Soooo... yeah. I'm sure you might be wondering where I've been for the past month or so. At least, what's been keeping me so busy that I haven't been posting here. It's a funny story, you see little elves from the future abducted me and... okay, so you're not going to buy that one. I guess I will have to tell you about the mission the CIA sent me on to...not that one either, huh? Well fine then. I suppose the truth will have to do.
So, first off, Iron Angels. This book is supposed to be published in May, which makes time a little bit short on that one. I've been working like crazy to finish it up so that my copy editor can have it (thanks again for your patience, Tristi!) and the story has been a tricky one to resolve. At the very least I think I've got the hang of it now, which means that I will be able to get it done this next month and have a third book. Hopefully the payoff is worth all the agony it's put me through!
The next thing that has been taking up my time has been something called Tough Mudder. No, not the Firefly thing. Tough Mudder is a race where you go through twelve miles of obstacles, mud and various other pleasant stuff like electrical wires and burning bales of hay. No, I am not making that up, and definitely no, I am not running in it. At least, not this year. :) However, my dad and a bunch of the guys from the ward are running the race in a couple of weeks, and so I've been getting up early every Saturday morning to work out with them. And by work out, I mean getting up early enough that the sun isn't out and running through freezing cold mountain streams.
On top of all of that I have the cutest little girl in the world who wants nothing more than to have her daddy read her the pidgeon books. Those unfamiliar with the pidgeon books written by Mo Willems should acquaint themselves with these works of art. Otherwise we will be sending Sera over to make you read them to her.
So yeah, it's been a bit busy, but we are still moving along. I wanted to provide photos in this post, but for some reason the internet is not cooperating with me tonight. Oh well. Grumble grumble grumble...
Showing posts with label Running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Running. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
On Running up Mother
Don't worry, the post title will make sense eventually. I promise. :)
Back in high school, our track and cross country coach had a saying: "The longest distance you will ever run is the one between your ears." What he meant, of course, is that no matter how hard it is to run any particular race, the mental battle is the hardest part.
When he laid out our cross country course, Coach Cohen made sure it reflected that. Every part of the course carried its own particular mental challenge--from the start that took us right up a pavement hill to the finish that tricked hasty runners into a final all-out sprint half a mile from the finish line--but none of them were quite as painful as Mother.
Mother was a trail named for who knows what reason. Our course was filled with trails like that, from Ice Cream to JV, but I always tended to imagine that Mother got its name from the first half of the vulgar, instinctive reaction of the runners who first encountered it. The trail came about two thirds of the way through the three mile course and it started out easily enough. Just a short, mildly difficult incline that you had to run up before you reached a slight turn to the left. A lot of runners, especially those who hadn't run the course before, would sprint up that first little hill and make that turn, fully believing they would have no trouble reaching the top.
The turn was the trick you see. No sooner did you make that turn than a monster confronted you. It was a sharp, long incline that seemed to stretch on forever, and you could see every painful inch of it the moment you made the turn. I remember more than one competitor coming to nearly a dead halt the instant they were confronted with that sight, and I have to admit that I often looked forward to blasting past runners who had so overconfidently sprinted past me a moment ago. It was the ultimate test of your endurance and mental fortitude, and I think I will remember running it the rest of my life.
At this point in my writing career, I think I'm running up Mother all over again. I've made it a pretty decent part of the way through the set up phase. I've got three different novels, and I've set up a writing schedule that will let me get two more done by the end of the year. I know I write well, and I am excited to start breaking into the finish. At the same time, I've turned the corner and realized that it's still going to be a long haul until I start seeing profit and benefit from it all. It's daunting to think of everything I have left to do, and it makes me wonder if the Lord will help me last that long.
At the same time, though, Mother's the wrong time to decide to quit. The best thing I can do is push harder, make it to the top and keep going. Otherwise it'll all have been for nothing, and I'll have to watch some other dirtbag sprint by me as I putter around the trail. So, head down, arms pump, time to hit it hard. Cause, if there's one thing I learned from cross country, it's how to make it up a hill.
This has been your regularly scheduled philosophical rant. More interesting posts will return Friday. See ya!
Back in high school, our track and cross country coach had a saying: "The longest distance you will ever run is the one between your ears." What he meant, of course, is that no matter how hard it is to run any particular race, the mental battle is the hardest part.
When he laid out our cross country course, Coach Cohen made sure it reflected that. Every part of the course carried its own particular mental challenge--from the start that took us right up a pavement hill to the finish that tricked hasty runners into a final all-out sprint half a mile from the finish line--but none of them were quite as painful as Mother.
Mother was a trail named for who knows what reason. Our course was filled with trails like that, from Ice Cream to JV, but I always tended to imagine that Mother got its name from the first half of the vulgar, instinctive reaction of the runners who first encountered it. The trail came about two thirds of the way through the three mile course and it started out easily enough. Just a short, mildly difficult incline that you had to run up before you reached a slight turn to the left. A lot of runners, especially those who hadn't run the course before, would sprint up that first little hill and make that turn, fully believing they would have no trouble reaching the top.
The turn was the trick you see. No sooner did you make that turn than a monster confronted you. It was a sharp, long incline that seemed to stretch on forever, and you could see every painful inch of it the moment you made the turn. I remember more than one competitor coming to nearly a dead halt the instant they were confronted with that sight, and I have to admit that I often looked forward to blasting past runners who had so overconfidently sprinted past me a moment ago. It was the ultimate test of your endurance and mental fortitude, and I think I will remember running it the rest of my life.
At this point in my writing career, I think I'm running up Mother all over again. I've made it a pretty decent part of the way through the set up phase. I've got three different novels, and I've set up a writing schedule that will let me get two more done by the end of the year. I know I write well, and I am excited to start breaking into the finish. At the same time, I've turned the corner and realized that it's still going to be a long haul until I start seeing profit and benefit from it all. It's daunting to think of everything I have left to do, and it makes me wonder if the Lord will help me last that long.
At the same time, though, Mother's the wrong time to decide to quit. The best thing I can do is push harder, make it to the top and keep going. Otherwise it'll all have been for nothing, and I'll have to watch some other dirtbag sprint by me as I putter around the trail. So, head down, arms pump, time to hit it hard. Cause, if there's one thing I learned from cross country, it's how to make it up a hill.
This has been your regularly scheduled philosophical rant. More interesting posts will return Friday. See ya!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
On Running
Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a runner. Not that I am incredibly good at it, I just have always enjoyed it. Any sports that let me run around, like soccer, I tended to enjoy. Sports like baseball, where you had to sit around and wait for long periods of time, I hated. Activities like crew, where running is barely involved in things outside of training, were misery incarnate.
Running just helps me relax in a way. It clears my mind, letting me think up new solutions to things or plan out my ideas. Even better than that, it helps me get to sleep easier at night, giving me that much more clarity of thought when I wake up in the morning.
Those benefits alone would have given me reason enough to continue enjoying the occasional run, but I tend to get more out of running besides just health benefits and mental cooldown times. There is little more satisfying than to be able to put everything you’ve got into a sprint to the finish; the rush and exhilaration is beyond words. Few experiences compare to taking yourself to the edge of your endurance and ability on a longer run, and then toughing it out to the end; the sense of accomplishment is almost tangible. At the same time, a bad run can ruin an entire day; a failure like that is something I tend to mope about for hours afterward.
Writing and running can share a lot of the same characteristics, and I tend to compare them a lot. When they go well, you almost feel like you are soaring, that your legs hardly touch the ground, and your fingers barely hit the keys. A well written scene and a final sprint can leave you with a glow for the rest of the day, and finishing a story or a long run gives meaning to otherwise dull toil. Stumbling in either sucks the fun out of things, and can be incredibly frustrating.
Recently I’ve been reviving my running habits, after taking far too long of a hiatus. I’ve been finding that it compliments writing perfectly though, and helps get me out in the sun a little. That way I don’t end up turning into a cave dweller or something. So what else do you guys enjoy doing? Any hobbies or habits that grew up alongside writing or robot programming, or am I alone in my crazy running ways? Just wondering. I’ll see you around!
PS My apologies for writing such a late blog post. I wrote quite a bit yesterday on Realm and reviewed some of the comments on Brellan before starting the post. When I started on the post, my head literally started aching with pain, which I took as a sign not to continue. :) I’ll try to be a bit more consistent tomorrow.
Running just helps me relax in a way. It clears my mind, letting me think up new solutions to things or plan out my ideas. Even better than that, it helps me get to sleep easier at night, giving me that much more clarity of thought when I wake up in the morning.
Those benefits alone would have given me reason enough to continue enjoying the occasional run, but I tend to get more out of running besides just health benefits and mental cooldown times. There is little more satisfying than to be able to put everything you’ve got into a sprint to the finish; the rush and exhilaration is beyond words. Few experiences compare to taking yourself to the edge of your endurance and ability on a longer run, and then toughing it out to the end; the sense of accomplishment is almost tangible. At the same time, a bad run can ruin an entire day; a failure like that is something I tend to mope about for hours afterward.
Writing and running can share a lot of the same characteristics, and I tend to compare them a lot. When they go well, you almost feel like you are soaring, that your legs hardly touch the ground, and your fingers barely hit the keys. A well written scene and a final sprint can leave you with a glow for the rest of the day, and finishing a story or a long run gives meaning to otherwise dull toil. Stumbling in either sucks the fun out of things, and can be incredibly frustrating.
Recently I’ve been reviving my running habits, after taking far too long of a hiatus. I’ve been finding that it compliments writing perfectly though, and helps get me out in the sun a little. That way I don’t end up turning into a cave dweller or something. So what else do you guys enjoy doing? Any hobbies or habits that grew up alongside writing or robot programming, or am I alone in my crazy running ways? Just wondering. I’ll see you around!
PS My apologies for writing such a late blog post. I wrote quite a bit yesterday on Realm and reviewed some of the comments on Brellan before starting the post. When I started on the post, my head literally started aching with pain, which I took as a sign not to continue. :) I’ll try to be a bit more consistent tomorrow.
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