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Elton John flashback, showing my age...

I didn't run on Tuesday. My new boss was in town, impossible to break away (had an office lunch). He left yesterday. I ran late, at twilight for about 30 mnutes. Today, ran during lunch for about 35 minutes. Still taking it easy, plan to be more serious about the mileage and training starting in mid October.

Last night, we (my wife and I) had it out with the volleyball coach. He ended up apologizing, we'll see, actions speak louder than words. It is impossible to understand his logic, because he didn't have any. We explained what we were seeing, he said it's not always like that, to which we could say maybe so, but we can only go with what we see.

Tomorrow morning up early for a 9:30 flight to DC. Connection in Memphis. Travelling east always sucks, most of the day is wasted. I'm taking the running stuff, hopefully I can run the mall or something fun like that.

catching up

Since I've started this blog, I've started to read others. Mine is boring. I wouldn't read it. I don't feel comfortable posting things that are in my head or heart. I want to, but I don't.

I remember reading something once about the Japanese language and words they had for beliefs that were public and others that were private. There is a richness or subtly to the words that isn't in English. I need to research or find those words again. The words conveyed exactly the way I feel sometimes. Hypocrit is about as close as English comes, but the Japanese words weren't about behavior opposite of stated beliefs. It was more unstated beliefs and behavior and actions consistent with those.

Fantasies, goals, feelings, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to journal or share them, even with my self. For example, I would like to say I want to run a sub 3 hour marathon, but that requires a lot of work. I want to, but do I want to put in the work. By stating it as a goal, implies that I'm going to do the work.

Three runs since the last post. Ran Saturday for 40 minutes. Then Sunday for 60 minutes (new route) and today for 30 minutes. All of the runs were maintenance type runs. Didn't push the pace or try to do anything besides enjoy the scenary.

My new boss is in town for the next two days and tomorrow is my son's 15th birthday. Sneaking in a run will be a slim to none.

Ho Hum

Ran for a 1/2 hour yesterday and again today , over lunch. Ran in the neighborhoods behind the office. Yesterday was warm. The night before I had 2 helpings of enchiladas and 2 beers and then had be in the office by 6:30 AM. Not sure if it was the temperature, 2nds, beers or lack of sleep (not to mention the usual high level of stress), but the run was sluggish. A 1/2 hour isn't long, but never got in a rythym.

Today was a little better. Went to bed earlier and didn't have to be in so early. Today was cool, overcast, a little breezy, and a lot easier to run. Wasn't like I ran record times, but I felt good enough that my mind could wander.

More than anything, sleep, or lack of, seems to affect my energy level during runs. Of course, there are other factors to sleep; eating too late, too much, stress, etc..

Next weekend, the 30th, going to D.C. Taking my father in law to visit the WWII Memorial. My brother in law and son are going too. My father in law fought in WWII, in Okinawa. Hopefully I can get a few runs in, one of the best parts of being a runner is you get exposed to more of and parts of cities than a typical tourist. Then the weekend of the 14th, I'll be at a brewing convention in Miami. Again, hopefully I can get a run in or two. At a brewing convention, stress shouldn't be a problem, but lack of sleep and over indulgence could be.

Slow Day

Ran for 30 minutes over lunch in the neighborhood behind the office. It was a little breezy, but still a great day. Knock on wood, felt pretty good.

Vicarious Living

I did not get a moon light run in yesterday. Didn't get a run in at all. Spent most of the day at my youngest daughters volleyball games. She is on an 8th grade competitive volleyball team. It is essentially a feeder team for the high school she will attend. She is also playing rec volleyball through the city and intramural volleyball through her middle school. She is one of three 7th graders on her team and the only one from her school. Added to all this, she is very young for her grade, she started the school year 11 and had her 12th birthday 3 weeks ago.

She loves playing volleyball, her Mom plays in rec leagues, she tags along and is always out in the yard hitting the ball around on her own. She didn't try out for this competitive team, we signed her up for a couple of camps this summer, the high school coach contacted us and the coach of this competitive team and suggested that she be given a try out. So, she had a 1x1 tryout (team had already been selected) and was put on the team. We sensed the coach wasn't to thrilled about the suggestion which seemed to be confirmed this weekend.

She barely played, was the last person put into both of their matches. She was in tears on the bench after she had sat through the first 2 games and was the only one that hadn't played. She eventually got in the 3rd game, had several good serves and muffed a set when her and another girl tried to play it at the same time. During the break between matches I talked with her, told her I was proud of her and to just do her best. That I didn't care if she played, just wanted her to have fun. The second match, she got in on the end of the first game, served a few winners before they won the game and was pulled to start the second game. Same thing happened in the second game, and she never had a chance to handle a set or pass in either game of the second match.

Afterward the matches you could tell she was still upset. Her Mom and I talked with her and suggested that she ask the coach what she needed to improve on in order to play more. She thought that was a good idea. When my wife took her to practice tonight, she wanted her Mom to go with her to help with the question. She asked, and the coach told her she needed to pay more attention while on the bench and to get her serves over. My daughter ran over to join the warmup drills, and he told my wife that he wasn't playing to win at all cost, but that he was playing to win. Never mind the fact they were never really in the first match. My wife said it was hard to listen to it, especially the specific point he brought up, she had done flawlessly. We weren't sure about the paying attention comment, but our reaction was that it was ironic considering the tears.

Obviously we are struggling with the situation. The number one priority for us is for our daughter to have fun. We feel there are life lessons in sport, but this would be hard for an adult to handle. It would be so easy to work with or "drill" our daughter every night and systematically work through and remove this idiots reasons for her not playing, but is that what our daughter wants and is it the right thing to do for her? Is she going to end up hating volleyball? Should she learn to accept the situation with the idea that she is young and next year will be her turn? I guess the biggest problem is that the coach didn't explain anything, let the playing time be a big suprise and then had lame excuses or reasons for it. I hope this isn't a long year. It seems that many times, these end up being more life lessons for us as parents than they do for our kids.

Anyway, I did get a 50 minute run in over lunch today, ran the trails behind my office, it was a beautiful day with incredible views of downtown Denver. Nothing was solved, but I did enjoy the run .

Staying Up Late

It's been a late night waiting for my oldest daughter to get home from her date. She just walked in the door from a concert at Red Rocks, sounded like she had fun and now she is home, safe and sound.

Ran 45 minutes first thing this morning at an easy pace. Ran through a local park along a lake, it is a beautiful time of year. Not really trying to do much but maintain some level of conditioning or endurance prior to the focused or more regimented training to come.

Tomorrow, or later today (it is already tomorrow), hope to run around dusk. The moon has been full, so running at sunset is even more enjoyable. I especially like when the moon is low, when trees frame the view of it. Another advantage to running late in the day, every block or so you can catch a whiff of someone's grill, and fall just seems to be a more aromatic. It will be even better in a few weeks once leaves start to drop. Not only will it smell like fall, it will sound like it too running through the leaves.

getting started or ready for Boston

I read about blogging in Runners World. Giving it a try, hopefully it helps me stay on track. I've been running for a little over 6 years. Ran my first marathon last year and attempted a second one, but didn't finish. This spring finished my second marathon and qualified for Boston. Very excited about that. Submitted my application on Monday (1st day) and starting to look for accomodations. Friends are going to come too, we hope to hang around Boston an extra day or two, definately be looking into sampling some local brew after the race.

Currently putting in between 20 to 30 miles a week. Today, over lunch ran 45 minutes. I'm pretty lucky, my office backs up to an open space including trails, neighborhoods, a community college campus. Today's run went through all. Prefer to run outside.

Expect to start training for Boston in December. The last couple of years have run a 5k Thanksgiving morning. Debating about training hard for that and maybe a try for a PR. But want to relax and be mentally fresh for the ramp up to Boston too.

A friend passed along a link to a website for calculating distance run. It's at http://www.sueandpaul.com/gmapPedometer/
check it out, I promise you won't be disappointed.