What I did on my summer vacation

What I didn't do is write too much, so here's a short (and probably inconclusive) summary.

May 28th or so I ran the Bayshore Marathon. My 50th consecutive month running a marathon. No, that's nowhere close to a record--my buddy John Bozung from Utah has that one at the moment. His current streak is around 13 years worth. Tom Adair is in second place at the moment, and I think he's about 91 months ahead of me. And there's probably someone in between us too. I haven't given up yet--those guys are older than me. Maybe I'll outlive them.

June 16th ran the Run Charlevoix marathon. Slow, hot, felt like crap. Got through it. Had a nice weekend with the lovely Francine. (Just like every weekend with the lovely Francine actually.)

In June, I also started a new thing, the Marathon Minute. It's a weekly minute of inspiration that I write and record on WOOD Radio. You can hear them on marathonminute.com if you're interested.

In July I ran a marathon in Carrollton--something that's becoming a habit. In fact, it becomes a habit if you only run it once, since it's the same 5K course eight times. Nice people putting it on though.

I also read an article about Getting Things Done, a book and a way of life that has revolutionized the way I do things. I've been undergoing major restructuring of my file system, calendars, etc. Still in progress, but it's making me more effective (in my mind, at least).

August. Took a trip to Alaska with Francine and Carly. What a blast. Did a marathon (duh!). Took a day trip to Portage Glacier and Whittier. Took a day trip to Talkeetna. Took the train to Seward for a day. Saw moose, bear, eagle, mountain sheep. Hung out with my old friend Ole. Heard Diana (Ole's wife) singing with her group in Anchorage. Went hiking with Carly a few times. She's a fun kid.

September. Went to Tupelo. Oh. You already knew that from the previous post. Oh well, it's fall now (almost) so I guess this post is over. Maybe I'll start posting more often.

Marathons, Mountains, and Microbrews - Mississippi

Cool weekend. Spent Friday evening watching the Bourne Ultimatimum with the lovely Francine. Then it was an early morning flight to Memphis.

It was probably not the most efficient way to get to Tupelo, but it was a much cheaper flight. Besides, I had another mission to accomplish - to knock off another state high point. Now, Mississippi's high point is Woodall Mountain. The "mountain" part should be in quotation marks, because the elevation is a whopping 806 feet! (Only Delaware, Florida, and Louisiana have lower high points.) I drove to Iuka, Mississippi, and drove all the way up the road to the top. Not very inspiring. There was no sign, only the little USGS marker in the center of a circular gravel driveway. Someone had put in three cement benches in a circle there, but vandals had uprooted one of them and broke it in pieces. A fairly uninspiring place to be. Oh well, check another one off the list.

Now, on to Tupelo. The cool thing about this race is the medals and the slogan - "Trample the Weak. Hurdle the Dead" The logo is a skull and crossbones. Makes a pretty cool looking finishers medal.

I expected to be really slow with the heat, and probably could have been a few minutes faster, but at about 19 miles I caught up with Steve and Jaclyn. We started talking and were having fun, so I decided to stay with them for the rest of the race instead of running by myself. Jaclyn was running her first marathon that day, Steve his 10th.

The course was an out-and-back, so we got to see everybody. At the turnaround, the people doing the 14.2 mile run took the shortcut back to the finish line, and we turned around and headed back the way we came. The course was billed as hilly, but hey, in Mississippi a mountain is only 806 feet high, so my discription would be something more like "rolling."

We plugged along, enjoying the day, enjoying Jaclyn's excitement as she approached the finish of her first marathon. At 25 miles, I asked at the aid station if they had beer. "No, but I've got one in my truck. You want one?" It was cold and refreshing and just what the doctor ordered. I finished the beer and then rejoined my friends for the last mile.

After an hour or so hanging out with friends at the finish area, I headed back to get cleaned up, take a 15 minute nap, and then the trip to Memphis for my flight. I had a couple extra hours, and figured a beer and some lunch at Pat O'Brien's on Beale Street would be nice. Sitting there I had another one of those "moments" when I just start laughing at how cool life is. It's 5:00 on Sunday afternoon, I woke up in Grand Rapids yesterday, visited a state high point, ran a marathon in Tupelo, and now here I am in Memphis having a beer and a burger at Pat O'Brien's. As usual, I have tons to be thankful for. And I certainly am.

and the adventure continues....

Interesting stuff I get in my email

So, yeah, I'm throwing a big event. The Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon. But WTF ever made this guy think we needed a guy who lifts weights with his ear to come along and add to the festifities?!?! Nonetheless, I like the guy anyway.


Sub: - Information Required about Festival. and show
Sir/Madam,
It is pleased to inform you that i am Zafar Gill Guinness World Record Holder lifted with one ear. i visited your web site and know about your festival.
i wish to participate in your festival. what is a criteria to participate in your festival ? what is a requirement? Because i have all that things which you required like press release, photos, cd's, Guinness Certificate etc... You can see me on google (write down zafar gill ear lifted).
I will provide you all things which you required about festival but very first i want to know about festival that can i participate in your festival? show.
Last year i beat my new record in Germany (Impossible Challenger) i lifted with one ear 61 kg.(13 sec). Now i wish to beat this new record in your festival. i wish to lifted 65 kg. above 10 sec.
i hope you will reply me nice
Thanks:
Zafar Gill
Guinness world Record Holder
Lifted with one ear.

Here's an article I found:
Pakistani athlete sets new ear lifting record
Staff Report

LAHORE: Zafar Gill, a boxer from WAPDA, has got his name registered in the Guinness Book of World Records by lifting 51.7 kilogrammes by one ear on May 26, 2004.

He broke the earlier record of China’s Li Jian Hua who lifted a column of bricks weighing 50 kilogrammes by one ear for 9.3 seconds on December 17, 1998. Talking to Daily Times on Friday, Zafar said: “I appeal the government to provide me all the facilities to maintain this record and raise it to 55 kilogrammes. I am waiting for a multi-national company for a sponsorship so that I can enhance the image of the country in the sports world.”

Fourth of July

Nice day. Ran 11 miles in the morning with the lovely Francine, followed by a detour through an orchard where the black sweet cherries were pretty yummy. Then saw Evan Almighty in the afternoon, and went to Lynne's house for fireworks later. A very pleasant day.

Evan Almighty is a pretty fun movie, even has a couple good messages in it. Morgan Freeman plays God. Nice concept: When you pray for patience, you don't get it right away. Instead, you get opportunities and situations in which you can develop patience. Pretty good thought.

Usually, for me to consider a movie a "good movie" it needs some kind of a decent message or philosophy lesson to it. This one had it. I expected just to be entertained, and I was. The bonus was that it made me think too.

Quote for the day

"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude." William James

Blue Moon?

We got invited to a Blue Moon party Saturday night. Blue Moon beer had a promotional thing going, so the hosts had Blue Moon tshirts, etc. Pretty fun party. I was a little confused though.

A "Blue Moon", the second full moon of the month, actually happened in May, not June. The second full moon of May was on May 31. So, I was having a little mental conflict with the calculations there. Apparently, Blue Moon beer people were as well. Or were they?

I looked it up. These are Eastern Standard Times.
May 2, Full Flower Moon 6:09 am
May 31 Full Blue Moon 9:04 pm
June 30 Full Strawberry Moon 9:49 am.

Now, Blue Moon, being a Belgian White beer, maybe figured out that they should go by the moon phases in Belgium instead of the US. Which would have put the full moon on June 1 at 1:04 am. And then again on June 30 at 1:49 pm, Which would, of course, make the it a blue moon in June instead of May!!!!!

I went to bed last night, thinking I had solved the mystery.

Thanks to the Internet, however, I find that Blue Moon is actually created and brewed by the Molson Coors Brewing Company, in FREAKIN' COLORADO!!

More Internet work--seems that most of the places you go to look up moon phases post it in Greenwich Mean Time, which is, of course, a few hours ahead of us. Apparently that's the time all the calendar makers use too, since everything BUT the Old Farmer's Almanac site have things posted in GMT. So again, mystery solved.


Here's the NPR story that prompted me having such a bunch of confusion in my mind (copyright NPR):

Blue Moon on Thursday? Not So Fast

All Things Considered, May 30, 2007 · There is a prevailing myth about what a blue moon is. Thursday, May 31, will bring the second full moon of the month. But that does not constitute a blue moon, as is popularly believed.

Kelly Beatty, editor of Night Sky magazine and executive editor of Sky and Telescope, tells Robert Siegel that a blue moon actually refers to the phenomenon of having four full moons in a season, which ordinarily has three.

Beatty also acknowledged that his magazine had a hand in giving the misconception credence. Sky and Telescope magazine recently put out a press release explaining its role in perpetuating the myth. It read, in part:

Our 1946 writer, amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett (1886-1955), made an incorrect assumption about how the term had been used in the Maine Farmers' Almanac, where it consistently referred to the third full moon in a three-month season containing four. (By this definition there is no blue moon in May or June 2007, and the next one happens in May 2008.)

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/3304131.html for more interesting stuff

Weekend - just a little late.

It was an interesting weekend. Friday night the lovely Francine and I ran in the American Cancer Relay for Life. Actually, it was mostly people walking, so we designed a loop that was a bit longer and less crowded than most of the people were walking, and ran up and down along the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids. Ran into Nasreen and Bret, so I finally got to meet him. Found out that the slight muscle pull I had in my calf was worse than I thought.

So, our next shift, which started at 5:00 a.m. was spent just walking. Tried sitting in the hot tub at the Y and letting the jets massage my leg, but it still didn't help much.

Came home and did laundry, leaving most of it (including clean sheets) on my bed so I could go up to my mom's for a while. Grandma had a slight stroke last week, so she's at my mom's for a while. Maybe forever. Figured I should go visit and take her some flowers. Good move.

I had a late breakfast, so I wasn't very hungry when I got to Mom's. She offered to fix me something, but I figured I could wait. Grandma, however, was more persistent. "Have you had dinner?" "Not yet Grandma, but I'm not very hungry right now." She offered to have mom fix me something. We visited for a while. Mom came in. "He hasn't had any dinner, you know!" she told Mom. That exchange had Mom getting us both a drumstick (the ice cream kind, not the chicken kind) and putting the topic to rest for a little bit. We visited a while longer. "Are you sure you're not hungry?" "Hmmm... You know grandma, maybe I am getting a little hungry. Why don't we go out in the kitchen and see what's happening?" Well, that finished that discussion.

Dad and I were in the livingroom a little later. THUD! A redheaded woodpecker smacked into the picture window. It was the last thing he ever did. (I'm trying to work a joke in here about him breaking his little wood pecker, but it just isn't working.)

I came home to a surprise. In my refrigerator was a note. "Fresh strawberries, hand picked by Carly and Francine" in 7-year-old handwriting. COOL! And the laundry I left on my bed was folded and the sheets were back on the bed. There was no note about that, so I'm figuring the 7 year old had nothing to do with that one. It was pretty nice though.

Sunday I went to Richland and measured the course for Lindsay's Race, a 5K and 10K race held in honor of Lindsay Cornelius, who died in a car accident around 10 years ago. Came home and went to see "Pirates of the Carribean" with the lovely Francine. Then we went to The Melting Pot for some cheese fondue and some really good salads. Came home and sat on the grass talking and soaking up the sunshine.

Busy weekend. Fun weekend. Accomplished a few things, had some fun, reconnected with family. Nice.

New Projects

It's been a fun May. Not much writing, but major movement in good directions. I registered a couple new websites and will be starting some new ventures. One of them is marathonminute.com. Every week starting June 13, I'll have a one-minute long "Marathon Minute" on WOOD Radio as part of our Grand Rapids Marathon promotional material. It will also be podcast on marathonminute.com, and on the Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon site.

It's not just about running. It's about personal achievement. It's about working toward any big goal and the things we overcome to do that. It's about making your life better after listening to it than it was the minute before.

I'm working with some great people over at WOOD Radio doing production.

Once every three weeks or so we'll do a bigger podcast which will be linked off WOOD's website as well as on marathonminute.com. It will be about 10 - 15 minutes with some of the people who have stories to share. I don't know where it's all going, but I do know it's going to be a great trip. Check back for more details as they happen.

Ten Days!

Since my last post. Let's see, what's happened?

Sunday May 6 took my whole family to a Whitecaps game to celebrate my mom & sister's birthday. Caps won. A good time was had by all.

Friday was the River Bank Run expo. Had a booth and signed up about 20 people for the marathon.

Friday night was Ashley's dance recital. Cute. She's probably one of the prettiest girls in the world. We took five generation pictures--my grandma, mom, Katie and the girls were there.

Saturday was the River Bank Run--and we finally had great weather for a change. Ran about what I expected, which isn't really very fast, then spent about an hour at the beer tent with a variety of friends. Took some pictures of Neil Sauter, the professional stilt walker who's going to walk the Grand Rapids Marathon on stilts and go for a world record. Met the guys from the Y at the Cottage. Went to a party at Bob's house and ended up skipping the next two parties we had scheduled.

Yesterday was a recovery day--didn't do much except work around the house. "Slept" in a bit, made french toast, bought a new pair of sunglasses, groceries, that's about it.

When I get home tonight, I'll add a picture or two. Maybe 5 generations.

Ashley's First Tee Ball Game

The competition was intense, an amazing battle, the opening game of the season. Hopkins Elementary School, my granddaughter Ashley's first tee-ball game.

What a hoot! Everyone bats. Nobody gets out. The inning ends when everyone has hit once, everyone runs only one base at a time except the last batter, who gets to hit a grand slam to end the inning. The kids stand there in the field, minding their own business, playing in the dirt, looking around. Then someone hits the ball. Then the kids stand there in the field, minding their own business, playing in the dirt, looking around. Finally one of them will chase down the ball, and at some point will try and throw the ball to first base. Or home. Or somewhere else. Pretty cool. Pictures attached are of her first hit and her first run of her career!

Did anyone happen to hear this one?

The congress sent a bill to the President to fund 24 billion more in the Iraq War effort, but the president vetoed it.

For the last two or three weeks, same old stuff. The congress is passing a bill. President Bush is going to veto it. The congress is passing a bill. President Bush is going to veto it. The congress is passing a bill. President Bush is going to veto it. The congress is passing a bill. President Bush is going to veto it. The congress is passing a bill. President Bush is going to veto it. The congress is passing a bill. President Bush is going to veto it.

Yesterday, the congress passed the bill. President Bush vetoed it. Is there some news in here anywhere? Is there news that justifies saying it over and over as the headline EVERY TIME the news come on?

It's about like the NFL--a whole bunch of millionaires fighting over something that no one can win but they keep doing it anyway. Except for this: When football players (or baseball or hockey players) have juvenile power-play negotiations for weeks or months at a time, NONE OF OUR CHILDREN HAVE TO DIE!!!!!

Too bad the president and congress can't just suit-up take the field and go about knocking the crap out of each other instead of doing whatever it is that they're doing?

An afternoon with Mr. Long's Class

Had a great day with the kids in Michael Long's class yesterday. I spent the whole afternoon with them, showing them pictures and answering questions. New experience--I had to sign autographs! Imagine that! Kids were great, lots of energy and lots of interest. They gave me a copy of Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, which they all signed. I was touched.

Fun Tuesday

It's going to be a fun day. Ran 5 with Alan Headbloom this morning at 5:30, met with a potential sponsor for the marathon at 7:45, now I'm preparing to head to Harrison to spend the afternoon with the fifth graders in Michael Long's class. They were on a "virtual fieldtrip" with me when I was on my seven continents journey. So today I get to meet them in person. I'm hoping this isn't the most dangerous part of my whole adventure.

Good Press

I talked to my mom last week. She was at the library on a fast Internet connection, and typed "Marathon Don Kern" into Google. Every hit on the first 5 pages was me. Interesting, but so what. What I really learned is that much of what was written about me is a direct consequence of the things I've written.

It seems that the way to get stuff published about yourself is to write stuff. It's easier for people to do articles if they can cut & paste from a blog or a press release. Hmmm...

K-LITE in Santa Barbara interviewed me a couple weeks ago. The interview is posted on my website, www.cooladventures.net, if you get really bored sometime, you can listen to it.

Adventures in Shopping

Stopped by the Hideout for a beer and finally ran into Dan Manning. On the way home, it was Meijer. Nice experience. Cashed in a couple scratch off lottery tickets, bought the winning Mega Millions ticket for tonight (I hope).

Everything I needed was on sale. Cool. Usually I stop by the Jelly Belly display and scarf a couple leftover jelly beans from the little trays that catch the spillage. What the heck, they're just going to throw them out anyway. Tonight, however, instead of jelly beans, someone had dumped some chocolate covered raisins from the Brachs display in there. Maybe messing with my head or something. I ate a couple and moved on.

Going up and down the aisles is like a ballet. Except with shopping carts instead of tutus. People weave in and out, waiting, nodding and smiling, every once in a while accidentally bumping into each other. OK, it's amature ballet, not professional.

DiGiorno people will be happy to know that their advertising worked out. Their pizzas were on sale too, so I'm not having delivery tonight for supper. I'm having DiGiorno.

There's a rack of meat setting out in the aisle--apparently it's stuff they needed to move quickly or something. There was a little packet that had two tenderloin steaks in it for only 96 cents. I wondered what was wrong. Oh. Someone had it marked as TURKEY! Hmmm...there were five more packages. I bought them all. The ones on the shelf that were marked correctly were $19.99/lb. I later found out that they're not allowed to put another label over top of the wrong one, so someone's honest mistake (or moronic move) was my good fortune, since I now have a bunch of steaks in my freezer.

Well, I guess this wasn't all that interesting, but some adventures go that way. I gotta go. My pizza's almost done.

Things that could have been on my life list that I ended up doing.

I keep a list of at least 100 things going that I want to do in life. Gives me direction. Sometimes I just end up doing things that it occurs to me after the fact that they should have been on my life list, but weren't because I didn't think of it.

Shook hands with Ford and Reagan
Flew in an ultralight airplane
Parachute
Saw the Harlem Globetrotters
Visited Biosphere II
Was a professional nude model (see my blog for February 2006)
Climbed to the top of Notre Dame and saw gargoyles
Played donkey basketball
Tended bar


Stuff that's still on the list:

Cage diving with great white sharks
Camp in Yellowstone in the winter and sit in a hot spring
Be able to start a fire with a bow drill
Visit the Galapagos
Kiss the Blarney Stone
Learn Spanish
See a total solar eclipse
Go whitewater rafting near Victoria Falls
Run with the bulls in Pamplona
...and many more things.

Take a chance

I was reminded of something today when I read this quote from either Scottish climber W. H. Murray:

"Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!"

I have seen this happen. It's what happened when I decided to run my first marathon. Or go to the South Pole. Or run all the continents. Or when we decided to start the Grand Rapids Marathon. As soon as the commitment was made, things started falling into place. People came out of the woodwork to help. Things started to happen. As I often say, "throw it in the air and it turns into sunshine."

So, here's what I have told people recently: Find an adventure, a few months out, that's outside your comfort zone. Sign up for it. Decide you're going to do it. The next thing you know, your brain will just figure out how to make it happen. Don't worry about the details, you'll do them anyway once you're commited.

Maybe something happens after this life. Maybe not. RIGHT NOW is the time to make something happen.

Boston Marathon Weekend - Part 2

After a nice pre-marathon steak dinner, we settled in for the night to listen to the wind howl and the rain fall. Fortunately, Julia was able to get us a seat on her club bus to the start, so we had a warm place to sit while waiting to start the marathon. We made a couple short ventures out to check on temperatures, wind, and rain, but it sure was nice to sit on the bus instead of hanging out in the mud-bowl that is known as Athlete's Village. We were in the second wave, and as our start time of 10:30 approached, something else happened. It stopped raining! Cool.

The normal 10-minutes-to-starting-line after the gun went off, and we were off on the downhill start from Hopkinton, heading for Boston. Neither of us were out for any personal records, so we ran together for the whole race. Within the first mile I had my rain jacket and windshirt off, but about 5 miles later the rain started and I put the jacket back on. Rain didn't last long, but the heavy winds allowed me to stay comfortable in the jacket, so I just left it on for the rest of the run.

Wellesley was the normal screaming-young-college-girls event. They put up barricades to protect us, but they all have signs offering kisses along the way, so I had to stop briefly. Ten or twelve times.

At the bottom of Heartbreak Hill we stopped at the Johnnie Kelly statue for a picture, then started up the hill. I was distracted for a few seconds to drink a couple small glasses of beer as Francine went on ahead for a bit. I kept her in sight, then caught her toward the top of the hill. At mile 24, my BS level spiked a bit (that's not "blood sugar" by the way) and the pace got a little faster. Finally, the Citgo sign we had seen for more than a mile was upon us--only one mile to go. The course jogged over a street and we saw the finish line in the distance. As we passed the 26 mile mark, we joined hands for the final stretch, crossing the finish line together. 4:44:47 was our net time.

We drank a little, ate a banana (that was all the food they had left) and headed for the nearest T stop to catch a ride back to Joe and Julia's. When we got off in Brookline, we were both cold and wet and calorie-deprived, so we ducked into the Duncan Donuts at the corner and got some hot chocolate. Instead of walking the half-mile to their house, we grabbed a taxi and figured the $5 would be a cheap price to keep us from shivering all the way there. So, a cold and wet day in Boston, but a nice marathon and a great time with some great friends. Marathon 141 for me, 30 for Francine, and my 50th consecutive month running a marathon.

Boston Marathon Weekend

It was a dark and stormy night...

Yeah, like a cheap mystery novel. The rain was driven into the windows by fierce winds, as the lovely Francine and I would wake up and anticipate a cold-and-nasty-weather marathon. The weekend wasn't all that bad though.

We arrived in Boston around noon on Saturday and took a taxi to the home of our good friends Joe and Julia. They recently bought a house in Brookline and are in the midst of remodeling/restoring, so parts of their new estate resembled a nuclear holocaust. Just the kind of place a guy loves to see and hang out in--a great project in the making!

We went on to the expo to pick up our race packets and a bunch of stuff we didn't really need. I had no more than walked in before Austin, one of my shipmates on the Ioffe saw me. Mike and Christina were there as well, so we enjoyed a brief reunion before heading off in our various directions.

Saturday night was the annual Dead Runners Society encounter dinner at Big City. Nice place, nice people, and about 40 beers on tap. I had a pint of Brooklyn Brown Ale, then noticed that they had Sam Adams Cherry Wheat on tap. Cherry Wheat has special memories for me--the first time I tasted it was 14 October 1995. The Chicago Marathon expo the day before my first marathon. I ordered a pint, fondly remembering my first taste and the journey that I've enjoyed since that day.

Sunday was the bagel brunch, in recent years hosted by Julia and Joe, but due to the construction project it was moved to the home of Joan Cook and Conrad Halling. Again, a nice time with way more food than one should reasonably eat, but with friends one should reasonably have. I love Dead Runners encounters, because I get to meet some of the people I've been interacting with on line since 1994.

Afternoon was a trip to Eastern Mountain Sports to pick up a little wet-weather gear for the lovely Francine. Then we hopped on the T and went to town where I met Adam Jacobs, editor of thefinalsprint.com, for an interview. Yes, that's right, I got interviewed in Boston, just like the speedy guys. Pretty cool. It's on The Final Sprint website. http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2007/04/boston-marathon-video-podcast-don-kern-part-1/

and
http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2007/04/boston-marathon-video-podcast-don-kern-part-2/

Pretty nice. Adam has interviewed me a couple of times before, but this is the first time we met face-to-face.

Race report to follow in part 2 sometime later today.

100000

Hey!! I got my 100000th visitor to the site today. And it was none other than my daughter Katie! Cool.

Daddyo,
I was the 100000 visitor to you site!!!! well really I was 99999 but I jumped off and went back on so I could clam the title HAHAH
Love you
Katie Burch FRG President C 1/125 INF