Race results

I did it. I participated in the 2006 Mackinac Island Great Turtle 5.7 mile trail run. I was able to run the entire way. I finished within my goal times. I finished in the top 10 from my age group. Here's my stat line from the website: 9 110 Paul Weaver Remus 53:03 9:19. The first number is my place in my age group. The second is my overall place. The third number is my time and the 4th is my pace. The race started at the Mission Point resort and started uphill. Really uphill. We went up a big steep hill and at the top the view was great. You could see some of the island and the resort and see the water. There were some really cool houses at the top of the hill. After that though, we disappeared into the woods. There was great views of trees and more trees. There were uphill parts and downhill parts and then there was a mile that was pretty much all downhill. After that mile we came out on the shoreline. The view there was cool for a couple of seconds and then I was too tired too enjoy it anymore. I slowed down for the last mile before finishing in a sprint trying to beat the guy in the second picture. I didn't beat him. He's also the guy in the first picture. He's the guy I ran with when I was training. We were pretty evenly matched. I wonder what my time would have been if I hadn't had the hamstring injury. We had a good time walking around the island, hanging out with family, playing in the indoor waterpark at the hotel, and just being away for a couple of days. These are before and at the end photos. I'm loving the guy in the hair and hat. I wonder if I could be him for Halloween.

The waterpark at the hotel in Mackinaw

I had some problems with the lens fogging over.

Man I love even a mini-vacation.

Running update

The race is just days away. I'm a little nervous. I'm pumped about the 3 day weekend though. I'm leaving Thursday and coming back Saturday. I ran the distance of the race last Friday and did ok. One of the toughest things about my hamstring injury is learning pacing again. I either go too fast and wear myself out or go too slow and have plenty of energy left at the end. I'm looking forward to having a milkshake after the race. Steph won't let me have one until afterwards.

"I'm going to Carolina in my mind"

This is what it's like here in Remus Michigan.

Next month we go to Myrtle Beach where the November average is 69 degrees.

NBA talk

I love the NBA. Preseason started yesterday. I watched some of one of the games. There are a couple of preseason issues I like and I couple I don't like.

First, the Pacers. Stinking Stephen Jackson. You want to be a leader and you've got 3 other players out to 3 in the morning at a strip club? There's marijuana in the car. And you get in a fight. Man I wish the Pacers would get rid of this guy. Hint to Larry, you waited too long to get rid of Ron, learn from your mistake. Oh and if you didn't hear, Jackson didn't fulfill his probation requirements so he has another year. Stand up guy right there.

Speaking of Artest, I'll give you a couple of recent Ron quotes. "When the Pacers gave me $6 mil a year, I was grateful for the money and I thank (GM) Donnie Walsh, but I wasn't getting what I deserved. I should've been getting $14-15 million, so I never wanted to give them that extra $9 mil. That extra nine is my mind and leadership. Sometimes I felt I was giving too much. I mean, I was an All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year, but I never wanted to give them an MVP-type season because they didn't treat me like one." Forget the rest of the quotes. I can't stomach anymore.

Here's what I like. Sorry Pistons fans, the NBA is cracking down on the whining. You can no longer curse, throw your hands up, or make other gestures that show disgust. Everyone knows that this is aimed at Rasheed. But it's good for the game. These outbursts, from any player, are just disgusting and wrong. I wonder if this includes Sheed's "Ball don't lie" shouts after a missed free throw? I hope they encourage Prince to leave his wings down after a foul call.

How long would you wait?

Let's say you crash your car in the middle of the night. You break your leg and lose consciousness. When you awake you are still in your car and you are 30 feet from the road in some bushes. You are diabetic. You can reach your insulin and some crackers. How long do you wait before you try to get back to the road?

This happened to a guy. He waited 4 days. No way am I waiting that long. I need my food and lemonade.

Some of the places I run past

I promised some running pictures and I'm finally delivering. Here's a few.

This is Anna Moore. She's the two mile mark.

This is Paul's place. He's the three mile mark.

This is an old place in Millbrook I've run past. I've been told it was the old train station. It made me laugh.

Here's the close up.

How can we compete with this?

This church is a half mile away form ours.


You get the sin and the scarlet letter all in one stop. And $200 OBO, come on at prices like that sheesh.

I'm bummed

Our church last year started a Young Adults group. This group really expects me to be a part of it. Their group goes from just out of high school and up to I don't know, we have people pretty close to being in their 40s in it. They had scheduled a scavenger hunt for this Saturday. I had an opportunity to go to the Notre Dame Stanford game. So I called on Tuesday to make sure they were doing it before I gave the tickets up. They reassured me that it would go on. So I gave the tickets up. Last night after 9 I got a call. The event has been postponed to November 4th.

Ugh.

Ronan Tynan

Ah the fall. I love football. I love the cooler weather. I actually enjoy watching playoff baseball. I watch the Yankees and the Astros. This year the Astros just missed. So it's just the Yankees. I'm the worst kind of Yankees fan. I only watch the postseason and if they are playing the Red Sox. I despise all Boston teams. So cheering for the Yankees is perfect.

Even if you aren't a baseball fan you need to check out the 7th inning stretch sometime to hear Ronan Tynan sing "God Bless America". He's good stuff, and he's Irish, and he has a great set of ears. Go Irish!

More John L. Smith

The man, the myth, the crazy weirdo. Another example of his coaching genius this last week. Did you see them lose to Illinois? After the game there was a fight at midfield because the MSU players were defending against a flag plant. They should know that the best way to defend against this is to win. In the postgame interview, John L. showed that he hasn't yet moved past the ND game. Check out this short little video. Right after he slapped himself he said "and I got slapped".

Yikes!

I may have nightmares about this tonight. Can you imagine how awful it would be. Ugh. How do you not notice anything before you buy that house?

Monday Night Football in New Orleans

I got sucked up into the hype and the emotion of the return of football to New Orleans. It happened as I was watching the pregame show waiting to see U2 play. U2 was not that great but the footage of the hurricane and the stories got me into the game. I almost came off the couch when the Saints blocked the punt and returned it for a TD. It was great to see the fans and listen to them cheer. This is one of the games I would've gone to if I was wealthy. I also think the Music Rising fund started by Edge of U2 is one of the neatest charities I've heard of. They are giving instruments back to musicians, schools, and churches that lost instruments in the hurricane. Imagine a church without music. It just doesn't seem right.

Saturday Night Football in Lansing

I still am not sure how Notre Dame won Saturday. I almost turned the game off and went to sleep. When they were down 16 points at the beginning of the 4th quarter it was bad. When the wind switched and the hurricane switched directions it was worse. How do you score 19 points in the 4th to win when the weather is that awful?

A story that helps you understand how John L. Smith, the MSU coach, just doesn't get it. Last year when MSU beat ND in overtime in South Bend, the Spartan players planted a MSU flag at midfield. That was an attempt at an incredible insult to Notre Dame. After Notre Dame won Saturday John L. sent 3 of his biggest players to midfield to protect against revenge. That says a couple of things to me. 1. John L. already had a plan in place to do when they lost. He was already prepared to lose. 2. He doesn't understand Charlie Weis. MSU's biggest 3 players are nothing for an Irish player to fear compared to what Coach Weis would've done to them. In a game where John L. Smith looked bad from a coaching point of view his actions afterwards just make him look dumb.

Hamstring update

Yesterday I went for a walk. I took the camera so I could take the pictures I promised you. At the first mile mark I pulled the camera out to take a picture and...the batteries were dead. So dead I couldn't even close the lens back up but had to continue walking with it open and out. I walked 5 miles. I was going to take pictures of my mile markers: the hay barn, Anna Moore, Paul's Place are some of them. I'll still do it. I tried to jog after I finished the 4th mile but I just couldn't do it. My flexibility is getting better but I'm just not there yet. Hopefully it will be soon. I would like to do well at the race.

Good quote

I'm a sucker for a good speach. I recently read the inaugural address of John Jenkins, the new Notre Dame President. I read it because I saw a quote on a Notre Dame commercial during a football game. The quote is "If we are afraid to be different from the world, how can we make a difference in the world?". I've used this quote some in youth group lately.


Here's another quote I like from the speech, "Our faith inspires our use of reason, and reason sharpens our understanding of faith. Together, they both serve our search for truth. " There are some quotes I don't like as well, but I don't need to bring those up.

Physical Therapy

I started physical therapy today. She started by seeing just how hurt I was. She stretched and pushed and all that stuff. Then she massaged the muscle. I love massage so I was looking forward to that. They lied. It wasn't a massage. It was a "push my fingers way deep into the spot where it hurts the most". After that she used some thing that shoots ultrasound and electricity into my leg. Then she put icy hot type stuff on it and sent me home with orders to stretch and come see her again the next morning at 7. I hurt.

Ouch

Saturday was a bad day. Notre Dame got killed (I hope you got to go to that game Burrill). I didn't get to see the game though. I was playing flag football. It was big fun until... We started the game up 9-2. Playing by ones to 12. I was having a blast. I threw for some tds, caught some tds, returned an INT for a td. I was having a great game until I lunged for a flag to make a defensive stop. I felt it pop. I pulled my hamstring. I injured myself a month before the race I've been training for since January. Ugh. I see the physical therapist Wednesday morning. The one good sign I've had was when I left the doctor she said "Good luck at the race".

Interesting verse

I came across Deuteronomy 12:4 today. It's only interesting when you think of trying to redeem other religious practices. It says, "You must not worship the Lord your God in their way". It isn't just that the gods were incorrect, some of the ways are wrong as well.

The reason I bring this up is because of the book "A New Kind of Christian", by Brian McLaren. In the book he talks of Christian Indians and their desire to dance the old dances but to God. I must have loaned the book out. I don't see it here anywhere.

In Deuteronomy here they weren't even to use the same places.

Sorry I've been lax

Wow the Colts have won. Notre Dame has won twice. Laura has started kindergarten. Some old friends have stopped by the blog. I didn't know jelly was still around and Burril I checked out the blog. I'm going to go out and take some pictures of some of the odd things I've seen while running. I'll post them soon. I promise.