My MJ Impression at N-Trip

I had a couple requests to re-post this, here it is:

Never Too Early For Christmas

My kids last year

Last week a friend on Facebook was complaining that Walmart was starting to put out items for Christmas already. Many of the people who commented on the the post agreed that it was too early. I disagree, it is never too early to start celebrating Christmas.

Christmas is a time that is meant to be where we are to spend time with those we care about, to give help to those who are are in need of our support and most importantly too celebrate the birth of Jesus .

So ,if what I said is true,why is it too early to start to celebrate Christmas again?

I Can Live With That

Giving 5 to Melly

When you have kids everything you do is under a microscope. They learn more from your actions , then from your words. . I am constantly telling them to give their best , because even if you fail , you can be proud of your efforts. If you give up and fail, then it is hard to look at yourself  in the mirror. It is also hard if to face the mirror if they succeed without even trying.

My goal has been to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I have been dreaming of running this race since I was a kid.  I have always loved watching the race on TV and have had family and friends participate in the event the past few years. Although I have been very proud of the people I am close to who ran Boston, I have been a bit jealous that I could not run along side them.

Yesterday I ran the Erie Marathon , which is a Boston Qualifier. I would have had to beat 3 hours and 20 minutes to qualify . The fastest I have run a marathon was 3 hours and 55 minutes ,which means that I would have to knock off over 35 minutes to qualify. That in it's own was a very hard task, but I also had to fight off the memories of a disappointing attempt at running the Buffalo Marathon in May, where I pulled out after the half way mark due to physical issues I was having. I have had several bad dreams since Buffalo about people calling me a quitter and people laughing at me. This was very hard to get over , also harder than I thought to turn into motivation.

Before yesterday's race , the pressure to qualify for Boston seem to be turned up a bit. The first wave of sign-ups for Boston started and I was getting reminders through Facebook about the sign ups ( I follow the event on Facebook and Twitter). So even though qualifying was on my mind , it now started to weigh heavy on my mind.

I started the race a bit on the slow side , ran about a 7:40 mile for the first 3, but picked up the pace and got my average time to where I needed to be and kept it up until mile 20 where I hit the wall. I tried to push through it and did for a while but my pace slowed done considerably , I knew knew that I would not be qualifying for Boston this year around mile 22 , I just didn't have enough to do it.

Legs were cramping!

At that same time a strange calm came over me, my body was in pain , my legs were knotting up with painful cramps,and I was very hungry, but not disappointed about the realization  of not qualifying for the Boston Marathon. I was giving it my best shot and still was going to finish  with a time I could be proud of, as long as I continued to give it everything I had.

I finished with a time of 3 hours and 34 minutes, knocking 21 minutes off my best time. After the race my wife came to me thinking that I was going to be disappointed, but found that I was very happy with the result.



I gave it my best,I can look in the mirror today and not see a quitter , but someone who my kids can see as a a good example. 

My Rating is dropping! My Rating is Dropping!!!!

There are certain things in life that measure where your mental health is at. These are things that maybe you don't realize that are indicators of  your mood, how hectic your life is and such. We are all different, so these units of measurement are most likely different for each of us. It could be something at work, a game, or something else.

I have two such indicators that show how things are going, the first one is Chess. I play Chess at Chess.com (Here is my profile), if you click on my online games you will see that my rating has fallen quite a bit this week. The thing I have learned most about chess is that when my life is hectic or if I am not in the right frame of mind is when I make the mistakes that ultimately causes me to lose games. This doesn't really upset me as much as I am used to losing , and really don't mind it at all.

I have been able to fix this by taking the time and thinking about my next move before I do it. I take this approach in life as well. When things are busy or you are not feeling well mentally, sometime you just have to really think about the things that are causing the issues and put them in perspective. If the issue can be fixed , I try to get organised on how to fix them. If they can't, then I need to accept it and move on .

Another indicator is when I go on my long runs. (I am training for the Erie Marathon in September) . When things are going well I have no problem completing them and blocking out the negative thoughts. However lately I have not been completing them due to these thoughts, I am physically able to get them done, but something in my head has been making me stop. The techniques that I have used in the past have not been working this time, so this is my cry for help. I can't seem to figure this one out.

Usually I try to use these entries to try to help others, however this time I need help. Any suggestions? You can enter them in the comments below or email them to me at densilwilson@gmail.com .Thanks!

Laurel Run 2011

"The Mission of The Resource Center is to support individuals with disabilities and other challenges in achieving maximum independence, contributing to their community, experiencing lifelong growth, and enjoying quality of life. "

This is taken from The Resource Center's web site. Since 1959 The Resource center has done what their mission statement has said. I have personally had the pleasure working with people associated with this organization and organizations like this for many years . I have been inspired by the people that I have worked and have learned very much from them.

This year I will once again be participating in the "Laurel Run" which is an 8k Run or 5K walk that supports the Resource Center of Chautauqua County. It has been my pleasure to get to know the Hotellings and be a part of this event again. It is becoming one of my favorite days of the year and I can't wait for this years race. I am looking forward to this race where I can set two Personal Records, my fasted 8K and hopefully, with your help, a fund raising record as well.

Here is how you can help:
By Donating:
1. Visit my fundraising page : http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/densil-wilson/laurelrun2011
2 E-Mail  me at densilwilson@gmail.com and I will send you my address
3 Private message me on Facebook and I will send you me address as well.

Do you want to Participate?
Go to the Laurel Run Website(http://www.laurel-run.org/) for more information and I hope to see you there!!!!!
Thank You,
DJ

Why You Wanna Trip on Sarah Palin?

Michael Jackson wrote a song that appeared on his "Dangerous" Album called "Why you Wanna Trip on me?". He wonders about with all of the issues in the world today, why is there so much focus on him. I think that the same holds true for Sarah Palin.

I am a fan of Palin. I like and share many of her views and think that she would make a fine President if given the chance. However , if she were to be elected, her presidency would be a failure. Too many people would find reasons to bring her down and that alone would be too big of a distraction and nothing would get done. For this reason I would advise her not to run and continue to do what she is doing now.

What she is doing now is being a political activist, she is paid to share her views and that she is doing. She does not hold political office and makes no decisions that involves our country.However , people treat her as if she will be the death of the United States as we know it. If you really want Sarah Palin to go away.... just ignore her. She is around because of the response that she draws out in people, negative or positive. 

 Let me repeat this... She has in no way any power to create policy to change your life, she does NOT hold any political office. By letting her get to you in a negative way makes no sense to me, just ignore her, she can't hurt you  that way.

With unemployment almost up to 10% (Even higher because people have just given up claiming ), gas prices reaching record levels and a government that just does not understand the issues that are effecting us everyday, why so much focus on someone who is not in position to do anything about it? Let us switch our focus to the people who are in position to do something about it and hold THEM accountable.

Fighting the Bad Dreams

Today I am putting on my running shoes for the first time since the Buffalo Marathon on May 29th. It was nice to get away from the running for a week, but now it is time to get back and work harder than I have ever worked before.

Since the race I have had bad dreams almost every night about people laughing at me , calling me a failure. I have woken up several times with the feeling that I have let people down, and that I am a quitter. I think about the race all the time and question my decision to drop out. Should I have tried to finish? Should I have run until my body quit working ?

When I see my friends that happen to be runners, I find myself hanging my head and have trouble making eye contact when I talk to them. Not sure the reason why, but maybe subconsciously I feel that I don't measure up .

My two races this year have not gone the way that I liked . I know that I have worked hard to prepare for both and with at least two more races coming up I have to continue to work so I can turn this around, but how do I erase the nervousness that I feel and this new expectation that I have that I am going to fail? Training the mind is much harder than training the body.

I am going to try to do it the only way that I know how, and that is to lace up my shoes and get back at it, put my faith in God and the ability that He gave me to run for long distances. There is a reason why I am having these troubles and I have to learn something from it.

But first I have to cut the timing chip off my shoe from a week ago.