Motivation is just a plane ride away

These past few weeks have been quite leisurely, thankfully. After the bar, I needed some serious downtime and I got it.

I spent a week in my favorite city in the world, Seattle. Being in Seattle simply makes me happy. When I wake up in the morning, I smile and everywhere I walk, I smile. Seattle is my happy place and I make every possible effort to get out there as much as possible.

I go to my favorite bar, and I enjoy an adult beverage or two and I look out at the marina and just let my thoughts go. Going to Seattle is really an act of mental cleansing and I make the most of it.

It also allows me to run around the city and explore (though, frankly, I've seen most of the city by now). I went for a run one morning that took me to Safeco and Qwest fields (home of the Mariners and Seahawks, respectively) and I ended the run at Pike Place Market right in front of the guys who throw fish all over the place. The air was crisp and there wasn't much foot traffic so I just ran anywhere there was a walk signal. I felt like I could have run forever. And, if I hadn't had to check out of the hotel, I probably would have run another hour or more. It was just of those mornings. That morning, I remembered how much I loved to run.

I was also fortunate to stay with some friends in Green Lake, about a 15-minute ride from downtown Seattle. Green Lake is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seattle. It's a little hippy-ish, which is fine with me. But the part I love is the 3-mile man-made lake with beautiful runnings paths around it.

We walked around the lake a couple of days and were able to choose between a gravel/dirt path and concrete. There were tons of bikers and people pushing running strollers, as well as a ton of runners. It was nice and cool as we strolled around the lake and the days were beautiful.

My second to last morning in Green Lake I decided to go for a run around the lake. From their place to Green Lake, around the lake, and back was about 4 miles, which was fine. Again, it was a little chilly and rainy but I couldn't have cared less. I kept a decent pace and stayed off of the concrete while I dodged others.

One of the things that I miss from New Hampshire is the lack of running paths in my area. Sure, you can drive to some, but they're not in my backyard and you can't walk or run to them. Having such a beautiful area so close to my house would be heaven.

Then again, if I want heaven, I may just have to visit Seattle again.

Letting a run go every once in a while

I am a creature of habit. I believe in self-discipline and holding myself to goals that I set out. That self-discipline helped me immensely in law school when I could have been watching TV and playing video games all the time. (Truth be told, I did a lot of both over the last 3 years.)

But while self-discipline is generally a positive thing, I have found that I have a tough time moderating it. It's the old saying: moderation in everything, including moderation. Instead of giving myself a break and running or biking another day, I go out and bang out the miles even if I'm not feeling up to it. Again, that's generally a good thing, but it creates absolutely no flexibility into the schedule to allow for, well, life to sneak up.

It's almost like the movie, If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. If it's Tuesday, I'm running or biking. And I'm doing that whether it's hot or cold, raining or sunny, thundering or snowing. And I do it because it's on the schedule. If it's not on the schedule, I don't do it.

During the bar, this type of discpline was critical. My days were heavily structured and scheduled, so I put exercise into the schedule and stuck to it. But, as of late, I haven't had much of a schedule as I have had a couple of weeks off.

And you know what? It's actually OK to miss a run or bike ride. It's OK to change it to a different day because your stomach is upset or there's something else to do. I know it doesn't sound like much of a revelation to most of you, but for me, it's like the first I've ever heard it. We're so funny that way, aren't we?

But with everything else, I can't let too many runs or rides slide. I still need to hit the road as often as possible and get my miles in. At least for now, I just don't have to be so incredibly rigid.

I guess there's a first time for everything.

End of the Bar as I know it (and oddly, I feel fine)

Last week marked the end of a very, very long 8 weeks of studying for the bar exam. If you're not familiar with the bar exam, it's a 2-3 day exam including 200 multiple choice and a bunch of essay questions. Even after you pass law school, you can't practice law in the US unless you pass the bar exam (and subsequently get sworn into the bar). So from late May until the last week in July, if I had a spare moment, it was pretty much taken up with bar study.

I took the exam last week over three days so that I could take both the Massachusetts and New Hampshire bar exams. The good news is that it went well. I'm not all that superstitious, so I think it's OK to say that it went well. Even if it's not, I felt good about it and that's because of all of the studying I did to prepare. It's a good feeling when you feel like you studied too much.

During the exam, I made a concerted effort to get out and exercise 3-4 days a week. Sometimes I was biking and sometimes I was running. It helped to clear my head at the end of a long day of studying or to get me ready for even more studying. I only got to work out once during the week of the bar exam (with travel, etc.), but I'm going to give myself a pass on that one.

I now have my life back which means that I'll have more down time and even more time to exercise. I start a new job in late August, so I have a few weeks to veg out and just enjoy not having anything hanging over my head, except for the results of the exam, I guess. For what it's worth, I hear about NH on September 24 and about Mass. in late October/early November. Don't worry: I'll keep you posted!

I also did my first spin workout last night. I have to tell you: I both loved and hated it at the same time. Really, it was great and awful. It was also nothing like riding a bike. They do all sorts of weird standing poses and riding and lean different ways, etc. I had a very tough time balancing myself when I was standing on the bike, which is a good indication that I probably didn't set up the bike correctly.

But boy was it a workout! I'd love to know what kind of calorie burn I had, but one thing I know is that my burrito for dinner was calorie neutral. After a steady diet of Diet Sunkist, string cheese and hard pretzels during the bar study period, I'm very glad to have a day where I'm largely calorie neutral. I need to start eating like a human being again rather than a bar student.

It feels good to feel human again!

Keeping my head above water

The last time I posted was nearly two months ago. At that point, I was graduating from law school and had nothing but time on my hands. Well, since then, I've gone into full bar preparation mode. Unfortunately for me (but fortunately for my liver), I'm preparing to take the legal bar, not the how-many-beers-can-you-guzzle-in-an-hour bar exam.

Everyone describes the bar as a marathon. In other words, you're supposed to pace yourself and not get too tired during the two months plus of studying. I don't think many people understand how a marathon works when they make this comparison. When I want a marathon to end sooner, I just run faster. No such luck here. No matter how fast I run, the bar is still coming at the end of July. I can't make the finish line get here any sooner. I'd prefer a series of 10Ks or something like that. You know, anything that's a shorter distance that allows me to feel good about my progress.

As for exercise, I've been able to largely keep up with it. I haven't been running 20+ miles a week, but I have been running several times a week and have been biking to supplement the running. Unfortunately, I find that the biking doesn't burn anywhere near the number of calories that running does, so that means that I have to ride considerably farther and longer to get the same calories burned.

So what does that mean? It means I'm not biking as much as I'd like because it takes so much time out of my day. I have been enjoying it significantly more than running, though, I must say. Zero impact and I can actually go places, as opposed to an out and back or a run in a circle. Biking definitely gives me more options.

For now, I'm trying to keep my sanity by also keeping my waistline down. Hitting the roads really has a way of clearing my head. I think I'm going to need that over the next 30 days because my head is full of all sorts of crazy legal data.

Reflections on the end of a 2,736-mile journey

As I'm sure you saw, I made it to Los Angeles a few weeks ago. That final run marked a 2,736-mile journey from the Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, PA to the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, CA. After a couple of weeks, I've been able to reflect on what this trip has meant to me.

When I started this journey on May 18, 2007, I desperately hoped that I'd finish it at the end of law school. I knew that I had a problem with getting bored with things and not finishing them, but I was going to do my very best to make it happen. As I sit here nearly three years later with law school now completely under my belt, I still can't put into words what this journey has meant to me.

I can tell you a few things that it's meant to me. It's meant 9 inches off of my waistline and 75 pounds lost. All told, I've run 393 hours, 40 minutes and have burned 382,310 calories on my way from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.

But, as with most trips, it's not about the destination. It's about the journey getting there. So I thought I'd tell you about some of my favorite runs.

New Orleans Marathon
My first marathon and, wow, I can't even tell how much it meant to finish that race. I felt like I could do anything. It was in my first year of law school after I had dislocated my shoulder. I still get emotional reading my race report from that day. I finished in just under 5 hours.

Lehigh Valley Marathon
This was a coming-home of sorts. I had lived in the Allentown, PA, area for the last seven years before going to law school. Friends live there and my family lives close. I ran a course that included roads that I used to drive on everyday to work. It ended up being a very emotional race for me as well.

But most importantly, it became a much faster race for me. I finished in 3:56:25, about an hour faster than my previous marathon. I could not have been more thrilled.

Runs in Europe
I was in Europe for a month in my first year of law school, and I definitely took my running shoes with me. I talked about some of the runs I took while I was touring. I saw the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and deer in Phoenix Park in the middle of Dublin. I felt more alive running in those foreign cities that I have in a really long time running in the US.

48 Miles in 48 Hours
The biggest and most important run for me as part of the journey is my ultramarathon. I created a 48-mile ultramarathon where I ran from Concord, NH to just over the state line in Tyngsboro, MA, over a two-day period. Hence the name: 48 Miles in 48 Hours.

This ultramarathon represented the longest distance that I had ever run (and will likely be the longest I'll ever run in the future). It tested my body and my will to keep going. Finishing that run was a huge accomplishment for me, and one that I'll remember for the rest of my life.


Unintended benefits
When I started out, I thought this blog would be a way for me to hold myself accountable. I never dreamed that it would inspire so many people to hit the road themselves. I talk with a lot of people at school about running and my goals have helped others to set their own goals. It doesn't have to be something ridiculous like running across the country; it just needs to be something and it needs to be personal to you.

One of the most rewarding parts of this journey, if not the most rewarding part, is the effect on others to get out the door and make a difference in their lives. I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity to have helped even one person.

What's next
At this point, I don't have a clue of what's next. I don't have any sort of large goal to bike across the country or run back across the country or around the world or anything like that. For now, I'm enjoying running when I want to and not having to put in a specific amount of miles. If I want to run 4 miles, I can do that. I don't have to run 7 miles at a time in order to make it to a certain spot.

I've also been riding my bike considerably more, and that's much more enjoyable to me these days. It's considerably less impact, and for now, at least, it's still fairly new. I can get more places in less time and it allows me to run a lot of errands.

So for now, I'm just hoping to "be".


A hearty thank you
I absolutely could not have completed this journey without the help and encouragement from my friends and readers/supporters. Knowing that I had to keep myself accountable to all of you made me hit the road when it was too cold or rainy or I just didn't want to. Knowing that when things were bad, you'd be there to pick me up helped too much to even quantify.

People say that running is an individual sport. I think they're only half right. I run with thoughts of the people who are important to me. I run for their honor and I run for their memory. I'm not foolish enough to believe that I did this all myself. You were with me every step of the way.

Thank you.