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| Gov. Visits Open Meadow yestereday http://openmeadow.org/open/meadow/blog |
When I first started going to Open Meadow at the age of 14, I had been out of the public schools (expelled and a runaway) for the first third of my freshman year in high school. When I first attended Open Meadow I wasn't magically transformed overnight into a student that had a "vision" and "goals in life". I was just going there because my probation officer ordered me to go there. I still didn't REALLY want to go to school every day. It would be a little bit of a process before my motivations in life would shift, but it did happen towards the end of my freshman year and into my sophmore year at Open Meadow. But my point is, during that initial phase of getting back into school and getting my life on track, my relationships, and bonds and respect was so great for the staff at Open Meadow (especially my Advocate, Holly) So, many days that I wanted so bad to revert back to the old ways of cutting class, I would show up just because I didn't want to let Holly down. I would show up because I knew how much Holly cared. Because of how close I was with the staff at Open Meadow, is a huge reason why I am where I am today. It is these close personal relationships that the staff builds with our students, that really fuels this program.
Ok, here is my total miles for each of the first three days of the challenge:
Monday- 17 Miles total- Slept through my 430am alarm in the morning and I was really annoyed because I wanted to get 5 or 6 miles out of the way early. I also know there is no way my body will be able to take 240 miles of mostly long 13+ mile runs for two weeks. I need to break it into manageble chunks of 2-3 runs per day (hopefully 3). Anyway, I went for a 14 mile run at 7:30pace right after work. And then logged another easy 3 mile run at 7pm at around 8min pace.
Tuesday- 13 Miles total- Woke up on time and got an early 6mi run in at 7:40 pace! Followed it up with a 5mi lunchtime run at around 7-720 pace. Had planned on running another 6 miles after work, but I just wasn't feeling that great and I do not want to push myself too hard this early in the challenge so I cut it to a short 2miles. I'm ok with this, knowing that I always have the weekends to make up for missed miles during the week.
Wednesday- 16 Miles total- Again wasn't feeling that great and was worried I might be getting sick. Got an easy 4miler in early at 8min pace. Then after resting up, and chilling with Ashley for the morning, I felt re-energized and got a solid 12mi run in this afternoon at 730pace
46 Miles in three days. Sounds like a lot, but in order to acheive my goal here I am going to have to have some stretches where I run 55 miles in three days! Should get interesting!
Couple of notes and observations:
-My legs feel fine...so far......
-I am pretty sure I am just going to keep all these miles in the aerobic 7:00-8:30pace through the challenge. While doing speedwork on the track would be nice to break up the miles and make time go by quicker, I'm afraid that it will fatigue me too much...we'll see
-I realized today that I have done all my runs on the concrete and asphalt so far! I HAVE to get onto the trails (and maybe even the treadmill) to make it easier on my body
-I need to run with people! I can't do this all by running solo. So I will start to announce some weekend runs and some weekday evening runs I will be doing from Athletes Lounge
Again, if anyone is interested in getting a table or even a couple of seats at the Open Meadow GOT GAME? fundraiser (at the Crystal Ballroom on May 9th), please email me (joshua@grindstonecollections.com) or you can just go to Open Meadow's home page (www.openmeadow.org) and look for the GOT GAME? logo to purchase online. This event was an absolute blast last year! And its for a great cause guys!!
Here is some recent press for Open Meadow that I am really excited about:
http://www.kptv.com/story/17380614/the-alternative-way-can-be-the-right-way (the Gov. visits Open Meadow!)
http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2012/04/portland-timbers-community-fund-recognizes-recipients-girls-inc-and-open-meadow-school (Timbers are on board!)
Thanks for reading,
Josh Monda
Did you know?
A contribution of $500 to Open Meadow gives 84 high school students physical education activities like tennis, yoga and martial arts.
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