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Will you take the challenge?

Hello friends,

I just started reading Run the Edge. After reading the introduction, I immediately slowed myself down. Sometimes I can just tell that a book deserves to be savored. This book is one of those. I HIGHLY recommend you click the link and order a copy now.

It’s about running, life, and other things that are supremely important. I’ll give an in-depth review after I’ve finished it, but I’ve already realized one big idea. I love the thrill of a challenge.

Tim Catalano talks about a Summer of Challenges he experienced while coaching a cross country team. He disclaims some of the foolish/dangerous things his runners did, but I love the idea of a group challenging itself.

Isn’t that a big reason we run: the challenge of self-improvement?

Over the next six weeks (or maybe more?), I’m going to issue a couple of challenges. Each week will feature one challenge to be more adventurous and one challenge to make our world a better place. I hope you’ll join me.

If you’re interested, become a fan of Big Daddy Wilkinson on Facebook. Give me a suggestion for new challenges. Let me know how you’re doing on each of my challenges.

If you complete 10 challenges, I’ll find some sort of prize for you (other than that wonderful sense of accomplishment).

So, here’s the first set of challenges (to be completed before Christmas):

Challenge Number One: Run an eggnog mile. No, really, it’ll be fun. Here’s how you do it:

  • Drink a cup of eggnog. I think a Dixie cup will be enough, but a bigger cup is fine if you really like the stuff.
  • Run a quarter mile on the track.
  • Repeat until you’ve completed four eggnogs and four laps.
  • If you “lose your nog,” you need to repeat the lap.

To maximize the fun of this challenge, gather your running buddies and make it a race. The winner gets the rest of the eggnog. Or a plate of Christmas cookies if that’s unappealing.

Challenge Number Two: How many minutes did you eggnog mile take? For each minute, you need to donate one non-perishable to the local food bank.

So, are you up for the challenge?

17th December 2011
Events
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Running for Charity

According Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we can neither learn nor care for others until our basic needs are met. I feel so fortunate to have my needs so generously met. I’ve never had to worry about safe, nutritious food. I’ve never had to hike six miles for water that may or may not make me sick. A few weeks ago, RunnerGirl had to have a tooth extracted and a root canal performed. She was feeling pretty low, but an illness like this could be fatal to people in the developing world. At the very least, it would end dreams of education or cost the victim her job.

I’d like to use my passion for marathoning to help provide safe drinking water, nutritious food, basic medical supplies, and job training for those who have the least. Please join me in supporting World Vision.

 Need an extra incentive? Donating any amount will give you entry into a simulated Boston Marathon on April  30.

Running the Boston Marathon is a lifelong goal for many. I’ve devised a twenty-mile course that mirrors the elevation gain and loss of this historic course. I can’t promise any cheering co-eds from Wellesley College, but I can promise a challenging route. I also probably could find some tasty treats for all finishers.

 I’d also be willing to grant a one minute head start for every dollar you donate. Anyone who beats me can get an extra prize at the finish.

Twenty miles too far for your training plan? Split it with a partner. Still too far? Bike it. Don’t like to bike? Just donate  because it’s such a great cause. Only $6 billion dollars would provide universal primary education, but you don’t need to donate that much to make the difference  in someone’s life. You could change a child’s life right now.

More details on the run will be coming soon, but you can donate early and often. Thanks.

4th April 2011
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Running Metaphorically

“The only thing, really, that marks the difference between the beginning and the end is the passage of time” (Pont 210). Isn’t this a great statement about a race and life?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Sorry. I won’t bore you with excuses about new babies, sidewalk sales, my sister’s wedding, etc. I would like to point out that the Boys and Girls Club was the people’s choice for the charity I should support. Join the fundraising effort on Facebook by searching for the Boys and Girls Club of  Holland.

I just finished reading Finding Their Stride by Sally Pont. It is the story of a high school cross country season as told by the coach. Very inspirational stuff! She writes a lot about how her athletes change throughout the season. She also examines the metaphors offered by running. Her voice comes through so passionately that it made me long to re-live my high school cross country seasons.

The metaphoric side of running is a by-product of all the silent seconds spent in flight (at least for us non-Ipod impaired runners). Every mile offers time to think and examine life. Throughout the memoir, Pont shares her hopes and dreams for the athletes she coaches. She also examines them for changes and growth. The race descriptions serve as a psychological treatise on her athletes; she uses the symbols of the run to describe the teens’ pain, desire, emotion. On my runs, I understand what she is saying.

“Finding pleasure in the pain of running, she feels no need at all to change” (Pont 190). Everyone has been on a run that hurt, a run that pushed them farther than they thought possible. When I push through that wall, when I live in that pain, I finish feeling satisfied. That is what Pont is saying here. She’s saying that to find the pleasure in pain frees us from the pressures and demands of others. We’re free to be ourselves. Runners push through that physical pain, but people often need to push the emotional pain of refusing to fit into the boxes others try to force us into.

This is a short post, but it’s all I’ve got right now. Find a copy of Finding Their Stride by Sally Pont. It will inspire you to find more meaning in your running. Here’s one last quote for you.

“The point is to be better than you thought you could be. That, really, is winning” (Pont 227).

Pont, Sally. Finding Their Stride. Harcourt Brace: New York. 1999.

14th August 2009
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Why do you run? Give me a new reason.

Why do you run marathons? This is a question that many people have asked. As a marathoner, it’s a question that is always difficult to answer. That’s like asking someone why they travel or why they enjoy a sunny day or why they eat cake. Sure, the answer begins with enjoyment. While people accept this explanation for why I love the Salty Dog Sundae at Captain Sundae, they won’t accept this answer for why I run 26.2 miles. Right now I’m reading My First 100 Marathons: 2,620 Miles with an Obsessive Runner by Jeff Horowitz, and his reasons for running marathons really connect to my own. He talks about the sense of accomplishment, challenge, and variety within marathons. Someday, I’ll explore these reasons more in-depth. I don’t think I have enough room to write about all my reasons for running marathons right now, though. That’s one thought that I’m going to explore more, so I can be more concise on a future post. Instead, I’m going to add (with your help) a new reason for marathoning. Marathons have always be a personal challenge for me. I’ve never used a marathon to raise money for a charity. That ends now. I’d like you all to help me choose a cause. I’ll be running the Akron Marathon in September, and I will focus on raising funds for the charity you select. Please don’t recommend your friends who are named Charity (lol).
 
 Boys and Girls Club of America: I taught in an alternative high school for four years, and I saw the good that the Boys and Girls Club can accomplish. They give kids a safe place to learn and grow without the pressure to act tough. They provide homework support, organized group activities, and mentorship. Most importantly, they teach kids the skills necessary to become positive role models to the younger kids in the area.

Team Hole in the Wall: This is a team that was founded by Paul Newman. Members of this team raise funds to send kids with life-threatening diseases to camps. It is a grass-roots association of camps designed to let these kids forget about their illnesses and focus on having kid-sized fun without worries. More than 135,000 kids from across the nation and around the world have attended these camps free-of-charge thanks to this chariable organization.

High Cloud Foundation: High Cloud seeks to aid the poorest people of the world. It focuses on women and children in war-torn, impoverished areas. It also works to restore areas hardest hit by natural disasters. High Cloud services women and children in places such as Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, Macedonia, the Middle East, Nigeria, Kenya, and India.

Wounded Warrior Project: My brother-in-law is a machine gunner in the Marines. He proudly serves our country everyday. He has served in Iraq and has seen his brothers get injured. The Wounded Warrior Project seeks to keep the public aware of the sacrifices of our veterans, to help severely injured service men and women, and to provide training and transition programs to help these warriors when they return home.

Internation School of Kabul: My friend teaches at this school in Afghanistan. The love and encouragement given to these kids changes their lives. The school is raising funds to improve their buildings and to provide scholarship assistance to their students. This is a great way to make a difference in their country.

Team in Training: Team in Training is probably the best known charity among marathoners. Team in Training raises money to fund research into Leukemia and Lymphoma. They have raised more than $600 million to fight blood cancers by funding research.

So, if I can figure out how to insert a poll, I’d like you to help me choose a cause. If you want to vote for other, please leave a comment letting me know what cause you have in mind.

 

19th June 2009
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