B+POSITIVE

I haven't blogged in a long time. No reason other than I really am not a great writer and see so many good writers out there blogging away and I feel intimidated. I love putting my thoughts down and do so with hopes that it helps me or someone else now or down the road. Since I last posted anything I have become an RRCA (Road Runners Club of America) certified running coach. I took 16 hours of classes which covered much needed information including physiology, how to build training plans, and how to train injury free. I also had to get certified in CPR and First Aid. I have a lot of years of experience running and that helped tremendously as well. I thoroughly enjoyed the coaching classes. I am a person who loves to know 'why'. I have always read certain things about how to train properly, but to understand why is a major plus for me. The instructor kept apologizing for the 4 hours of physiology boredom but I loved that part the best. Now I understand why I shou...

April 6, 1980. It was Easter that year. I was in Atlanta, Georgia visiting my cousin on my way to Tampa, Fl where my cousin and I were going to meet up with another cousin and enjoy a week of spring break. I was 24 years old. The night before my cousin and I had went out on the town and had a good time. Because of that we slept in later than we had planned. We planned to get up early, go to the first Mass and then head to Florida. Somewhere around 7:30 or 8:00 AM I heard the phone ring (no cell phones in those days). I heard my cousin answer it and then he came into the room where I was sleeping and before he said a word an eerie feeling came over me. It was for me. It was my younger brother, Shawn. He said the words I had feared my entire life, "Dad just died." My father had suffered from Melanoma for over two years. Before that, we had the perfect family. Not even a trip to an emergency room for anyone for even stitches with a family of 7 boys and a girl. Beating on e...

One of the greatest things about runners is that most of them seem to have a very similar perspective on life.  I don’t think I have ever participated in a running event where I didn’t come away smiling, regardless of my time or the difficulty of the course.  That is because I always seem to meet some great people and the majority of runners have a blast.  I am a pretty quiet person. I used to be a lot more shy than I am now, but I still don’t have the ability to walk up to a person I have never met and just start talking unless I need to for some reason.  It usually takes another person to start the conversation but I don’t feel uncomfortable chatting with anyone once I start talking. I just finished the Disney Wine & Dine Half-Marathon on Saturday night and for those unfamiliar, the race started at 10PM and I finished shortly before midnight.  There also was lots of time to wait as there were 11,000 participants, shuttle busses to take runners to the sta...

My busy work season is winding down. I work from February to July to get 2 weeks of work done in August, which brings in more than ¾ of my income for the year. It is both a relief and sudden calmness that I totally enjoy. While I still have work to do, the next month or two is the perfect time for me to recharge my batteries to do it all over again next year. It went a little smoother this year, probably for two main reasons. First I am getting more efficient and gaining experience with every year that goes by. I learn new ideas that make my work life easier. Secondly, I was able to keep working on my running throughout the busy weeks and that relieved most of the stress that I usually take on. I sometimes worry too much about whether or not something was going to go as planned or not. While I had a couple of sleepless nights, most of the time I got good rest despite the long days and volume and importance of the work I accomplished. Exercise will do that for you. It is also football...

My father used to remind me when I was growing up to never quit once I started something.  Once I joined a little league baseball or midget football team, he said I should not quit the team, ever.  Along with that used to come the preaching of give it 110%, always do your best, and no one is better than you but you are also not better than someone else (his version of all men and women are created equal).  He wanted his children to not feel inferior to bullies or other intimidation, but at the same time didn’t want us to be the bullies and intimidators.  My father left a lot of great advice and was a strong man, both physically and mentally.  I hope I passed on that advice to my son and from what I can tell so far he turned out pretty good. Of course I also learned a lot from my mother who is 79.  She, even to this day, works out regularly and won an age group award last September in the Pittsburgh Great Race 5K.  She has given me great advice all th...

As I said in my inaugural post, running is my passion.  The feeling that I get from running is hard to describe.  Part of it is a sense of accomplishment, part is the alone time I get to think through my daily stresses, and part is a chemical process in the body that releases endorphins.  From what I understand releasing endorphins is the body's way of dealing with the work it is doing and to distract the mind from the pain a hard workout brings.  I could be wrong on this but I do get a "natural high" from running.  It makes my mind alert and gives me a much more positive attitude for the rest of the day and allows me to sleep better. As I age, everything that I have read says that I should not run every single day as it takes at least 48 hours for the body to repair itself from the damage running causes.  Giving the body a chance to heal also is supposed to make you stronger and more efficient for your next run if you follow the experts' a...