Yesterday morning, NBC News San Diego came to my school to highlight our parent-run running club. A lot of runners, including myself, showed up at 5am for the tapings. It was completely black outside and FREEZING!
I have been coughing a bit this week and the cold air kind of made me cough a lot more 🙁 I don’t know if I am coming down with something because I NEVER get sick… Anyway, I was very excited about my school being on the news.
The reporter’s name was Megan Tevrizian. She was really nice and she interviewed a bunch of us to learn more about our running club. She even did a little bit of running with us. This year is is our school’s goal to “Run Around the World.” That is equal to 24,901 miles! I think we can do it for sure.
Our running club is so amazing. I started running when I was 6 because of the running club. The moms that organize it are very supportive and great. I am so thankful for the club because it gave me the chance to realize how much I love run and to be strong and healthy.
This past weekend I competed in my first 5K. That is about 3.1 miles. I had never done it before and thought why not?
The youngest age division was 12-and-under. It was a very different start than when I do the 1-mile races. The start was very very casual. They didn’t give any announcements, just all of a sudden a horn went off and tons and tons of people just started moving. There were a lot of people walking, pushing strollers… I was nowhere near the front and tried to just weave my way through all the people. I knew that my time wouldn’t start until I crossed the starting line, but I was excited to get going.
Once I got past the starting line, I took off. There were so many people to go around. I noticed as I ran by, I overheard several comments. Someone said, “Hey look at that little guy- good job buddy!”
Another man pushing a jogger said to his baby, “Wow look at this kid, I hope you are like that one day.”
Several people just said, “Way to go, kid!”
I thought that was nice.
The track had several cones so I knew exactly which way to run. After each mile, they also had an announcer tell you the gun’s split time. After the first mile, it was 7:50. After the 2nd mile it was 14:25. I came into the finish at 22-something. My official race time was 21:10.
Somewhere during the 3rd mile, I saw someone ahead of me who looked like he could be in my age division. He looked 11 or 12. I decided to try to catch up to him. As I got very close, he saw me and started sprinting away.
I kept increasing my pace and about a minute later I caught up to him again and passed him. I thought he might try to catch back up with me so I kept my pace high but I wasn’t sprinting. He never did catch up. Later, I found out I placed in 2nd and he placed 3rd, 30 seconds after me.
Have you watched Secretariat? I saw it a few weekends ago. I sort of felt like Secretariat during that part. Secretariat comes from behind and then increases his lengths ahead of who he passes. That was such an inspiring movie.
Anyway, I had a blast at the race and hope to try one again soon.
There was a really nice man at the end of the race who said he felt awesome during his entire race and not a single person passed him, until I did. He wanted a picture with me. He was really nice 🙂
I just finished reading an article from yesterday’s San Diego Union Tribune. I am interested in it because it talks about a runner, and I love running. The person’s name is Meb Keflezighi. He ran the 5 boroughs of New York and won it. He was the 1st American to win since Alberto Salazar in 1982.
Towards the finish line, he said he felt a sense of relief that he had done it. In his 12th attempt at that distance, he won a marathon. Until then his silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics represented his awesome achievement.
He also did one in New York and one in Boston. He said it was a blessing. He also went to about 20 National Championships!
Meb had a vision for himself before he ran. Before his New York victory, he had not run a good run in Boston and took third. He started getting worse and worse. His appearance fees started dropping.
At the 2008 trials he broke suffering the pain. The sport moved away from Meb. He had a lot of injuries and people started to doubt his ability to do well anymore.
But Meb is not a quitter. He does not take the easy road ever, and challenges don’t affect him. Meb says that he is now fit and is setting a goal on a 10 miles training run in September.
I know I talk a lot about running. I also really enjoy playing soccer. This year was my first time playing competitive league. I love being part of a team. My teammates are all great players and I’ve worked really hard to improve my technical skills.
I’ve learned a lot by watching everyone else who are all so talented. While I have played various positions this year, it seems lately I’ve been playing mostly center midfield. It’s been a great learning experience and I would love to score a goal soon!
We had a great Halloween. This year I was a band member from KISS, and my sister was Tinkerbell. This picture was taken at my friend’s house. They decorated their front door very scary!
I went to a very very haunted house on Friday with my friends. Then I spent the night at one of my friend’s houses Friday night.
On Saturday I had a soccer game (we won- yeah!)
Then on Sunday, we went to Sea World for the day. We raced home to make it back in time for trick-or-treating. We ran around 2 different neighborhoods and scored tons of treats 🙂 I hope yours was safe and yummy, too.
…Continued from previous journal entry (October 4, 2010)…
The IronKids event was such a fun event. I want to do it again next year. Here are some pictures from the event. It went by really fast and I had a great time traveling with Dad.
Based on my performance at the San Diego Qualifier, I was supposed to come in around 38th place. I ended up taking 30th. An improvement! I had a blast and would love to do it again next year.
Excerpts from my written journal (October 2, 2010)…
I have just left the San Diego airport and I am sitting on the Southwest airplane. We are way above the clouds. I ordered an apple juice and it tastes great! I am on my way to Florida to compete in the IronKids Nationals.
I am very excited and proud. My Dad is proud of me too. My mom is at a conference and my sister is at her friend’s house, so it’s just me and Dad.
(later..)
We are about to land in Phoenix and then take off on another plane. The next plane I board will take longer because it will go to Florida.
I have just boarded the next plane and it’s another Southwest plane. It’s going to be about five hours until we arrive. I can’t wait to land in Florida and see what it looks like!
I just ate some Ritz and chips ahoy cookies and boy, it was phenomenal! I had some apple juice also.
In about three hours, we will arrive in Florida.
I just finished a couple of courses in Mario Kart and I won almost all of them. I was Luigi for every single course. I played Figure 8 circuit, Yoshi Falls, Cheep Cheep Beach, Luigi’s Mansion, Dessert Hills, Delfino Square, Waluigi Pinball, Shroom Ridge, Mario Circuit 1, Moo Moo Farm, Peach Circuit, Luigi Circuit, Donut Plains 1, Frappe Snowland, Bowser Castle 2, and Baby Park.. in that order.
We will probably be in Florida in two hours and thirty minutes. When I get there, I will be begging for food!
I have just woken up from a LONG nap and there is about 45 more minutes until we land. Then, I’ll be in Florida!
Yay we are in Florida! I just got into our rental car and it is a silver Hyundai. We are driving across a lake on a bridge. My Dad got off at the wrong exit so now we’re headed to the right exit so we can find the hotel.
Today my mom took me to Los Angeles to hear a speech by Nick Vujicic. I had no idea who he was or what he was going to talk about. All I knew was that my mom was really excited to take me.
We drove to UCLA. I had never seen a college campus before. I liked it. There were a lot of college kids walking around and cafes and stores to look at.
Once we were seated, a man named Dr. Bill Dorfman introduced Nick. On stage I saw a person in a wheelchair and a few other men in front of him and behind him. I didn’t know who was who. The man in the wheelchair then got on a table and started talking. I didn’t realize he was Nick.
I was surprised because he had no arms or legs. My first thought was, “What happened?” I wondered if he had an accident. Maybe he fell off a skateboard or something else. I had never seen a man with no arms or legs before.
I learned that he is 27 years old and he is from Australia. He did not have an accident. He was born that way. He said that when he was just 8 years old, he was very depressed. He got teased all the time by other kids. They always told him he was ugly or that he looked like an alien. One day at school, he counted 12 kids who teased him and called him ugly. They were so mean.
He was so down that he told himself if one more person said it, he would commit suicide. The next person to call out to him was a girl. When he turned to look at her she said, “Hey Nick! You’re looking good today!” She made him feel so good that it erased his bad feelings from earlier.
Nick talked about what is cool and what isn’t cool. He said some kids think it’s cool to bully others, swear, or drink alcohol. Nick said these things are NOT cool.
I agree. He also said if you fall down or if you fail at something, you should never ever give up. Always pick yourself up and try try again. You should never give up because you never know what’s around the corner.
For Nick, if he had committed suicide, I would have never heard him, met him, or learned his important message. He is really funny, too. Nick said that he receives 30,000 requests a month to speak all over the world! I feel so lucky that I got to meet him and give him a hug.
I’m 8 years old and I really like school and my friends. But if I had his experience, I wouldn’t like going because everyone would tease me. The biggest lesson I learned was to never bully or tease anyone. Even though I’ve never teased anyone, not only will I not tease anyone in the future, but I also promise never to allow anyone else to tease anyone in front of me!
Yesterday morning, NBC News San Diego came to my school to highlight our parent-run running club. A lot of runners, including myself, showed up at 5am for the tapings. It was completely black outside and FREEZING!
