The Eccentricities of Hobbies – Things about Which One Can Find Themselves Jazzed

You’ll have to forgive me; this blog isn’t about politics or some hilarity from my youth. No, it’s a subject I was thinking about recording as I walked one-half mile back to my house after my run last night.

My run last night was fantastic. For some background, while I am an assistant coach with a running group here in Boise, Boise Run/Walk, I’ve taken it upon myself to engage a personal coach to improve my marathon time. My coach is the head coach of the running club I run and coach with.

Thus far, engaging a personal coach has worked for me on a few levels. One, I’ve found myself resolved to work harder at my runs. I am not necessarily running harder, but I am even more mindful of certain things I would normally take for granted. As an example, this last Saturday, during my eleven miler, I made a real point of taking hydration and nutrition during my run and not skipping them, like I so often do. Of course, another component was that I spoke at my group about ensuring one is properly taking in energy and water whilst running; nevertheless, I’ve said those things before, and not practiced what I preached. With a coach and a personal program, that’s right, I’ve found myself actually doing what I know I am supposed to do.

Wow, Matt, that’s great. I know. I know, here I am prefacing the point on which I was going to write. Well, what I just wrote was more or less the point; however, what has me so motivated was the run I took last night. Mike, my coach, on Wednesdays, has my program set up for “speed work.”

For you non-runners out there, “speed work” integrates some different sorts of training into one’s run. There are different types: interval training, hill repeats, striding, tempo running, Yasso 800’s, etc… Long and short, there are lots of ways to practice speed work, and there are lots of good reasons to do it. Rather than bore you with the sports physiology, we’ll say I am motivated to do this, both to improve my marathon time and to shake up what is normally a nice gentle Wednesday-night eight-mile run.

Last night, I ran 4.16 miles from my house to a street just east of Warm Springs golf course in Boise. There, I crossed the street at the ped-way, and came to the hill at Wind Song St. Wind Song is a beautiful steep hill, with a sidewalk, leading up to nice affluent homes. It’s rather rural, but it’s not in the middle of nowhere. I believe technically it is still in Boise-proper.

There at Wind Song, I did 8 x :30’s. Essentially, after running 4.16 miles, I stretched a bit, and ran 8 trips up this hill, turning around to return to the bottom. When I got to the bottom, I’d prepare my Garmin again, and take off up the hill. That took me between five and ten minutes. I don’t recall exactly (when doing hill repeats, one isn’t turning around to run them the second they get to the bottom).

Anyway, after I completed those hill repeats, I took off back to my house. My head felt great, and my run started quite strong. At that point, I think my body was accustomed to the challenge of running up hill. Needless to say, I ran back to my house, and cut it short at eight miles, which left me about .8 miles to walk back to my house. The walk was quite refreshing, and I did so with a great amount of self-satisfaction.

It’s quite amazing, this human experience, pushing myself to do something I would have considered “conditioning” as a teenager. Now, I dig on the fact that I am going to be a better runner, and that I was motivated to do that on my own. Coach Mike left me a voice mail while I was in a meeting earlier, and wondered how it was going. I think I’ll send him this link.

A Relaxed Sunday and a Weekend of Movies

Typically, this time of year, following early church service on Sunday, I like to head up to Bogus to get in some skiing. Yesterday, however, I heard that it was busy, and I was a bit fatigued, so I decided to run errands and relax a bit. As far as the errands went, they were relaxed and rather uneventful. Following trips to “Bed, Bath and Beyond” and REI, I went over to my friends, the Bush’s, house.

Bob and Dianna were gracious hosts, as always. Dianna immediately served me ranch beans she had sitting from being made earlier in the day or weekend. They were very nice, and it was quite nice to have homemade food. Bob and Dianna had friends of their staying with them, in town from Southwest Washington and McCall, I’d refer to them by last name, but I cannot say I ever got that.

Prior to their friends coming back from running errands, two of their guests are getting married in the near term, the mother and sister of the bride were the other two guests, Diana, Bob and I watched “Pineapple Express.”

In the same way Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, the Wilson brothers, and Wes Anderson formed the “Frat Pack,” Seth Rogan and Judd Apatow have now dominated the humor scene. It’s a good thing, as the “Frat Pack” is not nearly as prolific as they once were.

Not having seen “Pineapple Express,” I was well entertained by the movie. I am glad I saw it. It was most fun watching it with Bob and Diana. Express wasn’t the best movie I saw all weekend though, I have to admit. Saturday night I saw “MILK.”

“Milk” was an incredible film, and I was glad to have seen it. My friends Dan and Patty asked me to join them, and I was more than happy to do so on Saturday Night. It’s hard not to go on and on about why I enjoyed the movie and thought it was so good.

To summarize my feelings on Saturday evening, I would have to put it along these lines: not being gay, the movie being shot by a gay director, Gus Van Sant, gave me a better feel for the characters’ struggles, thoughts and feelings. I know that sounds rather surface, but genuinely, in the same way few if any but African American directors could really convey the rage and pain of racism, I had more empathy for what these folks endured/still endure. Two, Penn’s performance was magnificent. I realize that’s like saying, “Hendrix played a mean guitar,” but his performance showed his range and really made me feel for the character. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but just prior the credits, my feelings for Penn’s performance really crystallized. Three, I thought the movie was so apropos, primarily due to this past year’s Proposition 8. After seeing “MILK,” I look forward to supporting future GLBT rights initiatives.

It’s interesting, being straight, but having so many friends that fall into the categories in the movie, I don’t know that I’ve ever been confronted with the turmoil or issues that friends of mine have had to face. I guess that is part of the struggle GLBT folks are subjected to, primarily, because the social construction is that they should be undercover about their preferences. Whatever the case, I have to expect that if I was in their shoes, I would be quite radical. I don’t think anyone knowing what GLBT folks are subjected to would choose to deviate from society’s norms; nevertheless, there are ignorant people that still think people “choose” their sexuality. I am still looking for someone opposed to Gay marriage, to tell me where in the Bible it says being gay is bad. Please, if you can find the chapter and verse, let me know. While it doesn’t apply to me, I would just assume those that have those feelings be afforded the same rights I have.

Thankful

First, my apologies for a long overdue post. I suppose that’s one way to keep readers from hitting one’s blog too often—quit posting. If you are here in spite of iterant lapses in posting, I thank you. Sincerely, it’s nice to have one’s thoughts read.

I was thinking about what to write, because at the moment, with the holidays, the free time I’d have had at work last week was spent on vacation to Phoenix. Phoenix was quite nice, and I had a great time spending lots of quality time with my family. My Auntie Pat was a terrific host, and I had all too much fun and leisure from which to leave. I suppose we all have to return to normal lives, leaving vacation, but it is what it is. In short, I had a wonderful time, and I’ll sound all too cliché saying this, but the six days I was in Phoenix went much too quickly.

While I was there, I had a bit of an epiphany. I was there at my grandparents’ retirement community, which provides for meals and care, if care is needed. There we were guests in the dining room, and the people of Royal Oaks, the community where my grandparents live, couldn’t have been nicer. My wonderful Grandma Phyllis is quite well known at Royal Oaks, largely because she is on the board. My grandmother is a sharp lady, and it’s fun to see her doing so well with their community.

I apologize; I digress. There we were in the dining room, and on more than one occasion friends of my grandparents would marvel at how well I’m doing, when they would realize I was “Phyllis and Mel’s grandson.” It’s not very often that I hear people refer to parts of my life that have since passed by a few years, but it happens from time-to-time, mostly around the holidays. At one point a woman said to me, “Matt, we sure did pray for you.”

When she said that, as one would expect, I said, “Thank you very much, those prayers certainly made the difference.” I said that quite sincerely.
The evening continued on, and we went on with dinner. At a later point, after we had left the dining area, I was commenting on being flattered and caught off guard that my circumstances were a topic of discussion. Again, it’s something that I have the good fortune I don’t have to think about very often.

During that discussion, I made the following statement, and it put me back for a moment. I said, “Following such an ordeal, we should all be so fortunate, as to be able to thank those who have prayed for us.”

Reading that after I just now wrote it, for me, again brought in that same meditation. Odds are good if you’re reading this, you too prayed for me a little more than two years ago. For that, I am most thankful—God bless.