Updating Regularly

I guess maybe more people would read this if it had a bit of substance to it.

Tonight, I should finish up my freelance writing assignment, giving me a couple of months off from it. That means, more time to focus on other things.  That means I can read more books, work on videos, and, well, run more.  One of those things won’t happen more…

It’s kind of a dead time for me, really. I love fall and spring.  They are beautiful times of the year whenever the weather is comfortable.  In the spring, you see growth spurting everywhere.  In the fall, you see beautiful colors on everything.  But, lately, everything has begun to lose its color.  It’s begun to die.  It’s…blah time of the year.

Maybe I’m just a whiney baby, but I really don’t like the winter months.  There’s something about it being dark all the time, cold where you stay inside, and everything being dead.  Maybe whiney isn’t the right term for me right now – maybe its horribly morbid.  Nonetheless, it’s true.  It’s just not a fun time of year for me.  

Fortunately, the run gets me out of the house, whether its in the dark or light, warm or cold, life or death – it gives me something to do.

I’ve often wondered why in my brief trips to Haiti why I don’t see a lot of people down there running for fun.  I mean, it might happen, but not in Saut d’Eau.  Maybe it’s my stupidity curiosity, but I’ve often wondered what natural born runners there are down there who just aren’t given the opportunity to try. Or, how many of them have the knowledge that there are stupid people who run long distances for fun? Who would have thought that a local footrace that you can pay $15 for would be a privilege and blessing that not everyone has the privilege of doing.

Just some crazy thoughts here.

Anyways, I received an email from the Turners (the MFM missionaries) yesterday with updates of things that are going on around the compound.  Some of you might know that MFM has been in the process for the past 3-4 years of building a newer, bigger church building on the compound in Saut d’Eau.  When I say newer and bigger…I really mean those to the extreme.

The church in Saut d’Eau looks something like this (actually, not something like this – this is the actual photo of the church…)At VBS, it’s amazing how many people fit into that building. 700-800?  Plus, more people outside.

Well, the new church is working toward completion.  As of yesterday, many were working to put plaster on the walls, all wall joists, put up trusses, clean up, pour cement, etc.  This new church will seat some 3000 people comfortably according to the Turners.

Ronnie (the treasurer of MFM and long-time friend) and I were talking about this.  Pastor Turner says that God wants that church built in Saut d’Eau.  (A small reminder: The yearly voodoo fest that takes place at the cascades…the great parade will walk right in front of this church every year.) Ronnie and I came to the conclusion that the building of this church simply doesn’t make sense.  I mean, the old church is big enough for the congregation at Saut d’Eau of about 500.  There’s no point in having a bigger church with lots of room.  Except on one condition – God really is a part of it.  Then, it all makes sense.  It’s amazing to see what things God can pull off.  

I think about it quite often, actually.  Much of the world looks at the Bible and says, “The things in that are preposterous!  That could never happen! That book can’t be true!” But my deal is this: it’s God. I don’t use that as a cop-out when I say He’s capable of doing anything He wants.  I say it in awe and reverence to the fact that, well, He can do anything He wants! God can’t be limited. He’s powerful enough to do it.  He’s strong enough to succeed.  In fact, the word “enough” should be removed from those sentences. 

To wrap our minds around how great and mighty God is is impossible.  But when we start trying to, it’s easy to see that everything in the Bible is possible, plausible, and completely logical in light of the God that we serve.

And, if those things start making sense – why wouldn’t building the largest church in Haiti in the same town as the biggest voodoo festival in the world make sense – if God’s involved in the middle of it all?

Tuesday, October 27

Running:

Two straight weeks of 50 miles plus some.  This morning, I got up at ran 4 miles and will hit out another 7-9 this afternoon.  I am going to experiment to see how that might work out…we’ll see.

Life: 

My wife got a job back in September for teaching 4th grade at a local school system beginning November 18.  Elementary jobs are hard to come by here, so to get a full-time subbing position at a great school for a maternity leave position was truly God’s blessing. She first applied for one back in June at this school that would last from August til about October, but she didn’t get it.  I didn’t realize and understand why. But then, in August, she got a call about another position, re-interviewed and got the position.  Not surprisingly, God had other plans as this one is from November until April…possibly the end of the year depending on how mother wants to go with the baby.  Of course, God had greater plans, as the other 4th grade teacher has recently found out she has lymphoma, so Lindsey subbed there yesterday.  She is subbing again today, but I don’t know which class, as we got a text message from the teacher last night that said, “My water just broke!”  Who knows where Lindsey is today?  All I know is that whenever it seems like things aren’t working out in my favor, God is in the background laughing at my worry saying, “Listen, I’ve got a better plan.”

Haiti:

I miss it.  I mean, it’s impacted me, and I’ve only been there three times. I see families who live there and minister there daily, and there is a great respect for them to see all that they sacrifice in the name of Christ.  Likewise though, there is some aspect of envy.  It all goes back to the feelings and emotions that I feel while in Haiti – the challenge spiritually, lovingly, emotionally, physically – it’s indescribable.

Run4Haiti:

No real goals set, just a lot of training for an unnamed goal right now.  Think often of the best route to take to raise support for VBS or a trades school.  I talked to dad last week about the run from the airport to the compound. I had actually told him about it before and he just frowned and said, “No…” Well, back in April, dad came to my marathon run.  I had run two times in Nashville, but he had always been out of town on business.  Fortunately, this time he was able to come.  That day did something to him.  He has been running pretty (in)consistently since then – reminder: he had 5 bypasses a little over three years ago.  I think it’s awesome.  He has a different view towards running now.  He has a respect for the running community.  He thinks a lot about running actually.  It’s pretty awesome.  So when I told him this time, he listened closely and then said, “You know that’s like 45 miles up a mountain, don’t you?”  I just laughed and said, “Yeah, but people pay money for people to do stupid stuff…”  Ain’t that the truth.  So, we’ll see where that eventually gets us.  It’s a dream and a goal for the future.  When?  I don’t know.

So, that’s life in a nutshell right now.  Hoping to finish up some freelance writing I’ve been doing in the next seven days.  When that is complete, my attention will be turned to getting a 2010 R4H video put together.  Ya know, cause that’s how I roll.

Irony

I figure mother nature just wanted to mess with me after posting something about Mother Winter coming early.  Saturday morning, it was below 32 degrees when we went to a football game of a little kid in our church.

It is Wednesday now – the high today is 72°. “Take that, Ryan” said Mother Nature.

Mileage has been fun as of late. I enjoy simply running a whole lot more than training for a 5k. 5k’s make you hurt.  You go out twice a week and run laps around a track at a really fast pace.  That’s stupid.

Somehow, I’ve managed to make myself believe that going out and running 9 miles at a comfortable 8:43/mile pace is much smarter and can somehow be seen as a logical decision in my every day life. 

Anyways – Monday I knocked out 8.2 miles at an 8:46 pace and yesterday I kicked 9 miles out at 8:43.  Today, I’ll be going out for a 6 miler at whatever pace my body and legs decide to let me run.  This weekend, I’m going to try to hit out 14 or so, that way, if I can keep increasing and some random chance to run a random marathon shows up, I can be in shape to go out and run it…

I’m struggling with what race to run in the spring. Nashville was great for three years – but Nashville runs the chance of being a billion degrees.  I want a chance to run a race and do well up to my potential.

I’m still tossing around a big idea to raise money.

You see, back in August when we went in and met with the mayor of Saut d’Eau – he mentioned the idea that it would be good for Mountain Faith Mission to start some sort of vocational school. This thought was echoed by others in the mission who, as one claimed, “After they leave secondary school, they don’t have training for a job. We need to train them for jobs so they will stick around with La Mission Emmanuel (Mountain Faith Mission) and not leave.”

This is really what I would love to raise money for this coming year.  It’s a logical explanation by the Haitians in our mission. Likewise, the mayor wants something in Saut d’Eau that makes the lives of those in the village greater. It gives them a chance to learn. They can be educated in a skill that can essentially provide some sort of income for them. But, it doesn’t stop there as it allows our students within the mission to receive training in a number of areas that will keep them around.  It seems like a win-win situation.  So, that’s sort of my goal.

Essentially, my super-far-fetched-long-term goal, knowing how things can go very very slow in Haiti, is that upon the completion of the school if it were to be built, as a final push for support, I have a run up my sleeve.

Since my first trip in to Haiti, I’ve had this idea that I’ve been working on.  My goal: run from the Port-au-Prince airport to our compound in one day.  That covers about 50 miles or so and it goes from the bay – thus 0 ft. above sea level – to 1250 ft. above sea level at our compound.  This of course does not take into account that you go over all the mountains to get there.  This is obviously a long term goal, but I’ve been dreaming about it for two years, and it’s just really been on my mind lately.  It probably wouldn’t take place for a couple of years, but I’d love to run all day, get to the compound, collapse in front of this school while eating diri ak pwa, and watch a building dedication take place.

Of course, that’s how it all works out in my head.  So over the next couple of weeks, these are my goals to work towards.  I want to see what would be able to be done about a vocational school and begin working toward that goal.  Meanwhile, I will run.  A lot.  Because you never know when you fly into PAP early in the morning, only to put on your Mizunos and make a 50 mile journey on foot.  Of course, when you say it like that, I recognize that my 50 mile jog would seem nothing to some of the people in Haiti who have walked numerous miles.  

That kind of puts things in perspective…

Welcome to Indiana, Mother Winter!

In Tennessee, I never remember waking up and scraping off frost every day.  In Tennessee, I don’t remember wearing long sleeves for long runs because it’s stinkin’ cold.  I don’t remember it dipping below freezing before Halloween.  But oh Toto, we ain’t in Tennessee anymore.

Nonetheless, it’s been beautiful.  Besides the skin chilling wind, the skies have been clear with limited clouds and lots of sun. Yesterday, I finally hit a long run that I am proud of.  I ran 13 miles in 1:51.  Was planning on stopping at 12, but was feeling good.  Good to know all the miles I ran back in the spring have done a little bit more for me in the long run (no pun intended).  

My weight is a different problem.  Last week was my birthday.  And, the month of October is pastor appreciation month.  Who thinks I might have had a lot of sweets this month?  This guy thinks that.  The scale shows that.  It’s pretty rough.  So, it’s time to hit back at it and try to dip way down again.  I lost 15 lbs last year during marathon training with no effort.  Some of you might remember me keeping Kroger in business as I had cinnamon rolls almost every Monday night.  But, with a little effort, I’m hoping to shed down to about 170 lbs.  Who knows?

The training last week was great.  52.4 miles for the week.  Can’t complain about that for sure.  

I’ve had a weird thought in my head lately about what to raise money for and how to go about it.  Just some different thoughts that will probably be expressed within the next week or so.  

I also have a super crazy idea to carry out in the next couple of years.  That, my friends, is totally stupid, so I’m kind of excited about it.

Until next time!

Back Into The Swing Of Things

I’m trying to get back to increasing my mileage. Monday – 8, Tuesday – 9.  That’s a huge change for me from the summer.  Surprisingly, my legs feel better than they would during 5k training.  Funny how that works.

I’ve yet to decide on a spring marathon.  The one I originally wanted to run (Springfield, Ill) has changed to May.  I don’t want to risk a stinkin’ heat wave meltdown again, so I was looking to early April.  Who knows?  I’ll keep looking.

Other than that, I’ve begun to brainstorm the ways I can go about actually trying to raise money this year. VBS costs went up dramatically this year.  Normally it cost $5000 for the week to feed all of the people and other expenses for VBS (this is all the cost to actually execute VBS – I remind you that those of us who take a trip down there for the week pay for our own food, transportation, plus some more to pay our translators and other people…).  This year at VBS, the cost pushed $7000.  Who knows for next year.  I made a small dent last year in that cost.  I mean, I didn’t push or publicize the way that I possibly could have.  I could have done more.

I don’t like asking for money.  I really don’t.  It might come from the fact that I’m as cheap as they come.  As Lindsey and I are trying to get out of debt, I don’t want to buy ANYTHING.  I’m even willing to give up groceries.  But, I recognize that when someone does stupid things, such as run marathons and enjoy it, people are willing to thrown money at it.  I’m just in the middle of trying to figure out how to go from making a dent, to contributing huge numbers.  Not for the sake of “Oh, look how much I raised…” but for the sake of “Oh, look how much we can give!”  

I’d thought about seeing the possibility of having a 5k in my town in order to raise money.  That’s one thought.  I mean, who knows?  The other is of course to go about it the same as I did last year, but this year to actually email and snail mail packets of information to churches.  I have tons of ideas, I just don’t know how to go about executing all of them.  

Anyone have Donald Trump’s number?

Black Cat 5k Photos

 

My first place in my age group trophy

Post-finish

Circled back to finish with dad

The face of pain

 

I led for .25 miles of the race...

Black Cat Classic 5k

It was a great day in New Castle.

About 100 registrants according to the YMCA worker.

Last year, 20:18 for 9th overall and 1st in age group.  Goals: beat last year.

Mile 1 – I started out quick.  In fact, for the first .25 miles, I was leading.  But, I knew others were just being uber conservative.  Winner passed me at the .25 mile mark.  By the end of mile one, I had dropped back to around 7th, but hadn’t lost pace – just everyone else had jumped on theirs.  .5 miles flat, and then about .35 miles up a 50 foot incline.  Mile 1 in 6:22 and feeling good.  

Mile 2 – Continued on, but this is the tough part of the 5k.  It immediately begins with a .11 mile hill that climbs about 70 feet.  Up one side and then back down the other. Then, it climbs up about another 40 feet over the next quarter of a mile before it begins the second half of the 5k.  Mile 2 in 6:30 and feeling decent.

Mile 3 – Pushed it harder.  It’s a slow, long hill that’s very subtle.  Probably doesn’t climb more than 20 feet but it drags it out.  Pace slowed on the watch to about 6:50, but I pushed hard after a familiar face from the Kris Kringle 4 Miler passed me, putting me in 8th.  I pushed and went downhill to start pushing my final kick.  I began kicking at about 2.9.  Mile 3 in 6:26.

Last .1 – Pushed as hard as possible.  Pace dropped to 5:40ish.  

Crossed the finish line in 8th at 19:52 – a 26 second pr.  Felt good.  1st in AG.

Turned back around to go find my dad who finished his first 5k – after 5 bypasses – in 31:44.  Super awesome.

Good day.  Monday starts marathon training, so we’ll have some fun getting back into the swing of things.

Today’s Hero

I know I have very few readers – especially when I neglect to update because of numerous other important responsibilities, like reading, running, and doing nothing that’s productive.

It’s been a while since I did a Haiti’s Hero segment. Today is someone I’ve never met but has really inspired me over the past weekend and the weeks leading up to the weekend.

Nonetheless, some of you have read my blog and seen links to Tara Livesay’s family’s blog – they are missionaries to Port-au-Prince, and Tara is a insane person runner, too.

You gotta head over as she ran the Twin Cities Marathon this past weekend. After training in Haiti all summer (and that’s just dumb to me…) she came and ran in complete opposite conditions. 

This being “Run 4 Haiti” obviously has to include someone who literally ran for Haiti. 

There’s a medical peanut butter, grown in Haiti for malnourished children called Medika Mumba (if you go to Family Christian Bookstore, they’ll probably be able to tell you about it as the new Casting Crown’s album sends money for every pre-order to help with Medika Mumba.) I wish I knew Tara’s secret to running to raise money, because I fail greatly at the job where she has it down pat.  She raised….

$62,600!!!!!

Who cares about cramps?  Who cares about time?  Who cares about how the day goes at that point?

The kingdom of God was furthered by raising this money in order to have true religion – showing love to orphans and widows. 

Head over to her blog and read of her success. 

Hopefully some day on a trip to Haiti, I can finally meet a hero of the faith and running world and go for a jog.

This Weekend

This weekend is the big 5k.  I’ve been logging around 40 miles for the last three weeks.  I haven’t been as “strict” and by the book for this 5k as I was last year, but I’ve managed more miles.  Who knows what could happen?

The goal is to go sub-20.  My present pr is 20:18.  Do I think I can do it?  I think so, but the training will tell.

After the 5k, it’s back to 50 mile weeks and trying to figure out how to raise money for Haiti.  Consistent posts seem to be a good thing.  Another thing is actually asking people for money, I suppose.  Who knows?  We’ll soon find out.

MFM Promo

Tomorrow is my first normal day off in about three weeks.  I plan on trying to work on a MFM promo video to get posted up here soon.  I have some freelance curriculum writing to get done, but immediately following, I hope to work on the video.  

What would you like to see about Haiti?