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I’m not sure that it says too much, but it allowed Ruben Navarrette Jr. an opportunity to use the meritocracy of atheletics as a foil to illuminate the patriotism- and race-baiting that we’re seen take place in our presidential election.
Read about it here.
If you didn’t see this swimming relay last night, watch this YouTube clip before it gets taken down by NBC. The first few finishers ALL obliterated the existing world record, and the announcers were saying it was the best relay they’d ever seen. I have no idea how Jason Lezak, the anchor of the U.S. team, caught the French guy at the end. But somehow he did it.
Here’s a recap from the New York Times.
Wow. People will be talking about this one for awhile.
Tags: olympics
Have you heard of Ryan Hall? I hadn’t, until this profile appeared in the latest Runner’s World. Hall is the top U.S. medal hope in the marathon at this year’s Olympics. Hall’s qualifier at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials was the fastest in American history, and his time of 2:09:02 was a trials record. Even more impressive? That marathon was only the second one Hall had ever run. Seriously. Dude was barely a marathoner when he qualified to lead the U.S. Olympic team in a race of that distance. Now he’s America’s best hope for a medal in a competition we no longer come close to dominating.
Hall is a devout Christian, as he very clearly shares in the article, and he says he runs because God told him to. (Sidenote: I’m really, really glad God hasn’t told me to run marathons.) Hall approaches his sport like Brother Lawrence approached dishwashing — as an opportunity to pray and worship while doing something mundane. If, by mundane, you mean setting crazy-good benchmarks in a grueling athletic event.
Read the article, then look for Ryan Hall in Beijing.
Last Friday three friends and I loaded up and drove 8 hours south to play a round of golf at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course. It was a trip that we’d been discussing for probably eight or nine years, and when Uncle Sam sent us all $1,200 to stimulate the economy, it was on.
The Sawgrass Marriott is your typical swanky resort. The beds were soft, the TV’s were flat, and the breakfast was yummy. Oh, and according to our waitress, had we woken up ten minutes earlier we’d have eaten Belgian waffles with Morgan Freeman.
Our tee time at the Stadium Course was 9:09AM, so we arrived about 6:09AM, and hit range balls and practiced putting until we were exhausted. Then we found out our tee time had been pushed back 20 minutes, because Vijay Singh called the night before and requested a foursome of his friends be squeezed in.
When we finally made it to the first tee, I was scared to death. Not because people were watching or the shot was particularly demanding, but because I had paid a lot of money for the round, and there were no guarantees that I was going to play well. As cool as the course was, shooting 105 isn’t my idea of a memorable trip.
Fortunately I did play well. Shot a 41 on the front nine, and it could have been lower had I not been pulling short putts. Our forecaddie, John, was a great guy, and knew everything about the course. He told us where to aim, where not to miss, and when we made the greens, he could read our putts like a diamond-cutter.
I played well on the back nine too, but staying focused was difficult knowing what lurked on #17.
The island green on #17 stays hidden when you play the course. Much like the best horror films, the monster is out of view until near the end. But when you clear the last mounds on #16 fairway, about 100 yards from the green, there it is. 140 yards of terror, just staring you down. I contribute my bogey on sixteen to the seventeenth hole. It’s hard to make a four foot putt when you know you are minutes away from a watery doom.
So we get to the 17th tee and the fourcaddie says, “130 to the front, 133 to the pin.” That’s right, the pin was cut 3 paces on the front of the green. My friend Scott hit first, and sailed a pitching wedge over the flag, safely onto the back of the green. Then Jeremy, who knocked one stiff, right over the pin to about 15 feet. Then it was my turn, and the last thing I remember was looking down at my ball and telling myself to hurry up and swing before I become paralized with fear. I swung, the ball went right, but not too bad, and landed 20 foot long and right, then spun back down the ridge, and left me a relatively flat 20 foot putt for birdie. Finally my friend Chris had his turn, and with the pressure of potentially being the only one of the foursome to not hit the green, Chris made a great swing, threw his hands into the air, and watched his ball land safely on the back of the green.
John the forecaddie said in his 3 years of working the Stadium Course, we were the first foursome he’d had to all hit the green on #17 with their first swing. Of course he may tell every group that, but it made us feel good nonetheless.
Chris, Scott and Jeremy all three-putted for bogey on #17, while I made my par. Not a great end to the story, but it beats four balls in the water. And for all the talk about #17, it’s not the last hole, as I found out with my double-bogey on 18. Even so, I shot an 83, and was thrilled. It was a truely memorable round of golf, and I hope to play their again one day. But even if I don’t, I’m one for one on the island green!
Here’s my shot on #17
A month ago I wrote about deciding to train and sign up for my first triathlon, which was gonna be in September. I’ve been at it since the middle of June. But a friend of mine ended up being the race director for another triathlon two days ago — July 19 — and convinced me a week ago that I should participate in his. It was flat, and easy compared to the hilly, challenging September one. “You need to get this one under your belt,” he said.
“I’ve barely started training for it,” I said. “The first time I ran any distance longer than a mile was three weeks ago.”
He told me to shut up and stop being a baby.
So, only four weeks into my training, I let him convince me to compete in a sprint triathlon. 350-yard swim. 12.7-mile bike. 5K run.
I finished, without having to walk or crawl or break into tears. My time was 1:18, which I guess is respectable and which put me squarely in the middle of the pack. Jim probably would have beaten me, though. And speaking of Jim, I have to apologize: I forgot to take a half-naked picture of me in my tiny little tri-shorts. The world can now breathe a sigh of relief.
I did end up with these pics, though. Here I am rounding the curve toward the finish.
Finish line.
And posing with my two biggest fans…in front of a pile of dirt. (Construction in the area.)
I got passed along the way by guys in their 50s. There was a 13-year-old in line behind me for the staggered swim start. Seriously, anybody can do this.
So…Larry’s running and Jim wants me to Swim, Bike, Run and I just can’t handle the pressure of not being enough like the cool kids. So I’m signing up to participate in my first triathlon this September. It’s a sprint, so it’s not too difficult. 400-meter swim. 10-mile bike. 5K run.
I already swim a half-mile a couple times a week, so I’m not too concerned about the water leg. I ride my bike to work — about two miles each way — so that shouldn’t be overly challenging, either. But the running part? I hate running. Always have. I jog two blocks to the gym most nights, but that’s not exercise. It’s transportation.
So I need to start training for the running leg. Also I apparently need to practice transitions from one event to another. Is there a trick, Jim, to putting your running/biking shoes on real fast after the swim part? Do you wear your swim speedo the whole time? Can I swim in my bike helmet to save time? Are flippers frowned upon?
(Kidding about those last two. Kinda.)
I’ve never watched a triathlon live, so I have no idea how it works. I need tips. If you are an experienced triathlete, leave them in the comments, please. If you’ve never done a triathlon but just want to make some crap up, that’s cool, too.
I’ve recently added jogging to my training regime as I was only a handful of pounds away from being automatically ordained according to my demonination’s by-laws. It just so happens that I’m speaking at a camp in Ohio this week on the amazing race.
I’ve been moved with gratitude that Paul picked such a simple sport to build an analogy for understanding spirituality.
Left Foot…
…Right Foot
Love God…
…Love your Neighbor
Repeat:
Or this gem in Hebrews 12:1-3: “Don’t run with heavy objects on your back.”
Running the Christian walk isn’t easy but there is a simplicity at it’s core.
a few things to check out while you’re watching first round U.S. Open coverage from your desk at work…
+ Musician (and friend of PFB) Andy Osenga is running in a 5K on Saturday. The run is called “Ellie’s Run for Africa” (you can read more about it here). If you’d like to donate in Andy’s name, here’s your instructions.
Two things should be noted here: 1) Andy will only be running with nine toes and 2) you should download Andy’s latest EP for free here.
+ Matt Hughes blogged about his loss to Thiago Alves in UFC 85 on Saturday. I didn’t see the fight, but Matt comes across pretty humble in defeat on his blog post, for whatever that’s worth.
+ (PFB’s own) Jesse Carey blogs about a Chrstian Gym opening up in Florida, and whether or not this is a good thing.
This past weekend I did a Triathlon. I’m training to do a Half Ironman in September, and there are three triathlons I’m doing this summer as preparation. I’ve been having some shoulder issues from distance swimming but thankfully I had enough to get me through last Saturday. In general, open water swimming is the big challenge for me. I need to work on “sighting,” and a couple other strokes to adapt to rough waters. I joined a masters swim class at the nearby YMCA to help in my training.
Basically, if I can do a triathlon anyone can who really wants to. It is demanding, but do-able with proper training. I took up cycling and swimming just in the last year or so, and figured it out. There is a learning curve, but it’s not brain surgery either. The bike I used in Saturday’s triathlon is a used bike that was given to me.
That’s a pic of my bike in the “transition area.” Doing triathlons has had a significant impact on strengthening me physically, mentally, and spiritually. The challenge of competing and stretching yourself, the friends you make in the tri community, and the places and experiences you have a long the way are a few reasons why I’m glad I do them. There are different ways I relate the sport to my life as a whole and my spirituality. My wife and daughter are involved in most of the endurance events I do, which often involves visiting and exploring new places. A triathlon I’m doing in August is at one of our favorite state parks in Tennessee.
Many people in endurance sports compete with a purpose, like Team in Training or Lance Armstrong’s foundation. As added motivation, I do each event with someone particular in mind. For example, in May I did a Century (100-mile) bike ride event, and I rode in memory of Miles Levin, a teenage boy I got to know a few weeks before his death.
If you are interested in exploring triathlons, some helpful ideas would be:
go see a triathlon near you (check listings on active.com)
explore BeginningTriathlete.com
check out the Complete Idiots Guide
My shoulder is still a problem, and so I’m going to focus on biking and running, and hopefully give the other time to heal. Over-training can sometimes be a problem for me, and I conveniently blame it on being OC. Oh well. Okay, time to ice the shoulder and apply the IB-Relief and Arnica.
Happy swimming, biking,and running!
It’s kind of humbling to be starting at the bottom of a new belt system after achieving black belt in another. But that’s where I’m at. Bryan mentioned that I’m dabbling in MMA type training. I guess that’s a good description. My TKD background has me ready for all-things-kicking. I’ve had to beef up my boxing and striking. And I had to start from stratch with my ground game.
On Wednesday I need to do some endurance drills with the punching and kicking and then when I’m immediately need to execute two each of the following submissions within two minutes:
So that’s about 12 seconds a submission at 2 minutes. My best time is 1′30″
What’s impressing me about martial arts is how deeply embedded mentoring is embedded into it. No matter how long you train, there is always someone ahead of you, farther down the journey. And there is always someone new coming up behind you that you need to bring along. I think this is something that we’ve lost along the way in our Western Christianity– the ethic that everyone is to be investing in somebody else’s life and showing them what it means to hear from God and to follow his lead in a practical way.
There’s a non-profit out of Portland, OR that I’m really impressed with, the Belmont Foundation. I highly encourage you to check it out. They are committed to find male mentors for the boys of single moms.
www.belmontfoundation.org
