First Term Report Cards

“My report card always said, ‘Jim finishes first and then disrupts the other students’.” -comedian Jim Carrey

We are nearly halfway through 2010 and Monumental Effort thought it would be a good idea to revisit and assess some of the stories we have covered this year.  As the academic year winds down most teachers are currently in “report card mode”.  I will attempt to demonstrate my teacher skills by offering a grade and a report card comment for some of our featured athletes.

The story that has generated the most M.E. interest thus far is that of Monica’s 3000+ Mile Odyssey. The sidebar on our site serves as a reminder of Monica’s upcoming events as well as a summary of her past successes.

By the end of this month, Monica will have completed nearly half of her projected thirty 100-milers.  Her schedule has undergone some adjustments; most notably she has decided to forgo the grueling Badwater-135.  The cost of travelling to Death Valley with a crew of several people simply wasn’t feasible given the amount of races on Monica’s agenda this year.

Monica has won some of the women’s races and has finished second amongst the ladies in a handful of other events.  Her journey to this point has not been a stroll in the park.  Monica did encounter some significant challenges at the Coyote Two Moons 100.  This race features a staggered start and the race director determines the start times for all runners.  Monica started the race with the 3AM wave alongside some of the race’s fastest runners.  Monica soon realized that she hadn’t planned accordingly for this start time, she was underdressed for the cool start and her drop bag was not located at one of the nearest aid stations.  It took Monica ten hours to complete the first 30 miles and she decided that this was not going to be her day.  Monica chose to drop out of the race and catch an earlier flight home.  I’m sure she will redeem herself at this race next year.

On June 18-19^th,  I will have the privilege of accompanying Monica at one of my favorite events, the Mohican 100 in Loudonville, Ohio.  I’m sure Monica will once again do well and be her cheerful self as she cruises to yet another 100-mile finish.

Monica’s grade: A+

Monica’s report card comment: If Monica continues to put forth the determination displayed during this reporting period, she will certainly benefit from her hard work.  Monica is a good citizen, is working to her full capability and leads by example.  We encourage her to continue this Monumental Effort throughout all of 2010.

Another popular M.E. account was the Ray Zahab – Canada’s Karnazes…and more post.  I must admit that I was thrilled that Ray himself even submitted a comment.  This led to an exchange of emails, a couple of phone calls and our correspondence resulted in successfully landing Ray as the keynote speaker at the annual Ontario School Counsellors’ Association (OSCA) conference this November.  I attend this conference every year, and I have already done some lobbying within the organizing committee that will hopefully have me introduce Ray to the delegates.  I am definitely looking forward to meeting him and hearing him speak.  He will certainly close out the conference with a bang and send hundreds of educators back to their respective schools energized and inspired.

Over the course of the past few months, Ray has been doing so much wonderful work with Impossible-2-possible.   So far this year Ray and his team have led expeditions across frozen lakes in Siberia and through sweltering heat over sand dunes in Tunisia.  These expeditions are tracked by thousands of students who communicate with the adventurers as they battle the elements.  The mind-boggling excursions serve to raise awareness and funds for environmental causes around the world.  Ray has even recruited some youth ambassadors to accompany the travelers to some of the planet’s most remote places in hopes to “Educate, Inspire and Empower”.  What an awesome, awesome experience for these future leaders!  When Ray speaks at the November conference, he will have completed yet another expedition with some teens.  This mission has yet to be officially announced, but it is expected to be made public on his website very soon.

Ray’s grade: A+

Ray’s report card comment: If Ray continues to put forth the determination displayed during this reporting period, communities around the world will certainly benefit from his hard work.  Ray is a good citizen, is working to his full capability and leads by example.  We encourage him to continue this Monumental Effort throughout all of 2010.

A story that surprisingly received little fanfare was that of The Human Polar Bear Lewis Pugh.  M.E. is thrilled to announce that Lewis successfully completed his swim across Lake Pumori.  This lake sits at an altitude of 5,300 meters (17,400 feet) just below the summit of Mount Everest.  The water temperature was a reported 2 degrees centigrade (36 degrees Fahrenheit) and it took Lewis 22 minutes and 51 seconds to complete the swim.  While ascending the Himalayas, Lewis would contact his wife Antoinette by satellite phone and she would then post the updates on his blog.  After successfully completing what many thought was impossible, Antoinette announced: “Lewis has demonstrated that the strength of the human spirit can overcome even the most adverse conditions”.

When Lewis returned to Katmandu, his accomplishment earned him a meeting with the president of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav.  They discussed the melting glaciers and the critical need to protect the environment.  Lewis has since returned to his home in London, England where he is doing some endorsement work for Speedo and is promoting his book “Achieving the Impossible”.  On his blog Lewis states:  “Now is when the real work begins to spread the message and build awareness of what is happening”

Lewis’s grade: A+

Lewis’s report card comment: If Lewis continues to put forth the determination displayed during this reporting period, our ailing planet will certainly benefit from his hard work.  Lewis is a good citizen, is working to his full capability and leads by example.  We encourage him to continue this Monumental Effort throughout all of 2010.

(Are you sensing a trend in my report card comments?)

Martin Parnell’s Marathon Quest 250 story is another one that didn’t necessarily draw much attention, but in my opinion, his Monumental Effort is worth reviewing.  I have been following Martin’s progress and on Saturday June 5th, Parnell completed his 99^th marathon of 2010 (appropriately baptized “The Wayne Gretzky Marathon”).  Some would consider his times a bit pedestrian, but running this many miles (to date he has covered 4178 kilometers or 2594 miles) at any speed is simply astonishing.

Early in the year Martin suffered some foot injuries and was ordered by his doctor to take some time off.  He was forbidden to run for over a week and fell behind schedule a bit.  Martin has visited over twenty schools at which he has run the marathon distance, often accompanied by students and staff for parts of the run.  The purpose of these visits is to raise awareness for the youngsters about the importance of being active and provide teachers with data and information that could be incorporated into the curriculum.

One of his most recent “official” marathons (his 94^th) was the Calgary Marathon which Martin completed in a very respectable 4:35:36.  To date Parnell has raised just over $30,000 for Right to Play.  This is a significant amount; however it is off his goal of $250,000.  Feel free to visit his site and make a donation!

Martin’s grade: A+

Martin’s report card comment: If Martin continues to put forth the determination displayed during this reporting period, children everywhere will certainly benefit from his hard work.  Martin is a good citizen, is working to his full capability and leads by example.  We encourage him to continue this Monumental Effort throughout all of 2010.

This post would not be complete if we didn’t take this opportunity to assess our own goals and performances.  Personally, I’m a bit disappointed with my results to date.  Although I successfully completed one of my major goals of 2010, the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim adventure, I wasn’t sufficiently trained for an undertaking of this magnitude and suffered accordingly (and made my friends work doubly hard to ensure that I didn’t stay in the bottom of the Grand Canyon forever).  Also, I failed to complete both the Jerseyville and Sulphur Springs 100.  As my good friend Wade would say, it is time to “step my game up”.  In the second half of 2010 I will need to train harder and smarter if I want to complete the goals I have set.  More consistency on the track and on hills will certainly help.  I’m looking forward to the races I have planned this summer and I am determined to be better prepared for the Arkansas Traveler 100 in October.  EndurRun with Team M.E. will undoubtedly be a blast!

Vince’s grade: C-

Vince’s report card comment: Vince needs to put forth greater determination during the next reporting period in order to benefit and earn better results.  More hard work is required.  Vince is a good citizen, who is not working to his full capability and must lead by example.  We encourage him to improve his Monumental Effort during the next half of 2010.

Bill here.  My 2010 started rather disappointingly.  I had set a target date of April 25th to run a local marathon and failed to run it.  I didn’t even start.  I knew at the time that I was under trained and I’d be risking injury.  So instead, I’ve moved my marathon goal to August 12th as part of Team Monumental Effort, running the EndurRun.  As part of my training I’ve also scheduled a few races for added motivation.  I ran a 10K called the Mudpuppy Chase on May 2nd and managed my goal of less than 1 hour by finishing in 57:06 or so.  I also ran the inaugural Phlox Run 10K which turned out to be a fairly technical trail run with about 4K of consecutive single track trail.  It was very muddy and fun.  I turned in a 1:02:17 which I am fairly happy with.  I’ve got several more shorter races planned, the marathon in August and the The Run for the Toad in October.

Bill’s grade: B-

Bill’s report card comment: Bill is determined when he sets his mind to a task.  However, he’s easily distracted and has difficulty maintaining concentration on a single task through to completion.  With continued hard work and minimization of the amount of work items Bill takes on, he can certainly attain anything he has chosen to undertake.

Please click here to leave a comment on this or any of the other featured stories.  As always, you can share your Monumental Effort story by clicking the “Submit your story” tab at the top of the page.

Gotta run,

Vince