5k Action, Mr. Jamie Hartop, Homecoming

5k Action

Yesterday morning I ran in the Philly Rock and Roll 5k. The race started rather early: 7 am. I was woken up before 5 by family because I still had to get there ahead of time to get my bib. My family was kind enough to drive me in and watch the race (really just the end of it, but still very nice). I tried something a little different than I would usually do in the morning. Instead of eating a lot, I only had oatmeal and drank a lot of water. I think 45 ounces to be exact. Other than leaving me with a feeling of having to pee during the race (even though I had already peed multiple times), this definitely ended up being the right move. In conjunction with my run gum that I like to chew before the race (caffeine and B vitamins for energy), despite not getting much sleep I felt very energized and awake during the race.

I was honestly not sure about what the competition would be like. They split us into cohorts between 1-6 with 1 being the fastest, and my projected time of 18 minutes (put that down when I registered and planned on being in better shape) got me into the first cohort. I was a bit nervous about how good the other runners would be, but when I got to the front I knew I was in the right place. I do not like making assumptions about other’s based on how they look, especially running wise, but I had a feeling some people there were not super-competitive runners.

I was not sure what to expect from myself or what the course would be like during the race. The course thankfully ended up being almost totally flat on Martin Luther King Boulevard, and I ran better than I thought I would. I’ve only been running 15-20 miles a week (usually 4 times a week) with one day of lifting and also general strength and core. I ended up running 19:14. But my GPS watch did say 19:05 for a 5k. I hit 5:57 for the first mile and felt rather comfortable. About a mile and half into it when we turned around I started to feel it. The second mile was 6:08 and the final one was 6:24. Despite the pain, I enjoyed the feeling of being in a race again even though I’m not in good enough shape to really race to be competitive yet. After turning around, I ran by everyone on the other side and lots of them would cheer. Despite having 1300 people or so, the race really was not super competitive and my time got me 8th place overall. I’ve got another 5k coming up on September 30th at Frankford High School in Philly that is related to City Year. Hopefully I can drop some time and rep my City Year team well.

 

Mr. Jamie Hartop

Congrats to my man, Jamie! He’s been running a lot starting from early summer to get himself into great shape and today it seems all that hard work showed. Firstly, the hard work has already been showing: he crushed a couple of 5ks the past couple of weekends (both 17:15 on the roads). Today, he demolished a half-marathon. He ran 1 hour, 19 minutes and 53 seconds for an average mile pace of 6:05. That is really god-damn fast.

I’m not sure exactly what mileage he runs per week, but according to Strava he’s been crushing 60+ a week at times. With full weeks of work, that’s really impressive. I’m experiencing what it’s like being tired from full days of work and I give him so many kudos for his efforts. True dedication.

Also this was one of the top google images results so I went with this older picture. He might want you to know that’s he looking even more jacked now-a-days 😉

 

Homecoming 

Last night I joined my old friends/teammates/residents John and James at Ursinus. They were kind enough to let me sleep on their floor. Logan was also generous in letting me borrow his air mattress. I did sleep well despite their freezing cold room (they keep the air conditioner going at night). Ursinus was celebrating Homecoming, but I basically missed any of the celebrations during the day. Instead, I had my own race and got to see VRON crush her race at Kutztown.

It was a lot of fun to catch up with John and James. I liked hearing how they were doing and they seemed to find my City Year stories and the different chants and cheers we do funny. We then headed over to Reimert. That place doesn’t seem to change much. I enjoyed getting to see the other guys on the team. I got to see some fellow alumni but I think I missed a lot of them from the daytime. The track team culture still seems to be solid and I like the newbies. I’m excited to see the guys race at some point and to hopefully be back at some point to enjoy with them some more.

NBA and Premier League Standings Predictions

City Year is what!? RED HOT. City Year is what!? RED HOT. City year is r-e-d to the h-o-t, red-hot red-hot red-hot!

That is one of our many chants. Most of which I enjoy. Still working on the balance aspect of life with the busyness. Below I decided to put my predictions for both the NBA and the English Premier League Standings. I would love to hear anyone else’s comments and thoughts.

NBA

East:

1. Cavs (53-29)   They still have Lebron. Again, they still have Lebron. Isaiah Thomas will hopefully be okay despite hip problems. And Jae Crowder is a beast.
2. Wizards (51-31)    John Wall and Bradely Beal are about to go off. Best Eastern Conf Backcourt.
3. Celtics (49-33)    Will take some time for this team to adjust. Will still probably be very good.
4. Bucks (47-35)     The Greek Freak is about to dominate a weak East.
5. Raptors (45-37)      Lowry and Derozan still make them respectable.
6. Hornets (43-39)     All-star Kemba and a resurgent Dwight Howard lead the way.
7. Sixers (40-42)    TTP. So young yet excitable.
8. Heat (39-43)       Should still be solid and continue from a great second half of the season last year.

Notable Team(s) Missing: Detroit Pistons. The other teams seem to all still be rebuilding or just starting to.

West:

1. Warriors (65-17) This team could win over 70 games. But considering it’s the regular season and how stacked the West is I think this is a fair guess.
2. Spurs (59-23) The prediction could be rather high, but I think Pop and Leonard are just that good. Incredible team basketball. Hope Rudy Gay has a good year as well.
3. Rockets (57-25) Hoping Chris Paul and Harden work well together. This team can be really good and I hope they are. Go get Carmelo!
4. Thunder (55-27) A dynamic duo in Westbrook and George that will get better together as the season continues.
5. Timberwolves (51-31) Jimmy Butler will help this team so much. Top 15 player in the league. Add him to Towns and Wiggins, along with Crawford, Teague, and Gibson… let’s go.
6. Pelicans (49-33) Biggest surprise I think in my predictions. Boogie is in a whole new kind of shape apparently and I think him and Davis are ready to dominate together. Rondo needs to keep it together.
7. Clippers (47-35) Tesedovic will be a lot of fun. Griffin can hopefully stay healthy and shine. Beverley is a pest for anyone and Lou Williams will help. Could be a great defensive team with Jordan at the anchor.
8. Nuggets (46-36) Paul Millsap will compliment Jokic so well. This team scores the ball at a scary rate and I hope I get to watch them play a bit on TV.

Notable Team(s) Missing: Definitely the Jazz and the Trail Blazers. I just don’t think the Jazz have enough offensive firepower to win enough games, despite their awesome coach and great defense. The Trail Blazers were tough to leave out, but Lilliard and McCollum just don’t seem to get it done enough. They score so much but don’t win many games. This could be the year, though.

 

Premier League Final Standings Predictions:

1. Man City
2. Man U.
3. Tottenham
4. Chelsea
5. Liverpool
6. Arsenal
7. Stoke
8. Everton
9. Watford
10. Leicester
11. Swansea
12. Newcastle
13. West Ham
14. Southhampton
15. Huddersfield
16. West Brom
17. Bournemouth
18. Burnley
19. Crystal Palace
20. Brighton

Working Life

Life has been busy ever since City Year started up, that’s for sure. As with most busy lifestyles, there are pros and cons. I’ve mostly enjoyed City Year, but it’s required me to work a lot on how I balance things in my life. My working days are usually 11-12 hours including commute, so that does not leave loads of time for other things when I am home. I’m working on prioritizing.

 

Self-Care

This comes first most of the time. As a male, there are certain societal norms related to masculinity. When masculinity becomes toxic, boys and men think the only way through is to toughen up. Not so fast. Taking a step back and figuring out what’s best for myself has to be a priority. Making sure I get enough sleep, leaving time to exercise, socialize, meditate, these are all so important to me. With little time when I get home from work, this is where the balancing act begins.

My cousin from England and a friend of his stayed at our house on Tuesday and Wednesday. They went on a three-week trip in the US visiting Vegas, LA, San Diego, San Fran, New York, Philly, and more. Example of balancing: I did not exercise those two days because I know how rare it is to see my cousin and I wanted to enjoy time with him. We got to spend a solid chunk of time together and Wednesday night we got to go out in Media.

Now, I know I had a post about a month ago where I said my goal was to run sub-18 at the 5k I will be running in 2 weeks in Philadelphia. City Year put that on it’s head. I don’t like going back on something, but I have just not been running enough to realistically hit that. Yesterday, though, I did go on my best run in a while: 11 miles with VRON. I’m not setting a time goal but I would like to try to run consistently in the race. I don’t want to run sub-6:00 the first mile and then a 6:20 and then a 7:00. Unfortunately, there’s probably a solid chance of that happening. But I will work to try to not let that happen!

 

“Come to Me” 

If you check out a post I recently put up on FB, I have a picture and description of why I got the “Come to Me” wristbands. A friend of mine from high school is leading this amazing campaign to help fight the stigma surrounding mental health. As someone who has personally experienced what anxiety is like, this means a lot to me and I recognize the importance of the cause. My fellow City Year teammates will be wearing the wristbands alongside me. The wristbands signal to others that they are not alone.

 

What Made Maddy Run Review

What Made Maddy Run is a book authored by Kate Fagan. Maddy was a track runner at Penn who sadly killed herself during her freshmen year. To many, it seemed as though she had everything going for her. Suicide is a tough subject for anyone to talk about, but this book does a great job of doing so in an informative and sensitive way. Similar to the “Come to Me” campaign above, the book helps educate on mental health and tells the story (or part of it) about Maddy. Mental health issues have risen steadily among adolescents, specifically college students. The statistics are scary to digest. Books like this help share the facts and make people more comfortable talking about such a difficult subject. I highly recommend reading this.

 

Game of Thrones 

I know most fans are super excited about GOT after the last few episodes that ended the season. I am as well, but I’m also slightly disappointed. GOT is not meant to be fan fiction, but the producers seem to think it should be. It’s almost like the producers go online, read different fan theories, and then choose the most popular. Would the author, George Martin, care what his readers think of his decisions? Most likely a bit, but not really. That’s why he killed Ned Stark in the first book and constructed the Red Wedding. No main characters were really killed during this season. And no, Littlefinger was not a pivotal character in the long run. As a viewer and someone who read the first few books (although I forget most of what happened) this last season felt different. I still enjoyed watching, but recognize that marketability and keeping fans happy seem to be the producers main concerns.