Optimistic Outlook

Things are finally starting to look better for my injury situation.  I rode 31 miles on the bike tonight from BSS up near South Prairie and back.  Dad and Juliet met me at the skate park in Orting and rode the middle 13 miles with me.  It was a fun ride.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  It could have been no more perfect.  I did however deal with a pretty substantial head wind coming back to Puyallup from Orting.  But that seems to be the norm that time of day.  It was like that yesterday too.  I also was able to jog very slowly for 2 miles tonight, which is very encouraging for me.  I could be running again very soon!

Tuesday Morning

I went on a 20 mile bike ride yesterday afternoon.  I rode from here (BSS) up to Orting on the trail and up to the 1 mile mark bridge on the trail.  It was a good ride and I jammed out to tunes the whole way.  It took me about an hour.  Dallas had coach pitch practice last night.  He did exceptionally well hitting the ball, hitting it into the outfield on 2 out of his 3 times at bat.  However, he does struggle with paying attention, as I had to yell at him a bunch of times for kneeling down in left field picking grass, and also watched in agony as he was playing 2nd base and the ball was hit right to him and of course it went right past him into center field because he wasn't paying attention; the center fielder threw it to him and his back was turned, he was staring at the dirt, and it rolled past him a 2nd time.  Luckily he has a good coach and the coach went and chewed him out for not paying attention.  He is a natural athlete but he really lacks focus.  Hopefully that will change as he gets older.

My ankle is still too messed up for running on, but I am really hoping to try it out next week, maybe just for a mile or two to see how it does.  I'm pretty much going to have to start over with my mileage.  Hopefully with the biking I've been doing I will hold on to a little bit of my fitness.

My take on Michael Jackson

The sudden death of Michael Jackson was an unfortunate event that I'm sure will come out could have been prevented if he had not been abusing prescription medications.  He is probably one of the most misunderstood people to have ever lived.  I don't think anybody was ever close to him, he was a man surrounded by people, yet he had no real friends.  He lived as an extremely lonely person.  I try my best not to judge others, but it is hard when someone chooses to live extravagantly and does things that are, quite frankly, very strange.  However, I can usually see the good in just about every person on some level.  As a musician, I can appreciate how truly gifted a talent that Michael Jackson was.  Perhaps my favorite performance is of him singing "She's out of my Life".  You can hear the tenderness, and the loneliness that he feels as his emotions come to the surface towards the end of the song.  Michael Jackson's life was a circus more often than not, but this is how I choose to remember him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF0o-W5uu8o

Rest in Peace.

Chain Saw

I got to fire up my chain saw today. That always makes the day a good day. Chain saws are fun. The items that came into contact with the chain DID NOT FARE WELL!!!

For Reasons Unknown

"I pack my case, I check my face, I look a little bit older, I look a little bit colder ...with one deep breath,  one big step, I move a little bit closer, I move a little bit closer, for reasons unkown ..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW2vE2WTJ3E&feature=fvst

General blabbing (my 100th post)!

We have been having a good week at BSS this week.  We have already rented 4 units this week and it's only Tuesday, so that is a good thing.  We had an incident with some dead mice in someone's unit today, but we let them know we do all we can to prevent rodents, but there is only so much we can do because people bring them in with them and also attract them by storing things they shouldn't be storing (hello people, don't store FOOD).

I have been having fun playing my Father's day present (guitar hero Aerosmith).  It is fun to play, but it only goes to show me how obsessed our society is with instant gratification.  People don't want to take the time to learn how to properly play an instrument, but still want to feel like "rock stars".  I can tell you from experience that tearing apart a solo on an actual guitar on an actual stage with an actual audience is quite a bit more satisfying.  But I digress, it is still a fun game and I can see why the Guitar Hero chain of games is so successful.

I rode my bike to Orting after work tonight and met Dad at the skate park.  We went on a 13 mile ride together and I got an extra mile in before Dad got there, so my total riding distance was 32 miles tonight.  It feels good to ride that far but it still doesn't satisfy me like running does.

We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight.  It was good.  They had a cool lesson prepared for the boys where they used rubbing alcohol in a gatorade bottle, shook it up, and lit it on fire and sucked the egg into the bottle.  It was pretty cool.  Then Elder Potter and I chatted about running for about 45 minutes or so.  He really likes running.  I told him we were close friends with the Prefontaines and he was in disbelief.  He loves Steve Prefontaine.  

I have had a mild sore throat now for weeks, possibly even a couple of months, but this morning it was much worse, I thought maybe I was getting sick, but I think it is just allergies, because I took some medicine and the symptoms were lessened.  

My ankle is still messed up and now I'm hating it because there is another track meet tomorrow that I will not be able to participate in.  I'm not going to risk delaying healing, and causing further injury at this point, even though I really want to get some points for the team.  It's beyond frustrating to sit out during a track meet and watch, when you know you could be winning races.  The life of a distance runner is plagued with injury.

My Sister Lisa

It is my sister Lisa's birthday today.  Lisa is an awesome person and someone I have always looked up to.  When I was struggling with deciding whether to serve a mission or not, Lisa and Tammy were there to help me make the right decision and through both of their examples, I decided to serve.  I remember a long time ago when I first started running, I went running with Lisa up Dry canyon in the foothills.  We were running pretty good, but I thought I could take off and leave her, and thought I would be cool if I did.  I remember pushing the pace on the way back and one thing I learned about Lisa that day is that she does not give up!  We ended up running in a dead heat to the finish.  Lisa is a great mom to her kids and they are so lucky to have her because she will always be there for them, she doesn't give up.  Lisa is a very caring person and always concerned with other people.  I'm very glad she is my sister!  Happy birthday Lisa.  I love you!

My Dad

Happy Fathers Day to my awesome Dad today.  He has always been there for me and has taught me so many life lessons and helped to shape who I am today.  Some of my fondest memories are of spending time running in the mountains, on the roads, trails, and on the track with him.  We were quite the duo when it came to running.  We even came in together to win a race at Wheeler Farms in Salt Lake City.  He helped me to learn a lot of things from running.  I learned the value of hard work, dedication, humility, victory, camaraderie, and so many other things during these runs with my Dad.  He also has shown me how to sacrifice of himself for his family.  I watched him on a daily basis get up super early in the morning and head to the steel mill with his lunchbox in his old Chevy pickup truck, to make a living for his family and fulfill his responsibilities as a father with honor.  I am proud to say I am the son of Myron Hampton Stone!!  I love you Dad!

Being injured sucks

I had a super fun bike ride yesterday afternoon.  I was supposed to meet Dad in Orting to bike with him.  Instead of driving my car, I decided it would be fun to ride all the way there and back.  So I ended up biking about 30 miles by the time it was done.  Dad and I went 12 miles on the trail together, and I estimated the distance there to be 9 miles, it might even be a little more than that.  I'm going to clock it later when we go out to swim today.  I told Dad I would be out there to swim this morning around 6, but I couldn't get out of bed.  That ride took more out of me than I originally thought.  Total ride time was about 2 hours.  I think next time I bike that far I will take some water or gatorade with me because I couldn't get enough to drink last night after the ride.  My ankle was a bit sore this morning so I guess even bicycling was a bit much for it to handle yesterday.  I over did it a bit I guess.  Oh well, I think I will be o.k. to run a couple of miles Monday and see how it feels.

Bike Ride

Swam 1/2 mile this morning and aqua jogged in the deep end for 1/2 hour. Injuries are so frustrating. Anyway, I was able to test the ankle a little bit yesterday as I went on a 15 mile bike ride. I pressed pretty hard going up to South Prairie (parked at the skate park in Orting), and even passed a couple of hard core cyclists on the way up. Neither one of them liked seeing a dude in Adidas warm-ups and a Michael Jordan shirt fly by them, but what could they do about it? Not too much. It took me 22:30 to get to the 7.5 mile turnaround point. I thought that was pretty good for a ride that is slightly uphill the entire way. I figured it to be 20 mph or 3 minute mile pace. Coming back I took it a bit easier. I rode with Dad coming back and his rear deraileur doesn't work and is stuck in low gear, so he had to pedal twice as fast as me to keep the same pace. The total ride was 50:00, so 27:30 to get back. I was thinking about how easy bicycling is compared to running. I run that same 15 miles in around 1:45 or so just running pretty easy, but that is still over twice as long and I am very much more fatigued after the run than the bike. The ankle actually felt pretty good this morning when I went over to swim, so I am hopeful that I can start running again sometime next week.

Mid week blahg

I've been getting quite a bit done around here at BSS lately. Even with my gimp ankle. I just finished fertilizing the front 3 lawns here, and the broadcaster got gummed up with fertilizer/water, so I cleaned it all out and now am waiting for the broadcaster to dry so that I can go finish the last 3 lawns in the back. Yesterday I fired up the leaf blower and cleaned up the pavement area. It still needs to be pressure washed, but it looks way better.
I can't begin to express my frustration with this injury. I was just getting ready to start some more serious workouts (track, etc.) and then I am set back with this. I have not run for a week now and it is killing me thinking of all the work I put in every day and now to be losing it all is maddening!! Oh well, I guess that is the life of a runner.
Dallas is having fun at his Field Day right now. The fire department was going to be there spraying kids with hoses and stuff so he wore swim trunks to school and took a change of clothes. We are excited for him to be out of school this Friday!

Lo and Behold

Wouldn't you know it I have sprained my ankle and am out on injury for now. I hope it isn't too long because I do not want to lose the conditioning I have worked so hard to get. Very frustrating. Track meets start this Wednesday and I'm pretty much useless to the team until my ankle heals. My knee is even a little tweaked from whatever happened to my ankle.

9 Year Anniversary!

Today I get to celebrate a great day 9 years ago when I was blessed enough to be married to a beautiful girl named Derrinda.  It has been a great blessing to have her in my life.  Life can send blows sometimes that are unexpected, and that is when it is good to have someone to help you through the hard times and be there for you to see a brighter day.  I love you Derrinda!

Pre Classic

I took the opportunity to watch the annual Prefontaine Classic track meet this morning on t.v.  I am always amazed at how awesome the distance runners are.  The shape they keep themselves in is unbelievable.  I have a tiny bit of an idea how hard it is to train and put the body through pain day after day in order to perform well, but to perform at the level these athletes perform at is pretty hard to understand for most people.  I saw Bernard Legat win the 3000 meters in 7:35.  That is equivalent to about an 8:10 2 mile.  Blazing fast.  There were several other great performances as well.  

Church was funny today because last week I bleached my hair blonde, and the kids in my Primary class were freaking out.  I guess they didn't realize what a punk rocker they had for a teacher.  I think some of the adults were surprised too.  That's half the fun of doing something like that.  It's like people think just because you change your hair color that you are having issues or something.  "Oh goodness, what's going on with him, look, he bleached his hair!!"  I think it's a good test for my fellow saints to find out how judgmental they can be over something trivial.

Saturday Morning Run

Just got back from a 15 mile run on the Orting trail while Dad rode his bike.  I felt pretty good today but ran pretty slow.  I was just under an hour at the turn and total run was 1:55:59 (about 7:40 pace).  It is pretty gloomy looking today (overcast).  It looks like it might rain a bit.  I got a total of 51 miles this week.  That's not bad for only running once a day.  I should probably be running two-a-days to get ready for these track meets, but I've been enjoying swimming in the mornings instead of running.  I'm quite sure that I won't perform quite as well in races with this method, but I don't really care, I feel more fit overall this way.

Childhood Memories

Something about today reminded me of being a kid.  It must be the nice weather.  I was out fixing some of the sprinklers here at BSS and something triggered an old memory I have of being the new kid at Westmore elementary in Orem, Utah.  I think I was out by myself at recess and I was sitting on the lawn and I remember seeing a guy working on the sprinklers by the soccer field.  Anyway, I started thinking about that time of my life and I remember not having any friends and feeling very alone.  All my older sisters were in Jr. High or High School and I was the only one in the family at Westmore.  Anyway, I met a kid named Jason Covington some time after being a new student there.  It might have even been a few months.  I pretty much never heard much rock music before, but I remember seeing kids at school with band names like Metallica, Guns n' Roses, Skid Row, and Def Leppard scrawled all over their levi jackets.  Jason and I soon became good friends and Jason introduced me to Def Leppard.  I was immediately mesmerized by the sound.  This is where my love of electric guitar was formed.  Here is a clip of Def Leppard that takes me back in time and reminds me of my childhood.  It is one of my favorite Def Leppard songs.

P.S.  - I wish I could find some awesome running shorts like Rick Allen is wearing in this video (drummer)!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1-j9hEPenM