Monkey celebrating and sending everyone a holiday cheer:
and although we are a bit late with this one, happy Chanukah
of course if you have time to follow Monkey’s life… go for it here!
After writing about two marathons, a 50 mile run, I just cant resist to announce another record, the marathon trip back home. For the record, this is the longest trip home I have taken so far, and as the cliché goes, I have taken some long trips home (Caveat necessary here - does not include Around the Trip World with Mara). Here is the breakdown of the planes, trains and automobiles:
Hour::Destination::Mode of Transportation
0:00::Boat::Davao, Phillipines
1:00::Bus::Airport
4:00::Cepbu Pacific::Manila
6:00::Jeepny (yes, I took it all by myself!)::Airport Hotel and back
12:00::Phillipines Airlines::Bejing
23:00::United::Washington DC
35:00::United::Washinton DC - Chicago
37:00::Cab home!
Glad to be home. It’s a good thing I didn’t get too settled in PH 
Until now, I have never called myself a runner without smirking about it. I don’t have a runners body, quite opposite actually, I havent run in High School (wrestling), and I just took it up as a recreational hobby, but I generally remain slower than most of my friends and running buddies. Granted, I have been running on and off for about 11 years now. My first “race” was the Cleveland Revco 96. I finished five marathons, yet I still felt like an intruder into the sport. I felt that the only reason I did it was by being an runner intruder, no special talent, kind of fat, ex-smoker, just completing the runs through sheer will.
Well, not anymore - I am a RUNNER! Whats brought this change about was my completion of my first ultra marathon, the JFK 50 miler. My buddy TJ talked me into it. At first I didn’t think this would put me in the category of a runner, I mean with a 50 mile race and a cut of time of 12 hours (now realizing that’s on the short side for this type of distance), you cant call it running if you can take a 15 minute mile once in a while.
But actually completing the RUN - and yes, despite the slow average this was very much a RUN, deserving all three caps. My official result: 10:44:09 - yup, thats almost eleven hours. I am limited in describing it to a non-runner, but for any marathoners our there, here is what running a 50 mile ultra feels like:
- go for a slow pace run of 18 miles
- after completing, immediately turn around and do another 18 mile pace run
- after running for more than a marathon now, there is only one thing left to do
- turn around and run a half marathon
The JFK was a great challenge and a great experience. I have seen clarity and asked clarity why I like setting goals and not letting go. It was painfull and rewarding. I don’t think I would ever do it again (don’t ask about the bout with fever)… But keep reading.
Special thanks go to the Reston Runners, Dennis Kelleher the super-duper reston supporter who was assigned to crew for me. Thank You!!
For some testimonial on what the race experience was like for other folks, check out the Reston Runners Experience Articles.
Notice that my blogging is very scarce as I have devoted most of my energy to building Promet. However this article in the Trib got my blood boiling and my old collage ideals bubbled to the point of action.
Here is the excerpt from the Chicago Tribune “BP gets break on dumping in lake” by Michael Hawthorne
The massive BP oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., is planning to dump significantly more ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan, running counter to years of efforts to clean up the Great Lakes… Under BP’s new state water permit, the refinery — already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes — can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals.
Basically BP stands for Bad Polluters in my book from now on and a fantastic example of corporate hypocracy.
Here is what we can do.
1) blog about it to expose the falacy of the BP.com public campaign. We hope that enough exposure will shame them to stand up to act right, not just lie about wanting to be clean.
2) Sign these petitions currently being circulated among some polititians that can do something about it:
Congressman Mark Kirk http://kirkforcongress.com/petition1/
Chicago Parks petition against sludge dumping into lake Michigan by BP
3) Find out who the sell out public servants in Indiana are, blog about it, and hope that they will never ever get re-elected
4) Blast this guy for being an enemy to the environment Gov. Mitch Daniels
Mara and I bought a Teddy Bear puppy (Shichon a Shih Tzu / Bichon mix), his name is Monkey.
Here is a picture of the cute puppy:
Mara and I are Married. Husband and Wife. We had a great party.
Here are some pictures from the photographer.
Here are some pictures our friends took. If you have any more photos from the wedding, please please send them to us. Special thanks to our friends who shared these with us.
Andy and Mara