Major Announcement

The official NYC Marathon Song.

Every one of the marathons I ran in had it's own song. I just can't think of a better song than this for the big one on November 3rd. I have to say I am enjoying training for New York more so than any other marathon!

Right here right now, there is no place I would rather be!

The Everyone Must Win Generation

Watch this and I will explain my thoughts on this :



Apparently the "Jeopardy" officials did not give credit to a kid who spelled the final answer wrong and this is causing a big stir and a ton of backlash against the show's decision to not count the answer.  The kid is complaining that he was cheated out of money because of just a spelling error. I guess that many people are on the kids side.

I am not.

I do not watch Jeopardy and haven't watched it for years, but I assume that the rules are communicated to each contestant before they are on the show . I am also sure that the contestants understand that the judges rulings are final . Does the kid have a right to complain? Sure he does, but what gets me is the anger that people feel towards the game show because of this. This can only be explained by the fact that many people believe that we can not let our children feel disappointment. That we need to bend the rules so everyone can win.

Bull honky!

Another example of this is how they "grade" the kids at our local school. They use pluses and minuses instead of number or letter grades. I have talked to parents and some teachers about this and they would rather use the more traditional system because it better communicates how well or poorly the child is doing in school. I agree.

I hated bringing home my report card because I knew that my parents would not be pleased with my grades, but by the grading standards that are used in some of the school's today , I would have looked like a good student.We worry too much about the child's feelings today. There is a feeling that if a child does not achieve their goals then we have to give it to them anyway.

Kids need to learn what it is to not achieve a goal, to lose a game ,to overcome something that may seem unfair. This builds a stronger person , someone who can take something that may be a negative and turn it into a positive.Losing is not a bad thing when we use it to better ourselves, kids today need to learn that.

When I was in 7th grade, the basketball team I played on lost every single game that we played. We were 0-16 . We didn't complain. We vowed that we would be better and we won our league championship the next season because we learned to use that 0-16 year as motivation.

So parents, it is ok if your child doesn't win, teach them by your words and your actions that you can learn much more about yourself when you lose.

At a Plateau,But I Can Still See More to Climb

There comes a point in every runners competitive life that you start to see a decline in your performance . It becomes harder to set personal records and harder to reach goals that you have set for yourself. This usually comes even though that runner gives his/her all during training , but nature just takes over.

I am not sure if this applies to my situation or not. I have run four races and have had disappointing results in all 4. Yes I have won awards in 3 out of the four, but my times are much slower than I had hoped . I have tried to attribute these to many things , such as health issues, haven't done enough speedwork and things like that. But this could be the beginning of my decline.

If it is how do I accept that?

Honestly, if I do accept the fact that I am starting to decline and showing my age, that means that I am giving up. I think I need to continue to train hard and let the chips fall where they may. I think that if you give something everything you got and don't achieve your goals , then you can live with yourself , if you give up before trying or use something like getting older as an excuse then you will have a hard time looking at yourself in the mirror.

I still see much more peaks that I need to climb . I may not succeed at climbing all of them, but I know I won't succeed if I don't try.

The World of Running is Forever Changed

I have felt it.

You can not line up at the starting line of any race without feeling the world of running has changed since April 15, 2013. There is a certain fear for both participants and those who watch , what if it happens again? I have to say I have been thinking about this frequently lately.

The bombings at the finish line in Boston at the marathon have forever changed the way organizers plan for races. There are new rules that are in place, more security measures and just a different feel to races . I have ran three races since then and you can definitely feel the change . The mindset of the runners and spectators have changed as well.

The best example I can think of was this years Buffalo Marathon. I have run larger marathons before and there was always security , but not like this. There were helicopters flying overhead, several Coast Guard Boats in the water and police and security at every turn . You knew there were eyes everywhere, I felt secure, but I still worried , not for me but for the spectators , particularly my biggest fan , my wife.

She was downtown , in with the crowds , if anything like Boston were to happen in Buffalo then it would most likely happen there. I was a moving target, she was stationery . Although I knew that the chances of anything happening were almost zero, it still doesn't erase the fear or put the thought out of your head.

On Monday July 15th I start training for the biggest race of my life , the ING New York City Marathon. I have always dreamed of running this race since I put on my first pair of running shoes  . Although I am super excited I do worry about my wife , my sister and my sister in law, who will be watching me and my brother run the five boroughs of New York. Am I putting them in harms way because I am being selfish?

I know the answer to that is no. They are grown adults who make their own decisions . Also I know that New York will be the most secure place on the planet that day, but again it doesn't stop the fear of something happening to them.

Then this morning I read an article about Bill Iffrig. 

Bill Iffrig

He is a 78 year old runner from Washington state. You know him as the man in the orange tank top who was knocked down by the blast at the finish line in Boston. He got back up and finished the race. 

I guess that is what we runners do, we press on. We fight through many obstacles such as weather, injuries and other environmental challenges just so we can experience running across that finish line again. The people who watch us give everything that we have to cross that line want to experience that with us  , that is why they are there. It is a relationship that should never be torn apart by fear of something happening, because if it does then the terrorists have won.

What is Going On

It seems like life has slowed down a bit for me lately so I figured I would try to catch up posting my thoughts on a few things lately here. As my many (tongue in cheek ) followers can tell I have changed things up on the way my blog looks. Tell me what you think!

The Colors Riley will be wearing in the Fall


• My son Riley has joined the Cross Country team: This was his own decision, I did not push him into it , but I am excited about it . We have been training and he has been improving . My biggest worry is that he only joined to try to please me because I run. I am just proud of him because he is trying something new, and for the most part he is giving his all. I can't wait to go to his first meet and cheer him on ! (Although he will be wearing black and gold.... yuck!)

Me on the Jumbo tron @ Ralph Wilson Stadium

• Update on my running: It feels good to be back on track after many issues that caused me to have a sub par Buffalo Marathon and before that a not so good 5K in April. Comparing last year and this year , I came pretty close to my time at the  half marathon from last year, so it looks like I am back on track and I hope to build on that as I move through the summer season and into fall. I start preparing for the Ing New York City marathon on July 15th, I hope to keep you updated on my progress preparing for that.

• Moving Forward: It is never too late to turn things around, I always find it inspiring when people fight addictions and can overcome them. I have someone in mind right now and I am very happy to see that the "Polish Hammer" is turning things around. I am sure it is a fight for him everyday, but I am sure it is one he will continue to win. Whether it is alcoholism, quitting cigarettes, losing weight or the many other challenges that people overcome, those who are successful at it have to take ownership to the challenges they face and go from here. Those who blame others for their personal challenges, usually end up not winning.  Get help, but remember it is ultimately you who decides if you win or not.

• For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you may have noticed that I have not posted anything political in a while. This is because I am pretty fed up with all of politics right now and honestly am just going to let my voting do the talking from now on. Starting a war on Facebook doesn't solve anything .

Well I guess that is it for right now, as always please feel free to comment below. Have a great day!

I am excited so THAT is why I am annoying!

In 1985 I started running , in fact I remember my first run . It was with my brother Tom and he schooled me that day. He would run far ahead of me and then let me catch up to him only to pick up the pace and start the process all over again. He said it was to make me work harder to catch him and to improve my speed. I have always remembered that run , in fact I drove part of the route that we ran and decided to write this.

Around the same time I read the paper and saw a math teacher at my High School was running in the New York City Marathon and I remember thinking , maybe someday I could do that as well. Throughout my high school years I got better at running and kept thinking about the New York City Marathon , I knew I was getting closer to running it, but it still seemed so far off. I would watch it on TV and picture myself running along side of the leaders and finishing the race in central park.

After Graduation of high school I pretty much stopped running. I did pick a college to go to only because it had a cross country team and the other ones I was accepted to did not. I even met with the cross country coach, but that same day I got the lead in a play ( I was a Theatre Major) and was not allowed to participate in sports for fear of injury. I always promised myself I would get back into it.

Just like running with my brother, I caught him and then he sped up.

While at college I discovered the wonders of alcohol, I never drank at all before I was 21. That is the truth , but I made up for lost time from the years of 1991 to 2009 . My stress relief was beer, I don't know if you would call me an alcoholic but I was on my way to achieving that title and because of that the NYC marathon was quickly becoming a dream that I would never fulfill.

I have told this story many times, but in 2009 my life had changed for the better when my sister called and invited me to run with her in Corning NY in the Wineglass Marathon . I was very drunk when I had this conversation and did not remember that I signed up ( while inebriated). I discovered my confirmation e-mail the next day and it said "No Refunds" . I was committed to running.

I finished the race and have run 4 more marathons and countless other races since , including the Buffalo Marathon this past Memorial Day Weekend. I have not come close to qualifying for New York , but have been getting closer to qualifying for Boston, so I have been concentrating on that  . In fact I blogged about it earlier this year. My goal was to qualify for Boston after the Erie Marathon, New York was quickly going off my radar again.

I have in other years try to get into NY by way of the lottery, I have been told several times that the odds of making it in this way was extremely hard. I decided to enter the drawing again this year , but figured since there were many deferments from last year's race (which was cancelled and entrants could defer their entry to this years race) , the odds were even more not in my favor.

So on May 29th I sat in front of a computer , waiting for my rejection notice as I have done in years past. It was a long day, I was at work checking it all day. I left work not getting an answer , and I figured since it was taking a really long time , I wasn't in and was fine with that. I will start my training for Erie and move on as I have done in the past.

But then I came home to this:

I have been on cloud 9 since!

Now to the point of all of this rambling , I keep bothering my brother Kevin, who is also running this year with a bunch of silly questions about the race. I think I might be annoying him, as well as another friend who is running it this year. I just want to apologize in advance for my annoying behavior. If you want to block me out of your lives completely , I understand. 

It may be a very long 5 months for everyone around me , I am sorry!