March 2010 Archives

yes, i'm talking about you burgs.net.

i've had a website since 1995. 1995 people.

what started with www-scf.usc.edu/~burgos turned into www.geocities.com/djiceburgs turned into www.blogger.com/djiceburgs turned into www.scribble.nu/burgs turned into www.isangmahal.com/djiceburgs turned into www.xanga.com/djiceburgs turned into www.burgs.net.

alot of that content is probably gone forever on some broken down old server in some metal heap. which might not be an entirely bad thing.

the truth is, if you have been reading my website for any period of time, it has absolutely ZERO format. i talk about sports, or running, or what i read on the internet, or the latest episode of hannah montana, or work, or depressing crap. what i write is basically a clusterfuck of information thats as scatterbrained as i am. i wish i had some focus like a tech blog or a movie review blog but its just random fricking musings barely above the "i ate pancakes for breakfast and then i brushed my teeth and then i drove to work". barely. i wish i could monetize this crap but if you read this site with any regularity you know there would be no way possible for this to happen.

sometimes people have asked me, "why do you even do it? why do you put some of that stuff out there (when it will obviously open me up to scrutiny)?

the truth is, this website is the most selfish thing i have.

i write entirely for me. its very therapeutic. its like my diary (see what i mean about opening myself up to scrutiny. i'm a 33 year old dude with a fucking diary).

but yeah, if you are reading this, all i can think to say is, "why?"

just kidding thanks for reading. (but seriously, i have no idea why)

great read i got from this link. i'll repost a bit of it here below:

"One thing I've found over the years is that many of the folks I train with (and race against) are for the most part as devoted to their jobs (if not more) as they are to running or cycling or triathlon.

Unlike participation in say, golf or softball or basketball - no offense to club/league sports - the type of determination, discipline and emotional focus that comes with training day in, day out for extremely challenging endurance events (often by yourself) tends to bleed over into people's 9-5's.

Whether you're training for a marathon, a century or the Ironman triathlon, one thing you quickly find out is that there's no room for bullshit out there on the pavement. You either do the work or you're screwed. Politics won't get you to the finish line. It doesn't matter who you know or how well you can work the system. When you're out there, every weakness bubbles up to the surface and stares you in the eye. Lack of preparation, lack of motivation, lack of dedication will all come back to bite you in the ass. there's nowhere to hide. They will all find you and jump up on your back to stop you dead in your tracks. The choice becomes this: Do you let them stop you, or do you accept them and keep going?

You learn a lot about yourself, training for that type of event.

You learn a lot about how to break thresholds and get past your own little ego, training for events like these. When you're tired and sore and hungry but you still have four miles to go, guess what? You still have four miles to go. How you get through these last four miles is entirely up to you. Nobody cares whether you walk those last four miles or run, or hail a cab. Nobody made you set 26.2 miles as a goal. Or 100 miles. Or 144+.

Once you've broken past your lack of will and learned to keep going, you are transformed. A similar thing happens to Marines during training. At some point, who you used to be before you went beyond what you thought your limitations were, before you kissed excuses goodbye, before you left all of the bullshit that stood in your mind's way ceases to exist. You become someone else.

That someone else, the marathoner, the long distance cyclist, the triathlete, the Ironman, he or she walks into your place of work with you every morning.

We all work with two types of people: Partisans of the least amount of effort, and dedicated professionals.

The latter aren't all marathoners or triathletes, but I have yet to meet an Ironman or marathoner who didn't take his or her intensity and dedication to their job.

Not that there's anything wrong with drinking a case of beer and watching sports on TV all weekend, but who you are outside of your work does have parallels with who you are when you are at work.

Something to think about."

umm wait. but what about runners who like to drink beer and watch sports on tv?

more inspiring quotes from my favorite old spanish portuguese guy:

"In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame others for what we feel."

"The universe only makes sense if you can share it with someone."

"It is the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."

"Only mediocrity is safe. Take your risks and be the best.

There is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for."

here's the oh so exciting mile by mile breakdown:
1: 8:11
2: 7:22
3: 7:28
4: 7:53
5: 8:10
6: 7:32
7: 7:20
8: 7:35
9: 7:33
10: 7:37
11: 7:25
12: 7:48
13: 7:45
14: 7:14
15: 7:12
16: 7:36
17: 7:35
18: 7:55
19: 7:40
20: 7:54
21: 7:56
22: 7:51
23: 8:21
24: 8:11
25: 7:57
26: 7:25
.2: 2:58

good news? both halves are pretty even.
bad news? they are both slow

sometimes life works alot like basketball.

when things are going great, everything seems so easy. offense moves, the basket seems as big as a house, its easy to score, and pass. its a thing of beauty.

when things go bad, everything gets difficult. simple plays get mucked up, the basket shrinks to the size of a grapefruit, even simple things like layups suddenly become impossible. its just a mess.

but the flow of basketball games is sometimes like the flow of life. there are stretches of beautiful basketball and stretches of bad basketball. the only solace when things are tough is knowing that the offense will get back in a groove again eventually.

final time: 3:23:29. second fastest time of my life. i'm happy for that.

based on my goals, it came between "bare minimum to be considered a victory" and "very satisfied". so i'm satisfied.

new la marathon course is a great course. if you are thinking about running a marathon, this is the one to do. you see all the great sites the city has to offer, it has great "energy", and its just overall stimulating (which is hard to do over 26.2 miles).

i'm hurting, but a good hurt. soreness and pain but no injury so thank god.

whats next? a few half marathon and then a fall marathon. my old coach says i need to drop another 10 pounds. i'm at 160 but i want to be under 150 by my fall race. will write more soon, thanks for reading.

last 3 marathon times:
09.08.07 - st george - 3:14:51
06.01.08 - san diego - 4:03:48
02.21.09 - pasadena - 4:21:58

after my pr at st george, i had two horrible races. the training was pretty nonexistent.

tomorrow will be the first time i have truly trained since st george. my weight is right at 160, i would like it to be under 150 but 160 is an ok weight for me. i have put in 420 miles since the 1st of january, definitely the most i have trained since st george. considering the course, weather, and all the factors, here are my goals:

bare minimum for it to be considered a victory: break 3:30 (8 min pace)
i do my long training runs at this pace. considering my fitness level anything worse than this will be a major setback for me to reach my goals this fall.

very satisfied: 3:20 (7:37 pace)
based on my half marathon, i should be hitting around a 3:18 pace. but this course is a little easier than pasadena so i'm thinking i could do better. but if i hit around 3:18-3:20, i know i'll be in great shape for my fall marathon

ecstatic: 3:14:51 (7:25 pace)

this would be a new pr and this is what i'm gunning for. considering that this is a setup for the fall where i plan to be at peak weight/speed, this would be icing on the cake.

i'll cry like a 12 year old girl at a miley cyrus concert: 3:10:59 (7:17 pace)
this would get me into boston, a dream of mine. enough said. i don't think i'm in this kind of shape right now but hey, who knows?

pain, here i come!

will smith once said, "You are who you associate with. Look around at your five closest friends and that's who you are. If you don't want to be that person, you know what you gotta do."

think about that for a second. think about the 5 people who you spend most of your time with. think about the good things about them, the bad. their goals, dreams, desires. are they in line with what you want? what you really want in life? if not, well yeah, listen to the fresh prince.

something my running coach/friend wrote to the rest of our group today in preparation for sundays race:

"I know many of you may now be feeling butterflies as your race is coming up. I commend all of you for getting this far. As many say, the training is sometimes the most challenging part of a marathon. I know when I am in the peak (taper) phase of my training, I use the "downtime" to reflect back on where I came from and the path ahead.

After all, the marathon is the perfect metaphor for life. The marathon will not always be what you expect. The conditions can change. It is too windy, it is too hot. It is not as flat or downhill as everyone was saying. You miss a water stop. You lost a gel. You get a flat tire. Your work is downsizing. Your roof has a leak. Your neighbor calls an inspector on you. What do you do? You control what you can and you continue to move forward.

Similar to life, your approach to the race can make all the difference. Do you have a plan? (i.e. pace, gels at miles __, water at ___). Or are you already building in excuses for your performance? Now is not the time for second guessing or what ifs. Now is the time to GO!

Life vis a vis the marathon can be seen by different perspectives. Do you wait for things to happen or do you make things happen? In many respects, you are already on the latter path by choosing to participate in these endurance events. As a buddy and running mentor advised me several years ago, you are already in an elite group as less than 1% participate in a marathon.

So when that anthem is sung, stop for a moment, pause and smile. This is your time to celebrate and enjoy. I wish you the best of luck this Sunday."

" Each day is a special gift from God, and while life may not always be fair, you must never allow the pains, hurdles, and handicaps of the moment to poison your attitude and plans for yourself and your future. You can never win when you wear the ugly cloak of self-pity, and the sour sound of whining will certainly frighten away any opportunity for success. Never again. There is a better way."

thank you god for everything. i know I am truly blessed. i realize everyone has tough times but i really believe its all part of the plan.

according to urban dictionary:

worlds collide theory-A theory which states that a man must keep his personal life (i.e. friends) separate from his relationship side (i.e. girlfriend). Should the two worlds come into contact with each other (by means of his girlfriend becoming friends with his friends), both worlds blow up.

"If Relationship George walks through that door, he will kill Independent George! A George divided against itself, cannot stand!" - George Costanza

of course this theory isnt just about independendent burgs vs relationship burgs. its really about circles of friends. work friends, single friends, relationship friends, married friends, college friends, high school friends, grade school friends. its really nice to keep them all tidy and neat in seperate boxes. but things like facebook, and twitter, and myspace, and linkedin (you get the picture) messes everything up.

i find this theory fascinating. do you guys try to keep your worlds seperate? i mean i'm sure most people have a different face they put on at work, or in front of their family, or with their really close friends. here's the theory explained better than i ever could:

2 coelho quotes he wrote this past week:

"None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happened to us. Close the door, change the record, clean the house. Stop being who you were, become who you are now."

"Trust and start walking. We are not alone in the dark, our path will unfold as we move. "

i read something that lance armstrong recently "tweeted": "Lost like a recent college grad.".

so it gave me an idea for a topic...i totally remember being very lost when i graduated from undergrad. trying to pinpoint it, i think i realize the source: what was my motivation?

see growing up i didn't aspire to be cool (which i definitely wasn't) or have a lot of money or anything like that. i seriously wanted to make my parents proud. that was my motivation. i don't know if its wrong or not but i just wanted them to be proud of me. whether it was school or basketball or work.

but when i graduated from college, then what? who was i doing this for? my folks? they were happy i graduated from college but that was kinda the end of the road for them. it was like, cool we're glad you made it this far, now its on you.

so after some time i got to thinking and realized: wow time to do stuff FOR ME.

i mean this isn't how i'm wired. when i play basketball, i like to pass. in my frat, i did community service. i seriously enjoy making other people happy, and don't really do things FOR ME. making other people happy makes me happy.

fast forward a few years to where i am now. now i feel like i'm having alot of those feelings of loss of motivation. who am i doing this for? what am i doing this for? for myself?

i guess another reason i'm writing this is my grad school graduation is coming up and my mom asked me who i'm inviting. i told her just her, dad, and my bro.

what motivates you? what makes you want to wake up every morning, face the world, go to work, and then repeat that whole cycle day after day after day?

its tough sometimes isnt it? this just isn't me right? i'm not taking crazy pills right?

now i'm a sbtb fan like everyone else, but i loved that whole lineup on saturday mornings. saved by the bell, city guys...and california dreams. check this out...

thanks jogahs for the title for this post. good luck to guru from gangstarr who just got outta surgery.