Explanation

I feel like I owe yall an explanation for why I haven't been posting lately.

I hurt my knee pretty badly two weeks ago. I tried to tough it out, but I really, really struggled with it. I honestly was scared that I had torn something in my knee because it lacked stability when walking. It kind of felt like Willis McGahee's knee after this hit...



Well, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration...

Anyway, I went to the doctor this week. I was very, very nervous that he was going to tell me that I needed some sort of surgery. Frankly, I was a bit depressed by the notion; however, his diagnosis wasn't nearly as bad as my neurotic mind had dreamed of. Essentially, he told me that I upped my level of training too quickly and my knee was just massively inflamed. His recommendation was 2-3 weeks of physical therapy until I can resume running.

Yah, so my dream of running the marathon on May 19th is over, but I am not giving up my quest.

As my friend Kunu would say...

Warning: The following five-second clip has been deemed rated "R" by the Motion Picture Association of America.





I'm going to figure this thing out. Just got to let the knee heal up first...


"Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing." - Vince Lombardi

Hiatus

Yesterday, I was warned by Ben Kettle (@thelastlow <--- follow him on twitter) to take it easy on my knee. I scoffed at him, informing him my knee felt much, much better after resting on Friday. Ben, you were right…

After doing the elliptical on Saturday afternoon, my knee started to feel progressively worse throughout the night. Today, I had searing pains in my knee during my flight(s) from Austin to Mobile (putting in some QT with the familia this week). I probably could have gritted through my run this afternoon, but I would have felt Lt. Dan Taylor in the morning.

Because of my knee pain, I am shutting down training until at least Thursday.

Frankly, I am ahead of schedule in training for running my marathon. I can afford to lose a week or two of training; however, I cannot afford to have this knee issue linger much longer than that.

Having to write this blog post bummed me out. I don’t like admitting that I’m struggling to my millions of readers (again, indulge me…), but I want to be honest with yall. At least I have this to cheer me up…

This is my parents’ dog – Pheona. She has a rather peculiar talent…

"I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently." - Ernest Hemingway

MONTAGE!

Training for a marathon isn't easy. It is a long and painful process. I do enjoy it; however, sometimes I wish that I could take the Hollywood approach to training. A MONTAGE! The best training montage in history occurred in Rocky IV - Hearts on Fire.

What's better than a montage?!

A well-executed parody of a montage.

Here is the real "Hearts on Fire" video montage:



Here is the parody version:



"Energy and persistence conquer all things." - Benjamin Franklin

Terry Fox

Last year, ESPN debuted a documentary series called “30 for 30”. It was a fabulous series with many great films. Personally, I thought Two Escobars was the best piece of filmmaking I saw last year. However, the 30 for 30 documentary that touched me the most was Into the Wind, which is the story of Terry Fox.

While watching Into the Wind, I felt so small. The grit, determination, and bravery Terry showed in his “Marathon of Hope” is something that I couldn’t even relate to. By the film’s end, I had tears streaming down my face.

How could someone that amazing be taken from the world at such a young age?

I often joke about my heroes being fictional movie characters, famous athletes, or pop culture icons. I honestly shouldn’t do that. Terry Fox is a hero.

“I don’t feel that this is unfair. That’s the thing about cancer. I’m not the only one, it happens all the time to people. I’m not special. This just intensifies what I did. It gives it more meaning. It’ll inspire more people. I just wish people would realize that anything’s possible if you try; dreams are made possible if you try." –Terry Fox

Vlogging

"Our strength grows out of our weaknesses." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day #19: 6.75 miles - 52 min

Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast

This morning didn’t start off well. My knee didn’t feel 100% as I walked home from McCombs’ business library. I contemplated not running today. My feeling was maybe rest would do me good. Then, after about thirty minutes of icing my bum knee, I decided that I should give running a shot. I would run a mile and see how it felt.

I was ready to bail after about 200-yds. My knee hadn’t made any progress from the day before.

Then I remembered something from Born to Run:

Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast.

In the book, Micah True, a gringo who lives amongst the Tarahumara, explains how to run in the following excerpt:

“Think Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast. You start with easy, because if that’s all you get, that’s not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don’t give a shit how high that hill is or how far you’ve got to go. When you’ve practice that for so long that you forget you’re practicing, you work on making it smoooooth. You won’t have to worry about the last one – you get those three, and you’ll be fast.”

Until today, I hadn’t taken Micah’s advice about taking it easy. I’ve honestly been pounding the pavement trying to get ready for this marathon. Well, at the 200-yard mark today, I decided to take Micah’s advice. I told myself to throttle down and find a rhythm that doesn’t hurt your knee. After about 400 yards, I found that rhythm. It was a much less violent running style than I had been employing. If I tried to push the pace, my knee would give me a quick jolt as a reminder to take it easy.

The run was the most enjoyable I have had since this quest has started. All the tension that is usually is in my body vanquished. By running at the pace my knee dictated, nearly all the pain in my knee dissipated. I ended up running 6.71 miles. I felt like I could have run double that distance.

The incredible part of this experience came at the end of my run. Naturally, I figured my time would be slower because I had made a conscious effort to take it easy. I hypothesized that I probably was running at an 8.15-8.30 min/mile pace. Then I checked my Nike+iPod workout summary…

6.71 miles – 51 min – 7.38 min/mile pace

That is within seconds of my fastest pace for a run over 5-miles.

Maybe there is some credence to Micah’s advice. If you focus on easy, light, smooth then fast will come. Count me as a believer.

“He who loves his body more than dominion over the empire can be given custody of the empire.” – Lao Tzu

First Setback

I didn’t complete my planned 7-mile run this morning.

About two miles into my run, I experienced some slight pain in my right knee. I dismissed it at first, telling myself the pain would dissipate. That wasn’t the case. At the halfway point, I felt like I could have pressed on, but I decided to listen to my body and stop. I’ve got too much invested in completing this marathon to injure myself by overtraining. I discussed the problem with my dad. He seems to think it is an IT band problem, which often occurs in distance runners. He suggested some stretches to do before I run.

I’m going to spend the rest of the day with an icebag around my knee. And maybe some hot ice?

I’ll test my knee again tomorrow. If it still is problematic, I’ll do my workout on the elliptical. Making lemons into lemonade.

“Anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment, put your head down and plow ahead.” – Les Brown

Day #17: 3.88 miles – 29.35 min

Daily Juice

Okay, so I have a new obsession – Daily Juice Cafe in Hyde Park.

If you’ve never lived in Austin, Daily Juice is like the super-indie version of Jamba Juice. Basically, it is a juice bar that serves fresh organic juices, smoothies, and superfoods. Additionally, everything that Daily Juice serves is all-natural with a preference for local, organic products.

What do I get at Daily Juice?

Goji shots

If you can’t read the picture above, it states the following: “traditionally used for youthing, stamina, mood, and libido.” Yah, that is a pretty compelling list of benefits. Frankly, I think you should just take Daily Juice at its word, but, for all you skeptics out there, here is what WebMD has to say…

· Goji berries also have compounds rich in vitamin A that may have anti-aging benefits. (http://www.webmd.com/balance/goji-berries-health-benefits-and-side-effects)

Personally, I haven’t experienced any youthing effects, yet; however, I do believe that drinking goji does improve my mood and stamina. I used goji shots to improve my mood after watching Alabama put its NCAA tournament hopes on life support after losing to Ole Miss. I might need a truckload of goji to improve my mood if we lose to Florida on Tuesday, which probably will happen.

I’m not trying to be preachy about healthy eating. Lord knows I love me some Whataburger. Just trying to pass along some useful nutritional information.

“The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” -Thomas Edison

And The Oscar Goes To...

Like Billy Hoyle (pictured above) in White Man Can’t Jump, I was in the zone this morning. I plowed through my long run with relative ease. I almost pushed myself to run a half-marathon, but I decided to stop myself at 10 ½ miles. I was definitely aided by a new addition to my workout playlist – Wolfmother.

During my run, I kept thinking that the guitar player reminded me of Slash, who is my favorite musician of all time. Well, turns out that Andrew Stockdale, the guitar player of Wolfmother, played on Slash’s recent solo album. I thought that was pretty cool.

Anyway, tonight is one of my favorite nights of non-sports television – the Academy Awards. I’ve seen 90% of the movies nominated for best picture this year (sorry, I didn’t get around to seeing Winter’s Bone). I’m going to run you through my definitive list of Oscar winners in the six biggest categories.

Actress in a Supporting Role:

· Amy Adams – The Fighter

· Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech

· Melissa Leo – The Fighter

· Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit <--- WINNER

· Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

First off, I would have been tempted to vote for Hailee Steinfeld in the Best Actress category. The success of True Grit was most dependent on Steinfeld mastering the intense dialogue. The scene where she is bartering with a county judge over her murdered father's belonging was beyond impressive. She also blew Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges off the screen, which isn’t an easy feet.

Actor in a Supporting Role:

· Christian Bale – The Fighter <--- WINNER

· John Hawes – Winter’s Bone

· Jeremy Renner – The Town

· Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right

· Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech

Lock of the night. Christian Bale’s depiction of crack addled Dicky Eklund is the type of performance the Academy usually eats up. I just hope somebody doesn’t interrupt his speech, sending him into another psychotic rant. Although he isn’t going to win, I think Jeremy Renner was amazing in The Town.

Actress in a Leading Role:

· Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right

· Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole

· Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone

· Natalie Portman – The Black Swan <--- WINNER

· Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

Admission: This is my weakest category. I have only seen two of the actresses’ performances – Natalie Portman and Annette Bening; however, I feel confident in saying that Natalie Portman deserves this award. Portman’s transformation from the white swan to the black swan was remarkable. Early in the movie, she is so weak, meager, and, unbelievably, unattractive. By the end of the movie, she is unrecognizable as the black swan.

Actor in a Leading Role:

· Javier Bardem – Biutiful

· Jeff Bridges – True Grit

· Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network

· Colin Firth – The King’s Speech

· James Franco – 127 Hours <--- WINNER

All the buzz is that Colin Firth is going to win this award. While I think he is a worthy candidate, James Franco should win this award. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Franco really nailed his representation of Aron Ralston. Additionally, Franco’s supporting actor was a rock, not Geoffrey Rush.

Best Director:

· Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan

· David O. Russell – The Fighter

· Tom Hopper – The King’s Speech

· David Fincher – The Social Network <--- WINNER

· David and Ethan Cohen – True Grit

I’m probably in the minority, but I don’t think that Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, or Armie Hammer (what a name!) are great actors. I think they were all propped up in how Fincher used them in the movie. Additionally, Fincher seamlessly was able to incorporate the fast-forward litigation scenes without losing the audience, which can prove very tricky ***cough*** LOST: Season Six ***cough***

Best Picture:

· Black Swan

· The Fighter

· True Grit

· The Social Network

· 127 Hours

· Toy Story 3

· Winter’s Bone

· The King’s Speech <--- WINNER

· Inception

· The Kids Are All Right

I just can’t find a flaw with The King’s Speech. The exchanges between Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are truly gripping. Also, while I am by no-means an expert on set design, Lionel Logue’s (Geoffrey Rush’s character) office really added to the movie in a tangible way. Trust me, I wanted to pick Social Network. I really did. However, for me, what separated the two movies was the ending. I was somewhat disappointed with the ending of Social Network. In stark contrast, Colin Firth’s final speech had me hanging on every word. I was emotionally invested in the outcome of that speech. I would have been crushed if Bertie (Firth’s character) hadn’t nailed it.

"If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat." - Herschel Walker

Day #15: 10.55 miles – 81 min.

Game Theory

Game theory: A mathematical framework for analyzing what choices rational individuals will make, when the pay-offs depend on the combination of all player's choices

And for all you visual learners…

Why am I writing about game theory?

Because I have been practicing a version of game theory everyday while running. Let me explain…

Austin has a high volume of dog owners. Because the weather has been awesome lately, people have been taking their dogs out for walks in mass numbers. This presents a problem on narrow sidewalks for me.

Option #1: I pass on the dog side

Risk: The dog thinks my calf is a T-bone steak and takes a bite

Option #2: I pass on the human side

Risk: The human gets startled and knocks me into oncoming traffic

Now a few factors come into play when making my decision about which option to take:

· Dog size: Yah, I usually will pass on the human side if there is a Bullmastiff in front of me

· iPod: Humans are much more likely to get startled if someone approaches them from behind if they have an iPod in

· Cell Phone: See iPod explanation

I run through these variables every time I approach someone walking a dog from behind. But yeah, I haven’t quite worked out the correct formula because I have already had to use some Michael Scott–esq. parkour to avoid getting bitten by man’s best friend.

I’m going to abdicate for a general rule about dog ownership. If you can’t take your dog down in hand to hand combat then you shouldn’t own that animal. The world needs more Papillons!

Tomorrow is my day of rest. I'm going to need it because I've got a 10-mile run on deck for Sunday. Till then, I leave you with the motivational quote of the day...

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” – Muhammad Ali

Day #13: 4.62 miles – 36 min

Death To My Computer!

Man, I was frustrated this morning.

The Tide played awful against Auburn last night, I didn’t sleep worth a crap, and it started to rain on my walk home from school. I was in an awful mood when I walked in the door. Then, my computer started acting up, which, for some reason, always makes me lose my cool.

Basically, I felt like this guy…

However, despite the rain, I decided to head out on a run. I felt instantly better. All the stress in my body slowly dissipated the further I ran. Then it dawned on me.

I don’t have a hobby to release stress. Other people release stress by playing the guitar, cooking, etc. Me? I usually let my stress consume me until it boils over.

Maybe running is my stress reliever?

“Champions aren’t made in the gym. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.” – Muhammad Ali

Day #12: 5.93 miles – 45 min

BAHSTON

Last week, I watched a documentary called Spirit of the Marathon. The movie chronicles the journey of six people trying to complete the Chicago Marathon.

There is a man in the movie that is obsessed with the prospect of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. He kept going on and on about qualifying for Boston. Frankly, I got sick of him talking about it.

Quick rant: So I have recently become convinced that the Mayor of Boston sold the city’s soul to the devil in exchange ten years of prosperity on February 2, 2002. Why that date? The next day the Patriots upset the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. Lets take stock of what has happened since that date.

· The Patriots, Celtics, and Red Sox have been crowned champions in their respective sports.

· Movies such as The Town, The Departed, and The Fighter have made Boston an epicenter of movie culture.

· The world’s largest social media company, Facebook.com, was launched from a Harvard dormitory.

As you can probably tell, I am a little sick of hearing about anything having to do with Boston. Well, that was until the character in Spirit of the Marathon outlined what it takes to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Age/Group - Men - Women

18-34 - 3hrs 10min - 3hrs 40min

35-39 - 3hrs 15min - 3hrs 45min

40-44 - 3hrs 20min - 3hrs 50min

45-49 - 3hrs 30min - 4hrs 00min

50-54 - 3hrs 35min - 4hrs 05min

55-59 - 3hrs 45min - 4hrs 15min

60-64 - 4hrs 00min - 4hrs 30min

That is incredible. Lets put the 18-34 age/group time into perspective.

Yesterday, I probably had my best day of running. I completed 6.4 miles at a 7.30 min/mile pace #humblebrag (I love twitter lingo). I would have to better that pace by 15 sec/mile for the entire 26.2 miles. That is humming! Right now, I would consider it a success if I finish the marathon in under four hours, which would make me a qualifier if I was in my retirement age.

I know that I am a long, long way from entertaining the thought of trying to qualify for Boston. However, Born to Run states that an athlete reaches his peak in distance running at the age of 27. So maybe with three years of training I could qualify?

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal, nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

Day #11: 6.33 miles – 48 min

The Toughest Man Alive?

I have seen a lot of movies this year in the theater. In fact, I have seen eight of the ten movies nominated for “Best Picture” at next weekend’s Academy Awards. So yesterday, I decided to cross another best picture nominee off my list – 127 Hours.

127 Hours tells the story of Aron Ralston. While canyoneering in Utah, Aron feel into Blue John Canyon and got his arm stuck under a boulder. After six days of being trapped, Aron’s will to survive allowed him to saw his arm off and escape the canyon.

Here is actual audio from Aron’s video camera before he made the decision to saw his arm off…

And here is video of Aron describing the amputation to Tom Brokaw…

Quick movie review: One word – powerful. Danny Boyle, the director of the movie, does a masterful job building suspense with such a limited story. Additionally, after watching a few videos of the real life Aron Ralston, I think James Franco nailed his portrayal of Ralston.

After leaving the movie theater, I called my mother to tell her that I loved the movie, but I recommended that she shouldn't go see it. She would pass out during the scene where Franco saws off his arm. Anyway, she reminded me of something that I had forgotten. Aron Ralston was mentioned in Born to Run, which, for those of you haven’t read my blog much, is the book that inspired my blog.

Turns out that Aron, aside from being the toughest man alive, is also an ultramarathoner. Little over a year after sawing his arm off, Aron completed the grueling Leadville Trail 100 ultramarathon. Here is a brief description of the race from Wikipedia…

Leadville Trail 100 Ultramarathon (aka The Race Across The Sky or the LT100), first run in 1983, is an ultramarathon held annually on trails and dirt roads at high altitude west and south of Leadville, Colorado, through the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The course is difficult, with runners climbing and descending 15,600 feet (4,800 m), with elevations ranging between 9,200-12,620 feet. Because of its difficulty, it is common for less than half the starters to complete the race ahead of its 30 hour time limit.

How much more gnarly can a human being be?

I’ll leave you with some wisdom from Mr. Ralston…

“At this point, I've got the confidence to know that I'll get through anything in my life given I have the motivation to do it, ... If it's an act of survival, we've all got a reason to keep living. It may not be pretty, but surviving is grit and determination in its highest form. I learned that I've got the capacity to do a hell of a lot more than I thought I could if I have the proper motivation.” –Aron Ralston

Day #10: 6.4 miles - 48 min.

One More Round

When people speak of inspirational sports figures, they often are quick to list names like Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, or Brett Favre.

Edit: Whoops, forgot Favre completely murdered his legacy by becoming a prima donna, playing for the Packers’ archrivals, and allowing his dong to be seen by the entire world.

People don’t often immediately say the name of an athlete who was born in April 6, 1947 as the only child to a Roman Catholic Italian American Family. They forget about the Philadelphian who ended Apollo Creed’s unbeaten run, knocked out Clubber Lang in the third round, and ended the Cold War by defeating Ivan Drago in Moscow. Yes, I am talking about the Italian Stallion – Rocky Balboa.

How many other movie characters that date back to the 1970s have stayed culturally relevant as Rocky has?

I’d argue that it is because we want to believe that grit, toughness, and determination can beat talent. We want to believe that, if given our chance, we wouldn’t shrink from the spotlight. We want to believe that we’d have the courage to go one more round…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOpUSSpGoWw

Note: I couldn’t embed this video, but I would highly, highly suggest you click on it.

The scene that has always resonated with me the most from the Rocky franchise starts at the 1.08 mark from the video above.

I know that I will never be a great distance runner. Moreover, I will probably never be half as good as my father was. But, like Rocky says in the scene, it doesn’t matter if I ever become a good distance runner. I just want to go the distance - 26.2 miles.

“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” – Rocky Balboa

Why is everyone wearing medals?

It was hard to find motivation to run this morning. I spent last night drinking on 6^th street with some of my graduate school buddies. Not the way you want to prepare for the longest run of your life.

So slightly off my game, I took off this morning on a planned 8-mile route that would take me from my apartment to Town Lake. For those not familiar with Austin, Town Lake is located right next to downtown.

Anyway, as I neared downtown, I kept getting funny looks from people in running clothes. Then I noticed that they had medals around their necks. Then I noticed that a majority of them were wearing the same t-shirt. I started to do the math.

High volume of runners + Medals + Common t-shirts = Austin Marathon

The Austin Marathon took place this morning. And my planned route was going to place me right in the middle of the activities. I thought about changing my route, but I had already mapped out my exact distance. I decided to press on.

Once I reached 6^th street things started to get a bit awkward. People started giving me quizzical looks as they tried to determine if I was taking a shortcut or had gotten lost. This confusion reached a pinnacle once I hit 11^th street.

11^th street runs right in front of the Texas State Capital Building. Naturally, this would be an ideal street to include in any planned running activity. Problem was that both the Austin Marathon Committee and I both shared that view.

I decided this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to mess with people’s heads.

I burst onto the race route, running way faster than the rest of the competitors. Then after about a quarter of a mile, I abruptly lept into the crowd and made my way toward Lavaca street. People had no idea what was happening. The sheer look of confusion as I raced past tired runners and their families kept had me in stitches the remaining two miles of my run.

All in all, it was an amazing run this morning, despite the lingering effects of last night.

“If you want to hoot with the owls, you’ve got to soar with the eagles.” – Unknown

Day #8: 8.22 miles – 64 min

Perfection

Today is a day off from running for me. Frankly, I want to run today, but, like my family has warned, I need to be careful of not over-training.

Me? Overdoing something? Where would they get that notion…?

My tendency to overdo things like school, exercise, and, well I guess now, blogging comes from the drive to be perfect. Fear not, my perspective on perfection is a bit saner than Natalie Portman’s character in the Black Swan.

Just don’t check my back for mysterious scratches.

No, I have always liked Coach Gary Gaines’ definition of perfection from the movie version of Friday Night Lights.

That speech is one of the major reasons this blog was created. I know that I won’t fully achieve Coach Gaines’ definition of perfection in my quest to run 26.2 miles, but I want yall to know that I gave it my best effort.

Till tomorrow, I leave yall with the quote of the day…

“All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.” – William Faulkner

Ch-ch-chia!

While reading about the Tarahumara Indians, I immediately began to question how these super-athletes were able to hydrate themselves on +100 mile runs. There aren’t many water sources in the Copper Canyons where they live. Well, it turns out their secret is chia seeds.

I know what you're thinking…

Yes, it’s the very same seed that have brought millions of American children joy in the form of the “Chia Pet”.

In all seriousness, the chia seed has the ability to hold x10 its weight in water. What does that mean for athletes? Basically, eating chia seeds before physical activity will keep you hydrated for an extended period of time. Other benefits of chia include:

· Chia contains the largest levels of omega 3 of any plant-based food. Omega 3 is especially necessary for a healthy heart, and can lessen cholesterol.

· Chia comprises 36% fiber. Eating soluble fiber can lower cholesterol in the body.

· Chia seeds contain about 20% protein.

American corporations are starting to get on board with chia seeds…

The best part of chia seeds???

They don’t have a distinct taste. You can sprinkle them on anything. I eat them with my breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Day #6: 5.07 miles – 38.2 min

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.” – Tim Duncan

You'll Never Walk Alone

My workout playlist is pretty unremarkable. It features a lot of Guns N’ Roses, Daft Punk, and Eminem. What is remarkable is the song that I listen to the most while running…

Gerry and The Pacemakers = You’ll Never Walk Alone

Anyone who knows my fanatical allegiance to Chelsea cannot believe that statement. You see, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is the anthem of one of Chelsea’s biggest rivals – Liverpool. And boy do I dislike Liverpool. In fact, I used to cringe every time I heard “You’ll Never Walk Alone” because it made me think of the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, and Fernando Torres (wait, he plays for Chelsea now!).

As you have probably deduced, my opinion about the song has changed dramatically. A few years ago, I came across a video of the Celtic v Barcelona match on March 11, 2004.

Does that date sound familiar…?

On March 11, 2004, 191 people lost their lives in the Madrid train bombings. From Wikipedia…

The Madrid train bombings consisted of a series of coordinated bombings against the Cercanías (commuter train) system of Madrid, Spain on the morning of 11 March 2004 (three days before Spain's general elections), killing 191 people and wounding 1,800.^[1] The official investigation by the Spanish Judiciary determined the attacks were directed by an al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist cell although no direct al-Qaeda participation (only "inspiration") has been established.

The match between Celtic and Barcelona was not canceled. Instead, Celtic supporters offered their condolences and support by dedicating a rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to their Spanish counterparts. Below is the chilling video…

This song now reminds me that I am never alone in my journey. My family and friends are always there to support me in the darkest of hours. Their faith in me gives me the motivation not to quit.

“When you’re playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you’ll fight for the winners’ circle. If you do, someday the cellophane will crackle off a fresh pack, one that belongs to you, and the cards will be stacked in your favor.” – Pat Riley

Day #5: 5.17 miles – 39.4 min

The Persistence Hunt

People have a hard time believing that humans are the best distance runners on the planet. You only need to go to a Wal-Mart to understand why people are skeptical.

Yes, we as a species have gotten really, really lazy; however, it wasn’t always that way. We, Homo-erectus, actually won Darwin’s survival game because we were able to run animals to death. Scientists believe the “persistence hunt" is the oldest form of hunting known to man. Don’t believe that is even remotely possible? The following video is from David Attenborough’s documentary The Life of Mammals:

How crazy is that?!

People, including myself, state that they often get a “high” from running, which is said to occur when strenuous exercise takes a person over a threshold that activates endorphin production (thanks Wikipedia!). Could it be that running stimulates endorphin production because that is what we were put on earth to do?

On a more personal note, Dad and I are still hammering out the details of my marathon schedule. For those of you who don't know, my dad, the self-proclaimed "ICON", was an ultramarathoner back in the day. He may or may not make a few appearances on this blog... Till then, I leave you with the motivational quote of the day.

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." - Vince Lombardi

Day #4: 5.25 miles - 40 min

Scott Jurek

I often time look for inspirational figures when embarking on something new. In running this marathon, I have identified a few people that provide me with the belief that I can overcome physical limitations and pull this thing off.

You probably don’t know who Scott Jurek is. It is understandable. I didn’t know who he was until a couple months ago. Scott is probably the greatest ultramarathoner in history. In 2005, Scott Jurek ran the 135-mile race called “Badwater”. Here is Wikipedia’s description of the Badwater Ultramarathon:

“The Badwater Ultramarathon describes itself as "the world's toughest foot race". It is a 135-mile (217 km) course starting at 282 feet (85 m) below sea level in the Badwater Basin, in California's Death Valley, and ending at an elevation of 8360 feet (2548 m) at Whitney Portal, the trailhead to Mount Whitney. It takes place annually in mid-July, when the weather conditions are most extreme and temperatures over 120 °F (49 °C), even in the shade, are not uncommon. Consequently, very few people—even among ultramarathoners—are capable of finishing this grueling race.”

70 miles into the race, which he didn’t properly train for, Scott Jurek was almost beaten by the heat. He started to shake, vomit, and, ultimately, collapsed on the +200 degree asphalt. For 10 minutes, Scott lay on the road unable to move. He grappled with idea of quitting. His friends and family had never seen him look so bad. As he laid on the ground, he reasoned that if he was going to continue that he would have to run the fastest 75 miles he had ever run to win the race.

Well, he did get up. And yes, he won the race, setting the all-time course record. Below is an interview Scott did with CNN…

Every time my foot, hip, or knee starts to hurt I think about Scott Jurek lying on that asphalt. The human body can withstand a lot more than we give it credit for. Pain is something that can be overcome.

“You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have.” –unknown

Scott’s blog: http://www.scottjurek.com/blog/