Heading back home, it was time for my new goal to become a succesful member of society, to be put to the test. I would have to deal with the temptations that had once got me into a lot of trouble. I would have to ignore and steer clear of some of the (so-called) friends that I had been "up to no good" with.
I had already been expelled from all portland public schools (blessing in disguise), so I was enrolled at Open Meadow Alternative Schools (where I now serve on the Board of Directors). I had a lot of momentum already going for me, so my next goals were to graduate from High School early (after skipping out the entire first half of my freshman year) and get off of probation ASAP. With the help and support of the teachers at Open Meadow, and an a mentor outside of school Fred Woods, I continued to work hard and do all the extra little things on top of everything I was supposed to be doing. To earn extra credits I would: work after school and on the weekends at a Shell Gas Station, attend ITT Technical Institute as part of a partnership program with the High School, serve on the Student Review Board, speak on behalf of Open Meadow at fundraising or community events, landscaping at the school during the summers..on the weekends I would also participate in a program called Project Payback, where I would do community service type work and earn money that would go to pay back damage that had been done to others property.....It all kept me very busy, but also helped me stay away from all the negative influences that would try to pull me back down. When I wasn't busy with school, and the extra activities, I would go to counseling and youth empowerment groups that my Mentor Fred Woods was holding. Fred had overcome a lot of mistakes he had made on the Portland Streets in the past and was dedicating his life to help save as many of the "at risk" youth in N. Portland as he could.
When it was all said and done, I graduated high school from Open Meadow at the age of 17 after only two and a half years of attending Open Meadow. I believed I could do it from my very first day away from the group home, but my teachers also backed me and let me know they believed in me too. I knew if I screwed up again, I would not just be letting myself down, but letting down all the others that had cared about me and worked so hard to support me in this journey.
A month or so into my final year in High School, I experienced something amazing. I had a Probation Court Hearing to try and get off of probation a year early. I had to face Judge, Katherine English, who had a reputation in the juvenile courts of being one of the toughest Judges there were. She had scorned me already on multiple occassions, sent me to JDH, sent me to the group home, etc., and now I would be going in front of her to request getting off probation early! I was lucky to have my probation officer on my side, and Fred Woods there to speak on my behalf. When Judge English heard about all the strides I had been making, I saw something I had never seen on her face...a smile :-) In front of the entire court room, I received praise and applause from her. She spoke directly at me in front of everyone and told me about her retiring soon and this is the exact thing she needed to hear to help close this chapter in her book. She then proceeded to invite me to her house sometime for coffee and doughnuts! Seriously! So, yes I was let off of probation a year early.
I thought to myself, wow getting invited, in front of the whole court room, to go hang out with my hard ass Judge.... at her house..........hard work must be paying off!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
How 'Hard Work' became easy- part 2
Unfortuntely, as I got older and into my early teenage years and started hanging with the wrong crowds I found myself a very very troubled young kid. After being given a few slaps on the wrist, the courts eventually ordered me to go to a boys group home/ranch in Oregon City for a 12-18month treatment program.They also put me on 2 years probation. I was 15.
Once into the group home I noticed how immature many of the boys were, they had a lot of trouble obeying the staff, and threw temper tantrums frequently. I didn't have these kinds of problems, I didn't have any sever attention deficit disorders I just had issues with making bad decisions and hanging with the people that were a bad influence on me. Very quickly I snapped out of it, and had a "wake up call" as I was laying in bed one evening about a week into my stay. I had finally realized I was headed down a wrong path...thinking of all the people that had been hurt or affected by my actions. That night I promised myself that I would find a way to work my way out of this place within 6 months. I wasn't going to be the bad child my parents were embarrassed to talk about, I wasn't going to harm others or their property like I had been guilty of doing without remorse so many times, I wanted to be a good person.
Man I worked my butt off. I did everything in treatment above and beyond what was expected of me. My behavior and actions in the group home were "poster boy" material. I talked to counselors and found out all the little steps that needed to be completed to finish the entire program, and was one, two, three steps ahead at all times. Besides issues with alcohol and smoking pot, and hanging with older kids who had terrible track records with the courts, I was diagnosed by my main counselor with "impulsive decision making".
A lot of our conversations were based on my impulsive decisions and why I did not think things through. On my own I took initiative and decided to make a secret journal of all the decisions I made throughout the each day to see if they were "impulsive" or "thought through" decisions. I did this for two weeks, jotting down in the journal at the end of each day all of the dozens the decisions that had been made to make it through that day.
After two weeks of keeping this journal I finally showed it to my counselor, and I'll never forget the look on her face as she opened it up to see what was in it. To her surprise that one of her kids cared that much about their treatment and was holding himself accountable. She actually cried in front of me, in turn that made me cry. Making someone so happy that they cried was an unbelievable feeling at my young age. I had become so used to making people mad or sad, but now I knew I was doing the right thing. It felt so good to make people proud, I knew I did not want to go back to the person that I had once become, ever again.
Fast forward a few more months and I had completed the entire program and was being released from the boys home after only a 4 months stay. I had completed the program faster than anyone had in the group home's 15 year history. During those 4 months I sacrificed a lot.... when all the kids that didnt really care were goofing off during leasure time and playing games or sneaking out to smoke cigarettes, I was writing essays and completing questionaires that would have to be done eventually to complete the program. I worked the kitchen and served all the meals which earned me extra points, I volunteered for yard work around the ranch, did every little extra thing I could. I had won the staff over and they beleived in me, and as long as I was working hard at it, they let me continue to get ahead of the curve. My hard work had paid off..... I was going back home
Once into the group home I noticed how immature many of the boys were, they had a lot of trouble obeying the staff, and threw temper tantrums frequently. I didn't have these kinds of problems, I didn't have any sever attention deficit disorders I just had issues with making bad decisions and hanging with the people that were a bad influence on me. Very quickly I snapped out of it, and had a "wake up call" as I was laying in bed one evening about a week into my stay. I had finally realized I was headed down a wrong path...thinking of all the people that had been hurt or affected by my actions. That night I promised myself that I would find a way to work my way out of this place within 6 months. I wasn't going to be the bad child my parents were embarrassed to talk about, I wasn't going to harm others or their property like I had been guilty of doing without remorse so many times, I wanted to be a good person.
Man I worked my butt off. I did everything in treatment above and beyond what was expected of me. My behavior and actions in the group home were "poster boy" material. I talked to counselors and found out all the little steps that needed to be completed to finish the entire program, and was one, two, three steps ahead at all times. Besides issues with alcohol and smoking pot, and hanging with older kids who had terrible track records with the courts, I was diagnosed by my main counselor with "impulsive decision making".
A lot of our conversations were based on my impulsive decisions and why I did not think things through. On my own I took initiative and decided to make a secret journal of all the decisions I made throughout the each day to see if they were "impulsive" or "thought through" decisions. I did this for two weeks, jotting down in the journal at the end of each day all of the dozens the decisions that had been made to make it through that day.
After two weeks of keeping this journal I finally showed it to my counselor, and I'll never forget the look on her face as she opened it up to see what was in it. To her surprise that one of her kids cared that much about their treatment and was holding himself accountable. She actually cried in front of me, in turn that made me cry. Making someone so happy that they cried was an unbelievable feeling at my young age. I had become so used to making people mad or sad, but now I knew I was doing the right thing. It felt so good to make people proud, I knew I did not want to go back to the person that I had once become, ever again.
Fast forward a few more months and I had completed the entire program and was being released from the boys home after only a 4 months stay. I had completed the program faster than anyone had in the group home's 15 year history. During those 4 months I sacrificed a lot.... when all the kids that didnt really care were goofing off during leasure time and playing games or sneaking out to smoke cigarettes, I was writing essays and completing questionaires that would have to be done eventually to complete the program. I worked the kitchen and served all the meals which earned me extra points, I volunteered for yard work around the ranch, did every little extra thing I could. I had won the staff over and they beleived in me, and as long as I was working hard at it, they let me continue to get ahead of the curve. My hard work had paid off..... I was going back home
How 'Hard Work' became easy- part 1
Going back to when I was in 4th grade, I have had personal experiences that tought myself and engrained into the person that I have become, that Hard Work pays off.
In 4th grade we had an assignment to read a biography of a famous person of our choice, and give a book report on it in front of the class. I chose Martin Luther King, Jr. and read the book on Dr. King's life, did my report of all the defining moments that made him the important historic figure that he had become on this planet. But I didn't grow up with much money and couldn't afford the fancy poster boards and pictures that the other kids in class would have with their presentations. My Mom worked until 10pm every night as a 911 dispatcher (had to tuck myself into bed back then), so she couldn't help give me any ideas. So all I was left with, the day before the presentation, were some sloppy, 4th grade, left handed notes on ripped out spiral notebook paper about Dr. King's life. I remembered in the book I had read there were two pages that had the entire second half of King's "I have a dream speech" word for word in it. I thought that it would be cool to recite the speech during my book report. But I did not want to read it off of paper, I knew I could make an impact on my grade, the teacher, my classmates if I memorized it and made eye contact with everyone in the room during my presentation. So I dedicated the next 7 hours of my life that night to memorizing the entire second half of the speech. Over and over and over I read the speech out loud to myself. Then I started memorizing two sentences at a time. Once I had the first two sentences memorized, I would memorize the next two and so on and so on. I kept this going all night until I was exhausted, but I had that speech wired into my brain. The next morning I did a couple more rehearsals before I took off to catch the bus, and was pleased that I had mastered this.
Later that morning, I got a little nervous as I sat through book reports that seemed like they had a lot of money put into it. Costumes, fancy colorful posterboards, supersized pictures, handouts for the kids, and I started to get a little nervous. However, when it came time to give the report and Dr King's speech to the class, I delivered. Not looking down at the papers in front of me once, I did my best to lower my voice and speak his words, Word for word. Everyone was amazed, the teacher was teary eyed, I even got called on for an encore after the last presentation of the day to recite the speech again. I did not have one picture, no handouts, it was just myself exposed to the room. My hard work from the night before had paid off....my grade on the book report- A+
HARD WORK
In 4th grade we had an assignment to read a biography of a famous person of our choice, and give a book report on it in front of the class. I chose Martin Luther King, Jr. and read the book on Dr. King's life, did my report of all the defining moments that made him the important historic figure that he had become on this planet. But I didn't grow up with much money and couldn't afford the fancy poster boards and pictures that the other kids in class would have with their presentations. My Mom worked until 10pm every night as a 911 dispatcher (had to tuck myself into bed back then), so she couldn't help give me any ideas. So all I was left with, the day before the presentation, were some sloppy, 4th grade, left handed notes on ripped out spiral notebook paper about Dr. King's life. I remembered in the book I had read there were two pages that had the entire second half of King's "I have a dream speech" word for word in it. I thought that it would be cool to recite the speech during my book report. But I did not want to read it off of paper, I knew I could make an impact on my grade, the teacher, my classmates if I memorized it and made eye contact with everyone in the room during my presentation. So I dedicated the next 7 hours of my life that night to memorizing the entire second half of the speech. Over and over and over I read the speech out loud to myself. Then I started memorizing two sentences at a time. Once I had the first two sentences memorized, I would memorize the next two and so on and so on. I kept this going all night until I was exhausted, but I had that speech wired into my brain. The next morning I did a couple more rehearsals before I took off to catch the bus, and was pleased that I had mastered this.
Later that morning, I got a little nervous as I sat through book reports that seemed like they had a lot of money put into it. Costumes, fancy colorful posterboards, supersized pictures, handouts for the kids, and I started to get a little nervous. However, when it came time to give the report and Dr King's speech to the class, I delivered. Not looking down at the papers in front of me once, I did my best to lower my voice and speak his words, Word for word. Everyone was amazed, the teacher was teary eyed, I even got called on for an encore after the last presentation of the day to recite the speech again. I did not have one picture, no handouts, it was just myself exposed to the room. My hard work from the night before had paid off....my grade on the book report- A+
HARD WORK
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Some props, and my sacrifice
In my mini race report of the Duathlon last weekend, I forgot to give props to an athlete who had an outstanding race and held strong in third place the whole event, fending off a trio of legit Seattle athletes who made the trip down to try and blitz our home course.
I was reminded of this when I did 14miles of my 18mile long run today with Jake Barakat. Jake is coming on strong and will continue to be more and more of a threat at the races. Dude is strong (physically and mentally) and ran stride by stride with me for 14miles at an impressive pace. It was great to sweat it out for 90minutes with him today.
Also, its cool to note that Jay, myself, and Jake are all coached by Summit Performance Coaching.
I look forward to getting some good training in with both these athletes as I build for Ironman.
Speaking of training partners, I do most of my long rides with Aaron Jenniges. Big Aaron, I should say BIG Aaron, or BIG AARON is a machine on the bike. He bike commutes 120miles/wk for work, and then gets long rides in on the weekends. Having him around on my long training rides has really helped keep me focused the last part of each long day in the saddle. Aaron is 6'6" & 190 pounds. Watch out for him this year as well. He can swim a sub 21minute 1500m (with no swimming background as a kid), bike with some of the best, and just today ran a 1:22:08 half marathon (7minute pr). Running is no easy task for a big man like that, so my hats off to him. He has really made an effort to improve his running form and economy this year, and its showing!!
Congrats to all my other friends and training partners who had great races today at Race 4 the Roses. Aaron, Paul Shoen, David Embree, Don Ollila, Alana Kent, AJ Kemp, Sue & Don Moote and others (sorry if I'm leaving anyone out)
I am also happy to say that USA Triathlon officially posted the All American and Honorable Mention honors online. HERE For the second year in a row I am top 5% of my age group (25-29yr olds) in the Nation and have been named All-American. I am ranked 87th overall (107th place got the last All American honor) out of over 2,000 ranked athletes. I'm in a very competitive age group.
Now its back to the grind this next week with more solid training and recovery. I need to continue to remind myself that I need to be willing to suffer & sacrifice more than my competitors. This does not neccessarily mean training more and harder than everyone, that has proven to NOT guarantee success and will eventually lead to "overtraining". I'm talking about the "no alcohol", eating healthy, getting to bed EARLY, resisting the temptation of chocolate ice cream, not staying out super late, completing all my workouts, completing all my workouts the way coach tells me too, taking care of the body, taking i easy when coach tells me to etc etc etc
I'm competiting with the top amateurs nationwide and worldwide, not just in races, but in all the decision I make throughout the day. My goal is to beat all these guys in the races. But in order to get to that goal I know I need to be willing to beat all these guys in my dicipline, determination, and sacrifice made throughout the day, every day, leading up to June 27th.
Its going to be a long, painful, mentally challenging day at Ironman. And I am preparing myself for that now..
SACRIFICE!!
I was reminded of this when I did 14miles of my 18mile long run today with Jake Barakat. Jake is coming on strong and will continue to be more and more of a threat at the races. Dude is strong (physically and mentally) and ran stride by stride with me for 14miles at an impressive pace. It was great to sweat it out for 90minutes with him today.
Also, its cool to note that Jay, myself, and Jake are all coached by Summit Performance Coaching.
I look forward to getting some good training in with both these athletes as I build for Ironman.
Speaking of training partners, I do most of my long rides with Aaron Jenniges. Big Aaron, I should say BIG Aaron, or BIG AARON is a machine on the bike. He bike commutes 120miles/wk for work, and then gets long rides in on the weekends. Having him around on my long training rides has really helped keep me focused the last part of each long day in the saddle. Aaron is 6'6" & 190 pounds. Watch out for him this year as well. He can swim a sub 21minute 1500m (with no swimming background as a kid), bike with some of the best, and just today ran a 1:22:08 half marathon (7minute pr). Running is no easy task for a big man like that, so my hats off to him. He has really made an effort to improve his running form and economy this year, and its showing!!
Congrats to all my other friends and training partners who had great races today at Race 4 the Roses. Aaron, Paul Shoen, David Embree, Don Ollila, Alana Kent, AJ Kemp, Sue & Don Moote and others (sorry if I'm leaving anyone out)
I am also happy to say that USA Triathlon officially posted the All American and Honorable Mention honors online. HERE For the second year in a row I am top 5% of my age group (25-29yr olds) in the Nation and have been named All-American. I am ranked 87th overall (107th place got the last All American honor) out of over 2,000 ranked athletes. I'm in a very competitive age group.
Now its back to the grind this next week with more solid training and recovery. I need to continue to remind myself that I need to be willing to suffer & sacrifice more than my competitors. This does not neccessarily mean training more and harder than everyone, that has proven to NOT guarantee success and will eventually lead to "overtraining". I'm talking about the "no alcohol", eating healthy, getting to bed EARLY, resisting the temptation of chocolate ice cream, not staying out super late, completing all my workouts, completing all my workouts the way coach tells me too, taking care of the body, taking i easy when coach tells me to etc etc etc
I'm competiting with the top amateurs nationwide and worldwide, not just in races, but in all the decision I make throughout the day. My goal is to beat all these guys in the races. But in order to get to that goal I know I need to be willing to beat all these guys in my dicipline, determination, and sacrifice made throughout the day, every day, leading up to June 27th.
Its going to be a long, painful, mentally challenging day at Ironman. And I am preparing myself for that now..
SACRIFICE!!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Spring Classic Du
Just haven't had time to write anything about this race. I was happy with my performance although I did not defend my title. Jay Cech showed up again (after a little smack talk between us), and clearly was a better, faster athlete than me than he was last year. Congrats to Jay, and I look forward to our "rubber-match" in 2011!
Coach says I'm not supposed to be Fast right now, because of so much bike focus on long long rides in hard gears training my Slowtwitch muscles for Ironman. But still, hate to lose and I showed up to win (especially this race which favors my strengths). But if I'm going to lose to anyone at this race, I'd rather it be Jay who holds the course record from 2006.
I was able to bust out a 16:29 first 5k and a 17:33 second 5k. Bike times were slower for everyone due to constant winds and rough roads on the bike course. My time was slower than last years due to this and due to some mental errors, that I dont usually make in transitions....lost me about another 20seconds. Oh well, I feel good about my effort and am satisfied, but still hungry. I'll save the big feast for my big race in June.
Fellow Triathlete Dave Campbell did another writeup on the race this year HERE (he got a little mixed up with the first names, but no biggie Dave. We appreciate your race reports!)
I've now gone over 7 weeks without drinking, so no late nights on the weekends. This has been huge for me, since I am rested, hydrated and ready for my big weekend workouts. I really have dedicated myself in training and recovery more than I have my previous four seasons doing this sport. Looking forward to showing everyone what I can do.
Also, I want to thank Chris B. (co-owner of Athletes Lounge and pro triathlete) for setting me up with an Athletes Lounge race kit this year. Looking forward to representing the shop with class. All the employees at AL really do a great job of taking care of all the Triathletes in the area, and Portland is lucky to have a Triathlon dedicated store. The bike mechanics are actually very friendly, helpful and thorough. I lean on them a lot and they always come through!
Three weeks to go before the next test Wildflower Half Ironman......stay tuned!
Coach says I'm not supposed to be Fast right now, because of so much bike focus on long long rides in hard gears training my Slowtwitch muscles for Ironman. But still, hate to lose and I showed up to win (especially this race which favors my strengths). But if I'm going to lose to anyone at this race, I'd rather it be Jay who holds the course record from 2006.
I was able to bust out a 16:29 first 5k and a 17:33 second 5k. Bike times were slower for everyone due to constant winds and rough roads on the bike course. My time was slower than last years due to this and due to some mental errors, that I dont usually make in transitions....lost me about another 20seconds. Oh well, I feel good about my effort and am satisfied, but still hungry. I'll save the big feast for my big race in June.
Fellow Triathlete Dave Campbell did another writeup on the race this year HERE (he got a little mixed up with the first names, but no biggie Dave. We appreciate your race reports!)
I've now gone over 7 weeks without drinking, so no late nights on the weekends. This has been huge for me, since I am rested, hydrated and ready for my big weekend workouts. I really have dedicated myself in training and recovery more than I have my previous four seasons doing this sport. Looking forward to showing everyone what I can do.
Also, I want to thank Chris B. (co-owner of Athletes Lounge and pro triathlete) for setting me up with an Athletes Lounge race kit this year. Looking forward to representing the shop with class. All the employees at AL really do a great job of taking care of all the Triathletes in the area, and Portland is lucky to have a Triathlon dedicated store. The bike mechanics are actually very friendly, helpful and thorough. I lean on them a lot and they always come through!
Three weeks to go before the next test Wildflower Half Ironman......stay tuned!
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