Running in a Busy Life

Well, today is the day that it really all begins for me and my goal of running the Columbus Half Marathon on October 17th. I’ve been running for two months now and have logged just over 100 miles, but today is when it gets serious. I’ve paid my entry fee just ahead of the early bird deadline of July 31 and now the real work starts as I began Hal Higdon’s 12-week training program this morning with the first day of actual running.

When I returned from a good run this morning that took place in perfect weather conditions, I received a tweet asking about writing a blog post about five tips for scheduling training for busy people. Well, with this being my first half marathon along with the fact that my training has just started, I’m not sure that I am an expert on this subject. However, just writing this blog will be one more accountability step in my busy life in making sure that I reach my goal of crossing the finish line on October 17th with 14,999 other dedicated and determined people.

For those of you who are new to my blog, I am the sports information director at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, a private faith-based college located in Mount Vernon. My job responsibilities revolve around promoting our institution’s 10 sports teams, student-athletes, and coaches in all their endeavors on and off the court or field. This is a lot of fun, but during the sports seasons it means that I am working about 80 hours a week including the weekends.

After my wife, Carla (above with me), completed her second Capital City Half Marathon in Columbus this past spring, I strongly began considering the possibility of running this upcoming race. I knew that I would have some time to begin training in the summer when I wasn’t quite as busy at work since we didn’t have any games going on. However, I still continued to doubt whether or not I could really put the time into it.

Tip #1: Find an accountability partner. Whether or not this person runs the race or not, you have to find someone who is going to be right there with you (even from a distance) and help keep you on track. For me, this is my friend, Jay Stancil. Like me, Jay is a sports information director at Union College in Kentucky. Like me, Jay is married with two kids. Like me, Jay is going to turn 39 in November. Like me, Jay has never run a half marathon. I kind of jokingly suggested to Jay several months ago that he should come up to Columbus and run the half marathon in October. Well, he jumped on the idea and started training right away. I was a little more reticent about getting started, but Jay’s updates and encouragement through Twitter helped nudge me to the Kokosing Gap Trail to finally begin this process. It is also nice if you can find someone to run with you at least occasionally as you train. It’s a great help for making sure you show up for a scheduled run even on a day when you might not feel like going.

Tip #2: Find a time to train and stick to it. Once I got over the first hurdle of just getting off the couch and starting to run, I knew that I needed to make this a routine or basically a lifestyle change. Especially in the summer, it would be easy for me to sleep in just a little since the kids don’t need to get off to school and my wife is off work. However, I found that by getting up early that I have time to run and I can beat the summer heat at the same time. For me, the morning runs were a great way to start my day and give me energy (despite weary legs at times). By making it a habit, it becomes easier and easier to get up and go for that morning run. Now, I find that I really miss my runs when I take a day off, the weather doesn’t cooperate or I have a conflict that keeps me from going. It is also fine to adjust occasionally due to your schedule, but I’ve found that it is best to make it a daily routine as much as possible.

Tip #3: Document your runs. This has been a big thing in helping me stick with my training. I started a spreadsheet with the date, distance, and time of each run. Since I deal with numbers, stats, and records for my job with our teams, I wanted to track everything I was doing. This is a great way to keep you accountable. It’s also a rewarding and encouraging way to track progress as you see the miles pile up. For those of us who are not elite runners (and that’s probably 99.9% of the people reading this), it really is not about your time in the half marathon on race day. It’s about the journey to get to that point, the dedication to put in the required training, and the support of your family and friends.

Tip #4: Make the most of your busy life. One thing that keeps some busy people from ever training is the fact that their work takes them on the road a lot. Why not use this to your advantage and break up the monotony of running the same route? My family and I were in San Francisco for eight days earlier this summer for the annual NAIA-SIDA and CoSIDA Workshop. I figured that I really wouldn’t have time to run or a place to run as I’m not a big fan of running on the treadmill (although this is necessary at times due to schedule or consistent bad weather). I ended up going on runs three different days that included running the Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise (see photo below), running through deserted Chinatown and up Lombard Street, and running around picturesque AT&T Park – home of the San Francisco Giants. Not only was it great to continue the running momentum that I had started, it was also a great way to see the city and to connect in a new way with some of my fellow sports information directors from around the country.


Tip #5: Make sure your family is on board. Training for a half marathon requires a serious time commitment. As a husband and father of two girls ages 8 and 5 (photo below), I know that when I go for a run it is taking time out of my day that I can’t spend with my family. That’s why I’ve chosen to run in the morning before they wake up. However, by exercising, I also feel like I’m doing something that in the long run benefits my family because I am healthier. My wife has been a great support and encouragement in this process and again the inspiration of knowing that she successfully trained for and completed two half marathons while working full-time and being a great mom helps to push me to do my best. People do ask why we aren’t both training to run together in October and we just think it would be too hard to pull off that much training with two young kids. So, we’ll switch places again in the spring and she’ll train for her third half marathon.


Again, I don’t claim to be an expert by any means. In fact, I’m a newbie to all of this and would welcome any feedback. You also want to make sure to take care of yourself and rest on the days that your training program tells you to rest. My biggest fear in this process is an injury rearing its ugly head and wrecking all of my hard work.

The Amazing Race 2 - Tennessee Edition

Well, this week officially ended up being the final week of the Mount Vernon Nazarene University sports season as the baseball team was eliminated in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round in Cleveland, Tenn. However, I was able to make the most of the team's postseason run and eight-hour roadtrip one way with my traveling buddy, Joe Rinehart, who called all the action with me on the radio.


First, I must say that this year's MVNU baseball team was special. No, it wasn't the most talented team to ever take the field in the program's illustrious history. However, it may have been the team that was the closest on and off the field. I have the opportunity each year to travel with the team on its spring trip to Florida, and 12 days on the road really let you get to know them. Then, the past two weeks I've been with them on the road at the American Mideast Conference Tournament and now in Tennessee. They are a group of guys that were very welcoming to me and to all their teammates. That's probably what helped them come together for a special ending to a season that was an up-and-down adventure all year. Congratulations, Cougars!

OK, and now back to our roadtrip. Some of you who have followed me on Facebook for awhile now remember that Ryan Halley and I did what we called Amazing Race - Branson edition when we drove to the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship in March of 2009. We let my Facebook friends give us places to stop along the way on our 12-hour trip and it really made it a lot of fun. So, I decided to revive that idea for this week's trip to Tennessee and Joe was a willing participant.

The trip started off with an uneventful drive to Cincinnati where we made our first stop at the home of MVNU alums Paul and Joy Helton. Joy had gratiously made us fresh cookies and left them on the porch for us along with cold milk since they had to leave to go to the Reds' game before we arrived. It was a welcome snack after nearly three hours on the road.


We headed out from there into Kentucky and after a dinner break ran into a bunch of rain which made the drive pretty miserable. We weren't able to stop to see many sights although we did get a picture of a giant dragon at a fireworks store. We rolled into our hotel at about 1:00 a.m. - just barely getting off the highway because it was blocked off past our exit for a bomb scare.

While in Cleveland, Tenn., we were treated to great southern hospitality by the Lee University staff led by George Starr, the sports information director. Joe and I had fun calling three games on the radio as the team went 1-2 and interactions with fans and parents on the school's Facebook fan page was a lot of fun. We set an all-time high for visits and interactions during those three games. It was also fun to spend some time with my good friend, Eric Smith, the Taylor (Ind.) SID, although I'm afraid he might not speak to me for awhile after MVNU thumped the Trojans 21-9.

Through the power of Twitter and the close-knit group that is the SID family, we met up with Owen Seaton from UT-Chattanooga one of the nights for dinner. I've known Owen for awhile now, and this guy was generous enough to treat us to a great dinner over which we all shared a bunch of funny broadcast stories in addition to listening to Joe and Owen talk shop about the future of the MVNU video department possibilities. It was a fun evening.

Well, after the Cougars were eliminated on Wednesday, we headed out on Thursday morning for home. As we neared Knoxville, we decided to see a few of the sights that people had asked us to stop at. We saw the Sunsphere and the world's largest Rubik's Cube, which had both first appeared in 1982 for the World's Fair in Knoxville which Joe had ironically attended. We were so close to the University of Tennessee that I decided to ask my online friends if anyone had connections to get us into Neyland Stadium. Within a few minutes, Jay Stancil called me and had set up a visit thanks to Drew Rutherford and Tom Satkowiak. We got a tour of the field, the media room, and the spacious UT locker room. It was very cool.




After a quick stop at the UT bookstore to see the sea of orange apparrel, we head back on I-75 north. Pretty soon, we came to Corbin, Ky. - the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken. We met Jay there and took some photos and then headed to Sonic for lunch. It was great to visit with Jay, who is this year's Ike Pearson Award recipient as the NAIA Outstanding Sports Information Director of the Year.

After lunch, we continue home with only a stop in Lexington, Ky. to see Rupp Arena and an impromptu filming of Cops. We also listened to the Reds' meltdown versus the Braves when they gave up seven runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to blow a 9-3 lead. However, we quickly recovered as Joe went into character as either 'Danny Carpenter' or 'Vernon Knox' to make me laugh. Some of this was caught on webcam, but some of the funniest stuff wasn't filmed because I was laughing so hard that I couldn't hit the button to start it.



Well, needless to say, we enjoyed our trip and made some memories. We're thankful for those of you who contributed suggestions or met us along the way and to the rest of you who tolerated our silliness. It was a fun time and I'm looking forward to seeing where the next Amazing Race will take us. Who wants to go along for the ride?

Sportsmanship...You Make the Call

This morning, I got a call from my cousin, Robert, asking if I had heard the story about the NAIA golfer who purposely lost on a playoff hole after already qualifying for the NAIA National Championship so that a golfer from another team could make the tournament in his senior year. At that point, I had not, so when we hung up I quickly researched it. This article on ESPN.com presents the facts and I encourage you to read it before proceeding with this blog.


Sportsmanship as defined by Webster is: (noun) : conduct (as fairness, respect for one's opponent, and graciousness in winning or losing) becoming to one participating in a sport.

After reading that article, listening to the audio file with comments from Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic and other ESPN analysts, and checking out a couple of blogs with opinions on both sides of the debate, I decided that I was going to post my thoughts. I'll say up front that this blog could go on and on, but I would most like to hear the comments of others. I am also a big fan of true sportsmanship stories such as this story almost exactly two years ago to the date involving the softball teams of Western Oregon and Central Washington.

First, I don't want to be too critical of St. Francis' Grant Whybark for his attempt at sportsmanship. The sports world needs feel-good stories and the NAIA's mantra is Champions of Character. I just think that if Whybark truly felt like this was something he needed to do, he could have gone about it in a much more low-key way that wouldn't call attention to himself. He is obviously a skilled golfer as he shot a one-over-par 145 over 36 holes in the conference tournament to force the extra hole, so he could have just missed a long putt during the playoff without anyone really noticing it. However, by blatantly blasting a ball 40 yards out of bounds and making sure that he told everyone who would listen about his intentions, he decided to draw attention to himself which is really not what good sportsmanship is all about. It is also a little arrogant to think that he wouldn't lose the playoff hole to his worthy opponent playing it straight up. One other question...would Whybark have done the same thing if he had anything to lose? I think we all know the answer to that one.

The person that I really feel for is Olivet Nazarene's Seth Doran. Obviously a well-liked player by his conference peers, Doran was having a great tournament of his own as he matched Whybark hole-for-hole to finish with an identical one-over-par 145 after 36 holes. While I am sure that Doran is excited to make the trip to the NAIA National Championship at nearby TPC at Deere Park in Silvis, Ill., site of the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic, I am guessing that the true competitor in him wishes that Whybark had a mulligan on the hole and the two of them could play it out on the up-and-up. Personally, I probably would have pounded my tee shot into the woods (although it typically goes there without me trying) if I was Doran as I would rather have won the berth on my own merit.

One other thing...the sport of golf is one of integrity - possibly more so than any other sport. It really is about what you do when no one else is looking. Golfers are taught to self-report even the smallest and most obscure of errors that sometimes cost them championships and thousands of dollars just as it recently did Brian Davis. However, it is that integrity that draws people to the sport. While we all like to see people doing things for others, the goal in golf is to shoot the lowest possible score within the realm of the rules. To try to do otherwise really goes against the very nature and integrity of the game. It would be better to withdraw than to purposely hit bad shots.

Finally, the true winner in all of this is the NAIA and the NAIA National Championship that will take place on May 18-21. Typically, this tournament doesn't draw anywhere near the coverage or media curiousity that the NAIA's highly-successful 32-team, one-site basketball national tournaments or even the NAIA World Series in baseball draw. However, I would be really surprised if there are not TV cameras there when Whybark and Doran tee off in 12 days. The best thing for the NAIA to do in order for it not to be a distraction to the other golfers who aren't used to this kind of coverage would be to pair the two of them together and watch the story continue.

I welcome your thoughts on this subject. Was this just good sportsmanship by Whybark or did he dishonor the game? How would you have handled the situation if you were Whybark or Doran for that matter? What ending would you like to see when the two compete at the NAIA National Championship? Thanks for taking the time to tee it up with me.