What they dont tell you enough in college...

Whats the point of college? Is it REALLY to give you this fantastic four year education? Are we really supposed to be convinced that without Western Civilization or World Literature we wouldnt make it in the "real world"? I dont think thats the case. I dont think college is designed to fill your head with a ton of book knowledge that you can use in the real world. College in my mind is a place that has been created for immature kids to go and grow up. Its the last step in the school system that tests your ability to mature and grow as a human being. Tests on relationships, responsibility, reliability, faith, individuality, friendship, and hard work are more important than tests on accounting, biology, marketing, or theology. In the end I seriously question if my GPA is any more important than my ability to be able to do laundry.

Unfortunately, somewhere between high school graduation parties and this place that people call the "real world" none of what I just discussed is ever conveyed to us. We are told we have to study hard and get really good grades so we can get a good job. We are told that what we are learning in our classes will be important to know in the long run.

Dont get me wrong- classes are important, and getting good grades are important (kind of), and most people who graduate from college will leave with a ton of knowledge that can be used in the real world. But what people dont tell you often enough are the things that in my mind are as important as the things they do tell you.

1) Cherish your time at college and dont get bogged down by the work, bad professors, or a bad grade. Unless something REALLY bad happened, college is bound to be one of the best times of your life. Think about it....youre living on a campus of your choice, with all of your best friends. You get more vacation time than you will ever have in your life again, someone cooks all your food, and its totally normal to be up until 1am. Sounds good to me.

2) GET EXPERIENCE. Luckily Jack Cole told me this for 4.5 years straight. For the most part though I dont think we are told enough in our college years how important experience really is. At the end of the day, your grades are getting you a job, your resume/experience is. The thing is, it doesnt even matter where your experience is or what youre doing really. What matters is that you are getting experience in one form or another. Why do professors not convey this message? Without experience you land in the real world with a GPA, a degree, and no experience for "entry level" jobs that require EXPERIENCE.

3) Going along with my previous statements, its not stated enough how important networking is. In my experience, its not about what school you went to or how you did in class. Its about what experience you have and who you know. Experience -----> knowing more people. Its such a simple concept. Does it suck for those people who have really good grades and work really hard but dont know anyone? YUP. But thats life. The more people you know, the more likely you are to land a job.

I think colleges should change their curriculum. Instead of making people take classes like world lit or philosophy there should be classes on taxes and professional writing. Why not invent classes on real world finances, home buying, and job hunting? In my mind that would make sense if college is designed to prepare people for the real world.

Heres to college and all the things we learned there- in an out of the classroom.

Later days

Taking a bite out of the Big Apple

Have you ever wanted to experience everything a city has to offer or at least see as much as you can? I know I have and Im pretty sure most people have as well. All to often I think we settle for seeing one or two things in a place or city because they seem to be the "must see's" or "all we have time for" without the luxury of being able to spend multiple days seeing everything. This was the situation I was in on Saturday. I have been to NYC many times but all within the constraints of the aforementioned situation. Too many things to see and so little time. This time I decided I was going to go about things differently.

The first difference on this trip compared to every other time Ive been to NYC is that I took this trip solo. I hopped onto the train in central Jersey and 40 minutes later I was standing in Penn Station ready to embark on what I assured myself it would be a sight filled day. Dressed in running shoes, shorts and a dri fit shirt, I was ready for a workout. I had my camelback on my back with an extra shirt, my wallet my ipod, and my phone. Nothing more, nothing less. In my hand I gripped my handy dandy camera ready to fire at everything and anything.

I arrived in NYC around 1:30pm and my plan was to spend the afternoon running through NYC and seeing as much of the city as I could. My start point was Central Park and my finish line was completely undetermined. My first order of business....train to central park. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for a train that never came and watching rats run around on the train tracks, I decided it would be just as easy to run to central park.

So off to central park I ran. Dodging cars, running around tourists, and waiting at red lights. LCD screens, times square, and honking taxis heightened my senses as I progressed. 34th street, 35th street, 55th street, 60th street.... Eventually the open spaces of the park and the peace away from the choas was right in front of me.





While Ive been to central park multiple times, this was the first time I truly got to really see a lot of central park. The roads, the paths through the woods, the lakes, the lawns, all of it. Central Park is a fascinating place really. I cant say Ive been to a place like it. An enormous place full of God's natural beauty and peace planted right in the center of one of the worlds busiest cities. What I didnt realize is that central park is a pretty easy place to get lost in. Luckily I had nowhere to be really. After about 2 or 3 miles of running I finally found my way out of the park and into the west side of Manhattan.

From there I proceeded to run in a circle for about ten minutes while I gathered myself and figured out where I was. Once I solved that I headed directly west until I hit the Hudson River. The West Side Highway has a lovely bike/running path that runs along the Hudson River all the way down the island. Without any real knowledge of where the path would lead or what sights I would see, I continued to put one foot in front of the other.


So I ran, one park after another, one pier and then the next. So much of New York that I had never seen before. Chelsea piers, gorgeous parks on the river, basketball and tennis courts in the middle of the city. For the first time I was able to see some of the beauty and sights of NYC outside the busy streets, huge buildings, and overpriced food.

While stopping periodically to take pictures and an occasional drink from a street vendor (yes, overpriced), I continued on my way. Past gardens of flowers, past the SS Intrepid museum, and onto battery park and a beautiful sight of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island.

Once I reached the Statue of Liberty I really only had one destination left before I would feel satisfied with the days adventure: The Brooklyn Bridge. After some street navigation, some help from a police officer, meeting a fellow lost runner, and another stop for a quick drink, I was on the Brooklyn Bridge. If you havent been on it before, I highly recommend it. Its quite a cool contraption and it provides an awesome view of the city that is different than almost any other. While I do suggest exploring the Brooklyn Bridge, I dont recommend running it. Its such a crowded area that running at any speed is dangerous, especially with the crazy bikers on the loose. Biking on the bridge is similar to driving a car the wrong way on a one-way street. Especially with idiots like me trying to run in the opposite direction. Long story short, take the time to go on the Brooklyn Bridge...walking.

After conquering the Brooklyn Bridge I figured Id stop over in China Town real quick before calling it a day. China Town was a brief stop before my legs chimed in and told me they were ready for the train. So off to the train I headed. I took the train back to 33rd street and then walked back to Penn Station. On my way back to Penn Station I stumbled upon the Empire station. I almost didnt even notice because I was tired and ready to go home but it was a nice little perk to add to the day. At 6:14pm, I boarded my train back to NJ and left the rest of NYC for another day.





Overall Id say the trip was a success. Id suggest that type of adventure to anyone interested. If running through NYC doesnt interest you, thats okay too. In the words of Matt McDermott "Why run when I can take the subway? Nobody truly likes running anyway."

In summary....

Sites:

Penn Station
Times Square
Central Park
Hudson River
Chelsea Piers
Battery Park
Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
Brooklyn Bridge
China Town
Empire State Building

Total Mileage:

Somewhere between 18-20 miles.

Until next time....

Later Days

What's the deal?

I promise a more extensive post in the next day or so but I think its necessary for me to mention a few new NJ discoveries.

1) The whole no turn left thing. Ive discovered that this phenomenon is worse than I originally thought. Its not that you can NEVER turn left. Its that you cant turn left, MOST of the time. At first I thought this was more reasonable but in reality its worse. What this means is that driving becomes a big guessing game if you need to go left. You cant know if you need to be in the right lane for a round about or in the left lane for a turning lane. Utterly ridiculous.

2) 35 cent tolls. My newest and possibly biggest quandary in New Jersey. As you can see, the picture above is a 35 cent toll area that makes sense. It doesnt show the lane for ez pass but you can clearly see the lane for exact change and the lane where change is necessary. Apparently people in NJ are walking piggy banks because that change needed line doesnt exist. You have the ez pass lane and the exact change line. So basically if you have a hundred dollar bill in your wallet but no pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, you are up a creek without a paddle and will probably get hit with a huge fine. It makes absolutely no sense. For example, the other day I came upon one of these tolls and had to pull over to see what I could scrounge up. I ended up throwing a dime, a nickel, and TWENTY pennies into the change counter. Quite an experience.

Later Days

A Journey into the Future

Somewhere in the laws of physics and science there is a law that says "an object in motion stays in motion unless something interacts with it to stop it." These days I feel like I am involved in somebody's science project. Each day is something new and each month seems to tell me something about my future. Ever since spring of 09 I feel as though Ive been living my life a few months at a time. A new phase of life has started and ended every few months for the last year (soon to be year and a half). First there was my "last semester of college", then there was my last summer as a college student and trying to figure out what that looked like, then came my extra semester of "school" and more importantly soccer. That provided an entirely different experience than any of college before. I was living the dream life while also trying to figure out what my post graduation life would look like. Next game my current state. Post grad living in New Jersey while working in the professional sports world.

This object in motion doesnt appear to be stopping anytime soon. Enter next phase t-minus 3 months from a little while ago. For those of you who dont know (which is probably none of you considering not many people read this), I have accepted an assistant coaching position at the US Naval Academy. The best way I can explain this whole happening is like one of those revolving doors in front of fancy hotels or airports. There is always a continuously open door. When one door passes, another is right behind it to be open for you. Thats pretty much what happened with Navy. To be honest, the fact that such an opportunity could be open to me so fast after graduation was not even a thought until I got a phone call in January from coach Brandt telling me about the possible situation. Fast forward 3 1/2 months and here I am telling you that I am embarking on an opportunity that can hopefully jumpstart my future career in coaching.

So much of the future seems to be far off and distant. It always feels that way until its on top of you and the next thing is right around the corner or another opportunity is staring you in the face. I dont know what the future at Navy or beyond Navy will have in store for me but I have learned that when I trust in the Lord to direct my paths and do my best to do do His will, I have far less to worry about.

Beat Army!!

Later Days

26 miles through hades

Running is a funny thing. On the outside running is one of the most simple life activities a person can do. Moving one foot in front of the other at a faster pace than walking for however long you want is not rocket science. On the other hand, running can be one of the hardest physical or mental activities out there. How this phenomenon happens is beyond me and in no way am I going to be able to answer that question in this blog. All I can do is what I always do- tell you how my experiences have played out.

People tell me all the time they dont know how I run as often as I do or that they dont find running fun. Sometimes people ask me how I find running fun. Lets clear that up right now...I DO NOT think running is fun. I run for three reasons and three reasons only. 1) I find it fulfilling and destressing. There is a sense of pride to say you ran x amount of miles. Running also has the ability to just make the worries of the world disappear-even if its just for 15-20 minutes. 2) I run because I have to do it to stay in shape. 3) I run because I love the competition and pushing my body beyond what I think its capable of.

With that said, on May 2nd, my fitness freak brother Aaron and mortal me set out on our latest conquest ....Our first marathon. For the running impaired, a marathon is 26.2 miles. All marathons, not just the one we ran. The whole thing really started somewhere in late December. Aaron told me he wanted to run a marathon on January 1st. No training, no prep, just run one. While I verbally told him I thought he was insane and that it was the dumbest idea Ive ever heard, Im not one to back out of a challenge and was prepared to give it a go when the New year rolled around. Luckily for both of us, the Rochester weather did not cooperate and we were forced to stay inside and continue living.

January came and went and soon February was upon us. By the first week of February I had been out of competition for 3 full months. In my book, thats far too long. I needed my fix. So the search for the marathon began. Luckily with the help of Matt McDermott I was able to find one the first week of May on the Jersey shore. Aaron is a trooper and was more than willing to give it a go with me.

One key piece of information that I found out amidst my research after signing up for the marathon is that a typical program takes at least 18 weeks to prepare. We had left ourselves a mere 10 weeks. Whoops. Not a smart move but hey, gotta work with what we got. So after going through the prep and the long runs and the longer runs, it was finally time for race day.

Forecast- 10 days out....65 and partly cloudy. YESSS
Forecast- 7 days out....75 and partly cloudy...not too bad
Forecast- Day before...88 sunny and humid.......ut oh

Turns out the forecast was spot on. Thanks weather man. Poor Aaron had a rocky start to the day. Emma was up ALL night so our sleep was limited. He got sunscreen in his eye immediately, his contacts werent working so he had to ditch one, and we had to take a detour to the race so we didnt exactly have ample time to warmup (or pee for that matter).

Mile 1- 6:56. CRAP. Too fast. Its the infamous trap everyone tells you not to fall into and we had just done that only a mile into the race. Luckily with a potty stop and some adjustments we settled into our goal pace of 7:30 for most of the first half of the marathon. We crossed the line at 1 hour and 40 minutes for the first 13.1 miles. Feeling happy with ourselves.

Enter extreme heat and humidity. Not good. It must be noted that after the first half of the marathon was over we lost about 80% of the participants. Clearly this race for geared towards the half marathon crowd. A crowd I quickly started wondering if I should have joined. Aaron on the other hand was probably wondering why we werent winning the race like he usually does...jk :)

Our pace gradually declined as the miles wore on. 13, 14, 15, 16. Surely 20 must be soon I thought to myself. Ahead I see a sign for mile 17...."we're only at mile 17?!?" This became a fairly consistent pattern for the next few miles. With the clock ticking and our legs growing ever more tired it became a game of mine to run to the next aid station for gatorade, GU, bananas and whatever else the wonderful race crew decided to give out. Those lovely stations were my favorite part of the race. Slowly but surely we continued our pace from one mile to the next. Every mile marker was a sign that even though it felt like I was running under water, we were making progress and the end was near. By mile 24 we had found a new sense of life in our minds and our legs had no choice but to keep up. Our pace quickened and we hit the boardwalk for the final stretch with feeling of pride, anticipation, and excitement. After all, the finish was straight ahead. What we didnt know is that the straightaway was a lot longer than we had convinced ourselves it was. One step after another our pace continued to increase until we were in a dead sprint for the finish. At last....we crossed the line and gained a new title.....marathoners.

Many people have asked me how the marathon went since I ran it and a lot of people have asked me if it was hard. Ive had a hard time putting into words how the marathon was. It was a lot of things. It was fulfilling, it was "fun" in some weird, twisted form of the word, it was painful, it was rewarding, it was mentally draining. All in all, it was a lot of things. When its all said and done, it was motivating. Motivating to improve. To do better, to push harder, to see what this body is capable of. Was it hard?? YES. It was the hardest thing Ive ever done in my life physically. There was a time when I thought the 5 minute mile was bad. Today it seems like a walk in the park. Oh how perspective changes.

If there is one thing Ive learned through this its that the mind is a powerful thing and the body will work a lot harder than it wants to. Sure the body complains a lot and tries to tell you its tired after the smallest amount of exercise but the reality is that if you convince yourself with your mind that your body is fine and continue, it will. Ive learned that if you can remain strong between your ears for however long you need to, your body will have no choice but to listen to your mind. Mind over matter.

Well, I guess I better go find my next race

Later days