Runner's High

i feel as if there is this running phenomenon going on around me and im not quite sure when all this happened or why im just noticing it for the first time now but it has inspired me to try to start up again. and by again i mean that very loosely. for a while there, i would try to run outdoors once a week and surprisingly i really liked it but for some reason or other i stopped.

but then i went to a charity bartending event last night for a friend who is training for the hawaii marathon in december and as i was talking to some of my friends there, it turned out that all of them were running in the nike half-marathon on sunday. and i didnt know this but there is actually a lottery system to see if you get selected to participate in the actual race or not. a lottery system? you mean there are people who get turned away from willingly wanting to run 13.1 miles? what is going on? they were all trying to tell me to just run it and for a minute there i entertained the thought but then came to my senses and realized ive never run 13 miles in my life not even half that but it did get me thinking, maybe with some training one of these days i could do it?

one of my roomates used to run in marathons all the time. he would even fly all over the place for them in fact and once even did this relay race at the grand canyon (i think) where the team drives along in vans and you run long into the night. it was a bit crazy and i never really understood what would make someone want to do that. then a friend's sister trained for the hawaii marathon a couple years ago and i was floored because she was never the active type from what i remember. then i have another friend who does a couple marathons/triathlons a year and just signed up for the ironman next year and told me about this book called the ultramarathon man so i bought it and read it and understood a little bit more on why someone might want to put themselves through that type of pain and that it was all a mental game.

my first glimpse of this running world was late last year when i signed up for the susan g komen 5k and ended up loving it. then i signed up for the pat tillman 4.2 mile race earlier this year and was hoping to do the susan g komen one again but ended up getting sick and had to pull out the morning of. but all these people around me running have really got me inspired so i think its time to get some new running shoes (at the same store where the ultramarathon man buys his!) and try to pick it up again.

pat tillman. ive blogged about him before and if i knew where my archive posts went i would link to it here but ive always admired him for what he did and what he stood for so it would only be hypocritical of me to have never participated in pat's run after years of talking about him and telling people about him when the race is right here in san jose and just a hour drive away.

yesterday was the third annual 4.2 mile pat's run so i found myself getting up bright and early at 6am to make it there on time since i had missed the online registration deadline and having missed the past two years i was very excited to finally be a part of it. the whole event was inspiring as hell. starting from the singing of the star spangled banner to seeing marie tillman, pat's wife up on the tower watching everyone to the quotes and pictures of pat put up all throughout the route and seeing the little kids sitting out on their driveway waving american flags to the cars honking while driving by. it was all so energizing. if this doesnt make you proud to be participating, then i dont know what will.

if someone had told me a year ago that i would be signing up voluntarily for 4 mile runs when i could barely run a block or two back then without stopping i would of thought they were crazy. im still not the greatest now but i was so proud of myself when i finished. my official time was 48:53 which translated into 11:39 a mile which isnt all that fast i know but im a pretty slow runner to begin with. the fastest male finished in 20 min and the fastest women finished in 25 min to give you some perspective but hey rome wasnt built in a day. hopefully my time will only get better from here on.

this was definitely one of the highlights of my week, the other being my kickboxing class on wednesday when three of my favorite teachers of all time showed up to the same class and my head nearly exploded at my excitement. one of them was wearing these nike camouflage high-tops that i loved but it was pretty much the all star kickboxing class of 24 fitness if such a thing exists. but all in all a very good active week and cant wait to try bikram yoga coming up hopefully.

now i am in no way calling myself a basketball fan because frankly ever since the larry bird and magic johnson era i have no clue who is who anymore nor do i really care to learn about all the new players. everyone that i was familiar with such as kevin johnson, clyde drexler, ron harper, charles barkley, kevin mchale and danny ainge are all pretty much retired i believe and working in offices behind the glitz and glamour of the nba.
 
but recently with the upheaval of shaq to miami i've been hearing a bit more here and there but it wasn't until last night that i was introduced to the newest gossip this side of town all wrapped up in a man named carlos boozer and the cleveland cavaliers. apparently this controversy has been going on for some days maybe even weeks now and i've been quite oblivious of it. seeing how bren is a huge cavs fan i've been hearing rants and raves about this situation but never thought much of it until i finally read some articles about it and well i must say, it's not surprising as these days there is no such thing as team loyalty anymore but it is quite disappointing.
 
i hope you too agree that carloz boozer is a big fat liar and believe the cavs owner 100%. if he never made the promise to re-sign there's no way they never would of exercised his third year option. that would of just been plain stupid. just go read this article.  what an ass. heck even his agent quit on him after the fact. he is clearly on the opposite end of the spectrum of the sports most honorable athlete, pat tillman. unfortunately there's many more boozers out there than tillmans these days. what a shame what a shame.

the war in iraq. since the first day we officially declared war, i've been pretty oblivious to all the events save for the daily reading on cnn.com and have done a pretty good job in going along my merry corporate america life as if nothing has changed. and really nothing has. for me at least. i still complain about the same mundane things that really when one stops to think about it has no real significance. but i've had three defining moments during this time specifically related to the war.

the first was pat tillman. the one who turned down millions from the nfl to join the army rangers and ultimately was killed in combat in late april of this year. i can still remember clearly exactly where i was upon hearing of the news. i was still staying in a hotel in sf and had just gotten out of the shower and was watching the news when his picture came on the screen. all i really remember hearing is pat and killed and my mind went blank. i couldn't believe it. it was as if someone very close to me had died instead of a complete stranger. i first learned about him from bren as they went to the same high school and ever since then i've had this fascination. it's hard to find people like him these days. when he went off to join the army i looked up countless articles and admired the fact he refused to grant interviews and had his younger brother accept the espn arthur ashe award on his behalf to avoid any publicity. i even cried more than i thought i would watching his funeral on espn.

the second was nick berg. his beheading really just left me in shock and i couldn't even quite wrap my mind around it. still can't to this day. the first thing i thought about was i have got to watch the video and indeed i did watch it several times and well let's just leave it at that.

the third occurred this past weekend. while waiting for my flight to lax i noticed a family nearby sobbing as their son was waiting to board the plane. what first caught my eye was that the person crying the hardest was this big buff bald guy with sunglasses on and everyone was gathered around him patting his back and it seemed as if he might pass out. naturally my curiosity got the better of me so when i got on the plane, i purposely sat next to the "son" in hopes of getting up the courage to ask him just where he was going exactly. a very unlikely thing for me to do. i had an inkling of why but i knew if i didn't ask, i would always wonder. and so as i sat there reading da vinci code (very good book by the way, stayed up till 6am to finish the entire thing in one day) my mind was racing of just exactly how to ask but to my luck, he started talking to me first. it turned out he was 19, in the army, from san jose and on his way to lax to catch the military plane to korea where he was stationed before being shipped off to iraq. for one year. my heart tugged a little and i could feel tears welling up. he showed me a cross his mom had given him to wear around his neck and another pendant from his dad to keep him safe on long journeys and my heart tugged a little more.

before i knew it we had landed but not before i had asked for his address to send a care package but mail gets lost easily in korea he said. so i asked for the next best thing. his email address but he actually didn't have one. so he then gave me the next best thing. his mom's email address but he assured me he was going to be opening up his own account so i warned him i really truly was going to email and wanted to check up on him and make sure he was doing ok. i'm not sure if it was the late night or hormonal imbalance but the incident really affected me and made me think about how spoiled and materialistic i've become. i figure this will be my small contribution and as soon as i've finished blogging, i'm off to shoot an email to the mom and hopes it gets passed along and that i don't come off across as a crazy stalker girl.

i have a new crush. and this one blows the bachelor out of the water. i'd like to announce here and now that richard tillman is the new it guy. at least for me anyways. who you ask? richard tillman. younger brother of pat tillman, recent recipient of the arthur ashe courage award at the espy awards. i'm quite sure he's an unknown to most everyone reading this blog but i'm telling you ladies, he's hot! and it's very rare that i say that about anybody.

he's got the tall brooding good looks. a nice body...you can tell he works out but doesn't look like a meathead. the disheveled hair that i'm so into at the moment. the bachelor had that too but richard's is rumpled much better. definitely one of the cuter guys i've seen in a while.

now how did this new crush develop you ask? i actually only saw him on tv for about 5 minutes accepting the award on pat and kevin tillman's behalf but i was already smitten. andrew firestone just can not compare. let me backtrack a bit. bren has been telling me months and months about this pat tillman guy, a football player who turned down a multi-million dollar nfl contract to join the army rangers. the elite of the elite. of course when i heard the story i was a bit moved and intrigued because who does that in this day of greed and no values? every now and then i'd get updates from bren on him but i guess i never understood the magnitude of his actions. until now at least.

bren went to high school with pat tillman and his brothers which explains why he knew so much about the guy. the little bits and pieces that i would hear from him made me admire pat tillman that much more. how he didn't accept the arthur ashe award personally because he didn't want the media attention. how he didn't grant any interviews when he decided to join the rangers because he didn't want it to seem like a publicity stunt. how he doesn't feel that there should even be a spotlight on him because he isn't anymore important than the guy fighting next to him.

the espy awards were last week and bren taped the part where they were presented the award. and i finally got to watch it today. there was a video salute to the two brothers and i have to say, i got a little teary-eyed. it's something that i greatly admire but sadly could never see myself doing. i'm much too conservative for that. in either case, he is my new hero. not just because he joined the rangers and gave up on millions but more to do with the way he carried himself. that's the way it should be because really, athletes and tv and movie stars are no better than the average joe. they even received a standing ovation from the crowd.

i'm rambling once again but basically i saw pat's youngest brother last nite and couldn't keep the smile off my face. i even had bren rewind the tape just to make sure that he was cute. and he was. my first impressions are off sometimes. bren said that when richard was in 5th grade he had sophomore ladies in high school attending his every little league games. now do i know how to pick them or what? and to top it all of, bren was friends with his brother. it just can't get any better than that.