Up and at ‘em
The team got off to a late start today. After our day off in Indianapolis we woke up around 6:00 to get ready to go, but then went back to sleep and finally left our motel at 9:00. Although we were set back a few hours it was a welcome opportunity to get some more sleep.

The Buckeye State
Back on the road again, each of us put in more miles than we had on any day so far. Most of us ran 13 miles as we crossed from Indiana into Ohio. Unfortunately we were not able to actually run across the border due to traffic, and we had to settle for driving across.

Never Ignore the Monotony
Other than running it was a relatively uneventful day. The roads were straight and the land was flat. This did not make for very interesting running, but we enjoyed it while we could, knowing that we would soon have plenty of hills and winding roads to make it more difficult. Those of us riding in the van driven by Larry Heck passed the time in the car by watching the always entertaining Transformers. A moment of silence was held for Jazz, who was brutally ripped in two by Megatron during combat. At lunch time we decided to go back to our routine of eating at Subway, instead of making another White Castle run.

124 Miles Later
In the evening we arrived in Dayton, Ohio, where we would stop for the night. Driving through downtown, we enjoyed the buildings and especially the massive fountains in the river. Unfortunately the fountains were shut off right after we found them, so we could only get one picture. For dinner we ate at Marion’s Pizza, which we had heard had the best pizza in the world. The team devoured a total of eight pizzas, mostly pepperoni and a few of Marion’s Super Cheese Pizzas. It was quite delicious, but we were hesitant to dub it the “best pizza on in the world.” After dinner we went back to the motel and Day 9 of our quest came to a close.

[Show as slideshow]

12►

Reflections on the Past
Looking back at my life a year ago, I would never have believed somebody who told me “In a year, you’ll be sitting in a hotel in Indianapolis at the halfway point between Wichita, Kansas and Washington DC.” So many things have changed between then and now that it is difficult to qualify just how this relay has changed me and my perception of the world.

First of all, I have been extremely pleased with the warmth people have shown us up to this point in our journey. In Wichita, anybody we asked would listen. Dozens upon dozens donated to our cause whatever they could give–whether it was $20 or $2,000. Slowly, but surely, the idea took flight and flew into the realm of reality. From there, people along the way offered discounts; Subways said they would give us free sandwiches sometimes and Super 8s offered us discounts on their normal prices. Unfortunately, not everything has been as easy as would be the case in an ideal world and far too many people are entirely apathetic.

The Not-So-Good
I’m disheartened by the lack of media attention. It’s not that I want to be on TV or that I enjoy seeing my name in print, but I don’t understand how people can ignore us. Perhaps the most discouraging aspect was the response we received from the Kansas City Star; it wasn’t, “we don’t have time to cover your event” or “you should have notified us earlier,” but rather, “we don’t cover events like this.” Maybe it’s vanity on my part, but I couldn’t help but wonder, “how many passionate teenagers run through your city each day trying to change the world?”

I have a hard time understanding how anybody can classify this relay so generically.

A Break From The Madness
This day in Indianapolis was a pleasant break from the normally chaotic schedule we follow. A typical day consists of a wake up call around 6 a.m., a quick breakfast in the Super 8 lobby, loading the cars around 6:30, and on the road to our starting place by 6:45. We’ll run until sometime between 12 and 2 depending on when we hit a town big enough for a Subway. We’ll spend maybe 45 minutes eating and then head off on the road again until between 6 and 8 pm. By the time we eat, it’s usually around 9:30-10, and then on a good night we might go to sleep before midnight. Now, repeat this for about two weeks and you can get a brief understanding of just how welcoming a little extra sleep was.

I woke up around 8:30 today because I could hardly sleep any longer. It’s a bit sad that I’ve been conditioned to that point, but I had a reason to be excited. Brief detour: the morning of the relay send-off, my laptop decided to die on me and I had no way to fix it. After a bit of research, I settled on a MacBook as a good replacement for my dead laptop and looked for a good chance to buy one. Luckily, Indianapolis had an Apple Store convenient. So, now, I’m writing this blog on my newly-purchased MacBook and doubt that novelty will ever wear off.

In addition to my exciting purchase, I would confidently speak for the rest of the team when I say it was good to be able to eat somewhere that wasn’t Subway for a change. Don’t get me wrong, Subway is delicious, but 8 days straight of the Spicy Italian on Italian herbs and cheese bread with pepper jack cheese, lettuce, and a nice smattering of ranch gets old. For some reason, I never thought of mixing that up.

Adventures at Trader Joe’s
Having lived in SoCal for several years, my parents loved the specialty grocery store called Trader Joe’s. They had already figured out that Indianapolis was the only place with one along our course, so they figured we had to stop. Nobody was opposed and we quickly found our odd little foods, candies, beverages, and other organic delights at the store. As we were checking out, the sunny Indianapolis sky took a drastic change for the worse.

In a matter of five minutes, the bright blue sky changed to a near pitch black and the sun rays pouring from the sky turned into torrential rain. I watched in dismay as a small whirlpool formed in our parking lot and quickly pulled out my trusty new laptop to search for a wifi network and check the weather. We sat there for 20 minutes in the car hoping to wait out the storm. Fortunately, it died down enough for us to make our escape back to the hotel, but we lost all chances of playing some Frisbee or swimming that one glorious rest night. I didn’t waste too much time in self-pity and took to introducing myself to my Mac. Everybody else generally went crazy and enjoyed their remaining few hours in their own ways. I was content, and I’m pretty sure everybody else was too.

But having the day of rest didn’t change our sleeping schedule at all. Everybody is dozing off right now as I finish this entry. It’s past midnight. Not too surprising really.

Forwards and Onwards!
With only about a week left of this amazing journey, I feel like I have to thank some people who have made it possible for us to get this far. First of all, there are the numerous people who believed in us enough to take a risk in supporting us. Second of all, there are the people who donated or helped us in some other way even though they weren’t sure if we could follow through with our end. Both of those groups were essential to our success thus far. Whether or not they thought we could pull this off, they still put some faith in our ability and, most importantly, proved to us that there are those who are not apathetic.

I would love to keep this list short, but I know I can’t:
To Darham Rogers – the coach who was crazy enough to agree to come along for the ride;
To my eight fellow runners – the guys who were crazy enough to believe this could happen;
To Mrs. Kellerby, Mrs. Fry, Mr. Davis, and Mr. Marshall – the teachers who constantly asked for updates, bought t-shirts, and offered their words of wisdom when times were troubling;
To John Bagwell, the Genocide Intervention Network, and STAND – the wonderful organization that took a risk on a bunch of high schoolers trying to change the world;
To Julie VanMater – the designer of our website and tshirts;
To Davis-Moore Auto-Groups – the company that made our trip financially possible;
To Jim at Kalamazoo Sports Wear – the great guy who prints our t-shirts for us and ships them;
To Senator Betts and Lisa Reiss – both of you have been inspirational to us all and have helped us with aspects of this trip that we couldn’t approach alone;
To Kim Thi Tran – our representative in STAND, who played an instrumental role in supporting us;
To my parents who never thought this would happen;
To the hundreds who donated, bought t-shirts, or both;
To everybody at East who believed in us;
To everybody else who helped us;
And to everybody following us right now along our journey:

Thank you.

Before and including lunchtime
I say this because, unless others have something to blog about on this, I don’t think I can recall anything out of the ordinary, just the usual morning, eat, pack, pack van, go run. At lunchtime, Adrian said the Doc, Darham Rogers, had a plan for next year during Track and Field. So I , of course, wanted to find out what this “elaborate” plan was, but he wouldn’t share and now I’m anxious to find out what it is. I have to wait until track season to find out, and right now that seems a long ways away, but I’ll probably forget about it anyway.

Rain, rain, go away
There has been a lot of flooding lately in this area, between Champaign and Indianapolis, that is. We were lucky enough to go down a road that ended up being flooded. So we had to find another route and actually ended up on the road we were originally supposed to be on. After that, we exited the great state of Illinois and entered Indiana, which according to the state borderline sign is the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln. We are going to be staying in Indianapolis.

A sign or just coincidence?
We also saw the same guy twice. He was on a bike going down the road that was flooded, by the state border. Then by some freakish coincidence, we saw him again our new route, by the state border.

Weird signs
We went by some weird signs today, no different from any other day. There was one that had something like “Haunted Doll House” written on it. Another one said, “Do not pick up hitchhikers.” We saw the penitentiary, or as the sign said, “Correctional Facility” a little later. There were a lot of signs saying, “Watch for ice on bridges,” which Michael and I agreed were unnecessary and shouldn’t be put up when there isn’t a very high chance that there will be ice (i.e. summer).

Bikers
Two bikers rode alongside Jacob and Kiet while they were running. According to Jacob, they were on a journey as well, to Oregon. It’s kind of neat having someone join some of us on a run for a while.

Aaron Gurley’s cell
Aaron got his phone back at the hotel in Indianapolis. We had a contest to see how many text messages he missed. Kiet guessed 25, exactly the amount of missed messages.

Dinner adventure
Because of the time zone, we got to Indianapolis late, and didn’t get around to going out for dinner till around the time a lot places closed. At first, we decided to go to Popeyes’, but they closed early due to “safety.” Next, we tried Taco Bell, which was closed as well. Last, Adam recalled a 24-hour sign on a White Castle, just next to Taco Bell, and it was open.

White Castle
Jacob and Michael shared a Crave Crate, 30 burgers, and Chris and Aaron had the same as well. Adrian had 20 burgers and four orders of fries. Adam and Kiet each got 10 burgers and one order of fries. Matt and I shared 10 burgers and two orders of fries; we weren’t too hungry. Matt’s dad also had four burgers. Total, that made 114 burgers. It was an amazing sight. Chris, Aaron, Michael, and Jacob flew through the first seven or eight burgers, then, they started slowing way down. The only people who didn’t finish were those who got the crave crates. Afterwards, we made castles with our empty boxes.

Never Ignore, Never Forget Come Back from White Castle
If getting to White Castle was hard, coming back was terribly difficult. We had to turn around at least three times. We eventually called reception at the hotel, but we found the road before they could tell us directions. Overall it took us probably 30 minutes. According to the other van, Doc was pissed.

Michael Gurley’s insanity
He is obsessed with Laura Shaninsky!

Rain Delay
Well holy cow, I have a few minutes to sit down in my hotel room in Champaign, Illinois to think about the last six days.

We ran into some nasty weather conditions in Springfield this morning and have basically been forced to take an impromptu day off. The rain started early this morning and continued until about noon. We began the day thinking that we could run through the rain. But as we approached the capital building of the state of Illinois, a rain storm kicked in and forced us to seek shelter under a high rise apartment building. While the storm passed we waited for a television crew from Springfield to come and shoot some pictures of us while running. They never showed.

While checking the radar, we discovered that the line of storms covered almost the entire course that we were planning on running that day. So we decided to take in some of the sites in downtown Springfield and then drive ahead to Champaign. While sitting in my hotel room I decided to write out some of my thoughts.

Why go?
Before I left and even during the trip, I have had several colleagues, friends, family members, and complete strangers ask me why I am going on this trip. The asked me why I am willing to give up part of my precious summer vacation, to drive across the country at 8 mph behind or in front of some runners. The answer I gave was the same as was advertised on TV and in newspapers, “to bring awareness to genocide, etc.” But the truth is, up until about a week ago, I didn’t want to go.

What changed?
My frustrations were continuing up until the day we left. I kept telling myself that this is for the kids. I am helping them grow as young men. But then that selfish part of me kept asking, “What’s in it for me?”

The answer to that question came to me while I was listening to a book on tape that I brought on the trip to read/listen to while driving. The book is called American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic by Joseph Ellis (I already disclosed that I am a giant history nerd.) I came to a chapter in the book about George Washington’s winter at Valley Forge. For those of you who don’t know about that winter in 1777-78 in which the Continental Army was forced to settle in Valley Forge, a small but densely populated region in Southeastern Pennsylvania, here’s the readers digest version:

Valley Forge
It was agreed in warfare at that time that two opposing armies did not fight during the winter. Therefore Washington and the Continental Army settled down for a long winter with poor shelters, food and medical supplies, as well as poor clothing and equipment. Many soldiers froze and starved to death or were stricken with disease while in Valley Forge. Many others deserted the army because of the conditions.

General George Washington pleaded with the area farmers to assist him but the farmers could not afford to. You see, the value of the Colonial currency had dropped and inflation was rising in the colonies. The British Army that had occupied nearby Philadelphia was able to pay the farmers in the British Pound Sterling which was actually worth something. So in order to survive, many farmers were selling their crops to the British instead of helping the Colonials.

Many of these farmers were ardent patriots who believed in what the Continental Army was doing. But they were forced by their economic situation to support the British Army. It became important for the Continentals to inspire the people of the colonies to be willing to sacrifice on behalf of the cause of independence. The Revolutionary War was not just a war fought on the battlefield; perhaps the most important aspect of the war was the fight for the hearts and minds of the people.

The Continental Army was forced to endure rough conditions all winter. However, this had two results:

First, the soldiers who stayed in Valley Forge or joined that winter developed a close bond with themselves and their commander. They became the leading force after the war for America to be a unified republic rather than a loosely governed confederation.

Second, the images of these soldiers braving the elements in Valley Forge helped sway people to sacrifice for the new nation. If these soldiers could make this sacrifice then ordinary citizens could too.

GET ON WITH IT!!!
SO, the point of this whole history lesson is that I see both of the results of the winter at Valley Forge happening here.

First, a close bond is being built between the participants. There are certain jokes and memories that only they will be able to share with each other. And as the coach, sitting back and watching, I am witnessing something great. Each of these guys is growing because of this experience. They are finding things out about themselves as they brave these conditions: new city every night, high temperatures and humidity, and being in a small minivan for three straight weeks. Also I am getting to know and respect each of these young men in different ways. Which I believe is the most important aspect of the teacher’s job. Not test scores, but relationships. I had some great teachers and coaches during my career and one of the reasons that I became a teacher was to try and be that for someone else.

Second, people are taking notice. It may seem like they are not because of certain media outlets not responding to the press releases and the phone calls that the guys have been making. But when people see us in our shirts or watch us while running, they are seeing our example. Genocide is not something that just goes on overseas. It is not something that we should allow to go on simply because it doesn’t affect us directly. Every time a driver honks, a customer in a Subway at lunchtime asks about our shirts, or a person is led to our website or reads our blogs, their perception of this issue changes. I should know. I am one of the converts. So if you are reading this, spread the word. Tell someone about the website. Get more people to notice and get involved. I will leave you with this quote from the late Senator Robert F Kennedy.

“All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don’t. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.”

[Show as slideshow]