Tag: World

Masters Track and Lane 8?

Yesterday, I had such a busy morning, I couldn’t find time to run, before taking our son to school on the way to the airport.

After my arrival at Hartford, Connecticut, I had the chance to do an easy 35 minute run.

Some left heel pain right away, so I jogged backwards for a couple minutes and that helped.  It usually does.  Not much pain while running.  Afterwards, during the evening, my foot was sore.

And so it goes.

Hope this doesn’t sound like complaining, because complaining is the opposite of my intent.

It’s meant to be a reality check, to the difficulties in this microcosm of life.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.  Primarily because I need to purchase the plane ticket soon.

Using the creative approaches to challenges, I quickly thought of a “PLAN B”.

Enter the 1,500 meters.

Once I’m warmed up, I can run a very decent mile pace.  Which is why the 1,500 would be a good back up.

It is still unknown if I can get up on my toes, and shift into overdrive for some serious acceleration (for a 50-year old).  🙂

I emailed, and then spoke to, the USATF representative and had the 1,500 added to my 2009 Master’s World Championships profile.

I’ve run a near All-American standard of excellence time, and by August, should be an unlikely long shot to do well for Team USA.

It’s amazing the confidence and reassurance one can gain with a Plan B.

Plan B or not, hope you have a GREAT and Healthy day.  Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂

Slowest of the Fastest?

What does this metaphor, “The slowest of the Fastest” mean?

It means very simply this:

We have a choice every moment of every day.

To be positive, or, to not be positive.

Here’s one of life’s invisible truths:  Everybody is fighting a hard battle.  Everyone.  Even the people who appear, on the surface, to have a great (easy) life.

We all have a choice on how we live our lives.

There are two choices:

  1. To be the fastest of the slowest.
  2. To be the slowest of the fastest.

On our deathbed, if we are lucky (blessed) to have this moment, we can look back on our lives and say with a peaceful joy, “I gave it my best effort and have no regrets about what I could have, should have or would have done“.

Visit, or revisit, if you’re interested, the post that explains another metaphor, Lane 8 .

Carpe diem, because if you don’t, who will.  If not today, when?  jeff 🙂

Do you think I should?

Thursday night, I asked my son, “Do you think I should still go the World Championships“?

Without hesitating, he said, “Yes“!

“Why”?, I wondered out loud.

“Two reasons”, he said.  “Number one, to complete your goal of being the slowest of the fastest“.

I smiled and asked, “And what’s the second reason?”  

“So we can be a little famous.”

Smiling again I asked, “Is being famous a good thing?”

He said, “Being a little famous, who wouldn’t want that kind of esteem?”

Kids say the darnedest things.  Indeed.

Carpe diem, jeff  🙂

PS. Esteem, or self-confidence is a critical success factor, in my humble opinion.  If something were to ever happen to me, maybe he’d remember that his Dad always said, “You have the choice to be positive or negative“.

I’ll explain the “Slowest of the Fastest” metaphor tomorrow.

You do the math!

Do the math?  What the?

Thirty to fifty?

Yep.

Thirty days until I turn fifty.

And, roughly 90 days until the prelims. 

Ten years in the making and it will be over, either side of 55 seconds.

Huge investment for such a short “performance”.

Decent run yesterday, and as the trend remains, intermittent pain all day.

Where could you end up ten years from today, if today was the first day you started exercising, and you didn’t stop for the rest of your life?

Carpe diem, my wellness-minded friends.  jeff 🙂

PS.  Tomorrow, I’ll post my son’s answers when I posed this question, “Do you think I should go to the World Championships?”

I wanted to quit!

Yesterday, I wanted to quit.  Seriously.

I kept thinking, “This isn’t worth it.  It’s too much work.  The pain isn’t going away.  What if I spend $1,000 for a plane ticket, plus hotel, etc, and I can’t run?  Maybe this is too much to expect, too soon – even though it’s been a decade in the making.  Maybe I’m being selfish.  Maybe I’m being blind to something obvious.”

I don’t know.

My foot was sore when I woke up in my Niagara Falls hotel room.  It was also sore the day before.  It was sore when I presented the Disney Service Keynote speech.  It was sore on the plane home.

I didn’t run yesterday, and I wasn’t going to run today.

But I did.  And I took it easy.  Ran 40 minutes with only slight pain.   This all gets so confusing sometimes.

Anyway, I have to get going.

No matter your situation, I wish you wisdom and guidance for good decisions and also a bit of forgiveness if you make any errors.

Carpe diem, jeff noel  🙂