The Places I Will Run...

Heart and desire overpowers body.  As I was running this morning I was thinking about the power that comes from a positive attitude and a vision.  Honestly i’ve been struggling with how high I should set my goals.  How far should I push the envelope of what I feel like my abilities are?  I’ve been debating on whether or not to train to qualify to run in the Boston Marathon.  The struggle for me isn’t whether or not I can run a marathon because I know I can.  The real quest is can I push myself hard enough to to qualify for the worlds biggest race?  Every year roughly 20,000 people run the Boston Marathon.  It is one of the most highly publicized and well known races in the world.  Unlike many other marathons, you can’t just sign up and run it.  First, you have to qualify.  In order to qualify you need to run in a sanctioned marathon (26.2 miles) and finished under a time (based on your age) of 3:10:59.  That is a pace roughly around 7:17 per mile.  I’ve never really run at full throttle before but I do know that the quickest I have run 3 miles in was right 7:07.  Sustaining that kind of speed for 26+ miles seems like a daunting task.

All of these thoughts have led me to think about heart and what a vital role it plays in achieving our goals and our dreams.  Some of my favorite movies like Rudy, Rocky, or just about any other quality sports movie have a main character that comes to a point where their body seems to lack the ability or can no longer carry them but their desire and heart is so strong that it makes up for what the body is lacking.  That is how I hope to keep my mindset.  I want to set goals and chase them with reckless abandon.  And when my body can no longer carry me then my heart and desire will pick up more than enough slack to take me to the finish line. 

Training for the Boston Marathon… we’ll see :)

9:44pm and all is well.  The past 3 days have been ridiculous!  Carie and I had to find a place to live because the lease on the place we were renting was up and we wanted to get out of that house.  The unfortunate part of it is that I have been gone so much that we didn’t have ample time to go hunting for a place.  So after a week of browsing craigslist and driving around town we finally found a spot to live at the last possible moment.  

The place we’re at now is WAY different then any of the spots we’ve lived in Nashville so far.  There are a lot of young professionals and people our age which is GREAT! Last night was our first stay in the new condo and it went well.  This morning I got up and ran and it was AMAZING!  Lot’s a beautiful homes and both sides of the street had sidewalks.  Also, there were lots of people running too.   I’m pretty competitive and if I need to challenge a random stranger on the road to a foot-race then so be it!  One day done at the new residence and I’m looking forward to adjusting.

In the morning, the band heads out for our first weekend of shows in which we fly to each of the dates.  We’ll be in Orlando tomorrow, Maine on Sat, and then Dave and I are heading to Indy for the Indy 500.  We’re leading chapel for the drivers!  

Life is a bit overwhelming but it I guess that is what makes it life.  As I like to say (to myself usually) Life Requires Effort.  There’s some food for thought. 

That’s right.  For those of you wondering what a unibrow is here is wikipedia’s definition.

 A unibrow (or monobrow) is a “confluence of eyebrows”; i.e., the presence of abundant hair between the eyebrows, so that they seem to converge to form one long eyebrow.

My unibrow is pretty sparse but it’s there nonetheless.  The older I get the more I realize that a unibrow should be revered.  I suppose the real question in all this is: would you rather have 2 small eyebrows or 1 GIANT eyebrow?  

Here are some famous unibrows…feel free to add to my gallery.

Also, check out this www.unibrowclub.com they are an authority on the subject.

Laces tied, legs stretched, and ready to run… That is how my mornings look and this morning was no different.  Today I felt like making a longer run so instead of making a left turn from our street I made a right turn which leads out to a busy morning traffic road.  I’m always hesitant to run near busy roads but if I wanted to have a long run this was my only option.  As car by car passed by I was feeling really good.  That is until my super long shoelaces tangled together and sent my body hurtling through the air.  I made a couple last ditch efforts to stay on my feet but this time there was no stopping the inevitable.  My palms were the first thing to reach the pavement and being as agile and quick-witted as I am - I decided my best move from here was to maneuver  a full on barrel-roll.  So with my palms on the ground and the rest of my body following quickly behind I put my shoulder down and did a complete summersault all the way back on to my feet.  I took a minute to gather myself and realized just how sweet of move I had pulled.  Now mind you, there was heavy traffic traveling both ways on this street.  I am truly thankful I wasn’t hit by a car, and even more thankful that so many drivers could witness my acrobatics!  I found a safe spot to lace back up and move on.  I estimate the entire incident only took 15-20 seconds but it seemed like a few hours.  I made it home with limited injuries and a good dose of humility.  In looking for a photo to capture this moment - I could only find this photo which really made me laugh. 

On a side note.  The 2nd to last episode of LOST is tonight but that is a completely different post to come.

It happened… It finally happened!  I took nap.  Let me start off by saying that this has been a great Monday.  I got to drive Carie to work (this doesn’t happen when the band is on the road obviously) and I got to pick her up from work.  I also took her car in to the shop and spent a couple hours updating this week’s New Video Monday

Luckily having some work to do made the waiting for her car to be done pretty quick.  Her car mostly needed an oil change but in addition to this she had a bad socket for her front right blinker.  I think they finally fixed it!  No more irritating broken turn signal clicking!

We headed straight from her work to get dinner (Mexican food).  We branched out and tried a new restaurant today and I think we may actually end up going back there.  In case you’re wondering what I got (i’m sure you aren’t but i’ll tell you anyway) - the dish I get goes under  a few names; pollo loco, arroz con pollo, special #5, pollo gringo etc… essentially it’s grilled chicken, rice, and beans.  Most of the time it comes topped with the super awesome white cheese but I ALWAYS get it plain and it tastes just as good.  Cheese is one thing I would encourage people to cut out of their diet.  I know it’s one of the best tasting foods (trust me I know) but you can save your heart some trouble by not eating most cheese.  Alright, back off my soapbox.  So we had a really good meal and then we came home.  

I have been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s most recent book “Outliers” which theorizes why/how brilliant people are just that, BRILLIANT.  I’ll dedicate a post later to this book as soon as I am finished reading it.  I’m also still in the middle of his other book “Tipping Point”…which is equally fascinating.  I’m really beginning to realize that I appreciate sociology more than I thought.  Understanding who people are, and why they do what they do can really help in learning to love.  At least it’s given me perspective on understanding other peoples perspective.

So there I was…in the middle of reading the book when IT happened!  The next thing I knew I was drooling on my pillow and it was storming outside.  I know that a lot of you out there nap frequently but for me, there has to be a cataclysmic series of events that take place.  I am for all intents and purposes a “busy-body”.  I am anxious and always working on something.  My brain is super ADD which get’s me working on about 20 things at once and always leaves me forgetting at least 1 minor detail.  But for just a moment today, I took a nap!  It was too good of a moment not to share with you.  Now back to life!