Hello everyone,
Well, we are one week into the running and I am happy to report that I am still on my two feet and (very slowly) churning out the mileage.
The greatest challenge - other than the obvious physical challenge - has been simply finding the time to run as this is a very busy part of the summer. On Monday we play host to the second annual VIP camp, and as you can imagine a lot of time and preparation goes into the planning stages of the event. Rick is doing the heavy lifting for that with some help from "'Bama" Leroy (sounds familiar - I know, we are very lucky to have these guys on our team) but it is a time consuming project. The Valparaiso Identification Program (VIP) is a high end recruiting camp that will bring over 70 talented high school players to campus June 16-18. Last year's camp was very successful for us in terms of identifying recruits. Six of our incoming freshmen for 2008 are alums of last summer's VIP and our hope is that following the two sessions of the 2008 VIP (we have another in July), we will identify another group of recruits that are a fit for what we are building here. The camp is critical to our continued recruiting success, and the list of players attending looks to be very promising. Grant us some good weather, and we are in business for another great VIP week.
Sorry, I have camp on the brain, and this is about the running, so back to the point. My mileage is slowly but surely adding up. Here is what week one looked like for me:
Monday, June 2 - 7 miles
Tuesday, June 3 - 7 miles
Wednesday, June 4 - 6 miles
Thursday, June 5 - 7 miles
Friday, June 6 - 6.5 miles
Saturday, June 7 - 10 miles
Sunday, June 8 - off
Week one finished with a total of 43.5 miles. I am about one mile off the pace of 44.5 miles per week, but I think I can get back on track this week. I have had many of you ask about times and how fast I am running, and I have to say that I don't honestly know. I have purposely left the watch behind and have focused only on the distance and how I feel. When I feel well, I run a bit faster, and when I struggle, I slow down and maybe even walk a few hundred yards. This Extra Mile campaign is certainly more of a marathon than a sprint, so I am trying to be careful to make sure I can make it through to the end. I will add that there is something very nice about the "not caring" part of the approach. I certainly operate in a results oriented world, and I do most things in my life at a dead sprint with little patience or appreciation for the journey, and I think this crazy run may even help me grow a bit in this area of my life.
My competitive juices do rise up and get the best of me at times... I have taken to running at a local park where many others are also out on the trot. There are runners and walkers of all shapes and sizes and fitness levels in the mix, and I like having at least a few others out suffering with me. The young fit runners - you know these guys...Prefontaine hair, short running shorts, no fat on a shirtless body, running easily by you with a smirk - well, these guys can get to me. I often end up racing them for a half of lap or so until I die off and then dream of two foot tackling them as they speed away. I am much more former athlete than athlete these days, but I still love a good fight, and if the running referees at the park need to give me a card now and again, I guess I can live with that!
My favorite side benefit of this has been the opportunity to unplug from work for a few hours each day and plug into my ipod. Seriously, the ipod may be one of the greatest inventions ever! I've told you before that music plays an important role in my personal life - not in any way as a performer, but just as a fan and as one who is inspired by great songs and song writing. There is a great hook in an Amos Lee song that goes "freedom is seldom found, by beating someone to the ground..." and it got me to thinking. Not about the obvious political undertones, but more personally, about my own life. First about being a dad and how I handle parenting a four year old son, then about being a coach and how I handle a team of college age kids, then about me and how I can sometime treat myself.
I am out of shape and mad I myself for letting it happen. If I focus on becoming fit instead of focusing on what I used to be, or unfit, and really just give myself a break, maybe I can find some of the freedom Amos sings about and some of the freedom we all want in our lives. We all need to quit "beating ourselves to the ground" and enjoy the freedom life has to offer.
Thanks to Leah Gates, mom of current player Jon Obial, for sending me that Amos Lee cd!
I need to tell you that the pledges that have come in since the start of this endeavor have been fantastic. THANK YOU! Alums, families, friends, co-workers, and even a few people I have yet the pleasure of meeting face to face have jumped on board. This is going to be a very successful effort to raise funds for our teams, and we will be in a position to make significant improvements. This incoming team will see the benefit, as will the program for the foreseeable future. Pledges keep coming in on a daily basis, and I have so far been successful in a personal goal I have set to secure at least one new pledge per day for the first two months of the campaign. Even if it is one pledge for one cent per mile, the accumulation of little things at the end of the day is no longer a little thing.
I have also had the wonderful offers of mileage from willing substitute runners. There is a marathon coming in July and even a rumor of an extreme 100 mile run sometime later this summer. If I can get that kind of milage donated, wow, I might get a few weeks off! There has been further offers of support in prayer, running shoes, babysitting (so I can get the run in on a weekend day), therapy (physical - not mental!), and many other thoughtful gestures. Again, to everyone involved...
THANK YOU!
Last two things very quick, I am still putting together a pledge form so you can get to work signing up your friends to join us. I will email that to you in the next day or so. I am also nearly finished with the creation of a blog site. This will be a site devoted to the Extra Mile campaign and will allow me to daily update those interested on how the running is going.
That is all for now, gotta run...
Mike
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