What Is Mile 20?

What a day... This Tuesday, January 20th, 2009... even this weekend as a whole. I don't know if I can add anything more eloquent that hasn't been said by countless journalist and orators, including one - Mr. President Barack Obama. What I can do is share my fortunes... fortunes that have come to light through my entire life - but most recently during this past weekend.

Aside from swimming at Emory, biking along the Silver Comet Trail, having Dim Sum with Jose & Jim, Indian Food with Jennie and Nutella crepes w/raspberries for brunch there were a few incredibly meaningful moments.

I think to my time here in Atlanta - since 2005 - and the culture and people that I have been able to experience... the history of America that I have been able to walk and I then think about that history of America unfolding in front of us on the steps of the capitol today and how much of that history I have been able to experience for myself.

On this, Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend - I took to Ebenezer Baptist Church for a Sunday morning service with Reverend Warnock... a beautiful and moving service where elder black men and women were so proud and excited of their young Barack and so welcoming to hundreds of new, young visitors (mostly white) to their church. After walking the grounds of MLK's grave site and the eternal flame, I thought about being here last year during a freezing January day when Obama himself and Bill Clinton gave speeches of their own during MLK Day 2008. I thought about Joseph Lowery, who at the funeral of Coretta Scott King among the five living presidents (Clinton, Carter, Bush 41, Bush 43 and Ford) was so excited to have the audience that he was leaping up and down shouting 'glory, glory, glorious day!' I think to the email exchanges with my congressional representative - John Lewis about inauguration tickets. I think about Obama's call for a day of service... and how Jennie and I went to a depleted street corner on Marietta and Old Chattahoochee and picked up four large bags of trash and debris.
I was reminded of the fact that I am so lucky to be able to walk through American history when I saw John Lewis weeping just steps outside of the capitol as Obama entered the pavillion to accept his responsibilities as the 44th president. I was reminded even more as Mr. Lowery performed the benediction to close out the amazing day's affairs.

I think and I thank for my time here in Atlanta, Georgia... as I have been so fortunate to walk right besides the footsteps of history. Glory glory... Glory Day!

Just before I started graduate school my mom came to visit me and excitedly shoved a book that she had read at me. She said it explained leaders, communicators and suppliers and how people fell into one of those three camps in order to affect change. She then proceeded to tell me the ‘real’ reason that the crime rate dropped so significantly in New York during the 90’s… at which point I interrupted and proclaimed to her that it was the infamous abortion-rights case of Roe V. Wade – after all, I had recently read the Steven Levitt book Freakanomics on a plane ride back from Brussels and was tired of her profound new knowledge. She dismissed my notion all together by saying that it wasn’t Roe V. Wade at all that pulled down the crime rate, but instead, according to book’s author, Malcolm Gladwell, it was an effort on petty crimes that lead to a stem of the more violent crimes.

Although I was somewhat intrigued by the story and the book which contained it, and others – “The Tipping Point – How Little Things Can Make a Difference,” I was knee deep in Pythagorean’s theorem and Pi-R-squared formulas as I was in the throes of my GMAT studies and the book would have to wait.

Fast forward to Christmas break 2007 and “The Tipping Point” resurfaced – this time with a quasi-mandate, not from my mother – but, unfortunately, from a higher source – Dr. Peter Topping, professor of our Goizueta Leadership Academy. This time, with free time on my hands, I eagerly pulled the book from its resting place on my dusty shelf and tore into it… thanks to an extended layover in the Richmond, VA airport on the way up to New York, I learned all about Mavens, Connectors and Salesman. I also finally came to understand the oft-used business marketing cliché of “Stickiness” and – to my mother’s delight – understood why roping in petty crimes in NY was the key to shoring violent crime.

As a marketer, I tended to read this book through a different lens than I would imagine someone who was attempting to stay on top of the “business book de jour.” I was particularly interested in the critical mass concept that Gladwell outlined – described by him as the tipping point of when enough of the right people engage in a mission, good or bad, to affect change in a transcending way. Although it was would be easy to diagram Gladwell’s framework for this Tipping Point and summarize each of this metaphorical stories – I believe it would be most helpful to instead share either what was running around in my crazy mind as I read his anecdotes or in the days and months following my read.

To iterate my own analogy to the need for a Connector and the Law of the Few, I think back to my days working at Sandusky Radio’s 98 KUPD – a Phoenix rock station that was number one among males 18-34 for a number of years. In my time at the station, I would sit in on meetings with the music director and his staff as they selected what new releases to put into the tightly monitored rotation and which ones to pull and retire. It was here that I unknowingly developed an ‘ear’ for the successful ‘hit’. It was pretty likely that many of the songs I was listening to had been listened to a total of a few thousand people nationwide – mostly record reps and radio station music and program directors. During one of these music sessions, the Sony rep excitedly made us listen to a band called Sponge and their new single “Plowed.” On the reps next visit to the station he urged us to add “Plowed” to the playlist. Although we agreed that Plowed was a fair enough song and deserved to be in rotation, we all were more enthusiastically excited about another cut deeper on the disc called “Molly.” The music director often encouraged those hanging around the station to earn their keep and take home the piles of unknown CDs and listen for ‘hits.’ The song Molly came from one of those take-home sessions where my friend Chris (who now, ironically, lives in Richmond, VA) and I drove up to Payson for a day out of the summer heat of Phoenix. During the trip, we kept returning to the “Molly” track and became very excited about sharing this newly-found gem with Curtiss (the music director).

Unfortunately, the Sony rep did not believe that ”Molly” should replace “Plowed,” nor be a deeper cut single at all since it was more of a short-pop junket of a song that wouldn’t work well in a rock atmosphere. We continued to make our case as “Plowed” gained more and more popularity and the band stared to tour. Although we continued to make our case to anyone that listened anytime “Plowed” was heard on the radio, it looked less and less likely that “Molly” would become anything of a single. Even in early 1995, while watching another blooming Sony artist, “Our Lady Peace” perform at the annual South by Southwest show in Austin, TX, the Sony rep confessed that the record company didn’t have interest in “Molly” and was pushing another track, “Pennywheels” as the follow up to “Plowed.” “Pennywheels” certainly had more grunge than pop and was nearly a minute longer than “Molly” so it made sense, plus it was the lead track on the album, so the record label had deliberately been planning its release. Soon after, stations began to drop “Pennywheels” from rotation. Our Sony rep called up and asked us if we were sure about “Molly” and if so, if we would consider adding it to our rotation as a trial follow up to the now-failed “Pennywise.” Our response was that since we too had dropped “Pennywise” nearly three weeks earlier, we had already been playing “Molly” and received more than nominal response in the form of call ins and increased Sponge CD sales at the local Tower Records. Later that summer, “Molly” made it to #55 on the Billboard Hot 100 and to this day is the biggest single in the life of Sponge – their only single to register in the Hot 100.

This story is akin to Gladwell’s opening tale of youngsters in the village of New York wearing Hush Puppies in showing how even something more superior, in this case a hit song to Gladwell’s fashion ware needs the help of a Connector to become wildy successful and experience that “Tipping Point.”

Another analogy related to Gladwell’s framework is an adventure that a girlfriend and I shared when looking for a house in San Diego, California. Southern California was in the middle of its housing boom in 2003 and we were trying to purchase our first home. Conditions were vicious, as typically 80 buyers would show up jockeying for availabilities of 10-15 houses at a time. Everything from lotteries to paying people to sleep in line became the norm in the quest to get a new house. At one point, we found an ideal, if not smaller than expected home and put a bid in, only to find that we were one of 13 people to bid on the property and that the bidding would start again after the price was raised an additional $25,000. In this story, there are two players: My girlfriend, the saleswoman and myself the Maven. I don’t typically see myself as a maven, but everytime I think of this story, I immediately think of our contrasting styles in handling the situation and upon reading Gladwell, immediately remembered this event.

Somehow, we ended up being of the top seven picked to bid/choose among seven new houses in a new development outside of Chula Vista. Among the seven houses was a corner lot with the biggest backyard and an unobstructed view of San Diego’s downtown skyline, the Pacific Ocean and the hills of Tijuana – we would later find out that it was the highest point of elevation in Chula Vista. Even though we were chosen among the top seven, we had the fifth pick and doubted that our ‘dream house’ would actually be available for us by that time. Our doubts sunk even further as the price list was announced and our choice was one of the least expensive.

It is at this point, where the personalities of Maven and Saleswoman came to play. Although we did not clearly form a strategy, we appeared to break into our natural settings as we waited around the model homes for the home selection to begin. My girlfriend started by socializing with each of the other buyers to try to learn what they planned to buy and why. She would ask how many kids the family had and what they lived in currently. She would then proclaim that a three-bedroom house (the size we wanted) would be too confined as she was just up at the home sites and saw that the bedrooms were rather small. She would also point out that a certain house of equal floor plan to ours was actually ‘closer’ to the entrance to the school, so it might be safer for the young children to have that house.

I, on the other hand, stood by the 3D map of the homes and began to point out to the buyers all the strategic advantages of the corner lot house that we wanted would be. I pointed out that it was really the same price as the cheapest house, if you excluded the balcony that came with our desired house. I also pointed out the view and the size of the backyard, both which would fetch significantly higher resale values. These were all facts that the buyers would not get from looking at the monopoly board like 3D map and I was proud to share the info as my profession at the time was that of a corporate trainer.

My girlfriend, whose job was ironically, in sales, was furious at my attempts to share this valuable information. It was an interesting setting as we were both playing our natural roles, mine being a maven who wanted to share as much information as I could to help those around me make the most informed decision as possible and my girlfriend – the saleswoman - who wanted to sweet talk everyone into thinking that they would make a better choice with another house. In the end, we did end up getting our desired house, and clearly, my girlfriend’s saleswoman abilities got us there.

In a final conclusion, I definitely enjoyed “The Tipping Point” and understand why it was as successful book as it was – for one reason, it allowed me to think and more importantly apply labels and definitions, thus explaining the events I had experienced in my life. Now, as I meet people, I immediately try to put one of the three labels on them: Maven, Connector, Salesman. I also am much more in-tuned to the “Stickiness” factor everytime I am developing a campaign and new product at my job. And, now I understand why cops try to ticket people for Jaywalking… although most big city cops appear to busy on their cell phones to even notice a jaywalker these days. Maybe crime is on the way back up?

I stood distraught, just past the finish line in Central Park after completing my first NYC Marathon. I stared down at my borrowed stopwatch and pondered. Not exactly the time I was looking for... not quite the improvement I was hoping for after a springtime 4:40 in Paris and a 2:00 time in the San Diego half in August. So many conversations inside my head during the last hour of running, walking, perpetually crawling, but certainly not stopping. I worked my way through the thick post-marathon crowd as heat blankets, medals and carb-goodies were handed out and thought about the afternoon. It hurt to think that so many people had done their part to get me to New York and I was not able to hit the mark I was looking for. It hurt to think that the people who traveled from three blocks to three-thousand miles away weren't going to see me deliver on a marathon best time. As I continued through the mass of tired, exhausted bodied past the caravan of UPS trucks, I thought about the day and how something that had started so convincingly perfect ended up in a disaster. But did it?

Conditions at the race start were perfect - slight overcast with temperatures in the low 50s. My legs felt rested and more importantly, my foot that had been bothering me since August appeared healthy. After milling around the Ft. Wadsworth compound prior to the race, it was time to line up for the gun and get going. By some stroke of luck, Chris came back from a last minute trip to the port-a-potties with Heather in tow. We had planned to meet both her and Ed at the Team Continuum meeting place, but with 38K people on hand, it was hard to find our own shoelaces, let alone a couple of fellow runners. Suddenly the contingency of high school friends from Apache Junction who decided it might be a good time to go running in NY on a Sunday in November were all together for the start of the race!

We arrived at the base of the Verrazzano Bridge just in time to hear the star-spangled banner and see the elite runners off... then, with "New York, New York" blaring in the background, we were on our way. Adrenaline was certainly pumping as we headed up the steepest part of the course. With a choruses of congratulations, wishes of good luck and simply taking in the view of the lower Manhattan skyline so far off in the distance, we headed into Brooklyn. At mile 8, Chris & I started to look for my mother in the crowd. And, along with my uncle and aunt, she was standing bundled up waiting for us and cheering us on. After a few quick pictures, we were recharged as we headed down the treelined streets of Brooklyn. Before long, we also spotted Laurie & Courtney with our names on signs... again, a few pictures and kisses and we were charging off again. A brief look at the watch showed that we were ahead of the 4:30 pace team we lined up with at the beginning of the race.

Plowing through Williamsburg, I pointed out to Chris a bagel place that I had visited once and a location that Sean has once shot a short film. Chris & I, as has become tradition, chatted about our lives during the run... topics ranged from happiness with our current jobs or directions we wanted to go next to the differences that our lives have taken so far. As we discussed school and spouses we wound our way into Queens and beneath our feet, saw yellow chalk art rooting on Lance Armstrong, who was running in his first marathon. We came upon the Queensboro bridge and headed into Manhattan. It was hard to believe that we were more than half-way through the race at this point. The thick midtown towers loomed between the slats of the bridge as we ran in near darkness uphill for about a 1/2 mile... then, as we headed down into the city, I started to see a quickly ascending wall of people forming. Cheering, screaming, waving, ringing bells and handing out goodies!

Chris and I were cruising up the sea of people on Manhattan's 1st Ave... mile 16... 17.. mile 17.5... 18... I begged Chris for a short break to sip my cup of gatorade. The walk breaks were showing up more frequently and Chris made note. For some reason, in my head and in my body, I was being told I couldn't keep going... Chris kept telling me "today he was crossing the finish line with me, so we'd better get going!" We crossed... well, we walked across the Willis Street Bridge into the Bronx and Mile 20... Chris kept pushing me, "we were going to finish this race, we only had an hour to go, we were going to be seeing all our families and loved ones in just short order"... but the pain which had suddenly formed in my quadriceps wasn't leaving and my head wasn't able to shake this. I gave Chris another faithful try and then looked at him with my arm draped around his shoulder and told him to GO!!!

For the next 2-3 miles I walked in slow, stunned pain trying incredibly to figure out exactly how to handle this. In Paris, pure fear of failure had kept me going. Here I was perplexed because I started the morning with such confidence that I was going to have a great race and finish between 4:30 - 5:00... minutes became miles and I had crossed back into Manhattan and Harlem... Crowds at this northern point of the marathon course were sparse at best, with most waiting for the bus or carrying home their groceries. Every 500 feet or so, I would throw my legs back out in front of me and resume a slow, hobbled jog only to return to my comforted walking pace a short time later.

As the miles passed so slowly, the pace clock seemed to speed up... I continued to calculate and recalculate how far I was from slipping off my goal number. Soon the 4:45 pace teams passed me and the insanity inside my head began to peak. Interestingly enough, there were quite a few other handfuls of walkers at this point in the race and everyone seemed friendly with each other. A few even struck up conversations with me, but my bitter disappointment fended off even the most noble attempts at comraderie.

The desolate streets of Harlem gave way to Manhattan's toney 5th Ave and Central Park... the autumn-colored leaves and falling sun made for quite the scene, but my mood was a bit fowl to say the least. Then, my brother and his wife popped out of the crowd approaching mile 24. My first instinct was to show my displeasure in my performance in the afternoon, but he seemed to have a different take on it... he was congratulating me and telling me that I was about to finish the New York City Marathon! He also told me that I was going to LOVE my trip through the park! I started nearing the park and suddenly the people who had been such a force eight miles earlier were back... but this time they were making it personal... They were calling out people by the names on their shirts, race numbers, any identifier they could and encouraging the runners through the last three plus miles... among the calls I started to hear, "C'mon, BIG PEACH!"... it took me a few seconds to comprehend, who was this "Big Peach" they root for? Have I put on that much weight? Do I just look like I am from Georgia?.. then I made the connection, I made the decision not wear the Team Continuum shirt with my name on it in favor of my comfortable long-sleeved Big Peach Running Co shirt... I was "Big Peach!" My mood began to lift and it was time to run again... as much as my burning, pounding quads would let me - that is...

Running through the park, not only did the crowd coax you, but the race signs coaxed you by telling you, ONLY TWO MILES LEFT, ONLY ONE MILE LEFT, 800 YARDS... I rounded Columbus Circle and saw the big screen and the stands... I was running like it was mile one again... I could see the finish and that is all I needed... 400 yards, 300, 200... 100... and FINISH... 5:12:15.

I have wondered over and over again, "what went wrong"? Was it the pace that we set out at? Was it the eating/drinking routine during the race? Did I not train enough... running a mere 25 miles in my final month before the marathon and skipping out on my mid-week runs to heal the foot seemed to certainly affect me... Did I 'hit the wall' or 'bonk'?

It is funny to hear people's reaction about my time... most are impressed that I finished and the time seems inconsequential... some of the more cynical and ignorant people comment on the time by reverse-engineering into a "per minute" total and comparing it a mile time they ran in gym class once in high school... ironically none of these guys have gotten to the start line.

As I made my way to the Family Reunion area, I started to think about this event and what I should take away from it... Was my experience a failure? I sure felt disheartend. When I arrived at the "N" section, I started to shrug and apologize, and again I was surprised by the enthusiasm of my family and friends. After some pictures and food, my body was tired and we started to make our way back to the hotel and I began to think again... What was my original purpose for running:

- To educate people about Avi & my father... Well, I realized that I have certainly done that thanks to each and everyone of you, as I had raised almost $2,500.00 for Team Continuum in the process. This was pretty amazing considering the hill I faced at the beginning of this fund raising when I wondered if I would get more than $200 in total. Now I was a major contributor to the largest charity organization present in this year's NYC marathon with 322 athletes and more than $1.2-million raised.

- To run one of the world's most premiere events in one of the world's premiere cities with two people that I've know for over 20 years... and well, I will always relish the memory of the three of us giving each other gentle fist pumps heading up the Verrazzano Bridge at the start of the race with the lower Manhattan skyline looking ever so slight in the distance... "New York, New York" playing in the background.

I also think about the things that have come from this experience:

- The amazing power of LOVE & FAMILY - Seeing my mom looking out into the mass of runners for us at mile 8, seeing my brother jump out in front of me at mile 24 when I was completely discouraged and dissappointed, hearing from so many people who made the trip from as close as three miles and as far away as 3000 miles that it was just great to see everyone. I remember back to my cousin Robin's wedding in 1996 in DC when a family member asked me what i thought of the event that morning and i said, "Yeah, the food was incredible..." He replied, "Forget the food, how about everyone being together." Later, when I walked into the Indian food restaurant across from our hotel for a post-race meal and saw my East-Coast brothers & sisters and their families sitting there waiting to surprise me, I knew it wasn't about the food... it was about all of us being together, something my father spent so much time trying to get us to experience!

- The drive and desire to "Just Do Better" at every single thing I do...

- Learning how to deal with failure - for the 2nd time this year. (Thinking back to earlier in March, when I took my GMAT for the first time trying to get into Emory and how shocked I was then with my score and how, with the pressure on and time dissappearing I retook the test and scored well enough to get in).

It was somewhat comforting to see the footage on TV of Lance Armstrong, SEVEN-time Tour de France winner and ESPN Athlete of the Year, hobble across the line after finishing his first marathon in a blistering 2:59:39. Then to hear his quote in the New York Times that this was the, "single most difficult thing he has ever physically done" was validation that what I had accomplished was plenty difficult no matter what the time.

I want to make sure that I thank each and everyone of you who has contributed to this 2006 NYC Marathon... whether it was your financial support for me or Team Continuum or asking me about the training, reading this blog and in general for your enthusiasm and thoughts... I will always look back on this event with fondness... And well, as far as my time... The Georgia Marathon is March 25th and Doug Cohen has been a running monster to get ready for it, so I'd better get going...........

Greetings - We are closing in on this silly little run through the boroughs... there is a lot going on, so hopefully this will a good guide for you:

First, a quick look at the weather (and at this point, the temperature couldn't be better)...

Sat
Nov 4
Mostly Sunny
52°/39°

Sun
Nov 5
Sunny
52°/44°

Keep checking for updates as we get closer!

Next - THE FOOD!

Saturday Night Pasta Dinner - I know that we've talked about this several times and I've heard from each of you several times, so I am sorry in advance for bringing it up again:

Where: B.E.D. 530 West 27th Street and between 10th and 11th Avenues. (212.594.4109)
When: Saturday, November 4th (5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.)
Admission: $25 per person (children 12 & under FREE)
Details: I plan on heading over about 5:30 or so.

MENU · Mixed Green Salad
· Caesar Salad with Crouton’s & Parmesan
· Greek Salad with Tomatoes, Olives, Feta Cheese & Iceberg Lettuce
· White Rice With Almonds & Golden Raisins
· Penne with Tomato Sauce
· Bowtie Tricolor Pasta with Pesto & Parmesan
· Chicken Breast with Mushroom Sauce
· Asian Glazed Atlantic Salmon of Orange, Soy Sauce, Spices, Honey & Rice Vinegar
· Tiramisu, assorted cookies & brownies
· Beer/Wine/Soft Drinks/Water/Vitamin Waters

B.ED. is located on the 6^th floor of the building AND is only accessible by elevator from the street and it takes some time to get up/down as a result.

B.E.D. is located half way along the block on 27^th between 10^th and 11^th, the south side of the street. There is some construction work going on in the area, and it’s not particularly luxurious to look at, especially in the day light, but once inside you will love the place.

From the 6^th Floor you have access to the enclosed and heated roof terrace, with tables, loungers, Beds, etc. and it’s spectacular views of Manhattan and The Empire State Building.

I HAVE TO PURCHASE THE TICKETS IN ADVANCE (BY NOON ON SATURDAY), SO PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY THEN IF YOU WOULD LIKE A TICKET PICKED UP FOR YOU.

Sunday Night Post-Trot Dinner - Jonathan put this one together and RSVP'd for enough people, so all you need to do is show up and EAT!

Where: Mint Indian Food - 50th Street between Lexington and 3rd. (212.644.8888)
When: Sunday, November 5th (6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)
Details: Located in the San Carlos Hotel across the Kimberly Hotel.

Now - THE RACE!

Having not run this race before, I have to rely on a lot of second-hand knowledge from those who have or know the city. According to most sources, there are no shortage of people watching this thing (2-million) and combine that with the amount of people in the city already and you have a big number. My personal recommendation, for whatever it is worth, is to keep it simple and keep travel to a minimum.

I like the following locations:

* Mile 14.5 (St. John's Hospital - E or V line to 23rd Street/Ely Ave.)
* Mile 17.5 (Upper East Side - 1st Ave. @ 86th - 4 5 6 to 86th St.)
* Mile 24 (Central Park - 5th Ave. @ 86th - 4 5 6 to 86th St.)

The time between 14.5 and 17.5 isn't much (30 min)... so this might be a stretch... but the the Upper East Side location and Central Park location are six crosstown blocks apart and lead you right into Central Park where the Family Reunion area is located after the finish line.

If you want to plot your own course, by all means here are a few tools:

COURSE MAP - this is a great tool because it overlays Google Maps and you can add in mile markers, etc.

NYC SUBWAY MAP - the preferred way of moving around in NY, esp. with the streets being blocked off. If you click on the stations, you can see the relative cross-streets and compare them to the above. A bit tedious, but so is running for five hours!

MARATHON INTERACTIVE MAP - this toy is great for finding out when we will likely be where. To use, click on the "preparation" tab at the top and enter the time 4:20:00, hit "generate" and repeat for 5:00:00. This should give you your BEST sense of where we will be. If you let me know on Saturday where you plan to be, I will stay to the RIGHT side of the street and look for you around that point. This worked in Paris for Chris, Laurie & I, so it can be done!

Last - THE FINISH LINE!

There is a Family Reunion area where we should meet after we finish... it will likely take about 30 minutes after the race just to get through the replenishing stations, chip stations, etc. etc.

I will meet as many people as are around at the "N" area on Central Park West between 77th & 81st.

This hopefully will cover it and make it a GREAT time! Call me if you have questions!!!

It is just after 6:30 on a Monday night and normally I would be sitting in my Marketing 540P class at Emory University's Goizueta Business School... instead I am looking out onto a mass of the San Francisco skyline on a beautiful, crisp October day from atop my 20th floor hotel room.

October could be the best month of the year. When I was growing up in the flat, dusty, cactus-ridden city of Apache Junction, I looked forward to October because it was when the desert heat of the Arizona summers finally broke. Since moving to Atlanta, I've seen that October is also a time when the lush, green leaves turn color to magnificent reds, oranges and yellows and fall to the earth in loose clumps.

But, October is also a month of reflection - In past post (When The Tree Becomes A Shrub) I have expounded upon the recent loss of my grandparents and most impactfully, the loss of my father, who died two years ago this Thursday. It is hard to share feelings of loss with people who have not dealt with such events themselves and amazing how people of similar fate find such solace and comfort in discussing these things amongst themselves even though they may have very little else in common.

Of the many bonuses of this trip was the ability to focus on my marathon tune up run. As a good handful of you know, I have been suffering through a dastardly bout of plantar fasciitis and that has essentially hindered the sprints a bit. Clearly, this isn't amputation-type issues, but more of an irritant pain. Well, rest has done me good and although the pain and issues still lurk, I was ready to commit to a 20 miler through the streets of San Francisco.

In my preparation for my past two marathons, Paris and now New York, I have been fortunate to have been able to trot through some pretty neat cities: San Diego, Phoenix, Palm Beach, FL, Venice, FL, Boston, (and some not so neat: Norfolk, VA, Wichita, KS). However, my Sunday morning stroll through SF was definately a favorite...

The run started from our hotel in Union Square, straight down Market Street, along the Embarcadero, past the TransAmerica building, through Nob Hill and Coit Tower, out to end of Pier 39 to say good morning to the sea lions, through Fisherman's Wharf where the odor of clam chowder and sourdough bread bowls was already in the air despite the early 8 a.m. hour. As I headed up the hill through Fort Mason and along the Marina district, I came upon a group of swimmers finishing off the first leg of their Escape from the Rock triathalon. Then I enjoyed a sandy couple of miles along Crissy Field (I don't think it is named after Suzanne Sommer's character on "Three's Company", but I can't be sure.) Either way, it was quite a sight to see dogs romping through the beach with their owners in tow and the stunningly red Golden Gate Bridge in the background. At the Fort Point, I wove my way up to the start of the bridge.

Since this was a 20-miler, there was no way that I could encourage my girlfriend to join me on the whole trip, but she did plan to meet me at the bridge and run that over and back. With precision timing, she jumped out of her taxi cab, just as I came up the hill and we took on the mile and a half trek over the bridge with the early-morning Pacific Ocean air whipping in from the West. It wasn't until I crossed the bridge in Marin County and turned around to head back in did I suddenly realize how far 10 miles is when you have urban landmarks to guide you. The city looked miniscule in the distance... wow. It was quite relaxing to come back across the bridge and be able to look out and see the bay and city beyond it. Because I took on some pretty agressive hills on the way out, I knew that I could talk my girlfriend into running a bit longer with me, since those uphills became downhills on the way back. Before we knew it, she'd covered more than 8 miles including a steep uphill climb to the top of Hyde, just so we could say that we ran down Lombard Street - the world's crookiest street.

All in all... it was a very pleasant and peaceful run and reinforces that I am ready for NY next month! I am also ready thanks to all of your support... in the past month, Team Continuum has received quite a few donations in my name. At this moment, I am a mere $120 from my goal of $2500. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR HELP WITH THIS including:

- Andi, Tim & Sybil Thomas (Decatur, GA)
- Chris & Liorah Curtis (Mesa, AZ)
- John Calabrese (Laguna Beach, CA)
- Stewart Aragon (Roswell, GA)
- Fred & Sheryl Barlam (Phoenix, AZ)
- Jason Kaup (Mesquite, TX)
- Theri, Ted, Steve, Matt, AnnMarie, Veronica, Andy, Tracy, Amanda and Marie (Garden City, NY)
- Cara Daly (Atlanta, GA)
- Billie Jean Conn (Chandler, AZ)
- Doug, Eileen, Lindsay & Alexis Cohen (Marietta, GA)


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Happy New Year (Rosh HaShanah) and wishes of a peaceful Ramadan month...

Since I've been keeping this blog updated (which is semi-regularly), quite a few people have asked me what I mean by my title - "What Is Mile 20?"

When I was training for the Paris Marathon in April I would listen to as much advice as I could, from books by professionals like Jeff Galloway or fellow runners who'd completed a few marathons and overwhelmingly they would talk about, "The Wall" that occurs during a marathon. Oddly, everyone happens to have a different take on "The Wall"... Some contend it doesn't even exist at all... others give you as much advice as you will listen to on how to avoid it. What most everyone does agree on, however, is that "The Wall" occurs somewhere around Mile 20 for some reason.

So here is my take on it... clearly this is a proverbial "wall"... In my short time learning to run, I have discovered that there are exactly two things at play when it comes to being able to accomplish a run: Your body and your mind. What I have noticed is that the mental strength to accomplish something is often the difference maker... once our body is tuned to a certain physical frequency the thing that will dial up or down at that point is our desire, will and confidence to do it.

Essentially, then, Mile 20 is the proverbial wall... if you want it to be. Trust me, when I came up to mile 20 in Paris and saw the carnage of bodies standing around virtually lifeless and injured it almost got into my head too. Seeing the Reebok sponsored sign that says "20 Miles" also does a good job in getting into your head, I guess 20 looks like 26 sometimes, esp. after three hours of running and sweat on your shades. Another way to look at it is to know that you only have 6 miles to go and that you have run at least 6 miles more times than you can think and this won't be any different, so screw it and just go for it, huh!

In the end, Mile 20 is what you want it to be - and on Sunday, November 5th at the New York Marathon, hopefully in my case, it is nothing but another mile marker.

Just to bring you up to speed on some other important "goings-ons"...

=> My new running partner and cousin, Doug Cohen celebrated his 50th... err... 47th birthday on Friday with a blistering six-mile run through Marietta!

=> My uncle Bob had a birthday earlier this week too and his daughter, Robin and her husband Jeff (Avi's parents) celebrated their wedding anniversary as well.

=> My little brother Michael turned 10!

=> My longest-time and closest lunatic friend Sean and his wife Wendy learned that they were pregnant with their first child! Sean will be running with me in NY as well.

=> Par Four, the fantasy football team shepparded by Jonathan and myself, won its first game of the season thanks to the Pittsburg offense sputtering on Monday night.

=> Thanks to Dr. Perry Julien, my foot is recovering nicely after being diagnosed with Plantar fasciitis. Who knew that "stretching" could actually HELP!

=> School is going well as we have started to form some pretty consistent and productive study channels.

=> I got my 16 mile run in at the Silver Comet last weekend. I started at the Floyd Road 4.2 mile marker and as the light of day crept into the corridor of Georgia trees, I made my way to the Mavell Road trailhead to meet Doug for his Sunday long run. My times are down from my Paris training, but you can thank Doug for most of that, since that guy doesn't seem to run out of energy on the road.

That's my progress... Oh, and I still need your donations for Team Continuum if I am going to make it to New York...

Team Continuum Donation Site => Please Help A Hairy Guy Run New York!!!

It has been a while -- almost a month since you last heard from me...

But I have to tell you, I have been busy enjoying my freedom from school. It is odd to think that at 32 years old I would still get excited about summer vacation, but it is true!

So what have I been doing with all that time off?

First off, Chris, Laurie & I sprinted through America's Finest City 1/2 Marathon. It is a beautiful city and there was a LOT of sightseeing: Tijuana, Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinitas, Rancho's Mexican Food in Ocean Beach, brunch at the Hotel Del on Coronado Island, visiting with a great handful of friends and even having time to have Indian food for lunch with my mom in Santa Monica.

To top it all off, we ran great... Chris posted a sub 2:00:00 time because he sprinted like mad up 6th Avenue towards Balboa Park for the finish... but I got in with a cool 2:00:13. Congratualations to Chris by the way, on his new position with Amgen!!

Next was a trip to Minnesota to visit with my girlfriend's family and SUPERCUTE nephew!! Again, a good handful of fun that included taking in the Body Worlds exhibit in St. Paul, a visit to the Minnesota State Fair where everyone pigged out on everything from foot-long hot dogs, deep-fried cheese curds and, yes, deep-fried Snickers bar on a stick!!! There was also lots of water time with jetskiing and waterskiing on Lake Owasso.

Unfortunately, the running has literally stopped as I have been nursing a irritated flexor muscle in my right foot... staying out of my running shoes has been tough, but I think this weekend Doug & I will be back at it with a casual 12-miler at Stone Mountain to kick off the final leg of training before New York.

Speaking of New York... the November 5th date is coming fast and so are the donations for Team Continuum. Thanks to the goodwill of my fellow Emory collegues Satish Hemachandran & Priya Krishnamoorthy, I have crossed over the $1600.00 mark.

I do want to ask all of you who have been reading and thinking about putting money towards my efforts to do so in the next few weeks or so... I have been pretty lucky with the fundraising so far, but I still have a bit to go till I get to the $2500.00 goal!!

Team Continuum Donation Site => Please Help A Hairy Guy Run New York!!!

Lastly, of course, since it is early September, and I am an NFL fan, there must be a Fantasy Football draft in sight... my brother, Jonathan and I drafted the likes of LaDanian Tomlinson, Torry Holt & Matt Hasslebeck for our Par Four team and are ready to take on the fantasy gridiron for the next four months.

So that was my summer vacation - and I can tell that school is getting back in session, because sooner than we know it, the books are opening and study sessions are forming...

A final shoutout to Michael Negretti and Tim Thomas, who celebrate their birthdays on Monday, September 11th... This reminds us that although 9/11 is an infamous day in our nation's history - there are a lot of good things that have happened on that day too!!

Also, for those of you in the New York area looking for something different to do, my friend's Sean's movie continues to make its way through festivals... Next stop is the Fire Island Film & Video Festival. "In The Blood" will be the feature showing on opening night, September 13th.