A New Hope

I wonder if there was confusion on the set of Happy Days? If someone said "Hey, Howard!", who answered?

Think about it. And think about how that question relates to the fellow pictured here. OK, then.

Jedi knights aside, todays topics are actually swimming and running.

I ask your indulgence; it's a bit of a tortuous path from Michael Phelps to Opie-Wan Kenobe. But I'll try to make sense of it.

A good friend loaned me the book Phelps wrote about his journey to the pinnacle of swimming. It's called "No Limits: The Will to Succeed."

It provides an interesting insight into the mindset of a person with extraordinary goals and unparalleled commitment. His singular focus on winning Olympic championships meant running every single daily decision through various filters, including "Will this help me get there?" and "What are the dangers in doing this thing?"

I liked several things about this book, and I learned a few things, too. The biggest lesson is that I now understand how I've been far too nice as a swim coach. We need to do a LOT more sets of 200s butterfly, and I need to yell at people a lot more--and punish them severely if they don't swim fast enough. In other words, I need to release my inner Evil Kirk.

The book isn't really about training, but I did glean a few workout ideas, which I will unveil over the next few weeks. I also liked Michael's "WIN" acronym...which stands for "What's important, NOW?" The idea is that each moment you live through has one focus that should be a priority at that moment, and that if you constantly answer that question as you make your choices, you'll accomplish far more than if you simply drift along.

I know that I've been drifting. My goals have been blurry lately, and my commitment has been wispy. This is changing.

I'm not saying that I have suddenly transformed into a lean, mean, motivation machine...but this weekend I passed over a huge mental barrier that's been in place for decades. Guess what, my friends?

I am no longer afraid of running a marathon!

Thanks to Revolution Running, Altra shoes, Injinji toe socks, and my inspirational friends from the swim team, I have decided to go for the Full 26.2 at Colfax in two weeks. I know that I'll be slow -- my goal is to finish within an hour of my slowest previous marathon -- but I'm beginning to believe that I CAN finish, and might possibly do so without crippling myself.

This confidence boost is the result of Saturday morning's run. I ran for 19.5 miles, and could still walk afterwards. On Sunday, I swam the best that I have since the State Meet, and my legs (and feet) feel fine today. I can't tell you how excited that makes me! I know that tacking on another 7-ish miles will be really tough, and that I'll be hurting (and may have to walk)...but I think I can do it. If I stay healthy for the next two weeks and taper well, and then keep the first part of the race slow and under control while watching my fueling and hydration, I really think I can survive.

I've even started thinking about doing another one. A little.

Well, OK, let's not get ahead of ourselves. But I think I will take the opportunity to reminisce about some of my previous races during the next two weeks leading up to Colfax. There are a few memorable moments among those races from a previous era.

Anyway, it's this renewed feeling of optimism that led us to this post's title (and therefore the Star Wars connection.) But what I really wanted to discuss was a throwaway paragraph where Phelps was talking about his Aussie rival, the great Ian Thorpe (AKA The Thorpedo.) He was talking about the popularity of swimming in Australia when he mentioned a survey done Down Under. When asked who they'd most like to invite over for dinner, the country's population overwhelmingly chose Thorpe, a swimmer -- over the Prime Minister, movie stars, and champions from other sports.

This got me thinking...who would I invite over for dinner, if I could choose anyone in the world? I'll pose that same question to you, and then I'll reveal my answer. Let's restrict it to people who are alive today. Otherwise we'd have everyone calling upon Jesus to come over and fill their wine cellar from the garden hose, or inviting people who'd get punched (or worse) for their crimes against humanity (eg, Hitler, Mohammad, Steve Jobs, Bono, etc.)

My first thoughts were the obvious ones: Heather Locklear, Beth Riesgraf, Milla Jovovich, etc. Well, no...probably not. Then I pondered sports heroes like George Brett, Mark Spitz, and Tron. But those, too, would likely result in one-dimensional conversations. Hmm.

OK, here's the approach that makes sense: As an aspiring filmmaker, I should invite one of my cinematic idols, so I could get some inside information on how Hollywood works and what it would take to get my vision onto the big screen. But legendary guys like Joss Whedon, John Cameron, and Bruce Campbell are too huge, and would likely provide canned speeches and predictably lame responses to any questions. I would need to think of someone from the second tier.

Jar Jar Binks? No, he sucks. What about Curtis "Booger" Armstrong? Yeah, that's getting us in the ballpark. No wait! I got it -- this guy:



Clint Howard (sadly, no relation to Moe, Shemp, and Curley Howard) has been in show business since he was born, has appeared as an alien on Star Trek (the Corbomite Manuever) and as a serial killer on Seinfeld. His brother Ron runs one of the most prestigious filmmaking outfits in the world, and he probably has a billion interesting behind-the-scenes stories to tell about his life on the fringes of the Hollywood elite. So yeah, I think I'd invite Clint Howard over for dinner.

No...on second thought, I think I'll go with Heather Locklear. We could order pizza and Diet Cokes. Sorry, fellas, but that's how it's gonna be.

Have a great day!