We went up to my hometown this past weekend to see my Dad and brother – and we spent the evening walking around the lake shore watching the sunset.

I took a couple snapshots of the sunset and being my first time trying to capture it on “film”, several didn’t come out the way I had hoped. Plus, it wasn’t one of Erie’s best efforts… note the cloud cover on the horizon in the picture above.

When we got home, I googled what I had always believed: that Erie’s sunsets are ranked as one of the most beautiful in the world by National Geographic. Turns out it’s a bit of an urban legend.

Doesn’t matter – my birthplace still has the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. Even if I didn’t get to capture it this time around.

Inspirational things can happen in malls.

My daughter was playing in the play area of Ross Park Mall – running, sliding down the slides, and returning time and again to the hand sanitizing machine to “wash you hand”. On the other side of the play area was a little girl perhaps five or six years old, as well as her younger brother. Their young father was teaching his daughter some of the basics of gymnastics… cartwheels and such. WoyGirl, on several occasions, tried to mimic his instruction by putting her head down in a vain effort to stand on her head. Needless to say, she’s not hitting the pommel horse anytime soon.

After she had been playing for about ten minutes, she ran back to my wife giggling and laughing. The young father walked up to my wife and daughter with his own little girl as she clutched a stuffed animal.  The animal, with big eyes, was a hybrid between a monkey and a dog. Odd, but cute.

The young father said, “My daughter received two of these stuffed animals. We talked and she said she wanted to give it to another child. She would like to give your daughter this one.” She then held the animal out for WoyGirl to take. My daughter’s small hand reached out and touched it but, being shy, she backed away with a bashful smirk. His daughter, crying, shrunk back toward him. He encouraged her forward to give the animal to my wife. Mrs. Woy said, “That’s so sweet. What’s your name?” The girl, through her tears, replied, “Aubrey.” My wife thanked her for the gift and the two walked away. Standing several feet away and watching this transpire, I came over and asked what it was all about. Mrs. Woy related to the events to me.

After sitting for a few moments and talking it over with her, I left my wife and walked over to the other side of the play area where the father was cradling his daughter with his son nearby. Aubrey was visibly upset, probably torn about her decision to give something up that she wanted – even if it was one of the same thing that she already had. I said that I wanted to thank both of them for the gift and asked if he was sure that Aubrey was OK with WoyGirl having her animal. He smiled and said, “Absolutely. I’m teaching her to be selfless.” I thanked her and through her tears she said, “You’re welcome.”  I extended my hand and thanked him again, saying how wonderful I thought it all was. He said, “God bless you and your family” and I wished him the same.

It’s so amazing that you will find moments of true humanity in the most unlikely of places.

The source of my single greatest outburst of sports frustration in my life was not Super Bowl XXX when Neil O’Donnell’s tracking system shit the bed and he locked onto one Larry Brown. Nor was it the 2001 AFC Championship when the Steelers were considered a lock to advance to the Super Bowl but Tom Brady and company saw fit to derail that train.

No – it was the 1992 National League Championship Series when a relatively unknown pinch hitter named Francisco Cabrera brought in Sid Bream and started 17 years of misery. I broke a remote control that night and was melancholy for a good two weeks.

Over the years, my support for the team had waned with each successive season of ineptitude – and finally devolved into a backhanded support rife with sarcasm and jokes about their marketing campaign. BUT, I still rooted for them to win and paid to go to their games. Until this:

“2010 is the beginning of the next dynasty of the Pirates for me.” – Frank Coonelly

There was an additional quote that I think was attributed to Bob Nutting that was just as bad, but this one struck a nerve with me. This was somewhere between just complete fantasyland and a middle finger to all Pirate fans. This is coming from the same guy who said in 2008 we are going to “win now.”

So I swore that day that as long as Nutting and the current regime own the Pirates I would not pay for a ticket. There would be only two exceptions: A) I have to go for work-related reasons (which I probably wouldn’t pay for anyway) or B) my brothers would like to go when they come to visit.

A couple days ago I was offered a free ticket and initally refused, still incensed with how I felt about the organization. After giving it some thought, I felt I was overreacting and dediced to go. I had a solid time with some great people (despite swamp-ass conditions) and it was actually a competitive game. Pirates ended up winning 2-1 against the Chicago Cubs.

Does this mean I’m back on the bandwagon team and rooting for the franchise actively? No. I still can’t support an organization that repeatedly gives their fans empty promises and only delivers mismanagement. Fans bear some responsibility and have the ability to vote with their wallet and I hope they do. That’s what I’m doing.

It might be a bit hypocritical to take a free ticket, but I’ll still take it.

Five hours. Twenty-six minutes. Thirty-eight seconds.

While that’s definitely not world-record time for a marathon, I consider it a great achievement. It’s the time that it took for our entire team to run the Pittsburgh Marathon.

First, a flashback to scenes before the race itself:

One night during the week of the race, just before bed, the news highlighted the upcoming preparations for the Pittsburgh Marathon. I looked over to my wife who was giving me this You’veGotToBeKiddingOMGTHEMARATHONISSUNDAYYOUREGOINGTODIE look. I just sighed and said, “I know.”

She was concerned, to say the least. And, with good reason: My training regimen that I had planned on executing on never materialized. Between my lack of discipline, being enormously busy (although not too busy if I had gotten up at 6 AM to run), and certain personal crises… I just didn’t get it done. I did run once – 3/4 of a mile… and I felt pretty good.

The night before the race itself, I was filled with dread. I had a cold (which I thought was allergies at the time), I was only going to get 5 hours of sleep, and I was in all likelihood going to be carried off the course.

Fast forward to moments before I’d see @shireman come down the stretch to my relay point. It had rained steadily most of the morning, and was now more than a drizzle but not quite a downpour. Hours of standing was taking its toll. Then I saw Jim and IMMEDIATELY adrenaline kicked in. I gave him his medal in true Olympian fashion and just started running.

All the while I was waiting for the other shoe to drop (no pun intended). Waiting for my body to tell me to stop running before I’d even hit a mile.

But it didn’t. I got to the first mile marker and felt OK. I thought, “Holy shit! I just ran a mile! Let’s see how far I can take this.” I got to about a mile and a half and felt GREAT. I understood at that point why runners enjoy running – it was a bit euphoric. I felt great.

Once I got to just shy of two miles, that euphoria was replaced by pain developing in my feet and a cramp in my right leg. I had to start walking. While disappointed that was what stopped me instead of involuntary vomiting, I still was very happy.

I alternated running and walking for the next four miles, until running in an all-out painful sprint to handoff to @jimlokay for the final leg.

The tale of the tape:

@adriennemcc + @kdudders(the marathon meter lumped their two legs together): 12:28/mile over 11.4 miles

@shireman: 12:15/mile over 4.6 miles

@woycheck: 12:49/mile over 5.9 miles

@jimlokay: 12:09/mile over 4.32 miles

The worst time split of the group, but I’m pleased.

The BEST NEWS of all: We raised approximately $1,380 for the Mario Lemieux Foundation. That number could actually be doubled if Equitable matches our fundraising effort. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

To those of you who donated or cheered us on: we thank you all for your support!

]]> http://haveagoodsandwich.org/2010/05/17/chariots-of-mire/feed/ 9 http://haveagoodsandwich.org/2010/03/22/the-yinz-team-marathon/ http://haveagoodsandwich.org/2010/03/22/the-yinz-team-marathon/#comments Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:25:40 +0000 Woy http://haveagoodsandwich.org/?p=1105 Several weeks ago, I received an direct message on Twitter that caused me to do a double, no, make that a triple take. It was from @adriennemcc who started it by asking, “Do you run at all?”

I do Pittsburgh Sports League flag football once a year,  participate in the Yinz Team softball exhibition games when I’m able, and of course play in the Yinz Team Annual Flackle Bowl. In my mind’s eye, I like to think that I’m a reasonably fit individual.

So when the rest of her message asks if I’d like to participate in a 5-person team relay for the Pittsburgh Marathon, I envision the experience being something like this:

Then, of course, I think about it a little more. I think about my age. I think about how long I’ve sustained a run in the past two decades. Then, reality sets in.

Nevertheless, against my better judgement and most actuarial tables, I have agreed to participate as part of the Official Yinz Team Pittsburgh Marathon Relay Team. Who makes up this improbable roster, you may ask? None other than TheJim from Sportsocracy Fame, the dynamic duo of @adriennemcc and @kdudders, local suhwebwitty (spelled phonetically) and KDKA’s own Jim Lokay, and yours truly. The task is for each of us to raise as much money as we can to benefit the Mario Lemieux Foundation (which, of course, you know is near and dear to my heart) and travel 5 miles under our own power to complete our leg of the race.

I have two personal and primary objectives for this, given that it is March 22nd and I have about 6 weeks until race day:

- I would like to run 2 of the 5 miles.

- I would like to not throw up at any point during the race.

Let’s put this all in context – I haven’t run a mile since the year Bill Clinton took office.* Yeah, now you know why my wife is terrified.

Shameless fundraising plug – I’ll have a link on the blog shortly that will serve as an information hub for our little fundraiser. We’re going to have t-shirts printed and will be selling space to companies on the back who would like to sponsor us. Price? $100. Hey – it’s tax-deductible! Watch HaGS for more info on how to donate.

We’ll see you in May.

* Fun Woy Fact- in that same year I ran a mile in 6:30. Then promptly did a technicolor yawn in the boy’s bathroom.