cheering when a pace group goes by. “Yeah for the 3:40 pacers!!!” Always nice to hear some cheering! Mile 3- 8:17. Mile 4- 8:14. Mile 5- 8:31.
Miles 4 through 9 were through residential neighborhoods in Urbana, and the fan support here was sensational! Lots of people and lots of noise – much more than I would have expected from a marathon of this size.
During the 6th mile we ran through Meadowbrook Park, which was basically a prairie with some trees along the borders. As came around one bend in the path, however, I saw something that quite shocked me and had me wondering briefly if the hallucinations of the later stages of the race were already kicking in. For rising out of the grassland ahead of me was a young, attractive woman without a stitch of clothing! Never mind that her skin was green, this chick was nekkid! Talk about instantaneous inspiration! Well, she froze up and we all just continued on our merry way along the path, passing right by her backside (which was quite nice I might add). This sculpture by artist Peter Fagan was no classic Madonna with excessive plumpness, she was actually quite lithe – could have been a runner!
Oh, well, we carried on. By Mile 10 we were returning to campus and I was feeling quite comfortable with our pace. Mile 6- 8:40. Mile 7- 8:17. Mile 8- 8:28. Mile 9- 8:24. Mile 10- 8:26.
We crossed back through campus and then moved on to the residential sections of Champaign. Again, the crowd support was really strong. The miles were beginning to take their toll on my legs and feet, but I carried on fine. Then for some inexplicable reason, the 3:40 group started picking up the pace! As far as I was concerned we had been going a little faster than we should have all along, and therefore we’d banked some time, so why on earth were we suddenly accelerating 13 miles into the race? I checked my GPS watch several times and each time we were at a sub-8 minute pace! I intentionally let myself drop to the back of the pack, figuring there was no need stay at the front at this pace. I was a bit worried even so. Mile 11- 8:17. Mile 12- 8:19. Mile 13-8:14. Mile 14- 8:03. Mile 15- 8:04.
And for good reason. The torrid pace continued, and I started fell back more. I knew I’d regret it if I kept going at that pace, and maybe I’d regret things as it was anyway. Miles 16-19 were still solid and on target, but by 20 I was steadily falling further behind the pace group. And that’s where things stood as I began the 2nd race. (Anyone who’s run a marathon knows there are 2 races in a marathon: the first one is to 20 miles, and then the second race starts.) Mile 16- 8:12. Mile 17- 8:28. Mile 18- 8:11. Mile 19- 8:22. Mile 20- 8:32.
Running more or less solo at this point, my legs were now carrying the weight of the previous 20 miles. Muscles at my hips groaned with every forward stride, and my knees ached as they absorbed the continuous pounding. Calves and quads grew tighter and protested the stridelength that I wanted to maintain. I become oblivious to much of what was around me; I ran past nice homes and peaceful parks with lots of people cheering, but I really couldn’t process any of it mentally. No details stuck. I was becoming a bipedal vegetable, and wasn’t so sure how long the bipedal part would apply! Miles 21 and 22 were tough, but I did have a couple of bright spots during this stretch, however. I saw an old cross country friend of mine from high school, Dan, on the side of the road cheering me on! Soon thereafter I came upon the rest of my mobile cheering section, including my nephew, Ethan, and son, Lincoln, who both ran onto the road and joined me for a few seconds. Somewhat reinvigorated, I plodded forward and tried to slow the rate of my velocity’s decay. Mile 21- 8:30. Mile 22-9:06. Mile 23-8:48.
The final few miles were back on campus, and this was actually the one time when I thought the crowd support was lacking. Being Easter weekend, much of the student population must have gone home. The steady pickup in the last miles that I had hoped for wasn’t going to happen. All I could do was hang on and keep moving toward Memorial Stadium, which finally loomed ahead in the distance. I finally started moving a little faster once again as I made the final turn and was about to enter the stadium. Down a painful dip, into the dark tunnel, and then suddenly the lights were back on as I ran out onto the stadium’s artificial turf in front of a huge crowd in the stands!
I’m very old school when it comes to arguments about grass vs. artificial turf, but I’ll tell you what, after 26 miles of punishing pavement that turf felt like I was running on pillows! I kicked it in, running first from one endzone to the other along a sideline, then turning into the other endzone and running toward the goalpost, and then finally sprinting back upfield to the 50-yard line and the finish! Getting to finish inside the stadium was awesome! Mile 24- 9:33. Mile 25- 9:54. Mile 26- 9:59
My official finish time was 3:46:22 (8:38 pace per mile), a personal best by over 7 minutes! I finished in 410th place overall out of 1619 finishers (top 26%); 351st among the 1106 men (top 32%), and 66th out of 173 men in the 40-44 age group (top 39%). My half marathon split time was exactly 1:50:00 (right on pace!), which itself is a personal best for me in the half. I checked my GPS and, as usual, there’s a bit of discrepancy in distance run thanks to the fact that we don’t run the shortest route possible the whole way. My GPS had me at 26.47 miles and an 8:33 overall pace. Whatever the distance, I was ready for a celebratory pizza!
PHOTO SLIDESHOW HERE: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v377/robisch/Running/Illinois%20Marathon%202009/?albumview=slideshow
April 11, 2009
As I stood patiently, coldly (in shorts and a t-shirt on this 36-degree morning), listening to a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner sung by The Other Guys choral group, one thought dominated my mind. Now that I’m finally first in line for the porta-potty, do I go in and pee during our national anthem? Or do I wait and risk a late start to the race? Though I was leaning toward the latter anyway, my dilemma was thankfully resolved by my predecessor who took enough time that the song was finished before I had the chance to go in.
Ah, but I was not yet out of the woods! Seconds later I’m inside, half panicked that the race is about to start without me (which really doesn’t help the process, by the way), all ready to take care of business, and I hear through those thick blue-plastic walls around me, “Now please bow your heads as Father MacReynolds leads us in the benediction prayer.” Oh, no!!! It seemed to me that the potential desecration of the first act was exceeded only by the blasphemy of the second!
But I was alone in that potty. No one would know except me. And maybe God. The race was just seconds away. I’m sorry, dear Reader, but I must admit it. I peed through the benediction.
I finally stepped out and back into the cold, relieved to find that the Inaugural Illinois Marathon had not yet started. I wiggled my way onto the street and spied the 3:40 pace sign, and then glanced skyward nervously, waiting for the bolt of lightning to strike me down. To my right were the University of Illinois’ generically-named basketball and football stadiums, Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium. Ahead, spanning First Street in a huge arc, were the ladders from 2 fire trucks: one fire truck from Urbana on the east side of the street and one from Champaign on the west side of the street. In the middle where the ladders met was a huge American flag. Very cool start line!
My plan for the race was to start easy for the first mile or so and then find the 3:40 (8:23 per mile) pace group and try to hang with them for as long as possible, and if I was still with them and had something left with 5 miles to go, I’d pick it up then. This would be my 4th marathon, with my best previous time coming in last fall’s Wineglass Marathon (3:53:48). I knew that running a 3:40 was perhaps overly optimistic.
The first mile followed First Street north to Green Street and what’s considered Campustown at U of I. Just prior to reaching Green we passed by my niece, Tessa’s, apartment. My oldest brother, Gary, and his family had also come down for the weekend, and the whole group – Andrea and the kids plus Gary’s family – were outside to cheer me on at the Mile 1 mark. After high-fiving several of them I was gone and heading through Campustown.
Early on, though my forearms and fingers were going numb, the running was easy. I checked my pace after about a mile and a half, and I was cruising at around 8:10. Cool. I was sure the 3:40 group was probably behind me, so I eased up just a bit. I figured I’d take it easy until they caught me. Mile 2 brought us back through the heart of my alma mater’s campus. On the right: aged Altgeld Hall, home to the Math Department and a bell tower that I can still remember playing the theme to the Flintstones on Fridays when I was an undergrad. On the left, the major engineering buildings: huge brick and stone structures home to so many of the classes that I probably should have attended with better regularity. Then the Illini Union on the right; that’s where our team of five freshmen from my dorm won the all-campus bowling intramurals by blowing out the boisterously cocky frat champs. Ah, THOSE were my glory days! Mile 1- 8:11. Mile 2- 8:13.
But I digress. There’s a race to run! The course starts out flat for the first few miles and levels out after that. By about Mile 5 or so I’ve finally eased up long enough that the pace group catches up to me, and I merge with them. It’s neat to run with a pacer for a couple of reasons. First, I think it’s always fun to run in a large group of people. There’s plenty of conversation to provide distraction. The other benefit is that with the pacer carrying a “3:40 Pace” sign, the fans tend to really start cheering when a pace group goes by. “Yeah for the 3:40 pacers!!!” Always nice to hear some cheering! Mile 3- 8:17. Mile 4- 8:14. Mile 5- 8:31.
Miles 4 through 9 were through residential neighborhoods in Urbana, and the fan support here was sensational! Lots of people and lots of noise – much more than I would have expected from a marathon of this size.
During the 6th mile we ran through Meadowbrook Park, which was basically a prairie with some trees along the borders. As came around one bend in the path, however, I saw something that quite shocked me and had me wondering briefly if the hallucinations of the later stages of the race were already kicking in. For rising out of the grassland ahead of me was a young, attractive woman without a stitch of clothing! Never mind that her skin was green, this chick was nekkid! Talk about instantaneous inspiration! Well, she froze up and we all just continued on our merry way along the path, passing right by her backside (which was quite nice I might add). This sculpture by artist Peter Fagan was no classic Madonna with excessive plumpness, she was actually quite lithe – could have been a runner!
Oh, well, we carried on. By Mile 10 we were returning to campus and I was feeling quite comfortable with our pace. Mile 6- 8:40. Mile 7- 8:17. Mile 8- 8:28. Mile 9- 8:24. Mile 10- 8:26.
We crossed back through campus and then moved on to the residential sections of Champaign. Again, the crowd support was really strong. The miles were beginning to take their toll on my legs and feet, but I carried on fine. Then for some inexplicable reason, the 3:40 group started picking up the pace! As far as I was concerned we had been going a little faster than we should have all along, and therefore we’d banked some time, so why on earth were we suddenly accelerating 13 miles into the race? I checked my GPS watch several times and each time we were at a sub-8 minute pace! I intentionally let myself drop to the back of the pack, figuring there was no need stay at the front at this pace. I was a bit worried even so. Mile 11- 8:17. Mile 12- 8:19. Mile 13-8:14. Mile 14- 8:03. Mile 15- 8:04.
And for good reason. The torrid pace continued, and I started fell back more. I knew I’d regret it if I kept going at that pace, and maybe I’d regret things as it was anyway. Miles 16-19 were still solid and on target, but by 20 I was steadily falling further behind the pace group. And that’s where things stood as I began the 2nd race. (Anyone who’s run a marathon knows there are 2 races in a marathon: the first one is to 20 miles, and then the second race starts.) Mile 16- 8:12. Mile 17- 8:28. Mile 18- 8:11. Mile 19- 8:22. Mile 20- 8:32.
Running more or less solo at this point, my legs were now carrying the weight of the previous 20 miles. Muscles at my hips groaned with every forward stride, and my knees ached as they absorbed the continuous pounding. Calves and quads grew tighter and protested the stridelength that I wanted to maintain. I become oblivious to much of what was around me; I ran past nice homes and peaceful parks with lots of people cheering, but I really couldn’t process any of it mentally. No details stuck. I was becoming a bipedal vegetable, and wasn’t so sure how long the bipedal part would apply! Miles 21 and 22 were tough, but I did have a couple of bright spots during this stretch, however. I saw an old cross country friend of mine from high school, Dan, on the side of the road cheering me on! Soon thereafter I came upon the rest of my mobile cheering section, including my nephew, Ethan, and son, Lincoln, who both ran onto the road and joined me for a few seconds. Somewhat reinvigorated, I plodded forward and tried to slow the rate of my velocity’s decay. Mile 21- 8:30. Mile 22-9:06. Mile 23-8:48.
The final few miles were back on campus, and this was actually the one time when I thought the crowd support was lacking. Being Easter weekend, much of the student population must have gone home. The steady pickup in the last miles that I had hoped for wasn’t going to happen. All I could do was hang on and keep moving toward Memorial Stadium, which finally loomed ahead in the distance. I finally started moving a little faster once again as I made the final turn and was about to enter the stadium. Down a painful dip, into the dark tunnel, and then suddenly the lights were back on as I ran out onto the stadium’s artificial turf in front of a huge crowd in the stands!
I’m very old school when it comes to arguments about grass vs. artificial turf, but I’ll tell you what, after 26 miles of punishing pavement that turf felt like I was running on pillows! I kicked it in, running first from one endzone to the other along a sideline, then turning into the other endzone and running toward the goalpost, and then finally sprinting back upfield to the 50-yard line and the finish! Getting to finish inside the stadium was awesome! Mile 24- 9:33. Mile 25- 9:54. Mile 26- 9:59
My official finish time was 3:46:22 (8:38 pace per mile), a personal best by over 7 minutes! I finished in 410th place overall out of 1619 finishers (top 26%); 351st among the 1106 men (top 32%), and 66th out of 173 men in the 40-44 age group (top 39%). My half marathon split time was exactly 1:50:00 (right on pace!), which itself is a personal best for me in the half. I checked my GPS and, as usual, there’s a bit of discrepancy in distance run thanks to the fact that we don’t run the shortest route possible the whole way. My GPS had me at 26.47 miles and an 8:33 overall pace. Whatever the distance, I was ready for a celebratory pizza!
PHOTO SLIDESHOW HERE: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v377/robisch/Running/Illinois%20Marathon%202009/?albumview=slideshow
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Raeann's Little Journey
I’ve always intended on writing more on this blog about my daughter, Raeann, and our family’s experience of her autism. I think this would be a good time to start.
For 3 years now Raeann has been a member of the Frederick Children’s Chorus. This is an excellent regional chorus which performs in several concerts throughout the year. On Saturday, Feb 8th, they joined up with the Glorystar Children’s Choir from Potomac, MD, for a chorus and jazz music festival. They rehearsed together that day and then performed in concert that evening. It was a wonderful performance, divided into segments where the choruses took turns on stage either singing in their individual choruses or as a combined group.
Just before intermission, both choruses returned to the stage to perform a couple of songs together. As the children were arranging themselves on the risers, I saw Raeann come out along the front row and hesitate. I could tell something wasn’t quite right. She knows where she’s supposed to be and who should be with her, but apparently those two weren’t matching up right. She stood with a look of fear and bewilderment, and unfortunately, maybe her parents were the only ones to notice at first. The kids took their places and Raeann stayed put where she was on the left side of the front row. The conductor from the Glorystar group took her place on the elevated step in front of the choruses, and the singing began.
Maybe 20 seconds into the song, Raeann obviously came to a decision. She was definitely not in the right spot. While continuing to sing, she stepped forward! There were microphones set up along the front of the stage, and for the briefest instant I thought to myself, “My god! Does she have a solo?!!” Uh, not so much.
Now, I would think that most kids, if they were in her shoes and actually came to the decision that they needed to move to another spot during the song, would step over quite directly and quickly – a second later and the switch would be made. Raeann, on the other hand, calmly stepped out as if in a wedding march! I can only imagine what the conductor was thinking as this strange girl from the other chorus decides to go on her own little walkabout right in the middle of a performance! Raeann walks forward to the front of the stage past the microphones – still singing – and turns left. She walks behind the conductor’s back (in between the conductor and the audience), across the front of the stage and then turns left again to rejoin the chorus in the front row, now on the right side of the stage. She never stopped singing.
Andrea and I sat there, mortified, through the whole procession. I don’t know if Raeann felt any better in the new location, but at least she did stay put the rest of the way.
After the show Raeann felt bad about what had happened and where she had been. Thankfully, her conductors from FCC took it in stride and didn’t make a big deal out of it. Hopefully, Raeann has been able to learn a lesson here. As it turned out, several kids were in the wrong location, apparently as a result of the other conductor switching the placement of the alto and soprano sections, as compared to what the FCC kids were used to.
Raeann’s decision to move, I think, provides an interesting window into the workings of this autistic mind. She knew she should stand in place. She knew she should be in HER place. When there was a conflict between the two, she judged it more important to get in her place than to remain in place during a song. Her ability to assign appropriate priorities of importance is somewhat off. She was probably oblivious to what her changing position would look like to the audience, as most kids with autism have a hard time assuming someone else’s viewpoint, and perhaps that’s why she didn’t recognize the importance of staying put. There are certain things most people naturally know or understand, that someone like Raeann actually needs to be told. Apparently, don’t go wandering around mid-song is one of them!
For 3 years now Raeann has been a member of the Frederick Children’s Chorus. This is an excellent regional chorus which performs in several concerts throughout the year. On Saturday, Feb 8th, they joined up with the Glorystar Children’s Choir from Potomac, MD, for a chorus and jazz music festival. They rehearsed together that day and then performed in concert that evening. It was a wonderful performance, divided into segments where the choruses took turns on stage either singing in their individual choruses or as a combined group.
Just before intermission, both choruses returned to the stage to perform a couple of songs together. As the children were arranging themselves on the risers, I saw Raeann come out along the front row and hesitate. I could tell something wasn’t quite right. She knows where she’s supposed to be and who should be with her, but apparently those two weren’t matching up right. She stood with a look of fear and bewilderment, and unfortunately, maybe her parents were the only ones to notice at first. The kids took their places and Raeann stayed put where she was on the left side of the front row. The conductor from the Glorystar group took her place on the elevated step in front of the choruses, and the singing began.
Maybe 20 seconds into the song, Raeann obviously came to a decision. She was definitely not in the right spot. While continuing to sing, she stepped forward! There were microphones set up along the front of the stage, and for the briefest instant I thought to myself, “My god! Does she have a solo?!!” Uh, not so much.
Now, I would think that most kids, if they were in her shoes and actually came to the decision that they needed to move to another spot during the song, would step over quite directly and quickly – a second later and the switch would be made. Raeann, on the other hand, calmly stepped out as if in a wedding march! I can only imagine what the conductor was thinking as this strange girl from the other chorus decides to go on her own little walkabout right in the middle of a performance! Raeann walks forward to the front of the stage past the microphones – still singing – and turns left. She walks behind the conductor’s back (in between the conductor and the audience), across the front of the stage and then turns left again to rejoin the chorus in the front row, now on the right side of the stage. She never stopped singing.
Andrea and I sat there, mortified, through the whole procession. I don’t know if Raeann felt any better in the new location, but at least she did stay put the rest of the way.
After the show Raeann felt bad about what had happened and where she had been. Thankfully, her conductors from FCC took it in stride and didn’t make a big deal out of it. Hopefully, Raeann has been able to learn a lesson here. As it turned out, several kids were in the wrong location, apparently as a result of the other conductor switching the placement of the alto and soprano sections, as compared to what the FCC kids were used to.
Raeann’s decision to move, I think, provides an interesting window into the workings of this autistic mind. She knew she should stand in place. She knew she should be in HER place. When there was a conflict between the two, she judged it more important to get in her place than to remain in place during a song. Her ability to assign appropriate priorities of importance is somewhat off. She was probably oblivious to what her changing position would look like to the audience, as most kids with autism have a hard time assuming someone else’s viewpoint, and perhaps that’s why she didn’t recognize the importance of staying put. There are certain things most people naturally know or understand, that someone like Raeann actually needs to be told. Apparently, don’t go wandering around mid-song is one of them!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Raeann and Langauge Arts in 8th grade
Just emailed this to few folks; thought I post it here for posterity's sake.
I’m not sure what the solution is here, so I’m looking for any advice. As you know, Raeann requires support at home to get through 95% of her homework. That’s a given and we accept that. For math, science, social studies and other classes that’s generally not too big of a deal. Between the two of us, Andrea and I either know the material or can quickly review a couple of pages in a book and be up to speed enough to provide Rae with the support she needs to get through her homework.
The real problem surfaces in language arts, where she’s required to read several books and then take notes and write summaries, tasks which both absolutely require our assistance. In the last few months she has had to read The Diary of Anne Frank, The Red Kayak, and now Lily’s Ghosts. For Anne Frank, we were provided section summaries that did a very good job of summarizing chapters of the book. Those summaries almost made it possible to help Raeann without reading the whole book.
Basically we’ve had the following choice: either A) one of us reads her books also, or B) we don’t and she’s left with no one to support from home (in which case she would be unable to produce an adequate summary). For Lily’s Ghosts, they didn’t do any summary work at school – it was all homework. Thus far we’ve read the books, but it hasn’t been easy. Good grief! Like we don’t have enough to do already as the parents of a kid with disabilities, not to mention full time jobs and two other kids! We’ve got to cover her entire reading list, too???
So, what’s the solution here? Are we just screwed as the parents of a kid that needs this level of support? Is there something else we can demand or expect the school to do to help us support her at home?
I’m not sure what the solution is here, so I’m looking for any advice. As you know, Raeann requires support at home to get through 95% of her homework. That’s a given and we accept that. For math, science, social studies and other classes that’s generally not too big of a deal. Between the two of us, Andrea and I either know the material or can quickly review a couple of pages in a book and be up to speed enough to provide Rae with the support she needs to get through her homework.
The real problem surfaces in language arts, where she’s required to read several books and then take notes and write summaries, tasks which both absolutely require our assistance. In the last few months she has had to read The Diary of Anne Frank, The Red Kayak, and now Lily’s Ghosts. For Anne Frank, we were provided section summaries that did a very good job of summarizing chapters of the book. Those summaries almost made it possible to help Raeann without reading the whole book.
Basically we’ve had the following choice: either A) one of us reads her books also, or B) we don’t and she’s left with no one to support from home (in which case she would be unable to produce an adequate summary). For Lily’s Ghosts, they didn’t do any summary work at school – it was all homework. Thus far we’ve read the books, but it hasn’t been easy. Good grief! Like we don’t have enough to do already as the parents of a kid with disabilities, not to mention full time jobs and two other kids! We’ve got to cover her entire reading list, too???
So, what’s the solution here? Are we just screwed as the parents of a kid that needs this level of support? Is there something else we can demand or expect the school to do to help us support her at home?
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