The RunRunLive 3.0 Podcast Episode 3-258 – Dean Smith Works to Transform his Community
(Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi3-258.mp3]
Link epi3258.mp3
Introductory Comments:
Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast Episode 3-258.
Spring has arrived in New England! The snow is receding, leaving wet and fetud ground, barely contained and ready to burst forth in a riot of life.
Truth be told we don’t really have spring in New England. We have winter and summer. I own a couple of spring jackets, but I never wear them. In the fall it gets cold and dark so fast there is no time or place for a light coat. In the spring, when the sun comes out and the snow and icycles slide away you don’t need or want a coat.
That’s part of our challenge with the Boston Marathon in April. The rest of you may be thinking why are these soft people complaining about an 80-degree, sunny day? Isn’t that just another beautiful spring day?
Yes, but for us it’s an instananeous 60 degree swing. We’ve trained our bodies to hoard the heat calories deep under layers of technical fabric. We clutch that body heat deep in our cores. Then we are thrust naked out into the sun like fish out of water.
Frankly, anything over 50 is too hot.
But, it is spring. It is a happy time. A hopeful time. A time of new plans and rebirth.
The last few weeks have been a challenge for some of us. I know some of my friends have experienced loss and struggle and their resolve has been tested. My heart goes out to them.
It certainly makes me feel petty when I mourn my old bodies apparent inability to remember how to run and race. Yeah my workouts continue to be lacking strength and race fitness. I’ll talk about it in a piece today.
But it is spring. And spring is a time of rebirth. Hopefully for those who have been taken from us…even then we know others are born or reborn. It’s part of the human cycle. Part of what makes us human.
Maybe somewhere out there a new runner is finding the new strength that I am losing. Somewhere out there a pudgy 30-something lifts their eyes from the toil of life and takes those first wobbly, plodding steps and feels indestructible. And that’s my spirit in them.
We are all unworthy prophets. And sometimes we feel like we don’t make a difference. But, if we only touch one person it’s worth it. If we only impact one soul in our ministry it is worthwhile.
Don’t ever forget that you have the ability to change yourself and in doing so change the world. You have the ablilty to impact that one person, to be the messenger of hope and joy.
You and I exist as part of a whole. We give strength to the whole and take strength from the whole.
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Spring is a time of rebirth.
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We have a great show for you today. I have a great chat with Pastor Dean Smith about his efforts to use running to transform the lives of his community.
In section one I am going to give you some thoughts on permission.
In section two I’m going to analyze my fitness and what it means for Boston.
It’s been a long winter but as I look out my window there is no snow. There is sunshine. And the chance of being reborn with the spring.
On with the show.
Section one:
Permission – http://www.runrunlive.com/permission
Featured Interview:
Dean Smith, Pastor Morning Star Baptist Church, Northern Cheyenne Reservation
“We can no longer live the way we used to. We cannot move around any more the way we were brought up. We have to learn a new way of life. Let us ask for schools to be built in our country so that our children can go to these schools and learn this new way of life.”
– Chief Dull Knife
Northern Cheyenne
Section two:
Thinking about Boston 2013 – http://www.runrunlive.com/fitness-recovery-and-the-2013-boston-marathon
Outro:
OK folks thanks for staying with me. Next time we speak I will be recovering from the Boston Marathon. I’m got a few things lined up but nothing nailed down yet. We’ll see. I’ve been trading in emails with McGillivray to see if I can get him on to talk about the big race.
With the computer trouble I’ve been having it’s been hard to stay organized. They sent my old hard disk out to the computer CSI service to see if they can recover anything.
Then April 28th we have the Groton Road Race in my home town of Groton Massachusetts. We’ve got everything lined up and ready to go – hope to see you there.
I don’t know what I’m going to do after Boston. I’ve been neglecting poor old Buddy in these weeks of training. He can’t go with me on a 14 mile road tempo run – one of us would die. Maybe I’ll start working in some easy barefoot cross training in the woods just to get him some miles.
A couple weeks ago, when there was still snow, Buddy and I were out on the trails when we saw a lady coming at us who had like 6 dogs with her. Turns out she was a “dog jogger”. If not for the mortgages, car payments and tuitions that I’m responsible for…I’m pretty sure that would be my dream job.
I’m heading down to San Antonio this weekend for a conference and hopefully can get some taper runs in on the river walk. Nice little city, San Antonio.
Here’s another story from my week. I went in Monday morning for a teeth cleaning appointment. As I’m in the chair the hygienist says “I see you’re wearing a marathon shirt. Do you run marathons? Have you run Boston?”
I have not yet had my coffee but I said sure, I’ve run a couple marathons including Boston.
She then goes on to ask me if I’ve run the Groton Road Race because she has challenged the Dr. to finish the 5k.
This is why I pitch in at the Road Race. The mere fact that it exists enables these types of interactions. The Groton Road Race, any Road Race is a catalyst for good.
Going forward, now that my foot is feeling better, I may sprinkle in a handful of marathons over the summer. Maddy Hubbah is trying to talk us all into going back down to Florida for a Mojo Loco type thing in the fall. And, by the way, Steve is organizing a Boston Mojo Loco in May so if you want to swing by and run around the Charles with a bunch of creaky old podcasters – come on down.
One last thing – I’m almost at my goal for fundraising for Team Hoyt for Boston. If you have a couple bucks go ahead over to my site and donate – it’s for a good cause and I’ll be eternally grateful…or at least grateful enough to send a thank you note.
Be good – and if you can’t be good, be epic. And I’ll see you out there.
Outro Bumper
Thanks for listening folks I appreciate your support. RunRunLive is a free service for you because I like writing and telling stories.
I also love to meet folks so feel free to reach out to me at Gmail or any of the other social networking sites. I’m CYKTRussell. And as you know that’s Chris-Yellow-King-Tom-Russell with two Esses and two Ell’s.
My Website is WWW.RunRunLive .com and most if not all of this content is posted out there. If you want the show notes to magically show up in your inbox when I publish a show in a beautiful HTML wrapper you can subscribe to the mailing list at my site. It’s a useful thing if you are moved by something I say and would like to see if what I wrote is the same thing! It also has all the links to everything and everyone I talk to and about.
Other than that, thank you for your attention, do epic stuff and let me know if I can help.
Ciao
Happy Song – Super Hero
(Sorry about the audio quality – I’m having to rebuild a bunch of presets.)
Links for this show
http://www.runrunlive.com/messing-around-with-a-kickstarter-project
Other products from Chris Russell you may be interested in
The Mid-Packer’s Lament
On Audio (Read by the author)
The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy
Standard Links:
Contact:
Cyktrussell At gmail and twitter and facebook and youtube
Bio
Chris Russell lives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy. Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack. Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com. Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.
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