Mr. Frank Buckles

A few months ago I saw a story on the news about the last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I. He was in DC asking for a permanent memorial for the first world war, and I found it odd that there wasn't one yet even though I had seen every other memorial and just hadn't noticed there wasn't one. That same story also showed a government official from Kansas City talk about how there already is a national memorial dedicated to the war and it is in KC. Noting against KC but it belongs in DC with all the others and today of all days reminded me of this story.

Today I saw that Frank Buckles, the same man that was asking to have a permanent memorial, died yesterday at the age of 110. He was raised in Oklahoma and was only 16 when he lied about his age to join the fight in the 1917. I wish he could have lived to see a memorial in honor of his sacrifices, and the countless others who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. Hopefully one day this will come true and people can go learn about what happened in those days.

My first thought about Mr. Buckle's passing was sadness for his family and then it was that we have lost that final link. If we haven't captured the stories yet we never will and now we can't go back. Every soldier involved in that history of our nation is gone. I just hope in the final years of Mr. Buckle's life he was able to share his stories so they may be passed along for years to come.

Even more amazing is what he lived through in his lifetime and since I like looking up facts on the internet here are things that happened in his lifetime.

Frank Buckles was born on Feb. 1, 1901
The First Radio Transmission - 1901
The Wright Brothers First Flight on 1903
Oklahoma becomes a state 1907
World War I 1914-1918
Babe Ruth's Career 1914-1935
The Great Depression 1930s
World War II 1939-1945
The First TV Broadcast - 1925
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech" - 1963
The Internet - 1969 (Thanks Al Gore)
Walking on the Moon - 1969
The Cosby Show 1984-1992
Facebook 2004
iPhone 2007
The First African American President 2008

Of course there are plenty of things that could be on that list but 110 years is a long time to live and the changes that have occurred are incredible. Hell, he was 80 years old when I was born in 1981. I hope I can reach my goal of living to be 108 and maybe I will have done something with my life that is .5% as important as what Mr. Buckles did and then some punky, music snob kid will write a blog about me.

Who am I kidding? There is no chance of that happening.

Girl Be Talkin'

Yesterday my friend sent me the new girl talk album and it is pretty awesome. It's by far the best music to run/workout too and is just fun to listen to and try to figure out all the songs that he used to make the songs. If you wanna download it here is the link. http://www.illegal-art.net/allday/

Enjoy!

I Hate the Heisman Trophy

Much like how I hate the Grammy awards I have grown to hate the most coveted award in college football. Why does the Heisman have to go to the best player on the best team? There are guys that dominate their positions and are the best player on the field and never win because they are a defensive player or a wide receiver for a team that wasn't picked in the top 25 to begin the season but are currently 9-1 and #10.

Last year Suh from Nebraska was the MOST dominant player in all of football and single handily changed games. You always hear guys say, "oh x team lost and therefore their QB won't win the Heisman." Even though the QB played great and his defense gave up a ton of yards he can't win because he won't be on the best team.

It's a joke and that's why I don't give a damn about the Heisman much like I don't care about the Grammy's anymore. The day Britney Spears won a Grammy is the day I knew they were a joke. It's all driven by money and record labels because there is no way how you can tell me Taylor Swift had the best album last year. I know it's harder to do because there are more albums than movies but the Oscars get it right and give it to the best not the most popular. If they did Avatar would have won best picture this year but instead it went to The Hurt Locker. Back to my point though, I hate the Heisman and I just wish players who deserve it would win it and not the running back or quarter back on the best team.

Catching Up

It's been a week since I last posted so here is what has happened. Saturday I met the team at Red Coyote, a new running store on the Classen Curve, and we ran 3 miles. Afterward I bought some new shoes which was long overdue and man it makes a huge difference. I ran in them on Monday and the difference in how my legs felt was night and day. On Tuesday I did a long brick workout where I biked 16 miles and then hopped off and ran 3 miles. Thanks to my new shoes my legs felt great after one mile and I felt like I could have kept going for 2 or 3 more. Thursday I had my first open water swim of the season at Lake Arcadia with the OKC Tri group. It was a 500 meter swim that overall went well considering it was my first one of the season. I need to work more at it and will get another chance on Monday with the TNT group.

Today is Bike to Work Day so I got up earlier than normal to bike 13.5 miles to my work through morning traffic. It wasn't the best experience ever but I enjoyed it overall. I attached my camera to my handle bars and made a time lapse video. I have posted it below for your viewing pleasure. This weekend we have a brick workout and I have my Bunko Fundraiser. I will fill you in on those details as they happen. Go Team!

gettin' after it

I finally got a fairly long run in on Tuesday going 4 miles and I was excited that I felt good for the entire 4 miles. I had only run once since April 17th and it was an awful 3 miles. Last nights swim practice was canceled due to lightning in the area so i got up early and swam at the YMCA and knocked out 1500 meters. It's weird how I feel better at the last 500 meters than I did for the first 1000. I hope it doesn't take me 1000 meters to warm up in Austin. Tonight I will hop on the bike (Ginnetha) and take it for a spin around Hefner. I still need those donations so keep them coming and go team! http://pages.teamintraining.org/ok/txtri10/kginn

28 miles(ish)

Saturday we met at Coach Steve's shop and did a long ride with the Young Life group. We rode from downtown OKC to Lake Stanley Draper and back. The ride was roughly 28 miles, I don't know for sure because a little over halfway through I accidentally reset my bike computer and so i don't know how far. It was a good ride and on the way back it was only the TNT group as the Young Life riders were going around the lake before heading back.

Afterward I headed over to the Kickoff event for the Summer/Fall events for Team in Training. I am currently not signed up but went to support the Team and noticed to friends that have signed up. My friend Tamara Baldwin used to work with me and she has signed up to run the Nike Women's Half marathon in San Fran this fall. The other person was my dear friend Tina Fox's brother Phil. I always knew he was an avid cyclist so when I saw him Saturday and he said he was doing a Century ride I knew he would be great at it. Big shout out for T Fox for recruiting 3 people to the OKC TNT group in the last year, Myself, Phil and Bryan Sloan. Go Team!

Cinco de Swimo

We had a great swim practice last night at OCCC. we worked on some long distance speed by doing 3 by 300 meter sprints at a good pace. I can totally tell that I am getting a lot more efficient and faster in the water and that is awesome. After that we worked on drafting off other swimmers which I didn't even know was possible in the water but it is and it's pretty cool. We ended with everyone in one lane and practicing on mass starts. I think we had more fun trying to swim over the top of others and grabbing feet then we did doing anything else. It's definitely worse in practice than it is in real life, at least from my experience anyway.

Wednesday was also Coach Steve's birthday so in honor of his birthday I am posting this video I shot of him a few weeks ago at one of our swims. Happy Birthday Steve.



Keep Fighting and Go Team!