Thursday, May 26, 2011
Training
Well as of about 2 weeks ago I am completely moved out of my rental house In Brockport, NY and back to my hometown of LeRoy, NY. One thing I have promised myself for the summer was to get back in to competitive running shape. I am starting to get older now (21 years old), and I believe that if I wait much longer, I won't be able to see what my absolute best performance could have been, because I don't believe I ever reached my full potential. Granted, I think I am a very well accomplished runner with a whole variety of awards and medals (128 ribbons, 28 medals, 4 plaques, and 2 patches), I feel there is much more to be accomplished. My main goals are to look lean and gain my athletic build again, run my 400m sprint under 50 seconds once more, and run my mile in under 4:30. We'll see how well I do and I don't plan on stopping til I get there. Also, I want to work on my cycling and get a bit more into that. Tomorrow morning (well....morning for me...which is like 10:00am), my training is going to start with a long, slow, distance run. I am going to continue this through the weekend, run the Saranac 5K race on Sunday with my father, then an easy run on Monday, and speed work on Tuesday (primarily hill running, and intervals). Wish me luck! And until next time, be logical.
"Woman overcomes total memory loss to graduate from college"
I find this very inspiring, was browsing articles today and found this.
"Woman overcomes total memory loss to graduate from college
By Liz Goodwin
On her first day of community college, 45-year-old Su Meck threw up two times out of sheer terror.
Going back to school as an adult is scary for anyone. But Meck, a homemaker and former aerobics instructor from Gaithersburg, Maryland, had a very special reason to be apprehensive. She suffered total memory loss at the age of 22 when a ceiling fan fell on her head as she was cooking, leaving her in a coma with a brain full of cracks. When she came to, she remembered nothing about her past, and had the mental capacity of a young child. Meck woke up to a life she didn't remember having, that of a young mother and wife living in Fort Worth, Texas. Family members remember her looking at them with a chilling lack of recognition after the accident.
"It was literally like she had died," her husband Jim told the Washington Post. "Her personality was gone.
"It was Su 2.0. She had rebooted."
So even though she had studied at Ohio Wesleyan University, where she met and married her husband, Meck did not remember a single day of her education. As far as she was concerned, she had never set foot inside a classroom. But Meck triumphed--she graduated with her associate's degree in music with a 3.9 grade point average last Friday.
"I didn't know what to expect," she told The Lookout in an interview of going back to school. "I didn't know how to act or what to do. How I basically got through this whole ordeal is watching other people and mimicking what they do. I wasn't sure if I was going to really be able to do that in a classroom."
She asked her three children--two of them college-aged at the time--how to take notes and how students are supposed to act.
"I didn't understand the whole concept, like do you write down everything the teacher says? How do you know what to write down? It was really, really scary," she remembers.
Her youngest child, Kassidy, was just starting high school and helped her mom with her remedial math course. Meck couldn't even multiply numbers--she relied on addition, which she had learned from examining her children's homework when they were younger. "My daughter was fabulous," Meck says. "She was a huge help, especially with the math."
Meck initially kept her condition a secret from her classmates and professors, who she says were very kind and helpful. But she was haunted by the feeling that at any time, she could be "sitting there and not knowing if I was doing it right." She was baffled when her professors told her to buy blue books for her exams. Scantrons also escaped her: She remembers circling the letters instead of filling them in.
Meck finally told some of her peers and instructors about her condition in her last year at the college. She had never told anyone outside of a small circle of close friends and family before.
There was also a more insidious fear: That she wouldn't live up to the person she used to be.
"I was an excellent student before ... and that was kind of rough because it was like, 'Is everyone expecting me to be this before person? Because I can't be that person. I'm not that person.'"
Meck plans to enroll in Smith College in Massachusetts next fall as a transfer student, and eventually get a masters degree in library science. She hopes to work in a music division of a library. She was a talented musician before her accident, and once shortly after the total memory loss she sat down at a piano and played Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer," her mom told her. She has never been able to do that since, and struggled to re-learn piano in college.
One downside of her condition being out in the open now is people are very curious about what she was like before the accident, which frustrates Meck.
"You can ask Jim that, you can ask my family that, but you can't ask me that. Because I don't know," she says.
Her children, however, grew up only remembering the post-accident Meck. (Two of her children were very young when the fan fell on her, one was born after the accident.) She learned to be a mother again through "trial and error," she says, and her children also adapted. Her son became very adept at remembering their parking space, since Meck's short-term memory was also impaired at first.
"They didn't know that mom was any different," she says. "I guess Benjamin [the oldest child] talked about, 'You're different from other moms, but not in a bad way.' All the other moms would sit and drink coffee, but I would sit on the floor and do the puzzles, because I had never done puzzles before ... I was just a different mom I think."
Her husband, however, did remember what she was like before she lost her memory, and Meck says that was hard. "I am definitely not the same person he married," she says of Jim. "It's been rough. It couldn't have not been. It's not all Disney endings--It's life, it's not always perfect."
Today is their 26th wedding anniversary, but Meck doesn't remember her wedding day. She says they're thinking of picking a new day to celebrate, one that she remembers."
"Woman overcomes total memory loss to graduate from college
By Liz Goodwin
On her first day of community college, 45-year-old Su Meck threw up two times out of sheer terror.
Going back to school as an adult is scary for anyone. But Meck, a homemaker and former aerobics instructor from Gaithersburg, Maryland, had a very special reason to be apprehensive. She suffered total memory loss at the age of 22 when a ceiling fan fell on her head as she was cooking, leaving her in a coma with a brain full of cracks. When she came to, she remembered nothing about her past, and had the mental capacity of a young child. Meck woke up to a life she didn't remember having, that of a young mother and wife living in Fort Worth, Texas. Family members remember her looking at them with a chilling lack of recognition after the accident.
"It was literally like she had died," her husband Jim told the Washington Post. "Her personality was gone.
"It was Su 2.0. She had rebooted."
So even though she had studied at Ohio Wesleyan University, where she met and married her husband, Meck did not remember a single day of her education. As far as she was concerned, she had never set foot inside a classroom. But Meck triumphed--she graduated with her associate's degree in music with a 3.9 grade point average last Friday.
"I didn't know what to expect," she told The Lookout in an interview of going back to school. "I didn't know how to act or what to do. How I basically got through this whole ordeal is watching other people and mimicking what they do. I wasn't sure if I was going to really be able to do that in a classroom."
She asked her three children--two of them college-aged at the time--how to take notes and how students are supposed to act.
"I didn't understand the whole concept, like do you write down everything the teacher says? How do you know what to write down? It was really, really scary," she remembers.
Her youngest child, Kassidy, was just starting high school and helped her mom with her remedial math course. Meck couldn't even multiply numbers--she relied on addition, which she had learned from examining her children's homework when they were younger. "My daughter was fabulous," Meck says. "She was a huge help, especially with the math."
Meck initially kept her condition a secret from her classmates and professors, who she says were very kind and helpful. But she was haunted by the feeling that at any time, she could be "sitting there and not knowing if I was doing it right." She was baffled when her professors told her to buy blue books for her exams. Scantrons also escaped her: She remembers circling the letters instead of filling them in.
Meck finally told some of her peers and instructors about her condition in her last year at the college. She had never told anyone outside of a small circle of close friends and family before.
There was also a more insidious fear: That she wouldn't live up to the person she used to be.
"I was an excellent student before ... and that was kind of rough because it was like, 'Is everyone expecting me to be this before person? Because I can't be that person. I'm not that person.'"
Meck plans to enroll in Smith College in Massachusetts next fall as a transfer student, and eventually get a masters degree in library science. She hopes to work in a music division of a library. She was a talented musician before her accident, and once shortly after the total memory loss she sat down at a piano and played Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer," her mom told her. She has never been able to do that since, and struggled to re-learn piano in college.
One downside of her condition being out in the open now is people are very curious about what she was like before the accident, which frustrates Meck.
"You can ask Jim that, you can ask my family that, but you can't ask me that. Because I don't know," she says.
Her children, however, grew up only remembering the post-accident Meck. (Two of her children were very young when the fan fell on her, one was born after the accident.) She learned to be a mother again through "trial and error," she says, and her children also adapted. Her son became very adept at remembering their parking space, since Meck's short-term memory was also impaired at first.
"They didn't know that mom was any different," she says. "I guess Benjamin [the oldest child] talked about, 'You're different from other moms, but not in a bad way.' All the other moms would sit and drink coffee, but I would sit on the floor and do the puzzles, because I had never done puzzles before ... I was just a different mom I think."
Her husband, however, did remember what she was like before she lost her memory, and Meck says that was hard. "I am definitely not the same person he married," she says of Jim. "It's been rough. It couldn't have not been. It's not all Disney endings--It's life, it's not always perfect."
Today is their 26th wedding anniversary, but Meck doesn't remember her wedding day. She says they're thinking of picking a new day to celebrate, one that she remembers."
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Beer Mile
Alright, for those of you who are not familiar with my lifestyle, I greatly enjoy running. I also great enjoy drinking beer. This is something I found today while browsing Facebook, and let me tell you, it looks like a riot. I found a new calling in life. And the best part? THEY HAVE OFFICIAL RACES.
"Official Beermile.Com Rules
1. Each competitor drinks four cans of beer and runs four laps on a track
(Start - beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap - finish).
2. Beer must be consumed before the lap is begun, within the
transition area which is the 10 meter zone before the start/finish
line on a 400m track.
3. The race begins with the drinking of the first beer in the last meter
of the transition zone to ensure the comptitors run a complete mile
(1609 meters).
4. Women also drink four beers in four laps (past rule lists only required
ladies to drink three beers).
5. Competitors must drink canned beer and the cans should not be
less than 355ml (the standard can volume) or 12oz (the imperial equivalent).
Bottles may be substituted for cans as long as they are at least
12 oz (355 ml) in volume.
6. No specialized cans or bottles may be used that give an advantage
by allowing the beer to pour at a faster rate. ie "super mega
mouth cans" or "wide mouth bottles" are prohibited.
7. Beer cans must not be tampered with in any manner, ie. no
shotgunning or puncturing of the can except for opening the can by
the tab at the top. The same applies with bottles - no straws or
other aids are allowed in order to aid in the speed of pouring.
8. Beer must be a minimum of 5% alcohol by volume. Hard ciders and lemonades
will not suffice. The beer must be a fermented alcoholic beverage
brewed from malt and flavored with hops. For an abbreviated list of valid
beers and exceptions, click here.
9. Each beer can must not be opened until the competitor enters the
transition zone on each lap.
10. Competitors who vomit before they finish the race must complete
one penalty lap at the end of the race (immediately after the
completion of their 4th lap). Note: Vomitting more than once
during the race still requires only one penalty lap at the end."
"Official Beermile.Com Rules
1. Each competitor drinks four cans of beer and runs four laps on a track
(Start - beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap - finish).
2. Beer must be consumed before the lap is begun, within the
transition area which is the 10 meter zone before the start/finish
line on a 400m track.
3. The race begins with the drinking of the first beer in the last meter
of the transition zone to ensure the comptitors run a complete mile
(1609 meters).
4. Women also drink four beers in four laps (past rule lists only required
ladies to drink three beers).
5. Competitors must drink canned beer and the cans should not be
less than 355ml (the standard can volume) or 12oz (the imperial equivalent).
Bottles may be substituted for cans as long as they are at least
12 oz (355 ml) in volume.
6. No specialized cans or bottles may be used that give an advantage
by allowing the beer to pour at a faster rate. ie "super mega
mouth cans" or "wide mouth bottles" are prohibited.
7. Beer cans must not be tampered with in any manner, ie. no
shotgunning or puncturing of the can except for opening the can by
the tab at the top. The same applies with bottles - no straws or
other aids are allowed in order to aid in the speed of pouring.
8. Beer must be a minimum of 5% alcohol by volume. Hard ciders and lemonades
will not suffice. The beer must be a fermented alcoholic beverage
brewed from malt and flavored with hops. For an abbreviated list of valid
beers and exceptions, click here.
9. Each beer can must not be opened until the competitor enters the
transition zone on each lap.
10. Competitors who vomit before they finish the race must complete
one penalty lap at the end of the race (immediately after the
completion of their 4th lap). Note: Vomitting more than once
during the race still requires only one penalty lap at the end."
Monday, May 23, 2011
Some thoughts
Haven't posted here in quite a while. Some changes in life sense I have last wrote.
1) I am now a senior in college and will soon have my Bachelors Degree in Physical Education and Adaptive Physical Education.
2) I am applying to go on a cross country (as in Trans-America) trip on a bicycle through my fraternity (Pi Kappa Phi). It is a bike trip that goes from the West Coast to Washington D.C. and it raises money for people with disabilities. I'll have to raise a minimum of $5000 but I think my fundraising goal is going to be $8000 dollars (I'll keep everyone posted on this).
3) I am currently getting back into shape to run competitively once again and things are going well but the process is very frustrating. I am struggling doing things that I once didn't have a problem with. But things are starting to look up and I am doing well once again.
I am sure there is much much more that I am missing right now but to be honest, I am exhausted. But to end things here are two funny fails to represent the fails of the week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne3OMr1_Pxo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ud0SL_wNwk
Happy reading!
1) I am now a senior in college and will soon have my Bachelors Degree in Physical Education and Adaptive Physical Education.
2) I am applying to go on a cross country (as in Trans-America) trip on a bicycle through my fraternity (Pi Kappa Phi). It is a bike trip that goes from the West Coast to Washington D.C. and it raises money for people with disabilities. I'll have to raise a minimum of $5000 but I think my fundraising goal is going to be $8000 dollars (I'll keep everyone posted on this).
3) I am currently getting back into shape to run competitively once again and things are going well but the process is very frustrating. I am struggling doing things that I once didn't have a problem with. But things are starting to look up and I am doing well once again.
I am sure there is much much more that I am missing right now but to be honest, I am exhausted. But to end things here are two funny fails to represent the fails of the week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne3OMr1_Pxo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ud0SL_wNwk
Happy reading!
The struggles of a college education
So here is something that really grinds my gears. That people come into our country and get free educations at college...when people such as myself (and I know I'm not alone) have to work our asses off and bend over backwards to even stay in college. Keep the education here. I'm not saying hand it to us, but if you are handing out free educations, give it to people who need and and people who will REMAIN IN THE U.S. I love the thought of helping others, but sometimes we have to draw a line and sometimes you have to be selfish. And I mean no disrespect with this statement. Feel free to leave thoughts and opinions here as well. It just blows my mind.
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