Bump In the Road

This blog is becoming a metaphor for a consistent life, as I don't update it very consistently. In my quest for inner peace and fitness, I hit a bump in the road today.

Jilian's rocking it...she's lost weight and is on track to run a half marathon over Labor Day, but I haven't been as disciplined as her. We went for a run today, and I realized a few things that have to be in place in order for me to have a successful, longer run. Today I was hyper aware of these things because I didn't meet them, and I had to end the run about half-way through and walked the rest of the way. With that, my reflections:

1. Give myself at least 2-3 hours to digest if I've eaten. This morning we had a moderately sized breakfast/lunch but ran about an hour and a half afterwards. Jilian had a sideache, and I had the feeling in my stomach that told me "hey, too soon." No fun
2. Drink plenty of fluids. I had a cup of coffee and a smoothie for breakfast, which wasn't enough. I quickly realized into the run that I didn't drink enough because I had a fuzzy feeling in my head as well as my arms and hands. When that got to be too much, I knew I had to stop and take it easy.

I'm pretty dispirited about the whole venture, despite an excellent start, I know that I need to get back into my routine and stick to the truisms I know best: mornings are the best for me, I have time and wake up, and I eat after I run so nothing's "sitting around." I also have enough water from the day before.

Last weekend I started investigating nearby gyms that I get a discount to under my insurance plan. There's one close to Greenlake that I'm going to "try out" on Monday, 7:30 AM. This will help me stick to my morning workout mantra. Given that it's an introductory, they'll likely pair me with a personal trainer *sigh*. I'll report on that experience next week, but my last experience was, what I imagine to be, typical. "Yo brah, let's do some squats. C'mon, push it." Exciting.

Wish me luck ;-)

Vacay, a Chronicle (Part one, Day one)

This will be a series of posts, likely out of order chronologically. This current draft is being written during a "recharge" period. When you're as tied to technology as Jilian and I are, you need to take stops to recharge your various electronic devices including, but not limited to: Digital Camera, Blackberry (go-to phone including the always useful Google Maps app), and laptop. We're definitely roughing it.

I digress. First off, to address the topic change on this blog...it started as a chronicle of my attempts to get and stay fit. Rest assured this is still an ongoing story and effort I will be commenting on, but I figured, why not expand the topic to include life and living? Since readers of this blog consist of my immediate family plus a few close friends, it'll let me keep writing.

So, the topic at hand: vacation. The title is a work reference, for some reason we like to shorten words in Teach For America and "vacation" is no exception. Shortening it to "vacay" gets rid of the unnecessary third syllable. I do the same thing with the word "totally" though it's extremely economical at just one syllable, "totes." Both syllable saving adaptations annoy Jilian and any English language purist to no end.

Leg One:

Jilian and I, mainly at the urging of my manager who insisted I use my vacation days while I can (thanks man!) are in the middle of a multi-pronged "Oregon Experience" trip with a particular focus on the Coast. We started by visiting my folks and Aunt Annie in the Tri-Cities for an Elton John concert. It was epic. It started with a fantastic meal from Aunt Annie's endless supply of stuff in her freezer and vacuum sealed for later consumption. The halibut and steak tasted fresh, which makes me want to purchase a vacuum sealer (no freezer burn AND good quality? Yes please). The next morning, Dad, Jilian, and I went to the Columbia at a beach near Richland. It was great to go swimming, although I spent about 15 minutes waiting in the water while Dad had made two trips in and out of the water already (Dad's a fish). We then made our way for Yakima, the "Palm Springs of Washington." Yakima has sort of the "poor stepchild" status in Washington State. While Tacoma and Spokane feel a similar pain, Yakima gets the worst rap due to a previously stagnant economy, migrant work force, and dry, desert-like location. Every time I drive by, I compare it with Walla Walla and think that Yakima would be much better with a revitalized downtown and a small, liberal arts college. Liberal arts colleges make every community a better place because they spawn unique coffee shops and college kids who think they know everything who will then blog affectionately about the "good old days" in their former college town.

 

Elton usually plays in sold-out arenas, so his choice of Yakima, Washington, as a venue was pretty unreal. He packed the Yakima "Sundome" to capacity, and there was not a bad seat in the house. For a 63 year old, Elton rocked it for 2 1/2 hours. Jilian and I were one of probably 20 "20 somethings" (it's great that we have a category!) at the concert. Most people to our immediate front, back, and left and right were in their 50s or 60s and grooving out. I'm going to buy "Mad Man Across the Water" as soon as I get home.

With high spirits, we packed Yota, added the two lawn chairs Mom and Dad let us borrow (or have? They're very comfortable Mom) and we left around 11 AM for Crater Lake. Stay tuned.

Developments in Jogging

Ahh, my faithful blog readers. I’ve been a bad blogger. Over a month has passed since my last update, and I’m happy to report that I haven’t suffered any drogging related injuries since my last post, despite some pretty epic air guitar and keyboard solos during technical parts of a run (ie: uphill). I’ve been fairly regular with my jogging, averaging around 3.5 miles and 2 to 3 times a week (trying to keep it to three times a week).

I’ve also added some new routes, and with those routes come fun and new people! Greenlake is still my run of choice when I drop my cuter half off at the park and ride, but we’ve discovered a run nearby that takes us to the beloved Burke-Gilman trail for part of the run. For those of you not in the know, the Burke Gilman is a fantastic trail that goes from Ballard to Woodinville (and the Redhook Brewery). People commute on it via bike, do weekend trips to the brewery and back, and jog. When I hit the trail, it’s usually prime commute time in the mornings around 7:30. I’ve never really noticed bikers that often, unless they’re pulling a cute dog (see older posts).

I’ve found that cyclers come in three types:

1. The hardcore cyclers: the one who wears biking spandex, their old college team shirt, and has the aerodynamic biking helmet. Hardcore cyclers often travel in packs, pretending they’re part of the Tour de Burke Gilman for every ride.
2. The commuters: I’m still trying to figure out how they pull it off, but they often travel solitarily or in pairs. They have the water-proof bags on either side of the rear wheel containing commuting materials…laptops, etc. Their pace is oftentimes easy going, but they have the intense gaze forward of getting to work. My question is what they do once they get to work? When I bike, or do any form of physical exertion (ie: walk a few blocks), I start to sweat. I actually think “sweat” does what I do injustice, and usually prefer to call what I do “raining.” If I were to be a bicycle commuter, I would have to have an extra pair of clothes, a towel, and soap in my water-proof commuter bag. How do they do it?
3. The hippy wanderer: These are, by far, my favorite. I was running last week and came across a couple of hippie wanderer bicyclers. The lead dude was pulling a cart behind him. Instead of a small child, a dog was chilling in the back. The cart had jury-rigged pink wheels from a kid’s bike, while behind him his traveling companion…heavily tattooed and leaving a trail of patchouli…pedaled behind.

I also tried an experiment last week and ran without headphones. Despite not listening to music, I found that “The Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks became my soundtrack. This was pretty maddening…3 miles of “just like the wild winged dove” ringing in my head will lead to an appointment with a psychiatrist, if I’m not careful.

My routine will face a few hurdles this coming week as I head to Denver…back to high altitude and sunshine. We’ll see if my lungs can handle the reduced oxygen.

-Nate

Drogging

(A quick note: to get the full effect of this blog post, you must check out the multimedia links posted…)

My running playlist is starting to get stale, but it definitely still meets my needs. The things I look for in a running playlist:

1. A driving beat
2. Catchy Hooks
3. Air drumability

Number three is crucial. For those of you who know me well, you know that I tend to default to air instruments whenever I am dancing. I really can’t dance, and when I do, there usually involves an air instrument of some sort. Air guitar is a given, but no one can top my air keyboard, air saxophone, and air drum max-out for typical 80s ballads. I remember my first Satori dance. I was in the 6^th grade, and my ideas of what “dancing” were consisted of how wildly I could run around the dance floor and play made-up music. I also pleaded with the DJ to play “Faithfully” by Journey at the dance. To my knowledge, they’ve played that song at every Satori dance since.

What does this have to do with running? Everything. I am an air-drummer when I run. It’s sad, and I probably look spastic doing it, but I can’t help it. Take the song “Badlands” by Springsteen. It has a fun, driving beat. I usually keep the beat with my right hand while running (and usually the first song on my playlist is this song). It’s fun! The main problem I have when drumming while jogging (from this point on we’ll call it ‘drogging’ because it sounds cool), are the inevitable drum fills. For those of you who are new to musical terminology, a drum fill is, according to Wikipedia, “is a short musical passage, riff, or rhythmic sound which helps to sustain the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody.” (More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_fill). If you want an audio/visual example, here’s a clip from “The Hangover” illustrating the best drum fill of all time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuynfY6LTRw. This is a key component of drogging, but it isn’t without danger. I once tripped and fell, scraping my knee pretty badly while in the middle of a big drum solo. I’m sure I’ve creeped out people who pass me jogging while I’m rocking out with a fill. Passing commuters likely wonder if I have fleas, and marathon trainers running behind me pass widely.

Of course, drogging encompasses more than just air drumming. I can’t help but air-keyboard during my run…the keyboard solo for “Jenny was a Friend of Mine” by the Killers, for example, is one I can never resist. Again, audio visual evidence can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PblaZq2DoI. (Random aside: Who makes a video just to show-off their keyboarding finger skills? Is the video meant to be instructive? It reminds me of my proudest “teach myself a song” moment when, in the 4^th grade, I figured out how to play the “Another Night” by the Real McCoy. You can google that one yourself).

So, to anyone reading this: do you find yourself drogging in public? Jilian’s definitely guilty of it, and it’s pretty hilarious. Or do you find that you focus better by staring straight ahead, focused on that next mile? Is running something that you have to focus on every step, every breathe? If I were like that, I’d go bored and fall asleep. Part of me wants to go to Craigslist and start a drogging club. We could have a syncrohnized playlist and be assigned an instrument for each run…maybe I’m on to something…

Until next time.

-Nate

PS: 3 runs this week! All centered around Green Lake taking advantage of Jilian’s Park and Ride commute. I’m enjoying morning runs because there aren’t as many people on the “track” around the lake. Also, the weather has been fantastic.

Sunny Weather

Spring has finally come to Seattle. For a second I was almost ready to revert to my pre-Seattle state of mind, ready to criticize everything about the city I now live in and start writing depressing songs about things that are gray and wet. Luckily, blue skies have destroyed the oppressive clouds and I’m back in paradise. It’s rare where you can live somewhere where little trips, like going up 65^th street reward you with breathtaking views of the Olympic Mountains. Where getting stuck in traffic on South-bound I-5 (a normally traumatic experience to me) will reward you with vistas the U-District and the Cascades. As one rapper put it at the Lupe Fiasco show on Friday, “ya’ll have a lot of trees!.” I like the green, the trees, and the flowers all around. I’m pretty happy with my choice in relocation, although the fact that I don’t have Sexy Pizza in my life anymore is pretty tragic. Now, you’re probably going “Nate, wasn’t this blog supposed to be about jogging/trying to get healthy?” Yep, on to that.

This week was a great one for me because I ran on three days averaging around 3.5 miles a run. It was also great because I didn’t go through my normal ritual of “don’t feel like, it not going.” Jilian takes a van pool to work every morning, and we usually get to the stop around 7:20 AM. Instead of doing the usual…drop her off, drive home, get to work…I drop her off, get out of the car, and go for a jog around Green Lake. I think I can live with this tradition…I’ve discovered a few things:

1. I jog much better in the morning. It may be attributed to the hell that was “zero period” back in high school when we would start class at 7:00 AM to do fitness drills and lift weights. I don’t remember much from those mornings, except that I naively thought that because I was used to waking up that early in high school, I could repeat that in college for an 8:00 AM “stretch and strength” class. I was mistaken, and “stretch and strength” which I thought would be a suitable substitute for the already full weight-lifting classes, turned out to be an introduction to Yoga. I was the only male in that class. I’m not good at Yoga. It was awk. (note: all the cool kids are now using “awk” as a shortened form of “awkward.” This has been added to my lexicon of annoying shortened words…along with “totes” (totally)).
2. I think the real reason I jog better in the morning, aside from a deeply buried conditioned response (above), is that my mind wanders far better in the morning. My beloved IPod Mini (circa 2003! I got made fun of in the San Francisco TFA office for it’s antique qualities…’A screen that doesn’t show the artist? Wha?”) was non-functional due to it’s battery having a life of around one hour…enough for a jog but not enough to leave it without a charge. I jogged just fine without it, instead establishing a pace and letting my thoughts wander. “Where do they go?” you ask? Usually to life-plans, politics, plans for the day. Only two things can disrupt my sort of zen-like wanderings: puppies and babies.

Yes. This is a purposeful tangent. I love puppies. They’re cute, they run, and they’re just fun. I’m sure I’ve creeped out 9 out of 10 dog owners I encountered on Friday because their dogs are just too damned cute. I stare, sometimes saying “hey puppy” while their owner, at a clip about twice mine, will quickly lock eyes with me, sneer, and then triple their pace while I quickly shift my thoughts back to the meal plan or grocery list for the week. You have to wonder what the dog actually thinks? Maybe they value the attention while they’re running along-side their over-active bicycle commuter? Maybe they’re thinking about the hydrant they wanted to top at but were urged ahead? I think that this show of affection on my part is a compliment: if I had a dog I’d want to hear that it was cute. Ah, well.

3. Music is “instrumental” (pun intended!!) to my jogging routine. I have a playlist, and the playlist helps me quite a bit. If I extrapolate further on this it will mean a longer post, but rest assured I will give you more context on my playlist as well as my air drumming tendencies while jogging. Yeah, this will definitely necessitate a different post…stay tuned. Jilian is even more religious about her playlist…she won’t run if her beloved IPod Nano is not working or the playlist is not updated.

My goal for this week?: Repeat performance. 4 days, nice jog, every time I head to the Park and Ride to drop Jilian off. My goal is also to call out every puppy I see on my jog to break me from my zen-like dream state. Watch out Green Lake dog owners! If your puppy is cute, you will know it!

I’m sorry to end this blog on a sad note, but an old staple of my Satori life recently passed. For those of you not familiar, Satori is a “summer experience for gifted high school and middle school students” that was absolutely instrumental to my intellectual comfort: if it weren’t for Satori, I wouldn’t have known that being smart is ok and likely wouldn’t have ended up at Whitman. Robert Harder was a fellow small-town, Eastern Washington boy (though you wouldn’t know it from the way he presented himself). When I met him, he was living in Kahlotus, which may be one of the few towns with the unique feature of being smaller than Harrington. While I didn’t know Rob well, what struck me (and still strikes me, reading through the memorial facebook page that was set up), is how truly comfortable Rob was with who he was. He liked to play World of Warcraft. He loved his coffee. He loved people who stimulated him intellectually. At camp, he stayed involved, proving an inspiration and a role model for kids who were struggling with their own intellectual identities. Rob would show up in chain mail on the day of the medieval feast, speaking in a British accent, and blowing every one away with his friendliness. I recommend you check out the Bone Marrow Registry to help those who face similar challenges that Rob did.

I'm a Runner Because...I Run?

Triumphant return to the blogging world?

Perhaps.

I've talked about this for awhile to my friends, but I've realized through various moments of my life that fitness is something I've talked about but have never prioritized. This blog, while admittedly self-promoting, will serve as both an accountability measure (because, Mom and Aunt Annie will be it's only readers), and a way for me to chronicle my attempts to lead a more active, healthy lifestyle. There will be stumbles, there will be hurdles, I will probably have issues keeping this updated, but that's ok.

Anyway, onto the meat of this thing. My main goal here is to decrease my weight by increasing the amount I run. I weigh too much, especially in one of the healthiest cities in America.

Full disclosure: I hate running. It takes me back to high school, when I was usually at the back of the pack during 8-man football practice while our coaches belted "if you're giving 100%, that's not good enough" and I silently cursed as I had one more lap to go around the football field. I've always ran, however. I used to run around Harrington, though I don't remember how regularly…again, cursing loudly. Most of this athletic exertion was to be in shape so I could start my senior year in high school on the football team. I was a member of the track team for two years and ran the "fat man's relay" with the other throwers. This was a humiliating exercise, as it 1) made me admit that I was fat and 2) extremely slow. All of this effort met with mixed results: I didn't start my senior year, but I did end up lettering in basketball for my journalistic and home game announcing talents (another story for another time).

From that point I attended a small, liberal arts school where there were lots of "Type A" joggers and runners…it was a great environment to change my ways, eat healthy, and jog regularly. Instead, I discovered beer and all you can eat food service dining. I gradually made my descent from not that healthy to pretty unhealthy in college. Then I moved to Southeast Arkansas. It's true what they say about "the South." Butter is a main ingredient and everything is delicious.

The turning point came about midway through my first year in teaching. My diet was terrible at this point, largely due to school lunch. I taught at a school where lunch was the one meal my students could count on every day and they were loaded with calories. I was a regular purveyor, and received extra because I was a teacher and gregarious to the lunch ladies. I came down with a cold and went to the doctor's office and weighed in….at 300 lbs. I had never crested that number before, and I knew that I was in for real trouble if I stayed there…so I started running in the humid, Arkansas weather. I think I inspired my housemate, who's girlfriend ran pretty regularly but he started taking it up. I wasn't regular, but I also cut out school lunches and subsisted on a turkey sandwich, apple, 100 calorie pack (Nabisco),c arrots, and hummus for the rest of my lunch career. The results were positive, but I still hated running.

Fast forward to today, two years later. I've been pretty irregular with running. My beautiful, talented, and athletic girlfriend runs pretty frequently (she's training for a half (that's "half-marathon" for those of you not in the know)) and got me to buy fancy running shoes about two years ago. I've had my peaks and valleys in terms of regularity, but I run at least once a week and do about 3 miles on average. This blog is an attempt at regularity. No, I will not post a journal of how far I've run on a daily basis, but rather give you little anecdotes of my attempt to transition from someone who is sedentary to a more active lifestyle.

A vignette to illustrate: I was running with Jilian around Greenlake (a lake just north of Seattle that has a running path around it). Jilian sprinted ahead, while I was rocking out behind (literally, I rock out when I run…my Ipod provides a ready list of rockable tunes…more on this in a later post) when I felt someone gently stroke my shoulder. Now, my cuter half and I have been known for public displays of affection while jogging…mainly a pat on the back or a quick shoulder rub, so my initial thought was "oh, Jilian decided to hold back and came up from behind." I was mistaken. I hear "good for you" to my right and an lady in her 50's came up alongside me, smiling. "I lost 100 pounds on this track, do you come here often?" I couldn't even get the words out. First off, I'm not running on a track, I'm running on a gravel road. Secondly, I know it's novel to see a larger person at Green Lake (truly, it is…I likely stick out like a sore thumb…my yellow "YMCA" t-shirt probably doesn't help), but, really, "good for you?" Despite these reflective thoughts, her encouragement proved the boost I needed and I kept my pace and finished the lap…all the while wondering what the lady looked like with 100 lbs on her…

Jilian recently bought a piece of clothing from a running store that had the saying "I'm a runner, because I run." I think that suits me too...while I don't do it regularly, I will become a runner...or a hiker...or a bicycler. It will be an identity, like those people who wear REI clothes to formal events and talk about all of the 14ers they've hiked. 

Until next time.

Rocking and Rolling

My apologies for taking so long to update my blog. I get side-tracked pretty easily and time has been zooming by. I can’t believe it’s already November. I’ve booked my tickets back for home so I’ll be around the Spokane and Seattle areas for two weeks. It will be great to be home back to the Northwest: I’ve missed the snow, the cold, and the topographic relief.

October proved to be a very long month: no breaks, no time off, just work work work. But work has been very rewarding. The 6^th graders have been given recorders, and surprisingly only about five have been misplaced so far. The difference in my kids is amazing in that I’ve given them something to apply their musical knowledge with and they see the immediate and practical application of what they are learning. “Ahh, this is why I need to know a quarter note!” Those kinds of moments are great, and so far it’s been rubbing off pretty well. My students are currently at a 74% mastery of the objectives I’ve taught them. The biggest problems I am having are with the application of the basic knowledge, ie., looking at a set rhythm and playing it with proper technique on their recorders.

My choirs are still my greatest challenge. I had one student try out for all region this year and four students try out at the Middle School, but I’m happy all of my students got the experience. They also saw the skills needed to be successful at the next tryout. It was pretty cool. I also got to drive the school bus, which I always enjoy.

The way that Southeast All Region worked is that students audition by singing a selected piece with accompaniment on a c.d. It really is a pretty big challenge if you don’t have music theory skills. I had a great volunteer in one of my 6^th graders who ran my c.d. player for a total of 5 hours: probably the most boring job in existence. I remember vividly driving the bus that morning with two of my students already in the bus and I pulled up to her home, a trailer sitting in what looked like a pool of mud. The siding was faded, and between the doorway and the road was a pathway fashioned out of forklift palates, keeping her above the mud. It was a stark reminder of the poverty and living conditions some of my students face.

I have been meeting with a few community members to try and get a dialogue going about the state of our public schools in Lake Village. We’ve decided to hold a series of “conversations” with parents, teachers, and community leaders to figure out where exactly our feelings and agreements or disagreements lie in regards to the school: some parents have problems with our discipline, for example. Other parents feel like the learning environment isn’t safe. Some teachers feel like parents don’t do enough to stay involved in their children’s lives, while some parents say that it is the teacher’s job to take care of it at school. Lots of varying opinions, and rather than shoot for reconciling them, the first step is to simply hold these conversations. I’ll let you know how it goes once we have our first.

Thanksgiving is coming up and Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy are coming down to do some sight-seeing and eat some turkey. I’m looking forward to seeing them and am excited that November is going to be a relatively short month. Between now and Christmas I also have to get the Winter Arts Festival in motion (already had our first meeting) and the Christmas song selection set for the concert.

Also, I’ve joined a band called “Stifler’s Mama” with a couple of friends. We played our first gig this past Saturday to a pretty positive response, but we’re working on a more popular set list with some blues and classic rock songs. It’s been a lot of fun.

I’ll keep you all posted, and I look forward to seeing my Washington friends in December.

Cheers,

-Nate

“Once I let go a long time ago, but the memory makes it not long ago. I wonder if you’re thinking of me, or am I just a sweet fantasy?”-Nathan Fitzpatrick