Que Pasa? The Summer Heat and Writer's Block

It's been some time since I have paid attention to this neglected blog.    The summer heat and the profuse sweat that drenches me forces the mind to focus on wiping the stinging salty stuff from my eyes.  Unlike jogs in the brisk fall weather or the very cool winter clime, summer runs are strictly about survival. But every summer run is a vindication that the mind can conquer the elements, and that a drenching run is more cleansing than a winter run can ever be.  

The three mile jog still divides itself into three stages.  The first mile, is just to clear the mind of yesterday's blues.  The second mile is a focus on the day's problems.  And the third mile is where the mind opens up to the soul, and a peace descends on my soul.

I have felt this high since I started jogging when I was 12 years old.  43 years later I am still addicted to this running drug.  I don't run as far or as fast.  But I run.  And therefore, I am.

Lesson Learned On The Streets Of Laredo

One week later I am still challenged by the humidity and stuffiness in the morning air. Today my goal is to run 3 miles while listening to "Into The Music" and finishing the third mile as "When The Healing Has Begun" hits its soulful crescendo. The mission is accomplished as I push my totally drenched heavy locomotive of a body around my designated course. Heatwave promises that Friday the morning will be cooler. I want to believe him. Tomorrow I walk but on Friday the optimist will step out the door hoping that Laredo's version of the fall will finally be here.

Regardless, it is a jogging day. Cooler weather or not, Friday's run is about going out and adding a little more distance to the weekly total. After three months of running this is the consistency that I had been missing.

This afternoon I saw the Nixon Cross Country team running down Arkansas at about 5:00 p.m. in the torrid heat. I remember high school days of running in that type of heat. Now I run in the relatively cool dark cocoon of the early morning. This morning it didn't seem so cool, but the sight of these high school runners teaches me that I have nothing to complain about. We always think that we teach the young. Today they taught me.

The Morning's Reward

It's always the first half to one mile of the jog that challenges the mind to overcome the beginning discomfort of any run. Once the door opens, the temperature either beckons or dares me to dark streets of Laredo to do what I know needs to be done. I know the reward, I know that I will soon forget the temporary discomfort, bathed by the sweat that a humid and muggy morning brings. Today is no different. For one mile I toil and then something kicks in, that illusive "runner's high" where the circulation of blood warms the joints and muscles and where the pace, no matter how slow, sets the cadence for the day.

These are the memories that connect me to runs in 1970's Laredo and Austin and Ann Arbor in

the 1980's. I talk to that guy who lives in my head who only comes out when I run. He is a wise and patient friend. He spits a lot, but he knows to give thanks for this and every day.

Teased By September

It started out with my first ever trip to New York with my wife an son Alex for parent orientation at his destination for college. I walked all over the place but manage to take an early morning jog in Brooklyn the day before we came back to Laredo. The morning air was crisp and the sights were great. Once we came back to Laredo the beginning of September brought a joyous snap of cool weather that made the slow steady jog on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays a whole lot more fun than the complete drenching that summer runs bring in Laredo. This week the temperatures were back to the Laredo fall canicula heat that is only bearable because of the hope that cooler temperatures are around the corner.

The summer is a time when it is easy to give up on the jogging. But fortunately the psyche has a memory of other summer days when running seems like a grind. And then the days shorten and the weather becomes cooler and the pace hopefully quickens. The mind stops fretting about the temperature and flies to places that the workday has no time for. This is is the gift of hitting the pavement.

My son Armando gave me a book of reflections about philosophy and running. For a few minutes of running in the cool weather the insights discussed in that book actually filter through my mind. And that is the ultimate lesson of the summer. We run, we survive and occasionally we find some thoughts to put our hectic lives in order.

Back In The Saddle Again!

It's been a while since I updated the blog. Literally, I was flat footed as the holidays came and I stopped all the progress that I had made. Like many other ambitious exercisers I started the first week of January and have decided to take a different tact. I am trying to jog two or three days a week with a walking day in between. I warm up with a half mile "vuelta" around Ryan elementary and then run for as long as a great 16 minute Dave Matthews Band song. I started out only being able to jog 1 mile and two blocks. I am now at 1 mile and 7 blocks, a steady improvement for the last three weeks. More about this later. Just feels good to write here again and make myself accountable for my health. Good pal Richard Gentry reminded me that he would be waiting for me to trot the Mercurio Martinez III memorial 5K. I won't let him down.

Estrenando The Father’s Day Gifts On A Muggy Morning

Stifling; that’s the only way to describe the combination of heat and humidity this morning. The motivation for running this morning was the “caldada” of the new running shoes and running gear that Sisi and the kids gave me for Father’s Day on Sunday. The shoes were firm and I could feel their cushion as contrasted to the older shoes that I wore last Friday. Before I could even finish the first one-half mile loop of Ryan, I was already drenched. I can feel the legs getting stronger and not laboring as much with my very slow pace, but the heat causes that thermal cocoon that envelops me as I wheeze around for the rest of my run. Today I run three miles, the approximate distance to the Joey Munoz Run that I participate in on July 4, 2010 at Laredo Community College. Getting in running shape is a steady process that rewards consistency more then anything else. I know that given my weight and my periods of inactivity that I must be patient with the slow progress that I am experiencing. But I know that the progress is coming because it the mind no longer says, “ ‘I want to quit!’ or ‘Why don’t I just walk’”, to “okay, just stay the course and it’ll soon be over.”

Last week I ran three times including a very gentle 4 mile trot which didn’t tax me aerobically but was geared to get my body used to a longer distance. The prior weeks have been steady including one very muggy jog around Town Lake with Mark when the family went to Austin for a Neil Young concert. Since I started my daily run has gone from 2.5 miles to 3.0, a distance I intend to keep until the July 4^th run. I I won’t add anything to my longer run until after July 4^th as well. I expect the Joey Munoz Memorial Run to be that catalyst to begin the July, August push to the September distance. I know that September’s mornings will be cooler then June’s current dog days. Summer is usually the worst time to begin a running program in Laredo. But Laredo is what it is. The fall and winter can be the best times to run in south Texas. The summer is just a test.

A GREAT WEEKEND STARTS WITH A GOOD RUN GOOD FRIENDS, GREAT FAMILY AND MARA’S GRADUATION MAY 21st and May 22nd

A great day started with a good run. High school buddy Mark Gonzalez and I met at the gazebo on Town Lake off of South First Street in Friday May 21st. To my relief Mark said that we would not run this approximately 4 mile course at any pace faster then “conversational pace”. Now my only concern was that his conversational pace and mine would be the same. Fortunately for me, it was. Mark, an independent filmmaker and the inventor of the Spiderbrace camera brace has been an Austin resident since coming to the University of Texas from Laredo in 1976. He informed me that this route along Town Lake had been his course since 1982. We hit the trail at about 7:00 a.m. and headed west along the cinder trail until we came to a bridge for runners to cross the lake from the south shore to the north shore where we continued to meander around the wooded trail. Along the way, our conversation was a combination of catching up on old classmates, reflecting on Mara’s graduation, talking about work and reflecting on the history of the vibrant Austin running scene. As it is with good friends, there was more laughter than anything. The run took a little bit less then an hour.

After we crossed over to the north shore, we ran by landmarks along the north shore of the course. There is the YMCA, Austin High School and the turnaround under the Mo-Pac Highway. The course then meanders through Zilker Park on the south shore of the lake and back past the statute of famed blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughn. Along the course we encountered runners of all ages, an elite African runner training other athletes, exercise groups and dogs along the trial with their owners. It had all the elements of a good running experience. There was a good pace and a feeling that the time passed very quickly. I think I even made some headway into getting Mark down to our next class reunion and more importantly, Mark’s commitment to coming down to Laredo to run the Joey Munoz 5K in July.

The run set the tone for wonderful afternoon at the Frank Erwin Center and Mara’s graduation from the University of Texas School of Communications. I knew that the karma was good when after I dropped off the family at the front of entrance, I was forced to take a “U” Turn and found myself pulling into a parking space made available by someone pulling out of a street level parking space. Sisi, Mando and Mara found a seat in section 38 right by the floor. My parents Gregorio and Consuelo drove up from Laredo and ended up in section 22. Mara’s pals joined us and we formed a cheering section for her. We screamed for her as she marched in, walked on the reviewing stand and left arena. A photographer from the school of communication snapped a photo of me shooting a pic of Mara. The photo can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/utcomm/4641895559/in/set-72157624017333613/

Throughout the event my mind ran through a lifetime of memories in relation to the University. It is the place that my father from Laredo met my mother from Robstown. I remembered seeing pictures of myself as a baby as my parents went back to the UT campus. I remembered all the games that my father took me to and the many more that we listened to on the radio and watched on the television. I remembered my stay at Jester dormitory during “Boys State’ and my stay at UT from 1976-1979. I remembered my own graduation and how my mother and father attended with my brothers and sister. And of course I remembered how my siblings Mike, Goyo and Cindy also attended Texas.

My wife and I reflected on Mara and the great joy that she has brought to our life. Around us we kept on hearing other parents saying, “there goes my baby girl”! We concurred with the emotion. Nothing can describe the anticipation that built as the dean readied to call her name and the rush of pride when her name was called. As she walked by we screamed her name, her beaming smile said more than any words could ever convey.

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking photos with her friends Ana and Halease , Almendra and tracking down her high school debate partner and freshman and sophomore year roommate Laura Gamez for a photo. We stopped along the walk to the car shooting photos with scenic downtown Austin in the background.

Then it was off to famous Austin landmark “Juan In A Million” restaurant for a spread of good Mexican food and great family and friends. My mom and dad joined us there as well as nephew Lino and his wife Kelly and their daughters Cecilia and Isabelle. Niece Lily and her son Ethan came in from Houston. My niece Christina, her husband Rick and my parents first great grandchild baby Rick drove in from Hutto. My sister Cindy and her daughter Olivia drove in from Round Rock. Also joining us was Mark and his girlfriend Chiquita. The group was completed with Mara’s friends who came in from the ceremony. The photo opportunities presented by the friends and family who joined us were priceless. I shot a photo of Mara with every guest who attended and even shot a photo of Mara and the staff from Juan In A Million who made our feast a great event. Mara made her way around the restaurant and talked to all of our guests. For Mara it was important that her we take photos with everyone who shared her special day with her. The beam in her smile in each of those photos will be an everlasting reminder of how this monumental day meant to her.

The next day was the icing to the cake. We all decided that we would attend the University wide convocation that is held in front of the UT main building and famous tower. We were there early and again took some awesome photos around the graduation area. The ceremony was grand. Around us we saw other Laredoans who were celebrating this important day. I saw high school buddy and ex-team mate Roberto Vera (see freshman track guys above) as he proudly attended the graduation of his son. The speech by renowned actress Marcia Gay Harden lifted and inspired all of us, especially my youngest son Alex, himself an aspiring actor. After the presentation of the graduates we sang the rousing “Eyes of Texas” and took in the grand fireworks display around the tower now bathed in burnt orange with a “10” lit by white light windows. It was a great ending to a wonderful night and a memorable weekend.