Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog where I talk about my present.
I’m gonna dedicate this blog to my old coach, The General.
It’s amazing to me how a person that’s only been in your life for like five years can profoundly affect our whole life. I’m talking about my coach. I’ll write about him because he just died. He was truly amazing. The guy was obsessed with running. He lived for it. The guy was pretty cool. He would open up the doors to his house and take us in for pre-season training. We’d spend about three weeks training at his house. It was pretty brutal. We’d run about 5-8 miles in the morning then 12-14 miles at night. But you know what? it got us in great shape. I’ve always used the cliché, Strong bodies, Strong mind. His training definitely got me through what I’m going through right now, and what I’ve been through at the hospital. I’ll give you an example, a small example:
When you’re running a race, you’re in a lot of pain. I mean, serious pain. You never say to yourself, “Oh man, my arms hurt, my legs hurt. This is brutal.” You never talk to yourself that way. You always say, “I feel good. I feel great.” and you stare at your opponent right at the base of their neck. You always run behind them until the last minute. Now, you can use the same strategy when you’re in the hospital. You basically say to yourself, over and over, I feel good. I feel great. And you pick one spot in the room, usually the ceiling, to stare at. As a racer you also live moment to moment. In the hospital, you live moment to moment as well. When I was training, I would always say, “Hey Coach! What’s next.” The same thing applies to the hospital. You’d always ask the nurse, “What’s next?” So basically, what I’ve learned I’ve applied to what I do now.
It’s bizarre that my friends call me and told me the General had died because I was just thinking about him about a day before he died. He used to walk into the locker room, or should I say waddle, because he walked like a penguin due to an injury, and he would hold up his finger and announce the run of the day. Everyone would moan and groan, but we’d get to it. The guy was amazing because even though he looked like Danny DeVito, he would run with us the whole way. The scariest thing was at the handkerchief he always carried in his left hand. I think the thing came from like 1929 and had never been washed. The handkerchief probably could have done a marathon all on its own. That thing should be in the Smithsonian. Anyway, he would run the whole way with us.
Bottom line is, you guys should always try and stay in shape. You never know what’s around the corner and being in good shape could save your life.
That’s it for now. I’ll share with you some images. I always look at photos I used to take, to get my mind off things. Here are some in gallery form.
Love and miss you guys. Love, B. Nice
