Sleep with one eye open Chayse

There I lay, in an unfamiliar room 15 miles from where the rest of the team was soundly sleeping together. No doubt having gone to bed wishing each other a peaceful nights rest. A short moment passes before a final volley is cast, "I wonder where Jerry is sleeping, probably at the toilet store". A roar of uncontrollable laughter sweeps from one room to the next, the sound wave traveling down the 5 freeway. My daughter sleeping on the floor in her makeshift bed next to me stirs. I wonder if she knows the first victory has gone to the evil news team. I admit I was not prepared for the psychological warfare employed on me, in retrospect I suppose I was too focused on the possibility of physical harm. At the team dinner I was systematically lead towards anger, they were all looking at me but they weren't looking at me, divide and conquer they did. I left before the dinner was over having eaten a meal I barely remember. You see Chayse and I were spending the night at my cousin's in Mission Viejo as per the teams request in fear she would disturb their sleep in such tight quarters. Touche, isolate and one's imagination will run a muck with fear and paranoia. Hah, as if.  "Sleep with one eye open Chayse, my cousin may be their new weekend anchor"

The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not let the enemy's will to be imposed on him - Sun Tzu  

530 AM  I awaken, it is the morning of the run. I tell myself I am prepared, I have trained as hard as I could have given the circumstances, King Kong has NOTHING ON ME. "Oops sorry Chayse didn't mean to step on you, come it's time to get up"  I shower, stretch, rub my hamstring with some Tiger Balm, and prepare for what is to be a most amazing and memorable day.

It was to say the least, a life changing event. There was so much positive energy and Hunter's spirit was felt throughout the day and run and he undoubtedly had our back. Thank you Iron Hunter for all your support and inspiration. And a final thank you again to all those that wished us luck, supported us, and donated their hard earned money to the Pediatric Cancer Research Fund. We love you and see you next year : )

  6 blogs, 8 people offended, 51.00 minutes, 3900 dollars raised, and one teeny tiny little medal.....priceless

Wait, just one last thing. The evil news team in all there gusto to get to the run and take me down, forgot one incredibly important thing......

 They forgot to bring the Team Hunter banner that we had made for the run! Maybe we can cross out the 2010 and replace it with a 2011. Run with us next year, if you like you can join my morning news team.

It's on like Donkey Kong

My final blog before the run this Sunday and I'm oddly a little emotional about it. It feels like I've been at summer camp and this is my final correspondence with my best friend from home.

Dearest Dimitri,
     It has been the fastest three weeks of my life, so much has happened I will never forget this experience, the good, the bad, and even the sad.  I wish my parents had enough money to keep me here for the entire 8 weeks. Sadly I am the only one going home Sunday, but not before we stomp Camp Mohawk in the Olympiad. Spaz won the stacking contest, Fink beat the Stomach in eating hot dogs, and Tripper instilled in us that "it just doesn't matter." Now it's up to me in the 10k run. Whatever happens being here at Camp North Star has taught me so much.  I'm going to miss writing you, although it would have been nice if you wrote me back, did I tell you I was in the Bigfoot cabin?                                                                               Yours - the original Rudy

I think there's a film in there somewhere, maybe a Chariots of Fire meets Zoolander meets 300.  I should get in touch with Ivan Reitman's people. Whether it's a, "I love it you're green lit or get out of my office I already made this film it was called Meatballs dipsh*t", it has been a great experience writing this blog. At it's inception it was simply something I started because I knew I couldn't repeatedly solicit or facebook people for donations in the same rote manner. So I thought if I offered up some effort with some pedestrian writing ability I would seem less the Santa that stands outside the Home Depot during Christmas and more the young boy in a baseball uniform offering crunchy milk chocolate bars for a dollar. Not sure if I achieved that distinction but I've had a lot a fun writing and from a fund raising perspective I consider the blog a homerun. I have raised a near $3700 for the race, money which will certainly help someone somewhere advance the cause for the obliteration of cancer. Thank you to all who have supported by reading, emailing, calling, and most of all by donating your hard earned money. I am forever grateful and I am encouraged to continue raising money for charities close to my heart. It is important for me to say that no dollar would have been possible if not for Hunter and his family. They have truly inspired us through action and Hunter's legacy will live on in those lives he has touched. We celebrate him and the many children fighting for their young lives.

T minus 5 days

So it turns out sadly I won't be able to run in my hunter green shoes, apparently they're not made for running. Ridiculous I know, but I ran in them for two days over 8.8 miles and they left the bottom of both my calves throbbing to the point I couldn't walk. I had a bag of frozen white corn bandaged to one and a bag of frozen carrots wrapped to the other. Now I'm running in my newly purchased pair of New Balances 760s and I have to say they're pretty F in comfortable. This past week was filthy rich with blogging material, I feel like I could have written an entire book on how NOT to train for a 10k but I'm gonna keep it short. I've put in close to 20 miles of running this week, I got to run with several members of the evil news team, and on Sunday I ran a continuous 5.6 miles. Now I'm in my taper down phase, which is code for I'm done training. I'm gonna just focus on what to wear, what to eat, and which super expensive sock I'm gonna buy for the race. As I say to my daughter before soccer games, "It's on like Donkey Kong" see everyone on the flip side of 10k.

  

We run on Sunday 

Please click on the link below and support our run.

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My shoes are green and my doctor is gay

I wish I could blog about something father related but quite frankly I didn't do much of it this past week. For fourteen days Chayse tasted freedom and free will on a scale equaled only by going to college.  She watched close to 70 hrs of television, had McDonalds twelve times, and in the process set back my dreams of her making the 2024 Olympics. Now she'll probably have to settle for being an alternate on the 2028 squad and forever talk about how she almost made it but my dad got sick back when I was four. Apparently my upper respiratory infection turned into bronchitis and the bronchitis could've turned into pneumonia if I didn't shut everything down, well that's what my gay doctor said and by gay this time I actually mean gay.  You see I never go to doctors when I'm sick, I only visit emergency rooms when necessary, but when I searched the internet with my symptoms of neck pain, fever, cough and Meningitis turned up, I immediately started calling some friends for a doctor hook up and one Sandeep Kapoor in Studio City came highly recommended, so off I went to see the good doctor. I've been away from New York for quite sometime now so my gay-dar might need some recalibration but so it goes in the fog of war. I had good info with the original recon in the waiting room but then he threw me a curve ball with talk of his two boys with photos to boot of them in their baseball uniforms. Overall it was too pleasant of a trip to the doctors, I laughed more than someone sick should have, I knew way too much about his personal life, and I got a tip for where to buy some good skinny jeans in the neighborhood. These were good people and I had a good time. I haven't had a doctor to call my own since my pediatrician. Damnit I like this guy, I'm gonna stick with him. I'll just have to hope I don't get colon cancer because there's no way he's putting his fingers in my butt.  Needless to say it's not a procedure I'm particularly looking forward to and it doesn't run in my family so I'm guessing it's a safe sacrifice.  All's well and ends well, I'm finally feeling good, my hamstring is almost 100%, and it turns out the doctor's kids were from a surrogate, so no distraught humiliated wife to speak of.


T minus 14 days

I've managed to get two days of running in the past few days. I've been taking it easy because I don't want the bronchitis to flare up, but I have to get out there and put some miles in, the race is two weeks away and I've only managed a total of 8 pathetic miles over three weeks.  If this was a 2k race I would be golden. As for my post bronchitis running there's nothing special to report other than I was able to complete the lap and I was able to improve upon it a little the second run. Not to worry things will undoubtedly get more interesting this week as I push to do two laps at 4.4 miles. I may even join the evil news team for a training run if they'll have me. Speaking of which since my initial mention of Wes Mantooth aka my wife Trish and her news team the chatter has subsided, people are focused and anxious to get the run on. I for one am excited to receive our orange Team Hunter t-shirts, apparently hunter green was taken go figure. However I coincidentally own a hunter green pair of Saucony running shoes I bought years ago. I've barely worn them but will be proudly sporting them on May 2nd for my main man Hunter.

I guess you can understand why they've been hardly used, not sure what tempted me to buy them, they look like something an albino produce farmer would wear, but I'm glad I'll have them for this moment.

Speaking of my hero Iron Hunter his memorial was last weekend and it was an amazing gathering of people that he and his parents have touched. There were many tears, many cheers, and even an indomitable sense of hope. You see Lenore is very pregnant with their second son. I think they were going to name him Ryder, but I can't recall exactly. I hope the best for this family, they deserve so much for all that they have given. One thing I know is that there will not be a shortage of love in that household. God bless them, and I never say that.

We run May 2nd

Raising awareness for Pediatric Cancer. It's now personal. Join Team Hunter for a 10K run or please donate and help us help them. http://pcrf-kids.org.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=329465&lis=1&kntae329465=94C6BC013E8D47C1AC923632E6F9944F&supId=283487581

The Russians are bombing?

I'm on day 7 of being sick. Seven days, are you serious? Before children (BC) I would never have gotten sick for more than 24 hours, granted it would be like the second coming of the grim reaper but just as fast as it would come it would be gone.  But after children (AC), I'd be sick once every couple of months easy and it would last minimum a week. I understood the why, not cleaning my hands properly, kids are walking germ bags, drinking and smoking are bad for you yada yada, but I never understood why the sickness would last so long until now. It's an energy thing. You see, when you're single and you get sick, you hole up for a couple of days, rent season X of show Y, you catch up on the phone with some friends you haven't spoken to in a while, but then you recover,  you open the windows, and life is fresh again. It's cathartic. Nothing is happening around you to stress you out, you don't speak if you don't want to and no one is speaking to you. But when you have a self-centered, blood related four year old in your space, the energy that is supposed to be directed towards your health, is now being used just to repeat yourself, over and over. It's like each word that you verbalize extends the length of your illness by 30 minutes, and when you have to preface yourself each time with "Sweety, please don't make me repeat myself, daddy isn't feeling well, will you please {command} " it adds up quick and before you know it, you're at a week. Not to mention sometimes they don't even have to do anything and they affect your recovery. Sunday afternoon, I'm home in bed sick, having again successfully avoided my wife's annual Easter brunch, the earth begins to shake. I'm thinking, I'm sorry G-d I swear I'll go to the stupid brunch next year, then I think, get under an archway, then I think, wait is that right, the only training for this I've ever had was in Jersey where there were no earthquakes and all they ever had us do was crawl under our desks in case the Russians were to bomb us. Then I think, I have a kid what's her name? Chayse! I leap out of bed call her forcefully three times (that's an hour and a half more recovery needed times 6 because I had to use an alarmed voice).  I find her on the computer watching some baking show on you tube, pick her up and rush the both of us outside. That entire sequence with her cost me two extra days of sickness for sure.  If I was without child I wouldn't have uttered a word and I would have casually walked out of my house and been healthy the next day, guaranteed. Life AC and life BC.


Break in Training

There hasn't been any training since last I wrote because of my self diagnosed acute upper respiratory infection. The evil news team must be chomping/champing at the bit. I'm behind, I know it, but like most things in life everything happens for a reason. Being sick this week has taken my mind of beating the KCAL news team and helped given me perspective. This run is about the children, about beating cancer, about celebration, and not about my ego. As it so happens Hunter's memorial service in Los Angeles is this Saturday. I have to admit I'm nervous. There's been a fair share of death in my life, the last being my friends from college, Scotty, GG, LP, and Freddy. They passed away on September 11th.  Scotty was a runner, and by runner I mean he ran the NY marathon, the real deal. I remember supporting him that day and if you've never been to a marathon go, it's so much fun to support and cheer for all the runners, and then once they pass, you drink a beer and cut over to the next place where you'll get to see them pass you, and so on. Losing them was an incredibly difficult time and certainly they left us way too soon just like young Hunter. His parents, Zen and Lenore, are driving down so that we all may celebrate and honor Hunter's life. I like most of the others will be honoring them as well. These two beautiful people, they have shown everyone that is a parent and anyone that will be a parent, what it means to love, to fully support and sacrifice wholly of themselves for another. I'm nervous to see them because in truth I look up to them and hope if ever the time calls, I'll be there as they have been.

Scotty Weingard

We run May 2nd

Raising awareness for Pediatric Cancer. It's now personal. Join Team Hunter for a 10K run or please donate and help us help them. http://pcrf-kids.org.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=329465&lis=1&kntae329465=94C6BC013E8D47C1AC923632E6F9944F&supId=283487581

Vampires are training for this run too?

So yesterday I woke up looking to do my first real training, but first I had to get my daughter ready and dropped off at school.  I go through the usual brush, pee, get dressed, dad plays a quick poker tourney on line, make her lunch, then it's off to school kid go learn something useful. But this morning she stumps me with " Dad, can you braid my hair?" I looked at her as if she just asked me to wipe her butt with my bare hands. Which truth be told I actually would do if I had to.  There's something about your own kid's feces or vomit that doesn't quite gross you out as much as your own or anothers. Don't get me wrong the smell of both are still sickening but the touch of it is really nothing.  Anyways, it went something like this.

Chayse

Dad can you braid my hair please?

Dad has an uncomfortable look on his face.

Dad

That's for mom's sweety and besides I don't know how to.

Chayse

But dad, mom knows how to braid my hair, why can't you?

Dad

(pause)

What are you trying to say, mom can do something I can't? Cause if that's what I think you're implying by that outrageous presumption you can count on a 13 hour timeout. Now go get one of those hair band thingys and come sit at my feet.

It might not have gone exactly like that but it was how I felt, competitive. So it was a lot of brushing and fumbling with certain fingers holding certain hairs while crossing hands and such. It was all a little emasculating so in my mind I was actually fashioning some dock line needed to moor my 75ft yacht to the deck at my Hampton summer home. This was the result:

Guess I would have lost my boat to sea. Funny how it looks like a horseshoe crab I once stepped on when I was 13 on a field trip to Sandy Hook, NJ.

So I'm not sure whether or not this makes me a good dad because I at least tried or a bad dad because I sent my kid to school looking like she hadn't showered in days.  For kicks I should have sent her in pink fuzzy house slippers with a cigarette dangling from her mouth. And I'm so insecure that when I got to school I made sure to apologize to anyone that was over the age of 5. I apologized to a 12 year old that happened to be visiting, wtf. They were all understanding and said it just had to be pulled tighter the whole way through next time. 

T minus 32 days

So I finally arrive at the reservoir ready to do this. I'm gonna check the time before I begin so I have an idea of where I'm at pace wise.  I normally wouldn't be concerned about this but my wife and her friends have all been hardcore training for months now. Not to mention they apparently have Jerry bashing sessions, they're all motivated to beat me for some reason like I'm their arch nemesis or something. The funny thing is I know my wife is the ring leader of it all.  And they're open about it. It's like they're the evil news casting team from Anchorman led by Vince Vaughn and I'm Ron Burgundy only without the crew.  I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly... Needless to say the week before the run I will definitely be sleeping out of house in fear of sabotage by poisoning or physical injury.  More to follow on this developing drama I'm sure.

I check the time and I'm off.  I ease into it for the first few hundred yards, hamstring is feeling fine.  Then it occurs to me that it's been overcast and suddenly nothing looks as beautiful as it did the other day. The twin lake reservoirs look a little swampy almost tar pittish and the joggers coming at me look like vampires. It is clear to me that running in anything less than great weather is a chore.  I chore on but have already forgotten what time I started.  I remember it ended in an 8, and I couldn't have been jogging more than 7 minutes so I should be able to figure it out given the time.  I shout out to the Mexican guy running with his German Shepard. He reluctantly tells me, I think I threw off his breathing pattern.  I started at 10:18. Nothing of note the rest of the way but that a lot of vampires live in Silverlake.  On the back stretch I'm dying, but I'm trying to maintain a steady pace  I'm struggling to keep my form I'm trying to run with push through my foot. Don't know what that last term means really I made it up while running.  It's something to do with using my toes to help finish off my stride, maybe it's the secret to fast running. I finish exhausted.  Going to my car I almost wander into oncoming traffic. I'm ready to throw up I check the time 10:37.  I don't know what this means, I'm so gassed I can't even subtract the two numbers. 37-18=?  18-37=?  37-18=?  I actually pulled up the calc function on my blackberry, and I was in Calc BC.  19 minutes, it took me 19 minutes, what does this mean?  Oh no let's see I need minutes per mile, okay the brain is starting to work.  19 minutes divided by 2.2 miles,  okay this I need the calculator for. 

19/2.2 = 8.63 minutes per mile

Not bad for a someone who has kind of quit smoking : ) I couldn't have run another lap but I have four more weeks of training. By the way the evil news casting team is always talking about 10 minute miles. 

We run May 2nd

Raising awareness for Pediatric Cancer. It's now personal. Join Team Hunter for a 10K run or please donate and help us help them. http://pcrf-kids.org.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=329465&lis=1&kntae329465=94C6BC013E8D47C1AC923632E6F9944F&supId=283487581

Training for Team Hunter

It's a cliche I'm certain, but it has never been a desire of mine to blog about anything to anyone . What would I have blogged about anyway, being an actor in LA? How narcissistic or gay would that be? and I mean gay in the high school sense of the word, no idea that people of the same sex actually wanted to make out with one another. It was ignorant then, it's ignorant now, but some times the word just fits so beautifully. Yes I went to high school before Ellen came out on Ellen and yes my wife and I are looking for a great gay couple to be friends with. I've written five sentences and already It's dawning on me that this could be a very bad idea. But bad ideas are far more fun anyways right? Right, so I'm going to blog unapologetically for the next 5 weeks as I train up to run the Cinco De Mayo 10K for Pediatric Cancer Research. I will run as a member of our global village, as a father, and for one Hunter Zen Thawley.

Day 1 "Silverlake Reservoir"

It's 2.2 miles around this beautiful reservoir complete with dog park, basketball court, and children's day care. Too bad I won't actually be running it today, It'll be more like a recon mission through Trader Joe's. For one, I've never run more than a mile in my entire life and two, I've been shut down physically for 6 weeks due to a torn hamstring I sustained playing basketball. Torn hammy, come on, I've never even thought about that muscle. As a matter of fact I didn't even know what's it's purpose was until I hurt it. For those interested, it's the largest muscle in your body and it's responsible for retracting the lower leg. Not sure what it's good for other than running, well maybe for pulling the ottoman a little closer, now that is incredibly important.

So the plan is to walk half the loop around the reservoir, warm up the hamstring, and lightly jog the second half. It just so happens I have a 50yr old friend who lives right by the reservoir. What better person to have join me. He won't push the pace and I won't feel the need to alpha male him. Everything went as I had planned, I barely broke a sweat and it was a pleasant lap. My friend is a wealth of knowledge and he couldn't have been better company. My only regret is that I did the lap shirtless. Ashamed of my body I am not, but walking and talking to another Asian guy for a mile and a half around a reservoir with my shirt off, well that's just.......a little too Sex in the City.

So I'll run once or twice a week, cross train with some swimming and basketball, and voila I'll be ready to run this 10K. I'm well aware this isn't a monumental accomplishment in of itself and the training for it hardly deserves blogging about, but it's the why we run that has inspired me. I've always had a special place in my heart for children, probably because I am forever one myself. Being a father these past 4 years has been the greatest privilege of my life. It has been a lot of work and I'm painfully aware that the challenges will only become more difficult (I'm already constructing the gun case that will reside above and behind my desk) In return I only ask for one thing. That I may watch her grow, tackle life, and reach for her fullest potential. Young Hunter like many other children have not been afforded this opportunity. It kills me, and the hurt the families endure, kills me. For some back story, two weeks ago I sent this email out to my friends and family.

Hi everyone, two months ago Trish somehow convinced me to run a 10K marathon with her on the Cinco de Mayo. It's a run organized by The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. We have a team of 10 running and collectively our goal has been to raise 1500 dollars. Originally, I was simply going to raise my share locally and go suffer along with all the other runners but the circumstances have changed. Over the past week, this run and this cause has become painfully and incredibly personal for me. On Monday our friends Zen Todd and Lenore Davis lost their boy Hunter to Leukemia, he was only 3 1/2. He fought valiantly for over two years and he has become my hero. His parents have given all their love and all their strength to him and it is time for them to now rest. We are picking up the fight and we are going to run and take it to the cancer. Help us celebrate and honor the life this young man lived, please donate and join Team Hunter. I know times are tough but in this cause like many others, every dime counts, so there is no amount too small. But either way we are all family and I love you all dearly, hope to see everyone soon- J

I have no idea what to expect of this blog, but I can say it'll be candid and have my honest point of view. I can say it will not be a constant solicitation for donations to the Pediatric Cancer Research fund, but it will always be an option should you want to, and I can say only jog with your shirt off if you're by yourself .

We run May 2nd

To learn more about Hunter, you can read his mother's blog at www.healinghunter.com <http://www.healinghunter.com/>

to make a donation for the run please visit my donation page
http://pcrf-kids.org.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=329465&lis=1&kntae329465=94C6BC013E8D47C1AC923632E6F9944F&supId=283487581