With the Marathon and the fiscal 2009 behind us (yikes, first tax season for Tri-This! coming up!), minds are turning towards 2010 for Tri-This!
I have sent some emails out about the Kids Tri Camp and ways to get more kids - and volunteers - involved. Also, this week I have been able to get five kids so far fitted with brand or mostly-new shoes! Thank you Sierra Running Company for setting this up!
Tonight (Thursday) I'm going running with some students (after some Algebra II meetings after sixth period) at 4pm then swimming with the Fresno State Triathlon team at 6pm. Last night to get ready I went to the gym and did some weights then some light swimming. Wow, now I remember what people experience when they first start swimming! I hadn't swam much at all since the Shaver Lake Triathlon in September so felt very uncoordinated and 'ugly' in the water! Still managed to churn out a 1:05 100 yard freestyle though, but was sprinting and really tired afterwards!
Ahh, post-season! It's fun to reconnect with experienced kids that I haven't talked to in a while (Gabe, Vanessa, Betzaida, Benny, Lindsey, Sovann) and new ones that are just starting to get involved in this triathlon craziness (Jadiel, Adrian, James, Josh, Marcos)! Pictures will probably follow tomorrow at the picasaweb address: (Pictures)
-brandon
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Hope
Recently, there's been a lot of bad news.
- a 14 year old boy from Mendota molested then drowned a 4 year old neighbor boy and put the body in the dryer afterwards.
- the killing rampage on servicemen in Fort Hood, Texas
- rising apathy towards sex and life and death
and for myself, walking around the campus of mclane this morning on my prep, with the sun shining, I just had one thought:
We are here to provide hope. We are here to love people not because of what they do, but despite what they do. Being a coach and teacher who pretty much spends all of my waking hours with kids and communicating about kids after school, it's easy for me to get wrapped up in setting my worth with 'how' the students are doing. To tie my performance to theirs.
It is important how they do, but that's not the point! :-) For myself at least, I was reminded to keep trying and not to give up on kids no matter how many times they 'let me down' because it's not about me! For many kids, that 'third time' was the time that stuck, and now they're succeeding.
Have a great, restful weekend!
- a 14 year old boy from Mendota molested then drowned a 4 year old neighbor boy and put the body in the dryer afterwards.
- the killing rampage on servicemen in Fort Hood, Texas
- rising apathy towards sex and life and death
and for myself, walking around the campus of mclane this morning on my prep, with the sun shining, I just had one thought:
We are here to provide hope. We are here to love people not because of what they do, but despite what they do. Being a coach and teacher who pretty much spends all of my waking hours with kids and communicating about kids after school, it's easy for me to get wrapped up in setting my worth with 'how' the students are doing. To tie my performance to theirs.
It is important how they do, but that's not the point! :-) For myself at least, I was reminded to keep trying and not to give up on kids no matter how many times they 'let me down' because it's not about me! For many kids, that 'third time' was the time that stuck, and now they're succeeding.
Have a great, restful weekend!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
weekday biking
There's no snow in Fresno, although it does get below 60 these days at night.
This week I took some kids biking on Monday and tonight, Wednesday. Very fun. We aren't able to get out there until the sun's almost done but we do a good run 'out', then it's dark so take it kinda easy on the trail back. one of the kids pictured on monday's ride couldn't come tonight because he didn't do his homework like he was supposed to afterwards...
http://picasaweb.google.com/trithisfresno/woodwardbiking
Water Polo ends next week then i'll be doing running/biking twice a week or so probably...
This week I took some kids biking on Monday and tonight, Wednesday. Very fun. We aren't able to get out there until the sun's almost done but we do a good run 'out', then it's dark so take it kinda easy on the trail back. one of the kids pictured on monday's ride couldn't come tonight because he didn't do his homework like he was supposed to afterwards...
http://picasaweb.google.com/trithisfresno/woodwardbiking
Water Polo ends next week then i'll be doing running/biking twice a week or so probably...
Monday, October 19, 2009
The joy of it!
So things are kind of slowing down. I'm working on getting a group of kids to man our very own aid station at the Trail of Two Cities Marathon in November. Should be 5,000 runners this year! I'm trying to get 20 kids to go out there and am working with other service groups on campus at McLane too.
My cell phone was stolen last week while I was helping out at the homecoming week festivities at McLane. Four years ago, as a student teacher, I was 'coerced' into helping with making the floats, etc. after school and it directly led to my decision to come back to McLane to become a teacher/the type of teacher/coach that I am. It was very fun last week too. The phone being stolen was unfortunate but I have to say not unexpected; I was careless with it and I've been there long enough to not have anything significant stolen is pretty good.
The kids seemed to have noticed because I was elected 'Mr. Highlander' or like faculty king. As part of that I have uploaded a video of me "dancing" last Friday. http://www.youtube.com/dormanmath
Tonight after polo I went bike riding with a kid from my classes who had asked to go. We only rode about 6 miles and it was cool but he was sweating and commented about how hard he was working. It was a nice ride and a good time. It was really fun to be just riding bikes again and remembering why I love this sport and these kids.
My cell phone was stolen last week while I was helping out at the homecoming week festivities at McLane. Four years ago, as a student teacher, I was 'coerced' into helping with making the floats, etc. after school and it directly led to my decision to come back to McLane to become a teacher/the type of teacher/coach that I am. It was very fun last week too. The phone being stolen was unfortunate but I have to say not unexpected; I was careless with it and I've been there long enough to not have anything significant stolen is pretty good.
The kids seemed to have noticed because I was elected 'Mr. Highlander' or like faculty king. As part of that I have uploaded a video of me "dancing" last Friday. http://www.youtube.com/dormanmath
Tonight after polo I went bike riding with a kid from my classes who had asked to go. We only rode about 6 miles and it was cool but he was sweating and commented about how hard he was working. It was a nice ride and a good time. It was really fun to be just riding bikes again and remembering why I love this sport and these kids.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
a lot of catching up
The end of september is finally here! Every weekend I spent doing something for tri-this related events, so needleess to say this first week of october is pretty nice to relax! Today (sunday) i let myself sleep with no alarm clock poised and ready and slept in until 9am!
water polo has also picked up full steam, and with practice from 4-6:30pm daily plus morning practices wed and fri from 6-7am and saturday scrimmage from 9-11, things are pretty busy there too! http://www.mclanewaterpolo.com
Next weekend Tri-This! students and I will help put on the Steven Ayres memorial run in Exeter, CA. Steven sadly drowned a couple of weeks ago while training for the Scott Tinley Adventure triathlon. I knew his girlfriend Melanie more, but Melanie and Steven were at the Splash and Dash and we've known them for a while now. I'll be bringing down hopefully about 10 kids, Meagan and myself to do a fun 5k run too. this year completely free, we'll try to build it into someting bigger in the future to help provide a scholarship fund for him at the community college he was attending, West Hills in Lemoore.
Tri This is awaiting word from the Jamba Juice Fundraiser of the 19th and had a GREAT weekend at Shaver Lake triathlon last weekend! Pictures are on the main page linked to from http://www.tri-this.org
I'll begin work now on the planned mtb duathlon at lake hensley january 1st!
water polo has also picked up full steam, and with practice from 4-6:30pm daily plus morning practices wed and fri from 6-7am and saturday scrimmage from 9-11, things are pretty busy there too! http://www.mclanewaterpolo.com
Next weekend Tri-This! students and I will help put on the Steven Ayres memorial run in Exeter, CA. Steven sadly drowned a couple of weeks ago while training for the Scott Tinley Adventure triathlon. I knew his girlfriend Melanie more, but Melanie and Steven were at the Splash and Dash and we've known them for a while now. I'll be bringing down hopefully about 10 kids, Meagan and myself to do a fun 5k run too. this year completely free, we'll try to build it into someting bigger in the future to help provide a scholarship fund for him at the community college he was attending, West Hills in Lemoore.
Tri This is awaiting word from the Jamba Juice Fundraiser of the 19th and had a GREAT weekend at Shaver Lake triathlon last weekend! Pictures are on the main page linked to from http://www.tri-this.org
I'll begin work now on the planned mtb duathlon at lake hensley january 1st!
Friday, September 18, 2009
A new way to support Tri-This!
Hey guys,
Momentum continues to build for Tri-This! Inc.
http://www.freelanthropy.com/?q=node/41&a=ti2
is a downloadable toolbar that installs to your browser. it's very skinny/unobtrusive and works with Mac/Linux if you have firefox and IE and firefox in Windows. Every time you search (it goes through Yahoo) Tri-This! earns one cent. So if 100 people end up downloading it and do just one search a day, that's a dollar. Even thirty bucks a month could easily be raised this way, probably more! (assuming we get numbers!) I've been using it for about a week and have already made thirty six cents :-)
Thanks!
Momentum continues to build for Tri-This! Inc.
http://www.freelanthropy.com/?q=node/41&a=ti2
is a downloadable toolbar that installs to your browser. it's very skinny/unobtrusive and works with Mac/Linux if you have firefox and IE and firefox in Windows. Every time you search (it goes through Yahoo) Tri-This! earns one cent. So if 100 people end up downloading it and do just one search a day, that's a dollar. Even thirty bucks a month could easily be raised this way, probably more! (assuming we get numbers!) I've been using it for about a week and have already made thirty six cents :-)
Thanks!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Criterium!
Tomorrow I am going to race in my first criterium race! I'm nervous/scared/EXCITED! I got roped into it by a friend... it will be good training at least and only $15!
http://www.cloviscritseries.com
Also taking a group of students to volunteer/act as race marshalls.
http://www.cloviscritseries.com
Also taking a group of students to volunteer/act as race marshalls.
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