A few months ago, one of my friends asked me if I wanted to participate in something called "The Giant Race". Given the name, I figured it was a running event and I was correct. The event was sponsored by the San Francisco Giants baseball team. My friend's reasoning for asking me? He said I played too much basketball and it was time to do something "different". I couldn't argue with my friend so I signed up.
Alas, I had forgotten about the event until my friend reminded me a few days before. Thus, about 10 days ago (on August 4th, 2013), I got up early, met my friend and participated in the event. My friend and I had decided to join the 5K race (3.1 / 3.2 miles).
I didn't know what to expect as my friend and I trekked to AT&T Park in downtown SF. As I got there, I wasn't too nervous. In fact, it was pretty exciting to be part of a race that had 7000 people registered!
As for the event itself, the 5K event was a mix of walkers and runners. I chose to run most of the race and weaved through the various walkers. It wasn't easy but it also wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I completed the event in about 30 minutes and 17 seconds which surprised me (about 9:46 per mile).
Participating in this event brought back to the last time I ran competitively. That was in high school when I ran cross-country. My high did not have a sports program until my sophomore year. I spent my freshman year volunteering as a basketball coach at my old grammar school. When the school announced that a sports program was being started, I had to make a choice of a sport to participate in.
In the fall, there were a choice of soccer, tennis and cross-country (football is fall sport too but my high school was too small to form up a team). I didn't really like soccer. I didn't think I was good enough to play tennis so I basically defaulted to cross-country. I can't even say if I knew what the heck cross-country was.
In any case, I spent my last three years of high school participating in cross-county. I was strictly a high school runner and not a competitive runner. I only conditioned during the season and wasn't dedicated enough to try and condition during the offseason.
While I didn't win any medals during my high school running career, it was a good time. I bonded with teammates since we had to run a lot for practice. We got outside a lot and had to commute on the bus home. That gave my teammates and I plenty of time to chat.
In participating in "The Giant Race", I actually found that I enjoyed running again. I hadn't run much since high school. But getting out there last week was fun and I think I will keep running every now and then in the future.
I'll wrap with a point of comparison. During my FINAL high school cross-country race (All City Championship) in 1991, I ran 3.1 miles in about 22 minutes and 51 seconds (the winners were in the 18 to 19 minute range). While I didn't complete last week's event like I did when I was 17, I'm still proud of what I did.
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Monday, February 04, 2013
Champion Vs Runner Up
Today was a big day for NFL fans in general but also for SF Bay Area football fans as well. The San Francisco 49ers were playing the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl. The 49ers have not won a Super Bowl since 1995. A win would have given the 49ers their sixth Super Bowl Championship in the history of the team. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go the 49ers way and they lost 34-41.
While there will be plenty of analysis of the game over the coming days, winning a championship cements a team's place in history. Thus the Ravens will be forever noted as the Super Bowl champions of the 2012-2013 NFL season. But how big of a difference is there between the champion Ravens and the runner-up 49ers?
The Ravens have earned bragging rights, championship rings, endorsement money and a championship trophy. The championship is also an important thing when judging whether certain players were "very good" or "elite". Additionally, if any of the players on the Ravens are Hall Of Fame worthy in the future, winning a championship is taken into consideration.
But let's not forget the 49ers. The sting of losing the game will be with the 49ers for a while. They don't get the pride of being a Super Bowl champion. The endorsements and other perks may not be available to them. However, the 49ers DO GET RINGS for being the NFC Champions. Yes, it is a consolation prize. While most of the players may not be satisfied with being runner-ups, some players will treasure it greatly. The good news? For most of the players, they will get back to practice in August and get another shot to try to get back to the Super Bowl.
I always remember a story from the San Francisco Giants 2002 World Series season. The Giants had won the National League championship and played the Anaheim Angels in the 2002 World Series. The Giants had a chance to win their first World Series championship in 50+ years but lost to the Angels in 7 games. While it was a disappointment to all involved, a veteran player (Shawon Dunston) commented a few years later that he was proud of his National League championship ring. Dunston had never gotten a chance to play in the World Series until 2002 and thus chose to keep things in perspective despite the tough loss for the team.
Some years ago, I was playing on one of my church basketball leagues. One of my friends was leading and giving a message to all the teams / players. He asked us a pretty basic question: "Can you remember last year's NBA champion? How about the past 5 years? 10 years?" Even for a basketball fan like me, I couldn't name all the NBA champions in the past years at that time.
What was the main point? From youth basketball teams, to NBA / NFL teams and the teams in my adult leagues, everyone wants to be a champion. Yet, even if a team wins (or loses) a championship, a few months later, it will be mostly forgotten over time except for those involved and the fans.
As a fan, I was disappointed the 49ers couldn't win the Super Bowl. So I can imagine how the players might feel. However, I hope they take this experience in perspective and realize how much of a blessing it was to JUST PLAY in the Super Bowl. Never take it for granted that you will get another chance to play again.
While there will be plenty of analysis of the game over the coming days, winning a championship cements a team's place in history. Thus the Ravens will be forever noted as the Super Bowl champions of the 2012-2013 NFL season. But how big of a difference is there between the champion Ravens and the runner-up 49ers?
The Ravens have earned bragging rights, championship rings, endorsement money and a championship trophy. The championship is also an important thing when judging whether certain players were "very good" or "elite". Additionally, if any of the players on the Ravens are Hall Of Fame worthy in the future, winning a championship is taken into consideration.
But let's not forget the 49ers. The sting of losing the game will be with the 49ers for a while. They don't get the pride of being a Super Bowl champion. The endorsements and other perks may not be available to them. However, the 49ers DO GET RINGS for being the NFC Champions. Yes, it is a consolation prize. While most of the players may not be satisfied with being runner-ups, some players will treasure it greatly. The good news? For most of the players, they will get back to practice in August and get another shot to try to get back to the Super Bowl.
I always remember a story from the San Francisco Giants 2002 World Series season. The Giants had won the National League championship and played the Anaheim Angels in the 2002 World Series. The Giants had a chance to win their first World Series championship in 50+ years but lost to the Angels in 7 games. While it was a disappointment to all involved, a veteran player (Shawon Dunston) commented a few years later that he was proud of his National League championship ring. Dunston had never gotten a chance to play in the World Series until 2002 and thus chose to keep things in perspective despite the tough loss for the team.
Some years ago, I was playing on one of my church basketball leagues. One of my friends was leading and giving a message to all the teams / players. He asked us a pretty basic question: "Can you remember last year's NBA champion? How about the past 5 years? 10 years?" Even for a basketball fan like me, I couldn't name all the NBA champions in the past years at that time.
What was the main point? From youth basketball teams, to NBA / NFL teams and the teams in my adult leagues, everyone wants to be a champion. Yet, even if a team wins (or loses) a championship, a few months later, it will be mostly forgotten over time except for those involved and the fans.
As a fan, I was disappointed the 49ers couldn't win the Super Bowl. So I can imagine how the players might feel. However, I hope they take this experience in perspective and realize how much of a blessing it was to JUST PLAY in the Super Bowl. Never take it for granted that you will get another chance to play again.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Writing For Dollars
A couple of weeks ago, I made a tough decision to take a leave of absence from high school basketball officiating. The reasons for this are plenty but nothing I really want to discuss at this point in time. However, the decision was not made without having some plans in mind.
Some weeks ago, I felt I had an inkling to start writing more again. I do various blogs throughout the year. I write a monthly column on Apple II and other retro video games. A couple of years ago, I had embarked on freelance writing covering high school sports.
The reason for freelance writing was that high school sports coverage is pretty sparse in the area I live in. Since I was unemployed at the time, it was a good idea to try and I did it for the better part of a year. The issues I ran into was that I was a freelance operation and I had to do everything myself. When I returned to work a few months later, I continued to write as much as I could but it proved difficult to juggle freelancing with my job. Eventually, I stopped my freelance writing.
However, another enterprising person saw the same gaps in high school sports coverage I did and started up his own website and got a staff of writers to work with him. In fact, I was asked at one point to contribute to this site. I declined as I was busy with work, officiating and other stuff.
Alas, as I had an inkling to write again, I asked the website if I could potentially contribute to their site as a writer. The owner/editor noted that he would love it if I could help out. At this point, there is nothing formalized but I do plan to contribute as much as I am available to watch games.
It was time for a change and I am fortunate to be given an opportunity to try and do something different.
Some weeks ago, I felt I had an inkling to start writing more again. I do various blogs throughout the year. I write a monthly column on Apple II and other retro video games. A couple of years ago, I had embarked on freelance writing covering high school sports.
The reason for freelance writing was that high school sports coverage is pretty sparse in the area I live in. Since I was unemployed at the time, it was a good idea to try and I did it for the better part of a year. The issues I ran into was that I was a freelance operation and I had to do everything myself. When I returned to work a few months later, I continued to write as much as I could but it proved difficult to juggle freelancing with my job. Eventually, I stopped my freelance writing.
However, another enterprising person saw the same gaps in high school sports coverage I did and started up his own website and got a staff of writers to work with him. In fact, I was asked at one point to contribute to this site. I declined as I was busy with work, officiating and other stuff.
Alas, as I had an inkling to write again, I asked the website if I could potentially contribute to their site as a writer. The owner/editor noted that he would love it if I could help out. At this point, there is nothing formalized but I do plan to contribute as much as I am available to watch games.
It was time for a change and I am fortunate to be given an opportunity to try and do something different.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Sports As A Social Exercise
The past couple of weeks have been interesting for me. Two of my best friends went away on vacation at the same with their respective families. At the same time, I had been expecting to play basketball about three times a week (Monday & Thursday leagues + Saturday get together). However, the Monday and Thursday leagues were merged due to lack of players on both days. My usual Saturday basketball group also did not play in the last couple of weeks with some people away and the gym being closed for remodeling.
All of this forced me to become more adaptable. I hung out with some of my other guy friends (who are usually busy with kids but we had a get together a couple of weeks ago). I reached out to some others I hadn't seen or talked to in a while. Some folks I hadn't talked to in a while actually called me too.
But the toughest challenge proved to be finding an activity to substitute for playing basketball. A few of my friends always say I should play "less basketball" as it's an activity that consumes my time at the expense of other things. Alas, I disagree with the assessment. Basketball is an activity I enjoy and it's exercise. Exercise is always good for the body.
However, as I learned in these past two weeks, if basketball were JUST exercise, I could easily replace it. I could play basketball elsewhere, play another sport or just work out in the gym. In fact, I did do some cardio work AND played basketball at my local gym. While the exercise was nice, I really realized why I was missing some my basketball that I was expecting.
I realized that part of my enjoyment from playing basketball (or other sports) is the socializing. My current Thursday night basketball is competitive but I know a lot of the guys too. While we all try to win, it is also a chance to catch up and talk to folks. The Saturday basketball crew is also like that as well. I was introduced to my Saturday crew from one of my friends I mentioned above. It's been only in the past 2 or 3 years that I have been showing up consistently. It's always good to play but talk to the guys. While I don't share a long history with them, I've become a part of their circle. We have birthday gatherings and other things we do together.
Simply just doing cardio or playing pick up ball with random strangers is good and I've done that plenty of times in the past. However, I don't usually work out with others. Playing ball with random strangers is cool if you want to just play ball. While my basketball playing style is adaptable, sometimes it's just good to play with people you know.
All in all, As I get older, I am realizing the social aspect of sports is become just as important as playing the sport itself. In fact, I see this applying to other activities such as officiating. I was officiating a tournament this weekend. My partner today wanted to have breakfast so we met up early, had breakfast, talked and watched some football before working our games. I plan to socialize more with my fellow officials as my high school season rolls around in the next few months.
All of this forced me to become more adaptable. I hung out with some of my other guy friends (who are usually busy with kids but we had a get together a couple of weeks ago). I reached out to some others I hadn't seen or talked to in a while. Some folks I hadn't talked to in a while actually called me too.
But the toughest challenge proved to be finding an activity to substitute for playing basketball. A few of my friends always say I should play "less basketball" as it's an activity that consumes my time at the expense of other things. Alas, I disagree with the assessment. Basketball is an activity I enjoy and it's exercise. Exercise is always good for the body.
However, as I learned in these past two weeks, if basketball were JUST exercise, I could easily replace it. I could play basketball elsewhere, play another sport or just work out in the gym. In fact, I did do some cardio work AND played basketball at my local gym. While the exercise was nice, I really realized why I was missing some my basketball that I was expecting.
I realized that part of my enjoyment from playing basketball (or other sports) is the socializing. My current Thursday night basketball is competitive but I know a lot of the guys too. While we all try to win, it is also a chance to catch up and talk to folks. The Saturday basketball crew is also like that as well. I was introduced to my Saturday crew from one of my friends I mentioned above. It's been only in the past 2 or 3 years that I have been showing up consistently. It's always good to play but talk to the guys. While I don't share a long history with them, I've become a part of their circle. We have birthday gatherings and other things we do together.
Simply just doing cardio or playing pick up ball with random strangers is good and I've done that plenty of times in the past. However, I don't usually work out with others. Playing ball with random strangers is cool if you want to just play ball. While my basketball playing style is adaptable, sometimes it's just good to play with people you know.
All in all, As I get older, I am realizing the social aspect of sports is become just as important as playing the sport itself. In fact, I see this applying to other activities such as officiating. I was officiating a tournament this weekend. My partner today wanted to have breakfast so we met up early, had breakfast, talked and watched some football before working our games. I plan to socialize more with my fellow officials as my high school season rolls around in the next few months.
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