Gil Can Run!A blog on Running and all the crap that runs through my head while doing it

Jun 30th Cruisin’ to the end of June

Hey, it’s the last few hours of June! We had a big month, 30 day Yoga Challenge with Raghunath. Ran my 6th marathon (or greater distance) this year.

So as you can see, I’m on target, as I should be at 750 miles (1207 km) at this point in the year, and I’m a bit over that. So I just have to keep up this distance and I hit my 1500 miles (2414 km) right at the end of the year.
Now I just have to sign up for August’s Marathon, then I need to figure out September, October, November, and December. Although technically I have run 11 marathon or greater distances in 10 months. I said I would do 12 in calendar year 2015 and I will.
I’m also eliminating meat for all the right reasons. I’m excited that my first “No Meat Athlete” singlet is on its way. I will need it. I also need to buy some more Marathon Maniacs gear, The Second half of my year looks to be even more exciting, as I need to start finding a new job, my house will be completed from the fire that took it out last year, and I will find out if I get to run London in October!
Life is always so exciting, have fun and keep running!

Jun 29th Monday Runday!

Yep, I ran on a Monday. After the weekend, I had to get out there and what a gorgeous day! I will give  a full mid-year run down tomorrow. So what was going on in my head while running today? Well, mostly I was thinking about what my friend said to me Saturday night at the Morrissey concert. She noted that while we were walking down the street after the bar, on our way to MSG, that as I was being my usual, bombastic, hilarious, entertaining self, many of the women we were passing were taking time to check me out. I never in my  life considered, or noticed, anyone checking me out. This revelation was a surprise to me.
I am equally shocked, amazed, scared, and feeling weird about all that. I suppose I’m not a bad looking person, or I’m that entertaining, one or the other maybe both? So that occupied a bit of time, I mean how often do you really think about something like that.
The rest of the time I extended those thoughts into what does it mean as far as how “good” a person I am. Then that turned into the thoughts of how I need to be kinder, more gentle, more peaceful, more loving. Because that’s what I want to see in the world, and if I want to see those things I need to be those things, because what we are makes up the world around us. We all make the decision of how our world will be when we make the decision as to how we will treat the world at each moment.
Be the change, right, you hear it all the time. But it’s really true. I don’t need to be world peace, I just need to be peaceful, and my peace will extend out, and it will grow. If we all lead by example, we would end up getting the world right. I hear the saying all the time, “Like a boss”. I don’t want to be like a boss, I want to be a leader, and not for my own good, but for the betterment of all. I don’t need to lead to gain resources, or money, or power, I want to lead because I want the world to be a better place, because I want everyone to lead. If I want everyone to be a leader, to be self-sufficient and yet empathetic enough to take care of all our brothers and sisters, then I must do it. And when people are treating me with disrespect, anger, aggressiveness, or any other negative emotions, I must not return that to them. I must stay true to what I want to see in the world, and embrace them and their violence, and show them that I offer a different path, a better path. Not only in a board sense, but in that moment.
But when I fail, I will acknowledge my failure, apologize where needed and move on to be better then next time.

Jun 28th Sunday no run day

Very rarely life absolutely takes over your whole schedule and you end up with no time to run. It happens very rarely, but happened today. In cleaning out some stuff in my house that the “SERVice PROfessional” company the insurance company suggested to do the initial clean up and tear down (read between the lines) left behind, I was exposed to massive amounts of mold. Mold is very very very bad for me. After recovering from that (although my lungs still hurt), I had to go to my sister’s and give her my opinion on a leak in the PVC tubing for her pool filter. By the time I got back, because time must be spent with the nieces and nephew, it was time for dinner and by the time I was done there it was dark and I don’t have any lights to wear anymore. So screw it, I’ll run tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I keep thinking about what an awesome concert Morrissey was last night. The hugely powerful vegan message he sent throughout the show. I’ve been listening to “Meat is Murder” all day in fact. It is a really good album. This is what I mean about music with a message and a call to action. I mean Morrissey insisted Madison Square Garden, arguably one of the most famous modern arenas in the world go completely cruelty free for him to perform there, and they did it! You could not buy any meat, or anything with animal products in it last night at MSG. There was plenty of beer, hahaha. And certainly, although I was not one of them, plenty of folks smoking the reefer. You can’t smoke indoors in NYC, but at concerts no one ever seems to care. But that’s neither here nor there.
It was such a tremendous and powerful event to be a part of. Even though I woke up late and missed Doc’s Race this morning, and ended up not running at all, I wouldn’t trade that concert for anything in the world. It was a truly special night.

Jun 28th No running, but Morrissey and Blondie rocked!

Yes, I went to NYC to see Blondie open for Morrissey, and it was fantastic! Nights like these are far too rare. If you don’t dig stuff like Morrissey and Blondie, too bad. It’s definitely stuff I totally rock out to. On the train home right now, content, feeling well, but a bit wet. New York City rain, what can you do? And a big shout out to Alfanoose for the awesome falafel for lunch. Check them out on  Fulton St if you’re ever in NYC.

Jun 25th Episode 8, We need to do better

No seriously, we need to treat each other better. I talk about how we treat each other, I try to stay calm about it. I punish myself by eating chips that are amazingly hot, yet delicious. And I talk a very little bit about running. Like I said in my Tuesday blog post, stop being dicks to each other. Here’s my run. And the video.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

Jun 24th Busy day, wooo!

Almost forgot to update, thank goodness for insomnia! So yeah, today was a big day, work is busy, end of quarter/fiscal year nonsense. Let’s not talk about that, in all honesty, I can’t really say much anyway. The big news is today is the second day in a row I’ve been below 180 lbs (81.6 kg) in a while! Gotta keep that streak going, and keep that weight trending down. Beyond that, I’m preparing for the big show tomorrow night. It will be weird, because I need to be serious about things that are happening, but I want to keep things fun, and I also got a special treat to challenge myself with while recording (this was planned a couple weeks ago). So I’m hoping it all comes together in something surreal and entertaining. Tomorrow night’s program will be an attempt at socially responsible performance art maybe? Allora, I did my good deeds for the day and got my run in. It was an easy one and I had no energy after yesterday, hopefully I’ll do better tomorrow. Alright, see you later, and thanks for tuning in!

Jun 23rd 9 Victims, 9 Miles

I thought much about the events that have been surrounding media coverage recently. About systemic racism, about how horribly we’ve not only historically treated 13% of the population, but how terribly we do today. It’s very simple people, just cease. Stop looking at people as lesser, or holding them to a different set of standards than you hold yourself or the people around you. Because that’s what happens. You have to realize there’s an entire system in place to keep certain people in a certain “place” in society. You buy into that system, whether you know it or not. That system is fed, and it feeds certain thoughts and feelings, and some people act out in a way that is contrary to human decency because they are led to believe that some people matter more than others, that some people’s lives are worth less. Too many people have these feelings, too many people promote these feelings, even if they don’t see it or even feel it themselves. I don’t know any of the people involved in the Charleston Terror Attack, but my heart is broken once again over needless death and destruction caused by a society that just does not seem to want to really face the issues causing these things. We are all culpable for feeding a system that allows this to happen on a regular basis, and not demanding action to stop it.
the Make Yes Happen virtual race sent an email at every mile marker. It gave a word, a victim’s name, and a meme with a quote pertinent to that word. I will share them all with you:

Mile 1:
Love
The Rev. Clementa Pinckney
“Where there is love, there is life” -M. Gandhi

Mile 2:
Joy
Cynthia Hurd
“Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and intelligence aglow.” -Helen Keller

Mile 3:
Faithfulness
The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton
“Show me thy faith without thy works, and I shall show you my faith by my works” -James 2:18

Mile 4:
Peace
Tywanza Sanders
“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” -unknown

Mile 5:
Patience
Ehtel Lance
“Patience with others is love, patience with self is hope, patience with God is faith.” -iliketoquote.com

Mile 6:
Gentleness
Susie Jackson
“The greatest strength is gentleness.” -Iroquois Proverb

Mile 7:
Goodness
Depayne Middleton Doctor
“Evil forges a tornado. But goodness battles in a straight line.” -Caris Roane

Mile 8:
Self-Control
The Rev. Daniel Simmons
“He is not strong and powerful who throws people down; but he is strong who withholds himself from anger.” -unknown

Mile 9:
Kindness
Myra Thompson
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” -Mother Teresa

Here’s my run here. Goodnight

Jun 22nd Monday Funday

No running today, but I did join a free virtual race for the victims of the Charleston terror attack. It may not make much of a difference at all, but it is something I can do and I can talk about it, and I can use it here to talk about Charleston and racism and domestic terrorism.
Make no mistake, what happened in South Carolina was a racist shit committing an act of domestic terrorism. That is what happened, it wasn’t an attack on religion, it wasn’t because of “Obama”, it was because throughout the history of this nation we have treated “others” like they weren’t even human beings most of the time. I won’t get into it fully now, but I will say that it needs to stop, now.
So join up, go out, and run 9 miles at your pace. That’s a place to start, and think about why you’re doing it, while you’re doing it. Thanks!

Jun 21st The Branford Road Race, I did better than I thought I would

OK the party in New Jersey was great!I love seeing all my college friends. But yes, I totally neglected to update yesterday, I did run, so let’s post that here for you to look at.

So this morning, I woke up at 5:30a, got washed up, got dressed and hauled ass back to the CT. Got in at 8, made myself some breakfast, changed into my race gear. It was raining a bit and pretty humid, so even though it was just a 5 miler, I went crazy with the moob lube (I totally made that up this morning, and totally claiming copyright on that; also, everyone else calls it body glide). Anyway, I met up with the club (Milford Road Runners) and I’m not usually a “warm-up” type person. But, I never run with my club, so I make an exception on this day, and we went out for a 1 mile, slow warm-up. Then it was time for the race! I did pretty well considering, I did better than I planned actually. But I did not PR, it was too tough to breathe. What was cool was I got to run along side a few of my fellow club members at different stages of the race. But the coolest was, right after mile 1, I’m talking to Becky (club member and friend) and I look over and I see this girl (well, found out she’s older than me, but who cares, I’m like 13 at heart) and she has a very cool Milo tattoo on her arm, so I’m all “hey, nice Milo!” Which made her day, since most folks don’t know the Descendents  , but then a little later she passed me and I noticed she also had a 7 Seconds tattoo on her leg, it was massively cool. So we spent some time after the race talking about bands and stuff, it was massively awesome. So I finished the race in 41:44 and while I didn’t expect anything under 45, so I’m happy about that, my friend Paul who is so much faster than me, was just up ahead at the finish line and I didn’t have the lungs to catch him, he finished in 41:40, it was probably my only chance to beat him. But either way, not a bad run considering, although I do wish I had been able to push a little harder and get another sub 40 minute 5-miler in. But oh well, check out my race here. So I’m just shy of 102 miles (164 km). So we’re on track to hit my goal distance for the month and then some. So I’m definitely having a great weekend.

Namaste!

Jun 19th Some Friday night thoughts

Alright, looks like I can kind of type a post tonight through the CMS. I opted against running today, due to schedule concerns. I will do my yoga and my run in the AM. Drive to the dirty Jerz for a party, then back for the race. That’ll be fun! So I didn’t talk about the whole domestic terrorist attack in South Carolina in my video last night. When I get more thoughts on it I will. Needless to say, I’m fairly sickened by this whole thing and make no mistake, this is domestic terrorism. The man is a racist, a terrorist who listens to too much conservative echo chamber, believing that “they” are taking “his” country from him. What a load of horse shit. Listen people, everyone has a right to exist, and everyone has a right to a voice, equal treatment, equal voice. It pains me so much to see so many beautiful, capable, intelligent, caring, kind people discounted because they look different, or they act different, or they were born different. Yes, we all have differences, we all have our own story, Some people’s stories intersect, others remain parallel. It doesn’t matter though. Like I’ve said, we need to respect all our brothers and sisters, as a family. Even the completely rotten ones, like this jackass in SC. Yes, he needs to be removed from society, he cannot function with the rest of us if he is going to kill. He is not respecting his brothers and sisters. But we should not hate him, and while we should keep him locked away, we should show him the kindness and compassion that is surely lacking within him. Perhaps our example will lead him to a revelation, but if nothing else, at least we will not lower ourselves to his base actions.
Kindness can win the day, love can win the day. It was said by MLK Jr. and it is true, darkness cannot drive out the darkness, only light can do that. Where there is darkness, we must shine our brightest if we hope to defeat it. We should work to defeat this, to end the inherent systemic racism, and to stomp out the individual hatred and racism that so many still hold in their heart. The bigotry, the violence, it all has to go, and we have to keep asking ourselves, “What are we (as a species) accomplishing?” But we can’t let the horrible actions of a few get us down and defeat us. We must keep pushing forward, examine what we can do as individuals to create change, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us, and then we have to move forward to become that change. I think more than that, I think we need to become the love we want to see in the world.
We need to start teaching that all humans, and all other living animals have a right to be here, a right to live, and none of us have the right to say otherwise.
Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now. But we really need this madness to stop, once is too many times, and now this seems almost normal, and I know that is a terrible thing. So let’s get out there and do our best to end this violent, virulent racism. Let’s dedicate ourselves to love, and dedicate ourselves to being (as they said in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure) excellent to each other. Goodnight