Lunch with Dean

So I had lunch today with Dean Karnazes. Well, me and about 50 other people, but he was at the table next to me- I didn't actually speak to him personally. He came to a luncheon at Chapman that I was invited to and he was the speaker for the afternoon. For those of you who don't know who he is, Dean wrote a book called "Ultra Marathon Man," and he's an endurance runner who runs Ultra Marathons (which are marathons longer than the average 26.2 milers...they're more like 100) And he's crazy! But in a very good way. This guy's ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. He's ran for three days straight without sleeping before. He just runs. Everywhere. I guess when he finished running the last of his 50 marathons in a row which was in New York (which he did in 3 hours no prob), he had to get home (which was 1300 miles away). So he ran home.

One of my favorite things he talked about was how he eats while he's running. Often he's alone, and he always carries a cell phone and a credit card. If he's not close to any food places, he'll call and order a pizza (not sliced). He'll tell them where he'll be on the road at what time, and they'll deliver it to him. He'll then roll up the pizza and eat it the whole thing kinda like one big log. (Is it weird that I want to try this some time?)

He was telling us today how he doesn't own a car because he just runs everywhere. And to hear him talk about it today was so fun. He wasn't ever bragging or anything. He just likes to run.

I think we always think about how our lives will turn out. Dean talked about how people probably don't think he's very bright because he spends his time doing something so simple and rudimentary- running. He went on to tell us how he was valedictorian in college at Cal Poly SLO. So obviously the guy was smart and was perfectly capable of doing more with his life than running- but why? He found something he loves doing. And he does it! I hope we all find that.

I have to admire the guy. You could just tell he was doing what he loved to do. I want to read his book during my trip this summer. It's going on Mandy's Bike and Build reading list. All of you should join me and we can talk about it later. :)

Yesterday Biking, Today Building (like the real thing!)

So I just got back from spending the day working on a house in Anaheim for Habitat for Humanity. We're required to do 8 hours of work before Bike and Build starts, and I got all eight hours knocked out today! And the best part about it was that I spent the day working on a...let me make sure I get the name right... I've been practicing...a Compound Sliding Miter Saw. Yes! I said it correctly. A Compound Sliding Miter Saw. I want to say it all the time now because I impress myself every time that I do.  My friend Bruce (who wasn't my friend until today) taught me how to use the Compound Sliding Miter Saw. Bruce really believed in me, and I hope I made him proud.  It's funny how with these types of things, what you raise your hand for early in the morning will predict how the REST of your day will go. For example, I raised my hand when they asked who'd be interested in precision and making precise cuts for the tops of these columns things outside the house. Little did I know that for raising my hand for precision, I'd be put in front of this monstrous-looking Compound Sliding Miter Saw! But I was. And it was awesome.

These past two days have given me a taste of how the summer's going to be! I went for a 25 mile bike ride yesterday, which was quite a challenge. There's some hilly areas by Chapman that I've discovered and are great for training. I will hopefully be doing them more often in the coming weeks. There's a link to what I biked yesterday down below. I've discovered this amazing website called mapmyrun.com, and you can use it if you've gone for a run and want to find out how far you went, or they have runs that people in your area have posted if you want to try a recommended run. And what I just found out is that they have recommended bike rides as well, so I'm looking forward to trying some of those out. So the one down below is what I did yesterday. I'd say the first half was great, and beautiful, and the second half wasn't as great (busy streets with no bike lanes), but overall I enjoyed it. 

i'll be keeping you posted!

ps. Compound Sliding Miter Saw. Good. I can still say it. Just checking.

My first blog post ever!

So, I'm hoping that this blog will be a way to keep my friends, family, and fans (hah, I wish) updated on my biking and building news! I've never undertook anything like this so I feel like every new thing is such a huge deal. So, just a warning if I start getting really excited about small things and dedicate a whole blog entry to them...don't be surprised. For example, I feel like I could go on and on about how excited I am about the arm warmers I got in the mail today. Are arm warmers really that exciting?? Normally I would probably reply no. But because of the fact that they are arm warmers that will accompany me on a trip across the country, I feel they deserve an essay to be written about them...or maybe an interpretive dance? Ridiculous I know, especially because they will probably spend most of their time packed away because I can't imagine we will ever be cold in Texas in July. But I guess the impact that the arm warmers had on me today was that they really just got me excited about the whole thing.

Training has been going pretty well. I've been trying to find good places to go on bike rides. One advantage I've got on many of my fellow riders is that I live in Southern California where the weather is perfect ALMOST all the time. The downside about southern california is that it's not really set up for bikers. It's got some nice trails, but I've been trying to bike every opportunity that I can (running errands, buying groceries, etc) and have been faced with an enemy: CARS! They're everywhere down here, and the roads don't leave much room for bikers. I was home over spring break and took my bike home so that I could get some training in. Knowing all the country roads that surround Selma I was looking forward to riding out there, because you don't get many traffic jams amongst all those grape vines. But I soon discovered another enemy that I wasn't expecting: DOGS! I think I got chased by 3 different dogs on three different occasions. It definitely kept me motivated, haha. So dogs or cars? I'm not sure at the moment which I dislike more.

That's all for now. I ordered leg warmers recently too, so those should be here soon. When they get here I may be inspired enough to write a sonnet. :)